The roads had been fairly quiet in the early morning hours, allowing for Alim's team to make quick progress on their trek from Laissez Faire to the small town of Cascade. What was suppose to be a journey of just over two hours had been completed in one and a half, with a bit of speeding on Cassandra's part. And as predicted, Bumblebee had rendezvoused with the group roughly halfway to their destination, and now cruised a short distance behind the modified cargo van.

-Take the next right, on Maple Lane.- Bumblebee's voice crackled through the radio, guiding Cassandra's route as they drew closer to the city limits. -There's a large concentration of signatures half a mile in, close to the anomaly site.-

"Are we picking up anything non-human?" Alim queried from the passenger seat. The man leaned forward, peering first through the rain-spattered windshield, then gazed out the driver's side window. The area was thick with trees though, and hilly enough that they could see little beyond the road that seemed to twist and turn as much as a babbling stream. Other than the occasional car that passed in the opposite lane, they hadn't seen anything of significance yet.

-Negative. I'm only detecting human and native fauna.- Had Daja been in the small convoy with them, she might have picked up on a sense of mild concern from the autobot, something which he was careful to conceal from the others. He didn't hide the source of his worry though, and as they drew nearer to their destination, his calm voice sounded again, -Our presence may not be entirely welcome here. Local chatter has brought a small number of protestors.-

Now Ben and Datharil were peering through the windows, with the man speaking up with an incredulous snort, "Protest against what? We're here to help get the alien out of their town."

"Lets not jump to any conclusions." Harper tried to voice some reason. The pony-tailed woman already had her dufflebag over one shoulder, and a hand clutched readily at the buckle of her seatbelt. "Ben and I will step out first, just in case. Alim and Dath, you two better hang back until we get a better read on the crowd. Bee, how many are there?"

-Between 40 and 50.- The radio crackled back.

"You'd better stay back a short pace yourself, Bee." Cassandra suggested, now slowing the van as they made the turn onto Maple Lane and bumped along a gravel path. Further down the dusty, uneven road, a splash of color could be seen. Squinting, Cass could just make out a line of vehicles parked along the shoulder. There was definitely a growing crowd of people out here.

Stopping short and pulling to the curb himself, Bumblebee idled to a stop just a few yards onto the new road. -Yes m'am.- From this spot, the golden camaro could catch up with the others in short order, but stay far enough back that his easily recognizable form wouldn't been immediately noted.

Further on down the lane, a dozen or cars eventually came into view as Cassandra slowed the van and idled past them. "Well the intel was right, I don't see any police." She murmured at length as a tense silence fell over the group. Past the parked cars, and across the ditch that was already begining to swell with rainwater, a tree-dotted pasture could now be seen.

All eyes went to the passenger side windows as they got their first look at the anomaly site; or what little could be seen of it from the road. And as Bumblebee had stated earlier, there were at least forty or so people gathered in the pasture, enduring the light rain as they milled about. Harper was the first to spot a poster board in the crowd, with what looked to be a picture of child on it. "Do we know what this's about?" The EMT asked, looking from Ben to Cassandra, and then speaking a little louder, "Bee?"

-The protesters?- The autobot's voice queried, as Harper belatedly realized Bumblebee couldn't exactly see what they were seeing from his position a half mile back. But the scout was quick enough to catch on, and answered promptly, -Negative. What social media chatter I can find suggests someone may have been killed by a non-human a few months back, which may explain the protestors. Tarah Coline. Cascade doesn't keep robust online records however, and there are no news articles I can find.- Following a short pause, Bee added, -I still fail to detect any non-human signatures.-

"Well, shit." Ben sighed heavily, "What about that other group that was suppose to be here? I don't see any UECH vehicles, and no vans but ours. These all look like local folks." He turned around in his seat, ready to bring up another point when the creak of the front passenger door sounded, and the van listed slightly under Alim's shifting weight, "Woah, woah, Alim! Wait-"

"There's a fading presence of magic here." The blue-eyed man announced as he stepped out the door, forcing Cassandra to ease on the breaks and come to a solid halt. Without another word, the fellow jumped across the ditch and headed for the fence, and the pasture beyond it.

"Alimgos! Dammit- alright, come on guys. Dath, wait here a minute, okay?" This was Cassandra, hastily putting the van in park after guiding it to the shoulder and sliding her seatbelt off. "What's gotten into that dragon?"

"Magic." Harper replied with a note of irritation. She was soon hopping out the side door, and slamming it shut after Ben clambered out behind her.

Left alone in the van, Datharil edge to the newly vacated seat that Harper had been in, and placed a scaled hand to the window. Peering through the rivulets of water that traced down its smooth surface, the protoss watched with bated breath as the trio scurried after Alim, hopping the ditch and struggling over the barbed wire fence. The gathered crowd had now taken notice of their arrival, with some moving in the group's direction, while others turned their sights to the van.

Harper was hoisting her bag over the fence and handing it off to Ben, who in turn helped her over the prickly wires. A little taller than either of them, the leggy Cassandra had an easier time clearing the obstacle, and made a hasty sprint to catch up with Alim once she was on the other side.

The dragon-in-disguise was already halfway up the hill by this time though, moving like a hound towards a captured scent. "Good morning." He'd hailed the dozen or so people that had started his way, without bothering at first to even glance up and gauge the faces of the assembled citizens. His bright eyes were cast down at the ground, looking with great interest for the source of magic he could feel reverberate through his being. "Might I ask if any of you saw what happened to the individual who was here?" After spotting a small mark in the sodden soil, Alim stopped and turned to face the splintered group, an expectant and friendly expression written into his grizzled, human face.

"Who the hell are you?" Shot back an unfriendly reply from a shorter man, venom soaking his words. To the side of him, an older woman with long, rain-soaked brown hair, stood in close company. Her expression was no less volatile than the guy's words. Now taking a moment to scan the faces, as if this crowd of unhappy citizens that vastly outnumbered his small squad were merely an afterthought, Alim could see that the general mood was a sour one, at best. "My name is Alim, and I'm here to help with this anomaly." He answered evenly, a faint smile still gracing his face while he swept a hand back behind him to signify where he'd noticed the subtle marking on the ground.

"Help? From a monster like you?" Sneered a new voice, this coming from a middle-aged man whose rigid stance and poised muscled suggested he was just itching for action. "We've had enough of your help here. Just what kind of beast are you, anyway?"

Cassandra had finally caught up to the scene and stepped up beside the towering Alim. "We won't be here long." She assured, managing a voice almost as calm as her blue-eyed companion, "My name is Cassandra Anderson, and we're just here to help contain the individual that showed up in this field. If anyone can help by telling us-"

"You're the ones from Laissez, aren't you? The ones that harbor the aliens, teach them all about how to infiltrate our home?" The shorter man spoke again, cutting Cassandra off as he rounded on the woman, but didn't break rank from the crowd. It was at this point that Cassandra took a more critical look at those gathered, and again noticed the poster being held up in the second crowd that stood further back in the field. 'Justice for Tarah' She was close enough to see the words now, printed boldly above and beneath the picture of a young girl. Her pulse began to quicken and her stomach lurched, as much for the innocent face that smiled back at her from the poster, as it was for the uncertain situation they'd found themselves in. This crowd had known they were coming.

While Ben and Harper were just now reuniting with the two atop the hill, Datharil was sitting back from the window and watching furtively as four men split from the original crowd and began to descend the slope towards the road, moving in a wide arch that would put them several dozen yards back behind the van. When he lost sight of them through the trees, Dath switched his attention back to the top of the hill, or what he could see of it anyway. Alim looked calm and sturdy as ever - but when didn't he? - while Cassandra was doing her level best to maintain what looked like a deteriorating situation.

"It's not like that." Cassandra answered with practiced patience, whilst knowing that her words weren't likely to go far. These citizens had blood in their vision and the motivation of a little girl's death to fuel their anger. Reason and logic would do nothing to pacify the vengeful crowd. Hoping to at least stall any physical confrontations and give the others time to do their job, the leader of the group continued, "We only want to remove the individual from the area, to keep everyone safe."

"Yeah, and you bring an alien to help out with that? Really?" The middle aged man countered with a rough swing of his hand in Alim's direction, "Save your breath, traitor. Your 'help' here has done enough damage already!" There was enough passion in the guy's voice to give Cassandra pause, and that allowed time for Ben to step up beside her, an attempt at a placating smile on his face, "Hey, hey, listen. Cass is right, we-"

At this point in the confrontation, Alim took it upon himself to turn his back on the crowd, letting his human companions deal with the mob while he abruptly went back to the marks he'd seen in the soil. He crouched down, running a hand over two shallow grooves that appeared to have slightly burnt edges to them. "Most curious. I've not experienced you before." Alim rose back up and took a few more steps, spotting a second marking in the ground. Then a third, a fourth... as he followed these groupings, it quickly became clear to him that they were organized into a large, circular design that spanned roughly fifteen feet in diameter. But frustratingly, there was so much foot traffic and tire marks here that many of what he now realized were runes had been obscured beyond recognition. Something else caught his eye then, leading Alim to stoop and grab a scrap of faded azure cloth from the rain-soaked grass. Almost immediately, the silky material sent a tingle through the dragon's fingers as he responded to the trace of magic woven into it.

"I've found something of interest." Alim announced, but when he got no answer back, the dragon looked over his shoulder to find his three friends still contending with the crowd. And the crowd had gotten louder, with several from the second group now filtering over to this one.

Down in the van, Datharil had scooted back to his original seat. Above him, the gentle patter of rain against the metal roof began to grow louder as the shower intensified, drowning out the voices of the four men as they approached the rear of the van. Dath was acutely aware of them however, and his fretful gaze had shot back in their direction as soon as they'd stepped back into view. Trouble was written into their body language, and Dath didn't need to use his psionics to know these guys weren't here for a friendly chat.

"...looks like... alien? ...search the.." Bits and pieces of their conversation reached him through the storm as they marched steadily closer. Datharil shifted again, maneuvering his awkwardly long legs to settle himself more squarely in the center of the van, and away from the windows. Closer they came, until one fellow made direct eye contact with the protoss and immediately glowered.

-Do they have weapons?- The sound of Bumblebee's voice brought an animated flinch from Datharil, which in turn briefly caused the men to falter and halt their advance. He'd almost forgotten about the autobot scout, who undoubtedly was following the signatures of all the gathered people like blips on a radar. Fumbling for his voice, Dath answered at length, "Ummm... I don't think so... wait." One had a length of metal in their hand... a crowbar maybe? He wilted a little. Four unarmed humans weren't a serious danger to him, and even a crowbar wasn't a significant threat to a sturdy protoss, but it did convey their intentions a lot more clearly. "One has a pipe? I... I'll try to talk with them." The steady voice of Bee chirped back in affirmation, -Copy that. Perhaps you should stay in the van, though.-

Datharil nodded to the scout that couldn't see him, and reached a limber arm to unclasp one of the side windows, and slide it partially open. Keeping his distance from the opening, and quickly withdrawing his hand to his lap, the alien chimed out in his layered voice, "Hello? Can.. I help you guys... with anything?"

Alim hesitated now, his curiosity divided by the growing agitation of the citizens. While his luminescent gaze hovered over his three human companions, the dragon's mind fell back to the scrap of silken cloth he was turning over between his fingers. The magic continued to sing to him, and he continued to muse over its presence, and compare it to his own. It felt old, but powerful. Protective, even. 'Abjuration magic?' The thought crossed his mind, but it was too foreign to him to say for sure. He would need to find the individual that it had fallen fro-

"Hey!" Ben's sharp voice snapped Alim from his reveries and he blinked. The younger fellow was stumbling back after taking an apparent shove from a man in the crowd, and Cassandra was quickly trying to insert herself between them, "Woah woah, there's no need for this." She was imploring, while stretching her hands out in a mollifying manner. For her efforts, one of her arms was grappled by the brown-haired woman who tried forcing Cass back. To Cassandra's credit, she held firm, planting her feet in the spongy ground and enduring the harsh grasp of the other without trying to shove her back or wrench her limb free. "It's clear that we're not welcome here, and that's okay. I know you have your reasons. We're leaving now." Cassandra continued, maintaining a calm voice against the backdrop of a few harsher words from Ben. Harper stood uneasily at her other side, ready to jump in and help pry the woman off Cassandra, or drag Ben away if things continued to heat up.

"It's just as well." Alim's rugged voice beamed above the audible rancor of the protestors, "The individual we're seeking isn't here, and judging by the tire marks in the field, they've been driven off site some time before we arrived." Long legs carried him back to his companions in a few confident strides. Where Cassandra's calm and rational actions had stalled what could have been a violent shift in the citizens, Alim's presence had a few stepping backwards. A distinct, biting chill followed him, the air and rain itself growing icy around the blue-eyed man.

Down along the gravel road, the broadest of the four men, a fellow with short cut hair and a beige ballcap, was the first to answer Datharil, "Yeah, how about you get out of the van so we can have a chat?" Nothing about his words sounded friendly or inviting, though he at least wasn't the one carrying the crowbar.

Dath made no move for the door handle. "..we can talk from here, just fine? If there's anything I can-"

"Get the fuck out of the van!" Any pretenses of a nice conversation were shot when the man slammed an open hand against the window. His three companions moved in closer, with one - a thinner individual with a scrub of a goatee - reaching for the door's handle. Thankfully, the lock held firm.

The protoss moved back instinctively, retreating to his original spot on the opposite side of the vehicle. One hand clutched at the headrest of the driver's chair, with his grip so tight that his ebony claws sank into the faux leather. Dath wasn't aware of this though, his full attention was on the man who'd shouted. "I-I can't. We're just t-trying to help rescue-"

Again, the alien was cut off, and again by the same fellow. "'Rescue?'" He'd now grabbed onto the top of the open window, emboldened by the obvious fear he was inciting in Datharil. "That monster's been 'rescued' already, and it won't be around to kill another one of our kids!"

The woman who'd grabbed Cassandra was now being pulled back by her husband, though it was clear from the vitriol in his gaze that he'd been willing to push this shoving match into something much more physical just seconds earlier. It was Alim's return that had him recoiling. The statuesque fellow was like a hawk amongst chickens, and the hair raising along the protestor's neck had nothing to do with the sudden drop in temperature. "They're not worth it, hun. They'll get their reckoning." The crowd that had previously been circling in on the trio with intent had now fractured and were beginning to back away in the wake of the dragon.

Cassandra took two firm steps backwards herself when the woman released her, wanting to put distance between herself and the aggressors to quell any further assaults. She could feel the indentation of the other's nails in her dark skin, but didn't so much as glance down at her arm, "Okay, alright. We're leaving, and we're sorry for any disturbance we might have caused." She continued to assure, as now Alim was beginning to head down the field towards the road. Harper and Ben wisely followed after, keeping close to the older man.

Alim's approach wasn't noticed by the four men yet, and Dath was too preoccupied to realize this as well. "A kid was.. killed? We tried to get here a s-soon as we could..." His heart truly sank at this news, but he had little time for sorrow. A resounding 'clank!' nearly deafened the alien when the crowbar slammed into the passenger side door, and he cowered back further.

"Oh no, we got this one out in time before it could kill anyone." The ballcap man snarled in between giving his weapon-wielding friend a nod, which resulted in another swing at the van. The impact was sharper this time, with the bar now colliding against the front passenger side window. A web of cracks was left behind. Datharil sucked in a shaky breath, and failed to notice Bee's voice crackling across the radio. The burly fellow's words had drowned them out, "Just a shame we couldn't put it down like that werewolf."

'Werewolf?' The alien's mind was buzzing now, but he didn't have time to sort through this new information. Another hardy clash of metal against glass sounded, and this time the weapon smashed clean through the window. The aggressor was leaning inside a second later, reaching a gloved hand for the inner latch to open the door. Datharil felt his heart leap into his proverbial throat. He didn't hear the shouts of Ben and Harper up in the field, or the roar of an engine down the road. All he could hear was the big man with the ball cap, who'd now forced the little side window open too. A burly arm squeezed through the opening to snag Dath by the front of his shirt, "We're not letting another one of you get away! You picked the wrong town to infiltrate, alien."

"Wait, p-please!" Datharil stammered, "I don't know about any werewolf!" He finally reached for the hand that was clutching his shirt, and though he had the strength to crush the human's digits between his owns, and claws sharp enough to rend flesh from tendon, the alien's touch was a hesitant and meager thing. It was Dath's solid weight that kept the ballcap man from actually pulling him closer to the window just yet.

"Got him." The ballcap man declared, ignoring the pleas of the alien as his fingers curled into the t-shirt. "Mitch, hurry up!" His muscles flexed as he tried to wrench his captive forward towards the sliding window to immobilize him, but this is where Dath held his own and leaned back, easily defying the fellow's efforts as he pressed his back against the opposite wall of the van. He may not be willing to fight back, but getting a creature of such strength and solid density to move anywhere was not going to be easy.

"I-Idon'tknowanywerewolf!" The uniquely layered voice of the protoss stressed again, the words beginning to bleed into one another. The front passenger door swung open to the sound of glass tinkling against gravel, and the van listed abruptly. Mitch had climbed in. Teal eyes darted to the smaller fellow, then to the crowbar. "Idon'tknowany werewolf, please!"

"He said get the fuck out! Out the back doors! Move! Go!" Mitch snarled back without relent. He moved quickly, aiming a tight swing of the crowbar at Dath's arm to encourage his compliance as he maneuvered further into the vehicle. The alien brought his free arm up, tearing it away from where he'd been clutching the headrest. He braced for the impact.

There was a startled grunt, but the blow never landed. It took Datharil a moment to realize that the grunt had come from Mitch, and the reason for that was a pair of dark brown arms circled about the man's neck. Cassandra had grabbed the attacker from behind and was now wrenching him backwards and out of the vehicle with force. The weapon fell to the ground, and before Dath realized it, the ballcap man had abruptly released him too as Alim single-handled yanked the large man off the ground by a fierce shoulder grip.

The struggle that followed was a brief one, but like with the crowd in the field, Alim's presence had a startling effect on the four men present, and their desire to fight quickly waned. It also helped that a flashy gold and black camaro had just rolled up behind the van, putting a decisive end to whatever plan the protestors had tried to put into motion today.

"We will be taking our leave now. I suggest you all do the same." Alim announced. Frost rolled out with each word, and lingered defiantly in the rainy air before fading away. The four men began to retreat, but not without first leveling the crew with a threat from the ringleader, "This isn't over! You won't get away with what you're doing - you send any more monsters our way, we'll kill 'em. Hear that!?" A finger was pointed roughly at the van, as the fellow was somewhat reluctant to point at Alim himself. His shoulder was throbbing something awful. "We see you again, and you're dead."

After taking in the sight of broken glass, the tail end of a crobar peeking out from behind the passenger seat, and one shell-shocked protoss, Ben rounded on the ballcap man and unloaded like a coiled spring, "Listen here, jackass! We drove all the way out here today to help your sorry ass and prevent any violence!" With Alim beside him and ten or so yards of space between he and the aggressor, Ben boldly jabbed an accusatory finger right back at the ringleader, "I don't know what the hell crawled-"

"Benjamin! Enough." Cassandra cut the young man off with a forceful hiss and a tight grip to her friend's shoulder. "Enough. Get in the van." The same hand gave him a compelling push, and though Ben defied it for a moment, he inevitably let out an ugly huff and turned towards the vehicle.

The rest of the crew followed after, with Harper squeezing in and unlocking the side door that Datharil hadn't thought to do, while Alim swept shards of glass from his seat with a bare hand as if they were no more than harmless bread crumbs. Seatbelts were snapped into place, and the van was soon roaring to life and pulling away from the waterlogged ditch.

"You alright, Dath? Were you hurt?" This was Harper, snapping to attention and readying her bag once the vehicle had set into motion. But a quick look over the alien showed no signs of injury, and he confirmed as much with a subdued shake of his head.

Ben let out another sigh, as if trying to expel all the tension that had built up over those last ten minutes. He looked between Harper and the alien, then leaned back heavily, "What the hell was that all about, anyway? That crowd was out for blood - they knew we were coming. They targeted Dath, and if Alim wasn't there we'd have been in the same boat."

Staring at hands clasped tightly in his lap, Datharil managed a shaky response, "A child was killed; that's what one of the men said. By a werewolf."

"Werewolf?" Alim queried, looking back at the trio with a raised brow. It was Cassandra that chimed in next.

"Tara Coline. I'd bet anything that was the girl on the poster, the one Bee couldn't find any records on. Someone found out we were coming, alerted the town, and-" She spared a brief look to Ben in confirmation, "-they came for vengeance. They're probably the ones that called in UECH, or whatever group it was that took the new arrival."

"Shit." Ben breathed out, finally recalling the poster he'd seen. "Okay, but that doesn't justify trying to attack us. We were trying to get the non-human out of the area."

Harper shook her head, "Yes, but they lost a child to a werewolf. Anything alien is a monster in their eyes now, especially a small, tight-knit town like that. It doesn't justify it, but it does explain it."

A gasp from Dath brought all eyes to him, "Jasper." Harper had to lean forward to hear the all but whispered name. Before she could question him, the protoss continued, "He, he was a client. A year.. a year and a half ago. I lost contact with him, he - I tried to keep in touch. But-"

"Hey." Though Cassandra couldn't afford to turn around in the driver seat, her voice was firm, "We've seen more than a handful of lycanthropes pass through Laissez and the IDR. Lets not jump to any conclusions here, alright? If he went through one of your classes, I'm sure he's got nothing to do with this. Lets just get back to the facility and do a little digging, and see what we find, okay? Dath, you and Chase can see what you can find of Jasper - I'll bet he's still in the city. Meanwhile, Alim and I will get with the others and see what we can find out about the new anomaly."