Ruby-Beta was growing impatient as he prowled clumsily through Orion. It couldn't figure it out, what it was doing wrong, why it was so damn clumsy everywhere. Probably because it had been doing as Alpha had - focusing on brute force, strength training. Fighting up front, fighting face-to-face instead of slinking around and being sneaky. It just felt wrong and it couldn't get itself righted.

So, it abandoned its attempts to stay hidden and instead tried to focus on finding the cat. Maybe it could just chase him until it caught up to him and hold him down. Yeah, that would work. Hopefully.

Ruby-Beta backtracked a bit, senses open, trying to find the spot where the cat had been initially until it eventually caught his scent. Fading fast, so he wasn't here anymore, but at least they had a trail now. It wasn't easy to follow - Nassir was doing a good job of hiding his tracks as he went, but Beta continued on, starting to make its own path as it ran through the city. The scent was growing a little stronger - it must be getting closer, but still barging its way far too loud through the ruins.

@Nassir

That person-rummaging-through-the-cabinets-looking-for-chips-at-three-in-the-morning sound was steadily growing louder, and Nassir pinned his ears back. Time for a different strategy, then. Just for the moment, of course.

Pale eyes squinted slightly, focus shifting away from stealth for a moment as he clambered atop a rock. He still hunkered down against it, trying to go flush with it - but he stared out across Orion until... ah-ha! Shadows shuffling here and there. Regardless of who exactly those belonged to, he tried and failed to wrench a magical grip around some miscellaneous brick and knock it over, maybe have it dance across the ground a few paces to imitate footsteps.

Instead, nothing came, and Nassir was forced back to the ground with a gentle shuffling of paws and hunching over in the dark.

@Vargas

His red-glow-sight had faded, now, but he had a generally good idea of where Beta was. He stalked from rooftop to alleyway, slipping along with long-practiced predatory grace. But he knew that Beta was somewhere close--somewhere ahead, unless it had drastically altered course; the very occasional shuffling sound, and scent, alerted Vargas that he wouldn't be too far off.

It was time to go stealth mode.

He paused, for a moment, intending to shroud himself (and his neon eye glow) in shadows; but nothing came. Vargas wasn't so used to magical failure. Once upon a time, it had always worked--always--and he wasn't sure why it was so intermittent now, even with practice.

It would force him to take a longer route--to ensure he didn't stumble across Beta before he was well and truly hidden, or vice versa.

The Overseer crept into the shadow of a ruined building, waiting, still some short distance behind the other two.

@Ruby-Beta

Okay, it knew where it was now. Maybe it could try again - the cat surely knew that it was close-by and it bet that the Overseer was creeping up on it too. It didn't know where he was, but surely, he was close. If he was as good at stealth as he said.

So Ruby-Beta did everything it could to silence itself, make itself harder to find. Creep into shadows, stay low, light on its feet. Steady its breathing and keep its quills down. Every step was taken more carefully - slowly, but quieter. It wasn't perfect but it was a far better improvement to the banging around and ruckus that it was making before.

It started creeping up towards the place where it had figured Nassir was at, trying to look out for the Overseer at the same time. Man, this was a lot of work and definitely not the kind of work that it had in mind. But it didn't really care - it was learning and, hopefully, doing what the Overseer asked of it. Hopefully it came out of this training better then it had gone in.

@Nassir

All of the noise quieted down, but Nassir swore he could hear those menacing claws moving ever-closer, shuffling in the dark. Chalk it up to slight paranoia, perhaps, but he stayed in his dark corner. If it were possible, he would've hunkered down deeper into it. Limited by his line of sight, he twisted and stared out for the approaching hunter - whichever one it ended up being. Either's mind was unfamiliar, and he was rather unpracticed, but maybe... maybe...

Some part of his magicka stuck, hooked at one end only to Ruby-Beta's (oh, I hope they haven't seen me, he murmured softly on accident before scrabbling back to cover.) It was up to him to broadcast, and broadcast he did... a resounding...

^BOOooo_ooo!
... directly into the approaching Ruby-Beta's mind, echoing so - perhaps, it'd seem like it came from all directions. His prior move'd been trying to confuse the senses, but maybe just skipping the physical part would be best. Telepathy cut off, he hoped quietly that it was a scaredy-cat, because he'd otherwise broken cover for nothing.

@Vargas

Vargas stood hunkered, half-crouched, against the building and slowly counted his breaths.

Five... ten...

He judged that enough time had passed to try his magic, again, and so he did, a twist of his lips only partly echoing the mental snarl he had as he ordered the shadows to obey him.

They obeyed, as if the fear of the Overseer extended to the incorporeal and the physical world--a dangerous conceit, perhaps, but Vargas was already discarding his thoughts to take advantage of his temporary black shroud.

Muscles tensed, and long limbs propelled him in a powerful leap, one that landed him quietly atop the nearest building. A short search of glowing eyes spotted movement--if distant, now--farther in the ruins, and he quickly began to move in a scurrying, leaping line, as quietly as he could, to catch up.

He had learned, long ago, not to run directly up behind his target: they too-often glanced behind them. From the side, that was good.

From above, that was best. And so he came up alongside, or aimed to do so, given enough time unseen; and he kept as high as he could, only a soft scatter of pebbles and soot giving any hint of his roof-to-roof, leaping passage, wreathed in settled shadows.

He gave no thought now to Ruby-Beta's progress--what they were doing, or what they were not--beyond the hunt, and the capture. They were nothing but a target for him, until this exercise was done--and only then would he stop to reflect on its performance. In the meantime, he would not be distracted; he would give no quarter.

@Ruby-Beta

It continued creeping in the darkness, keeping itself as hidden as it could, eyes wide, trying to pinpoint Nassir's location when...all of a sudden - there! He was peering around the corner. At first, Beta chalked it up to foolishness- prey growing nervous and searching for the hunter, but as his eyes rolled over its hiding spot, words boomed in its hears. Enough to give it pause for a second, but it was doing its best to focus on the task.

Don't give away its position. Wait for a good opportunity.

It stayed in its shadow, still creeping forward ever so slowly, doing everything it could to stay as quiet as it could. In the back of its mind, it wondered if the Overseer was getting close. If he was as good as he said...then Beta needed to finish this up quickly, before he found it. He'd probably already found a way to locate it and was on his way. It almost wanted to turn the corner and look, but it would not make the same foolish mistake as its prey.

@Nassir

He'd busted cover for nothing. If he pressed his ears against the wall, he could think he heard shuffling and stalking about. It was still paranoia, but he was starting to keel over with anxiety. And what does Nassir do when faced with such a feeling? Well, he runs and hides. But not here.

The black panther hunkered down, calling on magic proper so he could at least pose as one of the long, defracted shadows cast by so much light from above. Regardless of it working or not, he crept forward, weaseled out of a collapsed window and went towards the relative safety of a different hidey-hole.

Maybe bailing won't be as easy as I thought.

It was getting awfully hard to just breathe quietly through his rising panic.

@Vargas

Vargas sprang to a new roof, eyes darting over the ground below. The shadows shrouding him wouldn't last much longer; he had to close in fast, and make his move.

But the alleys below were narrow, blackened by recent dragonflame, the rubble and reformed rock obscuring vision. It was hard to pick out shapes--though surely Ruby-Beta, with its colors and glow, would be easier to spot than Nassir. Unless, of course, it knew how to shroud itself; and Vargas realized with annoyance that he didn't know. It was his job to know their capabilities. He should know.

He focused, and found the dim red glows of heartbeats flaring up clear and bright. There was Nassir--slipping from one building to another--and not far behind, Ruby-Beta, closing in. Vargas lurched into swift motion, to another rooftop, and then the next: still coming in from the side, still keeping well-hidden.

It was time for his ambush.

@Ruby-Beta

It had a good idea where Nassir was hiding - it'd seen him poke his head out, blow his cover just for some cheap, petty trick that had failed to work on the creature - for the most part. But as he tried to slip away, Beta found in increasingly difficult to know where it was. It continued creeping forward, eyes open wide, senses alert, trying to find the panther's exact location.

He was difficult to find - especially considering the deep shadows of his pelt and the magic that let him blend into the darkness. But as Beta watched - carefully, closely, it saw the shadows shift and it knew that it had its target. There you are.
It crept forward, pace speeding up just a little bit, to follow its target, eyes now fixed on the moving shadow ahead, listening for his movements. It would be close enough to pounce soon, even more so now that it knew precisely where its prey was.

@Nassir