*Evan appears, holding an empty beer bottle, in a hall. He doesn't drop it--it'll make too much noise, and surprise is crucial--and instead it is placed gently on the floor. He's got a large selection of toys and selects the first from a bandoleer he wears over his cloak. It's a muggle invention, originally, but Muggles have nothing if not skill for killing each other, and it's only been enhanced by the Rosier & Sons cursemakers. There's nervous chatter echoing down the hall from a break room, something about heard something weird down the hall and no response from downstairs and what do we do. No one willing to lead the little lambs out yet, though. The door's invitingly cracked, and Evan approaches silently, pills the pin, and gently sends the cursed grenade bobbing in like a tiny, pinapple-looking balloon
( ... )
*The hall they're in is largely administrative--few patients, mostly Healers and nurses and mediwizards. A robed and masked Death Eater appears suddenly, clutching an old boot, and they incapacitate the man before he even lets go of the thing. Poor bastard probably never saw it coming
( ... )
*There's no need to spell it out, and Fabian nods once before moving silently toward the noise. He's in very much the same mindset as Gideon - the 'zone', he likes to call it in a melodramatic voice, when talking about it - where everything is narrowed down to the immediate situation and his wand and his brother. He's at his best like this, he loves this, and it shows.
Leaning out just enough to look around the next corner, Fabian quickly takes in the scene - a door open with dust in the air and what looks like something burning inside, and a masked figure standing holding something. He glances at Gideon with the unspoken question of how to go about this.*
*It's mostly quiet, no obvious victims or assailants--he misses the twins entirely--and Evan moves to the next room. The grenades kill and incapacitate just as effectively as they shatter potion bottles, and it's faster than going through and breaking them by hand. He opens a door to an empty storeroom, lobs the primed grenade in, and shuts the door, moving across the hall to peer into the next room--an office, and not worth a grenade. A small fireball from the tip of his wand ignites the papers on the desk. He leaves the door open in hopes the blaze will consume the office, and keeps moving methodically, efficiently, silently, unaware that he's being watched.*
*They've done this as Aurors, as students--hell, as very young children. The circumstances may have changed from shouting Oi, Shithead at Pringle while Fabian lifted whatever from his office drawers, but the principle is the same.
It's like second nature to him now, as Gideon parts ways from Fabian, his wand raised, rapidly advancing on the Death Eater at an angle and sending Stupefy directly at his feet. The Stunning Spell, angled as it is, will go faster and more accurately than a deadlier curse; once the man responds (if he isn't arse-over-teakettle) he'll be a clear shot for whatever deadlier curses Fabian cares to throw at him.*
*For someone who prides himself in moving with grace and poise, Evan looks like the same flailing mess as anyone else is when he's chucked in the air and tumbling. But he's fast, at least, and on the floor he's already pulled another grenade and chucked it wildly down the hall, toward wherever the spell came from, in hopes of at least throwing up a smokescreen of shrapnel and dust.*
*In the instant before it explodes, Fabian fires off reducto nonverbally. Kid's stuff on the surface, maybe, but Fabian's seen what it can do to living objects.
In the next second, though, the air's ripped apart by the explosion. He's lost sight of both Gideon and the target, and he can't even tell if it hit. Ears ringing, he darts forward to find his brother; everything else can wait.*
*There's a flash of light behind him, a warm gush of air briefly ruffling his hair, and things are suddenly very serene: he hears nothing but an infinitesmal ringing.
The linoleum floor of the hospital is cool on his back, he can feel it even through his robes. But the curse--if it even was a curse--missed him, and after Fabian appears out of the dust and pulls him to his feet he taps his palm and then the side of his head, mouthing, lost wand, can't hear. It wouldn't do to have the target overhear.
He doesn't tell Fabian how ridiculous he looks covered in white dust.*
*Despite how much he likes the grenades, he's never been so close to the explosion of one of them, and it's deafened him somewhat--though not quite as much as the twins. He scrambles to his feet, pointing his wand around wildly for a split second, and then backs into a room he hasn't been in yet--another office--before ducking around the door and waiting breathlessly to hear or see something, anything. The Dark Mark on his arm prickles, uncomfortably warm, and he's sweating and panting inside of his mask, pointing his wand at the bare sliver of hall he can see.*
*Fabian doesn't talk either, there's no sense in giving away their position, but he casts a quick summoning charm and Gideon's wand flies into his hand. He gives it over and pulls him back out of the debris, into clearer air around the corner to look him over for injuries.*
*He swats Fabian's hands away--he's perfectly fine, but he can't fucking hear, and he urgently taps the side of his head with his free hand. They're both solid Mediwizards, it came with the training, but he isn't about to try a complicated spell on his own damn inner ears when Fabian's right there.
He's alert, his eyes on the clouds of dust over Fabian's shoulder, and he throws up a Shield Charm behind him, just in case. The target seems to have scarpered for now--the M.O. of a Death Eater if he's ever seen it.*
*He'd gotten the message about ears the first time, but major bodily injury trumps hearing loss, so Fabian's nonapologetic about checking Gideon over. Satisfied that he's okay, though, he cups his chin in one hand to keep his head still and starts repairing what's broken. Busted eardrums, he's betting, but he can fix that. He still doesn't speak, but when he's done he cocks his own head a bit, his meaning clear. Better?*
*Ah, the distant screams of civilians. Grimly, he nods.
And to the matter at hand: the target's fled, and if he's lobbing explosive curses or Muggle explosives with that much power he's got to be neutralized before they try and move any more civilians, or there won't be anyone to move.
Deciding against a manual sweep, Gideon silently casts Homenum Revelio--the Death Eater will feel it, an odd swooping sensation wherever he's hidden, but a glowing marker immediately appears, pointing the way. Gideon wastes no time setting off after him. It'll warn the target that they're coming, but the element of surprise is gone to begin with, two-on-one is excellent odds, and time is a luxury they don't have, not now.*
*Evan does feel it, and he curses again, readying himself as best he can, thumb in the pin of a grenade in one hand, wand in the other, crouching low to the ground in the little office.*
*Fabian's right at Gideon's side, as always, and stands just barely out of sight from the doorway as he nudges the door open farther with the toe of his boot. (This, for him, constitutes extreme caution, and it's only an attempt to get Gideon to quit worrying about him. Yes, shoe-tying is a major landmark victory these days, but wandwork doesn't require find motor coordination. Mostly.)
The spell has done its job, and there's another glowing marker hovering right over the Death Eater's head. Fabian leans just slightly around the corner, just to get a line of sight established, and then leans out properly, setting fire to the desk to try and drive the Death Eater out.*
*It's awfully hard to look dignified when your dramatic, swishing black cloak is about to catch fire. Truth be known, Evan has to repress a squeal of surprise, but he's done a charm against fire so many times while out killing Muggles with Antonin, and this isn't even Fiendfyre--it's almost an afterthought to cast it with one hand while the other pulls the pin on the grenade and rolls it toward the boot. Thus protected from the flames, he dives not away, but toward the burning desk for cover. He's counting down in his head; it's such an enclosed place that he'll have to time the shield charm perfectly to avoid being mauled by the fragments--five, four, three--*
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Leaning out just enough to look around the next corner, Fabian quickly takes in the scene - a door open with dust in the air and what looks like something burning inside, and a masked figure standing holding something. He glances at Gideon with the unspoken question of how to go about this.*
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It's like second nature to him now, as Gideon parts ways from Fabian, his wand raised, rapidly advancing on the Death Eater at an angle and sending Stupefy directly at his feet. The Stunning Spell, angled as it is, will go faster and more accurately than a deadlier curse; once the man responds (if he isn't arse-over-teakettle) he'll be a clear shot for whatever deadlier curses Fabian cares to throw at him.*
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In the next second, though, the air's ripped apart by the explosion. He's lost sight of both Gideon and the target, and he can't even tell if it hit. Ears ringing, he darts forward to find his brother; everything else can wait.*
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The linoleum floor of the hospital is cool on his back, he can feel it even through his robes. But the curse--if it even was a curse--missed him, and after Fabian appears out of the dust and pulls him to his feet he taps his palm and then the side of his head, mouthing, lost wand, can't hear. It wouldn't do to have the target overhear.
He doesn't tell Fabian how ridiculous he looks covered in white dust.*
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He's alert, his eyes on the clouds of dust over Fabian's shoulder, and he throws up a Shield Charm behind him, just in case. The target seems to have scarpered for now--the M.O. of a Death Eater if he's ever seen it.*
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And to the matter at hand: the target's fled, and if he's lobbing explosive curses or Muggle explosives with that much power he's got to be neutralized before they try and move any more civilians, or there won't be anyone to move.
Deciding against a manual sweep, Gideon silently casts Homenum Revelio--the Death Eater will feel it, an odd swooping sensation wherever he's hidden, but a glowing marker immediately appears, pointing the way. Gideon wastes no time setting off after him. It'll warn the target that they're coming, but the element of surprise is gone to begin with, two-on-one is excellent odds, and time is a luxury they don't have, not now.*
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The spell has done its job, and there's another glowing marker hovering right over the Death Eater's head. Fabian leans just slightly around the corner, just to get a line of sight established, and then leans out properly, setting fire to the desk to try and drive the Death Eater out.*
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