Anika ran. She ran harder than she had in years, knowing that she literally had a pack of Hell Hounds on her trail as she went. She'd known she shouldn't take this job, known it, and had<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">still</span></span>made the rookie mistake of ignoring her gut! And now look at her-racing for her life with a bunch of dogs chasing her!<br/><br/>Vaulting over a low fence, she landed on her feet, whirled to fire a few bullets at her pursuers, and was gone again. After all, there was no way she was going to let them catch her and get ripped to shreds-she had people depending on her to get work like this done, and if she didn't succeed, then there was a large bunch of mouths that wouldn't get fed.<br/><br/>Her eyes roamed over her surroundings, searching for something, anything... There! In the alleyway, a plant pot filled with soil! Granted, there was another plant already in it, but that didn't matter.<br/><br/>Grabbing the pot, she ran, burying the fingers of one hand in the soil as she ran for a nearby wall. Vines erupted from the soil, one of them wrapping around her waist to lift her up onto the top of it. It released her, and she dropped to the ground on the other side before continuing to run, having already told the vines to keep growing until the Hounds would be caught up in them-not that she thought that her thorns would stop them, after all.<br/><br/>Racing around a corner, guns back in hand, she cried out in shock as she barrelled straight into two young women, sending all three of them flying. Just as quickly as the whole thing was happening, Anika was trying to get on her feet, only to discover that her ankle was badly twisted when it gave out under her, sending her to the ground again as the Hounds' howls reached her ears. Desperate, Anika tried again, hissing in pain. She'd completely forgotten the two women, though she had briefly registered their presence...