Fic: Bad Luck & the Law of Averages (06/13), The Old Guard, Nicky/Joe, mature
Title: Bad Luck and the Law of Averages (06/13)
Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Pairing: Nicky/Joe
Summary: Nicky can't help assisting people in need, but this time he's being played and those duping him come with fangs. When he goes missing the whole team are frantic, particularly when they start having strange dreams, especially Joe. They have to find Nicky before it is too late.
Rating: mature
Warnings/Tropes: Vampires, Immortal!Husbands, Nicky Whump
A/N: Yes, of course I wrote vampires into TOG - it is my mission in life to write vampires in every fandom. 😂 You're welcome 🧛😂.
Seriously though - I hope everyone enjoys reading this one, I have so enjoyed writing it. Thanks to Soph for the beta.
Links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
Chapter 6 - Death
Nicky had no idea how, but he knew Ruth and the others were coming.
"Lie down," he told Bryce, who was already sitting on the table waiting for his nod, "and don't move until I give you the signal."
He wished he could give signals like Andy, but he could only wish to be that efficient and deadly. For this he could live with creating an opening for Bryce to get away. Not that he wouldn't try himself if the opportunity arose, but he was at least mostly indestructible.
It was completely counter intuitive to turn his back to the door, but he knew how he wanted to play this and did so. He picked up Bryce's wrist, the one he had bitten, and pretended to be engrossed. There were no marks left, but there was still a blood smear. The violence he could feel inside surged to the surface and he didn't try and stop it. He was going to need every advantage he could get.
The door opened and he acknowledged it by cocking his head to the side, but he did not stop what he was doing.
"Oh, Nicky," Ruth said in a cheerful upbeat voice that made him want to rip her head off, "you saved some for us."
He turned then, curling his lip into a snarl.
"I have not finished with him," he said, emphasising every word individually.
"Nicky, Nicky, Nicky," she said, sweeping down the stairs and into the main part of the room, "you must learn to share, we're family now."
He didn't need to act as he growled at her, his reaction was very real.
"Mine," he snarled.
The others fanned out around behind Ruth. Nicky ran his eyes over each of them, assessing what he could of their stances. Roy was definitely the biggest, but the way Dani was looking at him, he suspected she was the most aggressive. So close, he could sense their power in the air, and it made his skin crawl.
"So possessive, Nicholas," Ruth said with a tutting sound.
"Nicolo," he corrected, feeling the darkness inside him spike.
It must have shown on the outside because Roy went to step past Ruth, but she held up her arm, stopping him.
"The instincts are hard at first, aren't they, Nicky," she said, reverting to his shortened name. "Well, I'm sure we can help you. You can keep your snack for now, but what intrigues me is how you got him out of those cuffs."
She was smiling again, eyes just off human norms. Nicky sensed her power increase along with her placating words, but whatever she was trying to do rolled over him without affecting him at all. However, he let his shoulders relax as if it had. He smiled.
"I picked the locks," he said.
"My aren't we a clever boy," Ruth said, stepping towards him.
He allowed it as she rested her hand on his arm.
"I'll show you," he offered, placing his hand over hers and turning towards where the manacles still hung.
Ruth went with him, sliding her hand through his arm, and Dani and Lucas also followed while Beth hung back, but Roy stepped too close to Bryce. Nicky's reaction was instantaneous. He freed himself from Ruth and planted his body between Roy and Bryce, claws at the ready, growl resonating from his throat. Roy snarled back.
"Boys!"
Ruth's voice cut right through their posturing.
Roy backed down immediately, Nicky not so much, glaring at her.
"It's alright, Nicky," Ruth said, smiling at him again and using that placating tone, "Roy didn't mean anything. Come on everyone, let's go over here so Nicky can show us how clever he is."
She was treating him like a small child, but, given how his instincts were reacting, Nicky knew exactly why. If she thought he was a delinquent minion at the mercy of his new nature, so much the better. In fact, it was working out better than he could have hoped as the other vampires preceded him over to the far wall. After a moment, he followed.
"So, my pretty Nicolo," Ruth said, repossessing his arm when he was close enough, "how did you defeat the manacles?"
"With this," Nicky said, pulling the reshaped paperclip from his pocket.
"More and more interesting," Ruth said, "and there I was worried the locks might have been defective. Where did you learn such a skill?"
"A very old friend taught me," he replied, playing with the wire in his fingers. "Can you tell what it was?"
He gave it to Ruth so she could take a closer look and, on cue, she gathered all her twisted family around to take a look. Nicky glanced at Bryce.
"It's a paperclip," he said.
Bryce was moving in a flash and the kid was fast, Nicky would give him that.
"Roy," Ruth commanded.
Nicky lashed out with a punch before Roy so much as had a chance to react. The big man went flying backwards, slamming into the wall with enough force to cause dust to rain down from above. As he had expected, Dani came at him, all violence and no thought and he ducked, flipping her as he came back up. He didn't dare look, but he heard shoes on stone.
Lucas and Beth came at him simultaneously, fangs bared, claws out and they were fast. Beth got him with a swipe along the ribs as he sent Lucas reeling backwards with a solid hit to his chest. He caught Beth's hand as she went to attack him with her other arm, twisting it and using the momentum to throw Beth off to the side.
"Enough!" Ruth roared.
It made Nicky's nerves rattle, even if he felt no desire to obey her. He backed away towards the table. Ruth's face was contorted with anger, little humanity left in her expression as her minions picked themselves up.
"You are making me angry, Nicolo," she said, voice reverberating with dark power. "We can't have the prey running away."
"He's mine," Nicky growled, knowing that the longer she thought he was just at the mercy of his instincts, the more time Bryce would have to get out.
"And you can have him," she said, voice softening a little again as she took half a step towards him, "but we have to keep him here."
"Mine," Nicky repeated.
"Yes," she said, smiling at him again, even if it looked twisted and horrific with her vampiric nature revealed, "all yours, but I need Roy to go and get him for you, bring him back here."
"No," Nicky said, shaking his head and keeping himself between the others and the stairs.
"Don't be silly, Nicky," Ruth said, tone sharpening. "Roy," she indicated the big vampire should go around him.
He growled before Roy could take a step.
"Nicolo," she snapped, dropping all pretence of being human, eyes flaring brightly.
Nicky wanted to look away, but he didn't dare. He could feel her power, the same power that had knocked him on his arse in the alley, trying to worm its way into his mind. He had to buy more time for Bryce, but it was as if there were cracks in the barrier between his will and hers and they were being worked open. When Roy went to move again it gave him enough anger to fight, but she put her hand up and Roy stilled instantly.
"Nicky," she said, tone cajoling again as she stepped towards him, "my poor baby, you must be so confused. You want me to be happy, don't you, so we can all be one big happy family together?"
Her voice was hypnotic. He could feel his control slipping, he couldn't look away.
"Now, when I tell him to, Roy is going to go and collect your little play thing, okay," she said, walking right up to him and casually placing a hand on his chest, "and we can enjoy watching you finish him off."
The glow from her eyes captivated him and made his stomach churn at the same time.
"And then we'll go out," she said, smiling at him and showing long lethal fangs, "and find some fun for all of us. Maybe we could even track down that husband of yours and we can start playing."
Nicky's last memory of Joe slammed into the front of his mind, the half amused, half worried frown Joe had had sending him off on his mission to find baked goods. Ruth's influence snapped from his thoughts like old elastic. She blinked, frowning slightly and he knew she had felt it.
"No," he said and swiped at her neck with his claws.
She was too fast. Where she ducked his claws missed her vulnerable neck and sliced down her cheek instead. She screamed, part pain, part fury and Nicky knew he had no time.
He grabbed for the table leg closest to him, pulling free the rudimentary stake he had created earlier. His claws had come in useful for more than making him look like a Halloween extra. Dani snarled, but did not immediately attack, eyeing the wood carefully when he waved it in her direction.
"You're one of us now," Ruth growled, hand holding together the side of her ruined face, "stop fighting."
"I will never be one of you," he snarled back. "I would rather die."
There was violence and darkness infecting his soul, but it could not smother what he felt for Joe. All it had taken was that moment of realisation and Ruth had no power over him. He felt like laughing, even as he saw his death in her demonic eyes. She stared at him and he could see her disdain.
"Get him," she said.
The other four vampires moved together this time, all focused on him and there was no way out. He fought with everything he had, but they were all like him, all strong, all fast and his mind was too chaotic to focus on his real fighting skills. Long-ingrained techniques were muddled by fiery new instincts as the violence the vampire under his skin brought tried to take over.
He lost the stake quickly, not even sure how, and claws he had no experience using were all but useless. He tried, he fought as hard as he could, but this was not a battle he could win alone. With all four of Ruth's underlings on him, he didn't have a hope of winning. They pulled him down, flattening him to the floor with pure strength of numbers.
"Too bad," Ruth said, the rip along the side of her face healing even as she spoke.
She was standing above him, his piece of the table in her hand.
"You really have such pretty eyes."
He stood no chance as she brought her makeshift stake down with the force of a piston. It slid into his chest as if it was made of steel and every muscle in his body froze before relaxing completely like a marionette without any strings. The weirdest part was there was no pain. All at once the fire in his body went out. He felt nothing. It was as if his brain and his body were no longer the same entity.
All he could do was stare up as the vampires all stared down at him.
"Bye, bye, Nicky," Ruth said, giving him a little wave.
He could not blink, he could not move his eyes, he could not so much as twitch.
"Take the body out of town," he heard as his vision began to fade. "Dump it where the sun will find it first thing. There'll be nothing left for anyone to find."
Nicky wondered if this was real, final death as the world slowly faded away.
~*~
Joe stumbled in the street, hand grabbing his heart. The sharp stabbing pain became a dull ache as it faded away.
"Joe?" Booker asked, coming up beside him.
"I don't know," Joe said, because there had been nothing distinct, but his mind whispered 'Nicky'. "Let's get to the rendezvous," he decided.
It had been a frustrating, pointless evening so far.
On to chapter 7
Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Pairing: Nicky/Joe
Summary: Nicky can't help assisting people in need, but this time he's being played and those duping him come with fangs. When he goes missing the whole team are frantic, particularly when they start having strange dreams, especially Joe. They have to find Nicky before it is too late.
Rating: mature
Warnings/Tropes: Vampires, Immortal!Husbands, Nicky Whump
A/N: Yes, of course I wrote vampires into TOG - it is my mission in life to write vampires in every fandom. 😂 You're welcome 🧛😂.
Seriously though - I hope everyone enjoys reading this one, I have so enjoyed writing it. Thanks to Soph for the beta.
Links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
Chapter 6 - Death
Nicky had no idea how, but he knew Ruth and the others were coming.
"Lie down," he told Bryce, who was already sitting on the table waiting for his nod, "and don't move until I give you the signal."
He wished he could give signals like Andy, but he could only wish to be that efficient and deadly. For this he could live with creating an opening for Bryce to get away. Not that he wouldn't try himself if the opportunity arose, but he was at least mostly indestructible.
It was completely counter intuitive to turn his back to the door, but he knew how he wanted to play this and did so. He picked up Bryce's wrist, the one he had bitten, and pretended to be engrossed. There were no marks left, but there was still a blood smear. The violence he could feel inside surged to the surface and he didn't try and stop it. He was going to need every advantage he could get.
The door opened and he acknowledged it by cocking his head to the side, but he did not stop what he was doing.
"Oh, Nicky," Ruth said in a cheerful upbeat voice that made him want to rip her head off, "you saved some for us."
He turned then, curling his lip into a snarl.
"I have not finished with him," he said, emphasising every word individually.
"Nicky, Nicky, Nicky," she said, sweeping down the stairs and into the main part of the room, "you must learn to share, we're family now."
He didn't need to act as he growled at her, his reaction was very real.
"Mine," he snarled.
The others fanned out around behind Ruth. Nicky ran his eyes over each of them, assessing what he could of their stances. Roy was definitely the biggest, but the way Dani was looking at him, he suspected she was the most aggressive. So close, he could sense their power in the air, and it made his skin crawl.
"So possessive, Nicholas," Ruth said with a tutting sound.
"Nicolo," he corrected, feeling the darkness inside him spike.
It must have shown on the outside because Roy went to step past Ruth, but she held up her arm, stopping him.
"The instincts are hard at first, aren't they, Nicky," she said, reverting to his shortened name. "Well, I'm sure we can help you. You can keep your snack for now, but what intrigues me is how you got him out of those cuffs."
She was smiling again, eyes just off human norms. Nicky sensed her power increase along with her placating words, but whatever she was trying to do rolled over him without affecting him at all. However, he let his shoulders relax as if it had. He smiled.
"I picked the locks," he said.
"My aren't we a clever boy," Ruth said, stepping towards him.
He allowed it as she rested her hand on his arm.
"I'll show you," he offered, placing his hand over hers and turning towards where the manacles still hung.
Ruth went with him, sliding her hand through his arm, and Dani and Lucas also followed while Beth hung back, but Roy stepped too close to Bryce. Nicky's reaction was instantaneous. He freed himself from Ruth and planted his body between Roy and Bryce, claws at the ready, growl resonating from his throat. Roy snarled back.
"Boys!"
Ruth's voice cut right through their posturing.
Roy backed down immediately, Nicky not so much, glaring at her.
"It's alright, Nicky," Ruth said, smiling at him again and using that placating tone, "Roy didn't mean anything. Come on everyone, let's go over here so Nicky can show us how clever he is."
She was treating him like a small child, but, given how his instincts were reacting, Nicky knew exactly why. If she thought he was a delinquent minion at the mercy of his new nature, so much the better. In fact, it was working out better than he could have hoped as the other vampires preceded him over to the far wall. After a moment, he followed.
"So, my pretty Nicolo," Ruth said, repossessing his arm when he was close enough, "how did you defeat the manacles?"
"With this," Nicky said, pulling the reshaped paperclip from his pocket.
"More and more interesting," Ruth said, "and there I was worried the locks might have been defective. Where did you learn such a skill?"
"A very old friend taught me," he replied, playing with the wire in his fingers. "Can you tell what it was?"
He gave it to Ruth so she could take a closer look and, on cue, she gathered all her twisted family around to take a look. Nicky glanced at Bryce.
"It's a paperclip," he said.
Bryce was moving in a flash and the kid was fast, Nicky would give him that.
"Roy," Ruth commanded.
Nicky lashed out with a punch before Roy so much as had a chance to react. The big man went flying backwards, slamming into the wall with enough force to cause dust to rain down from above. As he had expected, Dani came at him, all violence and no thought and he ducked, flipping her as he came back up. He didn't dare look, but he heard shoes on stone.
Lucas and Beth came at him simultaneously, fangs bared, claws out and they were fast. Beth got him with a swipe along the ribs as he sent Lucas reeling backwards with a solid hit to his chest. He caught Beth's hand as she went to attack him with her other arm, twisting it and using the momentum to throw Beth off to the side.
"Enough!" Ruth roared.
It made Nicky's nerves rattle, even if he felt no desire to obey her. He backed away towards the table. Ruth's face was contorted with anger, little humanity left in her expression as her minions picked themselves up.
"You are making me angry, Nicolo," she said, voice reverberating with dark power. "We can't have the prey running away."
"He's mine," Nicky growled, knowing that the longer she thought he was just at the mercy of his instincts, the more time Bryce would have to get out.
"And you can have him," she said, voice softening a little again as she took half a step towards him, "but we have to keep him here."
"Mine," Nicky repeated.
"Yes," she said, smiling at him again, even if it looked twisted and horrific with her vampiric nature revealed, "all yours, but I need Roy to go and get him for you, bring him back here."
"No," Nicky said, shaking his head and keeping himself between the others and the stairs.
"Don't be silly, Nicky," Ruth said, tone sharpening. "Roy," she indicated the big vampire should go around him.
He growled before Roy could take a step.
"Nicolo," she snapped, dropping all pretence of being human, eyes flaring brightly.
Nicky wanted to look away, but he didn't dare. He could feel her power, the same power that had knocked him on his arse in the alley, trying to worm its way into his mind. He had to buy more time for Bryce, but it was as if there were cracks in the barrier between his will and hers and they were being worked open. When Roy went to move again it gave him enough anger to fight, but she put her hand up and Roy stilled instantly.
"Nicky," she said, tone cajoling again as she stepped towards him, "my poor baby, you must be so confused. You want me to be happy, don't you, so we can all be one big happy family together?"
Her voice was hypnotic. He could feel his control slipping, he couldn't look away.
"Now, when I tell him to, Roy is going to go and collect your little play thing, okay," she said, walking right up to him and casually placing a hand on his chest, "and we can enjoy watching you finish him off."
The glow from her eyes captivated him and made his stomach churn at the same time.
"And then we'll go out," she said, smiling at him and showing long lethal fangs, "and find some fun for all of us. Maybe we could even track down that husband of yours and we can start playing."
Nicky's last memory of Joe slammed into the front of his mind, the half amused, half worried frown Joe had had sending him off on his mission to find baked goods. Ruth's influence snapped from his thoughts like old elastic. She blinked, frowning slightly and he knew she had felt it.
"No," he said and swiped at her neck with his claws.
She was too fast. Where she ducked his claws missed her vulnerable neck and sliced down her cheek instead. She screamed, part pain, part fury and Nicky knew he had no time.
He grabbed for the table leg closest to him, pulling free the rudimentary stake he had created earlier. His claws had come in useful for more than making him look like a Halloween extra. Dani snarled, but did not immediately attack, eyeing the wood carefully when he waved it in her direction.
"You're one of us now," Ruth growled, hand holding together the side of her ruined face, "stop fighting."
"I will never be one of you," he snarled back. "I would rather die."
There was violence and darkness infecting his soul, but it could not smother what he felt for Joe. All it had taken was that moment of realisation and Ruth had no power over him. He felt like laughing, even as he saw his death in her demonic eyes. She stared at him and he could see her disdain.
"Get him," she said.
The other four vampires moved together this time, all focused on him and there was no way out. He fought with everything he had, but they were all like him, all strong, all fast and his mind was too chaotic to focus on his real fighting skills. Long-ingrained techniques were muddled by fiery new instincts as the violence the vampire under his skin brought tried to take over.
He lost the stake quickly, not even sure how, and claws he had no experience using were all but useless. He tried, he fought as hard as he could, but this was not a battle he could win alone. With all four of Ruth's underlings on him, he didn't have a hope of winning. They pulled him down, flattening him to the floor with pure strength of numbers.
"Too bad," Ruth said, the rip along the side of her face healing even as she spoke.
She was standing above him, his piece of the table in her hand.
"You really have such pretty eyes."
He stood no chance as she brought her makeshift stake down with the force of a piston. It slid into his chest as if it was made of steel and every muscle in his body froze before relaxing completely like a marionette without any strings. The weirdest part was there was no pain. All at once the fire in his body went out. He felt nothing. It was as if his brain and his body were no longer the same entity.
All he could do was stare up as the vampires all stared down at him.
"Bye, bye, Nicky," Ruth said, giving him a little wave.
He could not blink, he could not move his eyes, he could not so much as twitch.
"Take the body out of town," he heard as his vision began to fade. "Dump it where the sun will find it first thing. There'll be nothing left for anyone to find."
Nicky wondered if this was real, final death as the world slowly faded away.
~*~
Joe stumbled in the street, hand grabbing his heart. The sharp stabbing pain became a dull ache as it faded away.
"Joe?" Booker asked, coming up beside him.
"I don't know," Joe said, because there had been nothing distinct, but his mind whispered 'Nicky'. "Let's get to the rendezvous," he decided.
It had been a frustrating, pointless evening so far.
On to chapter 7