Oops...

[leekspin]

WHO: Orihime, Axel, Roxas
WHAT: Trying to help someone out lands Orihime in hot water. What to do? Run like crazy!
WHEN: May 29, 2008 - Evening
WHERE: Clairbourn Streets

Comments

[red_travels]

Axel was bored. So far, Clairbourn was...nice...but dull. Even with the sudden rather inexplicable kidnapping of that blonde girl Roxas was so adamant about helping, it seemed that not a lot of stuff really went on in this little Colorado town. Axel had taken to sneaking out of the house after dark to practice forms with his chakrams; it cleared his head and got his mind off how dull the entire summer was going to be at this rate. He figured Roxas knew he was leaving at night--he wouldn't have been surprised if the kid followed him sometimes--but he really felt no need to explain himself or apologize

[leekspin]

It was only a half-scream, completely muffled by Axel's pressed hand. She went stiff almost instantly, her heart in her throat as she was grabbed. Her first thought was that they'd caught her. But then she realized that there was no way they could have managed that here. Who would stand around in a construction site waiting to head someone off? It didn't make sense.

She stared up at Axel with wide, wide eyes, but she didn't struggle, and she didn't scream. There was a faint nod at his words, and she would have offered a more verbal response had he not slipped away so quickly.

~He's like a ninja!~ Orihime thought to herself, holding a curled hand beneath her chin. ~That's...so COOL!~ She hunkered down next to the tractor, trusting in its shadow to hide her from her pursuers, and trusting in Axel. Thank goodness he'd been here, it gave her time to think, and figure out what to do...not to mention count how many had been following her

[red_travels]

Axel tilted his head and squinted at the group of men, his bright eyes glinting in the pale light as he shifted his weight smoothly from one foot to the other and tapped the toe of his boot on the dirt. Then he lifted one arm to delicately scratch beneath his chin with the pointed spike of one of the chakrams, regarding the man who had spoken first.

"I ain't lookin' to fight," he admitted, and held his arms out to his sides, the chakrams catching the halogens brightly, red and silver and sleek and deadly. "I's just practicing. Wasn't expecting company, actually." He let his arms fall to his sides and quirked one eyebrow. "Girl, huh?" he asked then, clasping both chakrams together in one hand to rub the bridge of his nose with the other. "Yeah, I seen her," he said after a moment of looking thoughtful, and hoped the girl had enough faith to know he wasn't actually going to give her away. He jerked his head in the opposite direction of the tractor she was crouched behind. "Little thing, orange hair?" he asked. "She ran off that

[leekspin]

Orihime contained her glee. She was so happy that he lied! Just like Bugs Bunny! Whoever this guy was, he was very cool. How did he stay so cool and composed like that? And what great lines, too!

She had to enlist him into the Gurren Brigade after this.

"Mebbe it does," the one assumed to be in charge of the hunt replied mildly, looking Axel up and down. "But it really ain't your concern. And we ain't too fond of questions. Best to just keep 'em to yourself, hm?" he suggested, his hand moving all too casually to push back his brown leather jacket to reveal the butt of a pistol holstered at his hip. With his other hand, he jabbed two fingers in the direction Axel had indicated, two men immediately breaking away to run after their quarry.

That made six. If that guy had to fight, Orihime decided she could probably jump in and help. She tensed her muscles, furrowing her brow and readying her fists. Hopefully he wouldn't have to fight, not if there were guns involved. But she wouldn't let him protect her alone.

[red_travels]

Oh please...he was gonna punch him in the face? Axel had to fight to look interested as he easily moved out of the way, arching his spine backward and spinning on one heel all in one fluid motion. As the man staggered past him, thrown off-balance by the force of the missed punch, Axel just grinned and lifted one flaming chakram, holding the flames pointedly right up against the man's backside, just long enough to make a point. And then he spun, landing a sharp roundhouse kick to the small of the man's back and sending him stumbling

[leekspin]

"Er...I never really thought blood was all th-that pretty, eh heh heh...!" Chills... Orihime had never experienced anything that made her skin crawl like that man's wandering hand had. With her arms twisted back into that painful grip, moving around too much could possibly cause them to break

[red_travels]

Axel quickly dropped the man he was currently dealing with, driving a knee up into his groin and then an elbow into the back of his head, leaving him with four. Well, until the two that had been sent away earlier returned at the sound of the altercation, kicking him back up to six again. He swore under his breath and his eyes flicked toward the copper-haired girl, who was currently trying her damndest to get away from the two men, and doing a decent job of keeping them occupied. She was...feisty. And Axel was impressed. But there really wasn't time for that at the moment. It seemed that he had gotten in a smidge over his head this time. As he cautiously took a step back, analyzing the situation, he found himself wondering absently if Roxas would be pleased with the fact that he'd stuck his neck out to help a girl in need...or if he'd be pissed that he'd jumped in headfirst without getting a handle on the situation beforehand.

Oh man, Rox...wish you were here, he found himself thinking ruefully. He really coulda used the kid's

[punk_of_hearts]

Roxas smirked from where he crouched atop a pile of steel beams that were going to be used as the framework for a building, lowering his gun and nodding once in serious approval as he made out the hand signals. How'd Axel always know when he was around? Unless he was just hoping Roxas was there, and signaling to him just in case.

...Nah.

Meet up. Left. Corner. Two. Right. Great, Axel was going to bolt left and duck around the second corner to his right, and he wanted Roxas to meet him there. It was like he knew where Roxas was already--that pile of steel beams was the second corner on the right. With an excited grin, he watched his friend run, the fire going out, a bunch of idiot thugs chasing him down in the darkness.

Well, none of that. They couldn't have the thugs lurking in the shadows, now could they?

Roxas lifted his gun again, taking careful aim at the leader of the pack following his best friend, and pulled the trigger.

KFF

SPLATTThe guy yelled, arms flailing up to his face, where glow in the dark paint was now

[red_travels]

Axel didn't like leaving Roxas alone with four grown armed men and two more potentially on the way...but the girl was the whole reason they'd gotten into this, and if she got hurt then it would have all been a waste. Not to mention Roxas would have punched him for being a failure at being a good boy who protected girls like he was supposed to

long post is long @_@

[red_travels]

She was still alive, just unconscious, and Axel smiled faintly. He didn't know who this girl was or what she'd done to piss these guys off, but she sure had a lot of spirit, that was for certain. He lay a hand softly against her cheek, patting it gently to try and urge her awake, but she didn't stir. "Hey...hey, bird, wake up, come on..." Nothing. Not even a flutter of her long heavy eyelashes.

Axel sighed and glanced over his shoulder. He didn't hear anything from where he'd left Roxas...but that didn't necessarily mean nothing was happening. He scanned the lot for his other chakram, catching the flickering firelight off in a shadowed corner, and rose to retrieve it, snuffing the flames out in the dirt like he'd done with the first one, and then hooking them on his hips before returning to the girl's side and taking to a knee to scoop her up into his arms. She was alarmingly light; he was always surprised at how...small small things really were. Although, Axel was inordinately tall, and though he wasn't incredibly strong,

Re: long post is AWESOME!

[leekspin]

She couldn't have weighed much more than 100 pounds. Her Japanese heritage gave her a slight frame, and her legs and arms were still skinny with adolescence. The rest of her had yet to fill out to catch up with her more obvious assets. Orihime didn't stir as she was lifted, her head lolling against Axel's shoulder once he'd secured her in his arms. She was dirty and disheveled, but at least her breathing was normal. The girl was a lot tougher than she looked

long post continues to be long

[punk_of_hearts]

"Idiot teenagers?" Roxas echoed from his perch atop the hill of gravel, smirking as the four caught sight of him. "Be careful what insults you throw around, pal; seeing as how you prolly dropped out of high school, this idiot teenager here could very well have a better education than you managed."

He tilted his head and laughed. "Unless, of course, you're a self-professed idiot. Takes one to know one and all." Ducking behind the hill of gravel then, Roxas listened to a few angry gunshots which buried harmlessly into the mountain of gravel. One, two, three... Most guns had six rounds, right

[punk_of_hearts]

The walk home was uneventful; Roxas made it just fine, not even swaying as he walked by the time they made it out of the construction lot. They seemed to agree that taking her to the hospital was a bad idea--they didn't know why she was being chased and didn't want to exacerbate the problem by making it more public. Besides, Axel had a spare couch in his room so it wasn't like putting the girl into Roxas's bed would really be inconvenient or anything. It was just until she woke up and told them where to take her home.

[red_travels]

Axel wasn't expecting his father to meet them at the door...but when they walked up the steps to the porch, there was Sage, seated on one of the plastic patio chairs outside, a cigarette caught between two fingers and a surprised look on his face. He was a tall, lean man in his mid-forties, with thick dark brown hair and narrow green eyes; he had only recently picked up smoking again, and Axel knew that it was because getting settled into this new job was wearing him out. This was probably the last things Sage wanted to have dropped in his lap at the moment

[punk_of_hearts]

"Totally," Roxas agreed, pushing open the door and holding it for Axel. "I can crash on Axel's couch and she can have my bed. Besides, it's not like we knew where the hospital was anyhow." It hadn't been part of the tour.

[red_travels]

Sage dropped his cigarette onto the porch and stepped on it, then followed the boys inside, closing and locking the door behind him. "Well, I'll trust you two to keep an eye on our guest," he said. "Let me know if you need anything; I'm heading to bed though. I have work in the morning

[punk_of_hearts]

Roxas had been kind of quiet through the conversation, mulling things over in his usual way. So this girl with no official karate training was approximately a black belt and had gotten herself into that whole pot of trouble just to help out a random stranger?

...Wow. That sounded like something he'd do

[red_travels]

Axel pouted. "Can't we just...both be Batman?" he asked. "I don't wanna be Robin; I'd look terrible in kelly-green tights." He looked thoughtful. "Who else is in the Justice League

[leekspin]

"You could be Ghost Rider!" Orihime suggested helpfully. She knew her comics and heroes...mostly! Enough to know that Axel would probably like Ghost Rider. "He goes around on a flaming motorcycle, and his skull is on fire a lot! He's pretty awesome," she beamed. Sure they were from different comic universes, but logic didn't need to apply in Orihime's wishworld

[red_travels]

Axel barked a laugh. "Ghost Rider, huh?" He glanced at Roxas and put a hand on his chin, making a pouty face. "I dunno...whaddya think Rox? How's my Nicolas Cage impersonation?" He laughed again. "Man, that movie was terrible. But it'd be pretty cool if I could go around with my skull on fire. Bet that'd freak people out..."

He glanced at her then. "Yeah, we're still in Clairbourn; Rox and I just moved here from New York a couple weeks ago. We can take you home if you want. Or you can crash here." He averted his eyes briefly, adding, "I got a big old tee-shirt or something you can borrow so you don't have to sleep in that torn blouse. But if you need to go to a doctor it's fine; my dad works for a big law firm, I'm sure he won't mind. 'Sides, if you live close by, we can let your folks know what happened and they can take care of it, if you're really that worried about the money. Shouldn't stay injured just 'cuz you don't wanna ring up a bill; that's dumb."