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 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.

Sigh. Roxas and his damn...nobility.

Sliding around the side of the building, he spied the girl on the ground, her copper hair spilled out around her head like a puddle of carrot juice, the two men hovering over her as if they weren't quite sure what to do now that she was unconscious. Axel grit his teeth and made a scoffing sound. Good lord men were pigs sometimes--the hungry looks on their faces as they prodded the girl's long legs and tugged at her dress to get a view of her panties made his blood boil.

Axel was not a gentleman, really...not in the traditional sense... He didn't really feel the need to hold the door for girls or pull their chairs out for them at the dinner table. He didn't feel compelled to give up his seat on the bus for a girl (unless she was like...really old...) or other such genteel things that apparently defined a fine upstanding young man. Axel treated people as respectfully as they treated him, and while he did usually try and give people the benefit of the doubt, he didn't usually find it necessary to be nice first. He wasn't a mean-spirited guy...he just didn't try very hard to be very nice, and any niceties were usually a positive byproduct of something else.

But one thing Axel really didn't like was when people picked on people weaker than they were. He was certainly a fan of giving people a hard time, but where was the fun in bullying someone who couldn't fight back? Axel didn't hit girls...unless they hit him first and hit him hard, and even then, she'd probably have to hit him six or eight times for him to lose his temper that badly. He didn't really treat women as fragile flowers--hell, he knew girls that probably could have kicked the crap out of him back home--but it still somehow felt wrong to strike one...like he was violating some fundamental law of humanity.

So when he saw those two men--two of them!--taking advantage of an unconscious girl half their weight, something in him just snapped, and he whorled his chakram around on his hand, stepping purposefully from the shadows and quickly moving to where they crouched over the girl, prodding at her like she was some sort of anomaly of nature.

With no lead in, Axel just strode up alongside one of the men and slammed his fist into the man's temple as hard as he could. The man didn't even whimper as the world exploded black and white and gold with stars and then faded out and he slumped limply to the ground. The second man looked alarmed, and quickly scrambled to his feet, patting his hip for a weapon that wasn't there, and then backpedaling when he realized he was unarmed.

There was murder in Axel's eyes, and the man backpedaled again. "Y-you wouldn't kill an unarmed man, wouljda, red?" he stammered, and Axel scoffed.

"No," he replied, his lip curled in a sneer; "you're not worth bloodying my conscience over."

The man relaxed a bit, and Axel grinned...before silently snapping one leg up and kicking the man soundly between the legs. The man howled and crumpled to his knees, and Axel grabbed a fistful of his hair, pulling his head back and glaring down at him as he writhed in pain.

"You're a waste of carbon," Axel snarled, and the man's eyes widened in fear as the redhead raised his chakram.

"I-I-I thought you said you wouldn't kill me!" he yowled, and Axel just smiled.

"I never said I wasn't gonna hurt you, though," he replied, and brought his arm down hard, slamming the cross-section at the center of the spiked wheel straight into the man's face, soundly breaking his nose and sending him crumbling lifelessly forward to the pavement, his face bleeding. With a scoff, Axel wrung his hand to get the man's blood off his fingers, then knelt beside the copper-haired girl and carefully placed two fingers against the side of her throat.

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, most things were very very small in comparison to him, and were surprisingly easy for him to carry.

Rising to his feet, he turned and squinted in the semidarkness to see if he could make out where Roxas and the Glowing Ninny Brigade were...

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.

Across the yard, there was a grunted snarl as the men tried to smear the paint off of their heads. Even if they'd been sniped by paintballs, it still hurt like a mother, especially when struck in the noggin. The one who'd been hit in the chest had stopped wheezing, and was substantially better off than his companions.

"Where they at?" one of them growled, his eyes shifting warily from side to side. This situation wasn't looking so fantastic now that they'd gone from chasing a pretty girl to dealing with at least three opponents who could not only fight back, but fight well for the most part. The leader was down, and there was no sign of their targets anywhere.

One snapped his wrist to flick the paint off of his fingers. It was smeared all over his hair and clothes, and it stank. "Maybe we should just forget it. It's dark, they couldn't have got a good look at our faces."

"Yeah..." another agreed, still searching the area around him. "What's the point anymore?"

"The hell's the matter with you?" the chest-splattered man frowned. "It's about /pride/ now. Or are you happy getting your ass kicked by a couple of idiot teenagers?" That seemed to do the trick. Frowns deepened and shoulders squared. Yeah. Those kids would pay for messing around with the likes of them.

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?

...Better not bank on that, he decided. But once the man was in a full rage, Roxas poked his head back up, watching the four of them come barreling down the alley and toward the hill of gravel, the man with the gun in the lead, the knife-guy right behind him. Just for fun, Roxas sniped the man with the gun--he'd only been shot in the chest before--in the head this time, the paint ball rupturing on his forehead and both compartments of paint mixing together to glow a cheery hot pink--ooo, that'd been one of his new neon rounds! The glow-in-the-dark paintballs were like glowsticks, really, except the chemicals wouldn't kill you, and he'd just bought some assorted colors, which he'd poured into his paint chamber atop the older regular glow-in-the-dark ones.

"Aahh, you stupid punk kid!"

BLAMM BLAMM

Roxas laughed good and loud, watching through his scope as the two leaders charged at him, plowing through the foundation and finding themselves up to their ankles in cement. Oop, that was his cue. He slid down the hill of gravel and into the bulldozer's cabin...thing...turning the keys in the ignition (he'd taken the time to set it up beforehand). The machine roared to life and Roxas threw the most obvious lever into gear, which sent the machine rumbling forward.

There was yelling and yowling and another gunshot, and once the gravel had been sufficiently pushed over, he killed the engine and hopped out again, poking his head over the little mound that was still left, looking out over a beautiful sight.

The gun guy and the knife guy were buried up to their chests in heavy gravel, their arms caught beneath the surface and their heads glowing cheerfully. One of the other guys was thigh-high in gravel, and the other was glowing faintly behind the other three. "You know," he mentioned with an amused grin, "even if this was about pride, you did a pretty shit job of keeping it intact. Unless...this was your plan all along?"

And just to make sure he didn't stop glowing any time soon, Roxas sniped the one free guy in the chest, a bright blue splatter glowing cheerfully in the night. Then he tossed his gun over his shoulder to hang down his back, drawing his bokken and grinning like an idiot.

He walked over the gravel to the two trapped guys, clocking each of them quickly in the temple with the butt of his wooden sword, and then dodged around the other one to take on the blue guy, who was darting around like maybe he could lose Roxas in the darkness.

"Gee, maybe if you weren't glowing, you retard," laughed the boy, turning his bokken in his hand excitedly. Man, he'd never actually been in a fight before. This was nothing like sparring, he'd tell you what.

[[I suck at fight scenes, so--cut back to Axel and Orihime and they can come around the corner to see Roxas finish up taking out the two remaining XD]]

ADDITIONAL LONGPOST IS LONG

[red_travels]

Axel found a grin sliding over his face as he neared the foundation site where he'd left Roxas not too long ago--there was the sound of dismayed groaning (as the men found themselves shin-deep in cement, no doubt), then a rattle of machinery (as Roxas started up the bulldozer), a yelp of alarm and then the distinct noise of a LOT of gravel being moved, and louder yelps of alarm. Sounded like Roxas was doing a decent job with the last four guys. He'd heard gunshots, but didn't see any blood in the light from the halogens above, so that was a good sign.

Pausing in the shadow of a nearby tractor, Axel frowned down at the girl in his arms, then squinted in the darkness to try and see where the kid had gone. He could faintly make out glowing colored shapes as they moved in the darkness, and moved a little closer, noting that two of the men were trapped in the gravel, buried up to their chests. Axel barked a loud laugh--oh man...the construction crew was going to have an interesting surprise waiting for them when they showed up in the morning...

Now where were the other two? And where was Roxas? He hoped the kid was okay. Roxas was quick and strong and sharp as a tack, and Axel wasn't really worried for him, but it was a little disconcerting that he'd lost track of him. Cocking an ear to the night air, Axel listened, focusing on the distant but distinct sound of Roxas's triumphant laughter. Oh, good. The kid was apparently winning. Moving toward the sound, Axel rounded a corner in time to see the boy land a sharp strike with his bokken, and the man with the cheery hot-pink face crumpled to the ground not far from the other man, who was glowing a pleasant bright blue. Man, those neon glow-in-the-dark paintballs had been a really good investment after all.

Axel would have applauded if he hadn't had his arms full of...girl, and so instead he just lifted his chin and grinned broadly as he walked to where the blond boy stood victorious over their fallen foes. ...Well this evening had sure been more exciting than Axel had planned on. Roxas turned his face toward Axel and grinned wickedly.

"Nothing less from the Roxinator," Axel laughed. "Fight, fight, fight, kiddo; nice job, you really cleaned up--"

His praise was cut short when he suddenly noted that something looked very wrong about Roxas in the instant the boy moved into the circle of light from the halogens above. His glass-blue eyes were clouded, and his posture was shaky, and as Axel watched in silent alarm, Roxas took a halting step forward, and then his knees gave out and the boy collapsed forward, crumbling bonelessly to the asphalt.

"Roxas!"

Re: ADDITIONAL LONGPOST IS LONG

[red_travels]

With a cry of horror, Axel darted forward, but even if he'd had a free hand, he wouldn't have made it to the boy's side in time to catch him. He dropped to one knee beside Roxas, his heart thudding in his throat. Carefully resting the copper-haired girl on the ground beside him, Axel turned his full attention to his friend, his eyes wide and his pulse racing. What had happened? There had been gunshots--had Roxas been shot? Shit--he'd never forgive himself if the kid was really hurt badly. His big hands hovered over Roxas's fallen form a moment, something like panic sweeping through his limbs.

There was no blood--but Axel was suddenly reminded that two of those goons had been wearing brass knuckles. Oh jeez...if Roxas had been punched in the head...

His face contorted with fear. "Rox? Rox, come on, snap out of it!" he cried, gently running a hand across the back of the boy's head. He winced, hissing through his teeth as he felt a sizable goose-egg forming on the side of the boy's head. Shit...he had been hit in the head. A lance of fear streaked through Axel's gut. What if...what if the kid lost his memories again? What if...

"Roxas!" he shouted. "Roxas, wake up...answer me, kid, come on!" He gently rolled the boy onto his back and slapped his cheek softly with one hand. "Roxas! Roxas?"

He couldn't carry both of them. And if Roxas had suffered a head injury, he couldn't throw the boy over his shoulder to carry the girl in his arms. And...throwing the girl over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes was out of the question--if Roxas woke up and saw that, he'd never let him hear the end of it.

"Dammit..." It looked like he was gonna have to wait until one of them woke up.

...Hopefully one of them would wake up before any of the stupid thugs did.

[punk_of_hearts]

"Oi oi oi," Roxas yowled, flailing a hand up at whoever was smacking him in the face. "Oi oi. Didn't your ma ever teach you not to exacerbate head injuries?" What a...Roxas thing to say. "You ain' supposed to slap people who've been hit in the head--the hell you thinking?" He opened his eyes and squinted up at the redhead, though his eyes didn't want to focus. "Your ma never teach you any manners?"

He sat up slowly, put a hand to his head and groaned. "The hell happened?"

[red_travels]

Axel breathed a sigh of relief when the kid came around and started sassing him. He'd been prodding the younger boy's face for a good seven or eight minutes, trying to cajole Roxas back to consciousness, and when the first thing out of the boy's mouth was attitude, Axel figured he wasn't beyond help.

He frowned, leaning over the boy and shaking his head. "My ma never taught me much of anything 'cept how to be a royal pain in the ass," he complained, worry creasing his brow. "You all right, kid?" he asked then. "Do...you know where you are? ...Who you are?"

Who I am...?

[punk_of_hearts]

Raising an eyebrow at the redhead before him, he announced, "Well, I appear to be in a construction lot, late at night, armed with a wooden sword and a paintball gun. Very clearly, I am Batman." And he rose to his feet, a hand on his head, his other hand sheathing his bokken across his back. "Which makes you Robin, if I'm not mistaken. And where'd our Catwoman go?" he inquired, looking around and hissing through his teeth at the goose-egg hidden beneath his spiky hair. "She take off?"

[red_travels]

Axel gaped at the boy a moment, and watched him get to his feet after announcing that he was obviously the Dark Knight.

Oh good. He was fine.

"Hey, how come you get to be Batman?" he asked sharply, frowning up at the boy. "I'm taller, older, and I have the girl, so I think it's pretty obvious who the sidekick is in this situation..." He reached over and gathered the girl into his arms again, rising to stand beside Roxas, relieved beyond words that the younger boy apparently hadn't sustained any significant damage. "Catwoman's still unconscious," he said; "the goons had already knocked her out by the time I got back over there to check on her--she's been out the whole time." He frowned down at Roxas. "You...you sure you're all right?" he asked, genuine worry in his voice. "Think you got cracked pretty good in the head. Can you make it home all right?"

[punk_of_hearts]

"Adurr. Or well, yeah--prolly." He shrugged. "Punched me right in the damn head with that brass of his; screw seeing stars, man--I was pretty sure Angelina Jolie waltzed up and asked me on a date." He grinned. "And that is why I get to be Batman."