Wake me up... [[ Active/OPEN ]]

[book_meister]

Characters: Maka Albarn, whoever finds her...
Content: New arrival. Happy days...
Location: An alley near the Empire State Building
Time of day: Evening.
Warnings: There are crabs D:

Comments

fat post sorry >=

[eba05]

This was probably one of the dumbest things he'd ever done. Not necessarily the dumbest, but definitely in the running. Ten minutes ago, he'd been sane enough to know that running unarmed through crab-infested streets was a terrible idea, but that had been before that voice had come over the Network. The voice he knew so well, that he hadn't heard in nearly two months, and... he couldn't just sit and wait, not if it really was her, not if she was in trouble!

But that did not change how overwhelmingly stupid it was. And the onslaught of crabs was reminding him effectively of the matter. He'd fought off three of the critters, and was sporting a fantastic set of cuts to prove it, along with what would soon be some brilliantly-colored bruises. And perhaps a sprained wrist, he wasn't sure yet. He'd been in too much of a rush to grab his tie, glasses, or jacket, but the shirt was getting a masterful beating. Rosette would kill him even worse than Chief. But he hadn't slowed yet, Missy was still out here, somewhere...

33rd Street. So she had to be close now, right? He murmured the lyrics to the song that he'd picked out of sheer panic and need when the first crab had lunged at him a few blocks back. "We'll go dancin', everything'll be all right~..." The song was completely irrelevant to the situation, but he was going to stick with it because that's what Agents do.

The skittering of bug legs on cement, and two more of the crabs appeared from an alley. Spin gritted his teeth and didn't stop his pace. "Wake me up before you go-go! Don't leave me--" The first crab skree'd as it jumped at him, and he brought a kick to the jaw that sent it tumbling backwards. "hangin' on ya like a yo-yo!" The second one charged, needle-like teeth gnashing, and he aimed another kick, but the little monster leapt over and clung onto his lower leg. A shudder of panic ran down Spin's spine before he thudded down on one knee, pinning the crab to the pavement. There was a crack of exoskeleton under the weight of a grown man. The thing let out a shriek of agony, and its many legs trashing and giving his pants a few fresh rips.

"Wake me up, before you--" The first of the crabs had recovered, and was coming in for another bite. "--go-go!" He staggered back from the fallen foe, and took a quick look around, and ran in the opposite direction, towards a fire escape. "I don't wanna miss you--" with a grunt, the young Agent caught the first rung and pulled himself out of the crab's reach, "when you hit that high!" The creature below made a series of irritated clicks and made to climb up the wall, before a rather nice dance shoe knocked it down. The creature's noises became faster and more furious, and it snapped its jaws up at him--

Before Spin dropped off the latter and landed firmly on top of it with a crunch. "Jitterbug," he spat. The Agent then made a pained expression. "Ohhhhh Presley goo in my socks."

[diva_missy]

"Shibusen?" Missy repeated the name to herself, but it didn't sound familiar. However, even if she did hear it mentioned before, it probably would not have stood out: there were monster crabs beating at the door and clicking away trying to get in, and she didn't have any peanuts or shot guns or anything. The fact that she couldn't hear anything, or even feel anything remotely close to a rhythmic beat to even encourage Maka along frightened her further, and she crossed her arms, eyes wide behind her pink tinted shades.

If she didn't know any better, it looked like a city. She'd been to countless ones, so she was familiar, but.. none that she remembered being destroyed. It was like being in a world where they lost to the Rhombulans..

She shuddered again, crossing her arms tightly. God she did not want them breaking through.. "R-Right! Lets bust a move, then!" As she glanced around for an exit (or something she could use to defend herself, just in case) she paused.

Did she hear.. singing outside?

She turned toward the window, leaning out a bit and glancing around, squinting behind her lightly tinted shades. Catching sight of the agent beating up crabs was certainly something she didn't expect to see, but it certainly was a relief seeing a familiar face. Luckily, from that height, she couldn't see the extent of his injuries.

"Spin!" She called out, waving her arm. "Be careful! There's a bunch of those crab critters around here!" Like he didn't know that. The crabs crashing into the door again made her flinch, and pull away from the window slightly to glance over. "They're gonna get in here next!"

[book_meister]

Maka was about to charge to the back of the building, toward the door marked "Stair Well," but the singing outside caught her attention as well.

Who was crazy enough to be out there? By the looks of it, he didn't have a weapon either. But the girl seemed to know him, so she nodded again and shoved Missy toward the stairs before turning back to find a way to get the man in without letting too many crabs in...

The second story window, maybe? It was worth a shot.

Maka motioned "up" to the man, and, hoping he got the idea, made for the staircase. She threw the door open, made her way to the window near the fire escape, and thrust it open.

"Up here!" she called, pipe at the ready in case any crabs decided to tag along.

[eba05]

Spin was taking a moment to catch his breath and try to shake as much crab guts out of his shoe when he heard her call out. There was an intense shudder down his spine, and he looked around--"Missy! D-don't worry, s'not a problem!" It was a lie, but the excitement from seeing a familiar face was numbing his brain a bit.

An unfamiliar girl darted into view and motioned to him--up? Look up? Go up? She darted out of view, and Spin scrambled for the shoe he'd thrown, and in a moment he heard her call again. "Gotcha!" He gave an uneven salute as he balanced on one foot to pull his shoe back on.

His adrenaline was starting to fade, but the mission wasn't over yet. "Wake me up before you go-go!" he called out, and clambered up the fire escape, giving a weary grin to the girl. "'Cause I'm not planin' on goin' solo. You're all okay here, right? Both of you."

[diva_missy]

And so, Missy was shoved toward the stairs. Sure, she was rather athletic: well, as much as her job called for, anyway. But still.. long distance running? Not so much. If nothing else, she was a sprinter, and usually charged by other's rhythms and adrenaline anyway.

Still, she ran up those stairs as fast as possible, coming out on the second floor and started looking for something to barricade the door with as she shut it quickly. Or even hit those things with. Ugh, that was not a thought she wanted to entertain!

Hearing Spin's voice brightened the mood a bit; at least for her, anyway. Kahn's chosen didn't really work much alongside the agents, but it was still nice to see them! "As alright as we can be!" She called out, trying to peek over Maka's shoulder to see him. "Can you make it up here?"

[book_meister]

"Yeah, we're good." Maka stepped away from the window to let the man in, making sure to firmly shut it behind him.

Now...they needed an escape route. She turned to the man, hoping he was familiar with the place, and gestured toward the door. "Do you know this place at all? I'm afraid I don't recognize anything..."

Hopefully, he did know, because a glance out the window told her that the crab kishin were attempting to scale the fire escape, and the crashes against the doors and windows down in the lobby was only growing louder. She prayed that it wasn't cracking glass she had just heard.

[eba05]

"Fine! Great. Good. Dandy." He had to lean against the wall heavily after making it inside, breathing hard. He could do this. He could totally do this. It was a long song, there was plenty of time left. Or that's what he was telling his shaking legs.

With a deep breath, he quickly composed himself and looked at the other girl. "Y'mean Manhattan, or the buildin' itself? I know m'way around the city well enough to get around, but... Well, there generally ain't a safe route outside anymore, those things're pretty much everywhere in the last few days." He shifted his headphones. "Best bet is finding an openin' and bein' fast, sad but true. That pipe y'got is a great advantage, too."

[diva_missy]

Words could not describe how excited she was to see Spin, despite the disarray he was in. She'll flip out at him later for being injured, of course, but still. It gave her mind something concrete to focus on, nevermind that there was no music to block out those horrible screetchy clawing noises.

Missy doubted she'd ever be able to sleep again.

"There's more of those things?!" Missy's voice rose with worry, one arm remaining folded across her while the other danced nervously by her mouth. She glanced around for something to defend herself with once more, looking all sorts of uncomfortable about running blindly through a city chased by thousands of flesh eating monsters.

[book_meister]

The pipe, in Maka's mind, wasn't much of an advantage. If Soul had been here they wouldn't be stuck in this building, defending against crabs that would inevitably break through the thin glass and...well, it was probably better not to think about what might happen. She had seen kishin do many a terrible thing. These crabs didn't seem much different.

The man--Spin?--was, Maka could tell, not much of a fighter. Why hadn't she worked harder on getting stronger? It seemed as though every terrible thing that could have happened was about to happen. No Weapon, no strength, just a lead pipe and a couple of partners who could take one, maybe two crabs down each. That was being optimistic.

She took off at a run, ushering the other two down the hall toward what she hoped was another stair well. If there was even a back exit out of this place they could get out into the open, and Spin could take it from there.

[eba05]

Apparently, their luck wasn't completely drained; the stair well did lead to a back exit, and an unobstructed one, at that. "Wake me up, b'fore you go-go..." the young man muttered, as he checked for safety. The back street was clear, for the moment, but Spin was well aware that with that many of the crabs scrambling in front of the building, it wouldn't take long for some to scuttle back this way.

"Take me dancin' tonight." Spin started down the street, slower than before: partially to ensure the girls could easily keep up, partially in hopes that quieter movement would keep crabs away longer, but mostly because now that he'd found his coworker, his energy was on a rapid decline.

"S' just a few blocks up," he called as they reached 5th Ave, as much to the others as himself. His wrist was really starting to throb. "Cuddle up, move in tight," he mumbled, clenching his fist, "we'll go dancin'--" a check over his shoulder, and he realized with a jolt that three crabs had started to chase after. "--tomorrownightlook out!"

[diva_missy]

Missy ran, powered by sheer adrenaline at this point. She wanted to keep up, she didn't want to drag these two behind! No way would she let them be hurt because of her..

Even though her speed and running skills sucked, training at the level she did left her at quite the endurance level. So at least her running was consistent. Either away, the fear was definitely helping, as she totally didn't understand what was going on. Was this some sort of strange nightmare? Hopefully.

The cry startled her - as she almost thought they were in the clear - when she turned to glance over her shoulder toward them as well.. and promptly tripped.

Stupid shoes.

[book_meister]

Following a little behind Missy to make sure the girl kept up, Maka kept her concentration on her running and the sounds of possible followers. Spin, just as he had said, seemed to know his way around, and they made decent progress before Maka heard the approaching crabs and Spin's warning.

As Missy tripped, Maka skidded to stop just past the girl, and, leaving Spin to help her up--"Get her and run!"--she charged back to swing the lead pipe at one of the approaching crabs. She caught it square in the jaw, and with a sickening crunch it landed lifeless in the slush nearby. Maka ignored it and turned quickly to the other two, jamming an end of the pipe into the rib cage of the creature as it clawed at her.

She was determined to keep the mouth away, however, and shoved it off and into the other crab before dashing after the other two. She couldn't do this without Soul. The pipe was growing too heavy. Still, there were others in trouble here, and she couldn't afford to seize up mid-battle. Still, she kept an eye for more crabs, prepared to stop again if needed.

[eba05]

Spin honestly could have had a heart attack when Missy tripped, and made the turn back to her so quick he practically skidded. "Aren't Divas s'posed t'be the most graceful ones?" he blurted, panicked frustration blotting out his previous relief to be seeing her at all.

He helped her back up, and glanced to Maka's battle to make sure she was handling it before tugging Missy onward. "It's cold out there, but it's warm in bed..." Even if Maka had done perfectly well on her own, the mere act of turning his back was painful.

When Maka caught up, he gave her a look brimming with apology. "You're all right?" he hoped. "Almost there! They can dance, we'll stay home instead!"

[diva_missy]

Missy opened her mouth to defend herself: her head felt dizzy and all this running was tiring her out and etc, but... Spin was right. Divas were supposed to be the graceful ones.

Damn, she was getting in the way.

Instead of talking, her energy was focused on getting herself to her feet and scrambling after. What she wouldn't have done for Star or Foxx around.. How was she supposed to function in this nightmare without them?

She said nothing, mind too frantic to really focus on coherent words, heart racing once they waited for Maka to catch up.

[book_meister]

The cut on Maka's arm from the crab's claw was already healing itself over. It was nothing compared to many of the injuries she'd received before, and the black blood, while not quite as powerful as it would have been had Soul been here, was doing its job of solidifying over the wound.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied to Spin as they rounded a corner. No crabs in sight.

She supposed, by what the man had said previously, that they were probably headed back toward his home. What a terrible thing to do, to let these parasites find where he lived. But Maka wasn't one to complain about help when she had it. That need for complaint or worry had nearly cost her more than her own life, and if the man wanted to help, so be it.

[eba05]

Here we go. We're here. We're good. We're great. Phrases of this general nature repeated over and over in his head as they reached 40th Street. We're here, we're freakin' awesome, we're super rad.

They turned the corner. "Oh for the love of Aretha--" five more of the little freaks held the street between them and the Hotel. The nearest, who had been inspecting a long-abandoned garbage can, made a series of excited clicks as the trio darted into view. They were a matter of yards from safety, and Spin was not about to sit back and hope Maka could take it alone. He was suddenly no longer in the mood for Wham.

"All systems go," he grunted, speeding ahead of the others, going wide around the crabs. The closest one took his bait, ignoring the girls and scrambling after him. As both leapt for him, he let his legs slide out underneath him, skidding over the pavement and letting the creatures sail overhead.

"Soon the world will know!" With a quick hop back to his feet, Spin snatched up the trash can lid and held it up as a shield. "The fury of attack--"

One of the crabs spun and leapt again just as he got the lid up, and he was knocked on his back, with the rip of a sleeve and a thoroughly scraped elbow. He creature was on top of him, snapping, the cheap metal the only barrier between the Agent and its jaws. That's my shirt, you stupid little--! "Feel the wrath of--!" He twisted the lid to the side, sending the crab at an angle with it. As the creature reeled and tried to right itself, Spin pulled back his makeshift shield and brought the narrow end crashing into the shell's weak spot, the joint between body and head. It let out a gurgle before the legs went limp.

"The Super Rad, Super Rad."

...One down.