Let's Dance
Raye yawned against her hand. She'd stayed out too late, running errands on a school night, and she was more than ready to go home and take a hot bath before crashing into bed. Her grandpa was probably sound asleep already by now, and she was pretty sure the new guy at the temple had similarly crashed. And that was good. She suspected that
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Harry glanced at the clock on his desk as he hunched over his homework for the day. Not the mundane kind by any stretch, but a page full of magical power calculations. It was late, the best time to work on them in the relative peace and quiet of the temple where he'd been sent to learn a few tricks to better control his control over magic. The old man who ran the temple had gone to bed long ago, but the girl who worked there had been out all night and it sent a pang of worry through his head.
Then again, one thing he had learned was that nobody in their right mind wanted to mess with Raye and he tried to keep his mind on his work. Still, he glanced toward the open window a few more times, waiting for any sign of her return.
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Meanwhile outside there were apparently a few guys not exactly in their right minds. There were other predators out there aside from the supernatural kind and a few of them had zeroed in on the girl walking home all by herself. A couple of them had been following her for several streets and it was only when she got to the base of the temple steps did the other two appear, turning a corner and cutting her off, approaching her with nothing honorable on their minds.
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"Don't you have anything better to do at this time of night?" Raye said waspishly. There was no mistaking what they were doing, loitering around the temple and eyeing her with those stupid smiles, and she wasn't going to give them the benefit of the doubt anyway. She was tired, she was cranky, and she wasn't going to put up with these smug jerks a second longer than she had to.
She just hoped she didn't wind up waking her grandfather, he needed his rest at his age.
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"Sure we do," the leader of the gang said as they closed on her, "how about you help us out with that?"
As if on a signal, all of them rushed her together, grabbing at her arms while the ones behind her tried to get ahold of her to cover her mouth to stop her from screaming.
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So they'd been planning this, had they? Raye's irritation burst into anger. She was furious, particularly at how the two who'd rushed in behind her had managed to track her this far without drawing her attention.
She knew she needed to get her back against the wall, but there wasn't any time before they were on her. She blinked in shock as a rough hand managed to clap over her mouth, but she didn't scream. She was too mad for that.
As they grappled for her arms, she retaliated with her feet, stamping her heel down on the first sneaker-clad toe she could find, before lashing out with a fierce kick from her other leg. They were not going to get away with this!
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One good thing about this temple life, it was pretty good for walks.
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One of the punks barked a shout of pain as Raye's foot came down on his and he jerked his leg back but still kept his grip on her arm. It hurt, but it wasn't enough to convince him he might have bitten off more than he could chew, at least not when he had three of his buddies on his side.
"Get her, damnit!" One of them whispered loudly, the kicks managing to ward them off for a second before they managed to grab hold of her, half-lifting her off the ground as they started to drag her off.
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Her leverage was lost as they picked her up, and she realized with a nasty, gut-wrenching feeling that she just might be in over her head.
Impossible, she told herself. That sort of thing didn't happen, not to her! And it wasn't going to happen here of all places! Just how far did they think they could go, anyway? Raye struggled and fought, fully prepared to sink her teeth into the hand that was clamped over her mouth, or thrust a foot into someone's nose...whatever it took to make them pay for manhandling her like this.
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Nobody could argue that Raye hadn't put up a good fight, but numbers and the element of surprise had won out. Her free leg had been caught and all her struggles weren't doing any good as they manhandled her toward the car and to who knew what.
What they hadn't counted on was surprise working against them, at least not until the handle of a rake cracked across the back of the head of the one that had just grabbed her leg, almost knocking him over with a pained cry. The group froze, looking at their partner then up at the gangly teenager who had just clocked him, holding a cracked rake in front of him like a weapon, a grim expression on his face.
"So I guess you guys'll want to surrender now?" Harry quipped.
"Son of a-- get this guy." The leader stood up, rubbing the back of his head as two of his fellows let go of Raye to advance on Harry, after making sure the last one had a firm grip on her to keep her arms pinned.
Great. Best case scenario, he was looking at a three on one fight. Best case scenario was the guy holding onto Raye jumped in and gave her the chance to get away. Either way, if these guys were mean and stupid enough to try carrying a girl off the street in the middle of the night, they probably wouldn't mind beating a would-be hero into the pavement as payback for letting her do it.
Harry was missing equations already.
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To her surprise, her leg was suddenly free, and one of the thugs was missing. It took her a moment to realize he was on the ground, and it took her a few moments longer to realize someone else was on the scene now. Someone impossibly tall and gangly and stuck out like a sore thumb wherever he went in Tokyo.
Harry?!
She wriggled her shoulders, fighting to get free of the last man who had her, but with his arms thrown around her tight, she wasn't having much luck.
The leader stayed in front of Harry, trying to make sure he had the teen's attention as he fit a thick set of brass knuckles onto his fingers. His companions, meanwhile, were using the same tactics they'd used on Raye as they maneuvered to surround and flank their target.
One came in quick from behind, aiming to get a rabbit punch into Harry's kidneys.
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Still, he knew how this all played out. He'd seen the movies. The gang of street toughs comes along and gets into a fight with the lone, brave hero who promptly whips out his secret lifetime of combat training and wiped the floor with all of them and got away with the pretty girl.
Harry didn't have a lifetime of training, at least, nothing that would help him in a fightfight and as much as he wanted to, he couldn't incinerate these clowns off the street. Hell, even a fireworks show to scare them off might be enough to get his head taken. He'd have to go old-school. A lifetime of getting beat up by bigger and meaner kids than him, and being really good at taking punches while throwing enough to make them question whether he was worth it.
No sooner had the guy behind him thrown his punch than Harry spun, yelling like a maniac and breaking the wooden rake handle in half across his arm. The punched missed his kidneys but hit somewhere on his ribs instead, the momentum slowing enough that it just hurt. There was no time to hurt.
The broken rake hit the ground, discarded and Harry lunged at the other guy who had come at him, throwing a wild punch at his head.
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Harry's target squawked as his head snapped around with the blow. He staggered back, then lunged forward himself, driving both fists in a sequence of quick punches toward Harry's middle. The other was angling, trying to find a good spot to throw a punch without hurting his companion.
The leader, however, didn't care where he hit. Back, front, head, junk...it was all the same, just so long as Harry felt the pain. He was going to regret getting nosy tonight.
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Harry never let up either, using his momentary advantage to go on the attack but it didn't last long. He was surrounded and he just wasn't good enough to not get hit. He kept his chin down and his arms close, lashing out wherever he could find an opening, mirroring the gang leader's strategy of just hitting whatever he could. He had to stay on his feet, that thought reigned supreme, he was dead if he went down.
Which was a lovely thought, until a lucky punch landed dead center between his eyes. It might have been those brass knuckles. All Harry knew was that lights had exploded in front of his eyes and everything went dark for a second, and he was on the pavement when the world came back into focus. Three sets of boots and fists hammering into him. It hurt. A lot.
Almost as much as getting pelted by baseballs until he created a decent shield.
Pure survival instinct welled up in him, or maybe that was just the taste of blood filling his mouth, and he kicked out at a kneecap, forcing his legs under him and lunging forward to slam his shoulder into the middle of the first guy he saw.
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At this rate, Raye thought, they would probably kill him. She'd held herself very still, remaining aware of the man who had seized her. Seeing Harry clocked in the face distracted him, just enough that the hand over Raye's mouth moved. She pounced on the opportunity and bit him savagely.
He shrieked, and Raye screamed.
"CALL THE POLICE ALREADY!!!"
It wasn't a very ladylike scream, but what mattered was getting these horrible people to leave Harry alone.
"Don't give up, Harry, hang in there!" she growled between grit teeth as she renewed her struggle to get loose. It stank that she couldn't do more than yell support and encouragement...but it seemed to work for Tuxedo Mask, right?
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By now, the fight had drawn more attention. Lights coming on in windows and voices shouting at the combatants that the police had been called.
"What?" Harry stumbled to his feet, spitting some blood from his mouth and turned to the two still standing. "You're not getting nervous, are you?"
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"Ditch her," the leader finally concluded, shooting Harry a disdainful look. "He wants her that bad, let him have her."
They shoved Raye toward Harry and hustled to their car, as police sirens began to sound in the distance.
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Still, maybe the bloody grin that flashed on his face was more scary than goofy at this point.
He oofed a little when Raye was shoved into him, managing to keep his footing and reflexively held onto her shoulders as the punks beat their retreat. And then he spoke a simple sentence that was probably a little odd coming from somebody who probably looked like nine miles of bad road through Hell.
"You okay?"
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Raye could do little more than stare at Harry when he posed his question. How could he even...?
"I'm fine," she said, taking one of the hands on her shoulder and maneuvering his arm around her as she offered her support. "Come on. Let's go to the kitchen and clean you up, get some ice on your face." She still couldn't believe what had just happened. There was no way of telling whether she'd been targeted at random, or because of her father's political position, but she never thought anyone would actually attempt to kidnap her.
Moreover, she never thought Harry would be the type of person who would pit himself against four thugs for her sake.
She wanted to thank him, and tell him how lucky it was that he'd been there when he had. But she couldn't seem to find the right words. Instead, she stayed close to his side, quietly leading him up the steps.
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