(Untitled)

[whipfist]

Who: Alex & Desmond.
When: Thursday night.
Where: Sector 4.
Summary: Desmond gets caught outside while the sirens go off. Alex runs across him.
Warnings: Violence?!

Comments

[bleedaffected]

Desmond hesitated a bit, but held his ground all the same when Alex appeared in his face. The sudden closeness took the wind out of him a bit, as he hadn't been expecting the other man to be as fast and able as he was. At least, he thought that was what it was. Truth be told, there was something about the way this guy looked at him that unsettled him the most. Just knowing that this guy's eyes were on him like this made the entire nightmare of the Darkness that much more intimate, that much more personal. But it was that very on-edge feeling that kept Desmond locked into the awkwardness of that moment. When Alex apologized, it only made his heart pound faster. If Desmond didn't think he sincerely needed the other man's help to stay alive, he would've turned and ran as far as he could away from him.

...But for the time being, no matter how weird this was, he needed him. This was confirmed three times over when a bit of red warning crept into the corner of his vision. When he looked to see what it was, he immediately wished he hadn't. A group was gathering in the streets, of what, he couldn't tell. He didn't care. In that moment, all that mattered was getting the hell out of there.

"Alright," he said in affirmation, mostly for himself. "Let's go."

With that, he turned and continued on his path, hoping for some kind of miracle that staying to the rooftops would keep both of them from harm.

[whipfist]

At least he seemed ready to continue onward, and Alex had no problem with that. Watching him glance over at something prompted Alex to follow his stare, right upon another horde of monsters. Typical mutations, spitters, long-tongues. Alex would have gladly stopped to get rid of them but the stranger seemed to want to keep going; he followed. Attempting to keep himself from running too fast, to keep from raising any suspicion or--

"Fuck."

A mutter under his breath as he noticed the creatures hauling themselves roofward, apparently having locked onto the two of them and planning on trailing behind them. They could probably outrun that particular group, but the fact that more were gathering up ahead and clambering up the side of the buildings they raced across meant that eventually they were going to run right into them.

The last thing Alex wanted to do was activate his biomass - no, that would definitely freak the other man out, and he didn't particularly want him flipping a shit and running the other way, presumably to his death. Still, even without the virus visibly making itself known Alex was fairly sure he could fend the things off without causing too much alarm. Could pass it off as superpowers given to him by the Core if he was questioned, even. But hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Alex kept an eye on the approaching creatures and the stranger ahead of him, deciding he'd follow his lead yet again - if he wanted to fight or what. Maybe he had some hidden ability of his own.

[bleedaffected]

The world was a blur around Desmond as he traveled, jumping lithely from rooftop to rooftop in hopes of outrunning whatever doom was chasing him down. There were things coming at him; something sizzled on the ground behind him just as he lifted his step. He decidedly ignored it in favor of focusing on the "road" ahead of him. The monsters that could climb buildings were doing just that, and Desmond cursed under his breath as the hidden blade came out again. He didn't want to stop moving, not even for a second, in fear of becoming completely overwhelmed.

There was one coming at him. Right at him. It was too far away yet for Desmond to discern what the hell it was, but it didn't matter. He steeled his nerves and readied himself for a jumping assassination, like he'd performed as Ezio so many times--

--until the very next second when something wrapped around his ankle and pulled, throwing Desmond to the concrete and dragging him towards the edge of the building to his right. Panic flared in his chest. He couldn't see whatever the thing was that had him, but he could hear the thing growling eagerly. Worse, the rope-like tendril that had wrapped itself around him had the grip of two men, and he could feel the thing's muscle contracting and working. Disgusted and maybe even a little violated, Desmond hacked at the thing with his blade. He managed to cut halfway through it when a sharp stabbing pain struck him, right where the thing had its tightest grip. He let out a pathetic yelp before landing one final blow to the thing, cutting himself free.

He took a breath and flopped onto his stomach, trying his hardest to ignore the pain of whatever it was that'd stabbed him. Fuck if it didn't still hurt. It was only then that he came to realize that that entire ordeal had happened in seemingly less than five seconds, and the monster that had been running at him before was still headed towards him and the strange hooded man.

"Hey, look out!" he shouted.

[whipfist]

Alex blew past him and had to skid to a stop as his current companion was latched onto and subsequently slammed to the ground. For a few beats Alex only stood and watched, pondering if he should help. Yet it seemed the man had it under control, despite obviously being on the receiving end of some pain as he stumbled back up. Contemplating then asking if he was all right, Alex was interrupted by a warning to "look out" - he turned directly toward the creature that had been running toward them, pulled his hand into a fist and punched it square in the face. With a squeal it flew backwards, some feet away from the impact and laid in a twitching, dying mass as it apparently bled out.

Alex turned back to the stranger, striding toward him relatively calmly, given the situation.

"Can you still run?" A glance over his leg where the tentacle had been, his eyes narrowing. Didn't really like the idea of having to carry someone he didn't know to their apartment, the whole escorting thing was awkward enough for him as it was. But sure, he'd do it, if only to give himself a small shred of inner conciliation for all the lives he'd taken. And probably would continue to take.

[bleedaffected]

"Holy shit..."

Desmond's head was spinning. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd spoken out loud or just thought really loudly. Regardless, it was in that very moment that he realized that meeting this guy in the Darkness was either the best thing that could've happened in the given situation, or the very worst thing.

He clamored to his feet awkwardly, swaying a bit before he fully regained balance. The pain in his leg never dulled, and it was now accompanied by some terrible tugging and throbbing, as though there was something still in his leg that was still being pulled by something. He sucked in a deep breath and cringed, forcing it from his mind.

"Run? If you needed me to, I'm pretty sure that, right now, I could fly if it meant getting the hell out of here," he said. He glanced over his shoulder then, just to gain a sense of where he was. "Let's keep moving. We're close now. I can make it that far."

...Hopefully.

Then, in a sudden change of pace, he took to the streets instead, abandoning his post at the rooftop. The very real threat of being dragged to ground level wasn't exactly something that appealed to him; in fact, it was probably the quickest way to die out here. Well, maybe. Assuming that... tentacle... thing... came back for him.

"I wonder if tentacles regenerate themselves," he thought out loud again, not really addressing the other man. "Like a starfish. Now that's terrifying."

He kept moving as he spoke, and already he was drawing parallels between this and his escape from Abstergo. Except, this time, he was trying his hardest (and mostly failing) to suppress an agonized groan every time he put pressure on his leg.

[whipfist]

Well, at least they were close. Apparently. Alex was silent in contrast to Desmond's talking - he talked a lot. The irreverence was odd to Alex, though after months spent in the Port he could say he was growing more used to hearing the random shit people were wont to say aloud. He continued to follow, keeping aware of the relentless monsters that approached and hoping the stranger would survive the trip to his apartment. The pain he was feeling was rather obvious, written all over his body language - Alex himself had a fairly high threshold and thusfar in the Port he hadn't experienced any real physical pain. So there wasn't much empathy to give.

Still, it'd be preferable that this man didn't die on their little escort mission, so Alex kept his guard up. And good thing, as another mutation approached along the way - Alex simply kicked its head off in the most literal sense, barely breaking the speed of his run as he did so. Standard monster fodder, really, he'd just have to hold off consuming them until he was alone.

[bleedaffected]

Desmond forced himself to not be shocked every time he saw the other man do anything other than run. While he was aware that things seemed to work differently here in Siren's Port, this was the first time that he'd really seen any of these "powers" that he'd heard so much about. It wasn't worth getting worked up about, though. Not here. Not now. The only thing that was important running through the pain and the growing limp and making it back to his apartment.

He led the way around a corner, and there, finally, by the grace of god, was the apartment building. He knew that he was probably going to get a lot of shit for fucking with the darkness proofing around the door, but at that point, he didn't care. Whatever became decayed on the inside would repair itself, and if he could keep the inside of the door barricaded enough, it would hold the monsters out regardless. He dashed to the door and began tearing at the locks. Previous to this night, in a paranoid fear of being locked into this place against his will, he'd learned the weaknesses of them all. The door opened freely and Desmond barreled inside. Then he looked to his escort.

"Hey--" he started. "You're welcome to crash here tonight."

Not that he thought that this guy would have any trouble surviving out in the darkness, but either way, Desmond was sure that no sane person would actually want to be out there, powerhouse or no. Besides, it seemed the least he could do after this guy had sincerely saved his ass out there.

[whipfist]

Finally they'd reached the apartment and Alex could relax a bit. He himself didn't feel tense or afraid in the Darkness, but having to watch out for someone who was? That was nervewracking. He hopped down and continued to follow the other, standing almost guard as the man dealt with his locks on his door. Once hearing the door open Alex was ready to simply leave, not expecting more than what he'd already got but - hearing a voice talking at him, he walked inside himself, or at least stood at the threshold.

A pause. The offer was nice, but Alex was far too uncomfortable in the presence of a stranger to even consider sleeping over. Besides - he did have a shift for the night. Not like he really slept in the city's nights. Still, he gave a short nod of acknowledgment before replying - "Gotta make the rent." Alex regarded him coolly for some beats afterward, even so. He seemed... nice enough, though it might have been desperation for help in a dire moment. Who the hell knew with these people here.

He wanted to tell him something like, be more careful next time, or see you around, but Alex felt rather awkward just standing in this man's apartment and so he turned to head back out.