Baltimore, Monday Night

[spin_kick_snap]

Dante and Kathy's evening out in Baltimore--she was a little hesitant to call it a date, per se--couldn't have come at a better time. A night out not thinking about the weekend was pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered. And if not thinking about the weekend happened to include a long motorcycle ride through Baltimore at speeds other people might consider 'unsafe' ('insane' might not have been entirely incorrect, either), a stop at the bar for some drinks, and the promise of much more excitement to come, well, then who was Kathy to argue?

"So, where to after this?" Kathy asked, feeling flushed and warm from the drinks and company in about equal measure. "I could show you some of my favorite places around Baltimore, but most of them are just, like, places that it's fun to ambush drug dealers and stuff."

[NFB and for one please!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"Fuck you," Kathy said, using him to drag herself upright. "I'm a hero is what I am. He would have died. Like the other guy in there. But he didn't."

And so your argument was invalid, Dante, nyaaaah.

Though Kathy was going to rest her head on your shoulder for a second. Just until it stopped swimming. But still, hero! Invalid argument! Shut up!

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante could have pointed out that she had someone with her who was more or less flame-proof. He could have also pointed out that people died all the fucking time.

"Fuck you," he shot back instead. Then just grabbed her. She did not get another word of a say in this-- there was another loud crash behind them, so fuck it, he was getting back up on that fence and launching himself across the gap.

[spin_kick_snap]

And if she'd thought he would have gone downstairs without arguing with her about it, she would have sent him! But he'd made his thoughts on heroism very clear and Kathy hadn't wanted to waste the time trying to convince him it was the right thing to do.

Though he was awfully handy to have around, she could admit that. She curled up around him and let him haul them all to safety without another word of protest. She was at least aware of the bad shape she was in.

"I hear sirens," she murmured, trying not to whimper whenever the burn across her side brushed against him.

[rebelseekspizza]

Would they know to look for these people on this roof? Probably not. Dante's eyes darted back towards the burning apartment building.

"I'm going to put these people down by the street," he said. "You stay here. If you move, I'm going to fucking kill you."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy could be stubborn, but she wasn't generally recalcitrant, at least not when something was legitimately in her best interest unlike some other characters I could name. "I'll stay," she promised in a rasp. "Not moving, see?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante let her go entirely. He grabbed the teenage girl and hauled her over his shoulder.

He threw Kathy another look, and then he was gone.

[spin_kick_snap]

Okay, so Kathy did move, but it was only so she could check on the other people they'd rescued, making sure they were still okay and breathing and hadn't gone into shock or anything.

While she did that, she took a brief inventory of how she was doing. Her shirt was pretty much destroyed and her skirt wasn't much better, but a quick hand over her face showed that her eyebrows and lashes had survived intact and her hair had as well. That burn on her side hurt like a bitch and her palms stung as well, but they were manageable injuries. Her lungs ached and her chest was sore, but she didn't seem to have any trouble breathing and she wasn't wheezing. At this point, that was pretty much the best she could hope for.

The evening? Okay, that was probably pretty unsalvagable at this point, yeah.

[rebelseekspizza]

By the time he got back, Dante had removed his shirt from his face and slipped it back on. He squatted down by the couple; this time when he looked at Kathy, it was to take a quick stock of her injuries himself.

Wordlessly, he picked up both people and slung them over his shoulders like they barely weighed anything.

He walked back towards the edge of the roof.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Wait, Dante..." Kathy called after him, or at least tried to. Her voice wasn't exactly cooperating. "I just--thanks."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante would've glanced over his shoulder, but, well-- those were occupied. "Just go get the bike," he called, "If you can walk."

He hopped off the roof.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy could walk! It might have taken her a minute or so to get herself going and she couldn't even begin to approach her normal speed, but she could walk. Less said about how she got down to street level the better, but the important thing was that she got there.

And so several minutes later--probably several minutes longer than Dante expected--she was puttering the bike over to the edge of the gathered crowds, away from where the fire engines were even now screaming up to the curb.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante'd picked up his coat on the way, too. He slipped out of the crowd with the hood pulled over his head, which was more of an ingrained instinct than any real fear the police were going to identify and grab him here.

"You good enough to last until the Fandom clinic, or do you need a hospital?" he said, walking up to the bike.

He didn't trust hospitals.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm okay," Kathy said. "I just need some time to rest and fluids and all that good stuff and I'll be all right. Definitely no hospital. Let the paramedics focus on the people who are actually injured."

A couple of little burns barely counted!

[rebelseekspizza]

"Fine," Dante said. Because again: didn't fucking trust hospitals. Happy to avoid them, unless Kathy was bleeding out or something. "Scoot."

[spin_kick_snap]

It wasn't that Kathy mistrusted hospitals, per se, but she really didn't want to have to explain what she'd been doing in the building, especially since the explosion itself was likely suspicious.

She slid backwards, leaving plenty of room for Dante to sit. "We, ahh, might want to go a little slower back to the island," she told him. "I don't know if I can keep my seat if we try to break the sound barrier again. Sorry."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante slid her a look over his shoulder this time. "I figured," he said, sliding into the seat and hitting the throttle again.

But not nearly as hard.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy wrapped her arms around him, holding much more tightly than she had when they'd been laughing at the speed limit, and rested her head on the broad expanse of his back.

"Pissed?" she asked.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yep."

That shouldn't really be a surprise.

It wasn't even really so much that the night was ruined; it was just because that had been so. Fucking. Dumb.

[spin_kick_snap]

They had saved lives; at least one, perhaps as many as four. Kathy was willing to be dumb if those were the rewards.

"Okay," she said softly, and relaxed against him. He could yell or curse or whatever he wanted when they got back to the island. Until then, Kathy was going to rest. She was absolutely exhausted.