Baltimore, Thursday Night

[spin_kick_snap]

Banzai leapt over the edge of the building, pausing for a moment on one hand to let her quarry move into position, and then shifted her weight a fraction of an inch to let gravity take over. Freefall. A moment when she was almost flying, albeit in one direction. Hurtling four stories to the ground and loving every minute of it. She makes a noise only at the very last moment, turning her quarry's face up to hers. His expression is comical in its disbelief, which turns to pain a second later as she lands handsdown on his shoulders. If she really wanted to, she could probably dislocate his arms or maybe even break his collarbone. But that wasn't Banzai. She didn't like hurting people, not even scumbag drug dealers that liked to hit working girls.

The hitting women part really had her tempted, though. Just a little more pressure than usual and snap, crackle, pop. No more hitting people for him!

But she'd been Social Justice Warrior, not Social Vengeance Warrior, so she refrained. She hit him with just enough force to numb both his arms, forcing him to drop his briefcase with a gasp. From there, she flipped behind him, dropped low, and lashed out with her foot. He hit the ground with a cry and she kicked herself up into a standing position and dover for the briefcase, knocking it away from his grip.

That's when his three bodyguards decided to wise up and get involved.

They had guns, of course. Jerks like these always had guns. Fortunately, Kathy wasn't where they thought she'd be. She'd taken off just as soon as the briefcase had gone skittering into the shadows.

Spin kick. Hand spring. Cartwheel, backbend, roundhouse. Down went one of them. Hammer kick, vault, flying leap, gymnastic ribbons around his wrist and yank. Down went the second. Layout salto. Spin kick. Forward lunge. Spin kick.

And down went the third.

"Looks like it's just the two of us now," Banzai said, grinning at the dealer. "Do you wanna give up? Or let a little girl kick your ass, too?"

He whimpered and put his hands above his head.

Under her mask, Banzai grinned. God, she loved this.

[NFB. For anyone out in Baltimore, though thread with gunslingerpose comes last chronologically, please!]

Comments

[gunslingerpose]

Gorgon blinked. And then blinked again.

"Shit," he said, eloquently, before he was taking all of one leap to end up beside the crates, pretty much plowing through them to get to where the bleating was coming from. Were there crates raining down into they alleyway as he chucked them aside? Yes. Did Nikolai care? Not particularly. "Hang in there, baby, I've got you."

There she was, leg caught, half-buried under rotting wood. He cleared out a few more of the extra crates, and then, looking at the way her leg was caught, frowned and just snapped the boards apart, careful to not let them hurt her as he did so.

And then, yes, he was collecting her in his arms and cradling her to his chest, looking her over for injuries.

"Hey, hey, ssh. You're okay. You're fine, Kathy. You'll be fine..."

[spin_kick_snap]

Banzai trembled as he picked her up and didn't stop, even when he held her close. In the wild, that kind of thing would have meant death, either long and slow due to dehydration, or harsh and quick, when something else found her.

Like an eagle. See?

"Mah! Mah! Mah!" Scared, Gorgon! Scared! She nuzzled him under his chin, careful not to let her horns catch him anywhere, and just shook. No more exploring for her tonight. From now on, she'd stick close.

[gunslingerpose]

Aw, come on, Kathy. Gorgon wasn't an eagle. You'd be fine.

Scared shitless, but fine.

"Yeah, yeah, you're okay," he murmured, making his way back to the edge of the rooftop. "I've got you, here. I won't even jump down to the bike, how's that sound?"

He'd already located the fire escape and was making his way toward it.

[spin_kick_snap]

Keep downplaying the threat that eagles presented, Gorgon. You'd learn. You'd learn.

"Mah." It was the most pathetic 'mah' in the history of klipspringers. She cuddled closer to him, resting her chin on his shoulder as she finally stopped trembling.

It was hard being so tiny in such a big, scary world.

[gunslingerpose]

Then she was just going to love this next part.

At the bottom of the fire escape, Gorgon looked down at her, and then over at his bike. By some miracle, he hadn't hit it with the crates he'd tossed to the side. And the saddlebags were probably plenty big enough for one scared little... thing... to fit in one, her clothes and the rest of his supplies stashed into the other.

"Once we get back to the island, what am I even going to do with you? It's not like I know how the hell to find Barry. Or Sparky." He was not looking up the website, no. "Will you be okay if I put you down for a bit, now?"

[spin_kick_snap]

GOD SHE WAS A KLIPSPRINGER, WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO COMPREHEND?

"Mah." Go ahead and try to interpret that, Gorgon.

[gunslingerpose]

Comprehend it? Nikolai couldn't even pronounce it.

"Yeah, I figured you'd say that," he murmured, crouching over to put her down gently on the ground before opening up his saddlebags and getting to work tucking Banzai's things into one, and then transferring his stuff into the same bag. "And you figure you'll fit in one of these? It's the only way I can think of to get you back to the island, right now."

Yes. He was still talking to the antelope.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was just going to crowd him and try to literally be as underfoot as possible. Because she was still scared and needed to be AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE to stay safe.

[gunslingerpose]

It was fortunate that he didn't have to walk around the bike in order to rearrange things, wasn't it? Gorgon took a few more moments, and then tucked the shirt of Banzai's gi back into the empty saddlebag. Something familiar, and hopefully more comfortable, might help her relax a little.

"Okay," he said, dusting off his hands against one another. "Time to pick you up again, Banzai."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Mah mah!" Yes, good. Picking her up. She liked that. He could do that again. Once he pulled her out from where she was hiding between his legs, of course.

[gunslingerpose]

"Mah mah," he mumbled, reaching down to pick her up again, gently, so as to not spook her. He had no idea how the hell he was going to start his bike without giving her a heart attack, at this rate. But if he deposited her into the saddlebag, like so, and sort of... tucked her in, with her own uniform. Something familiar, right? "How's that? Cozy?"

He couldn't exactly buckle up the straps with her in there like that, which had him a little concerned. He was going to have to go slow all the way back to the island. But he couldn't leave his bike behind, and he wasn't up for the adventure of trying to run back with a scared little whatevershewas tripping him up the whole way. The saddlebag seemed like the best bet.

[spin_kick_snap]

The little klipspringer was giving him a dubious look. This was not as nice as when he'd been holding her, no. In fact, it felt entirely weird, with something NotRock, NotGrass, NotMoss beneath her legs.

"Maaah," she bleated. Couldn't he go back to carrying her? That had been much better.

[gunslingerpose]

"Not cozy," Gorgon sighed, reaching down to try to get her to relax a little, running his fingers along her neck. "Fair enough. But I don't know how else I'm going to go about getting you home, baby."

[spin_kick_snap]

The stroking was helping. She butted his hand with the side of her head to let him know she wasn't thrilled about this, then licked him and reluctantly settled down.

This wasn't ideal, MateProtector, but for you, she'd try.

[gunslingerpose]

Gorgon really appreciated the gesture, tiny goat.

"Okay, you're settled in?" For the record, being licked by an antelope was fucking weird. Especially one that happened to be Banzai. "I'm not completely sure how to start my bike without freaking you the fuck out."

This was getting complicated already. Awesome.

"Do me a favor and... don't."

Yeah, that would help. But what else could he really do? He took a deep breath, one hand still on Banzai's neck, and then started the bike, holding his breath.

[spin_kick_snap]

Antelope. She was a goddamn antelope, Nikolai. Pay attention.

She was also a goddamn terrified antelope as soon as he started the engine. That roar could ONLY belong to something huge and hungry and planning on devouring them both. EVERY KLIPSPRINGER FOR HERSELF!

"Maaaaaaaaaaaah! Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Maaaaaaaaaaah!" She was up and bucking now, trying to get out from under his hand and out of the saddlebag. "Maaaaah!"

Funny how antelope bleating could almost sound like crying.

[gunslingerpose]

Yeah, that was... pretty much the reaction he was worried he'd get from her. Great. And people were going to come looking, if she kept that up.

He turned around again, leaving the bike running, using both hands to try to calm her down. One on her neck, stroking her, and the other attempting to sort of re-rearrange her in the saddlebag again.

"Sssh, it's fine. It's just the bike, baby, you're safe. That's me making that sound, that's all."

He had no idea if she could understand what he was saying, but if he was being soothing... maybe that would help? He had no damn clue.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was still trying to leap out of the saddlebag and run away, though he was preventing her from doing so. Under his hands, he could probably feel her heart racing and her fast, almost hyperventilating breaths.

YOU WERE GETTING SAD ANTELOPE EYES NOW, NIKOLAI. SADDEST. BECAUSE YOU CLEARLY WANTED HER TO BE EATEN BY THE LOUD MONSTER.

[gunslingerpose]

"Ooookay. The bike was a bad idea." Nick sighed, and, keeping one hand on her, shut the motorcycle off again. "C'mere, Banzai, c'mere..."

Yeah, he was pulling her out of the saddlebag so he could hold her against his chest again. That seemed to be working well enough before.

[spin_kick_snap]

Okay, somehow MateProtector had made the predator go away and she was being cuddled again. That was good. That was very good. She was very happy like this. Still trembling, but good.

"Maaaah," she bleated, but quieter now, rubbing the top of her nose under his chin. He was a good MateProtector, he was.

[gunslingerpose]

"That's right," Gorgon muttered, kicking his bike into neutral and dismounting it, walking it out into the street. "Yeah, maaah. You're safe, it's okay."

He was going to walk his bike all the way home, wasn't he? While carrying Banzai in one arm.

Lamest bike ride ever, Kathy.