spin_kick_snap | Los Angeles, Tuesday

After a week of pollen and then finding out that Minako was Sailor V and Mara Jade was some kind of...knife-wielding badass, Kathy had decided that spending a week with her classmates on a ship was not in the cards. She needed a little time and space to put her confused thoughts into order, to figure out how she felt about who and what, if anything, she wanted to do about it.

Rather than hang around an empty (and frigid) island while everyone else was enjoying Mexico (so much that no one had returned any of her ~~handwavy~~ texts!), Kathy had decided to head back to LA. Rather than going back to her parents' apartment for the week, Kathy'd rented a tiny motel room where she wouldn't have to worry about rules, curfew, or her family finding out about her late night hobbies. During the day, she could work on her homework and ~~brood~~ be pensive and at night she could be Banzai, too busy leaping over rooftops and chasing down criminals to live inside her own head.

You relax your way, she'd relax hers, all right?

Not that tonight was anything like relaxing. LA was so much bigger than Baltimore, with more crime and, specifically, more violent crime. She'd just finished taking down a mugger when she'd heard gunshots coming from the north. Giving the mugger's collar one last shake, she let him go and ran off as fast as she could towards the guns.

It might be kinda sick, but she loved this.

[And the link to the thread that begins after LJ breaks the page]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

gunslingerpose

Must be Tuesday. Tuesday was exactly the sort of night that would see Gorgon in hot pursuit of some asshole with a gun, making his getaway by car. And yeah, it happened more often than he'd care to admit, and yeah, it meant getting shot at, but Fernando and his pals had a tendency toward shitty aim when Gorgon had already managed to get a hit from them, and he was sort of banking on that and the fact that most of Fernando's pals were already out cold and ziptied to the lampposts tonight.

He was grinning to himself as he drove his bike after the dumbass making his getaway, yes. It was probably fucking stupid, but he loved this.

Edited Date: 2015-02-25 01:45 am (UTC)

From:

spin_kick_snap

Normally, in a car chase, Banzai had no chance of keeping up. Sure, her top sprint rivaled some cars for speed, but it wasn't a pace she could keep up for very long. Fortunately, when she ran out of the alleyway, it was just in time to see a car speeding by, the driver leaning out his window to shoot at something behind him. The car swerved, almost knocking out a streetlamp, and slowed a bit; the driver ducking back inside to gain control of the wheel.

Banzai didn't bother to see who or what the guy was shooting at. He was distracted right now and that was the best shot she figured she was going to get. And while she might not be able to sprint for more than a few hundred yards at a clip, the car was right there. She tore after the car and then blew right past it. The driver, cursing loud enough to be heard through his open windows, didn't even notice.

Good.

She didn't bother to slow when she found what she was looking for--a building, pretty deserted, with a second story awning that jutted out almost to the street. Instead she just turned her velocity into a jump, clearing all the way up to the second story. The car was only seconds behind her, but what were a few seconds to someone as fast she was? By then, Banzai was already in position, calculating the angles. The car passed under her awning and she dropped, a rainbow meteor hitting the car's roof with a loud thud.

From:

gunslingerpose

Gorgon was busy being shot at and trying to catch fucking Fernando, and so he'd missed the rainbow blur as she shot past the car, too. So, when the fucking ball of rainbows came hurtling down from above, it was both a hell of a surprise, and kind of fucking hard to miss.

The car swerved, and maybe Gorgon took that swerve a little too for granted, because the bullet he caught in his shoulder rocked him halfway to completely fucking senseless. One moment he was driving the bike, and the next, he was tumbling, ass-over-fucking-tit like a ragdoll in a leather duster.

He didn't let himself stop and feel it. Didn't even bother to check his bike. He was beating pavement with his feet, chasing that fucker on foot, ignoring the screaming pain shooting through his arm. He was still riding a few tiers up. It sucked, but it wasn't going to stop him just yet.

From:

spin_kick_snap

There was a whole lot of not paying attention going on suddenly. Because Banzai was sliding through the open passenger window and, which was actually a lot harder than it sounded when the car was swerving all over the road. She heard the sound of the bike falling, but it didn't register; not when there was a guy with a gun pointed at her. A lot of things took backseat (haha) priority to that.

Also, she recognized this goofball. Go figure. "Easy, Fernando, easy," she said, raising up her hands to show she was unarmed.

"Go easy?!" Fernando repeated. "That crazy vampire's after me, and you just came in through my window! You go easy!"

"I'm just here to talk," Banzai soothed. "You and me, okay?"

"Just what about this scenario seems okay?!" Fernando wailed, the gun shaking in his hand but not lowering an inch.

Even as fast as she was, Banzai couldn't outmaneuver a speeding bullet. She needed room to move around to bounce; a human superball could do a lot in a confined space, sure, but not this confined. If Fernando wouldn't calm down, then she needed to make her move before he panicked and made his.

Fortunately, she thought fast, too. She might not be able to stop him, but you do know what could? The E-brake.

Banzai flung herself towards him, knocking his arm up and reaching for the E-brake. She yanked on it as hard as she could, rabbit-punching Fernando in his ribs when he batted at her. The car screeched, tires grinding to a halt while the car skidded down the pavement, leaving thick black tread on the road behind them. The front seat was a chaotic jumble of rainbows and bodies.

And then the gun went off again.

From:

gunslingerpose

And so fucking help him, Gorgon didn't want to know where that bullet went, and that sickening feeling in his gut wasn't helping any with that paranoia. But it was one hell of an incentive to catch up to the car as it finally came to a stop, to reach for the car door with the arm that wasn't quickly losing blood, and to rip it clean off the goddamn hinges.

Fernando thought he had it bad when Gorgon was chasing him. Now he was just goddamn lucky the 'crazy vampire' was just yanking him from the driver's seat and turning him around to look him in the eye. They needed to have a nice, long, silent heart-to-heart.

And then Gorgon was dropping Fernando's unconscious body to the ground like a sack of fucking meat.

He swayed a little where he stood, trying not to join him.

Edited Date: 2015-02-25 03:09 am (UTC)

From:

spin_kick_snap

Banzai was more than a little dazed from how quickly everything just happened, but she'd been smart enough to grab onto the passenger seat before the car went skidding out of control. "Gorgon!" she exclaimed, blinking a few times to make the world stop spinning. Once she could focus, however, she zeroes in on the blood flowing freely down his arm. She clambered across the seat and out the driver's side door, past the dashboard that is now nicely decorated with a hole in it. "You're bleeding!"

spin_kick_snap

Clutching the bags of supplies, Kathy sprinted across rooftops back towards the motel. Even though she couldn't be quite sure how long it had been since Gorgon had gotten shot, she knew it was far longer than it should have been for him to get treated. So she threw caution to the wind and stayed up high where she wouldn't have to worry about dodging civilians or being seen.

From:

hollywoodex-tra.livejournal.com

There were some nights that The Mighty Dragon loved being a hero. Okay, no, most nights, The Mighty Dragon loved being a hero. He would go out there, round up the bad guys, save the day, and go back home to sleep knowing that he made a difference in the world.

And, okay, being able to practically fly was a bonus, too. Not just because of the view it gave him of what was going on down below. And tonight seemed to be fairly quiet, at least on his usual beat. It looked as though there had been some action earlier, but whatever that was, the cops had mostly cleared away by now, and things were a bit calmer. Not much to worry about, except-

Hello? Down below, there was a streak of something moving at a breakneck speed, faster than he could fly, and it was coming in fast. Another hero, perhaps? He was aware of a few, but hadn't managed to meet either so far, and now seemed as good a time as any to make his introduction. Or at least check out what was going on down there, bouncing from rooftop to rooftop like hell on fire. He started to descend.

When he realized that the streak down below was white with a definite spray of blood soaked into his clothing, he came down much, much faster. Hopefully the owners of this building wouldn't mind a small crater in their roof. That much blood seemed pretty important.

From:

spin_kick_snap

Kathy really loved being a hero most nights, too. Also on most nights, she would have given her eye-teeth to meet The Mighty Dragon, the superhero of all superheroes. But tonight was not most night and rather than becoming starstruck at the sight of her idol slamming down in front of her, Kathy had an entirely different reaction.

It was one of fierce panic, followed by a babbling, "I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T WANT TO BUT IT WAS AN EMERGENCY!"

Because why else would the premier superhero in LA stop her, if it wasn't to apprehend her for her terrible crime of shoplifting?

Actually, with the sheer amount of stolen merchandise on her, it was probably reaching grand theft.

...And somewhere, several of her teachers were all shaking their heads and facepalming without knowing why.

From:

hollywoodex-tra.livejournal.com

Dragon blinked.

What else was there to do, really? He stood up again, gave the... the young lady? A calculating if baffled look from behind the green dragon mask he wore, and then, as reassuringly as he possibly could (which was very, all things considered) he held up his hands.

"Yes, I figured," he said, calmly. "You're covered in blood."

In case she (she??!) hadn't noticed.

"I was making certain it wasn't yours."

From:

spin_kick_snap

Yeah, if Kathy knew that he'd mistaken her for a boy, she'd...well, she wouldn't give a fuck about that right this minute, but later there would be issues over it. So many issues.

"I...yeah. Umm..." Kathy tried to unobtrusively hide the slew of plastic bags behind her somewhat. "It's not. Do you know Gorgon? He got shot."

Kathy wasn't going to out Gorgon to Mr. Spencer, but if The Mighty Dragon wanted to help, there was no way she'd turn that down.

From:

From:

spin_kick_snap

The comfort she'd gotten from her talk with the Mighty Dragon didn't last much past her opening the door to the room she'd left Gorgon in. She could smell the blood now, the warm, coppery smell making her grimace.

Yeah, that was probably a bad sign. And most definitely a sign that she probably couldn't wait for him to track down whichever hero he thought could help--especially if he wouldn't be able to find him until tomorrow.

No, at the very least, Kathy needed to stitch that wound closed, get Gorgon awake and eating and drinking to make up for that lost blood. Scarfing down two granola bars in a under a minute, she pulled out her phone to call Eliot again.

From:

vdistinctive

The phone had barely managed to ring before Eliot picked up. "Kathy?"

From:

spin_kick_snap

"Mmmmf." She swallowed the last of granola bar number three and tried again. Sorry, Eliot; Kathy burned through a ridiculous number of calories on a normal night. Tonight was...well, tonight was anything but normal.

"It's me," she said. "I, uhh, bought? everything I could." Try not to sound so hesitant on the word 'bought' if you didn't want Eliot to guess what you'd really done. "He's losing a lot of blood, I've got to get in there and close up the wound. But I thought I'd take pictures, first? Send them to you? And then put you on speaker so I don't have to touch my phone again."

From:

vdistinctive

Eliot's only reaction to hearing what she'd actually done would be pride -- maybe a little consternation at the apologies, which would only make her more memorable to the store clerk later. Hearing the hedge around the word "bought" only made him smile. "You're sure you don't want me out there? Portal's all set up." Hardison was grumpy and groggy and would hold it over Eliot forever, assuming he hadn't just sleep-hacked his way into the system, but it was all set up. "Pictures'll be the next best thing. Can you set the phone up for video?"

He was pretty sure he could do video on his phone.

From:

spin_kick_snap

He'd probably be less inclined to smile if he knew that Kathy had all but screamed, 'I CONFESS TO EVERYTHING!' the moment she was stopped by the Mighty Dragon, but baby steps were good, right?

"I can do video," Kathy assured him, pulling over tables so she could set everything up and every lamp in the room to make sure Gorgon's injury was well-illuminated. "I grabbed a box of rubber gloves, so if I need to move the phone while I work for you to see, I can just swap them out."

She fiddled with a few buttons and a video screen popped up for Eliot to accept, Kathy looking like a macabre patchwork clown with the drying blood still streaking across her face.

This was not a look she intended to pursue often, if should be noted.

From:

vdistinctive

Gunshot wound chic. Eliot barely noticed. He accepted the video and set his own phone up for speaker, setting the phone on the counter and setting in, grabbing his glasses for good measure. "That's good. The key here is going to be keeping everything clean. Wash up until you're sure you're as sterile as it gets, then wash up some more."

Confessions of an Ex-Hero

Los Angeles, Tuesday