Forums » General Roleplay » A late Refuelling

AJ stiffened when she saw Cody coming towards her. There were a number of rude words exploding in her mind like brightly coloured, angry fireworks. She stopped trying to move, feeling the warmth at her crotch, "Of course I pee myself." She spoke outloud, figuring things could only get better - even if they had to get worse from here.

"Hello, Cody." She tried to keep her voice low, wanting to keep Roo out of it.

Cody stopped a few paces away, and held his hand out towards the man holding the note. The guy handed it over. Cody had no sooner got hold of it, then he crumpled it and threw it at AJ.

"I don't know who you are or what you've done to Roo, but if I ever catch you near any of my guys again. I will shoot you. Do I make myself clear?"

AJ narrowed her eyes. She did not like that accusation, "Might I point out you're the one who pushed us together? You're the one who made him take care of me. You could have paired me up with someone who wouldn't have been nice to me. I'm sure you've got plenty of blockheads like you in your group." She ground her teeth together, "Best part is? I tried to talk him out of this! I told him I didn't care what he did, I'd support him. I meant it too. I like Roosevelt, a lot. Screw that noise - I love your friend, illicit job or not."

She took a deep breath, not giving him any time to respond during her rant, "I would have left you alone, if he had stuck around with you. That's. How. Much. I. Like. Him." She could feel her arms aching, her legs itching, her jaw hurting - it didn't matter though. She looked him straight in the eye, "Shoot me and see how well it goes to repairing the friendship there. I bet if you did shoot me, he'd come after you himself - because while he foolishly trusts you, he won't after that. He put faith in the idea that you cared about him enough to let him go. Instead all you did was threaten him and make him feel like a traitor. Not to your ideals, but to you. I might just be a stupid girl, but here's the thing, Cody, I'm his girl, and until the infatuation wears off, I'm going to be important to him. I hope one day you're more approachable, because honestly, you're a handsome lookin' guy."

She took another breath, "And the first few weeks or even months of a relationship make it hard to pull off the rose coloured glasses. Once they come off and he takes in what he's done, I hope you forgive him if he's stupid enough to come back to you and your abusive ways." She lifted her chin up and started to hobble away. She assumed she'd be shot, but she said what she needed to. It had felt good to defend Roo and to give Cody a piece of her mind. She kept doing that, that was the scary part.

If ever there was a time to shoot someone...he would have wanted to do so now. But AJ's words had stung and, more than that, bit deeper than he thought. He stared after her, his hand tightening around the revolver. But he knew she probably had a point. One shot would bring Roo running, but not to help him.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, trying to fight back the sudden feeling of abandonment.

"Sir?" one of the guys who had his back commented suddenly.

Cody started and looked up. "What?" he demanded harshly, looking first for police and coming up empty. "Right; let's go. Roo's made his decision." He stormed out of the park, heading across the parking lot where a sleek-looking motorcycle was parked. He arched a brow at the make and model and then headed for his own motorcycle parked across the street.

AJ flipped open her phone, turning it off. She needed to be alone for now. Realizing that the best way to go was the way that Cody just went, she changed course, walking a little harder than she meant to. Anger. Fear. Mostly Anger is what she felt.

As she walked she could feel little jolts of pain race up her leg, but she didn't care. She came to a rest near the motorcycle that had so impressed Cody, seeing him ride off. She let out a little sigh. A jolt of uncontrollable luck racing up her spine.

(Holy Magikarp, that last one was supposed to be a joke. Well jokes on the dice!)

A black-garb masked vigilante grunted softly, shifting the weight of the unconscious man slung over his shoulder, as he made his way to the parking lot where he had stashed his bike. He pushed down the cloth face mask into the neck of his costume, finding it easier to breathe without the mask and it's hidden voice modulator in the way of his face. The perp of the night was a homeless man; scraggly, smelly, months of living in the streets caked on his skin and clothes, and clad in beaten up flannel plaid. He had a number of injuries on his body, deep and long scabbed over...Chariot assumed self inflicted.

He sighed, there where too many whack-jobs in this city. And tonight's special brand of crazy was a homeless assailant that had been attacking night runners in the park. Tackling them from the path, and proceeding to scratch and bite them. Chariot had got a little of that himself, long scratch marked clawed into his cheek by flithy nails. He'd need to go to the drug store on his way back to his 'secret lair' and wash the hell outta them with something anti-bacterial and anti-septic.

But, yeah, He felt relatively good about his efforts. He stopped a potentially dangerous crazy person the police had been having trouble finding. And now this poor man could get the help he needed to realize he was not, in fact, any sort of Zombie.

He stepped over the curb with another grunt, only to find that his Indian Chief motorcycle was not alone in the parking lot. Hrrmm, curious. He trodded heavily towards his bike, calling out to AJ. "Yo, what are ya doing there?"

Roosevelt had stopped as soon as he reached the playground to note that Cody had not decided to shoot him; and risked a glance over his shoulder--where he saw AJ and Cody talking. He watched them, wondering if he should interfere, before seeing Cody stalk away. He sighed in relief as he heard Cody's motorcycle roar off into the distance.

And then he decided he might as well check on AJ. She certainly had to be shaken after all that. When he saw her head for a motorcycle that he didn't recognize, and when a strange guy appeared to ask her something, he picked up his pace. He hadn't just stood up to a paranoid gunman only to lose the one girl who'd given him a reason to do so.

AJ frowned and gaped at the stranger for a moment, a piece of paper hitting her in the face. She pulled it off, shoving it in her jeans, "Um, walking." She frowned, shifting her crutches, "Who the hell are you?" She felt ill, wondering if this was a cruel joke or someone who would hurt her or even someone who would push her out of her job.

Why did that make her stomach twist the most?

"Me? Could be asking you the same question." Black Chariot grunted out as he advanced on the bike, "But if ya gotta know, it's Black Chariot." He hiked up the unconscious homeless man on his shoulder once more, picking up the pace. "Prehaps you heard of me? Should've at least been in some of the local papers I'd hope." He reached his bike, balancing the man on his shoulder as he popped the steel side saddle and pulled out a pair black zip ties. He gave one final heavy sigh as he lowered the man and zip cuffed his hands and ankles.

Then to the motive of informing the police, as he fished in the zipper pockets of his costume for his bluetooth headset. "So, I gave you my name. What's yours? And why you looking so tense? Got something to hide?" He rolled his eyes, as he leaned against his bike. "Wait, you aren't some crazed super villian, right? You haven't planted a bomb on my bike, have you? Cause, if you did, I'm gonna be hella pissed off. This things classic."

Roo paused to observe and then stepped up a bit behind AJ. Eavesdropping in plain sight was his specialty, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he looked this "Black Chariot" over.

For the time being, he would hold his tongue, though he almost dared the motorcyclist to try something. But for now, he was satisfied simply to back up the one person who had backed him up against a formidable opponent. And this guy, he doubted, could hold a candle against Cody when it came to threatening behaviors.

The accusations made her more defensive, "I don't exactly have an alias to give out to you, since I don't think that's your real name you can call me Anna." The name felt like poison on her tongue, an unwelcome reminder of what her full name was. She wrinkled up her nose, anger surging up, along with bitter bile.

"Do I look like some costumed freak tyin' people up with friggin' twist ties? I also don't read the flippin' paper since it's full of political BS made to enrage people. I didn't plant a bomb on your precious bike, freak."

All she wanted to do was run home, change into her costume and show him. Tears stung her eyes. What was the point though? No one wanted her around, even the villains she did face might be better off without her showing up. Better chance the cops would find them and take them down.

"Hey Hey Hey! Whoa there nelly!" Black Chariot held up his hands defensively. "Back up there. No need to be tossing around the Freak word there, Miss Anna. I'm just a guy trying to make the most of his freakish gifts, that's it. Sorry for being hasty, man just can't be too careful in this line of work." He clicked his tongue a few times as he placed the headset over his ear. He gave it a double tap, and a blue LED on the side lit up. "besides, the twist ties are for your safety. Guy...thinks he's some form of zombie. That crazy or what? Bad as the woman who thought she was Catwoman." He pressed a button on the side, and then just spoke into the earpiece. "Call the Police."

He went quiet as he pulled up his face mask again, the voice modulator tainting the tone of his voice with electronic voice-box tones. "Police? I have an anonymous tip on the man attacking people in the park. I have it on good information that he will be tied up in the parking lot in 15 minutes." He grinned behind the mask, as he pressed the button again and ended the call. "Well Miss Anna, it's been a pleasure. But if you wanna continue this conversation, we might want to take it to a new location. Otherwise, we might have some questions to answer from the police."

Roosevelt had been ready to intervene when AJ seemed to lose her cool, but he waited instead for Chariot to finish communicating with the police before interfering.

Only once the guy had finished talking did he stepped forward then, and put his arm protectively around AJ's shoulders. "That was pretty sly of you," he commented. "Calling for the police before you deliver the body. As for going to a new location, I'm not going to leave her alone with you. No offense but you did just walk up to her hauling an unconscious body. Not exactly a way to impress a lady."

AJ nearly jumped out of her skin and looked at Roo, blinking, "Oh god. Don't ever do that again." She hoped he couldn't smell her pants. She was glad that she hadn't peed herself again, though it would make the itchy spot a lot warmer rather than uncomfortably cold. She leaned back into Roosevelt, "Can you take both of us?"

"Ya flatter me..." Chariot spoke in that digitally garbled tone, then he pulled down the face mask, tucking it away in his shirt. "But I think it properly keeps them outta my business. Some times, a vigilante just doesn't want to deal with the boys in blue. And sometimes, boys in blue are less than understanding of the measures I take. This way, works out for both of us."

He gave AJ's question some thought, considering the bike. "I think I can manage that. Just gonna take some mild...augmentations." He reached out and laid his hands on the gas tank of the Indian Motorcycle. "Yeah, I think I can make it work..." He grinned, "You two get to see a trick." He let out a long breath, and closed his eyes, focusing on the image floating in his brain. A warm glow spread beneath his fingertips where they touched the cold metal of the motorcycle, and then metal began to move. It began with the screws, as they unscrewed themselves with frightening speed, then plates and pieces of the frame came off the bike, the frame itself warping and twisting, spreading out. The pieces of the motorcycle floated in a chaotic mess of orbiting bits, their structures bending and spreading. And then, it all started to come together, as he rearranged the extra pieces into a side car. "There, that'll just about do it. Should be stable."

"Sorry, I'll try not to," he said to AJ. And then Roosevelt couldn't help it. His eyes widened and he muttered several comments best not said aloud to himself under his breath. When the bike was finished transforming, he looked at Chariot once more. "Um, where did you learn that trick?"

He was suddenly grateful that Cody hadn't had a chance to speak with this guy. For that matter, if Cody had had this power, the resistance leader would have been unstoppable.

And he was even more glad that he wasn't letting AJ go alone with this stranger--vigilante or not; not everyone's justice was equal in dishing it out.

AJ cocked her thumb at Roo, "You can ride with him. With me sittin' on there we'd all die. Besides, it'll be easier with the crutches." She flashed him a hopeful smile, turning to face him, "Is that okay with you, or do you want me to hang onto this stranger 'round the middle?" She leaned up to give him a quick kiss, blushing some at the public display.

Black Chariot answered simply, "I was born with this trick, according to the white coats. It just took me eighteen years for my brain to wrap around it's own gift. I'm a special sort of psychic, apparently." He pulled a helmet from the handle bars and placed it over his head, hopping onto the bike. "Don't care who sits where. Just sit somewhere. We aren't going far, I'm hungry." He announced as though that perfectly explained where they were going.

Roo nodded and moved to take the spot behind Chariot. He swung his long leg over the motorcycle easily enough before helping AJ get settled into the sidecar.

"Alright, I think I'm good to go." He wasn't going to wrap his arms around Chariot's middle, but he did keep a firm grip with his legs and leaned forward slightly. "Are you?" he asked AJ.

AJ found her way into the sidecar, wiggling this way and that. She was terrified now. More than terrified. Once in the seat she felt like she was going to die. Unbeknownst to her, it was making whatever had joined in her body go crazy. She didn't notice the feeling at the base of her spine, until it was far too late to aim it.