Summary:Orphan catches up with Phobos in time to swoop into the rescue. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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There's a crackle of red electrical energy that sizzles across the rain-fallen water, leaping and dancing from puddle to puddle like little snaps of energy sizzling what they touch and somehow causing the rain to boil as it hits the ground. It all sees to come from the hand of a man in black with a hood, standing on the rooftop of an old Chinese restaurant/apartment building. The first floor being Xiang's Gourmet, while the second and third being the homes to Xiang's family. The power's long since gone out on the block, leaving that area of the city cast in darkness…
Except for when the red lightning licks at the base of the Mandarin symbols making up Xiang's sign, the rising neon flashes to life now and then as the man's hand emits that electrical power.
"It's never a good time ta ignore the boss' invitation, kid." The figure in black with the hood drawn and the lightning condemns Alexander, who is there in his black suit with the little kitty emblem sizzling and burnt on his left shoulder. He's staggered, on one knee as he grimaces, four small creatures capering around him with tiny spears, looking madly enough like corrupted creatures of Cupid, cherubic yet vile with disease and fangs and claws visible on their tiny bodies.
"You know how much mystical power it takes fer him ta summon me? Ta summon my kids?" He gestures with a hand towards the little monstrosities.
While Cassandra hasn't met up with Alex in a bit, he's reasonably sure that she's alright, just busy. Oracle is less than helpful on telling him where she *is*, but it's at least let him know she's not MIA or something.
Oracle is a little more forthcoming with Alex's location to Cassandra. Guess she plays favorites.
The sparkle and pop of red energy would have caught Orphan's attention anyway, but knowing that Alex is at the heart of whatever trouble is brewing has Cassandra picking up the pace. A hard pull on her swingline and Cassandra's path arcs high into the air. Letting go, she moves into a slow flip with arms out to either side and legs extended, then it's into a freefall as she gathers her limbs in close to hit the rooftop with a small splash and heavy *thud* in a three-point landing.
The hooded head comes up, the slight turn of her head taking in the small creatures and then settling on the larger one as she rises slowly to her feet. Extending one arm, palm upwards, she gestures. Fingers pressed together flip inwards. Bring it.
The spatter of water droplets catch the light, faint hints of a rainbow as she lands. The little cherubic creatures turn as she makes her arrival, squeaking in a shrill unknown language to each other as they take a fluttering leap into the air, tiny bat wings flap-flap-flapping with a faint rush of air past Alexander who is still smouldering a bit, wisps of steam or smoke trailing off his armor as he pushes up from that crouch.
"This doesn't exactly put me in the mind to pay my uncle a visit, Nieman." Alex's tone is a little sharp, a hint of pain in his words that only she can sense with the way he stands there. Though when she catches his blue-eyed gaze she can likely see the warmth, controlled joy hidden there as if he wanted to rush over and greet her… but he tamps it down so as to not give the creatures hint to that sentiment.
"Don't care, above my pay-grade." The taller figure in the black hood glances over his shoulder and to most it would seem like no warning, but to her the instant before he flicks his wrist in her direction she can tell he intends to do her harm.
"Piss off, vigilante." The wrist flicks, and a zap of electricity lances out in her direction.
The fell cupids cry and start to charge, though two are /grabbed/ from behind by the wings and slammed together roughly as Alexander starts to rush forward, holding them now like little feathery clubs and smacking them into their compatriots roughly.
Behind the cowl, hidden by the hood, Cassandra's eyes narrow a bit as Nieman turns away, and when he flicks his wrist she's easing out of the way and that crackle of electricity goes flying past her. Cassandra's head does turn with it, following the bright crackling trail it leaves and seeing it impact beyond her. Guns she's used to. This is different.
So are the warped cherubs, but Alexander seems to have them in-hand. Rather literally.
A shift of her weight and Cassandra is pushing into a run at Nieman, the rubber soled shoes a *tap* *tap* *tap* against the built-up roofing. She opens with a strike to his midsection and another at his side as she twists away. She wants to keep some distance from those hands of his.
She's able to catch Nieman's smile as he turns toward her, expecting to see a charred and smoking corpse, the grin is already there on his cracked and… burnt face. No, Nieman's features are far from normal. As if he had somehow been submerged in lava and burnt, only to have taken the lava under his skin, some hint of the fire seems to be bubbling under the surface. Enough that when his lips part with that smirk its' nothing but red and yellow behind them…
And when he's surprised by her rushing attack his eyes widening, the same red and yellow can be seen behind the irises, "What the…"
And then her foot crunches into his waist sending him rocketing back to /clang/ into a heavy antenna mast that falls over and _whuds_ onto him, making him grab at the wreckage and sending sparks up into it and around, down into the puddles nearby.
The cherubs squawk angrily as they are slammed into their brethren, sending the little creatures falling as they stab repeatedly at Alexander, trying to get him to /back off/ but only forcing him render one unconscious as he smashes it into its compatriot, then tosses it aside, the other seems more pernicious as he plants a boot on it and keeps it pressed into the ground. The third hits the ground after being struck, struggling back to its tiny feet, while the fourth throws its spear roughly at the young Olympian, only to have it deflected and knocked to the side.
The man's, if man he is, features are disconcerting, but he seems to take being hit like any other man so that's encouraging. As he tumbles into the mechanical equipment and lands amidst the puddles, Cassandra stalks after him with careful steps. He's still an armed danger.
The slight turn of Cassandra's head lets her keep Alex in sight, to make sure he's alright. He seems to have the cherubs well in hand. They'd be laughable if they weren't so disturbing.
"Oh you…" Nieman pushes the antenna to the side, scowling his glowing scowl. He'd look fairly normal, handsome even if it weren't for the horribly burnt look to him. "You… must be the girl." He starts to push himself to his feet if she lets him, one smouldering hand grabbing onto the nearby chimney, lightning flaring at where he touches but finding nothing conductive to rush over.
As he starts to say something else she can read in him still, despite the nastiness of his form, that he's going to lash out at her again, covering it in conversation even as he moves. "I heard about…"
He makes that move.
Alexander in his scuffle is finishing handling of the vile cupids. Once they stop moving they explode in a /PAFF/ of black smoke, which ends as Alexander is able to rush forward and grab the last one around the neck. He gives it a short sharp shake, not killing it, but more threatening it meanly causing it to /EEP!/ and disappear in that smoke cloud as well.
The man honestly looks like he shouldn't be up and moving. And yet he is. That has Cassandra moving back a few steps as he flails about and finally finds purchase to push himself back up to his feet.
A few more steps back, and then she starts to charge towards him as he gets to his feet. His arms snap forward and red lightning rushes for her, but Cassandra drops, skidding across the wet roof on her knees and then twisting to sweep his feet out from under him. This time when he goes down her leg goes up, bringing the heel of her booted foot down on the center of his chest before she finally pushes up to her feet.
She slices his legs out from under him, water spattering over his body as he splashes in the puddles, rain droplets beginning to fall once again and their faint impacts visible on the ground. He winces and says something incomprehensible though with the emphasis on the consonants it's probably something vicious.
Then her heel /cracks/ into his chest and he lies flat for a moment groaning even as the electrical power dances over his body. "Arrrrgh, figure War's kid would go for someone that could fight. You both suck."
Only for Alexander to step over to stand beside Cass, hand lightly touching the small of her back very briefly as if to let her know he's there… though she assuredly already knew. She can see some pain in the way Alexander stands there, perhaps physical as there's still faint wisps of smoke and clear marks on his armor. And his kitty badge is all burnt up. So sad. But there's also an emotional pain as Alex says quietly.
"Nieman, you need to go home. You're dead."
"Beholden, Alex. You know that."
"I know, man. But… you've done all you can."
"Where's your fancy sword, cousin?"
"It's not here."
He lifts a hand as if he might blast them, but Cass can read in him the lack of intent even as faint flickers of lightning flash around those fingertips. "Maybe… maybe you're right. Time to go, huh?"
"Yeah."
A moment later there's a another burst of smoke and a /PAFF/ of sound, leaving no figure in black before them. And leaving the two of them alone.
Cassandra Cain's head dips slightly as his touch brushes her, acknowledgement that she knows he's there, but her attention stays on the prone man. There's the slight tilt of her head that bespeaks her curiosity, of trying to figure out what his body speaks to her beyond what she needs for a fight. Like the way he's favoring his right side, or the way his foot is bracing, thigh flexing as he thinks about getting up.
But eventually he doesn't, and then the words he exchanges with Alex… these aren't the words of bitter enemies. When Nieman lifts his hand towards them, she stands easy as she sees that lack of will, lack of intent to harm behind the gesture.
When the man follows the grim cherubs exit, disappearing in a puff of smoke, Cassandra takes a few quick steps back and her head swings about, looking to see if their foe has merely relocated. But no. There's nothing.
which means finally, finally she can turn her attention to Alex. Her hands ghost over him, checking for specific injuries.
In that same moment he turns to her and she can feel the warmth of his greeting in the smile, the stance shift, the curve of one hand lightly on her arm. His mask is a bit scorched and resting around his neck, there are little tears along one juncture across his chest, some of the plastic having melted and connected fouling the kevlar. He must have caught one of the blasts.
But he's having none of it as he ducks a little low as if trying to find her eyes behind that mask and she can just see how much he missed her, can see the love there as he straightens up, trying to keep her attention.
And then he waves one hand slightly in her own unique way, just a little awkwardly to the side as he says to her, "Hi."
It's only then that he sees the small charred pink kitty emblem and he tears it off his shoulder, frowning. "Aww man. First my backpack and now this…" He extends it to her like some offering or gift.
The way Alex dips his head, as though to see her better, has Cassandra reaching up to push back the hood and draw off the cowl. Her short hair sticks up messily in all directions but she doesn't notice. Her mouth presses into a slight frown as her attention catches on the scorched areas and the tears.
The frown is chased away briefly as he greets her, a faint smile touching her lips and then slipping away again as he offers her over the pink kitty. Taking it in both hands, her fingers smooth over the charred emblem and then she leans forward in a sudden movement that presses her lips against his.
It's a chaste thing, barely a kiss. But there's a tension of emotion behind it. She worried for him.
Alexander's smile slips to that grin she's seen so often before as he lightly, gently extends a hand to her frizzy hair and gets a small /zap/ for his troubles, the static charge she had gained from her tussle with Nieman causing her hair to do the frizzies. He lowers his eyes from that small snap of a charge back to hers.
Then she's holding the shared kitten image between them, smoothing out those edges, small burnt bits darkening the fingertips of her gloves and falling particulate downward. He starts to say something, quiet as he murmurs, "Don't worry I'll make…"
And then she leans forward and touches her lips to him…
It's a jolt, another form of lightning entirely than the one that struck him before and it shocks him even more. She can feel the tension in him as he goes rigid, muscles clenching, breath catching. His lips part against hers to try and draw breath that doesn't come.
And then something she never likely had experienced before. As he just seems to melt against her, to lose that tension, to flow forward into that kiss as he returns it. To express in this one instant that undeniable love he has for her, tinged with such desire that is signaled when one hand lightly rests on her hip, the other around the curve of her shoulder.
He would draw her closer, his eyes closed, his head turned to the side. Breath is shared, heated, stealing across the curve of her cheek. If she were to see him now she would be able to pick up those tell-tale manifestations of… desire? The goosebumps that dimple his skin along his lithe but muscular shoulders. The flush of color to his features.
And the heat that seems to come from him when he holds her so near.
With her eyes closed, Cassandra is more than blind. She's also partially deaf. Even were they open, she's too close to 'read' Alexander very well. So instead the small fabric kitty is crushed in one hand as she presses them against his chest, reading him through the twitch and tension of muscles there.
At that shock that jolts through him, she starts to lean away, her eyes to open, apology sketched out in her mind and then washed away as the bright flash of shock is replaced by an almost needy, definitely enthusiastic, response.
Cassandra's hands slide lower, down over his chest as she reads him through touch as well as sight, taking in the love that scares her and has distracted her from his other, quieter reactions. She tilts her head, resting her forehead against his, her hands finally coming to rest lightly on his sides as they lean against each other.
Fingertips brush her hair from her eyes as he caresses her cheek very gently, leaning forward for just a small follow-up kiss that is but a ghost of a touch, as if to say 'hi' again even as he settles in to rest his brow against hers. She can feel him breathing, can feel the pounding of his pulse racing through him, his heart thundering in his chest harder than any moment she's sensed it while he was fighting with others…
But it had pounded so before. It pounded this way when they had moved together, fought together, emerging together as they displayed that shared expertise and harmony.
There had been tinges of this feeling when she had first asked him to come and play.
And there had been this feeling when they had curled close, and she held him after his father had returned to Olympus.
Then his voice is soft, bringing them back to the now as he whispers, "That was…" He leans back a little to try and find her eyes, a hand lifting from her hip so he can sign, « Wonderful. »
A small, almost shy smile is given to Alex as he follows up with that brief touch of lips, but it's slightly distracted by watching him and recalling pieces of earlier moments that were dismissed because of larger issues, or just because, like so much, spoke to things she didn't understand.
When he takes the time to sign for her, there's some amusement that lights her dark eyes. Because it wasn't so very much, was it? One of her gloved hands comes up, tracing his lips and she finally steps back from him. The cool air rushes in between them, seeming all the colder for the loss of heat.
The way her gaze shies off to the side, she's probably thinking over things, trying to make sense of it. She changes the 'subject' pointing over to where Neiman disappeared. "« Who? »"
Alexander, on the other hand, is alive with a smile that reaches his bright blue eyes as he looks askance towards her. But he allows the moment to pass as he takes a step away from her, though his fingertips linger on hers for a small instant as he slips away.
A finger points at himself, then he seems to struggle with the term, and so signs. « My. Family. »
He walks over to where Nieman had been and leans down to brush fingertips over the faint wispy smoky dust that remains, his gloved hand leaving a small trail even as water droplets fall to dissolve the remnants of his cousin, ending in just small murky puddles.
Eventually he signs, « Cousin. » Then he rises back up to his full height, wincing a little as he pulls on a piece of the armor where it's perhaps got bits of fabric that are stuck to his skin now. He does smile, however, when he turns back to sign to her a symbol she's likely gotten used to him and others using when he declares, « It's complicated. »
Family. For such a simple word it encompasses so very much.
Cassandra steps over as Alex sweeps a hand through the smoky dust, pointing from it to him. Certainly, she's never seen him poof into smoke. But she's seen his father come through a portal and now a cousin disappear. She knows that there is more to Alexander than what she understands, but what that might be still eludes her. In part because he's always so very… normal with her.
That 'it's complicated' gets a small smirk from her, but she doesn't try to get him to explain anymore.
Shaking his head he motions to the dust and the motes, then signs to her, « No. I'm not dead. Not yet anyway. » Though that might just confuse things all the more since to broach the topic that at some point in the future he might die… and then return as more Phobos than Alexander… that might be hard to explain to her.
His knees crackle a little as he pushes himself fully upright, then he gestures to the small cellphone in his shoulder plastic pocket, the display visible when he lightly touches it and keys it to life. He taps on the illuminated Oracle display and gestures to the side, « C'mon. Big night ahead of us. »
There's a pause then and he signs, « And I missed you. »
He grins, then pulls up the burnt but still serviceable mask and starts to walk toward the edge of the rooftop. Back to Staten Island with them, and back to figuring out what Euryale is up to.