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om_mainMidnighter realizes that John's been away from the school for too long. When Rahne comes for their run, he enlists her help in tracking down the wayward feral. What they find is John's past catching up with him.
WARNING: Graphic Violence
When the wolf came to find him that day for their usual play, Midnighter shook his head. "I'm headed into the City. Daken's been gone too long." And Talon was up in Canada, which meant he felt even more responsible for checking up on the kid.
Rahne's hackles raised at just the mention of the name. Everyone knew better by now than to so much as say John's name to her. Everyone except Midnighter--though that was about par for the course. If her clothes weren't so far away, she'd have something to say about Mid's little plan right then.
"I could use your nose, since he won't pick up his fucking phone," Midnighter added pointedly. He could give a shit what had happened between them. Student security mattered more than broken hearts.
She blew a disdainful breath at him. Good. Maybe he died.
"Don't," Midnighter told her with raised eyebrows, and a dark look. He didn't need to speak wolf to get the sentiment behind her reaction. "We stick together. Even when we're assholes." Fuck knew he was one, after all.
Rahne lowered her head petulantly. Midnighter had been good to her. Well, as good as Midnighter could be, from what she could tell.
Midnighter fucking hated having to ask for anything, so he gritted his teeth together, took a breath, then forced himself to come out with it. "Will you come and fucking help me out?" New York was a big city, and her sense of smell was better than even his.
She danced back and forth, pacing and thinking. She hated John, of course. If he stayed lost, all the better for her. But then again...awful and wonderful memories were trying to push their way into her mind. Hadn't there been something good? And she knew how it was to have no friends. Probably if she and Midnighter didn't look for John, then no one would. But she didn't have to be cheerful about it. With her ears flattened back, she gave a little affirmative bark.
Fucking finally. Midnighter nodded back. "Meet me in the garage in twenty."
She chuffed at him reproachfully. A 'thank you' was in order, though she hadn't really expected one. Twenty minutes later she was in the garage wearing sensible shoes, shivering, and rethinking her decision. She had left a vague note for Sharon, and printed out a map of New York City.
It wasn't long before they were speeding along the highway towards the City, in one of Xavier's loaner cars. Midnighter drove like he fought: mercilessly and efficiently, his brain always calculating velocity, angles and force both for the car he was driving and the ones around them. His driving might seem dangerous, but it was actually as safe as it got, as he was constantly taking every possibility into account.
And he really didn't mind the silence stretching between them in the car. He wasn't one for music, or for idle chit chat.
It seemed that Rahne was too terrified of his driving to care, the pace of her heartbeat told him, and he did let up slightly. He could take pity on people, sometimes. When he fucking liked them.
Now, driving in New York was way more of a challenge for him and his temper, and he was grateful when they ditched the car in a parking lot. Even walking in New York was hell on him, but at least the danger tended to be less than at the wheel of a car, and that made it slightly easier to bear.
"Ride in the subway until you catch a whiff of him?"
Yeah, that was his best plan, and he fucking hated it.
"This whole city...it's..." The overload was indescribable, a garish and reeking cacophony the likes of which Rahne had never imagined. Maybe it would be a little better on the subway. She shook herself a bit to snap out of it, and stepped closer to Midnighter. "Yes. Yes, if you think that's best. I've never been here."
"Do you need a moment?" Midnighter asked. It would have been impossible for him not to notice the state she was in.
"I'll get used to it." She didn't want to hold them up, not for a little bit of shell shock that would soon pass. "The city's huge, right? Which means we shouldn't waste any time."
"We'll come back tomorrow, if we need to," Midnighter replied, still not moving, giving her some extra time before they got going.
Gradually, she realized that she had a constant to hold on to; Midnighter smelled the same as always. He was a beacon of familiarity. She began to even out. "Why? Why take this on?"
"We stick together," he simply answered, and nodded towards the exit, since her vitals had evened out. There was more to it than that, but he wasn't exactly the sharing type.
"Mutants, you mean?" She followed him, falling in step at his heel like she had grown wont to do in her wolf skin.
"School kids," he corrected her. It was a distinction that mattered; there had been, and would be again, mutants that were enemies to them. But the school mattered, for everything it could and did offer children, and he would fight to preserve it, and the children.
"Oh." That made some sense to her. It seemed like half of them would have no home, if it weren't for the school taking them in. Nor no family, either. "Well, just let's make this clear when questions get asked, this was not my idea.
"I don't give a shit about your drama," Midnighter replied bluntly, but not unkindly - for him. He had no idea what had happened exactly, and didn't care. If Daken was in trouble, they would help. Then he and Rahne could resume being pissed at each other for whatever reason.
He stopped at the street corner, before they crossed to get to the subway entrance. "Nothing?"
"Of course you don't," she grumbled. She wondered--perhaps uncharitably--if Midnighter would have taken John's side, and decided she didn't want to know the answer. "No, nothing. I think we should check less...crowded places. John doesn't like crowds." She was wracking her brain, trying to remember just where he had said he was from.
That wasn't a bad idea in itself, but it was very impractical. "Hit the big transportation hubs, spot the street kids, follow them," Midnighter offered. Or they would be here for days on end.
"As you say, then." Rahne was more than used to acquiescence, no matter how she had told herself things would change after John. "I'm sure you know the way."
"That kid in a green hoodie just grabbed the cellphone of the woman crossing the street," Midnighter stated, meaning a kid on the other side of the street dressed in a green hoodie and battered old jeans. "Let's start with him."
Rahne, shocked, kept up with him. "We're going to turn him in to the police after, right?"
"No," Midnighter replied with a frown, and crossed the street. "We're going to ask him if he knows Daken and let him be on his way."
"B-but he just stole from that woman ," she whispered urgently. Rahne had certainly relaxed a good bit in the past weeks. But ignoring blatant thievery? Really?
Midnighter was briefly tempted to point out that she could afford it, and that the kid was clearly malnourished (his drug habit didn't help), but he really didn't want to get into a moral debate with Rahne. "And Daken might be in trouble. Let's focus on that."
This certainly put a damper on things. Rahne followed Midnighter, wondering if she could keep mum about this sort of thing all day. Stealing was just wrong .
They stuck to the plan, spending a few hours following street kids and asking them about John when they caught up with them. They were just talking to yet another kid who didn't seem to even know who they were talking about when Midnighter became aware of the other kids walking into the alley, from either side. And there was a couple of them up on the fire escape above them, he could tell without needing to look up. He was also very aware of what each one of these kids was armed with. Thankfully, only one of them had a gun, and he had every intention of dealing with him first.
"We've attracted attention," he told Rahne, cutting off the kid they'd been talking to mid-sentence. "If you aren't with them, you should take off now," he added for his benefit. "If you are..." He paused for a beat, then finished, darkly, "you should also take off."
"Attention?" Midnighter seemed tense. Rahne looked back and forth, feeling suddenly menaced by the teens moving toward them. "Oi, you lot," she said, addressing the one who was coming closest to her. "Just you go away and leave us alone."
Most of the kids stopped when they were addressed, the one closest to Rahne shifting on his feet. "We heard you were looking for Howlett," the one with the gun stuck in his pants replied, hanging back from the rest. Good instinct, but Midnighter wished he would come closer. "What do you want him for?"
Rahne glanced at Midnighter. No reprimand, yet. That made her feel a bit bolder. "We're going to take him...home."
"You're gonna tell us what you know, and let us deal with him," the kid replied, and at his nod, the kids closed in on them, letting the one they'd been talking to take Midnighter's advice and hightail it out of there.
"That was my line," Midnighter replied darkly, and whirled into motion before the one closest to him was even done lifting his pipe high enough to strike him with it. His elbow caught him in the throat, his fingers closed around the pipe, a sharp pull and it was his. He tossed it into the air to get the right hold on it, then threw it straight at the kid with the gun, their supposed leader. The pipe hit him square in the forehead, dropping him to the ground. "You sure you wanna do this?" he asked the other kids, turning slowly on himself to scowl at them all.
A heavy chain appeared from a boy's jacket before Rahne even knew what was going on, during the flurry of activity beside her with Midnighter fighting. After she wasted precious time in a panic, it was all she could do to change to her half-way form and take the strike across her hearty muzzle instead of her delicate human face. Still, she let out a yelp of agony as the world faded into painful white for a moment.
"Shit!" He cried. She heard the boy's heart turn to fluttering panic before her vision returned. Before he could run more than a few yards she was on him, snarling, tackling him to the pavement.
In the meantime, one of the kids on the fire escape had thought that they could surprise Midnighter by dropping on him from above, while the others alternated staring in shock at their felled leader, and then at the lupine creature tackling another one of theirs. But Midnighter rolled to the side at the last moment and the kid fell to the ground, one of his ankles twisting painfully on the hard concrete.
Midnighter's roll landed him in between two of the kids, and his fists shot out to punch at the back of his knees. They barely had time to get their hands out in front of them and prevent their faces from smacking into the ground. Rahne was doing fine without his help so far, so he had no issue focusing on the baseline morons that weren't going after her for now.
"Get the fuck off Georgie, you fuckin' freak," a voice growled behind her. Another hit slammed solidly across the back of her head. Snarling, she twisted and lashed out blindly. By virtue of her sheer strength, she sent the new boy reeling into the brick wall. She heard his skull impact, and the sharp click of his teeth just before she smelled the tang of blood. He had bitten his tongue. In a fury, she picked up Georgie by his shirt and flung him against the wall as well.
Looked like Rahne had found the fighter inside her, even if she was working on instinct and no skills. Midnighter made a mental note to teach her some, but was otherwise focused on the kids around him. He raised his arm to intercept the chain heading straight for his face, and it coiled around his wrist before he twisted it to catch it, tugged on it to bring its owner within reach, and broke her nose with a simple punch. He dropped before another one of the kids swung at him from behind, his leg shooting out to sweep him off his feet.
This was fucking ridiculous. He broke into a sprint, rolled on the ground, and reached the body of the first kid he'd dropped, grabbing the gun from his waistband.
"Now," he growled, pushing his voice so they would all look his way, and see the gun in his hand. They might not realize when they were direly outmatched, but every street kid in America knew just how much damage a gun could make. He unlocked the safety to make a point, but kept the gun pointed at the ground. "Run the fuck off before I get angry."
Rahne wrestled hard with herself, wrenching at the wolf's instinct to give chase as the two boys ran stumbling from her. She put her hand to her aching maw, and it came away bloody. It was her nose, and her gums. Any further bruising couldn't be seen beneath her fur.
Midnighter looked over at her, assessing her injuries. "You'll be fine," he stated after a moment, ignoring how guilty he felt that she had gotten hurt at all. Definitely teaching her some fighting skills ASAP.
He turned his attention to the gun and quickly dismantled it, bending some of the parts into useless shapes of metal before throwing them in a nearby garbage bin. Then he walked back to the guy still laid out on the ground and slapped his cheek lightly. "Wake up, sunshine."
Groggily, the kid came to, his eyes opening slowly. Seeing his former assailant, he reached blindly for a gun that wasn't there, doing his best to scramble backwards, his back to the ground as it was. To the punk's credit, he didn't seem to have much to say at the moment.
"Your friends are gone," Midnighter informed him as he straightened up, but stayed where he was for now. He could be on the kid in an instant; he didn't need to step any closer. "So I suggest you talk. Why are you looking for Howlett?"
"And what are you going to do if I don't tell you?" the kid shot back, still on his back. He'd seen this guy move; he knew he didn't have a chance. Not yet, at least. "Kill me? Beat the shit out of me? Shit. If the boss finds out I squealed, he'll do me worse."
"You really wanna bet on that?" Midnighter asked, taking a single step closer. The look in his eyes said he welcomed the idea. "I always like a challenge."
Fearing needless violence, Rahne spoke up. "I know what we could do that your boss wouldn't--call the police." That was a serious threat, right?
For a moment, the kid, still on his back with his arms up just a bit, as if they could help him defend himself, weighed his options. "Creed's the boss of the Marauders. Howlett put Creed in the hospital awhile back, but Creed got better, and fast. Faster than anyone else he'd cut up when he was last around. When he heard Howlett was out of the pen, he put the word on the streets for us to find him. Creed wants to teach him a lesson."
Fucking amazing. It gave them absolutely no idea where to look for Daken, but that was expected, given the kids had asked them about his location. "Where can we find Creed?"
"I don't know! Creed's people, or Creed himself, always come to us, never the other way around. Cops can never find him. Nobody can ever find him," the kid said, defensively. He didn't seem like he was lying, but he'd been pretty forthcoming so far.
"Yeah? And what if you found Howlett, who would you report to," Midnighter pressed, because even if that was true (the kid's vitals were all over the place to start with, so who the fuck knew), they had to have a way to get in touch.
"All Creed's people would say was "they would know." He's ... like you," he said, scowling a bit. He was working on slowly getting himself up into a seated position. Less humiliating that way. "Faster, stronger. Caught Howlett's smell, that's how he knew he was back. At least that's what some of the boys say."
"Tell me something fucking useful," Midnighter growled at the kid, taking one menacing step forward. Some of that was actually useful, of course, but it didn't mean he wouldn't try for more.
"Mid," Rahne said, hoping to halt him. She stepped forward beside him. "At least tell us...what part of town do they usually come?" Maybe they could trust their noses from there.
"Downtown. The rough areas. Marauders are workin' to expand, and we're moving up in the scene," the kid replied. "If any of the others got any sense, they're going for help. Creed's boys are real special, just like you guys. And when they come knockin', you ain't gonna wanna to be in the neighborhood." The kid wet his lips. "If you're lookin' for Howlett, we caught wind of some break-ins on some vacant apartments. Howlett's probably using them to sleep, stays for a night or two and vacates. They're in the papers. Maybe you can guess where he is or where he'll be next. Just let me go, and I won't bother you guys no more. Can't say the same for the rest of the Marauders."
Midnighter glared at Rahne at the nickname, mostly because he hated it. Since it wasn't a name that could be traced to anything or anyone, though, at least it didn't matter that she'd said it in front of the kid on the ground. At his last request, Midnighter just looked at Rahne and shrugged. It was up to her, really.
"Get out of here, and find something better to do with your life." Rahne changed, reverting back to her plain, tiny human form. Now featuring an ugly bruise from her lip to her forehead, and a crooked nose.
The kid got to his feet, taking a few scrambling, backwards steps away from Midnighter and Rahne as he did. "Fine, I'm gone!" he said, hustling his way away from them, seeming to not care of the direction, as long as it was away from them.
"Thank you. For not hurting him more." Rahne's voice was altered, pained by her injury.
"Don't you fucking thank me," Midnighter retorted immediately, no matter what she was thanking him for, not with the state she was in because of him. He had known the extent of her injuries, but seeing them on her human face made it worse somehow. "I'm calling Rankin to come get you," he added, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Rahne stepped forward and grabbed his wrist. "No. No, I'm not going back if you're not. We stick together, right?" She turned her head and inelegantly spat blood. "If I don't help, I came here for nothing."
Midnighter snatched his wrist back, as appreciative of being touched as he usually was. He didn't need, or want, those kinds of scenarios in his head about her. "There are worse people on their way, and your face is already more colors than it should be."
Up from above them, John landed, perched quietly in the metal of a fire escape attached to the side of a building. He was still wearing the leather jacket Laura had given him, and he cocked his head to the side. "You two sightseeing?" he asked, smelling Rahne's blood (to be frank, it was what drew him here) and knowing that wasn't the case. Still, he couldn't resist taking a crack at Midnighter.
"Oh my..." The hit across the face had choked her nose with blood, and Rahne hadn't smelled John coming. Her heart dropped into her stomach as she backed herself against the wall.
"We're taking a special tour," Midnighter retorted, instinctively positioning himself between Daken and Rahne. It really wasn't a conscious decision, but given her reaction to his appearance, he didn't even think about it. "They promised us we'd get to see everybody who wants your hide."
Either Midnighter had picked up some sarcasm in his time away, or John wasn't in the know as much as he wanted. He tilted his head. "Come again?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What do you know about a gang called the Marauders?" Midnighter asked.
"Never heard of 'em," John admitted. They must have been new. "They new in town?" he asked. If they had moved in, they must have been doing well. If they were new, well, they'd moved up fast... John cast a look around. "Hey, maybe we shouldn't be talking about this in public, eh? I got a place we can go to. It isn't far."
"No," Rahne said firmly. "We came to take you back to the school. It's dangerous here. Let's go." She was trembling, but she grit her teeth add hard as she could bear and stood under his gaze.
"Uh-huh. 'Cause you want me back there," John said, sarcastically. "No, someone hurt you, I'm assuming over me. And that means I gotta hurt them back twice," John said, flatly. He turned his gaze slightly to Midnighter. "What about you, sensei?" John asked with a smirk. "Care to come to my little hideaway and tell me what's going on so we three can take care of it?"
"She's not taking care of anything," Midnighter retorted, because he would still call Rankin to come and get her. But first things first, they ought to get out of here before anybody else showed up. "You're still leaving before we do anything," he told Rahne, no-nonsense. "But let's get out of here," he gestured for her to come with, and nodded at Daken to lead the way.
WARNING: Graphic Violence
When the wolf came to find him that day for their usual play, Midnighter shook his head. "I'm headed into the City. Daken's been gone too long." And Talon was up in Canada, which meant he felt even more responsible for checking up on the kid.
Rahne's hackles raised at just the mention of the name. Everyone knew better by now than to so much as say John's name to her. Everyone except Midnighter--though that was about par for the course. If her clothes weren't so far away, she'd have something to say about Mid's little plan right then.
"I could use your nose, since he won't pick up his fucking phone," Midnighter added pointedly. He could give a shit what had happened between them. Student security mattered more than broken hearts.
She blew a disdainful breath at him. Good. Maybe he died.
"Don't," Midnighter told her with raised eyebrows, and a dark look. He didn't need to speak wolf to get the sentiment behind her reaction. "We stick together. Even when we're assholes." Fuck knew he was one, after all.
Rahne lowered her head petulantly. Midnighter had been good to her. Well, as good as Midnighter could be, from what she could tell.
Midnighter fucking hated having to ask for anything, so he gritted his teeth together, took a breath, then forced himself to come out with it. "Will you come and fucking help me out?" New York was a big city, and her sense of smell was better than even his.
She danced back and forth, pacing and thinking. She hated John, of course. If he stayed lost, all the better for her. But then again...awful and wonderful memories were trying to push their way into her mind. Hadn't there been something good? And she knew how it was to have no friends. Probably if she and Midnighter didn't look for John, then no one would. But she didn't have to be cheerful about it. With her ears flattened back, she gave a little affirmative bark.
Fucking finally. Midnighter nodded back. "Meet me in the garage in twenty."
She chuffed at him reproachfully. A 'thank you' was in order, though she hadn't really expected one. Twenty minutes later she was in the garage wearing sensible shoes, shivering, and rethinking her decision. She had left a vague note for Sharon, and printed out a map of New York City.
It wasn't long before they were speeding along the highway towards the City, in one of Xavier's loaner cars. Midnighter drove like he fought: mercilessly and efficiently, his brain always calculating velocity, angles and force both for the car he was driving and the ones around them. His driving might seem dangerous, but it was actually as safe as it got, as he was constantly taking every possibility into account.
And he really didn't mind the silence stretching between them in the car. He wasn't one for music, or for idle chit chat.
It seemed that Rahne was too terrified of his driving to care, the pace of her heartbeat told him, and he did let up slightly. He could take pity on people, sometimes. When he fucking liked them.
Now, driving in New York was way more of a challenge for him and his temper, and he was grateful when they ditched the car in a parking lot. Even walking in New York was hell on him, but at least the danger tended to be less than at the wheel of a car, and that made it slightly easier to bear.
"Ride in the subway until you catch a whiff of him?"
Yeah, that was his best plan, and he fucking hated it.
"This whole city...it's..." The overload was indescribable, a garish and reeking cacophony the likes of which Rahne had never imagined. Maybe it would be a little better on the subway. She shook herself a bit to snap out of it, and stepped closer to Midnighter. "Yes. Yes, if you think that's best. I've never been here."
"Do you need a moment?" Midnighter asked. It would have been impossible for him not to notice the state she was in.
"I'll get used to it." She didn't want to hold them up, not for a little bit of shell shock that would soon pass. "The city's huge, right? Which means we shouldn't waste any time."
"We'll come back tomorrow, if we need to," Midnighter replied, still not moving, giving her some extra time before they got going.
Gradually, she realized that she had a constant to hold on to; Midnighter smelled the same as always. He was a beacon of familiarity. She began to even out. "Why? Why take this on?"
"We stick together," he simply answered, and nodded towards the exit, since her vitals had evened out. There was more to it than that, but he wasn't exactly the sharing type.
"Mutants, you mean?" She followed him, falling in step at his heel like she had grown wont to do in her wolf skin.
"School kids," he corrected her. It was a distinction that mattered; there had been, and would be again, mutants that were enemies to them. But the school mattered, for everything it could and did offer children, and he would fight to preserve it, and the children.
"Oh." That made some sense to her. It seemed like half of them would have no home, if it weren't for the school taking them in. Nor no family, either. "Well, just let's make this clear when questions get asked, this was not my idea.
"I don't give a shit about your drama," Midnighter replied bluntly, but not unkindly - for him. He had no idea what had happened exactly, and didn't care. If Daken was in trouble, they would help. Then he and Rahne could resume being pissed at each other for whatever reason.
He stopped at the street corner, before they crossed to get to the subway entrance. "Nothing?"
"Of course you don't," she grumbled. She wondered--perhaps uncharitably--if Midnighter would have taken John's side, and decided she didn't want to know the answer. "No, nothing. I think we should check less...crowded places. John doesn't like crowds." She was wracking her brain, trying to remember just where he had said he was from.
That wasn't a bad idea in itself, but it was very impractical. "Hit the big transportation hubs, spot the street kids, follow them," Midnighter offered. Or they would be here for days on end.
"As you say, then." Rahne was more than used to acquiescence, no matter how she had told herself things would change after John. "I'm sure you know the way."
"That kid in a green hoodie just grabbed the cellphone of the woman crossing the street," Midnighter stated, meaning a kid on the other side of the street dressed in a green hoodie and battered old jeans. "Let's start with him."
Rahne, shocked, kept up with him. "We're going to turn him in to the police after, right?"
"No," Midnighter replied with a frown, and crossed the street. "We're going to ask him if he knows Daken and let him be on his way."
"B-but he just stole from that woman ," she whispered urgently. Rahne had certainly relaxed a good bit in the past weeks. But ignoring blatant thievery? Really?
Midnighter was briefly tempted to point out that she could afford it, and that the kid was clearly malnourished (his drug habit didn't help), but he really didn't want to get into a moral debate with Rahne. "And Daken might be in trouble. Let's focus on that."
This certainly put a damper on things. Rahne followed Midnighter, wondering if she could keep mum about this sort of thing all day. Stealing was just wrong .
They stuck to the plan, spending a few hours following street kids and asking them about John when they caught up with them. They were just talking to yet another kid who didn't seem to even know who they were talking about when Midnighter became aware of the other kids walking into the alley, from either side. And there was a couple of them up on the fire escape above them, he could tell without needing to look up. He was also very aware of what each one of these kids was armed with. Thankfully, only one of them had a gun, and he had every intention of dealing with him first.
"We've attracted attention," he told Rahne, cutting off the kid they'd been talking to mid-sentence. "If you aren't with them, you should take off now," he added for his benefit. "If you are..." He paused for a beat, then finished, darkly, "you should also take off."
"Attention?" Midnighter seemed tense. Rahne looked back and forth, feeling suddenly menaced by the teens moving toward them. "Oi, you lot," she said, addressing the one who was coming closest to her. "Just you go away and leave us alone."
Most of the kids stopped when they were addressed, the one closest to Rahne shifting on his feet. "We heard you were looking for Howlett," the one with the gun stuck in his pants replied, hanging back from the rest. Good instinct, but Midnighter wished he would come closer. "What do you want him for?"
Rahne glanced at Midnighter. No reprimand, yet. That made her feel a bit bolder. "We're going to take him...home."
"You're gonna tell us what you know, and let us deal with him," the kid replied, and at his nod, the kids closed in on them, letting the one they'd been talking to take Midnighter's advice and hightail it out of there.
"That was my line," Midnighter replied darkly, and whirled into motion before the one closest to him was even done lifting his pipe high enough to strike him with it. His elbow caught him in the throat, his fingers closed around the pipe, a sharp pull and it was his. He tossed it into the air to get the right hold on it, then threw it straight at the kid with the gun, their supposed leader. The pipe hit him square in the forehead, dropping him to the ground. "You sure you wanna do this?" he asked the other kids, turning slowly on himself to scowl at them all.
A heavy chain appeared from a boy's jacket before Rahne even knew what was going on, during the flurry of activity beside her with Midnighter fighting. After she wasted precious time in a panic, it was all she could do to change to her half-way form and take the strike across her hearty muzzle instead of her delicate human face. Still, she let out a yelp of agony as the world faded into painful white for a moment.
"Shit!" He cried. She heard the boy's heart turn to fluttering panic before her vision returned. Before he could run more than a few yards she was on him, snarling, tackling him to the pavement.
In the meantime, one of the kids on the fire escape had thought that they could surprise Midnighter by dropping on him from above, while the others alternated staring in shock at their felled leader, and then at the lupine creature tackling another one of theirs. But Midnighter rolled to the side at the last moment and the kid fell to the ground, one of his ankles twisting painfully on the hard concrete.
Midnighter's roll landed him in between two of the kids, and his fists shot out to punch at the back of his knees. They barely had time to get their hands out in front of them and prevent their faces from smacking into the ground. Rahne was doing fine without his help so far, so he had no issue focusing on the baseline morons that weren't going after her for now.
"Get the fuck off Georgie, you fuckin' freak," a voice growled behind her. Another hit slammed solidly across the back of her head. Snarling, she twisted and lashed out blindly. By virtue of her sheer strength, she sent the new boy reeling into the brick wall. She heard his skull impact, and the sharp click of his teeth just before she smelled the tang of blood. He had bitten his tongue. In a fury, she picked up Georgie by his shirt and flung him against the wall as well.
Looked like Rahne had found the fighter inside her, even if she was working on instinct and no skills. Midnighter made a mental note to teach her some, but was otherwise focused on the kids around him. He raised his arm to intercept the chain heading straight for his face, and it coiled around his wrist before he twisted it to catch it, tugged on it to bring its owner within reach, and broke her nose with a simple punch. He dropped before another one of the kids swung at him from behind, his leg shooting out to sweep him off his feet.
This was fucking ridiculous. He broke into a sprint, rolled on the ground, and reached the body of the first kid he'd dropped, grabbing the gun from his waistband.
"Now," he growled, pushing his voice so they would all look his way, and see the gun in his hand. They might not realize when they were direly outmatched, but every street kid in America knew just how much damage a gun could make. He unlocked the safety to make a point, but kept the gun pointed at the ground. "Run the fuck off before I get angry."
Rahne wrestled hard with herself, wrenching at the wolf's instinct to give chase as the two boys ran stumbling from her. She put her hand to her aching maw, and it came away bloody. It was her nose, and her gums. Any further bruising couldn't be seen beneath her fur.
Midnighter looked over at her, assessing her injuries. "You'll be fine," he stated after a moment, ignoring how guilty he felt that she had gotten hurt at all. Definitely teaching her some fighting skills ASAP.
He turned his attention to the gun and quickly dismantled it, bending some of the parts into useless shapes of metal before throwing them in a nearby garbage bin. Then he walked back to the guy still laid out on the ground and slapped his cheek lightly. "Wake up, sunshine."
Groggily, the kid came to, his eyes opening slowly. Seeing his former assailant, he reached blindly for a gun that wasn't there, doing his best to scramble backwards, his back to the ground as it was. To the punk's credit, he didn't seem to have much to say at the moment.
"Your friends are gone," Midnighter informed him as he straightened up, but stayed where he was for now. He could be on the kid in an instant; he didn't need to step any closer. "So I suggest you talk. Why are you looking for Howlett?"
"And what are you going to do if I don't tell you?" the kid shot back, still on his back. He'd seen this guy move; he knew he didn't have a chance. Not yet, at least. "Kill me? Beat the shit out of me? Shit. If the boss finds out I squealed, he'll do me worse."
"You really wanna bet on that?" Midnighter asked, taking a single step closer. The look in his eyes said he welcomed the idea. "I always like a challenge."
Fearing needless violence, Rahne spoke up. "I know what we could do that your boss wouldn't--call the police." That was a serious threat, right?
For a moment, the kid, still on his back with his arms up just a bit, as if they could help him defend himself, weighed his options. "Creed's the boss of the Marauders. Howlett put Creed in the hospital awhile back, but Creed got better, and fast. Faster than anyone else he'd cut up when he was last around. When he heard Howlett was out of the pen, he put the word on the streets for us to find him. Creed wants to teach him a lesson."
Fucking amazing. It gave them absolutely no idea where to look for Daken, but that was expected, given the kids had asked them about his location. "Where can we find Creed?"
"I don't know! Creed's people, or Creed himself, always come to us, never the other way around. Cops can never find him. Nobody can ever find him," the kid said, defensively. He didn't seem like he was lying, but he'd been pretty forthcoming so far.
"Yeah? And what if you found Howlett, who would you report to," Midnighter pressed, because even if that was true (the kid's vitals were all over the place to start with, so who the fuck knew), they had to have a way to get in touch.
"All Creed's people would say was "they would know." He's ... like you," he said, scowling a bit. He was working on slowly getting himself up into a seated position. Less humiliating that way. "Faster, stronger. Caught Howlett's smell, that's how he knew he was back. At least that's what some of the boys say."
"Tell me something fucking useful," Midnighter growled at the kid, taking one menacing step forward. Some of that was actually useful, of course, but it didn't mean he wouldn't try for more.
"Mid," Rahne said, hoping to halt him. She stepped forward beside him. "At least tell us...what part of town do they usually come?" Maybe they could trust their noses from there.
"Downtown. The rough areas. Marauders are workin' to expand, and we're moving up in the scene," the kid replied. "If any of the others got any sense, they're going for help. Creed's boys are real special, just like you guys. And when they come knockin', you ain't gonna wanna to be in the neighborhood." The kid wet his lips. "If you're lookin' for Howlett, we caught wind of some break-ins on some vacant apartments. Howlett's probably using them to sleep, stays for a night or two and vacates. They're in the papers. Maybe you can guess where he is or where he'll be next. Just let me go, and I won't bother you guys no more. Can't say the same for the rest of the Marauders."
Midnighter glared at Rahne at the nickname, mostly because he hated it. Since it wasn't a name that could be traced to anything or anyone, though, at least it didn't matter that she'd said it in front of the kid on the ground. At his last request, Midnighter just looked at Rahne and shrugged. It was up to her, really.
"Get out of here, and find something better to do with your life." Rahne changed, reverting back to her plain, tiny human form. Now featuring an ugly bruise from her lip to her forehead, and a crooked nose.
The kid got to his feet, taking a few scrambling, backwards steps away from Midnighter and Rahne as he did. "Fine, I'm gone!" he said, hustling his way away from them, seeming to not care of the direction, as long as it was away from them.
"Thank you. For not hurting him more." Rahne's voice was altered, pained by her injury.
"Don't you fucking thank me," Midnighter retorted immediately, no matter what she was thanking him for, not with the state she was in because of him. He had known the extent of her injuries, but seeing them on her human face made it worse somehow. "I'm calling Rankin to come get you," he added, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Rahne stepped forward and grabbed his wrist. "No. No, I'm not going back if you're not. We stick together, right?" She turned her head and inelegantly spat blood. "If I don't help, I came here for nothing."
Midnighter snatched his wrist back, as appreciative of being touched as he usually was. He didn't need, or want, those kinds of scenarios in his head about her. "There are worse people on their way, and your face is already more colors than it should be."
Up from above them, John landed, perched quietly in the metal of a fire escape attached to the side of a building. He was still wearing the leather jacket Laura had given him, and he cocked his head to the side. "You two sightseeing?" he asked, smelling Rahne's blood (to be frank, it was what drew him here) and knowing that wasn't the case. Still, he couldn't resist taking a crack at Midnighter.
"Oh my..." The hit across the face had choked her nose with blood, and Rahne hadn't smelled John coming. Her heart dropped into her stomach as she backed herself against the wall.
"We're taking a special tour," Midnighter retorted, instinctively positioning himself between Daken and Rahne. It really wasn't a conscious decision, but given her reaction to his appearance, he didn't even think about it. "They promised us we'd get to see everybody who wants your hide."
Either Midnighter had picked up some sarcasm in his time away, or John wasn't in the know as much as he wanted. He tilted his head. "Come again?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What do you know about a gang called the Marauders?" Midnighter asked.
"Never heard of 'em," John admitted. They must have been new. "They new in town?" he asked. If they had moved in, they must have been doing well. If they were new, well, they'd moved up fast... John cast a look around. "Hey, maybe we shouldn't be talking about this in public, eh? I got a place we can go to. It isn't far."
"No," Rahne said firmly. "We came to take you back to the school. It's dangerous here. Let's go." She was trembling, but she grit her teeth add hard as she could bear and stood under his gaze.
"Uh-huh. 'Cause you want me back there," John said, sarcastically. "No, someone hurt you, I'm assuming over me. And that means I gotta hurt them back twice," John said, flatly. He turned his gaze slightly to Midnighter. "What about you, sensei?" John asked with a smirk. "Care to come to my little hideaway and tell me what's going on so we three can take care of it?"
"She's not taking care of anything," Midnighter retorted, because he would still call Rankin to come and get her. But first things first, they ought to get out of here before anybody else showed up. "You're still leaving before we do anything," he told Rahne, no-nonsense. "But let's get out of here," he gestured for her to come with, and nodded at Daken to lead the way.
