InsaneJournal

WHO: Parker, some locals, and the Toclafane; Eliot Spencer & Crowley
WHAT: Very bad things.
WHEN: December 26th; around 6PM.
WHERE: The streets of Colligo → Crowley's casino
RATING: PG-13 [violence, bloodshed, character death]
STATUS: Complete; two separate narratives

Parker wasn't a hero. She wasn't noble by any stretch of the imagination. She didn't do things out of the kindness of her heart, at least not most of the time. She typically only helped those that she knew, or who were victims of somebody rich and powerful and bad. She preferred money over pretty much everything else and she had no issue tossing someone she didn't like under a proverbial bus… then laughing as they were run over. Preferably multiple times if she was lucky. While she laughed. And took pictures.

No, Parker definitely wasn't a hero. However had anyone spotted her in her current predicament likely would have disagreed with that statement and, as much as Parker hated to admit it, they would have every right. Because obviously only someone who was a complete idiot, and way more heroic than anyone should ever have the right to be, would currently be putting themselves in harms way to save a bunch of locals from deadly floating metallic balls of doom.

And that is precisely what she was currently doing.

At first it had been fun. Staying one step ahead of the Toclafane was all but impossible and yet she had managed it fairly well. Of course it helped that the things tended to give chase for a bit then, when she proved too difficult to catch, headed off in another direction after someone else entirely. That gave her a few minutes to catch her breath and figure out the best escape route for the part of the city she was in and it was those brief respites that had enabled her to keep up the game of Don’t Get Killed By The Evil Balls of Evil Because That Would Suck A Lot for the better part of an hour now. Unfortunately, after cutting through an alley and scaling a fence in record time, Parker had managed to stumble upon an abandoned shop with people hiding inside. And it was then that her game took on a decidedly deadly turn.

Personally she blamed the kids. If there hadn't been kids in the group, she could have possibly walked away. Maybe not, of course, but with children present it was a given that she wouldn't, couldn't, simply save her own skin. She had to do something, had to at least keep the Toclafane in the area from locating those in hiding. She knew, if she simply ignored them and kept going, she'd never forgive herself. So she came up with a plan. In retrospect, she had to admit it wasn't a very good plan. It was one thing to have fun running from danger when you were doing just that – having fun with it. It was another entirely to run from danger with the sole intention of keeping that danger close enough behind you that it didn't get bored and wander away. And when trying to outrun danger that could shoot lasers that would turn you into ashes, it was even trickier.

She managed though. Somehow, she managed to get the handful of Toclafane that had been examining the shop to follow her. She managed to keep them close, without being too close, and she managed to steer them well away from the hiding spot of the locals. In fact, she was steering them to the one place in all of Colligo that she knew they wouldn't be able to follow.

Crowley's casino.

Closed due to the invasion, there weren't many in the city willing to risk the demon's wrath by intruding upon his place of business during such dark times. Parker, however, had managed to earn herself a spot on Crowley's good list and she knew that he was well aware she had zero intention of staying out, no matter what was going on. The fact that nothing threatening could get inside (she assumed so they couldn't wreck the place rather than out of any desire to offer a safe haven to others since Crowley obviously wasn't making the offer to the masses) meant that it was the perfect place for her to go. All she had to do was get inside and she'd be home free.

Of course, she first had to make it across a barren parking lot with no where to hide or even duck, but she was on a roll and was certain she could manage it. She did, too. Granted it took some extremely fancy footwork, no less than twelve handsprings, and the use of a metal rod she'd picked up somewhere along the way as a bat but she finally reached the stairs leading up to the front door. The rest seemed to happen in slow motion for the blond.

First she began to climb up the stairs, certain she was going to make it. A heartbeat later, maybe even less, there was a sharp pain in her back and blood splattered the stairs in front of her. Parker's gaze dropped downward, staring in faint shock at the knife that was sticking completely through her and protruding from her chest. Then it was gone and the blood began to flow freely, more and more leaking from the wound with every beat of her heart. Her jaw dropped and the scenery faded to black as she forced her legs to keep moving and all but hauled herself up the remaining stairs with blood-soaked hands clutching desperately at the railing. She felt one, two, three, four more slices across, and through, her back as she continued her forward stumble. Disbelief was etched upon her face, her mind in a veritable tailspin.

Finally, just as the hum of the lasers reached her ears, Parker managed to get to the door. She yanked it open, her hands leaving red streaks across the glass as she did so. Once inside she glanced briefly over her shoulder to make sure the Toclafane couldn't follow then turned back to the place she'd come to think of as a second home during the months that she'd worked there. Brow furrowed, pain causing her eyes to tear up, the blond managed one more step before her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground in a mangled, bloodied heap.

She was dead before she hit the floor.