Laura Kinney (extwothree) wrote in no_good_deed, @ 2010-12-28 13:12:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | complete, old pc: sinister, x-23 |
Hello, is it me you're looking for?
Who: X-23 OTA
What: Defiling a church.
When: Dec. 28 early morning hours
Where: Westchester, not too far from downtown
Rating: R for violence and language. And people getting dead. And self-injury.
She'd been waiting for hours, sitting up in the belfry of the old abandoned church. Did they ever leave? These rich families, stuffing their pockets with money and filling their houses with things that only took up space and no one ever really needed. Well, X-23 figured it was her job to help these poor rich families reorganize their priorities. Good thing she could wait and watch as long as she needed to. Fucking holidays and family time. How could they stand being in the same house as one another for so long, staring at the same faces, having the same conversations day after day? The girl could sit in one position for hours but patience was something she'd always lacked. Cool and calm on the outside, even close to stoic at a glance, but a raging storm of anger and impatience on the inside.
The church was a good place to stay after leaving Nathaniel. From the look of it, the building had been closed down several years ago and forgotten by anyone who would have ever cared about it. She'd found it and made her temporary home inside, paying off the cop whose beat the church was on so that she would never have to worry about police intrusion or calls of trespassing being sent in. There was no one here to bother her but the hibernating bats, and they were more interesting than anything else. For awhile there were random kids who would come in to check out the abandoned church. This also provided her entertainment, allowing her to lurk around in the darkness and further rumors about the place being haunted. She would tease with whispers, taunt with noises, and move with the shadows too quickly for any of them to catch her. It was good exercise and helped break up the days with a bit of fun.
The fun ended when one stupid kid decided he was going to try and catch the ghost.
She had been sitting up by the organ, hiding atop one of the trunk-thick golden pipes that once sent music up to the heavens. From there she could watch and listen, register different scents that didn't belong there. All of these kids had been to the church before. There were footfalls coming up the stairs and X-23 watched as one boy right past her hiding place, heading for the bell tower with a flashlight in hand and a small silver gun in the other. Looked like play time was over.
The double claws tearing from the skin at her knuckles sounded like knives being unsheathed. Te kid stopped immediately and turned around, the beam of his flashlight slicing through the darkness. X-23 leaped with the grace of a seasoned dancer into the air, flipping in mid-air and landing behind the boy without a sound. She was all in black with hair the color of a moonless night, the light shade of her skin the only thing that could possibly give her away. The boy was taller than she by at least six inches, and well built. This was hardly a deterrent. She growled soft, low and threatening. The boy stiffened and froze.
To his credit, the boy actually managed to gather the courage to turn around after a moment. His eyes widened when he found he was not alone. His trigger finger moved but the gun was sliced in two before it could be fired. His friends had moved on to the basement to smoke and drink as usual so there was no one around to hear his startled gasp. She expected a simple, boring knockout and was actually surprised when he dropped what was left of the gun and took a swing at her. Surprised or not, X-23 caught him by the wrist and spun him around, pinning his arm behind him. The flashlight fell to the church floor below with a loud clatter and died.
"You're a girl!" he panted in shock, trying to free himself from her grip. Claws at his throat stopped his struggling. She said nothing in reply, instead shoving him away so she could run and jump over the balcony and follow the path of the fallen flashlight. Her landing was much better than the broken thing she was now crouched by. As much as she would have enjoyed a little blood, her presence there was on shaky ground to begin with. Having to explain away a dead kid would mean she'd have to move on. And she wasn't ready to move on yet. She still hadn't found the man from Alkali Lake yet.
"H...hey!" She looked up and saw the kid at the balcony ledge. "Wait up! You're not supposed to be here. This is a church!" The kid had come in with a gun to hunt her down under the impression that he had enough balls to use the thing if he caught her, and now he was the moral police? That was rich.
Standing now, she was disarmingly beautiful in the moonlight that filtered in through broken stained glass window. A noise at her back made her jump to the side, landing on the back of one of the pews and missing a bullet. So much for the theory of the friends disappearing downstairs. Two more guys and a girl were now there, both boys armed and ready to fire. "Don't," the girl whines, clinging to one of the boys' arms.
X-23 quirked an eyebrow and gave a challenging smirk. "Show me whatcha got." As expected, they hesitated and she faked a yawn. "How disappointing," she simpered in her little girl voice, antagonizing them, It was enough to shake them from their shock. The boys started shooting at her but she was always just a step ahead of the bullets. The kid from the balcony made his way down which meant it was time for her to go back up. All it took was one powerful jump and the gunfire ceased momentarily.
"Holy fuck!" Holy fuck? Well, they were in a church after all. Apparently even a fuck could be holy here. "She's like a mutant or something!"
The girl with them had evidently fallen back and taken to crying. Her sobs suddenly stopped with a rush of air swirling through the air above them. The three boys turned around to see what was going on.
"Correction," X-23 replied coolly. "I am a mutant." Looking at the girl at her feet, she sneered. "You're one of the reasons why we look like the weaker sex."
"What the hell?"
"How did she get over there?"
X-23 grabbed the girl by her arms and shoved her at the three boys, fading into the shadows while they were all distracted. "Get out," she ordered calmly. But a new scent had reached her, one she had not detected until that very moment. Someone was behind her, slightly to the left.
Another shot was taken and a female voice echoed throughout the church. "We got her!" exclaimed one of the boys. Too bad the female that stumbled into sight, bleeding from a hole in her chest, was not X-23.
"Oh shit."
"Sarah?"
"Shit! We gotta get out of here!"
"Sarah!"
Sirens wailed in the distance, no doubt the earlier gunfire startling the sleeping neighbors enough to call the police. By the time the cops actually arrived the four living kids were gone and X-23 was back up in the belfry. It was in the hazy light hours before night was gone and day officially began that brought company to her tower.
"It wasn't me."
The cop, older, overweight with graying hair, pursed his lips and leaned against the railing with crossed arms. "No?"
Claws that had retracted once the kids were gone now split the skin between her knuckles once more. "Do these look like bullets to you, asshole?"
The cop smirked and moved to look out over the railing. "No, but maybe you saw what happened."
X-23 looked at him with clear annoyance. "You want me to testify, Officer?"
"Don't take that condescending tone with me, kid."
"Don't let your shit-sniffers up here or you're going to have more on your hands than a dead teenager."
Frank moved to the stairs and peered down them. "I got it covered up here."
"All a bunch of fucking lemmings."
"They're following procedure," frank defended.
"Lemmings."
They both stared out over what was usually a peaceful neighborhood for a long moment before Frank broke the silence by clearing his throat. "You can't stay here anymore, kid."
She didn't look at him, but there was a look of quiet acceptance on her face. She'd figured as much. It sucked, but that was life. Frank seemed more upset by it than she did but probably because it was a loss of income. He'd told her before that the money we was getting was being saved to help get his grandchildren through college. How sweet and vomit inducing.
"I'll be gone in a few hours."
"Good luck, kid. I'd say watch yourself on the streets but I have the feeling you're meaner than they are." He grabbed the walkie from his belt and turned it down, but she could still hear what was being said. Anyone with a police scanner would know what happened here tonight. This place would be crawling with people soon enough and she wouldn't want to be there.