InsaneJournal

Who: Neena and Turin
Where: A convenience store
What: they fight crime!
When: Sunday night
Warnings/Rating: PG-13 for violence, R for language
Status complete

Sometimes Neena wasn’t sure her powers worked the way everyone thought. Especially not today. Going to the convenience store at 1am was a risky proposition anyway, but Neena wanted a Twinkie and she’d been willing to put in the effort to get one. She hadn’t expected the place to get held up, or that she’d be barred in the place seconds after entering with no Twinkie. She was in plain view of the kids (they couldn’t be more than 22), so she couldn’t even draw her gun. There were other people in the store, but she hadn’t had the time to see who else was there.

Thomas was going to kill her when she got home, but she was too pissed to care. She had to act.

Turin wondered how he got himself into these messes. He’d just wanted some beef jerky. That was it. Just a craving for beef jerky, and there he was, holding his jerky while a pair of kids were holding up the place.

And then he recognized Neena and sighed. He still didn’t know what her deal was.

Neena saw Turin while she looked around. Great. This was all just perfect. She wondered if his girlfriend was hanging around too, but decided she didn’t care.

The kid with the gun on the guy behind the counter was shaking. This was so not good. He was liable to shoot someone because he was nervous. She whistled loudly while the cashier was ducking down to open the drawer, drawing the attention of the two men. She couldn’t let an old family man get shot accidentally.

Of course, she didn’t have a plan for when she had their attention, but something would come up.

That something was a jar of jam flung across the store, striking the gunman in the forehead. Turin was already ducking before flinging another jar towards the boy’s stomach. He was much more comfortable with a melee weapon, but he had good aim and good form.

Luckily the jam jar to the head not only distracted the gunman, but his friend as well. Neena rushed past the second boy and toward the first, taking his gun after he went down from the second jam jar. She aimed at the first boy, and looked at the second. “Get on the ground.”

The second boy squeaked and nodded, sitting on the floor. She looked over to Turin for a moment, and almost managed to ask him to help her tie the kids up before the former gunman tried to tackle her from the floor.

“Damn it…” Turin grabbed for something that looked like it might work. It turned out to be a broom handle, which he masterfully converted into a longsword by breaking it in half over one of the kids, before he attacked the gunman.

Neena went down with little dignity. She grunted and kicked the kid back toward Turin, trying to make sure the gun was pointed away from people until she had control of the situation. Stupid damn kids.

She had to drop the gun when the second kid found his courage again and went toward Turin. These idiots were going to get impaled by a fucking broom because they were too stupid to know when to stay down.

Turin twisted the broom handle around until he was holding it in a reverse position. He punched the kid, snapping the handle as a follow threw so that it smacked into the side of his head. He brought his knee up, then kicked him away and returned the stick into a ‘I’ll hack you in half’ sort of broadsword stance.

It was about then that a third accomplice can rushing in, pointing a gun at Turin’s back.

“Jesus Fucking Christ.” Neena noted, then grabbed the gun again and shot the kid behind Turin’s back in the shoulder. He yelled, and the other two stopped fighting. She kicked the other boy off and glared at him. “Get the fuck out NOW.”

The kids stared in stunned silence that lasted as long as it took Neena to cock the gun again, this time with the gun against the leader’s forehead. He whimpered and backed away, heading for the door. The wounded boy was screaming bloody murder, and the second one was waffling, his attention torn between Turin, his friends, and Neena.

“If you don’t get out of here,” Turin said, his voice full of Command. Literally. With a capital C. It was like the fight had woken up the inner commander inside him. “I will show you what I can do with the real sword I have locked securely nearby.” He smacked the broomstick against his palm. “It’s as wide as my bicep and as long as the legs on that nice lady who wants to shoot you more.”

“Really wants to shoot you more.” Neena added, helpfully. The feral grin probably helped with the badass image, but truthfully she was so dizzy she didn’t dare fire another shot.

The kid who wasn’t injured looked like he was about to talk back, but the one who’d been shot screamed his name and staggered to his feet. “Let’s go.”

The unhurt kid looked pissed, but he left, spitting at Neena as he went. She was tempted to fire a shot once they were passed, but that would only mess the store up more. She waited until they were gone to lean on the counter, putting the gun’s safety on. “Fuck.”

“All I wanted was some jerky,” Turin said, picking up one of the jars and setting it on the counter. He figured he should pay for it.

"Thanks for the help." Neena said, hoping the dizziness would go away soon. "Guess I'm still a magnet for trouble."

“Are you alright?” He moved closer, thinking she might topple over. “It was just luck we were both here.”

Neena shook her head and slowly lowered herself to the floor. She wasn’t as bad off when she was sitting. “I’ll be okay in a little bit.”

She didn’t look hurt. Turin wasn’t sure what was wrong, so he crouched. “If you think so.”

She took deep breaths. “Check on the old man.” It wasn’t an order, she just wanted a couple minutes to get herself together. The fight wasn’t a good idea, but it was less stressful than watching an old man get shot because kids were stupid.

He looked at her again, then got up to check on the old guy. He seemed okay. Shaken, mostly.

She recovered enough to get on her feet again, pushing her hair back out of her face. “Stupid kids. You okay?” He looked fine, but it was hard to say.

“A little winded. It felt… strange.” He shrugged a shoulder. “I think there was more of dream me going on there than real me.”

“Dream you is pretty badass.” Neena noted with a laugh. She grabbed her Twinkie and plopped it on the counter. “How’ve you been?”

“Ever waiting for the other shoe to drop,” He responded, wryly. “But pretty good, all told.”

She chuckled and paid for her Twinkie, heading toward the door. Her knees were still a little weak, but it was slowly fading. The baby was disrupting all her shit. “That’s good.”

“And you? Any other odd men with bunnies?”

She held the door for him and laughed. “No, the bar was burned down for a while, so maybe I missed them.” The cool air helped her relax further. She was feeling basically normal, now.

“Probably. The odd men with bunnies prefer to hang out around bars, being mopey.” Turin smiled at her. He was getting used to smiling.

“I can’t blame you. Boozy assholes prefer to be there too.” She leaned on her car, not because she was tired, just because she could. “So you live close to here? Small world?” She didn’t like that thought, not because she was bothered by Turin, but because she didn’t want his girlfriend skulking around the neighborhood.

“A few blocks over. I had a craving for teriyaki jerky and this was the first place that had it.” He shrugged a shoulder. Whatever her beef was with Yuriko, he didn’t want to get into it over. Even though the woman wasn’t the same person she dreamed she was.

Neena nodded and sighed as the cops pulled up. “About fucking time. You should text anyone who might be waiting up for you, this shit can take a long time.” They’d have to give statements at least. Neena took her own advice and started to text Thomas.

“I’m seeing her tomorrow so I’ll just tell her then. She’s asleep now. I don’t need to worry her, or my sister.” He shrugged a shoulder.

“You know your business better than I do.” Neena noted with a shrug. An officer approached them, and she waved. “Hey Ginny.”

Turin turned to the officer, then, ready to give his statement and get out of there.

But that had been fun. He might have to do it again.