Virgil Hawkins (shock2ursystem) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-12-12 16:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, richie foley (gear), virgil hawkins (static) |
Who: Virgil/Static and Richie
What: Virgil and Richie run into trouble at the convenience shop
When: This weekend
Where: A convenience shop near their apartment
Warning/rating: Teenish for gun violence and blood and language
Status: Complete
The gas station wasn’t too far away from Richie and Virgil’s apartment, which meant that they frequently went there to pick up chips and other snacks. Some of the gas station attendants were already getting familiar with their faces.
Tonight, they were planning on an all-night buttnumbathon. Just them, bottles of pop, a few bags of snacks, and endless gaming. It was going to be great. “Hmm, should we get barbeque or sour cream and onion?” Virgil asked, looking at the selection of chips in front of him.
Sure there were supermarkets not far by bus, but that involved bus. Honestly Richie didn’t feel like putting out the effort to find schedules, wait an hour or two just for fifteen minutes of shopping-so the gas station was their friend. In fact the girl behind the counter seemed to have an eye for Virgil. She made with the light banter on the occasions the came in to load up with the essentials, but once again Richie was basically untouchable. When it came to girls he seemed to have that effect. He could be surface polite, but most of the time he just sort of froze with anything deeper. Virgil was really the only one he was the most comfortable being himself around.
“All of the above? Just covering our basics.” He said with a grin as he balanced a candy bar under his chin so as not to drop his ple of junk. He made a face when the girl pointed out they had baskets “Baskets are for losers, who think ahead. Tonight I’m firmly of the mindset of no brain.” He snickered as he put his pile of stuff on the counter only to earn himself an eyeroll from said cashier. It was then two almost eerily average guys walked into the small gas station mini mart, one of them looking a bit like a body builder, and the other a stick figure. It was kind of a funny contrast that amused Richie until the big one decided he was in he way and pushed him aside. Richie recovered from it easily enough. “Hey man, wait your turn.” Not seeming initially all that phased until he noticed they were wearing ear pieces for some kind. Police maybe?
“Get lost kid.” The larger one said gruffly, nudging the candy into the blonde's arms.
“The four basic food groups,” Virgil said, grinning as he grabbed both bags of chips. “Pop, chips, candy and chocolate.” He added his own chips to Richie’s own pile, and exchanged a couple of jokes with the kind-of-cute cashier when the other two guys walked up to the till.
He frowned. There was a time when he would have let that slide - yes sir, thank you sir, let us get out of your way sir - but that was before he had become Static. He’d even started working out a bit, and was pleased about the fact that he actually had arm muscles these days. “Hey man,” Virgil said. “Back of the line. We were here first,” he said, stepping beside Richie.
What he wasn’t expecting was for the little one to push him over, and as he hadn’t had time to brace himself, he went careening into one of the display shelves, knocking it, and himself, over. The cashier screamed, and Virgil noticed that the wiry one had pulled out a gun after getting Virgil out of the way.
Now that he was on his ass, they seemed to have completely forgotten about them. He tried to catch Richie’s eye, to give him a look that said try to diffuse the situation, and be careful, before he scooped up his backpack and ran to the bathroom to get changed.
Even Richie had grown quite a bit since their high school days, whether he saw it or not. He too might have just accepted the fact that the guy was bigger than him and pushing him around but he didn’t waffle. Bullies were a thing he was sadly used to in his short life but that didn’t mean he was ready to sit back and let it happen. Watching Virgil fly around as Static had also given him a little booster shot whether he was aware of it or not
“Virg!” Richie went to move after his friend, but had a gun leveled on him instead. He raised both his hands in an attempt to get the guy to calm down. “Don’t move!” The first gunman demanded while his short partner decided to turn his attention back to the girl at the register. “Woah okay, not moving. This is me not moving, why don’t you put the gun away and she’ll get you the cash or whatever you want.” The taller man seemed to consider it but didn’t lower the weapon. Richie caught the look from his friend and made no move to announce that he’d done anything. He was as still as he could be while the shaky cashier bgan to pour register money into a bag.
Virgil had changed often enough in his dreams (and had even practiced a few times in the privacy of his own bathroom) that the change was quick, and took only a moment before he was flying out of the bathroom on his Static Saucer, his blue trenchcoat billowing out behind him.
“You know, there’s an ATM right down the street,” Virgil said helpfully, drawing attention to himself.
“What the fuck?” said the gunman as he got a look at the guy flying on a metal sheet, in his shock pulling the trigger.
Richie wasn’t the one with powers here, he didn’t know any fancy martial arts to stop them-all he could do was try to talk his way out of it. Actually 90 % of the time talking worked for him, he could be pretty convincing but obviously these guys didn’t want to talk. They were interested in shooting something. The larger guy shot the small bell off the cashier’s desk who jumped at the noise and shrieked again but continued to pour cash into the sack she’d been handed shakily.
The blond grinned at the familiar voice near by. They really needed to figure out a way for Virgil to change easier than having to run off someplace to do it. Maybe a suit ring? That was a thing to consider….but maybe not while one of the goons had a gun leveled on him. Why did his brain like to go off in random tangents at the worst times? How irritating.
“I’d think this might be a good time for you guys to leave now if you were smart I mean. That is a big if..” He taunted with a shrug and tried to keep an eye on the cashier. She was so far fine, but the guy with the gun on her was getting too twitchy for his liking. “You heard em, hurry up girl.” He talked with the gun in his hands. The larger guy was focused on shooting at the sudden appearance of the flying dude.
Richie noticed that too and used it to his advantage. He tried to move inconspicuously toward the smaller guy who was closer to him anyway, but the big oaf had backed into him. Squishing him against the counter and knocking the air out of him. Richie reached out for the smaller guy who’s arm was the closest object to grab as he stumbled in attempt to take him with him. The gun fired and Richie grimaced as something hot seared his skin but they both went down. The gun was off the cashier in any case.
Virgil winced when he heard the gun go off the first time, and was relieved that no one got hurt. Well, so long as one didn’t count his ear drums as someone. He’d never been close to a gun when it went off before, and it was a lot louder than he had thought it would be. Note to self: Maybe take away people’s weapons before making his flashy entrance. But before he could rectify the mistake, Richie had managed to get himself into some sort of scuffle with the big guys.
“I think you guys have lost your firearms privileges,” Virgil quipped, giving the guns a magnetic charge and wrenching them both from the grasps of the robbers. He stuck the guns on the ceiling where they couldn’t do any more damage. Then, using his Static Cling, he pulled the big guy off of Richie and slammed the two together before sticking them on a wall.
“You guys chill until the police show up,” Virgil told them, before turning his attention back to the other two people. “Are you guys o-” he started, before he caught sight of Richie, still on the ground and bleeding. “Richie!” he cried, jumping off his Static Saucer and running to his friend’s side.
That didn’t’ go well. He really ought to have known better, and yet he attempted to help. He should have just left things to Virgil, but two guys and one super hero still worried him. Two guys with guns specifically. He knew Virgil could handle himself but that didn’t mean he wasn’t about to worry.
Richie had a hand on his side where the blood spilled from and curled into a ball in attempt to stop the pain from burning through him like fire. “S-sorry V.” Thank god for nicknames. Trying to say Virgil felt impossible just then. He couldn’t find words in spite of so many of them swirling in his brain. He couldn’t seem to make the connection to his lips for them to be spoken.
“Why are you apologizing?” Virgil asked incredulously. He was the who hadn't had the foresight to disarm the robbers before trying to show off. Richie getting hurt was entirely his dumb mistake. His insides felt as if they had been plunged into a pool of ice water. Seeing Richie hurt like this made Virgil feel impossibly guilty.
“You, call the police to come pick these guys up. They’ll just hang out on the wall until they get here,” he barked at the girl, moving to help Richie up. He was pleased to see that she snapped out of her shock at watching the two friends to reach for the phone. “Come on, I’ll get you to a hospital. Static Taxis is faster than the ambulance any day,” he added with a wan smile.
Richie tried to respond but there was too much pain to do so anymore. He was starting to lose consciousness when Virgil lifted him up. He groaned in discomfort as he leaned a bloody hand on him to try to stand on his own. It didn't work well, his legs didn't want to cooperate nor did the rest of his body.
Leaning sloppily against him to the hospital felt like some kind of nightmare. Breathing was hard. He'd lost his glasses somewhere along the way too. That was annoying. Richie couldn't talk much anymore, all he wanted to do was sleep.
The hospital was always busy, tonight as no different when they arrived. Nobody even seemed to notice the weird pair.
Virgil gave one last spiteful zap to the robbers before he left. It might take a while for the static cling to disperse enough for the police to get them down, but Virgil knew he didn't have time to wait for them. Not when Richie was fading so fast.
He yelled for help once he entered the emergency room, and once the noticed what a bad state Richie was in they wheeled him away to Virgil’s vast relief. Before anyone could even question him, Static was out the door. There was nothing more he could do for Richie as Static, but he would be back just as soon as he changed to be by his best friend's side.
If only he hadn’t been so stupid.