John Jones is a manhunter (johnjones) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-03-03 00:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, applejack, j'onn j'onzz (martian manhunter), pansy malfoy |
Who: Pansy Malfoy, John Jones, Applejack
When: During the Wonderland Plot
Where: Wherever Pansy is
What: Saving Pansy, and discovering powers
Rating: Medium for violence toward NPCed monsters
Status: Complete
Pansy was running, out of breath, and couldn’t think what else to do. She lifted her phone and dialed. Peter didn’t answer. Draco didn’t answer. Zuko didn’t answer! She was starting to wonder if it was her phone or the service. She tried one last number and waited while it rang, still running along the street, trying to escape... whatever it was that was chasing her.
John was startled when his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, but, thinking it might be Tonks, Sam, or someone else he had called this morning, he quickly snatched it up and answered it. “Hello? This is John.”
“John, thank God,” Pansy said. She’d ducked around a tree and was breathing hard. “It’s Pansy Malfoy. I need... I don’t know where I am.”
“Okay, slow down. What’s going on?” He sat up straight as he listened intently. Pansy? Was she out... damn.
“Are you out in this mess? What’s the last landmark you remember?”
“The uh... The In N Out.” Pansy said, lowering her voice to a whisper. She was still breathing hard, but didn’t feel like her lungs were burning anymore. Her legs on the other hand... “The In N Out. I was near there. The one on [insert street here]. And I was being chased by … it’s insane. This whole thing is insane.”
“I know it is. Card soldiers, right? Ones with hearts on their uniforms?” He rose and then thought, and nodded. He would have to go help her, no matter what. “Can you stay hidden for a moment, or do you need to keep running?”
He moved toward the room where AJ was in, and flicked his phone to speakerphone.
AJ sat up a little on the bed where she’d been painting her toenails. Painting her toenails. Since, that’s the kind of thing one does in a crisis.
Pansy nodded, breathing hard into the phone. “I’m hidden. I don’t think they can find me here.” She said, then turned to chance a look around the tree where she was crouched. “...but I can see them. I don’t have much time.”
“Okay, Pansy, I need you to keep your phone on and with you. I’m coming.” He turned to AJ and put his palm over the phone. “She lost and being chased. I can’t let a friend face that alone.” He knew she would understand, and he hoped she would agree.
He stripped off his outer jacket and grabbed his brown shirt, and slid into it.
“Okay,” Pansy said, frowning, as she leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes. She was finally caught up with her breath now, but still felt like she was going to die.
“I’m coming, too.” AJ said, reaching for her socks. They’d probably end up covered in nail polish, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want John to have to head out there alone. Even to help a friend.
“Okay. Get my gun out of the safe. You know how to use it now. It’ll keep away anything but a Jabberwocky.” he nodded. He flexed and felt the power in him, then nodded.
“Hang in there, Pansy. We are on our way.” He held out his arm to Aj, grinning.
AJ nodded. She tugged her boots on, then rushed to the safe to get his gun. He’d taught her how to clean and load it, and they’d done some shooting practice, too. But using it in the field? AJ was a bit frightened of that.
“Okay,” Pansy repeated, lifting her knees up to wrap her arms around them. She closed her eyes and tried to go to her happy place.
When she was ready, John led her out to the backyard and kissed AJ, then clutched her close and they shot into the air.. While in his arms, she would not feel the cold of the air, nor the gravity of the Earth, merely a freeness she never had felt before. They shot toward where Pansy was last.
AJ moved in close against him, wrapping her arms around him and clinging tightly while they flew. She could hardly believe any of this was happening. He was like a superhero, and this was a very alien environment. She wondered if this was what his dreams were like.
Pansy stayed very still. She turned and winced, waiting while some playing cards marched by. A few she might be able to handle on her own, but there were a dozen, maybe more.
Then John spotted her and the cards and swore. “When we get down low, get to Pansy, and keep your gun handy. I’ll see if I can use these powers to make a diversion.” He kissed her and raced for Pansy’s place, and where the cards were, spotting one sneaking up behind her.
With a cry, he swooped enough to land AJ and press her toward Pansy, then shot at the card soldier coming up behind her.
He bowled the soldier over and knocked the man into his compatriots, sending them all falling off a small cliff area.
“Now! Move it!” And he shot back the way he came. Swerving around the women to try the same trick on the group of card soldiers.
He knocked a bunch down only to see a large snake like thing rise behind them, and hiss at him, and one swipe of claws sent him tumbling. He landed and groaned then looked at his arm.. which was untouched.
“What the---?”
AJ landed, tumbled forward, then jumped to her feet and ran over to where Pansy was hiding. She held the gun at the ready, aiming it up and around at the card people. She didn’t know how well bullets would work against playing cards, but...
Pansy sat up a bit with an “oh, thank God” when AJ came over with her gun. “I left my wand at home. I’m so stupid. So naked without it!” She said, then added, “LOOK OUT!”
AJ turned and fired, hitting one of the card soldiers that was coming toward them right in the face. It fell over backward, and AJ sat there, unmoving, still holding the gun up.
“C’mon,” Pansy said, looping an arm down and under AJ’s, dragging her to her feet. “We gotta move, gotta help John.”
AJ came reluctantly. She couldn’t believe that she’d fired a weapon. Couldn’t believe she’d killed whatever that thing was. What if it was a person? Affected by this strangeness like how the buildings had been turned into mushrooms?
John in the meantime, was grabbed by three card soldiers. Instinctively, he threw his arms out, trying to knock them off, And was astonished as they were thrown ten feet away in either direction. He blinked. “I don’t know my own strength...”
And then the lizardy snake thing was coming back and this time, John growled at it. “Attacking my friends? Trying to hurt my love? The hell you say!” and he threw a punch at the thing’s closest leg, expecting to annoy it at best. Instead, there was a cracking sound and the leg collapsed under the monster, and it screeched.
“Huh. I’ll be damned.”
He turned away, toward the girls. “I think we should get out of here...” Behind him, the lizard’s head rose on it’s long sinuous neck as it opened a mouth full of teeth...
Pansy was dragging AJ along with her. “I think we should, too...” She said, glancing at the blonde.
Poor AJ was still distracted, holding the gun tightly in her hand, though her finger wasn’t on the trigger.
“LOOKOUT!” Pansy called out again, pointing up over John’s shoulder.
John dove and rolled over, eyes going wide as the thing leaped for him. Without thinking, he rose to meet it, shooting from the ground with a leap, and hit it as hard as he could.
There was a boom, and suddenly it shot up. And up. And was gone, from sight. The other card soldiers looked at each other, then ran.
Pansy was breathing hard, starting up at where the snake creature had been just a moment ago. She blinked as it disappeared. "Holy shit, dude." She said, staring.
AJ was watching the card soldiers. She turned to John. "We should go."
John nodded, and grinned at them . “Okay, ladies, gather around. We’re going by air.”
AJ moved over to John and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Pansy didn’t look too sure about this whole “going by air” business, but she didn’t have many other options. She stepped closer and glanced at AJ before wrapping her arms around John. “Er, sorry for touching your boy, yo.” She said, gently.
“It’s all right,” AJ responded, nodding. “Life and death, y’know?”
John gently enfolded them both, and then they shot into the air. They swept into the sky and toward Pansy’s house. “Your house, Pansy?” He called it to her quietly.
“My house.” Pansy responded with a nod. She was clinging to John almost as tightly as AJ was. Only she felt a lot more guilty about it.
John gently shot them toward Pansy’s house and landed soon, carefully, and holding them both until they could stand. “Here we are. Door to door service, so to speak.”
He nodded to Pansy. “Are you feeling okay?”
He gave AJ a hug, smiling gently at her as well.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Pansy gave him a smile. It was weak, but it was there. “Thanks for saving my life.” She said, breaking into a more mischievous grin, then let herself into her place. “Do you want anything?”
AJ shook her head. “Just to go home.” She was still shaken.
John smiled. “I’ll call you later, to check in. I better get her home too.” He gently touched Pansy’s shoulder. “Be careful, okay?”
And once they had said goodbye, he gently pulled AJ to him and shot away, back to the house. It was a quick trip, and they landed soon, in the backyard, safe and sound, and he hugged AJ close.
Pansy locked the door behind herself and collapsed onto the sofa.
AJ hugged closer in against John, and gave a great sigh when they landed in the backyard. Her knees buckled a little and she clung more tightly to him.
John landed at their house and hugged her tight, swinging her up into his arms and carrying her into their house. He was silent for a moment, then sighed. “That was crazy.”
“Absolutely. Take me to bed.” AJ said, leaning heavily against him.
John chuckled and did so, and snuggled her close. “Aye dear. Nap time?”
“Nap time.” She gave a little shiver, cuddled close in against him, then turned to lead the way into the house. She was still clutching the gun, but didn’t notice its weight in her hand.
He relieved her of the gun, put it away, and took them both to bed. It had been a long day.
Fin.