I Moderate (i_moderate) wrote in we_archive, @ 2006-03-17 21:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | jake chambers, matt murdock |
i_object In the darkness [OPEN]
Daredevil wasn't patrolling so much as figuring out where the hell he was. It had been a couple days since the explosions downtown, but there had been other folks around the scene saving bystanders, battling each other...he'd stayed out of it. Since then, he had not strayed far.
Moving from shadow to shadow, he lept across the rooftops. Nothing had changed tonight. No buildings had shifted as far as he knew. He would pause every so often to make sure his apartment was still directly behind him - it's signature echo remaining constant in his senses. Pulling his billy club from its holster, he shot the ripcord out, hooking it onto a cornice. Swinging down onto a lower building he paused once again. There was a pizza place below where he stood. The smell of garlic and bread engulfed him. Too strong.
He kept moving, creating a mental map of where he was.
From: [info]i_throwplates Date: 03/21/2006 05:26:31
Jake was walking around. It might have been suggested that he was too young to go wandering on his own, but Jake had grown up on his own, more alone than with the excuses for parents ka had thrust him with. He'd wandered the streets of New York City by himself, and then had braved the City of Lud, Topeka, the Calla, and Death.
The bag of Rizas was heavy on his hip, but it was a welcome weight. He'd been trying to follow a very unusual feeling mind - one that was comprised of the senses; exceptional senses, but no vision. He'd touched the blind before, and this was somehow the same, but vastly different.
He was concentrating so much on the mind, and it's fast-paced path across the City, that he didn't sense the minds approaching him until their footfalls echoed in his ears.
Jake stopped immediately, heart beating hard, and looked up at the black-clad men.
"Hey, boyo," one said, smirking. "What's in the purse?"
Jake narrowed his eyes. "Death, if you take one step closer," he said. His voice was cool, calm. This was how it always was. His hand didn't move - there was no need. Their hands were on their hips, already on the guns they had hidden under their coats. But Jake's eyes had already aimed, his mind had already released, and his heart was ready for the kill. All that was waiting was time.
From: [info]i_object Date: 03/21/2006 09:41:25
Daredevil paused atop a dry cleaners (by the chemical smell around it) with an alley next to it (by the smell of stale wet garbage). He had heard the heartbeats before he heard the voices. One was a child's heartbeat - smaller than the other two, beating with quick and suddden rapidity. The two men were slightly slower, but still driven by adrenaline. A confrontation.
Daredevil holstered his billy club and flipped over the side of the dry cleaners, easily swinging down onto a fire escape before launching himself in a tight tuck down to the ground. He landed silently and made his way through the cold shadows to the end of the alley way.
He didn't make his prescence known yet, but he freed his billy club again and held it at the ready. There was the rustling of cloth from the men, who unknowingly had their backs to him. Gun powder beneath the sweat on their coats. He could take them both out with one swing of his billy club. But what halted Daredevil's action was the tone of the boy's voice. It was determined and sure, yet calm.
If either of the men even cocked his weapon, however, Daredevil would have a cable wrapped around both of their necks.
From: [info]i_throwplates Date: 03/21/2006 10:50:09
Touching their minds, he felt their intent before they acted on it. One to circle around him, the second to draw his gun. The first would grab the satchel while he watched the first. Then they would hurt him. Then they would kill him. They wanted to kill, and so they would. No matter that he was young. They preyed on the weak.
Jake's eyes watched. He felt that other mind pause, waiting, like a breath being held. And then, the resolve of the men stirred, and they initiated.
Time slowed.
One of the men reached for the gun, as the other stepped to the side, moving to surround the boy. One heartbeat.
Jake's hand blurred to his side, dipping into the satchel and catching the safe edge of the Riza, sliding his left foot behind him to face the man approaching him. The plate was snapped through the air, whistling with the force. Second heartbeat.
A cable wound itself around the throat of the man reaching for the gun. Jerked out of place, the weapon fell from his hand, and his eyes widened behind the black mask. His associate had barely enough time to register that the boy had thrown anything before the plate struck his throat and removed his head in a clean sweep. Third heartbeat.
Jake was already holding a second plate, and was holding it at the ready, turned in the direction of the second man. The gun hit the ground, clattering to the pavement. The Oriza plate met a telephone pole and stuck, quivering, seven inches deep. Fourth heartbeat.
Time returned to normal. The headless body dropped to the ground. The caught man gave a choking sound, and his hands moved to grasp at the cable around his neck. Jake gave him a moment's attention, then turned his eyes upward, looking for whoever was on the other end of that cable.
From: [info]i_object Date: 03/21/2006 11:08:47
Something blurred and whizzed around Daredevil. Thin and sharp, something foreign sliced the air. He was going to stay clear of that. There was a smell of warmth - of blood. The thud of a body and something severed on the pavement. The sound of a cartridge being shifted into the barrel...
Releasing the cable with a quick jerk and sweep of his arm, Daredevil brought the man down, the wire wrapped around his neck. Stepping away from the shadows of the alley, Daredevil approached the man on the ground. Giving him a nudge with his boot, and another jerk against the cable, he waited until the man passed out. He'd be out for a good while until the police came on the scene. Loosening the catch on the cable, it retracted into the billy club handle.
"You alright, kid?" he asked gruffly, pushing the unconscious man on the ground away with his foot. He wasn't sure what happened to the other assailant, but he had a pretty good idea.
From: [info]i_throwplates Date: 03/21/2006 11:29:53
"Peachy."
Jake lowered the plate, but didn't put it away. He was looking carefully at the man, and concentrating on the strangeness of his mind.
"Who are you?"
His voice was distrusting. He suspected the man wouldn't harm him, but experience had taught Jake some hard lessons over the past several months.
From: [info]i_object Date: 03/21/2006 13:48:05
"Daredevil," he said simply. Where was Spider-man when you needed him? Daredevil wasn't good with kids. He didn't blame the boy for not trusting him, especially after two men had just tried to rob the kid. And then to have someone drop off the rooftops in a leather devil costume...
This particular kid, however, seemed to be able to manage on his own. Daredevil knew he only took out one of the assailants with his cable. How the kid had taken out the other one, he wasn't sure.
"You should probably find your way home. It's pretty late for a kid your age to be out alone," he commented.
From: [info]i_throwplates Date: 03/21/2006 14:06:15
Daredevil. Delirim. What the hell sort of place am I in?
Jake rubbed his head, groaning. "Home. Right," he muttered, mostly under his breath. "Think you can point me to the Path of the Beam?"
He dropped the Riza into his satchel and walked towards the street to the other, ignoring the body and the smell of blood the best he could.
A kid your age. It was annoying, in a way, to be back in a world where he'd be seen as a kid again. A child. Eleven years old, when he had the mental maturity of someone twice his age. Or at least Eddie. Damn, he missed Eddie.
"Gotta get my plate," he murmured, not really expecting the man to hear him as he tugged hard at the dish, imbedded in the pole.
From: [info]i_object Date: 03/21/2006 14:36:29
"Think you can point me to the Path of the Beam?"
Daredevil cocked his head towards the kid, confused. "Sorry, but I don't know what that is."
He heard the disk grinding against the pole as the boy tugged to get it out. Beneath his mask, he winced at the squeaks it made. "Can I give you a hand?" he asked.
Daredevil, stepping around the fallen robbers, went over to stand next to the boy in order to help him get his plate out of the pole. Why the hell there was a plate in a pole, Daredevil didn't know. All he could assume was that this was what he'd heard sail past - and possibly decapitate the body now relieved of its head.
From: [info]i_throwplates Date: 03/21/2006 14:51:53
"No," Jake said hurriedly, catching the strange man's hands before he can touch it. He blinked a moment, and released the leather-clad fingers. "It's sharp," he said, by way of explaination. "I know you can't see it, but it's sharp."
Jake grasped the dish at the center, using both hands, and braced one foot against the pole itself, pulling hard. Damn, it was in deep. The wood grunted, and the metal squeaked, groaned, and protested.
From: [info]i_object Date: 03/21/2006 15:20:03
Daredevil paused, taken aback that the kid knew he was blind. Or perhaps he meant that it was dark. He tried to play it off as the latter. "Of course it's sharp. How else would it have wedged itself into that pole like that?"
The more the boy wrestled with it, the louder the squeaks became - meaning it was wrenching itself free. Unfortunately for Daredevil, those sounds were amplified. He grimaced, trying to focus on something else. Something close by. That leaky spicket on the side of the restaurant across the street, perhaps.
From: [info]i_throwplates Date: 03/21/2006 15:32:18
"Because I threw it hard." He pulled again, carefully manuvering his fingers around the edges of the dish. Jake cringed at the creeping pain settling over his mind. It seemed to rebound every time the plate let out a screech. After one final, hard pull, the plate let out an ear-splitting wail of metal on wood, that made Jake flinch and drop the dish to the concrete as he covered his ears, a bolt of pain jarring his mind.
"Ow!" he said, then let out a breath, surprised when the pain vanished, rather suddenly. "Huh?"
Then he realized where it had been coming from. He'd still been linked to the blind man. "Oh, shit. I'm sorry. I didn't realize..." that your hearing was THAT good, he finished, only in thought. "That it would hurt you," he said instead.
He didn't want to hurt anyone. The irony of that was lying in a pool of blood at his feet. But it was true. He never wanted to hurt anyone. But as Roland said so often, gunslingers dealt in lead, and death was their language.
Jake looked at the bodies. They had guns. It might be good to get another gun, for when he found the others again. Maybe two. He'd check. Hopefully before any police came around.
From: [info]i_object Date: 03/21/2006 15:57:23
The clatter of the plate on the ground nearly made Daredevil double over in pain. Billy club out, he brought it down on top of the plate, stopping it from rattling over the sidewalk. The disorienting vibrations slowed and the world around him slowly came into focus again. He'd be lucky if he could relocate his apartment quickly.
Taking a couple deep breaths to steady himself, Daredevil reholstered the club. "It's alright," he said through gritted teeth. He was preparing himself for the wail of police sirens, but he wasn't even picking up a scanner in the area. Were the police just that careless around here? Or had no one reported it yet?
From: [info]i_throwplates Date: 03/22/2006 09:26:50
Jake wasn't surprised by the lack of police. There had been no gunshots, no screams. Nothing, really, to alert anyone of anything. And if this was anything like New York City, the rabbits in their holes would keep to themselves and not stir up trouble.
He picked up the plate and returned it to his satchel, using his fingers to muffle the sounds best he could.
"I guess you saved my life," he said, looking up at the man, deciding to give him the credit, since he'd managed the rescue without killing. "You do this a lot?"
From: [info]i_object Date: 03/22/2006 15:34:07
The kid had done most of the work - Daredevil had just disarmed one man. But the fact that the kid had actually killed was a bit troubling to him. Especially since the kid, who sounded fairly young, was not showing signs of shock or remorse for having killed a man. It seemed a bit too nonchalant.
"You do this a lot?"
"Yeah, I do," Daredevil replied. Not that I should have to, he thought to himself. The unconscious robber's heart was beginning to pick up a faster beat - he was going to come to soon, but he wouldn't run. He didn't have it in him to run.
"Where do you live?" Path of the Beam - the boy had asked him that earlier. What it was, he had no clue. "Your parents are probably starting to worry."
From: [info]i_throwplates Date: 03/22/2006 15:58:01
Jake had to snort at the comment. "My parents never worry about me." His mother just worried about whether or not there was enough drugs in her system, and his father worried about how 'the kid' would effect his social standing. He hadn't seen them in... Well, time had been different along the Path of the Beam, but Jake guessed that it was about half a year, at least.
He considered how to bypass the man's question. "I have a place to stay," he offered in response. Mal had said he could stay, if he needed to.
From: [info]i_object Date: 03/22/2006 16:15:00
"Good." He just picked up the first police scanner. The officer was making rounds about six blocks away, but he was headed this direction. If he came down this street, he was bound to find the robbers under the pool of light.
"The police are coming. Be careful on your way home." Daredevil started to turn back towards the alley. "This city changes, but it's hard to tell when. Just keep an eye on your surroundings and always have in mind where you're headed."
From: [info]i_throwplates Date: 03/25/2006 12:12:10
Jake watched as the man headed back towards the alley, and let him leave. If the cops were on their way, that meant he didn't have much time. But still. There was a limited number of plates, and when those were gone, Jake didn't know where or how he could replace them.
Guns were a different matter. He found the pair on the guys, just as the live one was starting to wake up. Jake considered ending it right there, but no. There was no reason. Kill when you have to kill.
Jake slipped the guns into his satchel just as he heard the car approaching. He moved into a shadow and started walking, slowly enough not to attract attention. Not with the bodies there, draped in lamplight.