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Post by Delilah A. Black on Oct 6, 2012 18:36:56 GMT -8
The bike. Of course.
She let out a hiss of agitation from between her teeth. Her main priority was getting Marcus to the safe house and getting him fixed up. On the other hand, she had a feeling that the man wouldn't rest until he knew his Lady was safe and sound.
A gentleman through and through.
And though it went against her instincts, she made a plan on the fly. For him.
“I'm taking us there now, don't you worry,” she winced out of the corner of her eye as he slapped himself again. Delilah was of the opinion that continuing to beat oneself up in order to prevent one from succumbing to one's injuries was not the most logical of methods...but she had no other ideas and desperate times....
She swung a hard left and wove distractingly through a few more alleyways before slowing down. Soon they were coasting and Delilah shut off the engine and put the car in neutral. She wasn't one hundred percent on this feeling, but she had a vague idea that going even near the bike was a bad idea, a trap.
Once the car had rode to a silent stop about a block away from where she had left the bike, Delilah jumped out of the car and began looking around a her surroundings. Her eyes landed on the jagged edge of what was most likely a bumper and she snatched it up. She walked around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. She bent at the knee until she was at eye level with him, her face so close their noses were nearly touching, so he could focus. She looked serious and worried.
“Stay low. I'll be right back with your bike and then we'll take off, okay?” She would press the bumper into his hands. “Just in case.” if nothing else, than he could probably just use it as a club or something to make loud noise with. And with that, she was off, running back the way they came with her limp steadily becoming worse.
She went back the way they came to distract any who might be pursuing them to take away suspicion over Marcus' possible location. It was pretty clear to her that he was their real quarry (the way leader-man had ignored her up until that point and had left Marcus alive after he almost destroyed him pointed in that direction) and that she had gotten in the way. She was a loose end.
Well, let's see if loose ends matter to a man like that.
If her intuition was right – and it was seldom wrong (though it was known to happen) – then there would be an ambush likely waiting for her as she came near the bike. If not...so much the better. In Delilah's mind, it was far more ideal to prepare for the worst and have the ideal situation happen than just hoping for it.
She forced her injured body over several fallen ruins and through a hollowed out department store before she came out on the very street she had left the bike on. It was only about a hundred yards away. She didn't see anyone, but drew her knife and skulked towards the bike by ducking in and out of the shadows now being cast by the fading sun. Pulling out the key with her free hand, she was only a few feet away from the bike, lying on it's side and slightly scraped up, but otherwise unharmed.
Driven by desperation and not a small amount of pain, she placed her knife between her teeth and darted out of the shadows and grasped the bike by the handles, hauling it onto both wheels and jamming the key in the ignition. She would look around quickly, eyes scanning above, beneath and all around her for movement or any indication she was about to under go attack.
If she remained relatively unalerted, she would proceed to start and straddle the bike, put the thing in gear, and twist the throttle as she attempted to get to the shortest route back to where Marcus was.
If, however, something or someone did make themselves known or try to attack her, she would abandon the effort to get on the bike then and there and prepare for a fight, knife held in a reverse grip and the key clenched in her fist.
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Oct 8, 2012 15:32:16 GMT -8
"Good luck Lilah."
The man whispered to the girls back as she sped off into the night. He knew for a fact he was asking alot of her, that he was being selfish. In fact he knew he would have to do something to make it up to her somehow. It wasen't right to have her risk herself for a complete stranger like himself.
'Well obviously I'm going to have to do something heroicly stupid to redeem myself aren't I?'
Alright! Well, where to start? He had a car and a piece of bumper. Well that wont cut it at all, what else was there? Delilah had said something about there not being enough gas in the tank. Well, Lady WAS due for a fill up, but he was more than certain that she had enough for whatever trip Lilah was thinking about.
Now. Where were those hunters?
The chances that Arkham had someone set up to keep an eye on Lady was pretty small, but not small enough to ignore completely. The best thing Marcus could do right now would be to even the odds for Delilah. Slipping out of the passenger seat, Marcus leaned the bumper against the side of the car as he took a few steps forward and got down to his knees. With his eyes closed, he began to breath deep and slow, focusing completely on his sense of hearing. What Marcus was essentialy doing was licking his finger and sticking it in the air to try and catch where the wind was blowing.
It didn't take long before Marcus heard the clap clap clap of footsteps surrounding him. Judging from how the echoes bounced, it sounded like they were ALL searching from the streets. Practical of course, but thats only when you're chasing practical prey. With the basics of a plan in his head, Marcus looked about himself and began his search. He would need something heavy, with rope or string to tie it with. After skillfully procuring a disgarded dumbell and duct tape, Marcus made his way back to the car and got straight to work taping the ten pound weight to the accelerator.
'Like a mix of James bond and McGuyver.'
Marcus knew he wouldn't have alot of time after pulling the emergency brake. The hunters would be on him like white on rice the moment they hear the boom of the car slaming into the end of the allyway a few blocks away. The engine roared loud as if anticipating its time to run full out, which would no doubt catch the ear of anyone in the area. Pulling the emergency brake, Marcus took off sluggishly towards the closest wall and ran up it, catching the fire escape and slowly hauling himself up with gritted teeth.
The car screamed down the allyway as shouts of alarm filled the air until the inevitable crash. A sound that would attract the few hunters who were poking around Marcus' bike. Thankfully due to Delilahs careful prowling, she managed to approach the scene completely undetected. Hearing the crash, the hunters shouted amongst each other before running into the alleyway, leaving the bike completely unguarded.
Alone on the rooftop, Marcus would begin running and hopping his way back towards Lilah and Lady.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Oct 8, 2012 19:25:02 GMT -8
The sound of screeching tires and the ensuing crash echoed loudly throughout the immediate area. Delilah looked up, alarmed and knowing without a doubt that was the car she had left Marcus with. A thrill of panic raced through her, but she fought the urge to come out from behind her cover: as it was, three or four men who had been watching the bike that she hadn't yet seen took off in that direction, looking for the culprit.
Worried as she was, Delilah had a feeling that Marcus was somehow behind this. She wasn't pleased, as the man was suffering from a few serious injuries and should not have been attracting attention to himself at all...but if it was him, he had just prevented a confrontation that could have gone South very quickly, so she would let it go. Besides, that was clever to say the least.
As soon as their little followers were out of sight, Delilah rushed to the bike, put the key in the ignition, and remained where she was, although she wanted to roar down the road and get the blue fuck outta here. She looked around for Marcus. Where, oh where could the bleeding man be?
After a couple of tense minutes, the distinct sounds of scrambling on the rooftops reached her ears. She looked up, spotting the bulky silhouette about a story above her. She was eager to get going.
“Marcus!” she called to him in a hiss, ready to turn the ignition and get moving.
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Oct 8, 2012 21:09:25 GMT -8
Marcus was about as graceful as a drunken gorilla, but he somehow managed to get himself down by using the window sills as handholds and dropping the remaining few feet before taking off at a flat run for the bike. Jumping on behind Lilah, Marcus' strength finaly gave out and he slumped into her back, wrapping his arms around her slender waist.
"Let's get the fuck on outa' here now please."
He was breathing heavy now. That run took more out of him than he cared to admit. Delilah would probably need no more incentive to bust on out of the area, so Marcus decided to focus himself completely on staying awake and staying alive.
Well, he DID hear that talking was a good way to do it.
"Do all your first dates go like this? Your husband must be one hell of a guy!"
YES! Talking. Talking was good. Talking meant staying alive. Must keep talking.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Oct 8, 2012 21:44:11 GMT -8
((Author's note: as this thread takes place before the "Homecoming" thread, this information is accurate for the purposes of THIS thread))
Marcus jumped on the bike and fell against her from exhaustion, Delilah started to look over her should to chastise/thank him for wrecking the car and putting himself in danger. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist and she thought the better of it.
"Let's get the fuck on outa' here now please."
She heard the heavy rasp in his breath and she was only happy to oblige him. She turned over the engine and twisted the throttle and soon they were tearing down the road once more towards the safe house. It was still a ways off, but the bike was in far better condition than the car was.
"Do all your first dates go like this? Your husband must be one hell of a guy!"
She blinked her surprise at the blunt and rather sudden delivery of this statement, but she rolled with it. Like Marcus, she knew he had to stay awake. Or he might not wake up at all.
"Actually, I don't have a husband," she hollered over the wind, "My son's father left for England before I knew I was even pregnant."
Short, quick answers, inviting more questions that she would be happy to answer. It was Marcus that needed to talk, not Delilah. Still, talking about this made her feel queasy in a weird sort of way that was good at the same time. It was an uncomfortable feeling, and the vibrations of the bike didn't help.
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Oct 8, 2012 22:04:59 GMT -8
{OOC} Rodger dodger! {OOC}
Marcus' eyes went wide. He could practicaly hear the click of the metaphorical landmine he had just stepped on.
"Ah. I.....see. Sorry, I didn't know. Well let's just get right off that topic then. I mean I didn't mean to intrude to be honest. I was just curious cause you HAD said something about a child earlier. Yeah, sorry about that. Bet he's cute as a god damn button sure as sure!"
Marcus paused to catch his breath. This wasen't a good sign.
"Sorry if....I'm bleeding on you. I'd offer you my jacket but I have a feeling it would make matters worse and not better....."
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Oct 8, 2012 22:24:22 GMT -8
"Ah. I.....see. Sorry, I didn't know. Well let's just get right off that topic then. I mean I didn't mean to intrude to be honest. I was just curious cause you HAD said something about a child earlier. Yeah, sorry about that. Bet he's cute as a god damn button sure as sure!"
Was he flustered or was that the blood loss talking? She chuckled to herself as she rounded a tight curve. They were only about a third of the way there. How sweet.
"Sorry if....I'm bleeding on you. I'd offer you my jacket but I have a feeling it would make matters worse and not better....."
"Marcus, I'm gonna stop you there," she said with a lilt of a laugh in her voice. "Keep your jacket, I'm fine. And you're not intruding, not after what we've just been through. I'm not upset about it, so it's okay if you want to ask questions. It's been years since I last spoke to him. I might be a chick, but I'm not exactly what you might call 'sensitive'.
"Ask away. Really."
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Oct 8, 2012 23:28:52 GMT -8
Marcus squirmed. He really felt like he was prying at this point. Well, it really had been awhile since he had talked to someone so open as Delilah anyway.
"Well. Aight."
He said with a resigned sigh. He put his foot in the door, time to step inside.
"I guess the next thing to ask then is the why. Why did he leave? I mean with a kid at that! I hear about stuff like that all the time you see and it always boggles my mind why a man would give up that kind of responsability that comes with a child. It's not like you can claim ignorance as an excuse right?"
Upbringing would be a good reason why Marcus was so upset over the idea of a father abandoning his child considering his own dad spent a long time drilling the idea's of family pride, love and responsibility through his skull.
The thought made his heart ache as he wondered where his folks and his brothers were in this new mess of a world.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Oct 9, 2012 0:12:03 GMT -8
"I guess the next thing to ask then is the why. Why did he leave? I mean with a kid at that! I hear about stuff like that all the time you see and it always boggles my mind why a man would give up that kind of responsability that comes with a child. It's not like you can claim ignorance as an excuse right?"
She hummed to herself for a moment before replying in an even voice, "He left because his father was sick and he was called upon to run the family business back in England. Like I said, I had no idea I was even pregnant at the time and he certainly doesn't know, even now. I've never told him because I haven't had the chance. Thing is, he was supposed to come back. But he never did and I haven't heard from him since."
Not that it was his fault, she supposed: by the time she had been broken out of the mental asylum and had discovered her...predicament, she knew of no way to contact Stu, and likely the same went for him. Then the bombs had fallen and now there was no way to contact him, if he was even alive.
"But you're right. I can't defend his not knowing for his not being here. But Oliver knows who his dad is. I haven't kept anything from him."
They were now at the halfway point and the wind was growing cold. A shiver passed over her and shook her head to clear it.
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Oct 11, 2012 20:27:15 GMT -8
"See, that. That sounds actualy reasonable. Sorta."
Marcus said. He seemed to have relaxed after the careful reassuring Delilah gave him.
"Ya see I was figuring he was one of those dirtbag types who bolt when the word babey is inputed into the equation but that.....yeah I cant really hate on that. It's like my brother. He moved up north a while back after he got married see and my folks....well after the Great Fall they decided to go north too cause we hadnt heard any word of him since."
Which was even more troublesome considering he hadn't heard from his parents since they left almost half a year ago. Just one of the many things that kept Marcus up at night.
"He's still alive though. I'd know if he wasen't. If they weren't."
He then made a half hearted attempt to smile his wolflike smile.
"We Prasads are notoriously hard to kill."
Case in point. But even he had his limits and he was fast approaching them. Staying concious was a chore and his throat was burning from thirst. He had a bottle of water in his saddlebag but didnt want to risk falling off the bike to try and get it in his current state.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Oct 11, 2012 20:55:16 GMT -8
"Ya see I was figuring he was one of those dirtbag types who bolt when the word babey is inputed into the equation but that.....yeah I cant really hate on that. It's like my brother. He moved up north a while back after he got married see and my folks....well after the Great Fall they decided to go north too cause we hadnt heard any word of him since."
She tilted her head slightly to the side to listen to him talk. Marcus had hardly spoken about his family before now. His were nowhere to be found...but he still had his. It made her envious and sympathetic all at once.
"He's still alive though. I'd know if he wasen't. If they weren't. We Prasads are notoriously hard to kill."
"Let's keep it that way," she said jovially enough. She was beginning to recognize the area more and more and her heart began to race with anticipation.
"We're almost there!"
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Oct 11, 2012 22:17:48 GMT -8
"Yaaaaaaaay!"
Marcus half heartedly cheered. His normally strong voice was growing fainter by the minute. His body begining to power down to reserve as much energy and oxygen as it could. Delilah would easily be able to feel his grip around her midrift beginning to slacken.
"Know what Lilah? We make a pretty good team you and I. Let's....Let's say we go ride off into the sunset all hiyo silver style and be...be....BOUNTEY HUNTERS! Yeah.......bounty........hunters."
Feeling old and tired, Marcus would just rest the side of his head against Delilah's back.
'Yeah, just rest a bit. Mabey take a nice nap or two.'
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Oct 11, 2012 23:47:44 GMT -8
"Yaaaaaaaay!" That 'yay' worried her more than the previous events combined, sending hot and cold shivers up and down her spine. One last turn and she could see the safehouse up the way. His grip was beginning to slacken, she could feel his heart slowing down against her back as he leaned against her more.
No, not now, we're so close...!
"Marcus, stay with me now." she said with a hint of desperation in her voice. Just one more block...
"Come on, come on..." "Know what Lilah? We make a pretty good team you and I. Let's....Let's say we go ride off into the sunset all hiyo silver style and be...be....BOUNTEY HUNTERS! Yeah.......bounty........ hunters." "MARCUS PRASAD DON'T YOU DARE DIE ON ME," She shouted, louder and far more forcefully than she had ever spoken to him before. "SO HELP ME GOD, I WILL BRING YOU BACK TO LIFE JUST TO KILL YOU AGAIN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"She hit the brakes just then and they came to skidding stop, tires squealing. She cut the engine, put down the kickstand, pulled a key out of her pocket and hauled Marcus onto her back again before carrying him towards the safe house.
Running (and limping) again, Delilah managed to shift Marcus slightly as she opened the door and then kicked it in. She'd navigate in the dark as though she knew the hallways like the back of her hand. Indeed she should: this safe house had been hers until she offered it to the Crows.
She made it to the living room and gingerly deposited Marcus on the coffee table. She left him a moment to quickly light a few candles for her to work by and to run into the kitchen to grab the emergency supplies there: an EMT grade first aid kit, towels, alcohol, a single unit of O- blood (it was all she had) and medical tubing.
She raced back to the living room and dropped the materials beside the coffee table. She knelt down beside him, drew her bowie knife, and sliced the shirt off his...muscular chest.
Delilah shook her head and set to work. I think I got my head knocked around a few too many times today. Priorities, Del, priorities.. She finished stripping him down to his underwear and she rose slightly to hover over him.
"Marcus, if you can hear me, I'm going to start cleaning your wounds and stitching them closed. When I'm done that, I'm going to give you a blood transfusion. Now, I need you to lie perfectly still...you can rest when I'm done the stitches, okay?" she took off her belt and slipped it between his teeth: for him to bite down on.
First, she would swab his wounds clean and pick the bits of dirt, gravel, metal and glass out from each of them with a tweezer. It was quick work, as his blood had washed away most of the debris. The injuries from the road rash she wrapped carefully in gauze and antiseptic. Next, she began stitching the knife wounds closed, one by one. She would make soothing hushing noises to his complaints of pain, if he was still awake enough to have any while smoothing down his hair. It worked for Oliver at any rate.
The stitching was sloppy, rudimentary at best, but it got the job done. Never really was a healer, she thought to herself as she tied off the last stitch. Thank God for Arim. I never would have known this if it weren't for her.
Last came the transfusion, by far the trickiest bit. She set up the medical tubing and hung the blood bag on a nearby lamp. Working by the flickering light of the candles, she carefully put the needle in his arm and hooked it up to the bag, watching carefully for air bubbles as she attached the medical tubing to the intravenous line going into his veins. She would watch him there for a while, like a hawk, watching for signs of improvement.
Finally, after two hours of anxious waiting, she started to notice his breathing became more regular and that some of his colour was back. She let out a sigh of relief and rose, gently pulling Marcus onto her back for the third time and grabbing the lamp, making sure she was holding it high above his head as she walked up the stairs to where the bedrooms were.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
When Marcus awoke, he would find himself resting in a luxurious king sized bed in a spacious master bedroom with the covers pulled up around him and the windows thrown open, letting in the scent and sounds of the sea. The room was elaborately decorated, complete with a cleopatra couch, a large wardrobe, an adjoining bathroom, white shag carpet (now blood stained), pale coral walls and a vaulted ceiling. A pile of used bandages would be lying in the corner, as Delilah had been redressing Marcus' wounds every four hours.
Kneeling beside the bed with her head rested against it, would be Delilah, asleep, but fitfully so, a loose cardigan over her more-or-less exposed chest. Beside her on the night stand was a bowl of lukewarm chicken soup for when Marcus woke up. She hadn't been asleep all that long.
She was looking worse for the wear now that all her bruises had time to show up. Her injured shoulder had a nasty shade of green and purple all over it from her overabuse. She was sporting a black eye, a large goose egg, and several scratches as well as smears of blood. The rest of her was similarly decorated, although the major wound on her leg was wrapped in guaze.
She'd twitch in her sleep, groan in pain and bury her face deeper against the blanket. |
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Oct 12, 2012 22:14:11 GMT -8
Marcus' rise to conciousness was a slow and labourous process. For a long while he just laid there, straddling the line between dreams and reality. It was always the same dreams. Smiling faces mixed with agonizing screams set to a backdrop of an old broken down square building with a rusted chainlink fence, a football field and that goddamn cherry tree sitting on that goddamn hill. Some of the faces that flashed in his mind were those he recognised, others had names which were too far buried into the remote crevises of his grey matter.
After snoozing for another hour, Marcus began to arduous task of grumbling, stretching out his arms and legs and making what amounted to babey dinosaur noises before he decided to commit to the ultimate test of his manhood and try to pull himself into a sitting position. A test that he damn near failed more times than he liked to admit. Finaly he had himself sitting with his back against the headboard, sweat dripping off his pain scrunched face as he fought hard to keep the room from spinning.
'Ok, let's take stock. Currently in a bitchin pad. Feel like Frankenstiens monster after losing a fight with a woodchipper. Am....Shirtless? Ok, makes sense. Damn I look like one giant fucking bruise though getting hit by a car and punched through a dock door will do that to a guy. Kind of confused as to why I'm without pants though. It's night out and I'm by the sea. Also Lilah. Dyaaaaw.'
Marcus smiled despite the fact that it seriously hurt to smile at the moment when he saw her. To think that she had nearly got him killed or worse, almost scratching Lady earlier in the day and now here she was resting after effectively saving his life!
"You do realize this pretty much makes me your bitch for life right?"
He murmured with a smirk to her as he looked her over and winced at the extent of her injuries. She was beaten up just as bad as he was. Worse even since Grudge looked like he hit like a truck anyway.
He did NOT like the look of her arm at all either. Discolored and puffy, she needed to tie an ice pack to it quick to reduce the swelling and irritation.
Trying to turn and grab the bowl of delicious smelling soup (Considering how hungry he was, cold gooey paste would be delicious smelling to him by this point)
was made much more difficult due to the stitches which pulled and pinched uncomfortably. Eating it wasen't a problem though as he simply opened his mouth wide and slowly dumped the contents straight into his mouth.
With his basic needs met, he simply chose to relax for awhile, replaying the days events in his head, picking them apart and analyzing them with a clinical eye. That was the one thing that made Marcus as dangerous as he was. Everytime he had ever finished a fight, he always went over it again and again from each and every angle, picking out everything he and his opponent did wrong before creating countermeasures and refining his style.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Oct 12, 2012 22:41:59 GMT -8
Marcus would have a few peaceful minutes of silence with nothing but what was going on outside to distract him from his musings as the raven haired mechanic snoozed lightly beside him, groaning intermittently.
....
.......
...........
......--"!!!!"
Without any warning, Delilah would suddenly sit bolt upright and shove herself away from the bed and into a low crouch, hands groping reflexively for a knife that wasn't there as she went from sleeping to fight/flight mode in an instant.
The next instant, her body reminded her of the pain she was in. The one after that, she remembered that she was supposed to be here, recognized Marcus, and remember the events of the last night.
As quickly as her adrenaline shot through her body, it left her, and Delilah simply fell forward into the carpet with a soft moan of pain.
"Ooooow...."
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