wickedchouette | (no subject)

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[When the car radiator overheats for the third time in a week, Alfie takes it as a sign that it's finally time for more than just another quick tune-up.

They're in a deserted area, which is both good and bad. On the one hand, most of the dangerous gangs are still in urban areas, the way they had been before the world had gone to shit. Out here in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by miles and miles of fields with only the occasional small copse of trees, they're not likely to run into anyone at all, much less anyone dangerous. But on the other hand, if they do come across anyone, there won't be anywhere to run to or hide. Alfie, as always, has his pistol tucked into his coat pocket, and they have more weapons stashed away in the trunk. But they're a small group - no match for the bigger gangs with armored trucks and heavy artillery. If they meet one of those, they'll be slaughtered.

With his sleeves rolled up and the hood of the car open, he leans in with his tools, carefully tinkering away. He can't afford to make a mistake here - replacement parts are rare and precious. When he hears footsteps behind him, he doesn't dare look away from his work as he says sharply:]

Stay back. You don't want hot steam to the face.

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When I'd come home from a late night in the office, more often than not, she'd show up at my doorstep with a home-cooked meal. It didn't matter how late it was. She stayed up until one in the morning one night, waiting to bring me a plate of macaroni.

She did love your dad, and she loved you. Goodness, I remember the day you were born. She brought you home and couldn't take her eyes off of you.

[ Mercy is practically beaming. She does sound nice, and she's so glad. Mostly, she's glad because even if she can't remember, Royce and Alfie do. And Mercy thinks they deserve nice memories. ]

I love her, too. Even though she isn't here and I don't remember her very much, I do. [ Mercy pushes her hair out of her face. ] I'm glad she was nice.

[ A beat, and then, hesitantly: ] Do you think she's watching us?

[Honestly, he doesn't know. Talk of the afterlife has started to be a depressing thing for him. But he'll be damned if he lets Mercy get roped into that kind of thinking.]

You know when we sit in the back of the car and look at the shapes in the clouds?

I think she's forming them for us.

[ She likes the sound of that a lot. She'd almost been expecting a different sort of answer, just because Alfie and Royce are such practical people. ]

I like that. [ Mercy tells Alfie, smiling. She feels sad, a bit, but in a weird sort of good way. ] Cause it means she's still with us.

Maybe we could get Dad to watch the clouds with us sometime? Just so he can... you know, um. Say hello again, I guess.

[Alfie is looking a bit melancholy, though he's gamely trying to hide it. He knows it might not work - Mercy is perceptive, and she knows him well - but a lot of his feelings are too much to put on the shoulders of a seven-year-old.]

Yeah. You rope him in, and he'll go along with it.

Yeah. [ She knows. She's watching his face closely, and he's good at hiding it, but Mercy spends all of her time with both him and Royce. She knows when a topic is a little too much, which is why she reaches to take Alfie's hand again, holding it tightly. ]

I'm glad you have nice memories of her. [ Mercy offers softly, smiling a little. ]

[He gives her hand a squeeze.]

I do wish you had more, sweetheart.

[ She nods, but doesn't ask any other questions about her mother. It's okay, this'll last her for a while. She'll be imagining Gwen cooking and playfully scolding Alfie at his front door for the next few weeks. Instead, she opens her mouth to say something else, and then stops completely, turning to look into the grass.

It's rustling. Just slightly. She hears... footsteps?

Mercy's expression shifts, and she tugs at Alfie's hand, trying to pull him back. She doesn't say anything - instead, she pulls her hand away so she can signal danger to Alfie, the way Royce taught the two of them to do. ]

[Alfie stops immediately, going stock-still.]

Which way do we go?

[She's the one with the good hearing; the good eyesight. He'll follow her lead, here.

With one hand grabbing onto hers again, the other snakes into his pocket, taking hold of the gun.]

Edited 2016-06-24 15:28 (UTC)

[ She takes his hand tightly, yanking him back. Something is coming towards them, from the direction they've been driving. Mercy isn't sure what it is, but it sounds bigger than an animal, and she's not going to risk it.

Of course, the noise gets louder, the rustling in the grass, and now Mercy is certain that Alfie can hear it. She looks frightened - mostly because the footsteps coming from different directions.

Mercy grips the little pocket knife she has, keeping it hidden. ]

I think we're surrounded. [ Mercy whispers, upset and pressing close to Alfie. ] I'm sorry, I should've been paying more attention.

It's not your fault.

[She might have the eyes and ears, but he's the adult. He pulls out the gun, flicking off the safety.]

I want all of you to stay back.

[He's raising his voice partly so whoever is approaching them can hear, and partly so Royce can hear and know that Alfie is aware of the situation. They're still pretty close to the car, so he's sure Royce has sensed the potential danger now too.]

I've got a gun that I have used many, many times, and you do not wanna push this with me. Turn around and go.

[ Royce is listening, waiting, trying to find the men so he can get rid of them before they even crawl out. He's found one, by the time Alfie speaks up, and he doesn't hesitate to slit the man's throat, dropping him down into the grass before moving to the next one.

Thing is, there's a lot of them. And the others are not stupid enough to go alone - they're in pairs, inching in. It happens fast.

A woman and a man come out from hiding, both holding guns. To the left and right of them, the other pairs come out - obviously not important enough to hold guns, but fairly armed with baseball bats and crowbars. The women aims her gun at Alfie, and the man aims his at Mercy. ]

I think you're a little outnumbered. [ The woman says. ] You're with the car we couldn't find last night, aren't you?

[The only comfort here, to Alfie, is that they probably just want supplies - and that if they're actually here to take someone, it'll most likely be him. There are plenty of reasons to kidnap people with the world the way it is, and some are worse than others. The most common reason is for slave labor, and a full-grown, mostly able-bodied (though he knows they'll have noticed his cane) man is a better bet for that than a little girl.

Time to break out his negotiation skills. He looks at both of them levelly.]

Let's talk about what you're after here.

[ Mercy curls against Alfie, watching from behind his leg. She hasn't given up on her knife quite yet - she's scared, but she's going to fight if she has to. ]

The car, mostly. [ The man says, shrugging. He glances at the woman. She's got her eyes on Mercy, now, who scowls at the woman with all the venom she can muster. ] How old is the girl?

[It's a tough question, because he doesn't know if younger or older makes her more appealing to them. But he can't hesitate, because then they'll assume he's lying no matter what he says.]

Seven.

[Young enough to be mostly useless for labor, old enough that she couldn't be made to forget her real family and old life so easily.]

The car, now - the car's a valuable commodity.

I don't think you're really in any position to negotiate at all. [ The woman says, gesturing. One of the pairs of men on the right scoot forward, weapons at the ready. ] But I'll make you a deal.

[ The man raises his eyebrows. The woman ignores him. ] Give us the girl and you can keep your car and supplies. And your lives, as well.

[ A different man, one with a baseball bat, speaks up: ] But the car was what we came out here for! Mr. Adams don't need more girls --

[ The man with the gun barely even hesitates, just reaches to whip the other across the face. Baseball bat guy yelps, holding his face, but goes quiet. Gun Man gestures at Gun Woman. ] We do what the Boss says. She knows what Mr. Adams is looking for.

Edited 2016-06-24 16:30 (UTC)

[Alfie forces his face to stay straight, and hopes that they aren't close enough to see the horror in his eyes.]

No deal. What do you want her for? Look at her, yeah? She's valuable to us because she's ours, but she's a slip of a thing.

[He gives Mercy's hand a squeeze, and makes sure to address the woman with the gun. He knows someone in charge when he sees them.]

But you're in luck, right, because I would be willing to negotiate for the car.

[ Mercy doesn't have any idea what they could want her for. They don't know she's half-elven, that can't be it. She's too weak to really do a lot of hard labor, even if she tries, so she's not sure what else.

Royce, in the grass, knows. He knows, and he's furious.

The woman sighs, almost like she's annoyed. ] We don't need your car. We have enough, and the price we'd get for selling it is nothing in comparison to her.

[ The men around her nod, like they get it, and the woman gestures in Mercy's direction. ] Mr. Adams knows some sick fucks who like them young, and they pay a hell of a lot more for it, so. Sorry, I --

[ And that's about the moment that Royce has had enough. He comes out of the grass silently and slits the throat of one of the men with crowbars - the man drops, and everybody bursts into action. ]

[Alfie feels his blood go cold at her words, and he desperately hopes that Mercy has no idea what they're referring to. They've tried to keep her from hearing the worst of the stories - cannibalism, captured women being used as breeding stock, captured children being used as... god.

And then there's Royce, and Alfie wastes no time. Still clutching Mercy tightly to his side, he takes aim at the woman's head and fires.]

[ Mercy doesn't understand what they're referring to, thankfully - but she can't help but scream at the sound of the gun. It startles her, and she hides her face, not sure what to do in the chaos.

Royce normally isn't terrible at handling one or two people, but he's tired. He's not at his best. The gunshot fires, and the woman tries to move, but it doesn't make any difference. The bullet goes right through her skull and she drops like a rock. The man with the gun doesn't hesitate in shooting at Alfie's hand to get the weapon away - and with two other men, rushes Alfie and Mercy.

Mercy screams, and Royce is distracted from the fight with the remaining pair, which means he catches a crowbar across the jaw. He drops, which Mercy sees, and she can't help it, lets go of Alfie and tries to get to her father. It's easy for one of the men to scoop her up, and for the man with the gun to press the gun right to Alfie's temple. ]

Don't move, now. Don't move, or she gets to see your brains blown out all over the floor. [ The man with the gun says casually. ]

[Alfie's gun falls. Royce is down. Mercy is with them.

Alfie goes still.]

She's part elf.

[It's a last-ditch, desperate move, but maybe - just maybe - it'll make them decide she's worth keeping, and keeping alive. Being used as a scout is better than the fate that will await her if she's sold.]

She can see in the dark; she can hear three times as well as you and me. She's invaluable.

[ The man raises his eyebrows as Mercy struggles to get away from the man that's holding her. She's not making it easy, making angry noises and trying to bite and scratch her way out of the hold. One of the other men grabs her legs to stop her from kicking and she makes a screechy sound before grabbing her pocket knife and stabbing it right into the arm of the guy who grabbed her legs. He yelps and drops back, but the first guy still has a firm hold.

Gun man glances at Alfie. ] Feisty, too.

[ Mercy starts yelling, still struggling. ] No! No, don't, let me go! Let him go, I'll kill you!

[ The man with the gun digs the barrel into Alfie's head, snapping his fingers to get Mercy's attention. ] Stop struggling or I'll shoot him. [ She pauses, eyes big and wet and frightened - and then stops completely, biting her lip. ] Good girl.

Well. Pleasure doing business with you. [ The man with the gun says happily. And he punches Alfie, gun in hand, directly to knock him out. He takes Alfie's gun, too. Just for good measure. ]

[Alfie doesn't know how much time passes before he wakes up. The first thing he's aware of is his hand throbbing painfully, but that quickly fades into the background once everything else comes flooding to the forefront. He jumps to his feet, stumbles, and catches himself.]

Duster!

[They have to go, they have to find her, they have to get her. They have to fucking murder all the people who dared think they could do this to her.]

[ Royce startles into awareness, gasping as he drags himself up. His head throbs, and he's dizzy, but he ignores it. He pulls himself to his feet, staring down at the dead. The woman, the man he'd killed - and no Mercy. ]

They took - they took her. [ Royce says, breathing picking up. Don't panic. Don't. He makes his way to Alfie, reaching to steady both of them. ]

Mercy, they -- [ Royce says, and he's already shifting his demeanor, he won't panic - so he flattens out instead, struggling. ]

The car.

[Without their boss, they might have panicked; the might have not thought to steal the car, too. It's their best chance to catch up to them.

Snatching his cane up off the ground, he turns and runs to where they'd left it, moving as fast as he can.]