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 Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:23 pm
Tonight felt impossibly long, thought Babylon, as he waited at the Times Circle fountain with Spinel. It had already been one in the morning when they met with Iris, and now the clock in the church was just striking four. Babylon stifled a yawn and scanned the horizon, hoping that Gunn and Europa were both on their way.
Europa arrived first, dark bags under her eyes. “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked, and then she stared at Spinel for a long moment, like she was trying to process exactly what he was doing here. He’d tried - he’d tried to kill her twice. This was Babylon’s refugee? Well, she just hoped that the knight knew what he was doing.
“It’s a long story,” said Babylon, who still didn’t want to have this conversation with her and wasn’t sure when he would. Especially considering that he was about to jet off to space for the next week. “I’ll write you a note about it later.”
Europa wasn’t pleased with that answer at all, but she bit her tongue - with Spinel here, she wasn’t sure what they could and couldn’t talk about. But she had a distinct feeling that she was more involved in this than anyone had yet seen reason to tell her, and she didn’t like that one bit.
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:24 pm
Gunn had hit up the BX and come back, fully abusing the fact that she owned a motorcycle to excuse why she had bought two new tactical backpacks rather than the fancy new reusable shopping bags. "They zip," she had said to the checkout lady. And that was true, but it was also true that it was easier to teleport people with backpacks on. Less chance stuff would be left behind.
Now she parked her motorcycle a street away from Times Circle and joined the triad. "Sup, Europa," she said, and she gave the corrupt a hard look. "You and Knightlight here both owe me big--and you, tall dark and evil, are lucky I'm not braining you on the sidewalk, so don't even talk to me."
She cracked her knuckles and handed off backpacks. "There's a generator on Gunn. It's steam powered so just keep dumping water in. I usually don't use it but you losers can't heat water with magic so there you go. Food and some blankets in the backpacks. Touch nothing. Stay where I leave you. And under no circumstances kill each other. We clear?"
Spinel raised a hand. "Yes, corrupted dumbass."
He pointed to Europa. "I admit I'm not clear what she's doing here."
Gunn shrugged. She didn't know that one either. "Knightlight? Care to chime in?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:24 pm
“Knightlight here,” said Europa, picking the nickname. She liked it, and she wasn’t exactly pleased with Babylon at the moment. “Has sent me an infuriatingly vague letter, which is the only reason I’m not asleep right now.” Because, seriously, she was not going to let him disappear for parts unknown without telling her why the hell Avalon was trying to kill her.
That, and this seemed exciting, and she would rather have firsthand experience of it than wait for someone else to fill her in on how things worked out. But mostly she was here because she wanted to know why Babylon’s crazy ex-best friend was trying to kill her. “So,” said Europa, “Are you going to start talking?”
Babylon sighed, looking from Europa to Spinel. He was going to go gray over this whole experience, he was sure. “I’ll explain everything to you later.”
“You’re about to go to space for a week. When the ******** is later?” asked Europa. She didn’t like to swear, but damn, it felt good right now.
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:25 pm
"I'm more concerned over who's watching Tallulah," snapped the corrupted senshi, and Gunn sighed. And then she thought, wait. What? Maybe she was a little more astute than everyone else, but she was ninety percent sure that Tallulah was in fact Europa. She peered at Spinel, flicked a glance at Europa.
Then Gunn put on her diplomat pants. "I'm sure Europa's got someone looking out for her," she said, because uh, yeah. "She's one of the better connected senshi I know."
Spinel seemed mollified by this. "So you're leaving tonight, I'll be back in seven days. If you get hungry and this crap runs out, there's a stash about a floor up from where I'm leaving you. Use it. Cannibalism is bad." Gunn shoved a backpack at each man, as if in a hurry to get gone.
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:25 pm
“I’ve got Regulus watching her,” said Europa, which wasn’t entirely true but wasn’t entirely false, either. Spinel and his concern for her civilian identity was giving her an odd vibe - one that she was almost certain she knew where it was going, and she refused to actually let her mind go there. Not until - not until something happened that she couldn’t just brush off as weirdness.
Tallulah, she thought, was a lot more capable of taking care of herself than Spinel, or whoever else was interested, might think.
Babylon nodded, taking the backpack and shouldering it. He was eager to get out of here, get Spinel and Europa separated before they could figure out any more of this ridiculous farce than they’d already pieced together. Spinel, he couldn’t be sure suspected anything - but Europa was a smart cookie, and he could practically see the gears turning. If she hadn’t figured things out already, it was only because she didn’t want to.
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:25 pm
"Gather round," said Gunn. Spinel used the opportunity to step close to Europa, and Gunn tensed up--ready to take him down if she had to
She didn't have to. Spinel said, "If I come back and anything has happened to her, I will kill you." The tone would have sounded bland to anyone else, Gunn thought. The malice in it was understated but no less present, the sort of threat she hadn't heard since boot camp. Even then, it had only been a threat of recycling. Not death. It gave Gunn the shivers for reasons she was not going to investigate.
"Well!" She said, "I believe you." She pulled out her phone, hooked her arm through both the boys', and vanished.
She was gone for fifteen minutes before reappearing. "You're dating a corrupted senshi," Gunn said.
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:26 pm
Europa was not about to explain exactly what about his threat was counter-intuitive, but she nodded grimly. “She’ll be safe and sound, I guarantee it,” she said, and watched Gunn depart with the boys in tow. In the fifteen minutes that Gunn was gone, she milled around the fountain, lost in thought. If she had to have a corrupt senshi obsessed with her, then she supposed she could do much worse than one who was on the lam and headed for purification.
Still, there weren’t a lot of people who she could think of being that concerned over Tallulah’s safety. “Spinel doesn’t look anything like Paul,” she said to herself, like she desperately wanted to believe it. It wasn’t exactly convincing at this point, especially when she considered that Europa did not look anything like Tallulah.
“Yeah, I figured that out fifteen minutes ago,” she said, when Gunn reappeared. “I hope you won’t hold it against me. I didn’t exactly plan it that way.” She’d been pretty sure that he was just an ordinary med student! And now she’d gone and gotten herself mixed up in this. “I’m exhausted and I can’t go home because a psychotic corrupt knight wants to kill me, please help.”
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:26 pm
Gunn’s heart went out to Europa in that moment, and she let her henshin go to offer Europa her arm. “Sure. Drop the disguise. If we get on a motorcycle and an Eternal is going sixty, every single Negaverser in the city is going to notice.” She tugged Tallulah along until they got where Kaatje had left her motorcycle, and then chivvied the exhausted girl on. “Please don’t ever tell your dad I made you ride my motorcycle without a helmet,” she said, “but I don’t even have mine, so…”
And off they went.
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