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It'd only been two days since Chase Black had given Axton his audition project for Renegade Media, and already the blonde had a list of ideas scribbled down on a spiral bond notebook he had tucked into the back pocket of jeans that were worn thin and pale to the point there were rips fraying at the knees. Perfect was an early summer evening.

He was meeting Rory at the coffee shop she worked at part time, the one owed by the man he was trying to get a job with. He'd offered to walk her home after a particularly late shift in exchange for her feedback on the ideas he'd come up with already.

If he could narrow it down to three of four he'd be able to hammer out the details for them. That was the minimum he thought the CEO would accept, but if there was time after those had been finished he'd try to add on another.

It was, as expected, a lot of work, but it was a least familiar work.

Ten minutes to close he let himself into the coffee shop, ordered an iced chai latte, and then took a seat to wait for his young friend.

As had stretched out in one of the plush arm chairs against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankles, and his hands folded on his stomach. He looked up as her noticed someone heading his way and an easy smile pulled at his lips as he realized it was Rory bringing him his drink. "Thanks, sweetheart."

He sat up a little to accept it, drawing a leg up to cross his ankle over his knee as he took a long, appreciative drink, silver eyes on his friend. "Oh that's nice." He knew she preferred early shifts, and while this wasn't exactly early anymore she'd probably still have time to give that boyfriend of her's a call before he went to bed. "Lucky break."

The smile brightened into a grin. "I'm not going anywhere though, so don't feel like you have to rush on my account." He'd been expecting it to take anywhere from forty minutes to an hour, so what was fifteen minutes to that? Nothing.

True to his word, Ax was content to just sit back and relax as he waited, shopping at his drink and browsing through his phone. It really didn't feel like he'd been sitting there all that long before he watched one of the girls walk out from behind the counter to lock the door. Which meant Rory should be coming out any moment.

Sitting up, he stared his phone again, glancing back towards the counter and the two girls he could see behind it—one his friend, one the other closer, he assumed. After a quick conversation Rory was saying goodbye and heading towards him and Ax got to his feet again, finishing off the last of his tea so he could throw the cup away.

"Ready?" He'd hold the door for her as he reached it, smiling down at her.

His palm turned as he felt her fingers against it, making it easier for her to take his hand. Ax wasn't routinely as touchy feely as his young friend, but he could never really help but indulge her whims. If she wanted to hold hands that was fine by him/ Whatever made her happy.

"It was perfectly refreshing. Did you make it?" He'd had them before that were too sweet, or didn't quite taste right, but this one had been spot on.

He heard the crow as well somewhere off in the night, and it had him glancing up curiously, before bringing his attention back to the young lady at his side. "How'd did work go?"

He gave her a pleased smile, clearly happy that she'd paid that little bit of extra attention for him. It wasn't as if he wasn't aware of how much the young lady cared about him, he knew, but the reminders were still always nice. "I'll have to make sure you're there when I come in so you can always make it."

Another loud caw pulled his attention off Rory and out into the night. Wings, more than a single pair and a lot larger that than of a normal sized bird. Ax slowed to a stop, hand in Rory's tugging gently to pull her back to him, but she was already turning, daring him with her, and pale eyes widened as he came face to face with something that looked like it'd crawled right out of a nightmare.

And it ******** spoke!

His name jerked him into action. He turned, hand tightening on Rory's as he started the both of them running in the opposite direction. Youma. At the first ******** possible time, too! "s**t! Run Rory!"

They needed to leave. At the very least Rory did, because Action wasn't a hundred percent certain he could protect her from this. If it was going to end badly, he didn't want her caught up in that, or seeing it. So when she pulled his feet moved, but the minsyerouz bird was still talking. Cryptic, at least to his ears. It it was making coherent points, they were going right over the blonde's head.

He pushed her forward, away from the spread of too many dark wings, and started to run after her as what ever she'd been about to say cut short.

But now there were more wings behind them. Hundreds of them filling the air with the sound of frantic beating and menacing cries. "s**t!". They weren't going to outrun this, not as they were.

Gritting his teeth he summoned his snowball and all that came with it. Not Axton now, but a page of Mercury. It made him stronger, faster and he used that now to scoop the young lady up off her feet so he could take off at a sprint down the sidewalk away from the flury of angry birds with their catching claws and slicing beaks. "Hold on Rory, we're getting out of here!"

Whoops, he'd given her quite a shock. "Sorry I didn't tell you," he managed to pant out as he ran, offering down an apologetic smile. But of course he didn't know why her eyes misted or her features looked so stricken. He'd blame it on the birds swarming around them and the monstrous youma taking flight at their backs.

He still had the snowball in one hand, and more to get rid of it than in belief it'd actually do any good he threw it back over his shoulder at the six eyed creature.

"We gotta get inside somewhere," he mused aloud as he slid around the corner with her petite frame held tight to his chest. If they could get to a subway they could probably at least escape the big youma, but the birds it had summoned wouldn't really be slowed down much. Still Baikal favored his chances against the flock rather than the creator.

He hadn't been to this part of town all that often yet and he wasn't familiar where all the public transit points rested. "Where's the nearest subway, Rory?"

Had he not been sprinting for safety with the sound of birds filling his ears the hesitance and obvious emotional strain in Rory's voice would have certainly caught his attention by now, but he didn't have the extra focus to spare just that moment. What he did hear, the soft breaks in that sweet voice, he took for fear.

At the corner he took a sharp left, racing with everything he had for the arched entrance to the subway. The snowball had slowed the monstrous bird, but it'd likely also pissed it off.

He had to slow as he hit the stairs, conscious of the girl in his arms. Falling now would have been disastrous. "Just hold on Rory, we're almost home free."

Except now he wasn't so sure of that. It'd seemed like such a solid plan, but the entry way to the underground was a lot wider than he'd anticipated. The low ceiling would likely slow the youma down, but if it wanted to catch them it'd scramble after them.

Please let there be a train in the station.