|
Post by Jules on Dec 15, 2008 15:18:48 GMT -5
Diaspro was out. Which made James really, really nervous. The Cave was dark and swathed in shadows and looked like it was a carved mouth about ready to swallow him whole.
They'd been living here a while now, but Diaspro made him not waste the lamps, although he thought keeping himself from heart failure was a pretty damned good use of the gasoline. He had to admit though, he'd rather be frightened and fed then calm but starving.
It wasn't as bad as all that, but it was difficult thinking of Jasper living in some apartment with a pretty woman while he and Diaspro roughed it. Hopefully this didn't last too long. Hopefully she came back soon because he was pretty sure that shadow was grinning at him.
|
|
|
Post by redtopaz on Dec 15, 2008 15:39:12 GMT -5
Mercedes had never been a fabulous tracker. In fact, she didn't much care for woods and mountain sides at all. She was, however, a bang-up investigator and when she'd gotten to the cheery little Dream girl that had pointed her in the direction of the Eye of the World, Mercedes had dutifully followed the lead.
Problem was, now she was standing a good two miles in to the clinging foliage and she had no idea what to do next. She couldn't realistically scour the entire mountain looking for the two Dreams. And she'd had very little luck with tracking them. Mercedes pressed a dirt smudged hand to her face.
It was dark, not that she minded, and she was dead on her feet. It'd be another two miles back down the mountain and then another three back into town. Mercedes wasn't relishing the thought of hoofing that entire distance. No, it'd be better to hunker down for a while and set out in a few hours.
Mercedes wearily pushed aside the brush as she moved, keeping an eye out for anything that could serve as shelter. Her wilderness skills weren't the keenest, so when she spotted a promising cave she made for it.
Mercedes didn't even try to deaden the sounds of her approach. She wasn't expecting to find anything. Which is why she was quite surprised to, upon stepping under the shadowed lip of the cave, to find one third of her query staring back at her.
It didn't take her long to sort herself. Ingrained training and all that.
"Put your hands on your head, you're under arrest," she hissed, snapping her gun out of it's holster and training it on the lone Dream.
|
|
|
Post by Jules on Dec 15, 2008 15:45:39 GMT -5
James very nearly screamed, but some God favored him because all he did was a very unmanly squeal. Which still wasn't as bad as his girly scream. He stared at the woman who had seemingly appeared from no where. He recognized the phrase with a flinch---it wasn't so long ago he'd been arrested. Somehow, this time, he didn't think Camilla would rush to his rescue, since Jasper wasn't involved. Hopefully she didn't know where Jasper was. Hopefully Diaspro didn't come back.
James didn't hesitate. He didn't have a weapon on him, and even if he did...he raised his hands quickly above his head and offered Mercedes a nervous grin. "Okay, okay. Please don't point that at me."
|
|
|
Post by redtopaz on Dec 15, 2008 16:01:31 GMT -5
Mercedes was a little surprised, and secretly disappointed, as one of the Dreams on Morpheus' 'Most Wanted' threw his hands up and cowered something like a little girl.
"Erm, don't move," Mercedes said, her voice lacking it's usual commanding tone. She approached him slowly, not lowering her weapon. She reached around to her back pocket and pulled out a set of cuffs. With brisk, efficient movements, she cuffed his hands behind his back and grabbed a fistful of his shirt collar to make sure he didn't go anywhere.
"Where are your partners?" she asked, gazing around the darkened cavern, her yellow eyes jumping from shadow to shadow.
|
|
|
Post by Jules on Dec 15, 2008 17:04:04 GMT -5
James may have been a chicken, a wimp, but at the very least, he was loyal. "I don't know." He muttered. At to a point, it was true. He didn't know where Camilla's apartment was, and he didn't know where Diaspro was at this exact moment.
"They're not due back anytime soon though."
But like fate had it in for them, Diaspro chose this exact moment to rumble into the cave. "I mailed Jasper, and got some extra supp---" The stone woman trailed off when she took in the scene before her. "What the hell?" She asked angerily. "Let go of him."
|
|
|
Post by redtopaz on Dec 15, 2008 17:13:21 GMT -5
Mercedes had the gun on her in the time it would have taken a human to blink.
Two accounted for. Where was the third?
Mercedes smiled. This was the part of her job she really relished. It was probably some latent dominatrix gene inherited, most likely, from her mother, but Mercedes loved being in control. Almost as much as she loved being challenged.
"Your partner here is being arrested for crimes against The Crown." In reality, any breach of law, from J-Walking up, was a 'crime against The Crown', but it just sounded so officious that Mercedes couldn't resist using it. "As are you. You're under arrest. Place your hands over your head and turn around," Mercedes instructed, the hard edge returning to her voice.
The adrenaline thrumming through her veins had erased her grogginess entirely. She felt alert, in tune, and alive.
|
|
|
Post by Jules on Dec 15, 2008 17:16:57 GMT -5
Diaspro rolled her eyes, "I will do no such thing." Like that gun could do much damage anyways. Sure, if she got shot enough it would be a bad thing, but the woman wouldn't be able to fire enough shots to do fatal damage before Diaspro got close enough to break a few limbs.
"Now why don't you let my friend go and I'll let you walk out of here?"
|
|
|
Post by redtopaz on Jan 2, 2009 4:20:05 GMT -5
Mercedes gave her a fiery look.
"Ni de coña." she said, keeping her tone flat even as her yellow eyes burned in anticipation. "You're now resisting arrest. Keep going. I can do this all day," Mercedes threatened, jerking her captive closer in to her and away from his cohort.
It might have been noted then, by someone familiar and interested in the de Zorro family, that had Bella not been so resilient Mercedes might have been the greatest bully of a sister that ever was born in Morpheus.
|
|
|
Post by Jules on Jan 2, 2009 12:17:13 GMT -5
Diaspro rolled her eyes and lumbered forward, bringing her fist back in preparation for a punch that could be seen coming a mile away but was also about as impossible to stop as an avalanche.
"I, on the other hand, don't have that much patience." She growled.
James felt pretty pathetic. This was probably the only time in his life two women would fight over him, and it had nothing to do with his good looks but rather how easily he got handcuffed. He had rigged the cave with explosives as he tended to do anywhere he lived, but setting them off at the moment would bring just as much harm to him and Diaspro as it would the annoying little Spanish mosquito.
|
|
|
Post by redtopaz on Jan 2, 2009 13:55:53 GMT -5
Mercedes tossed skinny-and-dopey aside like a bag of old lettuce. He was handcuffed, he looked completely bewildered, and she needed both hands to deal with Savannah Bird Girl come to life.
Though tall, Mercedes wasn't much around on any part of her body. This, and more years of training than strictly necessary, had her sliding to the side and watching as the marble fist slid narrowly past her little brown nose.
Ooh, a fight. Mercedes had sort-of secretly (but don't tell anyone) been hoping it would come down to this.
Shifting quickly to the side, she pivoted to put herself behind Diaspro, reached for the dream's arm and, with all the strength in her body, wrenched back to pin it against her stony back. It was exactly like wrenching granite with one's bare hands.
Mercedes grunted with the effort, but the effect should be the same. If the marble maiden had nerve endings, this should be painful.
|
|
|
Post by Jules on Jan 2, 2009 22:31:42 GMT -5
James fell on his face, scraping it against the cold rock painfully, bringing tears unbidden to his eyes. He flipped onto his side so he didn't have his rear waving in the air and scrambled away from the fight.
Diaspro creaked ominously, stone was not meant to be bend so roughly and suddenly. Of course, it took only half of her full effort to rip her arm away from Mercedes and turn around, swinging her other arm around, hoping to catch the copper on the head.
|
|
|
Post by redtopaz on Jan 2, 2009 23:17:11 GMT -5
The blow was glancing as Mercedes threw herself to the side, but it was enough to daze her. Blood oozed slowly over her forehead and down past her eye. Mercedes didn't even take the time to wipe it away.
She swayed briefly and then launched herself foreword, hoping to grab her opponent by the neck. If it came down to a wrestling match, Mercedes would loose.
She didn't have time to look, but she tried to formulate a escape plan from what she remembered as her body propelled through the narrowing space. She'd have to run for it if this soured.
|
|
|
Post by Jules on Jan 3, 2009 0:03:40 GMT -5
Even though Diaspro needed to breath, it properly would've taken a bulldozer to strangle her. She just looked down at Mercedes, cocked a stone eyebrow and smirked. "Are you done yet?" Gripping the cop by the upper arms she threw her to the ground.
James had, by this point, pushed himself up by use of the cave wall. His back was scratched and bleeding slightly, but it wasn't anything horrible. He began to run for the exit.
|
|
|
Post by redtopaz on Jan 3, 2009 0:13:25 GMT -5
She rolled as best she could with a concussion. Not a graceful as usual, but it did the job. She realized now that this was a fight she couldn't win by brute strength. And a 9 mm wasn't going to do more that chip marble.
As James made for the door, Mercedes made a split second decision. She couldn't deal with both of them on her own, but one was better than nothing. Turning to pursue him, she jetted out of the cave. Maybe she could incapacitate him, elude stony, and make it back to LOS.
Mercedes hissed a curse as she ran. If she knew the woods better, this would be a viable plan. Still, Diaspro was built quite literally like a rock, but she didn't look particularly fast. And James looked light. This just might work, she thought as she hurdled a fallen tree, driving deeper into the forest after James.
|
|
|
Post by Jules on Jan 3, 2009 1:03:19 GMT -5
James fell down pretty quickly. He was not blessed with grace, and being handcuffed did not help the matter even a little bit. And he found he could not get back up. He just hoped since he was in a rather thick part of the undergrowth and it was dark that he'd be overlooked and Diaspro would come to his aide after the cop had left. He could hear her getting closer, so he shut his eyes tight and hoped to Morpheus luck was with him.
|
|