[Kalli]

Jet had never liked having to threaten anyone with grievous bodily harm, especially someone as young as the girl. He preferred to keep himself to himself. However, better to scare her now than have her coming back because she saw him as a soft target.

Jet followed her into his room, glad to see that Kal was nowhere in sight. The moment she’d gone in that direction, all he could think of to do was kick a piece of drywall to make noise so Kal would know they were coming. He didn’t know where the creature had gone, and was on pins and needles that the girl might discover their secret. His eyes scanned the room, then landed on the window.

“That’s a twelve story drop down the wall. How did you get up through that window?” he asked. His gun was lowered now, but ready to rise and shoot quicker than sight. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

[Whatsyourface]

“I used a kind of a grappling hook and a light rope…” She said. “And a toy helicopter. Flew it right up. I still do have them just…not on me. Its in another room. Flew it up here. When the hook latched on I just climbed up with the rope and pulled it up.”

[Kalli]

“Damn good thing you didn’t meet the guy who lives below me, then. He has a thing for underage girls.” Jet had seen him earlier in a drunken coma on the front steps. Too sloshed to climb up to his apartment, probably.

Jet’s mind turned immediately back to the girl, and what she’d said about the rope. “You climbed up twelve floors with just a rope?” he asked skeptically.

[Whatsyourface]

His statement about the man and the man with an affinity for underage girls did not seem to bother her much or phase her really. “Just a rope, a grappling hook and a remote control helicopter. Pretty much.”

[Kalli]

Jet looked from her to the window them back again. His expression turned slightly thoughtful, but mostly he wore a flat, mask-like expression. When Jet was like this, it became harder to read what was going on in his head.

“Come on. We’re going to go down and get your stuff.” he said, motioning to the front door with a nod of his head.

[Whatsyourface]

“No, its all up here already. Its in the room next door. She walked out past Jet into the room next door. It wasn’t a stable room. It was an unviable apartment room. Dangerous to be in. Before Jet even entered the room she takes something hidden under the mattress. And then takes the grappling hook and helicopter in her arms.

“Alright I-” She hear the ceiling collapse behind her as she turns around. “Shit it looks like-” She stops mid sentence as she sees Kal getting up, it having been on the ceiling as she entered the room. His yellow eyes meet her shocked and speechless eyes. As Kal gets up, she draws the gun she just took faster then the eye could process as she pointed it at Kal.

Kal lunges her a blur as she premptively ducks and goes under in a quick roll as she aims at Kal’s back and fires 5 shots from the FNX 9 pistol hidden under the matress. The first 3 shots hitting Kal’s back and bouncing harmlessly down to the floor. Another bouncing off Kal’s head as it turns around and then bouncing off Kal’s armored eye. Kal’s 3 digit tail hits her in the chest as she is pinned to the wall with all of its fingers around her body. This time she struggles as if her life is at stake with much more of a fight then what she put up to Jet.

Her arms were free. But Kal had her body firmly in his grip and pinned her against her will effortlessly. It opened its mouth to say. “Do not move….” and at the end of Kal’s sentence another shot was heard.

Kal took a few steps back and made an odd noise as Kal began to seemingly leaking fluid from the mouth. Sparks apparently heard from the back of it’s throat. It’s grip on the girl did not loosen as she then tried to take advantage of the moment. Pulling a pocket knife she had hidden as trying to cut, stab and saw off Kal’s tail. The blade does nothing.

Kal then abruptly flung her into the wall irregardless of what Jet does or says. Like watching someone fling away a towel. She smacks into the wall face first with such force as to break the fragile wall and shatter some of the wood. She drops to the ground, lying on her back. As blood streams from her nose. Eyes closed. Out cold. Her gun and knife on the floor next to her.

Kal stands there opening its mouth to say something. All one can hear is an irritating noise similar to that of a high pitched microphone as clear fluid bleeds from the inside of Kal’s throat from where her bullets landed. Kal no longer attempts to make any noise.

[Kalli]

Jet growled as the girl, who was even lighter than himself, darted over the unsteady ‘bridge’ between the apartments and out of sight. He had fully expected that to break, and was surprised when the rotten boards held steady. He was usually very careful about going over that way, but she crossed like it was no problem at all. Cursing, he followed, not in time to catch what she had pulled out from under the mattress. Not killing her the first minute was seeming like a bad decision, since she could now have a weapon he didn’t know about.

It seemed like an even worse decision as Kal suddenly came into view amidst a mess of debris and dust and noise. Jet had to scramble back as part of the floor under his feet cracked and slumped under the weight of the creature. It was that split second which gave the girl time to draw and fire, before Jet could aim a return shot at her. In the cutthroat world of the streets, Kal was his ally, and she was now an enemy. Jet had enough skill just to clip her arm, without killing her, but he wasn’t going to let his friend get hurt. If she died, it was her own fault.

Jet’s weapon was out, but the girl had rolled behind Kal and away from him. Several loud ‘pings’ followed the sounds of a gun going off, and Jet felt something graze his cheek. It was in that moment that he felt a bit like laughing because he remembered being down in the underground place and thinking he could shoot Kal. Back when he thought of Kal as a threat. Now, it was the girl in trouble, and though Jet didn’t want her around, he also didn’t want her dead, if it could be helped.

“Kal, wait! Don’t kill her!” he called, hopping over the hole in the floor, and trying to get to them both. He was afraid the creature would go with his programming and make her explode, too. Not that Kal didn’t have a right to defend himself…but she was just a kid! As Jet was finally able to find a viable path across the broken floor, he heard another shot, and winced at the strange, screeching noise. His cries as the girl was flung through the wall went unheeded, but then Kal turned a bit and Jet understood what he hadn’t seen.

“Kal!” he cried, moving to the creature and holstering his gun at the same time. From here he could tell that the girl had shot into Kal’s mouth, but it wasn’t blood leaking from the corners of the pale jaws. Jet looked up at him, his mask of calm gone. Fear was in his wide blue eyes, which turned to look at the girl, then back to Kal. A split-second decision was made, but jet wasn’t abandoning one for the other.

“Stay here a bit…don’t move.” he said, moving over to where the girl lay in her own blood. He was relieved to feel a steady pulse when he touched her neck, though it was slow. At least she was alive. On further inspection she didn’t appear to have any major broken bones or injuries, though he couldn’t be sure.

Carefully, Jet turned her over, so she wouldn’t choke on her own blood. Then, using her knife, he cut two small pieces of cloth off the hem of her jacket and stuffed them in her nose. He couldn’t tell if it was broken or not at this point, but the wads would help with that, too. Jet then pocketed her weapons and, on a last whim, removed his jacket to drape over her. Underneath he wore no shirt so the many scars on his bare chest and back were exposed to view. Jet didn’t seem to care much at the moment.

Having taken quick care of the girl, he moved back to Kal, his face pale and drawn with worry. Jet had no idea what he could do about it, but he felt like he should do something. he reached out to try and wipe some of it away with his hands, not knowing if it would hurt him or not.

“What can I do?” he asked, looking into those yellow eyes with obvious concern. “Talk to me, buddy…in my head. Can you tell me what to do to help?”

[Whatsyourface]

The girl had a fractures and a broken nose. Also well as some rib injuries. And a bit of purple around her eye. She was lucky the wall hadn’t been solid. Had it been made of brick or solid concrete, the results.

Kal only looks at Jet. It doesn’t even attempt to make noise. Kal only seems to shake it’s head. Seemingly saying simply “No.” Now it seemed the floor was giving way from all their combined weight and the debris. The floor gave away immediately and they all fell a floor down.

As they all were a floor down, Kal landing on all 4s. The girl was still unconscious and had no more see able injuries as she simply made a thud. There was creeking heard above as soon the rest of the ceiling gave way. If jet is standing. Kal stands over him and girl and stands above him on all 4s as it shields Jet and the girl with it’s wings. Then everything was dark as the debris came down.

Jet could see a bit more as Kal stood now. Shunting debris off itself. Looking about and then at jet, as it blinks. Then it’s eye goes over to the girl. To which Kal raises it’s tail and grips her around the neck with 3 digits. And then hoists her limp body up slowly up as she murmurs. Kal then simply holds her next to itself. Jet did not seem to want to to kill her, but Kal would, should jet say so. It was holding her in such as that it could break her neck. Or drop her. Depending on what Jet said. As it has yet to learn children are a separate type of entity then adults. Seeing them as basically one in the same. However Jet knew more then Kal, when it came to such things as dealing with people.

[Kalli]

Just as Kal automatically stood over the two humans to shield them, Jet managed to roll over the unconscious girl, covering her body with his own. He didn’t even think about it, nor did he move from his protective position until the crashing and creaking stopped, and the dust started to settle. He checked to make sure the girl was still breathing, and released a breath when he felt her heartbeat.

The next intake of air nearly made him choke. Coughing, he waved the cloud in front of his face away, his eyes tearing up from all the contaminated air. Jet staggered unsteadily to his feet, trying to figure out how far they’d fallen, and how to get out. When he looked back to check on Kal, his watery eyes went wide. The girl now hung limply from the creature’s tail appendages, but Kal was looking at him, as though waiting for some signal.

“Whoa…hey….put her down!” he choked, moving to try and gather her in his arms. “Carefully! She’s hurt…and she’s just a kid.” It seemed strange to be defending the same girl who had shot Kal in the mouth, and had destroyed part of their home, but she was helpless at the moment. “Please, Kal….let’s just figure a way out of here, and we can worry about the other stuff later. You’re hurt, too.”

Behind him, Jet became aware of the sound of water gushing forth, and he turned to see a spray of it leaking over the wreckage. An idea occurred to him, then, and he turned back to Kal with hope in his eyes.

“Water…hey! Isn’t that what you need? Water? Will that help?” It would help the girl, too.

[Whatsyourface]

Kal dropped the girl into Jet’s arms. The room was dark and Kal lacked the abilities that came from it’s ability to project sound. However it could still see if there was ambient sound. Albeit at a lower range. When Jet mentioned water, Kal only shook it’s head. To perhaps try and show Jet why. Kal leaned towards Jet and opened up its toothless mouth towards Jet. It was difficult to see. But there was a spark of electricity that illuminated Kal’s throat. A piece of shrapnel fell from the convulsing grey artificial muscle within it. Drinking water now in fact would be hazardous. However Kal would not let Jet reach into it’s mouth as it would rear back if he attempted to do so and close it ls mouth.

It stood upright and looked up. There was a door way on the second floor. Kal held it’s tail near Jet and opened the digits like a hand near him as he held the girl in his arms.

[Kalli]

Jet took Kal’s tail with a rather weird feeling about doing so, because it was a tail, after all. But with it they were both able to get out of the ruined room through the door. Jet let those strange digits wrap around his hand as he carried the girl in his arms, which was tricky, given everything on the floor, and the fact that he couldn’t see anything. How Kal could see was beyond him, since debris blocked out any light for a couple dozen feet or so. That was why Jet had to trust Kal to navigate, or else he would have gotten lost and trapped, along with the girl in his arms.

Luckily, they were not far from the old balcony on that floor, which had survived more or less intact. Jet was happy to get through, as the air inside had become close and dense, and he choked every other breath. Cleaner air was a welcome change.

Outside, the sun was heading West in the afternoon sky, but storm clouds threatened on the horizon. Below their feet Jet could hear sounds of people moving around and shouting, possibly about the collapse of two floors. The only thing that had saved them from discovery was that the rooms below had been empty for years after a fire damaged them. It was part of the reason for the recent collapse of ceiling and floors. Whether or not anyone from below could now get up to the ruined rooms was some point of conjecture.

The girl, though waifish in build, was still a dead weight in his arms, and worryingly pale. Jet looked up at what he could see of his ‘home’, wincing. Half the floor was gone, and he could see his old fridge just staying balanced on the edge. There was no going back up there at this point. Maybe he could come back and try to scavenge what was left, but…

That would have to happen later. He had a very injured girl on his hands, and was not keen to have her die. But how to get her down and to the proper help was the problem.

“We gotta get out of here.” he mumbled, turning to look at Kal. “I don’t think you can carry both of us, but she needs a doctor. If I tell you where to go, could you drop her off? There’s a clinic near here….I just…I don’t know how bad she is, but I think she’s really hurt.”

[Whatsyourface]

Kal grabbed Jet’s arm and then soon the tail picked Kal and the girl up. She murmured a bit. As Jet was put in the hallway of the next floor. She coughed a bit and her eyes were open slightly…..but it was empty. She wasn’t really even conscious yet…Soon Kal joined Jet above jumping up to the doorway.

Kal looked at Jet and took the girl with it’s hands. then walked towards the stairwell and towards the rooftop. There it would wait for Jet, looking about as the tail wrapped completely around the girl and got on all fours to be the most mobile. It looked about as it stood ready to hop off at a moments notice on the roof.

[Kalli]

Without meaning to, as Jet was lifted, he clutched the girl tightly against his chest. That was probably what woke her. Looking down at her face, he was alarmed to see her blank gaze. When Kal took her, Jet followed with a pounding heart, his rough exterior gone for the moment. Worry for the girl, and for Kal, filled up too much of his mind now for masks.

When he got to the unbroken part of the roof with Kal, Jet looked out over the city, and pointed Eastward to a cluster of buildings near a very large metal and glass skyscraper. “See over there? The white building with all the air-conditioning units on the roof? It’s right next to the dark brown building. That white building is the clinic. They’ll have to take her there. I’m not sure how to get her in…maybe just leave her where she’ll be seen.”

Jet looked over at her, wincing. The poor girl looked horrible, and only the raspy sound of her breathing told him she was alive. His eyes traveled back to Kal, and he stepped back for the creature’s wings to spread. At teh same time, something intensely vulnerable entered his eyes, and pinched his features.

“Please…be safe, Kal. And keep her safe, too.” For her it was general concern, but for the creature, something far deeper and more personal.

[Whatsyourface]

Kal looked off and then jumped off a blur for a moment. It hops and gallops along the rooftops with the girl. A few people looking up when the shadow speeds by, however. When they would look up. Kal would already be gone. Kal reached near the building soon, but stopped on a building in front of it. Pondering how to get in. But pondered on what to do. The girl coughed a bit. She didn’t breath very well. Then Kal decided to try something rather simply. It looked down at an alleyway, filled with people searching through trash. Kal lowered her down. The tail loosening as it extended give or take 60 or so feet. The retract back up. A woman turned back and tripped on her.

She looks to see what she tripped on and then she gasps. She decides to pick the girl up and seeing as the clinic was right there, she decided to rush her to the front. Not really questioning how she got there. She figured the girl collapsed behind her. She coughed up blood and groaned a bit. Blinking. A bit conscious now as she looks up at the woman’s face and then blacked back out as she was taken to the clinic. Kal looks down, watching warily and making sure nobody can see it. Then it shrunk back to stay in the shadows.

[Kalli]

Jet couldn’t see more than moving shapes that far away, but Kal was distinctive enough if you knew what to look for. The boy crouched on the roof, keeping his eyes on that white shape, when he suddenly let out a gasp. A sharp pain stabbed upward from his right calf as his weight shifted on each foot. Frowning, he slid into a seated position and felt down the back of his pant leg, feeling the warm wet of the blood he hadn’t noticed before, but was soaking the dark fabric.

Jet was surprised to find that a long, thin piece of wood had imbedded itself in the skin and muscle. How had he not felt that? How had he walked out with it? Probably adrenaline and focusing on the others, who were not here to distract him so much now. Wincing as his pain grew with every moment, he nevertheless grasped the wood and yanked it out, gritting his teeth. At least there were no other injuries that had gone unnoticed. He hoped.

Pulling back his pant leg, he grabbed the jacket that had been around the girl, and dropped to the roof as Kal leaped into the air. Using that as a makeshift bandage, he settled back to wait for Kal to return. Jet hoped they would both be alright. If only he hadn’t let teh girl go back for her rope… This was basically his fault, wasn’t it?

Jet rubbed his face, then half-slumped with the realization. Yeah….most of this was his fault. If he hadn’t wanted Kal to stick close-by, if he hadn’t let the girl go back to the other room…. He was pretty much a screw-up, wasn’t he?