Almost Running but not Quite

[Glyph]

Underground? Banner shook his head in disbelief, half turning so he could sink back against the sofa. Seriously, who was this kid, and what had she been through that could let her talk about illegal racing so lightly? Again, the detective thought about enlightening her to the badge tucked away inside his coat pocket, but the eagerness that lit up her voice told him to let it go for now.

This kid had a dream, had hope, and that was about all anyone could want, especially in light of current events, when hope was so scarce. He could tell by her voice that it was important to her, maybe even a life long passion. That was more than most adults could boast.

"Less than a year--" The fox finally said, simply, peering at Tara from the corner of his eye. "If you ride anything like you drive." He continued, plowing right past the remark. "I wouldn't want to be out after dark tonight anyway." The fox closed his lavender eyes, and for the first time appeared weary--not tired, but solemn, deflated. Banner didn't want to think about what would happen to all the people who no longer had homes to go back to--or all the homes that would now stand empty.

[Kiwi]

She hadn’t seen his reaction when she mentioned the Underground, but she heard him slump back against her couch. The white hedgehog yawned loudly, covering her mouth with a gloved hand. All of the energy from today came crashing around her, and the white hedgehog leaned against her couch. Her ears tilted towards his direction as he spoke again, and the hedgehog gave a weak smile. She usually didn’t receive that many compliments, so she accepted his happily. To be honest, her little dream seemed like the only thing that really belonged to her. She glanced around her apartment, and realized that it could be gone in a flash. It made a chill go down her spine.

Luck was defiantly on her side today, she decided silently. Tomorrow, she prayed she’d still have it. Her eyes flickered shut. “Yeah. The dark would not be pleasant…” She trailed off, her eyes opening ever so slightly. She yawned again, weaker this time. She propped her feet up on the coffee table, and felt her eyes shut once more.

A couple seconds later, she was asleep.

[Glyph]

Banner watched Tara's slow spiral into sleep with a half-amused smirk, although, in light of her head injuries, a part of him wondered if he should wake her up. The fox finally decided against it, though, when he caught peaceful look on her face... Well, maybe not peaceful, but definitely less stressed than when she'd been awake. Hell, she'd seemed coherent enough. Let the kid sleep.

Banner settled back, resting his sprain on the coffee table and propping an elbow against the arm of the couch to rest his chin in his gloveless hand. He had a view of the window from here--a view of the numerous tendrils of smoke trailing in the growing twilight. Night would not conceal them, though tonight would be dark indeed, once the power failed. Central City would become a blob of black, distinguishable only by the flashes of laser fire and sparking explosions rumbling through the downtown.

Banner let his gaze drift from the deceptively calm sky to the white hedgehog dozing next to him, and gave a quiet sigh. Even if he hadn't resolved to keep watch over her and the apartment, the fox knew he wouldn't find sleep this night.

[Kiwi]

Night went by surprisingly fast. Too fast for this white teenage hedgehog. Tara cracked one eye open slowly as she stirred slowly from her slumber. She blinked several times, and then felt her mind fill with confusion. When did she get a blanket during the night? Her hand curled around the material that was laid across her. Oh. Wait.

She sat up slowly, her mind slow and sluggish. Her eyes turned to Banner, and saw that she had somehow managed to wrangle his jacket from him sometime during the night. Probably because it was so warm. Rubbing at one of her eyes, Tara stood up slowly, almost falling over. She was always a klutz in the morning, her eyes glanced out the window, and she grimaced at the sight of a destroyed city. She soon noticed that the only light filtering through her house was the light from the sun outside. She swore. The robots had got to the electricity. She flipped the light switch next to her, and got no response.

Tara swore under her breath. She moved over to her kitchen, opening the fridge. It was still cold, but nothing was keeping it that way, it was just sealing the cold it already had before the power shut down. She was thankful that most of her food didn’t need to be refrigerated. Everything in her fridge was either water, soda, or some energy drink. No other food. She pulled out a jug of water, and shut the fridge door with a swing of her hip.

[Glyph]

Last night had been longer for Banner. Watching your city falling to ruin around you kind of did that. The fox had sat up, for how long he wasn't sure, just staring grimly out the window. Dusk had crashed over Central, but the darkness brought no peace to the flashes and explosions. Robots needed no sleep.

More than once Banner had found himself reaching for the reassuring grip of the gun around his waist as he watched dark shapes move through the strobing light. Several times during the night, the soft-hearted Mobian had to turn his head from the sounds of running feet and screams the filtered through the window. Not long after, the building itself had shuddered, as if something very big and very angry had rammed itself into the apartment complex's foundations.

He'd given up looking after that, and at some point later, despite the haunting noises and shapes, managed to close his eyes and keep them close.

They didn't open again until he felt the shape next to him shift and rise. He heard a curse, and grunted automatically in response, almost wincing awake as he squinted into the sunlight filtering through the apartment. He looked down groggily and realized, slowly, that he'd lost his coat somehow. Moving as if the air had been replaced with molasses, Banner turned, confused, and noticed it crumpled on the cushion next to him. Huh. He couldn't remember if he'd taken it off and draped it over the hedgehog, or if she'd simply stolen it from him during the night.

Shrugging sluggishly, Banner winced again at the twinge in his ankle and leaned back against the arm, barely awake as it was. Coffee. Coffee was necessary. As soon as humanly possible.

[Kiwi]

Tara took a deep gulp from the gallon of water before setting it on the countertop. Peering over her shoulder at the sound of stirring, Tara blinked twice seeing Banner sit himself up on the couch. The white hedgehog could already tell that he was tired. She’d offer him a energy drink, but those things were mostly for teenagers. He’d probably want coffee or something. She frowned. Her hand opened the pantry and removed a lighter from inside.

She flipped open her stove and got down on her knees with the fire starter in hands. Her stove was super old, and still ran on gasoline. With her other hand, the hedgehog clicked the pilot light switch, hearing a soft click. Great. She stuck her hand inside. This was totally not safe, but she had actually done this several times. Tara had experienced times when she was unable to pay for her electric bill and they shut her off, so she knew how to handle it. The stove burner turned on, and Tara quickly drew back her hand and shut the stove.

She set down the lighter and then stood up on her toes as she opened another pantry, removing a old container of instant coffee that she bought a month ago. Surprisingly, it didn’t taste half bad. Setting down a tea pot over the hot burner, she poured in some water from her gallon jug and sealed the pot shut. All she had to do now was wait for the water to boil.

“I can see you didn’t get that much sleep last night.” Tara spoke up finally, her eyes starring down at her countertops.

“How bad was it…outside?”

[Glyph]

Banner listened to the noises drifting from the kitchen, only about half-lucid to what was going on. With the adrenaline worn out of his system, the twenty-four hours straight of stress yesterday was slapping him in the face now, and as tough as he tried to seem, the fox felt horrible. Every jolt in that hovercar, every twist of his back, every strained step he'd taken--it was all piling up on him now. Banner wasn't an old guy, but damn if he didn't feel like it.

The fox looked up at Tara's remark, narrowing his eyes to chase some of the weariness from the lavender. When did he become allergic to playing the hero? He sighed. "... That obvious, huh?"

At least she looked like she'd gotten some sleep. That was a good thing, Banner supposed. He paused, ears lowering a bit while he thought about her question. How bad had it been? Well, the noise had definitely bothered him... But not nearly as much as the silence that had fallen after.

"Bad." Banner said, glancing at the window somberly, all weariness vanished from his voice. "I'm glad we weren't out there last night. We probably wouldn't have made it."

[Kiwi]

“You had bags under your eyes even though you were asleep. I just figured that you stayed up.” She said after a few moments. A part of her was happy that she got some rest, but she still felt tired. Her back wasn’t hurting at least. It would just tingle every now and then. If that was a bad thing, she didn’t know. It was better then pain at the very least. Her eyes darted to the tea pot as it started to whistle, and the hedgehog quickly removed it from the burner. She switched the stove off.

She felt a shiver go down her spine. “Yeah. I figured. This city is in shambles” She poured the hot water into two different cups and poured two packets of the instant coffee into each. Stirring the coffee in each cup, the hedgehog walked back out into the living room, setting a cup down in front of time. She collapsed down next to him, her own cup in hand. “I don’t have milk or sweetener, but according to the box it doesn’t need any.” Tara shrugged and set her cup down on the coffee table. It was too hot for her to drink anyways.

She set her head in her hands and took a deep breath. What would happen today? She wondered silently. They were beat up enough as it is, and she doubted the safety of this location. Sooner or later they’d be found if they stayed here.

[Glyph]

"Yeah." The fox shrugged, as if lack of sleep were a normal thing. "Guess I drifted off sometime 'round one."

Banner pricked his black-tipped ears at the teapot's whistle, and his eyes widened, just a bit, when Tara reentered the room with two steaming cups.

"Thanks," he muttered, reaching for his immediately and taking a swallow, unfazed by the scalding heat. It didn't bother him that it was from-the-can, or that there was no cream or sugar--it was hot, and it was caffeinated and that was all that mattered.

After a moment, Banner came up for air, considering their situation. They were trapped in their own city, under attack by giant, laser equipped robots. They were injured, had limited medical supplies, and no electricity. They had a hovercar, granted that it hadn't been what he'd heard smashing into the building during the night... And they had the home-field advantage. Banner had run these streets for years, and he was willing to bet that Tara knew enough to find her way around...

Banner blinked suddenly, peering at the hedgehog from over his cup.

"You got somewhere you can go, kid? Someone you could stay with outside the city?" It was blunt, he knew, but Central wasn't safe--they were lucky this building was still standing. Their only hope for survival would be to get out as fast as they could... But Banner had gotten the sneaking suspicion that Tara wasn't just on her own simply because she emancipated herself.

[Kiwi]

Tara watched with amusement as the fox across from her almost dived into the hot coffee she served him. The younger hedgehog twisted her ears forward, taking a small sip carefully from her warm mug. She paused for a moment, and then grimaced, setting her cup down. Yeah. It needed sugar. Lots of sugar. What could she say? She wasn’t much of a coffee person anyways.

The white hedgehog stared down into her cup for a period of silence, enjoying the peace and quite. She was trying to think up just what to do next it seemed. Of course, her thoughts were far less organized. She perked up at his next words, and felt something in her stomach drop. Crap. Well, it’s not like she could dodge around the issue that much longer anyways. She rubbed the back of her neck, feeling rather out of place, and out of words. What was to say? Her ears flicked back. Might as well give him the straight truth. She sighed.

“No. I don’t.” She said slowly. “My dad died when I was little, and my mom pretty much ditched me a few weeks afterwards. I was in a foster program for awhile, but every family I ended up with lived here in Central. I dropped out of the program this year and started living by myself. I never stayed connected with any family I was given too.” She paused a few moments, and then sighed, flopping back against the couch like a lazy person.

If she did leave this city, she wouldn’t have anywhere to stay, she knew that for a fact. She would also be out of a job. Underground was only in Central City, no where else. The white hedgehog felt her shoulder slump, and she scowled. Man, life sucked right now.

“You know what. Something has been bugging me for awhile. What the heck do you do for a living?” She finally blurted out. He had way too much experience. What sort of job did he have? She took another drink from her coffee.

[Glyph]

Banner listened, and sipped his coffee quietly, but his expression never changed from the stony, thoughtful mask that had slipped over it at the start of her story. Not that he didn't feel bad for Tara--he did. She seemed like a good kid to him, and he wished life were fair... but it wasn't, and Banner had seen too much, had experienced too much, for it to crack his shell any more.

He remained quiet for a moment, thoughtfully turning the cup in his hands, debating about something that, in his mind, required very little thought. He couldn't just leave her here, after all. Banner carefully set the cup down on the table, next to the gloves he'd taken off the previous night, and reached for his crumpled coat.

"That's rough, kid." Raising a brow at her question, the older Mobian reached into the inside pocket and withdrew something that looked like a black wallet. Smoothly, the fox flipped it open, revealing the gold badge inside, and looked at her calmly. "Detective Banner, at your service."

[Kiwi]

To be honest, Tara was actually liked having people not react strongly to her background. She lost track of how many foster parents who cuddled her or tried to reassure her, or tried to offer her some sort of comfort. Even then Tara knew that it wouldn’t help. Her parents were gone. Period. End of story. She was already over it, yet other people always seemed keen to try and pat her on the shoulder or something. Like she was some broken depressed person, or she had missed something big in her life. News flash, she was happy and healthy. Well, as happy and healthy someone could be in this current situation.

She waited for him to answer his question, and watched his hand dig into his coat. She raised a eyebrow, what was he getting our of that? She watched him pull out the wallet. She paused for a moment, her ears tilting forward interested. He flipped open the wallet, and he spoke.

Tara’s eyes went wide with shock, and she gulped down her mouthful of coffee. If it was possible, she became a shade paler. The teenager stood still for a moment or two. She looked like a deer caught in a pair of headlights, which was actually a very accurate description as to how she felt. Finally, she looked away from the badge, and then looked back at it again. Something in her brain had just fizzed and died, well, that’s what it seems like.

“When I said Underground, I meant to say that I’m a girl scout who sells cookies on people‘s doorsteps.” She finally replied, a weak grin taking over her features, her ears twitched downwards. Smooth move Tara. Brag about illegal racing to a cop. You just won a Nobel Prize for being painfully oblivious.

“Well. At least it explains everything.” She finished lamely.

[Glyph]

"And by "big races", you meant moving up to management?" Banner cracked a smirk at the stunned expression that appeared on Tara's face, and even managed a soft chuckle as he shook his head. "Relax, kid, it's not going to bite you."

As if to demonstrate, the detective flipped the wallet closed and tossed it back onto his coat. Some of the steel in his pale eyes softened when he studied her, and the fox had to shake his head again. "And neither am I, for that matter."

Banner knew a good person when he saw one. Tara wasn't a drug dealer, or a housebreaker, or a thug--she was just a kid trying to get by. He couldn't prosecute her for that, and, anyway, it wasn't like he had much power to do so even if he wanted to. The city was in ruins. The playing field had been leveled, if not tipped out of their favor and into the hands of an apparent robot army. Any thought of arresting her would have been laughable at best.

Then he smirked deviously, rather proud of what he'd pulled off yesterday. "I'll take that as a compliment."

[Kiwi]

Tara paused for a moment again, and then let out a laugh at how ridiculous she had probably looked when she saw the badge. She had managed to never get caught anytime she was in a race, but she had seen some people who had been. That, and her watching one too many episodes of Cops. Okay, most of it was from watching Cops. She watched him toss aside the badge. The hedgehog scratched the back of her neck.

“Well, it’s not like Underground usually paints you guys in a good light.” She responded simply and shrugged her shoulders. “But hey, you seem like a pretty cool guy. Badge or no badge.” The white hedgehog relaxed slowly, knowing that she wouldn’t be handcuffed or anything. Well that would be crazy if she was. Jail had probably been burned to the ground.

She watched him smirk, and the white hedgehog laughed again. “Yeah lets hope we won’t get trashed around today like yesterday.” She glanced outside the window.

“So. We going to stick around here or are we going to split? If we are leaving, we should probably stock up on whatever I got.”

[Glyph]

The fox smirked, having busted enough races to be well aware of what kind of "light" officers were haloed with in the Underground--and it certainly wasn't a rosy glow.

"Nah, today we know what we're up against." Banner stretched, and if it weren't for the wry expression on his face, the action would have appeared lazy. As it was, the fox looked ready to spring. "They won't know what hit 'em."

Then he frowned, following Tara's gaze out the window and shaking his head slightly at the sight of the dusky sky.

"We can't stay--they'll be on us before much longer. I'll bet my gun that they'll stop the wanton mayhem and start actually searching for survivors soon." Banner looked grim. It wouldn't be pretty when they did.