Almost Running but not Quite

[Kiwi]

The white hedgehog nodded, actually feeling more confident. He had a point. Yesterday, they had both been caught by surprise, today, they were aware of what was happening around them. That made a difference, didn’t it? She looked back to her hands and then gave a sigh. “Yeah. We’ll hit them were it hurts.”

The next words made her grimace. It wouldn’t be pretty at all, that was damn sure. The white hedgehog stood to her feet from the couch, trying to not put strain on her back as she did so. “If this place wasn’t such a war zone, I’d probably try to help out the survivors, but as it is, I’d probably get killed.” Tara shook her head. She didn’t like rethinking self-less actions. She was the type to just do thinks and not think twice about them. She was thinking twice now, and that worried her. Sure, rashness may have gotten her in some bad spots, but it also paid off in the end. Most times anyway.

“If we’re going to leave, what are we going to need?” She asked curiously, moving her mind away from the previous subject.

“I know I got food and medical stuff, but I don’t know how much we’ll need. It’s not like we can carry everything from here down to the car.” If they were leaving from here, they couldn’t make trips from her apartment down to the car, besides, with electricity out, the elevator wouldn’t be working like last time.

[Glyph]

Banner nodded, though he'd already decided not to go looking for trouble. Defending yourself was one thing; barreling in like an idiot when you could have gotten away otherwise unscathed was another.

At the mention of survivors, the fox scowled, grimness mixing with something that could have almost been taken for pain. Banner's life was this city; he'd protected these people for years, in one way or another, and to see them felled hurt. While he knew it was impossible for he alone to take on every threat that had rolled into Central, that, inevitably, he'd never be able to save them all, it didn't make it feel any less like a betrayal.

Of course, just because he couldn't save them all, didn't mean he would stop trying--already he'd resolved to see that Tara made it out of this city alive.

"You're right," he said shortly, narrowing his eyes in thought, "We'll have to travel light--the bare essentials, I'd say." The fox glanced out the window, acutely aware of the hundreds of doors left unlocked when the panic overtook. "We'll be able to find more supplies as we go. Although..."

Acting on a sudden thought, Banner checked the holster and satchel at his waist, and found his suspicions affirmed--he was running out of ammo.

"We're gonna need weapons..." Frowning, the fox checked the gun, then pursed his lips, "We should head for my house today."

[Kiwi]

Tara gave a firm nod, a frown pulling at her lips. The white hedgehog glanced around her house, thinking of what she might need. Of course, she could already feel her heart ache. Her home. This apartment had been the closest thing to home this hedgehog ever had, and that was saying something. Moving over to the coat hanger next to the door, the hedgehog grabbed herself another trench coat. It was the exact same as the one she had been wearing yesterday. It was kind of embarrassing for her to admit that she had more then one of these. The white hedgehog sealed the jacket shut. A thought suddenly jumped at her

Oh yeah. How could she forget? Tara literally rushed off to her bedroom, and over to her closet. She didn’t spare her room a second glance as the teenager dug her hands into the disarray of clothes. Her hand grasped leather, and the hedgehog removed a pair of boots. Well. They looked like boots anyway. Tara kicked off her old shoes and slipped into the new pair, strapping each latch tightly. She almost trembled when she stood to her feet, almost expecting them to activate. It was crazy. Her being intimidated by her own air gear, but she knew how dangerous these things could be.

The white hedgehog left her room quickly, grabbing a backpack from her dresser. She didn’t go to school, but she tended to wear a backpack while she was racing, that way she had easy access to water and so on. It was a shame about her board, but she could always recreate it at a later point, and the skate air gears she was wearing would do. For the moment anyway.

“Your place? I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a armory in there. You seem like to type to be armed to the teeth.” Tara responded, moving right past him into the kitchen. She opened the fridge, removing a hand full of water bottles and tossing them into the back pack in her other hand. Of course, she also grabbed a first aid kit from above the fridge. Food wise, the hedgehog knew that none of her food was exactly apocalyptic-proof. Half of it was junk food. Oh. Wait. Her empty hand opened a drawer, revealing a box almost overflowing with energy bars that she got for free from the underground. The hedgehog happily dumped those into her backpack as well. The label said they had plenty of vitamins. She also made sure to grab a couple boxes of crackers, and some spam. Oh. She grabbed the instant coffee too. Just because.

Tara tossed her backpack over her shoulders, and gave a nod to Banner. Her backpack now full to the brim. “I don’t think my pistol needs anything. I mean, it’s a laser, but I have no idea. It might run on some sort of batteries, but I haven‘t bothered to take it apart” Speaking of her laser pistol…Tara grasped the weapon and returned it to the inside of her new jacket.

[Glyph]

Banner just snorted, shaking his maned head as he watched Tara rush about, a blur to his still-groggy mind. Must be a hedgehog thing. Rolling his eyes, Banner downed the last dredges of his coffee just in time to offer her an indulgent, if a bit chilly, smirk.

"I'm a cop, not *Ram-Bo." The gleam in his lavender eyes told a different story, though, and the fox rose to his feet, gingerly putting pressure on his sprain. When he found that, although painful, it would still hold his weight, he turned, shrugging on his coat and repocketing his badge. Aside from the tiny satchel and holster clipped to his belt, Banner had no bags to gather up--everything he'd need he'd find at his house.

"I wouldn't try, if I were you." Banner remarked, watching her stow the laser pistol away, "Most of the cells powering laser-based weaponry nowadays can hold a charge for a long time, but I wouldn't go tampering with them--things tend to blow up when wires get crossed."

The fox chewed his lip for a moment, thoughtfully, as he limped, slowly but determinedly, to her side. "I wouldn't worry too much about it." Banner eyed the door, frowning. He was not looking forward to those stairs... And a part of him hoped dearly that the car was still in working order, even if it would attract more attention to them. "If it runs out, we'll be able to find plenty of spares."

--------

*Mobian equivalent. I have no shame. XD

[Kiwi]

Tara had noticed the look in his eyes when he responded to her armory comment. The white hedgehog could only roll her eyes. Like she was going to believe that. She watched him stand to his feet, the white hedgehog almost offered to help, but she paused when she realized that he was testing out his foot. The hedgehog pursed her lips. She would probably help him down the stairs, knowing that the stairs would be unforgiving on his sprain.

The white hedgehog only sighed at his comment about her laser weapon. “I suppose your right. I’m not familiar with how a normal gun works anyways. A laser one would only give me a headache.” She noticed that he didn’t bother to grab anything, but Tara quickly realized that he didn’t need anything from her place that she wasn’t already carrying. His house probably had much more stuff stockpiled away.

“Yeah. Off any robots we scrap anyways.” The white hedgehog opened her door and peeked her head out slowly.

“Well. Looks like this place is still empty. She muttered as she exited from her home. She glanced over her shoulder, giving it one last glance. It would probably be burned down or reduced to rubble by the end of the day.

“Need me to help you down the stairs?” She asked finally her gaze drifting down towards the brace he was using.

[Glyph]

"It's not too hard to figure out," Banner shrugged, poking his head out the door after her, hand resting on his gun. It was quiet, but that didn't necessarily equate with safe.

Pale eyes flicked up one side of the hall and down the next; then, satisfied that this level, at least, was clear, rested them on the stairs in the corner. An irritated frown flitted across his muzzle, and he glared at dimmed neon exit sign as if it had personally offended him in some way.

"... We'll see." He said gruffly, and started forward, though whether his eyes shown with determination or simple stubbornness was up for debate.

[Kiwi]

Tara only managed to shake her head as she followed the fox towards the stairs, her hands shifting into her pockets. “Alright then. Your choice.” She shrugged.

He was old enough to ask for help when he needed it, she figured. The white hedgehog walked down the hallway, and opened the door beneath the green neon sign. She perked her head, and stared down the flights of stairs they would walk down. She frowned, but began to proceed down the stairs slowly. She wasn’t going to leave him behind.

It wouldn’t take that long to reach the lobby, Tara concluded. If they moved at a stable pace anyway. His ankle may slow him down, but that’s what she was here for.

[Glyph]

Banner might have been old enough, but age had nothing to do with stubbornness. The fox, determined not to slow them down, ignored the dull throb pulsing up his leg and mostly-strode after the younger Mobian.

He paused momentarily at the top of the steps, set his jaw, and slowly started down, his iron grip on the handrail the only thing betraying the weakness in he felt. Banner ignored the daunting length they'd have to go--all that mattered was the next step... and the next one after that, and the next after that...

When he reached the first stairwell, Banner paused to glance through the crack in the doors leading toward the third floor, and though it appeared empty, his neck fur prickled with unease. They needed to get out of here, and soon, before something thought to start adding the insides of the buildings to their sweep.

[Kiwi]

Banner wasn’t the only one experiencing a sense of uneasiness. The pale white hedgehog would constantly look around. The smallest sounds seemed to make her heart hammer. Her ears stood up straight, and even her own breath put her on edge. Was this building really empty? Every time they reached another stairwell, the white hedgehog would peek through a door to the floor. Every time, she would pull away slowly, almost as if she was concerned something would jump out and drag her away.

Trying to distract herself, the white hedgehog finally spoke up, breaking the long silence. “Were is this house of yours?” She paused for a moment, noticing that they were already on the first floor. Only another set of stairs until the lobby, and then they could use the car to go were ever they needed to go.

[Hally]

The robot would've smiled if it could have. It stood in the lobby of the apartment building, guarding the front door. It had its guns ready to shoot anything that moved. Speaking of guns, it had three. One on each shoulder and one in it's hand. Each was big, and looked very dangerous. Not to say the robot itself didn't.

A voice floated down from the stairwell. It took less than three seconds to estimate it came from just a floor above.

The robot's smile would have grown to madly insane proportions by now as it prepared to shoot. The gun was set to kill and it was aimed right at the stairwell's entrance. First one to pass through that entrance was going to be eliminated. And anyone else wasn't going to be any more lucky.

[Glyph]

Banner's unease only grew as the pair descended, and the fox found his hackles rising higher with each moment that passed. His throbbing ankle fell to the wayside to make room for the rapid pounding of his blood through his straining ears, and the cornered, predatory way his pale eyes had dilated. Maybe he was developing that "soldier's sense" everyone seemed to go on about... Or maybe he was just being justifiably paranoid.

As tense as he was, Banner nearly froze mid-step when Tara spoke, and as his eyes snapped to her, a part of him wanted to growl for silence. Instead, he pushed it away furiously and kept his voice calm.

"East of here. In the suburbs."

Three steps from the final floor, the fox felt a chill run down his spine, as if someone were watching him. His eyes darted around and his shoulders hunched defensively... and that's when Banner saw it--a glimmer of metal shifting position through the lobby doors. It was gone in an instant, beyond the frame of the window, and Banner almost thought he'd imagined it...

Imagination could be a deadly thing.

Immediately the fox went for his gun, his other hand reaching for Tara as if to pull her against the wall as he scrambled to the side of the stairwell. Banner motioned for silence, sure he looked like a lunatic... But he'd rather risk being wrong about a hunch than dead.

[Kiwi]

Tara was dragged towards the wall of the stairwell, and almost commented on what he was doing, but paused at his expression. The white hedgehog gulped. Had he spotted a robot? She removed her pistol quickly, and kept the weapon pointed at the ground. She hadn’t seen anything, but that didn’t mean anything. It was better to be safe then sorry, right? The hedgehog grimaced, hoping that his suspicions were false. She shouldn’t had spoke, she realized now. If something was in the building, it probably would have heard her.

She sent the fox a apologetic look, and then shifted her eyes, gazing at the door to the lobby. She’d wait on Banner’s signal or motion before doing anything. For a moment, she was tempted to turn on her air gears. With these boots on, she could move pretty fast, but she’d just bring attention to herself and make herself a target. This approach would probably be better.

[Hally]

A flash of gray suddenly passed by the other side of the small window. The robot quickly moved to avoid any more than a first look. From the quick glimpse it could tell that is was a Mobian - pale gray fur, male, most likely canine. The voice heard before was identified as a female. Two survivors from the storm of last night. Two idiots who just pushed their luck too far.

No time was to be wasted on two harmless meatbags. It raised its gun at the door - no giving them a chance to escape. Five shots were then flying at the door faster than a blink of the eye.

[Glyph]

Banner only had a split second to react. His straining ears caught the sound of grinding metal, and his eyes snapped wide. Instinct kicked in then, and, without warning, Banner lunged for Tara as he dove to the ground. The fox landed awkwardly and jolted down several steps, just as a hail of gun fire blew through the door.

.:Bullets exploded around the pair, but the angle had been slightly off due to the jamb of the door, and while a stray bullet may have connected, the wound it inflicted wouldn't be fatal. More pressing was the shrapnel that had shot up in a stinging, blinding volley.:.

Something nicked his ear, and two other somethings thudded into the concrete stairs above him, taking the fur from the side of his tail. Jolting out of his shock, the fox scrambled to his feet and snapped his gun back into the air, firing off several rounds and shattering the window.

He grit his teeth, before flying into a flurry of motion. They were sitting ducks in this stairwell, and if they didn't get out of there soon, they'd be dead ducks. Swearing, he scrambled back up the stairs to stand before Tara, ears pinned and eyes luminous.

"Move!" Banner snarled, praying that the hedgehog hadn't been hit--he doubted he'd be able to carry her back up the stairs.

----

OOC: Let me know if you'd rather I not mod this way. XD

[Kiwi]

Tara hit the ground quickly, the sounds of shots roaring overhead. Her breath was knocked out of her chest, and she felt something warm and sticky on her shoulder, she turned her head, flinching at the new wound on her shoulder. It was just a nick, and it hardly hurt, but the sight of blood made the hedgehog grimace. She could hear the robot now, and she felt cold terror wash through her. Her wide gaze turned to Banner.

Quickly, the white hedgehog scrambled to her feet. “I’m okay. The tin can nicked me but I’m fine!” Her eyes scanned down the stairwell, wondering what would happen next. The white hedgehog fired several shots from her laser pistol towards the location of the robot, hoping that at least one shot would slice through the lobby door and hit it. She scrambled to her feet, not bothering to stick around and see if she hit the robot after them.