Why must you write so much, Xzeno...
Skip to the end.
assuming you've fixed the weather bit, post it!
*sniffs* you didn't even read it...
Part Ten: Metal Hyena Man Part Two: Somebody to Leon Leon pulled his hood up. He hadn't even noticed that it was down,but it he knew it had to be up. With a sigh, he slid down to a sitting position. His back was rested on a wooden pole, looking at the sky. The clouds above him glowed gray as they rolled lazily through the air. He looked forward, allowing his hood to protect his visage. The city of Armor Games lay in shambles. Many buildings had been destroyed while others burned beside them. The muted colors stood starkly under the overcast sky, every devastated detail exposed. Only a few travelers scurried through the debris-strewn streets. Few remained in the open for long.
His eyes soon fell on a group of people standing around a singed wagon. There seemed to be some conflict between a few of the people. Leon watched in silence. After a few more seconds of observation, he determined that it was two versus four. More specifically, two people were holding off two others while the final two unloaded packages of meat from the wagon. Leon considered the situation as he drew his bow. He was going to shoot someone, he knew that much, he just hadn't decided who. His targets were at least a fifty yards off â" so far off, he realized, that Ed wouldn't even be able to feel their presence. With the distance in mind, he decided he would hit who he hit. Carefully considering his trajectory, he fired an arrow into the air. It arced through the gray glow, planting itself firmly in the chest of a meat bearer.
"Guess he won't be bringin' home the bacon!" Leon chuckled to Marley. The hyena didn't seem to understand the pun. Leon's smile faded. The humans feel into disarray, looking up for the source of the arrow. Leon fired another, which shattered harmlessly on the ground. A third shot served as cover fire as Leon rushed down the crumbling stairs. For a moment, he was gripped by indecision: He wondered whether he should leave through the dilapidated doorway or the gaping hole in the wall. He quickly decided screw it and jumped out of a window. Marley coyly tottered out through the door behind him.
Leon dashed to the end of the street. Stopping only to look both ways, he crossed an intersection. Twenty yards off, the group of people seemed to have banded together to hide under the meat wagon. Firing one more arrow for style, Leon trotted over to the wagon, hyena in lockstep by his side. The group huddled closer together as Leon stepped calmly over a corpse wearing an royal blue hoodie. He picked up a package from the wagon.
"Alright," Leon said, tearing into the white paper wrapping, "someone explain what's going on here." Leon examined the chunk of meat before tossing it to Marley. After some hesitation, a blue hoodied kid pulled himself from under the wagon, eyes on Leon's. Leon extended an armored hand. The kid looked away and pushed himself to his feet. He stood, starting at the towering figure in front of him. Leon teetered impatiently for a moment.
"Hey, kid, hurry up." Leon snapped, "Story time."
"These good people of Armor Games," the kid whined, "have been transporting these supplies away from the city in a time of disaster."
"Seems logical." Leon shrugged.
"Logical for users to save themselves in AG's darkest hour? Logical for us users to abandon our city when it is in greatest peril? We say NO! We are not logical!" The kid squealed, "We will continue to fight for the users of AG rather than the good of any one person! We at the Society for Halcyon Occupants and Population Society believe that, to help the users, we must help our-"
"Wait, the Society for...?" Leon interrupted.
"Yeah, we were kinda rushed for an acronym when the raid came." A second teen piped up as he crawled from under the wagon.
"So let me get this straight." Leon sighed, "You have a group to protect the interests of the users, which you preserve by haranguing passersby and trying to take their stuff."
"Exactly!" the new kid exclaimed. Leon raised an eyebrow.
"Look, I don't care if you're the members of the society of... whatever, unless you want to end up like your boy over there, you'll leave this meat wagon alone." Leon jerked his thumb back, indicating the dead man behind him. "Now get out from under the wagon." The AGers slowly crawled out, trying to shake the rain water from their clothes.
"Thank you, kind furry." said a woman wearing a butcher's apron, "You saved us from these hooligans. How can we ever repay you?"
"Oh, don't worry about it. It was no biggie, really. I was just passing through, and- *****, did you not hear me?" The woman turned back to stare at Leon as she began to push the wagon.
"Um, what?" she seemed confused.
"I said, if you don't wanna end up like your boy over there, you'll lay off the wagon." Leon explained.
"But he's not my boy." she pointed out.
"Look, whatever, it doesn't even-" Leon started.
"SHOPS will rise again!" the blue-hoodied kid screeched, throwing a punch at Leon without warning. Leon blocked the punch and drew his knife with one motion and put the knife to his throat with the next. He stared daggers at the kid. The kid tried to pull away. Leon let him drop to the ground.
"Alright," Leon brought his hands together with a clang, "where were we?" The woman slowly backed away from the wagon. "Right." Leon said, "Take care." He selected a few choice cuts of meat and started off under the clouds.
Leon trotted down another street, munching on a piece of meat. He passed looted out buildings, dislodged rubble and refuse, and a few bodies in varying states of consciousness. He waved as he saw a tall man with an afro scurry past him. The man didn't acknowledge Leon.
"Nice to see you again!" Leon called after him. Leon chuckled, looking around. He was on a small road, passing the construction yard. The tower on which he had confronted The Bullman had fallen. Instead of workers, groups of teens stood around the ruins, burning whatever happened to be around for fun or profit. Leon considered confronting them, but from his distance, he couldn't tell if they were Armor Gamers or raiders. Leon walked on, blue cloak keeping him hidden under the iron-gray sky. He padded past a chuck of concrete tubing as he swallowed his last bite of meat. His hyena followed behind him, slinking through the rubble. Soon, he rounded a corner onto profile lane. It was not in the best of conditions. Most of the windows were broken and many buildings were burning. Light refuse tumbling in the thin wind was the only sign of life among the looted houses. Marley pushed up against Leon's leg as he strode down the center of the gray, cobble stone street. The houses rose high on either side, their glass jaws gaping with neither hunger nor carelessness. Leon listened to the sound of the wind, trying to ignore the shouts and bangs permeating the city.
He reached for his knife as the shouts got louder, ready to confront whatever happened to be causing the commotion. He stalked around a house into a debris-strewn alley off the main lane. There, his eyes fell upon a group of humans engaged in fisticuffs. Two for two. Upon closer inspection, Leon concluded that neither faction was raiders. A blonde-haired pimply faced boy in a crisp, blue and white jacket punched at a blue-hoodied kid with imprecise ferocity. Beside him, a soft-faced Mexican sporting a mustache, green officer's outfit and a buzzcut threw a solid punch to a second kid. Leon chuckled as the blonde boy screamed with rage, punching and clawing at one of his attackers. Two SHOP kids tried to pull him off as he mercilessly pounded the reeling teen. Seeing a lull in the action, the mustached kid reached for his belt. He pulled a knife from an unseen sheath, threatening the SHOPS members.
"He's got a knife!" one shouted.
"Get him!" another barked, turning to run. In moments, they scattered, except the one being beaten by the blonde kid. The Mexican sheathed his knife as the blonde threw him to the ground. Sitting on his chest, he begun to punch him in the face. Leon took that as his que. He dashed through the alley, armor clanking.
"Kid," he said, putting his hand on the blonde kid's shoulder "what do you think you're doing?"
"He attacked me!" the kid shouted with a Texas drawl, eyes fixated on the knife in Leon's hand. Leon stooped over and picked up a chunk of rubble.
"This'll be faster." he growled. The Mexican turned away. Leon threw his arm in front of his face as blood flew through the air. The blonde dropped the rubble, panting as the SHOPS member lay bleeding. Leon inspected his arm. His left vambrace was spattered with blood, but it was nothing that a little polishing wouldn't take care of. He turned around to see the Mexican kid facing away from the grisly scene, hands over his ears. Leon tapped him on the shoulder.
"Maybe you should let him carry the knife." Leon said as he yanked his knife from the blonde kid's hand. "What's going on here, anyway?"
"We were on our way to the Amusement Park when these *******s jumped us!" the blonde snarled.
"Said they needed our stuff." the Mexican added.
"Yeah, said it was the good of AG." the blonde spat. Leon raised an eyebrow.
"Said that they use resources to help, so all things being the same, they should have any resources they come across." the Mexican stated. Leon thought for a moment.
"Wait..." he said slowly "what's at the Amusement park?"
"We heard they had some pretty good flame bunkers there." The blonde perked up.
"All the paranoid types hang out there." the Mexican explained. Leon narrowed his eyes.
"Stay safe, kiddies." he laughed suddenly, darting away.
The Ferris wheel and roller-coaster stood against the darkening sky. They appeared to be intact from Leon's angle, but given the state of affairs, it was impossible to be sure. He walked through the dilapidated gates, eying up the park for signs of people. He glanced warily at a pair rooting through the deep freezer of a half-collapsed hotdog stand, but paid them little mind. He watched as one of the annoying blue-hoodied brigands emerged from a poorly-concealed hiding place. The kid stalked over to the looters with an air of cool confidence. He seemed to be addressing them, but Leon was too far to make out his words. Leon shrugged and walked on. He hadn't made it twenty paces when he heard the shrill human voices behind him raise to an impassioned squeal. Flattening his ears, he turned around. Taking care that his armor clanked as much as possible, Leon stomped back to the trio of humans.
"Who are you?" The SHOPS member was first to address him, stopping mid shout.
"Shut up." Leon barked. "I'm trying to have a stroll."
"I'm just trying to stop the looters!" the kid whined.
"Stop? More like rob!" one of the looters piped up. The SHOPS member opened his mouth to reply, but Leon was faster:
"If he takes your stuff, it'll be in the hands of SHOPS. SHOPS will use it for good, so all things being the same, he'd better take it." Leon explained.
"Uh... yeah." the kid agreed. "How'd you know?"
"Basic logic and reason, how about?" Leon scoffed. The kid gawked, eyebrow raised, but said nothing else.
"Righto, carry on, then." Leon waved.
"What?" a looter demanded. "You're just going to let him rob us?"
"Sure am!" Leon gave him a little thumbs up. "I mean, his logic is sound." The looter seethed in silence as the SHOPS member gathered the cans of peaches from the ground. "I mean, you're welcome to take a contrary position if you'd prefer." Leon added. Instantly, the two looters opened to forum for discussion with high-pitched protests and accusations of despotism. With a brief nod, Leon launched into action. A second later, the SHOPS member was laying on the ground, clutching his nipples.
"Hard to get a good grip with these gloves." Leon explained. "Meant to rip his pectoral muscle clean off." Leon made a clawing motion to emphasize his point.
"What was that for?" the kid demanded, rubbing his chest.
"Can't grab cans 'til we sort this out." Leon said, twisting to a sitting position. The SHOPS kid had other plans. He fished a whistle from his pocket. As he brought it to his lips, Leon snatched it. Without a second thought, Leon blew the whistle. He heard the sound of his breath rushing through it.
"Huh." he said, regarding the whistle. He looked up to see the two looters, hands over their ears, faces contorted. The SHOPS member had pulled his hood tightly around his head.
"God that tone's annoying!" one of the looters whined. Chuckling, Leon pocket the whistle.
"Right." He reiterated. "Where were we?"
"You were explaining to this punk why stealing is wrong." the first looter said smugly.
"Now I remember! You were explaining to this punk why stealing is wrong." Leon nodded.
"Uh, me?" the looter seemed a tad confused.
"This is your fight." Leon said. "As your mediator, I'm just here to make sure your discourse remains productive and civil."
"A what?" the SHOPS member looked up at Leon.
"Discourse." Leon stated. "It has to remain civil."
"No, the other thing."
"Look," Leon growled "are we gonna talk about our problems or not? Because the alternative is that the three of you fight for my amusement and the survivor gets the peaches."
"Well," the second looter started "we were picking up some peaches, minding out own business, when this jerk-"
"Cut the hostility." Leon advised.
"Fine, this guy-"
"Please, call him Andy." Leon added.
"My name's Norman." the SHOPS kid said.
"It's not your turn to talk." Leon snapped.
"Norman came and-"
"Andy." Leon corrected. The looter rolled his eyes.
"ANDY came over and started giving us beef about how it was our duty to help the city of AG." the second looter finished.
"Norman, what's your position on this?" Leon asked amicably.
"You over there! Freeze!" A nasal voice screeched from somewhere behind Leon. With a sigh, Leon got up.
"Looks like my friends are here." Norman said smugly. Leon turned to face the cloaked rabble.
"I'll just see if I can do something about that." Leon growled darkly.
A few minutes later, Leon sat again, SHOPS members and looters forming a cross-leggéd circle around him. He wasn't much worse for wear, though his left gauntlet, vambrace, and rerebrace were neatly spattered with little flecks of blood. A bloody-lipped SHOPS member sat across from him, trying his best to look indignant past the hand covering his eye.
"Are we all going to be good now?" Leon asked.
"Yes, mom." Norman sighed.
"Don't you backsass me!" Leon commanded. "Now."
"You realize SHOPS will never let you get away with this." the bloody faced one growled.
"I can see where such discussion would be contrary to their motives." Leon said calmly. Before anyone had a chance for rebuttal, he tossed his head back and cackled. His mouth snapped shut.
"Right. So where were we?"
"These jerks have been walking around like they own the place!" the first looter shouted suddenly.
"We're patrolling for raiders!" a SHOPS member countered.
"But you run away when you find any!" the second looter exclaimed.
"For your own good!" the SHOPS member jumped to his feet.
"Hey dude, like, relax, and stuff." Leon protested feebly.
"And you!" the SHOPS member sensed his advantage "Waltzing in here trying to make us talk how you want! What do you think you are? Some kind of moderator!?" The kid advanced, gesturing sharply. Leon jumped to his feet, holding his knife hidden behind his wrist.
"Come on, let's talk this out." Leon growled, slipping into a fighting posture. Without a second word, the kid began to attack. Leon flashed a toothy grin as he watched it all unfold. The kid raised his arm, forming a fist as he did so. Leon began to sidestep lightly as the kid began to swing, elbow extending ever so slowly. In an instant, Leon moved. He stood just out of the punch's path, his knife buried in the attacker's neck.
"Trust me, kid." he growled. "I'm no moderator." The kid fell, emitting a feeble sigh. Leon's cold yellow eyes remained locked on the kid as a spatter of crimson arched across the sky. It came to rest on Leon's cuirass as he wretched the knife from his neck.
"Now then, are we good?" Leon said brightly. He looked around. The SHOPS members stood around him, cracking their knuckles and swinging various weapons presumably drawn from the ether.
"Mother..." Leon swore.
A few moments of sadly necessary violence later, Leon stood panting. The first of the looters sat by, staring at him. Leon turned to him.
"Does this mean I can have the peaches now?" he asked meekly. Leon made a quick but threatening motion.
"Running now." The looter hopped to his feet and joined the rest of the fleeing rabble. Leon looked around him. Four bodies lied around him, ranging from lightly bashed to stabbed in the neck.
"Come on, Marley." Leon growled. "We'd better make our getaway too."
He crossed the threshold of a building, passing under a vandalized sign reading "jewelry 'tore". The building was torn apart, trash strewn across the floor. Leon stepped through the dark refuse, standing above a smashed display case. He pushed the refuse out of the way, looking for anything of value. A fire opal caught his eye. Leon judged the bright stone to be rather low quality, but he felt the inexplicably urge to pick it up. As he was about to lean over, he heard a noise behind him. He whipped around. A demon-faced raider sprung from a dark corner of the room, brandishing a club. Leon quickly dodged to the side, breaking the raider's club arm. As the raider reeled back in pain, it let out a piercing screech. Leon quickly drew his knife and planted it in the raider's chest. A jet of crimson spurted from from the wound, dousing Leon's arms and armor in hot blood. Leon reeled back, allowing the raider to slump to the ground. Forgetting about the fire opal, Leon searched the troll's body. Finding nothing of worth, he stepped back under the pregnant sky. He looked up as he heard a resounding clap of thunder. All at once, the rain began to fall, a single drop followed by a great deluge. The sound of rain filled the air as Leon pulled his hood over his head. His cape was soaked in an instant. His armor gleamed silver as a red torrent of blood and water flowed in a trail behind Leon. As he walked, the bloody water flowed into a stream forming beside the curb. As the rain fell, the water diluted the blood until the thick red became a few vespers of pink in the water. Finally, it disappeared completely as the liquid flowed down the stream.
