homeless_pard | Ghosts of the Past

Entry tags:

jason au,
starter

Ghosts of the Past

Who: Beryl, Nat, a reporter?
When: Once she's back on the low level MMA circuit, before the looking at buying a place.
What: Being...traced?

She adjusted the tape along her hands and smiled loosening up a touch in her corner. It was good to be back honestly, she'd taken four out of five matches so far and things were doing okay. She was getting her rhythm back, and she could see Nat sitting in the stands, that delicate mix of apprehensive and delighted to watch her. She could get the mixed feelings honestly, they made sense...

...but she was belatedly glad her boy was tall yes. Else she couldn't have picked him out so easily with many of the 'fans' choosing to fill the bleachers near him. She blew him a cheerful kiss before sliding her bite guard back in and ignored the honest to gods flashes going off as she turned her back to eye her opponent. A lot of sports enthusiasts and writers actually went with real cameras instead of cellphones so it could get a little bulb happy out there.

Given where the majority of the crowd was, well, the photography had to be getting great shots of her opponent's form...and her ass. Great, Nat was going to scrapbook the shit out of any magazines she ended up in and it would be nicknamed the 'hot in spandex' book or something by Eric and Lani. It made her snort a laugh, which pissed off her opponent, making him swing just a touch wide so she could bend and lash her heel into his hip, then her knee to his chin ad he buckled. TKO.

She grinned, adrenaline singing through her as she turned to beam at Nat, and caught another faceful of flashbulbs. Bah. "Excuse me, Beryl? Are you Ms. Beryl?"

"Hey, yeah, but I'm busy," she snorted ducking under the ropes to go to Nat for a kiss before hitting the showers! She barely registered the unassuming man muttering an apology and just flashing a few more pics before she was happily padding to the showers. Charles was going to demand she try that move on him again in a few days as they practiced so she didn't bother trying to poke him now. Let him go home and grump about getting old to his teens, who'd reassure him and make him a protein shake before he got a beer. He was a good guy, just competitive as shit.

After Beryl was safely away the man wove carefully through the crowd to smile hesitantly at Nathaniel, "hey, can you spell her name for me? I want to be sure to get things right but she...I guess she doesn't do ringside interviews huh?"

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Growling? Fuck this was suppose to be the vamp-snack, not someone actually worth anything! "Step off boy!" he growled back, dropping the cleaner bottle. "You're starting to freak me out."

"He may have a gun, all crazy people have guns!" the cabby warned, nervous. "He took your baby girl? Am I being punked?"

If he had a gun, he didn't have time to draw it: Nathaniel was suddenly on top of him, riding him to the pavement and pinning him in an iron grip. The shaking was worse and despite the very noticeable tears welling up in his eyes, the sudden shift to an inhuman blue-grey behind those tears was hard to miss.

His baby girl? No...his person. HIS. PERSON.

"WHERE?!" His voice was half snarl, half screech as panic took over.

Um. UM. "Should I call the police?" the cabby asked Nathaniel, worried. "Or your pickup point?" He was careful to phrase it that way in case he DIDN'T want the Circus involved in this? Cab driving in this town could get interesting!

"Fuck off!" the man snarled, pinned and NOT happy about it. "If she has any fucking sense she's headed home away from monsters like you!"

Nathaniel's hand shot forward to wrap around the man's throat, an unyielding grip that squeezed slowly, cutting off the man's air. "No," he rasped back at the cabbie, his voice shaking, "No police."

Tear started to fall down his face as he watched the cleaner fight for air that he wouldn't allow in. "You get one more breath to tell me where they took her." He waited for that to sink in before easing up just enough on the man's throat for one strangled breath.

The cabby stepped back closer to his car, nodded, "yeah, okay...um, don't kill anyone unless you tell me to turn around okay?" Because obviously bad shit was happening but if he didn't SEE it well...

The man choked and fought a bit longer, he had some kind of training as most moves would work against a human, but, well, "AIRPORT YOU PRICK LET GO!"

With that, Nathaniel released his throat.

And immediately punched the man in the face. Fortunately, he had just enough presence of mind to hold back enough to just knock the guy out and not smash every bone in his face. He scrambled off the man and stumbled towards the cabbie, the shaking far worse now as he began to choke on his sobs. "Please...can you...please?"

"Yeah, yeah kid, open account I can take you anywhere you want..." he assured, opening the door for him worriedly. "But shouldn't you call someone? Anyone? Someone...took your woman right? So help can be good?" Maybe?

ANYWAY GETTING THEM MOVING AGAIN IT WAS. He had to make an illegal uturn to get to the right freeway but hey, up. Yeah.

::...ugh...::

Nathaniel collapsed in the back of the car, drawing his legs to his chest and trying unsuccessfully not to hyperventilate. "No, we have to hurry! They won't get there in time!"

In time. In time for what? He hiccuped a sob as he realized he had no idea, but an airport meant they were taking her. Taking her away from him.

He blinked through his tears when he felt that faint whisper of Beryl's...energy? Essence? He still didn't know how to describe it but he immediately threw himself into their bond, letting his body shake and sob as he desperately felt for her.

"Call anyway if you have a phone! We are going fast as I can!" he promised, "but you need support!" It was obvious! His dispatcher was going to KILL him but hey, this seemed important!

Time enough?

The first feel of connection was the nauseating swirl of muscles too goopy and body too hot of improper sedative doses? Just that creeping horror of not being able to move effectively as people talked around her. ::...Babe? Babe drugged...::

"Wait! Shh!" Nathaniel hissed at the cabbie, his eyes clenched tight as those words trickled into his brain. Not only the words, but that all too familiar sensation he could feel from her. He was trying to breathe, too panicked to wonder how he could hear and feel so much of her in his head. He screamed through their bond, hoping somehow she would hear him as well.

::Beryl! WHERE?::

The cabbie went quiet, tense as he pulled them into a tunnel!

She hated the feeling so much. It was like when she got her migraine inducing cramps, only less pain and more helplessness! She was busy burning and fighting against that feeling that she almost missed his scream. Almost, it was weird, she had to NOT be thinking to hear him...::VAN!:: in a van. It smelled of fresh paint and metal, obviously recently detailed, maybe a rental? ::REPORTER!::

He sympathized, knowing that even despite his past he would take all of it onto himself to spare her that feeling she hated so much. He wished he knew more about this bond, or had learned how to use his end of the one he had with Anita, more than just being open for her to take and take from.

But that was a thought. He took deep breaths, trying to mentally to tear anything down that might guard him from her; if he couldn't send her what she needed, he could at least try to make it easier for her to take it.

Reporter

His blood ran cold at that. The reporter. Dan. But why??! Why would he do this?!

::Coming:: He murmured it over and over to himself as he tried to let her know he was on his way, earning another worried glance from the cabbie.

Helpless never ended well for her, usually due to her family. She'd been assaulted far more often by them than by any stranger who had an upper hand. The fact she was terrified of being shipped back to the people who liked her helpless probably didn't help?

She was trying though.

Trying hard. ::...delay them,:: she gritted, a promise. She could make a scene, she'd been working against the sedative the whole trip after all, but playing dead so their guard was down.

He could feel those waves of terror from her; he shuddered but left himself open to her. If all he could do was give her comfort and support, then he would. Tears slipped through his tightly closed eyes, but he smiled and filled his mind with the image of her in the Huntgrounds, strong and beautiful. The way he saw her, with all the awe and desire her true self inspired in him, and desperately hoping she would be bolstered seeing it in her own mind.

"How long 'til the airport?" he choked out to the cabbie.

Could he feel her slowly testing her muscles while trying to stay limp? She was waiting until the best opportunity to really fuck up this...plan...or whatever the fuck it was. She WAS a fighter, she knew that, but, ::...shifter dose,:: she gritted. ::Hit hard.:: How not? She wasn't a shifter!

"Half hour or so? Traffic isn't bad right now!"

He laughed over a sob, so proud that he could feel her fighting even through a shifter dose. He knew she would keep fighting...he just hoped he could get there before she had to.

"As fast as you can, please," he begged the cabbie. "If we get jammed up I'll start running, but can you keep going 'til you get there?"

"Ayup," the cabbie nodded, "but really it would make me feel better if you called some friends and let them know too. Especially if you go running out of my cab..." Airport was kind of a large area to cover after all.

She was actually a touch relieved that Nat WAS coming .She knew he would, but drugged and family reunion in store, well, the fact ANYONE would come for her really helped. Even more so it was her person!

Nathaniel made a strangled cry, closing his eyes tight and covering his head with his fists. "JUST DRIVE!"

He was shaking harder now, trying to figure out how to help her as much as he could through this bond that they hadn't really deeply explored. And it was...hard. It was as if his consciousness was wavering between his current state and hers, and every outside influence buzzed through that fine line making it even harder for him to concentrate. He couldn't let his end fail when she needed him...

Shit. He blinked and poked a button on his dash that totally looked like a radio button but actually killed the speed regulator the cab company insisted on. Paid to know a mechanic, yes it did. "Lots of places to go at the airport, try to get me a heads up before turns." Just...saying. In case he could hear him.

Beryl drew a deep, even breath, and tried to focus. she could feel Nat, so for her peace of mind she wasn't in a van with strangers and ropes on, she was laying in the Huntgrounds against his back. ::Babe.:: She could strengthen this right? Just work to firm up that connection, ignore the ghostly feel of shifting along a van floor.

"Private planes. Wherever they do the private planes," he croaked. He took a shuddering breath curl tighter into himself, trying to reserve everything he had keeping their link strong.

::Coming:: For both their sanity, he kept repeating that thought over and over. He wouldn't lose her. He couldn't.

He wasn't aware of how fast they were going, or where the even were, but slowly he started to feel more solidity to their bond. He peered out from under his arms; they weren't far from the airport now! He hoped they hadn't moved her yet. ::Van?::

"I can find it!" He could! He was a man willing to ignore the 'authorized only' signs on the road to airport!

::Van, still. Starting to get restless though,:: she admitted. She could feel people shifting with a bit of purpose. That meant she was going quiet and still waiting on moments. ::Think I could move a little...:: enough, maybe.

He started to uncurl himself in the backseat, scanning the darkness. "Watch for...a van. Maybe by a plane or the...plane garages."

He could feel her, closer now. ::If they move, you move. Make noise::

"Van," he confirmed, NOT AT ALL WORRIED HONEST THIS WAS NORMAL COMING UP ON HUMAN TRAFFICKERS OR DRUG RUNNERS OR WHATEVER AND...

::Much as I can,:: she promised with that grim, steel toned edge she sometimes felt like when she was fighting without rules or referees. ::Rope not chain. Idiots.::

Nathaniel was still scanning as they drove when he felt the sudden jolt of chaos through their bond. The blood drained from his face as he realized they must have made a move on her. He felt that tug again along with a surge of panic-fueled adrenaline.

"Stop!" he shouted to the cabbie. "Stop here!" He wasn't even waiting: he had the door opened before the car had even stopped and leapt out with unnatural ease. He was turning round, eyes wide as he strained to hear...or see...or sense anything.

It was dark, even the distant runway lights being swallowed up one by one into the distance. Dark but not, not for shifters anyway as the moon seemed closer. Bluer.

Wilder.

The stillness that fell was like a wood before the first fury of a storm, and in that silence there was the grunting and muffled screaming of people locked in a panel van with a VERY ANGRY MMA fighter. Tied up or no.

Gods she was going to hit the ground hard after all this but for now she was going to manage to break at least one arm and a few of her assailant's ribs! Losing fight, she knew it, but if they were hurt they might open a damn door to get more room!

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