Destination: Defenestration

It's one thing after another.  Son of a bitch.

Not a lot had happened since I ran into Redlight.  I didn't have a lot to say.  Actually, I could hardly move for a while.  Rae had to help me get going, check out, get to the next town over.  The irony of our role reversal was not lost on me, don't you worry.

That bastard hit me right where it hurt.  It was a simple mind game, but he got to me anyway.  I haven't shook this bad since the first few nights of all of this..

We checked into a hotel well enough, then I collapsed onto one of those ridiculously foofy beds for about eight hours.  When I got up, Rae was seated on a chair nearby, looking out the window like some sort of sentinel.

I decided to try and talk to her.  "Uhm, hey."

She turned her head towards me.

"Sorry.  About yesterday.  I...erm..."

She just shook her head and went back to watching the streets.  So much for that.  I sighed, got out of bed, brushed my teeth, showered, yadda yadda.  We sat around for a few hours.  Neither of us really had that much desire to go anywhere.  Not to mention the fact that it was marginally more dangerous out in the open than it was in there.

Or so we thought.

There was a sudden commotion on the first floor of the hotel.  We looked at each other for a moment, then dove for our weapons.  I still didn't know if I was in any state to use them, mind, but better safe than sorry.

We were a little slow on the uptake.  Suddenly, Shift came through the wall and put my arm into a lock, holding it down.  And then the door practically exploded off its hinges as Obstruction punched right through it, almost slamming into Rae.  Jade came next, springing at Rae and slashing at her with that cleaver.

And finally the general himself arrived on the field of battle.  Rhodes strode through casually, arms folded behind his back.  "Good morning, children.  How wonderful to see you today."

He snapped his fingers.  Jade fell back reluctantly, her eyes flashing.

The snake turned that fucking grin on me.  "June, June, June...What am I going to do with you?  What even is this pacifistic nonsense?  You didn't have any trouble pushing me off a roof, or shooting Obstruction here in the arm.  Your determination to never kill was impressive, certainly, but not even fighting back?  That's just fucking retarded and you know it."

His words hit right home.  Exactly what I'd been thinking.  I still had some defiance left in me, though.  "Every step I take away from YOU can only be a good thing." I spat back.

A soft laugh.  "This isn't about that at all, and you know it.  No...you're just scared, little man."

A snigger from Shift.  "You're just too fuckin' pussy to do what you gotta to survive.  Morality ain't got nothin to do with it."

Rhodes gave him a withering glare.  "If you don't mind, I was talking..?"

Shift shrunk back.  "U-uh, right.  Sorry, boss."

Shaking his head, Rhodes looked at us and shrugged his shoulders.  "So hard to find good help these days.  Where was I?  Oh, yes.  You, June.  This isn't about pacifism, or trying to be less like me...You just want people to like you."

Dead silence.

"Oh yes, I see what all this is about.  Poor June, growing up around a bunch of people too stupid to tie their own shoelaces.  Who needs friends, right?  It's all about number one.  But then...You found that once you fell into our world, you had people in the same boat as you.  You had friends now.  And having gotten a taste of that, you didn't want to lose it, no matter what."

He strode forward, poking me in the chest.

"This whole moralist bullshit is just a platform that you stand on to gain the popular vote.  You want to be acknowledge, HAILED.  Everyone, look at Konaa, he saves the day without taking a single life!  Ah, but it's no good, is it?  It's not like you've ever really accomplished anything lasting.  But hey, you got quite a few followers.  People sing your praises sometimes, even!  Not like you need anything else, right?"

I'd had just about enough of THAT.  "Okay, wow, you are not on your A-game today.  First thing - you're just wrong.  I don't give a shit about what other people perceive of me.  All I've ever wanted to do is what's right, from the very beginning.  And second...You think this weedy hacker guy can hold me?"

With that, I rammed my shoulder into Shift's chest, sending him into the wall with a crash.  My victory was short lived, though - Rhodes lunged forward, stabbing me in the shoulder and leaving the knife embedded there.  I stumbled back, gasping in pain.

Rae tried to get to me, but Jade blocked her path.  The sound of steel hitting steel rang out.

Rhodes looked down at me, a wide, predator's grin on his face.  "Let's see you do what's right, then!  Eh!?  Come on!  Stop me without hurting me!"

I stood there, trying to think of something.  No good.  Between my indecision and the pain I could barely function at all.  The snake snapped his fingers.  "Obby, give him a lesson about passive resistance.  You know.  How it's bullshit."

Obstruction lumbered forward, swung widely at my head.  I just barely managed to duck.  Over on the side, Rae was doing a good job holding Jade off, but we couldn't take all four of them, especially not in this tight a space.

And that's when Obstruction hit me right in the chest.  Bam, there went all the air in my lungs.  I went out the window...the closed window.  To be honest, I don't remember the fall too well.  Just kinda remember pain.  I won't bore you with the details, but..it hurt.  Bad.

I opened my eyes.  I was lying on a rooftop right near the hotel.  The fall was about fifteen to twenty feet.  Trying to move triggered a massive chain reaction of pain.  I just lay there, cursing softly and wishing I hadn't regained consciousness.  The sound of combat came from the street level - steel against steel, hurried steps, gasps.

And then a loud yell - Rae's voice.  I snapped out of it, tried to hoist myself up again.  Pain.  Could hardly think from it.  Dagger to the shoulder, the impact, it was too much.

But what brainpower I had left focused itself into one objective: Get up.  It was like a voice in my head, my own voice, urging me on.  Slowly, painfully, I sat up.  There were shards of glass in my arms and back, I could feel them, digging in.  Reaching up to the dagger, I pulled it out, wincing.

Keep going.  Get UP!

I put my feet on the ground.

This is nothing.

And stood up.  With the pain still shoved to the back of my mind, I looked over the edge of the building.  Rae was fighting down in the alley, she was bleeding from the arm and matched up against Rhodes' three stooges, while he stood at the mouth of it, watching.  I saw the door they exited from, looks like Rae ran down the emergency exit.

She couldn't take all three of them.  Still drowsy with pain, I made a decision.  No matter what the moral consequences of violence were...I won't play the pacifist while someone I care about is getting hurt.  I drew my grappling gun, pointed it at Jade, who was in front, hacking away, and fired.

The cable shot out and hit her on the arm holding the cleaver.  Lucky shot.  She stumbled, I hit the retract button and it ripped out, taking a small chunk with it.  Jade screamed and dropped her weapon, falling over.

I flung myself off the edge, landing right on Obstruction, which was enough to cause him to lose his balance and topple over.  Face to face with the huge lunk, I couldn't help but wonder what his deal was.  I'd never asked.

I managed to snarl some sentences out.  "Why are you working for this bastard?  What's he got on you?  You're killing people, asshole!"

No expression change.  He threw me off him without much effort, I managed to get back on my feet quickly this time.  A laugh from Rhodes.  "That won't do any good, he's never really been one for conversation.  Wait- are you really trying to convert my men?  Bahahaha!  Not gonna happen~!"

I backed up, closer to Rae.  I was still grasping Rhodes' dagger, but I wasn't in any condition to fight.  Was already swaying slightly, the pain catching up to me.  Jade got to her feet, eyes furious, picked up the cleaver in her other hand.  The four all stepped forward at the same time.  With a sudden crack of thunder, rain began to fall.  Shift ran forward, phased through us, became material on the other side, penning us in.  I grimaced, and got ready to shove him aside.  Footsteps rang out, and two masked men ran out of a side alley further down, standing in line with Shift.  Mooks.  Great.  They had us completely surrounded.

Click.  A simple noise, but a poignant one, causing us all to stop in our tracks.  Rhodes casually turned his head, to look down the barrel of a handgun, held by the same suit I ran into in Walker Alpha.

"Freeze."

"Oh, frozen, I assure you.  And you are...?"

"Agent Lones, Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Step away from the teenagers, Rhodes."

The snake laughed softly, looking Lones right in the eyes.  "I don't hope you truly believe a bullet can kill me, Agent.  But what is all this?  A bit of a divergence from your usual policy, isn't it?"

Lones didn't look fazed.  "I have my orders.  Last chance."  Rhodes grinned wider, hand going for his knife.

And that's when we heard it.  A tune gently floating on the breeze, seemingly coming from nowhere.  Everyone present froze.  Rhodes gazed about.  There was an expression of curiosity on his face- and uncertainty.  I gestured at Lones frantically, trying to get him to run.

Shift suddenly yelled out.  "What the fuck!?  Who-" I looked, but I could barely see anything, there was an intense fog.  Two figures, one Shift's scrawny body, the other taller, lean, menacing.  I recognized it instantly, not that the singing hadn't already tipped me off.  Rae in particular was shaking like wild, acting the same way she had when I tried to get her to go to the hospital.  Had she seen him before?

Suddenly there was a sizzling noise and a horrible screech of pain.  A mask fell out of the fog.

That was it- I'd already gotten enough of the shit beaten out of me already, I didn't need an impromptu tattoo on top of it.  I grabbed Rae's arm and we ran past the proxies, who seemed focused on the singing menace.  Lones was smart enough to pack up and follow us.  He directed us to a car, and we drove away.  I thought Rae might freak out at the sight of those guys again, but she seemed pretty eager to get away from Sinatra back there.  I couldn't blame her.

Followup later.  We're exhausted.