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Post by matiko on Mar 7, 2016 19:51:29 GMT -5
It hadn't taken Ren long to get off of Matiko and once the other man had done so he followed suit, picking up his coat off the floor and tossing it on loosely. Smoke - fire, voices shouting, another voice outside the room that was loud and commanding and not at all afraid. An attack of some sort, then - this was intended to happen, no accident, and there was a lot more danger in that. The front exit was probably out of the question right now.
Golden eyes glanced over at the other man as the smoke hung in the room heavier, stinging a bit as he breathed. The question on Ren's lips was caught and Matiko didn't answer right away, instead turning over possibilities in his head. He didn't know how many people were in here, who was and was not supposed to be here, or the layout. Somewhere like this - probably plenty of alcohol on hand and if the fire caught anywhere near a bar then it would spread too quickly. Neither of them had made much noise, though, and that was likely why they were spared attention from anyone outside but how long would that last.
"We get out," was all he answered. It was too risk and basically pointless to try and save anyone here; on top of that, without knowing what he was going to get involved in and unarmed, it was incredibly stupid to interfere. However, there was no reason for him to not help Ren - on the contrary, if the man was up to something with Vigilantes and Matiko helped him escape, it may be a good in for information. Right. Good plan. "There a back way out?"
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Post by Taren on Mar 7, 2016 20:34:07 GMT -5
There had been a moment, briefly, where Taren had allowed himself to think it would be okay. The way he acted different as a customer, surely Mat would be different from the other Upper Class scoundrels. He would be at least slightly willing to help, or something, right?
But no. We get out. The words hit him like a slap in the face and he recoiled as such, once again stunned, but the sharp intake of breath did nothing more than hurt his throat. "What -- ?" he choked, taking a few steps back and shaking his head. No, more than the smoke, Mat couldn't understand. "You think I'm going to run away like a coward -- leave people I know behind?"
Yes, there was a back way out, tucked inconspicuously near the corner opposite of the main door they'd come in from, painted the same color as the rest of the wall to obscure it from view. It was exactly what they needed, really, a sort of emergency exit. The commanding voice outside of the main door caught his attention, though, a voice he'd heard once or twice, someone his boss did not like.
This -- this was personal, then. Green eyes moved to the main door. He was being loud. He could give away their positions. His lips parted, ready to shout accusations again, but the smoke was burning his eyes at this point and a little voice in the back of his mind shouted, as he was sent into another fit of coughing, as loyal as you are to these people, isn't your family more important? You have to live for their sake.
Of course, before he could point out the exit door or anything else, it seemed his outburst and coughing had been more than enough to give them away. There was attention at the door, and it was only a matter of seconds before it was kicked open, letting more smoke into the room and revealing bright licks of orange and red outside the room.
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Post by matiko on Mar 7, 2016 20:52:42 GMT -5
Irritation peeled at his skin as Ren not only disagreed with leaving but raised his voice, calling attention to the duo. What was more, the outburst had only caused him to breath more heavily of the smoky air, and the effect was immediately apparent in the way he coughed. Matiko's brows furrowed but he didn't say anything at first, thinking instead to cover his mouth as best he could first to try and cut down on the smoke.
"Quiet. Do you have a plan to save them? Do you know how many there are?" his words were sharp, accusatory; misguided and untrained heroism were both nooses that people seemed to wear too readily when it came to their friends and family - Ren seemed not exception to this. However, there wasn't much time for any more words - and it seemed that some of the enemy was to be revealed shortly.
Door kicked in, flying back on its hinges with a fresh wave of heat and smoke. The black puffs billowed in, shadowing two figures who had their faces covered with masks, something to filter out the smoke most likely. No guns immediately apparent - that was good. One bore a knife, the other seemed to have some kind of bludgeoning weapon. The smell of fire and alcohol followed their entry - it was clear how they had aggravated the fire, then. Not the most planned out, he would guess - but still horribly dangerous.
Matiko spared a glance at Ren - well, if he wanted someone to save people Mat could certainly play that part for whatever good it afforded him but he was not going to risk his life when it was likely that anything he had gained had been lost. What value was an escort with connections when those connections had gone up in flames?
One of the two intruders spoke, a taunt - Mat ignored it in favor of removing the source of the problem words, as it were. "Keep back to where it's safe," he all but commanded Ren from over his shoulder, and the bludgeon wielding intruder saw this as a moment to attack and call out Matiko's cocky attitude. It was a well directed swing right for his head that Matiko intercepted, catching the man by the wrist and twisting his arm. With a hard turn in an unnatural direction, he kicked the suddenly shocked intruder - obviously, finding someone actually trained to fight back had not been expected - and released the arm after a sickening crack of bone was heard.
It was then that he turned his attention to the other intruder, knowing that he should have spared a bit more attention that way because it had only been a few minutes, but - - -
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Post by Taren on Mar 7, 2016 21:21:22 GMT -5
The sharp tone from the other was ice cold, completely contrasting the heat of the flames. And Taren hated it because -- because he was right. He was absolutely right. It was painful, being unprepared and at the mercy of fate, but hadn't most gotten used to that position down in the Slums? You could never truly be prepared for anything, because there was no end to the possibilities of what could happen next.
When his eyes landed on the intruders, though, he felt so angry -- why did it come to this? Why fight people of your status? It was hard to really see, though, and he felt dizzy with the intake of smoke. As such, when the order reached him, words implying protection, he couldn't argue. He moved back, feeling the effects of the Magix within him slowly trickle away. If, if he needed to, he could try to fight with it, use another stick, but -- he'd never used Magix for that purpose before. He wasn't a fighter.
Mat, on the other hand, clearly was. Green eyes focused on him, and the crack of bone sent a cold chill through Taren's body. He was skilled -- very skilled. Was this what happened when those with the proper resources and training got into skirmishes?
His attention had been misdirected, though, because he suddenly felt a hand at his throat, shoving him back and onto the ground. The blade of a knife found his side at the same moment, piercing deep and warranting a choked, pained noise from the redhead. If he'd been conflicted between fight or flight before, every single alarm bell in his head set off and screamed at him to get out of this situation.
Perhaps it was the panic, perhaps it was because the other man had expressed some degree in protecting him, he found himself immediately coughing out a "Mat--!" as he tried to pry the hand from around his throat -- all the while, frightfully aware of the intense pain in his torso.
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Post by matiko on Mar 7, 2016 21:38:32 GMT -5
It had been, apparently, a few moments too much that Matiko had focused on the first attacker. The second, the one with the knife had pinned Ren down by the throat and help was called for after a pained noise. Right. He turned his attention for a split second back to the first attacker, shoving him into the wall head-first for good measure and picking up the discarded bludgeon. It only took a second for him to strike the knife-wielding intruder across the head with a crunchy thud, freeing Ren.
"Are you - - -" he began, shoving the other attacker off of Ren, but halted his words. Blood. The knife. Not immediately lethal but dangerous. "- - not, okay. You need to get out of here."
Despite the cool, if somewhat detached words, he had not taken care to avoid breathing the smoke. Matiko coughed, trying not to let the smoke burn his eyes too much. He needed to see, to think clearly. He could just leave Ren here but - - - but something told him not to. Maybe he thought the man had more to say, maybe he felt he needed him to escape without more trouble, or maybe it was just the claws of his conscience sinking in wherever it could, but he knelt down to try and help him up, glancing back over his shoulder and listening for more intruders.
"Which way is out."
He'd carry him if he had to, though it'd certainly make them both more vulnerable - but if there was a way out other than the front then he wanted it. This place was catching onto the flames far too quickly, and the longer he delayed the more chance of trouble there was.
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Post by Taren on Mar 7, 2016 22:02:15 GMT -5
The force holding him down was gone quickly, and Taren sucked in a breath instinctively -- but it was wrong, so very wrong. The smoke burned and choked him more, and every cough made the knife wound send a new shock of pain through him. Vaguely, he was aware of words spoken toward him, Mat's voice, need to get out of here. They did. They both did, didn't they?
One hand found the injury at his side, the knife, the blood, his blood, and he pulled it out without thinking too much, dropping it and allowing his hand to find the wound again. Blood on his palm, sticky and wet and warm and alarming. He had to get out, he knew he had to get out without Mat saying so because every nerve in his body was screaming as much.
"Back, back there," he choked, accepting the help up and -- honestly surprised he was capable of standing. Adrenaline? He brought up his other hand, pointing straight toward the door that he knew was there, knew led out to an alley that would have clean cool air, or as clean as air in the Slums could be.
He took a step forward, swayed, and reached out for something to balance on -- was it Mat's arm he'd grabbed? He couldn't tell. Taren knew he had to get it together. His head ached from hitting the floor, his eyes and throat and chest hurt from the smoke, and -- of course -- the knife wound persisted to bleed and sting. He was in poor shape, no doubt, but they had to get out and he had to do at least this on his own.
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Post by matiko on Mar 7, 2016 22:59:15 GMT -5
The extended hand of help was taken, though Matiko found himself bearing nearly all of Ren's weight as the man stumbled to get up and grasped for support. If he could stand, even sort of, that was beneficial; it was still unclear whether he'd have to fight anyone else off. Mat watched Ren's hand go to the wound, though, noting the bleeding - it was definitely worrisome but not for now; he could manage some emergency first aid himself once they got to safety.
When Ren answered, pointing to a space on the wall opposite from where they'd come in, he just nodded. Something hidden then, maybe; it had possibly been designed for situations like this or - more likely - actual police raids for illegal activities. Matiko was more than confident that those sorts of things were going on here but that also meant he should pay even more attention to Ren.
Allowing the other man to hold on as much as he needed, he ignored the rest of the building in favor of making way to the exit. It was, in fact, some sort of movable wall panel and once it opened, fresh air greeted him. It was cool, so soothing to now sweaty and smoke stained skin, and the moment the hidden door was closed he released a sigh of relief, a few deeper breaths.
But they couldn't stay there.
"We need to move to somewhere safer - you've been hurt," he stated, voice plain and no nonsense. He knew at the very least that he was not going to abandon the man when he might have relevant information, but beyond that he wasn't exactly sure what to do or where to go. Anywhere safe, quiet - more of the group that had raided the place might still be around.
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Post by Taren on Mar 8, 2016 0:06:20 GMT -5
Taren followed along with Mat, because it was either that or fall to the ground again. At least he was relatively light, he thought, so it shouldn't have been too much a burden to lean on the other man. The smoke was still a bit much, and he ached all over, but soon -- soon they would be out and it would be fine. Mat seemed more than capable of figuring out the hidden door, getting them both out.
The cool air was absolutely refreshing and Taren found himself taking in greedy gulps of it, trying to purge himself if the inhaled smoke. Out of immediate danger, though, everything suddenly weighed on him ten times as much as it had minutes prior. It was because of this he could barely process the plain tone the other spoke in, only barely registering the words. "Yeah," he mumbled, meaning to sound a bit more stable but realizing how shaken his words seemed.
Slowly, he lifted his gaze, eyes falling onto the other man. Except, his head felt so light, and was -- was he breathing really slowly, or ? It felt hard to think, and he couldn't tell if Mat made anymore comments, if anyone else was around, because his vision failed him and he felt the world around him shift all too suddenly.
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Post by matiko on Mar 8, 2016 0:26:45 GMT -5
They had not been outside long when Matiko noticed Ren appearing less than aware of the surroundings, the swaying - - his voice was worrisome and very suddenly, he swayed and began to fall.
Oh - -oh no that was, that wasn't as planned, not at all.
Matiko caught Ren before he could fall but the other man was limp in his arms, injured, bleeding. This was, this was not good not at all. He couldn't just... leave him somewhere? But he really didn't know places in the slums, places where he'd be able to drop Ren off without just ditching him there. It'd been easy to think of just leaving him behind but now that he actually had the man out here it was... somehow different?
Shifting to pick him up and carry him, he knew he had to get him somewhere. Not where, not how, but... not here? Matiko snuck out around the corner and, seeing a cluster of rowdy people he assumed were the ones that raided the building, went the other way. He hadn't parked that far off, had he? Had Ren lost too much blood? What ... what did he need to do here?
It had been panicked thoughts that had brought Ren not to a safe place in the Slums but all the way back up to Upper Class with Matiko, snuck through the security checkpoints under the guise of classified Secret Police business. At least there he'd had first aid supplies, and enough training with them to fix Ren up.... decently. He'd set the man up on the couch in his place - a ridiculously large and luxurious place for one person - and then had begun the pacing.
This had probably not been the wisest thing to do.
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Post by Taren on Mar 8, 2016 1:21:20 GMT -5
Somehow, even though he didn't wake up, Taren was restless -- dreams plaguing him with smoke and shouting and guilt over not doing more to help, not that he realistically could have done anything himself. Despite this, it seemed like he wouldn't be granted any peace from this for a while yet. Slowly, though, slowly a little voice started questioning in the back of his mind. Why are you asleep? You should be awake. Or maybe you're dead, since you got stabbed.
It was that final lingering thought of death that made him suck in a breath, sitting bolt upright on -- on a couch? A really nice couch. Taren was completely disoriented. Where was he? This wasn't any place he'd ever been. No, this was far too upscale, far too clean, far too luxurious. The furniture he was resting on felt too soft and new, even by the high standards of his workplace.
His instincts were immediately geared toward taking off, but the sudden movement sent a delayed jolt of pain up from his side. His hand was immediately on it, and he remembered the stab wound. Right. Everything was slowly coming back to him --
Mat. Wait, was this...? Slowly, much more carefully, green eyes surveyed the room around him. It was easy to find the pacing form of the other man, who had saved him, he guessed? But before he said anything, he noticed a message from his NUIP, from his boss. Asking for confirmation if he was alright, informing Taren that most of them had gotten out fine. A shaken sigh passed through his lips, and it was only after he sent a message assuring his boss he was fine that he turned to the other man. What... was he supposed to...?
"As it turns out, almost everyone is okay. So... thanks for stopping me from running in," he finally murmured, glancing away. Thinking about it, he probably would have ended up dead if not for his customer. But... Glancing back, Taren narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "But why did you bring me here -- wherever here is?"
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