Hunters in the night. [Quick]

[Adriana Reyes]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 475px; height: 566px; background-image:url(http://i45.tinypic.com/ct6xd.png)] He’d been given a task that he could not refuse. After the recent fires that plagued the bay, there was no alternative option. The only valid reaction to their misery was to fight back, to kill the Fallen – to cross Quick’s name off the list. The shadow in front of her was determined to finish the ordeal, to rattle the Fallen and go out with a bang, if necessary. A hunter, handpicked from some of the others because he’d remained unscathed in the fire, and because there were very few that were crazy enough to trespass into enemy territory on their own. However, the Carna had misjudged their members – he wasn’t the only person crazy enough to wander off so soon after the recent events. Probably the only one more willful than the assassin was the girl that was intent on making sure that he did not succeed. She’d been trailing him for a few hours now, it was a surprise that the shadowed figure of a man hadn’t noticed her presence. Was he confusing her scent for his own? He was so focused on avoiding the Fallen scouts, it was the equivalent of putting blinders on a horse – all he could see was the goal. He hadn’t suspected that someone from his own ring would tag along. The thought that someone on his side would try to stop him was absurd. Even in spring, the desert was arid. The dust whipped through the dead bushes as they traveled through the low foothills that were between them and the express. The shifter she was following was moving along in his animal form, and she’d chosen to do the same. He’d done it for mobility reasons, whereas she’d done it for the cover. Rattlesnakes were born to survive in the desert. If the wolf prowling ahead of her had a hard time of noting her presence before, he would certainly not see her now. It wasn’t long before they’d maneuvered their way around the brush and railroad tracks that surrounded the express, going undetected by the scouts that were busy watching the borderlands by the Carna. She could have killed him at any point in the journey, causing a commotion and poisoning him, attracting the attention of the scouts and dooming him.. but that was easier said than done. She’d wanted to kill them both. Getting rid of Quick would take a burden off her shoulders, it’d make up for the fire, for letting him go that night that she had the chance to end it. But Adriana hadn’t done it then, and she couldn’t do it now, just as she hadn’t been able to bring herself to kill one of her own. The man had shifted back to his normal state now, drawing a blade from his side and walking right up to the train car that he’d been informed belonged to the Beta. It was the worst possible moment to question her motive. She had every reason to kill him, to aid the hunter and make sure that they made it out alive – but she was doing the opposite. It was sabotage from every angle. To strike the hunter would be betraying her family, to strike Quick would be turning her back on a friend. The figure burst into the room with his knife extended, leaving little to the imagination as the door swung open, and she waited, making the best out of the few seconds that she had to make the final decision.

["Quick" Taylor]

He laid in his bed, trying to sleep. His mind, however, didn't seem to want to let him. Thoughts were racing through his head and left as quickly as they came. It had already been a few days since the burning of the Waterfront. Quick's hand had been fixed up, the shards of glass removed and the hand immobilized to allow broken bones to mend. There had been nothing that could be done for his keg, and so he was still able to use it freely until it started hurting.

Despite his injuries, however, he continued on in his duties as if he'd never been hurt. At least, as much as he could. He was still going around to all the different groups within the Ring, the Hunters, Scouts, Omegas, and Tenderfeet, making sure that he was doing whatever he could for them. He'd also pulled patrols further back from the Carna border, doubled them, and made sure each patrol had two Hunters for each Scout, in case trouble came up. It was all to make the people of the Fallenring feel safe again.

He, however, doubted he'd ever share that feeling with them again.

Since the burning of the Waterfront, he'd maybe slept half of what he normally did. Dark rings had formed around his eyes from the lack of sleep. In his dreams, he imagined the faces of those who had tried to escape the fires they'd set. In the background, he heard Adriana's voice telling him he was a monster for what he'd done. The real Adriana hadn't said it, but it didn't matter. The words cut deep all the same.

And so he lay in his bed, on his side, his blanket pulled up over his head as he tried to sleep. He was still laying there when the door to his rail-car opened unexpectedly. That was odd. There should be nobody disturbing him at this time of night. He reached out with his telepathy and found he was unable to read this person's mind. A pit settled in his stomach as he realized this. This person could be Fallen, or he could be someone there intending to do him in. He heard the person's footsteps grow closer and closer until they stopped beside his bed. Then, there was a brief moment of silence....

Quick rolled over, quick as a whip, and rolled off of his bed. As he rolled off, he brought his uninjured left hand up in a fist and slugged the man in the face, making him stagger back a few steps. Quick landed hard on his chest, smacking his injured hand on the ground hard. Pain shot through his entire arm as he pushed himself back to his feet with his good arm and looked at the man he'd hit.

He was just taller than Quick was and had a scar running along the side of his face, down his jaw all the way to his chin. He had black hair and dark skin. The look on his face said he wasn't friendly at all. Neither did the knife in his hand.

"So," he said as he identified the man's scent as Carnaring,"The Carna have decided to get me back, is that it?"

"Yeah, we have," the man said,"My sister died in those fires. I'm not going to let her killer just walk free."

Quick grimaced at the man's words. He needed to find a way to stall. He couldn't beat this guy in a straight fight, not with his dominant hand injured and unusable. He tried desperately to think of what to do, but it was too late. The man started rushing Quick again, knife ready to bite into him and end his life. Quick could do nothing but backpedal in his own home and try to avoid the attack......

[Adriana Reyes]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 475px; height: 566px; background-image:url(http://i45.tinypic.com/ct6xd.png)] There was a brief period of silence after the door had been burst open, but it didn’t stay for long. She could hear the man’s heavy footsteps slowly slinking through the room, and her eyes stayed locked on the reddish figures as the assassin’s heat signature crept up on the bed. Luckily, he stirred, having noticed the intruder’s presence, and the suspense lifted off of her shoulders as a result. He could handle it, right? It was just one hunter, technically alone and very far from home.. but at that thought, a pang of guilt weighed in on her heart, beckoning her to enter the room, to serve as a barrier to stop them from attacking, a buffer of some sort. With the fire on the waterfront still fresh on her memory, it was hard to override the spite that seemed to fill her so easily. The Carna wanted him dead, and she wouldn’t deny the thoughts that plagued her own mind. But the three distinct scars on her arm spoke more of what she was capable of that night, rather than where her loyalties were. Words were murmured between the two strangers, each as bitter as the other. The hunter advanced. He was rushing her to make a decision. He wanted Quick dead as soon as possible, before he had the chance to call out to the guards. With the desert air swirling around the express, it wouldn’t be long before one of them caught their scents and came with the pitchforks. They weren’t hiding anymore, they were open targets. The glint of the knife caught her attention again, and she pulled herself out of her thoughts just as the man brought his arms up, the weapon gripped tight and ready to rip through flesh and bone. She lunged, cutting through the air right towards the figure standing between them, and there was hardly a moment’s hesitation before her fangs dug into the man’s skin, emptying venom into his bloodstream. There’d been no word of caution, no whisper warning him of what would happen. It’d been short and abrupt, as all of her attacks tended to be, and the man’s reaction to the poison was instant. His hand shook, curse words emptying loudly into the night, sweeping his arm to the side just fast enough to dislodge her – but the damage was done, and the man’s vitality poured out of him, eyes glazing over as the body hit the ground. His breathing slowed, growing shallow and labored by the second. Adriana had gone for overkill, knowing that the longer he was alive, the more likely he was to raise caution from the others. Anyone would have thought she was just conflicted, not able to decide whether a ring member’s life was worth more than a friend’s, but that had been a lie she’d taught herself to believe. The decision had been made in Quick’s favor the second they had set out that night. She shifted back into her regular form, crouched motionless in the shadows for a bit before finally standing up, not fully knowing what he would think. His reactions to murder or almost being killed never went in her favor.

["Quick" Taylor]

Quick ducked under the man's arm as he swung again. The Beta then aimed a kick to the middle of the man's back. The blow slammed the assassin into the metal side of the railcar and sent a shock of pain up Quick's injured leg. He backed away as the other man tried to recover from the blow, but tripped over his blanket and landed hard on his back. Stars danced in his eyes from the pain. They cleared just in time for him to see the assassin turn back towards him, knife ready in his hand.

Quick didn't have enough time to get to his feet, and there was no room for him to roll away. So, he did the one thing he could do: he kicked. It connected right in the man's crotch, and he stopped at that very moment. At first, Quick thought it was because of him. But he was wrong. The assassin reached down and slapped a snake off of his leg, the serpent landing in the shadows by the walls. As he turned back towards Quick, he toppled over, dead. Quick looked at him for a moment, and then looked over to where the snake was. It was just laying there in the shadows, staring at him. He was about to reach for his tomahawk, thinking it was a wild snake when it moved, its shape changing. That was when he knew...

"Adri?" He said, shocked,"You saved me......"

He was about to continue speaking when a knock came at his door. He cursed quietly as he got up and rolled the assassin over on his back.

"Just a minute!" He yelled before grabbing the assassin's knife and turning to Adriana,"Stay behind the door. We can't let them see you."

He turned to the man and slide the knife into his body, right through his heart. Then, grabbing his arm, he dragged him to the door of his railcar and opened the door. As he'd thought, it was the night guards.

"Anyone care to explain how a Carnaring assassin escaped their notice?" He asked the guardsmen. To reinforce his point, he tossed the man outside the railcar by his arm. He landed on his back in the sand with a dull thud. The guards looked at the body, then at him with a deer-in-the-headlights look.

"Don't just stand there! There was a second one that ran off! Go find him!" Quick yelled at them. They jumped and ran off to comply with their Beta's orders. He let out a quiet sigh and closed the door.

"They're gone," he told Adriana quietly as he turned to look at her in the dark,"thank you. If you hadn't done that, I'd be dead right now. Kind of a drawback to having a broken hand."

He leaned against the wall and let out another sigh. He didn't want to ask this next question, but he had to.

"I need to know why you're here Adriana. I thought you never wanted to see my face again."

[Adriana Reyes]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 475px; height: 566px; background-image:url(http://i45.tinypic.com/ct6xd.png)] She looked up from the shadows as he turned to her, calling her name with sheer surprise in his voice. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips, but the snuffed it out like a flame, standing up slowly. It was then that the Fallen came knocking at the door, setting her heart racing with the thought that they would barge in and try to capture her again. She’d emptied all her venom into the assassin, going for an instant kill – there was hardly any left, and even though it replenished quickly enough, the shifter had trouble leaving things to chance – specially when it involved enemies. At Quick’s request, she stayed behind the door, controlling her breath so that it didn’t give away the adrenaline that was pumping through her veins. If they paid enough attention, they may have been able to hear her heartbeat, but they were more shocked than anything else, focusing on the dead body that Quick had just thrown out through the door. At least she didn’t have to worry about that part of the puzzle.. the bite on the corpse’s leg was well-hidden, with the knife in his chest drawing most of the attention. If word of it got back to the Carna, she wouldn’t be in the crosshairs, not unless they managed to recover the body. As the guards outside scuffled around to heed the orders, a deep sigh left her lungs, full of relief that they were gone, and that Quick hadn’t suspected that she was there to finish the job. Even with the fires, murders, and the past capture fresh on his mind, he didn’t instantly cast her out as another one of them. If you hadn’t done that, I’d be dead right now. She shrugged at his words, arms subconsciously folding over each other as she pulled out of the shadows, taking a few steps to close the distance. She stopped as he asked another question, deciding to get her answer rather than outright reading her mind. Clearly, it’d been easier to ask than to rummage through the scattered thoughts that he'd had to go through in the past. The Carna stood quietly for a few seconds, finding all the wrong words. Nothing seemed to make sense, no matter how she worded it. Frustration pent up in her eyes for a few seconds until she finally broke the silence. “I heard what he was going to do,”

[/color] she murmured, her fingers tapping against each other anxiously, “I didn’t know if I was going to help him, or stop him..”

Both of their groups had every reason to go at each other’s throats. They had started to form a rivalry that was similar to what the Carna had with the Fulsi, as she’d warned him just a few nights prior. But though her mind had been clouded then, it’d started to make sense now, even if nothing felt quite right.
“I guess I already made my decision a long time ago.”

[/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center]

["Quick" Taylor]

"I heard what he was going to do," Adriana told him quietly,"I didn't know if I was going to help him, or stop him."

The air between them was dead silent in the wake of that comment. So, she didn't know what she would do when she'd trailed the assassin. She could still be dangerous, have hidden weapons on her. Maybe she'd just killed the assassin to get him to drop his guard so she could kill him without as much of a fight.

"I guess I made up my mind a long time ago," she said, breaking a brief silence that had felt like an eternity.

He looked at her for a long moment after that. He wasn't sizing her up, like he seemed to do with everyone after so much time living in the dome. He just looked at her, seeing her facial expressions and body language. He slowly slid his back down the wall until he was sitting on the floor, resting his elbows on his knees.

"What I did was terrible," he said, looking up at her,"It was against everything I believe. I can't believe I actually went through with it. It's against everything I believe. I've been hearing the screams in my dreams.

"I think the thing I hate most, though, is I hurt the person I care for most in this god forsaken dome. I don't blame you for hating me. I'd hate me if I were you. All I can do is beg and hope you'll forgive me."

He looked up at her from where he sat against the wall. He didn't use his telepathy to read her mind. An ability like that had no place in a situation like this....

[Adriana Reyes]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 475px; height: 566px; background-image:url(http://i45.tinypic.com/ct6xd.png)] A small smirk threatened to overshadow the shifter’s face, the darker side of her growing amused by the dead silence that plagued them when he processed what she’d said about being undecided. However, the darkness stayed at bay, and the words she’d followed it with had drawn a better reaction from him. He understood. Rather than picking it apart, he’d gotten the gist of it and decided to believe that maybe, she wasn’t always out for blood – that maybe there was something docile there. Not many people would have done that, especially not in their circumstances. There was hardly a shifter left in the dome that would take their chances and try to see the better side of things. She drew in a deep breath, the night air actually welcoming her now. The express had been a very different experience when there was snow falling just outside the windows, when she’d threatened to burn the entire place to the ground with a lighter and an old box. I’ve been hearing the screams in my dreams. She stopped her runaway thoughts then, green eyes set on him as she tried to figure out the right things to say. When it came to talking things out, to dealing with actual emotions, her mind always seemed to shut down, the mental equivalent of running into a brick wall. It was how they all got by nowadays, living in the moment and leaving all regrets on the bloodied ground. Looking at him then, it was easy to see the differences between the two. He’d set the bay ablaze and now regretted it, and she’d almost burnt the express to ashes, and still wished she’d gone through with it. “You are not like us. You’re not like them. At least you have the heart to regret it.” The words that left her were not opinions. They were blatant statements, the tone behind them almost daring the world to argue with her. “Me?” she balked, brows rising just slightly as he spoke about hurting her, following it by asking her to accept his apology – both of which were absurd in her mind, “forgive you?”

[/color]

“It’s going to take a lot more than arson and yelling. You don’t have anything to apologize for,” she explained, dropping her arms to her sides as she made her way across the room, stooping down just a few inches from where he sat.

“And if you did, you know an apology wouldn’t cut it. I’d get even.” She smirked at that, eyes lighting up with the devilish glint that was often plastered on her face.[/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center]

["Quick" Taylor]

"You are not like us. You're not like them. At least you have the heart to regret it," she told him as he spoke about his dreams of the past few nights. A small smile came across his face at that comment. There were many ways that he wasn't like the Carna, yes. However, this whole ordeal of the past few days had shown him just how fine a line there was betwern the values of the Carna and those of the Fallen. Just thinking about how easy it was to jump that line sent a slight shiver up his spine.

As he spoke about hurting her, she responded in typical Adriana fashion, with a scoff and a tough sentence. His smile widened and he laid his head against the wall, shaking it back and forth. She crossed the room and stooped down just a few inches from him as she said it'd take a lot more than arson or yelling for him to need to apologize.

"And if you did, you know an apology wouldn't cut it," she told him with that smirk she had on her face all too often,"I'd get even."

That last one made him laugh out loud at how true it was, and he knew it. A smirk spread across his face as he replied.

"Well, I'm sure if I do something you need to get even with me on, I'll deserve it," he said, looking into her green eyes, something he'd never really done before. They were strikingly bright next to her dark hair and tan skin. Almost mesmerizingly so. Before he even realized what he was doing, he had reached up with his good hand, pulled her in close and pressed his lips to hers....

[Adriana Reyes]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 475px; height: 566px; background-image:url(http://i45.tinypic.com/ct6xd.png)] He did not retaliate in response to her comments, which smoothed over the mild hostility that was ready to argue. It was true, whether or not they believed it. She’d learned to accept and even find joy in bloodshed, but there were others that didn’t. There were some that were still human, and part of her envied that. It’d been something she’d never had, even before there were glass walls around them. And while she looked on and wondered what it’d be like to have a compass that always tried to point in the right direction, she wanted no part of it. As he laughed, a small smile overshadowed Adriana’s constant smirk, casting the darkness back where it’d come from for just a bit longer. He believed her comments about getting even, and she knew it – half the world must have been wary of the push and pull that had been going on recently. Acts of impulse and act of revenge flooded the gates on either side, with her temper notorious for trying to get a rise out of him. But for a night, she wasn’t at his throat, or ready to strike at any given second. She’d spent her venom on destroying his would-be murderer; to have acted out then for mischief would have been pointless, and a waste to what could have been an eventful night. She had every reason to stay, and every reason to put her guard down, to play nice. Across enemy lines, such a chance only came around once in a blue moon. There was silence then that caught her attention. It’d lasted a bit longer than normal, with no words spoken between them. But his eyes were on her, and soon after, she felt his hand pulling her closer, as she’d done to him just weeks prior. Thoughts raced but she said nothing, moving freely to return the kiss. She brought her knees to meet the ground, raising a hand to pull him closer as well. This time there was no venom, no threat of impending doom, and no-one expecting her to return from a mission. The assassin was dead, the Carna had burned, and the Fallen were hunting. They were free. She broke the hold after a while, letting her hand fall back down to the ground as she looked at him, a questioning tone in her voice. “Why? After all this?”

["Quick" Taylor]

A smile briefly touched his lips as he felt Adriana kissing him back, wrapping and arm around him to drew him closer. It gave him a sort of euphoric feeling to know that she reciprocated his feelings. It made perfect sense, after everything he'd learned in the past few days. In retrospect, he should have seen it sooner, just like he should have been aware of his own feelings sooner.

She broke it off seemingly all too soon, and asked him why. A wide grin spread across his face.

"Idunno. I guess I just made up my mind a long time ago. I just needed time to realize it," he said with a shrug,"Besides, I think you're a pretty good choice for a first kiss, you know?"

It was something he hated admitting, but there was no point in keeping it a secret. He knew that Adriana would give him hell for it, but in all honesty, he didn't really mind. No, at the moment, he needed to figure out how to keep her safe from his ringmates, a thought that sincerely amused him. He never would have thought about himself trying to defend a member of another ring from the other Fallen.

"So, what're you going to do? It's going to be dangerous out there in the desert, you know," he told her,"I'm not sure if I could get to sleep if you left while my men are actually hunting for you."

[Adriana Reyes]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 475px; height: 566px; background-image:url(http://i45.tinypic.com/ct6xd.png)] She’d felt the faint movements of a smile when she’d returned the kiss, causing one to form on her face just seconds after she’d voiced the question. She’d been expecting some sort of explanation that she wouldn’t quite understand, some kind of small rant, but he did the opposite. He turned the previous phrase against her, drawing out an amused grin from her before he went on to mention that it was a good first kiss. She stopped in her tracks, her thoughts keen on messing with his head a bit as a result of the new realization. “First kiss, huh?”

[/color] she asked, head tilting as if she was sizing him up. He would not be living that one down, if Adriana could help it. She’d stow it away in her memory to use against him later if she needed ammo for a friendly argument.

“Poor Quick. What’d you do in a past life to end up kissing someone like me?”[/color] she questioned, making a joke out of her own reputation, an arm reaching out to push against his chest lightly.

However, just as quickly as she’d started joking around, the situation turned to a more serious tune. Silence filled the air again as he mentioned the Fallen that were scouring the desert for the missing piece, the Carna that’d supposedly ‘gotten away’. A deep breath left her lungs, eyes searching for an answer as if the words were going to fall right out of the air and make sense somehow. She’d originally intended to leave afterwards, to disappear into the night just as easily as she’d come, but then things had gotten complicated, as they always did. They were looking for an enemy, and there was no doubt about it that they’d caught slivers of her scent out in the foothills by now. A few of them had seen enough of the Carna scout to know that trouble followed whenever she trespassed.

“I can’t exactly sneak out if they know there was a second Carna. If they know I'm here, they’ll hunt until the trail goes dead,”[/color] she murmured, letting herself fall back just enough to sit on the ground next to him, rather than kneeling. If she left while they were so alert and weary, they’d find her by dawn.

“It might be better for us if I stay..”[/color] the suggestion was meek, more of a question than anything else, “just until morning, until they’ve calmed down.”[/color][/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center]

["Quick" Taylor]

Quick grinned back at Adriana as she questioned him on that being his first kiss. He just shrugged at her, knowing what was coming, eventually. She may not use the ammunition now, but somewhere, some time, she would use it. He was sure of that.

"Poor Quick," she said, calling him by name and reaching out to playfully push on his chest,"What'd you do in a past life to end up kissing someone like me?"

She hadn't really called him by name though, had she. He sat there for a few moments, tossing the idea around in his head, letting the silence grow between them again. Quick really wasn't his name. It was just a nickname, an alias, or even a persona he'd crafted for himself in the dome. It was a persona he lived in constantly. However, right then, he'd felt like he'd just gotten a little taste of the outside, however small. That helped him make his decision.

"I'm not Quick, you know," he told said bluntly, looking over at her,"That's a name I took to try and forget the things that UNIT did to ruin my life on the outside, but it's not actually who I really am.

"Adri, my real name's Maxwell," he said with a grin,"Just don't go throwing it around with other people, please. You're now the only other person in the dome that knows my real name. As for what I did, idunno. Maybe I kicked a dog or helped an old lady across the street? Who knows. I'm not really complaining about it."

As he asked her about what she wanted to do about leaving, she sat down next to him and mentioned it would probably be best if she'd stay there that night. That had been what he was thinking. They could find a way to smuggle her out in the morning, though that honestly wouldn't be much easier. He nodded and grinned over at her.

"Wow, Adri. I kiss you once and you're already trying to drag me into bed? I know I'm irresistibly good looking, but try to control yourself," He joked, nudging her with his elbow,"But seriously, that's what I was thinking anyway. We can find some way to smuggle you out in the morning."

He slowly stood up, using his good hand to help push him away from the wall. As he got to his feet, his injured leg started hurting. He did his best to push it out of his mind as he turned to Adriana and offered her his hand.

"So, shall we retire, milady? It is quite late," he said, the grin still on his face.....