Part Five
Rowen slipped off the stool, finishing the last of his doughnut. He tossed his money down on the counter, slipping out the door. All the subtlety of his movements seemed to indicate he had the grace of a cat.
He followed the two enforcers, because they seemed to know where Talpa was. The floating head seemed to be the... for lack of a better word... head of a large circle of very criminal activities, and the Preventers, his bosses, needed his help to bring them in.
The path they were taking seemed to lead through the darker, more dangerous areas of the city, which seemed to be the most overused areas for people with criminal intent. Rowen wondered what it would be like if all the dangerous ones lived in sparkling apartments with picture windows. Oh well.
It was then he realised he was being followed. Rowen's eyes flicked back, spotting two shadowy figures behind him. He sighed in frustration. He was the shadowy stalker. He was not supposed to be stalked!
As the enforcers went past a corner, a hand clamped down on Rowen's shoulder, causing him to bite back a scream...
Rowen drove his elbow back, catching the person in the solar plexus and he-- pretty sure it was a he-- grunted. Spinning away, Rowen was grabbed by both arms from behind by the second person. Rowen stepped down hard on his instep, though his captor didn't release him. Instead, he shifted to grip Rowen with one arm and held the other hand over Rowen's mouth. Rowen bit him. Hard.
"Kisama!" the person hissed. Rowen froze. Oh. Shit. SHIIIIT!
Cye heard something. He stopped. Kento stopped too, just short of running into Cye.
"Did you 'ear that?" Cye asked, cocking his head to the side. Kento shook his head slowly.
"No.... maybe you're hearing things..." Kento said slowly.
"I certainly hope I am. Your ears are broken, because I'm sure I heard that." Cye turned around and headed back to where they'd just come.
Kento muttered to himself about hitting Cye upside the head with a left-handed monkey[1] wrench and followed. In the alley were three people. A young man in a trench coat was being held by a young man in black, while another young man had his hands on the trapped person's shoulders.
Cye knew what he must do. Starting up Penelope[2], his trusty chainsaw, he launched forward. Kento sighed and pulled out his sledgehammer. He was going to regret this...
"Idiot, it's us," the person whom Rowen had bitten whispered fiercely. The person who Rowen had elbowed stood and pinned Rowen's shoulders.
"Hai." Rowen berated himself mentally. 'ow could ah have been so stoopid! I shoulda known they would wanna follow me!
"Sorry Heero, Fei," Rowen said. Wufei opened his mouth to put in the obligatory 'don't call me that' line, but was interrupted at the sound of a chainsaw. That's right. A chainsaw.
Rowen watched in half-horror, half-amusement as the two enforcers rushed to his 'defence'. Heero and Wufei let go of him immediately, not wanting to become one-armed bandits. The second one wielded a quieter but no less deadly sledgehammer.
That's a chainsaw... that's a fricking chainsaw! Heero thought as they retreated. The others will not like the idea of us leaving Rowen behind.
Cye shut his chainsaw off, setting it on the ground. He advanced towards the remaining young man, hand outstretched.
"It's alright... I won't 'urt you..." he said. Rowen stared at the hand, contemplating whether to run or not. Be'er to stay... less suspicious...
"Thank ya," Rowen said roughly, trying not to look at his rescuer. Well... maybe a little couldn't hurt... Sandy brown 'air, green eyes... accent... hasta be British...
"D'you know what they wanted?" his rescuer asked.
Rowen hesitated. He did not want to answer that question.
"No." His rescuer smiled at him, and in reflex, Rowen smiled back.
"What's your name, then?"
"Rowen Strata," the blue-haired, yes you did read that right, young man mumbled.
"I'm Cye Torrent and this is Kento Ha--"[3]
"Kento," his other rescuer said. Rowen smiled faintly at Kento.
"D'you have any place to go?" Cye asked. Rowen shook his head before thinking about it. Whattamah doin'?! I'm supposta be investigatin' this guy, not flirtin' with 'im!
"We're going to be late..." Kento reminded them both. Cye smiled again.
"Come with us," Cye said, offering his hand again. Rowen fought to think. I can do this... if I follow them we can get to Talpa.
"Sure."
TBC...
1- This is an engineering gag, but look them up on Google and you get a 10 page search result!
2- Yes, it has a name, and Physh is responsible.
3- You know, I realise that Cye’s last name is Maurey, and Rowen’s is Hashiba. But I was opening up for more jokes later.
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