10-31-2017, 03:02 PM
It had been over an hour since they'd been first approached by that pair of boys; Hughie and – as they had since found out – Neil. In the time they'd been standing here, the crowd had kept changing and growing, with interested newcomers showing up more frequently than those who had had their fill were leaving, and demanding that Hijiri start his story over from scratch; he'd been telling them a lot about his own world, and talking about much of what had happened since he showed up in the Omniverse, as well... though of course he never mentioned Kroll's plan, nor any of the stupid stuff they'd been doing at his behest, such as letting criminals aid in their training, or stealing from a certain underground casino they'd visited...
This storytelling had grown so tiresome that the Battle Rabbit and stormtrooper were almost relieved to hear the woman's scream.
Normally, even with a whole squad around, they wouldn't do something as dumb as follow the sound of a scream into a dark alley; it was much too easy for the gangs to pick off stormtroopers like that... however this was an exceptional circumstance; not only did they now have a (slight) reputation as good guys to protect, but they also badly needed an excuse to escape this crowd.
“Clear the way!” Hijiri yelled, drawing his blade and pointing it in the direction of the alleyway from whence the sound had come, “Quickly, Nash! Someone needs our help!”
Of course, Leon didn't need to be told; he saw their chance to escape just as easily as his corporal did, and as Hijiri rushed through the rapidly parting crowd, he followed on at a slower pace, speaking to them as he did, “This could get dangerous, citizens, it would be best if you were to stay back, well away from these criminal lowlifes, where you can remain safe!”
They cheered as the two rushed into the alley... apparently not picking up on how forced and unnatural Hijiri's dialogue had sounded... or how, honestly, Leon's hadn't been all that much better. Neither had really had enough experience with this hero-ing thing just yet.
It wasn't long before the pair came across the source of the shriek; a young woman with shoulder-length, vibrant, cyan hair was pressed up against one wall, whilst three goons in the NSW's gang colours loomed over her... well, two of them loomed, the third just kinda hovered around looking mean. He was under five foot, that one, and it can be pretty hard to loom over someone when your target is taller than you are.
The girl wore black high heels, a dark blue miniskirt and a dark purple, sleeveless, and extremely low cut top, with no bra... it was the kind of outfit that a certain type of loathsome individual – such as any one of these three here, most likely – would insist meant she was 'asking for it'.
“Stop, villains!” Hijiri cried out, valiantly; well aware that the audience could likely still hear him from back on the main street, where they waited. He should maybe think about taking an acting lesson or two at some point, if he ever had the time; he had only the vaguest of ideas how heroes were supposed to speak, after all.
Even as he pointed his katana towards their foes, and beside him Leon levelled his blaster in the same direction, both were more focused on scanning the shadows of their surroundings as best they could; when the inevitable trap was sprung, being taken off-guard could make for a quick death.
One thing they had not predicted, though, was what came next... from behind them.
Cheering, and shouts of encouragement.
“You can do it!”
“Save her!”
“Get those bastards!”
“-on Hijiri, you can-!”
“-them, Leon, that Sec-!”
“Yay, Mr Rabbit, beat up-!”
“Damn thugs deserve ev-”
“Woooah! You're so-!”
“This is going straight on-!”
“-Secondaries can fight cri-!”
“-areful! They have a hostage!”
“This is gonna be awe-!”
“-Youtube channel, just-!”
“-out of minutes! Nooooo!”
“Hi-ji-ri! Hi-ji-ri! Hi-!”
“-ormtrooper elite looks-!”
“You're not that cool!”
Neither of them needed to turn to identify the source of that last comment there. Seriously, that kid was either one hell of a dedicated tsundere, or he held a serious grudge against the Empire for some reason... or rabbits, Hijiri supposed; everyone in the Omniverse came from such diverse backgrounds, after all, so who was he to say that Hughie couldn't be harbouring a lifelong vendetta against his kind after having been born into a world ruled by a race of evil bunny overlords...? Okay, so it didn't really sound all that likely, but anything was possible, right?
Much more shocking than the silver-eyed boy's continued hostility, though, was the sight that met their eyes when the pair did glance back over their shoulders; the mob was tightly pressed into the narrow alley, so keen were they on seeing what was going on, with the foremost of them standing no further away than a metre from their would-be heroes. On top of that, many of them had their phones out, and were presumably videoing all this; he could have sworn he heard someone in the crowd yell 'Youtube' at one point... did they have that here? He never would have expected it.
Turning back to their quarry, the Battle Rabbit saw that the small man held a short switchblade in each hand, whilst one of the bigger ones – a guy who really could have done with losing a few pounds... or stone, for that matter – had some kind of large-calibre pistol aimed their way. The remaining gangster held a machete to the woman's throat... and already they could see a thin trickle of blood on her neck, so he clearly wasn't being all too careful.
On the bright side, no one else was jumping out at them, so perhaps they really had gotten as lucky as it seemed, and wouldn't have to fight any more than these three? It was a pity the Battle Rabbit had used his True Form earlier to show off in front of that crowd; if he'd saved it then it might have come in real handy here...
The thugs didn't seem particularly confident, despite having a hostage with them. The presence of the wild, mob-like crowd seemed to have them on edge; this wasn't likely something that happened all that frequently, Hijiri expected.
“Wh-what you gonna do if we don't stop, huh?” demanded the bruiser holding the girl, as his eyes darted nervously across their audience, as though fearing they might descend upon him like a pack of wild dogs at any moment, “We got us a h-hostage, mister, so you make any funny moves and we kill her, got it!?”
Hijiri ground his teeth in frustration, but didn't move, despite the crowd baying for blood right behind him. Without freeing the now openly weeping woman from his grasp, there was no way they would be able to even attack these three.
“N-now listen up, you two an' all yer little friends there are just gonna stay put while we make our getaway, and we're takin' her with us, you got that?” snarled the big guy. As he spoke, he leaned forwards over the quivering girl, crushing her against himself possessively whilst he glared their way. The Rabbit didn't want to think about what he might be planning with her...
As the thug did this, though, for just a second, if that, his blade was... oh... maybe an inch or so away from her neck? It wasn't exactly a golden opportunity. Realising that it was probably the best – if not the only – one they were going to get, though, Leon took the shot.
His aim was not perfect, it had to be said... but it got the job done. He'd been aiming for the centre of the man's forehead, where a single laser would have put him down for good. Instead of landing there, however, the blast took a chunk out of the top of his skull, causing him to stumble back, releasing both the girl and the knife from his grasp in an instant. He let out a wordless cry of agony as his nervous system painfully informed him that a significant lump of his brain matter had been burnt to cinders in a fraction of a second.
He fell over backwards and didn't even try to get back to his feet, though the noise he was making left no doubt that he was still very much alive.
The moment that one had fallen, the fat guy tried to make a grab for the girl with his free hand. Hijiri was too fast for him, though, and darted forwards, his katana lopping off the offending appendage before it could so much as brush her skin.
He twisted, then, using his blade's sheathe to knock the gun aside even as the thug tried to bring it to bear, whilst at the same time running his weapon itself across his opponent's stomach, disemboweling him with little difficulty. Compared to his fights with Sarah as part of their training regimen, these Secondaries he'd been facing off against lately were hardly even posing a challenge, except in large numbers.
The little guy closed in on him next, knives at the ready. Before he could even move, though, Leon dropped the guy with a blast to the gut. Closing in, the trooper put an end to his pained moaning with the help of two more shots in the back.
Turning to the sobbing victim, Hijiri saw that she stood above the only one still breathing, ready to impale him upon his own machete. Barely pausing to think, the Battle Rabbit dropped his scabbard, his hand clasping around her wrist in a flash. He pulled her back gently, applying almost enough pressure to cause pain; just to make it abundantly clear that she didn't have a hope of overpowering him.
She dropped the blade, at almost the same moment as his own flickered down, darting across the throat of the wailing man. After seeing him die, all strength – both physical and mental – appeared to leave her, and the girl collapsed against his chest, burying her face in his shoulder as she cried.
“I'm sorry,” he said gently, as he released her wrist and instead lightly embraced her with that arm. Honestly, he didn't have the slightest clue how to go about comforting someone in a situation like this... or, well, in any situation at all, for that matter. He really wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. Ultimately, he settled for simply explaining the reasons behind his actions, “but even when it's someone like that, killing another person is still considered murder. If I had let you take your vengeance there, no matter how rightful it may have been, as a soldier of the Empire, I'd have had no choice but to arrest you afterwards... and I just couldn't bring myself to do that.”
In reality, of course, his reluctance to let her kill the bastard was far more to do with all the cameras pointed his way than it was to any sort of unwavering dedication to upholding the law. He and Leon would have been totally screwed if someone from Imperial Command had seen them letting a confirmed murderer walk away... and locking up a helpless victim would have totally ruined the whole 'hero' image.
Remembering suddenly that he was actually still supposed to be playing up that image right now, Hijiri looked past the young woman, at the surprisingly quiet crowd, and without saying a word, he held his blood-soaked sword aloft, in the least stupid victory pose he could come up with on the spot.
People started cheering almost at once. Leon flashed him a grin, before turning to face them himself, pulling down his shades and giving the girls amongst them a playful wink, which of course encouraged them to scream all the louder, as though this more-or-less ordinary stormtrooper was some sort of celebrity... the Rabbit wished for a moment that he had worn his sunglasses after all, if only so that he could have rolled his eyes without anyone noticing.
This was sure turning out to be one hell of a weird day...
This storytelling had grown so tiresome that the Battle Rabbit and stormtrooper were almost relieved to hear the woman's scream.
Normally, even with a whole squad around, they wouldn't do something as dumb as follow the sound of a scream into a dark alley; it was much too easy for the gangs to pick off stormtroopers like that... however this was an exceptional circumstance; not only did they now have a (slight) reputation as good guys to protect, but they also badly needed an excuse to escape this crowd.
“Clear the way!” Hijiri yelled, drawing his blade and pointing it in the direction of the alleyway from whence the sound had come, “Quickly, Nash! Someone needs our help!”
Of course, Leon didn't need to be told; he saw their chance to escape just as easily as his corporal did, and as Hijiri rushed through the rapidly parting crowd, he followed on at a slower pace, speaking to them as he did, “This could get dangerous, citizens, it would be best if you were to stay back, well away from these criminal lowlifes, where you can remain safe!”
They cheered as the two rushed into the alley... apparently not picking up on how forced and unnatural Hijiri's dialogue had sounded... or how, honestly, Leon's hadn't been all that much better. Neither had really had enough experience with this hero-ing thing just yet.
It wasn't long before the pair came across the source of the shriek; a young woman with shoulder-length, vibrant, cyan hair was pressed up against one wall, whilst three goons in the NSW's gang colours loomed over her... well, two of them loomed, the third just kinda hovered around looking mean. He was under five foot, that one, and it can be pretty hard to loom over someone when your target is taller than you are.
The girl wore black high heels, a dark blue miniskirt and a dark purple, sleeveless, and extremely low cut top, with no bra... it was the kind of outfit that a certain type of loathsome individual – such as any one of these three here, most likely – would insist meant she was 'asking for it'.
“Stop, villains!” Hijiri cried out, valiantly; well aware that the audience could likely still hear him from back on the main street, where they waited. He should maybe think about taking an acting lesson or two at some point, if he ever had the time; he had only the vaguest of ideas how heroes were supposed to speak, after all.
Even as he pointed his katana towards their foes, and beside him Leon levelled his blaster in the same direction, both were more focused on scanning the shadows of their surroundings as best they could; when the inevitable trap was sprung, being taken off-guard could make for a quick death.
One thing they had not predicted, though, was what came next... from behind them.
Cheering, and shouts of encouragement.
“You can do it!”
“Save her!”
“Get those bastards!”
“-on Hijiri, you can-!”
“-them, Leon, that Sec-!”
“Yay, Mr Rabbit, beat up-!”
“Damn thugs deserve ev-”
“Woooah! You're so-!”
“This is going straight on-!”
“-Secondaries can fight cri-!”
“-areful! They have a hostage!”
“This is gonna be awe-!”
“-Youtube channel, just-!”
“-out of minutes! Nooooo!”
“Hi-ji-ri! Hi-ji-ri! Hi-!”
“-ormtrooper elite looks-!”
“You're not that cool!”
Neither of them needed to turn to identify the source of that last comment there. Seriously, that kid was either one hell of a dedicated tsundere, or he held a serious grudge against the Empire for some reason... or rabbits, Hijiri supposed; everyone in the Omniverse came from such diverse backgrounds, after all, so who was he to say that Hughie couldn't be harbouring a lifelong vendetta against his kind after having been born into a world ruled by a race of evil bunny overlords...? Okay, so it didn't really sound all that likely, but anything was possible, right?
Much more shocking than the silver-eyed boy's continued hostility, though, was the sight that met their eyes when the pair did glance back over their shoulders; the mob was tightly pressed into the narrow alley, so keen were they on seeing what was going on, with the foremost of them standing no further away than a metre from their would-be heroes. On top of that, many of them had their phones out, and were presumably videoing all this; he could have sworn he heard someone in the crowd yell 'Youtube' at one point... did they have that here? He never would have expected it.
Turning back to their quarry, the Battle Rabbit saw that the small man held a short switchblade in each hand, whilst one of the bigger ones – a guy who really could have done with losing a few pounds... or stone, for that matter – had some kind of large-calibre pistol aimed their way. The remaining gangster held a machete to the woman's throat... and already they could see a thin trickle of blood on her neck, so he clearly wasn't being all too careful.
On the bright side, no one else was jumping out at them, so perhaps they really had gotten as lucky as it seemed, and wouldn't have to fight any more than these three? It was a pity the Battle Rabbit had used his True Form earlier to show off in front of that crowd; if he'd saved it then it might have come in real handy here...
The thugs didn't seem particularly confident, despite having a hostage with them. The presence of the wild, mob-like crowd seemed to have them on edge; this wasn't likely something that happened all that frequently, Hijiri expected.
“Wh-what you gonna do if we don't stop, huh?” demanded the bruiser holding the girl, as his eyes darted nervously across their audience, as though fearing they might descend upon him like a pack of wild dogs at any moment, “We got us a h-hostage, mister, so you make any funny moves and we kill her, got it!?”
Hijiri ground his teeth in frustration, but didn't move, despite the crowd baying for blood right behind him. Without freeing the now openly weeping woman from his grasp, there was no way they would be able to even attack these three.
“N-now listen up, you two an' all yer little friends there are just gonna stay put while we make our getaway, and we're takin' her with us, you got that?” snarled the big guy. As he spoke, he leaned forwards over the quivering girl, crushing her against himself possessively whilst he glared their way. The Rabbit didn't want to think about what he might be planning with her...
As the thug did this, though, for just a second, if that, his blade was... oh... maybe an inch or so away from her neck? It wasn't exactly a golden opportunity. Realising that it was probably the best – if not the only – one they were going to get, though, Leon took the shot.
His aim was not perfect, it had to be said... but it got the job done. He'd been aiming for the centre of the man's forehead, where a single laser would have put him down for good. Instead of landing there, however, the blast took a chunk out of the top of his skull, causing him to stumble back, releasing both the girl and the knife from his grasp in an instant. He let out a wordless cry of agony as his nervous system painfully informed him that a significant lump of his brain matter had been burnt to cinders in a fraction of a second.
He fell over backwards and didn't even try to get back to his feet, though the noise he was making left no doubt that he was still very much alive.
The moment that one had fallen, the fat guy tried to make a grab for the girl with his free hand. Hijiri was too fast for him, though, and darted forwards, his katana lopping off the offending appendage before it could so much as brush her skin.
He twisted, then, using his blade's sheathe to knock the gun aside even as the thug tried to bring it to bear, whilst at the same time running his weapon itself across his opponent's stomach, disemboweling him with little difficulty. Compared to his fights with Sarah as part of their training regimen, these Secondaries he'd been facing off against lately were hardly even posing a challenge, except in large numbers.
The little guy closed in on him next, knives at the ready. Before he could even move, though, Leon dropped the guy with a blast to the gut. Closing in, the trooper put an end to his pained moaning with the help of two more shots in the back.
Turning to the sobbing victim, Hijiri saw that she stood above the only one still breathing, ready to impale him upon his own machete. Barely pausing to think, the Battle Rabbit dropped his scabbard, his hand clasping around her wrist in a flash. He pulled her back gently, applying almost enough pressure to cause pain; just to make it abundantly clear that she didn't have a hope of overpowering him.
She dropped the blade, at almost the same moment as his own flickered down, darting across the throat of the wailing man. After seeing him die, all strength – both physical and mental – appeared to leave her, and the girl collapsed against his chest, burying her face in his shoulder as she cried.
“I'm sorry,” he said gently, as he released her wrist and instead lightly embraced her with that arm. Honestly, he didn't have the slightest clue how to go about comforting someone in a situation like this... or, well, in any situation at all, for that matter. He really wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. Ultimately, he settled for simply explaining the reasons behind his actions, “but even when it's someone like that, killing another person is still considered murder. If I had let you take your vengeance there, no matter how rightful it may have been, as a soldier of the Empire, I'd have had no choice but to arrest you afterwards... and I just couldn't bring myself to do that.”
In reality, of course, his reluctance to let her kill the bastard was far more to do with all the cameras pointed his way than it was to any sort of unwavering dedication to upholding the law. He and Leon would have been totally screwed if someone from Imperial Command had seen them letting a confirmed murderer walk away... and locking up a helpless victim would have totally ruined the whole 'hero' image.
Remembering suddenly that he was actually still supposed to be playing up that image right now, Hijiri looked past the young woman, at the surprisingly quiet crowd, and without saying a word, he held his blood-soaked sword aloft, in the least stupid victory pose he could come up with on the spot.
People started cheering almost at once. Leon flashed him a grin, before turning to face them himself, pulling down his shades and giving the girls amongst them a playful wink, which of course encouraged them to scream all the louder, as though this more-or-less ordinary stormtrooper was some sort of celebrity... the Rabbit wished for a moment that he had worn his sunglasses after all, if only so that he could have rolled his eyes without anyone noticing.
This was sure turning out to be one hell of a weird day...
![[Image: Hijiri_Name_Sig.png]](https://image.ibb.co/k1H7Hd/Hijiri_Name_Sig.png)