Backstreets of Throme

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"Yer not goin' ta 'cause me much trouble, are ya? I really don' feel like kickin' yer sorry ass. I've got shit to do, 'n yer kinda in my way." Haru leaned against the wall of a backstreet alleyway, feigning a yawn. "So why don't we jus' drop this whole shenanigans?"

"Why you little...! You think you're cute, don'tcha?" A group of guys surrounded him menacingly, one of them right in Haru's face. "You're just the fallen leader of a piece-of-shit club. We're members of the Silver Fangs! You'll regret comin' over to our turf..."

At this, Haru stopped his fake yawn, suddenly glaring intensely at the man who had spoken. Then, he got off the wall to get closer to the man's face. "You guys? Yer all part 'o the Silver Fangs or whatever?" He pointed past the guy, waving his finger around to indicate all of them. Then, he began to laugh. He laughed and laughed, until suddenly the man went to punch him in his gut. Without missing a beat, Haru knocked the man's arm away and delivered a punch of his own. He punched him so hard he went down like a sack of rocks.

"I'll get back ta that in jus' a sec. Now, what were ya sayin' 'bout my little club?" As he spoke, he rushed the other supposed gang members. One by one, he took them out, making quick work of them. "A piece 'o shit, ya say? No good, ya say? That ain't nice, you know...." He hissed as he beat them up mercilessly, breaking bones here and there. Soon enough, they were all sprawled on the ground, incapacitated. "Silver Fangs." He scoffed, "Don't make me laugh. If you guys were really part 'o that group, ya woulda known better than ta corner a former gang leader. Wannabe fuckfaces." He scoffed once more as he stepped over their bodies, making his way out of the alleyway.

As he entered the street, he looked at his watch, then looked up at the sky. Blast it. Now I don't have time to go to the bar on my way home, much less change out of these ridiculously wet clothes. He began to walk down the street, until something caught his eye.

It was a motorcycle, complete with a helmet, leaning next to the entrance of the alleyway. Curiosity instantly piked, Haru walked over to it. Well, well, well. Lookie what I found. Finder's keepers, losers weepers! He walked back into the alleyway, then exited once again, smirking wickedly as his jingled a set of keys in one hand. Then, he turned back to the motorcycle and got on it, putting the key into the ignition and turning it on as he did so. Finally, he took the helmet and put it on, strapping it tight. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered with it, but the rain would have made it hard to see.

Without any further ado, Haru took off. As always, he completely ignored the speed limit, and soon made it to his place in what seemed like no time at all. Currently he lived in an old, run-down, abandoned house in what looked like the middle of nowhere- he simply couldn't afford anything better at the moment. He sure as hell didn't like it, but he had only recently gotten out of jail so there wasn't much he could do about it.

"Home sweet home, eh? Ha." He muttered to himself as the bike came to a stop inside of the garage. The door to it was broken, so the garage was doomed to stay open forever. Haru didn't really care, although he made sure to park the bike in the darkest part of it so as not to tempt thieves. Not that there would really be too many out in such a place, but he didn't feel like taking chances with it. Once he was done, he left the bike and went inside the house.

The door in the garage led to the kitchen, which opened up to the living room and the bedrooms. The house itself was pretty empty, save for a cheap couch in the living room. It was a meager living at best. Haru knew he could have asked for a couple of favors among the former members of the Plague Riders, but he simply wasn't that type of person. He hated asking people for money, and it was something he would rather die than do.

He immediately made his way to his room. It was a very simple room- just a bed, a dresser, and a computer that a sat on a computer desk. Without even bothering to change his clothes, he sat down at the computer desk.

"Time to play my trump card...."

A mask appeared in Haru's hand. It was a bit small and a silver-blue in color. Gold highlighted where the eyes where, and intricate gold lining decorated the mask. It was a pretty thing, something Haru didn't much care for. He put the mask on.

"Information is power."

Haru felt the mask sink into him as if it were becoming part of him. His hair turned black with blue highlights, and his emerald green eyes turned to that of sapphire blue. An auxiliary wire formed at the base of his neck, a direct connection to his brain. His once constantly smirking expression turned blank- an expression completely devoid of emotion.

Hanged Man, the technological mask that specializes in the collection and usage of data. He opened his eyes, looking to the computer in front of him, and immediately got to work. It took him no time at all to bypass both the first and the second passwords, as he simply logged into the chatroom as he usually did. It was practically second nature for him to hack his way through; things like passwords and firewalls were little more than mere annoyances.

"Hanged Man, reporting for duty. Chatroom security has been updated. Standing by." His voice, although pleasant to hear, was flat and monotone.

Chilly rain, small refrain, why didn't he bring an umbrella. Ax laughed as he half-mocked his human host internally. Well, it wasn't exactly correct, because James had taken an umbrella the entire way. He'd just left it in the greenery when he transformed into Axilious.

But what fun was it to be the star and forget a part of the play? Always others to blame it on. Always a person who deserved the guilt and who ought to be taught a lesson. Always someone else. After all, that was something the common human was good for. Taking blame, that is.

'Hum, hum, hummity hum.' The tune was bland at best, but it was the preoccupation that mattered the most to him. There would be a while before anything came of watching backstreets, and besides that, it'd just look like an obvious trap if there was a man unpreoccupied on a rainy streetcorner. Which is why he was now standing underneath an overhang, glancing casually over the shop's display.

"DAMN IT!" out of nowhere, the Wheel of Fortune stumbled back into view. "I forgot the time!" Then, almost as though he just realized that Axilious was there, he bounded up onto his toes with a smirk. "Just pretend that I was never here and go and do whatever. I wanna see a show!"

Shocked at the sudden appearance out of what seemed like thin air, he stepped back for one single moment before grinning fiercely. 'I am the star of the show.' The pronouncement shortly followed by an almost feral leap from the elegant prancer towards the new figure.

WoF stood there for a nanosecond, mouth agape, before he leapt backwards. "What are you doing, Lacey?!" he complained with a petulant frown on his face - more suitable for a child than anyone else. "You're not supposed to do that!"

'What, supposed to do my duty and catch an Itex agent? Hah!' Rolling forwards over the soaked road, and coming up smoothly, he stared down the other, soft blond locks plastered to his face by the driving rain. As the bladed staff materialised in hand, he flourished it, stepping closer. 'So, whelp, duel me and die honourably?'

That obviously wasn't WoF's idea of fun. Ignoring the completely incorrect statement, he continued stepping backwards, seemingly unworried of the extremely sharp object in Fluffy's hand. "But dueling is so ... boooooring. Why don't we do something else? You can duel with the," he glanced around then pointed at the shop display. "funny fake person in there. It even has clothes that are as pff as yours!"

Now, that did raise a grin, but it wasn't exactly 'haha I won't attack you anymore'. This was the 'What did you just imply? I think you need to be stabbed' grin. And sure enough, twirling the staff expertly, he stepped forwards measuredly, keeping pace with the retreating figure before lunging, staff directly out in front of him, attempting to skewer the other like a shishkebab.

He leapt backwards as quickly as he could, the staff not plunging into his chest - yet. After spending a few valuable seconds blowing a raspberry at the highly dangerous Lacey, he spun around and started running down the street as though his life depended on it. Which it probably did.

Growling as the blade missed, Axilious dismissed it and began haring after the vanishing figure. Trust Itex to turn tail and RUN. And this rain wasn't letting up either...

Trying to pump his legs as quickly as they could go, WoF alloted the vast majority of his brainpower to trying to remember one of his skills. Mainly because he wasn't really paying attention to where he was doing, his feet slid on a piece of slick sidewalk. A few seconds later, he was on the ground - bruised but not yet broken, completely wet, and a few meters farther away from his pursuer. And did he mention the pain?

To be honest, he'd expected a longer and better chase. However, he wouldn't pass up this opportunity. Slowing to a walk, he sauntered over towards the now injured prey. His movements designed to bring hype to the audience that... that... Holy hells. There was a one man who was staring at him strangely. Well, that sure put a dampener on things. Pretending to be going to check on the prone figure, he desperately prayed to whatever god was out there that the man keep on walking.

It seemed as though seeing threatening people walk closer made WoF's mind move faster. Without even noticing the other man, WoF quickly shouted, "Haha! I bet you're surprised!" and with hardly a transition, there was suddenly a rapidly spinning roulette wheel looming over his head.

Right. Itex was cowardly AND had no sense of presence. Well, the wheel certainly wasn't something that could be explained away, and the man now peering closer to try and work out what he was seeing was starting to become an annoyance. Even moreso when his wristwatch suddenly vibrated against his wrist. 'Goddamn all you pretentious self-absorbed critters.' Hopefully the man hadn't seen either of them well in the driving rain, and Axilious preferred to retreat while the Itex lackey made a fool of himself and became easily recognisable for the future. So, he jumped to the side, rolled, and vanished around the streetcorner...

The wheel gradually slowed, but WoF paid that no mind. There was no opponent, who had suddenly vanished around the corner. So, of course, he decided that the best course of events would be to -- there was a man? Who dared look at him as though he was the show? With a pout, he slowly picked himself off of the cold, hard ground and decided to follow Fluffy. At least he didn't stare as much. So, taking a cue from the other strange man, he bounded in the same direction.

Safe and sound around the next corner, Ax allowed himself a few moments of closed eye imagined adoration at his excellent exit. Well, whatever. He may have lost that due to a bystander, but he still had that message. Ah, Karim. Frowning and trying to recall the location of the Orion Coffee Shop, or of Orion Street itself, he paused, stretching the consideration out for just long enough...

And then his thoughts were interrupted by the Itex Lackey. Seems he'd realised the scene he was making too. 'Well, well, see what the gutters brought up...'

Ignoring the comment, the Wheel of Fortune merely blew the weirdly-dressed man a loud raspberry. "Your clothes, right? I knew they were gutter style." He reached forward to try and grab the elaborate material and surprisingly held it fairly easily.

Ax, completely shocked by the sudden aggresive reaction, stared for a moment before he tried to swat the hands away. 'Hands off my personage, if you please.'

WoF seemed to be just as amazed by his ability to place one hand on his opponent. However, he didn't dwell on it for very long. Despite the swatting hands of his opponent, he continued to hold on to the fabric before rubbing it between his palms. "Heavy." Looking up into Lacey's blue eyes, he seemed to find the entire thing quite amusing. "Yep. Gutter style. You should pick something that doesn't make you look like a jellyfish with legs."

And he dared to comment on his choice of clothes? Axilious literally seethed with rage, pivoting forwards to try and heave his fist right into the other's face. 'Gutter?!?!'

Leaping backwards, he was forced to relinquish his hold on the ornate material. Instead of trying to punch him (it was somewhat of a lost cause), he allowed a huge black book with peeling golden letters to materialize in hand and awkwardly thrust it towards Fluffy.

'Oof' Caught by surprise, failing to realise this was a masked opponent and therefore armed with a weapon not visible, Ax founds himself biffed on the chest by a book, staggering back despite the awkwardness of the blow. 'You use a BOOK to fight?'

There was a brief pause as WoF bounded up (with a loud giggle) to look at the stumbling Fluffy's face. "It's the Art of Escaping Boredom," he chimed. "You should read it. You wouldn't be as bored as you are."

'And you can tell I'm bored?' Laughing once, Axilious recalled the twirling bladed staff, grinning still, message forgotten... With one shout of 'Hah!' he struck out, joining battle in both word and weapon. While there weren't any observers due to the nature of the streets, and the rain driving even the lurkers of the backstreets away, Axilious performed as if to an audience.

And then there was the Wheel of Fortune, book cut into as he blocked the deadly blade, quite disinterested in the battle, took his part in the play as well. Pouting for every mark on his 'weapon', and always looking for a reason to escape his pursuer.