Sept 10th - Vigilantes

[Nailah Weaver]

Dang it! Nailah stands frozen in place for a second as she tries to convince herself not to do the stupid thing. The man is a drug dealer and a criminal, he's probably ruining countless of lives by smuggling this crap and he would probably have no qualms about leaving her behind if the roles were reversed. But that's what makes him a villain and she's a hero, damnit. She takes as deep a breath as she can manage without breathing in too much smoke and runs back into the flames, wings raised around her to give her a tiny bit of protection as she runs towards Dragonwing. She grabs him by the back of his shirt and hauls him forward, trying to lead and drag him out of the worst of the fire.

[Onyx]

The fire is hot and spreading quickly, but at least Dragonwing isn't really resisting at this point! That's a plus!

Onyx lands next to Nailah with Spoilsport over her shoulder and a fire extinguisher in her hand. She sprays it at the flames, trying to beat them back a bit.

"Are you alright?" Onyx asks. She sounds worried.

The sirens are getting louder.

[Nailah Weaver]

She coughs, one arm held across her face while she drags Dragonwing with the other.

"Yeah, I think I'm alright. We gotta get out of here."

[Onyx]

"Yes. We should," Onyx says. "Here."

She taps into her powers and grabs Dragonwing from Nailah, lifting him up over her other shoulder. Her body begins faintly glowing as it burns off stored up energy.

"I will get them to the front and leave them for the police," Onyx says. "Go back to the rooftop. I will meet you there shortly, Sphinx."

[Nailah Weaver]

She nods and coughs a couple more times as she runs out of the warehouse and eventually makes her way to the rooftop, where she promptly let's herself fall to the floor to catch her breath and try to calm her hammering heart.

[Onyx]

A few minutes later, Onyx lands on the roof, breathing hard.

"Sorry," Onyx says. "That was more difficult than I believed it would be. I did not expect the Rising Sons to be there."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Who were those guys? And don't say the Rising Sons or I swear I will find a way to punch you."

[Onyx]

"They are mercenaries from Madripoor," Onyx says. "I have fought them before."

"They are...annoying," Onyx says. She sits down and starts inspecting some of her cuts and bruises.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Holy crap... What are they doing here?" wincing as she sits up.

[Onyx]

"They were probably hired to protect the shipment," Onyx says. She finishes checking herself over and moves over to Nailah. "Where does it hurt?"

[Nailah Weaver]

"Where doesn't it hurt." she tries to joke but then just holds up her arm where Dragonwing clawed her. "Mostly this."

[Onyx]

Onyx gets some supplies out of her belt and begins cleaning and bandaging Nailah's arm.

"You did very well," Onyx says, as she works.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Really? Cause it feels like I narrowly avoided being set on fire and then everything else went up in flames instead." she tries to joke but it falls a little flat, because most of her attention is focused on not flinching as Onyx cleans her injury.

[Onyx]

"Yes, but you also dealt with an unexpected situation without panicking," Onyx says, finishing up. "And more importantly, you made the right choice in saving Dragonwing."

"It is difficult to save an enemy," Onyx explains. "It took me a long time to understand why you should."

"You may not have been trained for as long as I have, but you have a good heart and a strong will. My mother would say those are more important than knowing how to punch someone."

[Nailah Weaver]

"It just... I was thinking how he probably would have left me and... well I didn't want to be like that. I want to be better." she manages a smile through her stoic mask of trying not to show pain. "Wait... what's this about your mom?"

[Onyx]

Onyx's eyes widen a bit, "I--I misspoke. I meant, my mentor."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Of course." she nods quickly. "Well I'm glad that your mentor would think I'm doing okay." she smiles.

[Onyx]

Onyx relaxes and smiles, "She would also say I have been too easy on you."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Man, you've been a bunch of things but 'too easy' is not one of them, let me tell you."

[Onyx]

"I do not know..." Onyx says, "If I had known fire based attacks would be a possibility so early on in your career, I would have introduced them into our practical exercises earlier."

She was probably just teasing. Mostly.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Oh yeah, much safer if all my hair and feathers just get burned off in the safety of training so I don't have to worry about it in the field." she chuckles.

[Onyx]

"I would be very careful," Onyx says. "I would not be able to forgive myself if I burned off your hair."

"I have often wanted to grow mine out, but I worried it would be a hazard during a fight."

[Nailah Weaver]

"That's why I put mine in a ponytail, yeah? So I just got my bangs to flop about."

[Onyx]

"That is a good idea," Onyx agrees.

[Nailah Weaver]

"What's gonna happen to those guys now? Is the police just gonna arrest them?"

[Onyx]

"Hopefully," Onyx says. "I wish I could have questioned them. There are more members to their group and it might be useful to know where they are."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Hmm... that's bad. Those guys were pretty dangerous."

[Onyx]

"They are worse as a group," Onyx admits. "It could mean trouble."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Well then we should try and stop them somehow."

[Onyx]

"Yes. We should," Onyx agrees. "The first step will be finding their base of operations and how many of them are in London."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Not tonight though, right?" she asks, feeling like that might be a legitimate possibility, considering how committed Onyx is to this whole thing.

[Onyx]

Onyx shakes her head, "I do not know the city well enough to chase down leads and pushing ourselves more than necessary might be dangerous."

In truth, Onyx wants to chase down the other members, but her concern for Nailah was holding her back a bit.

[Nailah Weaver]

"That makes sense." she says, sounding kind of relieved. Her arm is starting to hurt now that the adrenaline is subsiding and she's kind of beat.

[Onyx]

"We did good work tonight," Onyx says, smiling at Nailah.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Yeah, we're pretty awesome." she musters a grin. "Feel less restless now?"

[Onyx]

"Yes," Onyx says. "Thank you for coming out with me. It was a lot of fun."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Sure, super fun!" she says and lets out a chuckle that dissolves into a minor coughing fit that doesn't do much to ruin her good mood, despite the circumstances and injuries. "Glad I could help."

[Onyx]

Onyx glances over the roof at the firefighters putting out the blaze in the warehouse.

"We should go someplace quieter and get out of these clothes," Onyx says.