[Plot] Pawn Scars

[Leo Eskandari]

Leo froze in his tracks, a mental image of a bloodied Ainsley chilling his blood.

"You don't want to do this," he said, fear, for the moment, dominating his thoughts more than his simmering animal fury, "Just get out of my way."

[Narrator]

"Look, it can talk!" the one on the right jokes, only to get slapped on the back of the head by the guy in the middle.

"You hear with yer eyes, moron?"

"Just empty out'yer pockets and maybe we'll let ye off with a warning, yeah mate?" the third one tells Leo.

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley responded in the only way he knew how.

By riling up the pigeons to create a diversion for Leo.

"DANGER!" He cried out to the birds in hopes of getting them to scatter in absolute chaos that only a flock of birds could muster.

[Leo Eskandari]

His expression turned from fear to restrained anger.

"Did you hurt my friend? " he asked, baring his claws and taking a step forward.

[Narrator]

As if in response to Leo's question a flock of pigeons takes to the air, creating a surprising amount of noise overhead and drawing everyone's attention for a moment. The thugs are startled, one of them keeping a clear enough head to shout back towards the parking lot. "You blighters missed his friend!"

[Ainsley Green]

Now that they knew he was here, Ainsley didn't think he'd get away with hot-wiring the van.

Instead, Ainsley kicked the driver's side door open violently, hoping to take down at least one of the idiots who were standing near it.

[Leo Eskandari]

Leo charged forward, aiming to use the distraction to bowl them over with his sheer mass.

[Narrator]

The bottom of the van's door catches one of the thugs in the back of the knee and he stumbles to the ground before being knocked over by the rest of it.

Leo meanwhile crashes into the group. One of them is knocked off his feet and thrown to the side, crashing into one of the storage locker doors with a loud bang while the second one reels backwards. The third one though manages to push his back against the wall and dodge out of the way, bringing his bike-chain around and lashing it across Leo's back.

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley scrambles to take whatever improvised weapon the bowled over thug left behind, turning to face off against the closest opponent to him.

[Leo Eskandari]

The sudden pain across his back made Leo yowl and stumble and fight to keep his balance. But, as he was mostly feline, this didn't give his attackers much time to take advantage of it, as he quickly spun to face them with a growl in his throat.

[Narrator]

"This one's scrappy, eh?" the chain-thug sneers at Leo, spinning the chain around his hand until it's coiled around like a make-shift brass knuckle and he throws a swift jab at Leo's stomach, bringing his shaved head to bear as a follow-up straight to Leo's nose.

The one Ainsley knocked over has dropped the metal pipe he was wielding, but it partially rolled underneath the van and the second guy is right there.

[Ainsley Green]

Dismayed but not slowed down, Ainsley slung his backpack into the head of the second guy and hoped the stray dog hadn't been spooked enough to run.

"Bring big stick, get treats." He called out, wondering if the dog would bring a literal stick, the pipe under the car.... or nothing.

[Leo Eskandari]

Blood flowed from his nose down over bared fangs as he gazed down at the man. He looked far more angry than disoriented.

With a snarl, he said, "That was a mistake, asshole."

As he grabbed the man's shoulders with his claws, his tail lashed around and struck shallowly at the his leg, pumping in paralyzing venom.

[Narrator]

"The... the fuck! What'd you do to my legs!?" the man screams as his leg goes numb and dangles even more than the rest of him, refusing to do the kicking he wants it to. His other two friends seem to pull themselves together a bit though and one jumps on Leo's back, gripping fistfuls of fur before getting his hands on Leo's horns and trying to twist his head back while the third guy awkwardly hops around trying to grab the swishing tail.

Ainsley doesn't have the attention to spare on any response from the stray as he swings his backpack right into the second thug turning into it. He's more disoriented than hurt, really, but as he reels back to strike at Ainsley with his baseball bat he suddenly finds it weighed down by a dirty mutt of a dog biting it and pulling, a low growl in it's throat.

[Leo Eskandari]

As he thrashed violently to shake them off, quills burst through the back of his torn hoodie to discourage his passenger.

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley grinned, and aimed a hard kick to the thug's chest, hoping to relieve him of his grip on the bat.

And maybe his consciousness.

[Narrator]

Leo would find his head jerked back, then suddenly find it free again as the thug more or less falls off of him, clutching his chest and stumbling away.

Over in the parking lot Ainsley manages to wrench the bat out of the thug's hands, much to the stray dog's excitement, the mutt growl-barking at Ainsley and the stick. The thug has landed on his ass and does not look like he much wants to go up against a baseball bat unarmed, but then there's the sound of metal briefly scraping on asphalt and he grins. A moment later the thug who'd been felled by the door is behind Ainsley and has the pipe across his neck, holding him against his own body and not quite choking him out but holding him hard enough that it hurts.

"Hey! Freakshow! We got your friend!" he shouts, way too close to Ainsley's ear for comfort.

[Ainsley Green]

"Run Leo! They're faking you out!"

Instead of trying to hit the guy in front of him, the smaller Ainsley uses the bat to jam down hard on the shoe of his captor, attempting to get him to turn him loose.

Ainsley thankfully doesn't need his voice to try to call out for help.

"No snacks if dead..." He reminds the dog.

[Leo Eskandari]

Hearing Ainsley clearly this time, he didn't take the bait. Instead, he turned his attention on the thug wrestling with his tail and twisted to kick him in the gut.

[Narrator]

Leo manages to knock the guy back and into one of the storage locker doors again. This time he doesn't get up, instead just groaning.

Ainsley's ploy to slam the bat onto the thug's foot fails when it just kind of bounces off of his steel-toed boot. In turn he's rewarded with the pipe being wrenched against his throat, making it hard to breathe while he's being shuffled around to keep him between his attacker and the dog that's barking and growling.

[Leo Eskandari]

Leo wasted no more time and raced for the parking lot, praying that Ainsley was still okay. AndBetween the anger in his eyes and the blood on his face, he looked like he had done more than just fight the three off.

[Ainsley Green]

By the time Leo finds him, Ainsley is throwing his elbows backward wildly, trying to worm his way out of the assailants grasp.

[Narrator]

"Why dontcha drop yer valuables and bugger off before sumthin' happens to this poor bloke here, aye?" the thug tells Leo, whincing but otherwise not budging at Ainsley's jabs.

[Leo Eskandari]

Leo hesitated. He finally had clues about his dad and didn't want to lose them. But he couldn't bear anything happening to Ainsley. Yet, he had to try to leave the thug with nothing.

"Fine... there's stuff in the van. Just... don't hurt him," he said defeatedly. He couldn't well keep Ainsley hostage with a pipe and take the van.

[Ainsley Green]

"Please tell me you're going to get the drop on him in the next ten seconds..." Ains replied, going limp on the guy holding him hostage for the moment.

[Narrator]

"Oh like ya didn't hurt my chums? Bleedin' animals, the lot of ya!" he shouts as he throws a couple quick glances backwards at the van. He clearly wants to check it but also doesn't really want to take his eyes off of Leo for too long.

[Leo Eskandari]

"Oh, that," he grinned, licking the blood from his muzzle, "Delicious. Maybe you should drop the pipe and run instead. After all, what's more valuable to you than remaining in one piece?"

When you look like a monster, sometimes it can be an advantage.

[Ainsley Green]

Meanwhile, Ainsley hung rather like a rag doll, somewhat bored with the machismo on display currently.

It showed.

[Narrator]

"F-f-fuck off..." the thug stammers, but ultimately Leo's bloodied face and self-preservation wins out over bigotry and greed and he let's go of Ainsley in order to haul ass across the parking lot.

[Ainsley Green]

"So I guess this means we won." He stated, then proceeded to take photos of the least battered individual so he could save the image of their particular gang's general look or anything on them that might be useful later.

[Leo Eskandari]

Quickly walking over, he rapidly asked, "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

[Ainsley Green]

"Nothing I can't walk off. Woulda just bolted, but with you and auntie in there, I didn't want to abandon anyone."

[Leo Eskandari]

Leo's eyes widened. "Oh shit! Aunt Fi!"

He whirled around to look back the way he came. He relaxed when he saw her coming. "I'm fine kiddo," she smiled, "You didn't leave the three back there in any condition to hurt me."

Leo's body language grew suspicious. "Did James send these guys? Did you know?"

Looking hurt, she answered, "I... suppose I deserve that. No. I didn't know he'd go that far. I promise."

"What do you think?" he asked Ainsley.

[Ainsley Green]

"I think we need to get your things and Fiona somewhere safe.
Then we can look into the connection between this gang and the gobshite. I'll do some phone searches."

[Leo Eskandari]

"Aunt Fi, is there anywhere you can go to steer clear of him for a while?" Leo asked.

"You think he might hurt me?" she asked dubiously.

Leo gave her a disbelieving look, "You threatened to go to the cops about him. If he really has the connections to have me and my friend targeted by a gang, then you bet I do."

"I can stay with a friend from work. He doesn't know her," she answered sadly.

"Out of town would be better, but that should work," Leo said with a nod.

"You stay safe too, kiddo," she said with a regretful smile. "A shame we can't finish searching the unit first. But it's not going anywhere."

"Yeah. We should get out of here before more surprises show up," Leo answered.

The two said their temporary goodbyes but as she turned to leave, he asked, "Wait, what is he into anyway? Criminally, I mean?"

"All I know is he's involved with a would be neighborhood watch, or rather a small-time hate group posing as one. They occasionally shake people down for protection," she explained.

"Any chance those guys were members?"

"I don't think so, but there's a lot I don't know."

"Thanks. And now we really should get outta here," he said.

When Leo and Ainsley were back in the van, he said, "Well that was something alright."

[Ainsley Green]

"They may have been sent by your uncle, but they could just be street hooligans." Ainsley commented as he began internet searching the descriptions of the emblems on their get ups and cross referencing them by neighborhood.

[Leo Eskandari]

They appear to be members of a street gang known as the Beaconsfield Boys. There's no obvious connection, but Beaconsfield Road isn't far from Leo's old address.

[Ainsley Green]

"Internet says they're Beaconfield Boys.

Ever tango with them before?"

[Leo Eskandari]

"Ugh. Those shitheads. Yeah. They mugged Molly and me once. Kicked my ass real good."

"Guess I just got payback."

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley was thinking about something.

"Shall we locate the still missing items?"