Post by Bishop Atkinson on Jun 18, 2020 3:27:42 GMT -4
i know you want the satisfaction, it's not gonna happen
Things had been good. Not amazing, but Bishop was used to that. There was enough food to go around between him, his brother, and their newfound crew member Shiloh, even if portions had to be smaller some nights. The new cog in their machine had smoothed things out with his lookout abilities and just the straight ability to be cute and lower people’s guards. Hell, it was nice to have someone new around even if he hadn’t been as helpful as he had been. It had mixed things up, and frankly Bishop had missed having company around that wasn’t his brother. He loved Wes, but after all the time they’d spend with each other...some varied company was nice. That really summed up their little crew’s state in life: nice. Pleasant, at least for what it was. Just three kids against the world, slumming around but managing.
Like, all good things though, it had to come to an end.
"Just a few moments ago the security systems that maintained the Fuchu Supermax Prison were breached. The prisoners have been armed and I have released them into the streets. Tonight, Tokyo will burn."
By the time word of the Fuchu breakout had gotten to them, it was already too late. Not that Bishop would have totally known what it meant even if it had. What he did understand however was the large shape sprinting towards them at full-tilt. That was glaringly obvious, and something deep in him reacted before his brain completely could. He jumped to his feet, bracing himself against the ground as best as he could as he tried to prep for impact. He hadn’t done this in awhile, but if it was anything like the old days, he could handle being charged. He’d taken down big guys before. After all, bigger they are, and all that. He didn’t have much time, he could tell that just from the speed, so he kept it short.
“Wes, dont’ argue with me! You, Shiloh, get the fuck out of here! We’ll meet back up later, you know the sp-”
The air was knocked out of him before he could even hope to continue as the creature made impact. His boots skidded along the pavement as he just barely managed to stay up, teeth gritted as he locked eyes with the first real threat he’d had here since that backpack debacle when they’d first shown up. The first thing he saw was that there was something wrong there, an...unhinged look. Not that he got to analyze that before he saw teeth. Sharp, sharp teeth. He shifted his weight forward, pushing back off the creature to put some distance between them, just enough to register the black and orange stripes and distinctly feline facial shape. And claws. It might be shaped like a man, but that was not a man’s head. “Well shit, look at you. Haven’t seen a tiger since school trips to the zoo.” he said, brushing himself off. “Need help getting back to your cage? Lose your zookeeper?”
This would be easy. Big guy like that, all it’s going to take is to break his balance and it’d be over. It always worked, why wouldn’t it now? At that, he lunged forward, throwing his whole weight forward towards the legs to try and throw the tigerman off balance, effectively...doing nothing. It was like smacking into a brick wall. He quickly threw a last ditch haymaker, but found his fist caught before it could even come close, his arm wrenched backwards with force, sending shockwaves of pain up the boy’s body.
“No cages, and I don’t need a zookeeper to get meat.” the creature rumbled out, clawed paw pushing the boy away, followed up with a hook that sent him to the ground with an audible crack. He tried to scramble back up but before he could do anything, Bishop was pinned. His arms threw themselves up to protect his face, but it didn’t stop the impacts of those heavy fists from colliding with him, that familiar dull pain starting to spread across his arms. They did their best to protect him, but the feeling of warmth running down his chin told him that they hadn’t totally done their job.
“Get! OFF ME!” he screamed out, trying to push at him and roll out as his fists beat against the larger man’s sides. There was a brief moment of hope too, the boy feeling the tigerman’s weight shift off him, his eyes opening in time to see his attacker on his feet. He scrambled up, wiping his arm across his face as he squared up and lunged, fist swinging with the desperate force of a fighter cornered. There was even a moment of triumph, feeling that satisfying crack of contact. That satisfaction didn’t last long.
He didn’t even really get time to register what was happening before the red hot pain erupted from his chest, the tigerman’s paw coming back up, claws bloody, scraps of the boy’s t-shirt sticking to them. He quickly looked down, seeing the telltale blossoming of red stain his shirt.
Before Bishop was even totally aware, Bishop was gone. In his place, the massive black dog that occupied his mind, teeth bared as he jumped backwards. Get some space, recuperate, ignore the pain that was shooting through your body. Pain isn't important, this is. Running is for cowards. The black dog launched himself forward, teeth bared, but as he sailed by after a sidestep and felt another sharp lance of pain go up his side, he knew that wasn’t the way.
Facing him head-on isn't going to work, that is just going to get our face shredded. You can try to overpower him, but no, he knows you’re coming and he’s too fast for us. Unless…
As the tigerman lunged towards him, the black dog threw himself forward. He managed to get a good bite to the shoulder, but also sound himself thrown off with a thump. Downside to the side, momentum worked both ways. They continued like that, trading blow for blow, scratch for bite, no budging. Barghest had too much to lose, and his opponent was not giving up. Then suddenly, the black dog saw his chance. Space between them. He skittered across the ground on his paws, focusing...before a heavy fog started to fill the area between them. The tiger lunged and took a few swings, but with his vision impaired, hits were a thing of the past. A grin spread across the dog’s face as he kept dodging, letting the fog get heavier.
“Oh, you stupid cat...this fight was rigged from the start.”
The black dog moved around to the back of him using his fog as a cover...before going for the chance he’d been waiting for. He lunged forward, sending the tiger forward with him. As his face dragged along the ground, the dog’s claws dug into the tiger’s back, leaving vertical furrows along his shirt as lines of blood welled up along them.. Once they came to a stop, the dog’s head dropped, grabbing the feline’s scruff in his teeth…
STOP
The dog suddenly released the tiger, simply slamming a paw down on his back and stepping off. After checking to make sure he was out and breathing, the dog was gone, replaced with the boy who housed him. He couldn’t walk around like that, especially now. He’d get picked up in a second. He looked down at the tiger, taking a moment to spit on him before taking back off into the night. He had to find his people.
It was a hard night. Stopping by some local stores to “borrow” some bandages and a new t-shirt wasn’t too hard among the chaos, but as the adrenaline wore off, Bishop felt how he looked: beaten and bleeding. He kept the shadows to stay out of notice as well as he could, and there was the drive from within him to keep going, but he knew he didn’t have much left in the tank. Barghest was spent, and Bishop was even more so. As he stumbled towards one of their set hideouts, he knew this was the last one for the night. If they weren’t here, he needed to just crash and try again tomorrow. They’d gotten away, they should be safe. His head lazily moved up towards the sound of footsteps, just in time to see his brother moving towards him. Bishop was immediately a sight to behold. One could almost see every hit he’d taken. Bruises all over his arms, a black eye, the remnants of blood still under his nose, he was a mess.
“Oh, hey bro. ‘Sup?”
He managed one more cocky grin before he stumbled to the side and slid down the wall, his new-looking shirt pulling up to show off a sloppily bandaged midriff, bandages showing the telltale staining beneath them. There was a brief moment where his eyes met his brother’s...then the world went black. All good things must come to an end.
Like, all good things though, it had to come to an end.
"Just a few moments ago the security systems that maintained the Fuchu Supermax Prison were breached. The prisoners have been armed and I have released them into the streets. Tonight, Tokyo will burn."
By the time word of the Fuchu breakout had gotten to them, it was already too late. Not that Bishop would have totally known what it meant even if it had. What he did understand however was the large shape sprinting towards them at full-tilt. That was glaringly obvious, and something deep in him reacted before his brain completely could. He jumped to his feet, bracing himself against the ground as best as he could as he tried to prep for impact. He hadn’t done this in awhile, but if it was anything like the old days, he could handle being charged. He’d taken down big guys before. After all, bigger they are, and all that. He didn’t have much time, he could tell that just from the speed, so he kept it short.
“Wes, dont’ argue with me! You, Shiloh, get the fuck out of here! We’ll meet back up later, you know the sp-”
The air was knocked out of him before he could even hope to continue as the creature made impact. His boots skidded along the pavement as he just barely managed to stay up, teeth gritted as he locked eyes with the first real threat he’d had here since that backpack debacle when they’d first shown up. The first thing he saw was that there was something wrong there, an...unhinged look. Not that he got to analyze that before he saw teeth. Sharp, sharp teeth. He shifted his weight forward, pushing back off the creature to put some distance between them, just enough to register the black and orange stripes and distinctly feline facial shape. And claws. It might be shaped like a man, but that was not a man’s head. “Well shit, look at you. Haven’t seen a tiger since school trips to the zoo.” he said, brushing himself off. “Need help getting back to your cage? Lose your zookeeper?”
This would be easy. Big guy like that, all it’s going to take is to break his balance and it’d be over. It always worked, why wouldn’t it now? At that, he lunged forward, throwing his whole weight forward towards the legs to try and throw the tigerman off balance, effectively...doing nothing. It was like smacking into a brick wall. He quickly threw a last ditch haymaker, but found his fist caught before it could even come close, his arm wrenched backwards with force, sending shockwaves of pain up the boy’s body.
“No cages, and I don’t need a zookeeper to get meat.” the creature rumbled out, clawed paw pushing the boy away, followed up with a hook that sent him to the ground with an audible crack. He tried to scramble back up but before he could do anything, Bishop was pinned. His arms threw themselves up to protect his face, but it didn’t stop the impacts of those heavy fists from colliding with him, that familiar dull pain starting to spread across his arms. They did their best to protect him, but the feeling of warmth running down his chin told him that they hadn’t totally done their job.
“Get! OFF ME!” he screamed out, trying to push at him and roll out as his fists beat against the larger man’s sides. There was a brief moment of hope too, the boy feeling the tigerman’s weight shift off him, his eyes opening in time to see his attacker on his feet. He scrambled up, wiping his arm across his face as he squared up and lunged, fist swinging with the desperate force of a fighter cornered. There was even a moment of triumph, feeling that satisfying crack of contact. That satisfaction didn’t last long.
He didn’t even really get time to register what was happening before the red hot pain erupted from his chest, the tigerman’s paw coming back up, claws bloody, scraps of the boy’s t-shirt sticking to them. He quickly looked down, seeing the telltale blossoming of red stain his shirt.
Before Bishop was even totally aware, Bishop was gone. In his place, the massive black dog that occupied his mind, teeth bared as he jumped backwards. Get some space, recuperate, ignore the pain that was shooting through your body. Pain isn't important, this is. Running is for cowards. The black dog launched himself forward, teeth bared, but as he sailed by after a sidestep and felt another sharp lance of pain go up his side, he knew that wasn’t the way.
Facing him head-on isn't going to work, that is just going to get our face shredded. You can try to overpower him, but no, he knows you’re coming and he’s too fast for us. Unless…
As the tigerman lunged towards him, the black dog threw himself forward. He managed to get a good bite to the shoulder, but also sound himself thrown off with a thump. Downside to the side, momentum worked both ways. They continued like that, trading blow for blow, scratch for bite, no budging. Barghest had too much to lose, and his opponent was not giving up. Then suddenly, the black dog saw his chance. Space between them. He skittered across the ground on his paws, focusing...before a heavy fog started to fill the area between them. The tiger lunged and took a few swings, but with his vision impaired, hits were a thing of the past. A grin spread across the dog’s face as he kept dodging, letting the fog get heavier.
“Oh, you stupid cat...this fight was rigged from the start.”
The black dog moved around to the back of him using his fog as a cover...before going for the chance he’d been waiting for. He lunged forward, sending the tiger forward with him. As his face dragged along the ground, the dog’s claws dug into the tiger’s back, leaving vertical furrows along his shirt as lines of blood welled up along them.. Once they came to a stop, the dog’s head dropped, grabbing the feline’s scruff in his teeth…
STOP
The dog suddenly released the tiger, simply slamming a paw down on his back and stepping off. After checking to make sure he was out and breathing, the dog was gone, replaced with the boy who housed him. He couldn’t walk around like that, especially now. He’d get picked up in a second. He looked down at the tiger, taking a moment to spit on him before taking back off into the night. He had to find his people.
It was a hard night. Stopping by some local stores to “borrow” some bandages and a new t-shirt wasn’t too hard among the chaos, but as the adrenaline wore off, Bishop felt how he looked: beaten and bleeding. He kept the shadows to stay out of notice as well as he could, and there was the drive from within him to keep going, but he knew he didn’t have much left in the tank. Barghest was spent, and Bishop was even more so. As he stumbled towards one of their set hideouts, he knew this was the last one for the night. If they weren’t here, he needed to just crash and try again tomorrow. They’d gotten away, they should be safe. His head lazily moved up towards the sound of footsteps, just in time to see his brother moving towards him. Bishop was immediately a sight to behold. One could almost see every hit he’d taken. Bruises all over his arms, a black eye, the remnants of blood still under his nose, he was a mess.
“Oh, hey bro. ‘Sup?”
He managed one more cocky grin before he stumbled to the side and slid down the wall, his new-looking shirt pulling up to show off a sloppily bandaged midriff, bandages showing the telltale staining beneath them. There was a brief moment where his eyes met his brother’s...then the world went black. All good things must come to an end.
WORDS: 1508 - NOTES: You got spirit, kid.
