Starring:
Summary: A few members of Team Gunn follow their fearless leader into battle.
Date It Happened: November 28th, 2001
Slaying After Supper
Team Gunn Lair
Well, Ava's morning was exciting. That crabby old lady who claims she was a bit part actress during the rise of the old 60's and 70's sitcoms now has a completely faked hex bag that Ava put together which is making her think that maybe her 30-something husband will want to tap that for a change. Of course, the Spanish Fly Ava added to the cookies she suggested that the woman give him should help with that, too. It was a nice chunk of change, so the rest of the day is off, and instead there's a visit with Gunn and Co. She has a little coterie of hardened street teens perched in a corner containing some really junked Salvation army furniture, and they're ooh-ing and aahh-ing as she floats a pencil. Stupid Witch Tricks FTW!
Not that anyone can tell, given his face's propensity for wearing a surly expression no matter how chipper his mood is, but Nicolae has only been awake for a few hours following a rare bit of sleeping in his unpredictable work schedule affords him. It's easy to conclude he came here to find Ava, but mostly it was lack of a better idea that drew him here, as well as the faint hope that there'd be something nasty that needed killing. He doesn't feel like scaring up any trouble on his own just now. His bodyguardly duties are being taken care of by the sheer number of young, dangerous people the lair tends to support. Presently he's across the way looking over the armory as he wipes down the business end of a morningstar he borrowed two days ago in preparation to replace it. He's widely suspected to be void of any sort of humor, but as he glances over to where Ava's doing her witchery he chuckles softly and lets slip a tiny smirk, reasonably assured that no one's paying him the slightest bit of attention.
While people are all over the place in the Lair, the leader has finally decided to come 'home'. Not that he actually spends too much time here, but he's making his way into the building, by passing traps with ease and slapping his hand with a couple of the watch men that are on duty right about now. As usual when he's back in the Badlands, he's lost the sense of humor he had when he was off at the Hyperion Hotel.
Hoisted in one arm is a huge sack of groceries… with a receipt hanging out of the top of it, even. So it looks like Gunn's went shopping. Of course, as he comes into the main area, he's practically swarmed by Al.
"Hey Hey Hey!" The big man stomps his way towards Gunn and snatches the grocery bag from him and is already stomping off to find some food to munch on in there. A few other hungry souls are trotting along after him, of course.
"Hey! Share!" is tossed in Al's direction from the Bossman and all of his chocolatey goodness.
Ava looks up from her little gathered crowd; the pencil still continues its slow rotation about half a foot up from her outspread hands. "Hey, Gunn." she greets smoothly. "It looks like you got a paycheck today." A sidelong grin is given to Nicolae where he stands. The pair are somewhat like cats, while Gunn may look at them as 'his' people, they in turn look at Gunn and his team as 'their' gaje. Like pets, without the inconvenience of leash walking or litter boxes. "Did you just pick up hot dogs, or something that can be cooked?" Is Ava offering to cook? That would be a reason to mark the calendar.
Al's 'battle cry' draws Nicolae's attention as he settles the borrowed weapon back into place and pockets the rag he was using to clean it with. He meets Ava's sidelong grin with the remnants of his own before the sober indifference he shows the world settles back into place and he ambles over toward Gunn. "Need help with anything else?" he asks, glancing past him toward the direction he came from. Still poised at this somewhat awkward angle, he turns to double-take at Ava, and then rights himself as his brows shoot up in quiet amazement.
"Nah, that's it. I jus' grabbed a couple things on the way home." Gunn always makes it a point to call this place home when he's around. In case the people that work for him decide they want to not believe that he's dedicated. He went through that once already and isn't trying to go through it again. Not in the least. His eyes are drawn over towards Ava and he raises an eyebrow. "Talk to Al about all that. I'm not stayin' for dinner. I got patrol tonight." Just like him to sacrifice his own food for the good of others under the guise of going on patrol. Oh Gunn.
"Fighting requires strength. In ancient times, there would always be what was called the 'warrior's portion', food always portioned out for the fighting men to keep them healthy. It's a good practice, Gunn." Ava sounds amused, she expects Gunn to blow her off. "But I'm sure you're too bad ass for anything as sensible as that." The pencil lays to rest in her hands, and she tosses it to one of her little hangers-on as rising, she walks over to Nicolae. "Too bad. My bouts of domesticity are few and far between, aren't they?" This is addressed to her boyfriend, of course.
A vague hint of sympathy creeps across Nicolae's blandly attentive expression as Ava teases Gunn. He perks at the mention of a patrol, with a liveliness that remains as he shoots a grin toward Ava and reaches over to ruffle her hair. "No comment," he replies tactfully. "This patrol," he directs toward Gunn. "Is it a private party, or…?" If some ass is being kicked, NIcolae is always up for lending a boot.
"You can come." Gunn utters to Nic, before rolling his eyes off in Ava's direction. Obviously, he's not exactly the most well listener to this kind of talk. He hears enough of it from Cordelia when she's feeling less bitchy and more loving. "If you can pry some food from Al's fingers, I'll eat it." Though the tone this is said in is something like a person that's been nagged to death about it. And he's focused on Nic again. "Heard rumors of a couple new vamps hangin' 'round a block or two from here. So I'm headin' out to welcome 'em to the hood."
Ava has a strategy with Al - she threatens him regularly with the whole idea of a 'gypsy curse'. She is totally willing to work the stereotype to get what wants, oh yes. She ambles away from Nicolae in the vague direction of the aforementioned Al, remarking, "Sounds fun. We'll leave after you eat."
With that, Nicolae's day is made. Most would miss the barely perceptible brightening of his expression, but the outward jut of his bottom lip and lift of his brows as he nods in acknowledgment of the invitation convey the closest thing he tends to show to enthusiasm. "It sounds like a party," he ventures, his thickly accented English spoiling the spontaneity of the expression. He blinks a moment after Ava's chimed in, belatedly catching the 'we'. There's a slight, resigned droop of his shoulders, but he's turned around to watch her accost Al before he can let slip a tiny grin. He clears his throat and looks back to Gunn with a shrug.
Gunn looks at Nic, as if waiting for him to talk some sense into his woman and when all he gets is a shrug back, he's looking and following after Ava with the intent on keeping her from going with. "This is really a cut and dry run. We don't really need to be Bewitched, for this. It's a quick find 'em, dust 'em kinda' thing." Not that he's against women fighting, but if he can stop prevent it by putting his own body on the line instead, then so be it. Chain of Chivalrous Command and all that.
Ava halts in her tracks and turns around. "So you and Nic get to go hunting, and I do what, stay home and float pencils to entertain the kiddies? You do realize that magic isn't just standing around holding white candles chanting in Latin with symbols drawn on the floor in Crayola, right? You need more experience with," and the phrase comes to her lips with a smile, "Street magic."
Yup, just a shrug. Nic rolls into motion a step behind Gunn, lacing his hands behind his back and shaking his head in mild bemusement. He knows exactly what the team leader's motivation is. "Five years ago, I learned better than to try this." He claps a hand lightly on Gunn's shoulder after Ava's presented her argument, tilting his head toward the girl. "Five years I've been watching out for her, and more than once I've wondered if I need to. Not that it stops me," he adds, with a warm look toward the witch, a slight crinkling at the corners of his eyes.
Gunn just shakes his head. He figures it's not going to be a battle to win and thus he's not even going to continue on with this convincing. If her own boyfriend can't get her to stop putting herself in danger, then he's sure as hell not going to be able to. Instead, he just sighs and turns to head over towards the armory, so he can start getting gear ready for battle. "I don't even like David Blaine." is the response he gives over his shoulder, though in a mumbled way, as if to keep things under wraps. But not really.
Cue the shared dopy lovebird expression as Ava and Nicolae smile at each other - well, she smiles, and Nicu does wha approximates one for him. But by the time Gunn has emerged from the armory, there's a plate with a turkey sandwich waiting for him, and another for Nic as well. She's already biting into hers.
Unbeknownst to most anyone, Nicolae is capable of some of the biggest, dorkiest grins known to a human face. For now, even that sappy sweet moment isn't capable of lifting the corners of his mouth, but the sentiment gets across anyway. It also inspires a smoothing of his habitual scowl that remains as he ambles over to the armory. "You get used to it," he assures Gunn. "Magic, I mean. It's quite handy." Rather than accost the team's store of weapons, initially he examines the various death-dealing implements secreted throughout his earth-toned thrift store ensemble. Long sleeves hide knives strapped to his wrist and the ratty overcoat he wears hangs oddly heavy upon him, its lining a confusion of odd bulges. Finally he settles upon a broadsword from the rack. He makes his way out, giving the weapon a short swing to test its weight and balance, and snatches his sandwich from the plate in passing on his way to an open space to cut a few arcs through the air with the blade.
Gunn seems to be heading out of the armory with his own weapon of choice: His Axe. There's not much else to worry about at the moment, but when he spots the sandwich that's his, he can't really do anything but smile. A little. "Thanks." People caring is something he's still having to get used to, though he's biting into it and giving orders at the same time. "Tommy? Reg? You two are in charge until we get back. I want everybody inside in an hour. After that? Lock it down. Don't open up unless it's one of us. Got it?" While his two soldiers do the head nod and agreement thing, Gunn is looking at the sandwich he just bit into. "… Damn. That's good."
"Secret gypsy ingredients." Ava informs him. And hey, if Gunn believes it, she won't bother to correct him. She snags her coat - a black thing of wool and faux fur at the collar and cuffs, a little on the goth side, but quite sturdy. "Ready to go whenever you laddybucks are."
Nicolae offers up a grunt to support Ava's claim of some ancient Romani recipe, his mouth stuffed too full of sandwich to allow for anything more articulate. He tucks the sword under his arm and licks his fingers, giving a nod to Gunn as he ambles over to stand next to Ava. This puts the stained and threadbare ensemble he favors into even sharper focus. "Laddy-what?" he asks, before quickly shaking his head. Five years hasn't been long enough for him to master the full scope of her colloquialisms.
"…" Gunn stops mid-way through the next bite, swallows it and moves right along to dropping the rest of the sandwich down onto the table. If only because he's not wanting to eat magic food. Cuz, well, that's just gross. "Alright. Let's do this." And he's turning to lead the way in that classic Buffy and Angel walk that they do when there's evil to be vanquished.
Ava blinks at Gunn. What magic? Gypsy doesn't equal magic. STEREOTYPE, MUCH? But if Gunn wants to waste precious food, someone else will eat it. Al's already making his way toward the plate. She too makes for the door, her hand sliding into Nicolae's arm as her coat does the fluttery cinematic thing, because well, this is the Buffy and Angel meets Battle Without Honor Or Humanity thing.
Nicolae's coat doesn't flutter much, weighed down as it is by an assortment of hidden hurtful things. He makes up for it as he falls into step with the others, dropping the sword from beneath his arm to hold at the ready. He'll probably try and hide it again in a moment, but he has subconsciously lapsed into his badass strut for the moment. Somehow, walking arm in arm with Ava does not diminish his presence in the slightest.
Darkness. Outside is darkness. And that's where the Token Black Guy leads the pair behind him. He's got his axe out in the open and a stake or two strapped to his side. He's ready for war, but he's walking casually. As he leads them towards the block where the vamps kept being spotted, he looks at Ava, regardless of knowing that things will not work on her. Words of wisdom, anyway. "If it gets too ugly, run. I know you want to show off ya' parlor tricks but… this is real life."
Ava has no other response but to roll her eyes. She keeps walking in silence, as she has no desire to speak of her past to him. She and Nicolae have been doing this since they were in highschool. It's not that they're new to the game. They're just new to Gunn. She gives Nicolae a look, and speaks in Romany. "<Do you think he's going to be surprised when I don't run?>"
A slight but intentionally palpable tension overtakes Nicolae's bearing as Gunn offers his warning, the sort of nonverbal dudespeak which, when coupled with the look he gives their leader, pretty much says 'Oh no you di-in't' without so much as a grunt. There's a slight 'your funeral' smile tugging at the corners of his mouth when he opts, just to keep things fun, to reply to his girl in English. "Quite possibly. Something to look forward to, I suppose." Then, in Romany, "<The look on his face, I mean.>" He then offers assurances, to help mitigate the fact that they're talking about Gunn rather than to him. "We practiced once or twice before. She knows what to do." He really does have a sense of humor in there somewhere, but he's also got a contender for the world's best poker face.
Poor Gunn. Just trying to look out for the troops. Somehow, that's so wrong. When he hears the language that he doesn't understand, this just gets him to rolling his eyes and he's focused on heading around the corner and onto the street where there should be some vampires waiting. "Powerball." is the word that's whispered as he crouches low, sliding to the side where he can try and hide behind something or other.
Sure enough, down the street, about towards the halfway point, there's a group of vampires. Four. A body drops from between two of them, hitting the floor and definitely gone. Dead. But at least the vampires are sticking around for a couple after dinner words.
Ava casts Nicolae a completely baffled look. Powerball? What the hell is that, a bad modern remake of an even worse 70's movie? (That's Rollerball, natch!) Still, she doesn't just go charging in. She steps back a little bit, visibly the weak link, and not minding much that she looks it.
Nicolae offers up a clueless shrug in response to Ava's look. He settles against the wall, peering cautiously around the corner, looming above their crouched leader with his blade kept in the shadows. He conveys his lack of comprehension in the furrowing of his brow as he looks expectantly to Gunn for prompting. Joining this outfit has felt like sliding into a familiar old coat, and although the culture is different and the code words are clearly foreign, the basic concept is the same. When someone's leading, you follow. The shifting of his grip upon the hilt of his sword betrays his eagerness to swing it at something, but discipline keeps him otherwise reined in.
"Okay. Girl's dead." Gunn pauses for a brief moment of silence for the fallen human. But then he's standing up and clearly ready to get this over with. "Let's dust these fools." With his head held high and his axe in hand, he starts walking right down the middle of the sidewalk, off towards the vampires. "Well, well, well. Looks like we got ourselves some new blood in town. Obviously, you guys don't know the rules. So I'm gonna' have to break 'em down to you." The witty banter portion of this fight has started, it seems.
Not that any of these vamps seem poised for leading, but they all turn to face Gunn and whomever's following the big bald black man. "Looks like we got a little desert comin' boys." Says one of them, the one with the leather jacket, of course. "I always did love delivery." And these four vamps are gearing up for a little war of their own.
As the four start forward, the girl of the group, a curvy thing with a mass of curly light colored hair and unfortunate looking muff boots, takes a step to the side and forward, her eyes on Ava. "Aren't you pretty, Pretty." she laughs, her pretty features shifting into an ugly yellow-eyed gameface. "I like my food to have an aesthetic." She laughs, making a fash and leap to the side of the street, scrambling up on top of a garbage bin in a catlike crouch. "I guess you could call me a gourmet." With that, she takes a flying leap toward Ava, like some kind of flying squirrel. Only bigger. And with fangs.
Ava looks bored as the she-vamp runs her mouth. Just as the woman is at the zenith of her leap, arms outspread to grab Ava, the gypsy girl lifts her eyes to meet those of the woman. "Agni-Ki, accept thy offering!" The hazel of her eyes suddenly turns bright and orange-yellow, as if she were lit on fire from within, and the leaping woman bursts into flame, which is promptly then transmuted into a shower of ash which blow toward Ava. She blinks a bit, making a face. "Goddammit, vamp ash in my hair again…"
Times like this bring to light the one major failing of Nicolae as a vampire hunter: he has no bantering game to speak of. Laconic on his best day, even when he's not pretending not to speak English, he gets almost eerily quiet when he's dispensing the hurt. He steps out from behind cover a pace behind Gunn and, upon hearing the cue to go forth and maim, rolls into motion with a purposeful stride and a blank expression. It says a lot about his confidence in Ava that, despite however much he may loom and fret over her, he doesn't even look back to see how she's doing with her opponent. Rather, he closes with one of the male vamp., A few swings of the blade scare the vamp, probably a youngster, backward a few paces, until he's backed into their victim's parked car. Weaving and ducking his way into its personal space, Nicolae dodges his way past inexpertly, wildly flying fists with his sword held in a reverse grip.
The gamble leads to his opponent getting a handful of his coat, but just as the vamp is beginning to exert force to capitalize upon this purchase, Nic is swivelling to put his back to the bloodsucker with the sword held high, blade pointed downward, closing both hands over the hilt as he shoves backward with his shoulders. They never expect someone to get close-most people want to keep their distance, and here he seems to be offering himself up. That is, until the sword comes down, skewering its way through the vampire's belly and through the car's front tire, momentarily trapping the monster on his ass, momentarily inconvenienced and immobilized but not dead. He tears his way free, leaving a good bit of his ruined coat in the vampire's fist as he shakes his head and sighs at Ava's plight. He's already heading for another of the vamps, feinting and dodging to keep it preoccupied, swiping in threatening arcs with the stake produced from his coat sleeve.
Gunn, for some odd reason, ends up with Mr. Leather. Which is not a good sign, because Mr. Leather has some choice words for the black man. "You don't scare me. I've seen plenty of Boyz In The Hood, /bro/. There ain't nothing you can throw at me that I can't handle." Mr. Leather's in the process of cracking his knuckles as he starts to stalk towards Gunn. "You're not only a menace to this town, but your whole damn race is a menace to this country. We never shoulda' brought your kind over here. Slave labor. Not even fit to be." Wow. Mr. Leather sure the hell is on a big ass rant. He's still talking. "What the hell kind of name is Kunta anywa—"
*POOF!*
Poor Mr. Leather doesn't get to finish his sentence because Gunn's axe has swirled right through his neck, separating his head and causing a massive amount of dust to flow over the ground, while his axe clatters to the ground, somewhere near Nic's feet. Just in case. What… luck?
Gunn rolls his eyes and spins on his feet, "Asshole." and heads over to where the one vamp has been sworded into the vehicle of the poor dead body that's lying on the sidewalk over there. He crouches down, tugging at the fingerless gloves that are on his hands and sighs, overdramatically. "That -really- looks like it hurts." Smile.
Ava looks faintly annoyed about something, but then she's something of a performer at heart. Nonetheless, the last vamp is currently engaged in a bit of back and forth with Nicolae. Still flapping her hand at her hair as drifts of ash fall down like dandruff, she peers for a moment and then calls out to Nicolae in a similar codeword fashion, "Brace!"
He knows what to do. And all Ava has to handle is the sudden and forceful telekinetic push of the vamp unwittingly in her lover's direction.
So far, so good. Having done his bit to keep the 'surplus' vampire busy until someone could make time for it, Nicolae now gets his latest opponent worked up in a frenzy with his frustrating ability to not die. Playing a fully defensive game, he taunts the vamp with feints as he dances backward, trying to get into a good spot to borrow Gunn's axe. Since he was so courteous as to leave it laying there and all. Upon hearing the code word, though, he abandons this approach and instead reverses his grip on the stake and closes his palm over the blunt end for support, squaring his feet and waiting to intercept the flailing beastie as Ava sends it hurtling her way.
He doesn't flinch as the dust settles upon him, or pause even for a moment once the stake has done its job. As soon as it is unencumbered by vampire flesh he pockets the implement and bends to retrieve Gunn's axe from the ground. Timed to coincide with Gunn's taunting of the vampire, it evokes an eerie scraping sound at precisely the moment when their leader shows off his pearlies to the trapped vampire.
Nicolae gives Ava a grateful nod as he ambles over to stand next to Gunn, raising the man's distinctive weapon and letting the weight of its upper half fall across his left palm. He doesn't smile. He does hand Gunn his axe back, and step backwards clapping vampire dust from his hands as he maintains eye contact with their struggling captive.
Flesh Wound, that's what we'll call him, is still trying to get himself free. But Gunn is quite intent on messing with him. Which is why he doesn't seem to be worried too much about anything happening. Standing back up, Gunn takes his axe and holds it out, pointing the blade at the vampire. "You only get one warning." He motions with the axe to the dusty carnage around the immediate area. And then towards Nic and Ava. "This was it." He lowers the axe and turns to start walking back the way from whence they came in the first place. "Tell your friends." And he's doing that educated walk of awesome again.
Ava rolls her eyes and steps up to Nicolae, gives her own hair a good ruffling. "You'd think he seen an Agni-Ki every day." she grumbles, and then in Romany, "<But if he ever pulls that chauvinistic magic-is-useless-in-the-field crap again, I'm going to make all his teeth drop out.>"
"<You will do no such thing,>" Nicolae says firmly but fondly as he turns toward Ava, giving her ruffled hair a light swat to help dislodge some of the vamp dust. He keeps an eye on Gunn's interaction with the vampire, and the still surface of his neutral expression is disturbed faintly by concern as it appears they are going to just walk away. Rather than indulge doubt or concern, he simply follows Gunn's lead and slips an arm around Ava's waist, since the sword he brought with him is being used to hold Flesh Wound in place. "That was fun," he says.
Besides, if Flesh Wound doesn't get himself off the sword by sunrise, he'll be dust anyway. Maybe it's something of a calling card to make sure any vamps that walk by notice. A warning. Or something close to it. Gunn likely has a method to his madness. His violent, emotionless, brutal madness! Ahem. With business having been taken care of, Gunn leads the way back towards the building, though through another entrance so that they can get inside faster and not have to worry about getting booby trapped.
Ava seems a little perturbed. "You like that sword." she tells Nicolae. "Are you just going to leave it there, stuck in someone's tire? You'll never see it again, and good weapons shouldn't be wasted." She sniffs. "Gaje have no sense of quality." But if Nicolae is willing to follow suit with Gunn, she'll likewise depart without further complaint.
"I like it because it reminds me of the one I have at home," Nicolae replies. Presently, Flesh Wound is sporting a sampling from the Team Gunn armory. "I call dibs on it every time we hunt together. I'm not exactly married to it though. Besides," he gestures back to where their object lesson sits skewered to the car, "it's serving a good cause." His attention lingers upon the seemingly helpless vamp, but he's content for the moment to trust the method to Gunn's madness. His 'hood, his rules, and his sword…which will probably be back in the armory next time Nicolae goes looking for it anyway.
Indeed it will be. Not only are there people that will come by and grab it at sunrise, there's also the little known fact of something referred to as a Prop Department. Beyond all of that, though, as Gunn leads the way back into the building and off towards the main area, he setting his axe up against the wall and stretching his arms out to the sides, turning around to look at the happy demon killing couple that should be following him inside. His face still looks as dry, gloomy and everything else, as it did when he saw the woman's body drop.
"Cheer up." Ava tells Gunn, moving to go make another sandwich. She's hungry again, and magic takes energy. "That wasn't a bad effort on anyone's part." She starts making a second sandwich, one for Nicu. But not for Gunn. He scorned her sandwich making savvy!
Somehow, judging from what he reads on Gunn's face, Nicolae strongly suspects their leader won't be cheering up any time soon. He claps a hand upon the man's shoulder and nods once in quiet, stoic commiseration. "Back home, we would offer a toast to wish their souls safe passage to Heaven." He continues on, lured by the prospect of sandwich-y goodness and the notion that some brooding may be necessary, and is best done without people staring.
"I'll be at the Hyperion if anybody needs me." Gunn says, heading over to stash his axe in its special place in the armory, before he comes waltzing back into the room and immediately starts to head for the exit. Pausing, though, he turns to look over his shoulder and peers off in Ava's direction. "Hey. Ava." His tone is almost a little bit impressed, but it's definitely all genuine. "That… whatever it was? Pretty cool." And with that nod, he's disappearing out of the room's door, to climb some steps and get to his truck. Time to go brood.