Words: 2307
See Chapter 1 for standard Warnings/Disclaimer.
Additional Warning: This fic is Unbeta'd I edit it myself, though I do have a couple friends who have read it as I worked on it.
A/N: A little late in the day posting this, but I've been distracted. -hides her DS behind her back and tries to look innocent.- Anyway, I like to think this chapter gives a good taste of what the rest of this fic is like. I've always found that it annoys me when ficthors don't write action scenes... I like fight scenes!
Rude glanced around the room, or at least Axel thought he did. It was hard to tell what with the sunglasses the man wore even now, "Axel. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, you know... A little of this, a bit of that." Axel drawled as he reached back to pull the hair tie out of his hair, and run his hand through the thick mane of red spikes once it was loose. "Identity theft, breaking and entering, trespassing on private property... You know how it is, right? Sometimes you just wake up and say 'Hey, man, I kinda wanna go break into a highly secure facility!'"
Rude nodded sharply then lifted his hands brought them together, and cracked his knuckles, "Forgive me."
It was all the warning Axel got before Rude threw a punch at his head. Lucky for Axel he'd more or less grown up around this man thanks to Reno, and he read the warning signs accordingly. He slid down, and right off the chair he'd been perched on, and hit the ground on his knees. Axel scrambled across the floor on all fours, heading for the door, "Shit! Rude, man, watch it! You nearly took my head off!"
He had to throw himself backward and to the side to avoid a kick to the ribs at that. Axel slammed into a bookshelf that wavered precariously at the impact.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. Come on, man!" He wasn't sure who he was talking to at that point: Zexion or Rude. He supposed to didn't really matter.
"What are you doing? Take him out!"
Axel rolled to the side in time to avoid Rude as he made a grab for him, and then lunged across the room. He darted around Rude's back and just managed to throw himself out the door before Rude's elbow smashed into the back of his skull. "Are you kidding me?" He hissed to Zexion. "Reno would kill me six different ways!"
"Then wound him a little bit, and stop bitching. I'm trying to concentrate."
Spinning to the side Axel threw himself behind a lab table and winced as several, thankfully empty, vials were knocked to the floor where they shattered spraying his legs with a liberal coating of glass fragments. Crouched, he shuffled along the side of the lab table toward the far end. Maybe, just maybe, he could make a break for the door and get the hell out of here before Rude turned his brains to Jello.
Axel peered around the corner of the lab table toward the door, then without bothering to hesitate threw himself forward like an Olympic runner leaving the starting line. He was brought up short as Rude grabbed the scruff of his coat, but as he stumbled back, his feet starting to go out from under him, he just threw his arms upwards and let himself slide out of the coat. Dropping to the floor he braced himself with his hands and kicked out with one leg, sweeping Rude's feet from beneath him.
The large man went down with a crash, and as Axel moved to regain his own Rude reached out and grabbed Axel's calf. Axel fell forward and hit the ground, chin on. His teeth clacked together hard, sending a spiraling jolt of pain through his sinuses to settle somewhere behind his eyeballs.
Axel kicked out sharply and felt a measure of satisfaction when his heavy boot connected with a thud, and a whoosh of forcefully expelled breath. Wriggling around Axel nimbly squirmed onto one side and reached back to grab his coat from where it had fallen. He quickly groped through one of the pockets where he knew he'd stashed a the switchblade from earlier, and pulled the small weapon out.
Jamming his thumb into the trigger the blade opened with a sharp snick, and just in time to. Rude made another grab for him and, silently apologizing, Axel lashed out. The blade sliced through the material over Rude's arm and bit into the flesh leaving a long angry line down the man's forearm and immediately began to run with blood.
"Axel, I'm downloading the information now. Get out of there!"
Silently grateful Axel curled his body and kicked out with both legs, planting them solidly in Rude's chest. The big man stumbled backwards, and into another of the lab tables making the objects on it tinkle, and clatter. Axel immediately flipped over and shoved himself to his feet, coat in one hand and knife in the other, he bolted for the door. He fumbled for a moment with the handle, then slammed it open and took off up the hallway for the elevator. He jabbed the 'up' button insistently, glancing back over his shoulder several times. So far Rude wasn't following yet. Axel suspected he had his hands full trying to stem the flow of blood from that arm wound.
Reno was going to kick his ass twice as bad now. Axel suspected his brother would have to get in line, by the end of this mess. There were probably going to be a lot of people who wanted to kick Axel's ass. The elevator doors opened just as Rude came out into the hall, and Axel practically fell through them. He jammed button for the floor with the walkway on it. Had he been in any condition to make leaps of logic he would have noticed Rude was just standing there watching him.
After the doors slid shut, and Axel slumped against the wall with a rush of relieved breath, "Fuck, man..." Carefully he prodded at his chin. It was probably swelling, and bruising already. "Ow..."
"I've got the information, and I cleaned up after myself. So, as soon as you get here we can get the hell out."
Axel pulled his coat back on, then closed and pocketed the knife, before replying, "You have no idea how wonderful that sounds."
The next few moments passed in silence as Axel reclined thankfully against the wall. His blood was still thundering through his veins thanks to the spike of adrenaline the confrontation with Rude had given him, he probably couldn't be more buzzed if he had had three cups of coffee before this started.
When the elevator jolted to a halt Axel pushed off the wall, but before he could do more than take a step forward he caught sight of what awaited him beyond: The room was filled with several security guards, all with guns aimed right for him. Axel swung to the side using the small wall where the button panel was located for defense and cursed loudly. The sharp retort of gunfire sounded and he insistently jabbed a random number several floors down. The sound of bullets pinging against the walls outside the elevator, and even inside, made his mind whirl.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck. I'm going to try and get out the main door."
"This is you winging it, right?"
"Something like that, yeah. Look, I'll make a run for it out the front, you should probably get the hell out right now. Let me know where to find you. Oh, and hey? Sorry about you're little remote hacker thing, I kind of left it there."
"Don't worry about that shit, I've got more where it came from. I'm just glad the com devices worked so well."
"You didn't think they would?" The elevator stopped and Axel cautiously stuck his head out. The hall was clear. Leaning back he pressed a few other buttons at random then slipped off the elevator and headed down the hall looking for some sort of service stair: There was no way he was going to try the main stairwells.
"You never know what kind of shit could disrupt these kinds of things." Axel could hear the engine turn over. "Don't get your ass blown off. I'll be pissed if I just wasted my night for nothing."
The ear piece crackled and went dead, and Axel almost mourned the loss of the white noise let alone the lack of anyone to chatter to. It was probably for the best though, he couldn't be distracted now. Swinging around a corner he found the door he'd been hoping to see, and jerked it open before beginning the dizzying trip down the spiraling stairs. Above him he could hear the sound of muffled shouts as they declared the floor clear. Axel picked up his pace anyway, taking the stairs as fast as he could and sometimes leaping to the next landing.
Axel made it to the ground floor without falling and breaking his neck by some miracle. There he stood next to the door. As he worked to catch his breath he listened for any sound that would give away the positions of his pursuers. Were there any waiting in ambush for him behind the door, in the lobby? Taking a deep breath he steadied his nerves and pulled the Eagle loose from it's holster, gave it a final check, then nudged the door open an inch. The hallway beyond was empty, but Axel thought he could hear faint sounds from the lobby.
The door thumped shut quietly behind him as Axel crept slowly along the hallway, gun held before and slightly to the side of him in a ready two-handed grip. He edged to the corner, braced himself, and lunged around the it. He took in the scene before him at a glance, took up a stance, and fired within seconds. His aim was pretty bad considering he was firing almost blindly, but he emptied the rounds. It would at least give him a few seconds of hesitation, and he used it to charge forward into the small crowd of night time security between him and the wall of glass doors.
One of the guards gave a yell of surprise as Axel shoved him into his comrades, then continued forward to slam his fist into the face of another. He made it by them purely by the surprise his actions had created, and was sprinting for the doors before they got their act together. Several shots rang out, and he felt a slicing pain along the outside of his calf, then he was throwing open the doors and dashing out into the empty courtyard.
The shadows were wavering half there specters at the very edges of the illuminated area, the eerie green light from the fountain creating a surreal twisted world. He veered off to the side and headed toward the parking garage where the shadows thickened. With any luck he could slip along the back of the building and disappear into the alleyways beyond. Behind him he could hear the continued shouts of the security force looking for him. He didn't pause, didn't look back, just stumbled into the shadows and raced on.
Axel didn't slow his mad dash until he was sure he was several blocks away. He wobbled to a halt and slumped against the grungy cement of a nearby building. His lungs felt like they were on fire. Panting harshly he stumbled out of the alleyway and onto the street surprising a couple of punk-dressed teenagers that were making-out against the wall of the next building over.
His cellphone jangled and he dug it from his pocket with shaky hands, "Yo?"
"Axel." Zexion's voice sounded as calm and cool as ever.
"Fuck. You're lucky you didn't call me at a bad time." He felt the urge to start laughing like mad building up in his chest, and fought it down by sheer force of will.
"I figured I gave you enough time. I'll pick you up by the front entrance to the park on Central and Eighth."
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." Axel hung up on Zexion before he could say anything else, and realized belatedly he was still carrying the Eagle in one hand. It was a wonder those kids hadn't started screaming. Glancing down he swore quietly at the sight of the blood staining a small dark spot against the dirty pavement. The night was just shaping up to be real great wasn't it?
Axel ducked into the next convenient alley and shoved the Eagle back into it's holster before jogging off. All he'd need was for the cops to get him after all of that.
Axel cut through part of the park on his way to meet up with Zexion. All he really wanted to do was sit down somewhere and not get up again for several hours. He was coming down off the adrenaline high, and didn't think it would be too long before he crashed flat out. Not to mention it was making the pain from the bullet graze more apparent as the pain killing qualities eased away.
He could see the sedan already waiting for him at the curb, and practically tripped over himself to get there. He leaned one arm against the roof of the car and rapped on the window, insanely pleased when he startled Zexion. Apparently the slate-haired man had been dozing.
"You lookin' for a good time?" he drawled, smirking savagely. He was tired, beat up, and sore but he still found amusement in annoying Zexion. The guy was so unemotional! It reminded him a bit of Roxas, but without the familiar zing Roxas' sometimes rabid reactions gave him.
"Get in the car, you moron." Zexion growled, giving him a dirty look. "I've experienced your version of a good time. It wasn't to my taste."
Axel sauntered around the car and all but melted into the seat, "Aw, c'mon, all you did was sit in a dark car for... however the hell long I was in there."
"Several hours at the least, and my ass is still numb."
"Poor, emo raincloud."
"That's storm cloud to you."
