Reborn is flicking through radio stations from the passenger's seat, a bit tired. He told everyone it was a hit, and it was a contract he was being paid for, but it was just sex. He like sex, likes feeling good, so obviously he likes it even better if he's getting paid for it.
It was an interesting night but he's getting sleepy now. At least he got out in time to meet Skull for a pickup instead of having to make his own way back to the manor.
Leon was left with Colonnello though, considering the 'hit' so Reborn is now bored. Skull is entertaining himself just fine, chattering on about the latest car he's modifying. And something about how Verde finally has time to work with him on building a blimp.
Reborn ends up shutting off the radio and slumping back, planning on taking a nap. Maybe if he's lucky, Fon will come out and carry Reborn inside from the car. Reborn drifts off a bit to the sound of Skull's voice.
Car tires screech.
Reborn is thrown sideways.
Skull snaps out something vicious.
Reborn opens his eyes in time to see a truck only meters from the front of the car, going straight for the corner on Skull's side. Skull throws out an arm over Reborn's chest, knowing that he can't get out of the way, and taking this side on is suicide with a steep drop into trees either side of the narrow road.
Metal surges up the windows, bleeding over the glass, engulfing the car seconds before the truck slams into them.
But it blocks the airbags.
Reborn's head hits the window, only lessened by the grip Skull has on his shirt, and he blacks out.
Reborn wakes up in darkness, chin to his chest, a migraine making it hard to think. He raises a shaking hand and the side of his face is already sealed up. Must only be internal damage to fix now.
Reborn glows brighter, summoning Sun flames to his skin because he remembers Skull keeps a torch in the boot, not the glove compartment.
The inside of the car is illuminated softly and Reborn turns to check on Skull. The stuntman is upright, head fallen back against the headrest.
"Skull," Reborn says and reaches over. He sends his flames inside and thank god, Skull doesn't have a spinal injury. "Skull, wake up."
Reborn searches upwards to Skull's head and it seems fine. There's a bit he can't get to though, an empty spot. Reborn abandons the flame approach and just unclicks his belt to lean over. He tips Skull towards him and checks the other side of his head.
There's a big piece of glass inside, laced with metal so it didn't break. Just held together and cut straight in.
"Skull, take the metal down from the car, you need a hospital," Reborn orders.
Reborn props up the stuntman again and reaches across to the lever beside the seat, lowering the driver's seat back. He undoes Skull's buckle and swings a leg over to straddle the stuntman, ducking low to avoid hitting his head on the roof.
Reborn goes through the process of carefully removing the glass. He tries to heal the injury but Sun flames don't work on dead cells. He keeps trying until he feels sick.
"You're an idiot," Reborn complains.
Skull says nothing.
Reborn pushes away and sit back in the passenger seat. He tries his phone and then Skull's but nothing is getting through. Either the metal shell of the car is too thick or the quiet road was already out of cell coverage.
Reborn checks Skull again.
Reborn doesn't want to shoot a anything open because it'll ricochet off the metal shell so he leaves that for now. He tries to open the doors, tries kicking at the windows, tries shaking Skull and screaming at him to wake up.
He doesn't know how long he beats at the windows but his legs are sore from kicking at the windscreen and he thinks he fractured his pinkie.
Reborn crawls into the backseats and sits near Skull's head for a while. After the pause, he pushes his flames inside. It's getting more difficult because Sun flames need living organic matter as a conductor.
"Immortal what?" Reborn mutters. "Pathetic."
Verde probably has a tracker in the car or something, but maybe that was destroyed when Skull overloaded it with Cloud flames.
Reborn checks Skull again and then snuffs out the glow in his skin. He would rather not see right now. The darkness is nice.
Reborn pulls at the seats but this car is a sedan and so he has to rip a hole through one of the seats instead with his hands and the small dagger Lal gave him. He finally gets into the trunk of the car with some wiggling and shoves away the bug-out bag that Skull keeps in every car.
Reborn pauses. "Skull?"
No answer. That's okay. Reborn refocuses on groping around the trunk until he finds a compartment on the side that opens up. A basic tool bag, which he takes anything sharp from.
Reborn crawls back out and starts in on the windows again. He thinks he chips a little. Could be his imagination. He doesn't want to use the light.
Reborn goes back into the trunk and awkwardly rolls around until he lifts the base of the trunk up to reveal a spare tire underneath and a carjack in the middle of the space.
Reborn sets up the jack at the edge where the lid of the boot should be weakest and starts pumping the handle. The top reaches the ceiling of the trunk and metal groans. He keeps going, has to put some Sun flames into his arm, and then the carjack breaks.
Reborn checks his watch even though he knows it's a bad idea. It's three in the morning. He's been in here with Skull for four hours.
He slides out the spare tire halfway and props it up at an odd angle against the trunk's door. Reborn fits himself into the space left by the spare tire and waits.
"Leon?" Reborn whispers into the darkness, barely even hears himself.
Reborn wakes up to the something being shuffled around, a slow and heavy drag that make him tense in the pitch black darkness.
Reborn stays in the spare tire compartment. Skull, he almost says.
The soft scrape of fabric doesn't stop. Or maybe it does and the echo bounces around Reborn's head in the silence.
It's coming from through the hole, from inside the car.
"Skull," Reborn says. "You moron. I hate you. I fucking hate you. I'll kill you!"
The dragging gets closer, slowly. Reborn pulls his legs in tighter, away from the hole through the backseats. The trunk is small, not small enough. Reborn gropes around and finds the torch, turns it on, points it towards the hole.
Something is already inside with Reborn.
There's a hand spread on the floor of the trunk, covered in blood. The arm leads out through the tear, disappearing out of sight. It stutters forward, fingers scraping at the floor.
Another hand slowly moves in, leather hissing against the soft material of the seats. Fingers wrap around the edge of the hole, smearing blood over the fabric, digging into the exposed filling.
A third hand grips the other side of the torn seats.
.
A/N: lol happy spooks kids
