Shriek

It bounced off of the walls of the alleys, wound through wrought iron and old brick, and froze him in place. It was a feral sound, a scream of terror and desperation, and it flashed memories usually buried too deep behind his eyes. Easily as if it had been his intention all along, he shifted, flinging himself from one rooftop to the next in a coil of practiced muscle.

They were two alleys over, and a squat middle aged man with small rattish eyes leaned over a shivering girl. One heavy hand clamped down on the girl's mouth to prevent further shrieks, and while Remy couldn't understand what the man whispered to the girl, he could see clearly enough the fear in her eyes.

This would not do.

Like the snap of a match against its striking surface, Remy reached out into the cards he held in one hand and disturbed their very molecular fabric, charging them with bio-kinetic energy. He let the cards -- glowing a sinister deep magenta -- dangle carelessly from one hand as he squatted low on the roof, peering at the pair and smiling a heartless smile. He knew that in the shadows of the rooftop, the cards and his eyes were all they saw. "C'mon, now, chien. Don' tell me you ain't got de money to pay f'a girl who knows what she's doin'."

The squatter man curled his nose, narrow eyes narrowing suspiciously. There was something wild in the way he lifted his face towards the Cajun. "Back off, mutie, or you're gonna be next." Gambit could see straight through the bluff and to the fear in the back of the man's eyes.

Remy's humorless smile faded entirely, his voice dropping chill. "Ah, je comprends. You don' have de brains. I spell it out f'you. Leave. De girl. Alone."

It all happened smoothly, and Remy couldn't have choreographed it better. The man's eyes widened in rage, nostrils flaring, and the young Cajun pitched forward in a controlled roll off of the roof, free hand snapping his staff to length. When the man turned towards Remy, the Cajun caught him in the chest with booth feet, momentum forcing the man's superior weight over. Pressing the bo-staff to the other man's throat, Remy sneered, cards lighting his face in sharp angles. "Now it comes down to it, hien? I let go of dese t'ings, an' dey go boom in a big way. 'Sup t'you, whet'er you walk 'way from dis or 'f you lose half y'face. Can' say as it'd be much of a loss."

Remy leaned back, easing his weight off of the man and crouching ready. There was a long moment where the man just lay stunned, before he lurched to his feet and rand stumbling down the alley and away.

Remy sighed softly to himself, cutting the charge on the cards and straightening to his feet. Shouldering the staff, he turned to offer his hand to the girl still huddled in the corner. "C'mon, ain't nobody gon' hurt you now."

She had just slipped cool, shaking fingers into his when another shriek echoed in the distant night.