[Phase 1]
(Continued from last week's chapter.)
The group are finally in the car. Stuart's found a 'Rubik's Cube' and is busily working away at lining up all the pieces in the correct color sides. Noodle had figured it out quickly and finished it in five minutes, while Stu's completely lost. He doesn't seem frustrated, though; he's too focused on his task.
"You know, we should go to the beach at some point soon, yeah? It'd be fuckin great. Besides, I don't think that Noodle has been there before." Murdoc is in a good mood despite the less-than-preferable early awakening. So now he's rambling about whatever comes into his mind. Russel's finding it a bit annoying.
"Sure." The drummer says absentmindedly, his eyes fixed on the scenery they're passing. Noodle had climbed back into his lap as soon as they'd gotten in the car, and now she's playing 'Pokémon' on her Gameboy and humming along with the music playing in her headphones. The girl's barefoot, having loudly refused to wear nothing but socks. So Russ had pocketed the damned things, not seeing a reason to argue with a nine-year-old.
"Besides, there's always something to do there. I'm rather, well, bored with staying at Kong for the time being. Hell, I'm sure everyone is, yeah?" Murdoc continues.
"Pretty sure it's just you. 'Sides, it might have something to do with the fact that you spend all your damned time in that gross ass camper." Russ points out, rubbing Noodle's back as he gazes outside.
"I'd quite like to go to the beach, Russel. I really like the shells there. Haven't been there since I was a little tyke. I've almost forgotten what it looks like." Stuart turns his head to gaze at Russel.
"We'll see, then." The large man shrugs.
Noodle's taken her headphones out. "Um. Uh, Rus-ol. At, uh, shop soon? Noodle shirt. Um. Shoe."
"Couple more minutes, baby-girl." Russel replies. His gaze falls to the girl on his lap.
"Game. Um. Dead. No good." Noodle explains. She waves the game console around in Russel's face; its screen has gone black, a symbol of the battery being empty.
"Guess so, huh?" Russ sighs. "Looks like we'll have to charge it up when we get back home."
"Huh?" Noodle inquires.
"Fix game at Kong Studios." The man says slowly.
"Oh, hai. Uh, good, good." She agrees with a cheeky grin.
They wait in mostly-silence. The only thing keeping it from being fully silent is the rumble of the engine and the low volume of the stereo.
"Alright. We're here." Murdoc puts the car in park and opens the door. The other three follow suit.
"I'll carry Noodle. She can't walk around the stores barefoot, can she? That might not be good." Stuart offers. Russ nods and hands his kid to the lanky man, then stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"You drop her and I'll be real pissed," Russel threatens, his eyebrows lowering to create a rather malevolent facial expression.
"R-Right." Stuart gulps, shifting her to rest on his shoulders. He's not taking chances. Good thing she doesn't weigh much, right?
Noodle giggles. "Noodle a big! Big Toochee!" She chirps, patting him on the head.
"That you are! It's nice, yeah?" The bluenette agrees, walking towards the mall entrance.
"You look like a bloody skyscraper!" Murdoc comments. He's got a weird top hat on, Stuart realises with a confused look.
"I'm no skyscraper! Skyscrapers don't have toes!" 2D protests.
"How d'ya think they stand up, huh? Invisible toes." Murdoc's definitely getting a kick out of this.
"What? Okay, that makes a little sense... But what about arms? And a nose?! What do they eat?" Stuart's getting flustered.
"Arms, nose.. All invisible. They eat people, obviously! All those idiots walking in through the doors? They're all really just walking into the mouth of the beast!" The Satanist is fighting back laughter.
Stuart considers this in silence. He doesn't quite know what to think about this new revelation.
"Right, that's enough, Murdoc. Don't want to make him too confused." Russel finally speaks up, though there's a thin air of amusement surrounding him.
"Oh, come on, lards! The dumbarse is actually buying it! Don't ruin it for me, this is fuckin hilarious!" Murdoc protests angrily.
"A big room!" Noodle's eyes are wide with awe. She doesn't much care what they're arguing about, it doesn't seem violent.
"Yeah! Oh, you've never been to a shopping mall before, have you, luv?" Stuart looks upwards at Noodle. "I guess it is pretty big." Agrees the singer.
"Um. A shirt?" Noodle asks. "Uh, um. Where?"
"Lots of places. With your size, I bet we could still fit you in toddler clothes. Wouldn't that be a laugh?" Murdoc jokes.
"Shut your damned mouth, Muds, before I tape it that way." Russ has gotten annoyed with Murdoc's mood. "Anyway, baby, we'll need to get you shoes, first. That way you can walk by yourself without hurtin' yo feet."
He's answered again by a very confused look from Noodle. "Oh, right. Um. Get shoe." The drummer clarifies.
"Hai. Good, good." The child does a thumbs-up, then blowing a kiss to Russel. Del recently taught her that. She had been getting frustrated with not being able to give her favorite ghost any physical affection. Noodle loves to give hugs to her boys, and she doesn't like that Del is left without any hugs. Not fair. Plus, Del often looks lonely, far too lonely. It's a lot like how Russ often looks, especially in the mornings.
Russ chuckles at her antics before pointing to a store specialising in shoes. "That store right there, dee." He commands.
"Lards, I'm gonna go off and fuck around. I'll be back in a bit." Murdoc says.
"Meet in the food court in an hour or so, aight?" Russel suggests.
"Hmm, sure." Murdoc agrees. "I'm off, then."
"Mu-doc go? Bye-bye Mu-doc!" Noodle waves.
"Huh? Oh, I'll see you soon, dove." He reaches up and pats her hand. She blows him a kiss, too. Murdoc shakes his head with a slight smile and goes his way.
"Y'know, he's oddly happy. Wonder why." Stuart points out. He's walking through the shoe store doorway, pulling Noodle from his shoulders so she won't hit her head on the ceiling.
"Probably lookin' for a girl to take home." Russ guesses, menacingly eyeing the people who've turned their heads to stare at the three. He isn't taking any chances with his kid and paparazzi. They didn't drive here to be stared down by people who can't respect their privacy, after all.
"Shoe!" Noodle points at a large pair of boots. "Big, big!" She looks at Russ excitedly.
"Those ain't gonna fit you at all, baby-girl, but you right. Big shoes." Russel nods in approval.
They head to the kids shoe isle, specifically little girls. The majority of them are pink and sparkly, though there's those new shoes that light up when you stomp. They're the newest fad with kids; they're seen a lot around here. Stuart doesn't understand the use of those things, but he finds them cool. Too bad he's not a young lad anymore; otherwise he'd wear them all the time.
"Wow! Ah. Much a shoe."
Stuart sets her down on the floor gently. "Yeah! It's like a shoe house or something!"
Russel's looking round at the prices. They're really expensive, he notices. At the same time, he's glad the band's made a shit ton of money. He remembers back when he was a kid; his parents wouldn't have been able to afford these shoes. Hell, the cheapest ones are forty quid! That's enough money to buy a week's worth of food. He's glad Noodle doesn't have to deal with not having enough money.
"Red shoe!" Noodle exclaims, waving at Russel rapidly. She's located some red rain boots with ladybug spots on them.
"Oh, those are nice, Noods!" Stuart compliments.
"You want these ones, baby?" Russel asks.
"Hm, hai. Red shoe. Good, good." The girl grins.
"Gotta try 'em on. You need to get another couple pairs, though, rain boots will give blisters if you wear them long enough." Advises Russel.
"Ohh." Noodle obviously doesn't understand what he'd said, but she slips the rubber boots on quickly. Russel feels around the toe to check if it fits.
"Good enough. Two more pairs, then, girl," he eyes the price tag. Fifty quid. Sighing, Russ puts the shoes back in the box and hands it to Stuart. "Hold this." He instructs.
"Okay!" Stuart agrees.
"Rus-ol get a shoe?" Noodle asks, walking over and gesturing that she wants to be picked up. Russel obliges.
"Don't need any. I've got another pair at home. 'Sides, it's not like I've outgrown my shoes, ya know?" Russel pushes bangs from her eyes, then kissing her forehead. "Don't worry bout me, aight?"
"Nn." She replies. "No like. Umm. Noodle no like oth-ur shoe." Noodle informs him. "Is. Um, is.. No good? Uh, very no."
"That's fine, we can find a different shop." Russel tells, chucking again.
"Hai. Red shoe?" Noodle looks at Stu and makes grabbing motions with her hands.
"Gotta buy 'em first, baby." The large man reminds her. He shifts her so she's rested on his hip as they start walking to the register.
"Oh! Buy? Uh, what a buy?"
Russel doesn't answer, instead preoccupied with the sight of the growing amount of people coming in the store to catch a glimpse of the trio. "Fuckin' hell." Russel grunts, holding her tighter. He won't give the crowds any real acknowledgement as long as they keep a distance. The drummer hopes that they won't approach since Murdoc's not there to encourage them. However, Noodle's noticed the crowd, too. Instead of being wary, she pastes a celebrity smile on her face and waves, humming a bit.
When it's their turn in the cue for the register, Russel tells the rather confused worker to hurry on with it. Stuart places the shoebox on the countertop, consistently glancing back and forth between the crowds and the register. "Maybe we should say hello to them?" He suggests.
"No, we don't want them getting any ideas." Russel sighs. "I guess it's too late to stop the word from passing to the actual paparazzi that we're here."
"Big person! Many!" Noodle says helpfully, soaking in the attention.
"Mhm." Russel replies, handing the shop worker his debit card. He'd definitely prefer it if there weren't so many people taking their picture.
"Alright, let's get her shoes on and head out of here for the next shop," he says, taking his card and the shoes from the person. "Toss the box for me, will ya? He requests as he walks out of the store to locate a bench. All the people are admittedly making him nervous. He doesn't like that. He's got a gut feeling that something's gonna go wrong. Then again, he has that feeling often. On the other hand, Russel senses that Del's got the same feeling. That doesn't usually happen.
Finally locating a vacant bench, he sets Noodle down on it and pulls her socks from his pockets. "Alright, put these on, yeah?" Russel asks. She does a thumbs-up again and starts pulling them onto her bare feet, still humming. He's identified the song she's humming as the bassline for 'Starshine', her current favorite track in the new album. She's got a real good voice, they just need to teach her to harmonise. Russel thinks he remembers Murdoc mentioning that he's gonna see about getting Miho Hatori to teach her.
"Oh-kay!" Noodle exclaims, looking up at Russ expectantly.
"Done? Alright, put these on, then." Russel says.
She does so quickly, then leaping from the bench to her feet. The guitarist stomps a foot experimentally, giggling when the rubber squeaks on the tile.
"Ooh! Those are nice shoes, luv! They're perfect!" Stu says, admiring the bright red boots.
"A red shoe!" She agrees happily. "Get Noodle shirt?"
"Let's find another shoe store, first. Getting clothes will take longer." Russel replies, letting her take his hand. She grabs ahold of Stuart's hand with her other one.
"Oh-kay!" Noodle squeezes her father figure's hand tightly, grinning up at him. The trio have all blocked out the sounds of the crowd for the time being, instead focused on getting to a better store. A cheaper one; Russ secretly hopes, even though they've got enough money to start their own country. Well, not that much, but definitely close. Old habits stick with ya, after all. He supposes it's better to spend the money on things Noodle needs than gallons and gallons worth of alcoholic beverages.
"You know, maybe Murdoc's getting more stupid hats? I think he might be wearing that one so he appears taller." Stuart suggests suddenly.
"Could be, but I dunno why he'd be so excited over getting hats." Russel points to a different shoe store; one with a neon orange sign.
"Oh, right." He frowns, going back to his thoughts.
"Hm, um..N-no good." Noodle lets go of Stuart's hand for a moment to point at a photographer who's standing at the front of the shop they're trying to enter. The person's a very short, greasy looking guy; a bit creepy in appearance. Not creepy in the way that Murdoc is, she likes the way Murdoc looks. This man is causing alarm bells to ring in her head. "U-up, Rus-ol. No like a store." She pulls on his shirt urgently. The usually-shining dark brown eyes peeking out from behind her bangs are filled with fear.
Russel snatches her up quickly. He doesn't like the looks of the man, either. Immediately, Noodle buries her face in the crook of his neck. "It's okay, baby. I ain't gonna let him get any closer. C'mon, dee, let's go to a different shop."
Stuart nods rapidly. "Yeah, good idea."
"Watashi wa kare ò koroshitaidesu!" Noodle exclaims, peeking a bit over Russel's shoulder to glance at the photography. "Yaki korosu!" She adds before burying her face back under Russel's head.
(Translation- 'I want to kill him!'; the other one is something along the lines of 'I want to kill by burning', or 'kill it with fire!' It doesn't perfectly translate into English. Fuckin morbid kid. We all love her anyway.)
"What'd she say?" Stu asks.
"She wants to.. Um. Think she said 'him' at some point, but she was speakin' too fast for me to be able to translate the rest." Russel replies.
Noodle clutches Russel's shirt in her hands tightly. She thinks that the photographer's following them along with the rest of the crowd, and really doesn't like it. Noodle's gone pale with fear.
"Oh, Russ, Noodle doesn't look too good." Stuart looks down at the girl nervously.
Russel follows suit, a grimace on his face. He knows that this guy can't be safe if she's acting this way. "Noodle.." He says, worried.
She whimpers, wrapping her arms round his chest as best she can. Russel holds her firmly, making shushing noises. "You're just fine, baby, don't be scared. I'm gonna fuck that greasy pile of shit up if he don't lay off."
"B-Bad, uh, um, ugh.." Noodle doesn't know how to put the correct words together to make an understandable sentence.
"How about we go find her that new shirt she wanted, Russ?" Stuart asks. His first instinct is to distract her from the situation.
"Guess so." Russel agrees.
"A, um. N-Noodle shirt?" Noodle looks up at him.
He nods down at her. "Yeah, baby. Whatever you want."
"O-oh-kay." Noodle holds tight to him, still sniffling. Her hand reaches out so she can clasp into Stuart's hand again. "Uhh..Want Mu-doc also." The girl requests.
"We'll get him in a bit, baby-girl. He's just fine by himself." Russel sighs, wondering yet again what the bassist could be up to. He has the suspicion that Noodle won't feel better at all until she sees all of her boys safe. He thinks it might have to do with her nightmares.
"Yeah, Murdoc's fine! He's the toughest ever!" Stuart puts in.
"You all yakking about me, eh?" Murdoc's voice sounds from beside the three, startling all of them.
"Jeez, Muds. Don't fuckin do that!" Russel complains.
"Oh. Ello, Murdoc! We were just talking about you!" 2D grins.
"I heard, faceache. Anyhow, this mall is a disappointment." Murdoc goes on, obviously not caring about the enormous crowd behind them. "Say, what's the matter with Noodle? She not feeling well?"
"There's a hella creepy pap over behind us somewhere. She's scared outta her mind of him, and I don't blame her." Russel explains.
Murdoc turns his head to finally take a look at the crowd. "I don't see jack shit."
"He's probably hidin'. He was real short." The drummer says.
Noodle finally lifts her head to see Murdoc, her eyelids red from roughly rubbing at them. "Mu-doc.." She mumbles.
Russel hands her down to the bassist gently, his expression dark. He's never really seen Noodle this upset, and he doesn't believe that a normal photographer would have this effect on her. Whatever this dude's intentions might be, he's sure they ain't right.
"Now, now, dove, why so upset? You can kick the living daylights out of me, do so on a regular basis; so why should this bastard be any different?" Murdoc asks.
Noodle shakes her head, burying her face in his shirt. She likes the way he smells, it's comforting.
"Wow, this arsehole must be something." He says, looking a bit befuddled. At the same time, Murdoc is a bit pissed off. No one's allowed to upset his little Noodle, he won't allow them. Again, he turns to look for the man who'd upset her. "Don't see the fellow." He says again.
"Dunno, I think he's off hiding somewhere." Stuart says.
"We're just headed to get Noods some new clothes. We were gonna go in the shop over there to get her some more shoes to go with those boots, and that's when she saw him in the doorway. We saw him too." Russel explains to Murdoc.
"Well, that's not any good, is it? Oh, but her boots, let me see." He sets Noodle down. "Show me your new shoes, girly," Murdoc requests.
Noodle looks at him silently for a moment before turning her gaze to her feet. "Oh, a red shoe, Mu-doc. Good." She taps one of her feet, then sliding it a bit to show him the fun squeaking noise they make.
"Oh, I quite like that! They're very nice." Murdoc admires, and he means it.
"A good, yeah?" Noodle giggles, letting him pick her back up. "Russel got no a shoe."
"He probably doesn't need them, dove. No one's really growing anymore, save for you. Unless the dullard is still growing. He's like a weed, the way he's grown." Murdoc replies. He's craving a fag, again, but decides that he can wait until they're back towards the car. If the creepy bloke does come back, he'll definitely want to see why there was such a big fuss about him.
"I'm not a weed!" Stuart protests.
"Oh, shut it." Murdoc commands with a glare.
"No fight." Noodle says, her head rested on Murdoc's shoulder. The child rests her hand on his cheek as she so often does.
Murdoc rolls his eyes, but doesn't say no.
"How about this shop?" Russel points to a generic-looking store.
"Hai." Noodle replies, looking at the drummer. "A Noodle shirt."
"Good plan." Stuart says.
Murdoc starts over, rubbing her back absently. It's just an instinctual thing, but it definitely seems to do the trick. She's looking much calmer, now. Russel is pretty sure that it's also due to the fact that she has all her boys present. That's important to her.
Noodle's closed her eyes. She hasn't been carried by Murdoc for a few days, and she'd missed it. "Mu-doc a good."
"Of course I am. I'm me. Now, do you want to get down? It's time to sort through all of this rubbish, maybe we'll find something suitable for you." Murdoc asks.
"Hm, no down. A Mu-doc." She replies, tightening her hold.
Murdoc sighs. "You'd think she's three, the way she's actin'." He complains. He doesn't put her down, though.
"I don't really think she had, um. People she could hug. You know, before she got to us." Stuart suggests shyly.
"Probably not," Russel agrees with a nod. "She had all those bruises on her arms when she got here, and if that don't tell you nothin'.."
(He's referring to the bruising caused by injections. Though, he doesn't know they were caused by injections, he just knows it wasn't anything good that caused the bruising, if you catch my meaning. But with the whole Super Soldier thing, I'm certain that she's just been experimented on non-stop throughout her life.)
"Right, well. Whatever." Murdoc says. He glances down at her arms momentarily. She's definitely scarred, that's for sure. Again, a bit of anger flares up within him. He's more than familiar with the feeling of wounds caused by someone else, and he wouldn't have wished that on anybody. Especially not on her.
"Mu-doc?" Noodle asks, confused. "Uh, a.. A sad?" The hand rested on his cheek hasn't moved.
"Hm, no. No, not really." The bassist replies, shifting through racks of clothing with his free hand. He's not really looking, it's mostly rubbish, as he'd figured it would be.
"Noodle, um. Noodle red shirt?" She'd been considering what clothes she would want to get.
"Ya really like red, don't you, baby-girl?" Russel chuckles from beside them.
"Hai, a good." Noodle answers, now playing in Murdoc's hair. She's extra careful not to pull it, though.
"All these shorts are too short. What, do they expect me to let my kid wear something that small? She's nine! Fuckin cracker asses." Russel complains.
"I have to agree, that's a bit too provocative." Murdoc agrees begrudgingly. "Just imagine when she wants to bring some bloke home in a few years, won't that be just a blast? Can't wait to scare the shit outta him!"
"She ain't allowed to date until she's married." Russel replies, only half joking.
"Don't say that, she's still so little! You'll make her grow up too fast, and then she'll be adult by next year and we'll be old guys!" Stu urges nervously.
"Noodle a big. No small!" Noodle protests.
"Sure, lovely. Certainly you're the biggest man in the room." Murdoc jokes.
Russel laughs at this, ruffling Noodle's hair. "Hows about this one, girl?" He pulls out a bright red overcoat from one of the racks.
"Ooh! A red shirt!" Noodle grabs at it.
Murdoc finally sets her down, grinning. Afterwards, he turns to look at the crowds again. How they're going to get out of the mall, he doesn't quite know. They're bloody enormous!
His gaze fixes on a particular man fitting the description that the others had given him. The man's familiar to him, and he now knows why she'd been so afraid. "Huh, that bloke's ugly as all hell can be!" He mutters to Russel. He's trying to avoid alerting Noodle to his presence. "Now, why is he so familiar?" He glances down again at Noodle, who is doing a fashion model walk around wearing the coat Russel had suggested. "Ohh. That's ol' Jimmy Manson, that's who he is."
"You know him?" Russel looks suspicious to no end.
"Um. Well. Yeah, sort of. He's an old, well. Can't say pal, but.. He'd been a prospective guitarist when we'd sacked Paula. Haven't seen him in months." Murdoc explains.
"Looks like he's got an accomplice." Russel grunts. "How convenient."
Before Murdoc can see who Russel's referring to, he feels a tug on the hem of his jacket. "Rus-ol, Mu-doc, a good shirt?" Noodle interrupts. She's looking back to her normal self; positively radiating joy.
Murdoc looks at her with amusement. "It's very nice, dove. Suits you well." He tells her.
Russel smiles at his daughter. "Very pretty, baby-girl. You could be a model or some shit, you know?" The large man says, doing a thumbs up at her.
Noodle giggles, blushing. "Ah! Good, good!" Stuart's holding her hand as they start the search for more prospective clothing items.
"They've gone again." Russel comments quietly. He's being extra careful not to let the other two hear him.
"Oh, bugger." Swearing under his breath, Murdoc makes his way over to Noodle and Stuart. "You two found anything else?"
"No, she thinks that they're all, uh, really stupid. The other clothes, I mean." Stu explains.
"Well, this is the clothing for six year olds. She's nine." Russ points out.
"It's sad that she's not big enough for clothes that are meant for people her age. Not fair." 2D looks sympathetic.
"Hm, a, uh. What this." Noodle gestures to a navy blue tank with the number '23' on it. She doesn't remember what numbers look like in English lettering.
"She doesn't fuckin know what numbers are?!" Murdoc looks incredulous.
"She ain't even been here a month. I haven't had time to teach her the numbers, yet." Russel glares at Murdoc.
"No! No fight!" Noodle protests. She's getting a bit annoyed with this.
Murdoc rolls his eyes again. "They're numbers, Noodle. Two and three, it makes twenty-three."
"It's, I think, ni and, uh, san." Russel says. "Two and three. In Japanese."
Noodle nods, understanding. " Ooh! Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, yottsu!" She grins.
(Russ is speaking Sino-Japanese, while Noodle is speaking Native Japanese. Native Japanese, when being used for counting, is usually only used up to ten.)
"Right, numbers." Russel pats her head.
"Nu-bur." She repeats.
"Number." Russel says again, slower this time.
"Nuh-bur."
"Good enough, eh, Russ? Smart girl." Murdoc approves.
"Up?" Noodle asks Russel. She's looking a bit befuddled.
"Sure, baby. You want that shirt?" Russel asks as he lifts her.
"Hmm, hai." She replies. "Ni san!"
"See? Twenty-three. She ain't stupid." Russel picks up the tank top.
"Never said she was." Murdoc says.
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After another twenty minutes of searching, Noodle's found three more things for herself, and now they're headed to the fitting room for her to try them on for size. She's currently rambling on about something in broken English. Enough of the words are in Japanese that they aren't completely able to understand her.
"Alright, baby, go on in there and try these things on. If you need help, let me know, alright?" Russel sets her on the tile.
"Nn." She nods her head, then going into the 'women's fitting rooms' side of the enclosure with her outfits.
The other three stand in front of the entryway to the rooms, all feeling rather awkward. "Never thought I'd be doing this," Russel comments.
"Same here. I kinda feel like we're all her real family, waiting out here, but we're not related by anything but legal papers. Y'know." Stuart considers.
Moments pass without any words. A few minutes later, there's an enraged screech from Noodle's direction, followed by a loud crash. Russel swears, rushing through the entryway. He's immediately followed by Murdoc and Stuart.
The sight they're greeted with consists of Noodle with a bloodied lip pinning a full-grown man to the floor, a gun pointed at the man's head. She's got a scowl on her face, her eyebrows scrunched together. There's a broken camera laying next to the two.
Before Russel has time to react, Murdoc's already rushing over and kicking the bastard in the nose.
Stuart goes over and picks her up, then backing away from the creep. "Noodle. Are you alright, luv?!" He demands, searching her face for any other injury he might've missed. Sure enough, there's a nasty black eye forming on the left side of her face along with the split lip.
"Yaki korosu! Kutobare!" Noodle yells down at the intruder.
(Kill it with fire; fuck you)
Russel is beyond furious, joining Murdoc in beating up the guy who had the balls to spy on his baby girl. "You bitch ass motherfucker! How fucking dare you go near her?! She's nine! Piece of shit!" He yells.
"Get off! Off of me! You're mad!" The man isn't Jimmy Manson, but instead the accomplice Russel had seen earlier.
"Oh, you think I'll let you off easy because you beg? How about we take a look see at that camera, eh? Every picture of her I see," Murdoc's absolutely seething, "I BREAK one of your fucking fingers!"
Noodle looks as if she's in a lot of pain, but at the same time she's trying to break free from Stuart's arms to rejoin the beating up of the man. "Let. Go!" She demands angrily.
"No! You're hurt! Not letting you get any closer!" Stuart replies, voice surprisingly steady.
Noodle whimpers once before touching her lip. "Ow.. No good.." She looks at Stuart for a moment before hugging him. "Want a Rus-ol.." She sniffs, voice brittle.
"You can tell your boss that we ain't gonna stand for you taking those disgusting pictures of her, and I'll be taking the camera. Keep the fuck away from her, or I ain't gonna be so merciful next time, you catch my drift?" Russel's still positively radiating anger.
"Well said, Lards. Although, it's a bit sad I ran out of fingers to break." Murdoc complains, aiming a swift kick into the man's crotch. "That's for hurting her."
"Russ, Noodle wants you." Stuart tells the drummer.
Russel steps over, taking Noodle from 2D gently. "It's alright now, baby, he's not gonna be back. We were sure to leave a lasting impression." He says, picking up the clothes she had tried on.
Noodle is fighting back tears now that the adrenaline has worn off. "H-home.." She requests, her arms as tight around Russel as they'll get.
"Yeah, that's the plan, baby-girl." Russel shoves the clothing into Stuart's arms so he can hold Noodle tighter. "Let's go home."
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Hey everyone! This chapter was way too long, so I'm gonna keep the note short. Next up, Lety's story request! Thanks for that!
Murdoc's hat is a reference. Let me know if you get it!
Until next time,
Liz
