~Few hours before~
Negan leans against the door frame of the RV watching, and wishing he had popcorn, as Rick desperately tries to make his way through the shit-fuck of a hoard he just got tossed in.
"We don't have all morning Rick," he says dispassionately, the whole mood of tonight ruined, not that he is mad at his Angel for having such a kind heart, just that he wanted to release some anger and they had been a justified byproduct.
"Your ass is damned lucky there was a pregnant bitch among y'all." He snarks more to himself than to his new pet project.
He watches with a shake of his head as Rick sloppily bashes the next dead that tries for his neck, it's almost like the man never tried to get used to close-hand combat with the fuckers, "god damn Rick with the little prick, I've seen little kids the size of my knee bash their brains better than this."
A mental chime makes him look to the front windshield where a transparent map that only he and Harry can see shows a group of four squads of three having crossed the passive scanning ward Harry painstakingly etched into the RV.
The one time he asks to go alone and this happens, Harry is gonna be mad.
Seeing that they are about ten minutes away and coming in his direction with a beeline intent he figures that either he or Rick is the target.
Not to brag but out of the two of them, he's the more attractive capture.
Rolling his neck Negan shifts Lucille and makes his way down the steps of the RV, his voice carrying and drawing a couple dead towards him as he mocks Rick.
"Can't believe you thought for a minute you'd one up my people if you can't handle a tiny ass herd like this." He finishes the sentence with a lazy swing that thanks to its magical reinforcement, courtesy of his beloved, it is easy as pie to cleave their heads off.
Negan swiftly dispatched the immediate group surrounding Rick; he gives the stunned man a cocky grin, pulling Lucille out of the head of one of the dead and continuing with the rest. He doesn't bother to look back, having confidence in both the protection charges upon his person and his ability to manipulate.
He gives the former cop a serious look, "Now as much as I'd love to play some more it seems we have some unseemly company,"
Uncaring of the bubbling dead still mingling towards them he steps up to Rick, his tone serious, and not the dog back at their apartment in the sanctuary. "I know you hate me, and I don't give two shits." He starts keeping an ear out for both the fast-approaching fools, and the dead getting closer.
"Shit you can wank off to the thought of my dead body, just don't think for one minute I'll let you live if you have any negative thoughts towards my Angel."
"This shit, it stays between us alright, we ain't involving our people and killing them in a senseless dick competition." Leaning forward he sneers, "You have a problem you come to me like a man and we'll duke it out and if you manage to win I'll even let you and those two shit holes of a place go, the only reason I even have them on my itinerary is that my beloved has too damned good of a heart." He spits to the side, stepping away and proceeding to pull his Glock out.
"What some real magic." He purrs feeling the gun in his hand thrum with anticipation.
Rick stares at the bodies still lying out on the field as he follows Negan back into the RV, his breathing coming in short pants and his hands barely able to hold the weight of the ax as he mindlessly walks back into the RV.
He knows he's a better shot than he is a fighter, Michonne can take him down after a few minutes in a spar when he is roped into one, but to see the sheer ease that Negan dispatches the walkers, both with and without a gun.
He hasn't felt outclassed in a while, not since his rookie years following the deputy sheriff like a lamb.
Negan's voice brings him out of his self-deprecation, "Listen up, I'm only gonna say this once."
"You'll obey my every word if you want to make it out alive, these people aren't your typical gaggle of idiots and certainly are above your pay grade, fortunately for you sugar tits, they're nowhere near my level."
Has Rick mentioned how annoying Negan's arrogance is?
Seeing the seriousness on the other man's face he reluctantly nods.
"Mind explaining at least," he asks hoarsely, slumping into the booth, watching as Negan begins to shift random things as if looking for a lever, only for him to flick a switch hidden under a pile of discarded paper with miscellaneous items written on them. He watches as the switch seems to unlace a cupboard on the roof making a rack of military-grade guns drop and hang above the counter of the kitchen area opposite where he is sitting.
Negan makes a smug hum, "you like?" He asks, as he makes his way and proceeds to look them up and down with a leer before turning back to him with a cocked hip on the table peering down at him like a king entertaining his subjects.
And he's met King Ezekiel so he knows what he's talking about.
"Got them from one of the abandoned military forts way back when my Harry has a knack for being lucky." Rick has a feeling that is more of a threat than a brag, and he doesn't understand why.
"I'm putting a lot of faith in a man who came to slaughter my people over the word of another," Negan remarks, making Rick wince.
Deep in his head, Rick will admit to wanting to use the triumph of defeating the hilltop and the kingdom's biggest enemy as a stepping stone to becoming their leader.
Shaking his head he sighs, "I wasn't prepared for this like everyone else. I woke up from a coma to my whole city was abandoned, I was lucky to find my son in all this."
"I understand what it means to love someone so much you're willing to become a monster to protect them." He admits thinking of his children, little Judith and his precious Carl.
"A coma? Shit man no wonder you went balls blazing on my people, don't excuse it mind you." Negan seems to growl.
"Dammit, you're fucking lucky." Rick feels confused, but before he can say anything a silent pop is heard, and then a chorus of them starts followed by the sounds of metal hitting metal at high velocity.
"But we sure ain't now!" Negan growls pulling a rifle and tossing it to Rick telling him to aim for the reach before proceeding to grab his own and crouching behind the front window, "Don't worry about the window, just shoot anyone who steps out of the tree line!"
After that Negan starts shooting out into the field a couple of rounds of clips settled by his feet. Rick contemplates raising his weapon and shooting Negan before realizing that if he did that then he'd have to deal with this unknown group on his own.
With a slight limp, he settles into the bedroom window feeling weird by how domestic the inside looks, looking at the wall he can see a child drawing with the words 'thank you' and 'we love you Angel', some misspelled but written with child-like love.
Shaking his head, and forcing himself to not think of the children he left parentless, he settles his stance like a stakeout from before.
It's only a minute before he hears Negan let out a soft curse and start firing.
He tenses as he sees a glint flash in the woods, he aims and steadies his breathing, feeling his body calm as the familiar feeling of aiming a weapon takes over and the instinct ingrained in him from his years of service as a cop kicks in. He watches in a dissociated state as the bullet seems to shimmer through the window fly through the air and meet its target, barely visible in the branches.
Rick shifts and lets another round miss the other, heavily dressed man who barrel rolls behind a tree he flinches as bullets tink off the window fearing the glass will break. His mind brushed the magic off as his adrenaline and hysteria from today's events. He just finishes off another one before a sudden sound of an explosion and the feeling of being slammed into the walls of the RV are the last thing he registers.
Negan slowly gets up, thankful every day for the charms his Angel can cast, otherwise the RV and himself would have been in multiple pieces by now, and then his beloved would have started a murder spree in his name.
Slowly getting up from the position he was thrown in, he takes in the situation.
It seems the explosion knocked the camper on its side and zapped up the last of every bit of magic to redirect the explosion back at the fuckers, evidence of the destruction surrounding them.
Holding out his watch he lets out a groan seeing that the explosion caused him to slam his wrist onto the table and crack in the communication rune, and his walkie is useless from being fried by the magical output bursting to protect him.
He looks towards the front windshield seeing the map still flickering as the last of the magic drains, he catches the lack of people and lets himself relax.
They either think they died or were killed by the explosion.
Standing up after checking his watch, that lets him know he's been out of it for at least an hour. He shifts his way through to the back feeling a twinge of regret as he sees all the carefully placed pictures scattered and an unconscious deputy lying limp with a bleeding head wound.
Thankfully he remembers seeing a couple of cars back on the road half a mile back, searching for the siphon he groans as he has to push the broken ceramic figures aside to find it.
Tsk'ing Negan gently pushes the various kiddie art aside, he told Harry that it wasn't practical to leave the stuff in here, but his Angel can be stubborn when it comes to what amounts to their first official home together. Not to mention Harry's past abuse and neglect, Negan isn't surprised nor is he gonna admonish his Angel for being protective of the few things he can call his.
He hopes he won't get the couch for this, as it's not like he asked to be shot with a fucking mortar.
A/n:
Ooh y'all are getting spoiled this week…
I just had the inspiration and felt it would be wrong to leave y'all hanging with anticipation of what went down.
I am not the best with action scenes so forgive me.
Do you think I portrayed Negan and Rich well enough were they aren't ooc, though in my mind Negan is at like his season 9-10 mindset(his more humane side) just still the asshole we all love.
How will harry react to his man getting caught in an explosion?
Don't forget that Sasha and the others closer to Abraham aren't going to let this slide as easy as the others will. Not to say that they didn't care for him, but let's be real with Glenn still alive they aren't as blood thirsty for revenge.
Remember this is a world where 'good and evil' is subjective, Rick and his group aren't hero's for going up and killing the saviors like they did.
Final question, do you all want Teddy to be in the story, if so do you want someone(like Luna) to arrive with him? or just have him appear on his own.
I was thinking of pairing him with Carl as a sort of star crossed lovers and Romeo/Juliette esk thing, ya know without all the dying shit.
Sorry I leave long notes all the time.
Again thank you all for the support and encouragement.
Ps: negan had to walk the rest of the way cause car ran out of gas mid way.
