Pleasure and Pain Part 3

Ricochet POV

Well, that could've gone better. I knew the kid was a little squeamish, but this is ridiculous. A part of me wanted to leave him be; after all, he was the only reason why I wasn't getting lit up like a jet engine in the middle of the Saharan Desert during the summertime. But unfortunately, he was my partner in crime and rule number 2 still existed.

After I got the young woman's phone number and a good shot of whiskey, I headed over to the bathroom, and it didn't take long to find the proper stall that he trapped himself in, surprised by the majority of silence but minority of sex.

Once I opened up the bathroom stall to a Frag hunched up in a crouching position, scared out of his mind as he feverishly pressed over his phone again. At that moment, it reminded me of me.

Or at least when I was a much younger, stronger man who thought he could be something other than the worst of the worst. So I decided to go the path of least resistance and take his hand. Once I dragged him just outside the bathroom door, I apologized openly.

"I'm sorry I dragged you out here; I know social events aren't really your thing. Let's go home," I said remorsefully.

And even without any words or motions, I knew for sure that Frag had said thank you. But, unfortunately, our little broment couldn't last as we heard the nearby sound of blaster fire.

From the very back of the bar, all we could hear was the slightly muffled sound of blaster fire and screaming can be heard from the masses, already making both my body and mind groan at the thought of what was on the other side.

Like seriously, 8 million people in this damn city, and somehow, danger always seems to find us. So, once again, I opted for the least stressful path forcing Frag down, hoping that we could at the very least make this without a single shot fired.

As the gunners moved in, I got a better look at them. Both were relatively of average height, weight, and build. But the similarities ended there. Their collars got decked out in the same emblem as that Taurus fellow but silver instead of gold. The guy on the left got dressed in a black tank top with shaggy facial hair and long hairy arms that looked spiked.

Combine that with the military cargo pants, and he looked like some old action hero from the 20th century. The dude on the right was a little more composed with his slightly well-toned physique, black spiky mullet, bright, beautiful blue eyes, and navy blue and black tracksuit. The two looked over the fearful crowd with cold supervision as they explained their purpose.

"Now that I have your attention let's get introductions out of the way. My name is Knuckle, and this is my friend Quill. We have a message from our dear king Damage that we want to deal out to all of you. So all you need to do is hand over all your information and identification for a hot minute. And don't worry, you'll get me back as soon as you help us smoke out some rats," the tracksuit man said in a cocky manner.

I'm not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but even I could see where this was going. Their wanted list just got a little bigger with Taurus' battle with Gum. And if they catch us with the cred cards, then we're through, which means that it's time to run like hell. Picking up on my alarm, Frag already provided me with an answer, pointing in the direction of the bathroom and making a little hopping motion with his hands.

My mind once again flashed in nostalgic warmth, remembering a time that long since past for me. A time that I would have to emulate now as, without hesitation, we both ran back into the bathroom stall. I gave Frag the alley-oop he needed to get into the small window at the end of the room in one fluid motion.

It was almost painstaking how long it took him to get out, all the while having the floor seemingly quake from the gunner's footsteps. So in a moment of brilliance or ignorance, I grabbed the nearby garbage cans, using one as a projectile and the other platform. By the time they opened the door, Knuckle was already eating a dozen paper towels with liquids that I hope was just water while I jumped up and joined Frag, who was already breathing heavily.

This served as probably the steepest reminder of how screwed we might be. Frag and I were the bottom to top, respectively, in terms of raw physicality. And we weren't precisely natural fighters like Eternus and Port, meaning right now; I have to pull out all my old tricks. So, noticing the nearby tools, I moved over to the fire escape giving Frag another boost up the ladder to let him down.

Once we were up, we ran like madmen, and we were almost able to make it to the rooftops, but my reflexes for once beat Frag's observation. With a quick dive, Frag remained unharmed at the cost of me getting hit in the calf. A burning pain seized me up as I could feel my red hot blood drip out of the wound. Frag tried alarmingly to check up on me, but I knew we had no time for that.

"Leave it; the wound isn't that deep, rubber skin remember? I'll be fine; you just play lookout."

Frag followed orders as he got on my piggyback, and with that, we started to sail amongst the rooftops. Normally something like this would be a dance for me, but between my newfound "baby weighted" passenger and my injury, the process was tough going.

My balance was so bad that when Frag pulled my left side, I almost fell with him, only securing balance in the nick of time as a bunch of blasts missed me by the skin of my teeth. Then, realizing that he was helping me, I went with the flow, dodging shots left and right. A sense of familiar freedom and excitement took over my body, forming an uncontrolled smile on my face.

"All right, kid, keep going!"

Unfortunately, like that familiar feeling, it couldn't last. As soon as I heard a loud boom that came from behind, Frag threw himself in his arms, groaning while dropping a small pebble. Noticing the upcoming jump, I startlingly lifted off, only to take a sharp spike launched into my backside! Even with the tough skin, I felt every bit of that pain, and it only got worse when gravity took over.

With my rubber-like body, the way down was a symphony of collisions as I protected Frag as best I could. But that symphony reached its final note as I landed with enough force to push the quill to the other side of my body. An almost electric wave of pain flowed over my frame, sapping my strength and leaving me hissing so hard through clenched teeth I thought that I would break them. Then, amid my utter agony, I saw Frag rustle forward.