driftfleet | Blameless Mingle

[She escaped while he was still senseless to the world. By the time he jolts back to reality, she's gone and he's lying on the ground. He's blind when he manages to get back to his feet again, but that's fine. He had lots of ways of getting around without sight. Her scent was easy to follow and he knew enough about the ship to follow. His steps were slow at first, but as his eyes began to form pupils again, the world came back in a hazy blur. He needed to think smarter. As long as he kept running into her fire and her lightning, he wasn't going to get anywhere but constantly charred.

So while she went for the cargo bay, he took a detour through engineering. He might not have known how it all worked, but he knew a power source when he saw one. Much as he might like to simply slam a set of claws and power everything off - he spared the extra few seconds to locate the power switch. The entire ship was powered down, the lights died out, and more importantly - the electronic doors to the shuttle bay were locked. Wolverine was blinded again, but he did his best hunting in the dark.

So he turned back into the corridor and began to follow her trail. This shouldn't take much longer.]

[Honestly, she had expected him to get up quicker than this-- where is he? Surely he hasn't died, and surely he hasn't turn tail and run. She doesn't think she misread his character that badly. So what is taking so long?

That's when the lights go out. Shit.

Azula is a highly skilled fighter-- she's in as much peak condition as a fifteen year old girl can be. But she's still only a regular human. She can't see or smell or sense in the dark. And she's not foolish enough to assume that this is a coincidence, either. No, this is Logan. Another part of his skillset? She doesn't want to wait around long enough to find out. There are lots of things she can do, but fighting in the dark isn't one of them.

She has a fairly good memory, though. Perhaps-- if she can get to the right wall, she can find the door to get out of the ship. Shit. Where was it in relation to her? Closing her eyes and bringing the layout of the room to mind, she thinks she recalls it, and makes a run for that direction.]

[For a man that weighed as much as he did, Logan could be surprisingly light on his feet. He had abandoned his half charred boots to make his foot steps even softer. He quieted his breathing which now came easier when nearly all of his skin tissue had returned to its normal pink. Although he could not see her in the dark, his sharp hearing could pick up her footsteps. She's running. Good.

He starts doing the same. The only sound she'll hear moments before his attack is the sudden scraping of metal as two of his claws come out. The next moment, he goes to grab her and push her into the wall. The next, the two outer claws go for her neck. But without the central claw in use, the two outer clawsare separated enough to go around either side of her throat, give or take some breakage of the skin. All of this unless she managed to slip away before he managed to corner her.]

[First of all: ow. To her credit, Azula doesn't cry out when she hits the wall hard, but even in armour, that's going to leave a mean bruise. Second of all, her head has no armour, and the back of it bangs rather roughly on the wall as she collides with it, leaving her dazed for a precious few seconds.

When her eyes refocus, Logan has her in checkmate-- claws at her neck on either side. It's a nasty scratch, to be sure-- but the ringing in her head hurts more, if she's being honest. But the worst hurt is her pride. She contemplates firing off another burst of flame at his torso, but there's no point. Bitterly, she has to acknowledge that his reflexes are too good-- in the precious seconds it would take her hands to do the necessary movements, Logan could pierce her throat.

The look she gives Logan is filled with pure loathing. But she won't cry or lose her temper here. She's better than that.]

[Logan manages to not look smug. Relieved is more the right word for it. He'd worried that she would use her flames to illuminate her surroundings - but she must have thought she could conceal her position. Smart, really. She had no reason to suspect him to be able to sniff her out or hear her foot steps from halfway across the ship.

But she was pinned. That's what really mattered. Logan might have healed by now, but he looked terrible otherwise. His shirt had been completely burned off and it was only because of ~~comic book rules~~ the environmental suit pants he'd switched into that he wasn't completely naked. His skin was blackened from the charred remains of burned dead skin still clinging to him and he stank of sweat and burned flesh. His hair had grown back in wild giving him a savage look.

Somehow though, he managed to not act completely like an animal. Though his middle claw did emerge just enough out of his hand to prick the center of her throat.]

So, help me out here, kid. Can you think of any reasons I shouldn't just finish you off?

[Despite everything, Azula still manages to reign it in-- the fear, the anger, the adrenaline-- enough to talk back and present a calm face. Girl's got some nerves of steel.

If he's waiting to hear her beg for her life, she thinks, he's going to be waiting a long time.]

Do it. You might as well. I would've done the same. Show your new crewmates what you're really made of.

[Well, he'll certainly give her credit for maintaining her calm. The whole 'do your worst' spiel is pretty dated, though. It takes effort not to roll his eyes.]

Tempting. But I'm gonna do one better. I'm gonna let you live. An' it ain't because I'm all about holdin' hands and bein' all peaceful like. You get this one on account of just being a kid.

[Ha. As she suspected. He can't do it. Well, that's good information to know too. She smirks.]

... Of course. How very noble of you.

[Azula, maybe don't bait the person who has your life in their hands.]

That what you think?

[He keeps her pinned with the two claws around her neck. But the forearm he was pressing against her chest is pulled back. In that hand is only one claw. What he does next isn't out of cruelty or payback. No. It's a precaution.

He drives a single claw into her right shoulder, expertly missing the bone.]

You've got my vote for captain, kid. Only cuz if ya don't get it, you'll just go find some other ship an' pull this shit stunt again. You're going to stay here and if you try this on anyone else again, next time I'll put one of these through your heart.

[And with that, he sheathes all of his claws and releases her.]

[She does cry out, then-- though she grits her teeth and it comes out as more of a hiss.

She almost drops to the ground when he releases her, but manages to stay standing out of sheer willpower. One hand goes to clutch her injured shoulder immediately to stem the flow of blood, though she never takes her eyes off Logan for a second. Wary.

What she wants is to slink off to medical to take care of her injury. But she doesn't want to turn her back on this man now. Not because she thinks he'll strike her down, but because it would seem too much like running away. She still has her pride. So she's stuck staring him down and gritting her teeth, waiting for him to leave first. After all, it's not so dark that she can't make him out when he's right in front of her. When she speaks again, she's panting slightly and there's no small amount of venom in her voice.]

... You've made your point.

[He might feel bad for this later. The truth is that for as much hell as she put him through and how willing she had been to kill, this was still a kid. Maybe she hadn't been screwed up in the same way as others had, but this kind of entitlement was dangerous. He had to be convinced he was doing the right thing here.]

Good. Now go get yourself patched up.

[He won't turn his back on her either - more for her sake than his own. People like this had a nasty habit of trying to get a final sucker punch in at their own expense. Better if she didn't get that chance. So instead he stands to the side.

In the meantime, the ship begins to hum again and moments later, the lights flicker back on.]

[She stares him down for a few more long moments, unmoving-- clearly weighing her pride with her current rate of blood loss.

Finally, she gives him a mocking bow with some dignity, even with her shoulder injured as it is. It's humiliating enough to lose like this. She won't let him have her dignity too.]

As you say.

[Then she turns and leaves.]

[He remains watching for long enough for her to be out of sight, then he waits long enough to listen to ensure she doesn't just fall over. Only when he's sure of that does he angrily kick over the nearby treadmill and slams his fist on the now active control console to open the shuttle bay. He was going to need some fresh air and the Starlight as as close as he was going to get to that.]

Blameless Mingle

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