'Dancer sloshed off the Max and hurried over to the covered pavilion. Casting a baleful eye at the rain she wished again that she was back in San Diego.
"Abysmal weather," she muttered sourly, watching the winter's rain come down in torrents. Shivering in the cold she finally made a dash for the Civic Center's awnings as the rain lightened up a bit. Lightening flashed overhead as a line of poetry flashed through her mind.
and the lightning with it's rapid wrath
'Dancer hurried across the crosswalk and quickly came into sight of the slightly dilapidated apartment building that her friend lived in. That was, when she was in town. Just as she started up the steps, 'Dancer heard a groan coming from the alley. Curiosity fought and overwhelmed her desire to go inside and 'Dancer peered into the dim gloom of the back alley.
Standing over what appeared to be a pile of garbage where three men, all wearing a various assortment of chains and leather. Punks. 'Dancer thought in disgust. Just what we need to turn this into a B-rated movie. She started leave when she realized that the pile was alive and the punks were kicking it. Her heart went out to the unfortunate animal.
"Oye!'' The men looked up. Because there was a light behind 'Dancer they could only see a vague figure's silhouette. "You know that whatcha doin' carries a maximum penalty?" She asked dryly. One of the men recognized the timber in her voice and said to his partners,
"Well, well, if it isn't a girlie cop." Walking toward her he hefted a pipe. "Le's have some real fun, boys." His two stooges followed eagerly behind.
'Dancer stood her ground as they came closer, then turned and fled to the entrance of the alley where she had better room for maunverablity. Laughing evilly the leader charged her, pipe held over his head. At the last second she stepped forward and to the side grabbing his arm and using his own momentum to introduce him to the brick wall behind her. He hit with a sickning thud, almost, but not entirely masking the approach of his two buddies. 'Dancer saw them approaching out of the corner of her eye, and met the lead attacker with a back fist punch to his unprotected face, a swift side kick to his knee crushing his knee cap, and then the bones of his instep as she brought her foot heavily down upon his. Howling in agony he dropped in time for her to block the last punk's wild swing and reverse punch him right under the arm in the rib cage pressure point. Staggering backwards a couple feet the man's eyes rolled wildly before he hit the ground and lay there writhing and vomiting in pain.
Seeing that these men weren't going to be going anywhere soon she breezed past them and walked over to the animal they had been abusing. With a sudden shiver she leaned forward and realized that it wasn't large dog like she assumed, but a person. A solitary diamond snowflake drifted down onto the person, soon followed by others.
and the snow with it's whiteness
"Well I'll be damned." she muttered. "Oye, chico, you still with us?" The pile of rags stirred and groaned, which 'Dancer took for a yes. "Humph, you boys are all alike," she grumbled helping him to his feet. "first you fight each other then you have to have us women come and patch up your asses. Geez chico, you weigh a ton." Then she threw his arms over her shoulders and dragged him past the semiconscious thugs and into the apartment building.
Once inside she hefted him to the janitor's elevator and punched then the button for the top floor. "I am not going to carry you up four stories of stairs." She told the unconious man leaning against her back. After fumbling with the keys, she kicked the apartment door open. "Casa, dulce, casa" she muttered to herself seeing the regular disarray of Katy's apartment. Carefully navigating through the messy front room she dragged the man into the guest room and laid him down on the bed, and pulled a blanket over him. That was when she got her first good look at him.
"Holy Shinto!" she exclaimed, jumping back. Then leaning forward she reached to touch his face. "Is it some kind of mas-" suddenly a blue hand grabbed hers in an iron grip. The man's gray eyes were open and they bored into hers.
"No," he rasped "it is not some kind of mask."
The face was a pale blue, with what looked like rocks inlaid in the cheeks and along the jawline. His eyes were also ringed with these pebbles and his hair and skin had an overall metallic sheen to it.
"Okay, I was just wondering." She said nonchalantly, twisting free of his grasp. His hand fell as though it had no more strength in it and he watched her though half closed eyes. "You sure are a mess though. You should really go to a hospital."
At the mention of a hospital he came to life again and tried to grab her hand. 'Dancer batted it aside as he whispered, "No! No more people!" 'Dancer looked at him, hard, for a long minute before she nodded. "Fine, just let me clean your wounds before they get infected, 'kay?" He gave a tiny nod and she hurried to find a clean towel and some disinfectant.
Outside the snow came down thicker.
Returning she tried to get him to talk to her. "So, what's your name? I can't keep calling you chico, you know." She asked, carefully wiping several cuts clean and wrapping his arm in gauze. "Zelgadis" he whispered, seeming unnoticing of the sting of the rubbing alcohol.
"Well, I'm Stormdancer Saisan, but everyone calls me 'Dancer. Mind if I ask you what you were doing with those losers?" Tilting his head back gently she cleaned several nick and scratches on his neck and left cheek. "Trying to get back." he rasped pulling out of her grasp as he rolled over.
"You're welcome" She said sourly, collecting her things. A quiet snore answered her and she tiptoed out of the room, shaking her head at men in general.