[CLOSED]

[pullingamiko]

Who: Miko and Knock Out, Eusine, and Neku
Where: Out and about around LA
When: Within a few days after this
What: Miko finally meets up with some... "friends" again.
Warnings: Knock Out doing Knock Out things, discussion of scary jail/cyborg attacks

[Prompts below]

Comments

KNOCK OUT

[pullingamiko]

When Miko sees the car again, she doesn't hesitate. Sure, this guy may have threatened to run her over - repeatedly - the last time she saw him, but now they've talked once, they sort of know each other, oh who is she kidding she just wants to talk to the cool sports car again.

"Yo, Knock Out! What's up?" She jogs up to him and bends down slightly, apparently peering into a window - less out of any desire to make it look like she's talking to the driver and not the car itself than in case his eyes are there or something because who even knows how they work when they're cars.

[buffthis]

Oh, come on.

It's bad enough that Knock Out spent the better part of a week in that hellish prison. Bad enough that Megatron's been in a mood, that they still don't have the complete synth-en formula...now he's just off on a leisurely drive and he's getting pestered by the organic population again. How's he supposed to get any peace and quiet to himself around here? Maybe he ought to change his alt mode, scan something else, but honestly, he's rather attached to his one. Everyone else should just leave him alone.

Worse yet, it's an organic who knows his name. He actually recognizes her after a moment -- the unique hair helps, because honestly, the fleshies mostly all look the same to him. He'd almost liked this one, too -- she's got spirit -- but he's in no mood for her antics today.

"Buzz off, little insect," he snaps, revving his engine, a sign he's about to pull away. "I don't have time for idle chatter. Now shoo."

[pullingamiko]

"Wow, seriously? Again?" Her indignation is short-lived; ignoring the indication that he's about to leave at any second, she continues, taking on a more playful, intentionally needling tone. "What are you so busy with anyway, then? Every time I see you you're all 'no, fuck off, I gotta do robot things'. Are you ever not running off to do some shady crap?"

[buffthis]

"My business is none of yours," snaps Knock Out, impatient with the fact that he apparently can't shake this human on his own terms, no matter what he does. He revs his engine a little, as much a threat as anything. "And more important than anything you've ever done, I'm sure. Whatever gave you the impression that I have the time to waste with you, or the inclination to bother? I don't fraternize with fleshies."

[pullingamiko]

"Whoa, okay, could we just dial back on the personal insults here? For once?" Second time talking to him, granted, but that's enough to count as a pattern, right?

This time she does acknowledge the revving - but seems to kind of horribly misinterpret it. "And you're not going anywhere, got it? If you wanna get rid of me you're gonna have to try being polite for once!" With that, she reaches out, opens the door, and jumps into the passenger's seat, shutting the door behind her.

She crosses her arms smugly, clearly thinking she's won here. Somehow.

[buffthis]

One of these days, he's going to learn to keep his doors locked.

Knock Out might have been impressed with Miko's attitude once, but today he's in no mood for her games. He can't just eject her from his cab -- much though he'd like to -- but Knock Out's been feeling tetchy, a little on edge, and Miko's unwittingly provided him with the perfect opportunity to blow off a little steam. He's been fairly hands-off with the local skinjobs -- saving most of his penchant for cruelty for the TRIDENT scientists who really have it coming -- but it might be time to cut a little loose. Warm up a little, so to speak. Oh, he's not going to kill her...but she could really stand to learn a few lessons about respecting her biggers and elders. Particularly the biggers and elders who are made of several tons of living metal.

The engine revs louder, mixed in with a dark, haughty chuckle in Knock Out's voice that seems to echo in his cab. "Oh, it's a ride you want, is it? Don't you humans have a saying for this? Careful what you wish for?"

His entire frame seems to jerk as he lurches forward, going from zero to sixty terrifyingly fast -- his tires squeal on the asphalt, blowing through a stop light before anyone can even take notice as he heads for the edge of the city. They'll need a little privacy.

[pullingamiko]

"WHA- hey, whoa, what is this-" She's thrown against the back of the seat by the acceleration, clinging to the sides with both hands.

"Where are you taking me?!" There's almost more anger breaking into her voice than fear; she hadn't thought that he might actually be serious about all those threats, and even now it was only starting to really dawn on her as a possibility, and it was a possibility that she really, really hated.

[buffthis]

"Somewhere we can have a considerably more private chat," Knock Out sneers, his voice smug and vicious all at once. The dashboard lights up as he speaks, its eerie red glow almost menacing as he speeds through the city streets with his fleshy little cargo in tow. Oh, she'll think twice about bothering him again once he's through with her -- he's sure of it. "That is what you wanted, isn't it? To talk?"

[pullingamiko]

"Uh, yeah, but- talking doesn't really require you to basically kidnap me, does it!" She does not like this at all; she rests a hand tentatively on the door handle, legitimately wondering whether she could just kind of... open the door and jump out. He is going awfully fast, but she's considering taking her chances at this point.

[buffthis]

"I'm sorry -- did you think you were in control of this situation?"

His voice echoes throughout the cab, the locks on both doors engaging with a snap. And just for good measure, the passenger side seat belt leaping out to buckle itself across her frame, just for good measure. Make no mistake -- it's not about safety, it's about keeping her just where she is.

"Because I'm the one calling the shots around here."

[pullingamiko]

She struggles with the seat belt for a few seconds, but, of course, it won't come off.

"Look, just- let me go and we can forget this ever happened, okay?"

[buffthis]

"Oh, no. I'm afraid not." Knock Out's voice is hardly regretful; if anything, it's cruel, coldly amused. "I warned you, didn't I? You had your chance."

[pullingamiko]

Miko clenches her teeth, still clutching the seatbelt in both hands. She glares at the steering wheel and tightens her grip.

"Fine, then. You'll have to let me out eventually, just wait, and then- just wait."

Her voice totally isn't shaking. Not at all. Nope.

This is so much worse than being knocked out and kidnapped by a cyborg.

EUSINE

[pullingamiko]

It's not exactly that she's given up on finding those guys again; she's still keeping an eye out, definitely. Not actively looking for them anymore, that takes more focus than she can keep up for this long, but looking around every so often, just in case.

Besides, she's got stuff to do. Like replacing the clothes that she was wearing when she got kidnapped (and thrown into sweaty jail), which she made sure to dispose of soon after getting out. Unfortunately, her landlord wouldn't let her actually burn them behind the building.

She's wandering around a clothing store, carrying a couple items in her arms, when she notices a guy who looks... oddly familiar. Maybe it's the ridiculously brightly-colored outfit (not that she has room to talk), maybe it's some kinda bullcrap about how he 'carries himself' or whatever... no mostly it's the clothes. And the fact that she has definitely seen the lower half of his face before.

"Hey, uh- Do I know you?" She's pretty sure she does, but it doesn't hurt to check.

[superball]

He startles a bit when Miko starts talking to him, partially because he hadn't seen her coming and partially because he's heard that voice before.

He turns around, slowly. The whirlwind of emotions that passes over his face when he realizes who just approached him is a sight to behold: it's some ungodly mix of relief, fluster and disbelief, and it looks downright comical.

"I'm afraid not!" he hurriedly spurts out, raising the jacket he was holding up in front of his face. He's not trying to hide himself! He's just taking a closer look at the fabric. Yes. "You must have mistaken me for someone else!"

Of course, this is kind of ruined by the fact the only differences between him and the Mysticalman are a mask, messy hair, and slightly more indecent clothes. Heck, his eyes are even the same startling shade of blue (albeit less glowy.)

[pullingamiko]

Okay, yeah, that's definitely him. "Nah, man, I'm... pretty sure I haven't." Her eyebrows draw together a bit, and she leans around the jacket to look at him again.

"It's okay, dude, I'm not gonna expose your secret identity or anything." Her voice drops in volume as she mentions secret identities; see? She's being quiet about it, not even shouting for all the world to hear. So considerate. "So you can stop hiding, okay? I just want to talk."

For that matter she's not sure how 'secret' this guy's identity is, all things considered, but mentioning that doesn't seem conducive to getting him to stop... whatever this is.

[superball]

He's not hiding, he's giving himself time to assess the situation. That's totally different.

"Oh, you must be referring to my twin brother!" he declares, in that kind of loud, emphasized tone of voice one would use to make sure that if there are any people around they'll think this is a completely boring conversation not worth listening to. He lowers the jacket a bit, but only to give the cut a better look; he was legitimately looking at the quality, thank you very much.

He's much quieter when he resumes speaking, in the same way a boombox at max volume is much quieter than a plane crash. "I hope you'll forgive my outburst, I'm not exactly used to being exposed in public!"

Except when he's the one doing the exposing, like he did with Flourish in that one coffee shop. Or depending on your definition of "expose", when he casually rips off his shirt.

[pullingamiko]

It's sort of unbelievable, but Miko is pretty sure that she could do subtlety better than this guy. Okay, not necessarily, but he is at least as bad as her, and that's saying something.

"Already said I wasn't gonna expose you, man. Unless you count one person recognizing you as 'exposed'." She shrugs. "Besides, it's not my fault you're so obvious."

She switches topics immediately, because that is what you do after making a rude comment about someone's competence at maintaining a secret identity.

"So... how're you doing? Kinda looked like it hurt when... uh..." She sets down her armful of clothing on a shelf for the express purpose of pointedly smacking her hands together with a "psssh-WHAM" noise.

[superball]

He opens his mouth to argue about the bit about him being obvious, but he's cut off by Miko's sudden change of topic. It's a bit of a new experience. He's usually the one who interrupts people.

When she mentions their previous encounter, though... Well, he just can't stay miffed. He winces when she smacks her hands together, but part of it has to do with the fact she must have been worried, and if there's something he hates it's worrying people.

"Hah! Nothing that could bring the Mysticalman down." The usual bravado. Unfortunately for his ego, he knows she was right there when he violently hit the wall, and so he amends: "Not permanently, at least. Truth be told... It is you I was worrying about. It's a relief to see you appear to be fine!"

He looks a tiny bit awkward. Almost as if he suddenly felt inappropriate as a superhero for failing to rescue her. Almost.

[pullingamiko]

Okay, his attempt at brushing off the wall collision is a little eyeroll-inducing, definitely, but she's sort of thrown off by the next thing he says. Normally when she talks to people about times when she messed up and got herself (and possibly other people) in trouble, their reaction is at least half 'what is wrong with you, why would you do that'. But this guy doesn't seem angry or anything, just... relieved. That's new.

"Yeah, I mean, it was no big deal!" she insists, partly to reassure him and partly because what else is she gonna say, that it really sucked and she was kind of freaking out the whole time? Besides, she was definitely way better off than some of the other victims. "Actually, they didn't really hurt me at all."

She pauses; of course, there is something that's still been bothering her. "I... kinda lost track of the guy who was grabbed with me, though. When I got moved to a different place."

[superball]

He seems to regain his confidence just as quickly as it faltered a few seconds earlier, both from the reassurance that his actions didn't lead to Miko getting hurt and the fact he can totally fill her in on what happened to the other guy. Eusine changes moods roughly as often as he changes shirts, and most of them - mental states and clothing alike - are garish.

"Hah! You needn't let this trouble you anymore." His grin is confident, a bit cocky even, and it probably counts as some sort of minor miracle that the jacket he's holding hasn't fallen to the floor due to his penchant for dramatic gesturing. "A wind of ill omen was blowing over the city, the day those dreadful towers revealed themselves... And so I gathered a team of like-minded individuals, a heroic rescue team to put an end to this evil once and for all! It wasn't easy, of course... but as it happens, our mutual friend was amidst the first people we rescued that day!"

Truth be told the team only consisted of himself and Starbreaker, and they sort of accidentally came across each other rather than Eusine actively seeking her out... but damn if he's not going to make everything sound even more epic than it was. He is an entertainer first and foremost.

[pullingamiko]

Wow. That may be the fastest she's ever seen someone jump from "guilty and dejected" to "raving like a bad fantasy novel". Not that she knows that many people who talk like bad fantasy novels to begin with, but the point still stands.

As she listens, though, increasingly wondering what he's trying to get at here, her face lights up. "So, he's okay, is what you're saying?" She sounds vaguely exasperated, but also sort of amused and relieved. This is so much better than she had expected, even if it took an unnecessarily wordy speech for her to find out.

[superball]

Let Eusine fill the bad fantasy novel-shaped hole in your heart, Miko.

"That's correct!" He looks pretty proud of himself. There's something he's curious about, though. "You say you were moved somewhere else... Any idea why? How did you escape, anyway?"

If only she'd been in the same scary jail as Neku. He looked so cool back then.

[pullingamiko]

"Who knows." She pauses, and then, "I did piss-off one of their brainwashed guards into a coma, so that might have done it." Or maybe they just felt like moving her. The psychology of violent, kidnapping-prone AI's is a strange and incomprehensible thing.

She grins. "I got some help from another friend! Having a lot of connections can come in handy." Which makes it sound like she contacted him somehow and he came specifically to rescue her, which is incredibly inaccurate, but sounds cooler than 'he happened to be there anyway'.

[superball]

His grin widens when Miko mentions pissing off one of her guards into oblivion. He can definitely appreciate a good, unconventional way to get rid of unwanted company.

"I'm not without connections myself." Yes, it definitely sounds cooler than saying you just have a bunch of vague acquaintances. But hey, he does have Vanessa Goldpaw's number, surely that counts as a connection. "Who's your friend? Maybe I know them!"