[center][h1][color=black][b]John Wolf ft. Aeron and Twombly[/b][/color][/h1][/center]

[center][h2][color=black][b]Eyes in the Shadows Part 3[/b][/color][/h2][/center]







The ringing in his ears had subsided, but not by much. What was once enough to keep him planted was now more of a nusance, causing him to cuss quietly to himself as it ceased only when he would pop his ears and not for long. Luckily, his balance had returned somewhat and he managed to move what was left of his concealed position off of him and sat up.




[color=next time I won't use as much...God damn ears! Arrrrrghhh!"[/color] He mumbled as he stuck a finger in his ear, wriggling it around in the hopes it would stop but to no avail.




He sat up, and looked around his current area. The third floor of the factory changed a bit after the blast and was lucky enough to avoid a large piece of shrapnel from entering his ribcage if only by a few inches. John quietly thanked the divine for their intervention in keeping him alive. Shaking off the rather close call he begun to pack up. Taking the rifle apart was a rather simple. A button here and a slide there and the rifle was back in the case it was once in. The wolf side and stood up.




[i]Thud[/i] 




[color=black]"Sonova...That hurt"[/color] Once again he picked himself off the ground. Apparently it took a bit longer to regain balance after only being 20 or so odd feet away from a 3.5lbs C4 blast than usual. He tried shaking it off, hoping that he could push past the dizziness that came with it. [color=black][i]'Is this what being drunk is like? Shit.'[/i][/color] He rubbed the back of his head as he made to the staircase and begun his descent back down to the ground floor. John was a wolf of many things. He was a Jack-of-all-trades and only an ace of a few, killing being one of them. But it was at points like this that scared him. His ears were ringing which meant sneaking up on him would be alot easier than normal. His balance wasn't all there and sadly his sight came with that as his world still spun slowly. This would cause hand to hand combat to be that much more difficult. With these two things wrong he was even more focus than usual. Only one other time had he been this alert and he had only gotten lucky. He was slightly prepared this time around and he didn't want to take any chances. He withdrew Cujo from his left side and held it comfortably in his right hand, ready for whatever would come his way.




As Twombly scouted up the stairs, he caught the glint of something against the walls and backed up, listening. Footsteps: slow, delibrate; a heavy-set person was clearing their way down the steps, no other footsteps so it seemed safe to assume this person was alone. Just another scavenger he hoped, but why he was upstairs instead of sorting through the ruins suggested this person was more of a raider getting ready to prey upon the weak.




He knew the steps were a choke-point, there weren't too many other ways back to the ground in one piece left to this building, and although the other person was obviously cautious, they clearly were neither looking for nor expecting anybody. He gave a wave to Aeron to stay put, lest he need to worry about her well-being too. He could hear the step moving closer, and was wating for the soonest 'tell' to broadcast when they would round his corner; low ready, high ready, close to body or arms locked out... knife or gun... all variables that had to be taken into account as he made himself ready to move.




Then he caught sight of it, a boot, a flash of muzzle, and a pant-leg. His left arm shot out, and swept the slide of the custom stainless-steel M1911 back, emptying the chamber and locking the action open as he flicked the takedown-lever and separated the slide from the rest of the frame. It was here, in the stairwell that he finally could get a good look at his surprisingly well-dressed opponent. Tall, black, wearing a suit-jacket no less. His eyes then saw he was only holding the gun in one hand, and quickly focused on what the other was up to.




John had made his way down the staircase, thinking about when he would meet with...What was it again? Vex...Ah yes. That beautiful little vixen who caught his eye back in the Hole. A light smirk crossed his face until it was immediately replaced with fear and anger. A hand shot out at him, but not directly himself, rather his pistol. One of John's biggest fears was being caught off guard and it was here and now that his fear became reality. As the hand shot out, he went to lift the gun and fired, only to find that he couldn't, the slide had been taken off. So instead he released the rest of the gun and went for the hand's sleeve, gripping tightly as he launched himself off the staircase, bringing the rifle case up from underneath, aiming for the figure's chin. John was already eyeing up his next target and it would be the end game for this scavanger. 




Not liking that Twombly had told her what to do, Aeron made an unseen face behind the mask she was wearing and silently followed after the male just in time to see the attack and the reaction. Blinking in mild confusion as to how something had happened so quickly, she found that she had the advantage of actually fully studying the figure that her boyfriend(?) was fighting. [color=00aeef][b]"Oh..."[/b][/color] she murmured, [color=00aeef][b]"OH! HEY! BOTH OF YOU QUIT IT! John I swear to [i]God[/i] if you kill my... my.... IF YOU KILL MY ARMS DEALER I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!"[/b][/color]




Though she was sure the mask dulled her shouting a bit, it wasn't really all that hard to hear her considering she was pretty loud to begin with. [b][color=00aeef]"Now drop the damn case or I'll drop you,"[/color][/b] It was at this time that Aeron had leveled Twombly's rifle at the Merc and simply waited to see what he would do. She was a rather good shot, and since some distance had been put between the two, though not much at all considering a sleeve had been grabbed, she was willing to take a shot at an ear or two.




It hadn't crossed his mind that a female voice had spoke up, even yelled at him to stop but with the figure grabbing at him out in an area that few go it was hard for him to think they weren't hostile. Wolf's case connected with the other's chin. Slightly back a bit from where he was aiming, more or less the jaw. With the combined force of John jumping down to the figure and the hit to the chin, it was garunteed that both would be on the ground.  As impact came, John reached forward, grabbing hold of the filter on the figures mask and turned it, ready to rip it off its placement.




The moment John's hand came in contact with Twombly's mask, a bullet wizzed right by John's left ear and embeded itself in a pipe. If the Round whistling by him hadn't caught the wolf's attention, the ringing of metal on metal should have done the trick. [color=00aeef][b]"Warning shot, next one goes in your head John,"[/b][/color] Aeron bit out, her Violet eyes narrowed behind Luciel's mask, [b][color=00aeef]"Drop your hand. Right. Now."[/color][/b]




A muffled crack came through his hearing as did the [i]tzing[/i] of a round hitting the pipes behind him was enough for him to roll of the figure and retrieved his second pistol, Old Yeller, from its holster. The case had dropped in the fall, leaving him now with two free hands, both of which were used to steady his handgun as he brought it up to...




[color=black]"- - - -No...Aeron?"[/color] He lowered his gun slightly and cocked his head to the side. Behind the mask he was just confused but not as much as he would like to be. Aeron was known, much like Godmother, to get the job done herself if need be. She preferred to and John liked this about her. Now recognizing her lucious curves, he lowered his weapon until it was back in its muzzle-down position but He didn't however take the other figure out of his peripheral so Old Yeller's muzzle faced towards the downed figure, ready to bark at a moments notice.




[color=black]"What're you doing all the way out...Hold on..."[/color] He scratched his head before turning to the other figure.




[color=black]"Is he with you?"[/color] The question was short and quick and required and an answer as such. John didn't take many chances in the wasteland and this wasn't going to be an exception. 




[color=00aeef][b]"No shit Sherlock,"[/b][/color] came the response as she hoisted the rifle up and let it rest on her shoulder, [color=00aeef][b]"What gave you the first clue?"[/b][/color]




[color=black]"There was no first clue."[/color] He shot back.




[color=black]"I'm coming down the stairs so the first thing I see is a hand that-"[/color] Realization dawned on him that he no longer had Cujo on him and shot the downed wolf a glare from behind the mask. However his voice contrasted his current looming figure. 




[color=black]"My gun...."[/color]




[color=ed145b]"And you were about to [i]shoot[/i] me."[/color] Twombly explained, readusting his mask to make sure it was still firmly affixed to his face, [color=ed145b]"I prevented you from being able to do that. Because I'd rather not get shot... I just wasn"t expecting the typical hoodlum to keep fighting after being disarmed."[/color] He finished, revealing his gambit was perhaps, not as clearly thought-out as John had hoped.




[color=ed145b]"Anyways, it shouldn't be too hard to find it. That shiny stainless steel frame is what gave you away in the first place. I mean, seriously, what kind of person uses show-pistols out here is the wastes? By the way..."[/color] He then nodded down to his hip, revealing that in the fall, Twombly had unholstered his krinkata and had it aimed square into John's groin-region.




[color=ed145b]"I'd say we'd fought to a bit of a stalemate."[/color] He replied, holstering his own firearm before getting up.




[color=black]"First off...I was just walking down the stairs. I didn't even know you were down here let alone her. Second...It's chrome. I like chrome. Shut your face about it and finally. If I had turned any further and Aeron hadn't stopped me, that filter would have came off leaving you to di- oh...I see..."[/color] John looked down to see a firearm pointed at his groin and flicked an ear at the thought of a half-assed nuetering. He sighed and remained silent at the moment as he tried to think of ways out of that kind of situation but only one thing came to mind.




[color=black]"Alright...Stalemate it is."[/color] He reholstered his pistol and held out a hand and helped him up to his feet, figuring that he could use this wolf some time in the future. He glanced over at Aeron as he went over to where he felt he dropped the portion of his pistol.




[color=black]"So..hmmm...How long have you two known each other?"[/color] He asked rather nonchalantly, despite the recent event that had unfolded. 




[color=00aeef][b]"Nine years,"[/b][/color] Aeron replied with a shrug of her shoulders, [b][color=00aeef]"Why, you jealous or something Johnny-boy?"[/color][/b] Though it was unseen behind the painted mask, Aeron was wearing a rather large smirk, her teeth showing rather clearly.




John's arms dropped to the side, his knees bent slightly and he looked towards the wolf slowly and then back to Aeron and finally back to the wolf.




[color=black]"How the [i]fuck[/i] did you survive that long?"[/color] He asked the wolf in bewilderment as he thumbed over to her. Of course it was a shot at her, a dangerous but playful one. However, behind the mask, his eye twitched and if one listened closely enough, they would hear John's jealousy kick into overdrive with an internal scream.




[color=black][i]'Fuck you fuck you FUCK you FUCK You FUCK YOUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!"'[/i][/color]




If only they could hear what he was thinking. A light whimper was vaguely heard escaping the wolf's mouth. Thankfully covered and muffled by the mask.