"... I'm- actually... married," the nurse bluntly answers, his eyes narrowed at Papaya.
"Really?" Papaya asks, mildly disappointed... but, just nodding. "Huh. My bad, dude..."
"..." The nurse, not knowing that this is just what Papaya is like, just- checks her vitals for a moment. Making sure that her brain is still in working order...
"So- another question, if you don't mind," Papaya begins to speak again, coughing and enduring the surplus amounts of poison in her body. "Why are there several people screaming in the background? I can hear utter panic and all..."
"Oh, uhm... well, while you were unconscious-" the nurse begins to explain, before seeing... another man walking into the ward. "Ah- sir, you can't be in here! Please, I have to ask you to leave immediately!"
"W-Well, I'm- uh- I'm with the patients here-" explains Odette, walking into the ward with an uneasy look on his face. Nervously sweating as he stares at the nurse, wanting to check on the remaining three people. "T-The one that got taken is a- friend-"
The nurse crosses his arms. "... and we let some doctors and nurses take your 'friend'. As far as I'm concerned-"
"Oh, it's- fine-" Papaya calls out, her eyes seeing that it was Odette. Gesturing to the nurse with a weak hand, idly waving. "He's cool... know him personally and all..."
Odette... looks at Papaya with visible concern, just... discomforted and sighing. "I- I see she's awake... h-how's the- uhm- poison situation?"
The nurse... sighs. "Still trying to figure out what's in them. Best chance we have is if the white haired man, the cloud, is able to preserve some trace of the substance while remaining pure cloud."
"Right... right." Odette shifts uncomfortably, a faint smile on his face. "... I'm- I'm sorry for intruding, I don't mean to-"
"It's fine, it's fine," the nurse responds... "We're- still checking up on her, she ended up coughing some blood and all... so- might not be right for a conversation..."
Odette... takes a deep breath. "It's... well, I'm- I'll be here to help... t-their well beings are left in my hands while their guardian, technically, is o-out on business..."
Papaya looks to Odette, eyebrow raised. "Guardian...? W-We have a guardian...?"
A nod from Odette. "... Quade."
Meanwhile, Quade is driving along in Odette's motorcycle, a green and black Kawasaki-brand bike. It isn't his first choice of vehicle, but... it's respectable. He gets the style. And it is helping very wonderfully in traversing Starveil City. There is some flexibility in driving this thing.
Right now, with Odette handling things back at the hospital, Quade is just driving through the city, idly looking around. Cautious about traffic laws while on this bike, actively searching around in case the bike is faster than the gangsters' getaway vehicle...
"... hm. This rides pretty smoothly... but... huh, something feels off..." Quade mumbles to himself. "Why does it feel like there's something- off..."
"Maybe it- maybe it's the ground itself... the street?"
"Yeah, possibly. It's a downside, but I guess I have to manage with-"
...
And he immediately looks back upon hearing this voice speaking to him. Immedately recognizing the voice, and conveniently seeing the matching Verness Red clinging to his back. The little spider girl who was, in fact, not back at the hospital. Instead, she has discreetly latched onto Quade's back with her legs, and he is only just now noticing mid-drive.
"Verness?!" Quade shouts, his voice competing with the sound of the wind brushing past the two. "W-What in tarnation are you doing?! Why are you on my back right now?!"
Verness Red idly blinks as Quade finally notices she's on his back. "I- I overheard what you and Odette were saying and I didn't want you to go alone, so we just decided to come with..."
"Well, you can't just get on my back while I'm on a motorcycle, it's mighty unsafe and- ..." Quade's eyes narrow. "What do you mean, 'we'? I only see you on my..."
Immediately, Quade watches over his shoulder, conveniently timed to see Verness Orange, Verness Yellow, Verness Blue, and Verness Monochrome peek out from behind Red. Verness Red clinging to Quade's back, with the Vernesses in this order clinging to the next one. Five out of the eight Vernesses accompanying Quade, their combined weights completely- completely avoiding Quade's attention.
"... what?" Monochrome asks, tilting her head. "It's not like this is the first time we've stowed away on your back while you're doing wicked awesome things."
"Yeah, I guess you could say we're... backing you up!" Orange shouts.
Baduntsh.
The man's eyes narrow and sigh. "... Verness, y'all ain't coming with me, it's dangerous and I can't let any of you get hurt. No place for a little girl."
"As you said, though, it's dangerous. So what if you get hurt?" Yellow asks, a worried look on her face.
"Yeah, Mr. McMurphy! We have to come along, we gotta keep you safe!" Orange exclaims.
"And in case we don't gotta keep you safe, I kinda just want to knock some heads and flip someone like a pancake!" Monochrome exclaims.
Blue supportively chimes in with her convincing silence.
"..."
Quade rolls his eyes at all of that. There was no use trying to convince them, these five are set on joining him. If he tells them to leave, they'll just scurry and sneak after him... and he can't afford to drop them off anywhere, when he needed to drive after Giichi as soon as possible. "Fine. Y'all can come with. But we're making a brief stop first."
"Yaaaaay!" Orange cheers. "Where are we going, Mr. McMurphy?"
In the middle of this tense, life-threatening situation where Quade couldn't afford to waste a single second... he stops at a store that sells motorcycle helmets, leading to complete and necessary head protection for the rest of the ride.
With that, Quade continues to drive west, following Odette's directions and reaching the city outskirts. Crossing the city border and entering woodland territory now, cautiously surveying his surroundings in caution.
"Alright- so plan is, we're going to go to a warehouse and calmly, calmly ask them if we can see BB," Quade instructs the Vernesses. "We're dealing with very dangerous men, people who will hurt and shoot children if they have to. Maybe even if they just want to."
"S-So what you're saying is, if we see anyone at all, either we run or we knock them out...?" Red asks.
"No, no, Red, we need to take this calmly," Quade tells Red. "Relatively peaceful. They don't know about Odette, who I'm disguised as under this helmet... and they don't know about any of y'all. We can do this peaceful like, as long as we don't do anything whatsoever to make them panic. We clear on that?"
"Okay, but, just in case, what should we do if we are in danger, Mr. Mc- ... O-Odette?" Yellow asks, correcting herself. "If something goes wrong and we do have to fight them?"
"Just- listen to what I tell you, stay close, loudly shout for me if you're in danger, and-" Quade begins to instruct, as they make a right turn. "-we ain't telling your mother about any of this."
"O-Oki doki..." Red noises, followed by Orange's jolly grin, Yellow's calm and attentive nod, a zip of the lips gesture from Blue, and Monochrome just sticking out her tongue.
Eventually, Quade... interestingly finds a warehouse buried in the woods, as Odette described. Absolutely abandoned, obscured by the surplus of trees surrounding it. A convenient spot for criminal gangsters to hide away, one of the many that the Blackbird Syndicate uses. Starting to pull up to it, a calm look on his face as he prepares for anyone to see him.
Right outside, two gangsters just conveniently standing around, on guard duty with arms crossed. "... well, get a load of this. We gots a guy and some kids..." one of the gangsters says, drawing his gun and taking aim as Quade drove closer. "Hey! Stop right there, or I'll shoot!"
Quade nods and calls out, beginning to slow down. Ready to take his peaceful approach. "Alright, alright! We're stopping, just-"
"No, no, keep going, keep going!" Monochrome shouts, completely disregarding Quade's plan completely and pointing forward with a proud smile. "Drive through the door! It's gonna be so cool! Let's get these guys!"
The gangsters hear this, both of their guns drawn. Taking aim at the cycle's wheels, and firing shots in an attempt to puncture the tire.
Damn it, Monochrome...
Quade immediately pops a wheelie, the angle of the bullets hitting into the ground instead. A tense look on his face as he did this to protect Odette's motorcycle, but... thanks to this hasty move, he doesn't have enough control to stop the motorcycle before any potential damages happen to the cycle. Unable to stop in time as the motorcycle speeds forward on one wheel, having to plan his moves accordingly.
So, the motorcycle is lifted up and driving on one wheel while Quade grips the handles tightly, the Vernesses visibly hang off of Quade's back, and one of the two gangsters is face to face with the raised, incoming wheel that was closing in.
"..." The gangster is visibly shaken in the split second this occurs, and doesn't have enough time to move.
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In a brutal fashion, a loud thud sounds out as Quade drives through the warehouse door, the gangster's entire body launched through from the impact with face absolutely messed up from having a motorcycle wheel drive against it.
This motion giving him a quick look to realize, not including the two gangsters outside, there were 15 gangsters using this warehouse.
It didn't seem like they were immediately preparing for anything illegal. This warehouse seemed to just be some casual hangout spot on top of its slaughterhouse equipment.
Slacking off and playing casual poker or billiards with each other in this warehouse, with several tables set up. Pool tables and poker tables in the front of the warehouse's ground floor, a messy and unorganized assortment of metal chains holding knives, blades, body bags and such in the back corner, and several support pillars to hold the second floor casual lounge that comes with a couch and TV.
And in this time of leisure, each suited man in that warehouse is forced to watch as some lunatic and his five child passengers drive through their front doors, practically having run into one of their guys.
Quickly, Quade forces his body forward, the motorcycle straight back onto both its wheels as he turns and does a motorcycle slide - pushing against the gangster's body and practically forcing the man to grind roughly against the floor. Making a mental note to apologize to Odette later for this, as he quickly jumps from the cycle - turning and reaching his arms out to grab the Vernesses before they are sent flying.
Verness Red had accidentally let go when Quade jumped, and held quickly onto the man's hand. Orange, Yellow, and Blue manage to hang on in sequence as Red does this. However, Monochrome is not as lucky, and loses her grip on Blue as her body is sent flying straight into a poker table. Tumbling along the table's cards and chips, completely ruining the game that was happening, a resilient projectile that contently endures this.
Quade lands with his feet flat on the floor, knees bent to somewhat mitigate this risky jump as his shoes grind against the floor... and the sound of a man being sandwiched between a motorcycle and a billiards table sounds out, the aggressive crunch of wood echoing out as Quade hears a table completely collapse onto the man he drove into.
Not exactly the worst thing that's happened to a gangster today...
"... I want to talk with BB!" Quade in Odette's voice, taking off his motorcycle helmet and tossing it aside. Shaking his head to get Odette's long pink bangs off of his face, glaring around at the gangsters in the room. "We have some words to exchange after what he did! Now!"
"... and why in the hell did you think driving a motorcycle through our goddamn door and into our goddamn guard was going to get you a meeting with him?" a gangster angrily shouts, gun drawn and aimed at Quade.
Improvising, Quade decides to threaten these gangsters with a bold comment. One that he intends to fulfill, one way or another: "Because I wanted to prove a point, that I will do SO much worse to each and every one of you, if you don't bring him out right now!" Quade shouts angrily.
"..." An audible laugh from the gangster, rolling his eyes. "Ahhh... good one. Go tell that joke in hell!" Pulling the trigger and firing a bullet at Quade.
Immediately, Quade takes a moment to duck, the bullet going over his head and hitting into the wall.
"S-Scatter!" he shouts loudly, instructing the Vernesses.
"A-Ah! S-Scatter!" Red shouts to the others, the four remaining Vernesses running and sprinting as fast as she can. All of the spider girls are now sent off in every direction, retreating to safety while on guard.
Quade needed to be resourceful, to plan things out accordingly. All the attention was on him, and the gangsters were starting to draw their weapons. Many of them had their guns on hand, able to draw pistols out in an instant, while the others either didn't have any guns or had to retrieve their firearms from somewhere in the warehouse.
It's incremental, one by one... he just needed to take out gangster after gangster until he's left with a single one that knows where this BB is. Quade strategically runs zig-zag towards one of the gangsters, taking a dash that doesn't make him a guaranteed straight moving target.
This one gangster stares at the incoming man, taking quick aim and firing a shot.
Quade sidesteps out of the bullet's way, foot kicking off of the ground as he delivers a hard right hook to the side of the gangster's arm. A tense sound of pain coming from the gangster's mouth as his body is forced to drop the gun from the pain- before he's met with a left jab to his stomach, a right punch to his chest, one left hook against his throat, and a finishing uppercut to his jaw.
The gangster is sent airborne, and Quade quickly ducks to pick up the man's gun. Odette's... rabbit ears... perking up as he's alert to the sound. While changing into Odette doesn't give him the man's psychic abilities, it doesn't change the fact he has two large rabbit ears dangling off of his head, able to give himself the sensitive hearing of a rabbit. Tensely hearing the sound of footsteps running to get closer.
He had to worry about fifteen gangsters, most of them primarily on him. Many of them had their guns out already, ready to shoot... and- Quade dashes quickly to the left, running to the safety of cover with several of the armed gangsters shooting at him. Running and dodging the bullets as best he could, some of them unfortunately managing to graze his body as he sprints and dashes.
Of course, some did pay attention to the Vernesses, but the little girls were small targets scurrying about aimlessly. They aren't an immediate threat yet compared to the grown man that unleashed some sort of boxing combo on one of their own, so none of them were priorities to shoot yet...
... until Verness Monochrome promptly causes them to be threats as she viciously smacks a gangster in the head with a pool cue. The stick snapping in half upon impact, a hostile and aggressive move.
Four nearby gangsters take aim at Monochrome, preparing to shoot.
Orange throws several pool balls at one gangster, a ball hitting into the man's hand and making him fire the gun... with two thrown at his feet to make him slip and fall onto his back with an aching thud.
Yellow dashes at one of their ankles, her small leg sweep kicking the gangster off of his feet. Making this grown man trip forward and fire into the floor, Yellow coldly staring forward.
Blue wraps a leather jacket around the third one's face, blinding this gangster and pulling him back to make him fall over.
And finally, a rope of silk drops down from the ceiling, sticking to the fourth gangster's back as he's yanked high up into the air and left bouncing like a yo-yo. Red, conveniently standing on the ceiling with her spider legs sticking to the surface.
The four gangsters on Monochrome were dispatched of quickly, and the Vernesses continue to scurry about and retreat... as Monochrome whacks her gangster in the head again, and runs away as well.
Complete disarray is now occurring in the warehouse, as Quade is in the midst of running to avoid being hit by bullets. Dashing towards his next gangster, taking aim with the gun he picked up.
The gangster retaliates by taking aim as well, both men locked in a one second standoff... quickly ending when the gangster fires first, and Quade's head swiftly tilts to the right and the bullet flies past. Immediately, Quade shoots at the man's hand, intending to hit the gun out of the guy's grasp.
Quade isn't as proficient at using a gun as either of the D'Erricos, however, and- instead of hitting the gun, he ends up shooting the gangster in the chest.
"Oh- shit-!" the gangster sounds out, relieved he was wearing a bulletproof vest underneath his shirt... which doesn't protect him from Quade running at his left, grabbing the man and using him as cover from the other gangsters shooting.
Quade securely hides himself behind this gangster, watching as these gangsters actively unload bullet after bullet into the bulletproof vest. Quade's already learned what it is like to be "bullet proof". It's not fully possible unless you are physically able to make your body hard enough to not be shot by guns, so he's just holding a man and watching the armed gangsters shoot this man all over the body.
A deeply agonizing pain for the gangster Quade has. Quade even winces in the middle of it, feeling some... remorse, when the gangster cries out in pain as his arms and legs are shot up.
The bullet fire ceases when the men were out of bullets, and Quade runs out from behind his human shield. Running to his next threat.
"D-Damn it! Someone- call for reinforcements!" a gangster shouts, tossing his pistol aside and running for the-
...
Stopping in place and slowly holding his hands up as Verness Red is holding a hunting rifle. One aimed straight at the man's body.
"Uhm- okay. Hands are up-" the gangster tells Red-
Immediately, Verness Orange and Verness Blue latch onto this gangster's body and send him falling to the floor, Monochrome even dropping from the wall to elbow body slam the man's gut.
Red visibly shakes as she holds the rifle, a nervous look as she- sees a gangster running to a phone. She takes aim and prepares to shoot the phone itself- but noticeably hesitates, her conscious afraid that a bullet will hit someone...
"Red- Red, pass, pass the gun!" Orange shouts-
Red- quickly throws the gun towards Orange-
And a gangster ran in between them to catch it, hands on the rifle and immediately taking aim at Verness Red.
"You brats are DEAD-!" the gangster shouts-
Immediately met with Monochrome lunging at the man's back and biting hard into the guy's neck. Now subject to the pain of being bitten by a child- who was part spider.
"A-AAAAAGH-! SOMEONE SHOOT THIS CHILD OFF OF ME-!" the gangster cries out, scrambling to aim the rifle at Monochrome's forehead- but, unable to pull the trigger.
Another gangster, hearing this, takes aim and prepares to kill Monochrome- only to be interrupted by Quade leaping in the air and kicking the man in the side of the head.
"Tch-!" Quade noises, a hard glare as he sees the Vernesses dealing with the rifle holder- having to trust them to deal with this. If he got anywhere close, he risks any of them being shot, and- he risks shooting them if he uses the gun to take out the gangster.
Suddenly, a gangster ran right behind Quade and locks him in place with a hand. Knife rushing straight to the man's throat...
... and Quade quickly tilts his head away from the incoming knife, a grit of his teeth as a massive gorilla arm quickly lunges out of his neck to grab the man's wrist. A hard grip as he forcefully- dislocates the man's arm to disarm his knife.
"A-AGH- F---!" the gangster shouts in pain, letting go of Quade. "W-What in the hell are-?!"
Quade doesn't give any answer, other than a swift turn to swing the gorilla arm and have it punch into the gangster's temple. Instantly dazing the gangster upon impact, making him collapse and fall unconscious.
Quickly, the gorilla arm retracts back into Quade's neck... and Quade does a brief headcount while the gangsters were still reloading. Five- no, six, handled by Verness... three taken out by him, one gangster shot up, and one collapsed with Odette's motorcycle...
"Hyah!" Monochrome loudly sounds out as she yanks the rifle out of the man's hands and throws the gun to Orange. Starting to aggressively scratch at the man's face with her fingernails, clawing him aggressively.
Aggressively, the gangster runs backwards, heading straight for a wall to hurt Monochrome...
... tripping on a pool ball that Orange left lying around. The man slips on it, and - after Monochrome swiftly leaps off of the man's body - is sent tumbling straight into another gangster.
Four left...
Quade focuses on the one the Vernesses were focused on... running straight past the gangster and kicking the phone. Breaking it with a hard impact of his foot, cutting off these reinforcements.
The gangster's eyes widen as he's face to face with Quade- visibly panicking. If he goes hand to hand, he'll be beaten up- if he shoots, this man will shoot. If he does a knife thing- aaaaa!
Visibly frantic and panicked, the gangster tries to come up with something...
... and Quade gently puts a hand on this man's shoulder.
"...?" The gangster looks at Quade with a worried look, staring up at the man. Staring up at the six foot tall guy with his five foot tall self, uncomfortably staring up at the absolute menace that was the pink-haired rabbit man. "W-What are you going to do to me?!"
Quade takes a deep breath...
... and promptly, ever so promptly, pushes him aside, walking past to begin his plan to take out the three remaining ones.
"... y... you- you're..."
A pause of silence as this gangster feels... offended, running at Quade. "D-Don't mess with me, you bastard-!"
Quickly, Quade drops down to the ground, hands placed in an almost push-up position. In this sudden position, the gangster is met with a foot quickly stretching back to kick the man in the face.
With this kick, the gangster is satisfied, and collapses. In his eyes, he's going out a champ.
Quade gets back up and stands, his breath ragged as he looks at the three remaining gangsters. "Who's next...?!"
One- one of the three remaining gangsters, the one that initially made the "joke in hell" comeback against Quade, drops his gun and holds his hands up. "S-Shit...! Listen, we- we ain't got a clue where BB is, okay?!"
"Liar! This is the warehouse he's showing up at, isn't it?!" Quade shouts.
"H-He didn't come back yet! Yo- You got here before he did!" the gangster shouts. "W-We can't bring him out because he's NOT HERE yet!"
Quade takes a moment to crack his knuckles. "Right... right. I reckon we're in for a long, long wait until he does get here..."
The gangster visibly tenses up as he reaches slowly for his gun...
... watching as the two other gangsters remaining are taken out. One tied up with silk and left stuck to the wall, with his mouth gagged by a billiard ball, while the other one is being forcibly tucked into the couch with blanket over his body.
"..." Absolute terror on this gangster's face as he watches Quade approach, hands slowly raising into the air. "O... Okay. Okay. I give up..."
"Good," Quade responds, continuing to walk closer. "Right. We have some questions for you..."