Nightshift 42: Germaine Street

[giftofstars.livejournal.com]

[from here]

The streets hardly seemed to be a better alternative to the pet shop. In fact, it seemed like there were more zombies on the street than where they were originally. Sakura glanced around the town in a frenzy. Zombies were everywhere! Where were they supposed to find somewhere safe?

She picked up a rock and pitched it at a zombie approaching them from behind. "Fai-san, where do we go?" she asked, looking up at him once more.

Comments

[its-the-mileage.livejournal.com]

Whew. Indy wasn't sure whether they'd just gotten out of the frying pan and back into the fire or the other way around, but he was prepared to take his chances with the slower zombies in the streets. At least they had something like a break in the action out here. He coiled the whip (might as well give up on trying to call it a leash; instinct kept kicking in) in his right hand and turned to listen to the girl. The prosecuting prodigy, Indy thought with amusement, huh. She probably had it on her office door.

"I'm Dr. Indiana Jones," he said, then decided he might as well play along and threw in, "archaeologist extraordinaire. How's your back, by the way?" Not great, judging by that wince back there. If open wounds attracted those things, the prosecuting prodigy here and Dent might both be in real trouble.

Speaking of Dent...Indy folded his arms and waited for the other man's introduction. All right--the aisle had been pretty crowded, and there wasn't a lot to fight with in there, bowls and birdcages aside. Point taken. But Indy still wasn't sure he liked the way Dent had hung back and let them do the work. It brought back those sparks of unease he'd had in their previous meetings, and he wondered again if helping this guy get a gun was really what he should be doing here.

Better watch him next time we get in a scrape, Indy thought. Or the girl might not be the only one who gets stabbed in the back.

[dualistic]

Harvey would have been annoyed by the fact that regardless of where they went, they weren't safe, except that he had become accustomed to lingering danger ever since he earned the spot of Gotham's DA. Apparently he hadn't been as prepared for that as he'd thought, but now that he'd lost half of his face and then some, it was hard for even the threat of getting bitten to top that.

Not that he was looking to add any more injuries onto the ones that he already had. They had made it out relatively unscathed, although it looked like the woman had been scratched on her back. She was handling it surprisingly well, and Jones was already asking her about it, so Harvey had no need to say anything more regarding it.

Taking the time to make introductions seemed unnecessary, but he became more interested when he heard the word "prosecuting" come out of the girl's mouth. And Jones was an archaeologist, of all things?

"Harvey Dent," he followed up. "And by prosecuting, you mean you're a lawyer? If that's the case, it looks like we have something in common." Not that he was practicing any longer, but he wasn't going to get into the details of his personal life with these two if he didn't have to. It was strange to imagine someone so young was already practicing, though she had insisted she was a prodigy.

[iwhipthefool.livejournal.com]

Dr. Indiana Jones of Archaeology and Mr. Harvey Dent of...a lawyer? A prosecutioner, even. Well, that certainly turned things in his favor, even if the man hadn't done a thing in the fight. Franziska checked that her journal was still secured inside her waistband and then looked to Indiana, pursing her lips. She knew that her injury would attract those things, but she didn't need someone pointing out her weakness. Right now, the zombies seemed to be shambling closer, but at a slow enough rate that they had some time to discuss their next move. "It's fine. Worry more about guarding your own back right now."

She had been shot, gone into surgery, and still showed up in court without so much as a sling, so why should this injury slow her any? It wouldn't. She wouldn't allow it to do so. After all, if she died here, eaten by these undead masses, then what would become of the von Karma legacy? Whatever injuries she sustained, she had to carry forward, if only to stand in court and watch Martin Landel squirm behind the defendant's bench.

Turning to Harvey, she gave him a once over, but couldn't recall ever hearing about a man like him in the Prosecutor's Office. It would mean that he was either before her time or far after it - or practiced in a country she had never visited. "And where is your office, Harvey Dent? My offices are in Germany, with occasional trips to Los Angeles."

[its-the-mileage.livejournal.com]

It didn't look fine to Indy, but then again, "fine" was relative, and in this situation anything that wouldn't prevent her from running or fighting probably qualified. Her point about his back was also well-taken, so Indy surveyed the street warily while the other two spoke Legalese. Even the horse looked like its hide was rotting off.

He was impatient to get moving again. The Zombis out here might've been slower, but the three of them were still a magnet for anything looking for a midnight snack. A spike in the volume of the moaning behind him made Indy look over his shoulder; a nearby group had found them and was starting to shamble its way over. He turned and swung the whip sharply around at eye level, hoping to keep them back a ways. How did these things pick up on their pray, anyhow, Indy wondered. Smell? Sight? Echolocation?

He didn't want to spend any more time waiting around to find out. They--well, he and Franziska, at least--had rudimentary ways of defending themselves, so what was the next step? Find meaner-looking weapons or help people who didn't have them, he guessed. Find somewhere safe, maybe set up some kind of barricade. Anything would be better than standing still in the middle of the road.

"Why don't we have this discussion on the way," he cut in. "If you still need a weapon, Dent, let's get it and get somewhere safe."

[dualistic]

Germany, huh? That explained the name, and possibly also her age as well. They did things differently in other countries sometimes, so maybe it had been easier for the girl to gain momentum as a prosecutor in her country.

Harvey was about to answer her question, but when Jones was forced to whip back a group of yet more zombies, he realized that their little chat was going to have to wait for later. Maybe he would track the girl down again some other time. He couldn't downplay her achievements too much -- if she was really prosecuting as her age, it made her more interesting the most of the other people he had met here.

Still, it was going to have to wait. He would rather ensure that they survived this so that he might actually be able to have a normal conversation with this Franziska sometime. More importantly, he wasn't going to give up the chance to get a gun when this might be his only opportunity.

"Got it," he agreed, stepping up next to Jones as he eyed the zombies with disdain. "Sheriff's office," he said, an order rather than a suggestion. The other two had gotten what they wanted, so now it was his turn. He wasn't going to accept any alternatives this time, and so without further delay he skirted around the undead and started back down the street in the direction they had come from.

[To here.]