Friendly Fire(Storyline)

[Alkaiser]

(OOC:Important happenings for my character in this thread. PM me if you want to get in on it. I reserve the right to have out of place posts removed on a strict basis.)

"Fight on the roof...messed with his girl...called him out..."

Steve Barzahd was strolling through the hallways with a head full of thoughts when he overheard a whispered conversation. Normally he wouldn't give it much thought, as fights were commonplace and if he had no reason to be there, he wouldn't be. For a certain reason, however, Alkaiser gave this whispered conversation more attention.

With his recent choice to become a bona fide supporter of the pillars, Alkaiser questioned his position. If he ignored the information, the kids would probably just knock each other out and that would be the end of it. On the other hand, if he intervened, it might put him into a better light with his new allies. Barzahd elects to make an appearance.

"You've got to be kidding me." Upon arrival, Alkaiser witnesses the tamest fight he had ever stumbled upon at Hircine. There was a crowd surrounding two boys who had no idea what they were doing. Neither fighter was doing any damage, and neither of them were defending particularly well either. As the boys launch a pair of haymakers towards the other's faces, Steve steps in. With such horrible technique, the attacks are both easily caught, leaving Barzahd with a fist in each hand. "Why don't we let it go, guys."

The expression on the faces of the would-be fighters is a mixture between fear and surprise. As they begin to nod in agreement, however, a crashing sound comes from back where Alkaiser had entered the scene. There, the door hung wide open, slammed against the wall beside it. In the archway stand five large men dressed in full black, wielding billy clubs and childhood memories of domestic violence. "The watchers..."

Barzahd drops his grasp on the appendages of the other kids, and then spins around to face the goliath peacekeepers, but it's already too late. The men surely would assume the worst, claiming that they caught the freshman red-handed in an act of aggression.

"Steve Barzahd...Alkaiser...Whatever the hell you call yourself. We know all about you, boy. That paper airplane, and now this? The principal actually made it sound like you wouldn't be so quick to slip up, but we've already got you."

The men branch out and surround Steve, as the leader-apparent continues to talk. "MacMillan will be happy to hear that we've already sent one of you away."

"Detention?" Steve replies mockingly.

"The hospital." The watcher replies cryptically. One of the boys that Alkaiser had stopped earlier decides to make a break for freedom, dashing clumsily towards the door. Once he makes it to the perimeter of the watchers' circle, he is met with a billy club to the stomach. The boy doubles over and topples to the ground, where the closest officer plants his boot on the boy's chest to prevent any more attempts at escape. The other boy, still standing next to Barzahd, faints at the sight.

The watcher in charge lets out a sick laugh. "Now, are you all ready to see what happens when you question our authority?" Barzahd looks out to the crowd for any hope of support, although it may already be too late. He raises his guard, but the outcome was already apparent.

They were going to make an example out of him.

[Leon Loire]

One factor that can always be counted on in the halls of a high school are the flood of whispered tales and murmured rumors that tend to pass along the teenage news. From the tiniest fact to the largest event, the nose of a young student could always be trusted to detect the big scoop of words and details. With that in mind, any person hoping to make a difference around an oppressed environment would be more than wise to keep their ear to the floor, the wall, or the lips of their neighbors - even if it takes a bit of haggling to get the words out of their mouths.

"Come on Jimmy, tell me what's up." Leon Loire mentioned to the fellow Senior strolling next to him, their eyes casually glancing up and down the corridors, their attention toward any figure that bore black. After all, the Principal's decision had been dire and dangerous, and any student dumb enough to clash with the Watchers - not to be mixed up with the noble and respectable Watchmen - would soon find themselves in a blue and violent outfit, with a red puddle as their blanket and a white walled room as their home.

"Gonna need to see a bit of com-pen-sation..." the light haired, light eyed youth quietly retorted, smirking a bit as he briskly on his heel and leaned down to get a bit of water from a fountain, as his hand reached out, outstretched, behind his belt. Leon frowned, but gave in; pulling out a five dollar bill, he placed the piece of paper in the newsman's hand, then waited for him to continue strolling down the hall, a school agenda in his hand with a notice of the two men walking to the bathroom.

"Folks say that acquaintance of yours, that Alkaiser Barzhad, is becoming allies of the Pillarship..." Jimmy began, strolling further down the path towards the bathroom doors, acting as if he'd walk in, then hesitating as Leon interrupted him.

"Glad to hear; that's where all of our loyalties ought to lay right now."

Jimmy smirked, "I never thought you one for the Captain, Loire; I always thought you disagreed with him, thought he was too harsh."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, and besides," Leon smirked as he continued on, leaning against the corner near the bathroom entry, "Darren's not a bad character, and he's the enemy of my enemy, and --"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, got it." Jimmy finished, smirking himself, and walking into the bathroom.

Just as Jimmy was about to enter the bathroom, with Leon following him, intent on hearing the rest of the news on Alkaiser's rise, a rush of feet sounded across the hall; suspicious of the source, Leon instantly pressed against the wall outside of the group's vision, and as Jimmy rushed into the bathroom, Loire quickly caught glance of five black-clad men as they dashed down the path, yelling and ordering about some sort of event.

Exiting from the bathroom, Jimmy curses to himself, then glances to Leon, "That must be the fight they were all talking about at lunch... they're supposed to be two weak guys fighting on the roof. If the Watchers are on their way up there, then..."

"I'm on it." Leon quipped out, kicking off of the wall and dashing away, following the echo of the five men as they led on to the unknown event.

'Looks like I'll get to see them in action... or at least try my best at stopping them without getting myself beaten to a pulp.'

Jogging up the stairs and pressing the door forward, Leon's navy eyes quickly absorbed the scene: five Watchers standing a few feet in front of him, a student knocked unconscious to the floor, with another sprawled across the roof farther out and a familiar face, that of Alkaiser Barzhad himself, staring down the five men that seemed intent on breaking him. A crowd stood behind the Freshman, and the heat of the air gave tell tale to what was about to occur.

'Looks like I need to figure out a tactic...'

And then it came.

"Sirs!" Leon barked, speaking to the Watchers with all purpose to gain their attention - and to gain as much volume as possible, hopefully echoing down the stairs, "There's a fire in the Science lab area! A few fights are starting over some experiment gone wrong, it's getting pretty --"

Leon's loud, outspoken intentions rung true; just as he attempted to finish the explanation, a loud alarm resounded across the halls back in the building, and Leon knew it had been Jimmy helping him with the story; he could only hope that the boy's face hadn't been on camera, or else he would soon find the Watchers chasing after him.

'They'll be chasing me when they realize the fire thing's a hoax, but it might buy Alkaiser and me time to get the hell out of here...'

"You've go tot hurry! Something far worse could come of it at any minute!"

[Alkaiser]

(OOC: Sorry that took so long...rough couple of days in my world.)

"Sirs!"

That word seemed to shatter all of the tension that laid thick into the air above Hircine. All focus jumped from the watchers to the figure that stood in the doorway. There in a huff stood Leon Loire, an old acquaintance of Alkaiser's. Steve didn't know whom he was here to help, but he had bought the freshman some time to think. "There's a fire in the Science lab area! A few fights are starting over some experiment gone wrong, it's getting pretty --"

Just then an alarm rang across the campus, giving the story some weight. "You've go tot hurry! Something far worse could come of it at any minute!" The watchers all seemed to look towards their leader, who was pondering the best course of action. He looks up, indicating that he had come to a conclusion, and with a wave of his hand he orders his men to exit towards the staircase to investigate the situation in the science wing. The watchers immediately move out without any hesitation. "They certainly are well organized..."[/i] Steve thinks to himself, as he shouts something different. "Yeah, next time you wont have an excuse!" At this comment, one of the men turns back to face the student with an angry snarl on his face. "Do not break rank!" barks his commander, and he falls back in line immediately.

As the crowd on the roof breathes a sigh of relief at the exit of the watchers, Steve drags the body of the passed out student over and hands it off to one of the onlookers. "Get these two to the nurses office. I'm sure she'll be glad that you helped."

The crowd continues to disperse, giving Barzahd a chance to approach the senior who came to his aide. "Leon...it's been a while. What brings you all the way up here? And don't gimme 'the scenery'..." Steve honestly couldn't remember the last time the two had talked. Although he had seen Leon at MacMillan's assembly, they had mostly gone their separate ways for the longest time. Seeing him again reminded Steve of the old times, before watchers, autocratic principals and power-hungry pillars. Those were the days.

[Leon Loire]

'Thank God, it actually worked.' Leon Loire breathed a sigh as the men charged down the staircase, watching their black-clad forms dashing towards the interior of the building, then disappearing from sight as they entered the school hallway.

Tossing a glance to the crowd that stood frozen behind Alkaiser, Leon watched as Barzhad requested that a few of the onlookers help the two fallen students, before complimenting on Leon's arrival. A friendly smirk instantly crossed Leon's face, and the expression became a grin at Alkaiser's quip.

"Damnit, I was just about to say that..." Leon added, shrugged, "Well, to be honest, I didn't even know you were up here. But I hear a fight's going on, see the damn Watchers show up, and felt like getting myself killed, so I did some math, and ended up here! I gotta say though Alkaiser, I didn't expect to see you up here. I thought you were running with Ein and his 'logic' folks now."

Glancing back at the crowd, Leon concluded, "We better get out of here, though; I'm sure it won't take long for those fools to realize I was lying."