Don't Touch (Invite)

[Roderic]

I don't know how things went from bad to worse. Even as I'm sitting here, no, as I'm flying down eight floors to the ground, I keep thinking about how things should have went down and how things actually went down. I'm not bad with hand to hand combat. I work with my hands, and I use a sword and get up close and personal to people when I'm fighting them. The only difference is, I'm never naked. Was that it?

The BB (known as Burglar *****) tries to kick me in my head, but I'm just a tad bit faster. At least initially. She swings her foot up and I move out of the way, but that allows her to grab me and she's doing something I've never had happened to me before. I'm up in the air, by a woman, and then flying through the wall. I don't know that trick, and here I thought she might possibly be just like me. Looks can be deceiving and so can assumptions. I assumed she got in through the ways of the shadow ability, which she might have, but coupled with this power that I've never seen or been part of, I'm not exactly sure what the hell she is.

I didn't expect to go through an entire section of wall. At most, the dry wall. But nope, I didn't stop there. I went through that and through the outer cement wall and here I am. On my way down. Only, I won't know when I hit the damn ground because the throw has me out for the count. I just know it's inevitable as I remember the point up until I'm out cold. I feel my back and *** take most the brunt of the throw against the wall, before I reach out to grab at something; hopefully the wall, and twist just so wrong that my head ends up smacking the outer wall as I struggle to stay inside the damn building. How else will this entire scenario play out if I land on the ground, eight floor below and walk away? It's just not possible.

But, no matter how many times I grab for something, I come up short and I'm heading down. When I blacked out, it didn't matter anymore, but when I come to, it will. I'm not aware that my body slams against the gate built around the QZ, and that I've dislocated my lower back and that when I slid down the gate, my arm crunches from the weight and force of impact. But I'll know it when I come to. But I do know one thing. Someone's made an enemy tonight and I don't forget faces. She can walk away the victor for now, but I'm going to be coming for her ten times harder than what went down tonight.

[Doc]

-Nude dude down after finding out he couldn’t fly. If you are fast enough you can find him in the Flats grounds. May need some of your magic-

Doc received the text and smirked. Apparently Minx was in a feisty mood today. Apparently she needed help with body clean up. He sent her a reply that he would check it out. Then he hit the intercom button to Reception, “Jane! I’m headed out.. Call if you need me..” He read his tome and was gone.

Meanwhile at the reception desk…

Roger had been chatting with Rachel [who Doc called Jane], trying to get a clue as to whether she would go out with him on a date or not. He had been doing the idle chit chat for a twenty minutes and was no closer to getting a date than he was when he first started. But Roger had over heard Doc’s comment, and as he stood at reception, he never saw Doc leave, “What does that mean.. ‘I’m headed out’? Is it code for..’I am taking a nap, leave me alone’?”

Rachel gave him a look, “It means.. He is going out. Duh.”

“He hasn't left yet.. I’ve been watching..It's been twenty minutes.” He had, the minute he saw the door open, he was going to head back to his work station. But he hadn’t seen Doc’s office door move.

“Oh he’s gone.”

“No he isn’t.”

“Yes, he is.”

“No. He is not.” Roger’s tone was emphatic.

“Yes. He is.” Rachel’s tone sarcastic.

“He has not left his office!”

Rachel rolled her eyes, “Yes.. he has.” As if explaining to a stubborn child.

“Fine.. I will bet you lunch.”

“You are ON Buddy!”

Roger paused, why get one lunch when he could have several..? Next best thing to a date. Idea! And he would even pick up the tab on a few, so he looked gentlemanly. “Let’s make it is really interesting.. Lunch all this week and next week.”

Rachel grinned “Totally. You’re on!”

Roger held out his hand, “Shake on it.. And no going back.”

Rachel took Roger’s hand, “Winner’s Choice?”

Roger nodded, “Winner’s Choice.”

They shook on it.

Roger laughed to himself, ‘it was too easy’, aloud he said, “Hey Doc you won’t believe this..” He opened Doc’s office door, “I just won this…” He stopped talking. Doc wasn’t in the office. “What the hell… where is he?”

“Gone. Told you.” Rachel gave him a gleeful smirk. “I am feeling like steak for lunch..”

“No.. he never left!” Roger went into Doc’s office, and behind his desk, to make sure Doc wasn’t hiding under it. “What the hell?! Where is he?”

“He’s out.. I told you.”

“There is no exit .. but this one door and I have been watching it!” He had. Doc never left.

“Secret exit.” Rachel nodded solemnly. “I think he made it to avoid his wife…”

Meanwhile in the Quarantine Zone…

Doc had grabbed his medicine bag, read his tome, and then went through the portal to the QZ. In total it took less than two minutes from the time he read Dominique’s text to arrive. Coalescing just outside of Corvidae Flats, he saw the crumpled body of, in Minx’ words, a nude dude. It wasn’t easy to see if the body was alive or dead from his vantage point. What he could tell, was the body lay in way that was not natural by any means. Stepping over to the body, Doc unceremoniously rolled it over and straighten it out, only to find out it was Ric.

“****.” It was said with a defeated sigh. This was not good. Not good at all. Why couldn’t that have been the Traitor laying a broken crumpled heap? Or Elliot? **** Elliot deserved it! But Ric? What the **** did Rick do? He wasn't one to pick a fight. Oh sure, the man would and could fight, but he typically didn’t start them, he finished them.

“You are going to feel this when you wake up.. I certainly do not envy you there.” Hoisting Ric’s broken body over his shoulder, he made his way into the Lobby of Corvidae. Ignoring all the curious looks he was receiving, he headed straight for, and took the elevator to the eighth floor. He had been to Ric’s apartment, but never inside. Skylar had been very adamant the first time he brought Ric back, after the Elliot-smack-down-affair; to meet Doc at the door and not let him in. The next few visits, had him also outside the apartment, waiting by the elevator.

“Seems like this is becoming a habit Ric..” As Doc reached the door and tried to get in. Another weary sigh. “Why can’t things ever be ******* easy?” He said aloud, talking to the unconscious Ric. “It’s always a pain in the ******* ***. You’re trying to help someone, and there are ******* roadblocks all over the ******* place.” Doc’s mood had not been to begin with. The Ball and Chain allowed an inmate to escape.. And then killed the inmate in Doc’s house. How the **** the inmate knew where Doc’s house was in the first place, he didn’t know. But it had happened, and now he was faced with trying to keep the person he considered his closest..’friend’ [if Doc could say he had a friend] from healing up and trying to kill Doc’s spawn. But was the ******* apartment cooperating?

In aggravation Doc rammed the door, mostly with Ric’s body, to release some of his pent up frustration, before finally using his shadow powers to get him and Ric inside. “The ******* universe hates me. And probably you as well.”

Finally inside and seeing the gaping hole in the wall, Doc knew he was in the right place. “It ******* stinks in here Ric.. Pine-sol man.. Buy some. Use it.” He carried Ric into the bedroom and dropped him on the bed. “And why the **** are you nude?” Doc gives him a thorough evaluation, before opening his bag, and getting some pain killer. “Manscaping.. Look that one up too, learn it, and apply it.. Cause.. Damn.” He made a face, “the people that have to see you, like myself, will thank you.”

After injecting Ric with some pain killer, Doc set the broken arms, adjusted and straightened his back, cleaned up the scrapes and stapled the splits in his body that happened from sudden compression with the ground. All in all, Doc figured his mental capacity should be fine, it appeared his body to the brunt of the impact, not his head.

Doc was secretly proud, his little Mighty Mouse kicked Ric’s ***.

[Roderic]

A slam into something solid brings me back. Sort of. I felt my body impact against something solid, but I wasn't quite processing. Was it because I got my *** kicked, or because I took a lot of external damage? Even a knock to the skull. I only remembered that because it was throbbing like a *****. I hear a male voice, how the hell did some guy join in? How long had I been out for? Minutes? An hour? Hours?

He knows my name. And he's on about me cleaning the apartment. It used to be pretty clean, but the god damn dog...where had that piece of **** gone to? He lets some chick in my apartment and then lets her kick my ***? He's getting a boot right out of this apartment and out of my life. He talks about man-something or another and then I finally realize who it is. Doc. I'd know that voice anywhere. We might not see each other a lot, but I talk to him the most out of anyone and everyone. I'm still confused as to how he got mixed in this.

I make a muffled groan when he starts doing something...It's taking me a little while to process, more than likely due to the astronomical *** whopping I just got from BB. Something isn't quite right yet, other than Doc being in my apartment and that *** kicking from BB. My eyes spring open as I realize she might still be in here. “There's some-BB.” Which probably sounded more like 'Baby,' as all my speech seems a little slurred or pushed together. I try again. “BB.” Yep, it sounds like I'm giving Doc an affectionate nickname. I lift my arms, or try to, but they don't go up all that far because they're heavy as hell and they hurt. “GOAMIT.” I groan and sigh in frustration.

“LOOK.” I blurt out as I roll my head to the doorway. “Kill.” Which sounded like 'Keel,' but I know Doc is a smart guy. It shouldn't take him too long to put two and two together. I see the wall, or lack of a wall, where BB threw me out, destroying a large section of it. That's going to be a costly fix. Management won't be happy. “Up.” I attempt to sit up, but again, nothing goes the way it should be going tonight. I get my neck up and then plop it and my neck back down on the bed with a small laugh. I don't know why I'm laughing. Nothing about this is funny, but here we are.

[Doc]

After casting a critical eye about Ric’s apartment, Doc grimaced. “This place is ******* depressing, Ric.” The rooms were filled with dead things and parts of dead things. Some were stuffed dead things. Some were obviously a work in process. There were some things that even Doc, had no clue what the **** it was. He wasn’t putting Ric’s taxidermy ability down, so much as, taxidermy was more art than science and the art aspect was completely lost on Doc. To him things were obvious. Black and white. Right and wrong. Gray areas like morality and art were things that he preferred to ignore, because they really didn’t matter in the scheme of things.

Doc looked around for something to read. Normally, Doc would do his good deed, and be off immediately, no time for leisurely reading. But this was Ric, his comrade, he couldn’t just do a fly by and be off. No. He had to do due diligence and make sure Ric was going to be alright. That meant he might be here a while. Ric was a stubborn ****. It wouldn’t surprise Doc one bit, if Ric didn’t try to go finish what was started by him taking a header out through his living room wall. Therefore, that meant Doc had to hang around and if necessary, tie Ric's *** to the bed. And while he was there, Doc could read. But he hadn’t brought any reading materials with him. He was about to step out to the living room to go scrounge something up, when he heard Ric mumbling.

Moving back to the bedside, Doc looked down at Ric, “No. There is no Baby to give you ‘some’.”

Ric tried to cajole with another painfully utters, whining plea of “Baby…”

Doc shook his head, “No. There is no Baby. And even if there was, she would give more pain than pleasure. Because you are so fucked up, you can’t even be ridden properly.” It was a no non-sense matter of fact statement. “Maybe in a week.”

At which point Ric said ‘Dammit’, causing Doc to smirk. “I never knew you were such a sex fiend man.” Taking pity on him, “Tell you what.. In two weeks. I will have a couple of my girls from Forbidden Desires come visit and give you the royal treatment. Alright? Until then.. You need to relax, rest and heal.”

Again, Ric muttered or actually it was more of a groan, “Keel..”

To Doc, that meant kill. He understood it. No sex, meant it was time to kill instead. Killing was the next best thing to an orgasm. That’s how he got through Med school. However, if Ric wasn’t fit enough for sex, he damn sure was not in the state to kill anything. As Ric tried to sit up, Doc pushed him back down on the bed with a single index finger to Ric’s forehead.

“No. No killing for you, for at least ten days. Two weeks if you are planning hand to hand combat.”

Doc wasn’t worried that Ric would hurt Minx currently, because Ric had a broken back. If he did manage to get himself upright, he wouldn’t stay that way long. However, once Ric healed, that would be a different story. He needed to know what went down, other than Ric by eight stories.

Doc called Minx.

[Roderic]

I just glare at Doc.

It's all I can do. Especially when he's on about me wanting some. I can count on one finger how much action I've had these past few months, and I'm pretty sure Doc has an idea in his mind too. He's being 'humorous.' And while I enjoy Doc's twisted humor most times, this was not one of these times. So all I can do is glare, because I'm stuck here. Which means I'm in worse shape than I thought.

"No. No grrrs." I struggle to sit up, but I'm blocked by a finger. A single ******* finger. This night sucks. I can't think of a single night which has been worse than this one right here. Not any of the times I almost died when I was a human. Not when I did die over a couple territory issues I had.

My eyes roll in the back of my head and I look up at the slowly spinning ceiling. "No." I snarl out as I roll to the left and to the right. "She dies." I don't know who she is, but I was close enough to her to get enough detail of her. Tattoos. Hair color, eye color and yes, even how she smelled. I'm positive I could track BB down and give her something. "Broke in. Had my package." I close my eyes to gain a solid state of mind. "Fought over package. Bad night. She won. Tossed me out head first. " I open my eyes and look at Doc. "Not two weeks. Two nights." I need to heal up and I can do that if I could just focus. "What you do?" I feel drunk, and I don't like that feeling.

[Dominique]

There was something about the rangoons. Like heaven in the mouth. Soft rich cream cheese covered the inside of her mouth while she chewed on the deep fried shell that contained it. Leave it to Huang Fu to pull up the deep fryers and make a fresh batch of crab rangoons that would last her three nights easily. They had a good thing going on. She kept his wife’s seafood truck nice and cool for her summer riverside sales and Dominique was never left wanting for one of her top favorite foods. The mind was a powerful thing and hers served her well when she applied it. One of those things she refused to allow to happen. Forget what made life grand prior to when it became epic. She finally could see it for what it was. The snap and crack of another rangoon meeting it’s demise behind her lips said as much.

The vibration of the black iPhone on the surface of her Han Solo carbonite desk caught her attention. She gave it the three second grace period while she continued to stay seated, reclining back comfortably with her feet propped up on top of her desk. Rufus could be heard hissing along beneath the rolling desk chair which was locked for the little guys safety. Plucking out a sprig of parsley from the otherwise consumed dinner platter that was cased in styrofoam she dropped it down as a reward on the opposite side of her chair. Everything needed a little incentive to reach a goal. what else would be there when he succeeded at the night long trek that would get him from one side of the shop office to the other? A wall. HOPE stretched forward and without moving her feet she picked up the cell and glanced at the screen. She licked her lips and figured she should take the call.

“So how did things turn out?” Why dance around the topic when she was the one that gave him the lead on the jumper from the flats. Fine so she also gave the nude dude jumper a lift but he had it coming. “All’s well that ends well?”

Her body popped forward as her feet slipped off the surface they rested on. Each rose covered barefoot curled beneath her under the chair. LESS pulled the undelivered package close and eyed it again. Foster had profusely apologized and cleared it up with a believable story of being loaded with enough pain meds that he was nearly dyslexic and seeing double. Rainbow attested to the fact when she ended up in Gullsborough looking for a office number that didn’t exist. Dominique didn’t hold grudges. She was over it. Her horizons were open thanks to Huang Fu being great for his word and of course the ice cold Monster can that came to her lips to wash it all down. A few more hours and she would be makign use of the contents and call it a smooth sail to dreamland.

[Doc]

Doc was dialing Dominique’s number as Ric focused enough to be able to enunciate properly and give him a few necessary details. “Stop!” It was forcefully said as Ric tried to move. Ric moved like an obese baby seal that was harpooned and stuck on land, he would find the situation humorous if it hadn’t been his spawn that fucked Ric up.

“If you want to heal.. Stop ******* moving. You’re only setting yourself back. And..” He gave Ric a solid, ‘dare me not to’ look, before adding, “I am not averse to tying you to the ******* bed.”

He sighed as he hit send, and waited for Minx to pick up. “I get it.. You’re angry. You want payback.. You to kill her. I felt the same..” Doc’s words were cut off as Minx answered the phone. “No. All is not ******* well.” he answered into the phone. “You have fucked him up pretty good and he is pissed.” Doc turned to Ric and gave him the ‘one second I am on the phone’ gesture, before turning his attention back to the phone and that conversation.

“You need to get your *** back over and apologize. Not tomorrow, not later. Now. Don’t make me hunt you down.” He almost disconnected, when he added, “Oh, and bring the damn package.” He sighed as he disconnected. He muttered, ‘******* females will be the death of me.. If it's not the Ball and Chain trying to ruin my business, it's the spawns killing my friend. I am fucked in all areas of life, business and social.’

Doc pocketed the cell, and gave Ric his full attention once more. He cleared his throat, adjusted his tie, and spoke quite formally, “I apologize for this. She should be on her way here, and she is going to apologize. She will also nurse you back to health." He looked around the apartment, "Make her clean this ****.. as part of her punishment too" He sighed. "As I was saying before the call; I felt the same when I met her. Same with Vel and Micah. We all wanted to kill her. She’s a handful, I know this. And at times she can get a bit feisty. She's cute like that. However, she will pay for the damage and anything that needs to be replaced. I think you will like her.. when you first get to know her. She grows on you, like a fungus. It’s a fungus, but if it is prepared the right way, they are delicious. Well to humans…”

[Roderic]

Doc threatens me with the prospect of tying me to the bed. My own ******* bed. I laugh, because what the hell else can I do? Even if I don't really find it funny, but apparently for whatever unknown reason, I find a lot of things funny, even if it pisses me off tonight. “Sounds like fun.” I flop back, because I know that if Doc says something, Doc means it, much like myself. So I'll just sit here and behave and pretend to listen to Doc's orders just to get him out of my hair. Then I will strategically plan BB's death while I heal these next couple of days.

My neck is off the bed as I hear him talking to someone. “Eh!” I shout at him, because he couldn't possibly be talking about me. This situation. But what's the chances that someone else he knew was fucked up, and was pissed off? I mean it is possible, but probably a ten or twenty percent chance at best? He continues on, confirming that it is me he's talking about and I shake my head so hard that I feel it clear down my ******* back, which is sore as hell. I snarl. “No. No.” I protest, because I already have one person in my space, who typically isn't in it, no way in hell do I want BB back in my space again. “I can do.” I assure Doc as my head starts to slow down its speed in spinning, so now it's more like my brain is feeling like it's free floating in my skull.

“Fungus?” I just look up at the ceiling after I groan. I heard what he said, but it still hadn't processed as to Doc not only knowing her, but being her sire. “She's not coming in here again.” I mean I can say it, but what can I really do about it? Not a hell of a lot and Doc will know it too. I hate saying things I can't back up, so I try again. “I don't need her. I'll heal without her. Don't like fungus. Spreads everywhere. Good for nothing. Can't eat.” I sigh but come to a happy compromise. “She can pay for this though.” I can compromise so long as I get the thing I really want in the end.

“I have a vambrance.” I point in the direction of a tall dresser with my entire arm “Left top.” I drop the arm down and clear my throat. “Two days. Just need that.” I look right at the dresser, waiting for the vambrance, rather expectantly.

[Dominique]

Dominique pulled the phone from her ear and looked at the serval that finally figured out there was some leftover shrimp fried rice up for grabs. HOPE flipped the tabs on the top of the box so Hello Kitty could nibble her way to a sure fire case of the shits. Why deny the beast a little pleasure. It meant she got to hang in the great outdoors and commune with the masked dumpster bandits on the property. The racoons. A village full in the northwest corner of Vita Bella and it was growing faster than the irritation in the voice on the end of the call that was now sent to speaker.

She scratched the back of her head as if this was still somewhat of a surprise to her. Especially now that she was being told she had to apologize and move her ***. Hello Kitty perked up while choking down a juicy little shrimp. The call was ended in such a way that there was no confusion. So, this was not as good of a thing as she was thinking it would be. Doc was not impressed. He was pissed off. Well what the ****.

Doc always took pride in her stretching her claws and sinking them in. It was all sort of like bringing home a bird and dropping it on the doorstep like a cat. Nothing malicious was meant most of the time but in this case...yeah there was. He had it coming and low and behold it just so happens that Doc knew the guy. It was a little odd when she thought about it. Doc in his fancy smart suits with the right tie and wearing it like he was the exception to every rule that could come his way and the nude dude ....they were buddies. The very same chap that was using a gold painted lower mandible for an ashtray. Hell, if he owned a suit who would have known. Certainly not her.

While the serval sat in front of her licking her content paw she eyes the cell phone then the package. Undeniably there was a temptation to see if he still was great at hunting her down but there was that whole creepy need to make him semi-happy that loomed over her whenever she got an inkling to revert back to her ‘up yours with cactus needles’ response. She sighed and once she was sure that Rufus was clear from the chair she nudged her hips back and stood up.

“Guess it is time to do the walk of shame, Ms. Kitty.”

She straightened up slowly with the package curling into her body. Ignoring the donning of the jacket she made her way out of the office and used the power in her bag of tricks to arrive as he asked her to. The apology was not going to be a given. Explaining her side of things likely would eliminate any need to do such a thing. It was seconds and she was back at the door knocking. The door she let herself into last time she was in front of it. She waited looking down at her chipped black nail polish. She needed to pick up some polish remover.

[Doc]

Nodding to Ric’s request for the vambrace, Doc went to the dresser and opened the top left drawer as directed. Yes there was a vambrace in it, amid an array of things that any ten year old boy would love. Arrowheads. He looked from the drawer to Ric and then back to the drawer. Arrowheads. Ric never struck him as being the sort to keep First Nations memorabilia. Lifting the vambrace revealed a mask. A mask and arrowheads. An image of Ric roaming the city as the Lone Ranger came to mind. He couldn’t help the smirk that crossed his face as he carried the vambrace to the bed and held it open for Ric’s arm. “Sure thing, Kimosabe. Can you manage it on your own?”

One part of Doc told him to put the brace on Ric without asking, it would be easier, faster, and less complications. But the other part of him, told him Ric would find it belittling to have it done, as though he were a child or invalid. So in the end, Doc asked and offered no aid, even though for the moment, Ric was an invalid.

As much as he knew Ric would find it belittling, Doc knew Minx would be not pleased being called on the carpet, as it were, for standing her ground and not backing down. This would be tricky for him. He never had mastered that balancing act of just enough tough love and getting the point across and then letting go. He tended to keep going and then go overboard. Which typically, then, made everyone mad at him. But this time he didn’t want to be the scapegoat. He liked where he and Minx relationship was. He liked where he and Ric’s friendship was. How did he keep them both happy, when they seemed so diametrically opposed?

Hearing the knock at the door, Doc sighed, it was showtime and he had no plan. He had not had enough time to work out what he was going to do. He didn't have time to run the ‘if then’ scenarios. ****. Doc opened the to find Minx appearing as innocent as an angel, standing politely with the package. She didn’t look strong enough to hurl Ric through a window, much less a wall. Doc grinned unexpectedly and then forced himself to look stern. He counted. Not because he was angry, but because he needed time to get the seriousness of the situation in his mind, instead of him picturing his tiny little mouse heaving a naked and possibly flailing Ric out of a building. He smirked again.

Well ****, counting wasn’t working. ‘There is only one thing to do, cover your mouth, cough and clear your throat.’ Doc thought to himself, and he promptly did so, moving aside to let Minx in while he coughed and cleared his throat. He kept his face averted, because he still had this urge to grin, and that would do nothing for mediation talks between Minx and Ric. Shutting the door after she was in, Doc relieved her of the package and moved to the bedroom, motioning for her to follow.

“Ric.. I would like you to meet my Dominique.” He half turned and glanced at Minx, before looking at Ric and saying, “Minx, this Roderic, your uncle. My brother-in-law. My.. favorite.. Brother-in-law.” He paused, “I think you owe him an apology.”