maskormenacelogs | Use my head alongside my heart [Closed]

Edited 2016-01-03 02:45 (UTC)

As a Registered Hero and a resident of Heropa Joaquin was one of the first alerted to the dangerous incident going down in their town. It flashed across his communicator and he immediately cancelled all his appointments and let the firm he was contracted under know that he was taking the day off to help the situation. They couldn't say no when it came to hero work so he immediately set off for home. Getting there, he rushed in hoping Manolo hadn't left for the day to do... whatever he did now that he was no longer employed at the Community College. At the moment, it didn't really matter.

"Manolo!" He started yelling as soon as he opened the door, leaving it open as he rushed towards the staircase so he could get to his friend's bedroom. "Manolo, are you here?"

They had made it through the porter after some impassioned discussion and hailed a taxi; if Manolo dragged his feet the whole time Joaquin didn't complain. He was a man on a mission and he would see to it that his friend was set up somewhere safe until things cooled down whether he was thanked for it or not.

It was still early when they arrived at the nice complex, a fairly up-scale apartment even compared to their shared house back in Heropa. He knew their scientist friends had money to spare but he hadn't had a reason to visit before now. And right now, he didn't have time or energy to spare dwelling on the poshness of the inner lobby. Joaquin led Manolo up an elevator to the assigned apartment and rang the door bell... to no response.

And it was then that Joaquin remembered his friends had been on vacation just the night before. Damn, had they even made it back? He wasn't sure. Hastily, he started to craft a message to the two of them, hoping he would get lucky and find they were at least on their way home before Manolo got his hopes up about returning to Heropa.

Now with sushi and boba tea, the pair made their way back to the apartments. Newt stole a few kisses in the lift and suggested they enjoy their sushi and then keep riding the wave of this New Year's 'Honeymoon' by spending the rest of the day together. Hopefully the residual honeymoon feeling would last until well into their trip to Hong Kong, make the already great drift-anniversary an even greater high.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened just as Newt heard Hermann's phone go off. He put his hand in the way of the door to hold it for his boyfriend and then stepped out in to the hallway after him. Aside from the occasional roar from Claire's Ripley, and their own shouting matches, their hall had a history of being largely quiet with few visitors. What visitors did come, generally made plans in advance. Like Qubit (And that was where the list stopped. Really, there was no one else).

...Somehow, he didn't think the two men standing at their door were making a casual house-call and all Newt could think was What went wrong, who died, who disappeared, who attacked what (there wasn't a Swear-In today, was there?...no). The last time Joaquin showed up without phoning first, he had a breakdown in front of Starktech. At least, Newt figured, it was probably a good sign this time that Manolo was WITH him, but the visit in general was probably a BAD sign for the honeymoon.

"Hey! Didn't expect to see the two of you anywhere for a while--thought you made it through a whole bottle of tequila the other night. What brings you two all the way to De Chima? If we'd have known you were coming by, we'd have come back sooner."

He'd been dozing in his room when Joaquin's sudden shouting woke him up. The urgency in his voice prompted Manolo to throw off the blankets and stumble out of bed before his brain even had a chance to process what was happening.

"Woah, hey!" he hoarsely called as he opened the bedroom door, eyes searching the hall for his friend. "Where's the fire, amigo?!"

Honestly, Manolo wasn't surprised when no one initially answered the doorbell. Doctors Gottlieb and Geiszler were incredibly busy men who also happened to be incredibly in love with each other. Of course they were going to take their much-needed vacation time together. Manolo would have done the same. In fact, he may have been just a touch envious, although he was still very happy for them.

Instead of voicing that out loud, though, he was trying to convince Joaquin to just leave the poor guys alone, that they really shouldn't have come here without at least sending a text first -- but then a familiar voice called out to them, making his protests neatly implode on themselves.

Manolo couldn't help but cringe, but he managed to mask it with a wide grin by the time he turned to properly face the two.

"And delicious tequila, it was!" he answered with a laugh that might have been just a bit too cheerful. "Buenos días, good doctors!"

Seeing Manolo stick his face out of his room and call to him was enough to slow Joaquin down. He released a pent up breath, but the urgency never left his voice.

"There's been an incident. I need you to get dressed, we're heading out!"

"An incident?" he echoed with raised eyebrows, but Manolo didn't question further, his expression suddenly settling into something more focused. "...Alright, hold on."

Without another word, he hastily put on his shoes and grabbed his jacket from the closet before reaching for his helmet. "Are we gonna take your bike?"

Manolo could get caught up on what was going down later. For now, they needed to be at that porter!

"That's the plan! We don't want to wait around for things to get worse!" Joaquin rushed into his own room, shouting all the way. He had to change, too. Being in casual work clothes wouldn't do.

Suiting up quick he had down to an art. With his swords secured to his back, he stepped out, but he left his sombrero behind. As much as he liked wearing it into battle, he could always stop by later once he knew Manolo was secure. For now, he needed to just get them out of here.

"Ready?"

"Yeah," he answered, stepping completely out of his room now. He'd summon his guitar once they reached their destination, so that would hopefully make the ride a little easier on his back.

"What's going on, exactly?" he added as they started walking for the door. Joaquin was wearing his uniform, which meant he was probably expecting some kind of fight. "I was asleep, so I haven't been looking at the news program."

"Then let's go." He led the way down the stairs, speaking over his shoulder. "Basically, someone is using their magic to turn people into stone. It's already covered an entire block and it keeps getting worse."

Of course, there were other damages as well, but that was the worst part of it. Property issues went without saying.

Once they were out in the yard Joaquin wasted no time in getting set up on his bike and firing it into life. He strapped his helmet on and allowed Manolo the time he needed to get comfortable. He was probably going to break a few speeding laws to get them out of there quick.

"What?" With a disturbed frown, he settled onto the bike's back seat, his arms wrapping around Joaquin's middle without a second thought. It must have been another imPort. As far as he knew, natives didn't have that kind of magic. There had to be a way to undo it, right? But more importantly...

"People probably need help evacuating," he said softly.

Once the bike started up, though, it was hard to talk over the sound of the engine. So, Manolo just held onto his friend, trusting he knew the way.

Evacuating, huh? Considering they'd probably just get caught in a cross-fire it might have been better if they just stayed quiet and hunkered down rather than running outside. But Joaquin wasn't going to worry about that. There wasn't time.

He kicked the bike into gear and took off, ignoring speed limits in favor of getting them across town. With the warnings having already gone out people were either staying indoors or trying to head out of the city, though there were a few who seemed intent on acting like nothing bad was happening. Going about their daily lives like nothing else mattered...

They arrived at the Municipal complex in record time and Joaquin killed the engine once he had the bike pulled up to the curb, ignoring the fire line that warned it to be a tow zone should he leave it there. Right now his bike hardly mattered. He pulled off his helmet and grabbed Manolo's hand, intent on dragging him into the building housing the porter if necessary.

The Municipal complex was not where he expected to end up, but Manolo didn't have to ask. He knew it housed the Porter, and now their sudden exit from the house was starting to make a lot more sense. They hadn't left to go help people.

They were running.

"Wait, hold on a second--" Manolo glanced back at the bike, distressed, as Joaquin pulled him along. "Where are we going? You didn't say anything about this!"

Of course I didn't! You wouldn't come otherwise!

"Manolo, I need you to listen to me and understand," Joaquin said, still pulling him along. There seemed to be a lot of traffic in the building, but that was to be expected. Some people were likely petitioning to use the porter to get out before things got too far out of hand.

"There is someone out there turning people into stone! I don't think even your, er, other form can protect you from that! And I'm going to protect you, even if you don't like it!"

Neither of them knew whether Manolo's form could withstand that sort of magic, it was true. But they didn't know whether his own powers could somehow help return victims to their original form, either.

"My music might be able to help people, Joaquin," he said. There were people all around them, and though Manolo wasn't yelling, he didn't exactly bother keeping his voice down. "You could at least let me try before deciding I'm completely useless, you know?"

Joaquin didn't care if others were staring either. He didn't give a damn about anyone else at the moment, really.

"I don't think you're useless but you are a distraction and you're not registered," he replied sharply. They would be able to by-pass all the people waiting to get paperwork processed to use the Porter if Manolo would just MOVE IT!

Hermann frowned down at his pocket, hoping no one was trying to call him because his hands were currently full and he'd have to hand everything off to Newton.. But it only chirped once; a text message that could wait until they were inside at least. Perhaps longer, depending on....

Or not.

His frown transferred to the men standing outside their apartment door as he stepped into the hallway, and he experienced the same pangs of concern. Unusual for anyone to visit without forewarning, and he guessed that perhaps the message was from Joaquin. If his phone hadn't been a brand new Starkphone he knew was better than a delayed text message, he might have thought that was the case.

"Yes, good evening. Can we help you, gentlemen?"

"What does not being registered have to do with anything?" Manolo asked, his own tone taking a sharper edge to it. "You said so yourself that I shouldn't let other people choose what I should do. I didn't agree to this!"

Joaquin let go of Manolo's hand, his forward progress stopped. Then he slowly turned around to face his friend, brows drawn together in a scowl.

"Manolo. I'm sorry I didn't ask your permission to bring you here, but I'm not going to take you into that danger zone. You know how I feel about you throwing yourself into harms way!"

There were pleasantries being handed left and right but Joaquin wasn't patient enough to deal with them. He couldn't help it; the situation had left him feeling antsy and he really, really didn't want to drag this out in case Manolo changed his mind about being compliant for once.

"Yeah, good day and everything," he said in a rush, letting Manolo handle the thank yous while he moved them on to more important matters. "I'm guessing you haven't seen the news. There's been an incident in Heropa. I know it's sudden notice, but do you two mind if Manolo hangs out here until things cool down?"

He didn't say anything about staying himself; obviously he was going to go help with the situation. Already he could feel his communicator buzzing with more news breaks about the incident. Maybe they'd be lucky and it would already be over. Or maybe it just got a whole lot worse...

Manolo drew back a little, large eyes fixed on Joaquin's face. He hated seeing his friend look at him like that.

"I appreciate your concern," he said, voice suddenly growing softer. "I do. It's just...this doesn't feel right, Joaquin."

"You understand I just want you to be safe and live a happy life and not be so quick to die anymore, right? I mean... you get that, don't you?"

Seriously, what was there to feel about this that was right?

"This situation is terrible, I know you want to help. But you would help me a great, great deal if you could just... not involve yourself. What if there's an ambush again? I can't always be around to protect you, even if I want to be..."

Use my head alongside my heart [Closed]

Leaving with Joaquin

Meeting with Hermann and Newt

Heading for Heropa. A wild Hermann appears!

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