Cat's in the cradle (Melia and Taliesin)

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Matt just did not have time for this. His mind was whirring at it's fastest possible pace. Part of him was tempted to just forget about the bike, he would deal with it later, and the other part of him wanted to give those kids what they had coming to them. He was in the process of calling a taxi cab when Michael approached him. Now where had this kid come from? He felt his stomach drop as he imagined more kids like the ones down the street moving into the neighborhood. The kids had already started up their own gang, and while he wasn't their only source of entertainment, he was very well aware that he was on their list of ways to have fun. How long before this kid got suckered into joining them?

At the moment though, it seemed he was helping him, so he nodded. "Thanks, kid. Stay cool," he said before taking off at his somewhat awkward run to start the chase. He finished calling his taxi, just in case this all went south, because his number one priority right now was to talk to Kristie and if that meant losing his bike (and all of his research contents in the trolley- an inward groan) to those little terrorists, so be it. He could always get another bike and build another (better) trolley. And he could always replace his research papers. (But not the notes he'd written on them- another much more out loud groan).

Stupid kids. Ha ha. What a funny joke it all was. He was laughing so very hard. At the very least they'd probably slash the tires so he couldn't use it anyway. That alone was almost enough for him to give up chase and just wait for the cab. However right at that second, he caught a glimpse of the red handlebar disappearing around the corner of the dilapidated warehouse down the street. Great. A children gang's playground. Safety first, kids.

He took a deep breath and stepped inside.
 
Michael raised an eyebrow and watched Matt run off, thinking him quite a funny guy. He couldn't figure out why Kristie wanted him watched though. He called up Ryan, the other boy that was with him and let him know that Matt was on his way. Then he headed in the same direction at a sprint, though he took a slightly different route as to not run into Matt on the way.

Ryan thanked Michael and hid his phone once again, creeping up on the group of punks that had stolen the bike. He probably would have done this anyway, just because the crew looked unsavory and he found stealing stuff like bikes to be really lame and poor form. He figured out where they were going and got ahead of them, waiting at the warehouse when they came in, sitting as calm as could be on a stack of old boxes. "You guys really should find some superior forms of entertainment, because honestly stealing a bike is about on the level with kindergarteners." He knew this was probably going to end in a fight and he was more than ready for it. He was already a fair 'scrapper' because of his time on the streets but Kristie took the time to have her spies trained in more advanced fighting techniques because she was quite paranoid and they did have people like the government after them.

So if the idiots tried to make a go for him they might find that they had bitten off way more than they could chew.
 
Devon, a tall black boy about thirteen years old, was the leader of what he called the third street gang and he was not particularly happy to see Ryan especially in his territory. "I don't got no use for his shitty bike anyway, but he don't got no mailbox anymore," he grinned proudly of his accomplishment. "We don't like him in our neighborhood. He don't belong here. That house used to be our old pal Stephan's afore he got arrested. We wants to make sure he kin get his house back when he comes back. And then this jerk moves into it a couple years ago. So dont mind me," Devon said, pulling a knife out of his pocket to slash the tires on the bike, "while I make his life a living hell. Ay, Rooty, wanna burn those gross sciencey papers for me? Come on who reads that kinda stuff? That don't belong in this hood. Smarts don't belong. Only street smarts. An if you wanna fight me I got a knife and Rooty here, he's got his daddy's gun so if you think you wanna go against us, I think that's a bad idea, kid."

It was at this time that Matt had wandered up behind them. Oh he really did not have time for this. Nor was he keen on giving these bullies any kind of reaction at all. He just wanted his bike. And now Devon was making threats at this other kid.

"Let's not get violent here, please," he said, announcing his presence with his hands raised placatingly.
 
Ryan honestly couldn't believe the other kid was proud of something as inane as that. He obviously had been dropped on his head a few too many times as a baby. Following his reasoning was making Ryan sick. He glanced up as Matt entered the place and sighed softly. That was going to complicate things slightly, but he was annoyed now. Weird Matt guy or not, he was going to teach these losers a lesson.

"Daddy's gun huh?" He slipped off the pile of boxes, laughing darkly. "That's cute." He pulled out his own revolver. "You know what though? I have one too, and I bet I'm way better with it since it isn't my daddy's." The last word was flavored with scorn. Of course, it wasn't actually a gun. It was just a very convincing replica that would really hurt when he threw it the boy's face when he tried to pull out the real gun.

Michael had finally arrived on the scene as well and was watching from one of the windows, wincing as he heard the tone in Ryan's voice. These punks had really set Ryan off; avoiding violence was getting more and more unlikely. He sighed softly and kicked in the window, jumping in himself and putting his hands on his hips. "Oh and he's not alone, so you really should just cut your losses and go now, unless you want to get arrested by the police I just called." He smiled brightly and waggled his cellphone in front of him.
 
Matt groaned softly and tilted his head toward the ceiling. "Jesus fucking Christ on a stick," he mumbled. He really really really did not have time for this. And he was very seriously debating just walking out and letting the kids duke it out on their own. He cursed that deeply seeded paternal instinct to protect those that were younger than him. Something he figured he'd picked up in foster care or maybe even earlier, from his parents. Guns and threats were getting involved and he just couldn't let this happen or let anybody get hurt. Curse being the only adult around.

He stepped between Ryan and Devon and the rest of their gang. "We're not doing that. Not today. Give me your weapons please. The knife. And this revolver," he held out his hand for Devon's knife as he plucked the revolver out of Ryan's hand. It took him a moment before he realized what he was holding was not a real revolver. "Nice," he said, handing it back to Ryan and letting out an agonized scream as Devon drove his switch blade into the palm of his outstretched hand, taking advantage of the split second he'd taken to notice the fake gun.

"Motherfucking-" Matt swore, pulling his hand back in towards his body, knife still in it. "That's really mature, you know that? Wow. But thanks for the knife." He fumbled in his pocket with his good left hand and pulled out his wallet. "Here. Here's some fucking money. You use that to go get involved with some extracurricular activity at your school. I don't bloody care what it is. Fucking join ballet for all I care. Do something more productive with your time and get a fucking hobby. Join a band, buy a guitar," he muttered yanking a few larger bills out with his teeth. "And you," he pointed at Ryan. "Make sure that's how they're spending that money. Without hurting anyone or making threats, got it?"

He grunted, trying not to look at the knife in his hand, then glanced up and glared at Michael. He'd better be bluffing about having called the police. "Now if you don't mind, I'd rather not still be here when the bloody police arrive because I have better things to do than get pulled into the station for questioning and I hope to bloody God I didn't miss my cab," he muttered, knowing full well he could hardly ride his bike with a knife in his hand. He pulled out his phone and glanced at the time. "Get the fuck out of here. All of you, you little shits."

He took his jacket off and draped it over his arm to hide his bloody hand, then hurried back outside, rushing back down the street just as his cab was turning the corner. He waved it down and hopped inside, giving the address to the computer shop. He hated cars. He hated cars a lot and he scooted into the very center of the back seat and screeched at the driver for going before he was buckled up, which was a struggle to do with only one good hand. He didn't even have his bike helmet, which he always wore in the car. As it was though, he was in so much pain it was hard to focus on the usual panic he experienced when traveling in a car. It took all of his energy to hold back tears of pain. Of course it had to be his right hand too. He let his head fall back against the seat and closed his eyes, trying to remain calm. He really ought not to live in such a bad neighborhood but he honestly preferred it and it was far harder to believe someone who lived the way he chose to live had as much money as he did. It was all part of his security system. Like in 1984. The paroles were the ones who had the true freedom, right? So he set his life up as a parole. The scum of the earth. The ones the government didn't give a shit about. It didn't seem like it, but that was the sweet spot to be.

Finally the cab arrived at the shop and he moaned, seeing that it appeared closed. Had she bolted too? He paid the cab driver and got out anyway. Please please please still be here. He tried the door and found it locked. Well, he could pick a lock if he needed to but he'd rather not. That would be especially difficult with only one hand and he could feel that he was starting to lose quite a lot of blood. He knocked softly on the door, trying to peer through the glass to see if anyone was present.
 
Ryan mentally groaned as Matt stepped into the scene, it went pretty much exactly as he expected it would. But the crazy man seemed satisfied enough so whatever. He moved to the side of Matt so he could kick the shit out of the boys if they decided to make any trouble, giving Matt a 'who the hell do you think you're ordering around?' sort of expression but making no verbal protest. He was totally going to stick around these morons and do that. Like hell.

Michael just smiled brightly at Matts glare at him, perhaps because he had been bluffing about the police thing but he wasn't going to say that while the other boys were still there. He and Ryan exchanged glances, essentially saying they'd get the bike back to Matt's place and take care of things there before tracking him down again.

In the computer shop Kristie was pacing back and forth, periodically checking her computer to see if Matt had done anything but the screen remained stubbornly blank. Her kids hadn't called in to say what had happened either, which must mean something 'interesting' had happened. Which could be good, bad or who knew what. She threw her hands up in the air and let out a frustrated groan, hardly even noticing the cab that pulled up in front of her shop. She was currently closed, they could find somewhere else.

Hearing the knock she turned her frustrated glare on the door, only to stop in shock as she realized it was Matt. For a moment she started panicking again, why was he here?! Then her rational mind kicked in. She had wanted to talk to him had she not? Perhaps he did as well, he didn't look particularly threatening. In fact…She lifted her head and sniffed the air, her eyebrows drawing together in consternation. Why did she smell blood?

She hurried over to the door, punching in the code for the alarm and the lock before jerking the door open and pulling Matt inside. She kicked the door closed, not even caring that it wasn't locked at the moment. Instead she grabbed his hand and pulled off his jacket, scowling at the wound. "I knew I smelled blood. Those useless boys!" She cursed softly, pulling Matt towards the back and into the bathroom so he could wash his hand off while she finally let go of him to go get the first aid kit.
 
"You've got a rather strong sense of smell, you could smell that all the way out there," he said, narrowing his eyes at her. "We need to talk." Kristie dragged him into the bathroom and he yanked his hand away from her. "It'll be fucking fine. Don't fuss," he snapped, not that he meant to be rude, only that being hurt made him feel weak and he had such a fierce independent streak of insisting on taking care of everything himself. He did however accept her first aid kit and carefully removed the knife from his hand, pressing the clean gauze over the wound to stop the bleeding.

"This isn't really important right now, there's other more important things to discuss," he said as he continued to wrap cloth around his hand. "You've been watching me. Why? And what useless boys were you talking about? Do you know these kids?" He switched his gaze from the bandage on his hand to her face.
 
Kristie mentally cursed a bit as she realized she had managed to make so many mistakes in one little sentence. She really needed to calm down. She backed a few feet away from him and crossed her arms over her chest defensively while he took care of his hand, distressed because he snapped at her and because she was still freaking out over the whole situation. She firmly told herself to stop being a cat and think for a few seconds. The almost mantra did a lot to get her back in a more rational state of mind and she relaxed at least a little as she leaned against her counter, still holding herself somewhat defensively.

She took a few moments to respond, mostly deciding where she wanted to start. Finally with an almost pout she burst out. "Because you were interesting. I had Michael and Ryan keep an eye on you because I was curious…" She figured she might as well admit that Ryan and Michael were hers. She had to give him something at least. "I knew you had to up to something big because even that crappy hard drive doesn't die so quickly normally…I wasn't out to get your or anything I swear, I just wanted to know!"
 
"I was interesting?" he asked, staring at her for an exceptionally long awkward moment before a smile crept onto his lips. And then he laughed, though there was still a touch of panic fluttering around in his chest, knowing that she still had seen his entire set up. "I promise it was actually just a dud hard drive. Never had one go out on me like that one did so fast. I think it got dropped in shipping or something..."

He chuckled quietly again and went back to bandaging his hand, peering at the depth of the wound. "Fuck" he muttered. "Concerns me a bit how violent some of the youth is these days. It's like a war zone in some of these neighborhoods and right in the middle of a first world country. Don't dick around with their loyalties and shit I don't fully understand..."

His shoulders hunched somewhat vulnerably. "I really need you to promise not to tell. If there's anything you need me to do to ensure that I'm more than willing to do that... money, or whatever. I need you to... to promise not to give anything away... accidentally or otherwise... How many of these kids know...?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.
 
Kristie let herself relax a bit more as he started to laugh, hoping that just maybe this would resolve without too much problem on either side. She had to chuckle to at the probable coincidence that started it all. "Well, I may try and get them involved in my charity." She eyed his hand in a manner that said there would be some severe talking to going on at the very least though. And they would probably not get involved in the more secret parts of her organization. She understood that violence was just part of that part of society but stealing Matt's bike had been a pretty lame move, and that wasn't even talking about stabbing someone as (physically) harmless as he seemed to be.

"Only I know what's on the inside of your house." She reassuring him immediately, reacting to his concern. "And you don't need to worry, your secret is safe with me, you don't need to do anything." Aside from not figure out her big secret and spread it all over the place preferably, but she was hardly going to make reference to that in case it spurred him to actually figure it out. No one had gotten anywhere near as close to figuring that out without stumbling upon her like Tessa had. "I had the kids following you today because you…well you know." Had he figured it out? She wasn't quite sure just what had actually spurred him to run like that.
 
Matt hummed in acknowledgement at the mention of her charity. He'd forgotten she'd mentioned that earlier. It'd probably be good that the kids got involved in something that was more useful. He worried they'd get so bored that they'd start trying to terrorize his solar panels or something that he'd worked extra hard on. Or worse, through a bomb through his window. Because evidently why not? He doubted the kids had ever been exposed to anything other than the violent neighborhood they grew up in, making Matt especially strange to them. It was human nature to avoid change, or so he'd read. It was physically wired into the human brain. Different was bad.

It wasn't until Kristie mentioned being in his house that Matt froze completely in the fiddling with his hand and glanced at her sidewise. "You've been in my house," he stated flatly. "How have you been in my house? Actually just how did you get in my computer system anyway, because I've obviously got some weak link somewhere and if you can get it then so can somebody else."

He gave up on his hand. It wasn't important at the moment but he realized it would need to be dealt with seriously at a later time. He couldn't seem to stop the bleeding and it probably would need stitches and most certainly also a tetanus shot. This irritated him more than anything because it meant he would not be able to actually use his hand for a fair while. Which made working with computers that much more difficult. He would not be able to work as fast as he needed to. He sat, feeling slightly woozy.
 
Kristie pursed her lips at the expression he gave her. They were still dancing around the subject and she really hoped she could leave it that way. She figured she would drop one secret she was fairly sure had figured out to lead him away from the secret she really hoped he hadn't figured out. "I got into your house the same way you did. Minus actually having the keys." She crossed her arms and gave him an arch look. "I'm sure you've figured out my other identity at this point. I have not been successful this long for nothing. I am very good at breaking into houses." She gestured around the store. "That includes this as well; I am very good with computers. I used one of my password programs and left you that message after my initial visit to sate my curiosity seemed to freak you out."

She was rather concerned by the blood that was coming from his hand and moved forward with one hand out, really wanted to help him with it. "Just let me help you with that, we can still talk." She pleaded with him.
 
"You broke into my house and now you're helping me this is all very strange and backwards," he mumbled, his voice starting to go up in pitch. "That's a lot of blood isn't it? At least he didn't stab me in the gut or something...Guess that was lucky. You've probably figured out I'm not really a very lucky guy. Bad luck follows me. I did break my mum's mirror when I was a kid...." He closed his eyes and held out his hand. "Had a friend get stabbed in the gut once, just coming home from work. In his own yard. Was pretty serious. Definitely more serious than this. Had to go to the hospital and shit." He scrunched his face, still babbling airily. "Haven't felt this weird ever cept that time i took the benadryl..."

"Ohhhh," He said, suddenly making a connection. "That cat was yours. I'm really sorry I took your cat. I didn't mean to. It just followed me. It has the same color hair as you...... what exactly is the advantage to taking a cat with when you're breaking into someone's house? It's the same color...." he repeated and then laughed. "Maybe you're related..."
 
Kristie gratefully took his hand, fishing around for some fresh gauze. "This is probably going to hurt a lot." She said frankly, making a new bandage and pressing it firmly down on the make shift one that Matt had been trying to make. She worked with the expert hands of someone who had probably had to patch up a few wounds in her time. He should probably take this to a doctor or he might lose some control in his hand. She could stich it up but there was damage well under the skin and that was a bit beyond her. "Its fine, my cat does as she pleases. She's probably as smart as you or I are so I couldn't really call her 'mine' either. She's her own cat that occasionally likes to help me out." She felt she was stretching it just a bit much but what else was she supposed to say? Matt just knew entirely too much. She just had to act casual and not like he was inches away from stumbling upon her most important secret.
 
Matt hissed as Kristie pressed the gauze against his hand. A long string of expletives escaped under his breathe as blackness edged around the corners of his vision. He sucked in a deep breath while simultaneously hating this more and more the longer it went on. If someone could invent some instant magical healing elixir right at this very moment that would be great and he could be done with this and move on. As it was he saw it more as a massive inconvenience than anything else. As had been the allergy attack. Really, he had been less than productive in this last week, he realized, largely in part to Kristie. Or rather, Kristie's cat. Or both. Though he seemed satisfied in the conclusion that Kristie in cat form was simply Kristie's cat, who had a mind of her own and wandered off. Which would likely explain why the cat wasn't here.

"It's seriously weally important though that no one knows. I have to go to South America next week to set up a thing, and if this is gonna be a problem I need to know so I can put up new bases..."
 
Kristie sighed and gave him a slightly annoyed look. She knew he really didn't have any particularly great reasons to trust her but he knew she was successfully keeping at least one or two secrets so he should have some confidence in the fact that she would be more than able to keep his. She held the gauze down tightly for a couple minutes, watching the spread of the blood stain before nodding to herself and starting to wrap it up, still keeping a good amount of pressure on the wound. "Coming from someone who is only slightly less paranoid than you, you really need to calm down." She had been wanting to say that since the first time he had freaked out around her and now she was finally in the right form to say it.

"You will be fine, just do me a favor and don't tell anyone else my secret as well. And we should probably get you to the doctor relatively soon." She grinned. "If you're really concerned you can make a donation to my charity to pay for me dealing with your neighborhood punks."
 
Matt hesitated a moment. "Fair enough..." he mumbled. Not that he would much change his ways. If anything, he didn't think he was paranoid enough, but for her case he would try to stop being so paranoid. At least around her. "An I'm not gonna tell anyone anything. You don't need to worry about that. Not that I exactly understand why you're stealing stuff but it's none of my business and it doesn't really affect me. Not like I haven't done my fair share of pick pocketing... I'm not gonna claim to be a saint or anything."

He was babbling. A lot. Either it was because of how faint he was feeling and it was part of his efforts to stay conscious or it was because someone finally knew his secret and he could talk about it, he wasn't fully sure. But he was feeling very faint and he really probably should see a doctor about that cut. He really hadn't sustained an injury quite that serious in a long time.

Then again, Mr. Howard had said he was a babbler once he got going on a subject. A trait of the lonely perhaps.

"Sorry..." he said, slurring a bit. "I think I'm going into shock... I think that's probably bad..."
 
Kristie was only half listening to his babbling while she pondered the best course of action. She hadn't realized what was happening until he said so but at that point she was ready to get into action. "Right, that's enough of standing around talking, you're going to the hospital." She pulled out her phone and quickly called a cab. "By the way, I'm stealing all that to help fund my charity. It's not cheap to try and improve the kind of neighborhood you live in." She put an arm around his waist, not entirely sure that Matt would be able to walk on his own and started walking him towards the door. If he tried to resist she would just manhandle him with her far superior demonic strength. "Think of me as a bit of a robin hood."

She was talking mostly to keep him from slipping too far, hopefully. She leaned him against the wall while she locked up the shop and pretty much shoved him into the cab once it showed up. "To the nearest hospital."
 
Matt gave Kristie a smile, though his eyes were a bit glassy. "I respect that. I actually think that's really cool. Improving the world we live in. Take from those dirty rotten no good scoundrel pissing nasty nasty greedy rich and powerful- wait are we going in the car? i really dont want to go in the car again can we not go in the car?"

Too late. In the car again. Now that the urgency of questioning and understanding Kristie's motives were behind him, taking the car was one hundred percent the least necessary thing to do and he was very much not happy about it. It took a lot of effort but he squashed Kristie to the side and took the middle seat again. It was probably a blessing that he wouldn't remember much about the car ride.

"I apologize," he slurred. "As this is not a very serious injury its just there's a lot of blood and it's kinda freaking me out..."
 
Kristie squeezed as close as she could to the door, giving Matt a distinctly confused look. "If you loose enough blood it is a serious injury and you've lost quite a bit of blood." She took his hand and held it above his head, vaguely remembering something about keeping stuff like this above the heart to reduce the blood loss or something. "Just keep breathing, we'll be there soon."

Once they arrived at the hospital she practically dragged/carried him inside and demanded someone see him right then and there. She may or may not still be a bit frazzled herself. She was not pleased to hear there was going to be at least an hour wait time but she was in control enough of herself to admit it was not quite a life threatening wound, especially since they had been given a blanket for Matt and the bleeding had slowed enough to not go through the bandage yet. "Would that we could properly fund anything." She grumbled as she lead Matt to slightly less crowded corner of the waiting room.
 
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