I need a Hero (DE HARD) ❷✗

[Deleted]

Luckily for the shingami the naked mole rat that was rather large, some would say it was a rodent of unusual size was hit in the head by a trash can lid that was thrown by the rather helpful and brave arrancar. Which unlike the shingami actually decided to attack the rodent and not simply flee like a little girl. Luckily for the both of them while the mole rats weren't as fast as the they were, which allowed for them to slowly gain distance between them and their new woodland friends. However the path that they had decided to take wasn't safe, no it would lead them dead center into a stronghold.

Running along the left side of the crater seemed like a good idea at first, after all this side seemed to have more things cleared away and the buildings seemed to be in better condition. With quick fixes here and there to the buildings made up of planks of wood and metal rods to patch the walls up. Along side that there seemed to be additions to make walkways and metal railing to hold onto. However that meant that someone or something was building here, and sadly for the two newbie adventures they weren't friendly, but they would be familiar, very familiar to both of them.

Both Ranth and Rin would hear them before seeing them. “HUMANS I HEAR YOU.” The voice would be very familiar to the both of them, after all it hadn't been an hour since they had hear that voice call out to them. As they continued to move they would see one of them come out from the bottom of a building. His armor was made up of heavy metal plates and cloth holding the metal together. However the important thing to note would be the metal spikes on the back of this monster's back. Each spike held a human head, and in the dead center was the freshly deceased head of Samantha proudly displayed as dried blood covered her face.

This would only be the first green monstrosity that would come out from the sides of the buildings. Soon a squad of several of them would come out all holding crude makeshift guns. “ATTACK.” one of them screamed out and suddenly a hailstorm of bullets started to come out towards Asuka and Ranth. Most of the bullets would miss their target however a few would nick Asuka and Ranth. Not causing major damage to them, but would result in open wounds that would start to bleed. The mutants continued to fire as they started to head towards them. One in particular wearing nothing but a loincloth and chains started to run right at them holding an odd football shaped item in it's hand beeping as it came towards them.

[Deleted]

“W-We’re still a ways from getting there. Don’t give up, Ranthy! We can make it~!”

Asuka was holding out on hope. A bottomless pit of optimism this one was. She didn’t feel as fast as she normally was but was still a fair deal faster than them. They were doing it... They were doing it! They were gonna out run these hairless dogs with the big teeth in the front! She could hear their squeaks which totally weren’t cute by the way. They only made her nervous but the fear of either one of them being caught by these things was what made the smaller girl truck on like a bulldozer! A super fast one with fun horns and it was teal and had cute sheep on the side with bells.

These things weren’t friends. At least, they weren’t the friends Asuka wanted. Asuka wanted relationships with people where they didn’t eat her, sit on her, try to take her clothes, beat her, give her vicious birthday punches, slapped her, stabbed her, cut her hair, threatened her, or hid under her bed… Yeah Asuka was already starting to think that maybe 100 years was already too long of a life because she definitely had her fair share of torture in less than a century. She didn’t want to find out what happens when she turns 200 either. She was only an arrancar for about… well… whats 183 minus 69?

“HUMANS I HEAR YOU.”

You know what? None of that is important right now because that voice was not a voice that she wanted to hear right now. “A-Are you kidding me…” she whispered out loud to her companion. “I don’t wanna be breakfast” Wait, was it even breakfast time? Wouldn’t it be appropriate to use the correct meal time? Was it Lunch? Asuka made the mistake of glancing back and she’d see in plain sight the thing that they encountered in the basement with that girl’s head right in the center. “Don’t look behind you.” She warned, worried he might want to slow down at the sight of the thing. “T-Trust me. I wish I didn’t. Aha.” It wasn’t an unusual sight and it wouldn’t perturb her as she was used to such a thing, but she didn’t know a thing about Ranth except for his love of the Hokey Pokey.

She heard the word attack and good lord did she pray to the werecow people and the sheep people that she didn’t get gunned down. Asuka could hear the flurry of bullets being aimed that them and she felt herself being nicked in the arm and her side. She hissed out loud but she kept running as she felt the sensation of blood trickling down her arm and her side. “Don’t stop. No matter how much it hurts.” She said to him, continuing to run. She wasn’t stopping for a second. Asuka wouldn’t pay attention to her wounds just yet as she would assume that they would heal.

Of course, Asuka knew that she was susceptible to different wounds. Since she became the Segunda she felt new powers coursing through her veins. While she hadn’t fully adjusted to it, she knew what was supposed to happen. She had High Speed Regeneration so… why was she still bleeding? Why did it still hurt? The beasts earlier words echoed throughout her mind. Humans. Shit. That’s great! But shit!! They were basically humans. Well, Asuka at least. She didn’t know Ranth’s set up at all. She was just stuck in her gigai. “We can do this! We can outrun ‘em!” She kept an eye on him to see if he was holding up ok, trying to be as encouraging as she could be in hopes that it would help him run like hell. Despite their current circumstances, she wouldn't be deterred from finding her way to the mayor's office. She still knew where it was and continued to run in that direction.

“Ranthy? Do you hear beepi— Ah!” Another glance, another regret. To add on to their problems, there was a thing in a loin cloth running at them with a beeping ball or sorts and all Asuka knew was that it wasn’t a game that she wanted to play. Even if it was baseball, basketball or soccer… She 100% did not want to play golf with that guy and his golf ball. No way, no how. Was this movie over yet? She didn’t wanna be in it anymore. It was scary and life threatening and it hurt like heck. “Faster.. Run faster! That thing is gonna blow.” Literally and figuratively? Asuka was scared. Legitimately scared. No powers. No way to fight. She felt like the helpless little arrancar she was not that long ago. There was a golfing mutant running at her with a beeping golf ball which only seemed to speed up more and more all she wanted was to not die and have Pokey Hokey now.

[Ranth]

Just as it seemed that maybe, just maybe they were going to catch a break, everything went to shit faster than a Cho'gath getting shat on by a Lux while Vi ate cereal in the jungle. Ranth and Asuka had seemingly managed to outrun the enormous naked mole rats that had been looking to turn them into a midday snack. One might have forgiven them for thinking that maybe they'd earned themselves a reprieve. After all, they'd already been through a lot since arriving- they'd seen someone torn apart and eaten for goodness sake.

But there would be no such reprieve for these intrepid heroes.

For no sooner had they managed to come into view of the buildings on the other side of the crater than the distant sound of fireworks could be heard, followed by a curious whistling sound and then the ground around then began to erupt as Ranth came to a skidding halt even as Asuka gave a cry of pain and alarm as some of what he now realised were bullets connected with her. Of course, Ranth too was hit by the sting of half a dozen tiny pellets and only the fact that they were fired from so far away saved him from taking lethal damage.

Feeling the grazes on his bare skin and the bruises forming on his body where the bullets had connected, if it wasn't bad enough that they were being shot at from the distant buildings, the already familiar sound of their 'friend' from earlier was the final nail in the coffin as he emerged from one of the closer buildings even as a second figure dashed towards them, having begun his sprint all the way from the buildings and was closing the distance with alarming haste.

"Does it look like I'm stopping?", Ranth shouted his retort to Asuka as they sprinted side by side back in the direction they'd just come from. Compared to a horde of gun wielding psychopaths, a cannibalistic mutant and a suicidal bomber, he was more than willing to take his chances with the naked mole rats. Of course, sprinting with gunshot wounds was neither easy nor painless but thanks to the adrenaline coursing through his gigai veins at that moment, he was able to push the pain aside and focus on what mattered.

Survival.

When, or if they reached safety, Ranth would notice Asuka's wounds. "Are you alright? Hold on, I'll bandage these up for you", he'd offer. Although before she could protest or insist that she was fine, Ranth would tear strips from his pants -turning them into knee length shorts in the process- and tended to the worst of the grazes on her arms and legs. Sadly, none of the strips were long enough to wrap around her torso and so any injuries there would require something else to properly tend to. The same went for Ranth, but he seemed to have been a little luckier with the bullets than Asuka had been and his injuries overall were less severe in the short term.

[Deleted]

The sounds of bullets and the monstrosities would follow the two as they kept running back in the direction that they had been before. All the while taking more bullets that grazed them, a corner would come up and it would come just in time as the massive suicidal mutant's bomb exploded and filled the area with heat and radiation. From the explosion a massive wave of heat and radiation would hit the two of them. The back of both Ranth's and Asuka's neck would feel the heat as bits of their hair would be singed from the heat and radiation.

Lucky for the both of them this was the only damage from the miniature nuke that would hit barely miss them. Around the comer they would have a bit of time to relax and regroup themselves for a bit. Between the blood loss from the bullets and the fact that they no longer had the almost infinite stamina from being spiritual beings going on like this for too much longer wouldn't be a smart idea at all, especially without knowing what other dangers remained in the wasteland. 

As they took their time resting one of them would look and find a sign that read Goodneighbor and pointed back away from the crater and away from the mayor's office. The sign it's self was painted on a piece of wood and seemed to be recently painted as it wasn't as dirty as the surrounding area. It looked as if there was some human life in this place, life that wanted others to know that they were there. Now the choices were do they opt to try going around the right side of the creator, head towards where the sign says, or stay here in the streets waiting for their death. 

[Deleted]

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouchies and more. Today was not Asuka’s day. Then again, for the better part of her life, when has it been? Getting hurt kinda, well, it hurt lots! Asuka didn’t like it and she was sure Ranth didn’t like it a whole lot either. They just constantly seemed to be on the run and stopping just wasn’t an options for the celebrity and the heroine of this horror movie that got really messed up really fast. As much as Asuka wanted to shout stop to everything and make it all go away, she couldn’t. Nothing like that was gonna happen.

The scary running mutant ran and ran and the next thing she heard was an explosion. She was sure that if they kept running straight, they would have suffered from some of the effects of the explosions that would hinder them more than they already were. The pair didn’t stop until there was a point to stop. Asuka’s chest rising and falling as her breath desperately tried to catch up with her. She looked around frantically just in case anything else would pop out to greet them. Rats, Dogs, Mutants, Werecows, Sharkpires. All the scary stuff really. Things were calm for the time being.

Before she could say anything, Ranth would immediately start tending to her wounds. Asuka, still attempting to hold out hope on her HSR working obviously protested. “Noo Ranthy. Please don’t. It’s ok. I’ll be f-fine..” She winced slightly as she moved, trying to stop him but it was to no avail. “Aw don’t ruin your cool clothes for this. It’s just a scratch. I’ll be fine. Aha~” Asuka did try putting on a brave face but it was to no avail. He wouldn’t stop. Everything she sustained still hurt and she watched as he bandaged her wounds. The expression on her face was extremely dark and worrisome. Her wounds still hurt. Nothing was healing. It wasn’t just her imagination. She felt ice in the pit of her stomach.

“..We’re really human huh.” she said bitterly, looking over her now bandaged wounds. Humanity was something she desperately wanted but not like this. Not when things were this bleak and there was no one to share it with. Not when there was someone here who she couldn’t even help. She felt guilty. Who woulda thought that the thing you spent chasing for most of your life would be given to you in the worst possible way? She looked over to Ranth who’d also gotten grazed by the bullets but not nearly as bad as she was. This was the reality of their situation.

She waited about awkwardly for Ranth to finish patching himself up and she stuffed her hands in her back pockets, kicking around a pebble. “I wish I could do more for ya, Ranthy. I’m real sorry. I hope you’re not too scratched up.” Maybe her “cutest” outfit just wasn’t a good idea today. Asuka would attempt to get out of her gigai but she couldn’t. Stuck. Stuck like gum on the bottom of your shoe. Not even the good kind of gum. It was the gross kind. That happened to Asuka a few times but whenever it happened, she was just glad that the person didn’t swallow the gum. Everyone knows that when you swallow gum, you die! That’s it for you. Done. Finito. Dead. Don’t swallow gum or else bubbles will grow in your stomach and you die~!

When he was ready, Asuka smiled and begun walking slowly. Her body felt worn and exhausted from all the running they just did. “I wish I could tell you we’re getting closer but we’ve got a looooong way to go.” This whole place was really putting a damper on her spirit but she would do her best to shake it off and think of happy things like food, sheep, boy bands and the ice cream with the funny name. Who woulda thought such a thing existed!? People are incredible and super cool!

Asuka could come to a halt as soon as she saw a sign that read “Goodneighbor”. Hm.. Did all the people who were all good neighbors go there? “Goodneighbor… We should probably make a detour aha. Maybe we can find a place to rest. The mayor’s office is thataway,” she pointed in the direction of it, “but I’m pretty beat. I’m sure you are too.” she smiled sheepishly, pointing at his own wounds. She looked torn for the moment, looking off into the direction of where the Mayor’s office would be. Given where they were at, it would be another 45 minutes on foot and that was another 45 minutes of naked dogs and monsters with human head necklaces that Asuka didn’t want. Then she got a brilliant brain wave and tugged him in the direction of Goodneighbor excitedly with any little bit of strength she had left. “Maybe they have food there and lots of ice cream!! You could show me the Pokey Hokey! Oh my goshness, this is gonna be great~! I bet it tastes really good. C’mon~! Aha!”

[Ranth]

It was difficult for Ranth to ignore Asuka's protests, not because she was even close to being able to convince him that she didn't need help, but rather that when she called him by that strange moniker that she'd apparently taken a liking to addressing him as - Ranthy, it became very difficult to concentrate on what he was doing and his ears threatened to turn red with embarrassment. It was a strange sensation that gave him tingles in his chest. He liked having a nickname, even if it was just one letter added to the end of his ordinary name, it felt special somehow and despite the dire nature of their present situation, it was almost enough to chase away the fear and uncertainty that threatened to overwhelm him.

"My clothes aren't as important as your life Asuka", he explained matter-of-factually as he stepped back from the injured woman to survey his handiwork. Thankfully, almost all of her injuries were grazed rather than full blown bullet wounds, or else he didn't know if there was anything he could possibly have done to aid her. In theory, he knew the pricniples behind removing a bullet from a wound... but only insofar as that he knew it did mmore harm than good to go fishing around in an open wound without extensive training and specialised- not to mentioned sterilised- tools. None of which were things that Ranth possessed.

Ranth cocked his head to one side curiously as he caught Asuka's comment about being 'really human'. Under the circumstances, he figured he must have misheard her or it was an idiom that he wasn't familiar. In the end, the safest response seemed to be, "Yes, I suppose we are". Never mind the fact that Ranth himself wasn't human, but then again... if he couldn't get out of this gigai then what was the difference between a Shinigami and a Human anyway? Now that he had time to think about what they'd been through, he could onyl assume that the main cause for this situation was the pill that they'd been all but forced to swallow. However he couldn't deny that that same pill had banished the incredibly sickness that had plagued him upon arriving here. Talk about a catch twenty two!

"I'm alright, thank you for worrying about me Asuka", Ranth smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner at the girl as she expressed concern for his own well being. "I should be asking you though, how are you coping with... well... everything that's happened since we got here? If you need to talk about anything..." He trailed off as he foudn that he didn't know how to indirectly say 'if you need to talk about seeing someone's head torn off and put on a stick, then I'll listen'. He knew that people dealt with shock in all sorts of ways- he'd read countless studies on the subject- and he also knew that it didn't always set in straight away. His worry was that Asuka might break down at any moment- she was just an innocent girl after all.

In the end, they left their resting place all too soon but there was really no real choice in the matter. They only had one lad to go on, which was to reach the Mayor's office. The trouble with that was the small army that seemed to have been placed in their way and Asuka had already said, they had a long way to go and that way had been made even longer by the people- if they could be called such- that had so happily shot at them the moment they came into view. In the end, they lacked information and supplies and in their current situation could they really afford to stumble blindly towards a goal they didn't understand?

This critical question was the reason that when they came across a fork in the road that seemed to be offering them a chance of finding some trace of civilization- or what passed for civilization in this place- the choice seemed obvious to the both of them. GoodNeighbor... the name itself seemed too good to be true, but what choice did they have? They weren't equipped to deal with the foes they'd encountered so far, but perhaps they could change that if they could learn more about what was going on here and acquire some equipment and supplies on top of that.

Seeing the almost immediate spring that entered Asuka's step at the prospect of finding somewhere to rest, recover and obtain ice cream, Ranth could only smile helplessly at her almost childlike demeanor as she gazed at him with pleading eyes. Even if he'd wanted to press on towards the Mayor's office, who but the most heartless of creatures could deny her? "Yeah", he said with a faint grin. "We can get Pokey Hokey", he agreed as they set off together in the direction that the sign indicated would take them to GoodNeighbor.

[Deleted]

The walk to GoodNeighbor would take a while given their condition. As they walked through the alleyways and streets they would see more of karakura town. Most of the buildings seemed to be utterly destroyed and ransacked. While walking they would come across a pharmacy however a quick glance from the broken windows would show that anything of value or use was long gone the only thing left in the pharmacy would be some old newspapers who's ink had bled down making it illegible, removing any chance of them learning more about this world.

Every turn would have another sign simply saying GoodNeighbor pointing in a direction leading them further and further away from their original destination. Upon a final turn into a dark alleyway away from the open streets they would see a large neon sign that read GoodNeighbor fixed atop a metal and wood wall that held barbed wire on the top of it. This wall was built between two large buildings that seem to make up part of GoodNeighbor's exterior wall. However in front of the door that was built into the wall were two men, or what looked like men.

Both of the men were dressed in typical 50's gangster's outfits, complete with fedoras and coats. Both of them also carried the signature weapon typical of those gangsters in the fifties tommy guns. If Ranth and Asuka weren't in the middle of an apocalyptic wasteland then these two would look like extras from a movie. While both of them looked like they were ripped right out of a movie that wasn't the strangest thing about them. Even from a distance both Ranth and Asuka could see that the skin of them men were horribly disfigured in a manor that wasn't done by any natural means.

Both of the men had their skin seemingly rotting from their body as if it was dead. They also seemed to lack noses and instead had only the marking of where a nose would be. From a distance the sounds of their voices could be heard. Unlike normal human voices these men had raspy and harsh tones as if they had been smoking for years. Only bits and pieces of what they were saying could be picked up, but nothing useful could be heard from the two of them. For now it seemed like the men weren't moving, but it was clear that they weren't human.

[Deleted]

"My clothes aren't as important as your life Asuka"

Asuka never in a million years would have dreamt she’d hear words as kind as she just did. Not that she could help it. Hueco Mundo wasn’t exactly known for its kindness and warm sandy beaches or happiness. Las Noches even less so. All her friends were on the other side. Friendly situations didn’t always happen even when she tried. The chain of command kept your life in lock. If you fell of your pedestal, that was it. Her life was important? It was odd. Maybe she was looking into it a little too seriously but it did mean a lot to the Espada.

Her smile would match his own as he reassured he was okay. His question about the events that had gone on here thought? “Well…” She’s seen much worse. It came with the territory and it was a terrible thing to say. Death was unnecessary and it took an extremely unfortunate situation for her to realize it. She shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of those thoughts. “I’m fine, Ranthy.” Just ‘cause she was used to it, didn’t mean she had to be okay with it though. Asuka was far from ok with everything that was happening here. “Cross my heart, hope to die. Aha~. It makes me sad to see this is the situation we’re up against but I can’t dwell on that. What matters the most is helping the people here.” She was determined to do good despite the odds against them. “..And you can’t dwell on it either Ranthy~!”

Asuka pulled out the leather vest she picked up from the dead guy and offered it to Ranth. “Oh I think this is your size by the way ehe. It’s definitely way too big. Sorry it’s not so glamorous or anythin’ “ Fingers raked through her hair nervously and she’d look away, somewhat worried that pop culture royalty was going yell at her for suggesting to wear such an ugly vest. Were they at goodneighborhood yet? Was it good? Was it neighborly? Gosh she hoped so. Asuka’s neighbor’s didn’t like her too much. Too many snakes running about and her kitchen catching on fire. "We can get Pokey Hokey" “You’re the best Ranthy! Let’s go! Aha~!”

At some point she came up to two guys standing in front of a door and they looked super scary and their skin was peeling off and oh god it was so so so gross! They were decked out in guns and scary stuff. Asuka could feel her skin crawling and she stopped in her tracks, immediately at the sight of them. She looked to Ranth and then back to the guards. “Uhh… “

[Ranth]

Ranth couldn't help but wonder what kind of life this poor girl had gone through that made her seem so sincerely happy at his words. But he wasn't about to question her on anything so deep or personal. Not onyl did he not know her well enough, but the current situation simply didn't allow for idle conversation to take precedence over information gathering, finding supplies and anything else that was immediately pertinent to their survival. Be that as it may, he felt a mild surge of appreciation as Asuka called him by his nickname again. It was a similar feeling to closing his eyes on a swing that was a cross between giddiness and free-falling.

"Thanks Asuka", Ranth said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster considering that it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

*pause for breath*

-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too small for him to actually wear. But he couldn't bear the thought of turning down such a sincere -albeit strange- gift under the circumstances.

Thankfully, he was spared from having to try and wear the leather vest. Instead, he flung it over his shoulder like a towel -albeit a leather one- as they rounded another corner to find that they'd finally arrived at their new detour of a destination. The only problem was that the gate appeared to be locked and two rather 'distinguished' looking men were standing not too far from it with comically large guns in their hands. Ranth was in the same boat as Asuka as they both halted in their tracks.

They'd been through a lot in the short time that they'd been in this hellish place, but they'd had two very distinct encounters that had made them more than a little nervous around two things: Guns and people who didn't look like people, but still kind of vaguely looked like people. Now they were confronted with a situation that combined both of these two things into one disastrous scenario. "You've got to be joking... why can't we catch a break?", Ranth sighed softly as he weighed their options.

"Maybe those are the good neighbours?" He asked in a tone that was too sarcastic too be called optimistic. "Take this and wait here, if things start to go bad... try not to hit me", he smiled weakly as he handed her the gun with the two bullets filling two of the 6 chambers in the barrel. Then, before he could talk any sense into him, he approached the front gate.

"Hello Good Neighbors, my companion and I are seeking refuge. Might we find any of that here?" He didn't want to catch the men by surprise, so he stood out in the open when he called out so they could spot him easily as well as holding his hands up to show that he was unarmed. If they proved hostile, he'd left enough distance that he'd have a decent chance at escaping from their line of fire... but he really hoped it didn't come to that. Like for real.

[Deleted]

As Asuka looked at the gate of goodnehibor at Ranth to see if he would be attacked or not a new sound could be heard from behind them. It was a loud bark that echoed in the back alleyway, turning around both of them would see a normal looking German Shepard looking right at the two of them. Without fail the dog would jump on Asuka and start to lick her face. The dog would continue to lick her face for a while before hopping off of her and sitting nearby waiting to be pet. It seems like Asuka would have a new friend to tag along with her for a while.

Both of the men would look at Ranth as he approached, they would eye him up and down looking at his clothing and the oddly small vest that he carried that would seem to fit only a child, why a grown man was carrying this vest was odd, but neither of them really cared. In a low raspy voice one of them spoke to the other. “Hey, something seem odd about him?” The other would look at his friend and nod. “Yea, he looks a bit strange, can't put my finger on it, but whatever. Not our place to judge.” The two men would look at Ranth and in unison speak out. “Hey you just going to stand outside all day long or what?”

It seems that both Ranth and Asuka seemed to be worried for nothing, I mean if you're in a post apocalyptic wasteland and you have a community it makes sense to have some guards outside to keep out some attackers. The two men would wait for Asuka and Ranth to come to the door before they would open it. One of them making a passing glance at Asuka complementing her as she walked passed along with her new doggy friend. The door would slam shut as they entered into goodnehibor.

Inside of the gate they would see a small marketplace with two shops right at the front and an alleyway to behind there. One shop was easily seen as a weapons shop, while the other seemed to be some sort of pawnshop that would buy and sell things. Before they were able to do anything a man would apporach them with a pistol in hand. “Well, well,well looks like we got fresh meat in goodneigbor, so you guys got caps to pay the entrance fee or what?” The man would keep the gun pointed at Ranth as he eyed up Asuka.

“Knock that off Johnny, we don't do that in here.” A low raspy voice said as a man looking like the two guards outside came walking around the corner wearing a red colonial outfit. “Oh fuck off John, they're fresh blood.” The man named John would walk over to Johnny and stab him repeaditly several times in the stomach with a sharpened piece of metal. “See now why did you have to go and do that Johnny?” With the dead man falling to the ground the ghoulish looking individual wiped the blood off of his makeshift knife on his jacket and reached out a hand to offer a handshake to Ranth. “The name's John, John Hancock, the mayor of this here little town.”

John would look at both Ranth's and Asuka's face as he spoke. "Oh don't worry about old Johnny over here he was a pain to have around, I was just waiting for an excuse to get rid of him." He would stop as he noticed an odd look across their face. “What you two act as if you've never seen a ghoul before.....” Looking more at them he noticed that their clothing was clean, too clean for what was considered normal for this world. “You two...... ain't from around here are you?....” He said with a curiosity at these two wondering if these two were actually human, or if they were something else. Something more sinister that started to climb out of the wasteland that they call a home. 

[Deleted]

"Maybe those are the good neighbours? Take this and wait here, if things start to go bad... try not to hit me"

Before Asuka could protest, she had a gun in her hand. She was his back up. Her mouth opened as she tried to call out to him but words weren’t coming out. Just a minor whine of one incredibly worried arrancar. Holding it felt scary and she looked in the barrel for a moment and then immediately turned it away, panicking for more reasons than she needed to. The Segunda gulped. She had to be strong! If Ranthy was in danger, she had to be there to help him… and not miss him. That’s who she was aiming for right? Yeah! That’s what he meant right? He was right on the money! Gosh! Ranthy was so smart!

Of course, all desires of wanting to protect her super cool companion would turn to dust in the wind at sound of an affectionate ”Woof!”. Eyes widened with great interest as Asuka searched for the source of the sound. “Whoa!” Just as she’d turned around, Asuka was knocked down to the ground with one very excitable dog on top of her, licking her face. Giggles and loud laughter echoed through the alleyway as she struggled against the German Shepherd who greeted her. “Ahahaha~! Down boy!” When she had a chance, Asuka sat up, petting him, scratching his tummy and playing with his ears!

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy~!!

While the Segunda was terrified of things like giant dogs and “Rio” even more so, this good boy was anything but scary! “You’re so cute~! Where did you come from?! Oh my gosh!” She put the gun away in her pocket. If Ranth wasn’t yelling for help she figured he should be okay! The arrancar hummed delightfully as Asuka picked up his paw and shook it. “Your name is “Chief” now~! Aha!” He looked like one of those super cool police dogs! Like Lassie and Rin Tin Tin! Only this one was different! He needed something super cool and strong sounding! Asuka had half a mind to name it Ranthy but then she thought that he might not like that too much and get really confused.

Excitedly she stands up, brushing the dirt off and, with all her strength Asuka picked up the dog with both hands and carried him over to Ranth who seemed to not be in danger. She 100% missed the other guy getting stabbed and that was totally a great thing because she was distracted and now had a D-O-G! “Hi guys~!” She smiled at both Ranth and the scary guy with the peeling skin who was shaking his hand. “Ranthy~! This is Chief!” The dog would bark once and then she’d finally put him down and dust her own hands off. “Nice to meetcha John~! I’m Asuka!” She bounced excitedly at the man guarding the door, forgetting her fear of him entirely because she now had a dog! “Where’d… oh…” Her eyes finally fell on the guy who was on the ground bleeding out and took a step back, moving behind Ranth. “U-Uhm… He’s just sleeping with an open wound r-right? His guts aren’t totally just out there right?” Denial was such a terrible thing.

Apparently, John Hancock was the mayor of Good Neighbor. He mentioned ghouls and Asuka got a little worried. Ghouls? Weren’t ghouls… y’know… Ghosts?! “You two...... ain't from around here are you?....” Do they say where they’re from? Would it be bad to tell them? The girl from jail was freaking out at Ranth for some reason. Maybe he was from a bad place? Would they get in trouble for being honest? She didn’t know. John was the one with the gun! The big guns! The stuff that could shoot their eyes out just like that one Christmas movie! Gosh that sounded horrible. No one wants to be that guy. “I’m from my house.” She gulped, unsure how to answer him truthfully or accurately. “So is Ranthy!” She blurted out, a feeble attempt to cover for her new friend. Lying truly was not Asuka's strong suit.

Asuka took a step forward, with a pleading look and a quivering bottom lip. A place to sleep sounded awesome and gosh, it sure beats running all day from things that were trying to rip your head off like a little girl with a Barbie doll. "C-Can we crash here? Pretty, pretty please? With sugar on top?" She watched him expectantly for a moment with a hopeful look on her face. Asuka was pretty sure that her world would shatter if this guy would say no and her dog would whine. "We're really tired and everything kind of hurts. It would mean lots. Aha."

[Ranth]

Ranth was in for one hell of a roller coaster ride from the moment the two guards laid eyes on him. At first, he was pleased that they didn't shoot at him or otherwise try to hurt him. It was a good start that was almost immediately made to turn sour as one of the two guards started talking about some kind of entrance fee. Truthfully, Ranth couldn't tell if the man was just trying to pull his leg since the manner in which the two spoke made it very clear that there was no official fee for entry.

Then shit got weird.

Before Ranth could utter a word, before he could even begin to articulate that he didn't even have any money, the first guard who had spoken and been so welcoming from the outset turned on his companion in the blink of an eye and stabbed the other man to death. There was no mania in the attacker, no insanity of blood-lust. It was all the more shocking for how casual the entire affair was. Ranth might have even thought it was part of some elaborate joke, except for all the blood that was seeping out of the fallen man's body.

"Uh, Ranth... Ranth Amanite", Ranth replied blankly as he shook the man's hand. What else could he do? He didn't want to get stabbed and he didn't know what could set off this man. The slightest wrong move or miscalculated word could-

“Hi guys~!”
Oh no...

Ranth liked Asuka, truly he did. She'd given him a nickname and provided much needed company and moral support throughout this hellish experience so far. But if there was one thing that he'd quickly come to realise, it was that she was wasn't exactly the brightest crown in the box when it came to reading the room. Which was fine... when they weren't in some kind of post apocalyptic nightmare conversing with a stab happy mayor.

The conversation unfolded more or less without Ranth at that point as he noticed Asuka's new four legged friend at about the same time that Asuka noticed the body of John's former companion and his eyes shot back to John as he spoke his observation out loud and Ranth's heart nearly jumped out of his throat. He didn't know anything about this place or its politics, but he remembered that Samantha hadn't made it any secret that she'd held him accountable for... was it possible that she held him accountable for everything, from the ruined buildings and scorched sky to the mutants with guns and peeled off faces?

"We've had a hell of a day, John", Ranth sighed. "I assure you that neither of us mean you or this town any harm and we'd be happy to tell you the whole story over a glass of... whatever it is people drink here. But yes, you could definitely say that we're new in town and we've already met the 'less good' neighbors and we're lucky to still be alive, so I'm really hoping that this place live sup to its name", he smiled wryly.

[Deleted]

John's general face and attitude towards the two was at first friendly and inviting, even if he had to kill one of the people inside of his town as soon as they entered, that however wouldn't stay the case. As the two of them spoke they could see, or possibly couldn't see the expression on John's face change. It wasn't until Ranth mentioned that they were travelers from another town over that his general cheery face was turned to that of disbelief. “Is that right...” He said in a tone which had a very heavy hint of him not believing anything that they said at all. Along with not answering the question about seeing any ghouls before was more than enough for John in his mind as to what to do next.

Before Ranth or Asuka could say anything further a female wearing leather armor walked up to John. This girl in leather armor had striking red hair pulled to one side and shaved on the other. “John, I need you over here for a moment.” John looked at the two and smiled speaking in his graveled voice once more to them. “Just wait right here real quick I'll be back.” John walked out of earshot, but still in view of Ranth and Asuka, the two of them would speak for a moment before the redhead walked away and John would come back to the pair and their lovable pooch.

“Sorry about that, had to learn about an unfortunate accident involving the next shift of guards and what not. Now about finding a place to rest, well can't say that there is too many places to catch a break here, but I know of one. I'll show you the way, just gotta tell the guards outside something real quick about when they're getting off.” John would walk away leaving the two alone for only a few seconds as he opened the door to goodneighbor speaking to the guards for just a second and returning with one of them following him. The whole interaction between the guards and John would only take a few seconds not enough time for someone to run away.

“Now, let's get going shall we?” John said as he lead the two into the alleyway between goodneighnor's entrance and the main street, the guard that was with John following behind Ranth and Asuka. “Now you see Goodneighbor is a special place, somewhere where anyone can get along, anyone, but synths.” As that strange word was said the guard behind Ranth raised his gun up and hit him in the back of the temple with the butt of his gun. The blow wouldn't kill him, but it should knock him out and leave him with a nasty headache when he woke up. “Don't do anything stupid girl” John said as a few more guards came out from the shadows holding guns pointed at her.

“Take them down below and get the mutt over to the kennel. I'll be down there with Fahrenheit in a bit. Gotta go get some jet before we do this.” John would walk away while the guards would force Asuka to follow them while one carried Ranth with them. Asuka would be forcibly removed from her pup and Chief would be heard crying for her as he was forced into a cage. Asuka and Ranth would be forced down to a basement and tied to chair. A few hours would pass before someone would walk in and dump some rather dirty water over Ranth trying to wake him up. “Get up ya synth.”

The two people who entered the room would be John and the redhead before. “So, you two synths think that you can just waltz into goodneighbor and start things huh? Must be mighty stupid of you to think we wouldn't notice your clothing and lack of weapons. Normally you'd be dead, but and this is a big but someone was interested in seeing if we could find out where the institute is from you lot. So get talking or Fahrenheit over here get's peeling.” The redhead would be sharpening a blade across what seemed to be a leather belt waiting for a signal to act.

[Deleted]

What was originally a fun interaction went downhill really quickly. Asuka was as close to riding on cloud nine as she could get. The only thing that could make everything better was pretty much not seeing anything that would threaten her or Ranthy’s life ever again. Boy, that would be swell. The Segunda sure was tired of running and being threatened and running and being threatened AND running again. Life sure was vicious when it wanted to be but maybe that’s why they called it the Triangle of Life. Stuff moves weird.

First it started with Mr. John taking them down a creepy alleyway. Creepy. She’d seen this on T.V “Mr. John did you take us down this alleyway for shady business because I gotta tell you that I don’t have money on me and alleyways are where bad stuff happens…” She chattered on nervously as the innocent arrancar, shifted around. She found some solace in keeping behind Ranthy who seemed to be the braver of the two for the moment and so, he would be her knight is tattered clothing. At least until they were out of they alleyway. Then she could go back to living her best life.

That’s when she saw good ol’ Ranthy get clocked behind the head. “Ranthy! No!” she cried out helplessly as she tried to rush to his side. However she caught herself just as she was going to move closer and put her hands up. “What?! How did you do that?! Was that magic!?” They just burst out of the shadows like magical ninja! As stupified as she would have been, her brand spankin’ new pop idol friend was down for the count and he was kind of her priority. That and… “Chief!!” She cried out even more as they took her beloved new dog away. His crying made everything even worse. “Give me my dog back!”

This situation was so freaking bad it wasn’t even funny. She watched as they brought her down to some creepy basement and as they’d tie her to a chair, she’d remember a tactic she learned from Kuroi and her other fellow fraccion. Asuka, with all her strength, kept her wrists as far apart as she could as they wrapped her wrists with rope. It was a common human tactic. She would still be tied up no doubt, but when she’d relax her arms, she’d have enough slack room to sneakily work her wrists out of her bindings. If there were any leg bindings, she’d undo those too but keep the rope on in a position where it looked like she was still bound. She wasn’t Medusa for no reason, y’know.

They’d left her down there for hours and in that time Asuka would try to work her bindings off. It took about an hour but she made headway and finally she’d slip one of her hands out, keeping the binding on just one side to keep the illusion of being bound. She’d managed to loosen Ranth’s legs entirely and his hands somewhat but at the first sound of a noise, she immediately returned to her position. “Get up ya synth.” Asuka’s face turned into one of confusion. “What’s a synth?” Why stop there? He just dumped some gross looking water on Ranth. “What’s wrong with you!? We didn’t do anything! Do you just hurt innocent people like that!?” She cried out angrily.

“So, you two synths think that you can just waltz into goodneighbor and start things huh? Must be mighty stupid of you to think we wouldn't notice your clothing and lack of weapons. Normally you'd be dead, but and this is a big but someone was interested in seeing if we could find out where the institute is from you lot. So get talking or Fahrenheit over here get's peeling.”

“I'm talking to you. I asked what’s a synth?” she snapped, her steely tone was commanding and authoritative. It would seem uncharacteristic of the normally bubbly girl but she was with someone that was in trouble and clearly taking the brunt of everything. Asuka never failed to rise to the occasion and the Segunda Espada demanded the attention now. She would gladly take the stage while Ranth worked on his own bindings. “You’re not gonna hurt my friend! Why would you call this place Goodneighbor if the first thing you do is call us funny names and hurt other people?!” And some person with a red head was sharpening stuff and none of this was making sense. Let her sonido. Let her bala. Let her cero for crying out loud. She’ll fuck these guys up real good. Asuka wasn’t playing any games now! Hurt her friends! Hurt her dog! Let ‘er at ‘em! Let ‘er at ‘em! She looked at John defiantly and continued blurt out her whole story so far.

“I was in jail for spilling lemonade on a cop and there I met my friend, Ranthy. Then we met a girl who was kinda nice and then she grabbed us and somehow brought us to this place and everything started to hurt but then she told us to go to the mayor’s office and got eaten by mutants and then we ran from those big scary mutants. We just need to get to the mayor's place. What is wrong with everyone in this place!? Seriously! Let us go and give me my dog back!" she yelled panicked. Asuka gripped her chair as she watched the red head and her gaze focused intently on the one sharpening the knife. “What are you PEELING?!? You have no fruits!! Stop it!! Aha!” Gosh. Everything here sucked. Was this movie over yet? Fahrenheit is a stupid name too. Stupid name with stupid head and the stupid knife that was going to peel some fruits but there weren’t any…

[Ranth]

It would have been a lie to say that Ranth had no inkling that something wasn't right with the atmosphere when the Mayor went off to consult with whoever it was he went to talk to. However, the atmosphere had been off ever since they'd first encountered Samantha back in that prison cell, so he'd become rather desensitised to it by now. Then again, even if he'd suspected what was coming what could he reasonably have done? He had none of the powers he'd worked so hard to cultivate ever since he'd managed to enter the Academy years earlier.

Thus, he was caught completely off guard by the sudden blow to the back of his head and he was out like a light before his unconscious body crumpled to the ground. After all, he was merely a human now with none of the superhuman resistances that being a spiritual being would have given him. Unfortunately, this limitation was a double edged sword, as the blow had been more serious than perhaps his captors had intended, for as an ordinary human and not a spiritual being or a synth- whatever that was- he didn't rouse even when the bucket of tepid water was thrown over him.

If his captors wanted answers from him, then only proper medical care or 12 hours of rest would see him conscious again. Such was the life as a mere human. In the meantime, they'd have their hands full deciphering the tumble of words that Asuka hurled at them our of frustration, desperation and fear at their current situation and how unjust and unreasonable it all felt to the poor girl. Or then again, perhaps their captors had been so transformed by whatever had happened to this world that they were the ones who had long since stopped being human. Maybe they were the real monsters here.