Knowing Your Place [Tenchi]

[David Moore]

A kick came flying towards Dave, nailing him straight in the stomach. He sputtered as he went rolling from the impact. Another kick came from behind and Dave felt an intense pain shoot up his spine and he let out a small cry of pain. His back up pair of glasses had skittered off somewhere. He felt the sole of a boot rest upon his head as the men around him started laughing.

"How much longer ya' think the fucker'll last?"
"You'd think he'd be dead now. Kid's tougher than we thought."
"Doesn't mean he still isn't a punk-ass bitch."
"Ya' picked a good spot man, no one would ever come out here"
"Damn right, just some shitty warehouse.
"Let's make a bet then! 50 bucks says he'll last 5 more minutes."
"I call three."

The men went into an uproar as they cast their bets on how long Dave would survive the continued beating. He wasn't even sure how this had happened. One moment, he had been walking down the street towards his dorm from school, things went black, and he woke up here. Six men were waiting around when he woke up and had begun to wail on him. Blood trickled from his mouth and nose as he lied there. The pain was intense, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt this kind of pain.He coughed again, snapping the men out of their gambling stupor. The boot on his head began to apply pressure and Dave felt like his head was going to be crushed.

The pressure kept increasing and Dave felt himself whimper and sob at the same time. He couldn't hear it. His hearing seemed to have faded out. There was only a strange ringing sound. The pain intensified and Dave felt himself screaming. The boot lifted and Dave felt two pairs of hands hoist him up. Blows were made into his stomach and face. A kick had even struck his groin once or twice.

Tears began rolling down Dave's face again. He must have really done something to piss these guys off. Death was probably what he deserved for it. These guys were better than him after all. It was only their right to pass judgement on a person like him. Still, he didn't want to die, but knew it was inevitable at this point. At least he had died the way he was supposed to: alone and suffering. That was the path the world had set for him.

He was thrown against a hard object. Wooden. Probably a crate of something or other. Another kick knocked him square in the face Dave felt a tooth get knocked loose from the back of his jaw. He reflexively spit it out. He had lost three teeth now. This was probably it. He couldn't move and a darkness was closing in.

[Tenchi Lui]

It was a rather lackluster day indeed. He had done very little with himself today but it was unusual for him. He didn’t do much with his time on any day. He had simply wandered around and glared at random people who shot him looks. It was a free country, he could walk wherever he damn well pleased. He settled himself outside an abandoned warehouse and pulled out a smoke and lit up. Just what the doctor ordered: a cancer stick, full of good ol’fashioned Tabaco leaves and other toxins that he never cared to learn of. He took a long drag and heard laughter from within the warehouse.

’Ain’t this shit closed down?” He thought to himself before curiosity got the best of him and he moved around until he could find a window. He peered inside and noticed six guys surrounding someone who was on the ground and clearly had been getting a beating of his lifetime. Tenchi took another drag and turned away, ’S’not my problem.’ He thought at first. ’Then again… a group against one person? That’s not right.”

He rolled his eyes in frustration. Yep… he was going to regret the decision but he was going to help. Sticking his nose in other people’s business wasn’t exactly a thing with him but he had been bored all day anyhow. Six guys though… He glanced around the perimeter and found a discarded pipe lying on the ground. ’That’ll do.” He thought before flicking the cigarette off to the side and picking up the pipe. He ran around until he found the entrance to slip into the warehouse.

For once he walked in quietly, opting to take a sneak approach then announcing his presence to the whole wide world. The half dozen guys seemed far too occupied with the dude they were pounding on for them to notice Tenchi approaching. He got behind one guy, the one that was a little departed from the group, and took a quick swing, hitting him in the head and knocking him out completely. It was then the other five stopped tormenting their victim and turned around to see what happened.

”Alright assholes, Imma say this once. Collect y’shit.” He pointed at the unconscious male he knocked out, ”An’ get the hell out. Otherwise, y’gonna be dealin’ with me. I can tell y’all are a bunch of pansy ass jerkoffs on account of it takin’ six of ya to pound one guy so the odds ain’t in y’favor.” Run or stay, he didn’t care. Either way he’d get the job done. It wasn’t like the cops were around there doing anything to help.

[David Moore]

Another kick nailed Dave straight in the forehead and he felt his head knocked back into the crate from the blow. Things were starting to fade out. He could barely see anything in front of him anymore. He felt something warm and went fall down the front of his face. Blood? He drooped his head. He could barely move, much less support himself.

The punches and kicks stopped raining down. Did they get tired? Probably not. They probably didn't want to kill him too quickly or their fun would end. He would be given a few minutes to recuperate. It was getting kind of cold though. He wondered if he was dying. He strained his eyes to see what was happening in front of him. Something was on the floor, vaguely human-shaped. The other guys were looking at something else. There was another person... blonde?

Dave's vision faded to black again. The ringing in his ears persisted. His breathing had become ragged and he could feel the warm flow of blood on his face. There was nothing he could do. Death would probably come in a few minutes when they resumed beating him. There was nothing else to do it.

[Tenchi Lui]

They thought he was bluffing and they were stupid enough to just have one of them to approach and attack. Tenchi took the punch to the face without trouble. Honestly, he could have moved out of the way, but he wanted to prove a point. After the strike to the face, Tenchi smirked back at him and kicked the aggressor in the stomach then swung his pipe up at the jerk’s face.

That was when the remaining for thought it better to attack him. If Tenchi could do anything, it’d be take a beating. He is great when it comes to taking hits; especially if they were from people like the scumbags attacking him now when they don’t know how to effectively throw a punch. He was the only one armed and he swung his pipe like it a was a baseball bat, striking sides and legs. It was only a two minute scuffle before the men began to hesitate attacking Tenchi. Apparently they were realizing that numbers didn’t help when Tenchi had the reach with his metal pipe.

’Fuck it… let’s get the hell outta here.’[/b] One of them announced before they took off running.

Tenchi smirked and watched them take off, much to his satisfaction. It was a shame, he was just getting warmed up and he was ready to beat them some more. Oh well. ”That’s right assholes, run like a bunch of pansies.” He tried spinning the pipe in his right hand as a small victory dance. It spun around and ended up whacking himself in the back of the head before it clattered to the ground. ”Damnit! Stupid ass pipe.” He rubbed the back of his head before kicking the pipe in frustration.

He glanced down to the man he knocked out previously and move over to his fallen form and pulled out his wallet. He opened up the wallet and pulled out the cash inside. ’Thanks asshole, you can pay for the expenses.’ He thought before tossing the wallet back on him. With the type of friends that asshole had, he likely would have thought that they robbed him rather than anything Tenchi.

He moved over to the young male that had been getting attacked by the group. He seemed vaguely familiar to him. ”Yo… y’all ‘right?” That was a rather stupid question, ”Y’prolly need to get to a hospital or sumthin’. Prolly should go to the police too. Report the assholes who attacked.” Although he wasn’t sure if that would do much good.

[David Moore]

Dave sputtered. There still hadn't been any more blows. Did they give up. He mustered his strength to try and see what was happening in front of him. A lot of pairs of feet were gone. Did they leave? Probably left him to die. Wait, no. There was one other pair of shoes standing near him. He didn't recognize it from before. Someone else had shown up. Maybe he was here to just finish the job. Dave faded back out. He heard some sort of rumbling. The new person was trying to say something. He couldn't hear what it was. He spat out blood, somewhere, either on the floor or himself.

Suddenly thing began to feel slightly warmer. He wasn't able to register why this was the case. A sense of heat began to approach from all sides and Dave was powerless to figure out what it was. He would be completely unaware that the thugs from earlier had, instead of fleeing outright, had instead taken it upon themselves to set the entire building on fire. They set multiple start points around the warehouse to make sure the fire spread as fast as possible. Two thugs went to work, shutting the warehouse door and blocking the lath with a piece of metal, preventing it from being opened conventionally. For all intents and purposes, Dave and Tenchi were trapped.

[Tenchi Lui]

Nope, the guy wasn’t going to be getting up any time soon. By the looks of things, he didn’t really look like he was that much alive. Granted, he knew he was alive because he aleast opened his eyes for a moment to look at him, and Tenchi had a sense of déjà vu when he saw his face but shook the feeling off. He sniffed the air, ”Huh.. sumthin burnin’?” He thought out loud and took a look around the area only to find that there was a steadily growing fire around the warehouse.

”Why those lil’ assholes.” Next time he saw them he was going to break all their hands. He ran toward the exit only to see that it was already aflame. Okay, so now he needed to figure out how to deal with that problem. First he needed to get the guy out of the building too. He ran back over to him and nudged him only to find that he wasn’t getting up. Damn… three was the other one to deal with too, the one he knocked out. He grabbed both men by the ankles and dragged them across the floor. He wasn’t gentle, there was a fire going on. He dropped their legs after he reached the wall and took his jacket off before wrapping around his hand and punching his hand through the glass. He broke away any sharp jagged edges before picking up the one he knocked out with the metal pipe and tossing him through the window. Then he grabbed the victim and tossed him outside the window too. He did a quick survey around the place, spotted a pair of fallen glasses and ran up to pick them up.

”Oh… I get it now.” He thought the guy look familiar. He pocketed glasses before jumping out the window as well. He couldn’t really leave the two right outside the warehouse either. Ugh…. Too many people. He grabbed both men by their elbows and dragged them by their elbows across the lot. Soon enough there would be fire trucks and likely police. He’d rather get out of there before they shwed up.

[David Moore]

Dave felt himself being lifted and thrown. He hit what felt like hard dirt a moment later and he groaned from the repeated pain the impact had on his sore spots. The heat was gone, kind of. Something else landed next to him and a few minutes later, Dave could feel himself being dragged.

Half of his body was being pulled across the earth. Sharp rocks and dirt scraped along Dave's face and bounced him painfully on his bruises. He slipped in and out of consciousness several times while being dragged, and only when it stopped did he finally feel himself drifting off completely. He fell unconscious, still alive but breathing ragged, and myriad of small, fresh scratches adorning half of his face where he had been dragged.

[Tenchi Lui]

Tenchi got to the end of the lot and to the sidewalk with the two unconscious men. Once he was done, he rolled his shoulders and tried to make them less sore. He wasn’t too happy about the idea that people were desperate enough to simply light an entire building on fire because they lost a fight. Not to mention one of their own had been in the building too. It was pathetic what kind of friendships people had these days.

He turned his gaze as the sound of sirens filled the air. Soon cops and fire trucks would show up in the area. He’d rather not be around for what that mess showed up. With his luck they would end up blaming him anyway. He pulled out the glasses he had grabbed and tucked it into the familiar male’s pocket. ”Won’t hafta buy a new pair this time.”[/i] He said before standing up and running across the road towards the side streets. By the time the fire trucks and cops arrived, he would be long gone, and they would be able to help that one guy out from his injuries since he was in plain view for them to see. The guy he knocked out with the pipe would just need to be checked for a concussion. He was just lucky that Tenchi didn’t do him worse.