I stared over the flicking ears and tossing manes of my mounts, eyes wide. My mind was blank as he tossed the helmet to the side and grabbed the reins of the horses as they bucked and pranced. I held on while he steadied them, seemingly ignoring me like I was part of the bundles on their backs. To him, I probably was. 

Finally, the two equines stood still, panting and blowing through their nostrils from stress. Pringles' skin shivered under my hand, and I knew that they could try to bolt at the smallest sign of danger, real or imagined. I didn't relax my grip on the reins. 

I heard footsteps behind me and shifted my head around so I could glance back out of the corner of my eye, trying not to shift my weight around and give my mount another excuse to spook. Two of the gray-clad figures trotted up, then slowed at Mika's abrupt hand gesture of caution. The grins never left their faces, though. 

"Ey boss, we caught a good prize this time! Look at her!" He whistled up at me, examining me in a way that said I really WAS just goods on horseback to him. And he wanted some of those goods for himself. I raised an eyebrow at him, then turned back to Mika, dismissing his presence entirely. I didn't appreciate the attitude one bit, and if he tried anything, he'd find out exactly how displeased I was. Mika also knew this, and shook his head. "Nobody will be touching her. It's not worth the fingers and toes... and other things... that might be lost."

I smirked down at him, fighting the queasy feeling that hearing his voice for the first time in years brought. I knew that that was a compliment, however twisted. He still didn't look at me.

"But.... boss...." asshole whined. The other guy looked slightly dejected too, though I noticed that he seemed to lose his eagerness more from my reaction and obvious self-confidence than from anything 'boss' said. I mentally christened him 'dipwit', though he seemed smarter than asshole. I figured that wasn't much of a bragging right.

Mika gestured Dipwit forward, handing him the reins and motioning off in the general direction of the theater. Though he could have been pointing toward nearly anywhere in the complex, considering that most of it was between the Red Robin and the IMAX itself. I guessed that they would have set up in the Dick's sporting goods, as they would have a massive supply of guns, ammo, and pretty much everything needed for survival. As well as a LOT of stuff to do when they were bored. Though clearly none of it had very much to do with actual brain activity.

I cleared my throat, trying to get Mika's attention. "Yo, biker guy. Yeah, you. Y'all better have your goons let go of my horses or we're gonna have a problem."Dipwit stopped, and I slid down Pringle's side to the ground, steadying myself against his side before taking a few strides forward. I was still fighting off the shock of seeing him again, but I couldn't just sit there and be led away like a sack of meat. "After all, you of all people know that leaving me alone is the last thing you'd want to do. Eh, twin?"

He stopped in his tracks. Something in the set of his shoulders said his Beast was attempting to crawl it's way out, and the rope that held it was rapidly becoming frayed. "You have no right to speak to me. You will be brought to my camp, locked up, and then we will see what we will do." He still didn't turn around.

I snorted. "You have no idea what to do with me, do you? You caught a dragon by the tail and you have no idea whether to hang on and hope it doesn't bite you, or let go and hope it flies away. You-" I was cut of by him whipping around and sprinting at me. Behind me, the horses shied, half-rearing as he moved so quickly, he seemed to blur at the edges. But I was prepared.

A fist flew at my face, and I ducked, leaning backwards slightly, feeling it brush my nose as it swooshed past. His second fist was already moving toward my gut. I knocked it away and sidestepped a kick, then things seemed to speed up, and we were moving as if we had planned this. Maybe we did. In fact, I knew we had.

I shot a hand, straight-out in a spearpoint, at his throat, and he dodged so that it only brushed his neck, one of my fingernails scoring a red streak in his skin. My hair whipped around as I went for a high kick. He deflected with an elbow and chopped his other hand down on my leg. It glanced off my shin, and though it didn't hurt me and I knew he didn't feel it right then, it would probably bruise both of us later. I ducked and weaved and blocked as he threw a series of quick punches. I guessed that he had gotten some more training, as we were much more equally matched than the last time we had dueled. That had been years ago, and for fun besides. This was for real.

Halfway through, I started enjoying myself anyway.

I smirked at him as another blow swished through my hair, and he grinned savagely back as one of my kicks glanced off of a hip without doing any damage. Sweat made tendrils of hair cling to my temples, and my breath came in short pants. I gradually realized that though I was stronger than him, still, he was faster than me by a small bit, so we were almost perfectly in sync, as if we were dancing instead of trying to injure each other. Come to think of it, this was the only dancing I had ever done with him.

A few seconds later, though it felt like an eternity and like no time at all, he swung a knee up at me, thinking to catch me in the stomach. I caught it, hanging onto his leg with one arm while I swung my fist with the other. He caught it with both hands, and suddenly, we were standing still, eyes locked, the only things moving being our chests, rising and falling in rapid pants. I was full-out grinning by this time, and he had a smirk on his face that said he enjoyed it as much as I did. I nodded to him, and he slowly nodded back. By unspoken agreement, we both simultaneously let go of each other, taking a pace back and adjusting clothing and hair.

"Been awhile." I said, flipping my hair down and back up to try to straighten it out. he pulled down the hem of his hoodie and chuckled. 

"Yep. What are you doing out here, anyway?" If not exactly friendly, his voice at least didn't carry the same hatred and scorn that it had before.

I shrugged. "Passing through. I'm on my way downtown to meet some people. We're going to go off and start a colony of sorts." I hesitated in telling him too much. I didn't want him or any of his goons taking it into their heads to come after all of us for our resources.

"Ah. Well, I suppose I'll have to let you go. There's no reason to keep you here. Unless you WANT to end up as.... entertainment.... for my men." He sounded as if he wouldn't put it past me. I rolled my eyes. THERE'S the Mika I know and dislike. Well, that was fun while it lasted. 

I shrugged. "Nah, I got somewhere to be. Thanks for the offer." I added sarcastically.

He shrugged back. "Suit yourself." He gestured for Dipwit to hand me back the horses. I noticed that asshole was standing a little behind him, mouth hanging open and hands in his armpits as if he were cold. I flashed a fierce grin at him, and he flinched. I still got it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mika unconsciously rubbing the red line on his neck, frowning, before looking up and holding up a hand. "Wait." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but.... you can stay at our camp for the night, if you want. It would be safer." 

I raised an eyebrow. By this time, my emotions couldn't handle much more and were shutting down, so I was mostly running on instinct. Instinct said that if this wasn't a trap - and I peered closely at him to try to tell - then it was my best option. Slowly, I nodded, feeling a twinge in my chest. Part of me still wanted to jump on Pringles and get as far away as possible, while another, smaller part didn't want to leave at all. 

I gestured forward. "Lead the way."