Crime fighting in heels {Open}

[Darling Hartdegen]

So i'll give a little bit
I'll give a lttle bit of my life for you
So give a little bit
Give a little bit of your time to me
Now's the time that we need to share
So send a smile, we're on our way back home

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The night was beautiful. Stars twinkled above her head like little diamonds, the chill wind had died down to a mere caress of winter, the happy laughter of lovesick couples danced around the still atmosphere.

All in all, she really shouldn’t have to be running for her life. It was just too pretty out for all this insanity!

“Run? In these heels? Chris, please, these aren’t even mine! They’re Amelia’s! As in Amelia ‘Touch My Things And Die?’ Are you craaaaaa—“ With a yelp, she found herself trotting noisily down the sidewalk. For the sake of her sanity, she plastered her eyeballs to the street in front of them, refusing to look back. If she did, she just knew she’d see that the man who’d busted into her pretty little lecture hall with a machine gun was chasing them, and she’d have a friggin heart attack. Then where would she be?

…Well, in Heaven- or so she hoped- but hey, if she was up there singing with the birdies, she’d never get a chance to clear her father’s name.
Which is where the ‘rub’ came in, she supposed.

“Just shut up and come on, Darling,” Chris growl-panted. Her bodyguard’s- …bodyguard, yeah right. The man was a friend of her father’s who was more devious than your average serial killer- grey eyes flashed dangerously in the dim lighting, his hand tightening on her wrist. “This is your fault, you know. Those guys would never have known about your work if you hadn’t blabbed your life story to every Tom, Dick and Reporter in New York.”

…Yeah, he had a point there. Alixandria Hartdegen, aka ‘Darling’, was the only living- or so she thought- descendant of the infamous ‘Time Traveler’; a man of unknown origins who, according to the locals, could travel through time and space in a special machine he’d built with his own two hands. Only after her father- who had built his own machine before she was born- had brought back the supposed son of King Henry IV did the academic scene believe that his theories were true…but after a fierce political battle, the new millennia’s Time Traveler and his wonderful time machine disappeared into thin air. There had neither been hide nor hair of the man for the past twenty years.

Which was where she came in.

A Princeton graduate at 14, Darling had dedicated her life to convincing the local scholars that her father had indeed brought a true descendant of the British crown- there had been some doubt cast after he’d played invisible man, and without hey-I-can-touch-it-proof, people had begun to think that the man who’d played King had really been some kind of paid look alike- and that his research was the stuff to build the future off of. It was safe to say that it sounded easier than it really was.

But hello, reality time. Chocolate eyes flickering over to her bodyguard’s face, she gaped at him. “Another hitman? What am I, a danger magnet? Do I have ‘hello, I’m Darling; feel free to take me out’ written on my forehead? Wait, don’t answer that. ‘Cause given my upbringing, it’s more like ‘hey, I’m Darling; my family’s pretty much all involved in Stuff That I Don’t Want To Know About, and I’m just along for the ride’. And...hey, are you ignoring me? That’s not very nice, Chris.” As they stopped in the alleyway and Chris proceeded to show her what an old man with emphysema might look like, she leaned over and started patting him on the back, much like her mother used to do when she’d been out of breath.

So okay, he’d growled at her, and had pretty much given her a snarky tone when she’d demanded some damsel saving, but…hell, he hadn’t left her alone on the curb yet, so he was alright in her book.
And then she’d realized why Chris had decided to really hightail it down the street they’d just dodged.

“Okay, please tell me that that wasn’t an ARROW that just whizzed by my head, tearing off…holy crap, it just CUT OFF MY HAIR!” Gawking at the now shorter strands of hair grasped in her hand, she stomped her foot. Could the day get ANY worse?!

Wait, wait, scratch that; it probably could.

"Just shut the hell up and wait here!" With a roar, her bodyguard charged toward her new friend with the crossbow, and the two crashed to the ground. Squeaking in horror, her hands flew up to her lips as she watched the two men fighting, dancing from foot to foot as Chris proceeded to get his butt kicked. Oh God, he couldn't die! Girding her loins, she hiked up the hem of her dress and started to charge.

But she didn't get far, thanks to a pair of gorilla-like hands that suddenly appeared out of nowhere to grab her by the shoulders. A shark-like smile on his face, the previously machine gun toting hitman- oh wait, there was his gun at his side...huzzah, he hadn't lost it- leered down at her triumphantly.

And so, she did the only smart thing that a girl could do in such a situation:
She started screaming bloody murder.
[/center]

[col]

Diamond life, lover boy.
We move in space with minimum waste and maximum joy.
City lights and business nights.
When you require streetcar desire for higher heights.
No place for beginners or sensitive hearts
When sentiment is left to chance.
No place to be ending but somewhere to start.
No need to ask.
He's a smooth operator.



“You know, blue is really your color, it brings out your eyes.”

He winked, she giggled. Was the police uniform supposed to intimidate him? Because he was tempted to ask her to lose it if it wasn’t for the old guy glaring at the female cop and causing her to stop giggling and straighten up.

“Not you though, blue makes you look kinda of fat. I’d advise a little more time on the gym.”

The old detective glared at him and then back to the female cop that was giggling again. She had such an adorable giggle, thanks so much for silencing her again detective buzz kill. But it wasn’t hard to see he wasn’t amused.

“That’s enough Holden, we have you now. No way to run and no lawyer to get you out this time. You stole about half million worth of jewelry, it would be in your best interest to cooperate and tell us were you hid it. You’re looking at some serious jail time.”

Colin smiled that charming smile of his. The cop was the hardass type, all business, all work and no fun makes a dull cop.

“It’s actually over half million…and sorry, I don’t have it anymore, but rest assured it has been put to good use.”

This time he had actually been a nice guy and donated everything to a charity. He could still remember the huge eyes that nun gave him when he handed her the jewels, it got him grinning. And ah, the woman he relieved the jewels from…daddy could very well buy others back, the governor was a rich man. He could afford giving back some for the community that paid his fat salary.

“You think you’re so freaking smart, don’t you Holden? Guess what smartass, you’re going down. We have enough evidence to lock you down for at least ten years. You will lose that fancy suit of yours and officer giggly back there,” he pointed to the cute cop standing at the door, “is the only woman you will see for a long time. What smartass, no remarks? No witty comebacks now?”

Colin raised a brow as he stared at the detective.
“Oh sorry, you’re still talking? I was distracted for a bit taking care of something,” he shifted in his chair a little, “Ah, there it goes.”

Bringing his arms forward, he rubbed his right wrist while a handcuff still hanged from his left wrist and smiled.

The cop’s eyes widened as he watched him. How the hell he released himself from the handcuffs?

Calmly, Colin reached for his sunglasses on the table and put them on his suit pocket. Next was his hat that he twirled it over his left arm and into the top of his head before smiling.
“Well, it has been fun, but now I need to get going. One moment you see it…”

Rising both his hands into the air, he snapped his fingers.

“…the next you don’t.”

Tucking his hands in his pockets, six blocks away from the police station, Colin Holden walked out freely into the night streets. A smile on his lips and the handcuff still dangling from his right wrist.

And oh look, walk away or helping the girl screaming bloody murder? Ah, he should be getting home and it was getting late anyway and…he tilted his head to the side, she had a nice ass. Ah the life of a good hearted hero.

Walking up to the man holding the girl, he tapped lightly on the man’s shoulder. When the gorilla gave him a look over the shoulder, Colin smiled at him, raised his right hand to take hold of his hat before raising it slowly in a greeting and placing it back on his head.
“You mind if I have this dance?”

When the man simply glared at him, he shrugged and sucker punched the loser, watching he stumble back.

Tilting his head, he looked at the girl in the black dress and frowned slightly, tapping is finger against his bottom lip as if thinking calmly.
“Pardon me if I’m wrong on this one, but this shouldn’t be the right time for you to run?"

[Darling Hartdegen]

So, there she was; doing her best to earn herself some kind of Emmy for screaming her lungs out, when all of a sudden, a suave looking man showed up and stole her thunder. How rude! How dastardly!

...And boy, was she ready to kiss him until he cried!

With a gasp as the larger assassin/kidnapper proceeded to reel back and slam face first into the brick wall opposite them, Darling found herself tumbling forward. Thankful for the smelly dumpster that stopped her from faceplanting on the gravel floor, she reeled around, wide eyes on the stranger. God, was it too much to ask to have a nice, quiet night? Or, ooh, here was a concept; get chased around by NICE kidnappers without guns? Her brain was a bit slow to formulate a reply, but once she did, a sound from behind her had her head whipping around.

"I can't leave Chris!" She said, helplessly pointing toward her bodyguard and the crossbow carrying assassin. The two men were rolling around near the back of the alley, kicking and snarling, and she winced at each noisy punch. The man behind her didn't seem to be moving, thank God, and with a panicked look on her face, she scooped up a rusted skillet from the dumpster.

Okay, so she had the IQ of Einstein; she could definitely defend herself against...big, scary kidnapper-guys who wanted her father's machine. Gak, what if the stranger was another kidnapper? Whirling and clutching the pan to her chest, she did a little tennis match with her eyes, watching both him and her poor bodyguard. Gah, what should she do? Should she run? Call the police? Jump into the stranger's arms like a crazy heroine and faint?

"For Christ's sake, Darling, RUN!" Chris bellowed from down the alley, landing a solid punch on his enemy's kidneys.

Okay, so there was her answer.

Without thinking, she leapt forward and grabbed hold of the stranger's hand, throwing herself toward the alleyway. Chris could take care of himself; definitely. One gorilla was down for the count, and the other would soon follow. So she should leave before he berated her some more...yes, that was the logical thing.

"Thank you for helping me, but you've got to run, too," She informed the suited man. "Those are very bad men who want to either kidnap me, or kill me...and they'll probably want to hurt you, too, for helping me. About that running thing...think we can do that right now? Please? Okay, off into the city!"

[col]

One moment he was all flirty with miss cute cop while the detective was bragging about throwing his ass into jail, and the next he was playing hero to miss cute ass just six block away from the police station…and those earrings of hers, they seemed like they were worth a pretty buck. Life just wasn’t boring anymore, was it?

Since Colin had discovered he could do real magic, not the lame tricks that had the audience going ‘OH!’, he had found a new kind of thrill. Using his magic to get what he wanted, living the good life and risking his neck while at it. He loved that thrill, of getting away with it against all odds. And he donated some of his ‘earnings’ so it made him a good guy, right? Some kind of a modern Robin Hood, and he definitively loved it.

Giving a suave smirk to the woman who looked at him with those big eyes, he tilted his head slightly to the side.

“I guess the world you’re looking for is ‘thank you’.”

And who was Chris? Oh, the old guy fighting with the other gorilla there. Should Colin help? That guy just didn’t have a cute ass.

And then she grabbed his hand and started hauling him along. Since he was playing the hero, wasn’t she supposed to do the damsel in distress thing and give him a big kiss in the lips? How rude and ungrateful, wasn’t it?

Should he tell her he could just snap his fingers and appear a few blocks ahead? That would probably freak her out, and he had never tried the disappearing trick with anyone on tow before, so he wasn’t so sure that would even work. What it would be worth saving her if he was just going to leave her behind now?

So he stopped resisting her pull and started running along.
“You mind if I ask why someone would want to kill or kidnap you?” he shrugged, “I’m just curious.”

Yes, chatting about when there was someone trying to kill or kidnap someone and most likely hurt him too didn’t sound like the best idea. But he wasn’t very concerned, years as an escape artist had got him cocky.

[Darling Hartdegen]

Oh, awesome, she was being saved/trying to save a smart aleck. Wonderful. Superb. Fantastic—

Aack, the other man he’d just knocked out was starting to stir! Why did she always have to look back? Gah, just do what Chris said and run, darnnit! Don’t think, don’t analyze, do not pass go and collect 20$. Just run!

“Someone would want to kill and/or kidnap me because of my father’s machine and the fact that my brain’s the only place that anyone can find his designs, given that I destroyed all the original copies. For some reason, lots of people want to go into the past or future, and they’d kill an innocent woman to do it. Freaky, right? And kind of stupid, given that any interaction with the subjects outside of our time could cause major problems with reality as we know it.”

…Crap, don’t just run! See, this is what happened when she let her common sense take a nap; she blabbed her life story to whoever would listen. It was the reason why she was being chased tonight; her big, fat mouth. What if this guy really was another kidnapper? Heck, what if he WASN’T a kidnapper and either a) thought she was crazy and ran away from her, thus getting himself killed and making her already guilty conscience even guiltier; or b) some kind of ‘in for himself’ guy, who would turn into a kidnapper and sell her to the warlords?

She really hated being away from her lab. At least, in there, she could have SOME semblance of control over her thoughts. Darn, she knew she should’ve taken those ‘sociability seminars’ that her boss subtly hinted at. She was so bad at interacting with people!

Huffing and puffing, she did her best not to trip on her heels and die. Still holding his hand, she ran blindly down the street, stopping only when they hit the park. Bending over slightly, it was her turn to play the chronic smoker, thumping on her chest. “Just pretend you…didn’t hear that,” She wheezed. “All I need is to…get us to the safe house. I’m so…thankful that you helped me back there. And sorry that you might be targeted because of it.”

[col]

He looked back over his shoulder, they were running in the opposite direction of the police station, what was good for him. As much as officer cute back there had seemed tempting, he didn’t want to be behind bars in a cramped space. Wouldn’t fare well with his claustrophobia, he mused, totally oblivious to the handcuff still dangling on his wrist.

Yeah, ah-ha, right. Machine. Plans. Past. Future. Messing with it equals bad. Got it.
What the hell she was talking about again?

Leave it to Colin to find the crazy types. Sure she was not imagining being chased by big ass gorilla back in the alley, but he had no idea what she was talking about. The big guy back there didn’t seem like a madhouse nurse, that was for sure, and she looked over dressed for an escape attempt of there. Running shoes would be more fitting, but then again if she was insane…he stopped his mind rambling for a moment and he tilted his head slightly as she dragged him along. Yeah, she had a nice ass.

When she stopped and started doing her panting act, he tipped his finger against his lips as she spoke as if considering what she said.

“Sure, no problem. Of course first I need to really make some sense of what you said.”
He paused for a moment and looked around, checking his surroundings. As he did, he spoke lightly and with a calm that didn’t quite fit the situation. “You might want to cut down on the smoking by the way.”

And then a smirk crossed his features and now he was the one pulling her along by the hand. He moved towards the building with lights and music, pushing through the door with her in tow and guided her straight to the club’s dance floor, twirling her as they got there and placing his arms around her waist.

“Dance with me?” he said as if that explained everything. He had a hunch however was after then wouldn’t try anything in a crowded club.

With a smile, he pulled her closer and started to move with the music. The safest place to hide was in plain sight.

[Darling Hartdegen]

Whump, whump, whump; her fists thudded dully on her chest as she tried to force herself to breath normally. Dammit, today had been meant to be a good day! She’d gotten all dressed up, had put on heels and shoved those annoying contacts into her eyes; all because she’d been talked into a blind date. Arry had promised that she’d have a good time, that the guy she was being ‘set up’ with was nice. She’d actually get away from the lab and her research and get out into the world. It had sounded so freaking good!

And then Mr. Perfect had to turn out to be working for a Nigerian warlord who wanted to use her father’s machine to rule the world. Same song, different tyrant. Gah, why did she had to be born a Hartdegen? What was so wrong with ‘Smith?’

Her mind was whirling so quickly that she hardly had time to inform the stranger that she wasn’t a smoker, but rather hated any form of physical activity. She was halfway between explaining respiratory inadequecies when he suddenly grabbed her hand and yanked her forward. Great, she’d traded Chris for a much more handsome clone!

Oh please, please say that he wasn’t taking her to his bosses, or something. She hadn’t been caught yet, thanks to her network of shady friends, and she really didn’t want to get tortured for the information stored in her big brain.

Not that she really had to worry. A dance club? They were being chased around by the epitome of Hit Men R US! and he wanted to stop and boogie down? Really? Wow, she’d finally found someone crazier than herself and her friend Arry put together. Sure, they were both cool under fire- she was used to being chased around by people, thanks to her father- but this guy really knew how to compartmentalize. Maybe he’d show her how when everything died down? She wondered if he used some kind of Zen, or mental technique—

With a little gasp, she turned her now saucer-like eyes up to the man as he pulled her against him. When did they get to the dance floor? And…eh…okay, so he was very close. Really, really close…and he smelled really good. Was that normal? Were men supposed to have actual ‘smells?’ Oh, wow, was this some kind of pheromone thing? Fascinating!

But wait, he was probably looking for an answer. Okay, so he’d asked her if she’d like to dance, because he could so obviously compartmentalize seeing people trying to kill her, in order to have fun. She could definitely answer that.

”Wark.” Darn, maybe not. Clearing her throat as her face proceeded to turn what had to be a nasty shade of puce, Darling cleared her throat and tried again. ”Dance? Um…dancing is nice. But…why dancing? You should be getting away from me right now and I should be getting back to my lab, so I can move the machine before those guys with the guns can find it.”

[col]

A lopsided smooth smirk appeared on his lips as she spoke…or tried to speak at first. Wasn’t she the eloquent sort? His smile widened when she finally managed to speak coherently.

“Why dancing?” he asked before taking her hand and with a quick motion twirling her away and aback into his arms in a motion that would let even Fred Astaire jealous. “Why not dancing?” he added with another one of his charming smiles. If he was supposed to pay heed as to what he was supposed or not supposed to, he would be wearing an orange shirt and pants and seating behind bars…but orange wasn’t just his color and he was too distracted to notice the handcuff was still dangling of his wrist.

“All work and no play makes…” he frowned, “…I never did get your name. That is kind of rude of your part, isn’t it?” he asked before taking her into a dipping motion and pulling her back. His voice was smooth and steady as always and he certainly looked to be too cool to be having goons gunning for them. But when you could just snap your fingers if things got too dangerous, he could spare some attitude, couldn’t he?

Besides, she was a cute little dance partner, so why waste the opportunity? And look at those earrings of hers, they looked like they were worth a pretty buck. Would it be wrong to relieve her of them? He was saving her sexy behind, why not a little compensation? His hand moved over her cheek, smoothly brushing a lock of her behind her ear and when his hand pulled back, her earring was brought back to his pocket. It was such a smooth move that she would have to be a pro like him to have noticed that.

“Hmm, I want to get a drink, would you like some wine? You seen a little stressed…would do you some good to loosen up a little. You look like so tense, like you're afraid to die or something...”