ArchivedLogs:Vignette - Panic Mode

Vignette - Panic Mode
Dramatis Personae Dan, NPC-Katie, NPC-Mike
In Absentia	2013-06-10 Dan hears the news about Kyle, and makes some quick decisions.
Location <NYC> 201 {Dan} - Sunrise Apartments
The news that morning made Dan nauseous. As soon as the story came across the television, his stomach rolled, and he knew he should shut it off before Mei saw it, and panicked. But something about the news, the anger and vitriol that rolled off the screen, kept him pinned to his chair like a leaden blanket. It was only when they began showing amateur footage of the sudden bursts of vigilantism that he managed to push himself forward and snap the television off, glancing at the closed bedroom door and wondering if the Kid had heard anything. Jesus Fuck, the world was going to shit in a rapid slide, and Dan could feel the yawning chasm opening up beneath him. The apartment swam, and he blinked a couple of times as hazy images tried to assert themselves in his field of vision. Fuck, Danny, keep it together. You cannot lose your shit now. His mental tone was hard, and cut through the burgeoning flashback like a cold knife, leaving Dan in clarity. He swayed with the impact of his epiphany, and rubbed at his face. He knew what he had to do. Unfortunately, it would involve leaving his apartment for a short while, and that meant leaving the Kid alone. Mei did pretty well, cooped up in the apartment, but it was only a matter of time before the freakshow across the hall got someone's attention, and then the shit would really hit the fan. No, leaving the kid was not a Good Option, but he had no other choice, really. His cell phone rang as he was getting his shoes on, and he glanced at the screen. It was Katie, so he slid his thumb across the screen, and cradled the phone in his shoulder. “Hey, what's up?” “Danny.” Something in Katie's voice made his blood run cold, and he nearly dropped the phone. He /did/ drop his shoe, and reached up to clutch the phone to his ear. “Katie, what's wrong?” “Danny, you need to come over here right now.” She was scared, and that thought alone made Dan want to shit his pants. Katie was never scared. Dan had seen her face down a group of thugs once who were picking on his brother David. She'd taken them on with a two by four and her glare, and backed them right the fuck down. But to hear her like this; like a scared little girl, was unnerving on a level Dan wasn't sure he'd ever experienced before. “I was actually about to head over there,” he said, forcing himself to keep his voice light. It wasn't working. He could hear the strain in his voice. Have to remember to take my meds before I leave. Can't have a freak out on the turnpike. “Get here as soon as you can. Colleen needs you.” It wasn't an unusual thing to say. Katie often reminded him how much more time he could spend with his daughter. But this time, there was another rush of cold through Dan's veins. “We had - - something happened, last night. After the news.” Dan jammed his foot into the discarded shoe, and shoved his heel in it. “What happened?” He was a little rougher than he meant to be, and he winced as he pictured Katie shrinking back from the phone. He definitely heard it in her response. “A few of the men from the neighborhood came by our house." Like a small girl. He'd never heard her so upset before. "They wanted...her. I think they were going to hurt her.” Now the cold in his veins threatened to boil. “What the fuck? She's a goddamned /baby/. Who the fuck hurts a /baby/?” He had to clamp his jaws tight to keep from roaring and alarming Mei. Instead, he satisfied himself with storming around his place, pulling out a few things here and there and tossing them on the sofa. “I don't know, Danny. I don't know what I would have done if Brian hadn't been here. Mickey and Brendan were here, and if he hadn't been home - - “ There was a muffled, choking sound that tore at Dan's heart, and he moved a little faster, grabbing at his keys. “Katie. Katie.” He used the most comforting voice he could manage, in his current fury. “It'll be all right. I'm on my way there now.” He frowned, looking at the bedroom door. “Pack her a bag. I'm going to take her up to Davey's. He and Tom live out in the country, and they love Collie. She can stay with them for the summer.” There was a long silence, then. Long enough that Dan actually pulled the phone away from his ear to verify they were still connected. “That's probably a good plan, Danny.” When Katie spoke, he could hear Bad Idea all over her tone, and that sparked his anger again. “If you've got a better plan, Katie-Bear, I'm happy to hear it. 'Cause right now, I'm flyin' by the fuckin' seat of my pants and tryin' not to get my kid hurt.” Kid/s/ he mentally corrected himself, although he figured it was a bad time to bring up the subject of his Chinese mutant mobster fugitive soon-to-be-adopted-daughter. Just a hunch. Katie sighed into the phone, the resultant static sounding like an alarm of some sort. “No. It's probably the best thing for her. I'm just going to miss her.” “It won't be for long,” Dan said, wishing he felt as confident as he sounded. “This is terrible, but it can't last. This is still fuckin' America. People got rights.” Even as he said it, he could hear the counter-argument. That mutants /weren't/ people. They were freaks. Hell, he'd even said similar things, over the years. Usually from a hospital bed, but those feelings had been hard to get over. It had taken Alex, and – oh, shit. Alex. “I gotta go Katie,” he said suddenly into the phone, cutting off whatever she'd been trying to say. She fell silent with a surprised sort of noise. “I gotta do a thing, and then I'm comin' right over. Don't open the door until I get there.” He hung up even as he headed out the door. “Kid!” he called back into the apartment. “I'm goin' out. I'm gonna call you in twenty minutes, and make sure you answer the phone.” Which was a shitty way to leave, but all he could picture was Colleen and Katie, scared and upset, and it made the blood sing in his ears. So loud that he didn't even hear the other man in the hall until the door was locked and he began to turn. “Danny.” He recognized his older brother's voice immediately, and he raised his gaze to take in Mike's appearance. The older Rourke was dressed in his uniform, but there was stubble on his cheek, and the red that ringed his eyes could be booze, tears, or lack of sleep. Knowing Mikey, though it was a combination of all three. The waft of soured whiskey that accompanied the man's heavy breathing confirmed at least one of them. “Michael. What do you want?” There was no point in trying to pretend that he didn't know why Mike had traveled well out of his precinct to come to his little brother's apartment. He knew exactly why. “One o' them freaks killed one of my brothers last night,” Mike said in a cold, hollow voice. “A freak like your kid.” Dan ground his teeth, and squeezed his eyes shut, counting to ten mentally before he turned a flat expression on the policeman. “Yeah, I heard,” he said, and inhaled with a sniff. “You think Colleen iced a cop in the middle of last night? Fuckin' took the subway from Queens and all that?” Some of the ass went out of Mike's expression, and he furrowed his brow. “That's not what I meant.” “It's what you said. 'A freak like your kid.'” Dan folded his arms over his chest, and set his jaw. “Sounded pretty clear to me.” His eyebrows slid up his forehead, and he gave his brother a look of impatience. “What are you doing here, Michael?” he repeated, taking a step towards the man. Only to freeze when his brother reached for his fucking gun. His FUCKING GUN. Like he would shoot his baby brother in cold blood on his fucking doorstep for walking down a goddamned /hall/. “I came to warn you, Danny,” Mike said, his brow knitting a bit harder. “You need to get that little purple freak out of my city.” His jaw set. “I won't be responsible for what happens to her if she stays.” “Is that a fucking /threat/, Michael Brandon Rourke?” Dan invoked the right of Full Name Usage in his fury. Fury that settled down around his stomach and solidified into a hard knot. “Because if it is, you need to take off your uniform so I can kick the shit out of you.” He sniffed in the beginning steps of the dance of a Potential Beatdown. “And watch how you talk about my kid. Your niece.” Mike's expression turned pained, a fact that earned little sympathy from his younger brother. “Danny. It wasn't a threat.” He inhaled deeply. “I love Colleen, but I ain't gonna protect her or Katie from what's comin'.” Dan's own expression darkened further, and he could feel a dull pound begin behind one eye. “Still sounding like a threat,” he growled, grinding the words out over his teeth. “Worse, it sounds like a fuckin' /coward/. How do you love someone, and don't protect them?” That hardened his brother's expression. “Just get your freak kid out of the city, okay?” He was just as adept at grinding out words, only with his deeper voice, it sounded like an angry animal. “I'm doin' my kid brother a favor an' givin' him a chance to get his kid someplace safe. Take it for what it is.” Dan's eyebrows lifted. “An ultimatum?” he wondered aloud, and took a little pleasure in watching his brother's face color. Still, he didn't want to wind him up /too/ much. Mikey's temper was a glory to behold, and Dan wasn't feeling like being all that glorious. “Is there anything else, Officer Rourke?” he asked, leaning against his door frame. “You sellin' tickets to the Policeman's Ball or anything like that?” His brother growled something that probably wasn't nice or intended to be heard, and started down the hall. “Keep runnin' your fuckin' bleeding-heart mouth,” Mike barked over his shoulder. “An' I'll be happy to give you a dose of what we're dishing out to those freak bastards.” Now Dan /was/ going to be sick. He could feel the few bites of Pop-Tart he'd had for breakfast beginning to climb back up. To hear one of his siblings speak in such a manner was truly unsettling. He'd always known them to be a largely accepting sort of group. Was the Thin Blue Line that strong, that it could cut through family ties that neatly? Shaking his head, he turned back to the apartment, and jammed a trembling key in the lock. By the time he was back inside, he was shaking uncontrollably. He leaned against the door, and dropped his head between his knees, taking deep breaths. When he'd stabilized, he brought his head up to see Mei watching him from the bedroom door with wide eyes. Probably thinking he was about to have another panic attack. Which he almost had. “Change of plans,” he said, offering a smile that he didn't feel. “You're gonna come with me.” She still looked confused. He knew how she felt. His brother. Jesus. That made no fucking sense. And if Mikey was coming /here/, the kid wasn't even safe from the cops. So that was another decision made. “Get the two bags out of the closet and pack everything in the top three drawers,” he rasped, pushing off the door and moving into the apartment. “Grab your books and shit, too.” He fished out his phone, already dialing his brother's number upstate. Mei still stood in the doorway when he turned back and he snapped his fingers at her, making her jump. “/Move/, kid. You've got ten minutes.” He turned back, avoiding the question in her eyes. There would be time for answers later. Hopefully.