Work Text:
“Come on, Joel!” Gem called, a few roofs ahead of the boy chasing after her. “Scott said that the Watchers are closing in! I’ll die before they take the one safe place for me, you, and every other ‘Circuit’ they’ve hurt!”
The brunette huffed, hopping from roof to roof as he followed the younger. “Yeah, yeah, Gem, I know. We gotta hurry or whatever ‘cause they’ll destroy the place. Unlike you, I’m not such a great–”
Gem doubled back, grabbing Joel’s arm before he fell between two roofs. The ginger tugged him onto the roof she was on, glaring down at him. Every moment here was a moment for the Watchers’ destruction to continue.
The boy groaned, hopping up and returning to sprinting across the flat cement high in the air. “–jumper.”
Gem sighed, running past Joel in case he fell again. Joel was a tough individual, sure, and Gem could acknowledge that about her friend, but there was no way she was going to watch him splat on the already blood-stained pavement of the Confines.
After two more blocks of roof-running, the pair got to the massive metal wall encasing the hellish city and the place the two kids were dashing towards. Gem hopped off the side of the building, sliding down the exposed pipes and wires on the alley side of the building. The ginger landed smoothly on the cold concrete ground. She landed in some dark liquid which she could only pray was one of the common oil spills in the confines, instead of something far more gruesome but just as common. She shook her hand clean, watching Joel jump down and land beside her, not bothering to wipe his gloves off. Gem rolled her eyes at that before following him out of the alley. She kept a sharp gaze on every shadow they passed, knowing something could be lurking within them.
One of said shadows lunged at the pair once they stopped in front of the wall. Gem was just lucky her reflexes were good enough to block the attack.
The girl whipped out her crude plasma blade, a gift from another “Circuit”, arcing it down onto the Watcher. It crumpled before her, reeking of burning flesh and the coppery blood from where the wound was.
Unfortunately, that hadn’t seemed to be the best response on Gem’s part. More Watchers emerged from everywhere, forcing Gem and Joel to be back to back. The ginger quickly scanned the group. There were 8 Watchers– no, only 7 because the blue-haired one they were dragging along was unconscious–
“Scott!” Joel shouted, fury clear in his voice as he drew out a beat-up flamethrower. He was prepared to attack already.
This felt like a bad idea. While Joel and Gem had beaten Watchers in fist-to-fist combat many times in the past, there were a lot less of them then. The Watchers also hadn’t surrounded the pair so quickly and the pair had a conscious Scott on their side! 7 on 2 was definitely not good and Gem was not liking their odds…
“You Circuits are too close to the wall. If you come with us peacefully, you’ll only get a few broken ribs… probably …” said a Watcher with a gruff voice, finishing its sentence with a cruel laugh. It was slightly muffled by the gray and purple mask all Watchers wore.
“Fat chance.” Gem brandished her sword towards the Watcher.
Gem could hear Joel grinning when he spoke, “Don’t you think there’s a reason us ‘Circuits’ survived so long here?”
With that, Gem heard a cackle and could smell smoke, alongside the all-too-familiar scent of burning flesh. Joel just couldn’t wait a few more seconds to think before jumping into a fight, could he? A Watcher ran at Gem but was stopped by another clean swing of her sword through its middle. Unfortunately for her, she hadn’t noticed the two Watchers to her right that rushed her.
Gem shrieked as one managed to her right wrist fastened in shock-rope, which was excruciatingly painful. They knocked her sword out of her hand as she panicked about the pain pulsing through her. That gave them a chance to bind both her wrists, doubling the pain waves shooting up her nerves.
You know, if Gem and Joel had a plan, this definitely was not a part of it. Unshockingly though, they did not have a plan. If they got out of this alive, Gem was going to end the brunette herself.
Another pulse of electricity transferred from the rope into her wrists and fired through her nervous system. Her whole body recoiled at the sensation, feeling as though it was on fire. She managed to catch a glimpse of Joel, standing among a few more crumpled Watchers while fighting two more off. That “if” seemed to get bigger by the second. Another pulse of electricity sent her folding in on herself again.
I think – Gem thought as her brain cleared slightly of the pain. She was definitely hysterical from the pain at this point– they should start calling these Wires.
The ginger’s vision was quickly fading, approaching the point of unconsciousness because of the pain. However, a pink blur caught her attention and Gem fought off her brain’s attempt to turn off. It was a girl with pale pink hair and tattered clothing, though her blue eyes were blazing.
Gem couldn’t hear much of anything coherent over the ringing in her ears but she would swear she heard the girl shout something about a brother and being taken. Gem wondered if the Watchers ever took anyone who wasn’t a “Circuit” since the girl wasn’t one. Maybe she misheard–
Oh! Joel caught the Wires off of her!
Gem looked around, seeing the carnage of the battle all around them. The fog from the pain was still fading from her brain but Gem still tried to get a read on what had transpired. She guessed the girl had been the one thing that caused Joel to win, based on some of the less burned-up areas where the fight occurred.
Joel was currently talking to the pink-haired girl while she worked at cutting Scott free. The ginger strained to hear what the two victors were saying, despite the slowly fading ringing in her ears. She was still leaning on Joel for support, but she was slowly recovering.
“It’s not every day you get to fight with Circuits.” The girl picked up Scott so his unconscious form was leaning on her. She was clearly responding to something Joel had said. “I’d consider myself the lucky one!”
The girl punctuated her sentence by kicking the nearest corpse, earning a snort from Gem. She liked this girl’s spunk, even if she wasn’t a “Circuit”. The small noise from the ginger drew Joel’s attention to Gem.
“Gem! You okay? They got you pretty good with the shock rope.” Joel readjusted so he could look at Gem better while still supporting her as she was still unsteady.
The younger scoffed and rolled her eyes at the closest thing she had to a brother. “I’ve been through worse. How’s Scott? Did they–did they hurt you too badly? Who is this helpful stranger?” Gem thought better of accidentally mentioning their secret haven for “Circuits” in front of a stranger, opting to ask about Joel instead.
“I’m Lizzie,” the girl replied kindly. She smiled at Gem. “I’m assuming this is Scott, in which case he’s fine. Just unconscious.”
“And I’m fine too, Watchers couldn’t land a blow on me!” Joel exclaimed proudly, letting Gem go.
Gem caught herself before she tripped. She huffed, shoving Joel playfully in retaliation. “Don't get too confident. I don't need to lose you to something as stupid as hubris getting the best of you.”
Lizzie laughed, something sad could be heard in it though. “You remind me of my younger brother before he was taken by the Watchers…”
“What if we helped you find him?” Joel asked, perking up a bit more as he addressed the pink-haired girl.
Gem nodded in agreement. The Watchers had taken far too much from everyone, plus it could be fun to work with others against them. Maybe, just maybe , they could start a resistance!