Fresh Meat... {That -NEW- guy...}

[FalconX]

Roxanne

A light smile traced her lips as Rory talked. He seemed concerned about her, which was a step up from the anger that he had felt towards her not so long ago. She closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief. Reaching up, she rubbed her head, wishing that the pain would at the least, subside. Her brown eyes once again held the more blank expression, having been able to cover up her emotions like normal. Her smile stayed though, polite and more reserved now. She patted Rage's head as he came up, still whining and worried for her. "It's fine buddy, nothings wrong anymore." She whispered softly to the large canine. Her smile brightened when Rage licked her hand, animals always seemed to make her happier. She looked at Rory and then to Z, giving them both reassuring smiles.

When she went to stand she felt a pressure on her elbow. She glanced at Rory. Cocking an eyebrow. She had always been the independent sort, and didn't like asking people for help, or even taking help even if she hadn't asked. She muttered something under her breath about Rory acting like a 'mother hen'. "Yes, Rory, I remember you and Z's names." She emphasized his name, just to prove that she could remember. She gave a defeated sigh as he made his 'declaration'. She giggled at his last comment. Kind of embarrassed she had actually giggled, she ducked her head. She was a tomboy, and giggling was just stupid in her opinion.

Roxy glanced up as she saw Z leave. She bit her lip wondering if she should catch up to him and ask him if he was alright. She attempted to go after him, but realized she just couldn't walk that fast yet. She let out a frustrated huff but then looked at the dog. Giving Rage a half smile. With a defiant look in her eyes she removed Rory's hand from her elbow. "I'll be fine!"

[Forte!]

Rory looked down at Rage, eying the dog critically. He wasn't really a dog person. Albeit not afraid of them or anything, just not a dog person. But Rage seemed so... concerned. Almost like Rory himself. He grinned back at Roxy, even though he could still detect that vacant plasticity to her smile. He choked back an inward sigh. Was this really the same Roxy who had been prone to smile at his little jokes, at his foolishness? No. Events had changed them both, and he did not know if it was for the better or for the worse that they had changed. He hoped with all his heart that it was the former, but sometimes he felt differently. Like every step he took was putting him on the wrong foot. He chuckled quietly as she spoke again, not quite catching what the murmured but laughing at what she said. "Okay, okay. I worry too much, fine. It's for your own good." He said. He glanced at her, curious, as she ducked her head away after giggling. What? He sighed, and pegged it as yet another girl thing. He would never understand her.

He let go when she asked him to, and let the hand fall limp at his side as he watched Z walking away, head cocked to the side. "Where's he off to?" he asked, not really asking Roxy, just asking in general, slightly curious. He caught the sigh, and turned back with one brow up. "Do you want me to go get him?" He hadn't realized, until he said it, that he would do that for her. That he would go get her boyfriend... or whatever he was... just because she was his friend and he wanted her to be happy more than anything. By the looks of it, Z made her pretty happy. He hoped that he did, too, although the thought that he might actually like Roxy as more than a friend never crossed his mind. Sure, Grace and Ava and practically everybody else on the planet had suggested it... but... Well, he was afraid of exactly this kind of thing. Of having his ideas of someone he practically revered changed in one terrible instant. He was afraid of love because it led to loss, in one way or another. And, for him, it just wasn't worth it yet. Someday, maybe. Someone, but he doubted that. Maybe he just wasn't meant for dating like other guys seemed to be.

------------------

Dmitri had run out of curse words in both languages, and was now clinging to the sear as tightly as humanly possible, digging into what remained of the frayed leather and pressing himself back into the seat as far as he could. Ivan was apparently dead seat on getting, well... wherever he was going in the first place, and the put-upon stablehand was the victim. Come to it, Dmitri was glad that he was, so far, the only casualty of Ivan's bad driving. and he wasn't hurt (or, at least, not more than usual), just terrified... For a Russian, he really had no love of adrenaline. Funny, when it was his countrymen that had invented the roller coaster. Ivan was putting the pedal to the medal, almost literally, driving like the maniac that he, quite possibly, was, and laughing to himself. Dmitri was actually beginning to be afraid for his own life, something that didn't often happen to him. As they careened over a hill, his stomach dropped about to his feet... and then he saw someone turn out onto the road.

"IVAN! STOP!" Ivan jumped, but at least it made him realize that there was actually someone out there. He slammed on the brake, hard, throwing Dimtri violently against the seatbelt, and causing his breath to be cut short. But they were traveling too fast... and Z didn't see them coming... "Swerve, swerve!" Dmitri attempted, but Ivan was apparently done with listening to him for the day. Dmitri was rapidly attempted to calculate how fast they were going to hit the person... Say, they were traveling maybe 97 miles and hour... faster than on the Audubon, at any rate... and now, they maybe slowed to... 40? 30? That was still pretty darn fast. Albeit at this rate they didn't necessarily have to kill this poor guy. In a moment of desperation, Dmitri grabbed the wheel and pulled, hard, to the left, away from Z. The car, inertia thrown off, spun into a loop and hit Z with a single blow. Thankfully, this also brought the car to a halt, and Dmitri turned off the ignition. Ivan was apparently ready to be the one who was the driver in a hit-and-run, but Dmitri wanted no part of it. "d**n you." he snarled at Ivan, battling briefly with his seatbelt before managing to get out of the call, "call the freaking ambulance, okay? I'm going to go see if you just murdered someone."

[I Am Agent Z]

Z, indeed, hadn't noticed them coming. But he heard a guy Screaming 'Swerve!' and he turned, quickly, to see what in the world had just happened, and his eyes widened, and, in an instant, the very instant the car connected to his body, he blacked out. His now limp body thrown over the car and his head hit a fair sized rock behind it. He twitched for a moment, then lay completely still, a bit of blood dripping from his mouth, but not very much. His eyes were half closed, he was not dead, as he was, barely, breathing, but still breathing all the same. He was, apparently, either knocked unconscious or else in a coma. Still, if he didn't make it, who would carry on his legacy? Surely nobody here was as intelligent as he was, not even Chris... but still, as the light faded, and darkness enveloped him, his eyes closed completely, and he was out cold.

[FalconX]

Roxanne

Roxy sighed, trying to let herself relax. All the stress of life was getting to her, and she just wasn't sure she could handle it. She looked down at the wood floor of the cabin, biting her lip and not bothering to push away the dark locks of hair that had fallen so that they hid her face like a curtain. She glanced up at Rory as he spoke to her, but she didn't really look him in the eyes. "No." She responded simply, Z didn't want to be here and that was his choice. She wasn't one to go and force someone to do something. Even if it happened to hurt her in the process. She smiled at Rory gratefully and then walked over, sitting down on a chair. Her legs still wobbling slightly from when she had passed out not minutes before hand. She just wanted life to get back to normal, like things had been only a short year ago. Time does fly, she thought to herself bitterly. She allowed her eyes to slide shut, breathing steadily and trying to calm down so that she could move around normally. She grinned as Rage walked over and laid his head on her lap. She stroked his head, soothed by the satiny feel underneath her long fingers. Both owner and canine appeared to be completely at ease in their current surroundings. Not that they truly were, or rather, Roxy wasn't.

Brown eyes flew open at the sound of someone's shout and a car's breaks put on full force. She leapt up from the couch. Her breath coming in an unsteady pattern. Her eyes widened like a deer in headlights and she rushed towards the door, finding it somewhere in her to stop from falling down with fatigue. She barreled out the door and rushed to the road as fast as her legs would take her. Her breath caught as he eyes landed on the still form of Z. "Z!" The breathless yell tore from her throat and shattered the seemingly silent area around. Her brown eyes barely comprehended the form that escaped the offending car, rushing to help also. She ran to Z's side, checking for a pulse. He had to be alive! He just had to be! The beating of his heart was present, but it was faint at best. A single tear slid down her cheek and she wiped it away, furious with herself. She should have stopped him from leaving the house. She laid he head on her chest and felt the rhythm of his breathing, but it to was hardly noticeable.

[Spitz]

Vivian sang a tune as she walked down the street. Spice on a leash beside her, yapping so often along with the song. She saw a reckless driver and rolled her eyes, some people just didn't need a licence. When she heard the sound of the car swerving she turned and saw someone fall, she didn't see who it was. Vivian quickly walked over and tapped on the driver's window "what the HELL do you think you were doing, you could of hit that guy" she said, furious. Then she saw Roxy run out of the door and to the guys side "cheating little..." she started to say but then saw the guys face. That familer face of a master detective, the face of Ziggy. Tears were already streaming down her face "Z! Oh my god, someone call a doctor!!" she almost shouted. She kneeled down on the road and put his head on her lap and getting out some wipes from her bag and putting them over the cut to try and stop the bleeding. She rocked herself back and forth, she needed to find out what to do. She stroked his hair with one hand, the only firm on the cut which still was bleeding but not as bad as before. She was crying but kept herself strong enough to attend to his wound. Vivian kept changing the wipes on the gash, she needed him to stay with her. "Miss" she said, looking at Roxy "he's out cold, if he doesn't get to hospital soon then he will die on this street. My baby will be left fatherless" it had been three weeks since the coffee shop, where they met. She didn't want the tiny baby in her womb to never have a dad, to of never seen his face and never seen how happy he made her and it would be someone she wouldn't be able to cuddle and kiss goodnight.

[Forte!]

Rory accepted the answer without protest, and looked around in a slightly uncomfortable manner, unsure of what to do now that they were alone. He wanted an explanation, but did not expect one, and wondered whether to ask exactly what had been going on. He was still mad at himself for getting angry, but it wasn't exactly something that he could explain. He should have been more understanding, he knew that... But... Well. He didn't know. He never had the right answer to this sort of question. The silence stretched out, almost tangibly tense, and then... suddenly... over... He heard the screech of tire and pavement and a barely audible scream. And then Roxy was running. And he was running after her, afraid that she was going to collapse again or that something terrible had happened. And that turned out to be right, of course...

Ivan fumbled hopelessly with the cell phone, his face about the same, angry shade as a beet as he focused all of his evil powers on Dmitri's back as the stable hand made his painful, slow way to where the man had fallen. He was in panic mode (Dmitri, that is), and his brain was shut off completely except that cold, rational part that seemed always present. He had seen a lot of fights on the streets in Russia, a lot of kids killed or at least messed up because of internal injuries. And the way Z was bleeding from his mouth was not good. Meant something had ruptured in the brain. Hopefully just one of those myriad blood vessels in the thin tissue that held it to the skull. But that could still mean serious brain damage, concussion... He lifted his cold gaze as three people came running down the walk. Great. Just what he needed. He was already freaking out.

Vivian's comment caused Ivan to flush an even darker shade of beet, and he suddenly stood up, looking as if he might punch her. Instead, containing himself with a shudder, he walked calmly over to Dmitri... And slugged him in the face. Dmitri crumpled to the ground like a paper bag, stunned as he looked up at Ivan. "You idiot!" Ivan bellowed, his face so dark now it looked as if he might choke. Dmitri flinched. Ivan kicked him with the toe of his boot. "Give me my keys! Give them to me!" Dmitri, who was scuffling at the dirt now in an attempt to rise, shook his head violently. Standing when he was down was not one of his strong points, and it was a long while before he was able to regain his feet. Ivan seemed to have realized that there were other people here, and fallen silent, face still somber. "Give me the phone, Ivan." Dmitri said quietly, and the man handed it over in an electric way. Dmitri, surprisingly calm, dialed 911. They would need law enforcement here, that was clear.

Rory stood watching the proceedings with his mouth hanging about to his knees, trying to process it all, the beating of the crippled man, the accident itself... And now... Vivian. Had Z really fathered her child? He had just been in Roxy's office, kissing her, with all the air of someone who didn't care! Anger swelled up in his throat, but it was beaten down by sheer bewilderment at the proceedings. He felt as if he would be the next one to pass out here. "W-what?" he managed, rather weakly, as he attempted to sort it all out in his brain. He thought he almost had it.

(We'll need some temporary cops, right? Z? Since he's passed out, anyway... Would you be willing to do it?)