The Crimson Prince： Awakening 73 Chapter 11: New York Crusade

Getting off of work at the usual two-thirty in the morning, Ava stretched as she locked the door to the bar behind her.

Sighing to herself as she did after every long shift, she lit up a cigarette as she walked down the empty sidewalk towards her studio apartment. Smoking was an unfortunate side effect of her stressful life.

Thinking back to her last family reunion, she remembered her mother's face as she excused herself from the dining room table. "That habit is going to be the death of you." She said as Ava opened the door to leave.

It wasn't something she could stop. After the ever growing cat calls and incessant slaps on her slim behind, the stress was enough to warrant such a crutch.

As she sighed, a spray of smoke left her lips as she walked down the familiar sidewalk. Reminiscing upon her addiction, she looked at the cigarette in her hand in disgust. She never liked smoking, but felt as if it were a necessary evil.

"Hey s.e.xthy, where you offf to?" Ava heard a man calling out to her from behind, as he was obviously intoxicated, she tried to pick up her pace a little.

It's probably one of the idiots from the bar, She tbought as she brought her hand out of her purse with a small cylinder of pepper spray. Better safe than sorry.

"Don' be like that baby," the man slurred as he stumbled trying to keep pace with her. "I jus wanna talk!"

Ava picked up her pace a little more, though it did little good. She was so focused on the stumbling man behind her, she didn't notice the other three in front of her. c.r.a.p, she thought as she tried to cross the street to avoid an obvious ambush.

As she turned, there were two other men walking towards her from the other side. As they approached, she raised the can of spray threateningly. "I know how to use this, a.s.sholes." She tried to keep her voice steady and true.

The men in front of her chuckled as they closed the distance. Giving no other warnings, Ava released a stream of thick spray into the eyes of one man. As she was about the make a run for it, a man grabbed the hand with the can and brought it behind her back. She felt the can drop to the ground as she was dragged into an alleyway which had been picked for the ambush. As she was dragged away, she kept her eyes on the man in the street who was squirming on the ground, running his eyes and screaming. She knew that rubbing your eyes after being sprayed would make it much worse. Serves you right.

The man was then abscured from her vision as two other men began walking in front of her as the other two led the way into the dark alley, boxing her in with no escape route.

Knowing what her fate would be if she were backed completely into the alley, Ava made one final attempt to escape. "Someone help!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. She knew it was a long shot, it was three in the morning, no one would be roaming the streets so early in the morning.

The men only chuckled as they grabbed her other arm to bring her back more quickly. "Don't worry Ava, we just wanted to talk." One of the men said with a wink. "Maybe after a little time together, you might want to hang out for a while."

Finally they reached their destination. Near a dumpster with a fire escape obscuring view from above, Ava could almost read their minds.

While the two men held her in place, they began to remove her jacket. "Make sure to hold her down nice and hard, boys." One of the men said as he began to loosen his belt buckle. The men seemed to praise their luck for having caught her with no witnesses.

Ava wept at her luck as the men fumbled with her belt buckle to her favorite pair of skinny jeans. It was too late, they would have their way with her and throw her body in the dumpster after they were finished. Fear knocked at her brain as she tried desperately to think of an alternative ending from the one she knew was to come.

Against her wishes, her mind went to what was playing on the television at the bar earlier. Apparently there were a series of kidnappings happening around the Bronx area, all of them were women in their early twentys. Where most of them hadn't been located, there were a few found in dumpsters all over the city.

There was no escape, she realized it almost right after the thought. The men had done this many times, never being caught by the authorities. Her hopes went down as fast as the men prepared themselves. She couldn't believe that she was going to be added to the many bodies which were found. She imagined the look on her mother's face when she would have to go to the morgue to identify her body.

"Well this isn't suspect." Ava heard a voice within the alley.

The men took out guns while scanning the area for the voice. "Who's there?" One of them yelled as he tried to hold his pants up with his other hand.

"Looks like we finally found them." Another voice spoke. This time, Ava followed the voice upward to the fire escape.

In the darkness of the stairwell, Ava saw two men around her age. Though it was dark, she made out dark red leather jackets, blue jeans and black shirts.

As odd as it was to see the men in the stairwell, both dressed the same as if they were in uniform, it was even more odd to see that they weren't really on the scaffolding. Instead, it looked as if they were standing on thin air above it!

The men followed her gaze as the two men descended from the night sky. "You guys have stirred up quite a commotion the last few weeks." One of the two spoke as his feet touched the ground.

As the other landed, all give guns were pointed at the two out of place men. "What the h.e.l.l are you?" One of the men called out, not believing his eyes.

"Hey Tony," one of the two men spoke up. "You remember that trick I showed you last week?" He looked at the man with a wink.

"You got it boss." The man named Tony said with a half smile before he slowly closed his eyes.

In an instant, Ava felt the temperature in the small alleyway grow warm. Not unbearably hot, but more like the warmth one would expect from a campfire. She could feel that temperature rising towards the men who a.s.saulted her. The heat radiated surprisingly just like one would expect being near a fire.

Simultaneously, Ava heard shrieks of pain and surprise. All five of the men were clutching their now empty hands while cursing. She looked at the weapons on the ground and noticed a faint glowing red on each of the pistol grips. She gasped in surprise when she realized they must have been warmed to an unbearable temperature in a matter of seconds. What the h.e.l.l are they? She mimicked the a.s.sailants thoughts as she looked at the two men.

"I've been on the receiving end of those things before," the unnamed man said as he tsked at the unarmed men. "I'd rather avoid having to go through death again."

The man just said those words as if death were just an unfortunate waste of time. Ava couldn't believe what she was hearing. She thought of loved ones who had already pa.s.sed away. She couldn't believe that someone could come back from such a fate.

Trying to move closer to the two men who came to her rescue, Ava noticed the two men who dragged her into the alley still had her by the arms.

Noticing the same time as Ava, the unnamed man with the red jacket furrowed his brow, obviously disappointed that they were still clueless.

"I commend you for your bravery, gentlemen." The man said with mock approval. Ava could sense his sarcasm almost as strongly as she could feel the power within him.

Pointing to the sky, he continued. "You just saw two men drop from the sky," he said with an interested tone. "Who disarmed you in a matter of seconds with nothing but a thought, yet you still won't let the lady go."

"I don't know if that's bravery or stup-" he was interrupted when one of the men built up enough nerve to charge forward.

"I'll gut you!" The man yelled as he brandished a knife from his pocket.

Two feet before he reached the two mysterious men, he slammed into solid air. His hand was still up as if to strike the one talking in his gut. His hand shook with effort as he tried to gain any ground.

The man slowly took the knife from the thugs grip. "I wasn't done speaking." He said in a dark tone. He dropped the knife, at the same time, he sent the thug flying back with nothing but a look.

"As I was saying." He coughed once into his hand to clear his throat. "Are you stupid?"

As the others witnessed how easy it was for the stranger to throw their a.s.sociate, their nerves began to waver. The two men holding Ava let her go as if their hands were burned.

Turning to run from the alley, one of the men looked back to Ava with promise in his eyes. "This isn't over," he said as he nodded in the strangers direction. "They won't be around next time."

Ava suppressed a shiver, they knew where she worked. There was even a possibility that they knew where she lived.

Knowing he had gotten the response he wanted, he turned once again and disappeared around the corner, following his friends.

"There's no need to worry, ma'am." The man said with a half smile, though Ava could tell it was sincere. "They won't be bothering you or anyone else again."

Almost following his last words, Ava heard screaming from a block down. Following the calls, she saw the men rising in the air over their heads, being carried away by three men and two women in similar attire. They were all wearing the same red leather jacket.

"Might I ask what your name is?" The man questioned.

Ava snorted, obviously taken aback by the situation, but trying not to let it on. "Usually the one asking the name has already presented their own." She said.

The man laughed for a brief moment. "I suppose you are right." He straightened himself as bowed slightly. "My name is Roy, I'm a member of the New York Crusade."

Roy

The girl in front of Roy surprised him with a laugh. Seeing as though she had just been through a traumatic experience, almost being defiled and killed, he couldn't see how she had managed to stay so cheerful.

Straightening herself, the girl regained her composure. "My name is Evangeline Verde." She raised her hand for Roy to take. "But my friends call me Ava.

Oddly enough, when Roy took her hand, there wasn't even a sign of trembling. "You're taking all of this pretty well, Ava." He said as he released her small hand.

"It's not every day that two men fly in from out of no where and save you from being murdered." She looked at Tony for a brief moment and nodded her acknowledgement. "Are you going to explain what you are next? What is this Crusade?"

"Maybe an alleyway isn't the best place to talk about such things," Roy said as he looked around the area. "We don't know if those guys have any friends around the area." He brought his eyes back to Ava. "Are you hungry?"

Taking the lead out of the alley, Ava waved her hand for them to follow. "I guess I can go for a bite." She smiled to herself as she led the way. "Never thought I would be leading two fictional flying men to Perkins."