darker_london | Interesting Meetings (Flynn, Godric)

When considering the perfect place to locate a present each for Quinn, Adrina, and Spectre, the most obvious answer was of course an antique store. Adrina practically foamed at the mouth when you brought one up, Quinn loved history, and Spectre was fond of all manner of pretty things. Not being familiar with the antique store community, Flynn didn't exactly know where to go. He strolled around the shops in his area until he found one that looked the part.

Flynn stepped inside and the first thing he smelled was attic. He had lived in an attic directly before moving in with Spectre, and the smell of dust and old things was apparently the same everywhere. Flynn moved past the door, where he found shelf upon shelf of knick knacks and paddywhacks and all manner of memorabilia. One of the shelves even contained several of those dancing Hawaiian girls, and Flynn considered getting Spectre one as a joke, but he decided it was best to stick to sentimentality at the moment. The recent tragedies seemed to call for it.

Flynn moved to the back of the cluttered shop. A single window let in a shaft of light, and all around the shaft, furniture and larger items were arranged out of the sunlight's path. Dust motes danced through the beam, and Flynn tried to find that elusive perfect gift for the people he loved.

What he found instead, was trouble.

Flynn heard the distant twinkle of a bell as more customers entered the shop. He peeked his head around the corner to take a look at the new arrivals, and he could tell in an instant that they were not there to buy antiques. There was something about them that Flynn could recognise, because he had been like them once. He knew what trouble looked like.

Flynn glanced at the register, and he took in the look of the person working behind it. The boy was delicate-looking, and quite pretty. He was wearing a fishnet top and his fingernails were painted black and kept in exquisite condition. His eyes were covered in an abundance of eyeliner, but it had the effect of looking quite beautiful instead of over the top, though Flynn knew enough to be aware that if goth makeup ever was over the top, it was because the applier intended it to be that way. The man was reading a comic book and looking bored. And he had no idea that his store had just been entered by three people who looked like they were an inch away from brandishing a weapon at him and demanding all this money.

Unable to do nothing, Flynn grabbed the closest piece of bric-a-brac and he rushed forward to the counter with it. "I found it!" He exclaimed, rather more loudly than he would have said most anything ever in his life. "It's perfect!"

The boy lowered his comic book, but the look he gave Flynn was friendly enough. "You've found what?"

"I found..." Flynn looked down at the thing in his hands and he held it up, confused. "-what I was looking for...?"

"You were looking for a vintage breast pump?" The man asked Flynn, one sculpted eyebrow raised to meet his perfectly gelled black hair.

"Ew." Flynn put it down on the counter quickly. "I thought it was a bike horn! Oh my god, has it touched vintage ladies?!" Flynn gave the other man a rather desperate look, and it caused him to burst out laughing, which even had Flynn laughing a moment later.

"Oh believe me, Honey, I know the feeling." The young man winked. "My name's Godric. And if you ask me if my last name is Gryffindor, I swear I will make you eat this breast pump."

"Urgh, noted." Flynn smiled again. "I'm Flynn. And apparently still in need of a bike horn." Flynn glanced around to see what the no goods were doing, and he spotted them pretending to examine something in a corner of the shop. Occasionally they glanced up at him. He had to stall further. Hopefully they would just give up and move on... "Uhm...it's for my godson. He's getting a tricycle and he'll love the ability to make a lot of noise." Flynn was pulling it from nowhere, but it sounded real enough. And then a part of him really wanted to buy James a tricycle. "Do you have tricycles here?"

"There's a lovely little pink one in the back, though I fear it might be the wrong colour for your Godson..."

"Yeah, that's really not going to be a problem." Flynn smiled, thinking how thrilled Spectre would be that his son had a pink tricycle. "Though I probably shouldn't attach the breast pump to it. That might be too confusing."

Godric laughed easily and he nodded his agreement. "I would say so. I'll just go grab you the trike, if you'll wait here, Doll."

Flynn's eyes widened suddenly, and he was terrified of what the three thugs might do if Godric stepped away from the cash register. "No! I...I mean, I'll come with you." That was better. They'd get the money but if they tried to hurt Godric, Flynn could help him.

"Er...that's really not necessary." Godric moved to the end of the counter and he stepped around it, about to make his way into the back when Flynn stepped into his path.

"I just...I just want to see it is all."

Godric glanced at him, clearly uncomfortable. "I'll bring it up here so you can check it out. There's no obligation to buy it..."

By now, their conversation had caught the attention of the thugs, who were hanging off of every word. Dammit. "I just...want to come with you." Flynn said lamely.

"Okay, back off!" Godric shouted suddenly, leaping cat-like back behind the register. He reached for his phone, and Flynn stood back, quite willing to let him ring the police, if that was what he was about to do. In fact, it was a rather ingenious way to dispel the situation, and Flynn could explain later. Knowing two cops helped. Luck wasn't on their side, however. One of the thugs saw Godric with the phone, and instead of giving up, he jumped to action.

Out of nowhere, three guns materialised and they were aimed in Flynn and Godric's direction. Godric shrieked and one of the thugs shouted at him, "put down the phone!" Godric complied so fast you would have thought the phone had burned him.

Flynn's hands shot into the air, but from the second the guns entered play, his mind was deconstructing the situation. There were three of them and one of him. They didn't really look like they knew what they were doing, however. How they had come upon the guns, he had no idea, though the one who had shouted had a Russian accent. He assumed they were from Little Moscow. Fun. Where ever they were from, they didn't look like they had received a lot of training. Their formation didn't cover all points of attack. They were all focused on the middle. If he could somehow get to the side...

"Empty the register. Now!" One of them demanded, and Godric squeaked and rushed to comply. His hands were shaking and he looked like he was on the verge of fainting. "You!" The man waved his gun at Flynn, and Flynn almost grabbed it out of his hands right then and there, and would have, had he been alone. "On the floor."

"My sciatica!" Flynn lamented, though he had no idea what a sciatica was. He may have heard it in a doctor's office once. He was trying to be distracting.

"I said ON THE FLOOR!"

"Oh, gosh!" Flynn lay down and he rolled over, making sounds of pain at regular intervals.

"Shut up!" Another of them directed him, and he made sure to whimper too, though he couldn't have been less afraid right then. He was busy. Not three weeks ago he had faced twelve militant men who had spent their life training to beat the crap out of people, and he had managed to take out three of them before he had been subdued. Here? He may have been outnumbered, but the odds were in his favor.

"Oh god! Oh god, my asthma!" Flynn gripped at his throat and he looked as terrified as possible.

"Help him!" Godric shouted, even as he shoved the money from the till into a bag.

"Shut the fuck up!" The third one yelled, and as they moved closer to kick him, it was the very thing Flynn had been waiting for. All three of them had their attention on him now. Exactly where he wanted it. As the thug's foot connected with his ribcage, Flynn struck like lightning, grabbing hold of it with an iron grip. He turned the man's ankle, sending him tumbling into the second thug who was standing much too close to be helpful. As they fell, Flynn kicked out the legs of the third thug. The man fell forward, and as he did so, he squeezed the trigger. The gun fired into the ceiling, causing Godric to scream and debris to litter down onto them from above. Flynn used the distraction to clamber up onto the man he had felled last, in order to grab his recently detonated weapon. The man tried to aim the weapon at Flynn again, but Flynn was too fast. He grabbed the gun out of the man's hands, and in a second, it was aimed at him and Flynn was on his feet and backed away far enough that they couldn't reach him. They could still shoot him, sure, but he knew they wouldn't.

"Slide those guns over to me. Slide them on the floor. Or I'll blow all your fucking heads off." The truth was, he wouldn't. But it wasn't difficult to see that Flynn looked all too comfortable with the gun in his hand. His movements were graceful and he had just caused them all to fall unto a puddle of hoon. "Now!" Flynn aimed and fired a warning shot, which buried itself in the floor an inch away from one of the men's feet.

"Fuck!" The man slid Flynn his gun in a second, and when Flynn pointed his weapon at the last armed thug, he was quick to comply as well, lest Flynn's warning shot end up somewhere around the middle of his eyes.

"Do you have rope?" Flynn asked Godric, who took a moment to realise Flynn was talking to him. Flynn's eyes never left the three intruders for a second.

"Oh. Oh! Yes! You...you're not going to shoot me, are you."

"Of course not." Flynn assured him, keeping the gun on the defeated men. "Though I'll shoot them if they try anything."

The men took Flynn seriously. They let themselves be tied up and while Godric called the police, they watched Flynn dismantle their weapons in front of their eyes in seconds. With one hand. "My asthma, indeed." Flynn winked at them and then he gave Godric a smile as he turned to glance at Flynn.

The cops arrived and arrested the men, and both Flynn and Godric told their stories. The weapons were confiscated, and finally Godric got his chance to thank Flynn for what he had done. "That was...pretty impressive." Godric managed to get out.

"Guess so. Sorry for acting like a freak. I could tell what they wanted when they came in."

"Oh believe me, you're utterly forgiven." Godric gestured wildly and then he touched Flynn's arm gently. "Really."

"Why would they want to rob an antique store?"

"No cameras. Lots of little old ladies shop here who don't believe in 'plastic money' so there's cash in the til. I guess it makes sense..."

"Yeah..." Flynn glanced around the place again and then he looked back to Godric. "Uhm...so can I see the tiny pink tricycle?"

Godric's laughter was loud and relieved and Flynn couldn't help but laugh as well.