Hollow Heroes [Open to all]

No problem, man. And yeah seems like we're going to be waiting. I'm personally all for heading out of here now. I'm sure they'll catch up.

Gambit turned back to the back seat.

How's everyone doing back there?

Erica said nothing - she had heard the voice, and had pointed the bow setting aside and beside Carl -

silently conveying she was standing with him not hiding behind.

Though she could see her new friend was not the only one armed with guns and did not like her chances of putting arrows throw eyes before bullets split the air first. Slowly she lets the draw go, keeping her hands on the bow and arrows between the fingers in any case but not willing to fire when to out matched and out numbered she guessed.

Carl raised his gun, Erica shifts raising the bow - not directly at Negan more at the side - left as she was faster firing left to right then right to left and if it came to it she would at least try to get a shot off to the other dude on the left. Heart heart would race but Erica was forcibly keeping calm. She did not shake. Or say anything... to Negan. Encase even looking unsure would give the game away that they had only Darylas back up.

Negan looked at his men and let out a loud laugh. Hear that, boys? Daddy is going to be coming back any moment now to beat our asses.

Negan lifted his bat and rested it over his right shoulder. Now, how do you suppose he's going to do that if he's dead?

The others burst out in a fit of laughter. O'Rick put up one hell of a fight I tell ya! Entertaining right to the end! He spouted as he started to become more animated as he told his tail.

First I went for his middle, had to knock the fucker down. He swung his bat to demonstrate. On his knees he went. And let me tell you, boy. That was a pretty sight. Then another hit to his back Thwap! Again his violently demonstrated the action. Well. after that ya poor daddy didn't have much fight left in him. Is last words to me, before I splatter his brains all over the walls, Just don't hurt my son, please.

The last lines he said in a pitiful mocked tone mixed with obvious fake crying.

His skull made one of the most beautiful sound.

Negan then pushed the bloodied bat bat in Carl's face. the wooden weapon still dripping with a fresh kill, blood, gore, hair and who knew what else caught in the barb wire. Say hi to daddy.

Casey sniggers followed Mikey back to the van - climbing back into the drivers seat. "Hell yeah I was right, what did Casey tell you man? that was some hard earned wisdom right there." He double checks the vans occupancy by turning in the seat and looking over all - noting they exchanged his best bud for one of the ladies.

The brat was back...

but Master Splinter and April had remained and were safe inside. "Alright this show is back on the road - urgh cold or not I hope there is a way to wash when we get to whereever we are going."

"No trouble whilst we were out side clearing the mob April? Dad?" Don asks rolling eyes a little at Mikey and Casey's by play - amused still none the less though and sitting back keen to be gone and at this place they were heading to.

Now the rush was over for the moment the chill of the weather was back and it was not kind to reptiles. Even mutant ones.



"everything went fine in here Donatello whilst we waited." Splinter assures, a breath glad to see them back, well most, but was reassured Raphael was okay too. Hoping where they were going was not too far. A good catch up was in order for their family.

Kurt was also getting a little impatient with all the walking. But finally the large building came into view. Now that he could see the building he gave Bebop and Lydia a hug and teleported them to the front of the mall, close to the doors. He then went back and grabbed Daryl and before the man could protest, he was teleporting him to the mall's doors as well.

Finally we are here! And it looks like people are already inside.

Bruce had just finished handing out warmer blankets when he seen the new comers. He walked outside to greet them, not at all minding the mutants.

Hello! Bruce greeted warmly. My name is Bruce Wayne. I own this place. He motioned to the large sign that had the name Wayne on it.

I see you have weapons. I don't have anything against that. You never know what's going to happen and when we'll need extra fire power. I do ask that you leave them in your room. There are children here, I just don't want any accidents. Please, come in. Bruce opened the door for them to enter.

There is plenty of room for everyone, only about 20 of us here now. There are hotel suites, I will set you all up in your own room. The places are nice. living area, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, hot tub. Yes we have hot water, heat, food. We even have medication. Though that is limited. and the stores are all open for all.

Bruce noticed that Lydia has her stuffed animal and smiled at her. There's a store upstairs called Stuffed treasures. It's filled with stuffed animals as small as your hand, to as tall as you are. He told the young girl. You can have whatever you like.

Bruce finally stopped and looked over at Daryl who seemed to be skeptical about things. There are no guards. You have free roam of the place. Nothing is off limits. There are no locked doors. Other then people's privet rooms of course. If someone must leave to gather items, I go alone. As long I can move, no one will be put in danger on my watch.

Whatever stuffed animals she wanted?! Lydia decided that she liked Mr. Bruce Wayne already. And the mall was so big and nice looking! It was way different that she had originally imagined it to be, and much much better. And she'd get to sleep in a nice bed, and take a bath (maybe a bubble bath...?), and maybe even make some new friends!

She glanced up at Bebop, silently indicating that she wanted to go exploring a bit - and check out Stuffed Treasures! All those cute little stuffed friends...just waiting there for her to come and play with them!

Being inside in the warmth. Bebop finally put Lydia down, setting on her feet. He let her keep his vest on though. He had no need for it at the moment. And when he heard about the store with the stuffed animals and seen Lydia's look he gave a slight grin and smiled.

I think My friend would like to see those stuffed animals before checking out the hotel rooms.

Bruce gave a nod to that and handed Bebop a key to one of the rooms and a map of the whole place. Something that everyone got once they were okayed to stay with the community. The only person Bruce was concern about was the guy with the cross bow.

Once Bebop got the things he opened the map and handed it to Lydia to let her lead him to where she wanted to go.

Lydia looked over the map, trying to memorize as much of it as she could. The place was pretty big, and she wanted to make sure she could get around without a map if she had to in the future. Ready, she lead the way upstairs towards where Stuffed Treasures was said to be located.

She made note of all the different places they passed too. Of course, she had to memorize the way to the toy store! It was of utmost importance - at least to her it was.

When they finally got there she was very much excited. She could finally start rebuilding her collection! Back at her home, she had had tons and tons of precious stuffed animals. However now she only had what she was able to stuff inside of her backpack.

She held Shelby out to see - "Are you excited, cuz I am! New friends, New friends~" she said in a sing-song voice.

Bebop followed behind letting the girl lead. He also took note of where they were going and what shops they were passing. It was a nice place. And he was thankful that it wasn't crowded with a lot of people. Or that they had to clear it out of the undead. He shook his head thinking about how stupid it was for Daryl to have left the others behind. Now he would have to go back for them, and there would have been no reason to.

Finally they stopped at the store and sure enough it was massive and filled with stuffed animals. A lot of the them were on the floor. He figured that the kids already there must have played with them.

Knock yerself out, kid. There's enough friends here to last you a life time.


He then spotted on of the large rabbits on the top shelf. He walked over and pulled it down. it was easily as tall as Lydia. He stood it up next to her. How bout this one?

"It is the most adorable-est bunny ever!" Lydia gave the large stuffed rabbit a big hug. "Oh! But next to Shelby of course."

She could spend hours in here! Heck, she didn't even need a hotel room - she could live here. This was practically a paradise! And at the moment no walkers around to spoil her fun. She could relax a bit and play!

She eyed a shelf that had a nice brand-new quality blue-furred rabbit and grinned."Shelby, look! I think I found your special one!"

The shelf was a little bit high, so she had to jump to reach the rabbit. She set him and Shelby on the floor together. "They're going to have a beautiful romance~"

Bebop was quite amused by Lydia's enthusiasm. Of course! No one will replace Shelby. He agreed.

Then she reached for the blue rabbit and set it on the floor with Shelby. He bent down and nodded in approval. I think so too. You want to take your new friend and maybe see about getting some new cloths. I noticed a shop that might have some fluffy PJs you can sleep in. Then we can check out our room.

"Okay!" she scooped up Shelby and boyfriend (who did not yet have a name) in her arms and held them tightly. She was feeling pretty sleepy, and new pajamas would be great. Plus, she was looking forward to a bed! She could even open up her backpack and arrange her stuffies around herself the way that she used to back in her apartment. All warm and snuggly wrapped up in a blanket too!

Bebop walked her back out the store and headed to the one they had passed up. The store was called Nightlight and it there was actually two sides to the shop. Seemed one side was for boys the other for girls. Bebop headed to the girl's section with Lydia and started glancing at the price tags on things.

Holy crap! 200 dollars for a pair of pajama pants? Well, we came to this mall at the right time. Best sale I ever seen, Everything must go!

There was more then just sleep wear. There was also more stuffed animals. ones that were made of super soft fur. Slippers, socks, blankets, (though most the blankets had been taken) night lights, even some books.

Bebop walked over to a glass counter case that had not been open. it held the more expensive things. gold and silver jewelry.

See anything you like?

Bruce wasn't the only one skeptical. Daryl didn't trust anything about this situation. How convenient the owner of the mall just so happened to be the 'host.' "Yeah, I heard of you..." And he wouldn't go into detail. Something seemed fishy about Bruce coming all the way from Gotham to Atlanta...


Still, there were people here,thriving. There was food and warmth. If there were dangers, it still beat being out there in the elements. Bruce was just one man....


"I have two teenagers out there... I needed to make sure this place was okay first..."
And there was a burning feeling in this pit of his stomach. Something wasn't right, and it had nothing to do with this place....

Bruce wasn't surprise the man had heard of him. Most had. Normally he would be more smug about it, but not now. Now he just wanted to help people who needed a place to stay and be safe. This guy though. Maybe it was they way he presented himself, the attitude he gave off. Bruce didn't 100% trust the guy. But he was just one man.

Hearing that he had left teenagers out there, alone, didn't sit well with Bruce at all and he made no effort to try and hide that fact.

So you figured it was safer to leave kids alone out there than have them stay with a group that included two mutants? I'll go back with you in case you run into trouble. Your judgment seems a bit off.

Carl glared daggers at the psycho, not protesting when Erica joined at his side. Still ,he was prepared to move in front of her if things got out of hand. There was no doubt in his mind that she was an equal. She had survived this long on her own, but she was no longer alone and he wanted her to know that. He would protect her no matter what. She was a part of their group now. A part of the tight knit family that always had each other's backs.


The boy had hoped that his threats would cause some fear in the group, but of course Negan was unshakable....



The words that followed seemingly stopped the world on her very axle....



Time stood still, there was nothing but the chill of the night and the freezing burn of Negan's words.... His father was ....dead....


Carl suddenly felt cold and numb, then hot all at once. He wanted to vomit, wanted to cry.... he was shaking.. when did he start shaking!


....No. Fucking NO! This wasn't real. It couldn't be real. Negan ot off on torturing people, and that's exactly what he was doing now. Tormenting him, trying to bring him to tears. No. Not his dad! Not the one person that would survive this! He had watched his father come back from so much. From losing the world, his best friend and then the woman he loved... Carl's mom.... everything had been ripped from him. And each time, Rick came back. His dad always came back, for HIM. For his baby sister, who was still out there somewhere... she had to be!


Despite his best attempts to hold strong, warm tears seeped from his one eye as his lips quivered, reminding that he was still just a kid. A child that still needed and very much loved his father, despite his actions at times....



"NO...." He shook his head, taking an unsteady back, angered glare on the madman. The laughter of the other men taunting, unearthing memories of the Hunters, and what they had done to him... and how his father had ripped out the leader's throat with his teeth....


"NOOO!!" He screamed angrily, unsteady hand once again raising his gun and taking aim. Just then the bat, still dripping with the flesh and blood of Negan's last victim was shoved in his face without thought, Carl grabbed the weapon with his hand, the barbwire cutting up his hand, but adrenaline masking the pain. "You're a fucking LIAR!!" He shouted as loud as his voice would carry, but even as his allegations were made, he noted the familiar colored hair tangled in the barb wire....




"NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Negan pulled his bat back with force. And knelt down to get at the boys level. Awww, shit. Don't cry, kid. You knew this was going to happen. Look, I'm sad too. I wanted Rick to be the last of one I killed.

Negan stood up and started to circle the two.

But! When you get an opportunity you gotta grab it by the balls. Now you two put yer weapons down. Go stand over there by that tree. He pointed out a large tree that was across from them.

Both of ya. Hurry. go. Haven't got all night.

"Hey I learned to take that advice to heart Case-Man - to heart, after not listening and taking it in the eyes." Mikey grins sprawling over his seat and half over the bratty girl too just to annoy the annoying female child.

His chucks still had stinky bits of goop of grey and pink fleshy goop, but he supposed he and his arm rest could live with the rotty smell for a bit until they all got to where they were going.

Oookay. Was this guy judging him? It sure as shit sounded like it! At first, Daryl wanted to decline any offer if this guy's help, but if he proved to be a threat, it was best to take him out somewhere other than the mall. Away from the innocent...



"I don't appreciate yer tone, Sunshine..." He warned, but hung the crossbow over his shoulder, showing that he was not a threat. Unappreciative of his accusations of carelessness, but not a threat.



"If I didn't trust 'im, I wouldn't leave 'em alone. But I've been out there... I know what it's like. A lot of these so called 'sanctuaries' ain't legit. We've nearly been eaten before....been ambushed.... Carl, he was...." And he broke off... "Sometimes those Walkers are safer than people..."

Bruce didn't say anything about the nick name or his tone. He was right, it was bad judgment.

He Left, leaving one of the men in charge for the the men in charge for the time being. He followed Daryl out and listened to him talk about the other places he had been.

Sounds rough. I don't doubt you trust them, It's what's out there that I don't trust. I was lucky to have the mall. It was set to open two days before the outbrake. I'm actually surprised that not more people have showed up. We did have a few issues with infected wanting to come in. but, since then things have been smooth. We have a few mutants which have helped with security. But with Two small children and one on the way. so we're careful with who we let in.

Erica watched the man - feeling sick. And angry.

Her belly knotted in worry for her new friend. To Negan she glares at forcing calm, she was not going to shake and shiver and cower. letting the draw of her bow go slowly grasping it and the arrows still between fingers other hand reaching for Carls to pull it off the bat. "A bloodly bat in this kind of world we live in is not proof you accomplished anything of what you just said." making some attempt to call the mans bluff, after all there was no real way to verify any of the ick on the bat was in fact Ricks. And Carl to not take the crazy mans words at face value.

Even if there was still the fact they were out numbered and armed and should get to the tree. But she would not if her friend did not drop his weapon and do as told. Her bow was still in a hand with the arrows.

"Yeah, you gotta keep it safe.. I get that. Believe me, I do. I jus' couldn't bring 'em here without knowin' what we were walkin' in to..." Maybe this Bruce guy understood, but maybe he didn't. It did not matter. Daryl had tried to do what was best for Carl and Erica. Carl was a smart kid, and Erica had to be to have made it alone for so long...


Daryl led the way out of the mall, wondering just how many times this Bruce guy had stepped foot outdoors. color=brown]"Look, man. I don't know you... you don't know me, so we're on common ground here. Our words don't mean shit to each other right now...."[/color] And he knew this was true for both of them...


"You help us, and I'll do what I can for this community you have goin'.... but you hurt my friends, you'll regret it...." He warned, wanting to get that out of the way....

Fair enough. You said the boy's name is Carl? The woman staying with us, The one with the child on the way. She mentioned being in a group with a kid named Carl.

Bruce looked Daryl over. Cross bow, Attitude. You never introduced yourself But I'm going to take a guess and say you're Daryl. It's nice to meet you by the way. Maggie is the woman staying with us. She didn't find us, I found her. Pretty beat up, said there was some guy named Negan looking for her and her group. So we better get those kids fast.

Nightcrawler wrote:

Kurt was also getting a little impatient with all the walking. But finally the large building came into view. Now that he could see the building he gave Bebop and Lydia a hug and teleported them to the front of the mall, close to the doors. He then went back and grabbed Daryl and before the man could protest, he was teleporting him to the mall's doors as well.

Finally we are here! And it looks like people are already inside.

She would know that voice anywhere!

There she was hearing through the mall family grapevine there was new arrivals, and hanging with the kids - whom thought her phasing tricks were just 'magic' - she had of course phased right through some walls to see for herself.

And heard.

"Kurt?!" a delighted sort of squee shout.


Lockheed followed more sedately - but of course pleased.