2013-02-24 - The Last Straw: I Have No One Else

Kenzie's phone rings its chirp, chirp sound.

Kenzie picks up her phone, looking at Peter and Amaya. The girl stood outside an electronics shop talking to the others in upper Manhattan. The phone clicks as she answers it, "Hello?"

There is silence except for a bit of heavy, uneven breathing, and when Jake finally speaks it sounds shaky almost as if he has been laughing, "Kenzie." He is then silent, as if expecting Kenzie to hang up.

There is a pause, Kenzie looking sheet white all of the sudden. "Jake? Jake is that you?" Kenzie was worried, Jake didn't sound good at all.

Jake says into the phone, "Ya," sounding Southern right then. "I...need some help." And an odd wheezing chuckle or laugh, self-mocking sounding. "I have...no one else...to call." He sounds breathless, like he is having trouble getting a full sentence out before he has to take another breath. "Can...you get to...think I'm still in Brooklyn. Across from...Dollars Store? Too many of 'em." Jake actually grunts as he works to move, drawing in sharp, quick breathes. He closes his eyes tight a few moments, "Sec..."

Kenzie had that bottle of coke in her offhand, but as she listened to the phone, her grip suddenly loosened The bottle falling from her hand and scattering across the sidewalk, "Jake! Where..." she pauses....and then begins running down the street, heading in the direction of Brooklyn. "Ahh'm on my way!"

Jake bites back a groan and forces his eyes open again, "Some pink shop, think it says, Girly Heaven." It's actually a girl's adult toy shop, but hey, Jake can be embarrassed later if he figures that out. He then closes his eyes and leans against the wall where he half set himself up against. "Right. How soon?" For all he knows, she's still in North Salem, over an hour away.

Kenzie was running as hard as she could, heading for the subway, shoving people out of her way if she had to. She didn't speak except into the phone "Ahh'm on mah way. Stay with me, Ahh'm close. Just...Jesus Jake don't you go diein' on me!"

Amaya chases after her friend trying to not trip over people who are being shoved out of the way. What she wouldn't give for a charge right now. A quick flight would be so much easier but then again, that would also tip off people that she is in fact a mutant. So onward she runs trying to not get tripped up.

"Watch your language, Kenzie...don' go usin' the Lord's name in vain, including his son's." Yep, even in the condition he is in, he still scolds Kenzie for that. He then smirks, and it is perhaps reflected in his tone, "Not going to die...from this, but...can't walk. Need 'elp, gettin' home." Jake's Southern accent is stronger than normal, the pain and speaking with Kenzie is doing it to him. "Arm hurts...just goin' close my eyes fo' ah bit. You just tell me when you get 'ere, alright? Phone be on speaker."

Least Jake remembers to do that before his hand drops to his thigh, barely holding onto the phone as he closes his eyes. Face is swelled up in a number of places, lower lip busted and he was spitting out blood earlier, something got cut or messed up i his mouth. Cut on one cheek, and the backs of his hands don't have signs of fight, instead the one not holding the phone has a boot sole mark on it and appears swollen. Basically, someone went to town on teaching him a lesson he won't soon forget, but he is very much alive. Just the full damage he has suffered, is not fully visible.

Peter had looked at Amaya as Kenzie run off. He nodded slowly. "It sounds bad... I'll come uh, see if I can help." With that he's following, his pace matching that of Amaya and Kensington without much apparent trouble... He must run a lot.

Kenzie wouldn't wait much, looking at the subway and actually jumping up onto the handrail seperating the 'up and down' sides of the stairs, letting her coat lessen the friction. Using her hand to stablize her the girl slid down and called out "Hold the door!", and for once a new yorker did something nice, keeping the subway train door open. Once Kenzie reaches the door, she turns and holds it long enough for amaya and Peter to get on. "It's mah highschool crush, he's urt. Badly. Ahh ain't never heard him sound lahhk dis."

Peter's frowning as he manages to keep up without so much as giving it a passing thought. In fact the hardest part of the whole thing is making the run look difficult. As he slips into the train Peter looks at Kenzie. "What happened? How's he hurt?" He pauses a moment. "Has anyone called an ambulance?"

Amaya runs into the subway and listens to her friend. "I need a charge." She comments and takes a deep breath. "If he is as bad as you say he is, I might be able to get him to the hospital faster then an ambulance. I know I can do that." She blushes a little bit. She looks around for something. Anything to sap a charge off of.

Kenzie kept the phone in her hand as the subway doors closed. She was pale, sweating. "Ahh gotta get to him" she said, looking over to Amaya and Peter. "Ahh ain't sure what all happened, but..he sounds lahhk he be in a bad way. Ahh figure it ain't gonna be pretty." she said looking down. "Jesus, last tahhm we talked we got inna dis argument. It was stupid. He and ahh don't see eye to eye on everythin'. Ahh said some mean things to him." a sparkling tear ran down her cheek. "Ahh ain't about to let that be how it ends" she said as the train began to move, express to Brooklyn.

Peter is at a loss for words. There's not much one can say under these circumstances... He can however emphasis. He knows better than most what it feels like, not only to think you may lose a loved one. But also the actual loss of that loved one. His face becomes harder, his tone more serious and certain than a nineteen year old has any right to. "We'll get there in time... We'll make sure he gets the help he needs." It's a promise he's no way to be sure he can keep, but it's one he intends to do everything to try and keep.

Kenzie is out the door the moment the train stops, forcing the door to push out as she runs. Her booted feet clomping loudly as her arms pump. Hitting the stairs the girl calls into the phone "We're gettin' close Jake. Stay with me!" she calls hurrying up to the street level to get her bearings.

"Where is he?" Peter follows Kenzie off the train. "I can get there quicker than you can, but I'm going to need directions." If the way he's maintaining his pace so far is anything to go by it's likely true, barring the use of powers at least.

There is no immediately answer, but there is the sound of traffic and foot traffic picked up by the cell's speakerphone. When there seems as if there will not be an answer, there is Jake's voice sounding distant, "Not goin' anywhere Kenzie, calm down. No point...makin' ah big deal o' it. It's fine." Now it isn't fine, but Jake is just working to keep Kenzie calm.

Kenzie rushed to the surface, looking around. "Damnit Jake! Stay with me!" she was beginning to panic, looking to Peter "He's ...Ahh dunno. He said some dollar store..uh..Girly Heaven or sometin" she looks to Peter. "Please, You gotta help me find him!"

There are times when spending your time swinging around the roof tops of the city while everyone else is out having fun come in handy... This is one of those times. Peter nods as his pace picks up. He runs at as fast a pace as he can without getting people suspicious. Turning down the streets with an obvious destination in mind. There's no doubt about it, he knows where he's going... Hopefully no one'll want to know why. That'd take some explaining.

Kenzie see's Peter run off and begins to run along with him. She begins looking for the shopping district of this part of the city and begins heading (hopefully) in the right direction. Into the phone "I'm comin' Jake! Hold on!"

Amaya is left behind, Completely caught up in a sea of people. As soon as she gets through the people she realizes that she can't even see where they went. So, She does the only logical thing. She looks for the nearest power source. Quickly she runs into a conveniently placed Seven Eleven. After a few moments inside she makes her way to the rest room. Locating a power outlet, she puts her hand on it and begins drawing energy.

As the group runs down the darkening streets with flashes of the street lights coming on and the glare of the traffic constantly going up and down the street. When Peter finds the building in question, Kenzie then can see the alleyway. There is Jake, in the shadows and mostly sitting as he leans against the alleyway. He wears his greasy overalls that one works in a car garage with, the type with the long sleeves and zipper up the front.

Peter gets to the building. He spots the alley and he heads down it. Looking at the man in the overalls. He frowns a little as he studies him, looking him over for injuries with the eye of one who has a very good grasp of biology and human anatomy... And far more experience with injured people than most. It's a bad idea to move him if it might make his injuries worse after all.

Kenzie, seeing Jake would lean into a full on sprint. Feet coming down hard as the girl rushes to his side, dropping to her knees as she moves to examine him "God Jake! What happened to you?!" Kenzie moved to hold his hand, looking up at Peter. "Help him....please" she begs.

The movement of Peter, finally has Jake open his eyes, but one is pretty swollen, he's lucky to be able to open it. He draws in a sharp breath when he opens his eyes, his cell phone is on speakerphone still. "Who...are you?" His tone distrustful and wary. But then Kenzie is there. His thumb moves awkwardly to hang up the phone, and he winces when Kenzie grabs the stomped on hand, drawing an even sharper breath. "Ea..sy...Kenzie...just...roughed up. Just need...help getting...home." It hurts for him to speak, Peter likely knows from experience that means ribs.

After a few minutes, Amaya gets herself at least a fair level charge. She quickly returns the key to the store and then takes off flying. She isn't flying very fast and has no clue where to even begin looking for her friends. So she just starts flying in a wide circle, trying to use the fading light to see where they are. "Ugh this is what I get for not just cutting through the crowd."

Peter's had his ribs broken enough times to know it's a real crimp on the banter. He nods slowly as he looks at Jake. "I'm going to need you to try and stay still." He turns his attention back to Kenzie, his tone clear, confident and gentle. "Kenzie, I'm going to need your phone. We'll need an ambulance."

Kenzie simply hend out her phone to Peter. It was a simple smartphone though it had a protective layer over the touchscreen to help reduce Kenzie's electrical charge into the sensor. "Y..yeah" she said before looking down to Jake.

Kenzie was staring at Jake, knowing someone did this to him. Her best childhood friend was laying there bloodied and broken. "Jake, y'tell me who all done this" she said, not asking, "You tell me." Jake would know she wanted to do something about it.

"No!" But the strong response causes Jake to cough and clench his ribs and stomach, the pain obvious. "Don'...can't...talk about..what happened. Just...get home. I'm fine." He's struggling to catch his breath again, but he's working on it. "Please, just...help me...up." He feels shame for the begging, but he doesn't want to talk to anyone about what happened, not address the questions of the doctors or the police. His teeth grit, "No...can't. Just...want to go home."

Peter looks at Jake, his tone becoming harder than it was with Kenzie. "If you move you could puncture a lung. If that happens and there's no doctor about there's a good chance you'll die." He frowns as he looks at Jake. "I don't know what happened here, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you get the help you need." Of course he's a hypocrite, having fought with broken ribs without ever thinking about stopping.

Finally, Amaya locates her friends. She comes in and crash lands into a few trash cans. "oops!" She get up to her Feet and moves over to the three. "Sorry it took me so long. Got a little lost." Getting a closer look at Jake and the shape he is in, She frowns. "Wow. Umm, did anyone call an ambulance?"

Kenzie looks down at Jake, "No." she says, "Jacob, you need t'let us take care of you.." she explained. "Now tell me" she was growing more and more angry. "Who did this t'you?" Kenzie's eyes were glowing behind her glasses. Brighter and brighter as her pulse quickened with her anger. Her powers hadn't fully returned, but the girl didn't care.

"I'm...fine. I...," and Jake jerks away and slams his head back against the brick way, calling out in alarm and pain when Amaya lands. "What the...," he glares at Amaya, angry and not at all pleased with how she appeared and the additional pain she caused him. "Get away," finally having enough. "I don't need..I don't want....Kenzie, stop!" He is struggling to breath again. "I don't...more violence. Enough...sorry...I called. Get home alone." And he's struggling to get up, stubborn as all get out. He isn't going to talk right now apparently, about what happened, especially with Kenzie seeming to look like she wants to fight.

"Hey." Peter's tone has an edge of anger to it as he looks at Kenzie, his expression frustrated as he studies the woman. "Later on you can be angry, later on you can go pick a fight. But right now you should be more worried about making sure Jake doesn't so much as breath hard. He's not going to die, but rib wounds aren't nice. A broken rib at the wrong angle, that can puncture something, if that happens... Then we might not be so lucky." It's simple scare tactics, he doesn't need someone running off looking for a fight right now. Instead he kneels down next to Jake. "I want to see how bad your ribs are... It's going to hurt, but I need to you to stay as still as possible." Of course it says something about Peter that he's apparently not shocked by a woman landing from the sky. He offers her the phone. "Call an ambulance. Tell them I think we're looking at a severe beating, probably some broken ribs."

Kenzie moved her gloved hands to support Jake. "Look shug, ya gotta get looked at." she explained, "You'd make me go...ahh'm makin' you go.." she looked him over again. She could smell the blood on him, and it made her angry. "Please Jacob...for me.." she looked to Peter "You're right." she said moving to try and help Jake become comfortable, as well as to keep him still.

Amaya frowns and backs away. "I'm so sorry..." She speaks softly and proceeds to keep her distance. Quietly she waits puts her hands behind her back and kicks a small piece of rubbish around. She does call 911 quick and request an Ambulance using the various landmarks that she sees.

"Could have called...a stupid ambulance myself. Don't need...help for that." And Jacob isn't about to permit anyone in the ambulance with him when he is force carted away, the guy can be very prideful. But at least he stops struggling to stand and grunts, "Fine." He raises his one good hand to drop the zipper down on his mechanic overalls and struggles to get them removed with difficulty so they hang about his waist. He wears a plain black t-shirt, faded beneath it.

Peter's hand very carefully checks the ribs, it's a delicate check, too much pressure can cause damage, but he's got to make sure he doesn't miss anything. It's something he's done before and of course his fine motor skills are exceptional. He speaks in a distracted tone. "And you should have called the ambulance, this is no time to be proud... A punctured lung's the last thing you want.

Kenzie just stayed close, holding Jake, "Just hold on, helps comin shug" she whispers,"Ain't gonna leave ya like dis.." Kenzie looked to Peter, "Is he gon be okay? Is there anythin' ahh can do t'help?" she wondered.

Alright, Jake's rolling his eyes now. "Right, punctured....lung on top of everything. I bit my...tongue, by the way." The blood from his mouth. Guess Jake thinks if he isn't spitting blood, he's good. "Who...are you?" Now he thinks to ask.

The 911 rep on the line asks Amaya all sorts of questions, about location, condition of the victim, and so on.

"I'm Peter Parker." Peter shrugs a shoulder. "I just happened to be around, when you made your call. It sounded like you could use some help." Of course he went a long way out of his way to help a stranger, it's a sad reality that many people might find that strange. Peter looks up as the Ambulance arrives, his attention turning to Kenzie. "I think he'll be fine. I can't do much to check for internal bleeding, but he seems like he'll live."

Kenzie looks to Jake and just sighs "Shug, you gotta take care of your self. Ahh ain't sure what ahh'd do if ahh lost you." she said, but didn't push it. She knew Jake was prideful and wanted to do her best to not upset him or embarrass him more.

Amaya answers the questions to the best of her ability. She actually ventures a touch closer to Jake for a few moments to better hear what Peter is saying so she can relay it to the operator. Once all the information is given, she returns the phone to Kenzie before backing off again.

Jake sighs, "That's...not dramatic, at all." Not that it was much of a sigh. But the ambulance can be heard approaching now. "Thanks Peter." Prideful, but he does figure things out. He then looks over at Amaya, before he finally says, "I'm Jake Philips." He is trying to breath steadily. "Well, hospital I go." He looks sideways at Kenzie, "Just...stay calm and...don't freak. Just pray...alright?" He then glances at Amaya before, "And you...before I get...hauled away?"

Peter grins a little. "Oh, I think this whole situations more than dramatic enough on its own." He grins almost sheepishly. He had been planning to head back for his phone when all this started. And so he motions over his shoulder. "I uh, need to be going. I left my phone at work... I need to get back to the Bugle and pick it up." With that he makes for the street. "I'm glad I could help." With that he turns to leave.

Kenzie nods, looking into Jake's eyes. "Course. Ain't pray much, but for you.." she smiles. "Jake, let me come with you. Yeah? Just to make sure you get looked after." Kenzie offered as the ambulance rolls up.

Amaya looks over at Jake and gives a nod and a soft smile. "Amaya Sparks. I wish this meetings were under better circumstances. I apologize for my landing. I am still getting adjusted and getting lost in New York City is enough to freak anyone out." She is still of course keeping her distance.

"Here is a tip," Jake says breathlessly. "Be considerate of others. I'm fine with...mutants, you were given...a gift from God, it's up you...how to use it. But...remember to...consider others." Spooking injured guy, not polite, though Jake doesn't sound mad about it anymore. "You will...do fine."

The ambulance arrives and the men that arrive with it are efficient and calm. Jake is loaded up on a stretcher, appearing anything but happy. "I'll...call later." He doesn't ask Kenzie to come to the hospital. He already knows his parents will be flying to New York City now as he isn't going to keep this a secret with a hospital visit and insurance claims - who you think will be paying his medical bills?

Jake is then wheeled off, being forced to use one of those oxygen masks.