Chapter four: A foudroyant tantivy

A/N In a burst of dubious inspiration, I have decided to take pity on any of you poor schmoes waiting on another chapter. It does look a little like it is trying to develop a point, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.
...hey, kudos and a shout-out to anyone who can think up a point to give me. XDAnd did you know that katzenjammer means a loud, discordant noise, a hangover, or a state of depression or bewilderment?

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The screams were dying down, or maybe they were just fading with the distance. They finally stopped their mad dash when Hattie tripped over something he would rather not be identified and he almost keeled over himself in catching her. "Okay. I think it's okay to take a breather." The girl collapsed against the wall with an exhaled breath that puffed out her cheeks, and Riley managed to get past his own, totally justifiable shattered nerves to try and distract her. "So, is this your first explosion?"

Hattie coughed on a laugh and looked a bit less shell-shocked. "First deliberate one, sure." She nervously looked down the way they had come as if she could see the site. "I hope there wasn't any...uh...collateral damage."

He leaned against the wall next to her. "There shouldn't have been. We were definitely the only other ones in that alley, and you specifically waited until we found one with no windows low down."

"It was a lot bigger than I had planned."

"Well, I don't think that was your fault. The fertilizer and the bits of glass were totally my idea." Her only response was a drained nod as her head thunked back against the surface, and after a minute he nudged her gently in the ribs. "Come here often?" I'm not used to being the experienced, calm, and mature one. It's surprisingly tiring.

"Yeah." She giggled softly. "This is my favourite sewer. It has the best junk."

"MacGyver. Hey, look, a headless doll and some popsicle sticks!" Why do sewers always have at least one dismembered doll? "Why don't you make us a teleportation device? Or an airplane, or a submarine...I'm not picky." He felt the laugh she stifled run through her body and smirked triumphantly to himself, until it was chased by a sub-vocal whimper. Riley pushed off from the wall so he could see her fully. "What's the matter?"

Hattie smiled at him, and it was more subdued and twisted than her usual full-blown, sunshiny, just-this-close-to-insane grin. "I think I caught some shrapnel."

"What?! Where?" She stuck her left leg slightly out to the side and he noticed for the first time that she was favoring it. Inwardly he reviewed her numerous half-falls on the way down in a different light and cursed himself. Stupid, stupid! "How bad is it?" he asked, already crouching in the slime to inspect it gently. Through a wince as he touched the spot, she said,

"Not too bad. I think it's only a little bit of something..." she bit off whatever else she might have said as he tugged the obstruction loose, slightly crooked little teeth clamping down on her hand. He looked up to speak and grinned crookedly at the sight, with little humour.

"Don't put that thing in your mouth, you don't know where it's been." She stuck her tongue out at him, and he turned back to the shrapnel, pulling out three more little shards. For a moment he didn't get up, staring at the bloody slivers of glass as they lay innocently on his palm. With a grimace of disgust he dropped them, only pausing to feel irked that they didn't have enough mass to fling properly.

"Hey." She started to pet his dark hair and switched it to a prod in the shoulder. "It's fine, really. The glass was a good idea; that guy Shaw is built like a...a bulldozer on a heavy-gravity world, anything to slow him down is a good thing."

Riley sat back on his haunches and stared up at her, blinking something gritty away from his eyelashes. "Aren't you supposed to be whining, grumbling, whimpering, and otherwise bemoaning your rotten luck?"

"I don't know. I've never been hit with shrapnel before. Should I?"

He stood up and futily dusted off his backside. "I would." Her response was a smile and a slight lightening of the shadow over her eyes. The sight gave him an amazing rush of accomplishment. I can see how this leadership, responsibility gig can get so popular. If I'm not careful I might start to really like it.