Between a Rock and a Hard Place ~LHC CH. 1~ ~OPEN~
welcometothesummit:
ââŚwhat in tarnationâŚâ are the only words Rocky can muster. Not too shocking, all things considered. When hit with a steel chair of information right between the eyeballs, itâs about all one can say. Standing still in the middle of the hall, Rocky tries desperately to wrap his mind around everything. Heroes? Murder? Force fields? Dogs? The dog was about the only thing Rocky had a positive feeling towards, but at the moment it was severely dulled byâŚeverything, really.
Rocky can barely comprehend what happened. He had practically just moved to Arcadia City. And now heâs trapped in a building being told itâs kill or be killed. Norv was right. He should have moved to Savannah instead. Ghosts and gumbo were preferable to whatever on Earth this mess was.
Rocky shakes his head, however. Smacks his head a few times, even. No, you big oaf, focus. Savannah is a million miles away at this point. The danger is right here. And itâs why you moved to Arcadia City in the first place. This is who you are! This is worse than waking up to a roach on your face (he laughs in his head at Sammyâs misfortune one morning), certainly, but not anything you canât handle. And if those words were true, everyone here was a hero. If that was the case, then surely someone would have some sort of power that could help. Or, hell, all of them could work together and get outta here. Run right outta this building like heels getting booed after cheating to win. Of course, maybe âheelsâ wasnât a good way to think of everyone right nowâŚ
Rocky slowly makes his way towards this dog. A retriever. Kinda like Ric back at home. Rocky kneels down and softly, gently, pets the dog on the head. Touching the dog, for some reason, made everything feelâŚreal. This wasnât some sort of fever dream after a tough match. This was no illusion. Whatever this was, it was happening. This dog delivered the message, and though clearly just an errand-boy, it was an extension of whatever force trapped them there. And this Mountain didnât like the idea of being trapped. This Mountain was gonna grow and rupture through the god damned walls if it had to.
In a loud, booming voice rarely heard on TV (but definitely remembered when it did), Rocky cries out. âYO! Weâre gettinâ outta here. Ainât no one makinâ me kill a single soul that I donât want to. If this voice is tellinâ the truth, one of yâall should have some powers to get us on up outta this mess. Anâ at the least, maybe we can ALL make somethinâ happen. Câmon, letâs do this.â
Of course, Rocky doesnât know what âthisâ will entail. But those details can be worked out. Right now, it was about making that babyface comeback. The moves donât matter; the emotion does.
⌠Okay.
Not in the way that like, they were just gonna go back to what they were doing, because⌠they couldnât do that. They couldnât just go back to the apartment and see Dave before leaving to class. There werenât any classes, and Dave wasnât here. Though⌠maybe that was for the better if they were all supposed to fucking kill each other. That, and Dave wasnât a hero, was he?Â
But⌠they were, huh. That was why they were here, they and apparently the other 15 of their new friends. Fuck, was the dog a hero too? He had a cape, it wasnât TOTALLY stupid to assume that. Maybe the dog was behind this! Shapeshifting was a thing! Who knew!
Not them, and not anyone else in the room, probably.Â
Itâs⌠weird. Like, itâs definitely bad, no oneâs denying that. Sixteen up and coming heroes being captured? Whatever the fuck had happened to Paragon Tower? Itâs bad but⌠they feel so detached from it. They were already dead inside, what did it matter? âŚokay, bad joke. Bad taste. That didnât change the weird emptiness there, in the lack of fear or panic or anything, really. Then⌠a small pang in their chest. There it is. Okay. Whew. They were still alive.
A loud voice sounds out and Ainsley jumps only minutely before looking over and oh damn heâs big. And⌠huh. âDude, youâre scaring the dog,â they say without looking over to see if that fact was true. They do look up at the very loud man, squinting up at him beforeâŚÂ âDonât you run that gym? My brother goes there, he wrestles? Shit, youâd think a hero would have better things to do, huh? Hey though, Ricky. Thatâs your name, right?â
Rocky looks up from his dog-petting as his name is mangled. Not that itâs too big a deal; heâs heard worse. At least Rickyâs a name. Rocket? What the hell was a Rocket Mountain? Wasnât that a ride at one of them theme park places in Orlando? Something like that. Rocker was another one. The pun is so simple, man, how does it ever get messed up? Thatâs why his father named him that! Still, the person seemed familiar, and had a wrestling brother? Neat!
Rocky stands up, stretching his tall frame to maximum height. He inspects the person before him. Yeah, familiar. Couldnât quite place how so, but familiar. âItâs Rocky, actually. Rocky Mountain! Georgia born and bred. Yer broâs a wrestler, ya said? Well Iâll be! Which one is he?â He sticks out a meaty hand, waiting for a shake.
Before the shake can come, however, another character enters the fray. Like a battle royal participant running down to the ring. This one wasâŚcolorful, to say the least. Dramatic. But gave off a positive vibe as Rocky ended up faux-catching them. And there were compliments! Very nice compliments. Rocky was already sweet a bit on another back home, but compliments were just that. In here, it might be nice to have some admirers around. Might make it easier for death to be avoided. Rocky smiles. âDamn straight Iâm a hero! Biggest and baddest youâve ever seen. Just donât judge me on my in-ring persona, haha. And who might you be?â
