Timebomb

As the woman followed Paris' instructions to escape while she had the opportunity to do so, Paris was left alone with the violent man whom he worked for that evening. Originally, Paris had seen no possible way in which the situation could be made any more interesting, what with his client swinging at him, and momentarily holding a woman hostage. But surely enough, as his battered watch ticked away the last remaining minute before the Ministry was alerted of the robbery that was taking place, Perry's pulse quickened.

"Time's up!" Paris informed the man before him, as he ducked away from an incoming blade.

Perhaps the thief's heart had begun to race along with Perry's at the thought of being locked away in prison. Or maybe he had halted in his attempt to off his locksmith in order to ponder over the possibilities of outrunning the aurors that had undoubtedly been sent to capture him. Whatever the reason for the man's pause, however, Paris saw the moment as an opportunity to put space between himself and his client's threatening blade.

After moving two stepped backwards, Paris glanced in the direction that he'd sent the hostage - only to see that she had not yet run far enough to have vanished from sight. In the distance her red hair could still be seen, like a stain of color in Paris' vision. As though the thief had succeeded in his attempt to connect his fist with Perry's face, it occurred to Paris that if the girl did not managed to flee the premises before the hell hounds arrived, she would be included in the mess.

Paris allowed his head to rest against the wall of the building that stood behind him, and inhaled the evening air in a sharp breath. For a moment he remained in that position, so to steady his unnatural pulse, and to make sense of his frenzied thoughts before deciding on any particular course of action.

"Always with the occupational hazards!" Paris shouted disbelievingly, before pushing off of the building with a flattened palm. With the momentum that the wall had provided him with pushing him forward, Paris ran after Little Red Riding Hood, leaving his client behind in the dust to await his impending doom.

At once, multiple, deafening alarms split through the previously silent streets.

Chase wasn't to far gone when suddenly alarms rung out behind her and she gasped, nearly tripping as she ran down the street. Whoever those men were, she wanted nothing more to do with them! Nothing at all! Her house wasn't far from here, and she knew that if Calvin saw her out of breath, he'd be seriously concerned, but she didn't know what else to do! The alarms were LOUD, and seemed to chase her down the street at the fastest speed she could go. It had been a long time since she had had to run so far, and she felt her breathing coming in gasps now, hoping she was far enough away, she slowed to a walk and gasped, leaning over and putting her hands on her knees. She gasped for air, gasping and coughing, attempting to gain some of the breath back that she had lost.

Suddenly though, she heard running footsteps behind her. "Shit." She whispered and stood up, prepared to fight. She wasn't going to let him grab her again! She wouldn't take it, not that she was prepared, she could fend him off! She immediately clenched her fists and spun around fists in the air, attempting to whack whoever it was that was coming after her. "Get away from me!" She cried out, taking a few steps backwards, hitting the curb, and falling down hard on her butt. "Ouch." She whispered and then looked up, glaring at whoever thought they could catch up to her and cause her more harm then they already had.

“Do I just have one of those faces?” Paris panted as he neared her, and took note of the pair of fists that she had prepared for him, “Does my face appear to be particularly punchable?” he added, so to make certain that sense could be made of the inquiry. There were moments when the lad honestly forgot that his mind could not be read, and that his thoughts were not audible to everyone. However, while it would have been far more convenient to think aloud, rather than to attempt to convert his thoughts to speech while fighting with his lungs in such a way, Paris found himself with no other choice than to croak each word aloud.

He joined the woman, and hunched over for a short moment to replenish his oxygen supply. For someone who spent so much of his free time sprinting away from harm, it would be easy to assume that he had developed an endurance to running great lengths. But there was a clever little joke that Paris associated with assumptions… Despite all of the running that he’d done in the past, chases and escapes never got any easier - and chase/escape combos were particularly challenging.

After having recovered from what had felt and appeared quite similar to an asthma attack, Paris climbed to his natural stature. He recognized the fact that the girl had fallen to the curb, and instinctively offered her his hand to pull her upward – though he was not certain that his body would support both his and her weight simultaneously after having run so far. “Vite, vite!” Paris insisted in French, having momentarily forgotten his present location. For a moment, London had vanished from view, and he had returned to his birthplace. While he was not speaking in a tongue that the woman appeared to understand, however, Paris was certain that his gesture in the opposite direction of the sirens, and the excited twinkle in his eyes made a translation unnecessary.

Chase saw who it was and immediately felt even more tense. "I don't know who you think you are sir!" She said glaring up at him, trying to decide if anything was broken. He was having an asthma attack it sounded like, but she didn't care, obviously he had done something to deserve it in her opinion. When he offered his hand to her, she pushed it away and stood up on her own. "You sir, are a menace to society." She said glaring at him, and then glanced back at the sirens. "Are you for serious? You want me to run again?! What have you gotten me into? I didn't do anything.." She hissed, glaring at him. "I'd have you know my boyfriend is an auror!" she said glaring at him. "And I could turn you in!" She looked back at the sirens and it dawned on her how bad her situation was.

If she was caught in the area with this man... well she'd most likely be charged for thievery, and then thrown to Felix Barker again for all she knew. She stood there unsure for a moment and then turned her back on the man and started to briskly walk away. "I don't know why you followed me here... but you can go now, I can take care of myself." she said, nose in the air, pushing her hair out of her face, eyes glinting as she attempting to get as much distance between her and Paris as possible. "I don't even know your name.. I catch you helping some guy rob a house, and then he grabs me... tries to hold me HOSTAGE, and then you make me run, half of it I think you're just trying to get out of trouble." She said glaring ahead, staring at the street in front of her. "I just want to get home."

Defiance led to collateral damage when innocent citizens were involved. It was an unfortunate truth, but it was a truth that Paris had become painfully familiar with after having spent the entirety of twenty-seven years putting people in every danger that existed. Despite the familiarity of the situation that was playing out before him, however, Paris could come up with no simple solution to the problem. The woman had refused his assistance despite the predicament that she had walked into, and Paris was having difficulty deciding what words would properly convince her of the trouble that awaited her. She had made it quite evident that she did not plan on setting aside her differences with Paris, and joining him at his side in a hasty escape. In response to this evidence, Paris came to the decision that the simple demand that she do as he say would be of no further use to him.

Still, he gave simplicity a shot; “No matter who it is that you are dating presently, you will be brought into the custody of the Ministry of Magic if you do not run now.” Paris’ signature smile followed closely behind his order, so to make it clear to the redhead that he was, in no way, threatening her as his client had. After having been used as a bargaining chip at the point of a blade, Paris was certain that the last thing to work in convincing her would be to put her in a similar position. At best, she was shaken after everything that had gone down, and Paris did not desire to add on to whatever panic she could be experiencing.

Though, as the woman moved her nose towards the star-speckled sky above, Paris began to doubt that her nerves were acting in any such way. For someone who had could have been killed over something as pointless as an unsuccessful robbery, she seemed to be in good spirits. Good enough spirits to stubbornly put herself in more danger and to place blame on Paris for the evening’s occurrences, at least.

As she threatened to report Paris, he could do nothing to confine the giggles that had begun tickling his throat. This bout of laughter did not last as though as his previous fit had, however, as he had not yet caught up with his shallow breathing. After vomiting a small portion of the laughter that the woman’s threat had produced, Paris wheezed.

He meant no disrespect by reacting in such a way to her words – though she seemed keen on disrespecting him in every which way that she possibly could. In order to make up for his behavior, Paris decided upon elaborating; “The Ministry can not hold me for longer than twenty-four hours, so long as I do not commit murder - which I have no intentions of doing. I am in no immediate danger of arrest, but you, you should not be here. I only followed you in order to inform you that by having stopped to rest, that you have put yourself in harm’s way once more. If you do not wish to spend the rest of the evening, or perhaps the rest of the week, behind bars, I suggest that you run. But you already know that, don’t you? You are already aware of the fact that you should run, but for some reason beyond me, you have decided to stick around to argue over what I have put you through.

“I am sorry for what trouble my presence here tonight has caused you – I truly am – but I can do nothing about what has already happened. I can, however, do something about what is going to happen. For example: I can tell you to run. If you desire to return to that boyfriend of yours this evening, for Merlin's sake, make haste.” As though every event that was to occur that evening had been made part of an organized timeline, just as Paris finished with his hastily spoken explanation, the thunderous crack of several aurors having apperated near by was heard.

For the second time that evening, Paris grabbed hold of the woman’s hand without any warning, and began running in the opposite direction as the chaotic situation that he’d created. “My name is Paris Ravindra Radborn,” he informed her, so not to allow her to complain about the fact that he had not yet introduced himself. “Bonjour.”

Chase had no idea what his problem was. They were far enough from the scene to claim innocence were they not?! But he seemed to think that she would be thrown behind bars, and possibly right into the hands of Felix Barker, and she could feel her heart racing. And yet it seemed that just as before, if she tried to stick up for herself, she only got herself into more danger. Danger that tonight, oddly enough, was not from the bad guys, but from the good guys. Was this what it was like to be a bad person? Forever in fear of being caught, having to run, to escape, to hide. There was a loud crack, and Chase turned her head sharply to the side, her red hair flailing about behind her for a moment, catching the light and possibly the Auror's attention. "Shit..." She whispered, and suddenly he grabbed her hand and pulled her hard down the street.

She nearly tripped but caught herself and let herself be dragged as they ran down the street away from the aurors. It felt so wrong, all she had to do was tell them that she had been kidnapped by the man, and tell them to ask Calvin Ransom, and they would let her go! But suddenly she wasn't so sure. Kidnap.. she had just gotten away from Barker, and somehow she thought that it might be hard to claim kidnapping by someone else so soon after. They wouldn't believe her, and she suddenly realized that she was running from the law, in the hands of a criminal no less! She was a bad guy! Fear gripped her as she pushed herself to run faster, her hand still in Paris's as he said his name, she glanced at him, and huffed out as they ran. "Chastity Moor.. "She glanced at him as they turned a corner and then another, getting as far away as possible from the aurors who were no doubt following them, her hair was a dead give away. "My friends... call me... Chase." She said glancing at him and then huffing harder as they turned down an alleyway and she couldn't go any farther. "We have to stop.. please." She whispered and bent over, gasping for air, unable to run any farther. "They probably.. aren't even.. following us." She huffed, face red, hair all frizzy from the exertion, and sweat pouring down her face and over the burn marks, making her wince. "Why did we need to run? I mean... what.. what have you done to guarantee that you will only be held for 24 hours?" She asked suddenly suspicious as she rested against the wall, glaring at him with angry brown eyes. "What have you done before this?" She asked advancing on him, angry, and scared now.

Upon rounding the first corner that the pair had been presented with, Paris had slammed his back against the brick wall that towered behind him, and had begun to pant once more. He often forgot to breathe as he ran; he would get lost in the excitement of the game, and would spare no further thoughts on oxygen and its important qualities. Paris threw his head back, and turned his gaze towards the moon above. “Woo!” He cheered, his exclamation paired with a wild grin. He paused to steady his breathing, before returning his attention to the woman that he’d abducted.

“Chase?”

Paris’ smile widened.

“Chase?”

He slid along the wall towards its corner, and bent his neck around it so to peer down the street from which they’d came. No longer were their pursuers visible. They had escaped any threat that the aurors had presented. Chase had been correct; there was no need to run any further.

“How appropriate,” Paris continued, if for no other reason than to explain what he had found amusing about her name. He turned away from the street, and took a step towards the redhead, offering her a hand to shake. Paris never had been given the opportunity to greet the woman properly.

Just as he had been denied the opportunity to explain the previous situation to Chase. “That building-” Paris hunched over, and rested each of his hands upon his bent knees. He hadn’t quite recovered from the marathon they’d run. “-did not belong to a muggle. The lock on the door was enchanted." Paris removed one hand from his knee, and waved it about as he spoke, "All of the wizards around here have begun upgrading their security.”

He coughed as phlegm began to build up at the back of his throat, due to the way he’d been breathing. “The lock, when tempered with, has a time limit. As I am sure you know, when the time is up, an alarm sounds – however, the alarm is not the problem. But the lock’s ability to take record of who was in the area when it was activated? Now that, that is the trouble.” He had a very strange way of speaking; every sentence that sprung from his mouth, every word, was spoken much in the way a story would be told. It was as though he truly believed that he was reading from a fairytale.

Paris straightened once more, and met eyes with Chase. The excited twinkle had not yet left his irises.

“It does not identify each person that took part in the robbery, but it notes their every physical feature, and the identification is left up the ministry. They are nifty little things, those enchanted locks. I love them. They’re tricky,” Paris explained with ease; it was not questions regarding the general nature of things that he found bothersome, but personal questions.

Which was precisely what Chase threw at him next.

In response, Paris waved the question off, as though he considered it irrelevant, “That is a long, boring story.”

Chase leaned against the wall, and gasped for breath as he explained about the building. "So that man.." She gasped, leaning over and attempting to get some air back into her lungs. "They have his print? He was in the house.." She put her arms over her head and took in deep breaths, walking around a bit to help bring circulation back through her veins after the run. "They can get him.. can they get us for being outside?" she asked, her breathing starting to slow down as she stood there staring at him, suddenly realizing just what position she was in. He wasn't gonna tell her what he was doing, and she had no idea where she was at now. She couldn't go back there without being caught up by aurors, and questioned, she wasn't up for that, so the fact was, she was under his power until he took her back home.

"Paris... Paris right?" She looked at him and then tugged her jacket closer around her and stared at him. "I don't know who you are.. or what you think you're doing.. but I think it's a good thing if you took me home now alright? I have no idea where we are... and you must... so take me home, I live near that home you stole from... I have a boyfriend and a daughter, I'd rather not spend all night out here with someone who makes a living by stealing from houses, and spend the night inside my warm home with my family." She tried to make herself look taller, as she stared him down. "Now take me home... now!" She commanded as she tugged her jacket tighter around herself, her breath still coming out a bit roughly from the run.

“Yes,” Paris made a drumming motion with his crumbled fists, moving his hands to the rhythm in which he was answering each of Chase’s questions. With such an extensive amount adrenaline pumping through his veins, Paris found that it had become impossibly difficult for him to force himself to remain still. “Yes,” he reached diagonally to his left to strike the symbols, guessing at their location, as he had never actually plaid the drums. His taste for music usually included classical music, and the occasional jazz song. “Oh Yes!” Paris exclaimed in a far more enthusiastic tone than he had answered the previous questions; he enjoyed the fact that an air of potential danger remained. Despite the fact that he and Chase had outrun the law, there was no telling whether or not a pair of aurors would show up on their doorsteps and arrest them later on, and it was a thrilling concept.

Paris dropped his arms at his sides upon being asked a question that could not be regarded as lightly as the last, and turned his head in Chase’s direction. “I have already told you who I am, and I was working, until you showed up,” Paris replied. Not out of bitterness did he respond, but out of amusement; despite his rude words, his tone and the smile he wore remained kind and lighthearted. “Certainly,” he agreed with a nod of his head, “as soon as my client is arrested for attempted theft, and the aurors have returned to the Ministry, I will return you to your home. However, I am not capable of apparition, so we will have to walk there, I’m afraid,” he added.

After having made his way through the minefield of inquiries that Chase had laid out before him, Paris stepped towards her, and allowed both of his eyebrows to slide an inch upward to create an expression of curiosity upon his face. It seemed it was his turn to ask a question or two. “When I asked of your injuries, you told me that your profession is a dangerous one. Do you enjoy the danger? That feeling that a racing heart creates? Or have you made exceptions for your occupation because you enjoy the line of work? Excuse my curiosity, if you will; you have handled this predicament exceptionally well - far better than most, in fact - and as a result, you have become quite the enigma in my eyes. Your reaction to nearly being arrested has left me curious." Paris offered her a smile. "it seems to me that this wasn't your first run-in with chaos.”

Chase gaped at Paris and looked at him. "You mean to say we can get blamed for this? They have our prints?! We can get into a lot of trouble just for being outside?!" She gaped at him and looked around the area, pacing back and forth, glaring at him. "You do realize that if you don't take me home right now, I can charge you for kidnapping me?" She asked and marched up to him, pressing her finger into his chest. "So you... are going to hold me hostage until they arrest that other man, who ALSO kept me hostage? I am TIRED of being kept hostage! What is with people and kidnapping red heads!" She cried out and pulled at her hair, staring at the man before her, and feeling absolutely furious.

Suddenly he was right in front of her though, and she felt herself take a step backwards. "Dangerous job? Seriously... I HEAL creatures! The burns, I had to tackle a Dragon, sit in it's mouth! The scars of course... I got those from being KIDNAPPED." She glared at him and poked him in the chest again. "I was kidnapped by Felix Barker, he tortured me! And now I get held at knife point by your 'client' I'm held hostage by YOU..." She stared at him and turned her back on him. "Take me home, RIGHT NOW." She glared at him and spun around, her hair flinging around her shoulders, her eyes boring into his. "Take me home, right now.." She repeated, anger making her voice shake.