notarrowette | When it rains, it pours

Cissie had spent the last several days at Roy's, lying low and trying to put on a good front for Lian's benefit. She didn't like worrying Roy, Dick and Lian, but she just wasn't up for seeing other people, or pretending for her classmates--she didn't think she could explain what was wrong, and she knew people would ask. So she let them make excuses for her to miss school and hid in her room or played with Lian until Thursday.

She had agreed to participate in an archery competition/exhibition with other professional archers, and even if being in public was the last thing she wanted to do right now, she had made a promise and had to keep it. So she went, and competed.

And then everything went to Hell.

~*~

Cissie focused her attention on stringing her bow while she waited for her turn at the exhibition portion of the competition. She didn’t feel like making conversation with the other archer waiting with her—Tina Thomas thought an awful lot of herself, even though Cissie could outshoot her even on a bad day, like today.

Jonathan Little was fed-up with all the Little John jokes. He was not a lumbering sidekick, and it wasn't his fault that he was short! Anyway, he'd always seen himself as more of a Robin Hood type. He figured he'd start by going after a wealthy archer who was doing nothing useful with her skills. And his sources had told him that both Tina Thomas and Cissie-King Jones would be here right now. He put on a costume and a mask and grabbed his gun. Sure, Robin Hood had used a bow and arrows, but Jonathan was better with a gun. He kicked open the door and held the girls at gunpoint. "Alright, ladies!" he shouted. "It's time to hand over the riches you've attained so easily! They'll go to a worthier cause than buying you new clothes and make-up!"

Tina was worse than useless. The second the gunmen burst into the locker room, she shrieked and dropped her bow, then knocked over her quiver, sending the arrows scattering across the floor when she jumped in surprise. (Cissie was surprised she could jump at all in that skirt—if she was trying to imitate Arrowette in her clothing choices, she could at least do her research; the skirt was too tight and there was no way she ever would have worn shoes with heels like those. It was amazing Tina didn’t snap her ankle.) Cissie tightened her grip on her bow, but otherwise didn’t make a move—Tina was distracting enough that maybe she could do something.

"Stop moving, you fat cat! And how dare you wear the clothes of someone who tried to do good with her god-given archery talent!" Jonathan shouted. "Arrowette was an archer of true merit. Not like either of you two. Spoiled Olympic archers. I'm taking you hostage. Any questions?"

Cissie bit the inside of her cheek. She really didn’t believe what she was hearing.

Tina crossed her arms haughtily over her chest, glaring at their would-be kidnapper. “I have a bodyguard right outside! And I have to go out there—you don’t really think you can get away with this, do you?”

Cissie resisted the urge to slap herself in the forehead; it was never a good idea to bait the maniac with the gun. “Tina…” she muttered in warning.

"Sit down, you stupid girl!" Jonathan said. "Don't think I won't hesitate to shoot you! I'm no murderer, but I can sure hurt you."

Tina screamed.

Jonathan pointed his gun at her. "Shut up!" he shouted. "I'm serious! I'll shoot you!"

Cissie took a deep breath and decided she needed to make a move. His attention was focused on Tina, so she took the chance and lifted her bow, hurling it at him, aiming for his knees. The second she let go, she reached over and grabbed Tina by the arm, yanking her with her and pulling her around behind the lockers. They ducked behind them and she turned to her, hissing, “Do you have your cell phone? Kick off those stupid shoes!”

Jonathan dove out of the way, but the bow grazed him, cutting his leg. He cursed. The girls weren't supposed to fight back! He went around the lockers, trying to find the girls.

Tina shook her head, wide-eyed. “No, it’s in—” She was cut off when Cissie slapped her hand over her mouth.

“Shh,” she hissed, leaning in close to whisper. “We might need to split up—take off your shoes and when I tell you, go call the police. I’ll distract him.”

Jonathan could hear something. He frowned and crept towards the noise. This mission wasn't working out nearly as well as he'd hoped. What would Robin Hood have done?

Tina nodded, and Cissie let go, listening while the other girl took off her heels. Cissie took them from her before she could put them on the floor and make any noise. Cissie pushed herself to her feet slowly, making as little noise as possible. She leaned over and whispered, “If you can do it, get out and get help. Otherwise, just get your cell phone and call 9-11 or one of your bodyguards or someone. Got it?” She waited for Tina to nod and pulled her to her feet quietly. Then she took Tina’s shoes and threw them toward a far corner of the locker room, pushing Tina back the way they’d come and running for the opposite direction.

Jonathan saw a flash of movement and started shooting. Hopefully he'd hit one of the girls. He didn't want to kill either of them, but they could survive a bullet wound.

Cissie covered her head as she heard the gunshots. Thankfully, he seemed to have fired after the shoes and not her or Tina. She ducked behind another row of lockers, taking a second to catch her breath and try to think. At least now that there had been shots fired, it didn’t really matter if Tina managed to call the police—there were too many people and too much security around for that to have gone unnoticed.

Jonathan turned a corner and saw he'd shot Tina's ridiculous shoes. Damn. They could be anywhere. And they'd probably called the police by now. He knew there was a phone in the main room. Maybe they'd gone for it? He headed back quickly, eyes straight ahead.

Cissie held her breath, hearing footsteps on the other side of the lockers, moving back the way they had come. She just hoped Tina had been able to get out. When she was sure he was going away from her, she started moving toward the back of the locker room; she was pretty sure there was another door that way.

Jonathan heard a noise and whirled around. Well, at least one of the girls was still here. He raised his gun and shot.

Cissie heard the footsteps stop and she hurried to hide behind another row of lockers—just as a shot rang out. Her left arm suddenly felt like it was on fire and the impact knocked her off-balance. She landed hard on the tile and somehow managed to move to lean back against the lockers. She couldn’t move her arm—or really any part of her body—without intense pain and nausea and it didn’t take long for her to start feeling light-headed from the blood loss. It took her a few stunned seconds to realize that she’d been shot.

Jonathan had one. She could get him out. He could go retreat somewhere and become better at this villain thing. He could... feel a metal barrel against the base of his skull.

"This is the police. Drop the gun," someone behind him said.

Jonathan slowly dropped the gun and raised his hands.

Things happened in a kind of haze for Cissie—it seemed to take forever and happen all at the same time, while the police swarmed over the locker room and took their kidnapper into custody. She had no idea how long it took before the paramedics arrived and started treating her. As they were putting her on the stretcher and preparing to take her to an ambulance, all she could think about was how much she wanted Tim with her right now.

[OOC: In the spirit of giving credit where credit is due,