round and round the metal pipe goes, winding up for the big crescendo almost IMPATIENTLY. everything about billy hargrove screams come at me, from the sure grip on his weapon to the bright and sharp grin on his lips - the dangerous glint in his eyes. as fucked up as it sounds - this is him in his element ; where he´s the most confident. he´s been walking on thin ice ever since he´s been released from the damn hospital when it comes to both himself and others ; but this ? this is familiar territory, even though it´s technically his first time facing off like this against other dimensional monsters with nothing but the equivalent of a metal stick in his hands - but fights ? he knows fights.
there´s an eery calm spreading through his entire body, like a star athlete taking a deep breath before breaking out into a record breaking sprint ; or a basketball player throwing a buzzer beater across the court. ❝ fuck off harrington. ❞ he´s in the zone and it´s time for him to finally let loose. ❝ don´t you worry, i´ll give you something to look at ❞
and with that, it´s like the tension that´s been building up between them had snapped. billy steps up and swings at the flying creature coming at them with all his might - sends it hurling to the ground with a satisfying crunch.
he´s howling, the laugh escaping his throat long before he could be bothered to stop it as he goes for the next one - the rage is coursing through him and the demonic bats are his punching sacks to relieve all of the tension and stress he´d been building up. all of the nightmares, the sleepless nights - voices of the dead haunting him through the day ; these bats aren´t the real thing, not yet. but they´re a good appetizer to what´s to come. it sends the message well enough ; that billy hargrove is here, angry and ready for payback. harrington better keep up. ❝ WOOO !! COME ON ! COME ON !! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT ? ❞
Gaze narrows and Steve realizes the shift in atmosphere around them. Who had Billy Hargrove just became in front of him? Had he ever seen this side of the other before? Not that he could remember. Billy was always confident. Always an asshole and in a sense, Steve felt like he was looking at himself before the change. Before he kicked Tommy and Carol to the curb and became someone else. Was what he was feeling how others saw him back then? Just another jackass who wanted to watch the world burn and laugh about it? Surely not. He was liked. He was popular. This was different. It had to be different. He could accept so much, but being compared to that? He couldn't accept that. Not at all.
As the bats started to fly in, Steve didn't have the chance of replying to Billy's witty banter that made him roll his eyes, words dying on the tip of his tongue. He had so much he wanted to say to the other. So much he wanted to cuss him out for and put into words but all of it had fell away the moment the battle began.
Fingers gripped the bat tighter, for a ticking second, he's lost himself in the maniac way of Billy's shouts. The way he swung the pipe and beat back the bats flying towards them. He seemed way too comfortable in this environment and Steve's lips part to say something when a noise causes him to turn on his heels. Of course, they were coming from behind. Why had he been so stupid to only watch the same direction as Billy? He'll cuss himself out for that weakness later.
Spiked bat swings, swiping a few demons out of the air as they went spiraling to the ground, blood spitting out behind them as they went and there a rush of adrenaline that screams through his body like a fire lit under his skin. The rush is addictive, he has to admit. He does enjoy it. "You ever watch your back, Hargrove, or do I have to do that for you?"