A string of sardonic laughter lingered along Kris' lips as he took the man's words in stride.
"More invasive means, hm?" Kris' voice came unperturbed by this veiled threat as the man continued to smile back congenially.
"My extensive finances do offer me certain privileges and access to specialized services." The man lilted, his tone casual as he spoke. "So I took the liberty of doing a little research on you." And at Kris' lack of interest the man persisted. "You did suggest that I 'look you up' if I decided to visit, didn't you?"
"I suppose I did." Kris murmured as he took a drag of his cigarette. "And how did that go for you?" Kris asked through a smile and veil of smoke.
"Oh, it was quite enlightening, Mr. Mitchell." The man offered a bright smile as he continued. "Or should I address you as Kristean Andrew Mitchell, hm?" Dark eyes flickered with amusement towards Kris' veiled interest. "Andrew..." The man mused happily to himself. "A name taken from your estranged father, yes?" The simper of a smile spreading along his lips as exotic blue eyes were momentarily diverted from the vibration of the cell phone once more before it was ignored yet again. "I imagine it must have been difficult growing up with an absent father." The man's tone dropped in an effort to mimic empathy. "Holidays must have been quite inconvenient when his abandonment was compounded with the creation of an entirely new family." This gentle assessment came lowly murmured through delicate lips as ever watchful eyes gauged Kris' response. "Do you ever speak with your father or lovely half sister, Alina?"
"Not really." Kris answered honestly, this response coming through a whisper of smoke...unaffected by the violation of his privacy as he continued. "It's a mutual agreement." And at this statement the man offered a light string of laughter at Kris' show of indifference.
"I find that doubtful." The man chuckled. "I bet that it was your father who refused contact with you, hm?" He mused lightly, that ever watchful gaze peering through Kris' veil of smoke. "You are, after all, an illegitimate child I suspect he would rather ignore. I imagine that must be terribly upsetting for you..." Delicate lips pursed in pensive consideration before they parted once more. "...to be ignored..."
"I don't care." Kris responded in monotone behind the faintest flicker of emotion as the man gave a small, knowing chuckle.
"That seems very hard to believe coming from someone like you, Mr. Mitchell." The man murmured lightly, that predatory stare lingering along Kris' features. "But if there is any truth to this, then we will simply have to find what it is that you do care about, hm?" He mused to himself as those eyes continued to linger along their specimen. "Though I do find that your low emotionality makes this process a little bit more difficult than it would normally be."
"Well that has to be frustrating." Kris quipped with the makings of a sardonic smile as he took another drag of his cigarette.
"Not really." The man answered genteelly with the small shake of his head. "I had anticipated that this would take some time." And the expression along Kris' features was unamused by this as he snuffed out his cigarette before slowly raising himself from his seat.
"I thought you wanted to keep this visit brief so you could go back to your boyfriend." Kris murmured lowly as his steps carried him to the large bay window of his office that overlooked the darkening city skyline.
"It would be too much for me to hope that you might miss me when I leave..." The man responded playfully with a small chuckle as those dark orbs watched Kris as he perched from his seat. "But don't tell me that you're actually beginning to enjoy my company with this little visit of mine."
"Hardly." This statement came lifelessly deadpanned through Kris' lips as his exotic blue gaze stared beyond his reflection in the glass to the vast expanse of the city below.
The two remained silent in that moment before the man finally moved his lean frame from his seat, quietly taking his place to stand next to Kris along the bay window. As the sky grew dim with the impending death of this day, they watched in silences as each building began to burst forth into another life. The whole city was reborn before their eyes as a million fireflies along the skyline. Such a peaceful death, followed by an even more spectacular rebirth. And the two held their silent vigil as the city's candles were lit, one by one, before this silence was tenderly dispersed.
"Look at them, Mr. Mitchell." The man's voiced lilted along the deafening silence, his dark gaze drifting towards the people walking along the busy streets of the city below. "All of them..." He murmured lowly. "Like little sheep, hm?" This whisper lingered along a small smile. "Docile...compliant...mindlessly going about their pointless lives. Happy so long as they are given something to consume." The two watched the people below as the man continued. "My time with you has given me a growing appreciation for this empire of yours."
"But the problem with empires..." Warm, tender words continued to invade the quiet. "...is that...historically...they tend to fall." This came softly whispered in Kris' ear. "And I owe you a fall." Kris' expression remained frigidly blank along the city landscape, gazing past his own reflection to the darkening sky heralding the makings of snow as the man continued with his sweet words. "This castle you have made for yourself is so very fragile. Like a house of cards. And all it will take is just the lightest breeze to cause a storm that will lay waist to what you have made." The voice lulled this gentle chorus of impending devastation. "Now you understand why I am here, hm? And who I am. I am that storm, Mr. Mitchell. And I have come to bring the end of your reign. Can you hear it?" The man cooed lightly, his voice dripping in velvet wrapped in silk. "The silent scream of your reckoning? Or have you actually managed to fill all of this silence with the music you make that you are unable to hear the sound of your own demise?" His tone became almost theatrical in its dramatic delivery as his voice grew a little deeper in Kris' ear.
"Can you feel it...?"
And exotic blue eyes met dark onyx in silence as Kris spared the man a disparaging look, the man meeting him with a cheeky smile in turn.
"Oh...that's right..." The man gave himself over to a small, sardonic chuckle. "My apologies...I had forgotten that you're not terribly fond of feelings." The man's gaze drifted away from Kris as he mused to himself, watching the small makings of snowflakes begin to fall along the city. "And I sense that you are very much in love with this severe, emotional deficit of yours. I imagine that it must make you feel quite invulnerable, no?" Another small, knowing smile played itself along delicate lips. "Though, the decorative script along your body leads me to believe that you aren't entirely unswayed by your emotions." And again the gentle vibration of Kris' cell phone along his desk came a gentle lullaby to the backdrop of the man's chilling words.
And again, there it was. Just seething beneath the surface. That same infinitesimal flicker of rage as ice blue eyes flitted to the phone for only a moment before landing into an onyx ocean once more.
"Someone seems awfully insistent on reaching you, Mr. Mitchell." The man gave a small, knowing smile. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to take that? It might be important."
"They can wait." Kris murmured, a slight sharpness and determination in his tone speaking to the man's suspicions.
"Very well." The man responded politely. "Now then...where were we?" The smile danced along his lips for a moment before it was dispersed with words. "Ah yes...your tattoos." The man mused, his voice lithe and chipper. "I find them quite stunning, but I can't help but think that they might speak a little to who you really are." These words followed a small simper. "Love, pain, one in the same..." The man continued, his voice coming slow in its reflective nature. "These words are so unlike you, Mr. Mitchell. They are so intensely personal. The very embodiment of 'feeling'. And I'm left to wonder exactly who it is that managed to affect you so to the point of putting these words permanently into your flesh, hm? As a constant reminder..."
"Who was it that hurt you...hm?" The man's voice came but a whisper as those deep onyx eyes peered into exotic blue.
"Who says that I'm hurt?" Kris scoffed, his tone empty of emotion as he gave the small quirk of a brow.
"No one is 'saying' it, Mr. Mitchell..." The man cooed lightly, his ever watchful, predatory gaze reading the blank slate of Kris' features. "But I imagine for you to have so violently driven the word underneath your skin...above your heart, no less...you must know something of the emotion." And those dark eyes continued their silent interrogation as the man emboldened himself to stretch out slender fingers in order to tenderly stroke Kris' cheek. "So...who was it that hurt you?" He whispered this again, gauging Kris reaction to his touch before his hand drifted back to his side, a small smile coming in the wake of Kris' silence.
"I suspect that it wasn't your father." The man's tone came with a conversational air as he spoke. "From what my private investigator discovered for me, I imagine your father leaving before you were ever born would have made it difficult for him to influence your development." That same knowing smile played along his lips as he continued in his deductions. "And with the way you actively refuse to cower to me, even when I make a point of violating your personal space, I don't think that it was someone who had the capacity to physically dominate you." A chuckle came to his lips. "People damaged like that are far too skittish and reactive to physical contact. Not like you, though, hm?"
"It can't be your woman who affects you so." The man mused to himself. "She fancies you far too much to purposely harm you." A small smile laced delicate lips as the man continued to break down Kris' infinitesimal reactions. "And somehow I doubt that you care enough for her to become emotionally invested to the point of risking becoming vulnerable enough to be hurt."
"So..." The man whispered lightly. "Who was it, then, hm?" Those ever watchful eyes burrowed deeper as the man played his little guessing game, delicate brows furrowed in contemplation as he spoke. "Who was it that managed to devastate such a beautiful little boy and strip him of his conscience to leave him nothing but a monster?" Angelic features shaped themselves into the most eloquent expression of emotionless stone as the man murmured for a third time to Kris' waiting ear.
"Who was it that hurt you...?"
And the only response to this question was the small snort of a chuckle from lips laced in a cruel smirk of a smile.
"You really have no idea who I am, do you?" Kris scoffed through his laughter as exotic pale blue eyes shifted towards the man. "No one 'made' me like this." He murmured, his tone growing a little colder as his gaze held dark onyx. "I was born this way." This bold declaration stirred the man's angelic features into a small, knowing smile.
"Is that what your mother told you?"
Silence.
Both men felt it as surely as if it had stepped into the very room they were in. Stifling. Ominous. Oppressive in its heaviness as it settled upon the moment. And as exotic pale blue eyes shifted through inky black bangs to narrow upon the man, that small smile along the man's delicate features began to spread.
"So that's it then." The man murmured, his voice gently dispersing the silence. "You're mother is the one...isn't she..." This statement came met with that same infinitesimal flicker of repressed emotion behind pale blue eyes as Kris' tone manifested in an icy, frigid murmur.
"That's not something I'm interested in talking about."
"Oh..." The man purred with an almost gleeful smile. "...but I am, Mr. Mitchell."
"At first I had wondered if your sense of entitlement had been cultivated by a mother who overindulged you with her coddling and affection." The man's smile grew in amusement as he pushed through and ignored the hostility lingering behind Kris' gaze. "But now I see that this isn't the case at all, is it?" He almost laughed this statement. "She absolutely hates you." And he began to laugh despite himself...a short burst of high, ecstatic laughter that briefly overtook him.
Dark onyx eyes drank in the small, minute cracks spreading their tendrils along Kris' calm exterior. And he knew. He knew he had finally found what he was looking for. And now he could begin his work of inflicting retribution.
"I suspect she blamed your very conception for your father leaving her and reconciling with his wife." The man gave a little push along Kris' failing mask. "And like any mother with their offspring, I think she could smell the defect in you... Flesh of her flesh. Bone of her bone. The little monster she birthed." It wouldn't be long now...the man could feel it, so he pushed just a bit more. "And I bet she was absolutely relentless in the way she blamed you for her failed love affair. In fact, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she still contacts you simply to remind you of how much she hates you." And ice blue eyes flickered unintentionally with the faintest tell towards the phone in silent concession as the man lent himself over to anther chorus of laughter. "Oh my goodness, Mr. Mitchell!" He chortled rapturously. "That wasn't really her, now was it?" His laughter grew boisterous as he spoke. "I had my suspicions, but never thought I would have landed this close to the truth."
"And you..." The man persisted, unrelenting as he witnessed the smallest flicker of emotions play themselves along Kris' pale features. "You hate her even more than she hates you. Because she somehow manages to break your calm and actually makes you feel something. She makes you weak, and you hate her for it. Yet she has your number." He continued through his amusement over the truth he had finally managed to root out. "Which leads me to believe that, as much as you hate her, you still take her phone calls, hm? Though...not today, I suppose."
And he could feel it as he worked to still his amusement and laughter. The fractures along the mask were spreading. All he needed was to push just a bit more, and this delicate house of cards would come tumbling down. He was so very close. Just a little more...
"I wonder why that is, though." The man mused lightly, having finally collected himself as he spoke. "Why would you even bother with speaking to her if she truly affects you so?" His voice came a soft lilt in its questioning. "What on earth would compel a man such as yourself to do such a thing?" Perfectly groomed brows furrowed in contemplation for a moment of silence.
"Could it be..." The man's voice came softly pensive, laced with something far more malicious underneath the surface. "...that there is no one else in this world that makes you feel quite like she does...?" His angelic features remained placid and calm as he gazed upon Kris for a moment of consideration before continuing. "And you choose to accept this small vulnerability because her unrelenting hatred for you validates your existence. Is proof of your importance."
There it was. The man sensed it. Felt it. Saw it as he witnessed the slight twitch of fingertips. All that was needed was another little push to end this game.
"It's no wonder the mere idea of a meaningful relationship with another woman doesn't seem to interest you." He mused lightly.
Just one.
More.
Push.
"How could it?" The man paced himself with this question as it lingered softly along his delicate lips, bracing himself for the inevitable outcome that he knew he was inviting before he bravely whispered into the silence. "When you're already in such a deeply committed relationship with your own mother."
Fingers gripped his throat with startling strength, and the sudden violence of this act as he felt himself forced into motion as his back was slammed into the bay window behind him caused the very glass to tremble. Though the man had anticipated an aggressive response, the sheer force of it left him momentarily breathless as that pale blue gaze came veiled through bangs. And what the man saw behind those eyes gave him such a euphoric thrill that through his breathlessness he began to chuckle. Because he had waded through all of the indifference and lack of affect into victory to finally meet the monster. Unhinged and filled with rage as those fingers gripped tighter around the man's throat.
"Oh my..." The man gasped through the asphyxiation. "Have I actually managed to strike a nerve...?" And a sick, almost erotic thrill flickered behind his onyx eyes as Kris' lips quivered with murderous rage.
"Shut your fucking mouth." This threat came so viciously hissed between clenched teeth, only to be returned with a wrenched, stinking smile.
"You really shouldn't have started this little game of ours..." The man's words came whispered through his aspiration and dying laughter. "...if you weren't prepared to play." And his laughter was stifled as Kris squeezed down on his throat, forcing him further into place against the window.
"Go ahead, Mr. Mitchell." The man's voice came raspy through his lack of air. "I'm not scared of you. Go ahead and become that angry little boy. Lash out at me, I dare you." Another chuckle wheezed through his delicate lips. "I have no problems making myself a very nasty lawsuit for you." A moment of clarity flickered through that exotic gaze as the man forced a smile "There are all manner of unseemly things I will say about you that can be substantiated in a court of law." And the man was finally release roughly, his knees buckling slightly as he sputtered and gasped for air.
"Aren't we having such fun, Mr. Mitchell...?" His voice came pained and raw with a chuckle, regaining his breath as he gently rubbed his neck, smiling sweetly to Kris' back.
"Get out of my office." This demand came spat from Kris' lips.
"Gladly." The man chirped good-naturedly, having fully regained himself as he began to make his way slowly to the door. "Now that you know I have seen who you really are, I think we can come to an agreement, hm?"
"I said get the fuck out!" Kris' voice came strained as the man offered the smirk of a smile.
"And I expect something in return for leaving." The man murmured, that predatory gaze meeting his words in their intensity. "So...allow me to phrase this in a way that you will have no trouble understanding." The sweet smile marred his lips as he spoke, his tone growing a bit deeper for effect. "Stay the fuck out of my country, or else." And with this overt threat the man turned and silently let himself out of the office.
The man found himself falling into a graceful stride as he confidently made his way to the elevator, down to the ground level of the building. Gliding across the pretentious lobby of the main floor, he made his way to the exit, opening the door to two women as he side-stepped gracefully to let them through.
"Konbanwa, ladies." He purred, his tone sensuous as he offered them a small bow and cherub smile, causing them to giggle as they passed him by.
The man stepped into the frigid evening air, savoring the cold as it rushed through him. Taking a few light steps into the crowd he paused a moment to lift his face to the snow. A small, delicate smile played along his lips as thick lashes fluttered in response to the sensation of melting flakes before his dark gaze opened once more. And the man's eyes captured a foreboding figure looming in one of the high-rise windows. The smile along his face widened at this, and in response to the figure in the window, the man touched two slender fingers to his lips. Pursing his lips to them in a kiss he then raised them to the sky, spreading them in a sardonic salute of victorious farewell before he turned away. Pulling the hood of his jacket up as he fell into pace with the mass of people, the man disappeared and blended himself into the faceless crowd.
THE END
What do you know...?
What do you know...?
What do you know...?
The birds and the bees they are wise to the lies
What do you know...?
So they took to the trees and took to the skies
What do you know...?
On top of the chain and safe from the rain
What do you know...?
Whatcha' know about the ways of the underside?
(What do you) What do you know...?
Bought a hot shot gat from a north end guinea
What do you know...?
'Cause they're hip to the bull and hip to the lies
What do you know...?
Ante up with the ass cause you ain't got a penny
What do you know...?
Whatcha' know about the ways on the underside?
What do you know?!
Bought a hot shot gat from a north end guinea (guinea, guinea)
What do you know?!
Ante up with your ass cause you ain't got a penny
What do you know?!
Droppin' bombs from above cut ya all down to size (size, size)
What do you know?!
'Cause they're hip to the bull and they're hip to the lies (lies, lies)
(What do you)What do you know...?
Yeah, the streets rose in two perfect waves in the night
What do you know...?
Crashes on my left, and...one on my right
What do you know...?
It's all fire and brimstone baby, so let's go outside
What do you know...?
It's all fire and brimstone baby
I got my brand new pistol baby
What do you know?!
Bought a hot shot gat from a north end guinea (guinea, guinea)
What do you know?!
Ante up with your ass cause you ain't got a penny (You aint got a penny)
What do you know?!
Droppin' bombs from above cut ya all down to size (size, size)
What do you know?!
Cause they're hip to the bull and they're hip to the lies (lies, lies)
And they're hip to the lies
Our turn to decide who lives and who dies
Right in front of your eyes, it's time to get up
Our turn to decide who lives and who dies
Now answer the lies, it's time to get up
Our turn to decide who lives and who dies
Whatcha' know about the ways on the underside?
What do you know?!
Bought a hot shot gat from a north end guinea
(Now answer the lies, it's time to get up)
What do you know?!
Ante up with your ass cause you ain't got a penny
('Cause you ain't got a penny, time to get up)
What do you know?!
Droppin' bombs from above cut you all down to size
(Now answer the lies, it's time to get up)
What do you know?!
'Cause they're hip to the bull and they're hip to the lies
And they're hip to the lies
Our turn to decide who lives and who dies
Now answer the lies, it's time to get up
Our turn to decide who lives and who dies
Right in front of your eyes, it's time to get up
Our turn to decide who lives and who dies
Now answer the lies, it's time to get up
Our turn to decide who lives and who dies
(What do you) What do you know...?
What do you know...?
What do you know...?
What do you know...?
A/N: The punchline for this whole entire story? "Your mother..." Bam.
First and foremost, thank you to all who have supported this sequel to "Insufferable Bastards." Your love and support is what keeps me writing. Truly. Secondly, I would like to wish a (very belated) Happy Thanksgiving to my readers. I know I know...it's already December. Shut up and take it.
Lyrics featured come from the song "The Mission (M Is For Milla Mix)" by Puscifier featuring Milla Jovovich. I know. The band's name is terrible. But I felt the song fit. And I have a deep love and admiration for Milla. As for the lead singer of the band. Yes...yes...he is the one. The one who shall not be named. And it still breaks my heart to hear him sing, but I couldn't pass this song up. For those of you who know me personally, you know what I'm talking about.
Other honorable mentions I should probably include are Akito's dialogue with Kris' tattoos and the reference to Freud in chapter two. This actually comes from a TV series "The Black List" from the character Raymond Reddington. Not my words. Also...the whole "I owe you a fall" comes from another TV series "Sherlock" from the character Moriarty.
Again, thank you all for reading and reviewing! And special thanks to Fandom Angst, my partner in crime!
P.S. Special shout out to BrokenButFriends, who supported "Insufferable Bastards," and who's birthday I ended up missing. Happy (VERY SHAMEFULLY) belated birthday, my dear friend.