"Don't think that I don't realize that you're keeping things from me."
Her eyes moved to his. "Johnny Jaqobis, do you not trust me?"
"Oh, I trust you with my whole being."
"But?"
"But you don't always tell me everything that I should know...and right now, I know that there's something that you're hiding from me...and D'av." Johnny paused for a moment. "Hiding it from D'av is all fine and dandy, but hiding it from me? That's not how this friendship works, I thought we were trying to be all free and clear and transparent when it comes to the truth with the two of us?" Sure, through the last couple of years they'd had their secrets from each other, but they couldn't do that anymore. They needed each other like air, like gravity, and in order for their relationship to continue...they needed the truth.
Silence.
"Seriously, you're not going to tell me?"
Dutch looked away from him, her eyes travelling to the door that they'd been unable to get open. They'd not even tried to cover up their attempt. "Not here," she breathed.
Johnny didn't know how to take that other than to be worried about what she had to say. Her eyes were on his again. He sucked in a deep breath and then blew it out. He didn't know what she was hiding from him, but it had to be serious if she was afraid that they'd be overheard. It was certainly possible.
"You know, I don't mind us sitting in silence together, but this has gone beyond awkward."
He looked over at her, not amused.
"It's flat out awk-weird, Johnny."
He couldn't help but smile in response to that comment, though. "What else can we talk about?"
"All kinds of things," Dutch told him.
He couldn't not think about the fact that Dutch wasn't telling him something and it was important enough that she couldn't risk telling him with possible ears listening in to their conversation. That was huge.
"I have a failsafe, you know."
"A failsafe?"
"I've had it in place for years," Dutch told him. "Just in case something were to happen to me."
"Do you really think that you'd go down without me right there at your side?" he countered.
She smiled at that. "Valid, but still…"
"What is this failsafe?"
He was curious.
Dutch was quiet for a moment before divulging what she'd just offered to share, like she was rethinking it over. "You'd have Lucy, of course."
"Like she'd go with anyone else."
"And you'd have funds." She paused for a moment. "Enough funds that you could pay off your family debt. That you could go home...if you wanted to."
He stared at her for a long moment, trying to take that all in. He and Dutch had been together for nearly a decade and they both knew fairly close to everything about each other. Not being able to return home had been hard for him. Everything had felt like it had fallen on his shoulders, though, after D'avin had left him all those years ago. Johnny had done the best that he could and eventually had to actually think about himself.
"You might have a shitty father, but he's still your father and he's still alive," Dutch pointed out. "And home is always home."
Johnny was quiet at first. "Did you hit your head? You and Lucy are my home."
"What about D'avin?"
"Sometimes," he said half serious. "Sometimes he can be an asshole."
Dutch shook her head, a smile firmly on her face at that comment. "He's your brother."
"We don't always agree."
"True, but he's still family and-"
Heavy footfalls could be heard. It seemed to be the reason why Dutch had stopped talking. They both looked towards the door. Marching? It stopped and it sounded right outside of the door. Johnny wondered if they were going to finally find out what Aneela wanted. They waited in silence. Johnny held his breath as he mentally told them to march on, past them.
They didn't.
The doors slid open and the Hullen were immediately inside and swarming to grab them both. No matter how much he fought, though, he couldn't get free of their hold. He wouldn't have been so alarmed if they'd maybe said something and they weren't trying to obviously separate him from Dutch.
"You leave him alone!" Dutch shouted as she fought against them.
It wasn't something he was used to seeing, someone who could hold Dutch back, but these Hullens they were all super strength bots. The ones that were holding them seemed like the zombie variety. He'd noticed that, some were drones and others had free will.
"Time to break up this little reunion for a bit," Aneela said as she came into the room. She seemed happy and almost too peppy. Her voice rubbed him the wrong way, it wasn't the lack of accent that he was so used to hearing Dutch use, but it was something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on. "I need to borrow Yalena." Aneela's smile quirked more on one side as she looked towards Dutch before she turned and started out of the room.
"Why?" Johnny pressed.
It seemed like it was enough to get her attention because she stopped. Aneela turned and looked back over at him. "You really are the good one, aren't you?" Maybe it was more attention than he'd wagered for because Aneela started to move towards him.
"You leave him out of this!" Dutch shouted.
He wasn't scared, though.
"Oh, don't worry," Aneela practically purred in Dutch's direction as she paused for just a moment before turning her attention back to him again. It was so weird staring at her, she had the same face of the woman that he fiercely loved and called his best friend, but she wasn't that person. "I know he's your favorite...and you already know he's of no value to me for my experiments…" Aneela looked back over at Dutch and he could see the look on Aneela's face change from amusement to mischevious. "Unlike you and your D'avin."
"No!" John yelled as he fought harder against the Hullen holding onto him. "You leave them alone!"
"See? He's such trouble already," Aneela commented, but her attention was turned to Dutch and not him. "Perhaps I should just put him out of his misery?"
"No!" Dutch shouted now. "You leave him be! You want me, not him! I'll willingly do whatever you want! Submit to whatever testing or experimentation you want! Just let Johnny be!"
That seemed to settle things for Aneela.
She didn't seem to care how much screaming or fighting went on on his end now. They left with Dutch. Aneela gave him once last glance over her shoulder before she exited and soon the Hullen went quickly behind leaving him alone in the room again. Johnny was filled with fury and found himself pounding his fists against the door until they bled.
TBC...
