Arc the First: Rescue Chapter Three
Dax didn't pay much attention to anything over the next few days, just ran on automatic. It wasn't like there was anything big going on. Sig made the rounds of his informants, ran an errand for some cheap-ass that had some problems with some metal-heads that were getting too close to the wall.
Not for the first time, Dax had to wonder if those cheap-asses Sig worked for were employees of the Baron. Who else would get upset over metal-heads at the pumping station, or the drill platform, or the eco mine?
Well, maybe anyone with family who worked at those places. But would those people have the money necessary to hire someone like Sig?
He didn't think so.
Of course, by day five of Silent Underground Week, he'd reached the limit of his free ride.
"Hey, cherry." Sig picked him up off the counter, handling him like he was something delicate.
Right, like I'm such a tough warrior... Sure, he said he was, but really? Dax knew he was just one step up from utterly useless.
"What's the game plan today?"
Sig hummed, and waited for Dax to get settled. Dax's arm was still giving him problems, but not so many. Only a few twinges, now and again.
"Something more on your line than mine," he said, and they set out. Sig's apartment was accessed through what was supposed to be a fire escape, the old hallway access having been blocked off by Precursors only knew what long ago. It made for an uncomfortable climb up steep, ladder-like stairs during bad weather, but at least they didn't have to crawl through a window.
"My line?" His line. Oh, right. "Who'm I spying on today, then?"
Sig shook his head, and strode down the street. Dax's eyes widened, and he looked around. Funny, there weren't too many people out and about yet. Him and Sig talked about missions that really, really shouldn't be overheard by anyone while walking on the streets. What was so special about this one?
The people, maybe? Damn. This is a big one, isn't it?
He'd helped Sig out with a 'big one' once already. Big ones involved people not just conspiring to steal and cut their competitors' throats, but massive loss of life. The one he'd helped out with had involved some bastard of a yakkow-stealing-whore's-son, and the kids he'd taken, locked up in a basement, and... tortured. Eventually, they'd died, and been buried in the basement, and...
It was one of the reasons, or so Dax suspected, that the Guard didn't put more effort into dealing with Sig, beyond stepping aside and not trying to arrest him. Sure, Sig worked with- and for- thieves and smugglers and played bully boy and cracked more than a few skulls and yes, some of those skulls had belonged to no few Guards, but...
There were still people in the Guard who cared about the citizens of Haven. And Sig helped out, when the citizens were facing problems the Guard just weren't equipped to handle, anymore.
Apparently Sig was a mind reader, because he chose that moment to start talking. Not about the mission, either.
"It wasn't always like this," he said, practically growling. "Sure, there was the fighting against the metal-heads, but the people had options. They weren't stomped on, they weren't hopeless, and the Guard actually went looking for the damn scum bottom feeders that make everyone miserable and terrified."
"What happened, then?" Dax asked.
Every time he'd asked that question before, Sig had answered only one way.
He didn't disappoint this time, either.
"The king was disposed."
Dax sighed, and sprawled out on his friend's shoulder. Why had he expected anything else?
Sig stopped in a bar, one of the few places Dax could talk like the person he was. Dax didn't even know what it was called, and didn't care. It was small, with the least amount of lights a business could get away with in the industrial sector, and sold a liquid that could intoxicate you- if you drank half your weight.
Or, in Dax's case, twice his weight.
"Alright," Sig said, sitting down in a booth at the back. There was a single waitress at this hour, serving the very few customers. Unlike most bars, this one was open during the day, doing business as a really, really bad restaurant.
She wandered over, with a particular sway of her hips that Dax had long ago learnt meant she wouldn't mind going to the back and, ah, serving Sig more than just food. Since she was a particularly bland creature, with greasy hair straggling around her face, and a body that looked more like skin stretched over a skeleton, he didn't think Sig would take her up on the unspoken offer.
And he didn't. He ordered some eggs, a meal that only the worst places were able to mess up.
The waitress pouted, and left. Sig leaned forward on the table.
"You want to explain what's going on?"
"Krew's asked me to look into something," Sig said.
Krew? That tub of lard's never good for anything but metal-head trophies, Dax thought. What had changed?
He must have raised his eyebrows or something, since Sig went on. "I've got a bad feeling about it. What I want you to do is sneak in. Apparently they're going to have a meeting sometime today."
"They?"
Sig made a face, and his optic nearly popped off. Dax had never seen what was under that thing, and to be perfectly honest, after this long, he didn't want to. He had a feeling it was there to replace a missing eye or something.
"A bunch of rich guys. Former nobles."
"Ah." Politics. Krew must be branching out. What fun.
"If Krew's involved, it's going to be ugly."
Dax considered all the things he'd been involved in since arriving in Haven. "I can handle it."
"I know you can, cherry, but this isn't our normal thing. Not even close."
"I can handle it."
Sig sat back, to the sounds of tortured booth springs groaning, and sighed. "Yeah. Alright."
"Give me what information you can," Dax suggested. "We'll go from there."
"You. You're the only one who can get up there."
"Up there?"
Sig named a place. Dax realized, a few seconds later, he'd sat down and Sig was staring at him like he'd started to froth at the mouth or something.
"You want me to sneak in there?"
"Now, cherry-"
"It's only home a' the second most important man in Haven! And he's got guard dogs!"
"Veger's up to something. Krew thinks it'll make him money. I'm... not so sure." Sig gave him a look, not one of his 'shut up and pay attention' looks, or a warning or anything... After a minute Dax deciphered it as a worried look and just about fell over from shock again.
Sig had taught him one important thing about partnering with someone. You had to have trust. Trust that your partner had your back, trust that they could do what they said they'd do, trust that when the worst came, they'd make sure they survived so they could turn around and haul your fat out of the fire, if you'd lived that long.
Sig didn't think he could do this. Damn.
"What do you think it is, then?"
"Veger's involved in... Well, something I've been investigating. For a long, long time, cherry. Four years now."
Oh yeah, his mysterious mission. Dax nodded.
"And you think I'm going to hear something important here. Maybe important to Krew, but definitely important to you."
"Yeah. Yeah, I do." Sig paused when the waitress swung by with his plate of eggs, and then helped himself to a forkful. "You don't have to do it."
Didn't he? After everything he'd gotten involved in- hell, he knew, he just knew that what he saw, what he heard, what he helped Sig out with, wasn't even a fraction of the things going on in Haven. And he'd made a difference. Not much of one, maybe, but at the very least he'd helped get at least one sick beast off the streets and away from children.
And if Veger was involved, it was going to be big.
He felt his fur prickle at the thought, and a familiar clench in his gut.
Well, Samos always had said he was too nosy for his own good.
"I am so in you'll need a crowbar to get me out," he said.
Well, that got him another look, this one startled and thankful. Dax grinned, and snitched some of Sig's eggs.
And then came the boring portion of the day, the part where- after he'd gotten past the fence, past the guards, past the guard dogs, into Veger's palace of a house and into the ventilation system- he had to wait.
And wait.
And, yes, wait some more.
That was the one thing Dax admittedly didn't like about spying. He had to wait for the people he was spying on to do something worth spying on.
At least there were only a few places he thought Veger would dare have a meeting. Either his office- iffy, since it was Veger's office, and the man kept sensitive documents there- or one of the conference rooms Veger, for some reason, had in his home.
At one point Dax got bored enough to slip out of the vents and take a look through some of Veger's papers. It was all stuff with long, long words that made Dax's eyes cross, and referenced some sort of weapon's project. Failure rates and success rates and cost projections and budgets and...
Didn't this guy know he wasn't supposed to bring work home?
Unless he didn't work at the palace. In which case, smart of him.
Dax put everything back where he'd found it, and went back up into the vents.
It was late, late enough that his internal clock was starting to mumble about dinner and maybe sleep, when he finally heard some activity that didn't involve cleaning spotless rooms.
"Please, this way." That was Veger. No one else had that particular blend of self-satisfied smarm, disdain for everyone else, and smug self-importance.
Dax moved very carefully, following the low murmur of small talk to the conference room. He should've figured. No one like Veger would let outsiders into a place like his office. Particularly not with work papers strewn all over his desk.
"Please, sit. Would you like any refreshments?"
"Thank you, Lord Veger, no."
Two other voices murmured that they were fine, thank you. Dax closed his eyes, the vent he was perched in at a bad angle to see faces. Two of the unknown people were male, one was female.
"As you like." A door closed- a servant leaving the room, maybe? "Have you given my proposal any thought?"
"We have." The woman, this time. "It is... interesting."
"I thought you would see it that way."
"The thing is-" One of the men; Dax wondered why he'd paused. "The thing is, Veger, we are the ones taking all the risk. Not you."
"I am taking plenty of risk."
"Oh?"
"Indeed."
Heh, yeah right. Dax bit his lip, and reminded himself to stay still. There was a lot of dust in the vents, and the last thing he wanted to do was stir it up and start sneezing.
"And your motives are questionable." The woman, this time. She sounded angry, but cold.
"And what have my motives to do with anything?"
"Everything."
"You supported Baron Praxis when he replaced the traitor. Why do you wish to change that support?"
Veger chuckled. "Praxis was better than the traitor, but can you honestly say he is good for... our city?"
For the rich folk, Veger meant. Dax stifled a growl.
"Your profits have fallen," the woman said. Suddenly, she sounded amused. "It takes so little to break what loyalty you have?"
"That is hardly the reason."
"Really?"
One of the men cleared his throat. "And your... projects, with the baron?"
"Certain projects have shown a reasonable success."
"One weapon is hardly a reasonable success!"
"And yet the metal-head forces have been pushed back, this past month."
"It is of no consequence. Veger, you are asking for a very great deal of trust, with little return."
Dax bit his lip. If they didn't stop going in circles...
"Besides," the woman said. "You haven't even found that damn child. Until then, we cannot support you."
"I told you never to mention the brat!"
The chill in her voice could have frozen lava. "I do not answer to you."
The door slammed, and Dax decided it was a good time for him to rejoin with Sig. He had some pretty interesting things to tell his friend, anyways.
Well, that's chapter three. Once more, I hope you enjoyed. Drop me a line, let me know what you think.
And in continuation of my internship, mentioned two weeks ago... I'm working eight hours a day, and I'm not being paid for it. It wouldn't be so bad, but sometimes clients (or the other side- did I mention this is a LAW internship?) are IDIOTS. Word to the wise- if you're going to do something stupid, warn your lawyer first. And if your lawyer tells you to STOP CONTACTING THE OTHER PERSON, then it'd be a good idea to STOP.
Like I said, word to the wise. Follow the above helpful hint, and should you ever get into legal difficulties of any kind, your lawyer won't bill you for stupid stuff unless he's a dick. Which happens.
Next post on March 12.
