When they got back to the house, Adam had just pulled up.
"James," he said, getting out of the car, "I'm going to have to do this the old fashion way, so I'm going to need your help." Murdock nodded, taking the bag out of the back seat. They both went right into the room with BA, closing the door behind them. Face went into the kitchen, sitting at the table with Hannibal and Kyleen. An awkward silence descended on the table. Their breathing, the ticking of the clock, the tapping of Kyleen's ring against her mug seem to echo through out the room.
"So, Murdock told me how you met." Kyleen blinked.
"Did he?" Face frowned as she seemed confused. "What did he say?"
"Just...that he jumped off a roof and you caught him, became friends, then more then friends with his mother."
"Yes, Alana was very special to me. Even thought she had told me she was dying the day we met, it grieved me deeply when she died. In a way, too much so." Silence again. It was interrupted by a groan coming out of the bedroom. Hannibal stood and slipped through the door. "I left Hon with the Murdock's instead of staying with him as I should have. In my long life, I have only felt grief that bad two other times. When I was nineteen and I thought Adam had died, and a few years ago when Maxwell did." She held up her hand and taped her ring.
"You were married, to a man?" she laughed.
"Yes, only a few states would allow me to marry a woman."
"No, it just you were with Murdock's mom, so I thought..."
"Yes, the last few centuries are so into labeling people. I guess you could call me bisexual, but it's more like I don't see why I should-"
"-eliminate half the population of the planet." Face finished for her. They shared a smile.
"If he's an immortal, why did you think Adam died?"
"It was before I knew about immortally. Adam knew that I was going to be an immortal, but it's against the rules to tell a pre-immortal that."
"Before you were immortal? Pre-immortal? You weren't always immortal?"
"No, I started life just like you. I was born, I grew up and if I had managed to live to old age, I probably would have died in my sleep hundreds of years ago." she snorted, "Our immortality is triggered by a violent death." she snorted, "Thought, I ask you, what kind of death, except in your sleep, isn't violent."
"So, you died and didn't know that you would wake up. No different then if someone came in here and shot me, point blank?"
"Yeah," she said slowly, eyes distant. "Just like that. It's my theory that it's the unexpectedness that makes all deaths traumatic. My first death wouldn't be considered violent, but while it was happening, I was terrified."
"How did you die?"
"Can you guess? There is evidence all over the room." he glanced around, then shook his head. "What do you see on the armchairs and couch."
"Blankets?"
"Uh-huh. And it's pleasant outside, yet I have a fire going, I'm wearing three pair of socks, and have my hands wrapped tightly around my cup of hot chocolate."
"You...froze to death?" he asked, horrified. He remembered winter nights at the orphanage, when the nuns would tie three or four of their tiny cots together so that they could share blankets, of being separated from the team in the mountains of Colombia with only a thin survival blanket. The tremors wracking his body, not being able to feel his feet, the excruciating pain just trying to make a fist. She nodded.
"I was caught in an late winter/early spring blizzard on my way to Rebecca's" she pointed to the photo with her, Murdock and the redhead. "When it stared snowing, there was no where to take shelter, and I knew I couldn't stop, so I kept walking. It was knee deep before nightfall. I was stumbling around, just trying to make sure I wasn't going in circles. It was so cold and I was exhausted. I fell against a tree, terrified of even blinking, afraid that I wouldn't open my eyes again. The next thing I knew, I WAS opening my eyes. It was day and I counted myself lucky that I survived the night."
"But you didn't."
"No, but I didn't know that until I got to Rebecca's. I was three days late. Rebecca was standing at the guardhouse. As I approached her, my head, a piercing buzzing was filling it. It eased as I looked at Rebecca. She sighed and ushered me inside, explained everything I would need to know. Then she started training me on how to use a sword. And let me tell you, that was fun." she said sarcastically.
"You still haven't explained why you fight and why was your head buzzing?"
"The buzzing. It's kinda like an early warning system. Whenever two immortals get near each other, they can sense each other presence. Saying it's a buzzing is a little wrong, it's different for all of us and it's hard to explain, but it lets us know that someone is near, that we might need to use our swords. Because we all play the GAME."
"The Game?"
"A very long time ago, someone, somewhere invented the Game. We don't know where or why. We only know the Rules. Combat must be one on one, no one is allowed to interfere. No combat is to take place on Holy Ground, anyone's Holy Ground. There is a rumor that it happened once in 79 AD. In Pompeii. And lastly, There Can Be Only One."
"Only one what?"
"Survivor. We must fight until there is only one left. The last one wins the Game and gets the Prize."
"What prize?" Face asked. Kyleen shrugged.
"No one knows. But some think it's power. Power to shape the earth for good or ill. So they headhunt, taking as many Quickening as possible. When we are beheaded, the Quickening is released. It's an energy release that contains all the power and knowledge you have obtained throughout your life. The longer you live, the more fights you win, the stronger you are. Those are the rules we live by. Always have your sword on you, always be ready to fight."
"But you're not all enemies. I mean, Adam..."
"No, some of us are friends, which is why the Game will never be over." The bedroom door opened and Murdock slipped out.
"Doc Adams got the bullet out. He's closing now, but he says that Bosco will be fine. A couple weeks of bed rest and he'll be right as rain. Boss wants to go talk to the client, cancel the job."
"But they already paid us. There were going to be explosions! We already did all the legwork. We just need to go after the bad guy. With explosions! Did I mention the explosions?"
"I know, Face, but Boss doesn't want to do it until Bosco is better. Who knows, maybe between now and then, he'll think of another plan."
"He's going to make us return the payment, isn't he?" Face put his head on the table. "No payment and no explosion."
"Well, from what Hon tells me, you know there's going to be a next time." Kyleen patted him on the back.