(belgium)

Margot really wished she had a goddamn window. A window would be awesome. It was pretty clear to her why she'd never get one; even if it couldn't be opened, they didn't want her taking something heavy and crashing through it, then diving through the window to the ground.

As if she'd ever do something so ridiculous, so melodramatic. That was the coward's way out, or the nut's way out. Well she wasn't nearly insane enough, not yet, and she'd never give any of them the satisfaction of being the former.

But a window would help on days like these (and there were many) when Francis left her alone and there was nobody to talk to. Just the automatons, the little machine-men, like Matthieu, or Eduard, or any of the others in Francis' groups. (Francis didn't like her talking to them. She had a nasty tendency to teach them things like critical thinking and logic.)

At least this languishing was different from what the other traders had done. Instead of toys, or pain, or strapping her where she couldn't move, forcing her to kneel for hours, or hell, the loud music or waterboarding, Francis preferred leaving her alone to go fuck his little Matthieu. He fed her. He kept her clothed. She had her own washroom. Now and then he spoke to her, which was nice (as nice as one's jailer could be, she thought sullenly). But in three months, he'd only really touched her the once. She wouldn't complain but it was curious.

She wished she'd paid more attention to Unsinkable when he ranted on and on about Francis. From what he'd said Francis was supposedly a fairly tough nut to crack. But he wasn't doing anything with her! Why would he take her from Antonio's if he wasn't prepared to try and train her?

(Not like she minded getting off of Marigon. There had been that episode with the market girl. That had ended horribly, she'd never heard Antonio scream at her so loud, and she'd gotten a day in the Agency cells for that while he duked it out with the Marigon BSPA. And then poof, off to Francis'. Not even back to Antonio's house. Well, she didn't have anything to retrieve and bring with her.)

Maybe that was Francis' strategy. Isolation - though that hadn't worked for that cow Helena Carson; she'd sat in the Dark Room for weeks without anybody to talk to and still Helena couldn't make her behave nice for the customers. Was Francis just waiting until she got her guard down? Margot felt like laughing. She never had her guard down.

When she'd first arrived, she'd considered using his little bondsboy against him. It was obvious Francis was quite literally crazy about Matthieu, who kept trying to make friends with her. She ignored him most of the time. Both him and the other one - Eduard. They were the eldest of all of Francis' groups. It made them the most fucked up of the bunch. Practically brainwashed, and they seemed to like it. They liked what Francis did to them, including Matthieu, and arguably his relationship with Francis was one of the most fucked up things she'd ever seen in her life.

No way to use Matthieu against him. Matthieu fucking loved everything Francis did and wouldn't give up his life for the world, indentured sexual servant or not. Ridiculous and pathetic. Couldn't use him as a weapon, because he didn't possess anything resembling a backbone (and no, Francis' hard cock up his ass didn't count as a spine).

It took a certain kind of person to be a bondservant. Someone who grew up with the idea of servitude, who had known from the start that servitude would be their life. Someone who was encouraged to be the best slave possible and take pride in that.

Someone who hadn't once not been a bondservant. You couldn't just steal someone and voila, instant sexual slave. It didn't work that way, and she would be living proof to hammer that message home.

She wondered where Willem was. She wondered whether Willem was still alive -

But Margot stopped thinking of her little brother instantly when the doorknob turned. This used to scare her, but she wasn't scared anymore, just angry. She got ready for the battle. Armour up, guards ready, claws out, teeth bared. It was like a strange mask and costume she donned, carefully crafted to keep everybody else out and her in. Didn't matter if it was Francis, or Yannick, or goddamn Romae, should he ever hear there was another untrainable out there and take interest in attempting the impossible. She refused to let them get her.

They wanted to take her? Touch her? No, they would touch a corpse (she even acted out the rigor mortis). Or they would touch a fighting tiger. Margot, though - Margot herself was untouched and she would stay that way.

The person who walked in was not Francis. It wasn't Matthieu, either. She dropped her shields, feeling too ecstatic to see an old friend to worry about whether this was a hallucination and she'd finally gone insane. "You!" she said, grinning. "Holy mother of god, YOU!"

"Me, baby!" Unsinkable crowed, dancing into the room like a fool.

She held the tears back easily - doing that was second-nature by now - but the shivers down her spine as she got up and let him embrace her, she couldn't hide those. "How in the goddamn system did you manage this? Are you - I thought Francis would never take you again after last time."

"I'm not here 'cause of that -"

"Did you actually manage to get sold or something?"

"Not ... exactly. It's a long story. I'm actually not supposed to be here. Anyone finds out, I'm a dead man."

"Yeah, no shit. Nobody's supposed to be in to see me besides Francis, or sometimes his little cronies. The door -"

"Is cracked open by my shitty wig. Don't worry, I didn't forget it auto-locks behind you. I was in here once before, 'member?" He breathed in deeply, taking a look around. "Man, this shit takes me back!"

"Fond memories?" she teased.

He cackled. "Fond memories of constantly pissing off Francis! But seriously," and he grew slightly more somber, "speaking of. How're you holding up?"

Margot smirked and flicked him on the chest near his nipple, laughing when he jumped. "Please. Don't you give me that crap. I'm older than you, I can handle his shit. Besides, Francis hasn't done anything."

"Nothing?"

"Well. Hardly anything. I think he's still trying to figure out what to do with me. Clearly, he takes a long time to think about these things."

"That's priceless! I guess I broke him after all."

"I think you did. I heard from one of the machines that he celebrated with champagne when the ship came to pick you up and vowed never to train another wild-caught again."

Unsinkable grinned. "Awesome. Anyway, I came here for a reason. You think you can stick it out for another two weeks or so?"

"Ah, I knew you weren't here to rescue me," she accused with a cool smile. Though she admitted privately she wouldn't take any bullets for him or anybody else who wasn't Willem, either. Couldn't blame him. "Good thing for you Francis has done sweet fuck-all to me or you'd have more guilt on your shoulders."

"Hey, hey! Hear me out," he said. "I gotta say, I love that idea, but we can't do that right now. Not with that thing," he pointed to her anklet, a nasty shock device if she went outside of range of the source hammered to her wall. Francis' idea of a sophisticated leash for an untrained mutt.

"Fair enough. Unless you managed to swipe a blow torch somewhere." Oh, the fun they could have with a blow torch! "So what happens in two weeks?"

He grinned wider, if that were possible. "Auction in two weeks. The guy I'm travelling with - you remember Kirkland?"

"Sure. The Delivery, right? Tiny douchebag with the giant eyebrows and the even bigger swagger?" Rotten jackass of a criminal who sold me out, she thought. Oh yes, she remembered Kirkland.

"Yeah, that guy," and his mocking smile faded, "I know what he did - to you. And I don't condone it. But he's not so bad sometimes. He's down there right now setting grounds for your sell to the auction -"

Oh, really now... "I see how it is," she said. "Wow. Of all the slave traders and sellers there are on Hallar, Marigon and Luna Halleri, it was the goddamn pirate who managed to change you."

"Dude, no fuckin' way. If anyone's doing the changing here it's me. Of him. Changing him." She didn't look convinced. "Dammit Margot, I am not his bitch!"

"I dunno, travelling around with him, helping him with his little jobs -"

"Hey, I'm the one who convinced him we needed to take Alfred home!" he protested.

"Alfred?" Who the hell was Alfred?

He sighed. "I gotta explain you the story first. Then you can chew me out if you really want. Kirkland's not always - I mean he's - somewhere inside Kirkland there exists some capacity for good. One of his crew took this kid off the Nova dwarves recently. Wrong area of town, way too nice, middle class. Parents're probably going nuts looking for him. I convinced Kirkland that he's got to undo that guy's dirty work and send the kid back home."

"If that's the case, why are you on Hallar?" Why not go directly back to the Nova dwarves and plop the brat back on the surface?

Unsinkable rolled his eyes. "'Cause fuckin' Romae found out about it, wouldn't let up on Kirkland until he'd gotten the sale through. Wants to sell the boy off at the auction. We figured out a way to buy him back, although we're persona very non grata for the next like ever in Hallar's airspace, let alone landing on the damn planet. But here's the thing.

"Through the course of our travels we met up with this group of kids whose sole purpose appears to be doing the same sorta thing over and over again, they 'buy' people to free 'em. People like us, who weren't born to this life like the robots, who had something before, even if it wasn't much. Well, guess who's travelling with them."

"Santa Claus. I don't know, who?"

"I didn't catch his name, but - real tall guy, blonde hair, sticks straight up. Scar right about here," and Unsinkable traced out a vertical scar above his right eye. "Looks a lot like you. You'll see him in two weeks when they buy you at auction."

Willem. Willem - he was alive! - slowly, she beamed with relief. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious," he said, smiling. "We met him at this old clunker of an anchorage way out in the Cloud. He, uh. He was less than thrilled to see Kirkland, that's for damn sure," and that didn't surprise Margot, in fact she kinda hoped Willem got a good few punches in - she knew she'd like to - "but him and his group, they're not leaving Hallar without you. So. Two weeks. Start counting 'em down." He looked at her with a strange expression. "Kinda thought you'd be jumping for joy some more."

"I'm -" still a little in shock! - "trying to process it. Jesus. I mean - three years of this. And now, two weeks. It's been a punishment I didn't deserve." An involuntary, shaky giggle escaped her. "Hah, I'm a little less than impressed at having to be rescued like some kind of helpless victim."

Unsinkable scoffed. "Please. It'd be one thing if you took the whole shebang lying down. But you didn't. And the way I heard it, the last time you tried to do the rescuing it got you into this mess. 'Sides, if you could escape, where would you go? Couldn't get off-planet. And if you did, nowhere else would take you - the entire solar system sees us as non-humans and drafts its laws accordingly. That's not your fault."

"I'll spend the two weeks figuring out how to deal, I'm sure," she said, with a smile so large it felt like it broke her face.

"That's the spirit! Technically Kirkland's rescuing me. No shame in it."

Margot would have teased him further, then - the great Unsinkable, damsel in distress! - but she caught behind him a flash of blonde waves with one impossible-to-tame corkscrew curl.

"Oh shit," she breathed, "shit -"

Like lightning, Unsinkable turned around, whipping out a pistol from the back of his shabby pants. Let alone the trouble of removing gunpowder from one's underwear, that was a dangerous place to put something like that, she thought, until she realised that even if there had been ammunition in the barrels, there was no flint in the cock.

"You," he told Matthieu, "get in here right now or I'll give you a new hole for Francis to fuck. And don't you dare dream of closing that door behind you."

Matthieu did as he asked, moving slowly and shaking. "Please, don't shoot," he whispered, his hands up.

"I don't want to have to," he replied with the cool calm of a professional (or a really good actor, she thought), "and you don't want to make me have to. So just play nice and we'll all be laughing about this in an hour."

"You, sir, are an optimist," Matthieu muttered.

"Don't you sass me!" Unsinkable yelled.

Damsel or not, he hadn't changed at all. Either that, or if he had, he and Kirkland were completely alike. But without her intervention this wouldn't go anywhere except louder and louder. And that would attract the attention of the adepts down the hall (currently sleeping) or worse, Francis.

"Look," she said to the both of them, "if you're not quiet, Francis is going to show up. And he will be right some pissed when he discovers you've gone and interrupted his meeting, Matthieu. He's already been on edge for the last - well, as long as I've been here."

Matthieu nodded and gulped.

"So d'you really want to poke the polar bear?"

Matthieu shook his head.

"I didn't think so. Here's the deal. I'm not going anywhere -" she pointed to her lovely little ankle jewellery - "and he's leaving, so as far as you know, nothing has happened and nothing has changed. Why don't you just be a good little machine, and head back to your room without telling Francis anything mean or nasty that would give him more work or stress him out?"

"I-I'll leave," Matthieu promised, but she could see the lie in his eyes. He was gonna go straight to Francis. Well, if Unsinkable could be as quick about his escape as he was on the draw, it wouldn't matter.

Unsinkable caught it too. "Nice try," he said, "I'm going to get the hell out of here, and you're going to find me an exit. Once I'm out, you can blab to Francis all you like, if he doesn't mind you talking with your mouth full of cock. Now march, bondsman," and they left Margot's cell.

The room and the adjoining bathroom were the only walls she'd seen for the past three months. She itched to get outside the door but bad dogs don't get treats. She wanted to go with them, if only to tag along with Unsinkable and walk out of Francis' with her head held high.

But she could be patient. As he left, Unsinkable blew her a kiss and mouthed, two weeks. You can do it.