Chapter 1 : Business is business
Rick let his thoughts drift as he drove. He imagined again and again all the ways his plan could go wrong. He still wondered if he had made the right decision, not directly attacking the saviors but "negotiating".
It had been long, long and complicated to make contact with a few saviors. But Rick preferred to rethink the plan, which relied solely on the good faith of the saviors, and therefore of Negan. This Negan whose existence was doubtful, the way the Saviors mentioned this name reminiscent of the way a cult speaks of an invented entity.
But they had to try, after all who knows how much they are. Even if holding Hilltop by the balls was not very complicated given Gregory and most of the people inexperience in human-human fight, they had to be careful with the saviors.
Soon they will arrive, he and a few vehicles full of weapons, near an isolated old house. The cars will stop a few dozen yards from this house, and only the two leaders will enter to have a discussion.
This soon quickly turned into now. Rick got out of his car, making a final recap with those accompanying him: Michonne, Daryl, Aaron, Glenn, Abraham, Sasha and a few Alexandrians.
"If things go wrong, you know what to do. No one intervenes, no one comes in even if it drags on. As long as they follow the rules, we do the same. All right?"
"Yes," they answered all, feeling the tension rising gradually.
Rick headed home, having in his possession a knife, not a gun as agreed. He was the first on the spot and waited standing well away from the only entrance, on guard more than usual.
Finally, after ten minutes of waiting, the leader of Alexandria heard cars pulling up. Then a car door slam, and footsteps sound.
Rick felt his arms tighten as the footsteps slowly and theatrically approached.
The door to the house opened, revealing a man taller than Rick, dressed in a black perfecto, dark jeans and a white t-shirt, or sweater, he didn't know. Her right hand held a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire tightly, resting on his shoulder.
Here's Negan.
Rick's eyes then lingered on his face. The man opposite had paused after opening the door, increasing the tension in Rick's shoulders.
Then Negan's lips twitched into an unexpected smile that surprised the former sheriff, causing a frown and a slight tilt of his head. The leader of the saviors resumed his walk towards Rick, taking care to close the door behind him.
« Hi. You must be Rick ? I'm Negan.»
He had said that after stopping three yards from Rick, at most, still smiling and accompanying his words with a wave of his free hand.
« Hello. » He replied in a tone that was meant to be as calm as possible. He continued after pausing for a few seconds:
"Thank you for coming and for respecting the rules of the meeting. We appreciate it. "
" You're welcome. "
His face still wore that smile, a smile that particularly destabilizing the other facing him.
" Well! I'm listening to you Rick…" his voice hadn't quite punctuated his sentence, obviously searching for an answer.
« Grimes. Rick Grimes. »
"Rick Grimes. I heard that you and your people wanted to make a deal, or some kind of pact, right? "
" Yes, that's it. We think it's better for our two groups to seal an agreement, a non-aggression pact. You see... "
Rick paused briefly, sliding his eyes from the man to the floor, then back to the man.
"... it seems we both have considerable firepower. We have trained people, ready to defend each other. So we want to avoid a war that would kill innocent people and weaken us all. "
Negan raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes in a deliberately exaggerated expression. He lowered his bat, stepped closer to Rick, letting an "I see..." pass the barrier of his still slightly smiling lips. He was now less than a yard away, his gaze scanning Rick's body from top to bottom causing Rick to feel uneasy, and otherwise forcing him to look up slightly.
«My problem, Rick… »
Fuck.
"... is that I do not see what me and my people would gain. "
Rick tensed again, swallowing hard as he imagined the worst to come.
"If you wanted to make an agreement with us, it was because you necessarily contacted a community that works for us and learned of our existence. You don't really know our power, too, I guess. So this is how I see it: if you've decided to try to avoid a confrontation with us, it's either because your firepower can't defeat us and you're trying to clean up the shit before it gets on you... "
Negan ran his tongue over his upper teeth, a gesture followed by the eyes of a Rick whose heart was pounding faster and faster because of anxiety.
"... or you are stupid and idealistic enough to want to live in peace with other groups, which endangers your people." "
The smaller one, despite his growing pulse, maintained a neutral expression. So he replied with a mixture of sincerity and threat:
"We have the necessary firepower. Believe me. And yes, we would like to avoid unnecessary deaths. If it seems strange to you to avoid killing each other in a world where the dead are already taking care of it, then you either have no regard for life... "
Rick paused, mimicking the pattern of Negan's speech, causing his smirk to disappear.
"... or you're stupid enough to want to add fear, violence and enemies to this hell."
A long silence filled the room, weighing down the air around the two leaders.
Rick was finding it harder and harder to hold Negan's gaze, but he didn't want to let go either, as if that would spell defeat.
Then he was back, that impeccable smile that suddenly let out a laugh.
"Woaw, Rick, I must recognize one quality in you: you have a hell of a bunch of balls. First, you have the balls to give up the surprise effect of an attack on us to negotiate, but on top of that, you have the balls to threaten us and make fun of me during these negotiations. Holy shit, you're really special! "
It was suddenly out, the volume of his voice increased and his hands began to move freely. Always with that damn smile.
Very theatrical.
"And to answer your assertions: false and…. False! People are a resource, so killing them is absolutely stupid. Funny sometimes, of course, but stupid. "
Rick's brow furrowed in curiosity at the conflicting statements of the man in front of him.
"And my goal is to save as many people as possible. "
His tone of voice had grown more serious, which surprised Rick once again.
"The communities give us resources, we protect them from all the external shit. Including some hostile groups hanging around. Win-win. But we have simple rules: those who don't follow the rules meet Lucille. It's that simple. "
Negan had pointed to his beloved bat at the announcement of the name.
"Rules are what keep people from doing shit. Without rules, we're just fucking pitbulls who jump at each other's throats for every piece of meat."
Now Rick didn't know what to say. He was just having trouble understanding Negan, but more importantly knowing how he was going to react after each word.
The leader of Alexandria then opened her mouth slightly and cocked her head to the side, looking at Negan in a purely questioning expression. He immediately noticed his confusion and smiled even more.
"I can see you don't understand and I don't blame you. After all, we didn't have time to get to know each other. Not great as a first date, I know. So I'm going to keep it simple: I'm a fucking reasonable guy, so I'm going to make a deal with you, but on a few conditions. "
The blue-eyed man already looked more relaxed and relieved, but still defensive.
"I'm listening to you."
"First of all, I don't want to hear any of you questioning how I deal with my people and other communities. I'm nice, but it's not a damn party. "
There he looked very serious. Her voice had grown deeper, enough to cause a slight chill in Rick's neck.
"If something like this happens and I learn it, and believe me, I will learn it, I come to your lovely corner of paradise, I bring you to your knees..."
He wasn't the type to be scared, but it seemed Negan had a knack for causing waves of stressful shivers that ran through Rick with every word.
« … and I will beat the holy fuck fucking fuckety fuck out of one of you. »
Goddamn.
"Then I want to keep an eye on you. We can do that through exchanges, at your place, but we won't let anything go. If I find out that you take advantage of my fucking kindness to fuck me better later, I can assure you that you will regret it. "
He was shocked by Negan's sudden excess of vulgarity and his expression that changed from grin to threat, but he ignored it and considered the proposal. Rick knew that in the event of a war Alexandria would be at a disadvantage. Everyone will have to understand the stakes of these conditions, everything was based on that.
"Okay. One exchange per week. A fair exchange, and no violence. If you try anything, we'll be ready to fight. "
Rick was staring at Negan, watching for any negative sign in his behavior. He only saw yet another smile on his face, unwittingly staring at Negan's tongue moistening his lips.
"So we have a deal, cowboy. "
The "cowboy" twitched at the nickname.
"In a week, we'll drop by for a little exchange. I'm counting on you to make your friends follow the rules..."
Negan didn't seem to have finished, however, and slowly approached Rick, even closer than before, definitely making him think that Negan was having trouble figuring out what personal space was.
"… because it would really piss me off to have to use Lucille on such a beautiful face as yours, Rick Grimes."
Her phrase accompanied by the closeness and that damn smile made Rick blush more than he wanted to, he was unable to determine if Negan was really trying to flirt or just threaten him in his own way.
The taller notice it and seemed to enjoy it.
"I'm sure everything will be okay. If there is no violence. "
« Don't worry, we are lovely people. »
After a few seconds of "who's-going-to-look-away-first" Rick relented and they managed to talk about the exchange in detail, between a few rude words and some implied phrases of Negan. They both left the old house and returned home, explaining the details of the deal to their group.
The terms were far from being approved by Rick's entire group, especially by Carl and Daryl, but he was careful to detail his interview with Negan during a meeting, except some odd phrases.
The next six days have normally passed, leading up to the day of the first exchange that will allow the Saviors to keep an eye on Alexandria.