SHEN
Shen leaned against the wall next to Drea, fidgeting with nervous energy. She hated 'hurry up and wait' situations, but what could they do?
Drea spun around in her hands the dented, old, blue, spare helmet that was in saddle bags in case her parents needed to ride double. Not a common occurrence as her dad was a control freak, but her mother was NOT the passenger type.
"What is he doing?" Nellie complained in her Bluetooth speaker.
"It looks like he's stopped to play that homeless guy's keyboard." Jem answered, completely serious.
Nellie groaned. "That's not...I mean why is he's screwing around? He's supposed to be looking for an Essence dealer."
Shen spoke up. "Nik is Nik. Sometimes you just gotta role with it."
Nellie muttered something inaudible under her breath, but at least it didn't sound like she was going down to strangle him.
Several minutes later Nellie broke the silence. "He's on the move again."
"Glad he found time to jam with the panhandler while my sister's in danger." Jem griped, sounding more like Uncle Raph than Uncle Mikey.
"Someone's approaching him." Nellie observed, her voice rising with optimism.
"Aww yeah, that is totes a sleazy drug lord. We're in." Jem crowed in a whisper.
"Drea, is the corner of Davis and Jefferson still in bounds?" Nellie asked.
Drea considered a moment, brow crinkling. "Yes. Barely, but yes. Why?"
"There's a black van there, right outside the alley with Nik and his new friend. Obscured plates. Marco's logo. Major creeper-mobile. If that's going to be in play, I want you in position." Nellie explained.
"Roger that, Captain Ryan." Shen grinned at Drea as she spoke, Drea trying not to audibly laugh.
Nellie did not deign to respond to her.
Helmets on, they biked up. Punching it, she had just turned onto the street when she saw Nik climbing into the passenger side of Nellie's creeper-mobile.
"Got it?" Nellie asked.
"Oh yeah." Shen answered. "Try not to lag too far behind. We'll let you know when we save Scout."
The van took off and Shen followed, confident that they'd be two for two on missions before the night was out.
TRIPP/SCOUT
Tripp approached the crate, guarded by two of his subordinates in the storage room. "Seeker?"
They nodded, masking their carefree attitudes in his presence like he didn't know how prone they were to screwing around. Not that it mattered. Results were all that counted. If they stopped producing, he'd deal with it, one way or another.
"Dosed up?"
"Yes, sir." They answered together, both eager to demonstrate their worth. No one wanted to be found expendable by the organization.
He peered into the crate, meeting a pair of furious, blue eyes, glaring back at him. Little Seeker always had attitude.
"She really kill Jayce?" One of the runners, Joel he thought his name was, asked cautiously.
Tripp didn't respond. Though it was true. She'd brought down a whole squad, requiring a special unit to bring her in. He knew she was scrappy, but that was...unexpected.
He clapped his hands, watching her flinch at the sound.
Noise sensitivity.
Pulling put his phone, he dialed his immediate superior.
"Tell me some good news." The feminine voice on the other end of the line was deceptively pleasant, but he knew the darker side, lurking deeper within. It did not do to disappoint.
"We got her..." He started.
"Excellent." She drawled.
"But she's starting to show signs of degradation." He added reluctantly.
His superior's voice hardened, all the silk going right out of it. "Already? Can she be put off Essence to extend her use?"
He looked back at the cage with a frown, momentarily halting his pacing. "No. Without the Essence, she's worthless."
"Give me a time frame." She was all hard-edged business now.
"A month, if he uses her carefully." He estimated.
He could hear her nails clacking against glass on the other end of the line. "We'll offer a discount and request to buy her back for reclamation once she's spent. Make sure she can still perform and I'll close the deal."
"Yes, ma'am."
The call ended with a beep and he tucked the phone away, crouching at the front of the cage. "Well, Little Seeker, looks like you'll be going on tonight."
Her eyes narrowed and her hands clenched into fists.
Time for a little carrot and stick. "And I would advise against refusing. You can trill away in comfort and adoration or I can send you to the fights. Given this afternoon, I think you'd put up quite a show in our blood sport. Don't think you'll be putting down opponents like the ones I sent to find you when you're in the ring though. They'll be kids like you and your little pal who delivered my message. Unfortunates who can't pay their debts. That sort. But, with a little Frenzy," he held up a red gel tab, "they'll be ferocious berserkers. Think you can win without killing? How many would you be willing to kill to save your own skin?
"And, seeing as how you're a looker, firm and tight in all the right places, you could find yourself entertaining our clients at the gentlemen's club. A little Sensuality" he produced a purple tab "and you'll be more than eager to do whatever they ask of you."
"Or, you can sing. Take a little Jive with your Essence" he held up a golden-yellow gel tab "and nothing will matter but the stage, the crowd, the song. You can let go of everything and just enjoy it. The choice is yours. What'll it be?"
What Tripp's was offering Scout was a non-choice. Sensuality to get her to not care about stripping and whoring herself out? Over her dead body.
And speaking of dead bodies, Frenzy to turn her into a mindless killer? She'd not had a chance to process the fact that these men had more or less confirmed that she'd killed that guy in the alley today. Killed him. Killed someone. She still couldn't fully grasp it.
Maybe that had something to do with all the noise trilling in her ears. The Essence she'd worked so hard to be free of, literally pumped back into her against her will. And now Tripp was offering her Jive. To take her mind off things. Fuck. Him. It was bad enough they'd put her back to square one. No way in hell was she adding more drugs to this already nasty cocktail. She closed her eyes, focusing inward. Her blood was electric, jittery, her stomach fluttering, and Gods her ears were killing her. She'd have to be smart about this if she was going to last. But last how long and until when?
Joel dropped her bag at Tripp's feet. "She was carrying this." As Tripp reached in Joel's lip curled. "There's some crazy shit I ain't never seen a kid like her carrying in there."
Tripp pulled out her convertible chucks, eyeing them then her. "I wonder if we can get it all out of you before reclamation. I'll make a phone call, I might like to see a little thing like you in action and there's a club in Philly that features triple threats." He licked his chops, smacking them loud. "Sing a little, fight a little, fuck a lot." He winked at her then nodded toward the pills in his hands. "What's it gonna be?"
"None of them." Scouts voice came out low, but still felt loud. "I'll sing if you bring me earplugs to filter out some of the noise."
Tripp sneered. "That wasn't an option. I need to know you're not going to kill anybody. So, take the Jive, then I'll get you some earplugs, send in Tillie to get you in costume and put you on." He glanced at Joel who passed a bottle of water to Scout through the bars of her crate.
Oh Gods. This got worse by the moment. Now she was going to be hooked on two drugs. Fuck. If she made it through this she'd be in rehab hell forever. What would her parents think?
In truth she didn't have to pick one of his options. She could bust out of the crate and take them all down, especially with dip shit so close to hitting the trigger on her kusarigama. He was going to cut off his own hand.
But she had to think beyond the repercussions. Her parents would send her back to rehab if they found out about the Essence. She wasn't sure if it would matter to them that she hadn't been a willing participant. It might. But with her rekindling trust so new- if they had any doubts it was back to rehab with her.
Taking Jive would instill those doubts.
But it would also buy her time. To do what she came for, to get enough information to take down this operation. Which seemed to be bigger than she knew. She needed to display some cooperation to get what she needed. To know where the distribution center was.
With trembling fingers, Scout held her hand to the slats between the bars. "Jive."
She only hoped that her plan worked and that she could control herself on this drug. A drug she knew nothing about, mixing with a drug that nearly killed her.
YUUTA/DEVON
Yuuta walked beside Devon, letting her lead enough to provide direction as they hurried back to her apartment. In other circumstances, he'd prefer not to rush. Up until Denim's call, this had been the most enjoyable evening spent with a non-family member in... well, ever.
But his family was his family, so nothing could be going so well that disaster wouldn't strike and blow it all to pieces.
Scout kidnapped.
That hit too close to home. His hands sweat just thinking about it, itching to move, do something, anything to save her. Now. He knew too well what even a little time spent in the clutches of the truly evil could do. Some wounds never healed. Even as they scarred.
And Alli working a strip joint? He couldn't even wrap his head around that.
Though...his mind flicked back to busting into Spot's place to retrieve Anton's phone. The flyer for Marco's he'd found there. He'd just assumed Spot was a sleaze ball. He never thought... Poor Alli. They were supposed to look out for each other. He and Anton had dropped the ball on that one.
Ingrained observational instinct pulled him out of his head to notice Devon. Tense. Tensing further at each dark alley they passed. Eyes searching out each shadow. Fingers hovering around the mace hanging off her key chain.
He let out an inquisitive squeak. When she glanced over, he signed, "Are you all right?"
Devon startled at Yuuta's question. "What?" Her heart was pounding, images, gory, horrific things, burned forever into her mind, threatened to surface. And the screams. The sounds- They haunted her every time she passed these alleys- and she passed them often. They were the only way home.
Her stomach churned and she swallowed hard. "Uh- I'm a pretty straight forward girl." Devon stepped closer to Yuuta, trying ineffectively to manipulate him into moving faster; away from the literal death traps. "But- ugh-" She grunted, leaning her shoulder into his side, trying to nudge him on. "You know what? You're really hard to move, and I'm really fucking scared. So, can we go faster, please? People- a - a- person- died in that- alley and I-" She was breathing hard, her eyes brimming.
"I'll tell you all about it sometime if you want. But not here. Not now. And not with Scout missing. So- y-y-yes, faster with the walking. In fact, walk and talk." She began to ramble, a nervous and dangerous habit of hers. "Yep, so much walking and talking. Talking is good. I had fun tonight until the drama. Not that that's bad. That's life and I know I've had my fair share. Of- of drama, I mean."
She grabbed his arm, surprised when he let her tug him along. "And, I really enjoyed your company. You're funny and smart, only talk when you have something to say besides just talking. Like I am right now. And we should hang out again. Maybe even just you and me. A date maybe? But, you should know two things up front. One, I'm a recovering alcoholic. Saw someone killed in that alley and like the coward I am, I did nothing to stop it. Hating that part of me, I tried to drink it away."
They were nearing her apartment now, but she yanked him through the stoop into the foyer still jabbering. "Drinking didn't work. I went to rehab. I'm sober. Still a coward, but sober. Still have nightmares. But still sober. And two, because there's more- you know there's always more. My mom is a rat. I'm a hybrid. Somehow, I don't think you'll take it the way most people do. But it's still something I like to get out of the way. I love my mom, and if weren't for her I'd be dead or never born in the first place. So, mom's an actual mutant rat. Deal with it. Now, what about you? Do you have anything you need to get out of the way?"
Yuuta blinked. Did she say date? He thought she said date. With him. The adorable, funny, sweet hottie wanted a date with him. Thrown completely off balance, a rare thing for him, he had to use all his self-discipline to focus on her following words.
Which he was glad he did. It was a bit of an info deluge, but important. Her mother was a mutant rat? The evening made a bit more sense now. Usually people required much more of an 'adjustment period' before being remotely comfortable around him.
She looked up at him, shaky and waiting for a reaction now that her words ran dry.
He smiled as he signed. "Well, you should know that I'm a mute, six-foot-tall rat-person."
Despite her earlier tension, she chuckled.
"But, in all seriousness, I probably ought to tell you, though you might have already guessed, that our family has a martial arts tradition, big time. So, hanging out with me might be like living in a cheesy, Kung Fu movie. And I really mean that, since we somehow manage to find ourselves in a lot of crazy drama.
"I wish I could say that Scout's abduction was a horrible anomaly. But, our family has some terrible luck. When we were kids, Alli and Anton and I were also abducted. It was..." don't go there, "bad. If you want, I'll tell you about it some time. But not now. Not with Scout..."
He trailed off and she nodded, understanding.
But he wasn't the only one with baggage. "I don't think you are a coward."
She looked at him sharply.
"I know I don't have all the details. But, I suspect if you had tried to save that person, you would have only gotten yourself killed." He could tell she had no combat training whatsoever. "And I doubt that any help you could've called would have made it in time. When it happens, violence tends to be fast and intense. Not having options isn't the same as cowardice, and dying in futility isn't courage."
He flattened his ears, signing with a little hesitation. "Not that I'm hoping you find yourself confronted with danger, but if you want more options in the future, I could teach you."
Though he'd long since been cleared to teach, difficulty communicating meant that he rarely did. She'd be the first, besides his nieces and nephews.
Devon wiped away her tears and sniffled. "Yeah, actually, I'd like that." She took a breath and looked up at him. "About my mom..."
He huffed out a small, squeaky laugh, signing. "This may come as a shock, but my dad, my teacher and personal hero, was also a mutant rat. It sounds like your mom is pretty awesome."
Eyes glistening, Devon smiled. "Yeah, she really is."
His tail began to flick nervously. "And about that date, I'd love to. Can I call you once we've got Scout home?"
Biting her lip, Devon felt her cheeks flush. Stretching on tip toe she pressed her face to Yuuta's cheek fur. She intended to press a kiss, but found herself unable to resist how delightfully soft he was, and nuzzled him instead. "I'd really like that," she whispered. "I'm going upstairs now. Don't die saving your niece. Because, I intend to hold you to this date." Reeling herself in, she kissed his fur, inhaled deep a slightly musky fragrance laced with hints of patchouli. Her insides were swirling as she turned for the stairs, stealing a glance back. Aside from the abduction- Best. Night. Ever.