Jack idly mopped at the floor of the White Rabbit, dim and empty, not quite ready to come back to life right just yet after what was still a disastrous night for this whole damn bar. Would Irving finally consider hiring more people? At least a pay raise, Legion wages did not fit this place's price of living. Or maybe he shouldn't try for that... he'd seen first-hand how insane the terms of his employer's contracts had apparently become in recent years. ...Perhaps Jack would make the overall wiser decision and just eat and appreciate the cake he was given.

The offer of covering a shift was kind enough of Roda though, and Jack had already begun considering what to do with it. He hunched over and took a breather from the work, trying to let his tensed muscles relax. They needed to be relaxed today. When Jack finally got the last of the spills cleaned up, he stepped over and leaned against the nearest wall, running a hand through his hair, trying to look his best.

He checked his reflection in the glass of one of the drinks cabinets, ensuring nothing was stuck in his sharklike teeth, then straightened out his blazer, and fluffing up his not-quite pompadour in a display somewhat akin to a rooster's comb.

Perfect.

He effortlessly flicked his communicator out and dialled the first number. Coolly, he waited, leaning by the wall.

"...Jack?"

A handsome, tanned face with curly mouse-brown hair smiled fondly at seeing him. The scars over his lips were hard to see on the screen, but they were faintly visible.

"Robin! What might you be up to tonight, my roguish exile?"

"Askin' me on a date, are ya handsome?" he chuckled. "Or just want me to swing by?"

Somewhat less suavely than intended, Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh- yes, the first one. Actually, I am. Asking you on a date." A kiss or two and it seemed as if this man somehow screwed up a perfectly good Kadeptian. Well, a perfectly emotionally scarred Kadeptian with abandonment issues and an ego higher than he could leap. At least Jack wasn't too clingy or committed about it... yet.

"Asking you on a date, yes... I have an idea or two, but if you have anything in mind..."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Actually, there is a place I've been meaning to check out. It's up your street, if ya like trespassing in abandoned buildings..."

He feigned mild disinterest. "Oh, a little. " But this was already making him raise an ear in curiosity.

The Exile nodded. "Yeah, well it's a bar. Creepy place. Something's been going weird there. Piqued my interest. It's in the 32nd century."

He transferred over a picture of the building. It looked like it had once been lively- a novelty place with some sort of bizarre gimmick, but there was definitely something off about it- unsettling, an aura of uncanny valley worse than one would expect from just any old structure. It looked like people went in and never came back out. And that's exactly what was going on. Articles came through about missing persons last seen around it... something evil made its home there.

Jack's eyes flickered, with both concern and intrigue. "Oh, a little urban exploration in my favoured hopping grounds? Along with a creepy mystery? That is right up my street. Love a good horror."

Robin looked hopeful at the prospect. "So, you're in?"

Jack nodded and flashed a grin.

"I'm in."

"It's a date?"

"It's a date."

They both smiled at each other again, but Jack looked away, the flames in his eyes dancing as he glanced at the clock. Oh, that was a shame- it was getting late. Opening in ten minutes. That was cutting it close, especially if he had to call for leave.

"I... need to get to work. See you then, my roguish exile?"

Robin chuckled. "See you then, Jack."

Jack blew a kiss with a wink as he ended the call on a high note.

Texting Roda the hours he'd need her before flicking the communicator shut, Jack then reached the switchboard behind the counter and the neon signs started glowing to life, filling the bar with colourful light.

He passed by the jukebox and picked an album to start the day. Spice Girls? Yeah, he could go with that. Right sort of mood. The disk started spinning and the opening lines to 'Wannabe' began playing.

Diego was still in the back, cleaning the kitchen and cooking a couple of their more popular morning dishes to have on hand, already making things easy.

This was going to be a good day.

...Until he got a call from Irving asking where he was going after Roda had already told him what shift she was covering. He didn't need to know that what he was doing could get him in trouble with the law, or possibly whatever lurked in that bar, or that it was the future, or that the man who was picking him up wasn't even allowed on this planetoid to begin with.

He started things off suggestive of the many flaws that Braxiatel created he could perhaps exploit, crossing his arms to look suitably indignant. "You know, Irving- I rather believe that you don't currently have the power over me to ask personal questions when I'm not in the mood to answer them."

"Jack-" he started, immediately interrupted.

Pretending to pull on a pair of reading glasses and standing stiff, his voice turned formal as Jack began reciting, verbatim: "My contract states that you 'really don't want to know what the signatory gets up to, and that any actions not associated with the White Rabbit or their employment are not Irving Braxiatel's problem to avoid being connected in the event of an arrest or investigation.'"

Brax brought a hand up to his face in embarrassment or tiredness, but also possible worry that the event of the clause being needed might get exercised. "It does, doesn't it... that wording was quite unprofessional of me. And-"

Jack interrupted him again, somewhat offended. "Not being able to put me on a leash? Also, if you expect me to sign a new one here without Legion's lax and distancing terms, I got a look at Roda's when she was racking her brain on it, and is it just me or does it get longer every time I read it?" he suggested. Either going through it was such a bore that time seemed to pass slower at each read, or it somehow was. And with Irving Braxiatel, that was rather hard to judge.

Brax rolled his eyes in annoyance and gestured for him to shush. Somewhat suspicious annoyance, too. "That's quite enough, Jack. No, I won't make you sign a new contract and change the terms..." He put a hand up to his face and mumbled, "Sometimes I regret hiring an ex-lawyer - but that's the long and short of it. Alright, I don't need to know where you're going. But you better be back from your break tonight by tomorrow's morning shift," he ordered.

A little Kadeptian charm did really work wonders. Even on a Time Lord. He still had it.

Batting his eyelashes, Jack made another request, just to fill in the gaps. "Oh, and can I borrow a certain ex-husband for dish pit day?"

Amusingly, Brax didn't even hesitate on that one. "Oh, yes, you may. Speaking of which, I need to have a little chat with him. I'll tell him then."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Well, Jack. That will be all?"

"I believe so. Goodbye, Irving."

"Goodbye, Jack."


The link closed, and Braxiatel picked up a stack of papers from his desk, tapping them out on the wood to straighten them. Idly waving and concentrating more on his work, he hit a call button and in the blink of an eye, a white football-sized orb zipped through the wooden door to his office, it swinging open to greet the robot and allow it entrance.

Hearing its arrival, he glanced up and gestured at the porter to make his request.

"Joseph, will you collect Jason for me?"

"Jason Prime or Jason Beta?" he asked, using the code he'd come up with in the meeting.

"Prime, thank you," he muttered back.

Joseph bobbed and nodded. "Yes, Mr Braxiatel. Locating based on DNA and temporal energy signatures..." The was a pause and a beep. "Jason Kane 'Prime' found, estimated time of return with him roughly 1 hour, 56 minutes based on the most efficient possible route with no vehicular transport and his average walking speed." That was a while, even assuming Jason was in the mood to listen.

"Good. I can wait, though I'd recommend bringing him a hovercraft with a pre-programmed destination at the main entrance so he doesn't try and run away halfway through." Braxiatel cracked his knuckles and rested his half-moon spectacles on his nose, ready to get back to work again- or something. A flash in his eyes suggested something more.

But Joseph didn't notice those sorts of things, and just cheerfully beeped again."Yes, Mr Braxiatel. With that variable, the new estimated time of return is roughly 27 minutes, five of which will be spent navigating the halls inside the mansionhouse."

Seeming to mind the porter less and less with each passing minute, Brax pulled up some holoscreens. "Much better. Now, the rest of today's itinerary- I believe after that, you should assist Bernice in her final planning and perform your typical porter duties with her. She probably needs it."

"Yes, Mr Braxiatel."

"Good."

He waved Joseph off, before pausing and ushering him over towards his desk again. There was one more thing.

"Will the gown be ready by the time I ask her about the summit?"

"Yes, Mr Braxiatel. The last report shows that the embroidery should be nearly complete and finished by tonight." He projected a 3D hologram of the current state of the dress, the design something painstakingly revised, scrapped, and reworked- this must've been at least the fourth 'finished' version. But it was finally to his liking and Brax nodded in approval.

"The final price?" he asked.

"2.8 million credits," it stated matter-of-factly.

Braxiatel groaned and ran a hand down his face. "... Fine. A little steep for them, but it is a complex enough order, and the number of changes will have me looking like a right- well. She won't be seen by them in anything less, after all. Transfer that to their account, if you will." At least obviously money was no object- if he wasn't prepared to fork this out at all he wouldn't be commissioning something like this from a designer so popular to begin with.

There was another beep and the robot bobbed up and down in its little nod. "Transaction complete."

"That will be all- go fetch Kane now, would you?"

"Yes, Mr Braxiatel. I will see you 'soon.'"

"Farewell, Joseph."

A stab of pain shot through his head. It must have been all those thoughts about Jason, those memories resurfacing. And the voice came not long after. His own, layered with something sophisticated and feminine.

Oh no. Not again.

"Hello, it's not a pleasure, as always."

He'd largely had a break from the symptoms of the creature- from her, for years. But those swirling thoughts that were on the surface rather than submerged in the depths made her emerge so much more easily. Once, twice, three times in the last month or so. This was already taking its toll, and she'd hardly influenced him at all.

'Good morning, Braxiatel. Want to play a little game?' she teased.

Irving pretended to humour it. "A game? What sort of game this time, creature?"

He twiddled his thumbs idly, but one hand forcefully stopped on its own, and he couldn't get it moving again no matter what he did. When it finally did, it ran itself through his hair and mussed it up, ruining his perfect facade and taking the control that he always had to have away from him.

Oh dear.

"I suppose I will play. I don't believe I have a choice, now do I?"

'You do. But you want to see if you can still win with the disadvantage.'

It loosened its control over him and he straightened his hair again, taking it back not long after and moving over to pull open a very particular drawer in his mahogany desk. He huffed in smug amusement.

"Chess? While I am one to like a game- that is a tad cliche, isn't it?"

'You want to play too...' it taunted.

Braxiatel smirked. Or was it her? Perhaps it was both of them.

"Yes, I suppose I do."