It shouldn't have surprised him that Fiona directed him to an all too familiar place. The Bavaria's exhaust rumbled off the brick of the Blue Oyster's back alley.
"Why here?" he felt compelled to ask.
"It's quiet and out of the way."
"It's one of the busiest restaurants in the city!" Marcus felt the need to exclaim.
"Which is what helps keep Ixis' little prison looking like anything but a prison. If you have suggestions on a better place, I'd recommend taking it up with him."
"Yeah, no thanks."
"Good," the fox replied, most of the aggression finally absent from her voice, "let's not keep him waiting any longer."
"Ixis is here, already?" the kid asked as he hurriedly reached for the car door.
"Probably."
"Why didn't you tell me he would be waiting for us?"
"What did you think he was doing while we were out?"
"Reading the paper... I don't know, what does he do all day?"
The fox shook her head in disappointment, "Just help me get this guy out of the trunk."
The muffled screams were audible now that the engine was off. It seemed their prisoner had some things he wanted to say, but was having trouble with the rag tied in his mouth. Although Marcus wouldn't have been surprised if he was simply voicing his discomfort. The man was contorted in a way that looked far from comfortable for such a long ride in the trunk of a car.
"If you fight me," the vixen began as she leaned in to grab a fist full of their prisoner's shirt, "I'll find a way to make this worse for you."
The man seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. Gone was his smug look, his arrogance, instead replaced by something that was fast approaching resignation.
"Tell him what he wants to know," Marcus said calmly as he grabbed hold of his opposite arm. "Be smarter than the last guy."
Together, they heaved the large man out of the trunk and onto the wet pavement. He did little to make their jobs easier, but he knew better than to put up a fight.
Pushing him through the kitchen door, they marched him back to freezer. Fiona wasted no time hoisting him up on the same meat hook his colleague had enjoyed.
"And here I was beginning to think you two were in over your head," a voice rose from the shadows. "Silly me."
Even when Marcus couldn't see him, Ixis presence gave him the chills.
Or is it because I'm in a freezer?
The fox was brimming with pride, her sly smile as full as he had ever seen it. Although he would have been lying if he too didn't also feel some sort of pride. The task they had been assigned would have been laughably impossible to almost anyone else. And while he didn't like what they were doing, Marcus knew the guy they had strung up was far from a decent human. Whether he deserved the treatment he was likely to receive while in Naugus' care was another thing all together, however.
"Didn't realize your little game of cat and mouse worked both ways, did you?" the crime lord asked as he untied the prisoner's gag. "Always saw yourself as the hunter in this little game. What do you have to say for yourself now?"
The man who had plenty of words to exchange when his car was stolen was now eerily quiet.
"I see, not much. Let me extend some of my famous hospitality your way. I'll leave you for a while to think on things. If you need anything, feel free to scream," Ixis said with all too straight of a face as he turned to leave.
"Wait," the man said, his eyes still at the floor. "What do you want?"
"What do you think I want?"
"You make deals, right?" their prisoner asked.
"I'm afraid you're not in much of a position to make one."
"My life," he pleaded, "and I'll tell you everything I know."
Marcus watched as his boss weighed his options. No doubt he was considering all the other ways he thought he might be able to make this man talk without making a deal.
"Let's say I'm open to such a trade," Naugus began. "Julian won't be any kinder to you than I would be."
"Julian won't find me. Those of us that are smart know this day arrives sooner or later. We prepare for it. Everyone will think I'm dead anyway. I get an early retirement in some far-flung part of the world and you get everything I know about Julian's operations."
"Very well," the crime lord said as he pulled up a folding chair. "But if I even get the slightest hint that you're making something up or leaving something out..."
"I won't!" the man stammered. "You have my word if I have yours."
"Impress me then."
"You're not the only one Julian is watching. Your wife, your son..." the Dominion agent looked away in shame.
Naugus smiled, almost as if intrigued, "Marcus, Fiona, would you mind leaving the two of us. It seems we do have quite a bit to discuss."
He didn't need to be asked twice, and truth be told, he had been looking for a way out of the room from the beginning. Being asked to leave was more than a blessing.
"What's that about?" Marcus asked his ruby companion.
"Did you know that Ixis had family?"
"...no," he admitted.
"Right, most people don't. And those that do know that know next to nothing about them."
"So the fact that Julian knows about them probably has Ixis a bit worried?"
"Worried? Maybe. Upset more likely. Someone somewhere talked. I wouldn't want to be that person. Ixis will find them and make what you witnessed a day ago look enjoyable."
His stomach sank at the thought alone, what would worse than that even look like?
Marcus wandered through the kitchen out into the front before finding a stool at the far end of the bar.
"Back so soon?" a familiar face inquired.
"Not by choice," he assured him.
"Can I get you something?"
"Just water," Marcus replied as he turned to face the piano player.
It was classical, just as advertised.
"You want a turn?" the man asked as he pushed a glass across the bar top. "I could certainly use another break from Chopin, and it looks like you could use a distraction from whatever is running through your head."
Before the kid even got a chance to reply, the bartender was already trying to get the pianist's attention, "Glen, psst, Glen, don't overdo it buddy. Why don't you take a break?"
The frail man wound his sonata down until its chords were indistinguishable from the banter of the restaurant's patrons.
"Glen, this is... kid, what's your name?" the man behind the bar asked.
"Marcus."
"Got it, Marcus, Glen. Glen, Marcus. He's going to fill in for you while you rest that arm of yours."
The man did little more than nod as he stared off into the distance.
"Go on," the bartender insisted, "feel free to liven this place up."
With a crack of his knuckles, he sat down on the bench and began to let a melody flow through his fingers. It only took a few minutes for the nightmares to vacate his mind, replaced instead by where to take the song next. It was one of the few journeys he was in control of. Everything from how long it lasted to how exciting or dull it was.
"This again?" the fox asked as she sat down beside him.
"What do you mean again?"
"This song, it sounds the same as the one you played last time."
"It's Jazz," he sighed. "I play what I feel in the moment. It's never the same."
"You must feel sad," the vixen replied.
"Maybe," he admitted. "To be honest sometime it's hard to tell."
"Why not play something else then?"
With a sigh he drifted his song to an early closure, "what did you have in mind?"
"If you want to make yourself happy, make these people happy, impress them. Don't sit here playing the background music to their mealtime. Make their meals a background to your entertainment."
She left him little choice. He rotated the mic boom from above the strings to his face and settled in as he began the dramatic melody. It wasn't hard to produce another Capitol City classic. They had left their mark with one, why not double down?
"What if I told you this situation has got me feeling down," Marcus began.
She had just accused him of being sad, so it felt like the right song to gravitate towards. And perhaps if Fiona knew the song she wouldn't hesitate to jump in, just like she did last time.
"Take a breath as I drive through this desolate town," he looked in the fox's direction, wondering if she was ready, it would be awkward singing a duet by himself.
Right on cue, the Fiona leaned in and shifted the mic in her direction.
"I've fallen overboard and I'm in need of rescue," the vulpine was outdoing herself this time. "Can you spare me a glance," she teased him as she batted her eyes in his direction, "can you spare me a piece of you?"
In retrospect he was beginning to regret his song choice. This was the type of thing people usually sang on a karaoke date. It was written by, and perhaps for tormented lovers.
What does it mean that I'm singing it with Mobian?
"The price of your resistance is my heart slipping," Marcus belted out the line hoping Naugus was nowhere in earshot. "In the aftermath of us I've been thinking."
Seeing the subtle discomfort on his face the ruby vixen's grin grew generously as she inhaled for the next bar, "Rest your head, I've shown night the door. Scattered the shadows from the floor."
His eyes darted around the room, wondering if anyone else was as uncomfortable as he was. Unfortunately, the patrons seemed entertained, or at worst waiting to see how things ended.
I'll show her uncomfortable, Marcus thought as he leaned as close as he could to share the mic with her. Pressing his gaze into hers, he began, "Starlight swan dive, catch me when I fall. Searching the red pages for your name, won't use answer my call."
With a fresh inhale they combined forces for the finale, "This bliss is futile without you. Can you spare me a glance, can you spare me a piece of you?"
There was silence, perhaps of the stunned variety, it was hard to tell. Far too many people had their mouths open for Marcus' liking.
Pushed it too far this time, he decided.
However, a solitary clap shattered the silence, breaking the damn. Soon the room was filled with deafening applause.
"How do you feel now?" the crimson vixen asked quietly in his ear.
Before he could respond, Glen shooed the two of them away, grumbling about being upstaged.
"You know," the bartender began as he returned to his stool, "People call and ask if you'll be making an appearance when they make their reservations now. Glen has only been back a day and I think it's already getting under his skin."
"Sorry," Marcus replied as a fox took up residence next to him.
"And you," The bartender eyed her cautiously. "You know we don't let Mobians in here... but seeing as your considered part of the talent now I won't object. Can I get you anything?"
Fiona shook her head in response.