Hey everyone sorry for the delay had a bit of writers block followed by the fact that I'm back home for the summer and I can't get a minute to myself so I can concentrate on my writing. This one's pretty short but I didn't want to leave you without another chapter for another day. Anyway enjoy this mini chapter. Let me know what you think. :)
Wren was not exaggerating about the people we were going to have to deal with. Some of these guys were… I'm not exactly sure how to describe them. Eccentric felt like an understatement. They were very liberal with their cursing.
We walked in and there were pool tables at the back. The place was dimly lit and people stared at us as we walked in. I saw some of the clients holding some gold cards.
"Gold cards are hits. They take a job and report to the client. They give them to the merc they come back here and cash the reward." Wren explained.
"You been here before?" I asked.
"Past through once or twice years ago on assignment." Wren said. I looked up and saw a chalkboard with names written with amounts of money next to them.
"What's a Deadpool?" I asked.
"Everyone pulls together their money and bets on which one of these assholes is going to be the next to die." A man with dirty blonde hair and glasses said coming over to us. "What can I do for you folks?"
"We're lo-" I started before Wren interrupted me.
"We'll have two pints of whatever you have on the tap." Wren said. I looked at him confused.
"I'll ring those right up." He said going to get the beers.
"Why didn't you ask?" I said.
"You can't ask them directly. They'll tell you what you want to hear just to get you to pay up and neither of us have time to waste. Just listen up see if anything catches your attention." Wren said.
"None of these guys look like the type of people Aiden would work with." I said.
"Looks can be deceiving." Wren said.
"Really?" I said looking at the end of the bar where a bearded man was using a knife to pick his nose.
"All right, for sure not him." Wren said. "Keep an eye out for veterans of special forces. Dog tags or tattoos are a giveaway."
"That narrows it down." I said.
"Here you are." The bartender said putting the drinks in front of us. "What brings you folk to Sister Margaret's?"
"Recommendation from a friend." Wren said.
"Really? Who's your friend?" the bartender asked.
"Aiden Mathis." Wren said trying to get a reaction from him. The bartender raised an eyebrow and suddenly seemed a bit nervous. "He's your friend."
"Friend would imply we're on good terms. I'm looking for him." Wren said.
"Haven't seen him. It's been years since he's walked in here." He said.
"Do you know anyone that has seen or heard from him?" I said.
"Pretty girl like you should stay away from a guy like him." He answered.
"Would if I could, but it's important." I said.
"I haven't seen him but I do know someone who has." He said. Wren and I just stared at him. "My buddy Wade."
"Wade Wilson?" Wren said.
"Yeah, He got dishonorably discharged a couple years ago he stops by almost everyday. Should be by soon. He took a job and he's due to collect."
"We'll wait then." I said.
"I'm weasel by the way, and can I say you are hot." he said.
"Thanks." I said rolling my eyes. Wren just put an arm around me and gave him a look that made Weasel uncomfortable.
"I'll just go… now." He said pointing to the other side of the bar.
"That'd be a good idea." Wren said with a devious smile.
After he walked away I couldn't help but laugh.
"Did you see the look on his face?" I said chuckling.
"Literally no subtlety whatsoever." He retorted.
"So this Wade guy."
"Uh, the most annoying pain in the ass I've ever met." Wren said.
"He can't be that bad?" I said.
"The man doesn't know how to shut up. Imagine sitting for eight hours in the blistering sun waiting for a target to get into position for hours with him singing the theme song from golden girls off key." Wren said.
"That sounds annoying."
"It was, when he gets here stay at the bar." Wren said.
"Uh no, we're in this mess together. I'm going with you."
"No you're staying. I'll deal with Wade. I need you here."
"But…" I tried to argue.
"See the guy at my eight, the one with the skull tattoo on his neck?" He said.
"Leather vest with Sons of Satan MC on the back? Yeah." I said.
"He's come over to get a drink three times in the time we've been here and each time he keeps looking at you, well your left hand." Wren explained. I was confused for a minute until I saw my engagement ring and wedding band.
"Thief?"
"He probably prefers the term acquirer of rare good but yes, he's a thief."
"So?" I said confused as to where he was going with this.
"Remember what I taught you and also no powers." He said.
"Okay but why…."
"The British are coming the British are coming!" A man said as he walked toward the bar.
"I'm guessing that's Wade." I said.
"Unfortunately." Wren said.
"Wilson, you look… Well you're here." Wren said.
"Hey carrot top what are you doing here?"
"We need to talk." Wren said.
"Oooh that can't be good. Here to end our bromance because our connection's been a bit off. You don't call you don't text it feels really one sided." Wade said
I'm starting to see what Wren was talking about.
"Can you at least try to act like a professional?" Wren said.
"Haven't you heard? I am a professional, Professional pain in the ass." Wade retorted. "You have to admit that was a good one?"
Wren didn't say a single word he just stared at him with his arms crossed.
"Why don't we step into my office?" Wade said leading Wren to a booth.
I kept an eye on them from the mirror but about five minutes in, the biker with an eye for diamonds finally made his move.
"Boyfriend left you alone?" He asked.
"He had a business meeting." I said picking up my drink and taking a sip.
"He must be insane bringing a girl like you to a place like this and then leaving you all alone." He said.
"Girl like me?" I said raising an eyebrow.
"A hot piece of ass like you…"
"Don't have a lot of experience talking to girls do you?" I said.
"What makes you say that?"
"The fact that you just referred to me like I was a piece of meat." I deadpanned.
"Oh I didn't mean it like that. Let me start over, I'm Randall though my friends call me Randy."
"Good to know Randall." I said.
"Don't be like that sweetheart let me buy you a drink. Weasel get the lady another drink of whatever she's having." He said.
"Actually get me your most expensive scotch." I said.
"Yes ma'am." Weasel said.
"Scotch? Aren't you just full of surprises." Randall said.
"So I've been told." I answered.
"How about you join me for a round of pool?" He offered.
"Thanks but I'll pass." I said.
"Aww come on sweetheart just one game." He said.
"I'm not in the mood." I said.
He put his hand over my left hand and said, "Well if you change your mind I'll be right over there." He slid his hand off and walked away. I looked down and saw that both my rings were gone. I looked over at the mirror and saw that Wren was still talking to Wade.
"Randy wait." I said. "On second thought it has been a while since I've played a good game of pool." I said smiling.
"Well come on over." He said with a smirk.
He handed me a pool stick got one for himself. "Now you want to use the cue, that's this white to hit those other balls. Line up your shot." He said as I started leaning over the table. He got close and a bit too handsy for my liking to 'help me out'.
This was my shot I elbowed him in the throat and kicked him in the shin making him fall. He got up pretty fast and I grabbed the knife in his belt and punched him in the throat. I grabbed his hair and put the knife against his throat.
"You took something that belongs to me, I'd like them back now."
"I don't know…" He started before I slammed his head against the pool table,
"I said Now!" I yelled. I hadn't noticed but the entire bar had stood up and was looking right at us.
"Here, here!" He shouted putting my rings on the table.
"Thanks." I said. Before slamming his head again knocking him out. "I'm keeping the knife." I grabbed my rings and put them back on before going over to Wren's table. Halfway there my phone started ringing. I looked down and saw it was from dad. "Shit." I muttered.
I walked over to Wren stabbed the knife into the table and said. "Hold this for me, I need to take this." I didn't wait for his answer instead I walked out and answered the call.
"Hey dad." I said.
"Key kid where are you?" He asked.
"Wren and I went out. A friend of his recommended this place with really good sandwiches he wanted to try out before we left tomorrow." I answered.
"Oh where is this place?" Dad asked.
"Somewhere in the Bronx, Doesn't look like much but it has its charm." I said.
"huh, I'll check it out sometime. Listen Pepper wanted to know if you and…" He paused before sighing. "If you and Wren would like to join us for dinner."
"Uh yeah, that'd be great." I said.
"All right then I'll send a car seven thirty work for you both?" He asked.
"It's perfect." I said.
"We'll see you then." He said before hanging up.
I was about to walk back in but Wren walked out.
"Hey, How'd it go?" I asked.
"It was a bust, Wade hasn't seen or heard from Aiden in over a year after they worked some job in Jacksonville." Wren said.
"Jacksonville? What was he doing in Jacksonville?" I said.
"Don't know don't care. We're going to have to back track. I'm going to have to go over all my contacts and see who doesn't hate my guts or at the very least hates Aiden more than me." Wren said.
"We're going to have to put that on hold for now, dad and Pepper invited us to dinner and considering we're leaving tomorrow I said yes." I said.
"Don't you think finding Aiden is a bit more important than dinner with your father?" Wren said.
"I know it's important but it's also important to keep up appearances. It'll also make it easier to hack into Jarvis and find the guest list to last night's events and back track Aiden's moves. Say for example bank account number, location the transaction was initiated maybe even a way to tack him down?" I said.
"Oh, that does sound better than my plan." He said.
"Don't get your hopes up it's a long shot and chances are it's probably from a swiss bank account and everything but at this point we have to check all our options." I said
"Maybe we should cancel the trip."
"No, we're doing this. We need to get proof we're a real couple so we're going on this trip we're going to be that couple everyone hates because we're so perfect. We're going to milk all these places for all the free swag they give newly weds and we're going to take a few pictures as proof we went on this trip and after those pictures you're going to teleport us wherever we need to be so we can track down that asshole and get him out of our lives." I said.
"Not how I pictured spending our honeymoon but normal's over rated anyway." Wren said.
"Damn right," I said.
"Let's go, I need to get the stink of that place off of me." Wren said.
"Tell me about it, Randall was practically drooling on me." I said.
"Nicely done by the way." Wren said.
"I had a good teacher," I said before he teleported us back to the penthouse.
Dinner went off without a hitch. Pepper only had to elbow dad three times the entire night. The following day we took our first flight top the first stop in our two week 'Honeymoon' or as Wren had aptly renamed it the two weeks his wanker of a brother ruined.
We arrived in Barcelona around noon. We arrived at the hotel and the changed quickly before going to the beach. I wore a black Bandeau Cross Top Bikini and a white cover up with some sandals.
We got to the beach and found a seafood restaurant right at the beach front.
"We should start London and if that doesn't pan out I remember him mentioning a bed and breakfast he liked in Scotland…"
"Wren put the map down and drink your margarita, it's melting." I said.
"Nora."
"Wren, we just got here and we need pictures, candids. We will work on it tomorrow I promise but for the next two weeks we're going to spend the first twenty-four hours of every new place relaxing and doing things couples do then we continue our anti-Aiden quest. Sound good?" I asked.
"It's manageable." Wren relented.
"Good, now Margarita up." I said.
"Cheers." Wren said raising his glass.
"Cheers." I said.
And we did just that. We laid on the beach, teleported to a few of the sights after changing outfits to make it look like we did it on different days. And we ended with dinner at a tapas bar.
The next day was back to work. Our first stop was London.
I wore black jeans and boots with a black turtle neck and topped it off with a beige trench coat.
"I'm lucky I packed for every possibility." I said.
"You mean I teleported you back home so you could pick the right outfit since all you packed were shorts, underwear and tank tops." Wren said.
"In my defense I totally thought all we were going to be doing was one gala then laying on beaches around the world." I said.
"So did I." Wren said. "But unlike you I actually packed trousers."
"Who packs pants to the beach?"
"Who owns over twenty different bathing suits?"
"Um, people who find them on sale." I said. "I was actually thinking of having a pool installed."
"A pool really?" He said.
"Yeah, we could teach Connor how to swim, his sister when she's old enough." I said.
"Or brother." Wren said.
"I'm pretty sure it's going to be a girl." I said.
"If you say so." He said. "Stay close."
"Where are we?"
"Let's just say we're here to see someone from my past." He said.
"In a hospice facility." I said.
"Yeah I kind of put her here about ten years ago and she just keeps hanging on." Wren said with a grimace.
"Put here as in you pay for the bills or put her here you're the reason she's here." I asked.
"Nora I'm loaded if I was paying you really think I'd put someone in this hovel?"
"The latter it is then." I said. "What you do?"
"Nora…"
"Full disclosure not judging." I said putting my hands up.
"I set an orphanage on fire in an effort to take down the people I work for and for revenge on the old bat that put me in their hands in the first place." He said.
"Okay, then who are we here to see?" I asked.
"The old bat that put me in their hands in the first place." I asked
"I thought she was… you know…" I said.
"Nope that old bat will bury us all." Wren said with a grimace.
"Well let's do this, I really hate places like this." I said.
"If I ever end up with a terminal disease do me a favor and pull the plug for me." He said.
"Same here, don't let my dad freeze me or keep me plugged. Just rip the band aid off." I said.
"Here we are, Brace yourself." Wren said as we walked in.
The room was decorated with faded flowery wallpaper and many frames and porcelain figurines. The only sounds that could be heard were from the heart monitor.
"Nora meet Sister Mary Eunice, the reason that to this very day I still get nightmares." He said.
The woman on the bed was heavily scarred.
"Starting to see why you dislike nuns." I said. I walked over to the foot of her bed and checked her chart. Admitted over ten years ago after a fire at the orphanage she lived in. Burns on two thirds of her body. She wasn't expected to last the night let alone ten years.
"Mary need you to wake up." Wren said shaking her awake.
She woke up startled and terrified as soon as she laid eyes on Wren.
"Told you I'd be back." Wren said.
"Please…" She looked ready to cry.
"Not here to hurt you. I'm looking for Aiden, you know the other kid you sold off to become an assassin?" Wren asked.
Instead of replying she just kept shaking her head no.
"Figured you wouldn't know. I want the names of everyone you're still in contact with from the program."
"I-I don't…"
"Don't bother, I checked your visitor's log, once a month for the past ten years like clock work. You don't have any family and friends well, we both know what happened. Give me the names and we'll get out of your hair." Wren said.
"We?' She asked before turning to me. I just crossed my arms and gave her a look.
"We." Wren said.
"I don't know his name. He stops by every month a-ah-and stays for a while. Leaves without a word." She answered obviously in pain.
"What's he look like?" I asked.
"Tall, talk hair and eyes. He asks about you." She said.
"Wren, she's talking about him." I said.
"What do you mean?"
"Read her chart, vision impairment and lost thirty percent in the other eye. She's describing him from memory. And who do we know who's tall with dark hair and eyes?"
"Aiden" he said with a groan.
"Fake Name so we have one of his aliases. I can look it up see if there are any hits." I offered.
"It's a start,"
"One less alias he can use." I said.
"Let's go, there's nothing more we can get from her." Wren said. He put a hand on my shoulder and teleported us back to Barcelona. I took off my coat and turtleneck before grabbing my starkpad and looking up the alias.
"Nothing major, a couple of back accounts in the Bahamas and the Caymans. An apartment in Rio and another in Croatia. Wasn't expecting that but no red flags. I set Friday to notify if the alias is used again." I said.
"But nothing to help us track him down."
"No but we got enough to slow him down and the account he used to buy the seat at the event." I said with a smirk.
"Meaning…"
"We can freeze his assets." I said.
"You can do that?" Wren said.
"Not exactly legal but then again half the things we've done lately aren't exactly legal. I'll put a hold on the account make it impossible for him to get any cash from all of them except one." I said.
"So we can track his movements but limit them." Wren said. "Remind me to never get on your bad side."
"Doubt you ever will after this." I said. "And done. Aiden makes a move Friday will send us both a message. For now back to honeymooning."
"I had a plan for what I thought we should see but considering all the time this took we can probably get through half of the list." Wren said.
"Or we can actually relax for once and stay in?" I offered.
"That does sound better. Margaritas by the pool?" Wren asked.
"Now you're getting it." I said.
Two weeks later-
After we finally got through everything we had originally planned even our trip to DisneyWorld we made it home.
"I missed this place." I said throwing myself on the couch.
"No place like home." Wren said crashing next to me. He picked up his phone and checked for the billionth time if there was any news.
"Staring at your phone isn't going to make him appear any faster." I said.
"I know I just hating this, waiting around, feeling helpless."
"You're not helpless, we cornered him, limited his moves. We're in control." I said.
"It doesn't feel like that."
"Would you try to relax, we're literally in the safest place we could be. This place is isolated and off the maps. Aiden doesn't even know it exists. If he was going to go after you it'd probably be your condo." I said.
"Either way, we need to prepare for the worse." Wren said getting up. He reached under the coffee table and pulled out a gun.
"What the hell?" I said sitting up.
"It's called a gun."
"I know what it's called smartass, I meant what's it doing under the coffee table?"
"I put it there." Wren answered.
"When?"
"A couple of days after I moved in. Not all at once obviously but slowly."
"And you didn't think of telling me? Do you have any idea how reckless that is? Connor is here walking or crawling around. Don't you think he could have gotten his hands on one?"
"I'm not an idiot, I installed child proof locks. There was no way I was going to risk Connor or you for that matter. It's just that having it around helped me sleep better at night." Wren said in his defense.
"I want to know where all of them are, Now!" I said.
"You sure cuz there's a lot?"
"Every single weapon right now." I said.
"You're wish is my command." He said starting to move around the house. He pulled out gun after gun. Then he started pulling out ammo cartridges. And to make matters worse he pulled up the carpet in the living room and pulled up two of the loose floorboards. He reached under and pulled out hand grenades.
"Oh shit. Where the hell did you get those?" I asked.
"I know a guy." Wren said with a shrug.
By the tine he was done I was more mad at myself for not noticing the giant weapons stockpile that was hiding right under my nose.
"I am such an idiot."
"You're not an idiot, I'm just good at keeping things hidden, I kind of had to be."
"I get the keeping secrets what I don't get is why we would ever need a weapons stockpile." I said.
"You never know, mass shooter. Someone ever tries to come after us." Wren said.
"Again no one knows we live here." I said and at that moment the entire house went dark.
"Give it a minute the back up generator will kick in." I said.
Two minutes and still nothing.
"You were saying?" Wren said grabbing a gun. I grabbed one for myself. I just had to open my big mouth.