A bald blue man sat uncomfortably in the seat, having been forced into a seedy bar somewhere past Nebula, sweat running down the side of his face, as he tells the woman across from him, "How was I supposed to know the Silurian died?"
The woman tracked him down, again, when she found out the Silurian, she would've met with inexplicably passed away, reports saying that she committed suicide following losing her battle with depression, after the loss of her lover, some years ago.
He tried telling her that the Silurian would've given her the information that she needed, but when she found out the Silurian died, it sent her back to him, and he tried passing it off as a technicality, but the woman isn't having it.
"So, the information I gave was outdated by a few weeks, you think I have the time to make sure everything's up-to-date?" argued the bald blue man as he gestures, seeing quiet ire in the woman's eyes, her matte auburn lips in a frown.
Leaning forward, the woman says in a low voice, "She was my only hope, do you realize the time I spent searching for her?"
Due to his outdated information, the woman wasted valuable time, and she wanted restitution for the wasted time.
Weakly shrugging his robed shoulders, the bald blue man says, "What do you want me to do, I can't just conjure up information like I'm some kinda jinn!"
He winced when the woman grabbed his hand and yanked him forward over the table, pulling him close, as there's ire in her eyes.
"Where do I find him?" River demanded the bald blue man tell her where she can find the strange man that Tom pointed her towards as the man who would tell her what she needed to know.
She knew he only did it to get her off his back and keep her away from his brother, but her desperation clouded her, and she followed every lead that she managed to find.
"I don't know!" River heard Oscar, the information broker she'd tracked down looking for information regarding the Silurian who was her best chance at finding the man, "it's not like he advertises!"
Pleading with her, Oscar swears that he doesn't know where to find the man, only the Silurian knew, but she's dead, and if he was a betting man, if anything, it wasn't suicide.
Maybe the man expended his uses and got rid of her before she made trouble for him?
Or, it wasn't so much as suicide because she couldn't get over the lose of her lover, but out of spite against the man, seeing as she always blamed him.
"My patience is waning, Oscar," River began squeezing his hand, sending him to squeak in pain as he blubbered incoherently.
His frantic mind struggled, but in his babbling, Oscar sputtered, "He'll find you. Don't ask how I know, but he'll find you if you're desperate enough. She always said that he knows when you're looking for him!"
In the brief conversations he had with the Silurian, she always told him how the man inexplicably knew when someone wants to find him and it's his discretion when he wants to appear, that it's impossible to know when the man wants to be found.
"I'm not hearing anything useful, Oscar," River continued to squeezed his hand, to the point it's turning purple, and the pain registered in Oscar's mind that he began sputtering, again.
Squeaking, Oscar tells her, "Okay! Okay! Someone else was looking for him the other day. Some knob with a messenger bag. I told him the same thing, but he was persistent. I sent him to my cousin, Sheehan. I haven't saw him, again, so maybe he found him!"
Lessening her vice grip, River allowed the bald blue man to tell her that someone else looking for the man she looked for came to him not too long ago.
Didn't recognize him, he looked like he stepped off a period set, had a messenger bag with him, but he wanted to find the man, too, and like now, Oscar didn't have anyone who'd point him to the right direction, so he sent him to his cousin, another information broker.
Since the man hadn't come back to torture him for bad information, Oscar assumed that Sheehan gave him what he needed.
"Go to him!" Oscar squeaked as he felt River's grip tightening as she leered into his yellow eyes.
Leaning forward, River says in a low voice to him, "If he doesn't give me what I need, I promise when I find you, again, it won't be pleasant, do you understand?"
River promised Oscar, if she doesn't get the information she needed from his cousin, the next time they meet, what'll happen to Oscar, will make this pale in comparison.
Releasing her vice grip around his hand, River sent him tumbling backwards, standing up, and departed the seedy bar in a huff, now on her search for Oscar's cousin.
She reached him in hours' time and she made it apparent how unwilling she is leaving without information regarding the man she's seeking.
Sheehan wasn't surprised at all, his yellow eyes looking towards her, as he says with a dry, "You and the schlub who was here before you."
He didn't need River to twist his arm or grip his hand into a purple ball, figuring it's easier just giving what River wanted, and avoid the conflict, all together.
"The guy before you, he was looking for him, too," Sheehan mentioned what Oscar said, about someone else looking for the man, "don't know what period piece he walked off, with that messenger bag and all that. Guess he found him, 'cause I hadn't heard from him."
Someone came to him with the same inquiry, less forceful than River, but just about intimidating as her, though, just but talking to him, alone.
Don't know or care why the man needed to see this enigma of a man, Sheehan sent him on his way, guess the information's good, 'cause the man never came back, or if he's lucky, he died, inexplicably, so he never had to put up with a dissatisfied customer.
However, the information doesn't come cheap.
Unlike Oscar, he always checked to make sure his information's accurate, a difficult prospect for most information brokers, but Sheehan says it's worth the money.
"Is it still valid?" River raised her brow, asking if the information leading to the man, she seeks remained accurate, and Sheehan says that it is, he didn't have information saying otherwise.
River agreed to purchase the information and Sheehan smiled, showing his pointed teeth.
"That'll be 1.4 million," Sheehan held out his hand, expecting payment for his service, but River leaned over the counter, a pleasant smile on her face, a threat in her words.
She said, "Consider this payment. The information's good, I won't come back. If it isn't, I'll cut you and your cousin's heads off, sound fair?"
The seriousness in her tone and the way she batted her eyes at him, made Sheehan gulp, before raising his arms, his long sleeves falling to his shoulder, "Fine! Last I heard, he was skulking around the Lower Wards. Comes and goes. If you want him, you'll find him there. Just hope to god he doesn't ask anything important in return. Him, I'm not sure you want to pull your little tricks with. Them eyes are the devil!"
In his usual fashion, Sheehan warned River that seeking this man risked consequences, as he's known to ask something in return for the help.
Under no circumstances should River mistake the man as one of her usual marks.
Her tricks won't work against him, trying to hurt him, Sheehan warned against doing such a thing, else the otherworldly nature of the man will be her demise.
"I swear, on my shrew heart, I don't think he is even a man, at all!" Sheehan gave his thoughts on the man.
Satisfied with his answer, River went on her way, following directions to the Lower Wards.
Took no time, River knew how to reach it without issue, helps when she has problems with the authorities.
With Sheehan's directions, it put River towards the medical ward, where splicers and whatever else an alien posed for money.
Searching through the crowd, River almost given up, intending on returning to Sheehan for his and his cousin's comeuppance, when she caught sight of a man standing adjacent from her, crowds passing by him.
Wore a navy-blue two-piece suit with a white dress shirt and red tie.
Black peppery hair with something eye-catching, his unusually lit blue eyes, but with the red neon light above him, gave them a lavender hue.
"Miss… Chesterfield… I… presume," he said in a stilted voice, almost as if he's translating Common in his head.
Going towards him, River noticed the crowd freezing in place, her head turning to see them remaining where they are, as she turned towards the strange man.
"You know who I am?" River asked him.
A light scoff, the man says, "Let's… say… you… exceeded… his expectations… quite well."
Tilting her head, River goes, "Excuse me?"
A half smile on his face, hardly a smile, what someone constitutes as a smile, the man tells her, "Your… father… of course…"
Stunned, River recoiled as she tried to come up with a response, but bizarrely, the way the man talked, he knew more than he let on.
"My father?" River tilted her head at him.
Nodding, the man informed her, "He… found me… and… well… you're alive…"
River demanded answers, but the man wouldn't tell her, instead, he said, "I… cannot… stop … what's already transpired… he was… tsk… very persistent… and… I… think… you'll do… just… fine..."
He reached out and grabbed her hand, in a flash, they're gone from the crowd, as they started moving, again.
THE END