Bad Ass

I politely refused to stay gingerly touching my head pretending to be in pain and thankfully he didn't seem to mind so he bundled me off in a nice comfy luxury car telling the driver to get me home.

Home.

Thoughts of the ranch and Krit immediately flashed through my brain but I couldn't go there. Not yet and I still hadn't checked in. I'd been in Seattle going on four months now, it was a year since Max barricaded herself in Terminal City and I still hadn't gone to check it out. I was finding it difficult to do what I'd come here for. I didn't have a barcode so why did I have to expose myself? Why did I have to join their little war?

I'd already gone to Max's old building and snuck into her apartment but there had been nothing there. Someone had already cleaned out her place or maybe she had done it herself. I was pretty sure most every other Transgenic had moved in to Terminal City as well, considering the ordinaries tended to hunt them down at every opportunity. We only knew what we saw on TV. 'EyesOnly' had made two appearances, the first listing the fallen Transgenics and calling for peace. The second feed had been to try and expose Ames White but that hadn't gone so well.

Krit believed it; he'd believed all of it even when I'd torn it all down with logic, another one of my little gifts. He just wouldn't budge and as stubborn as we both are I had to stop arguing with him. The look in his eyes... that was the day he told me about Max and Logan or 'EyesOnly'. Krit said that both were trying to make things better, make is so we didn't have to hide. The look he gave me said what he wouldn't say out loud.

He knows I don't care as much. He knows I'm happy just being at the ranch, away from the homosapiens. Just like I know he wants more, that he won't be content to just hide away or run. I know it isn't fair to them and I feel as if I have to do my part. For him.

Krit.

-X-

"Dude!" Gryph exclaimed. "You're a badass!"

The comics lay on the table in front of them still wrapped in plastic. They had only looked at the covers exclaiming gleefully every now and then about her mad skills then to the plans they had for their cut. Nÿx for her part was going to finally fix Ash considering it had been four months since the accident. She had a couple of 'favors' coming her way and she was about to cash them in for her bike.

"I wasn't sure at first..." Aric commented glancing at Nÿx where she was laid out on his couch. She was still wearing the dress which made it difficult for him to stop looking in her direction. For the moment she ignored them silently staring at the slowly twirling flower in her hand. One of the petals fell floating down gently to land on her chest. The bright red petal drew his gaze to the golden skin exposed by the low cut dress. Nÿx slowly pulled out more pins from her hair and let it fall over the arm of the couch.

"Don't doubt her man! Nÿx can do anything!" Gryph claimed with a wide grin then followed his look to where she was sitting up on the couch.

"No, I can't." Nÿx stated standing to glare at them. "And I won't."

"Huh- why you trippin?" Gryph asked sounding for a moment like Original Cindy.

"You've been hit one to many." Nÿx said tapping her temples with a glare at Gryph. "You sent me in there for comic books!"

"They're vintage." Aric protested.

"You pimped me out!" she exclaimed arms wide.

"Na-ah!" Gryph jumped to his feet. "You got it all wrong. There's this new thing, shits legal too."

"I don't care! Hooker, escort, call girl, whatever it is you boys call it its still the same thing. You," she glared pointing a finger at each one. "Got paid so some guy could fuck me!"

Both men had the decency to look slightly shamed by her words. It didn't lessen her desire to hurt them. Nÿx wasn't sure if she just wanted to strangle them or wipe their minds when Gryph spoke.

"You were a 'Companion'."

"A what?" Nÿx asked quietly. If they'd known her better both would have stopped there, as it was Gryph went on to explain exactly what that was. The look on her face changed with each word he spoke until the last thing either man felt was a hot flash and lots of twitching.

-X-

I was a couple of thousand dollars up from a week before and immediately went off in search of my own apartment. It sounds easy but not so much in reality. I walked around the city searching plenty of empty places, abandoned buildings even some rundown houses as a last resort but there was just nothing remotely livable by my standards. Guess a girl needs to lower her standards to Seattle standards.

Somehow I just couldn't bring myself to do that. I guess I was so used to life at the ranch that being in the city now-. I just hadn't realized how much Syl, Krit and Zane had done for me. How hard they had worked to provide a safe and 'luxurious' life for me. I doubted life had been so easy for them in the beginning. Thinking about that I felt the guilt weigh down on me even more.

"Damn." I knew what I had to do and it was time I stopped procrastinating. I headed back to Aric's apartment with the beginnings of a plan forming.

"Why? I mean I don't have to go right away…" and I didn't but then I passed by the perfect heist. So what if I had a couple of thousand in my pocket? I could always use another couple...

-X-