Graverobber walked down an old alleyway. It was dark, but dawn would be coming in an hour or so. He tried to appear uninterested in his whereabouts, knowing that it had to seem casual. Shilo had outlined an intricate map for him to walk through, making sure he'd pass two or three of Amber's known "friends". They expected her to show up in minutes.
"So I'm bait." He'd said, watching Shilo climb up a rusty fire escape while he stayed down below. He made sure to steal a glance up at her ass while she climbed, loving how the black fabric clung to her hips.
"You're the lure." She had said to him, swinging herself over a railing onto a platform.
"Is that supposed to mean I'm sexy bait?" He called up to her.
He saw her neon pink goggles flash from inside a broken window.
"Just make your rounds, Graves," the lights disappeared, replaced with blackness. "I'll be around!" he heard, then nothing.
So Graverobber had walked his usual route, making sure he was seen, even making a few sales. Eventually he made it to the alley he frequented most nights. The dumpster he'd slept in just two nights ago now made him wrinkle his nose in disgust. Shilo's warm, cotton, soft sheets had spoiled him in just one short night.
He lifted the lid and assessed the filth.
So gross.
A clang from somewhere behind him made Graverobber jump. He dropped the dumpster lid with a loud 'thunk'.
"You!" a loud, nasal voice called to him. Graverobber turned and saw exactly what he expected. Amber Sweet strut towards him. She wore a long, platinum blonde wig of big curls and a red cocktail dress covered in crystals and tassels. Even her knee-high boots had fringe swishing around her ankles as she walked.
Her chain-studded ape-men stand on either side of her, staring blankly ahead.
Graverobber slips his face into his trademark grin.
"Shop's closed for the night." He says with a shrug. Amber slaps him hard across the face.
"You gutter rat!" She shrieks, "think you can blow me off for months and laugh in my face!"
Graverobber swaggers away from her reach, "You haven't had your own face in years."
Her lips twist into a snarl and Graverobber was sure the fake mole would pop right off her cheek.
"I'm gonna lock you up and dope you up and fuck you up so hard, you won't even remember your own name!" She screeches.
"Like hell you will." Shilo's voice rings through the alley. Amber spins away from Graverobber just in time to see her meatsack body guards fall unconscious and Shilo, tossing two empty syringes aside.
Graverobber sucks in a breath, he has no idea what's going to happen now.
A world class bitch fight?
The sexiest murder he'd ever seen?
Or the gruesomest?
"What are you doing here Wallace?" Amber sneers at her, hands on hips.
Graverobbers head snaps back and forth. Shilo? Wallace? Amber? What?!
"Wallace?" He had to say. Amber spins back to him.
"You see her there?" She says, pointing to Shilo who was standing calmly between the two men's bodies. Graverobber snorts.
"She's certainly something to see." He says, winking at Shilo.
Amber scoffs.
"Please, she's just some pathetic, sickly, orphan!" Amber takes two steps towards her, blonde curls bouncing. "Trying to save the world since daddy died."
Shilo moves close enough that Graverobber can see the anger in her eyes.
"My father was murdered you silicone, skinned, saline sipping, waste of a mouth." She says, the words making Amber shrink down in fear, "He was shot and bled out in front of a stiches-laced crowd with nothing better to do than watch with mock-sympathy and chat about the next day over coffee and painkillers."
Amber backs away from Shilo's menacing words. Her back finding the brick wall.
Graverobber wanted to clap, cheer, throw a fist in the air because he agreed with everything Shilo said. But he could see that she was not finished.
"Now, I told you exactly what to do. Why am I hearing about people being tortured? Do I need to reiterate my instructions? Again?" Shilo demanded. Amber pointed to Graverobber.
"Well he sees you. Can't pretend you're dead anymore! Can't keep pretending you're not real and I'm crazy! He can tell everyone I'm not crazy." Amber puts her hands back on her hips and Graverobber suddenly could not contain himself. He laughs.
Amber's proud smile wavers and she stares at him. Graverobber doubles over, his guffaws bouncing off the stone alleyway. He looks at Shilo and she grins, probably the most adorable thing he's ever seen.
When Graverobber's stomach finally felt like it was going to burst open, he straightens up and looks at Amber.
"You are crazy, batshit crazy, if you think I'm the person who's going to help someone like you." He says, moving a step closer to Shilo.
"Do you even know what this psycho bitch is doing?!" Amber pleads, "She's the crazy one!" Shilo sends a hand flying and it strikes Amber right across the face.
"Do not call me that." Shilo warns. Amber rubs the red splotch forming on her cheek, her gaze finds Graverobber again.
"She's why I wanted to find you. Why I've been combing the streets. Burning all the bodies. Cleansing all the Z-addicts. I was trying to find you." Her eyes glitter and her upper lip quivers; a well practiced trick.
"Yeah well," He says, putting an arm around Shilo who leans into it graciously, "She found me first. And I like it that way."
Amber's face transforms to a glare, she turns to Shilo.
"I'm gonna kill you for this Wallace. I'm gonna strap you down and pull that twisted little brain out through your ugly ass nose!" She growls. Shilo whips her hand up and plunges a syringe into the side of Amber's neck. Her knees wobble and she slides down to sit against the wall, her eyes fluttering shut.
"What was that?" Graverobber asks, leaning in to poke Amber's chin.
"Anesthesia combined with a mild hallucinogenic." Shilo tosses the empty syringe down the alley. "She won't know what was a dream or what was real. Just that she got smacked hard in the face." Shilo smiles up at Graverobber. "When I first started trailing her, she'd keep trying to make people believe her but they'd just call her insane. When Luigi threatened to take the company from her, she backed down. Now she never mentions it."
Graverobber smiles back at her.
"That's genius."
"Thanks." Shilo reached down and laced her fingers through his. "Sun's coming up. We should go home." She pulled him along the narrow street and into the rising sunlight, he followed willingly.
Home, he thought, leaving the dumpster and Amber festering behind him.