The rest of the plan was fleshed out over the next week as they learned more about their target. The pimp operated out of a small, three-story building six blocks from their apartment. Security was light, four bouncers on the ground floor and a simple ES system that was video only, no sound.
They decided that they would go in together, typical drunken college students celebrating Quatre's birthday. Once alone with Dix, the prostitute, they would slip her a mild tranquilizer, bought from a pharmacist who didn't ask questions. Then they'd escape with her out the window and drive off, hopefully without the pimp or the bouncers realizing it had happened until too late.
Duo parked a block away, and put some beer into a body-scent bottle and spritzed himself and Quatre with it.
"I hope you can act drunk." Duo muttered.
"Hey, I was in every single play my schools ever put on."
"Good enough for me, just don't over do it. Shall we go?"
"After you."
They headed up to the building, laughing and telling jokes, and pushing each other playfully. At the door, a large bouncer stepped in front of them menacingly. "What do you want?"
"Hey chill man!" Duo said and Quatre snickered. "We're just here to have fun! It's my buddy's b-day and I'm-a get him laid!"
"Duo!" Quatre laughed and blushed, shoving at Duo, hoping the bouncer wouldn't notice the guns hidden under their shirts.
"Is that so?" the bouncer crossed his arms and leveled a beady stare at them. Duo nodded, reaching into his pocket and pulled out a $100 bill, which he held out to the bouncer with a grin. The bouncer eyed the crumpled bill, then took it and stepped aside. "Go tell Manny what girl ya want."
"Thanks!" Quatre said brightly as Duo dragged him in. Manny wasn't hard to find, sitting behind a reception desk that took up most of the room inside.
"What girl do you want?"
"K, man, tell him what kinda girl ya want," Duo said, pushing at Quatre's shoulder. Quatre swayed a bit and let his eyes unfocus and his voice get dreamy.
"Hmm, brown hair, green eyes and tits out to here," he said, holding his hands out to indicate a size-able bust.
Duo, not sure whether to gape at his normally oh-so-polite friend or laugh at him, chose instead to lay another hundred on the table. "You got anyone like that?"
Manny casually took the hundred and looked at Duo with new pseudo-respect. "Yeah, I think I do. Anyone for you?"
Duo shook his head and grinned. "Nah, have to show him how it's done, y'know."
"Du-oo!"
Manny pressed a button on the intercom box. "Hey Johnny, two for Dix."
An acknowledgement crackled over the speaker and Duo shelled out two hundred dollars for an hour with Dix.
A few minutes later, a door to their left opened and Johnny beckoned from within. "This way."
"All right! C'mon Quat!"
"Hey, don't pull on me so hard!"
Johnny was silent as he led them up to the third floor. On the way, they saw several women, some standing in the doorway, others in the halls. Most had a haunted look on their face and were either smoking, drinking or sticking needles in their arms. Quatre did his best to avoid looking at them, his stomach twisting at the sight. No, don't think about it, just focus on getting Dix.
By the last staircase, Quatre began to whine, trying to stay in-character. "Why's it so far? Stairs suck!"
"It's all for the pussy man, just think about the pussy," Duo said encouragingly.
Quatre had to use all of his acting skills to not blush. It was appalling to think that people actually behaved like this. And the knowledge that Johnny probably thought that Quatre was actually like them was mortifying. The blonde wasn't even sure why he was worrying about it; he certainly wasn't going to see Johnny again after this.
They reached a door at last and Quatre forced his musings aside. The mission comes first, he told himself. Johnny knocked on the door.
"Yeah?" The voice that answered was airy and a little hoarse.
"I've got a couple of customers for ya."
"Oh." There were some rustling sounds, then a clunk and some cursing. "Okay, I'm ready." The door opened and Dix appeared. Her hair was glossy, but loose. Make-up couldn't hide the circles under her eyes, nor the sallow look of her skin. But as far as Quatre could tell, she wasn't actually on any of her drugs right then. She smiled when she spotted Duo and Quatre.
"Oh hey, you're hot. That's a relief."
Duo grinned back, as if he dealt with prostitutes all the time. "Hey you're not so bad yourself Sweetie. Right Quatre?"
Quatre swallowed and nodded, looking over Dix's scantily clad body. Soft blue and lacey lingerie that seemed a little too large on her made up her outfit.
"Yeah, beautiful," Quatre said, trying not to stare at her admittedly ample chest.
Dix actually giggled as she took his hand. "Aren't you sweet! C'mere Angel." Her voice became low and inviting.
"Uh…yeah," Quatre replied, feeling his cheeks heat despite his best efforts. He was suddenly struck by a flurry of doubts. What if they couldn't slip her the tranquilizer? What if the tranquilizer didn't act quickly enough and she actually started having sex with him? What if she was on drugs and they reacted with the tranquilizer? What if Johnny spotted their guns?
"Heh, newbie," he heard Duo snicker as his partner pushed on his lower back, making him follow Dix in.
Snap out of it. You've got a job to do, he scolded himself firmly, managing to smile at Dix. He heard the door close behind them and felt Duo move after them.
The room itself was fairly bare, with a blue-grey carpet and a pile of mismatched cushions and pillows in the corner instead of a bed. There was another door on their left, which led to a small bathroom. A mini-fridge was near the pile of cushions.
"Well, what do you want to do first, Angel?" Dix asked. Quatre hesitated, then spying the fridge, grinned and asked, "do you have anything to drink?"
Dix frowned. "What do you want a drink for?"
Quatre glanced at Duo, who shrugged minimally. "Umm…well…I-I've always wanted a girl to drink something from my mouth," the blonde finally stammered, feeling heat rising to his cheeks again. Dix looked a little doubtful, but shrugged and went to the fridge, brining out a beer.
"I don't get it, but you're the customer, right?"
While her back was turned, Duo, casually took off his jacket and tossed it over the security camera up in the corner, then handed Quatre the small capsule that held the tranquilizer in it. They didn't need to worry about sound, the system was video only. Dix turned around again and, opening the bottle with a small hiss handed it to Quatre. He accepted it, and just as he began to wonder how he was going to slip the tranquilizer into it, Duo solved it for him.
"Hey Dix, how 'bout helping me get this shirt off, hunh?" the brunette asked, tugging a little on his T-shirt. Dix shrugged again.
"Man, you two like fore-play a lot more than most of the guys that come here."
While her attention was on Duo, Quatre opened his mouth, broke the capsule and let the tranquilizer pool under his tongue, then gathered a decent mouthful of beer, being very careful to not swallow the tranquilizer himself. Then he carefully swished it around till it was all mixed together. He caught Duo's eyes, and nodded.
"Hey, I think he's ready for you now," Duo said suggestively, giving Dix's ass a squeeze and pointing her to Quatre. Dix came over to Quatre, and tilted her face to the side, opening her mouth, waiting for him to begin. Steeling himself, Quatre leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers, then slowly, carefully opening his mouth and shifting the beer and tranquilizer to her mouth. She swallowed as it flowed in, then pulled away with a small face once it was done.
"I need to get different beer, that stuff don't taste right."
Quatre watched her as her eyes glazed over slightly.
"Oh hey, I feel dizzy," she mumbled, closing her eyes, then dropped like a string-less puppet onto the cushions.
"Well shit, that was fast," Duo said, a note of worry in his voice. Quatre knelt down and felt her neck for a pulse.
"Her heartbeat's fine. We should go."
"Right." Duo strode over to the window and opened it, poking his head outside. "Hey, we were right, it is this side with the fire-escape."
"Thank God," Quatre muttered, wrapping Dix up in a blanket. Then he picked her up and cradled her to his chest. She was disturbingly light for a woman her age.
"You ready?" Duo asked. Quatre nodded. Duo swung out onto the fire escape, then waited as Quatre gently passed her through the window to him.
"Got her?"
"Yeah."
"Okay," Quatre said, and waited for Duo to shift out of the way before climbing out himself. He then closed the window as best as he could behind him.
"Hey, gotta come in for a sec, somthin's wrong with the electricity," they heard Johnny's gruff voice as he opened the door. He looked puzzled when they weren't in the room, then spotted them at the window. For a moment he and Quatre just blinked at each other, then Duo tugged on Quatre's arm and Quatre began to hastily climb down the fire-escape after him.
The window opened and they heard Johnny, "Get back here you fucks!" And two furious shots whizzed by. Duo, his arms still filled with Dix, swore, and Quatre quickly fired back, hitting Johnny right in the chest. Johnny got off another shot, grazing Quat's arm before he slumped over, finished.
"Quat, hold her for a sec," Duo ordered and the blonde took Dix a little dazedly, then watched as his partner leaped down. With a small cry, Quatre looked over the edge, only to see Duo picking himself up off of a pile of old mattresses.
"Toss her down to me!" The brunette called, holding out his arms. Quatre hestitated, then did as he asked. Quat heard a new voice in the room.
"Johnny what's taking so lo-what the fuck!"
"Quat, jump!"
Quatre leaped over the railing, landed in the mattress' with a bit more force than he was prepared for and momentarily lost his wind. But he climbed up quickly and he and Duo ran for the street. Once there Duo pulled up a hood on his sweatshirt that had been tucked inside, hiding his long hair. He handed Quatre a brown wig, which he put on after removing his jacket and wrapping it around Dix, then quickly wrapped the blanket around her waist as a passable skirt.
Duo and Quatre both shouldered Dix, making it look like they were supporting a drunk friend, and ventured out to their car, going a different way then they came. Quatre put her in the backseat, taking the time to buckle her in while Duo shook his head and started the car. They could see goons from the house combing the streets, but none of them noticed them in their quick disguises.
The blonde slipped into the front seat and they took off, heading for their drop-off point where their client had agreed to meet them. It was a small park, just a open area of grass with a quaint sidewalk through it, nothing more. The client strode over to their car as soon as Duo pulled up and stopped.
"Dix? Is she-?"
"Fine, we have her. She reacted kinda strong to the tranquilizer, you might wanna have her checked out," Duo said, pointing to the backseat. The client glanced back, then seemed to sag in relief.
"I'm so glad."
Duo coughed, getting her attention and held out his hand. "Two grand, plus four hundred for getting in, twenty for a new jacket, thirty for fire-exchange and five for gas," he said.
"Right, of course." The woman nodded and pulled out a small sack, quickly counted through some bills and handed them over. Duo handed them to Quatre, who re-counted them. Satisfied that it was the proper amount, he nodded to Duo who reached back and unlocked the back door.
The woman wasted no time in opening it and reaching in to get her friend.
"Do you want some help?" Quatre asked. She shook her head, gathered Dix up and stood up, toeing the car door shut.
"My car's just over there, I'll be fine. Thanks, again."
"Yeah, no problem," Duo said quietly, watching as the woman walked to her car. They waited until she had safely driven off before heading home themselves.
"How's your arm?" Duo asked quietly, not looking at Quatre.
"...Just a scratch, it's already scabbing over. I won't even need to wrap it."
"We'll still put antibiotic on it when we get home," Duo answered.
They didn't say much else on the way back.
That night, Duo tossed restlessly on his side of the bed, bothered by some reason he didn't know. Then it hit him; Quatre wasn't in bed. Duo sat up and peered around the dark room, catching sight of the blonde staring out the window, sitting on the small ledge, his knees pulled up to his chin.
"Can't sleep?" Duo asked quietly. Quatre jumped slightly, looking at him, then nodded.
"I keep seeing the girls there…how they all seemed beaten down, listless…and I keep thinking that I should've done something to help them."
Duo yawned and got up, shivering in the night air. "You know there wasn't anything we could have done, we were lucky to get away with getting Dix out," he said, walking over to Quatre. The blonde seemed to curl up a bit more.
"I know, but I can't help but think…if only it weren't for the pimp, they wouldn't be there, and I think, it would be so easy to go back there and just shoot the guy keeping them all there."
Duo shook his head. "It wouldn't help. That kind of work is the only way most of those women know how to live. If the pimp died, they'd just go to a new one."
Quatre shivered and hid his face. "It's not fair," he mumbled, sounding on the verge of tears. Duo felt his own eyes water at the sight of his sweet friend crying. "Quat, c'mere," he said softly, taking Quatre's hands and tugging on them. Quatre peeked up at him, then slowly unfolded and stood up. Duo led him to the bed, lay down and drew the blonde into his arms.
"It's impossible to save everyone Quat. So instead of thinking of the women still there, think of Dix and her friend. We saved her right?"
Quatre nodded, curling up into Duo's embrace.
"See? We might not be able to save everyone, but we can save some, and we'll have to be satisfied with that. You're a good guy, I don't want to see you depressed…"
"…I think what bothers me the most, is knowing that if you hadn't come along, I might've ended up like them…"
Duo tightened his hold on the slightly smaller youth. "I'll never let you end up like that."
Quatre looked up at him, blue eyes glistening in the pale light from the window. "Really?"
"Hey, I may run, I may hide, I may even steal, but I never lie," Duo said, giving his friend a smile. It drifted away again as he lifted a hand to brush Quatre's cheek. "You're too beautiful to let that happen to."
"Duo…" Quatre murmured, his voice slightly breathless. Duo realized what he was doing and took his hand away, his usual grin showing on his face.
"So, stop worrying about it, and let's get some sleep, okay?"
Quatre smiled back. "All right but…" rested his head on Duo's chest once more. "Can we stay like this? Just for tonight?"
Duo's heart seemed to forget how to beat for a moment, then started again like a rabbit to make up for it. "Anything you want, Quat," Duo replied, holding the blonde tightly.
Sorry it's taken so long, will put up another chappie right away, got bogged down with finals.