Marius returned that same night, about an hour after dinner. Though the others would ask, insistently, where he had been, Marius refused to answer. He would shake his head, hold up his hands, and cryptically say "I was out."
Beriven and Mystery, unconvinced, cornered him shortly other the others had gone to bed.
"You saw the Boss." Beriven said. Mystery looked over to him with a shocked expression on his face, and then stared at Marius, stunned.
Marius nodded, slowly.
"Was it a test? Throwing Damos at us like that?" Beriven asked.
Marius nodded again, his eyes fixed on the floor.
"You don't look like we passed." Mystery said, after a moment.
Marius' expression changed quickly. His eyes widened, and he stood straight, waving his hands apologetically. "No no. The Boss should be happy."
"What did the Boss want us to prove, Merry?" Beriven asked.
Marius sat down at their makeshift table, and rested his arms against it. "The Boss wants to know if he can use us. He wants to get the orphans of Vos Ma'ar off the streets, because we're all starting to annoy him."
"As the orphans get older, they get bolder." Mystery said, quietly. Marius and Beriven regarded him for a moment, then both nodded.
"Instead of skivving from dumpsters and begging, we steal and mug people. Break into homes." Marius said. "The protection tax isn't buying the city what it used to, and people get angry. Then the boss would have to step in. Which as he said, would either involve having us thrown out of the city, or killed."
"So how does this affect us?" Beriven asked.
"As our protection tax, he wants us to start integrating the orphans into the city. Find them work, educate them when and where we can, teach them how to take care of themselves. He wants them well enough off that he can punish them individually if they step out of line." Marius said.
"What does he mean by that, punish them individually?" Beriven asked, perplexed.
"He said that street kids aren't recognized. But if they have jobs, become part of the community, and commit crimes, he can isolate who does it and deal with them."
"Oh. So he actually provides protection for his protection tax?" Beriven asked, bemused. "Weird. Did he say he would help us get set up?"
"He wants to see what we come up with, first." Marius replied.
"Ah." Mystery said, and both boys turned to him. "This means we're going to need to tell Anita to stay on job-hunting. And the two of you," Mystery pointed at Beriven and Marius. "Need to get what you need to start a school."
"What? We can't run a class." Beriven said.
"You can read, and Merry has already started teaching Thema and Bug. You two are the only option."
"Why do we need to teach them how to read?" Marius asked. "Don't we need to find them jobs and get them a place to live?"
"They have to learn, if they want to have a future." Mystery insisted. "Even as an orphan, someone who can read is worth a lot more than someone who can't."
"He's serious, Merry." Beriven answered. "There isn't a lot of work out there if you can't read."
"So I guess we need to set up a school then, huh?" Marius asked.
"We don't need to. But we should." Mystery said,
"Agreed." Beriven nodded. "We do it properly, or we don't waste our time."
"Profound." Marius said, with an awed voice as he rolled his eyes.
"Sarcastic." Beriven countered.
"Anyway, where are we going to set up a school? It's not like we make enough money to rent a building from someone." Marius asked.
"We're sitting in our answer." Mystery said.
Both boys stared at him in confusion.
"Do we pay rent here?" Mystery asked, as an explanation.
Their slack, confused expressions shifted, at the exact same time, into startled recognition. "I get it!" Beriven exclaimed. "We don't pay rent here, either. I can't believe we didn't think of that right away." He added, looking at Marius.
"Great minds think alike." Marius shrugged.
"And fools seldom differ." Mystery added. "We should start close to home."
"Nearby warehouses, huh? I thought we grabbed this one because it was the only one that wasn't being used or full of stuff." Beriven said.
"It's why I picked this one." Marius admitted. "But I wasn't thorough. I just grabbed the first abandoned one I could find. I stopped looking after that point."
"Well, we probably weren't the only ones to come up with the idea, so no one should do this alone." Beriven said. "I'll take Thug and Thema, we all share the same days off. We should be able to find something fairly quickly, but I don't know what kind of condition it will be in."
Mystery nodded in assent.
"What kind of things should we get for a classroom? Marius asked. "I mean, paper's all well and good, but we'll go through a lot of it teaching kinds how to write."
"I thought we were teaching them how to read?" Mystery noted.
"It's the same thing." Marius replied. "I was thinking of something like a memory film screen, something we can keep re-using."
"That's expensive, isn't it?"
"It'd cost less than the tonne of paper we're going to use if I'm teaching a dozen kids to write." Marius said. "Not to mention it saves on pencils."
"Which we need more of, by the way." Beriven said. "This is our last one." He added, holding up a short stub.
"I thought I put it on the last list." Marius said, musing.
"You did. Bug just didn't recognize 'pencil'." Beriven replied.
"Oops." Marius admitted, shaking his head.
"Memory film, were you thinking of a big one, or a bunch of small ones?" Beriven asked.
"Both, hopefully." Marius said. "It depends on what we can find cheap."
"Or free." Beriven added. "You know, I think we should have two levels for reading. Basic and advanced, you know?"
"What's the difference?" Marius asked. "You can either read, or you can't."
"No no. There's reading signs, and there's real reading. Like reading books and stories. We really should do both." Beriven insisted.
Though Mystery sat through the entire conversation, which carried long hours into the night, he didn't contribute another word to the conversation. The knowing smile never left his lips, even as fatigue eventually dulled their enthusiasm, and sleep overtook the pace of their planning.
The next evening brought some of the heaviest, darkest clouds the city of Vos Ma'ar had seen in anyone's memory. Stormclouds brought thunder and fierce winds, and though the warehouse guarding the Lucky Orphans was well prepared to endure the storm, the largely untested courage of the children inside was not.
"Ah!" Bug screamed, as something heavy rattled against the roof.
"I think it's just a tree branch, Bug." Beriven said, holding a hand against the youngest boy's shoulder. Bug shuddered involuntarily, but said nothing in response.
"Is it? You sure it's not someone's roof?"
"We'd be able to tell." Anita said, half-heartedly.
"How?" Bug asked.
"It'd be louder." Beriven assured him.
Something else hammered against the roof, louder than before. The noise was loud enough to cause the cups on the shelf to rattle in place, and cause the children to cover their ears.
"Was that someone's roof?" Bug shrieked, barely hearing his own voice.
"Sounds like." Thema agreed, looking nervously towards the source of the noise. "Do you think our roof is okay?"
"I'll go check." Marius said, slithering out of his sleeping bag and groping for his socks.
"Anita and I should go with you." Thug said.
"Use a rope. There's a bunch of it in the supply room. Tie one end to Anita, and tie the other end to the support beams near the causeway." Beriven said.
"Good idea." Marius admitted. "You okay with that?"
"It's fine." Anita said. "But you all owe me a hot shower sometime soon."
"As soon as we get hot water." Beriven said. Mystery shook his head sadly at that, but didn't volunteer anything else.
The three of them stepped away and out of the room.
"Berry?" Tha'varr asked, quietly. She had to ask twice to be heard over the rain.
"Yeah?
"I have tea. I found a patch of fitch-lin bushes a few weeks ago, and wanted to save it. But if they're going to be out in the rain..." Tha'varr started.
Beriven rolled in his sleeping bag until he was next to her. "You like him, huh?" He whispered. The words barely carried past his own lips, with the roar of the weather around them.
"What?" Tha'varr exclaimed, loudly.
"Merry, you like him." Beriven repeated, just as quietly as before.
"No. Stop saying stupid things." She insisted, harshly.
"Hey, I think it's cute. Though I really don't know what the babies are gonna look like." Beriven added.
Tha'varr, despite being wrapped up in her sleeping bag, rolled around and slugged Beriven in the shoulder.
The blow was hard enough to be heard over the rain, and Beriven winced in pain as he rolled away.
Despite the pain, the grin never left Beriven's face. "Good hit." He said.
He rolled out of the sleeping bag, and added "I think the tea would be nice. They'll be pretty cold when they get back inside."
Tha'varr grimaced, and said "Sorry, Berry."
"Don't be." He said. "I earned it." He frowned, then looked out the window towards the far end of the warehouse. "That's odd."
"What?" Tha'varr asked.
"I didn't think they'd come back in through the front door." He answered.
It surprised the two boys, to see how well built their warehouse was. The clamor of the rain and small sticks that bounced against the reinforced building were quite loud for a small child listening carefully for noises, but compared to the deafening downpour that splattered noisily against metal and concrete, it was quiet and peaceful.
"Do you see anything?" Thug shouted into the distance, to the barely discernible figure of Anita as she hopped along the roof. The rope, tied to her waist with a makeshift harness, was drawn almost taunt, their only clue that she was still upright and moving.
"What?" Marius asked, despite standing barely two feet away.
Thug turned to him and grinned, a smile that Marius returned.
"What the hell are we doing out here, Merry?" Thug asked.
"That big crash, we're checking to make sure it didn't do any damage." Marius responded, giving the rope one quick tug.
After a moment, there was a single tug from the other end.
"Nothing yet." Marius told Thug.
They waited in silence a while longer, as the rope slowly turned another few degrees. Anita was now completely hidden by the driving rain, not even a slightly darker silhouette against the damp dark.
"Do we have anything warm in the kitchen?" Thug asked.
"What, like that cocoa stuff from Courescant?" Marius asked in turn.
"No, I was thinking more like soup. A fire and a bath would be nice, too." Thug mused.
"Stop talking. It's hard enough to stay out here." Marius admitted.
"Right." Thug said, staring off into the distance.
The rope tugged once, softly, and turned another few degrees.
Marius leaned over the railing a little, and asked "This roof is pretty solid, huh?"
"Yeah. It's inch thick metal panels over top of wood and steel reinforced concrete." Thug explained.
"Why do you know so much about it?" Marius asked.
"They teach it to me at the spaceport. They want me to learn how to create mixtures to make buildings. There's a guy who says he can teach me how to make durasteel."
"Really?" Marius asked. He whistled into the distance. "That's huge. A real future, you know?"
"Yeah. But I owe it to all of us."
"So this roof can easily handle this weather, huh?" Marius asked. Thug looked a little hurt, it seemed that there was something else he wanted to talk about.
"Well, yeah. I think it's meant to handle a lot worse." Thug admitted.
"And these other warehouses were made the same way, huh?" Marius asked.
"Yeah." Thug said.
"So it wasn't a piece of another warehouse that hit the roof." Marius said, softly. Thug's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment.
"Probably not." He concluded.
"So what hit the roof?" Marius asked, looking at Thug seriously.
Thug's expression was one of sudden, fearful confusion.
Beriven slid out of his sleeping bag and stood up, staring out the window.
"What are you worried about? It's just them, isn't it?" Tha'varr asked.
"Kill the lights, quick!" Beriven rasped, scrambling to the doorway and latching it shut. He started to pull one of the tables in front of the door as the others gathered.
"Isn't it just the others?" Thema asked.
"Not unless they all used the rope to climb down the building. We took out the ladder after Damos." Beriven said. "Quickly, everyone, find every other entrance and lock them."
The others scattered, Bug and Thema moving first towards the smaller rooms in the bottom floor. Mystery went to the smaller offices, and Tha'varr moved to follow.
"No. Thav'arr, go find Merry. Let him know what's going on."
"Where are you going?" She asked in response. Beriven was moving to the cold storage in the back, already fiddling with the latches.
"Weapons. I've stashed some clubs, and an Ion cutter in here." Beriven explained.
Tha'varr nodded, and started running towards the roof.
She could hear heavy breathing, and footsteps, up ahead. She covered her mouth to keep quiet, and turned to look for a hiding place.
With a startling click, the lights suddenly went out.
In the dark, two very strong hands grabbed her. A hand fell over her own, stifling her scream, and she was picked off the ground. She kicked and flailed, until she was swung suddenly to the side. She hit something hard, and her thoughts fell silent.
The roof lights went out suddenly, just as they finished pulling Anita back up and over the railing.
"Anything at all?" Marius asked, shouting over the rain. Over the last few minutes, it had started again with an intensity that threatened to deafen the three children.
"Nothing. No pieces missing, not even a dent." Anita said. "Can we go inside? I can't see a thing out here anymore, and I'm cold."
Marius nodded, and turned to Thug as he let Anita by. "Why did the lights go out?" Thug asked. "Is the roof leaking?"
"Anita didn't see anything, and the circuit box is in the basement. All the lights went out at the same time, so it's not just one wet light."
"Someone shut them down at the circuit box?" Thug asked.
Anita opened the door, which was just as dark as the sky outside.
"Merry, I thought I left the lights on!" Anita exclaimed. "Sorry!"
"Funny, I thought she did, too." Thug muttered, following inside after her.
Marius grabbed Thug by the shoulder and pulled to spin him around. In a quiet voice, barely heard over the rain, he said "She did."
"So the power's out." Thug said.
"No. Someone turned it off." Marius replied, shaking his head. "This isn't good, Thug." He added. His face was pale, suddenly loosing the red he had carried in the cold.
"You're paranoid, Merry." Thug said. "We just lost the power in this old warehouse, that's all."
Marius shook his head. "Humor me." A little louder, he said "Anita, be careful."
"Of course." She replied, starting down the service ladder.
"Hey, the lights are out down here, too. There's a little light, though." She said, talking just loud enough for Thug to hear at the top of the ladder.
"The emergency lights." Thug said thoughtfully.
"Let's head down." Marius said. "No one uses the circuit box to turn off the lights. I think there's someone else here."
"I think you're right." Thug agreed, starting down the ladder.
Thug was only halfway down, and Merry had just put his foot on the top rung, when Anita let out a scream. They could hear scuffling, and Marius heard a sudden thud.
Afraid suddenly, he saw the last noise came from Thug, who had leapt from the ladder and was scrambling in the dark after them. Anita screamed again, and the sound of heavy blows seemed to echo in the corridor.
The lights came back on as Marius scrambled to the bottom of the ladder, and he saw Thug grappling with someone at least a head taller than him. Another had Anita pinned to the floor, and was shouting at his companion to hurry.
"Why the hell are the lights back on?" The one holding Anita down said, staring over at Thug. He didn't turn his head back in time, as Mariu's foot connected with his head.
He rolled on the ground and looked back, glaring at Marius and reaching into a pocket. Anita threw herself after him, her hands darting towards his eyes. "Anita, he has a weapon!"
She ignored him, and her thumb connected sharply with his left eye. He cursed and threw his head backwards, his eyes clutching his face and the thing he grabbed from his pocket clattering to the floor.
Marius scrambled for it before he saw what it was, and only stopped to look at it once he had it in his hands.
"Merry, go help Thug!" Anita shouted.
Marius suddenly knew what he held.
A short vibroblade.
He stepped over to Thug quickly and pressed the blade against his attacker's throat, who suddenly went limp.
"Shit! Don't kid!" He screamed, pressing his head as far away from the knife's edge as he could.
Marius backed him into the wall, the edge pressed just slightly into his neck. The only sounds that could still be heard were the screams of the attacker Anita had wounded.
"Thug, keep the other guy down. Hit him if you need to." Marius said.
Almost immediately, he heard a hard thump, and the screaming suddenly stopped. Marius turned back to the man at knifepoint, and asked "What are you doing here?"
"Blast it, kid! We were just here to rob you!" He responded quickly, still quivering from the knife at his throat.
Marius saw, in his mind, a red flash pass right through where his head was. Not understanding, but on reflex, he threw his head backwards and let himself fall to the floor. He hadn't even hit the ground, as he saw a sudden, brilliant flash of red light.
When he hit the ground, he looked around wildly to see everyone else staring down the corridor. Following their eyes, he looked to see the sihouette of one more person, wearing a heavy cloak, with a shiny piece of metal in one hand, pointed straight at the spot where his head used to be.
"Those are some slick reflexes, kid." The figure said, stepping into the light. He looked to be only a few years older than any of Marius' friends, but the scars running under his eyes, and the eyes themselves, looked like they belonged to a much older person.
"But you shouldn't keep trusting your luck. Like my associate here said, we're just here to rob you. Tell us where you keep your cash, let us lock you in a closet or something, and we'll let you live."
"Merry, this is bad." Thug said. He shivered, and took a slow step backwards, stepping in front of Anita.
"Why should we believe you?" Marius asked.
"Because it's your best chance at living." The older boy replied. "You resist, and I just shoot you. I'd rather not, because it's a pain in the ass to recharge this thing. Which is why I'm making the offer."
Marius nodded. "We'll do as you say. If it gets you out of here faster, we'll take you to the money." He dropped the vibroblade to the floor, and stepped away from it.
The other boy snatched it up, and glared at Marius.
Marius dropped and rolled away as the other boy swung, and managed to scramble a few steps away before his attacker recovered.
"Leave it. If we start knifing the kids, this will take longer." He said. "Your pride isn't worth shit until we get some actual money."
"We've gotta get rid of the girl, at least. She put her thumb through Monkey's eye." The other boy replied, pointing his companion lying unconscious on the floor.
"What happened?" The boy with the gun asked, not stepping forward.
"She managed to get loose and attacked him. She got him in the eye before he could pull out his knife."
"Fuck!" The boy with the gun shouted. "This was supposed to be quick in and out. We cut the power, and round them all up before their eyes adjust to the darkness. That was the fucking plan, not for you morons to go and get diced up by kids!"
The boy with the gun fumed for a moment, and eventually, in a deathly quiet voice, said "We're going to go to the room with your sleeping bags, It's where we're keeping your other friends. I'll decide what to do with you there."
"But what about Monkey! Look at him, look at his eye! Are you really gonna let those kids get away with this?" His companion asked, indignant.
"We can't risk being here too long. If they tell us where the money is, we can still be out of the city before dawn." The boy with the run replied, though his voice sounded hesitant.
"So let's just start cutting her up till she talks." The other boy replied, flicking the vibroblade out. "Then we kill her."
"You really up for that?" The boy with the gun asked. He sounded a little sick.
"For Monkey's eye? I'll carve their gonads out and feed it to them." The other boy replied.
"Patch up Monkey. I'll take these damn kids to their friends, and I'll think of what to do with them from there."
"Sure. We'll kill them all there." He replied. Marius waved to his friends, and they stepped away from the boy named Monkey, putting as much distance from his knife-wielding friend as they could.
"This isn't worth a hundred Ducats." The boy with the gun muttered to himself, putting himself between his companions and Marius. "You," he said sharply, pointing the blaster to Marius. "The situation changed. Not all of you are going to live. But if you get me at least a hundred Ducats, only she will die." He finished, pointing the gun towards Anita. "Two hundred, and I might be able to get away with just a blaster shot to the leg, and a missing eye. Think about it, while we walk."
Marius nodded, and the three of them started walking slowly, followed carefully by the boy with the gun.
"Fuck, this didn't go well." The boy with the gun muttered to himself.
"It'll go worse, if you kill any of us. We pay the protection tax, you know." Marius added.
The boy with the gun looked harshly at Marius for a moment, trying to make up his mind about something. "You're full of it, kid." He eventually finished.
"I'm serious. Deadly serious. Rob us, and the Boss may not kill you when he catches up to you. Especially if he finds out you took injuries and still spared us. Kill any of us, though, and he'll string you up in the market square. You know how it goes. It's why us orphans never do things like this!" Marius insisted.
"You're a smooth talker, but I can smell the bullshit." The boy with the gun replied, though he sounded uncertain.
"If you thought we have the kind of money to make us worth robbing, why wouldn't we pay the protection tax?" Marius asked.
His words stopped the boy, and the gun was now pointed to the ground. "Fuck, shut the hell up kid."
He followed them in silence for a moment, and said "Well, you make a good point, so we'll let the money you get for us decide. If we get a good load, it means you pay the protection tax, and we'll make a run for it. If we don't, it means we're free to kill your cute little friend, and you too, for good measure."
The children were gathered in the large office they used as a bedroom, with three of their attackers set on the outside of the door. With only a single entrance, and two large observation windows, meant that once corralled, the group was easy to keep inside.
"Where's Berry?" Thema whispered. Marius could barely hear it, even though her mouth was almost touching his ear.
Marius shrugged in answer, at which Thema smiled.
Marius turned to Mystery and Bug, who were busy nursing Tha'varr. She had a nasty looking wound on her head, which they were taking turns holding closed with dish towels.
He walked over to them, and took the rags from Bug, who looked over to him and tried to smile. "She should be okay. Mystery said head wounds just bleed a lot."
"Good." Marius said, softly. "Okay, how much money do we have right now?"
"Fifty three Ducats." Mystery said.
"That's a lot." Marius replied, a little louder.
"We were saving for things, then the emergency, and now the school. Besides, it's right after payday for a lot of us." Bug said. "And the grocery budget is still here."
"Okay. Fifty three ducats might do it, but I'm honestly not sure. I was talking with the guy I think is their leader. I have him convinced that we might be paying the protection tax. He needs to see a certain amount of money to believe me, or else we obviously don't have money to pay the boss." Marius explained.
"Doesn't he know that everyone under 19 is exempt?" Bug asked.
"How did you find out about that?" Marius asked in turn.
"Well, Mr. Eston told me, first day on the job." Bug replied.
"If you hadn't found a job, you wouldn't have known. So I don't think he does, either." Marius lowered his voice again, and said "Anita's life depends on this working. She injured one of them defending us. Gouged out his eye. Unless they think they're in more danger by hurting or killing us, they'll kill her."
They all turned to Anita, who sat in a corner with a kitchen rag, wiping her thumb periodically. She shook, quietly, and shuddered a little despite how warm it was inside.
"So Bug, if you, Thema, Thug or Beriven have anything else stashed away personally, crack it out now. We might need it."
Bug nodded fiercely, and Mystery smiled despite the black eye he now sported. Marius walked away from them and towards Anita, who's hands had started shaking badly, and was now gripping the dish rag hard enough to rip it a little.
"We'll get out of this okay, Anita."
She looked at him strangely, and said "I hurt someone, Merry."
"You did. It was really brave." Marius admitted.
"And I'm gonna die, aren't I? That guy I hurt is one of them, and they'll want revenge. Are they gonna hurt me first, Merry?"
"No." Marius insisted. "And they won't kill you."
"You can't know that." Anita said.
"No, I can't." He admitted. He took a deep breath, and said "But even if it's a snowball's chance in a supernova, I'll take it anyway."
Anita looked at him sharply, suddenly worried. "No Merry, don't. You're already on thin ice with these guys. They might kill you if they stick your neck out too far."
"Like I said, I'll take it anyway." Marius said fiercely.
Anita stared at him, silently, until tears forced her to shut her eyes and turn away.
"Besides, Berry is out there still. Who knows what he'll come up with."
Quietly, as silently as he could allow himself to move, Beriven moved away from where he lay hidden, when he finally felt assured that he knew how many of them had stormed the place.
He counted six, the most dangerous of whom, the one who scared Beriven the most, was the calm looking tall one with a blaster pistol. One of the others was incapacitated, moaning over a damaged eye. The shrieks had died down, but before they did, Beriven heard him scream about a girl who did this to him. Beriven was pretty sure Anita did it, as both Thema and Tha'varr had been captured before then.
Beriven felt a fierce swell of pride in seeing them alive still, despite what had happened. He could see everyone else in that room, mostly unhurt, which meant Marius had said something that now had them arguing in a different room.
Beriven had a fair bit of time to think, stuck in a small closet while the worst of this passed. He knew that he couldn't take on five or six people at once, and that he might endanger his friends by trying. He also knew that he wouldn't improve their situation by revealing himself yet, since Marius had managed to talk them into keeping his friends alive. They had a fair bit of money, but definitely not enough to satisfy that group if one of their own was badly hurt.
There situation was pretty hopeless, really, unless something changed. And nothing about their situation suggested that it would.
Quietly as he could, he crept out to the front door, and opening it, slipped out into the night.
"How much have we got?" Marius asked, as Mystery and Bug came back from small corners of the room.
"Fourteen Ducats in total. That's everyone except Beriven, and he probably didn't keep anything for himself." Bug said.
"Yeah." Marius agreed. "Sixty seven ducats in total. That's a lot of food."
"Well, it's worthless to us if we don't live through tonight." Bug insisted.
"Not that. I'm just worried it's not enough to keep Anita safe." Marius said.
"What about you, Merry?" Bug asked. "Aren't you in danger too?"
"Not as much. As soon as we pulled over forty ducats, I was pretty sure most of us would be okay." He handed the lot of it to Bug, and said "Hang on to this for a bit. I'll go hit the door and see if I can talk to them."
Marius stepped towards the door, and held out his hand to knock.
Before he could, the doors were pushed open, and two very angry faces stepped into view, carrying makeshift cudgels. Neither of them were ones Marius recognized.
One of them backhanded Marius, hard enough to make him stumble out of the way. "Which one of you hurt him?" They asked, loudly.