Rebound

Chapter VI

Casey glanced at his watch again, April was probably wondering where the hell he was by now. All the same, it wasn't like she called to find out. She'd been calling a lot less since the whole Winters episode started. Casey told himself things were better this way, but inside he was starting to miss the nagging, at least it meant she still gave a damn.

He'd been sitting on the patio at the Delaware pub nursing the same bottle of beer for over an hour. The girl who'd been waiting on his table was starting to get annoyed and it was showing, she already came by to ask if he'd like to order anything else five times already. His response had gone from an initial, friendly "Thanks but no thanks, ma'am" to a half-hearted shrug. The pub was across the road from 2nd Time Around, which had been closed down for just over a month. The one part-time employee April could afford to have on staff had left at the beginning of the summer to go abroad and no one else had shown any interest in the 'Help Wanted' sign in the window since then. April had been coming and going all summer with her research and archaeological ventures, so business had been down to begin with. What Casey had been trying to figure out over the last few nights were who these kids were and why they kept meeting up in front of the store, talking, exchanging envelopes and studying the building's exterior. With all the heat April had been getting from the media lately, Casey was worried they were selling lies to the papers or planning a prank on her or something. Whatever they were up to, it didn't sit well with Casey and he was determined to get to the bottom of it once he knew just what he was dealing with. Three of them had just showed up on foot, he'd seen these ones before.

The youngest looking was a girl, probably mid-teens with bleached out hair, fair skin and a loud green track jacket. She was pacing around and kept peaking into the window of the 2nd Time Around storefront impatiently. Her accomplices were two teen males, the taller of the two was Asian and the other white, both dressed down in black. They looked too well dressed for their age, there was something off about how they carried themselves. The Asian wore a dark sport jacket, designer jeans and wing tipped shoes, for starters. Casey had seen the other kid's watch at a distance and it looked more expensive than the watches most of April's contract bosses wore. His long sleeved dress shirts, worn with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, were always pressed and starched. Casey could only speculate what the black leather messenger bag he carried with him at all times held. Whatever they were dabbling was obviously paying well, but what did it have to do with April?

Eventually a fourth figure showed up, but Casey didn't recognize him from any of the previous nights. Another teen male who looked awkward and out of place among the others. Casey was pretty sure he wasn't one of the usual suspects. Sure, the girl with the bleached out hair didn't dress like her male counterparts, but the trio shared the same attitude and mannerisms once they got to talking. Casey glanced around the patio for his waitress, who had disappeared inside the pub for the first time all evening. Fishing a ten out of his pocket, he left it on the table and grabbed his jacket and motorcycle helmet, it was time to get some answers.

o0o

The fourth figure was shuffling back and forth, looking into the distance as he spoke. "I've got other sources interested in these, so if you can't offer anything up front, I'm gonna have to move on." he said defensively, clutching a photo envelope tightly under crossed arms. The Asian male, Dylan, glanced over at his partner who was staring straight ahead at their informant before stepping forward, reaching for a billfold in his back pocket.

"There's no third party, so you can cut the bullshit right now," he began, leafing through the wallet casually before pulling out a small sealed envelope, "if you're serious about working with us again, this will do for now. We're being more than generous."

As Dylan was finalizing the deal with their informant, Chris, the young woman, spotted a motorcycle that had been idling just up the street from them long enough to catch her attention.

"Eddie," she began in a low voice, while moving in close beside Edison, "what about him? I saw that guy across the street at the Delaware earlier, but he's just been idling on that bike watching us for the past few minutes." Edison's back was to the biker in question, but he didn't dare turn around. He didn't need anyone suspicious getting a good look at his face.

"Everything's fine" He replied quietly, looking Chris in the eye. "I want you to take the photos and go down Longbranch until you hit Royal, then sit in the Bistro until you're ready to walk to Dylan's. Just don't run, no one's going to bother you." Chris nodded, but she still looked uncomfortable. Without another word she stepped between Dylan at the informant, took the photo envelope from the stranger and began to walk away while tucking it in her jacket. Edison had already hailed a cab, and as it pulled up he was ushering Dylan to get in the back. Before the young leader of Vision began climbing into the taxi himself, he gave out one last instruction to his informant. "See that guy on the bike? He's going to come this way to get some answers out of you the minute we leave. Throw him off course and we'll double what's in that envelope. We'll be in touch soon." The door slammed, the cab veered off and the informant was left standing by the storefront, dumbfounded. Richer, but dumbfounded nonetheless. Casey Jones pulled up alongside him as if on cue and removed his helmet while dismounting the bike.

o0o

"Raph, I've got to tell you something." began Leo, staring at the bottom of his second empty glass of the evening. "This is, by far, the worst beer I have ever had the pleasure of drinking in your company."

"Oh I'm so sorry Fearless, never knew you were such an aficionado when it comes to booze." scoffed Raph, sitting back in his chair across the from his eldest brother at the kitchen table. Leo just grinned and shook his head, gesturing to Mikey to fill his glass again as he was already topping off his own.

"You're probably just used to tequila, sambuca.... all that exotic, south-of-the-border shit from your mission. Don't deny it, we know all your secrets." Mikey joined in as he finished pouring for Leo. "And you know what? Not bringing us back any souvenirs? Cold man, just cold."

"Yes, because it's obvious now how difficult it's been for you two to get your hands on alcohol when left to your own devices." sighed Leo, momentarily lapsing back to his usual self and wondering once again what he had got himself into. On that note, he took another swig of the god-awful Colt 45. Where was Donnie? It was becoming increasingly easier for Leo to blame his declining condition on his missing brother, all he needed now was for him to walk through the front door so he could bring everyone's attention to Donnie's predicament and away from his own indulgence. "Come on, we're going to watch Fight Club." he decided rather abruptly. It was one of those rare movies he and his brothers always agreed on, but he was reluctant to put it on while Master Splinter was hovering for what he thought were obvious reasons (Mikey? not so much.) Besides, Fight Club was almost three hours long. That would take the heat off him for awhile, right? He could sit in peace and wait for his delinquent brother to turn up, and Raph and Mikey would be none the wiser that he was quickly losing an uphill battle with his alcohol tolerance and that the taste of Colt was beginning to grow on him.

o0o

"So, Lisa came home tonight?" asked Dylan, turning to Edison who had been staring out the taxicab window in silence as they made their way towards Dylan's building.

"She did." the head of Vision replied, almost inaudibly. Dylan took this as a hint that Edison didn't want to talk about it until they were off the streets and somewhere more private. The car would be pulling up to the Croft Arms any minute, so the young second-in-command held his tongue and waited until they were in the building's elevator making their way up to the 11th floor before he attempted bringing Lisa into the conversation again.

"Well, Ed, it's been a good run. But you know we can't keep things going the way we have been now that your sister's back, and-"

"Would you stop it?" Edison cut in, looking Dylan straight in the eye. "This is my venture, not yours, and especially not hers. She's already got you on her moral soapbox, and now you're talking about turning your back on everything we've worked so damn hard for?"

"There's a difference between turning a profit on Vision and racketeering! We've gone from chasing ghosts to getting involved with gangs, multinational corporations, the Foot... feel free jump in any time. It's flat out bad business." The elevator door opened and Dylan let out a heavy sigh as he stepped out and head down the hall towards #1109, Edison trailing silently behind him. When the two entered the apartment it was pitch black, Dylan's shift-working parents made the place a dependable rendezvous point. Dylan flicked on the kitchen light and began rooting through the fridge for something to eat while Edison settled in at the kitchen table, picking up a coffee-stained newspaper. A calm had settled over room again.

"Lisa's at home if you want to go see her that badly, I sent her back to check on Blue." said Edison as Dylan joined him at the table with a plate of cold fries in one hand and his billfold in the other.

"The dog, huh? Couldn't deal with her running loose on her first night back?" Dylan was totalling the leftover cash from their transaction and writing down numbers on a memo pad as he spoke, paying more attention to the money than the conversation at hand. When he was finished he looked up at Edison across the table, sliding the pad towards him as he spoke. "Come on Ed, you can't turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper that doesn't have the Winters case all over it. Our end of it? No, not yet. But she's not stupid, she'll make the connections."

"It's too late for her, she made a choice when she left for the summer and has no business walking in on a project this far into it. O'Neil is due back in court next week and the entire thing is complicated enough as it is without bringing her up to speed. Besides, there's not enough to go around if she wants her cut of the deal, you've already allocated that lot to Chris."

"And incase you've already forgotten, we're still underpaying her." Dylan reminded his friend sternly.

"I haven't, or did you think those photos were for research? They're just overexposed damage shots from the construction site, one of them has unusual footprints in it." This got Dylan's attention, but he still looked like he was on the defence. "They're nothing we haven't catalogued in higher quality already, so we can afford to let these ones go to the skeptics papers and pad everyone's share." Edison's plans were usually easy for Dylan to predict, except for every once in awhile when he threw a curve ball like this one. On the one hand, he was happy that he, and especially Chris, were getting a little more financial recognition for their work. On the other, they had wasted a lot of time and effort tracking down that last informant to get a set of photos they had already archived, only to turn around and sell them again. They could have spent that time out in the field figuring out where the prints came from, considering that was the one major block in their investigation.

"I think I'll pass on your sister tonight, Ed." Dylan's quip brought a smile to both their faces and the tension in the room was gone again. Chris would be back any minute and since there was nothing to sell until the work week started again, the three would probably spend what time they had until one of Dylan's parents came home working on cases. Afterwards, some reckless online spending followed by a trip to the only liquor store for miles that couldn't tell Dylan from a senior at NYU was in order.