A/N: Still don't own anything. Please review.
Back at the press conference, a handsome vampire reporter who looks like he belongs on TMZ approaches Rodger. "Mr. Largo, how are you? The folks at home would to know… your thoughts and views about Zydrate use… and its abuses. Would you care to comment, sir?"
"Well, thank you sir!" Rodger says, putting his arm companionably around the reporter. "Let me direct the matter to my daughter, the mind behind the Zydrate support network. Welcome Rachel to the stage." He pauses, waiting, but she does not appear. He sings louder. "Welcome… Rachel… to the stage!" She still doesn't appear and the crowd begins to boo. Rodger looks furious.
Meanwhile in another dark, dank, and trash-strewn alley, Greta and Talbot burst in, panting slightly. Several tired and trashy-looking whores are lounging around, but seeing Talbot, they move in to circle him and Greta. The whores bear the vampire bite marks that show they are thralls or former thralls. One rather plump girl with many piercings in her face and wearing fishnets approaches Greta and starts touching her hair.
"How old are you?" she asks.
"Seventeen," Greta replies. Relatively true anyways. It was how old she had been when she was turned and it was how long she had been a vampire.
"I had my first surgery when I was thirteen. And thanks to Z, I couldn't feel or remember a thing. A month later… I was turning tricks." She walks away to join the circle of girls while Greta grimaces in disgust.
Talbot just stands in the middle of the circle, relaxed and smiling. Occasionally he reaches out to touch one of the whores as they slither around him. Then he begins to sing in his gentle reassuring baritone.
"Drug market… Submarket… Sometimes I wonder why I ever got in. Blood market… Love market… Sometimes I wonder why they need me at all." He pushes one of the whores away from him, then pulls out one of the vials of the bright blue drug. "Zydrate comes in a little glass vial."
"A little glass vial?" Greta asks.
"A little glass vial!" the whores hiss, glaring at her and circling Talbot more tightly than before.
"And the little glass vial goes into the gun like a battery. And the Zydrate gun goes somewhere against your anatomy. And when the gun goes off, it sparks and you're ready for surgery." As he speaks, he puts the vial into the gun and the girls throw themselves all over him until he selects one and injects the drug into her. She collapses as soon as the drug hits her system.
Rachel strides in with her two beefcake henchmen. She now has long dark hair and is garbed in the same very slutty leather dominatrix outfit from earlier. She shoves one of the whores out of her way, clearly annoyed that such an inferior person is impeding her progress.
"Grave Robber… Grave Robber… Sometimes I wonder why I ever bother," she sings. Her voice is no longer whiny, but low and sultry as she sashays her way towards him. "Grave Robber… Grave Robber… Sometimes I wonder why I need you at all."
"And Rachel Sweet is addicted to the knife," Talbot continues, walking up to her. She smiles and presses her body against him. He grabs her wrists roughly and one of the beefcake henchmen steps between them.
"Addicted to the knife?" Greta asks.
"Addicted to the knife," the whores chorus. They had fled to the perimeter when Rachel appeared and are now lounging against walls or draping themselves over nearby fire escapes.
"And addicted to the knife, she needs a little help with the agony."
"Agony," the whores moan together.
"And a little help comes in a little glass vial in a gun pressed against her anatomy. And when the gun goes off, Miss Sweet is ready for surgery, surgery…"
Rachel backs against a wall and begins slithering up and down it, gyrating seductively. "Grave Robber… Grave Robber… Sometimes I wonder why I need you at all."
Talbot pulls out a vial and Rachel's eyes fixate on it. He injects the syringe into her inner thigh and she slides to the floor, head tilting back in ecstasy. Her world dissolves into vague shapes and memories, as blurry whores dance around her; she remembers lying on the chair with genterns standing over her, straddling Talbot on the ground in an alley, her own body posed seductively on the surgical chair…
"It's clean, it's clear, it's pure, it's rare…"
"It's what?"
"It takes you there."
"It what?"
"It takes… you… there… It's clean, it's clear…"
"Before the cut…"
"It's clean, it's clear…"
"I can't feel nothing at all," Rachel slurs.
"It's surgery, it's surgery, it's surgery."
"It's the way your friends may change inside…"
"Feel alive…" Rachel moans, head lolling. Her beefcake henchmen stand on either side of her, keeping everyone else away. Talbot starts humming a tune. Greta turns to stare at him.
"That's Blind Tab's song," she exclaims.
"Who did that?" Rachel screams, hurling herself upright and trying to lunge. The beefcakes grab her arms, holding her upright, but she shakes them off and stares blearily as Talbot points at Greta. Rachel staggers towards here. "So you think you got heart? So you think you got balls? So you think Tab can sing?"
"I don't think nothing at all…" Greta whispers.
"So you think Tab has the pipes? Well it's my turn to shine… when the Repo Man strikes!"
"What are you talking about?"
Talbot taps Greta on the shoulder gently and hands her a small pamphlet. "Tab's contract's got some mighty fine print."
"Some mighty fine print?"
"Some mighty fine…" the whores moan together.
"And that mighty fine print puts Tab in a mighty fine predicament. If Tab up and splits, her eyes are forfeit, and if GeneCo and Rodger so will it… then a Repo Man will come and she'll pay for that surgery… surgery… surgery."
Suddenly the alley lights up as a SWAT team races in. The whores begin shrieking and scattering. Talbot grabs Greta's hand and pulls her away down the street. Rachel slumps over in the arms of her beefcake bodyguards, who fan her face with their hands. They still have the exact same deadpan expressions on their faces. "I can't feel nothing at all…" Rachel moans.
One of the guards steps over to Rachel and speaks into his communicator. "Sir, we have Rachel. We're bringing her in."
Talbot and Greta leap onto a passing garbage truck, which conveniently goes right past Greta's house. She hops off and Talbot waves as he continues his ride. She sneaks into the house and creeps up to her room, just missing Eric stepping out from his secret passage behind the fireplace. He glares down at his communicator in annoyance.
"Incoming message. Incoming message."
"Eric Wallace, come to my office at once," Rodger says.
Eric rolls his eyes and goes upstairs to check on his daughter. She is curled up in bed and appears to be asleep. "Honey? Are you awake?" No response, so off he goes, leaving Greta to think over her most recent adventure.
Eric arrives at the GeneCo headquarters. Philip greets him politely as always.
"Well who ordered pizza? I could sure go for a slice!" Philip exclaims, pulling out a knife and laughing.
"Oh, never too pressed for that dramatical entrance," Ebon coos.
"You wanted to see me?" Eric asks, ignoring Rodger's youngsters.
"Thank you for coming. I have your new assignment."
"Hot off the meat truck!" Philip exclaims.
"Is there a reason why you couldn't phone me this target?" Eric asks tiredly.
"This is a job of special importance. It is involving a GeneCo employee, a singer we all know."
"That has-been soprano!" Rachel yelps, jumping up from the couch."
"A traitor to GeneCo!" Philip adds.
"Tonight is her last show!" Rachel shrills.
"I can't afford a scandal here, please handle Tab as best you can," Rodger adds.
"Take… her… down!" the three children chorus.
"But Tab's eyes…" Eric begins.
"Are GeneCo's," Rodger says patiently. "I know this may seem hard…"
"Tab was Marni's best friend."
"You break my friggin' heart!" Philip yowls.
"You can reunite them," Ebon purrs.
"I cannot do this job," is Eric's firm response.
"Remember who you are," Rodger replies. "Remember what you did to Marni. Must I take you back there?"
"Please don't take me back there…"
"Why relive that moment?"
"I can't relive it."
"That dark, fateful night when you murdered your wife."
"It's too painful."
"Marni was past helping."
"Marni was past helping."
"Greta's life was slipping."
"Greta was slipping…"
"She needed her dad and I needed skilled hands… So I fixed things. We made an agreement."
"I will honor that agreement."
"You'll do are you're told…"
"I'll do as I'm told."
"So Greta never knows… About that dark and fateful night."
"Or my secret repo life."
"Don't deny your repo life."
"Dear Marni, I am so sorry, can you forgive me for this?" Eric asks as he is led to a plastic-lined room with another man strapped to a chair. Rodger and his children and several genterns are also in the room, circling them and singing.
"Not the death doctor with the hungry scalpel, here's my prognosis, will they live?" Rodger asks.
"Doubtful!" the twins chorus as they cock their guns, preparing to murder Eric should he fail to comply with Rodger's orders.
"You're the street physician carving rare sculptures," Rodger continues.
"Paint your ass like a Rembrandt!" adds Philip.
"Ha! You like that?" Ebon asks.
"Better start praying when you see him coming, for tonight it's curtains, you're the night surgeon!" sings Rodger.
"I remember," Eric almost wails in his agony and grief.
"Remember what you did to Marni," sing the genterns, prancing around him. "Remember who you are."
"I remember."
"Remember what you did."
"To your knife! See it glide! See it slice!"
Eric digs his claws into the victim, tearing him apart. "Who's your night surgeon? I hope you have my money."
"Or it's 'buon viaggi'," Ebon murmurs.
"He'll do your ass like dishes!" Philip adds. "Amputation!"
"Remember who you are!"
"I remember!"
"Remember what you did to Marni! Remember who you are!"
"I remember!"
"Remember what you did to her! Remember who you are!"
"I remember!"
"Remember what you did to Marni! Remember who you are!"
"I remember!"
"Remember what you did to her!"
"I remember… every dying whisper… every desperate murmur… I remember when I gazed upon her… She looks just like you… I remember… I remember working every victim… with acute precision… I remember every time I hold you… my blunt companion… I remember… I dismember… Cause the claims medic gives no anesthetic! 90-day delinquent gets you repo treatment! Remember horror on your street corner, make your mama mourn you, I'm a night… surgeon. I remember!" Bloody tears streak his cheeks and blood is spattered all over the room. Eric takes a moment to try to rein in his grief, but it is overwhelming. He starts out of the room.
"Eric!" Rodger exclaims.
Eric turns to glance at Rodger over his shoulder. "I cannot do this job. Find someone else."
"No one walks away from me! Eric!" Rodger screams. "He wants out? Then I will take him out…" And Rodger looks positively devilish as he says this.
Eric flees the Largo house as fast as he can. It's all too much. He had never admitted his affair with Tabitha to Rodger. He had no way of knowing if the cruel man knew about it. It would have hurt him to kill Tabitha regardless. Marni had adored her and the woman had been a frequent visitor to the house before they'd adopted Greta, and even afterwards, although she had never met the child.
Eric had been as astounded as anyone else when Tabitha had declared that she was leaving GeneCo. He hadn't spoken to her in ages… he didn't know what her plans were. He'd asked himself so many times whether she might be leaving Void City… Eric didn't think he'd be able to stand it if Tabitha left Void City. Other than Greta, she was the only bright spot in the entire infernal city. Eric had wanted so much to ask her what her plans were… but he hadn't done it. He was afraid that she would ask him a question that he still did not know the answer to… Well, that wasn't true. He knew he still cared very deeply for Tabitha. However, he wasn't sure he could reconcile his guilt over betraying Marni by welcoming Tabitha back into his life. Perhaps Marni had wanted him to be with Tabitha… she had been very insistent that Tabitha become like another mother to Greta… But Eric could not do it. He'd been so overjoyed to find Marni alive and well after thinking she was dead for so long… he just could not let her go. Her death had been all his fault. He couldn't stop himself from thinking that she would have been better off with Rodger.
And now Tabitha might leave his life as well. Eric wasn't sure he could stand it… but he was also sure that he wasn't ready to bring Tabitha back into his home. And if he could not offer her even that much, what right did he have to approach her and stop her from leaving Void City if that's what she wanted to do?