protocol_03.03: backbone
"I'm bored."
As it turns out, starting a revolution or otherwise attempting to overthrow the government and society takes a bit more effort than just saying so. The last few weeks had been a blur, and for once, it wasn't because Anna was busy. Sure, the Contessa would send her out on quick jobs, mostly out into the rest of the tunnels inhabited by the Black Court that were basically courier runs. Both of them knew that Anna really wasn't going to stay away too long, so the Contessa maintained the polite fiction by not even bothering asking.
But no, it was a blur because time really started to lose meaning down here, what without even getting to see the changes in slightly more-or-less dingy light making its way into the undercity. The Contessa's snazzy underground suite might be comfortable, but it's still underground and Anna's getting a bit tired of looking at bricks.
"And what...do you expect...me to do...about it?"
Anna holds back a small wince. While Elsa might be getting better at the talking thing each day, it still seems to take a lot out of her. Or something. Each set of words comes out with a kind of deliberate slowness still, like she hasn't quite gotten a hang of how her mouth or vocal chords work. Which in turn mostly leads to Elsa still not speaking much if she can help it.
She looks over at the bed. At least Elsa's progressed to managing to spend more and more of the day propped up rather than lying flat. She can even move her head a little, which she apparently has in order to send Anna a flat stare instead of focusing on the lightweight tablet reader Contessa dug up somewhere that's sitting on her lap. Her fingers curl around the edges, holding it lightly; it's such a small thing, but Anna can't help but cheer internally at every little bit of new movement her sister manages to make. Even if it is just to give Anna a hard time.
"I dunno," Anna sighs, flopping over the arm of the couch so that she's now staring upside-down at the bed.
Elsa raises an eyebrow. "Charming."
"You know it." She frowns. "At least you have stuff to read."
"As if...I could do...anything else."
"Okay, point."
Whatever Elsa's about to say next gets interrupted by a loud gurgle. Anna flips upright, blood rushing from her head but grinning anyway. "Looks like someone's hungry again."
Elsa's cheeks have a hint of pink, which is also new and fantastic. "Not...my fault."
It really, really isn't. Doc, in one of her many lists of instructions over the last few weeks, had noticed that between her ice, the nanomachines, and just generally trying to get better, she was burning up calories at a rapid rate. Basically, Elsa had to eat like six meals a day, at least. It's kinda funny, in a weird way. Anna's started wondering if they just shouldn't leave smoothies or something next to the bed. The straw would get ridiculous, though.
Anna grabs some of the now-constantly-present food in the kitchen, soup this time, and brings it back. Elsa makes a face when she sees the bowl, but dutifully opens her mouth to let Anna feed her.
"What was that face about? T's soup disagreeing with you or something?"
Elsa shakes her head slightly. "No, it's good. Just...would like to...well...chew."
Well. What the hell can she say to that? "Yeah, okay. I can see that." She stirs the liquid around. "Maybe we can talk to Doc about getting you to graduate to solid food."
Her sister rolls her eyes. "You make it...sound like...I'm two."
Her response is to rub Elsa's head. She ignores the put-upon look she knows she's getting.
Anna can't help it; the fuzz has graduated to short, bristle-soft spikes and she'll take any excuse she can to play with it. It's growing in thick and almost-white, but that's enough to start hiding the scars. Anna won't say it, but she's glad at least one reminder is going away.
Anna feels Elsa tilt her head down slightly, more than she sees it. That's the only reason she's paying attention enough to hear her mumble. "What was that?" Anna asks, hands stilling.
Elsa sighs. "Wish I could...reprogram myself...to do things."
"I thought you and Doc got the nanomachines working," she says, frowning. They'd said they succeeded at reprogramming the damn things within two days of holing up down here. Elsa's been even able to start moving on her own, at least a little. That's not even counting the daily exercises either her or Doc work her through.
"Not enough...too slow." She makes a frustrated sound, a huff of air that Anna can feel shudder down her sister's spine. "Everything's...so slow."
"Well, yeah, we knew it was going to take time," Anna says, trying to smooth out the little spikes of hair that are far too short to actually be styled. Maybe it's comforting, although to which of them she's not sure, but the physical touch has to count for something, right?
"Not just...that. Everything. Can't...talk right. Can't even...can't even...think right!"
The noise that comes out of Elsa's throat is half howl, half sob, and all parts wounded. It's a sound Anna never wants to hear again. She feels cold and numb, like someone dunked her in freezing water. And what does it say that she checks instinctively for ice on the sheets at this point? There's none, nothing but phantom echoes in her mind, nothing but the small shakes Elsa makes that would be bone-wracking shudders if only she were strong enough for them.
"Elsa..."
"Can't think...everything's so slow," her voice is rough, wet and thick. And because Anna is so useless, all she can do is sit here and try to hold her together as something is clearly breaking. "I'm still...I'm trapped."
All she can do is hold her, willing herself to be whatever tape or glue her sister needs to weld herself back together. If it's even what she should be doing, a traitorous part of Anna thinks. Look at her. Did she really just trade one of Elsa's cages for another, this one blood and bone instead of wires and metal? Her sister can't move, betrayed by her own body. And Anna, dammit, her body is her life, the thing that she's mastered so she can do what she does, a finely-honed tool that's better than any knife or gun in keeping herself alive. She can't even imagine what it must be like, to be stuck in such a way.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, bending her head. She'd bury her face into Elsa's shoulder if she could, like she did when they were kids and she would run into her big sister's arms to chase away the bad dreams and monsters. Except that's not right, not right now. Not when she doesn't know how. This isn't something Anna can chase after, that she can punch or shoot. "I don't know what to do."
"Stop." Anna feels the rasp shudder through Elsa's bones, she put so much force into that one word. "It's not...It's not your fault."
"Still..."
"Stop."
"Maybe I can help." Anna's head shoots up, turning to see Contessa in the doorway, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "Sorry, overheard." She has the grace to look sheepish.
"How?" she asks, because Elsa won't.
Contessa's hands still. "The skiz jacks, you're too used to being able to think and move through the 'net, aren't you Elsa?"
"Yes."
She nods. "And you're stuck here, even on the closed local network."
This isn't new information. "Yes," Elsa rasps. "Don't know...if Eden...has a trace."
"And the only way we would know that is if you tested it, which rather defeats the purpose." Contessa presses her lips in a thin line. "I have an idea about that," she says slowly.
Anna sits up straighter, uncurling a bit from where she's apparently hunched over her sister, almost protectively. Almost too late, she remembers she's still holding the bowl of soup and manages to put it down before it goes flying. "Oh?"
"Another hacker. Set up a proxy or something that you could go through. Between the two of you, both you and our systems would be damn clean."
"That...could work. Need...something like...onion network exit...to be clear."
She exhales loudly. "There's just one problem."
"That is?"
"You," she says simply, looking right at Anna. Before she can open her mouth, Contessa keeps going. "You're damn overprotective, Anna. And really, that's not a bad thing at all. But I don't think any of us would be comfortable unless you vet whoever I suggest and give your approval."
She frowns. "Why my approval? I'm not the hacker here. I barely know how to program the holos." Under her hand, Elsa huffs a laugh. "Oh shut up you," Anna grumbles without any real heat.
Contessa sighs and leans against the doorway. "Because this is the closest someone can be to Rime without being in the room with Elsa. Hell, might be safer if they were in the room with Elsa." She shrugs. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's a hell of a lot of trust for a hacker."
It is. Even she knows that. Anna chews her lip, but doesn't answer. Contessa nods anyway. "I'll be honest. I'm not exactly being completely altruistic here. If we want to change the way things run in this city, we need information. Rime is the best by a long-shot, and right now, our best is out of commission. If getting Rime back helps Elsa here, well..." she trails off, arching an eyebrow meaningfully.
Yeah, point taken.
"Who?" Elsa asks. Because of course the Contessa wouldn't even be bringing this up if she didn't have an idea already.
"Hazard."
The name sounds vaguely familiar, but Anna feels Elsa's slight nod under her palm. "Ah."
"Is that 'ah' a good 'ah' or an I-dunno-about-this 'ah'?" she can't help but ask.
"I'm hoping it's a good one," Contessa drawls. "After Rime, Hazard's probably the best we've got."
"The best...security test?"
"Yeah, that's the one." She shrugs and holds up a hand. "Your call, Anna."
Anna chews her lip. On one hand, it's bringing another person in. Worse, to vet this "Hazard", it means going out on a job without Elsa in her ear. Sure, she's done jobs like that before — hell, Prince comes to mind — but this feels different. It is different. Once again, she's so damn aware of how high the stakes are getting. Trusting Kristoff was one thing. Trusting T and Doc and Contessa? Same kind of thing. They were known, somewhat at least. She had at least a vague idea about them. But this is something else entirely.
On the other hand, if Anna ever hears Elsa make that wounded noise again, it'll be far too goddamn soon. She looks down; her sister isn't saying a word, but she's holding her arms too rigidly, too stiffly for it to be normal. She sees Elsa's hands spasm once, twice, gripping the tablet on her lap just a little harder. And Anna knows that if she were strong enough to do it, Elsa's hands would be curled into fists, fingernails biting into pale skin, and tendons taut. She isn't saying a word, but she doesn't even have to.
Really, there is no choice.
"What's your plan for me vetting this guy? Girl?"
"Guy." Contessa finally pushes off from the doorframe and sits down on the couch. She leans on the armrest and props her head up with a hand. "And what else? A job." Whatever expression Anna's making, she must catch it, because she rolls her eyes. "We might be trying to overthrow the grand societal order, but we do still have to somehow put food on the table."
"And let me guess: you just so happen to have one that would fit our needs."
Contessa grins toothily. "Elsa, your sister's a smart one. You must be so proud."
Anna can feel Elsa's huffing laugh.. "Or...something."
She throws up her hands. "I hate you both."
"Yes, yes," Contessa drawls, waving her hand carelessly. "Anyway, job for you. Standard four-man team. I'll get you the details once you agree."
"Okay, one problem with that. Four-man team. So far, it's Hazard, me, and El— " Aw, dammit. No, not Elsa. That was the entire point of this. "Shit," she mutters. "That's gonna be weird. So me and Hazard. That's two."
Her sometimes-mentor shrugs. "Take Rook. He's free. I know because he's been annoying me, so go make him be useful."
Anna tries to suppress a groan. It's not that she has a problem with the guy. He's one of the best grifters she'd met and an even better all-purpose thief. And, something that admittedly gets him massive bonus points, last time she worked with him, he seemed to have no problem with Rime. It's just that, well, Rook is...Rook.
Contessa grins unrepentantly. "So, you good?" She tosses her a datastick, forcing Anna to finally remove her hand from Elsa's fuzzy head and stand up. Contessa strolls over, liberates the soup bowl from Anna's other hand, and plops down on the bed. "By the way, Elsa, I could use your brain on a problem. We need to somehow crack Eden and Helios, and since Scratch is a goddamn dead end, that means Alice Haskell."
Elsa blinks slowly. "My help? But...I'm...everything is...slow. Not...helpful."
With a roll of her eyes, Contessa shakes her head. "Yeah right. So you haven't gotten used to having vocal chords again. Doesn't mean your brain is malfunctioning. And you're far ahead of a lot of us. You're just used to being able to use the entire 'net to help."
She blinks again. "...oh."
As much as this entire exchange is heartwarming, there's still one little thing Anna finds herself a little hung-up on. "Wait. That's still only three. You said four-man team."
Contessa looks up, tilts her head to the side. "Adze. I thought it was pretty much a given that Adze would be going with you."
"What?" Anna yelps. It's not that she minds; hell, she really hasn't seen much of him in the last week or so. He said the holidays meant he had to stay close to home, which is totally reasonable, and she is not feeling neglected. Christ, she met him only a few months ago. It's not like she has some kind of hold on his life, right?
"Is there something wrong? I thought you said you were working together."
Contessa looks mildly curious. Anna's eyes shift to her sister. Elsa's face is completely blank. Anna opens her mouth. Closes it. Opens it again. Then closes it. She gives up. "Fine. Whatever," she sighs, throwing up her arms in defeat. "I'll go fetch him. Tell Hazard and Rook to meet us, hm, I guess Sanctuary works." She'll be able to slide into her safehouse on the way over and pick up some extra gear in that case. And she knows Kristoff will appreciate the convenience of not having to navigate Black Court tunnels.
At least she can probably trust Elsa to be in good enough hands and occupied enough. As she heads out, Anna swears she hears Contessa mutter something, but only catches the word "brick".
Elsa's soft huffing laughter chases after her as she walks out the door.
Really, she's not that upset. She was complaining that she was bored, and it is something to do. Possibly more death-defying than she meant, but eh, beggars can't be choosers. Or something. Anna snorts and shakes her head. Okay, yeah, job sounds real good right about now. Too much time underground, clearly. She's going positively nuts.
Her hand trails along the brick and concrete that makes up the old subway tunnels, brushing over the ridges and grit. The stone digs lightly into her skin, coolness seeping into the pads of her fingers. Hardly anything crumbles off. These tunnels were built strong, made to last. Anna wonders what Papa would have thought of them. He built the buildings, not the skybridges that rose through the air and left the ones on the ground behind. The old subway was left discarded and forgotten by the upper levels once they didn't have to use them.
That's probably a metaphor for something.
Yeah, Papa would have probably hated that these tunnels were unused if he knew about them. Anna stifles a laugh, just imagining him rant about the waste, how it's right there, why aren't the morons in the Fed using it to do something useful? And Mama would roll her eyes, not even lifting her head from where she'd have buried her nose in legal briefs, and drawl how the DA and public defenders also asked that question all the damn time.
And Anna has to bite her lip, squeeze her eyes shut. She's barely even let herself think about them in three years, and now she can't get them out of her head. She can't cry, not now, not when she has to go do a job and vet some hacker who might be able to help Elsa in some way Anna can't. But she can hear their voices so damn clearly, just as if she'd see them there if she looked over her shoulder, just even once.
Take a deep breath. There's work to do.
No one stops her as she threads her way through the more traveled tunnels. Some nod in greeting, but there's a thrum of something in the air. Maybe it's just paranoia again, but people here seem a little sharper, a little more wary. Although they have good reason, what with Eden goons showing up in the shadows. Thank god at least that's tapered off, after the holidays. Scratch and his buddies are probably trying to regroup or something. If he has buddies.
It's a watch-and-wait game.
God, she hates those.
She hits street-level, and it's kind of weird how everything looks mostly the same. Same dirt and grime, same dingy light streaming down. It makes sense, really, since the men in black are supposed to be ghosts and if everything looked different, it really wouldn't be subtle. Still, she was expecting at least something different. Or maybe Rittenhouse, her sector, hasn't been targeted yet.
Too many maybes, not enough answers. Anna rubs her forehead as she makes it to her building. When the hell did she get this introspective? Too much time spent staring at brick walls, clearly. Next she'll be talking to pictures.
Her apartment looks much like she left it. She glances at her watch; probably not enough time for a shower, so instead she just grabs some extra gear. Her hand hovers over the box of corms she automatically reached for. It's going to be one of the few jobs she's ever done without Elsa's voice in her ear. Screw it. Grabbing a few anyway won't hurt anything. In the worst case, she can bring them back to Elsa, and her sister can come up with something totally ridiculous to do with them.
Right, Kristoff. He picks up after the first ring. Anna feels oddly pleased by this.
"Hey, you free?"
"I'm at the clinic, but an argument can be made for me to be elsewhere. Why?"
"Contessa gave us a job. It's a...little different. Maybe."
He sighs. "How different is 'different'?"
"Honestly, the actual job is kind of secondary for us." She leans her hip against the small kitchen countertop, idly playing with an abandoned spoon. "She's calling in another hacker. Supposedly, he might be able to help Rime with the...slight connectivity security problem. Thing is, she wants me to vet him first."
"And where do I come in?" Kristoff asks, sounding careful.
"Well...honestly, Contessa seemed to think I'd be asking you to fill in on the four-man slot anyway. But, well, I'd kinda like a little help on this? A second opinion can't hurt. I mean, it's Rime. And, I, you know..."
"Yeah, I get it," he says softly. "Me and Sven will meet you at Sanctuary in a bit?"
"Yeah. Great! See you soon," she says, hanging up, and then she's out the door.
T's eyebrow shoots up when Anna strolls into Sanctuary. "Arc? Didn't expect to see you soon."
Anna swings her legs up and flops onto a bar stool. The few people around are mostly regulars that pay her no mind other than nod, but T's clearly not taking chances. Anna shrugs. "Got a job. You have a room open?"
T side-eyes her, but nods anyway. She always somehow read all the things Anna wasn't saying and even the things she didn't know she is. Anna wishes she had that trick. "Sure thing. You know where they are."
"Great. Anything new?"
She chats with T, not really getting anything but general news. Both of them know too well to talk freely, even here. Eventually, T walks off to another corner of the bar to deal with things, leaving Anna by herself and her thoughts. When did her life become a spy movie? Oh right, it always apparently was.
"Um...hi?"
Anna spins around on the stool. A boy, somewhere in his teens and with a wild mop of black hair, blinks and takes a half-step back. He looks a little small for his age, dressed battered sneakers, dark pants and a hoodie that's seen better days, with a backpack slung over one shoulder.
"You're Arc, right?" he asks.
"Yeah," Anna says slowly. "Why?"
He grins. "The Contessa told me to come," he chirps, sticking out his hand. "I'm Hazard."
Well, okay then. She isn't surprised at his age, not really. He's probably one of Contessa's kids, and hell, she wasn't much older than him when she started working jobs. His grip is fairly solid, the leather of his fingerless gloves worn-in but still strong. "Nice to meet you."
Hazard nods, then glances around. "So, um, if you're Arc, then is Rime...?" he trails off, aiming for nonchalance, but Anna catches a tiny bit of hopefulness. Interesting.
"Sorry. Contessa has Rime...working on something for her."
The boy deflates in an instant. Huh. No wonder Contessa sent him. He instantly gains a few points in her book. "Shoot. I guess that makes sense. I was wondering why you'd need me if you had Rime." He nods at one of the stools next to her. "Seat taken?"
She shakes her head and he hops on, shrugging the backpack off but not letting go of it. "So," he drawls, leaning up against the bar, "why am I here?"
"Weelll, there's this thing called a job," she starts, but cuts off at his snort and eyeroll. Anna grins. "We're waiting on two more. Well, three, depending on how you count?"
Hazard raises an eyebrow. "'Depending on how you count?' I'm pretty sure this isn't complex algebra."
"Great, you're a smartass. Is that a requirement for hackers or something?"
He grins unrepentantly. Before he can open his mouth again, a furry missile zooms right up to them. Sven plants his front paws on Anna's knees and gives her a doggy smile. "Well, hello to you too, Sven," she says, laughing. Kristoff follows at a slightly more sedate pace. She looks up. "And you."
"Oh sure, he gets the greeting," Kristoff sighs, but Anna catches the slight quirk of his lips.
So Anna just plays along. "Of course. He's the friendlier one."
Kristoff starts to say something, but then apparently realizes they have something of an audience. "Who's the kid?" he asks with a jerk of his chin.
Okay, apparently in addition to being a smartass, Hazard also has an impressive scowl. Oh right, teenage boys. Anna rolls her eyes. "This is Hazard. Contessa sent him. Hazard, this is Adze. The furry one is Sven."
Hazard cranes his neck up to look Kristoff in the eye. She has to give him points for not being intimidated at least, despite how damn funny the height difference is. "Hi," he deadpans.
Kristoff gives her a look over the kid's head. She flicks her eyes, answering his unasked question. Something shifts a little in his expression, and Anna knows he's probably wondering what the hell Contessa was thinking. She really doesn't feel any guilt putting Hazard through two hard sells. Not for this.
"Right," Kristoff drawls. "We still waiting on one more?" he asks, looking back at her.
Before she can even open her mouth, someone slings their arm across her shoulder from behind. She's only barely stops herself from instinctively driving her elbow into the person's gut when she hears them. "Arc! How's my favorite terrifying coworker with a predilection for knives and explosions these days?"
"Hello Rook," she says tonelessly, somehow managing to keep from rolling her eyes so hard they would fall out of her head. Anna barely has to turn her head to see his shit-eating grin right next to her ear.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Kristoff tense. Hazard's got one eyebrow raised.
Rook either doesn't see this or doesn't care; Anna's betting on the latter. "I'm hurt," he says mock-sadly, and this time she does roll her eyes. "We've been through so much, and this is the greeting I get?"
"Oh get off." She shoves him away, which doesn't dim his grin one bit. "Rook, this is Hazard, Adze, and Sven." Anna points to each. "Adze, Hazard, the clown here is Rook. He thinks he's funny."
"Harsh. So very harsh."
Anna tries not to sigh. Looks like Rook is in top-form today. "All right, you knucklehead, we're burning daylight and we don't know where we're supposed to be or what we're going to be doing." She pushes off from her seat and heads to one of the open rooms in the back, trusting that the guys are following her.
Hazard, to his credit, gets right to work as soon as the door closes, spinning around in a chair and bringing security measures online right away. She knows exactly how to set up the suite of programs T had installed in all of Sanctuary's back rooms, and she knows when he's got those up. But he keeps going, only pausing to look up when he realizes she's watching him. "I can bring up extra, uh, non-standard security, if you want."
"You're apparently the expert," Kristoff grumbles, claiming a seat for himself.
The kid gives him a flat look. "That wasn't actually an answer." He shakes his head and starts typing anyway. After a few moments, he looks up again. "Okay. So what're we doing?"
The datastick from Contessa says the job is a fairly standard protection gig. Somebody needs to go look intimidating during some kind of deal, so they hire scary blacksiders. These kind of jobs are bread-and-butter for the Black Court, and honestly, mostly how the Court got their rep as being terrifying. Which means these kinds of jobs are kinda necessary to keep the image up, so they can do their other activities with abandon.
Anna hates these jobs.
She understands that she has to do them, why she has to do them. They pay, they let the Black Court do what they actually need to do. But they always make her feel like she has to shower for hours afterwards to wash away the feeling of dirty. They have to play up every stereotype, work for some of the worst sorts down here when sometimes she would rather be the one putting a bullet in their head.
The Contessa also uses these jobs as sort of a "graduation", of sorts, for her students. If you can keep a straight face, keep your cool, keep your head in these jobs, you're pretty much golden. Considering what Anna's going to be looking out for in Hazard, it's not surprising that this is the sort of job Contessa lined up.
But it doesn't mean she has to like it.
From the look on his face, Hazard isn't too thrilled either. But she only catches it because she's looking for any kind of tell on him, before he slips into a bored sort of mask. And from there, it's all business. Specifically, the job involves some kind of arms deal over in Jeorling. Client wants a standard big show of muscle so when the goods and money change hands, no one thinks about double-crossing anyone. Like it says on the tin, fairly standard gig.
It also means the roles are pretty much a given here, and something tells Anna that Rook being coincidentally available wasn't much of a coincidence. Considering the other people on this team, well...if Hazard's over fifteen, she'll eat her shoe. And even though she knows better, and even if she'd argue years ago, she's got enough self-awareness now to admit that she probably doesn't cut the most imposing figure ever. Not against Kristoff or Rook.
Usually she makes it work for her; they never see her coming. This sort of thing, though, first impressions make or break it. So it doesn't really matter what she actually can do if it doesn't look like it. Like she said, she makes it work. But if it comes to that, things have already gone totally wrong, and really at that point, Rook and Kristoff would be very glad to have her as backup, thank you very much.
So that's how she ends up huddled on a roof, trying to ignore the cold, on the other side of the street from some rundown bar in a terrible part of town with Hazard. He's somehow refraining from grumbling by her side, his eyes darting back and forth across a screen with more information than she can handle. As it turns out, Hazard's specialty isn't actually hacking. It's drones; the hacking's just bonus. Considering that and the way he's dealing at the moment, Anna can see why Contessa pointed her at him.
"What's the status?" she asks, for lack of anything else. If she's going to vet the kid, she needs to actually, you know, get a handle on him.
He doesn't even look up at her. "They're in, if that's what you're asking. If you're asking about the security on this place, it's pathetic. I've got a monkeylord just sitting on the ceiling and nobody's even noticed it yet."
She has no idea why he would name his spider-like robots that, but she chalks it up to hackers being a bizarre breed. After all, look at who her sister is. Bizarre name or not, though, she can't really argue with the effectiveness. "Well then?"
A little put-upon sigh blows his messy bangs out of his eyes, breath fogging in the cold. "Like I said, pathetic. Adze and Rook have it covered. Our client might be..." he makes a face, clearly stopping himself from saying what he wanted to. "...in an unsavory business, but the guy he's meeting is even more jittery."
"You mean, our client is an arms dealer so slimy we might find his relatives in the harbor," she says dryly, deciding censoring herself is pointless. It's not like the guy can hear them.
It draws a snort from Hazard, who flicks his eyes briefly to her before focusing back on the screen an instant later. "You said it, not me."
"Cheeky."
"You just figured that out?" He burrows a little more into his hoodie.
The banter, while fun, isn't entirely just for the hell of it. Sure, it's a good way to pass the time, seeing as how it's just the two of them out here for who knows how long. But yeah, Anna knows she's needling him. If Contessa wants to bring him in to work with Elsa, she's gonna basically crack him open. Or at least, get close enough by seeing how he acts. Contessa'd probably be a little upset if she actually cracked him.
She just watches him for awhile, as he quietly relays information to Adze and Rook over the comms, as he flips through screens on his rig faster than she can keep track, fingers flying as they dance over the keyboard silently. Every so often, he brings her into the loop, when any of his drones pick up anything even slightly different. He knows she's got the experience reading people. He's paranoid. It's a good trait, out here. Means he's likely to live longer.
Means whoever he works with is likely to live longer.
That's what Anna really wants.
She blows on her hands to warm them a little; being a little slow on the draw because her hands were cold, especially now, is totally unacceptable. "ETA?" she murmurs.
"Unless someone fucks up royally, we should be getting out soon," Rook replies, over his subvocal.
No one does, and the two inside hustle their client out and to the drop-off location. Considering they didn't really have to do anything, it takes even less time for Anna and Hazard to pack up and get there before they do. They don't even have to wait around for payment, as since this is a Black Court job, the Court deals with that.
So they split off and head back to...wherever. Hazard just disappears like a ghost once they hit Rittenhouse. Rook bows out a little after.
"We should see each other more," he says, grinning. Anna rolls her eyes and aims a kick at him. "So violent."
"Goodbye, Rook."
His laughter echoes down the alleyway he peels off into, before he too is swallowed up by the murk and gloom of the Undercity.
She rubs her forehead. He's a good enough guy, but damn, can she only really take Rook in small doses. Off to her side, Kristoff visibly relaxes. Huh. Why would...? "Hey, you okay?" she asks, nudging him in the stomach.
Kristoff blinks. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Fine."
She frowns. "Did Rook do something? Nothing sounded wrong over the comms, but if there was a problem, Contessa would — "
"No, no, it's fine," he interrupts, shaking his head. "Really. Anyway, he's not the one we should be talking about, right?"
On Kristoff's other side, Sven woofs and shakes his head.
"Honestly, I'm curious as to what your impressions where." Anna chews her lip. "I know what mine are, obviously, but, well, maybe you caught something I wouldn't have."
He's quiet for a bit, only the sound of their boots and Sven's nails against the cracked pavement breaking up the dim white noise of the undercity. "He seems like a good kid. Knows his stuff, but that isn't really surprising from what I've gathered about the Contessa." He frowns, and Anna notices his eyes are a little off, like he's looking at something in the distance only he can see. "Honestly? He reminds me of some of the kids Mom and Dad take in. Especially the ones that take a stint over at Kocoum's."
"Huh? How so?"
"I think I told you how sometimes Kocoum takes in the kids who're a little more lost, right? They're usually angry little shits, surly and challenging you on everything. Nine times out of ten, turns out they're missing something."
Well, that's certainly not something she'd have picked up on, not really. The anger isn't surprising. Anna remembers some of the other baby Black Court operatives she trained with; if anything, she was the odd-man-out insomuch as she wasn't a seething mass of resentment and something to prove. It's the sort of thing you really couldn't escape down here, and you either find your way...or you don't.
"So what would you say?" she asks, because that didn't sound like a no. Or a yes.
Kristoff rubs the back of his neck. "They're good kids, really. If Hazard there's half of anything like them, he's not out to do something stupid. Hell, when I was one of those angry little shits, I was looking for something to prove." He gives her a crooked grin. "Doc straightened me out. My guess? Contessa's doing the same for this kid."
Before she can do more than open her mouth, he sighs and cuts her off. "Yeah, I know, that's not really an answer. I'm guessing, okay? My read is that the kid's probably okay." He stops and spreads his hands. "It's just, well. It's...Rime. I get that. So the question really is how much do you trust the Contessa?"
Well, when you put it like that...
The question rattles around in Anna's brain even as the conversation meanders over other topics, as they tromp through the streets and down to the tunnels. Kristoff didn't have to follow her back, but she's grateful anyway. The company keeps her from getting too lost in her thoughts, even through the cheerful chaos of the main floor of the Court.
Contessa's in her home when they tumble through the doorway, sitting at the kitchen table with a spread of datapads and papers strewn all over it, and raises one dark eyebrow as a greeting. "I can assume it went well then?"
"'bout as well as you would think. How idiots like him end up with enough money to hire us, I'll never know," Anna gripes.
"Ours is not to reason why," Contessa intones, putting down the datapad in her hand. "Ours is to do and get paid so we can leave them to their delusions of grandeur."
Anna pulls out a chair and throws herself into it, snickering. Kristoff rolls his eyes and sits a little more normally, while Sven wanders off. Probably to flop in Elsa's room, as he seems to think it's his job to make sure she's still breathing. It's kind of adorable, really. And not just because of Elsa's long-suffering look at being covered in dog slobber and not being able to do anything about it.
"And the other thing?" Contessa asks. "Yay or nay on Hazard?"
He's a good kid. And Anna trusts these two almost more than anyone else. And that's what it comes down to, really. "Yeah. You can call him in."
Once that's all said and done, it doesn't take Contessa more than a few days to call Hazard in. Days she spends nearly crawling up the walls, because even just that taste of a job is making her antsy. But how can she even think about not being here, right? After thirteen long years, Elsa is right here. There's no where else she should be.
But maybe going out, even on a milk run like that, it's giving her some kind of distance. Or new perspective or something. Because now that she's thinking about it, now that the promise of bringing the kid in to help do whatever he can, all the little things that rip at her mind come at her from all directions. She looks at her sister, stuck in this cage of flesh and bone, in a body that isn't working right. And a cage is still a cage. When Contessa gives her some kind of problem to work on, because it's so painfully obvious that her sister's brain is working so much faster than the rest of her, and there's a glint of something that screams not good enough in her eye.
Anna knows what that glint looks like. She sees it on the bad nights in the mirror, a constant ghost from her childhood.
It's a look Anna never wants to see.
The day the Contessa brings Hazard in, Doc is half-asleep at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of coffee that smells strong enough to strip paint. It's stupid o'clock, not that anyone can tell in this underground bunker of an apartment. Kristoff, meanwhile, seems to have taken it upon himself to figure out the stove.
Doc barely lifts her head in acknowledgement when Anna grabs one of the other seats. "Okay, there's one thing that's been bugging me," Anna says, between sips of her hot cocoa. "If you're here, and Kristoff is here, then who is dealing with the clinic?"
"Today? Keys is on the hook." Doc props her chin on her hand. "What? It's not like I can run the thing by myself, even if I have his help," she says, tilting her head towards the kitchen.
Whatever comeback he could have made to that will be forever unknown, because at that moment, Contessa strides in with Hazard following a few careful feet behind. He's gripping his backpack tight, eyes darting around to take in the surroundings. He stumbles, just half a step, when he sees her at the table, clearly putting pieces together to get the full picture. From the slight twist of his mouth, he knows he's been played, just a little.
Contessa stops at the table. "You already know Arc, and I think Adze is in the kitchen," she says, placing a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Doc, this is Hazard. He's going to be assisting you today."
Hazard blinks. "Uh..."
That's all he manages, because it's like someone flipped a switch. Doc shoots to her feet, Anna swears there's a slight bounce in her step, and claps her hands together before striding to the kitchen. "Finally." Apparently, the caffeine hit. "Adze, put the spatula down before you hurt yourself and make yourself useful. We've got work to do."
Contessa rolls her eyes, then turns to Anna. "I think that's your cue. It's probably best if you fill Hazard in. If you need me, I'm just going to be out here working."
Hazard, to his credit, waits until they're by the door before asking. "Okay, are you going to tell me what's up, or do I have to buy a clue?" he drawls.
Anna chews her lip. "It's...er...okay, you know how when we first met, you wanted to know if you'd get to meet Rime?" She hopes Elsa is actually awake, or this is going to be really awkward. Hazard raises an eyebrow expectantly. "And I said she was busy?"
"Yeah..."
Ugh, this is ridiculous. Contessa trusts him enough. He's passed inspection by Kristoff and her. But it's Elsa, and Anna can admit that she might be a little overprotective. Might. Okay. She can dance around this all she wants, but she has to just take it on faith once more.
"I lied." She pulls him into the room. "Hazard, meet Rime. Rime, Hazard."
Because she's standing right there, she gets a good look at the kid's face. She watches it go through surprise, shock, and then a calculated look she can't quite place, all in the span of a few seconds. "Skiz jacks." he says quietly.
Elsa, half-propped up on the bed, just raises an eyebrow.
He blinks and his cheeks redden, as if he didn't realize he said that out loud. "Um, hi."
"Hazard. Nice work...on...security."
He scowls. "I still don't understand how the hell you managed to break that. In under five minutes!"
"You...used the...Calligan protocol. There's...exploit."
"That vulnerability only got reported three weeks ago!"
Elsa's lips curl into a smirk, and in that moment, Anna doesn't care whatever else Hazard manages, because that sly look just seems so right on her sister's face. It seems pure Rime, which is bizarre, because they're the same damn person and it's not like Anna ever saw her face before.
Hazard is oblivious to this revelation. It takes a few seconds, but his jaw drops. "Son of a..." What follows next is an oddly rapid conversation that is far too technical for Anna to follow beyond that it proves that apparently Hazard understands Elsa's halting technobabble just fine, including things she isn't saying. She wonders if she should feel a little jealous, at how easily these two seem to fall into understanding, when there are some days where it feels like Anna isn't even speaking the same language as her sister. She tries to stomp that thought down, because it's not like Elsa can't make a damn friend or can't have someone she can actually talk shop with. There is no way she should feel threatened by a kid she could use as an armrest.
On the other hand, if someone doesn't cut them off, these two would talk for who knows how long. "I'm pretty sure you two can talk shop later, but there was a reason Hazard came in, beyond letting you be a giant dork." Blithely ignoring the unimpressed glare sent at her head, Anna turns to Hazard. "So, as it turns out, we need your help."
"I'm listening."
Anna outlines the general problem, trying to sketch over the how in how all of this came to even be a problem. Either she isn't as good as she thought, or Hazard is a lot better at puzzles than she anticipated, because his face gets darker and darker the more she goes on. But when she finishes, his expression smooths out to a study in blankness. "So you need a proxy," he says tightly.
It's not aimed at her. "Yes," Elsa rasps.
Hazard nods once, pulls his machine out of his bag, and plops down on the floor near the head of the bed. "Tell me where I'm wrong," he says, very seriously, as his fingers begin flying across the keyboard.
Eventually, Anna commandeers the couch, nudging Sven to make room. As it turns out, watching two hackers work together is actually kind of dull. But she can't bring herself to be anywhere else, even though she knows nothing's going to happen here. At some point, Elsa gave up on having Hazard read his code to her. He instead got up onto the bed and balanced the computer on his knees so she could basically read over his shoulder.
Between the two of them, they seem to manage to get something working. Hazard resumes his place on the floor when Doc comes in to help hook Elsa up to some monitors and into the network. Better safe than sorry.
"You ready for this?" Doc asks, taking half a step away.
"As I'll ever be. Let's go."
Anna's fingernails dig into the flesh of her palm, breath catching in her throat. There's no outward indication of Elsa leaving the little network bubble, only the ping of the heart-rate monitor spiking slightly before easing into a steady beat. She finds herself looking at Elsa's hands, some kind of tension easing out, flowing out like meltwater.
"I think we're clear," Hazard announces, still peering intently at his screen. "I'm not getting any weird tracebacks or flags."
"Well that's a relief."
"You missed this, didn't you?" Anna can't help but asking.
"...Arc...I..." There's a pause and maybe she can imagine a sigh. "...is it wrong to say yes? I can be useful again."
There's a part of her that just wants to yell that Elsa doesn't have to be useful, because she's not a damn tool, not a thing to be measured by what she can do. Her jaw hurts from clenching it, because she bites the words back. Elsa's not going to listen to that. Not right now.
"All right, Rime, reel it in a little," Doc says after a few minutes of watching silently, splitting her attention between the monitors and Hazard's display.
"Hm?"
"Rime," she says, adding a touch of command that has Anna straightening up despite herself. "Reel it in. You're operating without...a safety net, as horrifically inappropriate as that term is. You spread out too far and there's nothing to pull you back into yourself."
That gets Anna's attention. "What do you mean?"
Doc spares her a look. "Much as it was completely wrong and inhumane, the pain...acted as a tether. You know how I said it's practically a miracle Rime's not insensate or insane? It's possible that was another anchor."
"What's the likelihood of that?"
"Certainly damn higher if you try to do so much at once that you can't find your way back," she retorts. "I've seen it in skiz patients. You're a special case, but that's no reason to be careless."
"Fine."
Hazard's machine pings. "I guess that's one way to prove you're listening," he says with a grin.
Doc doesn't disconnect Elsa right away, letting her "metaphorically stretch out", now that they know it's safe enough. Hazard sticks close, apparently eager to continue their technobabbly conversation. It's kinda adorable, in a dorky kind of way. Anna lets Doc drag her out into the kitchen; Sven won't let anything happen anyway.
Contessa looks up from the morass of documents she's spread across the table. "Judging from your pleased look, I can assume it worked out?"
Doc pours herself another cup of coffee and pulls out a chair opposite the Contessa, leaving Anna to take one on the side. "Rime is back and running, for the most part. She'll need to watch herself, and I'd feel better with someone around when she's in deep, but this will be good for her."
"No one likes being trapped." Contessa props her chin up with a hand and taps the tabletop with the other. "Is it safe to ask her to do work?"
Anna jumps in before Doc can. "Much as I'd like to keep her out of all that terrible shit, it'd probably be good for her." She makes a face. At least she can admit that much, to these two if no one else.
"Anna's got it," Doc says, nodding. "So as the doctor here, I'm going to say it depends on what you need her to do."
"Hm, good to know." She drums the table. "It shouldn't be too taxing, a good way to get back into it. In any case, there are a couple of things both of us realized we're missing with this plan of ours." She taps her finger on one of the datapads. "Allies and information, for a start."
"The Black Court is pretty big," Anna says slowly.
Contessa shakes her head. "Not big enough, though. If we're going to do this, we do it right because we're only going to get one shot. So I need to send in a team for scouting run, of sorts. Get a feel for how people act, what they're thinking. See if we'd have any luck getting allies or sympathizers out of them."
"You want me and Elsa."
"Yes, but not just you alone." She turns to Doc. "I was going to try to figure out a way to entice you to go along with this, but actually, asking straight out is probably best."
Doc takes a long sip of her coffee. "I don't normally do this kind of work."
Contessa gives her a look Anna can't really understand. "That's not saying you can't. The fact of the matter is, although Anna here has a lot of freedom, these people are still going to see her as Court. You and Adze, though, you're neutral parties." She sighs. "And like it or not, you got a name for yourself out of Rittenhouse."
Doc is quiet for a long time. "Lǐ dài táo jiāng," she mutters, then drains her mug. "All right. You've made your point. I assume you have a plan."
"More like the bare bones of one." Contessa twists her mouth in a wry smile. "They're more objectives."
"I've seen worse, trust me."
"Damning with faint praise, I see." She flicks a scrap piece of paper at Doc's head, who dodges easily. "Anyway, it's pretty simple. Head over to Jeorling or Armitage and get a read on other blacksiders. If they're feeling the heat as much as we are on Eden's manhunt, how amenable they are to shaking up the status quo, that sort of thing."
"I thought most everyone was feeling Eden being dicks," grumbles Anna.
"Yeah, but there are people who can make this brand of chaos work for them. They're always going to be there; the real question is how many of them there are." Doc stares mournfully at her empty mug, then puts it down with a sigh. "I want Kristoff with us. Two unaffiliated to one Black Court is going to send a better signal than anything else."
"Agreed."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Anna says. No need to talk like she isn't even here.
"Are you objecting?" Doc raises an eyebrow.
"Well, no. But that's not the point!"
"Right." Doc stands up and ruffles Anna's hair. "Be ready by 1900. I'm going to wrangle Kristoff. And tell your sister she'd better not spend all the time between now and then jacked in."
"Hah, sure. Do you want the moon too? That might be easier." Anna bats Doc's hand away and mock-scowls. She just walks away laughing.
In all honesty, it's not actually that hard. The light in Elsa's eyes, though, when she disconnects isn't just from being jacked in. Anna doesn't want to say it, not just yet, not when it's so new and still just a possibility dressed up as a hope. It's a sign of life, and yet not, because everything about this is so twisted and disconnected that she doesn't even know how to feel. She can't even tell when she's taking two steps forward or two steps back.
So Anna pushes it down, locks it away and puts a smile on her face in response. Teases her about her apparent fanboy in Hazard, which earns her a huff and an eyeroll.
Maybe someday, this will feel closer to normal.
1900 rolls around. Things seem to settle, just a little, she thinks, with Elsa once again in her ear. It shouldn't be comforting, considering the weight of things behind it, but it is. Weapons at her side and Elsa at her back; Anna feels like maybe they can pull this off, feels like they can do almost anything.
It's easy to believe, watching Doc stride in front through the streets of Armitage, Anna and Kristoff flanking her. Which was kind of weird, given that she was pretty much unarmed. But Doc seemed to have some kind of presence that was hard to describe, in just simple black pants and a white shirt than Anna felt with all her gear.
The bar they arrive at doesn't look like much, from the outside. It's a converted warehouse, all industrial concrete and rusted steel. The lights are bright, casting strange shadows about the wall. The high and bare ceilings don't provide any sort of hiding spots. Security through making it damn near impossible to hide anything, apparently.
Which, looking at the clientele, might not be such a stupid idea after all. This is very much a blacksider bar, but without the strict presence of someone like T behind the bar to keep some semblance of order. There's a wide range of people present, anyone from hackers to grifters to gun runners to hitmen. Well, Contessa wanted not-Black Court, she thinks, gazing out over the crowd. There will be someone with...an...opinion...
Anna groans.
"You!"
Out of all the bars in the city, and she has to walk into this one? "Hello, Prince. How's the head?"
Prince scowls, which really is an expression that does nothing for him, and stalks over. At her side, she feels Kristoff bristle. She's pretty sure he only grudgingly steps back at her frantic hand wave. But really, the day she's intimidated by someone like this guy is the day she needs to get out of this job.
"Rime, it would have been really nice to know this was coming," she mutters into the sub-vocal.
"If I remember correctly, I had nothing to do with that little escapade. I shoot ice from my hands, not read minds."
He glares down at her. "You've got a lot of nerve, coming here."
She gives him her best unimpressed look, which is really more than he deserves.
"That's amusing, coming from you," Doc drawls. Prince looks up, about to say something, before Doc cuts him off. "I've seen your work. You're rather lucky it was Arc who played you." Her smile could only be described as placid on a shark.
"Is there going to be a problem?" a woman's voice interrupts. Anna glances to the side. The woman is standing there, hand on a cocked hip and one eyebrow raised. Her expression is pleasant, well, if you didn't count her eyes. No, those said she absolutely meant business.
Prince apparently knows it too. He takes half a step back, but the frown remains in place. "No, Styx."
"Not on my end. We're just having a friendly discussion." Doc's smile somehow gets wider.
"Uh huh, sure." The woman, Styx's, eyebrow inches higher. "How about we all have this friendly discussion not in the middle of the floor."
It takes a bit of shuffling and unspoken cues, as no one really wants to show their back to anyone else, but they manage to squeeze into a booth along the wall. Doc sits between Anna and Kristoff on one side, Prince on the other. Styx rolls her eyes. "Scoot over," she says to him.
Once sitting, Styx taps the tabletop, long fingernails rolling a drumbeat on the chipped laminate. "Assuming you aren't bringing trouble into my bar, what is this friendly discussion supposed to be about?"
"Like it or not, Prince is well-connected enough to certain...factions that getting a read on him is probably wise," Elsa cautions. Anna bites back a wince. Great.
"Actually, I'm here on a favor, of sorts, for the Contessa," Doc says calmly. "She loaned me one of her own for it."
Prince blinks, then zeroes in on Anna right across the table. "You're with the Black Court?"
"Yeah, what of it?"
He blinks again. "Huh," he says, leaning back, a strange amount of tension suddenly leaving him. "Strangely, that makes me feel a lot better." He shrugs carelessly at her. "There's little shame in being out-performed by a Court operative."
Anna just rolls her eyes. God forbid his ego gets damaged.
Styx, on the other hand, seems to ignore most of the by-play on the side. "The Contessa, huh? Must be some favor." Doc just smiles. Styx chuckles. "All right, I'll bite. What's got that fox looking outside her little kingdom?"
"Recent events, mostly. Surely you noticed some of the, ah, unusual activity."
"If you mean the assholes in riot gear tearing up most of the shadier parts of the undercity, then yeah, I'm aware."
"The Contessa is...concerned, if you will, that this is just a taste of things to come," Doc says. "There's talk of 'cleaning up' down here."
Prince scoffs. "We've heard that one before. It's just a lot of puffed-up idiots talking. Nothing ever comes of it. We'll weather it out, like always."
Doc shakes her head. "There's reason to believe this time these promises have a lot more teeth. If the Contessa is right, we're all in trouble."
Styx and Prince share a look. "She's got a plan, doesn't she?" Styx asks.
"Possibly. Right now, she's looking for allies in mutual interest to keep our necks off the chopping block, if worse comes to worse. And if that means we plan for more offensive measures."
There's a long moment while the two take all this in. Finally, Prince exhales loudly. "That's...wow. Okay. You're not giving me a lot to go on. I'll be honest, though. You're also not giving me a lot of reasons to care." He holds up a hand, and Anna closes her mouth. His smile is wry. "Chaos isn't exactly harmful to me."
Styx continues drumming the tabletop. "You, you're not Court." She stares at Kristoff. "Nor is big, tall, and silent over here. You've got a reason to buy into this."
Anna felt Kristoff shift next to her, apparently surprised to be called out in this entire thing. "The Contessa...she isn't stupid. And her people are good. If they're saying duck, it might be a good idea to hit the deck."
"Hmm...okay, I'll buy that."
"You do have a point," Prince says.
"But I'm not convinced quite yet." Styx leans back, crossing her arms. "Like Prince says, people like us are pretty good at hiding and working around the shitty system work."
"Or making it work for us," he adds, and then gets an elbow to the ribs for it. "Ow. Dammit, woman, you have pointy elbows."
Anna admits she was afraid of this, in some part of her. Sure, it'd be nice if everyone threw into the cause immediately, but she's pretty sure that only works in fairy tales. And even then, only sometimes. No, after three years down here, she knows most people are concerned about their own necks. Hell, the Court uses that perception as a diverting tactic, and that would only work if the damn stereotype worked that way. Blacksiders pay attention to themselves as a general rule.
"There's got to be something that might be convincing," Anna says quietly.
"We dig. Now that I've got access back, I'm going to try to get everything I can out of Helios."
Styx takes the question as if addressed to her. "Probably, yeah," she allows, relaxing against the booth. "The Contessa's word carries a lot, but cold hard proof works better."
"You do, after all, deal in absolutes," Doc murmers, crossing her arms. "All right. I think that's entirely reasonable. We'll get you your proof."
Styx smiles. "I look forward to it." She nods and leaves.
Prince looks over them. "She's got a point. But if you do have proof, I'll hold up a deal to get involved."
Doc nods. "All right. We'll be in touch, then."
He leaves them be. Kristoff scoots around to the other side of the table, so they're not all smashed onto a bench. "Well, that could have gone better."
"I'd be suspicious if they agreed right away." Doc shrugs.
"So what now?" Anna asks.
"Like I said, we get proof they can't ignore. I'm pretty sure our friend is already working on it, aren't you, Rime?"
"They've locked down a lot, but they're not perfect. Contessa's right. To crack them, we crack Alice Haskell."