Heyes looked down at the paper in his hands, then back up at the building in front of them. "Here we are, Kid."

As they were about to enter, a well-dressed man came striding out of the door. They stepped back to let him by. But he saw them hovering, and with a loud cough of disgust, sneered down at them, his lip curled in distaste as he took them in. Heyes knew he was taking in their dusty worn clothing, and underfed look, and shuffled a but uncomfortably at the expression on his face, as Kid did the same next to him.

Heyes was aware that they were lucky with their job. Marston paid them better than they'd expected he would, he'd even given them a small rise, once he'd realised that they were good workers and worth keeping. But with what they were paying for their dreary rooms, plus the cost of everything in this town, they still didn't have much to live on. They certainly couldn't spare enough to buy new clothing, and eat too. What garments they had managed to get hold of in the city, were all from missions, which meant that sometimes they were too large for them, and had always seen better days. But the clothing was still far better then what they'd been given in Valparaiso, and did what they needed to do. Kept them warm, and relatively protected from the weather, but the looks they often faced from the clients they delivered to, still stung at times.

He pulled his attention back to what the man was saying, feeling his cheeks flush at his harsh words. "We don't want beggars here, get out of it." The man finished what he was spitting at them, and raised the cane he was carrying. Obviously intending to strike them with it.

Heyes feeling his cousin tense in preparation to protect them, moved to stand in front, easily ignoring the grunt of irritation from him, and turned to the officious idiot, giving him a broad smile. He didn't want them to risk losing their job with Marston, by getting into a brawl, especially one which they would most likely lose anyway. "We're not beggars, Sir. We've brought some important papers from Mr Marston for the firm of..." Heyes glanced down at the neatly written address, and read it out slowly. "Fulton, Miller and Smith."

The man looked at him, finally seeing the papers tucked under his arm, and blinked once, before he put out his hand, and snapped. "Show me them, boy. I'll take them, so you won't need to go upstairs, and mess up our offices."

Heyes cleared his throat, irritation at the man's arrogance drowning out the last lingering, slightly prickly sense of embarrassment that his look had brought out in him. He took a step back, keeping the documents well out of the idiot's reach as he said. "I'd rather not, Sir. We don't know who you are.."

The man folded his arms across his chest and said, in a tone that suggested both of then should know exactly who he was. "I'm Thomas Smith, Esq, one of the partners in this firm you're here to deliver to."

Heyes was fairly sure he was who he said he was, but his attitude had riled him, just as much as it was still annoying his cousin, who was shifting restlessly behind him. So he shook his head, despite knowing he was probably courting trouble, and said politely. "With respect, we only have your word for that, and I know there are more than one set of offices in this building."

Of course he didn't know anything of the sort never having visited here before, but as he ignored Jed's soft snort of amusement from behind him, he knew he was right when the men sighed, and glared even harder at him, before hissing. "Insolent child!" He patted his pockets, and Heyes hid a smirk when he realised that he was looking for a card or something.

When he came up empty, he sighed heavily, raising his cane again, looking once more as if he was about to hit out at them, but then he stopped and checked his pocket watch before snapping."You're lucky. I have an appointment to get to but if I didn't, I would happily make you regret your insolence." He paused then added, eyeing Heyes first as he said "You should have been taught not to argue with your betters." He then turned to look at the Kid and said. "And you boy, you need to learn to stand down. Neither of you appear to know how to behave around civilised people, which is a terrible conceit in your circumstance. So you best learn your place, and quickly, or you will be in deep trouble before your next birthdays', if you even make that far."

As his cousin came to stand next to him, his face flushed, in both embarrassment and anger, Heyes bit down on his irritation. He was so tired of being spoken to like he was nothing, but as politely as he could manage, he said evenly. "We just want to make sure these papers get to where they're supposed to. We give these documents to someone they ain't meant for, and our circumstance, as you put it will certainly not improve any."

Smith eyed him, not sure of his tone, but merely said in a fairly level tone. "That may be so, but your unfortunate attitude is not the way to react, so mind your manners in the future. I am who I say I am, and if you hand those documents over, I will consider forgetting your behaviour this time."

Heyes gave a respectful ."I'm sorry, Sir, I can't do that."

After an awkward stand-off, the man tutted loudly then sighed heavily before saying angrily. "Believe me, with your continued refusal to do as I ask, I will report your attitude to your employer, and I am sure he will punish you accordingly."

With that, he pushed past them,and strode off, they watched him go, as Kid snorted, before saying. "Pleased to meet ya too."

Heyes, noticing the underlying edge to Jed's tone, despite his attempt at humour turned to him, hoping to steady his friend's mood, and said with a wink and a grin. "Well, that was fun."

But as the tone had suggested, his cousin was obviously unhappy. His face was pulled down into a frown, and he was holding himself stiffly, and there was a slightly lost look in his eyes, which only emphasised just how young he still was. The two years between them suddenly felt huge, and Heyes felt his stomach clench, when after meeting his gaze briefly, his friend looked away, giving a small shrug as he said softly.. "I'm real sick of us being treated like nothin', just because we ain't got much. Our folks taught us that everyone is worth somethin', but at Valparaiso and now here..." He trailed off miserably, and gazed down at his dirty hands, before looking up with a small sigh.

Heyes gave him a small sympathetic pat and said firmly. "One day, Kid, one day, things will be better for us." Then in an attempt to break the downbeat mood that had settled on them, said with a broad grin. "But first we gotta deliver these papers, then get back to our boss, and hope we were wrong about him being in trouble."

Jed snorted, and his expression cleared some as he said with a small smile. "And make sure we tell him what really happened, rather than leave him believing the pack of lies that man is gonna feed him."

As Heyes was so unsure of how to make things better, because he was also struggling, was relieved that the Kid seemed to have shaken off his gloom for now. So he said with a broad grin. "I think that's gonna be the easy part, Kid."

ASJ

Arriving back at Marston's office, as they stood at the top of the stairs, looking in through the glass door they were greeted with just what they'd feared. The lawyer trying, and failing to fight off the two large men from that morning. As they watched in horror, he was pushed hard against his desk, falling and banging his head, as the men both jumped on him, throwing heavy punches as they did so.

Unable to watch anymore, the Kid started to run towards the office and the fight, but swallowing hard, Heyes prevented him from going very far, with a hard tug and a hissed. "You ain't got a chance, Kid. Best we can do is make sure they don't see us, and help him after."

The Kid shook his head, and pulled away hard, sending Heyes stumbling back as he spat out. "No! I gotta try..." Heyes attempted once more to hold him back, but was easily shrugged off, and the Kid ran towards the door. Heyes was than left with no choice but to follow his friend. He loudly cursed his stupidity as he did so, but he knew he couldn't stand by and watch him die. As they ran, his Ma's voice suddenly echoed loud in his head. "Look after each other, if we can't."

They flung open the office door, and each threw themselves at one of the attacking men's backs, but far too small to make any impact, they were easily shrugged off, and were sent spinning backwards, to land winded onto the solid wooden floor. As they struggled to rise to their feet, one of the men paused in his battering of Marston, and turned to them, his face red and furious. He aimed a blow at both their heads with his huge fists, smacking them hard enough that their jaws rattled. Heyes wondered as he fell towards the floor, whether his teeth were cracked. As they fell awkwardly, their heads already spinning, they landed heavily, and were left prostrate, dizzy and barely conscious, their heads thumping and everything blurry round them.

They watched through bleary eyes, as the assault on Marston continued unabated. Heyes tried once more to get to his feet, but unable to get any purchase, just fell back down with a groan of pain. From his position on the floor, he heard the Kid also attempt to stand, only to fall down to lie next to him, with a muffled cry of frustrated pain.

The sound of fists repeatedly impacting hard on bone, interspersed with cries of pain and grunts of satisfaction, were all making Heyes feel nauseas, and he knew from the muffled swearing from his cousin lying next to him, that he was feeling exactly the same. He squinted over at his friend, and winced when he saw blood pouring from his chin, but couldn't find the energy he needed, in order to move and help. It was almost a relief, when everything faded out, as the pain in his head sent him into unconsciousness.