The chomper twirled carelessly around Jinx's fingers as the shimmer dealer vomited a little into his gag.
"Ugh! Don't be childish," Jinx admonished and pulled off the gag. "I know nausea isn't a side effect of the gas, so asphyxiating on your barf when I'm trying to teach you something is just plain rude, Nick."
Nick was trembling and looking down. Jinx picked up her pistol, brought it under his chin, and raised it so her blue eyes stared into his pink ones. "Look at me. Right now, I'm feeling ignored."
Nick could only nod with his mind short circuiting and his body bound to a chair.
"Righty-o. Now, tell me what you've done, that you'll not do it again, and how to make things pea-chy-keen" she directed, bopping his nose with the pistol on the last syllables.
"I-I got high on my supply and didn't do my job. It won't ever happen again. I'll do some of the recovery steps that the Fi–that I've heard on the st–"
"BUZZ! Oh, Nick, you were doing so well! But know you've got me wondering about the Fi–" she dangled the chomper on an extended pinkie by it pin. "I mean, who could the Fi– be?"
"Jinx, I swear, it's just, they've been publishing pamphlets and making graffiti about how to help addicts. I haven't had contact with the Firelights. They'd probably kill me as a dealer!"
Jinx rocked her head side-to-side in thought. "Okay, you passed that one. But only 'cause I'm a big softie." She winked. Nick did not wink back. "What else?"
"I skimmed. We both know it's common, but that's no excuse. I'll… give half of all my cut to our go-between and half to Sil–"
Jinx did not just bop Nick on the nose with the pistol this time. Bloody, but not broken. "Nick, you seem to be fond of disclosing names. Now, we all know who "S" is and my being here is a chomper boom size hint, but do NOT develop the habit of saying his name when trying to get out of trouble. Okey-dokey, Smokey?"
"Yes," he said while leaning his head forward as best he could with his bloody nose.
Jinx nodded. "That said, the kickup was a good solution. 2 for 2! Now, can you take us home?"
Nick was exhausted from waning shimmer, adrenaline, and patience for the leader's enfant terrible. "I ran when you said you wanted to talk…"
Jinx grinned and made a "just a little more" come on gesture with the fingers still holding the chomper. "I am sorry, I won't do that again," he continued. Jinx drew the pistol back and gripped the chomper less unsafely.
"And…" Nick paused. He looked more directly in her eyes, but she was becoming disappointed. Nick's flop sweat increased and he trembled more. "I-I will owe you a favor?"
Jinx was a statue for what was for Nick hours. Finally she looked to the side, snarled something too quiet for Nick to hear, and then turned back to him.
"Nick, I won't bore you with my history, but I don't take well to being betrayed, being abandoned. It… it is being eaten from the inside out. It is an emotional, really spiritual, agony as if Fiddlesticks himself were doing it. So, when you say 'I will owe you a favor' for running away from me, understand the terms if you break them."
Nick weighed her conviction. It seemed like half-nonsense to him, but she stated it like it was from a sermon. How much an appeal could he hope for anyway. "I understand and I hold the offer. I will put my life in your service for one time."
Jinx rubbed her chin with the pistol. She stood straight after coming to a decision. "Before we shake on it, we need more of a meeting of the minds. Let me take you higher."
Jinx attached the chomper to his jacket, pulled the pin and vanished out the door. Nick struggled against his binds. After realizing the futility he quickly said, "Janna help me." The seconds ended then–SPLAT!
Nick blinked. Pink paint covered his clothes and face as he looked down mystified. Jinx came back.
"Better now? See how–how inhumane the personal treason and the lies around it are? Do you still put your life in my hands when necessary?"
Nick felt like just nodding again, but knew it would be insufficient. "I submit."
After cutting him free, Jinx didn't waste time to head back to the Last Drop. Progress Day was fast approaching and while she had as much love for the Pilities self-adoration as a hospice patient has for their wasting disease, it did mean opportunities. Opportunities to learn about advances in papers, to deconstruct and reconstruct their toys, and to finally ride in an airship.
"Someday, I'm gonna ride in one of those," a memory synapsis fired.
"And I said 'I would shoot it down.' Seems tricky now, but how funny would it be if I could shoot down the one you'll be in," Mylo muttered.
"You were always Maggie's drawers, Mylo. You'd probably be the one to jinx it if you tried," Jinx whispered.
Claggor softly chuckled.
The street was becoming crowded with lunch traffic and Jinx pondered roof racing. How long had it been since she'd done that?
"You remember when," Mylo answered. Jinx could hear his smirk. "The night of the unmasking of the Firelight leader. Little Man is smart. He knows how to stay alive–stay away from you."
"It had to be you," she had said.
"Fine, then," Jinx told herself in resignation. "If it works, then I'm not alone even when I'm alone."
Mylo chuckled. "And you get indignant at lies."
Sneering, Jinx dove into a side alley. She worked her way up a pipe and started sprinting. The roofs were easy enough jumps at first and would get more challenging in shape and distance until she reached the Last Drop. Still, she was out of practice and nearly stumbled on an easy one.
"Faster," she ordered herself. You're stronger than you think. She didn't hear Vi's ghost so much as feel her. Thanks, Sis. You're wrong, but thanks.
She wiped the sweat from her brow before taking the second farthest leap. That one worked well and she was about to take the last one when something caught her eye. Grinning, she used a pipe to swing her momentum to her target's direction. She tumbled down onto the veranda while keeping as much speed as she could to showboat by somersaulting just in front of the target.
"Thieram! Back among the living!" Jinx exclaimed and nearly glomped the startled man over.
He gradually gained his composure and delicately took her arms off him. "Barely. And once again, it's Chuck."
Jinx pointed. "This guy! Always the kidder." She feigned poking his ribs. She frowned on noticing his cast on his foot.
"Guards rough you up, Thieram? Taking away my dancing partner," Jinx shook her head and knelt down while producing a marker from a pocket.
"No. There was this crazy boxer woman who the others warned me about."
The monkey face was almost already done by Jinx's swift hands on the plain cast. "Hmm. Sounds interesting. She punched your foot mid-kick or something."
"No, the pink-haired maniac used a shiv she took off Mags. I should have.."
Chuck's words were lost in a cacophony of sounds only Jinx could hear as she dropped the marker. Jinx brought a hand to the side of her head as she worked to settle it. What?! This was–was she in a new nightmare. A new dream, because if she was alive….
"What was her name?" Jinx interrupted.
"She said it was Vi. She said Vi stands for–"
"Violence." She winced from the turmoil. She rose up and glared at him.
"That is NOT funny, Chuck."
Befuddled, he blinked. Even for her the tone shift was surprising. "You're telling me, Jinx. I don't think I was infected, but this will take a long time–"
Jinx grabbed him by the collar and pulled him inches from her face. "If this is a test from Silco or a trick from Sevika, just say I failed and we'll stop."
"J-Jinx, I haven't seen or had a go-between for either. I'm not lying about this."
After letting out a long breath, JInx then gestured with her head. "Let's go for a hobble, Chuck."
Chuck shook his head. "Jinx, I really should report–"
Jinx used her free hand to press her pistol into his ribs as out-of-sight as she could. "I insist. We have catching up to do and I'd love it for you to dish about this Vi you met in the hoosegow."