Walk forward, into the world
by Ainzfern
13
"So... approximately fifteen hundred," Riki murmured unhappily, looking at the data that he and Katze had just collated.
Seated in front of the multi-terminals in Katze's own apartment in the outskirts of Midas, Riki sighed and rubbed his fingers against his tired eyes. "It's not enough."
Beside him, Katze was silent, filtering the figures once more.
"Shit," Riki whispered. "Why are there so few of them, Katze?" he asked suddenly. "I mean, the Elites have been dumping their unwanted Pets out into the streets for years. Why are so few of them out there?"
Katze sighed softly, his pale face filled with profound sorrow as he looked over at Riki. "They just don't survive long, Riki. They get mistreated. They get abused and murdered. It's not a nice fact, but it's a fact nonetheless. They're just such easy prey, because no one cares."
Riki stared at him for a long moment before, almost as if he could no longer bear to stay still, he got to his feet, stalking over to stare out the window of the office, his arms wrapped around his body in a peculiar gesture of self-comfort, his shoulders tense and unhappy. "Shit," he muttered, shaking his head. "Shit." He glared back over his shoulder. "That's fucked up, Katze. That's the sickest, saddest fuckin' thing I think I've ever heard."
"It's still true." Katze dropped the hard-copy audit data list back onto the desk top and hung his head, defeated.
"It's just not enough," Riki repeated again.
"I know."
"God, we were that close, y'know," Riki swallowed hard. "It was a good idea, Katze. It really would have worked."
"Perhaps Neeson will agree to a reduced compliment," Katze suggested hopefully.
Riki glanced at him again. "Maybe. I don't know. I can ask him, I guess. I just really wanted to give him the full numbers right up front." He sighed once more, leaning his forehead against the window pane. "What a fucked up world we live in," he muttered, almost to himself. "Sometimes, Katze," he went on, his voice soft and sad, "I wonder if it's even worth trying. I mean, just when you think people can't get any worse... they go and shock the shit out of you by doing stuff like this. Stuff that's so fuckin' ugly you just can't get your head around it." He wet his lips, his eyes closing painfully. "It's like a punch to the guts. Only it's worse because it just keeps on hurting."
"There are good things out there, though," Katze said from behind him. "I mean, look at you. You've found hope, right?"
Riki sighed again. "I don't know about that either, Katze. I mean, sometimes, I still wonder if I'm not just kidding myself. Just pretending to be respectable little Companion of a man who's so far above me that it's not even funny."
"Riki..."
Ignoring him, Riki continued. "There are days, Katze, when I actually think I should just get the hell out of Midas. Go back to the slums where I belong..." He trailed off, his eyes suddenly widening as he stared sightlessly out the window. His heart began to hammer, and his breath grew short as a surge of genuine excitement pulsed through his body.
Oblivious to the internal shift in his employee, Katze huffed a doubtful little chuckle. "Now, I know you don't mean that, man."
"Have you been keeping tabs on Guy, Katze?" Riki asked then, turning around to face him, his tone distant and distracted by his deep thoughts.
The ex-Furniture looked sharply up at him. "Why?"
"We need his contacts, Katze," Riki rolled his eyes. "I've been too long out of Ceres, but if Guy's still there then he's still running deals. He'll know the heads of the other gang members, but he'll also know the names of the current Ceres-Edge community leaders... and they're the ones that I really want. This is an opportunity that the residents of the slums would jump at! A chance to get out. A chance for a real future." He ran his hands through his hair, the idea taking him fully. "Now, I know that you have people in your network that can probably get the same information but, believe me, this way will be faster."
"Riki... are you serious?"
"I might be. I don't know yet."
"Ceres-Edge leaders don't do business with the gangs," Katze reminded him pointedly as he resumed his seat.
"I know," Riki walked towards him, his eyes filled with excitement, "But if Guy's M.O is still the same, he'd have made a point of knowing who they are, just in case an opportunity ever came up."
"All right," After a long moment, Katze nodded up at him. "Yeah, he's still in the game. As a matter of fact he's consolidated his position significantly since Dana Bahn," his mouth twisted into a little smirk, "playing off the fact that he's the one mongrel in the whole of Ceres that fought a Blondie hand-to-hand and lived to talk about it. He's almost a little legend in his own life-time, now."
"Typical," Riki shook his head wryly. "Any fuckin' angle that works." His expression grew more serious then. "So he'd know that Iason is alive, right?"
"He'd have to by now. Iason's return to the leadership of the Syndicate was broadcast on the news-links," Katze smiled maliciously. "I can imagine he punched a few walls the day that happened."
"I'm sure," Riki sat down again, a sense of regret washing through him. "Listen, I know that you hate him, Katze."
"No shit."
"But I don't." He held up one hand as Katze's expression grew angry. "Just... listen, okay?" He sighed, struggling with it. "I actually feel kind of sorry for him. Yes, he kidnapped me. Yes, he hurt me... and badly." Riki looked into Katze hard eyes, pleading for some manner of understanding. "But, he'd also gone kind of insane by that time, I think. And he lost everything that day. Everything that he cared about. Even his self-respect. He was so obsessed with saving me that he couldn't see that what he was trying to do was the very thing he'd always accused Iason of. Keeping me against my will."
"Yeah, but even so..." Katze began unhappily.
"I have no intention of leaving Iason, Katze," Riki assured him. "Not for Guy. Not for anyone. And no way am I stupid enough to go anywhere near Guy without back-up."
Katze relaxed slightly, approval in his eyes.
"But this idea will work." Riki chuckled sadly. "Once Guy gets over the shock of finding out that I'm alive, of course."
"Riki," Katze leaned towards him intently. "Are you sure Guy will even talk to you?"
"Oh, he'll talk to me, all right," Riki replied confidently. "He won't be able to help himself. The tough gig is going to be convincing Iason to let me do this."
"Ah," Katze winced. "Oh, yes."
"Absolutely not," Iason's voice was flat and final, "There are no circumstances under which I will agree to this."
"Iason," Riki rose from the sofa where he had been sitting when Iason and he had begun the conversation just moments before, walking across the room to stand in front of his agitated Blondie. "It's important. I can probably account for about fifteen hundred displaced ex-Pets currently in Midas, but I need more people. Neeson's minimum requirement is four thousand, five if I can get them."
"It's far too high a personal risk for you, Riki."
"But the pay-off will be worth it, don't you get that?" Riki stared up into Iason's stiff face and ice-cold eyes, silently pleading for acceptance. "This is a chance that won't ever come again. A chance for the lowest caste in this world to also get out, to make a new life. I'm not naïve enough to think that it's going to be a Utopia for them, or even anything like it, but it's still a chance for them to have some control over their own futures. It's hope, Iason, and that's something that the mongrels of Ceres have never had."
"Why must it be him?" Iason literally hissed the words, "Why must it be Guy?"
"Because he has the contacts, he knows the right names." Riki wet his lips with the tip of his tongue, lowering his voice slightly. "And I know him. It'll be quicker this way."
"Then send Katze."
"Guy won't talk to Katze. You know that."
Turning abruptly away from him, Iason stalked across the full length window that graced the side of the penthouse along the balcony. He paused there, his hands clasped behind his back, as he stared out at the night. "No, Riki," he said at length. "I cannot accept the excuse that the benefits outweigh the risk. Not this time."
"Iason..."
Iason turned back, his eyes flashing coldly and his face hard as stone. "You will not go to Ceres. Not tonight. Not ever."
"I see." Riki felt his face flushing, his gut filling with dismay and bitter disappointment.
A feeling that he honestly had thought he would never experience again from this man.
"I get it," he continued dully, his hurt and anger clear in his voice. "All the promises that you made to me – all that bullshit about my not being your fuckin' Pet anymore and you not being my master. That only holds true until it becomes inconvenient, is that it?" Riki turned and walked toward the front door of the penthouse. "Well, that's just fine, Iason. You go right ahead and have it all your own fuckin' way again."
In the next instant, Iason was suddenly right next to him, having closed the distance between them so quickly that Riki was honestly stunned by his lethal speed. The Blondie's hands grabbed him firmly, sharply pulling him around to look up into a transparently anguished face. Shocked by Iason's expression, by the sheer depth of emotion there, Riki felt his mouth drop open, his eyes growing wide.
"I am not trying to give orders to you as a master would, Riki," Iason's low voice was tight with upset. "I am trying to appeal to you as your partner. Riki... he took you. He kept you from me. He hurt you. He nearly killed you. Surely you remember this?"
"Of course I remember," Riki whispered, his throat aching.
"Then don't do this."
"Iason, I have to." Slowly, he lifted one hand, pressing it gently to the side of Iason's flushed face. "Please try to understand. If I turn my back on my own kind when I have the power to help them... what kind of man would that make me? How could I ever look into a mirror and meet my own eyes again? How could I ever face myself, or anyone else for that matter, without shame for the rest of my life?"
Iason looked deeply into his eyes for a long moment, a wealth of emotions crossing his perfect face. Finally, he sighed, a slow and shattered sound, as he nodded reluctantly. "Then bring him to Midas."
"I... What?" Riki gaped at him, honestly surprised.
"Have Katze send a few of his men to collect him," Iason explained. "Bring him to my office in Jupiter Tower, where I can at least ensure that you will be safe while you negotiate with him."
Riki bit his lower lip, hesitating.
"Please, Riki," Iason laid down his final card. "Please."
Sighing, Riki nodded. He knew this was pretty much the best compromise that he was going to get.
Besides, he had to admit, it did make a certain amount of sense. "Okay," he stepped forward then, sliding his arms around Iason's body and stroking his powerful back slowly, trying to ease some of the dreadful tension he could feel out of the muscles there. "Okay. We'll do it your way. Are you happy now?"
Iason buried his face in Riki's hair, returning his embrace with almost fervent intensity. "Far from it," he murmured in his velvet voice. "But at least the fear of losing you again will be less this way."
"You won't lose me, Iason," Riki whispered, lifting his face to kiss the side of Iason's jaw. "I promise you that."
"Good," Iason smiled slightly, sadly, as he looked down into Riki's eyes once more. "Just see that you keep that promise."
"I will," Riki breathed, slipping one hand around the back of Iason's neck, drawing his face down to kiss him softly. "I will."
14
From behind his desk, in his luxury office situated in the upper floors of Jupiter Tower, Iason Mink looked up, nodding in welcome as Raoul Am entered and almost casually strolled across the plush carpeting towards him.
"Iason," his friend greeted him, his expression mild and pleasant, as he folded his elegant limbs gracefully into the chair opposite Iason's desk.
"Raoul," Iason returned his salutation, mirroring that same expression.
For a long moment, they simply looked at each other, their faces artfully bland and a wealth of silent communication flowing back and forth between their locked gazes.
"Well," Raoul ended the stalemate at some length. "This morning's Syndicate session was interesting."
Iason's rich mouth twitched, just a little. "It was, wasn't it?"
Inspecting his fingernails nonchalantly, Raoul tilted head and smiled slightly. "I didn't actually think you were planning on tabling the Companion legislation so soon, however."
"I wasn't."
"So." Looking back at him again, Raoul arched a brow at him. "What changed your mind?"
Iason sat back, tapping a soft staccato rhythm on the armrest of his chair for moment. "Jupiter did," he replied, watching Raoul's eyes widen ever so slightly. "During yesterday evening's report to her she essentially told me to 'get on with it'.
Raoul blinked. "To 'get on with it'- -?" he echoed.
"In a manner of speaking."
"Interesting," Raoul nodded his acceptance of the notion, then flicked a slightly evil look at him from under lowered lashes. "I thought some of our worthy colleagues were going to implode when you uploaded the overview to them."
"Quite."
"Although, I was amazed at how quiet they all became when you invited any one of them who wished to question Jupiter's authority to enter her sanctum and ask her in person," Raoul shrugged lightly. "I would never have believed that an entire room full of Elites could be so silent for so long."
"It would seem we're learning all manner of new things about ourselves, Raoul."
Raoul smirked at him. "And any day where something new is learned, is never a wasted day."
"Is Tahna Lam still frothing at the mouth?" Iason asked him, finding that he was still slightly amused at the memory of the dumbstruck expression that had crossed the face of one of his more vocal opponents in the Syndicate.
Raoul snorted softly. "Not exactly. He's using a lot of his favorite key-phrases, though."
"Ah. Let me guess," Iason pulled a mock-thoughtful little face. "Outrageous Insult and Fundamental Disgrace..?"
"Perfectly correct," Raoul's smile positively dripped gleeful malice.
"Perhaps I ought to requisition him a thesaurus. It's really about time he learned to extemporize upon his theme."
"I can only suggest he'd be most grateful to you."
Sitting forward slightly, Iason became more serious, meeting Raoul's eyes levelly. "So... in your nominated role as vote-counter in the secret ballot that followed...?"
Raoul nodded, suddenly somber once more. "Yes, Iason, I've been monitoring it closely."
"And...?" Iason prompted, feeling certain amount of undeniable tension rising into his chest.
"Well, there are a few more votes to come in at this point." The look in Raoul's eyes gave away the result before he had even vocalized it. "But, the overwhelming majority so far is in favor of your tabled petition. Even if the remaining Syndicate members decide to abstain, you've still won. The legislation will be passed."
Iason relaxed back into his seat, his eyes closing briefly and a soft slow sigh leaving his chest, his outward appearance of relief a mere tiny shade of how he actually felt inside.
"Good," he nodded once more. "This is gratifying."
"I'm pleased for you, my friend," Raoul told him warmly.
"I'm pleased for all of us," Iason replied. He paused then, a frown crossing his face as his thoughts abruptly moved to a different, yet somehow so closely related, subject.
Noticing the sudden change, Raoul peered closely at him. "Iason? You've been doing that most of morning, I've noticed. Is there anything wrong?"
Iason pressed his lips together tightly for a moment before nodding, a tiny grimace of deep unease crossing his face. "In a way," he replied, meeting Raoul's concerned eyes. "You're aware of the project that Riki, and to a certain extent Katze, have been working on for Chey Neeson?"
"The colonization on Hepstra," Raoul said. "Yes, you've mentioned it to me."
"Well," Iason rose to his feet, rounding his desk and approaching the wide windows that lined one full wall of his office, looking out for a moment at the magnificent vista below. "Due to circumstances that I could only label as 'unfortunate', the number of disowned Pets in Midas is far lower than Neeson requires to complete his work force contingent."
"I see."
"This means that a decision has been made to make up the numbers by offering the opportunity to certain residents in Ceres."
"Oh." Peripherally, Iason noted that Raoul had moved to stand beside him at the window. "And what is Jupiter's opinion on that?"
"She's not opposed to it."
"So," Raoul looked sideways at him. "What's the difficulty?"
Iason's sigh was slightly shaky. "The difficulty is that the best possible contact to provide the names and locations that Riki requires is his old partner, Guy."
Raoul's breath hissed sharply between his teeth. "That dangerous maniac? Surely you're not going to allow Riki to venture into the Ceres to see him, are you?"
"No."
"Well, I would hope not."
"Guy will be brought here, instead. To this office. This afternoon, as a matter of fact, if Katze's people have been able to get hold of him."
Raoul turned to face him, shock written large across his beautiful face. "Iason... is that wise?"
"In comparison to the alternative?" Iason shrugged. "Yes."
Falling silent once more, Raoul stared at the floor as he considered it. "All right," he murmured, his tone deeply preoccupied with thought, "I'm assuming that you'll have full security set up?"
"Of course. Audio-visual monitoring from the moment he steps through that door," Iason glanced over his shoulder at the entrance to his office. "A response team will be stationed in the anti-room and I, myself, will be right outside the entire time." His pale eyes narrowed dangerously. "If Guy makes so much as one threatening twitch in Riki's direction, we'll haul him out of here in under a second."
"So, I'm gathering that it's not physical harm to Riki that is concerning you," Raoul mused, his eyes knowing as they looked at Iason's tense face.
"You are correct Raoul," Iason sighed and shook his head, almost helplessly.
Raoul's' warm hand closed over his shoulder. "Surely you're not concerned that Riki might still have feelings of affection for the man, are you?"
"No, it's not that, so much, "Iason frowned, struggling with it. "It's more that Riki seems to feel responsible for Guy in some way. Almost as if he owes him some manner of apology for everything that took place. Even after all the acts that Guy perpetrated against him, how he harmed him, Riki still feels guilt."
"Iason," Raoul gently tugged on Iason's shoulder until he turned to face him fully, "if there is one thing that I have learned through my observation of Riki, it is that he is far stronger than you are giving him credit for." Raoul flushed slightly, almost shamefully, "I never told you this but, during the initial days of his recovery from his injuries at Dana Bahn, I honestly wondered how on earth he could possibly live. He was such a pitiful wreck, a thing so battered and torn that I truly thought it might have been kinder to just let him slip away."
Iason's eyes closed painfully.
"But it was his spirit, Iason, which pulled him through those days." Raoul shook his head in actual wonder. "It was his will, and not any manner of medical intervention, that got him through the worst of it. I had no idea that a mere mongrel could posses so much strength."
Opening his eyes, Iason met Raoul's compassionate gaze. He nodded, a small smile reforming on his face. "I honestly believe that you have just succeeded in settling my mind somewhat, Raoul," he said softly, gratefully.
"Always glad to be of service to you, my friend." Raoul chuckled softly, dropping his hand from Iason's shoulder and looking once more out at the city below. "Mongrels," he huffed, almost to himself. "Far more complex little creatures than I would ever have imagined."
Iason shot him a searching look. The words Raoul had used could so easily have been taken as insulting, but the tone of his voice... it had been warm, almost affectionate.
Interesting.
Pushing his own worries to the back of his mind, Iason narrowed his eyes slightly, keeping a close note of Raoul's reactions. "I can't help but notice you've taken to spending an inordinate amount of your time in the company of one particular mongrel yourself, Raoul."
Raoul looked at him suspiciously.
"Katze," Iason clarified mildly. "You've had him over at your office in the science centre quite a few times, I believe."
"Well," Raoul shifted slightly on his feet. "I have engaged his quite remarkable technical skills to upgrade the efficiency of the lab's computer network, that's all."
Iason simply continued to look steadily at him. "I see."
Under that scrutiny, the slightest flush rose in Raoul's face. "Plus, in all fairness, he does have a rather intelligent mind. I find his conversation surprisingly diverting."
"Of course."
Raoul cleared his throat awkwardly, refusing to hold Iason's gaze. "And he plays a decently challenging game of chess."
"He does, indeed." Iason's mouth twitched again.
Silence reigned for another few moments before Raoul heaved a great sigh and shot him a look that literally spoke volumes. "Iason?" he asked disgustedly.
"Hmm?"
"Sometimes you're so clever you make me sick." He turned and stalked from Iason's office, trailing an air of wounded affrontary behind him.
With a knowing smile, Iason simply watched him go.
There were four of them... moving through the inner slum streets of Ceres in a relaxed and casual manner. They had been carefully selected by their black market boss for their astonishing ability to be unremarkable. To blend into any crowd, at any time, in any place. Anyone walking the streets with them would most likely not even take note of them as they moved past, each man perfectly blending into the background swell of bustle and movement. Each man no more than just another nondescript face in a veritable sea of faces...
They were all well trained, highly competent and extremely dangerous. And they were exceptionally good at their jobs. Most of their targets only ever realized that they were there just before they were quickly and quietly dispatched.
If you had to turn around to see them... then you were already too late.
Today their task was somewhat different from their normal M.O. There was no killing to be done. Today, in an odd turn of events, they were arranging a simple pick-up and delivery.
In a manner of speaking.
They had located their quarry with their usual efficiency, tracking him carefully and making their move with the speed and precision of a well-oiled machine. With no one in Ceres any the wiser, they had swiftly extracted their mark and were heading safely back through Midas towards Jupiter Tower.
It would be some hours yet before their target's associates would even realize that he was gone.
They really were exceptionally good at their jobs...
15
From his seated position in one of the high-backed plush leather chairs that fronted Iason's desk in his Jupiter Tower office, Riki waited, outwardly composed but deeply and profoundly anxious inside of himself.
It has seemed like such a logical and straightforward idea when he had first considered it but now, with Guy currently being rechecked for weapons in the anti-room beyond the office door, only seconds away from entering Iason's office, Riki found that his mouth had dried up even as his palms had grown damp.
And as much as he might have reassured Iason, repeatedly, that he would be fine to handle this; there was no use trying to kid himself anymore now that moment had arrived. No use in pretending that he would be able to rely on a mutual benefit, the greater good, to help him deal with Guy. That kind of angle might work just fine with a political character like Chey Neeson, but it would be only so many glossy platitudes to a hard ass from the Ceres slums. If he wanted to have even the slimmest chance of Guy actually listening to him, of really hearing what he had to say, then he would have to appeal to him on a personal level. From the heart.
This... Riki drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment... this was not going to be easy.
Even though he was facing away from the entrance of the office, hidden from view by the tall back of the chair he was in, when he head Katze's team escort Guy into the centre of the room as previously instructed, his heart actually quailed for a moment.
And when he heard Guy's voice, so familiar to him even now, raised in angry enquiry, something that felt very much like fear rolled in a slow wave through his stomach.
"What..?!" Guy's words were sharp, filled with scathing sarcasm. "Not even finishing the job, guys?" Huh? Just gonna dump me in here so your Elite puppet-master can have all the fun to himself?"
Still Riki waited, just listening, silent and still, as heavy treads from the boots of Katze's men signaled that they were leaving the room. They did not reply to Guy's question. In fact, Riki knew that they would probably not have reacted to him at all.
Why would they? Despite his current disquiet, Riki nearly smiled dryly. They weren't getting paid to react to Guy.
There was a profound silence for a moment, where Riki heard Guy take a few steps, muffled slightly by the thick carpeting, further into the room. The footsteps paused again before, surprisingly, Riki heard Guy heave a deep resigned sigh.
"I knew this day would have to come, Iason," Guy spoke in a tone of voice that was all the more startling because it was so soft, so accepting. "From the moment I heard that you'd survived Dana Bahn... I knew that you'd get around to killing me. I knew I was living on borrowed time."
Painfully, Riki frowned down at his hands, oddly saddened by the genuine note of defeat in Guy's quiet words.
Guys sighed once more, his voice lowering even further, so much so that Riki had to strain just to hear his next words. "It wasn't enough for you that you ripped off my arm, was it?" Guy was asking absently, almost as if directing the question to himself. "It wasn't even enough for you that Riki chose to die with you rather than live with me. You want my life too." Guy drew in a deep breath then. "So... the moment of your revenge is here," he continued, his voice rising again, growing sharp and defiant once more. "Don't drag it out, you Blondie freak son of a bitch. I know you're somewhere in here. So, come on out and finish me off. Act like a fuckin' man and end it!"
Taking a deep and fortifying breath, Riki rose from his seat and turned to face the agitated mongrel gang leader in the centre of the room. "Guy?" he said softly, breaking the tense silence.
As he watched Guy freeze in place for a moment before turning to look at him; as he watched the man's eyes widen in shock and the blood leave his face in a sudden rush, Riki was also taking the opportunity to really look at him for the first time in so many months.
Guy had changed.
Oh, there was the loss of his arm of course; the one that Iason, in his enraged anguish over Riki's maiming, had virtually crushed into a pulp with one hand. But it wasn't that which had really caught Riki's focus.
He was still tall, still handsome and well formed even with the loss of his limb; still had his long dark hair pulled back at the nape of his neck, hanging in a thick ponytail down his back.
But... he was so thin. His face was deeply lined with furrows at the edge his eyes and mouth that bespoke of loss and regret. Shadows, so dark that they almost looked like bruises, lay under his haunted eyes, evidence of far too many sleepless nights. And he was so wan, so washed out and pale, like he hadn't been touched by the sun in a long time.
And right now, he was staring at Riki with desperate hope in his eyes, trembling so violently that Riki could clearly see it from across the room.
"Riki?" Guy wet his lips and shook his head slowly, as if he couldn't quite process what he was seeing. "You... You're alive..." his whisper was harsh with disbelief, "You're alive..."
"I am." Riki swallowed and took a step towards him. "It's kind of a long story but, they – I mean, the Blondies, managed to save me."
"Riki..." Guy whispered again, moving forward, his arm outstretched hungrily and tears rising into his eyes. He halted, just a few steps away from his former partner, almost as if something had suddenly occurred to him. Sighing harshly, he glared up pointedly at the security cameras in the corners of the room, his face creasing into a frustrated grimace.
Understanding the silent message, Riki nodded at him. "It's okay. You won't get shot for it."
And then Guy embraced him, his single arm sliding around Riki's shoulders and his face burrowing into the side of his neck. His body was wracked with shudders as he held Riki tightly, perhaps of relief, perhaps of anguish.
Perhaps both. Riki couldn't tell.
Riki allowed the embrace for a moment, his own hands gently patting Guys' shaking back, but when the moment expanded beyond comfort for him, when the hugging threatened to become clutching; Riki gently but firmly eased away, holding Guy by the shoulders and looking somberly into his tired, careworn face. "God, you look like hell, man," he murmured gently.
Guy barked a soft wry chuckle and ran his hand roughly over his face. "I feel it."
"Sit," Riki guided him down into the chair he'd been sitting on, taking the one beside it for himself. "Sit before you fall, for God's sake."
"Riki?" Guy gripped Riki's hand, staring searchingly at him. "What the hell happened? Where have you been all this time?" He frowned, his eyes narrowing. "Have you been here? In Eos?"
Riki shook his head. "No. For most of the last few months I was recovering in some medical lab somewhere." He sighed softly. "Then I was working for Katze for a few weeks in one of his safe-houses just outside of Midas."
"Working for Katze?" Guy spat the name. "That bastard?"
Riki sat back, feeling his expression harden slightly. "That 'bastard' helped to save my life, Guy," he replied softly, a cold note entering his tone.
Guy pressed his lips together, averting his face for a moment. "So your fuckin' Blondie found you again, I take it? Hauled you right back here again, I guess." His face twisted for a moment, grief and rage in his eyes. "So everything that happened didn't mean shit to him. You're still his Pet, right?"
Riki's eyes closed for a moment as he forced himself not to visibly react to Guy's last remark, knowing that no possible good could come of it if he let slip that the healing process had restored his body in its entirety. He took a steadying breath, bracing himself anew. "Guy, I didn't get Katze to bring you here to talk about Iason."
Guy's head snapped around to face him again, his eyes once more widening.
Riki shrugged, holding Guy's gaze steadily.
Guy stared hard at him, his expression changing from confusion to astonishment, before finally settling into a mask of suspicion and anger. "Then what do you want, Riki?" his question was low and tightly controlled. "You come back from the dead and all of a sudden you're running deals out of a Blondie's high-rise office? What the hell's with that? And why the fuck have you brought me here? Why the fuck would a high and mighty Elite Blondie like Iason Mink even let you bring me here?"
"I need your help."
Guy snorted gracelessly. "Yeah. Well. I tried to help you before and look what happened."
Fighting to keep his voice calm, Riki wet his lips and leaned forward slightly. "This is different. This isn't about me."
"Oh?" The slightest spark of interest had entered Guy's eyes. "Who's it about, then?"
"You. In a way," Riki reached across to the edge of Iason's desk, picking up Chey Neeson's proposal and offering it to Guy, "and about anyone else living in Ceres who wants to take advantage of this."
Taking the dossier, Guy set it on his lap and opened it, scanning the overview on the first page quickly. He looked up after a moment or two, one brow lifting slightly. "This is for real?"
Riki nodded.
"And my part in this whole deal?"
"Just the names and the locations of the Ceres Edge leaders, Guy," Riki told him firmly. "That's all I want."
"That's all, is it?" Guy's eyes narrowed again, his full mouth curling derisively.
Riki's heart sank, even as he watched the man in front of him shake his head.
"Well, it all sounds really great," Guy smiled coldly at him. "But there's just one little thing that bothers me."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Guy casually tossed the dossier back onto Iason's desk. "You said you spent time in Ceres working for Katze? Several weeks, if I'm remembering your words right."
Silently, Riki nodded at him.
"So you were out." Guy leaned forward. "You were away from that Blondie bastard for weeks and in all that time, the thought never occurred to you to come and find me?"
In spite of his earlier promise to himself to remain in control, Riki felt the heat rising into his face. "Well maybe I was just a little fuckin' scared that you might have decided to cut something else off of me, Guy," he snapped out, his temper racing away from him. "Did that occur to you?!"
Guy blanched, his face paling again. "That wasn't supposed to happen!" He rose abruptly to his feet, stalking back into the centre of the room, running his hand over his face once more. "It all got fucked up, Riki... don't you get that? It all got out of control. I don't... I never wanted to hurt you, I..." He swallowed hard, his eyes suddenly beseeching. "I was out of my head. I just... just wanted to get you free. I just wanted to get you away from him!"
"Is that what you wanted to get for me, Guy?" Slowly, Riki got his feet, his eyes never breaking from Guy's for a moment. He felt a terrible cold rage filling him, felt his hands grow strangely numb and, when he spoke again, his voice calm and quiet and terrible, it was as if the words were coming from some vast distance. "Well, why don't we just revisit what I did get from you, huh?"
Guy stilled, caught by the dreadful intensity of Riki's voice.
"What I got from you was a drink so loaded with sedatives that I'm still surprised it didn't kill me on the fuckin' spot," Riki took a slow deliberate step forward. "What I got, was laid out unconscious in some dingy little room in a condemned underground shelter, while you sliced my dick away from my body."
"Oh God, Riki..."
Ignoring Guy's agonized whisper, Riki continued, taking another step forward. "What I got was to wake up all by myself, terrified, and in more fuckin' agony that I can possibly ever describe." Riki swallowed hard, his gut flipping in remembered nausea as the images from that awful, soul destroying moment replayed themselves like rapid snapshots through his mind. "I got to just lie there, Guy, alone and sick and bewildered, in some shitty little room, with nothing left between my legs but a raw open wound and only one possible explanation as to how it got there."
Guy's face was a picture of misery, his eyes filled with tears and remorse. "I'm sorry, Riki," he rasped out painfully, helplessly lifting his hand in a useless gesture. "I'm so fucking sorry for everything. I live with it... every day. What I did to you. I look back at myself and I... I can't believe that it was me."
Closing the distance, Riki held his agonized gaze, his voice softening once more. "Well it was you, Guy," he replied sadly. "So you owe me."
Guys lowered his gaze, sighing deeply. "Yeah. I guess I do."
"On the desk behind me is a blank piece of paper and a pen," Riki stepped to one side, motioning for Guy to step forward. "You know what you need to do with them."
Nodding, his lips pressing tightly together, Guy approached Iason's desk and wrote in silence for several minutes. Once finished, he turned, eyes averted to one side, walking back to Riki and handing him the list he had made. "That's all of them. All the main ones, anyway."
Taking it gently from him, Riki nodded. "Thank you."
Pulling in a deep breath, Guy stared straight ahead of him, looking with blank eyes at the door of the office, where Katze's escort detail had just reentered the room, silently waiting to take him back to Ceres.
"I'll get the word out around the inner slums, too," Guy continued as if Katze's men weren't even there, still not meeting Riki's eyes. "I don't know if you'll get many takers but, there might be few in the gangs who wouldn't mind getting out of the game."
"That's fine, too. They'll be welcomed." Riki glanced at the list, his head aching. "They'll all be welcomed."
"If you need to get a message through," Guy dropped his gaze to the floor, "or there are instructions you need to pass on, Katze obviously know how to contact me."
"Yes."
Guy paused once more, finally looking up into Riki's eyes again. "I loved you, y' know," he said softly, his face filled with profound regret. "I still do."
Riki smiled sadly at him. "No, Guy," he murmured, his voice gentle but certain. "You loved a half-wild seventeen year old kid called Riki the Dark. Now, I might still be alive... but I'm telling you now, Riki the Dark is well and truly dead."
With one final lingering look, Guy turned away and walked towards his escort.
He did not look back as he left the room.
Riki stood there for a long moment, staring at the list in his hand, his mind whiling with all manner of thoughts both sorrowful and pained. He breathed deeply, fighting for control, so intent upon it that he barely heard the measured footsteps that approached him.
He looked up, feeling the burn of tears behind his eyes as Iason's warm hands closed over his shoulders. Those pale eyes were gazing down at him, a wealth of empathy reflecting from them.
"You did well," Iason told him gently.
Riki nodded and lifted the paper in his hand. "Yeah," his voice cracked slightly.
"Are you all right?"
Swallowing hard, Riki vented a shattered sigh, leaning forward to press his forehead to Iason's solid chest. "No."
Iason did not reply. There wasn't really any need. He simply wrapped his arms around Riki's sorrowing form and held him close for a long, long time.
Walk forward... – chapters 11-12 << >> Walk forward... – chapters 16-18