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He opened his mouth to call for his Master, but impossibly the man reached him first. A clammy hand clamped down across his mouth, another firmly at the back of his head to keep him still.

‘Don’t do anything stupid,’ the man growled, lips close to Darling’s ear. ‘I’d hate to hurt one of our own.’

‘You made it!’ Annie-Mae’s voice draws my attention away from moving aside for somebody, and towards her. Or at least, towards the shape I think is her before she collides with me in a tight hug.

‘Wouldn’t miss it,’ I assure her, giving her a quick squeeze before pulling away. There’s a bright smile on her face, but if she hadn’t spoken, I doubt I would’ve recognised her. The blonde wig she’s wearing looks wrong; not like the department have done anything wrong, just because that’s not what my sister’s hair is meant to look like. The clothes are slightly too preppy as well. I know it’s all for the character, and yet it still feels slightly surreal seeing her like that.

Her brow furrows ever so slightly. ‘Shouldn’t you be taking your seat?’

I awkwardly run a hand through the back of my hair. ‘Ren’s there so nobody can try switching. Bertie’s trying to smother fires with your director, and Brooke’s probably causing issues with security.’

The smile on her face seems to brighten further, amusement obvious. No matter her protests growing up about my friends, their support tonight means something.

I place a quick kiss on the top of her head, careful of the microphone wire leading to her forehead. ‘But I wanted to let you know we were here. Break a leg, Annie.’

‘Thanks, Sly,’ she says, pulling me in for another hug. ‘Enjoy the show.’

She was meant to be in that evening, since they'd done their expedition thing the other day, and she was normally early. So in my wisdom, I had decided to roll up to the food court and see if maybe she'd gotten something to eat before her shift and gotten held up in the rush. 

As I was walking past the self-serve drinks, I saw the rest of her squad near there in a booth. Well, that was as good a place as any to start.

"Doctor Syra Barkley. Nice to meet the latest batch of golden buddies," I said, as I reached their booth in the food court. The Praetors were all out of uniform and eating all different food. I was sure that it said something about their personality, but I couldn't read minds from ranch dressing and a few leftover fries and noodles.

They did all recognise me, since they did visit Sophia at the clinic, but they were all chewing on food so couldn't exactly snarf a hello at me.

The hot young one swallowed his very quickly, though, then stood up to shake my hand before the others could even finish. "Rusty Ruso."

"Well, ain't you an enthusiastic young buck?"

Rusty chuckled, tugging at his Henley collar. Ah, old Syra still had it. The boys love a redhead. "I guess so. I think it's only Sophia who's even close to me in age. She's four years older and I'm twenty eight."

He wasn't kidding. Probably still a damn stallion at that age. Tanned, blonde, big blue eyes. A fellow Arigman, probably Northern. Would have preferred another Southerner, but he would have to do. Noted for later. Groovy.

Before I could bring up Arigman whiskey, the moody looking one with a crew cut cleared his throat. He had his arms folded and was still sat at the table with the rest of them. "Agent Consoli mentioned having her own professional. I assume that's you?"

I wondered why she would have had to have mentioned that kind of thing, if that original part of her had given her grief in front of them. Better to have kept my mouth shut, though. 

"Yeah, that's me. She gets me medical supplies for the clinic, and I don't strangle her when she drives me crazy," I said. 

A few polite but unsure chuckles. Yes, guys, you're allowed to find your commander hard to deal with.

Crew-cut stood up to shake my hand. Good firm grip. Damn near broke my hand. Proper Arigman handshake, even if he was Dikaidian.

"Horatius Borsa. Call me Borsa. My sniper is Lado Quintus and, well, I assume you know Sophia."

“Yeah. Stick up her butt,” I smirked. Borsa smiled a little and nodded.

The guy with half of his face replaced by black metal, Lado, stayed leaning back in his chair. He hadn't introduced himself with a handshake or anything, and his red eye was kinda creeping me out. 

I cleared my throat. "I thought Sophia might be with you guys. Is she sick? She's not at the clinic."

Borsa and Lado looked between each other, but Rusty spoke first. 

"She said she needed to see Agent Consoli about something. Needs to check she's okay medically and stuff."

Fuck, I needed a cigarette, but we couldn't smoke in the food court. That didn't sound good, and Iride wouldn't be happy if she found out. Only so much I could do from my end, though, and I didn't want to talk to Teigra's adoptive mother. They were way too alike.

"Cool. Okay. Hey, any of you guys smoke?"

Lado raised his hand and pulled a cig packet out from his jeans. By Mennea, a guy could at least say hello before he started smoking with me. They were Kingsman, a fancy brand. He followed me out into the main corridor, where the ventilation was good enough that you could smoke no problem. People gave the stink-eye if you did it too close to doorways, though.

"There's an alcove near here we can smoke in," I said. "Just look for the cig butts and you'll find it."

We ducked into the dragon's corner, as most people called it for obvious reasons, and butts squished under our feet. What sweet home. Lado lit up and leaned against the wall, and I did the same. Better try and see what the situation was. I waited a few minutes, just enjoying my dart. When I'd smoked half, I decided to talk since Lado wasn't.

"Sophia said you went underground the other day," I started. "Sounded kinda hairy."

I could only see his red eye as he nodded. Really unsettling. "Didn't really see much since it was dark. These orcal swarming all over us. Just a blur."

"Yeah. I bet."

"Though the Agent was on the ceiling for most of it."

"Oh, yeah. She does that. Guess if you're a baros mage then you can give gravity a big ol' 'fuck you'."

Lado smiled and hummed. He took another drag and blew it up to the vent. "Do you know how tough it is to be a sniper and have these fucking things all over you?"

Hm. Not quite the digging I'd been aiming for. "Bet it was a real stinker, huh? What, you asked them to stand back to back or something?"

"Would have done if they spoke Cardinal. Couldn't even use my deck either."

"Oh, you're one of those hackermen."

He nodded, and stamped out his cig. "I am. Seemed odd to me that the Agent didn't want me going after a terminal. Like she forgot. Eidolons don't forget things, do they?"

This one did. I shrugged and smiled sweetly. "Aw, I wouldn't know. I'm just a country bumpkin."

Lado's natural eyebrow raised, but he said nothing. I threw my cig into the dragon's hoard of butts and we walked back into the food court.

Not good. Teigra was already dancing close to the fire as it was, and Sophia had been asking me questions about how often she lost time and acted out of character. I'd batted my eyelashes and ignored every one, obviously. Teigra was my patient, not hers. Confidentiality and all that, which I'd reminded her of very sternly, let's call it. She'd tried some bullshit about outranking me and I had said I'm not fucking military anymore.

Lado took a turn before we got back to the booth. "Going for seconds. Want anything?"

"Yeah, actually. Some chicken legs from Colton's Pitstop. Just tell me how many rands it comes out to."

He nodded and walked towards the old Arigman's counter. Colton was kind of a conspiracy nut about the Gratus Confederacy and alths so I didn't really enjoy nodding along about how they were the root of all the world's ills or whatever. He was yelling then about how they made every alth spies, and you couldn't trust any of them.

Except for Teigra, apparently. She'd told him that her pointed ears and fangs were birth defects. No person in their right mind would believe that, but he seemed to accept it and called her one of the good ones. This was after she'd bugged his bar and outright told him so. He probably just found her hot and thought he stood a chance.

I rolled my eyes as I reached the booth. Borsa and Rusty were talking in hushed tones but making very enthusiastic hand movements, and they had their backs to me.

"I'm telling you, Sophia had her tied up and her head was between this chick's legs, Borsa. Like, fuck, I only went in for somewhere to puke. Wrong room, I was looking for mine!"

Borsa burst out laughing. "Damn. That's not what I'd expect from Lurco."

Well, well, that's not what I expected either from the prim and proper Doctor Lurco. I cleared my throat and they both jumped as they whirled around.

Rusty gave a sheepish smile. "You didn't hear any of that, did you?"

"Nah. Guess she's in the closet?"

Both nodded. Cool. "Well, she ain't gonna be for much longer if you keep talking about it."

I tapped at the dog tags around my neck. "I was gonna go to Zinnea's and figured that you guys hadn't gotten round to it yet, what, being Praetors and busy being teetotal."

Rusty burst out laughing. "No way. I could drink you under the table."

I smirked. Sure, kid. "Keep up the confidence, boyo, you'll need it. We'll wait for our metal faced body then head out."

—

Lado decided he didn't want to come once I told him that the bar was called Zinnea's. He made a face. 

"I'm fine. Thanks."

Rusty creased his brow. "What do you mean? You love going for drinks."

I was getting the uncool vibes, and I clutched at the dog tags around my neck. Sterling would have said something by now if he were here.

Lado squinted with his natural eye at me, then back at Colton's Pitstop. "I don't want to give money to alths."

"Why not?" Borsa asked with a low voice. Whatever warning he was giving off, Lado ignored it completely. 

"You know why, you can't trust where it goes. It all feeds into their network, which it is our job to expose. Don't forget that, Major."

It was never a good sign when military ranks came into off-duty conversations. The people at the tables around us were staring. Someone started filming on their aethercell. Rusty immediately picked it up and threw it away. Poor guy went running after it. Hope it didn't smash.

Borsa got his hackles up again. "I'd watch what you say. The Agent is a demi-alth-"

Lado got in closer to stop other tables from hearing. "The Agent is an Eidolon, and a malfunctioning one. Why did we start using them?"

I still didn't really understand the whole Eidolon thing but I knew that they were meant to be completely overwritten, and Teigra was, well. Teigra. Borsa started to drag Lado out of the food court by the collar and the rest of us followed.

"Is this, uh, usual for you guys?" I asked. 

Rusty shook his head. "I guess Borsa's just on edge."

They had made their way into an alleyway that was, conveniently, right next to Zinnea's. Borsa had Lado against the wall.

He was practically growling at him. My heart was really going as he gritted his teeth at him. "Sophia is handling it. And as your commanding officer, I'm not going to repeat what you told me you'd like to do to Consoli. That was out of line, and I never want to hear those comments again."

My stomach was so fucking sick at that implication. Both of them. Rusty looked a bit stunned, too. Yeah, that was the word. Stunned. My heart was pounding and I couldn't even look at him. I knew he was bad vibes. No one puts a red eye on his own face who's a decent sort.

And I got what I needed, at least - Sophia was 'handling' it. Fuck. What were they talking about? At least they thought me enough of a ditsy old woman to actually talk about this stuff in front of me. Old Syra still had it.

Lado stumbled as Borsa let go and adjusted his collar. "Those were made off-record, Borsa."

"And I am disappointed that they were made, Quintus. Consider this a formal reprimand," said Borsa, not giving him an inch. He was kind of a hardass. But at least here, it was for the right reason.

"Understood, sir," Lado said, then he took off into the street, shoving past Rusty. The poor kid looked quite upset by it. 

Borsa shook his head and took out some chewing gum.

"Not what I expect from my men, that kind of behaviour," he said, as he put the gum into his mouth and started chewing.

Strange that a Praetor would be so bothered about it. Part of their job was althan ghetto management, as they called it. Sterling had requested transfers away from it when he was still alive, as much as he could. I held onto the dog tags around my neck.

We rounded the corner so we could finally get those drinks that we deserved.

Rusty tutted. "I don't know what got into him. The hell did he say to you beforehand?"

Borsa made eye contact with me, and I shook my head. Not hearing that about my friend. Then he shrugged and said something, but I didn't really hear it. Some asshole barged into me just inside the entrance to Zinnea's and knocked me to the ground.

"Hey, watch it," said Rusty, as he picked up my apparently little old and frail body from the floor. "You okay, Barkley?'

I dusted myself off. "Yeah, thanks. I'm not quite old enough to be breaking bones in a fall."

"Man, I could really do with a drink," he said.

"You and me both, buddy."

We got inside, pushing past people on the dance floor, and found a booth. The dark red walls with the movie posters all over them were comforting after all of that drama outside. Well, not outside, we were underground, but on the main street.

Zinnea immediately clocked me and rushed over to take our orders, smiling at me.

"Hey, Syra, honey. Ooh, who are these two handsome guys?" she yelled over the music, which was some trance thing I didn't know.

Rusty pressed his lips together, clearly staring at her massive tits, and Borsa looked very tired and unamused.

"Whatever, Zin. Blondie here will probably tip extra but don't try it on crew cut," I yelled back.

She waved her wrist and took out her notepad and pen. Apple cider for Rusty, John Davis for me and Borsa (good taste). Then she sashayed away.

Zinnea was an escaped slave alth, but she didn't hide her scars with that virgin-killer open backed dress she had on. Her long black hair hid most of it, but you still saw the lashings when she turned away to grab your drinks. Rusty had just seen her scars, because his face turned down and he rubbed his hands together.

"Damn, I didn't know she was - y'know," Rusty said. "Feel kinda bad for leering."

I patted his hand. "Oh, I'm sure she's devastated. There's zero reason at all that she's dressed with her entire asset portfolio on display."

Borsa burst out laughing. I was proud of that one.

Our drinks came quick, as they always did for me. Rusty, as I thought he would, tipped generously. Schmuck. I threw in an extra rand. Zinnea gave Rusty a look up and down before winking and biting her lip. Poor kid was getting so flustered. Played like an absolute fiddle.

"JD's, Borsa? Not bad," I said. He nodded and we clinked our glasses together before taking a sip each. That was better. Just a nice bit of warmth to take the edge off of a stressful evening meal.

My cell buzzed in my pocket and I looked at it.

A text from Sophia? I opened it. 'Inquisitor Ducas is here in person. I'm trapped, Teigra is in danger. Come in to her office suddenly, act normal.'

Fuck, I'd only just gotten here. Can't catch a break for a second.

"Emergency at the clinic," I said. "Sorry. You guys enjoy your drinks. I'll see you around."

They both raised their glasses to me. I knocked back the rest of mine, a jolt going through my jaw and shoulders, and started shoving past people as quickly as I could. Fuck, it was all coming apart faster than I could stitch it back together. What was he doing to Teigra? She couldn't even fight back, something about 'self-preservation being grounds for decommissioning, dahling'. Fuck, fuck.

As I jogged through the corridors, there was one thing I couldn't help but wonder: where was Sophia trapped in that office? There weren't many places to hide.