How it all began
Despite the many bells, whistles and buzzers going off in the background Malen was focused clearly on the faces of his competition. Poker was game of luck and nerves, anyone who played and didn't have both was in trouble, especially when playing with him. Malen had mastered the art of reading body language years ago training to be a bounty hunter; still from time to time like now he'd meet people who could stump or fool him and he appreciated their skill. It had been years since he'd had both a good game of poker and good challenge of his skills. Today despite reservations he'd ventured into the Gold Mountain Gambino casino, assuring himself that one night alone couldn't possibly harm Kishi
Another hour passed and one of his new friend friends finally bowed out only to be replaced swiftly by... Malen struggled to refrain from raising an eyebrow at the newcomer, if anyone had never belonged in a casino it was this person. As cards were dealt his way and swept into a pasty hand with immaculate if slightly yellow fingernails , Malen assessed the man who'd just joined the table. The man's skin was pasty and pale like he'd been locked inside a house and never been allowed out to play in the sunshine, even the liberal sprinkling of freckles on his face were lighter than Malen had seen before. Matted orange hair was somewhat combed back and clipped short obviously to prevent any from getting in the man's way. He was definitely some sort of scientist considering he was dressed in an eggshell white lab coat that had various stains and burns on it. There was a strange look in the man's eyes and overall Malen got a bad feeling from him, like he wasn't all there but what was there was dangerous.
The game continued for a half hour with every minute Malen getting more and more agitated by this guys presence. Every word out of his mouth was pompous and he hated it. Not to mention that if he was right this guy hadn't been out of the lab in ages as every little sound and movement caused him to jump making the rest of the players frustrated as they tried to concentrate. Eventually when the man had lost quite enough of his money he stood and left but not before sliding Malen a piece of paper that read I know about the Caroni case, follow me.
Malen shivered and promptly folded despite havign a great hand, taking his earlier winnings with him as he stood. Despite many calls of disappointment he quickly exchanged his chips for money and left the casino. Did the guy really mean it, did he really know about the Caroni case and if so what was he going to do about it? This was not a situation he'd ever wanted to be in and he prayed that there was an easy way out of this , because if someone had bothered to track him down they could have hunted down Ianna as well and the last thing he'd wanted was for her to suffer because of his past mistakes.
Standing a few feet away at the entrance to an alleyway was the scientist who motioned for Malen to follow him. Biting his lower lip he did so while palming a small explosive that resembled a black microchip , Talon had given him a few to use in case of emergencies and he had to admit they'd come in handy. Mind you anything half the size of your palm with several sticks worth of dynamite's power tends to come in handy but still. It was best to be prepared for anything and a large explosion was often a good diversion.
By the time he's entered the alley he was in job mode, all of his senses heightened for the slightest hint of trouble, well more trouble than he was already in. The smell in there was disgusting , rotting trash, urine and things he couldn't even fathom. There was broken glass, alcohol bottles and random objects littering the filthy black ground. Much like the Los vegas of Earth the area's outside of the Casino had not of the glitz and glitter they boasted, here the rich were rich and the poor were short lived.
Eyeing the man before him he noted that he was approximatly 4 inches taller than the man and a hell of a lot more muscular. Not that it mattered, the guy was probably just a messenger one who'd drawn the unlucky lot to have approach him. Killing him would do Malen no good if the man's superior still had the info on him. Flexing the fingers of his unoccupied hand he growled" Who are you and what do you want?" perhaps he could intimidate this man make him tell his boss that Malen wasn't one to mess with and that they should find other blackmail targets.
The man chuckled before beginning to speak "Hush Malen, interesting that you've no last name you have no idea how hard it was to find you without that information. Still we have and it is for good reason. We know you were involved in the Caroni case, a rather messy affair all around with lots of finger pointing, we also know that you and possibly only you know the whole truth of what happened that night." A car on the street backfired and the man jumped he really was nervous and not used to the outside world especially since his grey eyes were constantly shifting about rather than boring into Malen's own like someone attempting to intimidate him should be.
Malen felt his mouth go dry, was it true? Did they really know? He wanted to believe it was all a lie that they were baiting him but it was impossible only someone who knew the truth would have bothered to seek him out because they'd need him to corroborate anything the told the media or anyoen else ." What do you want?" he choked out. Please let them want some form of statement from him nothing public where Ianna could see and be ashamed of him.
"This is not the place to discuss such things." the man said looking amused like Malen was some sort of test subject he enjoyed playing with. His tongue darted out the lick his pale pink lips as he reached into the breast pocked of his lab coat and pulled out a business card " Rest assured we are not lying and if you go to the address found here, without telling anyone everything can be worked out peacefully, I suggest you do so soon, say within the next seventy two hours." That said he tossed the card at Malen and walked passed him out onto the side walk and hailed a cab.
Malen snatched the falling card and now looked at it with disdain. The address was totally unfamiliar to him and he doubted that in seventy two hours he was going to get information on it that would be of any help . Leaning against a wall he considered his choices. First, he could say to hell with it and see what happened, it wasn't really a choice he liked because Malen simply didn't run from his problems plus he had no clue what these people had up their sleeves.
Second, he could do as they had suggested and meet with them to discuss the Caroni case. Gods but he hated that name, if it hadn't been for that night for that one job gone bad he'd not be here now wondering whom he was going to have to confirm to the fact that yes Linda Caroni had been pregnant with Toni's child when he gutted her for double crossing him on a drug deal. It had been a horrible night and there 'd been multiple murders and all sorts of trouble. He was one the few survivors of that night out at the lake house and the only one who's testimony could ever been seen as unbiased.
Sighing he pondered his third option. Run, get the hell off the planet beg Talon to port him somewhere safe where the Caroni case wouldn't matter. Of course he knew that wasn't really an option if he left the planet they'd hunt down Ianna who couldn't leave and pump her for information killing her whether they got it or not. He would not allow her to die because he was thinking briefly like a cowardnor could he really stand the thought of leaving her . Not to mention that he had no idea if Kishi could manifest in another world and there was no way he'd let Kishi die either.
Kicking an empty bottle of JD he watched it smash against the opposite brick wall. Staring at himself in the fragments he knew he was looking into the face of a man about to face a past he'd rather forget and headed towards a future that probably didn't hold much hope for being enjoyable.
