To be fair, they’d made good time and he’d memorized a lot of the streets and public transit. He actually did have some money on him, and he’d gone to great pains to make sure it wasn’t obvious nor to keep it all in one place on his person. Because if he was going to get mugged, they weren’t getting all of his stuff.
To that end, he’d watched Jay’s back the entire way up, and by the time they got to the meetup point it was already fairly late - not that it mattered to Conor. He was used to late nights and long parties.
“This the place?” He asked Jay, turning to look at her with a slight tilt to his head. “Not quite sure what I was expecting.”
The warehouse was dark save for a few lights on at the bottom, but Conor could hear the heavy bass through the walls and windows so he supposed that this was the place.
---
“You were expecting maybe a red carpet and trumpets?” Jay chuckled as she led the way. Of course she had gone out of her way to ‘dress up’ a bit for the evening. Ripped skin tight jeans, a mid drift black top and a leather jacket. Oh if only her momma could see her now. How the alone thought made her grin.
“Sorry Con. This sort of thing isn’t welcome in the five star hotels. They see us coming and call the cops.” With a shrug, she headed towards the door. In a way, she had been amused since he had been put in his place by Mathias and Imara. The laughter that evening came in loud and clear. Oh she could have warned him but he needed to learn that the ‘meat head’ wasn’t as much a fool as he looked like. Overly loyal but not a fool.
“Anyway, let’s go. We are already late. Can’t keep them waiting on your smooth talking ways.”
---
“Fair enough,” Conor said, unzipping his jacket a bit so his obviously green shirt could be seen beneath. “I shall defer to the expert in this.”
He fell in slightly behind and beside her. Partly to enjoy the view and partly to boost her status as having even a small entourage. He was foreign and that would either go very well or cause friction.
He was counting on the latter so he could get himself in a position where he could prove himself capable. But they would see how the night went. All the same he followed Jay in, taking a moment to case the place and get a feel for the atmosphere.
Maybe because he was new, or maybe because he didn't know the assembled people well, but Conor could feel the low lying tension in the room.
Maybe he’d get his chance sooner, rather than later.
---
If Jay felt the tension when she walked in, she didn’t play to it. Instead she walked in as if she had been there a thousand times and worked her way through as if it was nothing. She was heading towards a small group set up on what could have one time been cigar lounge chairs. Or maybe strip club that it was debatable at this point.
Either way, they were full of people surrounding a small group seated clearly discussing something. Something that stopped the moment Jay got within ear shot. At that point, her eyes narrowed but she still kept going.
“Good Evening. Sorry I’m late.” Jay said with a shrug as she slipped around to a small arm chair and the man sitting there. He reached out to take a kiss from her but seemed, timid. “I had a stray follow me. New guy in town.” Jay motioned to Conor and smiled.
---
“Gentlemen and ladies,” Conor said after Jay motioned to him. “I am but a humble traveller and stranger to these lovely shores, but Jay has told me that you all might provide me with an opportunity to spread my wings and prove myself a productive member of society.”
The blank stares he got told him all he needed to know about his audience, so he smiled a bit brighter.
“In short, I am looking for work,” he continued. “Jay says you might have work for my talents, which are many.”
The nervous looking man who had kissed Jay raised a brow. “She told you we were in need of a leprechaun?”
The smile faded from Conor’s face in an instant. “I’m sorry, beg pardon?” He turned to face the older male with narrowed green eyes.
“I said we don’t need any ******** lucky charms, unless you can s**t us out a pot of gold from the nearest rainbow?”
Conor grinned again, but his jaw was set behind it teeth grinding together.
“That'd be a right ******** trick, eh lads?” Conor asked looking around. He had been edging over during the conversation. “Top o’ the mornin’ and all that shite, yeah?”
He closed the distance in two steps, his fist mashing the older man’s nose before he pushed him back off the chair away from Jay. Then he laid into him, fists and feet mauling the falken man until a few of the other members of the group could pull him off. Conor spat but didn’t resist.
“Now just think, if that’s what I do to people who might have work for me, what am I gonna do to people that cross ya, eh?”
There was silence for a long moment as Jay’s john was lifted back up off the floor and helped back into another room to get his wounds looked at.
“Kid’s got balls,” One of the older members said, before eying Jane. “Alright, we got a job for you… You see blondie over there? We think she’s ******** us over. Seeing as you just stomped out her last defender, I’m taking this s**t into my own hands.”
Conor blinked. “What, mate?”
“Kill her and you’re in. She’s bad luck. Any of our dealers she’s done ******** with have ended up dead. She’s bad for business. She brought you, so maybe you’re her plant. Prove you ain’t, kill her a**, and you’re in.”
Conor felt his blood run cold, “The ********, Mate?!”
---
Jay did her best not to wince when she watched Conor beat the ******** out of the man at her side. All she could think at that moment was he shouldn’t have done that. No one gets away with taking out one of the inside men without some sort of punishment.
Still, as she watched them take him off, Jay only caught half of the words. But when she looked back to find them all staring at her, and the look on Conor’s face, things started to come together. “Oh ******** you all…” Jay was on her feet and glancing around the group. She was slowly stepping away. “How many damn times do I have to tell you it isn’t my damn fault! You have s**t a** men. They never had a damn problem in New York. Maybe your dealers should grow some balls or stop running away…”
“Hell, I just made this Irish son of a b***h.” Jay snapped out. “He’s more been thrusted on me less by choice. So if you want to question anyone, throw your aim at him. Not me.”
Stibnite had to admit she didn’t like what she was seeing or what she was hearing. Hidden in the shadows of the upper catwalk, the Captain had been keeping an eye on the events below since they had walked in. Jane and Conor may have thought they pulled a fast one over on them but her cousin had a few tricks of her on.
“I’m going in if this goes too far…” Stibnite whispered to the man behind her.
---
“Pablo, hand Lucky Charms your knife,” he said, shaking his head at Jay. “I think our guys are plenty brave, blondie, i think you’re two-timing.”
The knife was pressed into Conor’s hand, and Jane was quickly grabbed. Conor stared at the knife in his hand for a moment and then at Jane.
“Jay-bird, I’m sorry,” he said moving toward her slowly with the blade. “But, man’s gotta look out for his.”
As he stepped into her space, he leaned his mouth against her ear. “Run, Jay-bird, run.”
Then he drove the knife into the side of one of the men holding her, before slamming himself into the other. “********’ run!” The stabbed man howled in pain, stumbling back as the other was suddenly forced to contend with Conor’s ******** me, kill them both!” The lead ganger shouted, and that’s when Conor heard the shot.
On the gantry above Leucite frowned. If he’d realized these two were going to be so much trouble he’d of locked one of them in the shed. “Stibnite, weapons free, none of the usual rules tonight I think we need to send a message.”
The shadows behind them split as Iudicael was summoned to his side. As the gunshot rang out, Leucite tensed visibly.
He knew Stibs was already moving, so with a barked order he sent Iudicael off the gantry and into the mass of gangers getting ready to pull weapons, even as he jumped down, spear flashing bright in the light as he began to slash and stab. Iudicael dragged men down, causing massive crushing damage to legs and arms as Leucite began his grim harvest.
Shock and Awe was the only way they were ending this well. Conor scrambled back on his feet quickly before diving behind a chair as the bullets started to fire i to the dark around him. “Jay?!”
---
“Con...no...what are you…” Her face had paled to nearly white making those red eyes even more vibrant as she watched him come close. It was the words the set her moving. The second he had her free, Jay ran.
But she wasn’t fast enough. Who would be…
She didn’t know what bullet hit her or who shot it. All she knew was her feet had suddenly stopped and she looked down. Red liquid quickly covered the bare area of her stomach and that was all she needed to see.
Jay hit the floor.
Stibnite didn’t even hear Leucite as she pushed herself over the catwalk rail and dropped. Only teleporting slightly so her landing would be silent. She was standing in front of the man who had taken the shot.
Smiling...no...grinning from ear to ear...she met his eyes with her own. “Evening.” Was all she said as her hand sunk into his chest and from it, she ripped his starseed.
“Now who said you got to be the grim reaper.” Just as she crushed the seed in her hand, Stibnite felt someone come up behind her and put a knife to her throat.
“b***h! You will pay for…” A single silver needle went straight through his eye and into his skull. On her wrist, the small cross bow her upgrade her provided her appeared.
A spin and she lashed out at those who came for her. It was mid strike that Stibnite saw it.
Jay, on the ground, in a pool of dark liquid.
“s**t!” The woman cursed. “s**t s**t s**t…” She said over and over again, no longer bothering with the small fry as she moved through the crowd. Anyone who lashed out at her found no mercy. The one to sliced at her with knife ripped through her right sleeve drawing blood. The response as one heck of a punch to the face with a metal weapon.
“Jane...JANE!” Stibnite called out, coming up on her cousin and dropping down. She was cold…
For the first time, she slipped….”MATHIAS!” If anyone had any doubts her voice could crack and break, now they would find it. She hit high decimals as she shot her eyes up towards the General in a panic.
---
Conor had seen Jay go down, and as the strange woman approached was already in the process of trying to stop the bleeding with her jacket.
“Come on lass, stay with us now Jay-bird…” Conor was saying, voice panicked as he looked up at the hooded armed woman who had just shouted his cousin’s name.
Leucite teleported over, leaving Iudicael to mop up the last of the resistance, looking down he let out a low sigh. “Move, Conor.”
Conor blinked, but scooted back as Leucite looked down into Jane’s face. “Stibnite, get a seed ready, she’s going to need it.”
Conor watched in horror as the man pressed his hand into Jay’s chest. Even more so as her outfit shifted and changed into a strange uniform. “What?!”
---
Stibnite was out of the way, covered in a mix of her own blood and Jane’s. “Move Conor.” She hissed, flying past him and towards the small group Iudicael was disposing of. “Good Boy.” She called out, grabbing one that was trying to make a break from the youma.
Into her awaiting arms and Stibnite could only gaze into the man’s eyes as she sank her hand into his form once more. “I would apologize but you have ruined enough lives. Consider this you first…” she yanked and he dropped. “And final warning…”
Holding the crystal in her hands, Stibnite moved quickly but carefully back to the boys.
She was clearly shaking as she came around the otherside and watched the transformation. This was not what she had ever wanted for her family members...even Jane. But now…
“I’m sorry Jane…”
---
When he finished, Leucite rose from Jane, and moved to Stibnite. Taking the starseed from her, he turned and returned to Jane, opening her mouth and placing the starseed inside and forced her to swallow.
“That should at least keep her going until we get home and can patch her up with another one. We can gather more on the way if need be.” Leucite said, before looking at Conor.
“Conor, I need you to get home, immediately.” Leucite, said with a growl. “God help you if you are not there in the hour.”
“Yes sir…” Conor managed, quickly running out of the warehouse as fast as he could.
Leucite hefted Jane up into his arms before turning to Stibs. “Let’s go.”
---
“No more than needed…” Stibnite whispered, her eyes watching Jane's….no...the new agent's face as the starseed went to work. She could see it support her enough to have her hold on. She would live a bit longer.
“If she needs more than one more, we call Boaz or we go to the hospital. She has enough in her system to spin a drug deal gone wrong…” Stibnite said lowly but clearly it was not what she wanted to do.
“I know you are an exception to treatment but…” she looked at Jane's stomach. The bullet had got through the side. “I'll take her if you want to deal with Conor. Or meet me at the ER…”
----
“We get her one more, and if she’s not patching up, then we take her to the ER. One should be enough to keep her stable for now…” Leucite said quietly, before turning his head to look at her and offering Jane to her. “I’m going to trust your judgement in this, if you want to take her now, do so…. But make sure she fully powers down first, I don’t care if you have to knock her out again to do it. We’re risking a lot even doing this…”
He was exhausted as it was. Converting agents took a lot out of him, and he wasn’t sure he even had enough in him to do what had to be done with Conor but… He let out a low sigh. “Well at least controlling them is going to get a hell of a lot easier…”
If he was going to say anything more than that he didn’t, just simply looked to Stibs and held Jane out to her. “Go, I’ll meet you at the ER with Conor.”
He didn’t want to risk losing the new agent… or Jane… to his normal call to secrecy. “Remember, we’re not playing by the usual rules tonight… Do what you have to to keep her alive… Imara.”
Torvil
