“Well then Quincy, you’re here.”

Gammal was staring me down. He hadn’t locked me up, tied me to something even. No, instead, he’d just put me in the bedroom and closed the shutters on the window. I couldn’t really break out to his credit. I was outnumbered and outgunned. One shot from a pistol and I was through, and despite having my awesome powers, it wasn’t like I could escape them hunting me. We were in the middle of nowhere, and he knew I was too much of a baby to try anything.

I was stuck. But, I knew I wasn’t dead. Or, at least I hoped I wasn’t going to die.

“Gammal. I thought you were going to… well, not hunt me down?”

He shut the door behind him, looking at Axel and Canadia in the sitting room enigmatically.

“This isn’t personal, old friend. Your fiendish father wanted this. He… promoted me.”

“You’re the new Bluejay, I’m guessing.”

“Correct. And he had to beat the breath out of me to get me to accept this wretched job.”

“Well… what about… you just set me free and call it an accident?” I tried to use my charisma, but it didn’t seem to have much of an effect.

“I’m afraid I’ll be killed for such a blunder. Fate has left me two choices, Whistlewood! Bring you in, or die!” he announced dramatically with wide hand gestures. I am one hundred percent sure he has turned bisexual since our TUHF days.

“Then, if not a favor for old times sake… how about just a chat?” I smiled.

I often pick at any opportunities I can. My opportunistic side has since gone up in influence after becoming infamous, but I have still been foolish. A smarter, wiser Quincy with less charisma would have not tried to strike up a deal with Courtney. This had all been a big, dumb, waste...

So, I thought I’d express my current turmoil to Gammal as best as I could without revealing anything about my friends.

“Of course. And know I don’t intend on picking your brain just yet on every little bit of info about your friends. But do also remember, I have discovered where they currently reside, and I intend to raid The Thieves Court and catch all of them. We may be friends, but they are no more than common filth to I.”

Well that’s reassuring.

“This is eerily familiar to the Maine Incident.” I reminisced. “Except we were locked up together in that campground on top of the diamond mine, remember?” Good times. If I were to make a list of my favorite missions, Maine would crack Top Five.

“Oh yeah! What a lovely little excursion that was! With that fellow named Powder Keg! Lethal Inferno broke us out if I remember, blew that poor villain to smithereens, ruined millions of kroner worth of diamonds in the process. Great guy, honestly, not the brightest, and far up his asshole, but a great guy nonetheless. I sometimes ponder if he’s still alive after leaving TUHF?”

“Yeah, me too… he was a bit of a jerk to me specifically though.” I said, not realizing until a bit later that he would certainly find out the truth when he went to ‘Catch all the common filth, bleh bleh bleh’, dunno why I said that like a vampire.

“Oh yes, you had that rough patch near the end. I’m so sorry I forgot.”

“It’s nothing. You well enough made up for it with all of the life saving moments you did.”

“Yes, you need it. I’ll always protect you, Quincy, but… not today. Today is a different scenario.”

“Unfortunately. But perhaps fate will bring us together once more! I hope for that by the end of this.” I tried to brighten the mood.

“I do too.”

Although, my mood brightening caused silence to fill the air. For a moment I just sat there, picking the pusy scab on my hand from the fight with those kids. Fate brought me here, what I did brought me here.

Murder brought me here.

Perhaps I should rethink my moral boundaries. I’d killed so many that I’d become numb to it. I still had qualms with children and the innocent dying, but anyone who attacked me had instantly signed a death warrant, whether it be a biker in a bar, a trainee to TUHF, or…

“Bluejay. I need to know… you killed her, didn’t you?” Gammal said blankly. The question of the hour being asked.

“I did.” I firmly admitted, but I wasn’t done. “I helped, at least. I don’t feel remorse for that. I know who she was to you, but-”

“Just save it, Quincy. We’ll talk later.” he told me, reaching for the door handle.

“Do not be mistaken. I am not your friend right now, but I’m not doing this because of that. However, I am mad at you for your actions.” Gammal said, shutting the door behind him.

Not another word was spoken. He left, and I lay down, and began to count my breaths.

I hoped I had many more left.

----------------------------------------

I sat in a chair, eating my ill earned Chips Ahoy Double Chip White Chocolate Chip cookies. What a cruel, awful world we live in.

A world where an attractive, hardworking skeleton’s life can be signed away by a single written word on a contract.

I am trapped here, even if I were to escape, I’d be stopped by some invisible force. If they ask anything of me, I am required to do it. No free will, no escape. If they want to probe me, scan me, pick my mind, all they have to do is ask.

If they want me to predict the stock market, they can have all the money in the world if they want to.

I used to use my power sparingly, as I don’t like to completely ruin a company that someone has worked hard to build. Now, I am forced to do just that. Investing and selling their stocks can rake in the money at extreme speeds. But I had to tell myself that this was their doing, not mine.

The cell door was open, so I could leave whenever. Although, any sabotage I attempted would be seen by the thousands of security cameras that they had. Unfortunate, but obvious.

Empty told me something about being able to see everything I did, and I believed him. My business mind told me that the risks outweigh the benefits of going underhanded.

All I had to do was wait now… wait until I could see my son, wait until I could be rescued.

I felt like some sort of a princess in a castle.

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I ate another cookie to drown my discourse. I sighed as the treat disintegrated upon entering my mouth. The flavor was almost lost on me, it had been so long since I’d even had an intense feeling. Taste was bland, color was dull, temperature was non-existent. I felt weak. It had been like this for a long time...

I realized it then. It wasn’t my skeletal form becoming weaker. It was something I’d never even noticed, and had only ever happened once before. I wasn’t around people. Not people I cared about. Beta, Empty, and this whole facility could blow up and burn just like Orca Heights two decades ago, I wouldn’t care. But my workers… no… my friends…

Twee, Quincy, Vigil, Selene, Sal, and all the others.

My son, Yuri… Despite his qualms with me, I have done this so I can see him.

And with that, I was decided. I stood up and ran out into the hall. I needed to know when he’d arrive. And I hoped they could actually get him here, because my son never gives up, and if he resisted, I knew those idiots would kill him. Or he’d kill all of them.

I needed him here. Safely.

----------------------------------------

“Hey Sal!” Selene smiled, still wearing the questionable costume. A pile of washed dishes were currently out to dry on some towels beside the sink, and there was still more to do.

“Selene, don’t they have a dishwasher?” Sal asked, both impressed and disappointed she decided this was the best use of her time.

“Yes. But it doesn’t make any water. They are getting it replaced, soooo, I had to do all of this by hand.”

“Jesus christ… how long did that take?”

“Um… like three hours… and counting…” she blushed in shame.

“Need help? Have you even had a meal yet?”

“There wasn’t any lunch.”

“They… fed me though? Did you skip it?” Sal asked suspiciously.

“No… That’s weird… cus the creepy man came and told me there wasn’t any food until dinner.”

“LeCroux?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he also tell you about the dishwasher being broken?”

“Yes, why?”

In anger, Sal steps over to the silver dishwasher and presses the on button, shutting it, and sure enough, the sound of water began to exude from the machine.

“Fucking liar.”

“That slimy jerk! I had to skip so many tasks to do this!”

“That’s it, I’m going to do something. I’m tired of both of you Whistlewoods chickening out. First Quincy, now this...” Sal growled.

“What happened with Quincy?”

“Just use the dishwasher. I’m getting vengeance for you, Selene.” he said, walking out of the room with his fists clenched, shaking, and red.

“What happened with… Quincy…?” Selene sighed, her face forming into a frown.

----------------------------------------

“Alright, it’s about fucking time you gave me some answers, Roland!”

Twee barged into Roland’s bedroom with a furious look across her face. Roland hardly reacted, consumed by a black book in his hands as he rested on the bed, propped up by some pillows. He turned his head to her, staring at her without any hint of emotion, and then back to the book.

“You already know. I told you the truth.”

Twee seemed unhappy with the response.

“Why are you working for these people?!” she yelled, slamming the door behind her.

“Because they recognized my work, my life was in ruins back then. My old job had been taken, my morals were questionable at the time, and I was worrying about my future.”

“So you joined these people?” Twee asked with anger.

“They invited me. I accepted because I knew I could get myself somewhere higher in the world. It’s a prestigious place to be. Or… so I thought.”

“You just go around kidnapping people, then?”

“No. They give me funding for my research on The Empowerment, but they’ve recently forced me to go to Montana and… kill some people. I didn’t orchestrate this plan of theirs to kidnap you four though. I told them I wanted to meet since I was in town. I couldn’t tell you… it’s a secret organization.” Roland stood his ground.

“I trusted you, yet you betrayed that trust by leading us into a trap! Do you see how sore my hands are? I’ve been scrubbing the floors all day! I could have put that energy into saving Stocklord!”

Sometimes people’s anger leads them not to listen to reason, often they blindly, and stubbornly, follow their own ideology and opinion of the situation. Whether Twee or Roland was in the right here didn’t matter. Where they were now did, and they’d get nowhere fast when they were biting at each other's teeth.

“It’s my fault. But I can make this right. I can get you all out of here.” Roland told Twee, putting down his book.

“I don’t want to hear your honor right now. Just do it.” Twee growled, turning to leave the room.

“Twee.”

“What?”

“Perhaps you’ll get further in life when you don’t depend on others for everything.”

“Excuse me!?” she exclaimed, glaring back with fury, she walked back closer, stomping across the wooden floor.

“You depended on me to save you from…”

*whack*

“Don’t you ever fucking say that shit to me again. You and I, we’re equals now. You aren’t going to teach me lessons, or try to better my mental health. I am Twee Oleander, and I am a grown ass woman. I can deal with my problems without your help.” Twee huffed, looking at the red mark across Roland’s face, who held his composure, yet couldn’t move a muscle.

“Next time I hit you is with something sharp and metal.” she sneered, walking away and out the door.