Chapter 19: Old Blood

“So,” asked Chris. “Where are we heading tonight?”

Miya scratched at an itch on her temple. “If my family hasn’t moved, they’ll still be in our apartment in Little Mexico. It’s been a while, though.”

The AC of the scrapyard’s office kicked on again, keeping the dry air from getting too hot and stale. Olivia lay on a cot with her wings flopped to the ground to either side of her and her clawed feet dangling over the edge. A pair of headphones covered her ears as Amanda gave her samples of different types of music. Rob still hadn’t come back in from the back of the scrapyard since they’d arrived last night. I should probably bring him back inside in an hour or he’ll die of heatstroke. It’s basically summer at this point. Ben idly shuffled a deck of cards he’d picked up on the drive as he leaned back and balanced his chair on its two rear legs.

Chris raised an eyebrow at her slow, reluctant tone. “This is your show.”

“Well, we can go earlier. It doesn't have to be tonight.”

“Do you want someone in there with you?” he asked.

She shook her head vigorously. “Nope. It’s nothing dangerous or anything, just stupid family drama.”

Recognition flashed behind Chris’ eyes as he nodded without another word. Huh.

“Don’t want any part of that?” she asked with a half-smile to set him at ease. “Had enough of that already?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I was a dumb kid, especially after my parents died. I figure I already caused enough of that.”

Miya’s eyes widened in surprise. “I’m sorry, Chris, I had no idea.”

“Yeah, they died in a car crash when I was twelve.” Miya’s eyes widened even further. “Have I never told you before?” he asked, noticing her reaction.

“No!” You forgot if you even dropped that until just now? In the middle of asking me for day planning?

“Oh, I thought I did.”

“You’re very calm about this.” I was just expecting some commiseration.

“I mean, I’m not happy about it, but there’s not much I can do about it. It’s been ten years.” Despite his protest, he didn’t meet her piercing gaze, instead fumbling as he tried to spin his key ring around his finger.

A heavy knock on the door of their supposed safe house froze everyone inside.

“Miya!” called out a familiar voice with a painful rasp that made her own throat muscles wince in sympathy. “We need to talk.” God damn it.

Chris caught her look of recognition as Ben teleported to the nearest front window and Amanda and Olivia stood from their cots. “Do you know who that is?”

With a sigh she replied, “That’s Roach, he’s with the Phoenix Watch.” God, he’s going to make the others bring up so many questions. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? Fuck. How did he even know I was here?

“You trust him?” asked Ben.

Miya shrugged. “Kind of?”

“Kind of? What do you mean kind of?” demanded Chris.

“He’s a local, I don’t know what to call him. He runs a lot of stuff in Little Mexico here.”

“It’s just him,” pointed out Ben from the window. “Probably not here for a fight. Or he is and we’re fucked.”

“No, he’s not like that, and if it’s just him he just wants to talk,” grumbled Miya as she stomped over to the door and yanked it open. At least he didn’t call the cops.

In walked a bowling ball of a middle-aged man, his skin covered in a haphazard web of scars both old and new. The soles of his leather boots clicked against the concrete floor. Tanned, even for an Aztec, by a lifetime in the sun, he stood only a little taller than the brothers. Calm brown eyes, lopsided from some old, horrific head wound long since healed, took in each of them in turn, not flinching even at the sight of Olivia. He carried no visible weapon, and his simple jeans and button-down shirt didn’t provide much concealment for a hidden one.

Removing his hat with a respectful nod to the group, he rasped, “Hello.”

Off balance from the polite strange man, the others mumbled various hello’s back at him. His ironclad commitment to pointless formalities sated, he turned his attention fully to Miya, gaze only briefly flicking up to her shaved hair finally growing back.

“Miya. Good to see you’re alive.” he said, the two old scars on his throat turning red with prolonged speech. Now that he wasn’t shouting to be heard through a wall, the rasp receded to tolerable levels and Miya’s throat could relax.

“You’re a little late for that.” It’s been like half a year.

“Is that so?” he said. He glanced at the others once again, this time shifting his stance wider. “Are you here willingly?”

“It’s Phoenix, not really. This place sucks, I’m just here to check in on my family.” Out of the corner of her eye, Chris glanced at her, though said nothing.

Tension drained from his body at her answer. “Where have you been?” he asked.

“Kidnapped by Overlord,” said Miya, as if it were obvious.

“Overlord,” Roach repeated, suspicion and doubt heavy in his voice. “Truly?”

“Yeah,” called out a soft voice it took Miya a moment to recognize as Olivia’s from the back of the group. Amanda and Ben both did double takes as they came to the same realization. “We’re her friends. We helped her escape.”

Roach nodded slowly, considering. “The Watch searched for you.”

“Really?” asked Miya. Why? No one cared about a dime a dozen little Mexica chick before.

“Yes. There was no trace.” His voice cracked on the last word. “What use does Overlord have for a mage? He deals in robots. Machines.”

“He wants to deal in magic too. He can’t make a robot to do it so he’s trying to use a human in the same way,” replied Miya, fighting back a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance at him causing said embarrassment. God. Why do you even care? “Wait, how do you even know I’m a mage? I never told anyone.”

“We asked Don. He squirmed but knew. Who else here? The Baron is no teacher.” At least he had the decency to not mention the university she could never afford.

“That little fucking rat,” she spat. Yeah, I got on Overlord’s radar because of him.

“Has Overlord been active in this city?” asked Chris.

Roach shook his head. “Two months ago, I would say no. Now? We are not sure.”

“Two months, not just because of Miya?” pushed Chris.

“Yes,” replied Roach, his blunt tone stonewalling the notion he would elaborate further. “Though this raises a question. What else are you here for?”

“Just visiting family,” said Miya, sticking to her story.

“Miya, did you think I wasn’t paying attention?”

“I mean, kind of, yeah.”

“No. Here. Two cars, out of state? This is a place for kids if they have nowhere else. You know this.” His eyes took in their group once again. “I see no other kids. Maybe not even you.” She could feel Chris, Olivia, and Amanda’s gazes boring into the back of her head. Maybe even Ben’s.

“Fuck off, I’m eighteen, not some kid.”

“And you are here again. Who is this place for?” he asked, his patient expression never wavering.

“Fuck off.” Even as the words left her mouth, she realized how toothless the repeated insult sounded. God, you’re such an overbearing jackass. Why do you even care?

“Why an old scrap yard?” asked Chris, filling the awkward silence.

With a shrug, Roach replied, “It was available at the time. We all make do with what we have.”

Miya recovered and asked, “How did you even know it was me?”

“Cameras.” Before Miya’s face could darken, he added, “Outside. I am not blind. Or a moron. This will not be a place for parties. Even if I keep my distance from it. In that spirit, I would ask.” He coughed to clear his throat. “You don’t do anything stupid.”

“Oh please,” Miya replied with a roll of her eyes. “Nothing ever happens here,” Is this some stupid power play? Are you going to start beating your chest next?

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“Things have changed. Since you left.”

“Two months ago, maybe?” asked Amanda, a faux innocent smile on her face.

Roach sighed. “Yes. There has been gang activity. And federal agents, though they tell us nothing.”

“Being told nothing must suck,” said Amanda with a sympathetic nod.

Roach cracked a brief smile and replied, “They would be fools to tell people they barely trust everything. But stay clear of the green skull tags. They are not a normal gang. There is one on Don’s shop.” Miya’s ears perked up at the last comment, thrown out so casually it had to be deliberate. Roach continued, his voice growing weaker with prolonged talked. “As I said. Don’t do anything stupid. You may not be the one to pay. You are not the only one.” Another throat clear. “Who has used this place. Or the last. I would keep it this way.”

“Good to know,” said Chris, his face impassive and unreadable.

“I have taken enough of your time,” said Roach. “Consider my words and have a good day.”

With a nod to the group at large, he left at an unhurried pace. Miya followed him to the doorway, keeping an eye on him. Roach’s pickup, as old, weathered, and rugged as the man himself though only half the size of Rob’s behemoth, started smoothly despite its outward appearance. Past the small American flag decal in the rear window, Miya spotted Roach twist in his seat to give the group one last look before turning right out of the small parking lot.

“Everything he does pisses me off,” Miya grumbled as she slammed the door shut behind her, once Roach disappeared down the road.

“So,” said Chris. Anger flashed across Miya’s face, but he pushed on unfazed. “Any new thoughts on what we’ll be doing today?”

“Yeah, the same thing but faster,” she replied.

“Got a history here, huh?” asked Ben with a grin.

He leaned his back against the wall, one foot pressed against it as well, with his arms folded. Chris and Olivia studied Miya, one impassive, one concerned. Olivia’s tail twitched back and forth, sending a small pebble someone tracked in skittering across the floor. Amanda, at least, returned to her cot to start packing up the headphones and tablet she and Olivia left behind meeting their unexpected guest, though she kept one ear on the conversation.

“No shit, I lived here my whole life,” Miya shot back. “I’ll talk with my family, see if they’ll be any more helpful than that dick, then I’ll pay Don a visit.”

“Yes to that first half. Let’s hold off on that Don visit,” said Chris.

“What, his shop is in some gang’s territory and that mean’s they give a shit? No, he’s an antisocial loser hawking amulets and dusty old books,” said Miya with a wave of her hand.

“This was your magic teacher?” asked Ben.

“Yeah.”

“I’d rather know that than hope that. I get it. You want answers. But there’s only six of us and we can’t run in guns blazing,” said Chris. Miya rolled her eyes and bit her tongue. For fuck’s sake. Roach comes in and everyone starts doubting me. Of course. “To that end, let’s see what your family has to say.”

“Fine. Let’s go.”

“Um, I don’t think I should be flying around in the daytime,” said Olivia.

“It’s fine, you really don’t need to be there,” said Miya. It’s not like you’re going to be walking with me anyways. You’ll just be sitting outside, bored, with Chris.

“I thought I was, but, OK,” stammered Olivia, staring at the ground.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll be back. Oh, and don’t let Rob get fried by the sun,” Miya called out over her shoulder as she left with Chris.

***

On the outskirts of Little Mexico, their hideout wasn’t a long drive from Miya’s family. Cuauhtémoc hadn’t done Aztec ex-pats any favors in the past, even though Miya’s family had fled Mexico because of one of his decennial purges. Latin American proxy wars may have taken the place of brutal wars of conquest lead by an immortal bronze age God-King in the last century, but those still had a habit of spilling over to all neighbors involved. Gazing out over sun-bleached tenements, Miya thought, At least he finally stopped all human sacrifices in the seventies. That was a plus. It only took him four hundred years to catch up to the times. Give him another two hundred and he’ll stop pouring money into the Caste War.

“Do you think you could help Amanda?” asked Chris, breaking her train of thought.

“With what?”

“The tracking chip in Olivia’s neck. I know Amanda didn’t want to burn out anything sensitive in Olivia’s spine, but we’ve left that thing in there for far too long and it’s going to keep biting us in the ass. I’m hoping between you, Amanda, and Rob, we can figure it out.”

“Sure, I’ll help.” I’ll pay that help forward. “I’m not sure what I can do, though. I work with bone.”

“Here’s my plan: we get the chip out of Olivia, we get Don, and we get out of town as fast as possible. It doesn’t matter what order we do those first two as long as we do them. You don’t seem to want to stick around and no one else here cares about this place. And with the chip’s last location being here, if Overlord wants to track Olivia down he can have fun wandering the desert.”

“He could figure out where we are pretty easily anyways.”

“If he were that all seeing he wouldn’t need a tracker,” countered Chris. “It’s not perfect, but it’s what I’ve got. Anyways, you’re the closest thing we have to a medic and I don’t want us accidentally frying Olivia’s brain or whatever Amanda winds up doing. Fucking techies. They have a million projects they’ll get distracted by. I’m going to have to keep on them and you’re going to have to help with that. You’ll have more visibility into that than a knuckle dragger like me.”

“I’m no genius like her, but I’ll try.”

At her direction, Chris pulled into a far lot of a small apartment complex. “Give me a text if you need anything,” he said, eyeing the graffiti and group of teen boys loitering at a playground, several checking out the new arrival.

“Yeah,” Miya grumbled.

She jogged up the exterior stairs of her old apartment building. Someone had spray painted a bright green skull with a wide tongue sticking out of its mouth on the brick wall. That’s new. And kind of creepy. She reached the third floor and stopped four doors in, taking a deep breath. Let’s get this over with. She pounded on the front door. After some muffled shouting from within, the door opened.

“Hey, Cam,” Miya said in Nahua to the fourteen-year-old kid who opened the door. Cam gaped as she reached up to ruffle his hair. He frowned and ducked out from under her hand.

“Miya? What the hell happened to you? Where have you been?” he exclaimed.

“Good to see you too,” she said, arching an eyebrow.

“What happened?”

“I got kidnapped. Is this how-”

Cam leaned forward and wrapped her up in a hug, catching her off guard. “We thought you ran off. Or died. No one could tell us anything.”

She stiffened for a moment, then relaxed as she patted her brother on the back. “I’m still alive,” she replied, muffled by his shirt. At least you cared. Maybe this won’t be so bad. Miya fought back a sniffle as they separated and said, “What have I missed? I’ve been seeing a bunch of new tags around. The green ones.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Cam with a frown. “Those are the Tzontlis. They sprang up a couple months ago. Police haven’t been able to do much about them.”

Oh, yet another Aztec gang. Great. Like we don’t have a bad enough reputation already. “The Skulls?” translated Miya. “Really? That’s kind of lame.”

“They’re kind of real dangerous. They killed three MHU officers, and Mica.” Mica was the only super they had in the MHU. That’s why Roach was jumpy. Miya nodded, chewing her lip thoughtfully. The Watch might be annoying with Roach but the MHU probably won’t give a shit about us.

“Can I come in?”

“Right,” said Cam, getting out of her way. “Mom and dad aren’t here.”

A shout cut him off. “Miya? What the fuck are you doing here?” called out her oldest brother, Ollin. He’d gained weight in the last six months since Miya had seen him, if his now protruding gut was anything to go by. Metabolism isn’t your friend anymore. Five years older than Miya at twenty-three, he stood up and glared at her.

Him and her other two brothers, two and three years older than her, crowded around the dinner table. They didn’t join Ollin in standing but tensed in anticipation of doing so. Aw, they all have matching hammer and sickle tattoos on their shoulders now. How adorable. A man on the TV in the adjacent room shouted some sort of speech, Miya didn’t bother to pay attention to it.

“Just coming back home. Nothing wrong with that, is there? Where are mom and dad?” she asked.

“Father’s too sick to work. Mother’s working night shift now, sleeping,” responded Ollin.

“Sick? What happened?”

Cam answered her. “He got a nasty cut. He’s been sick for the past week.”

“Shut up, Cam,” said Ollin. Cam shut his mouth and shrank back. “Where the fuck have you been?” he asked Miya.

“Oh, I was kidnapped. No big deal. Just wanted to come back, get my stuff,” she said, forcing a calm voice. She leaned against a wall behind her, not taking her eyes off her brothers.

“We got rid of all that.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? When did you decide to just write me off?” Miya’s hands balled into fists before she forced herself to relax. Not unexpected. Still, fuck him.

“I don’t know, sometime in February. You think it’s a good idea to come back here after running off?” he said, glowering at her.

Fuck this politeness shit. “Two months? And running off?” repeated Miya, raising her voice. “Running off? What part of kidnapping did you not understand, dipshit?”

“Bullshit. Why the fuck would someone kidnap you? Don’t fucking try to come up with some sob story for sympathy,” said Ollin, voice rising as well.

“Did you even bother to try to figure out where I was? Did you even give a shit?” Miya shouted back, pushing off against the wall to shove a finger in Ollin’s face. Good thing everyone in my family is short.

Cam had withdrawn to the far side of the couch in the other room, eyes glued to the TV. Miya’s other two brothers had stood as well, still at the table. They’ll just follow Ollin. Mom and dad are just trying to get through the day, they were probably grateful for one less mouth to feed.

“Why should we? You were always a spiteful, ungrateful little bitch anyways. Never did anything for the family.”

“You haven’t worked a day in your life. Too fucking lazy to-” shouted Miya.

Ollin cut her off with a backhand across her face. “Done. Out,” he said, his voice devoid of its earlier heat.

She held a hand to her nose to stifle the blood flow as Ollin loomed over her. Nose isn’t broken. Hurts like shit. “Fine,” she spat. She turned around and ripped the door open. “Hope you enjoy living in a shithole for the rest of your life,” she called out over her shoulder.

Whatever Ollin was about to say was cut off when Miya slammed the door shut. She backed away. Is he going to come charging out, or is he going to blow me off? After a moment, the door did not reopen. What a fucking waste of my time.

Miya took a moment to stop the flow of blood from her nose at the head of the staircase leading back to the car. A little magic couldn’t hurt. There we go. She stomped back down the stairs, wiping the last bit of blood from her nose. Chris waited outside the car in the parking lot behind the apartment building.

“What happened?” asked Chris once Miya got close.

“Family argument, nothing more,” said Miya as he leaned down to start the car.

Chris drove off as Miya got settled in her seat. Damn it. It’s done and over with. Miya bit her lip as she clenched her hands. Her hands still felt off, like the wires and whatever else the doctors had shoved in them were shifting around between the bones whenever Miya tried to do anything. Fuck them. Fuck Overlord, fuck Don, fuck Slim Jim, and fuck that orange doctor guy. Fuck you all for putting me in this position.

They drove in silence for a while. Miya’s gritted teeth and bloodied nose seemed to ward off any conversation attempts. Motherfuckers. Didn’t care. Just assumed the worst, that I just ran off because I got bored or something, like I’m just some piece of shit. They didn’t even wait to make a little extra pocket money.

“You’re about to chew a hole through your lip. I’d recommend against that,” he said, as calm as if he were discussing the weather.

Miya rolled her eyes. “Thanks.”

“It’s over. Once we’re back, you can go wherever you want. Olivia can give you a giant hug if you ask. And you can focus on whatever bloody revenge you’re fantasizing about.”

“When did you become so good at psychoanalyzing and shit?” If I may steer the conversation away from me and my retarded family.

“You forget I was an MHU cop for a brief moment in time.” He craned his neck out to check a turn. “Reasoning like that is a good skill to have.”

She sighed. No use in blowing up at him. I’m tired. It’s only noon. “No regrets about leaving?”

“Kind of. It wasn’t all it cracked up to be. Still poured a lot of time into it. Want lunch?”

Miya blinked. “Um. I don’t know. Sure. Anything open around here?”

Chris shot her a bemused smile. “You lived here.”

Miya managed to snort a laugh. “Right. Yes. Good point.” I’d rather not get fat. I’m almost not a teenager, now that I think about it. Metabolism won’t be my friend for much longer, if Ollin was anything to go by. “I can think of a place or two near here.”