Captain Hesperus
Harbinger of the End Times and Apostle of Ghan
I am hitting the town, finally! Cecily thought to herself as she stepped out of the monorail carriage she’d be riding in. For the past few days after arriving on the orbital station, she’d laid low in the seedy rented apartment building she currently called home. It’d been the only place to not question why an apparent child was wanting to rent a place to stay with no sign of an adult. It was also probably infested with rodents and worse, but she tried not to think about shit like that. That way lies madness and sleepless nights. Not that she’d been getting much sleep, though. Between her own paranoid fear of the door bursting open to reveal either some Yakuza goons searching for her bounty or the fat, bearded landlord looking for an innocent victim and the fact that her next door neighbor appeared to be a prostitute who brought ninety percent of her business home for violently noisy sex, she’d often gone the whole night with barely an hour’s rest. But she’d used the time well. She’d ordered herself a new cellphone and had it delivered to a local PO box office then collected it in the dead of night. She’d managed to get the details of some underworld fixers who’d promised to keep an ear open for any ‘hitman wanted’ jobs.
But, for now, she was getting cabin fever and her new phone was constantly chirping and updating her to deals and sales going up at local stores and malls. She’d sat indoors long enough, she needed some serious retail therapy. So, wearing the school uniform she’d left Mars in, she had headed out to the largest mall in the area. She’d already scoped out the largest mall in her area online and she’d planned her route around it. She’d already managed to liquidate some of her ill-gotten gains from the fall of the Hanzuku, though the datachip she’d found among the gold ingots still held its secrets behind layers of encrypted security. So now she had a burgeoning bank account created with forged documents, a credit card also created with those same documents and an aching desire to burn a big hole into both.
The Palisades mall was one of the largest on Gateway and had the widest selection of clothing outlets, so that was her port of call today. She hopped off the rapid transit monorail that conveniently ran from down the street from her place to a station within the mall and look around. Hundreds of stores met her gaze and she couldn’t help but giggle drunkenly at the prospect of spending a day with almost unlimited funds racing around indulging her addiction. But first…
She strolled out of Skybucks, with a vente mint-caramel frappuccino and a mildly glazed expression. The caffeine was hitting her system already and her mind was planning. Hot Gossip first, I need makeup, then Wedge and H&Rs, perhaps Victoria’s Mystery? She synced her smartphone to the mall’s wireless signal and her own personal MEDIA Director popped up on screen.
“Hi Keiko, there’s a lot of great bargains out there today! What are you looking for first?”
Cecily smiled. The smartphone was registered in the name of her alter-ego, Keiko Kusenagi, so MEDIA only knew her by that name. Even if Gateway was officially separate from the UEF, she’d rather not chance them making some backroom deal to catch her and her over to the government. She might not be a big fish in terms of military importance, but she was the focus of a lot of FMA propaganda.
“I need makeup, I was thinking of hitting up Hot Gossip.”
“Great choice! They have a number of specials today, including a flash sale on ReddLix organic cosmetics!”, the AI replied.
Then the Japanese-looking face gave way to an augmented reality view of the mall. Looking at the mall through the screen showed the location of all the stores in the mall and also revealed where all the deals and sales were located. The icon for Hot Gossip, as her chosen first destination, flashed and jiggled enticingly. Cecily slurped on her frappuccino, then set off at speed.
“Dnes je den”, the blonde woman sighed as she regarded herself in the mirrored glass of the elevator, “Dnes je den, kdy udělám Hutch na mě pyšný.”*
She was pretty, she knew that, she heard it from enough men to believe it. But only one man made her feel it. Hutch. The man everyone knew as Hutchinson and of whom only the truly insane would not show fear and concern when talk turned to him. But he loved her, maybe not as much as she loved him, but enough. From the first day she’d met him to the day he’d brought the Dandelar Club up to Orbital Station: Gateway to watching her last night as she sang, she could feel his love. It was like a blanket, surrounding her, covering her, keeping her warm. Maybe a little constricting at times, but always loving.
Today she was looking to find a new outfit. Maybe two. She had a set to sing tonight, since Hutch had special guests, so she’d need to find something glamorous but classy. Hutch liked classy. She’d seen how he’d looked at girls from bands he’d hired on the off-days she wasn’t singing. They didn’t dress classy, just trashy. The disgust on his face made her proud. The girls would get their fair pay and not a dollar more, no matter how they tried to thrust their tits in his face. That level of restraint alone warranted Hutch a good reward. She would have to do a little something special for him. Something that she’d keep secret until after her set, after his guests had departed, even after the club had closed for the night. She’d put on a show just for him. And for that show, she’d need the right outfit. Or at least something to wear under her outfit. She grinned wickedly as the elevator pinged and the doors opened. A young girl got in, dressed in an expensive-looking school uniform. Alice didn’t know many of the schools in the city, but the uniform didn’t appear to be from any school she’d recognize. The girl had strong Asian features with a hint of European in the fact her eyes were green. She clutched an iced coffee in one hand and her phone in the other. She spared a smile for Alice then went back to her phone. Sweet. How good life must be when you’re so young and innocent, Alice thought without even a moment’s bitterness. The lift pinged again and they both stepped out, going their own directions. Alice headed into Victoria’s Mystery. Her gift for Hutch would be classy and slutty and only for him.
The blonde woman in the elevator had been a little unsettling, but their contact was brief enough that Cecily didn’t have to think on it too much. She followed the directions until she found Hot Gossip and immediately hit their makeup counters. She attacked the free samples, quickly refreshing her face since she’d had to do without her foundation, eyeshadow and mascara for too long since fleeing Mars. With her youthful appearance restored and a bag full of new makeup at low, low prices, she left and sought out clothing to replenish the wardrobes she’d had to abandon back on Mars. First things first, she bought herself some sensible underwear. Nothing fancy, just bras and panties. Next she needed to get out of this uniform. So she bought a pair of blue hot pants, a cropped T-shirt with a basketball logo on the chest, knee-length white sports socks and a pair of cosmetically-worn sneakers. B-ball court chic was in on Earth, so that would cover her in respect to her appearance. In the changing room, she carefully folded the uniform, tugged the labels off the clothes, put the garments on and then paid for them at the desk. Feeling more comfortable, she stopped for a slice of pepperoni pizza from a vendor’s stand along with a cold can of LiteSpeed cola. More caffeine and a kick of sugars and artificial coloring gave her the energy to go on. She needed something more to wear. And right on cue, her phone pinged up a sale at another clothes store, so she set off at a pace, determined to find herself a respectably large wardrobe by the end of the day.
Satisfied with her purchase of some items of lingerie that cost more than a month’s salary and involved less material than a standard pack of dental floss, Alice exited the store. The thrill of her purchase and the desire to see her man’s face when he first sets eyes on her wearing it made her heart pound faster. She was so involved in her thoughts she didn’t realize that she had walked into an amusement arcade. So many lights, so much noise. The place was a scene of chaos for entertainment purposes. She felt anxiety well up inside her, the clamorous sounds, the blinding, seizure-inducing lights, it was disorienting. And then she passed by the combat simulator games. The sounds of gunfire and shouting and explosions.
Her mind started to remember.
Gunfire, automatic weapons roaring and spent cartridges rattling across the ground
She stumbled away, the taste of bile rising in her throat.
The roar of a heavy diesel engine, throbbing in her ears. The scent of engine oil and sweaty, dirty male bodies.
She pushed through a group of men stood around a game. One of the men spitefully pushed back, sending her sprawling across the floor.
Pinned down, her arms held above her head. She screamed, but no one cared.
She scrabbled across the floor, her mind reduced to that of a feral creature. She had to escape. She abandoned her purchase in its pretty pink and black bag and stumbled toward the entrance. She got to the front of the arcade and out onto the main balcony. Desperately, she dug into her purse to extract the small pillbox. She popped it open, but before she could pick out one of the little green pills, a hand grabbed her from behind. She shrieked in surprise and only then realized that she had inadvertently dropped the pillbox over the balcony. It tumbled downward, four stories, to disappear in the distance. The sound that escaped her throat was part-scream, part-howl and it was chilling. The elderly man who’d thoughtfully retrieved her fallen goods and had touched her shoulder to gain her attention shied away in fear, then fled, leaving her with her head in her hands as her mind started to crumble under the weight of her returning memories.
Cecily was almost spent. She was comfortably full of junk food and caffeinated drinks and her arms were weighed down with bags full of fashionable clothing. All that remained was a trip to….
A scream.
Her head twisted around as she sought the location of the sound. It was heart-stopping in its intensity and had her instinctively reaching under the new hoodie she’d bought for one of her pistols.
The blonde woman. She was just ahead and slumped on the floor. She was gripping her head in her hands and babbling nonsense in some foreign language. Sounded Russian maybe or Eastern European to say the least. People were keeping their distance, better to video the crazy woman than offer her anything like help. Cecily sneered at the onlookers.
Bastards
She approached the woman, set her bags down and crouched down.
“Hello?”, she said, quietly, “Can I help you?”
The blonde woman looked up and Cecily was shocked that she recognized the look in her eyes. She’d seen it in the veterans of the FMA before she’d been shipped to Mars. This woman had been through utter hell.
“I want to help you.”
“Musím se dostat na Hutchinson.”, she replied, “Musím se dostat do Dandelar klubu.”
Cecily really didn’t understand the language, but she did understand the language of the crowd. Now that she’d broken up their sideshow, people were deciding that perhaps the mall security should make an appearance. Something told Cecily that the arrival of mall cops would not improve this problem.
“We’re leaving.”, she said affirmatively.
She grabbed the fallen Victoria’s Mystery bag, and pressed it into the blonde woman’s hands, then took her hand. The woman took the message, despite the language barrier, and got to her feet. Cecily gathered her own bags, took the woman’s hand and pushed a way through the onlookers toward the nearest elevator. Once there, Cecily pressed the woman close to the doors and turned herself around to eye the onlooker cautiously. Despite having the stature of a twelve-year old, there were times she could make herself imposing.
“Back the fuck off.”, she growled as a guy started to approach.
He didn’t slow, but suddenly stopped as she withdrew one of her machine pistols and cocked it.
“That’s right, shitbag, take a run.”, she said, as the man turned and fled.
The elevator arrived in the nick of time and Cecily used an old trick of pressing the first floor button and the ‘Close Door’ button simultaneously and keeping them held until the door shut. The elevator switched to express mode and took them directly to the lowest level, ignoring the customers on the other floors who’d called it. As they descended, Cecily turned to the woman.
“I’m Cecily,”, she said slowly, pointing to herself, “Cecily. Who are you?”
“Alice. Jmenuji se Alice.”
“Alice?”
The woman nodded.
“I don’t speak your language, Alice, where are we going?”
“Musíme jít do rohu čtrnáctého a komor. Musíme jít do Dandelar Klubu.”
Cecily frowned. Alice did not make any sense.
“I don’t understand.”, Cecily replied slowly.
“Dandelar. Klubu. Dandelar. Hutchinson.”
With those two words, Cecily froze. Hutchinson. The Dandelar Club. From her brief conversations with some underworld sources, she’d learned that nothing good happened at the Dandelar Club and that Hutchinson was one of the most dangerous people she’d likely ever meet. The elevator hit the entrance level and Cecily half-led, half-dragged Alice through the busy mall to the main entrance. The entire way, she had the horrible sensation that they were being watched. Not as if it was particularly hard to find a pretty blonde woman and a teenage girl with bright cyan hair. Fortunately, the mall cops must’ve gotten the information that Cecily was armed and, rather than risk an armed escalation, had wisely let her leave the mall. Oh well, that’s the Palisades off her potential future shopping experiences.
A cab was easy to get once they were on the street. The cabbie was the talkative type, rattling on about how his father and grandfather had driven cabs in New York before the Tha’Kar and come. Cecily sat with Alice in the back. The blonde woman was now gripping Cecily’s hand tightly and Cecily could feel her shaking.
“The Dandelar Club. And there’s a bonus if you get us there without the scenic route.”, Cecily said simply.
“The Dandelar? Why’d a nice pair o’ girls like you wanna go to a place like that? I tell ya what, if ya wanna go someplace fun, I know a coupla-”
“Just fucking drive.”, Cecily snarled, “No bullshit, no fucking around. Get us to the Dandelar Club, right fucking now.”
She flashed the gun she’d stowed in one of her bags and the cabbie took the hint. He drove and he drove at the very limits of the legal speed. They arrived within fifteen minutes. Cecily piled Alice out and tossed a generous tip at the cabbie.
“Forget about us. It’ll be much healthier for you.”, she said flatly.
The Dandelar Club was impressive, to say the least. It look to have started out as some sort of civic building, a bank or courthouse or something. Tall pillars supported a broad portico underneath a pristine copper dome. White marble stairs lead up to a pair of big wooden doors. Alice lead the way, her shaking less now, but her gait was still unsteady enough that Cecily had to follow close just in case. At the top of the stairs, Alice pressed the intercom button and looked up at a camera that watched the door. There was a click and the doors swung open. The two women entered and for the first time, Cecily saw the interior of the Dandelar Club. The entrance foyer was as grand as the exterior, wood paneling on the walls and plush carpet on the floor. Alice lead the way through to a side door and through into a far less plush corridor. They climbed some stairs and Alice opened a door at the top. She entered and Cecily followed then paused. Within was an office, one wall covered in TV monitors showing various CCTV views. Against an other wall, there was a leather couch as well as a rich desk and an equally rich chair behind it. Sat in the chair was a man. Cecily didn’t know him, but he made her nervous. He looked from Alice to her and back again, then rose from his seat.
“Alice?”, he said, his voice as smooth as ground arsenic and twice as deadly, “What’s going on?”
“Potřebuju to, potřebuju svůj lék.”, she said, crossing over to him and pawing at the evening suit he was wearing, “Mé vzpomínky se vracejí a nemohu vzít to nic víc.”
He frowned then pulled a small plastic baggie out of his pocket with several green pills in it.
“How long has she been like this?”, he asked Cecily, fixing her with a gaze that could mean anything.
“Half an hour, sir, maybe more?”, Cecily hid behind Keiko’s persona. It felt slightly safer. Perhaps this man would be less likely to kill a teenage girl than a twenty-year old ex-Yakuza sniper. But only slightly less likely.
He nodded, took two pills from the baggie and pushed them between Alice’s lips. She swallowed them without water and almost immediately started to become less tense. She sagged into his arms and he gently settled her onto the couch. She seemed to be sedated, her movements more sluggish, less tense. She settled into what appeared to be sleep.
"Will she be alright?"
"Yes, I think so. Her meds will kick in and what she experienced today will feel like a distant nightmare.", Hutchinson replied, tenderly stroking her forehead with his fingertips.
The care that this devilish monster expressed for the woman sleeping on his couch made Cecily's heart hurt. It was the kind of care she yearned for.
"That's good then.", she replied with a small smile, then turned to leave.
"Oh and, Cecily?"
She stopped and looked back, then froze. She hadn't said what her name was, not to Alice, not to anyone. she carefully slipped a hand into the bag hiding her gun.
"There won't be any need for that gun. Or the one hidden under your jacket.", Hutchinson said coolly.
He knew, somehow he fucking knew.
She turned to face him fully. Best to meet your fate head on.
"I might have some work for someone with your talents. I assume you're still looking for work.", he said, perching on the edge of his desk and taking a cigarette from the box on it.
He lit it with a gas lighter he'd taken out of his pocket and took a slow drag, letting the smoke drift lazily out of his nose.
"And you'll probably want to move to a better apartment than that shitty little dive over on Sullivan."
At this point in time, Cecily wouldn't be surprised if he told her what she had for breakfast this morning and which color panties she put on after her shower.
"Well, of course.", she replied, dropping all pretenses. The man was talking business and that required an adult conversation.
"I might not have any sniping or marksmanship jobs available right now, but there's some close security work coming up with an... old friend of mine.", Hutchinson continued, "I'd also be interested if you can turn your koto skills to the harp I have downstairs. Alice wanted to try a new instrument in her sets, and I'm having the Devil's own time trying to find someone with the right skills."
Cecily shrugged, "I'll give it a try, can't say I'll be perfect first time, but I'll try."
She looked over at Alice, who was now smiling in her dreams. Yes, truly Alice had a good man, even if the world knew him as a monster.
A real Beauty and the Beast.
But, for now, she was getting cabin fever and her new phone was constantly chirping and updating her to deals and sales going up at local stores and malls. She’d sat indoors long enough, she needed some serious retail therapy. So, wearing the school uniform she’d left Mars in, she had headed out to the largest mall in the area. She’d already scoped out the largest mall in her area online and she’d planned her route around it. She’d already managed to liquidate some of her ill-gotten gains from the fall of the Hanzuku, though the datachip she’d found among the gold ingots still held its secrets behind layers of encrypted security. So now she had a burgeoning bank account created with forged documents, a credit card also created with those same documents and an aching desire to burn a big hole into both.
The Palisades mall was one of the largest on Gateway and had the widest selection of clothing outlets, so that was her port of call today. She hopped off the rapid transit monorail that conveniently ran from down the street from her place to a station within the mall and look around. Hundreds of stores met her gaze and she couldn’t help but giggle drunkenly at the prospect of spending a day with almost unlimited funds racing around indulging her addiction. But first…
She strolled out of Skybucks, with a vente mint-caramel frappuccino and a mildly glazed expression. The caffeine was hitting her system already and her mind was planning. Hot Gossip first, I need makeup, then Wedge and H&Rs, perhaps Victoria’s Mystery? She synced her smartphone to the mall’s wireless signal and her own personal MEDIA Director popped up on screen.
“Hi Keiko, there’s a lot of great bargains out there today! What are you looking for first?”
Cecily smiled. The smartphone was registered in the name of her alter-ego, Keiko Kusenagi, so MEDIA only knew her by that name. Even if Gateway was officially separate from the UEF, she’d rather not chance them making some backroom deal to catch her and her over to the government. She might not be a big fish in terms of military importance, but she was the focus of a lot of FMA propaganda.
“I need makeup, I was thinking of hitting up Hot Gossip.”
“Great choice! They have a number of specials today, including a flash sale on ReddLix organic cosmetics!”, the AI replied.
Then the Japanese-looking face gave way to an augmented reality view of the mall. Looking at the mall through the screen showed the location of all the stores in the mall and also revealed where all the deals and sales were located. The icon for Hot Gossip, as her chosen first destination, flashed and jiggled enticingly. Cecily slurped on her frappuccino, then set off at speed.
“Dnes je den”, the blonde woman sighed as she regarded herself in the mirrored glass of the elevator, “Dnes je den, kdy udělám Hutch na mě pyšný.”*
*”Today is the day. Today is the day I make Hutch proud of me.” It's Czech, deal with it.
Today she was looking to find a new outfit. Maybe two. She had a set to sing tonight, since Hutch had special guests, so she’d need to find something glamorous but classy. Hutch liked classy. She’d seen how he’d looked at girls from bands he’d hired on the off-days she wasn’t singing. They didn’t dress classy, just trashy. The disgust on his face made her proud. The girls would get their fair pay and not a dollar more, no matter how they tried to thrust their tits in his face. That level of restraint alone warranted Hutch a good reward. She would have to do a little something special for him. Something that she’d keep secret until after her set, after his guests had departed, even after the club had closed for the night. She’d put on a show just for him. And for that show, she’d need the right outfit. Or at least something to wear under her outfit. She grinned wickedly as the elevator pinged and the doors opened. A young girl got in, dressed in an expensive-looking school uniform. Alice didn’t know many of the schools in the city, but the uniform didn’t appear to be from any school she’d recognize. The girl had strong Asian features with a hint of European in the fact her eyes were green. She clutched an iced coffee in one hand and her phone in the other. She spared a smile for Alice then went back to her phone. Sweet. How good life must be when you’re so young and innocent, Alice thought without even a moment’s bitterness. The lift pinged again and they both stepped out, going their own directions. Alice headed into Victoria’s Mystery. Her gift for Hutch would be classy and slutty and only for him.
The blonde woman in the elevator had been a little unsettling, but their contact was brief enough that Cecily didn’t have to think on it too much. She followed the directions until she found Hot Gossip and immediately hit their makeup counters. She attacked the free samples, quickly refreshing her face since she’d had to do without her foundation, eyeshadow and mascara for too long since fleeing Mars. With her youthful appearance restored and a bag full of new makeup at low, low prices, she left and sought out clothing to replenish the wardrobes she’d had to abandon back on Mars. First things first, she bought herself some sensible underwear. Nothing fancy, just bras and panties. Next she needed to get out of this uniform. So she bought a pair of blue hot pants, a cropped T-shirt with a basketball logo on the chest, knee-length white sports socks and a pair of cosmetically-worn sneakers. B-ball court chic was in on Earth, so that would cover her in respect to her appearance. In the changing room, she carefully folded the uniform, tugged the labels off the clothes, put the garments on and then paid for them at the desk. Feeling more comfortable, she stopped for a slice of pepperoni pizza from a vendor’s stand along with a cold can of LiteSpeed cola. More caffeine and a kick of sugars and artificial coloring gave her the energy to go on. She needed something more to wear. And right on cue, her phone pinged up a sale at another clothes store, so she set off at a pace, determined to find herself a respectably large wardrobe by the end of the day.
Satisfied with her purchase of some items of lingerie that cost more than a month’s salary and involved less material than a standard pack of dental floss, Alice exited the store. The thrill of her purchase and the desire to see her man’s face when he first sets eyes on her wearing it made her heart pound faster. She was so involved in her thoughts she didn’t realize that she had walked into an amusement arcade. So many lights, so much noise. The place was a scene of chaos for entertainment purposes. She felt anxiety well up inside her, the clamorous sounds, the blinding, seizure-inducing lights, it was disorienting. And then she passed by the combat simulator games. The sounds of gunfire and shouting and explosions.
Her mind started to remember.
Gunfire, automatic weapons roaring and spent cartridges rattling across the ground
She stumbled away, the taste of bile rising in her throat.
The roar of a heavy diesel engine, throbbing in her ears. The scent of engine oil and sweaty, dirty male bodies.
She pushed through a group of men stood around a game. One of the men spitefully pushed back, sending her sprawling across the floor.
Pinned down, her arms held above her head. She screamed, but no one cared.
She scrabbled across the floor, her mind reduced to that of a feral creature. She had to escape. She abandoned her purchase in its pretty pink and black bag and stumbled toward the entrance. She got to the front of the arcade and out onto the main balcony. Desperately, she dug into her purse to extract the small pillbox. She popped it open, but before she could pick out one of the little green pills, a hand grabbed her from behind. She shrieked in surprise and only then realized that she had inadvertently dropped the pillbox over the balcony. It tumbled downward, four stories, to disappear in the distance. The sound that escaped her throat was part-scream, part-howl and it was chilling. The elderly man who’d thoughtfully retrieved her fallen goods and had touched her shoulder to gain her attention shied away in fear, then fled, leaving her with her head in her hands as her mind started to crumble under the weight of her returning memories.
Cecily was almost spent. She was comfortably full of junk food and caffeinated drinks and her arms were weighed down with bags full of fashionable clothing. All that remained was a trip to….
A scream.
Her head twisted around as she sought the location of the sound. It was heart-stopping in its intensity and had her instinctively reaching under the new hoodie she’d bought for one of her pistols.
The blonde woman. She was just ahead and slumped on the floor. She was gripping her head in her hands and babbling nonsense in some foreign language. Sounded Russian maybe or Eastern European to say the least. People were keeping their distance, better to video the crazy woman than offer her anything like help. Cecily sneered at the onlookers.
Bastards
She approached the woman, set her bags down and crouched down.
“Hello?”, she said, quietly, “Can I help you?”
The blonde woman looked up and Cecily was shocked that she recognized the look in her eyes. She’d seen it in the veterans of the FMA before she’d been shipped to Mars. This woman had been through utter hell.
“I want to help you.”
“Musím se dostat na Hutchinson.”, she replied, “Musím se dostat do Dandelar klubu.”
I need to get to Hutchinson. I need to get into the Dandelar Club.
“We’re leaving.”, she said affirmatively.
She grabbed the fallen Victoria’s Mystery bag, and pressed it into the blonde woman’s hands, then took her hand. The woman took the message, despite the language barrier, and got to her feet. Cecily gathered her own bags, took the woman’s hand and pushed a way through the onlookers toward the nearest elevator. Once there, Cecily pressed the woman close to the doors and turned herself around to eye the onlooker cautiously. Despite having the stature of a twelve-year old, there were times she could make herself imposing.
“Back the fuck off.”, she growled as a guy started to approach.
He didn’t slow, but suddenly stopped as she withdrew one of her machine pistols and cocked it.
“That’s right, shitbag, take a run.”, she said, as the man turned and fled.
The elevator arrived in the nick of time and Cecily used an old trick of pressing the first floor button and the ‘Close Door’ button simultaneously and keeping them held until the door shut. The elevator switched to express mode and took them directly to the lowest level, ignoring the customers on the other floors who’d called it. As they descended, Cecily turned to the woman.
“I’m Cecily,”, she said slowly, pointing to herself, “Cecily. Who are you?”
“Alice. Jmenuji se Alice.”
Alice. My name is Alice.
The woman nodded.
“I don’t speak your language, Alice, where are we going?”
“Musíme jít do rohu čtrnáctého a komor. Musíme jít do Dandelar Klubu.”
We have to go to the corner of Fourteenth and Chambers. We have to go to the Dandelar Club.
“I don’t understand.”, Cecily replied slowly.
“Dandelar. Klubu. Dandelar. Hutchinson.”
With those two words, Cecily froze. Hutchinson. The Dandelar Club. From her brief conversations with some underworld sources, she’d learned that nothing good happened at the Dandelar Club and that Hutchinson was one of the most dangerous people she’d likely ever meet. The elevator hit the entrance level and Cecily half-led, half-dragged Alice through the busy mall to the main entrance. The entire way, she had the horrible sensation that they were being watched. Not as if it was particularly hard to find a pretty blonde woman and a teenage girl with bright cyan hair. Fortunately, the mall cops must’ve gotten the information that Cecily was armed and, rather than risk an armed escalation, had wisely let her leave the mall. Oh well, that’s the Palisades off her potential future shopping experiences.
A cab was easy to get once they were on the street. The cabbie was the talkative type, rattling on about how his father and grandfather had driven cabs in New York before the Tha’Kar and come. Cecily sat with Alice in the back. The blonde woman was now gripping Cecily’s hand tightly and Cecily could feel her shaking.
“The Dandelar Club. And there’s a bonus if you get us there without the scenic route.”, Cecily said simply.
“The Dandelar? Why’d a nice pair o’ girls like you wanna go to a place like that? I tell ya what, if ya wanna go someplace fun, I know a coupla-”
“Just fucking drive.”, Cecily snarled, “No bullshit, no fucking around. Get us to the Dandelar Club, right fucking now.”
She flashed the gun she’d stowed in one of her bags and the cabbie took the hint. He drove and he drove at the very limits of the legal speed. They arrived within fifteen minutes. Cecily piled Alice out and tossed a generous tip at the cabbie.
“Forget about us. It’ll be much healthier for you.”, she said flatly.
The Dandelar Club was impressive, to say the least. It look to have started out as some sort of civic building, a bank or courthouse or something. Tall pillars supported a broad portico underneath a pristine copper dome. White marble stairs lead up to a pair of big wooden doors. Alice lead the way, her shaking less now, but her gait was still unsteady enough that Cecily had to follow close just in case. At the top of the stairs, Alice pressed the intercom button and looked up at a camera that watched the door. There was a click and the doors swung open. The two women entered and for the first time, Cecily saw the interior of the Dandelar Club. The entrance foyer was as grand as the exterior, wood paneling on the walls and plush carpet on the floor. Alice lead the way through to a side door and through into a far less plush corridor. They climbed some stairs and Alice opened a door at the top. She entered and Cecily followed then paused. Within was an office, one wall covered in TV monitors showing various CCTV views. Against an other wall, there was a leather couch as well as a rich desk and an equally rich chair behind it. Sat in the chair was a man. Cecily didn’t know him, but he made her nervous. He looked from Alice to her and back again, then rose from his seat.
“Alice?”, he said, his voice as smooth as ground arsenic and twice as deadly, “What’s going on?”
“Potřebuju to, potřebuju svůj lék.”, she said, crossing over to him and pawing at the evening suit he was wearing, “Mé vzpomínky se vracejí a nemohu vzít to nic víc.”
I need this, I need your medicine. My memories return and I can not take it any more."
“How long has she been like this?”, he asked Cecily, fixing her with a gaze that could mean anything.
“Half an hour, sir, maybe more?”, Cecily hid behind Keiko’s persona. It felt slightly safer. Perhaps this man would be less likely to kill a teenage girl than a twenty-year old ex-Yakuza sniper. But only slightly less likely.
He nodded, took two pills from the baggie and pushed them between Alice’s lips. She swallowed them without water and almost immediately started to become less tense. She sagged into his arms and he gently settled her onto the couch. She seemed to be sedated, her movements more sluggish, less tense. She settled into what appeared to be sleep.
"Will she be alright?"
"Yes, I think so. Her meds will kick in and what she experienced today will feel like a distant nightmare.", Hutchinson replied, tenderly stroking her forehead with his fingertips.
The care that this devilish monster expressed for the woman sleeping on his couch made Cecily's heart hurt. It was the kind of care she yearned for.
"That's good then.", she replied with a small smile, then turned to leave.
"Oh and, Cecily?"
She stopped and looked back, then froze. She hadn't said what her name was, not to Alice, not to anyone. she carefully slipped a hand into the bag hiding her gun.
"There won't be any need for that gun. Or the one hidden under your jacket.", Hutchinson said coolly.
He knew, somehow he fucking knew.
She turned to face him fully. Best to meet your fate head on.
"I might have some work for someone with your talents. I assume you're still looking for work.", he said, perching on the edge of his desk and taking a cigarette from the box on it.
He lit it with a gas lighter he'd taken out of his pocket and took a slow drag, letting the smoke drift lazily out of his nose.
"And you'll probably want to move to a better apartment than that shitty little dive over on Sullivan."
At this point in time, Cecily wouldn't be surprised if he told her what she had for breakfast this morning and which color panties she put on after her shower.
"Well, of course.", she replied, dropping all pretenses. The man was talking business and that required an adult conversation.
"I might not have any sniping or marksmanship jobs available right now, but there's some close security work coming up with an... old friend of mine.", Hutchinson continued, "I'd also be interested if you can turn your koto skills to the harp I have downstairs. Alice wanted to try a new instrument in her sets, and I'm having the Devil's own time trying to find someone with the right skills."
Cecily shrugged, "I'll give it a try, can't say I'll be perfect first time, but I'll try."
She looked over at Alice, who was now smiling in her dreams. Yes, truly Alice had a good man, even if the world knew him as a monster.
A real Beauty and the Beast.
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