{Big Bang - J2} Dreaming in Cordite - Cyberpunk AU - 3
Title: Dreaming in Cordite
Author Name: deannawol
Artist Name: sandrainthesun
Genre: RPS AU
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Characters: Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Sam Ferris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Christian Kane, Various Others.
Rating: 18 Overall - Sexual situations, graphic violence in places and adult language
Warnings: Slash (M/M) relationship, oral sex, violence, off-screen death of a non J2 character.
Word Count: ~51,000
~#~#~
“Sugar, you just keep your darn hair on 'til I get to you. I swear, you men! Ain't got the patience of a rattler with a hole in his belly!” Laurie drawled, rolling her eyes and paying no attention to her customers’ demands for service, “We’ll have to finish this later, hon. The natives are gettin’ antsy.”
She walked around the tables in her slinky, blue velvet dress and high heels , collecting glasses and cat-calls from the decrepit customers of the Hard Times Bar 'n' Occasional Grill. Jensen sat back, watching her as she made her way over to the back booth. She'd dressed up a little today rather than slumming it in the jeans and t-shirt she usually wore because Frankie was taking her out after work and the rat-trap that Jimmy, the owner of this fine establishment, called a ladies room was not the best place to change. Especially since one of the regulars had busted through the lock in a desperate attempt to escape his bar bill. Nothing special, just a shirt and a little jewelry, but given the look on her face and the scuzzbag's hand on her wrist, she was regretting the decision now.
There were two types who spent their cred and more in the Hard Times: down on their luck mercs looking for a place to sit and drink until their next contract came crawling out of the woodwork, or well-to-do collar-boys looking to slum it for the night, and this skuzz in booth five was definitely at least ten streets south of his usual 'safe' haunts.
Something about the guy had pinged Jensen’s radar earlier in the evening, pulling his attention from the glass he’d been polishing. Whether it was the man’s style and the way he’d looked everyone up and down with his lip curled or the way he’d slunk into the bar and grabbed the back seat, Jensen couldn’t say, but six years of buzz cuts and war zones had trained him to listen to his instincts and the guy was tap dancing all over his danger sense. He’d seen corpboys like this time and again working mercenary jobs up city and he hadn’t found one he liked yet. He’d thought it would be better working the bar, filling in for a friend who’d gone on what should have been a cakewalk and gotten his ass shot but he should have known better.
He hadn't wanted Laurie to go near the guy, actually volunteered to take the order instead, but she'd just patted his hand and told him that tips were tips and that while corpboys weren't as free with the cred as mercs, they still left a decent chunk of cred on the chip for the help. The woman had a mind of her own and a dagger-sharp tongue to go with it, but it seemed that even that hadn't been enough to keep the guy from making a play. Jensen hated being right, especially when his friends were caught in the firing line. The man had flirted and grabbed and refused to let her go when she backed away. He didn’t know how they raised boys in those high rise towers, but if he ever even thought of doing that, his momma would be whooping his ass so hard he wouldn’t be able to sit for a month.
“Hey Jimmy, be right back, 'kay?” Jensen said as he set aside the glass he'd been polishing. “Just gotta rescue Laurie from some corpboy who's lookin' to lose a hand.”
Jim Beaver, or Jimmy to his friends, looked up and over at where Laurie was struggling and fighting to get herself free. His hand dropped below the bar to the loaded Ragnarok shotgun he kept there, just in case.
“Sure thing, Jen. Just holler if you need me to pull out Bessie.”
"Will do, just watch where you point her yeah? My momma'd be upset if you had to post me home."
Jensen nodded, his eyes never leaving Laurie and her wannabe paramour. He sauntered towards the booth, his hand already dipping to the small of his back, where his Colt AMT 2000 sat in its holster. Connectors slipped free of the recessed compartment in his wrist, automatically clicking into place in the matching slots on the gun. Picture-in-picture appeared in his cybernetically enhanced vision, showing him the images captured by the tiny camera in the barrel of the gun. Wasn’t showing anything ‘cept the inside of his holster at the moment. Another thought and he felt adrenaline flood his system. He doubted he’s need it but like his old sergeant used to say, ‘better to kick it and not need it than not and drop dead with a case of the I shoulda’s’. Anything the guy threw at him, he was ready for it. More than ready.
“Hey Laurie,” Jensen called to the waitress, “Jimmy needs a bit of help at the bar, asked me to come over and fetch ya.”
“Sure thing, sugar,” Laurie forced a smile, mouthing 'Thank you' at him. “I'll just get right over there.”
She started to move away but the corpboy just yanked on her wrist, toppling her back into a half sitting, half leaning position on the booth seat. His other hand slid around her waist, keeping her pinned tight against his chest. Jensen let his eyes run over the man, accessing him. Shoulder length brown hair, washed recently but left untied to kink out at the bottom. Distressed chrome rock t-shirt and torn jeans, by design not wear and tear. Expensive too by the look of them. Gold watch on his wrist and real, if Jensen was to guess. Jensen's eyes turned to the guy's face. It was handsome but the expression he wore said that he knew it, instantly detracting from his appeal. Hard blue eyes stared back at Jensen. This wasn't a guy who heard 'no' very often and Jensen doubted he took it well when he did.
Squaring his shoulders, Jensen addressed the man, his voice almost a growl, “Sir, I'd very much appreciate it if you'd unhand my sister.”
She wasn't really his sister, just a girl he enjoyed working and talking, but the bluff was usually enough to make customers back off. After all, who wanted to piss off the guy in charge of making your drink in a place like this or the guy responsible for taking out the trash and tossing the drunks?
The man didn’t bother looking up, just buried his nose in Lauren’s hair, “An' I'd appreciate it if you turned around and disappeared back behind the bar. Me and Laurie here were just talking. Ain't that right, honey?” the man asked.
Laurie didn't answer but her eyes were pleading with Jensen to do something, anything to get her away from the letch.
"Well, see, much as I'd love to do that, sir, I'm afraid that I can't," Jensen shrugged and said truthfully, "you don't know my momma. She'd skin me alive if I left Laurie here in trouble."
The corpboy pushed himself to his feet, dragging Laurie with him, his arm wrapping around her neck as he pulled her in front of him.
"You gotta choice, boy," the man's voice dropped dangerously low. "You can back the fuck off, or I can snap her pretty little neck. Up to you!"
Jensen drew in a long, slow breath, mentally checking his options. That Laurie was being used as a shield was a complication, cutting down his possibilities. He'd need to get her away before he did anything. His hand tightened on the grip of the gun as plans ran around his head. Whatever he did, it was going to have to be quick.
"Well, kid?"
Jensen saw the muscles in the guy's arm flex as he started to crush Laurie's throat. Her hands flew to the arm around her neck, nails digging in. Shit, out of time.
Jensen surged forward. His free hand shoving into Laurie's stomach, driving her back into the corpboy. Caught off-guard the man went flying backwards, hands flailing. Jensen grabbed for Laurie, catching an arm and yanking her clear before the corpboy had a chance to recover. His gun cleared the holster, smooth and clean. Jensen's eyes flicked down to avoid the disorientation as the image from the barrel's camera blurred as he brought it to bear. As he looked at the corpboy again, he saw the guy's hand start to go to the small of his back. Crap. A half step forward and Jensen's gun was pressed to corpboy's jugular.
"Don't move, asshole or they'll have to get you off the walls with a hosepipe," Jensen threatened as he cocked the gun. "Laurie, you okay?"
Laurie coughed a little as she answered, "Little warning might have been nice, but yeah. I'm okay."
"You wanna reach around and grab whatever this guy is carrying?"
Laurie crept past him and grabbed the knife sheathed at the small of his back. It was a largish hunting knife with a fancy carved handle inlaid with silver. Commercial as hell, but it would cut almost well as any of the pro-knives that Jensen had hidden about him.
"Not bad,” Jensen nodded appreciably. Taking the knife from Laurie, he tucked it away safely. "Must have cost you at least, what, an hour’s wages?" Pressing the barrel of the gun a little further into corpboy's neck, Jensen continued. "I'm gonna give you a choice. You can agree to leave the bar and never come back or I can shoot you where you stand."
Jensen pulled back slightly giving the corpboy enough space to answer.
"Screw you and this miserable excuse for a bar."
"I'm sorry, sir but the answer we were looking for was 'Yes, I wanna run my bitch-ass home and cry under the covers." Jensen offered him a razor-edged smile. "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave without any of our wonderful prizes but thank you for playing."
The guy snarled but the pointed click of the Colt's trigger sliding back cut off whatever smart-ass bullshit he was planning.
"We're done here. Get your ass outta here before I decide to give you an extra hole to breathe through,” Jensen gestured towards the door with the gun.
Chris glared, pointing at Jensen, "I'll remember you, boy. I owe you for this and I'm gonna collect."
Jensen growled, “Anytime, corpboy. Anytime.”
Chris spun on his heel and walked to the door. He stopped just at threshold and turned, eyes narrowed, “Remember this when your life starts to fall apart and everyone is hunting your hide.”
Jensen pulled the guy's fancy knife from his waist band and hefted the weight, getting a feel for the blade. He tossed it up to turn it, catching it by the blade before flinging it at the door frame right beside the corpboy's ear. The corpboy ducked reflexively, hand rising to make sure that everything was still attached. He glanced over his shoulder to where the knife lay embedded in the doorframe.
"You've made a huge mistake today. Huge," the corpboy told him, practically snarling the words. "Remember my face, 'cause it's going to be haunting your nightmares."
With that, the corpboy left, slamming the door behind him.
"Christ, melodrama much?" Laurie spoke up from behind him.
Jensen grinned widely, "You know these corp types. Don't get enough drama during their nine to fives so they gotta sneak into our section of Dallas just to get their adrenaline pumping."
Jensen rolled his shoulders, pulling out of fight mode now that the corpboy was gone. He looked around the bar and all the familiar faces. He didn't miss hands reappearing from under armoured jackets and connectors unplugging from guns, big and small. Sure they were regulars but if anything had gone down, who knew what way they'd react or which side they'd pick. The men sitting here around had a lot of scores to settle, both personal and professional and very few of them didn’t have some corp or other willing to pay for their scalps. Thankfully though, nothing had happened beyond some alpha male posturing.
"You okay, Laurie?" Jensen asked, focusing again on the waitress. "I know I hit you pretty hard."
"I'm fine, I just..." she started, "... I guess I just wasn't expecting."
Jensen patted Laurie’s shoulder. She shivered and threw herself against Jensen, her small hands digging into his clothing. Jensen put an arm around her awkwardly, "Hey Jimmy, can you give Frankie a call, see if she can pop around early and take Laurie home?"
"Sure thing, Jen,” Jimmy called back, pulling out the ancient rotary phone that he kept behind the bar. "Got her a good, strong brandy here as well. I'd give you one too but ya went and got a knife stuck in the fittings. Can't go giving ya a reward after ya damage my place, so you'll have to settle for a shot of rotgut."
Laughing, Jensen shook his head, "Free booze? Should mark this on the calendar."
"Frackin' smartass!" Jimmy cursed.
"See, now. Whole night was good for something. Ya get a couple hours off and free booze," Jensen joked with Laurie.
She nodded, not making any move to let go of her saviour. Burying her head against his neck, she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. He wasn't overly tall for a street soldier, scraping six foot and change but it took every inch of those three inch heels for her to reach. He ran a hand over her silky, blonde hair as he reassured her, trying to quiet the tremor running through her.
"Don't worry, hun, Frankie'll be here in a few."
Laurie looked up at him with big, wet eyes, a slight smile pulling at the corner of her lips, "Ya know, this is just gonna have her trying harder to get you into a threesome."
"Really?" Jensen asked. "Shit, if I'da known that, I woulda let the scuzzbag have ya. I mean, propositioned by lesbians. Eauch!" He shivered, smiling.
"Nothing wrong with lesbians, mister," Laurie pinched him lightly on the back.
His eyes crinkled as he smiled down at her, "nope, not a thing," he agreed, giving her a quick squeeze.
Laurie pulled back, looking at him seriously for a moment. "Seriously, thank you. Thank you, Jen, for saving me."
"Aw, hell, Laurie," he answered, cheeks pinking up, "it was nothing that anyone else wouldn't do."
She raised her voice a fraction, making sure that it carried across the bar, "No, I'm serious Jensen; you were the only one who got up off their ass and did something when I needed it. You ever need anything, you just call, okay honey?"
"Laurie..." Jensen started.
"No, I'm serious. If I can do anything, or you need anything Frankie can put your way, you just let me know and I'll make sure it happens, ya hear me?"
"Yes, ma'am," he agreed, pulling her back into a hug.
"Now, that the mushy stuff is over, I heard Jimmy mention something about free drinks!" Lauren laughed, stepping back. Her hands were still shaking a little but she seemed calmer.
Keeping an arm tucked tightly around Laurie's waist, Jensen walked her over to the bar where Jimmy had poured out their drinks. The show over, the patrons dropped back into small talk, swapping stories of their exploits on the rough, tough streets of Dallas. Jensen chatted to Laurie while Jimmy hunted around on the half-busted TV for something sports related. The last fifteen minutes had been enough reality for the evening.
"Jen,” Jimmy whispered, tapping the bar in an attempt to try to grab his attention, "Hey, Jen."
Jensen looked up, "Yeah, Jimmy?"
"I think we gotta problem."
Jensen followed his gaze, looking up at the television then scanning the mostly-quiet bar.
"’Nuther one, Jimmy? What are they, combat cabs? Wait all night for one, then the fleet shows up at once?" Jensen asked, not seeing anything noteworthy on the snowy set.
"Wait for it. He was there just a second ago."
Jensen was about to turn back to Laurie when he noticed what had drawn Jimmy's attention. There, in all his two dimensional glory, stood the scuzzbag that he'd just thrown out of Jimmy's bar, shaking hands with the fracking mayor himself. Fuck. Same shoulder-length brown hair, same blue eyes. Even had the collar of his T-shirt peeking out where his fancy-ass shirt collar was undone.
"Well... shit!" Jensen cursed.
Laurie grabbed for the remote, pulling it out of Jimmy's slack fingers and pressing the plus button to increase the volume.
"... met today with Dallas mayor, Daniel McKenzie. Kane, the interm CEO of Padalecki Microcybernetics Limited, the City's leading provider of cybernetic technology, commented to reporters that this new deal to supply free upgrades to the City's emergency response units was 'just a way of acknowledging all the work that the guys on the front lines do to keep us safe at night'.
The first stage of this landmark deal will be to offer any member of the police and emergency services replacements for any existing cybernetics.
When asked what prompted such a massive show of support, Kane reminded reporters of the events of June 3rd of this year, when the then CEO and founder of Padalecki Microcybernetics, Gerald Padalecki, along with his wife and eldest son were brutally murdered on the streets of Dallas.
Kane then added that while he had to commend the emergency services' response times, he couldn't help but feel that maybe if they had slightly better equipment, they could have gotten there just a little quicker and that might have made all the difference..."
"Shut it off, Jimmy," Jensen said, his voice low, barely audible against the crackling sound of the television. He knocked back the shot, shrugging off the prickle of unease.
"But Jen..."
"Doesn't matter, Jimmy," Jensen poured himself another drink. "He crossed the damned line. Woulda done the same thing if the Mayor himself had been sitting there trying to make Laurie do something she didn't want. Doesn’t matter who he is, he deserved what he got. No way you wouldn’t have done the same if you’d gotten there first. He’s just lucky I didn’t decide to take it further."
"Aw sweetie, you're so cute when you're being heroic!" Laurie leaned in close, placing a kiss on his cheek. "But seriously, honey, maybe we need to..."
Jensen smirked, "What's he gonna do? Send some of his goons after me. He's an exec. The ultimate collar-boy. He's got bigger problems than some street runner and part time bartender throwing him out on his ass. No one here is dumb enough to post the damn footage and risk icers tracking them down."
"I dunno, Jen," Jimmy pursed his lips, scratching at his salt and pepper beard, "ya know corpboys and their egos. He pays the bills and he's got thousands just clamoring to carry out his every word. Ain't nothing to him to send one or two guys and gun ya down in the street on your way home."
"Jimmy, ya worry too much," Jensen grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "Didn't survive six years of Hell in South Am just to let some collar boy gun me down in the street."
Laurie looked at Jimmy, nervously chewing her lip. Jensen rolled his eyes. Worrying wouldn't do any good. If the corpboy, Kane, did come after him, he'd deal and no amount of trash talking in the bar would help. Ducking, covering and fighting back was what he did best. Might be a close one but a year in Boot and five years buried up to his neck in jungle shit with his fellow Rangers had given him a helluva nose for trouble that served him well on the streets. Long as they didn't try to do something stupid like sue him, he was golden. And hell, even if they did, all he had to do was drop outta circulation for a while.
"Oi, Jimmy, what type of crud you let into your bar that threatens my girl?" A woman’s voice roared across the bar.
"Aw shit, the bitch is in the house. Lock up the liquor," Jimmy spoke just loud enough for Jensen to hear. Turning to face the storming woman, Jimmy forced a smile, "Frankie, babe! Now don't go shouting up my joint. Got paying customers in here don't appreciate your shriekin'."
Frankie moved over to her girlfriend, hands running over her, checking for injury and muttering threats in the general direction of the whole male gender. Laurie, for her part, just stood there and took it. Jensen smirked over at her, catching her eye. Frankie was all leather and lace, black with cappuccino skin showing through the artfully cut peep-holes. Subtle as a brick and twice as blunt. White and red light tattoos covered her shaved scalp, glowing dully under the harsh lights.
"Where're you hurt, baby?" Frankie growled, stroking back her hair.
"I'm fine, Frankie. Don't have to do your momma bear impression," Laurie sighed.
Frankie's mouth tightened in annoyance, "You think this is a momma bear impression, you just wait until I get you home, girl!"
"Damn," Laurie rolled her eyes, "and I almost had Jensen convinced to join us for an evening of lesbian debauchery!"
Frankie's jaw dropped as she looked from Laurie to Jensen to Jimmy and back again. "Right someone better start talking! I wanna know who and why so I can make this little piece of shit’s life a misery. No one touches my girl and gets away with it."
Laurie pulled out a stool and pushed Frankie over to it, forcing the woman to take a seat before she started. Jimmy poured her a drink, but held it back. No point in wasting liquor, giving her the booze early. Frankie drank like a baby, often and as much as she could get. She probably hadn't had a proper meal in months, despite Laurie's best efforts. Jensen and Jim had had front-row seats to Laurie's increasingly difficult campaign to get her clean but from what they could tell, it was a losing battle. Jensen knew that Jimmy hated feeding Frankie's little problem - Laurie was a friend and a damned good worker and he didn't like to hurt her - but getting told that your girlfriend had almost died was one of those things that was filed under 'special occasions', and not just in Jimmy’s book.
"Wasn't no one, babe. Not really anyhow," Laurie started, "Just one of our patrons got a little handsy and Jensen helped him to remember that no actually does mean no."
"So that's why you got a bruise rising on your neck, yeah?" Frankie growled, eyes flicking between Laurie's throat and the drink sitting patiently beside Jimmy's hand. "One of your boys wanna give me something concrete?"
Jensen ran a hand over his short brown hair, scratching at his scalp.
"It was just a corpboy, Frankie, just tryin' it on to see if he could get a little action," Jensen shrugged, "ya know the type that ain't entirely sure what it means when someone says no. He started insisting. We stepped in and persuaded him different. It's all over now, guys gone back to his crystal palace. Ego is smashed but the rest of him is fine."
"Fucking fuckwad..." she cursed, her hand grabbing for the drink. "He hurt my baby. We need to find the no good son of a whore dog and teach him what's what."
"Frankie," Jensen spoke softly, "he's gone and he's not going to lay another finger on Laurie. There's no reason to push harder than that. Just take her home, make sure she's okay, look after her and then take her to bed. Don’t let the asshole ruin your night anymore than you can help,” Jensen smiled. “Now Laurie, why don’t you wash up and grab your gear so Frankie can take you home."
Laurie nodded and headed into the back. Jensen watched until the door flicked closed behind her.
"She needs you Frankie, she's scared. But Frankie, she needs you, all of you, there for her,” his eyes flicked to her hand, her fingers closed around the shot glass.
No one said a word. Seconds stretched to last minutes as everyone watched Frankie. She tapped her long nails against the glass. Jensen could see the need in her eyes, as well as the flick of a glance towards Laurie as she came out of the back room, bag over her shoulder. It seemed to take every ounce of willpower that she owned and then some to uncurl her fingers from the glass and reach out to take Laurie's hand.
"Come on, babe. We got a nice big tub at home. Little hot water, some magnolia oil. Frankie's prescription for getting over stressful situations. Whatcha say?" Frankie asked, rubbing a thumb over the back of her girlfriend’s hand.
"Sounds like a little bit of heaven," Laurie smiled widely, eyes twinkling, "throw in a massage and you got yourself a deal, lady."
Frankie hemmed and hawed for a minute, pretending to think it over before caving. "Suppose I could throw in a massage! But ya better not get used to it. Gotta rep to protect here!"
Laurie wrapped herself around Frankie, chuckling, "My big bad street hustler. Don't worry, you're secret's safe with me, babe."
Jensen shook his head, the corners of his mouth twitching up at the corners. He wasn't exactly sure what they had or how come it worked but it was good to see the girls happy. He kinda missed the easy camaraderie of a relationship but merc work didn't leave much of a chance to settle down. You had to be another merc to understand the adrenaline kick of a job going right. You had to be understanding and not freak at finding blood on the kitchen floor or clothes in the bin. Best partner for a merc was another merc but given that the women tended to be ball-busting bitches bent on proving that they could rock as hard as the boys and the men tended to be weapon-carrying sociopaths out for guts, glory and enough cred that they could do this just for the pleasure of the hunt, it kinda limited the choices.
He shrugged off the melancholy thought and waved to Laurie as Frankie dragged her out of the bar and home to peace, solitude and a complete lack of assholes bent on having their own way at all times.
Maybe it was time to head back to his family for a while, duck and cover until the corpboy, Kane, cooled down enough to forgive the insult and brush the entire thing under the carpet. He hadn't seen his momma in quite a while and she was starting to leave insistent messages on his voicemail. Wouldn't take much to track Josh and get the family's travel plans off him. He smirked. Leastways then he'd be able to find them and surprise his mom. He wondered if it was as hard to drop home if you were part of one of those nice city-settled clans or if it was just Nomad families that had these sorts of problems.
"Gotta say I'm surprised,” Jimmy shook his head as he spoke, drawing Jensen from his thoughts.
"Huh?"
"Didn't think Laurie would ever get her to a point where she turned down liquor."
Jensen huffed with laughter. "Never underestimate the power of nagging. Well, nagging and a good measure of love."
Jimmy was just about to say something else when they heard something outside. The shriek of an engine being taxed to its limit, brakes squealing in protest as someone took a corner way too damned fast and an exhaust backfiring? No, it was sharper than that. It was more like the sharp bark of nine mil bullets leaving an unsilenced muzzle somewhere outside.
Jensen was moving before Jimmy could even think about reacting. Man might have been a good fighter in his day but tending to the needs of Dallas' degenerates didn't exactly keep a person in prime shape. Jensen didn't even slow as he slammed through the door, paying no attention to the crack of the hinges or the splintering of wood. His Colt was in his hand, links clicked in and the barrel camera image sitting in the corner of his vision.
The world was dark around him, only the flash-flutter-glare of a half-working streetlight shining temporary light down on the road, but it was enough. He could see the lump on the pavement flickering blue-black as the neon caught it. Dread turned his bones to lead and the world slowed around him.
Running, Jensen quickly covered the cracked concrete of the sidewalk until he was at their side. Heart beating hard, he hunkered down, gun still in had. The dark leather of Frankie's clothes shone in the stuttering light, wet with blood. Jensen's free hand went to her throat, feeling frantically for the trace of life but there was nothing. Only the still-warm blood pooling in the dip of her throat. He slid around to where Laurie lay, half covered by Frankie's now lifeless body. Her eyes blinked sightlessly at the sky as she tried to speak.
Jensen took her hand, squeezing hard, "Laurie, babe, can you hear me?"
Her lips moved but no sound came out.
"Ya gotta hold on honey, ya hear?" Jensen dropped the gun, leaving it to dangle from his connectors as he fumbled for his phone. "I'm gonna call for help, Laurie. You just gotta stay with me."
His fingers fumbled with the phone. He forced himself to take a deep breath as he dialed Trauma Team. A couple of minutes, they said. Just a couple of minutes. He was vaguely aware of Jimmy beside him, cursing up a full and proper storm.
"Laurie, ya gotta listen to me. Ya gotta hang on. Trauma Team are on the way."
Voice croaking, Laurie forced a word out, "Frankie?"
"She's right here honey. She's waiting for you," Jensen lied.
Laurie jerked, muscles seizing and contracting all at once. But Jensen was there, pulling her up and to him. His hand groped hopelessly for the wound but it was a through and through. Two bleeding holes, one front, one back. He dropped the phone, pressing tightly down, trying to stem the bleeding. He could feel the movement of her chest, too shallow, too slow. He flicked a look at Jimmy who panted beside him, eyes scanning the sky for any sign of Trauma Team coming but the skies were quiet. There wasn't even a hint of the tell-tale whine of the trademark AV6's engines cutting up the night sky.
The minutes were slipping away and with them, Laurie's goddamn life.
"Something's wrong. They should have been here by now, Jimmy," Jensen said, voice low. "Could you…?"
Jimmy nodded and gathered up the dropped phone. Jensen listened to his boss talk, relaxing when Jimmy got straight through to the Trauma Team dispatcher. Jensen leaned closer to Laurie smoothing back her hair. "It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay, Laurie. They're on their way." This wasn't his area; he'd never bothered with more than the more basic of first aid. Put pressure on the wound, then bust ass for the medic; that was his philosophy. He needed help. He needed help now.
"What the hell do you mean 'cancelled'?" Jimmy shouted down the phone.
Jensen looked up as he pressed harder on the wound. He wanted to ask Jimmy what the hell was going on, where the hell the medics were but he didn’t want to distract Jimmy.
"Do I sound like the kinda person who’d make a prank call? We have a woman here dying on the street and another already gone. I don't care what it takes, you put a chopper in the air and you get it going now!" Jimmy's voice dropped glacially cold.
Jensen could feel the frantic pulse under his hand slowing. Laurie took one more long ragged breath and then nothing.
"Jimmy!" Jensen said, laying Frankie out on the pavement, "Jimmy! How long we got?"
Jimmy turned slowly, face down. "They ain't coming, Jen."
"What?"
"Call out was cancelled before liftoff," Jimmy answered, "Let's see, how did she put it... Oh yeah! 'A platinum level customer reported that the call out was a prank'."
Jensen thumped the ground with a fist, ignoring the crack and flare of pain.
"That little shit! That little corp bastard excuse for a piece of walking scum," Jensen cursed. "I'm gonna..."
"You're gonna do nothing, Ackles," Jimmy stood over him, face stern in the flicker of the streetlight. "You're gonna do nothing but get your ass the fuck off the grid. Go home. Go to Dixie for all I care but get the fuck away from this maniac. He might be satisfied cutting the girls down or at least satisfied enough that he ain't gonna go looking for you too hard."
"He's not gonna get away with this, Jim," Jensen pushed himself to his feet, "I don't care, Jim. It was Laurie. He can't get away with this. He can't. I'm gonna get him somehow."
Jim shook his head, "You're a damned fool, boy. A damned fool."
He forced a smile but it stopped a long way short of reaching his eyes, "S'why you hired me!"
"You wanna get going, Jen," Jimmy asked, "'fore they comes back for a second pass. I ain't in the mood to lose anyone else tonight."
Jensen hesitated, eyes drawn to the bodies on the street. Friends just on their way home to piece together their ruined night.
"Go on," Jim said, "I'll make sure they're taken care of. Send you on the details when I know them."
Jensen nodded, already backing away. His eyes traced the streets looking for anything out of the ordinary, any watchers, anyone paying too much attention. All the usual signs that trouble was about to find him. But true to form, the streets were deserted, no one paying attention to anything that could get them involved in someone else's shit. Perfect for making good his retreat. There was nothing in Jimmy's that couldn't be replaced, nothing that couldn't be dropped with no regrets, so he ran. He was lost amid the Undercity before he even considered stopping to look for a data terminal. Finding one in a shadowed recess, he slotted his credchip and dialled his brother's number.
"'Lo?" the voice on the other end answered, cautious.
Jensen looked around, his back to the data terminal as he watched the street from the shadows, "Josh, it's Jensen. I need your help..."
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14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Epilogue | Master Art Post | Soundtrack
Author Name: deannawol
Artist Name: sandrainthesun
Genre: RPS AU
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Characters: Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Sam Ferris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Christian Kane, Various Others.
Rating: 18 Overall - Sexual situations, graphic violence in places and adult language
Warnings: Slash (M/M) relationship, oral sex, violence, off-screen death of a non J2 character.
Word Count: ~51,000
~#~#~
“Sugar, you just keep your darn hair on 'til I get to you. I swear, you men! Ain't got the patience of a rattler with a hole in his belly!” Laurie drawled, rolling her eyes and paying no attention to her customers’ demands for service, “We’ll have to finish this later, hon. The natives are gettin’ antsy.”
She walked around the tables in her slinky, blue velvet dress and high heels , collecting glasses and cat-calls from the decrepit customers of the Hard Times Bar 'n' Occasional Grill. Jensen sat back, watching her as she made her way over to the back booth. She'd dressed up a little today rather than slumming it in the jeans and t-shirt she usually wore because Frankie was taking her out after work and the rat-trap that Jimmy, the owner of this fine establishment, called a ladies room was not the best place to change. Especially since one of the regulars had busted through the lock in a desperate attempt to escape his bar bill. Nothing special, just a shirt and a little jewelry, but given the look on her face and the scuzzbag's hand on her wrist, she was regretting the decision now.
There were two types who spent their cred and more in the Hard Times: down on their luck mercs looking for a place to sit and drink until their next contract came crawling out of the woodwork, or well-to-do collar-boys looking to slum it for the night, and this skuzz in booth five was definitely at least ten streets south of his usual 'safe' haunts.
Something about the guy had pinged Jensen’s radar earlier in the evening, pulling his attention from the glass he’d been polishing. Whether it was the man’s style and the way he’d looked everyone up and down with his lip curled or the way he’d slunk into the bar and grabbed the back seat, Jensen couldn’t say, but six years of buzz cuts and war zones had trained him to listen to his instincts and the guy was tap dancing all over his danger sense. He’d seen corpboys like this time and again working mercenary jobs up city and he hadn’t found one he liked yet. He’d thought it would be better working the bar, filling in for a friend who’d gone on what should have been a cakewalk and gotten his ass shot but he should have known better.
He hadn't wanted Laurie to go near the guy, actually volunteered to take the order instead, but she'd just patted his hand and told him that tips were tips and that while corpboys weren't as free with the cred as mercs, they still left a decent chunk of cred on the chip for the help. The woman had a mind of her own and a dagger-sharp tongue to go with it, but it seemed that even that hadn't been enough to keep the guy from making a play. Jensen hated being right, especially when his friends were caught in the firing line. The man had flirted and grabbed and refused to let her go when she backed away. He didn’t know how they raised boys in those high rise towers, but if he ever even thought of doing that, his momma would be whooping his ass so hard he wouldn’t be able to sit for a month.
“Hey Jimmy, be right back, 'kay?” Jensen said as he set aside the glass he'd been polishing. “Just gotta rescue Laurie from some corpboy who's lookin' to lose a hand.”
Jim Beaver, or Jimmy to his friends, looked up and over at where Laurie was struggling and fighting to get herself free. His hand dropped below the bar to the loaded Ragnarok shotgun he kept there, just in case.
“Sure thing, Jen. Just holler if you need me to pull out Bessie.”
"Will do, just watch where you point her yeah? My momma'd be upset if you had to post me home."
Jensen nodded, his eyes never leaving Laurie and her wannabe paramour. He sauntered towards the booth, his hand already dipping to the small of his back, where his Colt AMT 2000 sat in its holster. Connectors slipped free of the recessed compartment in his wrist, automatically clicking into place in the matching slots on the gun. Picture-in-picture appeared in his cybernetically enhanced vision, showing him the images captured by the tiny camera in the barrel of the gun. Wasn’t showing anything ‘cept the inside of his holster at the moment. Another thought and he felt adrenaline flood his system. He doubted he’s need it but like his old sergeant used to say, ‘better to kick it and not need it than not and drop dead with a case of the I shoulda’s’. Anything the guy threw at him, he was ready for it. More than ready.
“Hey Laurie,” Jensen called to the waitress, “Jimmy needs a bit of help at the bar, asked me to come over and fetch ya.”
“Sure thing, sugar,” Laurie forced a smile, mouthing 'Thank you' at him. “I'll just get right over there.”
She started to move away but the corpboy just yanked on her wrist, toppling her back into a half sitting, half leaning position on the booth seat. His other hand slid around her waist, keeping her pinned tight against his chest. Jensen let his eyes run over the man, accessing him. Shoulder length brown hair, washed recently but left untied to kink out at the bottom. Distressed chrome rock t-shirt and torn jeans, by design not wear and tear. Expensive too by the look of them. Gold watch on his wrist and real, if Jensen was to guess. Jensen's eyes turned to the guy's face. It was handsome but the expression he wore said that he knew it, instantly detracting from his appeal. Hard blue eyes stared back at Jensen. This wasn't a guy who heard 'no' very often and Jensen doubted he took it well when he did.
Squaring his shoulders, Jensen addressed the man, his voice almost a growl, “Sir, I'd very much appreciate it if you'd unhand my sister.”
She wasn't really his sister, just a girl he enjoyed working and talking, but the bluff was usually enough to make customers back off. After all, who wanted to piss off the guy in charge of making your drink in a place like this or the guy responsible for taking out the trash and tossing the drunks?
The man didn’t bother looking up, just buried his nose in Lauren’s hair, “An' I'd appreciate it if you turned around and disappeared back behind the bar. Me and Laurie here were just talking. Ain't that right, honey?” the man asked.
Laurie didn't answer but her eyes were pleading with Jensen to do something, anything to get her away from the letch.
"Well, see, much as I'd love to do that, sir, I'm afraid that I can't," Jensen shrugged and said truthfully, "you don't know my momma. She'd skin me alive if I left Laurie here in trouble."
The corpboy pushed himself to his feet, dragging Laurie with him, his arm wrapping around her neck as he pulled her in front of him.
"You gotta choice, boy," the man's voice dropped dangerously low. "You can back the fuck off, or I can snap her pretty little neck. Up to you!"
Jensen drew in a long, slow breath, mentally checking his options. That Laurie was being used as a shield was a complication, cutting down his possibilities. He'd need to get her away before he did anything. His hand tightened on the grip of the gun as plans ran around his head. Whatever he did, it was going to have to be quick.
"Well, kid?"
Jensen saw the muscles in the guy's arm flex as he started to crush Laurie's throat. Her hands flew to the arm around her neck, nails digging in. Shit, out of time.
Jensen surged forward. His free hand shoving into Laurie's stomach, driving her back into the corpboy. Caught off-guard the man went flying backwards, hands flailing. Jensen grabbed for Laurie, catching an arm and yanking her clear before the corpboy had a chance to recover. His gun cleared the holster, smooth and clean. Jensen's eyes flicked down to avoid the disorientation as the image from the barrel's camera blurred as he brought it to bear. As he looked at the corpboy again, he saw the guy's hand start to go to the small of his back. Crap. A half step forward and Jensen's gun was pressed to corpboy's jugular.
"Don't move, asshole or they'll have to get you off the walls with a hosepipe," Jensen threatened as he cocked the gun. "Laurie, you okay?"
Laurie coughed a little as she answered, "Little warning might have been nice, but yeah. I'm okay."
"You wanna reach around and grab whatever this guy is carrying?"
Laurie crept past him and grabbed the knife sheathed at the small of his back. It was a largish hunting knife with a fancy carved handle inlaid with silver. Commercial as hell, but it would cut almost well as any of the pro-knives that Jensen had hidden about him.
"Not bad,” Jensen nodded appreciably. Taking the knife from Laurie, he tucked it away safely. "Must have cost you at least, what, an hour’s wages?" Pressing the barrel of the gun a little further into corpboy's neck, Jensen continued. "I'm gonna give you a choice. You can agree to leave the bar and never come back or I can shoot you where you stand."
Jensen pulled back slightly giving the corpboy enough space to answer.
"Screw you and this miserable excuse for a bar."
"I'm sorry, sir but the answer we were looking for was 'Yes, I wanna run my bitch-ass home and cry under the covers." Jensen offered him a razor-edged smile. "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave without any of our wonderful prizes but thank you for playing."
The guy snarled but the pointed click of the Colt's trigger sliding back cut off whatever smart-ass bullshit he was planning.
"We're done here. Get your ass outta here before I decide to give you an extra hole to breathe through,” Jensen gestured towards the door with the gun.
Chris glared, pointing at Jensen, "I'll remember you, boy. I owe you for this and I'm gonna collect."
Jensen growled, “Anytime, corpboy. Anytime.”
Chris spun on his heel and walked to the door. He stopped just at threshold and turned, eyes narrowed, “Remember this when your life starts to fall apart and everyone is hunting your hide.”
Jensen pulled the guy's fancy knife from his waist band and hefted the weight, getting a feel for the blade. He tossed it up to turn it, catching it by the blade before flinging it at the door frame right beside the corpboy's ear. The corpboy ducked reflexively, hand rising to make sure that everything was still attached. He glanced over his shoulder to where the knife lay embedded in the doorframe.
"You've made a huge mistake today. Huge," the corpboy told him, practically snarling the words. "Remember my face, 'cause it's going to be haunting your nightmares."
With that, the corpboy left, slamming the door behind him.
"Christ, melodrama much?" Laurie spoke up from behind him.
Jensen grinned widely, "You know these corp types. Don't get enough drama during their nine to fives so they gotta sneak into our section of Dallas just to get their adrenaline pumping."
Jensen rolled his shoulders, pulling out of fight mode now that the corpboy was gone. He looked around the bar and all the familiar faces. He didn't miss hands reappearing from under armoured jackets and connectors unplugging from guns, big and small. Sure they were regulars but if anything had gone down, who knew what way they'd react or which side they'd pick. The men sitting here around had a lot of scores to settle, both personal and professional and very few of them didn’t have some corp or other willing to pay for their scalps. Thankfully though, nothing had happened beyond some alpha male posturing.
"You okay, Laurie?" Jensen asked, focusing again on the waitress. "I know I hit you pretty hard."
"I'm fine, I just..." she started, "... I guess I just wasn't expecting."
Jensen patted Laurie’s shoulder. She shivered and threw herself against Jensen, her small hands digging into his clothing. Jensen put an arm around her awkwardly, "Hey Jimmy, can you give Frankie a call, see if she can pop around early and take Laurie home?"
"Sure thing, Jen,” Jimmy called back, pulling out the ancient rotary phone that he kept behind the bar. "Got her a good, strong brandy here as well. I'd give you one too but ya went and got a knife stuck in the fittings. Can't go giving ya a reward after ya damage my place, so you'll have to settle for a shot of rotgut."
Laughing, Jensen shook his head, "Free booze? Should mark this on the calendar."
"Frackin' smartass!" Jimmy cursed.
"See, now. Whole night was good for something. Ya get a couple hours off and free booze," Jensen joked with Laurie.
She nodded, not making any move to let go of her saviour. Burying her head against his neck, she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. He wasn't overly tall for a street soldier, scraping six foot and change but it took every inch of those three inch heels for her to reach. He ran a hand over her silky, blonde hair as he reassured her, trying to quiet the tremor running through her.
"Don't worry, hun, Frankie'll be here in a few."
Laurie looked up at him with big, wet eyes, a slight smile pulling at the corner of her lips, "Ya know, this is just gonna have her trying harder to get you into a threesome."
"Really?" Jensen asked. "Shit, if I'da known that, I woulda let the scuzzbag have ya. I mean, propositioned by lesbians. Eauch!" He shivered, smiling.
"Nothing wrong with lesbians, mister," Laurie pinched him lightly on the back.
His eyes crinkled as he smiled down at her, "nope, not a thing," he agreed, giving her a quick squeeze.
Laurie pulled back, looking at him seriously for a moment. "Seriously, thank you. Thank you, Jen, for saving me."
"Aw, hell, Laurie," he answered, cheeks pinking up, "it was nothing that anyone else wouldn't do."
She raised her voice a fraction, making sure that it carried across the bar, "No, I'm serious Jensen; you were the only one who got up off their ass and did something when I needed it. You ever need anything, you just call, okay honey?"
"Laurie..." Jensen started.
"No, I'm serious. If I can do anything, or you need anything Frankie can put your way, you just let me know and I'll make sure it happens, ya hear me?"
"Yes, ma'am," he agreed, pulling her back into a hug.
"Now, that the mushy stuff is over, I heard Jimmy mention something about free drinks!" Lauren laughed, stepping back. Her hands were still shaking a little but she seemed calmer.
Keeping an arm tucked tightly around Laurie's waist, Jensen walked her over to the bar where Jimmy had poured out their drinks. The show over, the patrons dropped back into small talk, swapping stories of their exploits on the rough, tough streets of Dallas. Jensen chatted to Laurie while Jimmy hunted around on the half-busted TV for something sports related. The last fifteen minutes had been enough reality for the evening.
"Jen,” Jimmy whispered, tapping the bar in an attempt to try to grab his attention, "Hey, Jen."
Jensen looked up, "Yeah, Jimmy?"
"I think we gotta problem."
Jensen followed his gaze, looking up at the television then scanning the mostly-quiet bar.
"’Nuther one, Jimmy? What are they, combat cabs? Wait all night for one, then the fleet shows up at once?" Jensen asked, not seeing anything noteworthy on the snowy set.
"Wait for it. He was there just a second ago."
Jensen was about to turn back to Laurie when he noticed what had drawn Jimmy's attention. There, in all his two dimensional glory, stood the scuzzbag that he'd just thrown out of Jimmy's bar, shaking hands with the fracking mayor himself. Fuck. Same shoulder-length brown hair, same blue eyes. Even had the collar of his T-shirt peeking out where his fancy-ass shirt collar was undone.
"Well... shit!" Jensen cursed.
Laurie grabbed for the remote, pulling it out of Jimmy's slack fingers and pressing the plus button to increase the volume.
"... met today with Dallas mayor, Daniel McKenzie. Kane, the interm CEO of Padalecki Microcybernetics Limited, the City's leading provider of cybernetic technology, commented to reporters that this new deal to supply free upgrades to the City's emergency response units was 'just a way of acknowledging all the work that the guys on the front lines do to keep us safe at night'.
The first stage of this landmark deal will be to offer any member of the police and emergency services replacements for any existing cybernetics.
When asked what prompted such a massive show of support, Kane reminded reporters of the events of June 3rd of this year, when the then CEO and founder of Padalecki Microcybernetics, Gerald Padalecki, along with his wife and eldest son were brutally murdered on the streets of Dallas.
Kane then added that while he had to commend the emergency services' response times, he couldn't help but feel that maybe if they had slightly better equipment, they could have gotten there just a little quicker and that might have made all the difference..."
"Shut it off, Jimmy," Jensen said, his voice low, barely audible against the crackling sound of the television. He knocked back the shot, shrugging off the prickle of unease.
"But Jen..."
"Doesn't matter, Jimmy," Jensen poured himself another drink. "He crossed the damned line. Woulda done the same thing if the Mayor himself had been sitting there trying to make Laurie do something she didn't want. Doesn’t matter who he is, he deserved what he got. No way you wouldn’t have done the same if you’d gotten there first. He’s just lucky I didn’t decide to take it further."
"Aw sweetie, you're so cute when you're being heroic!" Laurie leaned in close, placing a kiss on his cheek. "But seriously, honey, maybe we need to..."
Jensen smirked, "What's he gonna do? Send some of his goons after me. He's an exec. The ultimate collar-boy. He's got bigger problems than some street runner and part time bartender throwing him out on his ass. No one here is dumb enough to post the damn footage and risk icers tracking them down."
"I dunno, Jen," Jimmy pursed his lips, scratching at his salt and pepper beard, "ya know corpboys and their egos. He pays the bills and he's got thousands just clamoring to carry out his every word. Ain't nothing to him to send one or two guys and gun ya down in the street on your way home."
"Jimmy, ya worry too much," Jensen grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "Didn't survive six years of Hell in South Am just to let some collar boy gun me down in the street."
Laurie looked at Jimmy, nervously chewing her lip. Jensen rolled his eyes. Worrying wouldn't do any good. If the corpboy, Kane, did come after him, he'd deal and no amount of trash talking in the bar would help. Ducking, covering and fighting back was what he did best. Might be a close one but a year in Boot and five years buried up to his neck in jungle shit with his fellow Rangers had given him a helluva nose for trouble that served him well on the streets. Long as they didn't try to do something stupid like sue him, he was golden. And hell, even if they did, all he had to do was drop outta circulation for a while.
"Oi, Jimmy, what type of crud you let into your bar that threatens my girl?" A woman’s voice roared across the bar.
"Aw shit, the bitch is in the house. Lock up the liquor," Jimmy spoke just loud enough for Jensen to hear. Turning to face the storming woman, Jimmy forced a smile, "Frankie, babe! Now don't go shouting up my joint. Got paying customers in here don't appreciate your shriekin'."
Frankie moved over to her girlfriend, hands running over her, checking for injury and muttering threats in the general direction of the whole male gender. Laurie, for her part, just stood there and took it. Jensen smirked over at her, catching her eye. Frankie was all leather and lace, black with cappuccino skin showing through the artfully cut peep-holes. Subtle as a brick and twice as blunt. White and red light tattoos covered her shaved scalp, glowing dully under the harsh lights.
"Where're you hurt, baby?" Frankie growled, stroking back her hair.
"I'm fine, Frankie. Don't have to do your momma bear impression," Laurie sighed.
Frankie's mouth tightened in annoyance, "You think this is a momma bear impression, you just wait until I get you home, girl!"
"Damn," Laurie rolled her eyes, "and I almost had Jensen convinced to join us for an evening of lesbian debauchery!"
Frankie's jaw dropped as she looked from Laurie to Jensen to Jimmy and back again. "Right someone better start talking! I wanna know who and why so I can make this little piece of shit’s life a misery. No one touches my girl and gets away with it."
Laurie pulled out a stool and pushed Frankie over to it, forcing the woman to take a seat before she started. Jimmy poured her a drink, but held it back. No point in wasting liquor, giving her the booze early. Frankie drank like a baby, often and as much as she could get. She probably hadn't had a proper meal in months, despite Laurie's best efforts. Jensen and Jim had had front-row seats to Laurie's increasingly difficult campaign to get her clean but from what they could tell, it was a losing battle. Jensen knew that Jimmy hated feeding Frankie's little problem - Laurie was a friend and a damned good worker and he didn't like to hurt her - but getting told that your girlfriend had almost died was one of those things that was filed under 'special occasions', and not just in Jimmy’s book.
"Wasn't no one, babe. Not really anyhow," Laurie started, "Just one of our patrons got a little handsy and Jensen helped him to remember that no actually does mean no."
"So that's why you got a bruise rising on your neck, yeah?" Frankie growled, eyes flicking between Laurie's throat and the drink sitting patiently beside Jimmy's hand. "One of your boys wanna give me something concrete?"
Jensen ran a hand over his short brown hair, scratching at his scalp.
"It was just a corpboy, Frankie, just tryin' it on to see if he could get a little action," Jensen shrugged, "ya know the type that ain't entirely sure what it means when someone says no. He started insisting. We stepped in and persuaded him different. It's all over now, guys gone back to his crystal palace. Ego is smashed but the rest of him is fine."
"Fucking fuckwad..." she cursed, her hand grabbing for the drink. "He hurt my baby. We need to find the no good son of a whore dog and teach him what's what."
"Frankie," Jensen spoke softly, "he's gone and he's not going to lay another finger on Laurie. There's no reason to push harder than that. Just take her home, make sure she's okay, look after her and then take her to bed. Don’t let the asshole ruin your night anymore than you can help,” Jensen smiled. “Now Laurie, why don’t you wash up and grab your gear so Frankie can take you home."
Laurie nodded and headed into the back. Jensen watched until the door flicked closed behind her.
"She needs you Frankie, she's scared. But Frankie, she needs you, all of you, there for her,” his eyes flicked to her hand, her fingers closed around the shot glass.
No one said a word. Seconds stretched to last minutes as everyone watched Frankie. She tapped her long nails against the glass. Jensen could see the need in her eyes, as well as the flick of a glance towards Laurie as she came out of the back room, bag over her shoulder. It seemed to take every ounce of willpower that she owned and then some to uncurl her fingers from the glass and reach out to take Laurie's hand.
"Come on, babe. We got a nice big tub at home. Little hot water, some magnolia oil. Frankie's prescription for getting over stressful situations. Whatcha say?" Frankie asked, rubbing a thumb over the back of her girlfriend’s hand.
"Sounds like a little bit of heaven," Laurie smiled widely, eyes twinkling, "throw in a massage and you got yourself a deal, lady."
Frankie hemmed and hawed for a minute, pretending to think it over before caving. "Suppose I could throw in a massage! But ya better not get used to it. Gotta rep to protect here!"
Laurie wrapped herself around Frankie, chuckling, "My big bad street hustler. Don't worry, you're secret's safe with me, babe."
Jensen shook his head, the corners of his mouth twitching up at the corners. He wasn't exactly sure what they had or how come it worked but it was good to see the girls happy. He kinda missed the easy camaraderie of a relationship but merc work didn't leave much of a chance to settle down. You had to be another merc to understand the adrenaline kick of a job going right. You had to be understanding and not freak at finding blood on the kitchen floor or clothes in the bin. Best partner for a merc was another merc but given that the women tended to be ball-busting bitches bent on proving that they could rock as hard as the boys and the men tended to be weapon-carrying sociopaths out for guts, glory and enough cred that they could do this just for the pleasure of the hunt, it kinda limited the choices.
He shrugged off the melancholy thought and waved to Laurie as Frankie dragged her out of the bar and home to peace, solitude and a complete lack of assholes bent on having their own way at all times.
Maybe it was time to head back to his family for a while, duck and cover until the corpboy, Kane, cooled down enough to forgive the insult and brush the entire thing under the carpet. He hadn't seen his momma in quite a while and she was starting to leave insistent messages on his voicemail. Wouldn't take much to track Josh and get the family's travel plans off him. He smirked. Leastways then he'd be able to find them and surprise his mom. He wondered if it was as hard to drop home if you were part of one of those nice city-settled clans or if it was just Nomad families that had these sorts of problems.
"Gotta say I'm surprised,” Jimmy shook his head as he spoke, drawing Jensen from his thoughts.
"Huh?"
"Didn't think Laurie would ever get her to a point where she turned down liquor."
Jensen huffed with laughter. "Never underestimate the power of nagging. Well, nagging and a good measure of love."
Jimmy was just about to say something else when they heard something outside. The shriek of an engine being taxed to its limit, brakes squealing in protest as someone took a corner way too damned fast and an exhaust backfiring? No, it was sharper than that. It was more like the sharp bark of nine mil bullets leaving an unsilenced muzzle somewhere outside.
Jensen was moving before Jimmy could even think about reacting. Man might have been a good fighter in his day but tending to the needs of Dallas' degenerates didn't exactly keep a person in prime shape. Jensen didn't even slow as he slammed through the door, paying no attention to the crack of the hinges or the splintering of wood. His Colt was in his hand, links clicked in and the barrel camera image sitting in the corner of his vision.
The world was dark around him, only the flash-flutter-glare of a half-working streetlight shining temporary light down on the road, but it was enough. He could see the lump on the pavement flickering blue-black as the neon caught it. Dread turned his bones to lead and the world slowed around him.
Running, Jensen quickly covered the cracked concrete of the sidewalk until he was at their side. Heart beating hard, he hunkered down, gun still in had. The dark leather of Frankie's clothes shone in the stuttering light, wet with blood. Jensen's free hand went to her throat, feeling frantically for the trace of life but there was nothing. Only the still-warm blood pooling in the dip of her throat. He slid around to where Laurie lay, half covered by Frankie's now lifeless body. Her eyes blinked sightlessly at the sky as she tried to speak.
Jensen took her hand, squeezing hard, "Laurie, babe, can you hear me?"
Her lips moved but no sound came out.
"Ya gotta hold on honey, ya hear?" Jensen dropped the gun, leaving it to dangle from his connectors as he fumbled for his phone. "I'm gonna call for help, Laurie. You just gotta stay with me."
His fingers fumbled with the phone. He forced himself to take a deep breath as he dialed Trauma Team. A couple of minutes, they said. Just a couple of minutes. He was vaguely aware of Jimmy beside him, cursing up a full and proper storm.
"Laurie, ya gotta listen to me. Ya gotta hang on. Trauma Team are on the way."
Voice croaking, Laurie forced a word out, "Frankie?"
"She's right here honey. She's waiting for you," Jensen lied.
Laurie jerked, muscles seizing and contracting all at once. But Jensen was there, pulling her up and to him. His hand groped hopelessly for the wound but it was a through and through. Two bleeding holes, one front, one back. He dropped the phone, pressing tightly down, trying to stem the bleeding. He could feel the movement of her chest, too shallow, too slow. He flicked a look at Jimmy who panted beside him, eyes scanning the sky for any sign of Trauma Team coming but the skies were quiet. There wasn't even a hint of the tell-tale whine of the trademark AV6's engines cutting up the night sky.
The minutes were slipping away and with them, Laurie's goddamn life.
"Something's wrong. They should have been here by now, Jimmy," Jensen said, voice low. "Could you…?"
Jimmy nodded and gathered up the dropped phone. Jensen listened to his boss talk, relaxing when Jimmy got straight through to the Trauma Team dispatcher. Jensen leaned closer to Laurie smoothing back her hair. "It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay, Laurie. They're on their way." This wasn't his area; he'd never bothered with more than the more basic of first aid. Put pressure on the wound, then bust ass for the medic; that was his philosophy. He needed help. He needed help now.
"What the hell do you mean 'cancelled'?" Jimmy shouted down the phone.
Jensen looked up as he pressed harder on the wound. He wanted to ask Jimmy what the hell was going on, where the hell the medics were but he didn’t want to distract Jimmy.
"Do I sound like the kinda person who’d make a prank call? We have a woman here dying on the street and another already gone. I don't care what it takes, you put a chopper in the air and you get it going now!" Jimmy's voice dropped glacially cold.
Jensen could feel the frantic pulse under his hand slowing. Laurie took one more long ragged breath and then nothing.
"Jimmy!" Jensen said, laying Frankie out on the pavement, "Jimmy! How long we got?"
Jimmy turned slowly, face down. "They ain't coming, Jen."
"What?"
"Call out was cancelled before liftoff," Jimmy answered, "Let's see, how did she put it... Oh yeah! 'A platinum level customer reported that the call out was a prank'."
Jensen thumped the ground with a fist, ignoring the crack and flare of pain.
"That little shit! That little corp bastard excuse for a piece of walking scum," Jensen cursed. "I'm gonna..."
"You're gonna do nothing, Ackles," Jimmy stood over him, face stern in the flicker of the streetlight. "You're gonna do nothing but get your ass the fuck off the grid. Go home. Go to Dixie for all I care but get the fuck away from this maniac. He might be satisfied cutting the girls down or at least satisfied enough that he ain't gonna go looking for you too hard."
"He's not gonna get away with this, Jim," Jensen pushed himself to his feet, "I don't care, Jim. It was Laurie. He can't get away with this. He can't. I'm gonna get him somehow."
Jim shook his head, "You're a damned fool, boy. A damned fool."
He forced a smile but it stopped a long way short of reaching his eyes, "S'why you hired me!"
"You wanna get going, Jen," Jimmy asked, "'fore they comes back for a second pass. I ain't in the mood to lose anyone else tonight."
Jensen hesitated, eyes drawn to the bodies on the street. Friends just on their way home to piece together their ruined night.
"Go on," Jim said, "I'll make sure they're taken care of. Send you on the details when I know them."
Jensen nodded, already backing away. His eyes traced the streets looking for anything out of the ordinary, any watchers, anyone paying too much attention. All the usual signs that trouble was about to find him. But true to form, the streets were deserted, no one paying attention to anything that could get them involved in someone else's shit. Perfect for making good his retreat. There was nothing in Jimmy's that couldn't be replaced, nothing that couldn't be dropped with no regrets, so he ran. He was lost amid the Undercity before he even considered stopping to look for a data terminal. Finding one in a shadowed recess, he slotted his credchip and dialled his brother's number.
"'Lo?" the voice on the other end answered, cautious.
Jensen looked around, his back to the data terminal as he watched the street from the shadows, "Josh, it's Jensen. I need your help..."
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