No fair and no points if you're already involved in this, though!
It started a few years ago, with what had at the time been considered an unfortunate incident.
Unfortunate incident being a great euphemism for a screw up of severe magnitude.
I won’t get into the details of what happened back then, only that somebody decided to put me and my family into the crossfire of their little war and a bunch of people got themselves killed because of that.
In the time since then, I’d made a point of working my way through the organization that had sent gunmen to kill someone living under my roof. It had taken some time, but finally I had tracked down the one I needed to speak too – the Doctor.
I spent about a month, watching the Doctor, learning their routines and planning for the moment. That moment would come on a rainy night in rural Michigan.
You see, my target’s cover was as a veterinarian. A carefully timed call about a cow having a difficult labour had brought the Doctor out to an abandoned farm.
“Hello,” the Doctor called out as she entered the barn. “Someone called for a veterinarian?”
“Actually I was calling for you.” I stepped out from my hiding place, my gun already covering her.
The Doctor gave a start as she recognized me. “Jupiter*? What are you doing here?”
It was nice to have a reputation sometimes. “I was hoping to have a bit of a chat with someone high enough in Eclipse that I could settle some matters.”
“What matters?” she recovered from shock quickly, not great, but I had more surprises up my sleeve.
“Well someone in your organization sent a bunch of armed men to my house one night a few years back.”
The Doctor swallowed slightly. “That was a regrettable situation. Everyone who is aware of it has been told it will not be repeated. Everyone else has been told not to cause any problems for you.”
“I know. I’ve talked to quite a few people in your organization about it already. Which is why I am here.”
“I don’t understand.” She was playing innocent. She knew I wouldn’t have tracked her down on just a guess.
“Well, let’s put it this way. The people I’ve talked to either like me more than they like you, or are more scared of me than they are scared of you. Because they’ve told me that you know who sent those men to my house. I’m here to find that out.”
“If I knew, why would I tell you? Surely, you know what they would do to me for giving you that information. Besides, I still find it hard to believe that you are siding with one of those creatures over your own kind.” To her credit, she wasn’t looking for a place to run, I suppose she knew enough about me to know I had that angle covered.
I shook my head at her. “If you knew anything about me, you’d know what I can do to you is far worse than what your superiors in Eclipse are able to do.”
“As for what side I am on, I am still solidly on the side of human kind. I have always been there and I always will be. The problem is that the one the men were there to kill is good friends with my daughter. My daughter had convinced me to shelter her, in large part due to her being pregnant at the time…”
“You’d protect that monster and her spawn just because she was friends with your daughter?!” She was visibly angry, disgusted even. “You obviously have turned your back on humanity and taken leave of your senses to boot.”
“You didn’t let me finish. As I said, the werebeast was pregnant at the time. The father was out of town on an extended trip. He is human, and has done more to protect humanity from werebeasts than any hundred members of your organization put together. I consider him a friend, and I take protecting his children seriously.”
“Halfspawn!? You killed eight of my men over some worthless halfspawn!?” spittle flew from her lips. I could see the Doctor make a quarter of a move towards her gun, then she remembered that mine was already pointed at her.
“I’d watch what you say Doctor. You just confirmed those were your men, which leads to the conclusion that it was you that sent them. Also, it’s not nice to say such things about someone’s children, especially when they are standing right behind you.”
“I’m not going to fall for tha-urk!” She made a very uncomfortable noise when my companion, Ajax, grabbed her shoulder and forced her to turn to face him. Well, face might not be the exact right word, the Doctor only came up to Ajax’s solarplexus. He loomed over her, forcing her to crane her neck to look up at his scarred, glowering face.
“Shoulder holster, right side.” I remarked casually and Ajax quickly relieved the Doctor of her sidearm, tossing it to me.
“So, here is what happens next Doctor,” I walked around to where she could see me out of the corner of her eye. “We are going to ask you some questions about the attempt to kill Ajax’s family, and why you sent men to open a can of firefight in my house. The quality and completeness of your answers will determine the quality and the length of your remaining life. “
I won’t bore you with the details of what happened next, other than to say we got a very thorough retelling of events, including her confirmation that she was the one who had ordered the attack, plus we learned quite a few names, addresses and other useful pieces of information. It happened surprisingly fast and easily actually. Like I said, there are benefits to my reputation.
I double-checked the recording had gotten everything she’d told us. “Looks like we have what we need here.” I told Ajax. “If you have any personal business to attend to, get to it and we’ll be gone.”
The doctor’s eyes widened. “No! I co-operated! I told you everything! Please! NO!”
Ajax stared at her, unsure.
“Hey Doc, catch!” I tossed her gun to her.
The instant her hand closed on the gun I fired, a quick double tap to the center mass sent her crumpling to the barn floor.
“What in the Nine Levels of Hell did you do that for!?!” Ajax was on me before I could reach, lifting me up and slamming me against one of the supports for the hayloft.
“This is a stand your ground state. She was armed and might have shot you or me, legal shoot.”
He paused, perhaps not expecting I’d answer a different question. It gave me an opening to slip free and put a couple of steps between me and the big man. “You’re forgetting she just told us she sent men to kill your girlfriend and your kids. If she got back to Eclipse she was going to send everything she could to try to finish the job, as well as take out you, me, and my family in the process.”
His shoulders slumped. “I know . . . it was just . . . “
“Cold blooded? Yeah. However, that’s something that’s different about you and me. You are, and have always been, a good man. You sometimes do bad things, but only when absolutely necessary and only for good reasons.”
“Me, I’ve always been a bad man. Some years ago, I found out I was on the wrong side and tried to make things right, but that doesn’t change who I am.” I pointed at the Doctor’s corpse. “This is why she thought I’d let her men do what they were there to do, because I have a reputation for being that sort of guy.”
“But you didn’t. You protected them and I’m grateful.” I’m glad he reminded himself of that.
I slipped my gun back under my coat. “Yeah, well, sometimes I surprise myself.”
*Not his real name, obviously. Wonder what it is?
