"Don't move," Junior shouted to them. Then, louder, he called out, "Hey guys, move in."
"What the hell?" shouted Kelly. "I didn't shoot him! The gun was right here where I'm holding it!" She still had the gun at her side, muzzle down.
After a split second's pause, Junior said, "Don't get cute. I saw what happened. You guys just count yourselves lucky that I don't kill you here and now."
Daniel and Kelly stared at each other in shock. "What the hell?" Kelly repeated in a whisper.
Daniel looked down at Lance. The body -- since it was pretty clear already that the man would not be getting up again -- lay face down on the pavement, amid a spreading pool of blood. Daniel shuddered.
Then they heard footsteps behind them. Daniel turned first, and saw five men approaching, two of them with rifles at the ready. Anders was one of those two.
"Shit," Daniel said. "We've got company."
Then the three unarmed men stepped forward. One grabbed Daniel by the shoulder, another Kelly, and shoved them down the street toward Junior. "Move," the third man said.
They moved, though reluctantly. Junior remained crouched next to the doorway, his rifle at the ready, as they approached.
Finally they stopped about five yards away, and both sides regarded each other.
"As I said," Junior said, still watching them over the rifle's sight, "that was a stupid thing to do, shooting Lance." He grinned, baring his teeth. "He was really quite considerate of his charges. I think you'll find that I'm a little less patient, and a little less kind."
Daniel cast a sharp look at Junior, who only grinned wider.
"Does that mean you're going to start raping more than just Guardians?" Kelly snapped.
Junior looked her up and down, so intently that her face started to flush. "We might be able to arrange that, yes," he said, and his teeth showed again.
Then he glanced into the doorway he had come out from, and rose to his feet. Three others emerged from the door, two with rifles, and they covered Daniel and Kelly.
"But before any of that," he said, "I think we should go back to headquarters. Even with plenty of our staff on hand to play chaperone, this street is a little too open for my tastes." He looked thoughtfully toward the building. "Let's go somewhere a little more... intimate."
He waved them all toward the doorway. "Move out."
Daniel sat slumped into one of the wingbacked chairs. Kelly paced restlessly back and forth on the Oriental rug in front of him.
"It was him, you know," he said finally.
She stopped in her tracks and looked at him. "What? It was who? What was who?"
"It was Junior. He shot Lance."
She stared at him. "Oh, shit," she said. "But why? Just so he could take over?"
"He seems the type, doesn't he?" Daniel said. "But it doesn't seem right. I mean, sure, we gave him a convenient scapegoat, but I can't quite see him risking that much without a good reason. Anders doesn't trust him, you know."
Kelly suddenly looked around, to see if any of the people they were talking about happened to be in earshot. But they were alone in the room, per Junior's orders.
"Well," she said, "could we just tell him that it was Junior?"
Daniel shook his head. "If we'd thought to say something right away, then maybe. But we've got no proof. If we said something like that now, it would just sound like we were making it up. Besides, Anders may not trust Junior, but he has no reason to trust us. And if Junior really was second in command, which is what it's starting to look like..." He shrugged.
Kelly resumed her restless pacing. "God, I could use a cigarette," she muttered.
Daniel looked up in surprise. "I didn't know you smoked."
"I don't," she said, spinning savagely on her heel and pacing back the other direction. "Never have. But man, if I was ever going to start, now would be the time."
He rubbed his forehead. "So what do you suppose he's going to do?" he said, suddenly weary.
"I was hoping you would know," she said. "You've been pretty good with guesses this far."
He laughed and shook his head. "I don't know how far guesses can take us with him," he said, sobering. "He's dangerous. I don't know what his game is, and I would much rather not be here to find out, if we had the choice."
She pointed to the wall of full-length windows behind the desk. "We could go out through the windows," she suggested. "Crazy, sure, but --"
Voices were coming from the side door then, and it opened. "-- what happens," echoed a female voice, sounding like even that back hallway had marble floor and walls.
That voice almost sounds familiar, Daniel thought. He craned his neck, but the woman who was speaking was far enough back from the doorway that he couldn't see her from where he was.
"Of course," Junior said, stepping through the door.
Anders followed him through, closed the door quietly, and stationed himself next to the doorway, watching silently.
Junior walked over to the desk, pulled out the imposing black leather chair, and seated himself behind the desk. "Now then," he said. "We need to talk about that hole in the iron bars. And about how you made it." His stare fixed on Daniel. "You already told Lance a good deal about it. I'm glad you didn't realize how well your voices carried, or I would probably be dead or wounded by now, as well."
Daniel turned his head just enough to glare at Junior, then looked away again. Kelly continued her pacing.
"Now, you certainly must admit that what you were describing sounds farfetched," Junior said matter-of-factly. "Raptors and batteries, magic and swords, healing and iron. It's all a bit much to swallow. But if it's true, then it certainly makes you more valuable to us... at least, for now."
He leaned back in his chair. "So what I offer you is this. Prove that you can hurt the raptors with your bare hands. If you can, then teach us how." He smiled, and ran his tongue across the tips of his teeth. "Otherwise, we spend some time, and some effort, making you and your ladyfriend... very unhappy."
"Gosh," said Daniel bitterly, "when you put it like that, how can I refuse?"
"I thought so," Junior said. "I've already sent someone out to a nearby auto-parts store for a car battery, and I've arranged for the Guardians to be away from the area."
"I don't know," Daniel said, frowning. "I don't think I have much left. What I need is to get my sword back, and use it to... well, recharge, for lack of a better word."
Junior chuckled. "But don't you see, I can't trust you with a sword," he said. "Certainly not now. Lance is dead, and you are the obvious suspects -- one might say the only suspects. If you want my trust, you had better be prepared to earn it." He put the tips of his fingertips together and regarded Daniel coolly. "Now, as soon as the battery arrives, we can convene down in the courtyard, and you can show us what you're made of. Deal?"
Daniel looked up at Kelly, who had slowed slightly in her pacing, but was still putting feeling into each turn.
"I'll need to be able to get at the raptor before it actually gets at the battery," he said.
"Of course," Junior said. "If that's what you require, then that's what will be done."
Daniel squirmed in his seat. "All right," he said. "For now. Deal."
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