"The bossman, ke? Bother, that one," Cass says, letting out a long, dramatic sigh. "What he wear today? Different shirt mean different mood. He stick around?"
He turns to the second teen, giving him a sly smile. "Discount on next shipment instead, yeah?"
They fucking came to my pad? is all he can think, fear and anger running their course internally. He fiddles with the strap on his rifle, his teeth grit despite the smile.
Hikaru watches the interaction between Cass and the teens with interest and amusement. This is a whole different breed of teen than what I'm used to. He seems to think he knows how to speak their language. The pop star elects to stay quiet for now, though, not wanting to make their situation take a turn for the worse. Let's hope his boss left already. Not really in the mood to deal with a drug lord or whoever the hell it is. Bet it's nothing like the movies.
"Couple of days ago, ke? Shame. My memory much better, though. I keep you in mind for discount, —if— it come back to you."
He shrugs nonchalantly at the kid, before turning to walk past to the door. C'mon. Bite the hook.
Nikita. Good. Not the League. At least not this time.
"Black jumpsuit?" Cass says agape, making his eyes go wide. "You... you sure?"
Before the first teen can respond, he cracks a grin, and claps him on the side of his shoulder. "I'm kidding, beratna. We cool. See you next shipment." He gives a wink before swiping his compad against the doorlock and beckoning Hikaru in behind him.
Hikaru raises an eyebrow at the interaction, stepping into building behind Cass. "So who's the visitor? Anyone I should worry about?" he asks, hoping they're not walking straight into danger. Why's everything in this part of town gotta be so seedy?
"Well," Cass says, making his way through the hallway now. "First things first — I don't have a boss, so red flag number one. I thought it was our friends, already on my tail."
The junkie shakes his head. "But two days ago? That doesn't fit the bill. It's gotta be Nikita... He works for my supplier, same one Creed flies for. Flied."
He points toward the lift. "C'mon, let's keep moving."
The pop star's eyes go wide momentarily as Cass mentions the first red flag of what went down. He feels relieved, though, when the junkie confirms the identity. "Good, good. Then it's probably not someone who wants us dead." He shrugs, following Cass towards the elevator, eager to get in and out as quick as possible. No more surprises, please.
"Who knows at this point," Cass says, shrugging carelessly. "There's a growing list of those 'someones'." He turns back with a cheeky grin. "Course, nobody's gonna shoot a pretty-boy popstar like you. Don't work yourself up."
"True," Hikaru says plainly, his mind wandering for a moment. "The only people who shoot me are holding cameras, not guns. But that can be just as damaging..." What's worse? A burned shoulder or the psychological torment that comes with your personal life constantly being on display and used against you?
Tess thinks little of the interaction outside, given his earlier mention of them being customers. Instead she turns to Creed, asking, "so what's your deal, huh? You seem much more skilled at driving than most people. Are you a pilot or something?"
Cass scoffs and opens his mouth to drive a further wedge into the disconnect between them. Something stops him, though, and he considers Hikaru's words for longer than would require an abrasive, knee-jerk response. He may be an asshole, but I can't imagine that a life sentence serving the corpo-lords of crud-tunes is all as good as it's made out to be.
Instead, he nods, understanding the sentiment — in theory, at least. "We're all prisoners to our own circumstances, I guess. At least you're under the radar now."
"Yeah..." Hikaru trails, caught in a loop of his own thoughts about the future. He clenches his fists, staring forward with almost cliche determination in his eyes. "Yeah, I can be whoever I wanna be now. Fuck the circumstances. I'm the master of my destiny, not some exec with a bad hairpiece and a wife forty years younger."
Eridas nods slowly. "Yeah. It's ... It's u-uh, the only place I re-really feel... free, you know?" He looks over at Tess. "I-I can forget about m-m-my mother, a-a-and t-this stupid st-s-st---..." He stops, then tries to calm his breathing. "It's just s-something I've always had a knack for." He looks away now. "It's exhilarating."
Tess raises an eyebrow as Creed seems to open up a bit. "Oh yeah?" she asks inquisitively. "How'd you get started in it? Did you go to flight school or something? That's a pretty unique skill to learn as a coping mechanism," she adds. What is the deal with this guy and his mom? She is either the worst mother ever, or he has some serious mommy issues.
Cass nods at Hikaru, not sure how to respond other than placatingly. As soon as we have a ship, I guess he's right. We're on our own. For good.
"See? It's not so bad," Cass says as they step down the corridor toward his apartment. He halts when he notices the lock's scanning housing hanging loose. "Guess I'll eat my own words."
The man kneels down, inspecting the scanner closer.
Hikaru eyes the scanner uneasily. "You think Nikita's behind that? Or did you have some unwelcomed visitors?" he asks Cass, hoping for an answer that doesn't put them in potential danger. "I wonder if Tess and Creed got visitors at their places too."
Cass sighs, listening to Hikaru as he works. "Dunno. I'm going to check." He stands, gesturing the popstar aside, mouthing the words 'get back' to him.
The ex-navy tech slings his rifle back over his shoulder, readying it. He swipes his compad across the scanner, waiting a brief moment for it to register. Alright, you fuckers, I'm coming in. With one boot, he slams the door open and pushes inside hastily, rifle forward.
"Y-yeah, I did. I went to flight school for quite a while, actually. I wish I could say it was easy but it really wasn't. Always felt like they were moving the g-goal p-posts." He says softly.
Hikaru hangs back for a moment, gritting his teeth as Cass barges into the apartment. Please don't be a death trap, please don't be a death trap. He stands outside nervously, waiting for either the sounds of laser fire or the all clear from Cass.
Cass pokes his head and his rifle into every corner until he realizes the burglar's long gone. He sighs, irritated, letting the rifle hang on the strap. "Clear!" he calls behind him. Then, more casually: "We're good. Nobody's home."
He quickly sorts through the ransacked contents of his apartment, shaking his head. "Fucking assholes took all my supplies... my equipment... my product." He throws a bunch of clothes atop the bed and peeks under, checks the fridge, thumbs through the cupboards. "Yeah. Cleaned me out." He tosses an empty canister of pills at the far end of the room where it lands with a hollow thud.
"Oh well. Fuck it. I didn't have shit when I showed up here. Only makes sense I don't have shit when I leave. Symmetry and all."
He stands in the trashed remains of his room, taking one last moment. I got clothes, got guns, got my meds. All this shit can stay.
Cass turns, frowning at Hikaru. "Sorry you had to see this. You might not believe me, but it looked a lot better before some chucklefuck decided to rob everything I own. Guess I can't scuttle my tracks if they've already been scuttled for me."
"Huh," Tess responds, partially interested in hearing more about the flight school, more just interested to see that the man seems to be opening up some. She leans more forward in the seat, before asking. "Like how? Gotta fly a route faster? Do more maneuvers in a time limit, that sort of thing?"
Eridas nods and gives a little shrug. "Yeah, little things like that." He says. "It's something I'm mostly over now, I guess."
Hikaru grits his teeth as he glances into the ransacked apartment. "It's like a bunch of frat boys threw a rager in here. Just without the cheap beer smell," he says, stepping inside and grimacing at his surroundings. He shrugs as Cass tries to do damage control over the apartment's appearance. "Not like I haven't seen worse. Northern Strocho University a year ago." He shudders. NSU. Never Sober University. They really lived up to that nickname.
His eyes go wide after a moment and he lowers his voice. "Wait, what if you got bugged too? We shouldn't stay long. Just get anything you need and let's get out of here, yeah?"
Cass sighs. "Yeah, good point. Let's get the fuck out of here."
He makes for the door, letting Hikaru out first. Turning around, the junkie takes a long, final look at the place he had called home up until now. He had gotten complacent — far too complacent. This tiny hole had been so much to him, offering a veil of privacy, anonymity, and the ability to be forgotten by the world. But when the Diktat came, his complacency had turned to desperate measures. He had needed to survive. And in doing so, he had gotten caught.
I'm still surviving, he remembers. I may be out of that cell but I'm not out of the frying pan. Lots of work left to do.
Stepping out into the hall, he shuts his front behind him, letting the compromised scanner lock behind him. Better to leave it locked up than to invite attention.
Beside the popstar, Cass makes for the lift once again. "On the run. Once again," he murmurs, mostly to himself. "Let's hope this time I do a better job."
Tess frowns as the man seems to become less talkative again, trying decide what to ask about next. "So why stick around on Idarete?" she asks finally, after wracking her brain for a moment. "Any good pilot could surely make more money on transporting vessels, or in one of the nicer systems."
Hikaru eyes Cass curiously as he takes in a final look of the ransacked apartment. Guess it wasn't much, but it was still his whole life. It's not easy to leave behind everything you've built. His thoughts turn to his parents who'd given him up year ago. I guess they didn't wanna give up everything they'd built to raise me. Their loss. He sighs, stepping into the hall.
He takes note of the muttering as they make their way to the elevator, raising a concerned brow at Cass. "Always being on the move isn't so bad. You get used to it. And you come to realize you'll always be home with good friends around."
"I know it keeps coming back to it but I'm mostly worried about leaving my mother. She means a lot to me..." He trails off. "For as long as I can remember it's just been me and her, she was my only friend and all." He looked back toward Tess. "Hard to bring yourself to leave your only friend." He looks away. "I think I'm ready, though. Can't sit around forever."
Cass turns back to Hikaru, almost surprised the man had heard him. Damn, didn't realize I said that out loud.
"I've been on the move for a while, but it's been some time since I've had anything I could describe as a good friend," he says, neutrally. "Business associates, sure. Like Creed's boss, Juno. But I wouldn't call him a friend. Not when you're together for the sole reason of making cred."
He taps the button on the lift, watching the number on the screen increase as it approaches the 26th floor. "I guess it's a little different as a performer. I'm sure you had a tour-ship and all, huh? Sounds nice."
Well I certainly wasn't expecting that. He likes his mother? He seems to have only complained about her before. "Leaving the nest is a hard, but necessary, step I think," she responds, not entirely sure what to say in response. "But hey. If it's any consolation, even with how crazy things are right now, you will still be leaving the nest in a less... problematic way than I did."
He nodded. "Yeah, it's... nice. It's like a breath of fresh air, really." He looked down at the gun again. "I hope to keep being useful, I wouldn't want to be a burden to you guys." He stopped for a minute. "I uh... I'm sorry, what was it like for you, exactly? Leaving home."
"I can relate," Hikaru says with a sigh, shaking his head dejectedly. "Half of my friendships are just business arrangements. It 'looks good'—he does air quotes—"to the press and fans. Fake friendships, fake rivalries. Everything's fucking fake." He lets out an exaggerated groan, burying his forehead into his palm for a moment.
"At least the tour ship was real, yeah. And real amazing. All the comforts of home. A jacuzzi, a gravball court, an ice cream machine." He closes his eyes and smiles as he's taken back. "Dunno how anyone travels without the basic amenities."
