Fearless Leader (Juxtapose City) (27 page)

Black didn't recognize the intent of Calyx's actions when the empath reached beneath their struggling bodies and ripped open Black's jeans. But the moment Calyx lifted up slightly while simultaneously yanking the denim down Black exploded into action, bucking and thrashing almost manically beneath Calyx.

Berserk fear struck the empath. It was so viciously bright that it overcame Calyx's senses and he became convinced that it was
his
fear. Wild panic surged through him.
Fear/dread/disgust/helplessness
... God, he was so afraid.
Not again! I won't be forced again!

The spitting, hissing body beneath him brought his awareness back into line. It gave his fear a focus. He needed to subdue. He needed to show Black who was the boss here because there was
no way
Calyx was going to be the one who was afraid again. Never again.

He squeezed his arm tightly across Black's throat, hearing the other man choke as his windpipe was nearly crushed. When Black's struggles became less effective and more reflexive, Calyx yanked Black's jeans the rest of the way down his hips. The smooth bare skin against his fingers made Calyx angry. He swallowed a sob, reminded of how he had been this way for Dickerson, vulnerable and open.

"You asshole," Calyx grated out, fumbling with the zipper on his own pants. "You think it's so fun to fuck with the empath? You think it doesn't
hurt
?!" With his free hand he pulled up on Black's hip, lifting him to better receive the punishment Calyx intended. "You old, fucking geezer. Raping me is the only way an old cow like you can get any action, isn't it?
Isn't it?
"

Calyx heard himself snarling as he thrust forward. His semi-flaccid sex flopped uselessly against the cleft of Black's ass. Angrily he grabbed himself and tried to shove the soft tip inside. What the hell? He'd never had a problem getting it up before. He'd never had this problem!

You've also never forced anyone before.

Calyx looked down at himself. He really
looked
. What he saw made him gag.

I'm as bad as Dickerson.

"Oh, my god," Calyx whispered. Now that the roaring in his ears had subsided he could hear Black panting from the other side of the bike.

Hyperventilating.

It was a loss of self-control that Calyx had never seen or heard from his leader before. It scared him in the same way that seeing a parent figure show an unexpected weakness was scary. It wasn't supposed to happen. Black was supposed to be strong. Black wasn't supposed to break.

Calyx wasn't supposed to be the one to break him.

Calyx shoved himself backwards. Staggering away from the bike to build distance, he could see how awful the situation truly was. It could have been funny seeing Black bare-assed and hanging over the seat of the bike. But it wasn't.

It was horrible.

Calyx wrapped his arms around himself, listening to Black wheeze. He remembered that Black had made a cry of pain earlier. Black had probably burnt himself on the motorcycle's hot pipes while Calyx was forcing him down over it.

This was the fuck-up of all fuck-ups. Captain Dickerson’s plan had just been shot to hell. But Calyx couldn't find it in himself to be pleased. He just felt sick.

Clutching his pants to his hips with one hand, Calyx extended a shaky hand. "Darkness," he began, "you've got to listen to me--"

At the sound Black jerked as if only now realizing that he was no longer held down. He tried to stand up but ended up tripping on the jeans wrapped around his knees. He fell onto his hip on the cold concrete, his hair falling messily over his face. Calyx took another step forward. He wanted to see Black's face.

The sound of his footstep galvanized Black into action. He scooted back frantically across the concrete, placing his back to the bike, one arm coming up in defense. His body language reminded Calyx of kids on the street. Kids who'd suffered the worst. Calyx couldn't take another step forward if he'd wanted to.

"Oh, sweetheart," he whispered. "What have I done?"

Black didn't answer him. He didn't look up. He jammed a hand into the scrunched up pocket of his jeans, digging for something. Calyx braced himself, expecting Black to pull out a gun or a bottle of mace and give Calyx exactly what he deserved. Instead Black shakily extracted a tiny piece of paper and promptly slapped it against the side of his neck.

A gun would have been kinder. Black had just put on a Bliss tab.

Dickerson waited beside his craft at the loading dock of the hotel. He watched Lieutenant Sundhill finish giving orders to Flaherty and Henderson. Dickerson smiled approvingly as the men obeyed their leader without question, quickly hustling the body of Razzy and the bloodied evidence of his torture into JC1's utility craft.

Dickerson wore a pleased smile on his face as the golden-haired lieutenant joined him by his vehicle.

"Everything set, lieutenant?"

Sundhill nodded but he looked distracted. His eyes continually flicked to the craft that held Razzy's body. "He's the one we picked up the other night, isn't he?"

"He was."

Sundhill nodded again. "This have anything to do with JC2? Lieutenant Black mentioned to me that he'd tried to pick this joker up."

Dickerson studied his fingernails. "That doesn't concern you, lieutenant. You've done what I've asked you to. You and your men may finish disposing of the trash."

Sundhill frowned, about to say something, when Dickerson's PRU buzzed. He held up a hand to the lieutenant as he checked the message. What the captain read made his pulse jump.

"Bad news, sir?"

Dickerson raised his eyes to his top lieutenant. "It better not be."

~~~~~~

"Black, let me drive the bike."

Black didn't hear him. Or chose not to. Either way the result was the same. Black hastily yanked up his jeans and threw one leg over the electro-bike.

Calyx tried to catch the other man's arm. "Wait! You're in no condition to drive that thing, sweetheart. Let me do it."

He received a backhand to the face for his concern. Calyx cupped his mouth in shock, tasting fresh blood. He stood by dumbly as Black slammed his helmet over his head and started the bike. The smooth whine that filled the garage sounded like that of a terrified animal.

Calyx jumped back as Black spun the back wheel in a screech of rubber before tearing off down the aisle. At the top of the ramp Black turned his bike west. He didn't spare a backwards glance for the man he'd left behind.

It was silent in Calyx's head. It was almost eerily quiet when compared to the tumult that had bombarded his senses just minutes ago. Now that Black had left Calyx was able to appreciate how much emotion his leader had been sending his way the entire time. He was left slightly flabbergasted.

Where had that shame come from? And that uncontrolled fear? Calyx had learned more about Black in the last few minutes than he had in the days since joining JC2. What he'd learned made him think twice about his impressions of the lieutenant. Calyx prayed he was wrong.

He dropped his head, all at once tired and feeling every pained inch of his abused body. His eyes fell to Black's PRU lying discarded on the concrete. It must have fallen out during the scuffle. With a wince, he bent and picked it up. An amber light flashed at the top of it.

Calyx jumped when the PRU buzzed. Startled, the squeezed too tight and the unit flew out of his hand. He fumbled with it like it was a slippery bar of soap.

He expected Black to have a lock on the system to prevent anyone else from using the unit but to Calyx's surprise the video flashed with a picture of Jake's concerned face.

"Starr! What the hell's going on? Where's Black? Put him on right now!"

"I don't know where he is," Calyx replied, trying not to sound like the criminal he knew he was. A cop like Jake would sniff him out in a second if he wasn't careful.

"Don't give me that. Black's personal alarm went off. Something's happened."

Ah, so that explained why the PRU was working. Black must have activated the alarm system during his struggle with Calyx. It was more than a little sickening to realize that Black had felt threatened enough by him to feel the need to call for help. Calyx suspected that Black rarely called for assistance in anything.

Jake's bark jerked him out of his musings. "Starr, where the hell is he?"

Calyx's eyes drifted to the street. Black had turned right when he'd torn out of the garage. Not left which would have taken him back to the house but right into a very specific and notorious part of the city. Yeah, Black could have been heading for a convenience store or off to run some errands. But after what had just happened Calyx highly doubted that Black had gone on a doughnut run.

Calyx studied the face looking back at him from the screen. He didn't like Jake. He couldn't stand him, actually. But his dislike for the light-eyed sergeant wasn't nearly as strong as his feelings for Black.

Dreading the confrontation he was deliberately setting himself up for, he said, "I need you to come pick me up, Jake."

The other man's face registered surprise at the sudden familiarity. But like a seasoned cop his surprise swiftly gave way to a grim suspicion. "What's happened to Black?"

Calyx's hand tightened around the PRU. He envisioned again the moment when Black had placed the Bliss tab against his neck. "I don't know," he admitted. "Just -- just come get me." He took a deep breath. "I'll explain what I can as we go."

The past was called the past because it was something that had happened before; it wasn't something that continued to happen. But for some reason in Black's life the past refused to stay buried. It insisted on intruding on his present life every chance it got.

Don't think about that. Don't think at all.

Good advice. Black decided to take it. Being willfully blind to what had just happened was preferable to dwelling on the fact that he had a Bliss tab stuck to his neck and a lifetime's worth of terrible images roaming through his head.

This fall was inevitable, Black realized as he drove without conscious awareness through the darkest streets of Juxtapose City. Captain Dickerson might have thought Black stronger than this but all along Black knew he was just one step away from corruption. It was in his blood. It had been ingrained in his senses. It was what he was used to so why fight it?

Because you're better than this. You
want
better than this.

But who said that he deserved it?

The proof of his worthlessness was the illegal substance currently pumping through his bloodstream. There was no clearer evidence than that. He was worthless. He was no lieutenant. He was better off accepting what he was and moving on.

Black pulled the bike to a stop at a red light. He looked around himself for the first time. He was on 32nd and 'D' Street. How fitting. He was in the heart of Juxtapose City's drug district.

A shuffle to his left turned his head. A kid in a black trench coat and ragged blue jeans paused beside a garbage can. The kid was smoking a cigarette but Black caught the scent of an illegal weed in the blue-tinged smoke.

"Ever wonder how high the sky is?" the kid asked, casually looking Black over.

In street-speak, the kid was asking if Black was interested in buying G-28. It was the latest drug to replace cocaine as the party drug of choice. It was dangerously addictive, designed that way by its makers to ensure an instant, desperate market for the drug. It was the city's second most popular drug behind Bliss.

G-28. Black was familiar with it in many ways. He'd seen its evil in every intimate form. It didn't weaken a person it destroyed him.

"What've you got?" he asked.

As the kid sauntered closer Black reached into his pocket. His fingers bypassed the silver badge he carried and curled around the shape of his wallet.

Sola sat back in his chair and dared the beginnings of a grin. "Gotcha," he said into the silence of the computer room.

He stretched sore muscles and checked his watch. He noticed with surprise that he'd been here for most of the afternoon. It had been worth it.

Earlier in the day the other men had invited him to tag along to Jubilee's. It would have been a smart move to go with them and build his relationship with the rest of the team but Sola had been feeling a bit obsessed lately. Strange things had been going on in the team since he'd moved in. He wanted some answers.

First he'd noticed that Bee and Haney were close friends which wasn't unusual within a tight knit team like JC2. But he hoped it wasn't more than friendship because oh, how he hated fags with a passion.

Then he'd noticed the other relationships within the team that had the potential to disturb him. Jake and Black seemed to both pull and push at each other like a married couple. If he wasn't demanding Black's attention like a neglected wife Jake stared at his leader as though Black were his personal god.
Grow a fucking dick!
Sola had almost yelled at the man a couple of times.
You're making a fool out of yourself.