Chapter 2: My Brother's Keeper

"Somewhere we can hide the Rover, daw-lin?" Peaches drawls to the young girl.

Checkmate gets out of the car and glances at the fire, and at Rainbow brandishing the gun. "I feel right at home already," he mutters under his breath, and waits for Grub to lead them inside.

Grub sneers at Peaches. "Ain't nobody gonna touch yer car if we around. And if we wanna steal it then you'll already be a dead corpse. Darling. She says the last word with childish venom. "Come on." Grub starts to lead you into the dilapidated building. As you head in Rainbow holds an air machine gun and pretends to shoot you all down. His fellow gangers laugh.

The door is on one hinge letting the cold in so it is just slightly warmer inside than out. A single ugly fluorescent light blinks on and off. Down the hall and up two flights of stairs you are brought to a room. Grub opens the door. It smells like piss and shit. Gerald gags as the smell wafts over him. "The toilets a bit backed up."

The room's windows are boarded up. There are a few mattresses on the floor and a small kitchen area with dusty dishes. A bedroom is attached. It also has a few mattresses on the ground.

Grub looks Peaches in the eye. Then looks at Gerald and Lu and anyone else that might be interested. She pulls out a small baggie. "This'll help take off the edge. A tenner per bag."

Lu looks about ready to pass out, "Please, just tell me where I can sleep..."

"No thank you, love, we have what we need," Peaches says. "About the Rover, we need to get it out of sight. Do you have a tarp to throw over it, sugah?"

"What?! You don't trust the Dead Corpses rep to keep yer fraggin' rover safe."' Grub says getting uncomfortably close to Peaches.

Peaches faces the dude square. "We're hiding. I don't want someone reporting our location to the bad men and set up a trap for us down the road when we leave your place of power."

Grub backs down. "Yeah, all right. We can throw somethin' over it." Grub slinks away. Her head tattoos displaying what looks like frustration.

There are enough mattresses for all... if you are willing to share a bit. Des volunteers. "I can go out and see if I can grab some grub for everyone. Don't worry it won't still be alive. Hahahha." And he makes for the door.

"I'll, uh, take first watch," Wyvern offers as she tries to find a relatively clean place to sit.

"Friendly folk, down here, best we watch our manners lest we abuse their hospitality. Thanks, Evelyn, wake me when you're gettin ready ta count sheep." Peaches finds a mattress and lays down, checking her Browning is fully loaded and by her side. Lastly, she checks her links with her drones and vehicle, double checks their security settings, which is a rigger's way of saying good night.

A skinny jeaned ganger brings an assortment of Stuffer Shack calories in a few bags. His toothpick thin arms seem like they should have broken under the weight of the food. This kid ain't healthy chummer.

After a few hours a few of you notice that Des never came back.

Lu is deep in slumber, dreaming of a nosebleed free day when he is interrupted by message from his comm buzzing in his ear. He rubs away nasty eye junk (hopefully nothing infected from Cheese Eye) to see a single image of a faceless mask and a gps coordination. A second message comes right after that. This time text. Job. Need outside clan help. 4pm at gps coordinates.

The Mukei ha hasn't hired Lu in a while. This is the reason Lu had to look for outside work the last few months. One good thing about the clan is they pay well. After this practically pro bono project it would be nice to be paid.

When Checkmate notices Des is missing, he searches out Grub. "I could use a little pick-me-up," he says, proffering a tenner.

After the transaction, he casually asks, "How do you know Des?"

"Hey Checkmate, I got to go somewhere. I may need help later, is it ok if I call on you if necessary ?"

"Of course, and I owe you one," Checkmate says.

Grub pulls out a baggie and hands it over to Checkmate. "You mean Cheese eye? That guy is sleazy. I seen him once or twice around. Seems he gets stuff that are hard to get." She stares off into space for a bit. "But he is also a bit of a weasel. I bet he stuck you with the bill for our protection."