Chapter 2: My Brother's Keeper

Wyvern pinches the bridge of her nose with her fingers as she sighs and closes her eyes. "And how much would that bill be?"

Peaches ends up in a long argument with Mohawk, the metal grommets in the tarp they found being an unconscionable risk to the Rover's paint job. In the end, after arguing for ten minutes, she agrees to Face for them with a third party they need to do more for than just intimidate. She isn't pleased with the concept of having to deal with these ghouls again, but they did keep them off the streets when they needed it most.

"The bastard said nothing about a bill," Checkmate says. "And that's unfortunate for everyone. For you, because I couldn't pay it if he had; for him, because he's now on my shit-list; and for me, because despite this last charity job being a disaster, I've just signed up for another one. Give me a call when you need a favour."

Disaster was putting it mildly. Checkmate was low on funds, high on frustration and on the edge of freaking out completely. His friend was dead and un-avenged, his car wrecked and abandoned outside the Red Eye, he'd found a new enemy and he was beginning to make a bad habit of taking on work for free.

After bumming a ride home, he collapses into a sustained drug-binge. He's on the brink of losing all connection with reality when a call snaps him out of it...