Sunrise
Part 5: Offers
In this case, that “something new” was actually a someone… and he wasn’t really new to me, either.
Yeah, you guessed it. It was Tseng. It was plain old dumb luck that I ran into the guy again. Right place at the right time. See, a lot of people come to Wall Market, and most of them are only there for one of two reasons. Business or pleasure. Tseng was there on business. The guy he was after was there for the pleasure.
Now here’s where that dumb luck comes in.
Wouldn’t ya know it… the son of a bitch Tseng was looking for turned out to be one of Angel’s regulars. And not one of her favorites. His name was Ruto, I think. But let’s cut to the chase. He left Angel in pretty bad shape, ’cause she wouldn’t see him… and who can blame her? She was four months or so pregnant at the time. Thanks to him, she lost the baby.
Now don’t go accusing me of gettin’ all noble or some shit like that. I went after the guy ’cause that’s what I’d been doing since I got to Wall Market. It was kinda like my job. Ok, and so maybe I was more than a little ticked… Angel was my friend, after all.
I caught up with Ruto in a little dead end area near Corneo’s place, and I just laid into him with my fists before he even turned around. He was the typical asshole… good at beating up on women, but when it came to someone his own size, he was pretty much screwed. I had him on the ground in nothing flat. Got in a few good, hard kicks to the ribs before I realized someone was watching.
I turned around, and there was Tseng. Just standing there in that blue suit of his, off to the side, watching like it was something he saw everyday. Come to think of it, it probably was something he saw everyday. So there’s the luck… now for the dumb part. Heh… Dumb luck. Get it? Yeah, ok… anyway…
I turned my back on Ruto to get a good look at this Turk that had suddenly shown up. Yeah, yeah… I know. Don’t give me that “You idiot…” look. I figured the guy was down for the count, ok, and I’d seen what a Turk – this Turk, specifically – could do first hand. My first thought was something along the lines of ‘I can take him…’. Then my brain started functioning again and I realized that I was probably in a shitload of trouble right then.
But Tseng looked almost amused. Well, as amused as the guy ever looks, anyway. He said something about how I’d done his job for him, and how he might be able to use someone like me. Told me he’d been keeping an eye on me, off and on, ever since Sector 2. Guess I impressed him, trying to jump him like I did. Or something.
Now keep in mind, my back was to Ruto during all this, so I didn’t notice that while I was talking with the Turk, the son of a bitch was reaching into his jacket. Now normally, I knew better than to let someone like Ruto out of my sight, but I was distracted, alright?
I didn’t notice anything until an arm wrapped around my legs and pulled me down. I hit the ground hard, and before I could get up, the bastard yanked me up by my hair. I could feel the barrel of a gun pressed against my back, while Ruto held me in front of him as a shield. Tseng had his own gun out before I’d even fully figured out what had happened… and I was kinda worried by the fact that he was aiming straight at me.
Ruto said that Tseng could have me back in one piece if he let him go. Tseng… said no. And I have no doubt in my mind that Tseng would have shot right through me to get at Ruto if he’d had to. Lucky me, I was quite a bit smaller than Ruto, so Tseng had his choice of targets.
He put a bullet right between Ruto’s eyes. I mean dead fucking center… I felt the bullet graze my ear just before Ruto keeled over. He grazed me on purpose, too. I could see it in his eyes. I suppose that was Tseng’s way of saying that I’d just made a serious mistake. One that probably should have gotten me killed. I think I half expected him to shoot me, too, right then.
Instead, he told me he still thought I could be of some use to him. And that’s how I got out of the slums for good.
-end part 5-
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