Intermission

Ruby slammed the bathroom door behind her, pulled the shower curtain, and twisted the hot water to full. She waited until the mirror had fogged from steam before stepping into the scalding spray. She ran her fingers through her hair and let the water cleanse the blood, dirt, and sweat that covered her body. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall of the shower, the cold of the tiles biting in stark contrast to the searing heat of the water.

Ruby tilted her head back and opened her eyes, looking at, but not seeing, the shower head. So much had happened in the last couple of days. Her personal mess had somehow encompassed Reinhold, Cecily, and now even Andie.

Andie.

Laying on Reinhold's bed, broken and bleeding. Ruby didn't inflict those wounds with her fists, but felt it was her fault through her actions. Leave it up to her to piss off the Council so bad, they had to go for her friends.

She had tracked down her hitman. Or rather, he tracked her down. She had stopped for a cigarette after visiting Cecily at Andie's place. Andie hated it when she smoked her cigs in her apartment and Reinhold had gone for food, so Ruby took the chance to catch a breath of fresh air.

She had stepped from the door just in time to be shot at. She didn't know who was firing at her, so she ran. More shots. But this was Kings Row she was in, and nobody knew Kings Row better than Ruby Phoenix. After being chased for what seemed like hours, Ruby lured her hunter into a warehouse, where she cornered him and proceeded to beat the holy hell out of him.

He spat out a name: Giovanni. Who was he?

Ruby grabbed the soap and lathered her hands. She frowned slightly as she ran her sudsy hands over her neck, the cuts from the wire twinging from the soap.

She and Reinhold had looked into Giovanni. It was a fake name. A decoy. They didn't realize this until they had infiltrated a Council base and downloaded the database while helping Reinhold's contact in Striga. The Council had a very detailed file on each of them: Herself, Reinhold, Cecily, and Andie. They even wrote about the show that she and Reinhold went to for their date.

Ah, the date. Ruby smirked privately as she remembered the night. Beer. Dancing. Cecily's sweet voice floating in the air as her trance group did their magic. Reinhold, as always, was a gentleman. Man could move, too. She didn't think it would happen, but she really liked him. She had mused earlier that people don't realize when their friends like them, but everyone else saw it as obvious truth. Now she understood. The night had ended as it always seemed to end. Drinking, smoking cigars, and playing cards. Only this time, throw a really great kiss in there. Definitely her kind of night.

Ruby rinsed the soap off and slathered shampoo into her hair. She scoured her scalp with her worn down nails as she pondered what had happened up until now.

The Council had taken Andie in order to get to her. Who had she pissed off? Reinhold had questioned the man in charge of the operation, as well as Ernesto Hess, but Ruby's mind was racing far too quickly at that time. It wasn't until she was sure that Andie was safe that she was asking all these questions.

Andie, laying broken on Reinhold's bed. Andie, whose terrible wounds were being healed by a retired empath. With the level of shit they were in, they couldn't risk a hospital. Andie, in shock. Unable to talk. Cecily, perched neatly on the side of her bed, eyes puffy, holding her hand.

And what was Reinhold doing? Probably digging around for more information. He seemed to do that best.

Ruby rinsed the shampoo from her hair and the soap from her body, and enjoyed the hot water for a few more minutes before finally shutting it off. She grabbed a black towel from the rack and wrapped it around her as she approached the mirror.

She wiped the haze away from the mirror and stared at herself for a good, long time. She had been alone for years. In the gangs, she had to watch her neck. Stay separate from the others. She never kept the friends she made because her life was too dangerous... and now that she had let people into her safe little cave, bad things were happening. Bad things liked to follow Ruby Phoenix.

She could picture what Reinhold would say to her as she ran a comb through her matted white hair, and chuckled. "Red," he would say. "I'm not going to let you go alone. Haven't you learned?"

She sighed softly as she pulled her underclothes on, followed by her jeans and tanktop. She raked her fingers through her wet hair and left the bathroom. She looked down the hall towards Reinhold's room. She couldn't face them right now. Not after what she had put them all through.

Maybe after a cigarette. Things always felt better after a cigarette.

Ruby pulled her mangled pack of smokes from her pocket, and silently left for some fresh air.