“So, that’s the long and the short of it,” Jason said. “The EOA buy you out. Generously. I know it’s heavy-handed of me to take control of your affairs like this, but this is the only safe way out. It also means I can avoid killing a bunch of people.”
Jason and Hiro were in Hiro’s sprawling apartment. After Jason explained the arrangements he had made, Hiro spent a long time processing it in silence. Jason waited patiently.
“You’ve learned more about the EOA than before, haven’t you?” Hiro finally said.
“Yes,” Jason answered. “They aren’t something that Victor Tollman can resist. He just doesn’t have the tools. Unless people like Vermillion and myself choose to step in, and that would take more than just us.”
“At which point, it wouldn’t be a matter of stopping someone from taking over but choosing who does,” Hiro reasoned.
“Yes. In any case, neither Vermillion nor I will be lending our assistance, let alone anyone else.”
Hiro absently rubbed a hand over his mouth as he continued to think things through.
“Did you ever happen to find out what EOA stands for?”
“Engineers of Ascension,” Jason said.
“Sounds like a cult.”
“Not quite, but I sense a little bit of that flavour,” Jason said. “I’ve had some experience with cults.”
“You have experience with cults?”
“I’ve run into a couple,” Jason said. “One was the kind who live out in the desert and eat people. The other was more about your classic religious extremism.”
“Terrorists?”
“Basically, yeah.”
“I have to admit, I’m really curious about your time away,” Hiro said. “How did you get those scars, for example?”
Jason had two visible scars on his face, where fragments of star seed had pushed their way out of his body. There was also one at the base of his throat that occasionally poked out from the top of his shirt. The marks that experience left on his soul were now scars on his body, mostly hidden under his clothes.
“There was a local crime lord,” Jason said.
“You told me you had a run-in with someone like that.”
“I did something he didn’t like, so he had me kidnapped and handed over to someone rather extreme. He knew that... let’s call him a person, would do worse to me than anything the crime lord could dream up.”
“Were you…?”
“Tortured,” Jason said. “To be honest, I was unconscious for most of it.”
“Those aren’t your only scars,” Hiro realised.
“There might be one or two more. I got lucky, though. The bad guys had some kind of falling out. One of their henchmen did a runner and they were afraid he was going to tell people where I was.”
“And they were right?”
“Yeah. The henchman had tried to kill me once, but I let him live. He was apparently the live-by-a-code type. So, while the bad guys were getting into it over what to do, I had a chance to get free.”
“What happened to them?”
“I caught the crime lord and he caught the bad end of the barbaric local legal system. The torture guy got away, but he was way too big a deal for me to handle anyway. I did manage to scuttle some very big plans of his, later. A lot of his time, resources and people went down the drain. I still couldn’t touch him, but I managed to hurt his interests, at least. It’s a better chance than most get.”
“I knew you’d been through some things.”
“I’m looking forward to telling you more,” Jason said. “Once you’re out of the EOA’s path, I’ll be more comfortable about sharing some secrets. You aren’t going to fight me on this deal, are you, Uncle?”
“No,” Hiro said wearily. “Honestly, it’s a relief. I’ve felt the changes coming for a while; I knew something was different about it. It feels like the pressure is constantly building and I’d like to get out before something blows up.”
“I’m glad you feel that way,” Jason said. “I’m just one man and I don’t think I can protect you against a whole organisation. Even if I hadn’t made this deal, I’d be stuck with the choice of leaving you defenceless or bringing even more of them down on you as they try to deal with me. I’m glad that Vermillion was there to broker it, because I’m still all sharp edges after too much fighting. Left to my own devices, I would have made things worse.”
“I feel bad not standing by Victor, though,” Hiro said. “He’s been good to me.”
“Vermillion and I are going to talk to Victor,” Jason said. “We won’t support him in resisting the inevitable, but we’ll back him up if we can convince him to facilitate a smooth transition. With us standing behind him, he can do very well out of this. As will you.”
“I’ll be starting over.”
“But you’ll be starting strong. You’ll have a lot of capital and a lot of business experience. I have no doubt that you’ll land on your feet. I’m hoping you’ll come up the coast with me. The family will be happy to have you out of your sordid life of hookers and blow.”
“Your entire understanding of crime comes from eighties action movies, doesn’t it?” Hiro chuckled.
“I’m learning,” Jason said defensively. “Just today, I discovered that not all gang-bangers are white guys in torn leather vests.”
“I’ve actually been thinking about packing it all in for a while,” Hiro said. “Heading up the coast, buying up some land and opening a resort. I know good contractors and how to wrangle a land deal. I have some connections that could really help me out. It’s an idea I’ve been playing with, ever since things started getting weird.”
“That’s a good plan. Probably. My plans don’t always go great.”
“I don’t want to leave without settling things properly with Victor, though. It feels like running away. I want to go with you when you meet with him.”
Jason thought it over for a moment.
“Alright,” he said.
Vermillion was wearing a blousy black shirt and painted-on jeans as he stumbled, blood drunk, down a hallway in the back of a basement club he owned. His limbs were awkwardly entangled with a trio of very pretty young people, two women and a man. He led them from a backroom lounge into what looked oddly like an office break room. The difference was that everything was black, from the paint on the walls, to the table, chairs, and cabinetry. Even the appliances like the coffee machine, refrigerator, and microwave.
This was Vermillion’s aftercare room for people he had just drunk blood from, which he’d based on what the Red Cross did after a blood donation. He made sure all three people had biscuits and juice before arranging them rides home.