Taylor sat at the livingroom window, boredom evident on his face. He had his eyes on a van across the road, and whenever he'd make eye contact with the inhabitants he'd wave. He only got a few waves back before they got tired of it.
He groaned and closed his eyes after about half an hour.
"I figure this is their plan," he raised his voice when he sensed Isaac nearby.
"Kill me with boredom until I'm willing to talk."
Isaac
"Could be," Isaac grinned. "Is it working?"
He gave his brother a teasing wink.
"It's a shame that the recording equipment we ordered hasn't arrived yet."
Taylor
"It's not working!" Taylor exclaimed, extra loudly because we was - of course - bored.
"And it's more than a shame. It's a crime against humanity. Except we're Dathrians... so it's more a crime against... Dathrianity. That's not a word, is it? I don't even know why I'm asking, if I don't know you probably don't know either."
He rolled his eyes at himself.
Isaac
Isaac laughed, then a silly look crossed his face.
"You could always ask the birds to dive bomb their van. Like, the roof of it. And then you would be entertained, and they would have no idea."
Taylor
Taylor turned to look up at him, then pulled himself up from his knees and patted Isaac ont he shoulder.
"You scare me sometimes," he said, almost sadly.
Then he began to make his way to the backyard to do just that.
Isaac and Leroy
Isaac chuckled and went back to... whatever it was that he was doing.
It was about this time that another car approached their house. Leroy parked, eyed the house and then the van and wandered over. One of the agents wound down the window.
"Hi boys," he said. "How does it fare?"
"He kept waving to us," the nearest one replied.
"Okay."
"He's in the back yard now, sir. Will you be speaking to him?"
"Yes," Leroy replied.
The other agent picked up a nearby clipboard and started writing.
"Keep up the good work."
As Leroy headed off, the agent wound the window back up, and looked at his co-worker: "Where did you stash the chess board?"
Taylor
Taylor grinned to himself as a few birds took flight and disappeared over the roof. He made his way back inside and headed back to his 'viewing corner', before making himself comfortable and taking a sip of the can of Dr. Pepper he had nearby.
Then he frowned as he registered someone making their way up the driveway. It didn't take long for him to realise who it was, and he got up almost immediately.
"Ike?!" he called, though not loud enough for outside to hear.
"Leroy's here!"
Isaac and Leroy
"Leroy's here?" Isaac repeated. "Why would he -"
The door bell rang. Isaac raised his eyebrows and started for the door.
Leroy waited until Isaac poked his head out.
"Leroy?"
"Hi Isaac," he replied. "May I come in?"
"Sure..."
Isaac opened up the door.
Taylor
Taylor fidgetted nervously with his fingers for a moment, before finally stepping out into the doorway.
"Leroy," he said in surprise.
"I, ah... Hi."
Isaac and Leroy
"Hi Taylor," Leroy said pleasently, stepping inside.
Silence.
"Uhh, so, Isaac, would you mind letting me talk to Taylor in private please?"
Isaac glanced at Leroy, then at Taylor, then back at Leroy.
"Uhh, yeah... sure..."
He moved to leave the room, giving Taylor a look that he hoped Taylor would be able to translate to mean "I'll be nearby if you need me".
Taylor
Taylor watched after him worriedly.
After an awkward moment of doing nothing, he indicated for Leroy to move into the living room.
Leroy
Leroy followed Taylor into the living room and took a seat.
"I'll get straight to the point, Taylor. I'm here about Christian."
Taylor
Taylor took a deep breath and hugged his arms, his elbows resting on his knees.
He found it hard to make eye contact, remembering fully well that Leroy had been the one encouraging Tad.
"I'd find it hard to come up with another reason," he admitted.
Leroy
Leroy gave a rueful smile.
"I want to know why you haven't spoken up - why you're trying to protect him."
Taylor
"He's not the only one I'm protecting," Taylor said straight out, his eyes on the doorway already.
"And I'm doing it for him because I feel he needs it. More now than ever."
Leroy
"And why's that?" Leroy inquired. "No really, Taylor, I want to know. I'm not just asking idle questions. I'm trying to understand here."
Taylor
"Because he's changed," Taylor didn't raise his voice, though it was hard not to.
"And no offence, but I don't see how you expect me to explain that to someone already so close-minded on the subject."
Leroy
Leroy was silent for a moment, giving Taylor a steady look.
"Perhaps I am," he said. "However, the rules are what they are - and for good reason. We can't just let Christian off on good behaviour on account of a few good character references, Taylor. We need to know - know - that he isn't going to be a further danger to our society."
Taylor
"Well I can't guarantee that," Taylor admitted with a shrug.
"But if you took him in I know that even the YIRAAS wouldn't be able to either. That's up to him."
Leroy
"Of course it's up to him," Leroy agreed. "Rehab is an opportunity for him, Taylor, not prison. It's a chance for him to learn some new things and hopefully be exposed to other things that he's been deprived of. We want to help him get a fresh start on life, and protect his right to keep that life. All we're asking for is for him to come in. The end result benefits us all."
Taylor
"But it doesn't benefit him," Taylor shook his head.
"He can't stay in the one place for long for a start. It increases his chances of being caught..."
He cut himself before he could say by who.
"By others," he amended.
Leroy
"I know there are others after him," Leroy replied. "That's certainly not helping him. But the rehab center has been moved to the space station. It's much harder for - most - of our, uhh, criminals to get up there. We've had much better results with rehab security since we moved there. No one would be able to get him. On that matter you can rest assured."
Taylor
"Well I'm truly sorry, but I can't believe you on that," Taylor shrugged.
"I know what a good deal of his hunters are capable of, and I'm not willing to deliver him to them when he'd rather die than be there."
Leroy
"Whether you chose to believe me or not, Taylor, it's the truth," Leroy replied. "I can show you the evidence if that makes you feel better. And mark my words, Taylor, this opportunity is not going to be open to Christian forever. He's the oldest person ever to have a rehab warrant on him still, and one day that window will close, and it will be a death warrant."
Taylor
"There's no difference as far as he's concerned," Taylor sighed.
"I'll admit to you that I used to be on your side. But now there's certain... things and people that I can't turn my back on. Christian is one of those people. I owe him a lot and I'm not about to give away his trust, as ever appealing as you may make it to."
Leroy
"So don't," Leroy replied. "You talk to him. Try and change his mind. A rehab warrant says we only want to help him, okay Taylor? Help, not hinder. But we also don't want to do ourselves a disservice. Look, I'm the first to admit I don't even like him very much. But there are people, like yourself, like Tanya, who believe that Christian deserves a life. We're trying to give him that."
Taylor
"I can't talk to him anymore," Taylor said, rather sullenly.
"He isn't aloud to communicate with me for his own safety. And yes, I understand what you're trying to do. I'm just... at a loss as to how you don't see it from his side."
Leroy
Leroy raised his eyebrows.
"Well, you're the one with the gift of communication, Taylor. Why don't you try and help me see it from his point of view?"
Taylor
Taylor held back a scowl, staring at him decisively for a moment.
"Who do you know that's after him?" he questioned suddenly.
Leroy
"I imagine most if not all the people he and Craig had dealings with," Leroy replied, taken aback by the question. "Which is a lot. Specifically? I couldn't say. I haven't been on the field on over a year now, and I'm not up do date on everyone's agendas. Why do you ask?"
Taylor
"That would be a good reason that you don't understand," Taylor's eyebrows rose.
"Either by being ill informed, or lacking the very motivation to know what's going on or who's involved in a way that doesn't involve him being brought in by the YIRAAS."
Leroy
Leroy's eyebrows raised.
"Excuse me?" he said. "Listen here, young man, I was pursuing people just like your friend and worse before you were even born. I've brought in more criminals, saved more victims and kept myself informed of more agendas, rumours and underworld politics than anyone else, except maybe Tanya, ever in YIRAAS security. I think I'm entitled to a change of scenery. And as to that, Taylor, the one person I have continued to keep informed on is our dear Christian. I have a personal interest in his welfare. Now I'm sorry if it doesn't please you that I can't name all his enemies off the top of my head. I could, however, name a few likely options, would that make you happy? Lucious, Pasty Jane, Ferret, Guffrey, Munza, Joe "Fuzz-face" Thompson, Lauren D'Ablo... I could continue. There's a good ten, twenty more candidates."
Taylor
"Oh there's a good more than twenty," Taylor insisted, almost snidely.
"But would you know which would be willing to give their entire lives away just to have him? Do you know what power the most desperate ones hold?"
Taylor shook his head.
"Everyone knows that as soon as the YIRAAS would get Christian, they'd have to publicise it. They'd have to make an example of him. Part of the reason they won't let him go is economical ego. His chances lessen further."
Leroy
"I believe the key word in my list was 'likely' candidates," Leroy pointed out. "And you needn't lecture me about YIRAAS policies. The YIRAAS has been around for decades trying to make a safer world on earth for Daths and Sems. It was bad enough when the humans started hunting us without having to deal with our fellow aliens as well. And as for publicising, we don't just go around blabbing every single piece of information that comes our way - not even that involving high profile case. Christian's being at the rehab centre wouldn't be annouced - why would we do that? It would make things much harder for ourselves in the long run. The matter will be strictly 'need to know and even then we might not tell you'. We wouldn't even take down the alert on his page on the YIRAAS website - if people think he's still 'at large', all the better."
Leroy paused, and it occured to him that Guffrey had been mentioned in Tad reports. After talking with Wayne it was decided not to put too much weight on Tad's reports. However, there had to be a grain of truth somewhere, and Leroy sincerely doubted that Tad would have pulled Guffrey's name out of thin air. He leaned forward.
"Additionally, in some ways I wish the rehab center was still on earth - on the occasion where news like this came out and people did come after those we had inside, it made for a good ambush point. Caught many a villian that way. And it also works with people who's death we fake, but some desperate person manages to find out. Maybe no one else we know has the same power as Guffrey, but there are others just as powerful and we've dealt with them before."
Taylor
"What do you want me to do, Leroy?" Taylor scowled.
"What do you want me to say? I'm not about to abuse the trust of someone I owe my life to, and you can't expect me to."
He shook his head.
"Was there a specific reason you came, or was that it?"
Leroy
"I did tell you when I started this conversation, that this was about Christian," Leroy replied. "And what I'm asking you to do is see that he comes forth. Now whether this means that you speak up with what you know, or pursude Christain to come of his own will, that's your business. Let me ask you a question though, Taylor: if you found out a friend of yours was anorexic, or doing drugs, or some other activity that was leading to their death, and they made you promise not to tell anyone, would you keep that promise, or would you actually try to help save their life? Because I'm sure that at the time your friend would think that they're fine and they don't need help. They might even hate you for breaking the promise. But in the long term, when they're back to good health and have some control over their life again, don't you think they would forgive you? This is about one thing, Taylor. What's best for Christian."
Taylor
"I don't break promises sealed in blood no matter what they are," Taylor replied sternly.
"And Christian's situation is nothing like that and you know it. He has every right to be afraid, and I don't blame him."
Leroy
Promises sealed in blood?
"I think that Christian's situation, fundamentally, is just like that," Leroy replied. "And no one said that he shouldn't be afraid. Everyone's allowed to be afraid. And everyone is afraid of change. But change is neccesary to our very survival, else we become stagnant and fall away. Stagnation is the real killer."
Taylor
"The change is part of what he's afraid of," Taylor shook his head sadly.
"He's afraid that if people like you take away his natural instinct he won't be able to defend himself when the time comes that he has to."
Leroy
Leroy gave Taylor a weird look.
"Take away his natural instinct?" he repeated. "That's what he's afraid of? That's crazy! We don't go around brainwashing people, and the only other way he'd lose it would be through years of self conditioning. He's conditioned that instinct into himself, and I jolly well hope he keeps it no matter what happens. It is the very thing that's keeping him alive."
Taylor
Taylor stared at him for a moment in silence, before frowning.
"His natural instinct is to react violently and with speed to his advantage."
He didn't een bother to hide the worry in his voice of that very thought.
Leroy
Leroy paused.
"What we do want is to stop him from going around murdering people for the wrong reasons. And I think we'd prefer it if the slow torturous deaths could be prevented as well. Is that so bad?"
Taylor
Taylor hesitated again, pursing his lips for a moment.
"It's his idea of fun, and sometimes revenge," he shrugged finally, "I don't know what to say to that. I don't know him that well."
He glanced toward the door and licked his lips nervously.
"Why do you hate him so much?"
Leroy
"That would be the problem. His idea of fun," Leroy pointed out.
He paused before continuing:
"I mentioned before I have a personal stake in Christian's welfare? Well, her name is Tanya. I believe you know her," he said ironically. "Christian... was the son she never had. She met him when she was undercover, trying to get close to Craig - The Spider as he was known then. During that time, he was all she wanted to talk about - personally speaking of course, not professionally. She has always had a personal interest in him and that has been her downfall. I don't know that I hate Christian, but I hate the effect that he's had on Tanya."
He pursed his lips.
"I can't give you specifics - you don't have the security clearence for that. Christian, himself, probably has no idea, but her decision to retire was not the only decision that she made because of him. There were a number of critical decisions that she made, hindered, altered or countermanded, all in Christian's favour, whether it was evident to those around her or not. And mark my words, Taylor, it's been destroying her, whether she would admit it or not."
There was silence for a moment.
"She's my anorexic, if you will."
Taylor
"Would it make that any easier with him on the station?" Taylor's voice softened substancially.
"To be that close to everyone. To you. Even only as a reminder."
Leroy
"Reminder has nothing to do with it," Leroy replied. "I can't help Tanya unless I help Christian. Or... he dies. It's all or nothing, I'm afraid. Even now she's making decisions based on benefitting him and it's only getting her into more trouble. Quite frankly, I want it all to stop, one way or another. And believe me when I say Taylor, that I will stop it one way or another."
Taylor
Taylor just stared at him again for another gross amount of time, before rubbing his hands together.
"I don't think anything else needs to be said here," he said decisively.
Leroy
Leroy was silent for a moment.
"Fine," he said, pulling out his wallet. "But I'm going to be in the area for a while yet, in case you change your mind."
He pulled out a card and picked up a pen that was lying on the table, and wrong down a number on it. Then he handed the card to Taylor.
Taylor
Taylor took the card, not even looking at it.
"Thanks for the offer," he began, "but I doubt I will."
He stood and made his way to the door to see him out.
Leroy
Leroy stood and followed Taylor to the door.
"I hope you change your mind, Taylor," he said quietly as he left. "I really do."
Taylor
Taylor closed the door after him silently, then grabbed hold of his fringe and cursed.
"Ike? Where are you?" he called.
Isaac
"Kitchen!" Isaac called.
He had been sitting at the bench with his laptop all this time. Well, minus the few minutes it took for him to retrive his laptop.
Taylor
Taylor made his way in, and sat opposite to his brother on the bench.
He then hid his face in his arms on the table.
"I wish they'd leave me alone," he mumbled.
Isaac
Isaac wasn't really sure what to say to that, so he was quiet for a moment.
"It's either going to boil over or blow over eventually, Tay," he said finally.
Taylor
"This is emotional blackmail!" Taylor exclaimed, his face still hidden and making his voice muffled.
"And I've already said it today. NOT working!"
Isaac
Isaac nodded. He really did not know what to say.
"Yeah... I... yeah..." was all that came out.
Taylor
Taylor hesitated, then suddenly looked up.
"Uh oh," he said.
Isaac
"What's 'uh oh'?" Isaac asked.
He gave Taylor and inquiring look.
Taylor
"The birds!" Taylor exclaimed.
He jumped up and rushed out to his 'viewing corner' again.
Yep... they were well and truly at work. And they'd invited friends.
Isaac
Isaac, grinning, joined Taylor and laughed.
"I wonder how long it'll take for them to realise."
Taylor
"Not long? I'm guessing they've been at it a while already," Taylor's eyebrows rose.
He stood up again and rubbed his chin.
"And in the light of recent events, the big question is whether or not I sould persuade them to stop."
Isaac
Isaac chuckled.
"Maybe just let them know they can feel free to stop whenever they get bored. You need a moment of glory."
Taylor
Taylor nodded to himself, then chuckled.
"Well I was pretty bored. I need to do something to pass time. Maybe I'll eventually teach some squirrels how swap ignition wires or something."
He gave his brother a wink before heading out the back again to tell the birds to keep going until they too got bored.