Christian looked up from the sofa when there was a knock at the door.
Usually when people stopped in, it was to see Avery. But she'd been in Tulsa for about a week already, and no one had been by since. Considering no one he knew from work actually knew where he lived, he put it down to the building manager.
He may or may not have been behind in rent, he wasn't sure.
He ambled to the door and opened it casually.
Then leapt backward.
"Racer?!"
Lucious grinned, taking the opportunity to stroll through the door and close it behind himself.
"****ing telepaths!"
"There's no need for that language," he tutted.
Christian covered his eyes, then glared up at his foe.
"What do you want?" he demanded.
"We need to talk," Lucious insisted.
"I should kill you where you stand," Christian smouldered, "so tell me now or I snap your neck."
"Fine," Lucious held up a hand in a lazy surrender, "I've come to renegotiate an old contract."
Christian shook his head.
"How did you even find me?" he asked.
"Using your real name on the lease? Seriously, Christian?"
Chris had the decency to look embarrassed. He hadn't even thought that far ahead.
"What contract?" he asked finally, clenching a fist.
Lucious noticed.
"The one where you come and work for me," he said calmly.
"What?" Chris gritted his teeth.
Lucious sighed.
"The last time we saw one another, Mr. Thomas, we only had a day left for you to decide."
He checked his watch.
"Which is now... negative 2505 days."
"Are you serious?"
"Deadly," his eyes darkened.
Chris hesitated, then took a step back and ran his fingers through his hair nervously. After a moment a thought occurred to him.
"This was almost seven years ago," he gave Lucious a sideways look, "there must be something you want. Something that only I can give you. Or you wouldn't have kept this up for so long."
"I'm a patient Dathrian," Lucious shrugged.
"No. That's not it," Chris shook his head, "even patience has its boundaries. And you had to have a reason for wanting me on board in the first place."
Glad that the conversation had taken a more forward than aggravated tone, Lucious clasped his hands in front of him comfortably.
"Power, Christian."
"Excuse me?"
Lucious shrugged again, "no matter what you went through on the station - yes we know about that - or how much you think you've 'changed', we all know there'll always be that dark place inside of you. However small."
Chris eyed him suspiciously.
"We feel that you need to be inside a community that embraces what you truly are. Who won't judge you by your past actions. Who will, in fact, encourage your greatest potential."
"To what?" Chris shook his head, "to murder?"
"To do whatever in the world you want to do."
"Maybe I want to live a normal life."
Lucious laughed, and Chris knew his face had betrayed his true thoughts on the matter.
"Besides," he suddenly remembered, "the joke's on you. You're only a mid level telepath... and I have a Grandmaster shield. You can't touch me anymore."
"No Christian," Lucious sighed, turning to head for the door, "the joke is on you, if you think you can keep up the apple pie life. You know where to find me."
And just like that, he was gone.
Christian telekinetically bolted the door behind him, then swore to himself.