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The Mercenary is the first arc of The Underground series

Chapter 16 of 32

A Harsh Reality

"It used to be that you didn't have to worry about that kind of shit down here. Kind of a live and let live policy." Mick explained, dumping a few ice cubes into a hand towel. "Shows you how bad this place has gotten."

Mick bunched up the towel and handed it to Jenna, who thanked him quietly as she pressed it to her cheek, which was starting to swell.

"Where'd Alias go?" Jenna asked Mick.

"To restock." The mink explained. "I can't get him another rifle for a while, but I got some nines around."

Jenna nodded. "You're his supplier?"

"One of them." Mick replied. "We do a lot of business together, but then again, I supply a lot of what Hets moves too."

"Does he have his paw in everyone's pocket?" Jenna asked.

The mink shrugged. "Very nearly." He confirmed. "This city is built off control, Hets is one of the players who got lucky and landed himself with a large chunk."

"Where does he play into all of this?" She asked directly.

"Who? Alias?" Mick asked.

Jenna nodded.

Mick stood up and scratched the back of his head. "I couldn't really tell you too much about our dark friend." He confessed. "He's a good client, but that's about as far as my knowledge goes."

"You mentioned something earlier," Jenna said, still holding the towel to her face, "about knowing something. What was that all about?"

Mick stopped. "Oh yeah..." he mutter, "that." He turned around and took a seat near Jenna. "I really hate to be this way, but that's something for Alias to tell you, when and if he ever feels the need." Mick paused. "You see, I happened across something that gave me an inside look at Alias. I wish I hadn't now... Fact is, it's not my place to say. I'd be like copying someone's diary, and taking it all out of context."

"I get it..." Jenna replied, not pushing for more details. "But why does he feel the need to push everyone away?"

Again Mick shrugged. "Maybe he was born that way, maybe something happened to him way back that left him with his heart of stone, or perhaps he can't remember how to feel emotions like the rest of us." Mick explained.

"How can you just not remember how to feel?" Jenna asked, as she brushed some of her blue hair from her face unconsciously. "Either you do or you don't."

"Believe it or not, The Underground can take everything you are and make you into something else." He leaned back in his chair. "Alias is what he is: a creature of darkness and habit. His intellect is matched only by his lethality. But I wouldn't say he has pushed everyone away."

Jenna's ears pricked up. "Really?" She asked. "What makes you think that?"

Mick smiled. "I think the fact that you are here and not a puppet for Hets says it all."

Jenna looked over at the mink, confused. "Do what?"

"Let me just say that its pretty significant that when Alias could have washed his paws of all this and walked away and he didn't." Mick leaned back into a chair adjacent to where Jenna was sitting.

Jenna shook her head. "Why would he? It's like what he does."

Mick smiled and shook his head. "You don't get it do you?" He asked Jenna as he looked away. There was a distant look of sorrow in the mink's eyes as he continued to speak. "I guess most people don't understand. Just because you make a living doing something, doesn't mean that you enjoy yourself in the process. In the Underground we find ourselves doing things, things we wouldn't ever ordinarily do, just to survive." He paused before continuing. "He hates what he is; what he's become. He hates everything about his life. He hates the fact that he's a hired gun and can only make a living fighting in a war that will only bring more chaos and misery. I find him drowning himself in liquor nightly. It doesn't take a shrink to figure out he's being ripped apart from the inside out. Between trying to forget about everything he has to do and the pain of not being able to remember anything else, I'm surprised his mind hasn't snapped as it is. The thing about Alias is not even he knows about himself."

Jenna looked up.

"No one knows where he came from or who he was before he donned the name he has now. Not even he knows. He can do things that I've never seen before. He can take more hits than a stallion, run faster than a rabbit, and lose more blood than a reptile and still finish a job. How he does it, I don't have a clue. What I do know is its not natural talent. Something...happened to him."

"What?" Jenna asked, intrigued by the background into her dark savior.

However, Mick shrugged at this. "Hell knows. It's anyone's guess. Around here you learn to just accept things for what they are. Point was in all that, I don't know what you said to him, but you're an exception. And believe me, that's pretty significant."

The door to Mick's trailer burst open, revealing a rain soaked Alias standing in the threshold. Jenna jumped slightly.

"Find what you need?" Mick asked.

"Yes." Alias replied. "I'll transfer the funds as soon as I have the opportunity."

Mick shook his head. "No worries."

Alias looked down at Jenna. She looked back into his green eyes. Just by looking at him, the vixen could see so many secrets locked away behind them.

"You ready?" Alias asked her.

Jenna nodded, and rose to her feet. "Mick," she said extending her paw, "it's been a pleasure."

Mick took her paw in a flattering way. "Pleasure's been mine." He then turned his attention to Alias. "So, what's your game plan from here, chief?"

"Kill the bad guys, get away with the girl." Alias replied sincerely, beginning to walk out of the trailer and drawing out one of the Berettas from its holster.

"Does that make me your damsel in distress, Alias?" Jenna asked, letting a coy tone slip into the conversation.

Alias stopped dead in his tracks. "I didn't mean- I just meant that- I mean I don't think of you as-"

Mick snickered as Alias spluttered for words. "Wow, the great Alias at a loss for words?"

"Stick it, Mick."

"But, you found those really quick." Mick replied, a cocky grin over his muzzle.

Alias turned to him. "I'll be in touch about the rifle."

"Be sure to get it to you as soon as it arrives."

"And Mick?"

"Yeah?" The mink asked.

Alias paused considering his words. "Thanks, I owe you."

Mick smiled. "Forget about it. Just save my ass when Hets and his boys come down here looking for you."

The door shut behind Jenna as she stepped back outside in the familiar darkness of the marketplace. Jenna knew that anyone in their right mind would be scared to death after what she had just been through, but she didn't feel any threat. Not with Alias standing next to her.

"Did you get it?" She asked.

Alias looked over at her. "What?"

"Your information, what we came down here for, did you get it?"

"Oh," Alias realized, "no not yet. Mick is going to work on it and let me know when he has something."

"Care to share?" The young vixen asked, her curiosity getting the better of her as they started to walk though the ever-present rain.

"Same logical though process I was using when I found you." Alias began to explain, pushing his hair from his eyes as the rain weighed it down. "Hets needs something to focus on, something besides us."

"So we need something to block tackle for us right now?" Jenna broke it down in simple language.

"Someone." Alias corrected. "And I'm pretty sure I found a good candidate."

Jenna stopped. "Wait a second, we're going to hand over someone else to Hets now?" She demanded in subtle shock and horror.

But Alias shook his head. "No. Not this time. We need someone who can piss him off so badly, he'll forget about us, even if temporarily, and he'll devote most, if not all, his resources on dealing with that fire."

"I'm guessing we're not going for CEO daughters this time?"

"I'm going for someone who carries a little more weight in The Underground, and the Invisible War...no offense."

Jenna scoffed at the fact that Alias would think she would actually be insulted by the previous comment. "Oh, none taken." She told him, sarcasm in her voice.

There came a sharp wind that blew up the street. It seemed to cut through her blue fur and slice into her body directly. Of course being soaked from head to foot didn't help. The vixen began to tremble uncontrollably, although she tried to cover it up.

"You cold?" Alias asked her.

"It's just the wind, it gets to me sometimes." Jenna replied blow the matter off, however deep down she was freezing. However, she didn't want to be more of a nuisance to Alias than she knew she already was.

"Here," Alias replied, sliding his overcoat down his arms, "take this, it'll keep the wind off you."

"No, I'm fine, really." Jenna lied.

"Yeah, that's why you're shaking more than a Jell-O factory." Coming free of his coat, Alias held it out for her. "Take it."

The first thing Jenna noticed was the large, bulky, black flack jacket over Alias's black shirt.

"Stylish, Al, real stylish."

Alias rolled his eye. "Just take the jacket," he told her, taking her arm to place the coat on her. "Jesus!" He cried out. "You're freezing."

"It's not that bad." Jenna replied, attempting to stop shaking.

"You drink coffee?" Alias asked point blank.

Caught off guard Jenna fumbled for words. "Um... yeah, coffee's good."

Draping his overcoat around the vixen's shoulders, Alias turned in a different direction. "I know a place we can go for awhile."

The vixen gripped the edges of the coat, securing it around her. She could feel the warmth it still held from Alias's body heat, which was now warming her. Never in a thousand years would Jenna have guessed she would be here right now, with an enigmatic black fox who had both tried to kill her and saved her.

But maybe Mick was right. Maybe there was something, some shard of hope that still lived within Alias.