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punkranger · 1 year ago

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Pycnocline pt. 1

Slowly uploading my writing to AO3:

Pycnocline (2203 words) by Punkranger Chapters: 1/5 Fandom: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hollow Ground & Sidestep Characters: Hollow Ground (Fallen Hero), Jake Manolo, Nocturne (Fallen Hero), Sidestep (Fallen Hero), Hollow Ground's sibling (mentioned) Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, canon adjacent, a bit of detective work, a bit of unhinged sibling(?) bonding, mob boss sidestep, jake rivalry (it SHOULD be a thing), Post-Retribution, Fallen Hero: Retribution Spoilers Summary: A favor might gain both parties something - the question is if it matters when you don't have a choice.

Part 2 here!

The leather cushions beneath you are deceptively soft, comfort lulling your body to believe it's safe. Meanwhile, the liquor in your glass leaves an impression behind it, like sand on your tongue.

Hollow Ground in front of you again, this time on the other side of a car crash and broken bones. Not that it changes anything, you're fine again – or fine enough to let the armor compensate for the rest.

Not that you get to wear that here.

Testing the waters a little, you settle back more comfortably in the leather armchair, then you slowly, deliberately, place your worn boots on the very shiny top of the very expensive coffee table. Meet his eyes, mirror gray, edged with age. You could say you need to take some weight off your legs, but you'd rather antagonize him than admit weakness. It's a stupid thing to do, a self-indulgent grasp for control, but you also know that sometimes risk pays off.

There's an almost imperceptible hint of annoyance, despite the dampeners and his conscious effort at suppressing it. If you weren't looking for it, you'd have missed the tightness to his lips, and the grip around the glass stiffening – liquid sloshing around chaotically instead of swirling in a controlled spiral. You take a sip of your own drink to disguise a smile, and just wait.

"Ruin." The deep voice is steady, and despite the annoyance it is welcoming. Something about it reminds you of underwater caves you've never seen, amalgamations of memories that aren't yours and the hazy recollections of a distorted world seen through water and glass, before you had memories, before you had a mind. You shift in your seat, disguising a shiver and try to suppress the urge to shake your head. Uncomfortably, you wait for him to continue and drag you out of your own head.

"I have a job for you," Hollow Ground continues, finally. When he doesn't elaborate, just looks over at you with an enigmatic stare, you raise a brow in return.

"And that job is…?"

It might not be smart to be difficult with someone who could crush you and your small organization with a hand-wave, but you have no patience for playing servant and underling.

Not anymore, never again.

Hollow Ground continues to look you over searchingly, as if he's expecting something and you look away from the strangely familiar face, only to find yourself looking at a similarly twisted reflection in your glass. You down the contents of it and set the glass down on the table slightly harder than necessary.

"I need you to find something for me."

You frown, wondering what Hollow Ground is up to. Last time, you got the impression that he was careful, but not intentionally obscure. Not without reason at least. Your eyes flick over to Nocturne who’s standing further back today, almost blending in the shadows along with Jake. Neither let anything show, whether they know what this is about or not is impossible to tell as well.

"I suppose I'm good enough at finding things”, you say slowly, “but to do that I need to know what I'm looking for."

Hollow Ground smiles. The abyss of memories opens at your feet – dangerous, yet inviting. You plant your feet on firmer ground and then lean forward.

"Tell me what I need to know so I can get on with my own business, I.m not here to play servant, unlike some." You jerk your head in Jake's direction, feeling a small spark of glee as he clenches his fists but doesn't move. Hollow Ground drops the smile and leans forward as well.

"You are here on my turf and on my terms," he says, granite eyes trained on you. "I'll take all the time I want, unless you want to renegotiate?"

The threat is clear, yet it's not what makes you shake your head in response. For some reason, you just can't imagine backing out of this deal you have, this alliance. It's the smart thing to do, of course, doing little favors for him and getting the freedom to walk around his territory in return. Learn about it, learn from it.

And in the end, these are much better terms than you had any right to expect after what you did.

"Good," a familiar smile surfaces, baring its teeth, reflected by your own. "Now, I want you to find someone from my organization who disappeared a while ago, years ago. I know they are dead and who caused it, but additional information surrounding the exact circumstances of their death have recently surfaced... Jake will handle the exact details of where you should start your search."

"Why exactly do you think this is something I should do?" You're curious mostly, but seeing his expression darken you realize he's taken it as more defiance, which for once was not what you intended. "I mean, I'm new and not really familiar with your people or how they work, so I don't see why you don't handle this within your own organization." Not strictly true, but he doesn't need to know just how familiar you are. He probably already knows you know more than you claim though, from the look he gives you.

"You know," Hollow Ground says with a reluctant smile, "most people just do what I ask, and trust that I have the best reasons for the orders I give."

"There's plenty of tools around if that's what you want." You see Nocturne shift in the background, smiling? "But as I said before, I'll work with you, not for you. You'll have my trust after I hear those reasons myself."

Hollow Ground raises his brows, a mix of frustration and respect creasing his brow. Then he smiles suddenly, and you wonder if you've missed something.

"Very well, I'll explain the reason I've picked you for this particular job. It's very simple: it's because you'll be benefiting from the information you find as well, it would be a waste of time to send someone else and it will be better for you to learn from the source."

"Learn what?"

"As I said, you should find out for yourself." He gestures to Jake, who steps forward.

"I don't want to rush headfirst into something I know nothing about! Tell me what the hell this is about already!"

Hollow Ground just settles back in his chair, tilting his head slightly, assessing. Jake hovers, one brow raised.

"Really? Because the impression I got was that that's exactly what you liked to do. Was I wrong?"

"That was before."

He just hums, looking thoughtful. You had briefly wondered if he'd had anything to do with the crash, but you doubt it. You'd already agreed to work with him, what could he possibly gain from it? If he'd wanted to punish you he would probably have made it clearer. Maybe he could help you find out who caused the crash, though.

You hesitate, wondering why you feel compelled to trust Hollow Ground with this. It happened in an area he controlled, though, and you are his ally, so it makes sense to involve him, right?

"There's another thing. The accident I was in… I'm sure you know it was no accident." You pause, trying to gauge his reaction, he doesn’t seem surprised but his eyes are opaque and unreadable, like his mind. Maybe it's better to keep this to yourself.

"It made me rethink my approach to things, I don't want to be caught unprepared again." Why are you telling Hollow Ground this? He doesn’t need to know that, those are your personal thoughts… but Hollow Ground is nodding in approval and you feel compelled to continue. "Since this happened after visiting you, do you have any idea who could be behind it?"

"A few, it's being looked into. An attack on one of my allies, on my land, is an attack on my organization." The words have a somewhat routine sound to them, but when you meet his eyes there seems to be more behind it. Somehow that makes you more reluctant to ask for more information. You've already told more than you intended, it's better to try to find out more from your own sources, than risk indebting yourself more to Hollow Ground.

He watches you in silence for a moment, appraising, before he continues.

"If that is all, Jake will go over the details." He smiles again, but this time it's closed, with a hint of finality to it. You guess the bonding session is over, or whatever the hell this was. Why did he even want to talk to you if Jake had all the details? To get a read on you? Well, it's not too bad, you've gotten another chance to study him as well.

"So there actually are more details?" You smile back sharply as you shake his hand with a firm grip. They say it makes you seem trustworthy. "I'm glad I don't have to go looking for this mysterious thing without any clues."

"Maybe I should have you do that next time, it might keep you out of trouble." His grip is also firm. Shows what they know.

"Bold of you to assume you could have me do anything." It's not about trust, it's about power.

"At least you seem to have learnt some caution lately, even if it is somewhat misdirected."

You just stare at him. Face too like yours, wrong, wrong, wrong. How can someone real be wrong like you? You didn't want to think about it, but Ortega might be right about one thing. You hope he is, because if Hollow Ground didn't have a brother that would mean he's more closely connected to the Farm than you thought. You have to assume he'd have sold you out already if that was the case, can't keep looking over your shoulder, there's enough complications as it is without making up new ones. The question is what he wants from you. He seemed to be interested in your villain persona, but once he saw your face he must have seen the resemblance too. Whether it means anything to him, you don't know. If they were close, or estranged… Either way, he must think you might be useful, or he'd have killed you for being an imposter. There's no way he could think you're that person, he'd know, unlike Ortega.

You let go at the same time and you resist the urge to rub your palm on your clothes, opting to put your hands in your pockets instead.

"Until next time." He says and you just nod, sauntering out of the room and trying to hide your discomfort. You still have to talk with Jake. Fuck.

He catches up without a word, though he raises a brow in your direction as he walks past you. So much for being cautious. You're starting to wonder how you managed to not get recycled, caution just doesn't seem to be inherent in you.

Jake leads you downstairs, to another room. It's full of archival lockers and Jake heads to one of them. Pulling out a folder after unlocking the high-tech lock, he turns back to you.

"You're looking for a person called José Marcos," he says, reading from the file.

"What am I looking for him for?"

"He knows where the information we're looking for is stored, ask him to find the records of an ex-inmate-"

"This person belongs to the LDPD?"

"Yes." Jake sneers at you. "That scare you? Wanna go back to the boss and complain?"

You ignore his taunts. Next time you meet him in armor though… "And I'm to ask him nicely?"

"Do whatever you want, I don’t care. Just don't come dragging them behind you, persuasion is expensive."

"Fine. And this inmate I'm looking for?" Someone who worked for Hollow Ground or an enemy?

Jake gives you their name. It means nothing to you and you can't read his mind or expression.

"What exactly am I supposed to find out about this person?"

"Don't know." Jake shrugs. "Suppose it's your job to find out, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is." You don't bother hiding your annoyance. Jake doesn't let anything show on his face but you can tell he's smug about it as he closes the folder and locks it up again.

"Then you'd better get to it," he says, "boss doesn't like slackers and this should be easy even for a newbie like you."

Mentally, you're punching him. Physically, you flip him off.

"I'm leaving, why don't you go back to licking boots, Manalo?"

Ouch.

You rub your shoulder where Jake pushed past you like a brick wall, it didn't dislocate but it almost felt like it. Weren't you going to not be stupid any more?

"Get lost. I doubt we'll see each other again, but if we do I'll make sure it's not for long."

"Promises, promises. You won't get rid of me that easily. But lucky you, I also don't want to see your ugly mug any longer."

Fortunately for you he's already walking away. You go in the opposite direction, hoping there's stairs in that direction too.

This is going great.

#fallen hero #fallen hero retribution #fhr #sidestep #hollow ground #jake manalo #nocturne #my writing

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