8/30 Instance: Brothers In Arms

[puppygirl]

Timeline - Same night but after 'Brotherly Trust'

Jay stared at the door. He was still a little drunk, having decided at about three in the morning that the best way to deal with Eddie's stupidity was to get incredibly drunk. He wanted to ring up his father, get some sort of clarification, but hadn't had the guts to yet.

Of course his dad would take Eddie's side. He was Eddie's dad before he was ever Jay's. He shook his head and knocked on Darren's door. He needed to talk to someone, he needed to unload or...something. Mostly he needed to talk to someone.

Darren looked up from his book then quickly checked Selene was asleep before going to open the door, "... Jay? It's a bit late for a booty call, bro," he said quietly with a small grin.

"If only it was, ami, 'cause Ah could really do wit' cheerin' up." Jay leant against the doorjam, giving him a half-smile that very quickly disappeared. "Y'all mind if Ah come in? Only Ah'm a li'l drunk an' want someone t' talk to."

Darren glanced back into the room, "Well, I would, only Sel's asleep dude," he was about to suggest the roof but a glance at Jay's splited wing suggested that might not be well recieved, "Mmm ... gym? They'll be no one there this time of night."

"Sure. Guess if Ah get annoyed enough dere's punchbags too." Jay nodded, stepping out of the way to let Darren past. "Heh, guess who ain' been asleep yet, Gede."

"I figured from the bags under your eyes, bro," Darren said, carefully closing the door behind him and leading the way to the gym, "How much you had dude? And who were you drinking with ... anyone I know?" He winked.

"Not much, not f' me, you know what my tolerance is like, Gede." Jay sighed. "An' alone, on account of my fuckin' roomie gone missin' and-" He stopped himself, feeling his already frayed temper kick up again. "-And a motherfucking moron screwin' me six ways t' Sunday."

"Ah," Darren glanced at his best friend as he opened the door to the gym and turned the light on, yep, he was right, no one here. He took a seat on one of the benches, "Well that sounds like a fun filled day, still no sign of Petals?" Darren asked, worrying at his labret piercing.

Jay dropped onto the bench beside Darren, letting out an irritated hiss of breath. "Ah ain't gonna lie t' ya, Darren. Ah've got contact wit' him. Saw him tonight, even. He's fine, very, very scared an' not even considerin' comin' back to the school."

He paused. "Hey, thanks to th' dipfuck that is Edward motherfucking Brock he migh' not even come back after all this is cleared. Ah had half a fuckin' mind to follow him!"

"Woah!" Darren held up his hands, "Okay Joshy-boy, tell uncle Warlock exactly what's been going down."

Jay shot Darren a look, but that got him a laugh at least. "Alrigh', how 'bout Ah tell y'all right from d' top, eh? Considerin' Ah ain' been hundred percent honest wit' y'all about a coupla things and y'll need it to make sense."

"You've been cheating on me and Selene with Wade!? I knew it!" Darren mock swooned, then shook his head with a wide grin, "Okay but seriously, shoot dude."

"Hell yeah, he's crazy in bed, man." Jay chuckled, before becoming serious. "Alright. What d' ya know about Genosha, ami? Considerin' you have contacts, Ah'm assumin' you've been hearin' of some serious smounts of mutants headin' on over to d' island, oui?"

"Owned by the Von Struckers, sorta a mutant mecca that everyone wants to go too, we've dropped a few people off there ourselves remember ... though the floor of mutant immigration has got the higher ups worried, that's about it really," he arched a currently pierced eyebrow at Jay, "Why?"

"...Because dat floor of immigration, at least from dis state, has been managed pretty much mostly single-handedly by me since d' mutants got corraled into the city with d' zombies by d' military, ami."

Darren just stared at Jay for a few moment, then exclaimed loudly, "What the FUCK man!? Seriously!? You frikkin' did that!? Why didn't you tell me!?" He all but flailed at him, "We're meant to be bro's man, bro's!"

"Oui, an' Ah didn't want y'all to be in a position where y' should report me, eh?" Jay tilted his head, smirking a little. "Ah mean, human traffickin', Gede. What's d' current jailterm for dat? An' yeah, Ah did dat, started out as jus' helpin' to smuggle people out - which was why Ah ended up broke - an' den Genosha contacted me."

He rubbed his nose, swaying a little. "Ah wanted t' tell y'all, ami, but...Genosha's a li'l...well, protective. Ah had t' sign a waiver an' everythin'."

Darren huffed a little, but he had to conceed, "You gotta point I guess, and I did wonder why you'd sneak off sometimes. I'm impressed Cockatiel ... but why're you tell me now? It got something to do with shit going down with Slick?"

"Yeah, jus' a bit. JP managed t' find out - Ah got clumsy, left out papers after a stint of a week wit' no sleep an' tryna keep my grades up." Jay sighed, losing the smile. "Dat's why JP came back las' night, t' help me with Genosha because dere's no way Ah can do it wit' my wing like dis."

He stared for a moment. "Y' know dose fires? Me an' JP were meant t' meet a group close to one. Eddie, in all his fuckin' dumbshit glory, happened t' see someone wit' red hair run from a fire. Came swingin' down and instantly fuckin' accused me an' JP of bein' Brotherhood members!"

"An' instead of - you know - trustin' us, when we couldn' tell him what we were doin', he fuckin' threatened me. 'Tell me the truth or I'll make sure you never fly again'." He did a perfect impression of Eddie's voice, then spat. "An' tried to make out Ah was d' bad guy when Ah blew up at him!"

Darren whistled, "... Shit ..." He sat and thought about that for a moment or two ... rather then just blow out to go beat the ever loving shit outta Eddie which is what he would have done a few years ago, "Okay ... so Eddie swings down after seeing someone with red hair, sees you at the scene of the crime and then you won't tell him why you were there with (as much as I know Jean-Paul's innocent) a suspected Brotherhood member?"

"We told him it wasn' our secret t' keep, dat we were helpin' people. All we asked him for was a little fuckin' trust." Jay's metal wing twitched irritably. "An' JP actually asked if d' redhead had wings and he admitted that he didn't! Ah mean, it ain't like Ah can hide 'em, right? An' den he made a fuckin' stab abou' his dad...our dad."

Ah ... well that about killed any urge for Darren to play devil's advocate, "Fucking little douche," he growled out, "And after all that 'get to the bottom of this' bullshit too and he turns out to be as bad as fucking Ronnie and Tigger," Darren pulled a cigarette packet out of his pocket and held it out to Jay, "Was that tonight?"

Ah ... well that about killed any urge for Darren to play devil's advocate, "Fucking little douche," he growled out, "And after all that 'get to the bottom of this' bullshit too and he turns out to be as bad as fucking Ronnie and Tigger," Darren pulled a cigarette packet out of his pocket and held it out to Jay, "Was that tonight?"

Jay took the offered cigarette, nodding. "Yeah...JP's gone back to where he's stayin' now and Ah came back here an' started drinkin'. Too wound up t' sleep." He hissed between his teeth. "Told him Ah don' even wanna know he exists. An' after all dat, he still ain' apologised to me. Ah want t' phone up Dad but...he's Eddie's dad, not mine. Eddie made dat fuckin' clear enough."

"A father's a father, he seemed to have his head screwed on straight, but yeah, since he kinda raised Eddie and you've known him for like ... two weeks? Yeeah, could be awkward ... my estranged dad issues really don't help me much here bro, but you should at least try, yeah?" Darren lit Jay's cigarette and then his own.

Jay took a drag and sighed. "...Yeah...Ah guess. Ah just...how do Ah say 'y're son's a douche'?" He shook his head. "Sorry man. Just...jesus fuck, nothin' can ever be simple, can it? Please tell me SHIELD's closer t' findin' who dis Brotherhood really is?"

"You can tell him what happened though, and the fact that this red haired guy didn't have wings so couldn't have been you," Darren groaned and let his head fall back against the wall, "Ugh ... don't get me started on SHIELD man ..."

"Oh?" Jay was glad for the subject change. "Bad day at d' office, ami?" He blew out a smoke-ring, raising an eyebrow.

"You could say that," Darren sighed, taking a deep pull, "You know how I couldn't make the clean-up PR thing? That was 'cos I was called in to give a report on the Brotherhood situation in person."

"Yeah well, good thing y'all didn't t' be honest. Tigra broke my fuckin' wing." Jay muttered a little before shaking his head. "Take it it didn' go well?"

"I kinda noticed the splint dude," He gave Jay half a smirk, "I figured it would just be Fury, but fuckin' Stryker was the one waiting for me ..."

"Oh shit, dude..." Jay winced. Though he'd never met Stryker face to face himself, he already had one hell of a dislike for him. "Ah'm assumin' he was not about t' come around an' hand all d' mutants cupcakes an' heart-shaped cards."

"Nope, turns out it wasn't just him though, guess who else came to the meeting ... fucking Kelley and Stark as well! Short story, they're getting reeeal fuckin' twitchy about this Brotherhood shit, twitchy enough to start thinking about taking thier own measures from what I can gather," he gave Jay a long, hard look, "I have a feeling that it's only my good word that's stopping them dropping a SWAT team in here to shut us down, bro."

"...Oh holy shit." As if he didn't have enough to worry about. "Is dere any clue about who dese people are? Ah swear t' god Ah find out any of d' school's in on it an' Ah'm gonna be beatin' d' shit outta them. Happily."

darren shook his head, "None at all, Eddie was meant to be looking into it with myself ... and Jean-Paul," Darren's mouth twisted in distaste, "Looks like that one worked out real good huh?" He shook his head, "Guess I'll just have to look into things myself, I've got a few ideas ..."

"Oui? Y'all want any help wit' dat? Now dat Ah've been accused of dis shit, Ah'm kinda eager t' finish dis myself." He hissed again. "Ah was convinced no one at d' school could be involved but now Ah ain' so sure. Ah mean...someone's gotta be workin' on d' inside to make us tear at each other dis much..."

He thought of something. "...Y'all don' think it's Eddie, do ya?"

Darren gave Jay a side-long look, "I dunno man, maybe, I'll certainly be having words with him anyways," he added darkly, "but I think this should be a solo gig, I mean, you didn't include me with people trafficing you know," he flashed Jay a smile.

He nearly felt guilty about that until he saw the smile. "Ami, if Ah'm honest, Ah'd rather y' gave me a hand wit' dat." He chuckled. "Ah'm kinda useless right now. But Ah get ya. Guess we really cain't trust anyone any more." He sighed. "At least y' know Ah ain't got shit-all t' do wit' it."

He paused, suddenly paranoid. "...Y'all do believe me, right? Dat Ah...dere's no way Ah could..."

"I've been inside your head man, I know that there's no way you'd be caperble of that, you and Sel are the only people I am a hundred percent sure of dude, but on a more serious note we're up against other mutants and if things get rough ... well, you're sorta outta commision as far as espionage and combat are concerned, huh?" He gave Jay's wing a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, don't Ah hate it. Gimme another week an' it'll be fine, but a lot can change in a week." He sat back, smiling. "Thanks, man. Was worried f' a moment dere. A lot's ridin' on my reputation wit' Genosha...if Ah get suspected, d' railroad falls. Dere's no one t' pick it up my end."

He looked at Darren again. "Y'all need anythin', though...jus'...come find me, yeah? Ah can pull a few strings, see if dey come up wit' anythin'. Ah'm officially down f' figurin' dis shit out." He took another drag. "...Thanks f' listenin' to me whine, man...Ah need cheerin' up."

Darren nodded, "Will do man, and let me know what I can do to help with Genosha, 'kay?" He took a long, thoughtful drag, "And Jay ... whatever happens with Eddie, you've already got a brother yeah?"

Jay looked up at Darren for a long moment, elbows on his knees and wings slumped a little, before giving him a small but genuine smile. "Yeah...Ah know, Gede. An'...thank y'all. It's...nice t' be reminded." He reached up and squeezed Darren's shoulder.

"As f' Genosha, Ah'll let y' know. Ah don't want JP havin' to come into d' city if it's makin' him so nervous he's near vibratin' shit apart, you know?"

"Seriously? Poor bastard," Darren twisted his arm up so it was on Jay's shoulder and gave it a squeeze in return, "You can count on me, man, always."