Gold Turns To Rust

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He had been played.

If there was anything that was brazenly clear about this entire situation, it was this. Colton had to wonder why. Sure, he wasn't often the brightest or the smartest man in the room. He was cautious and driven by anxiety and consistent concern for his own well being, which made him desperate. Too desperate. Desperate enough to believe a long-time family friend that when Heath said he was the only one Colt could rely on; Colt believed it. He had no reason not to. He had no reason to suspect that Heath would put the needs of the job above his safety without substantial reasoning.

All of which came into question after his latest near-death experience with one particular unnamed hybrid of an infected. Colton had no other way of explaining what had happened other than that. At first he was a man, just a man, assumedly a military man... and the next he was no better than the creatures in the cages in the next room. Circumventing the rather frightening ending to their encounter, he had brought an interesting piece of information. A warning.

Colton paced on the inside of the office meeting space. It was as dark and dank as he had remembered it. A permanent scowl seemed to be etched into his brows as he went to and fro. He waited, waited to implode like a ticking time bomb as soon as Heath showed up. He suspected he would be a surprise. He hoped so. Being early to their "meetings" was not his modus operandi.

Posted 07-08-2023, 10:44 AM

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It'd been a while since the last time the little street urchin had graced his doorway. Too long ago, actually.

There was nothing for Heath to be except patient, knowing that he couldn't call the kid into the shadows of his undercover office too often, less one of the gangsters grow suspicious of the kid's comings and goings. Still, it didn't make it any easier to just sit around and wait. Patience was not one of his virtues, and considering the situation that lead to their uneasy partnership, he wasn't exactly all that trusty of the distance either.

Luckily — or unluckily, depending on how you wanted to view it — the Jabberwockies were always up to something, and the Lieutenant found it easier to keep his thoughts in a row when he was on his feet and doing what he was best at. Another raid, another drug bust — another day in the life of a Military officer. It was late in the day, the sun already behind the massive walls of Stronghold, when he finally returned to his office to gather some supplies before heading back to the Citadel.

The uneasy sense of a presence inside the small building was enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, fingers toying with the cold metal of his gun's holster. Though dark, it was easy enough to recognize the pacing of the young man in the shadows — his movements, so familiar already to the older man.

"You're early." A fact, not a question — straight and to the point.

His hand, however, does not waver from its vicinity to his holstered weapon.

Tag Colton Holcombe

Posted 07-09-2023, 12:04 AM

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What if he doesn't come? The very real questions piqued inside his mind several times. "I'll just stay here until he does." he whispered out into the dark nothingness of the office. Though there were no lights, his gaze turned to the couch in the corner of the room. The one that smelt like stale cigarettes'. Colton wrinkled nose and nodded to himself. There were going to be consequences to everything he was about to do and everything that was about to happen tonight. He knew it, but he tried to ignore the weaseling little fear and anxiety from making him consider every avenue where things might go wrong. Damn the consequences.

The shadows that Heath casted over the drawn blinds of the windows were darker than dark. Colton froze as he entered, Heath was taller, bigger, and there was no mistaking him for anyone else than who he was. Colt drew his hands to his waist, placing a hand on either side of him like he had done a hard days work and was about to kill over. Only after a second, he dropped them back down with a nervousness.

"Yeah..." Colton agreed, noting and dismissing the sound of his submissive voice, leery and shaky in it's own right. He cleared his throat, sparing time to remind himself of why he was here... and why he was so angry. He couldn't lose gall, not now. "... and you're a liar." he didn't yell it, didn't allow his voice to get too excited, just stated what he knew to be true; assertively and strong.

"I just want to know why you did it." he kept his distance, but his eyes narrowed in the dim light of the office room.

Posted 07-10-2023, 12:06 PM

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Colton stands taller, straighter, than he ever has before. A resolution that sparks in his eyes as he stares down his jailer— er, friend and ally. For a moment Heath doesn't move as they look at one another in the darkness of the office; always dark, kept in the shadows to better hide from those loitering on the streets. Finally the boy speaks, and the waver in his voice gives away the weakness in his stance — only then does Heath finally move, drawing further into the building with his hand finally slipping away from his holster as he reaches his desk.

"... and you're a liar." Colton's next words draw Heath to a pause and he raises his steel blue eyes to glare at the Jabberwocky runt.

A brow raises — curious.

He continues to speak, and though the words reverberate in Heath's mind, he's calm as he slowly draws a whisky and a glass out from one of his desk drawers — placed there, strategically, for times like this. He doesn't know what it is Colton is trying to insinuate, but immediately his mind is racing miles a minute, curious as to what the kid might have learned from the filthy gangsters. A glass is poured — but not offered — and Heath leans back in his office chair, boots banging against the surface of his desk as he places them one over another to better get comfortable.

He doesn't know — but he won't let Colton know that. Instead, his lips quirk into a smooth grin for a brief moment before he tastes the alcohol on his tongue; it goes down smooth.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to be a little more specific," he finally speaks with a gruff voice, a soft tease threaded in his words — though clipped and iced all the same, as if warning Colton to answer carefully.

Tag Colton Holcombe

Posted 07-15-2023, 11:28 PM

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All it took was the steel cut of Heath's glaring gaze and Colton felt his shoulders, metaphorically and physically drop. The chip located there had disintegrated, leaving nothing but dust where his confidence once was. His prior insinuation felt like someone else had spoken it aloud, not him, no, he was an imposter; he would never. The other part of him was laughing, amused that Colton even knew how to puff his chest.

The calm demeanor Heath exuded was concerning to say the least, but, that wasn't to say a more reactive response wouldn't have elicited the same concern. Colt casted his gaze off to the side when Heath rose a brow. Directing the last question at the wall and hoping the darkness that swallowed them was enough of a veil.

In that time Heath had taken a seat and poured himself a drink. His boots crossed, one over the other against the desk as they had many, many a night. Colton waits patiently, for the other to take his drink and then rekindle his burning rage with a response that was kerosene in nature.

"More specific?" Colton can't believe what he's heard, as if there were more instances where it was fair to call him a liar? Just how many times had he lied? The gears began to spin, the suspicion made his heart palpate in his chest -- Anger replaced his confidence now, pure, undiluted ... "Start -" he alters his frame of thinking, "with why you told me my dad wrote me off? He hasn't... has he? You know there was a raid, right? You didn't think it was important for me to know about?"

Colton leaned against the desk, palms planted on the scuffed surface as he stared down at Heath. "If my dad hadn't sent word, this whole thing would of sunk." Sunk, sunk, sunk like a ship. Colton shook his head, trying to ignored the echo in his mind "So what's your plan Heath? What else are you lying about?"

Posted 02-15-2024, 11:29 PM

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