"Dammit!" Trixie cursed, hitting the frame of her bunk. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"
Frustrated, she dropped to her butt and curled into a ball, hugging her knees as she forced back tears of frustration. Ten houses. She had looked into ten different houses, all sold from different parties, and not one would accept her money. She had suspected the matrons would play dirty with her efforts to pull her family out of the system, but she hadn't anticipated this.
The first time, she had believed it was an honest mistake, but as the rejections continued, she grew suspicious and began investigating. Sure enough, beside a desk, she found a list with names and descriptions of individuals to refuse, and she was on it.
She wasn't sure when, or how, but apparently the matron's had given out her name, description, and a strict order not to let her purchase property. How, why, and what they had paid out to do so was beyond her. She had accumulated a fair amount of wealth, even paying the absurd living fees the orphans were charged. She could outright pay full price for the property in gold, no loan or payment plans needed, but it didn't matter. Someone else had paid more to prevent her from succeeding. The price they would receive for selling her and the others off must've been high indeed.
Her ears twitched as a series of footsteps resounded from the floor below. She couldn't let the others see her so distraught, it would only cause them to panic which wasn't productive for anyone, so she got to her feet, wiped the stray tears from her eyes and prepared to face her family. The day had been disappointing, and this newest obstacle would be troublesome, but it wasn't over yet. There was still some hope.
"Hey Trix," Rathus waved meekly as he ducked through the doorway into the room.
"Hey," Titus mimicked, though he immediately flushed red. She wasn't sure what was eating him, but she decided it was best to ignore it for now.
"Hey guys," Trixie forced a smile. "How was today?"
"Well…" Rathus seemed troubled, but was reluctant to bring it up. He listened to everyone else's problems, but never shared his own. Trixie wasn't quite sure how he could handle it.
"We ran into Emerick," Titus blurted. Rathus dropped his face into his palm and shook his head. She got the sense Titus had been trouble for him all day, which wasn't surprising. The young orc was kind and considerate, but his sensitivity and passion seemed to erase whatever filter he may have had whenever he was riled.
"Yeah?" She was instantly guarded. She had no interest in going rounds about him.
"Are you really going to wear sexy underwear for your next appointment?" Titus exclaimed. Startled, she looked to Rathus who merely shook his head and shrugged.
"I don't see how that's any of your damn business!" She hissed. "Have you been digging through my things or something?!"
"Does that mean you are?" He looked dejected for some reason. "Wait… what?! No! No I haven't touched your things! I swear!"
Frustrated by his blathering as well as his snooping, she gave his shin a good kick, earning a yelp for her efforts. Once she had him effectively shut up, she jabbed a finger into his chest quite forcefully, and pressed him back against the wall.
"You touch my stuff, you die," She growled. "Am I clear?"
"Yep!" Titus nodded. "Got it boss!"
Sighing, she backed away and turned to address Rathus. She had to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering him. As things were, she couldn't afford being blindsided by anything.
"What happened?" She questioned. Rathus closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
"Trix… I screwed up," His voice was cracked. "There was an accident, and I lost my temper… and…"
"Did you confront someone?" She asked calmly, though a lump of fear was welling in her stomach. Even more than before, the day's failure was eating at her.
"Pretty much," Rathus said, clearly ashamed. About that time, Sullivan poked his head into the room. She wondered how long he'd been waiting just outside of the door.
"It was my fault Trix!" He said urgently. "I wasn't paying attention, and the logs started falling… And this guy saved me, but then the instructor got mad…"
"Easy there Sully," Trixie forced a smile. "Things happen! It's ok! I'm not blaming Rathus… it's just…" She faltered as it became her turn to come clean. "I couldn't get a house. Any of them."
"Oh," Rathus looked even more dejected and she was right there with him. If it had been one or the other between the days screw ups, they would've been able to manage, but both? They needed to get out, and they needed to get out quick.
As she frantically analyzed options she could feel her panic growing. If it was just her and the orcs, it wouldn't be so bad. They were old enough, and strong enough they could take care of themselves. Even throwing Dalek, Sullivan, Lorelei, and perhaps Liron into the mix, they could feasibly manage. The twins were pretty well set up, so there were no concerns there, but that still left 18 young children most of whom were still years away from surviving life on the streets, especially with slavers after them.
Not for the first time, Trixie cursed her own soft heart. She had always made a point to keep everyone at a distance, with all the death and misery it was only practical. Never the less, she'd pretty much adopted a horde of young children she wasn't actually capable of caring for, and she didn't have the heart to leave them behind but bringing them with her was practically a death sentence. If only she knew someone with connections…
"For what it's worth," Rathus fidgeted, as though reluctant to voice his thoughts. "We were made an offer."
"What?" Trixie perked up. "an offer?"
"Yeah," Rathus nodded. "From Emerick… before Titus blabbed that we knew you."
"What sort of offer?" Trixie's eyes narrowed.
"He wants us to work for him," Rathus replied, then scowled at Titus. "Someone was a little too eager to show off… So he's got a pretty good idea of what we can do. Then blabber mouth mentioned you were our boss… and yeah. He says he'd be interested in taking the whole fam."
"What's his game?" Trixie wondered out loud. The orc brothers exchanged looks, but said nothing.
"Wait… the guy who saved me was Emerick?!" Sullivan's eyes bugged out. "Like THE Emerick?!"
"This could work," Trixie mused. "Questionable motives aside… He's at least better than a slave trader, or I wouldn't be here now." Frantically, she moved to her bag, and searched through her meager pile of clothes. She could put on the dress he bought her, but she'd already worn that. Her only other two options were the outfit she was wearing, and the tank that was still soiled with another man's seaman, which wouldn't do. She needed to look her best.
"Hey, Trix?" Titus called as she frantically worked on primping herself. "There's something else we need to tell you…"
"He'll be here any minute," She grumbled, completely ignoring him. "Dammit, where's Zeke when you need him?!"
"About that…" Rathus put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to turn. "Trixie, Emerick-"
"Trixie! Trixie!" a small girl named Nancy scuttled in, arms waving frantically which effectively cut Rathus off. "Come quick! We need help! The crazy lady is hurting Ripply!" Exchanging anxious glances, Trixie and the others shot out the door.
"I don't know!" Ripley blubbered as they approached the commotion. "I don't know! None of us do!"
"I know you have more!" They reached the door of a room a little ways down the hall, only to find Matron Melony looming over Ripley and a few of the other kids from the family. Ripley was trying to protect a group of little girls. Unfortunately, being very young himself, he could only do so much against the matron.
Trixie flinched as the matron slapped him hard across the face, knocking him to the ground. Around them, children were pressed against the walls, watching in horror. Sobbing, but determined, Ripley picked himself up off the ground and moved in front of the cowering girls again.
"They don't know!" He cried. "I don't know!"
"Stop lying you little rat!" The matron grabbed him by the throat and slapped him again. "I've gotta get out of here, and I know you disgusting little worms have more money! Tell me where it is now!"
"Trixie…" Ripley gasped as her hand began to constrict tighter and tighter around his throat. "Trixie has it!" His little feet were kicking wildly, and his eyes were beginning to roll back. Even having got information out of him, the matron refused to release him.
Trixie had enough. Even before the choke hold was established, she had been moving to intervene, but seeing the murder in Melony's eyes and Ripley's futile struggle caused something within Trixie to snap. Shaking with rage, she tackled Melony, chomping down hard on the arm she used to hold Ripley.
"You little bitch!" She hissed, struggling to stifle her voice. "I'll kill you and be rid of you!"
Trixie said nothing, mouth still full of nasty tasting wrinkled flesh. The two began grappling violently, tearing, clawing, and kicking as they struggled for the advantage. At some point, the matron managed to retrieve some kind of knife that had been stashed in her skirts. Brandishing the blade, she started slashing wildly at Trixie. She managed to nick the tip of her ear before Trixie smacked it out of her hands and it skittered across the floor.
Enraged and more desperate than ever, the matron entered some sort of berserker mode and managed to roll over on top of Trixie, seizing her by the throat with her skeletal hands. How such a brittle old woman had so much strength was a mystery.
As Trixie tried, rather violently, to get Melony to release her, she started kicking, clawing, and bashing the woman with her tail. She was sure she heard at least a few bones—probably ribs—break, but the witch was relentless. Just as she began to black out, Melony's hold on her abruptly slackened, and she began to gurgle, blood bubbling out of her mouth. Stifling a scream of her own, Trixie realized the dagger was sticking out of the side of the matron's neck. A large, sage hand was still gripping the handle, and fallowing it up the arm, she realized Rathus was responsible.
Blood gushed from the wound as the life left Melony's eyes, and before long both were covered in it. Around them, the kids stared silently, too terrified to move or act. Still pumped on adrenaline, Trixie pushed herself out from under the body and stared at her own shaking hands, then looked to Rathus. He was pale, alarmingly pale for that matter, but his expression still held a grim determination.
"Alright," Her voice was shaky, but she could speak which was a good thing. "Alright, we can fix this."
"Trixie," Titus was hoarse, "what do we do? If they find out…."
"Don't you dare start panicking," Rathus said in a low rumble. "Keep your head, or things will only get worse."
"No one else has come," Trixie was thinking out loud, not completely comprehending what the other two were saying. "No one else is coming. Good, they probably didn't hear anything. We've got to get her out of here… and we've got to clean up."
"They'll notice if we leave," Titus objected. "Trixie, we're done for!" He was slapped hard by Rathus. Shocked, he abruptly touched his cheek that was now crimson with the deceased matron's blood.
"Told you to knock it off," He growled. "You'll panic the rest of the kids, and that's what's going to get us killed. Shut up and stay out of the way." Wordlessly, Titus dropped to his butt and Rathus took a few breaths to calm himself.
"Is Jemma nearby?" Trixie asked. Wordlessly, one of the children pressed against the wall stepped forward. With a breath, she transformed and revealed herself.
"I'm here," She said softly, eyeing the mess sadly. She always shied away from violence, so Trixie was inexplicably proud that she had stayed in the room and was even coming forward without a fuss. She knew it was hard on the girl.
"I'm sorry to drag you into this mess, but I am going to need your help," Trixie said through a trembling smile.
"There are at least three ways I could be useful," Jemma deduced. "If not more. First, I could disguise myself temporarily as the matron, but that would ultimately be a waste of time so I doubt that's what you want. Second, my slime-like qualities allow me to absorb liquids through my skin, so I could clean the blood… though taking it into my body would be most unpleasant."
"You can do that?" Trixie questioned.
"I can," Jemma nodded. "I don't want to, but I will if it helps. Third, Rathus and Titus, as Titus pointed out, can't leave without the other matrons noticing. We're lucky they haven't noticed something amiss already. The most effective way to dispose of the body would be to dump it at the pile in the institute yard. Trixie and I are the only ones who can slip away unnoticed, and Trixie can't sneak the body out by herself."
"That, I was going to ask you to help me with," Trixie sighed. "Wow Jemma, I don't think I've heard so many words from you all at once."
"Having a logical plan and voicing it helps ease fear of the unknown," Jemma shrugged. "I don't like talking, but my calm tone is helping the others feel a little better. Now, I suggest we hurry."
So saying, she stooped to the floor and placed her hand on the growing pool of blood. Trixie watched with morbid fascination as the blood flowed into the palm of her hand. It took a few moments, but when Jemma finished, there wasn't so much as a stain on the wood. Finished with the floor, she moved to Titus and Rathus, taking care to thoroughly clean them before coming back to Trixie.
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to suffer through it a little longer. There's no point cleaning you until the body is taken care of," Jemma said apologetically.
"Don't worry about it," Trixie shrugged. Clean or not, she doubted she could wear her current clothes ever again, and there was still work to be done.
Together, they wrapped the body in one of the thinnest blankets they had to carry it easier, then they began the task of transporting it from the orphanage to the institute. They made it out of the building without trouble, but darkness had already fallen. With the scent of fresh blood on the air, the howls of hounds could be heard coming from the Honey Pot, which had Trixie's hair standing on edge.
To avoid possibly getting the attention of anyone in the brothel across the street, they stuck to the labyrinth of alleyways between abandoned decayed buildings. It took a little longer than the main road, but with Jemma's uncanny strength they still managed to reach the Honey Pot in good time.
"Should we go to the roof?" Trixie questioned. She didn't fancy the idea of being physically any ware near the snarling pack of canines they could hear howling from the yard. Plugging her ears didn't help. The sound chilled her the bone, threatening to strip her of every rational thought.
"The structure isn't sound," Jemma frowned, analyzing the cracked walls. You'd probably be fine climbing yourself, but hoisting the body could create unnecessary peril. We are better of breaking in and using their dump plank."
"This is going to suck," Trixie sighed. "Talk about the worst day ever."
"Going into the worst night ever," Jemma agreed. Anxious, but resolved, the two girls squared their shoulders and resumed. It was too late to turn back now.