Reacquainting (DivingDart)

Malan'tai had heard enough from Hugh Exley to know that he'd known him during the blank period in his mind. What he didn't reveal was that there was a blank period. The man in the suit played close to his chest even now. He was waiting around the side of the funeral home, whether Hugh showed up or not would tell him how intriguing this chance meeting was.

Mal had questions but those would have to wait. When Hugh stepped around the corner he would just see the same man as before. "Were you expecting goons? Perhaps suits to ambush you from behind? I have no need for such measures. Why would Wrath have thought I was lying?"

Okay. Mental loop-de-loop time. There hadn't been a hint of surprise from Mal. Then again there never was. The dinosaur had suggested he'd wanted to be found, which made sense. Not everyone would recognise him. Pix didn't know the list, but he knew one name from it - himself. What if Mal had known he would be out the prison today? What if he was planning on talking to Pix all along? The guy was sure capable of such a fine move. But why talk to Pix? Why now when everyone thought he was dead?

What if it was something threatening? Under the guise of a talk? Hugh's old boss might have gotten wind of what he'd been planning with the Americans. If so the sprite had no doubt he was capable of great retribution. Pix could easily vanish out here at the church and the prison would assume he had skipped bail. Yeah, nice try Mal. You'd have to do better than that.

"Where's Mr Family Man gotten to now...?"

-----

A minute later Pix was outside, precautions taken. As he entered the secluded alcove he surveyed his surroundings and didn't immediately come across an ambush. So far so good. Facing the dinosaur again he was cheesed to hear Mal's comment, "Nope." Was all he could offer in lame defence. So maybe this wasn't about him...

"Well if Wrath thought you lied about your death, then he's making some awfully funny moves. I have it on good authority that he's usurped the government. Taken out or turned your supporters, made California fly his banners. I posit that none of them would have surrendered had they believed you were alive. So you've lied to a lot of people then. A lot of allies. The question is why." Pix's brow furrowed as he considered the possibilities. Ironically the people he couldn't fathom were idiots. He believed Mal to be the opposite of that. Intelligent men moved in predictable ways.

"You might say I'm the only one of your associates who hasn't gone vulture." Good way to test the loyalties of your underlings. See what they did when you were not around. Maybe a bit excessive, but plausible perhaps for a sociopath.

Malan'tai brushed his hair back behind an ear, that was a calculated move showing pix a scar, a bullet had punched through his brain. "Tiberius is dead." Malan'tai informed Pix seriously. "I could recreate him given the time but I don't need such a hindrance."

He would walk around the sprite slowly. "Why do you know I know Wrath? I saw in the news that I'd come into power, I was then shot and went missing. His take over was a contingency but he hasn't acted in the way I'd hoped." Malan'tai would then grin at Pix. "That's why I'm going to do it all again. For a start, we can't have my most loyal man in prison. I'll get your sentence commuted. As I'm more than positive you have a reason for being there, accomplish it quickly or let me know what you need." He would put his hands on Hugh's shoulders lightly a sign of power and dominance in all honesty.

"Help me put together who I was and who we were, and I'll make you among the most powerful people to walk this world. I can promise you that, and whether I left out details before or not. I never broke a promise did I?"

When Mal showed his war-wound Pix blinked, "Oh." He was finally starting to understand. The scar didn't look fake. Even for the best laid plans circumstances sometimes went awry. He himself had been kidnapped by a third party player fighting a war he was not involved in. And it looked like Mal had... gotten lost in hospital? Stranger things had happened. Assuming it was the truth of things, then he wasn't looking at the usual mastermind. He was looking at a has-been.

Pix's confidence grew. When Mal asked about Wrath he dodged the question, "We bumped into each other. He was wearing his BFF bracelet with your name engraved." They'd had a conversation. An enlightening one for Pix, but not a very satisfactory one.

"You saw on the news?" He didn't mean to interrupt. He just found that sentence strange is all, and spoke out loud. Then again, Mal and Tib always had a hard to define mind-share going on. Maybe for Mal most of what Tib had done he'd had to find out later. Certainly an intriguing piece of information. But he didn't dare think that left the past open to reinvention.

"Yeah. If you break a promise people stop doing business with you." Which meant keeping a promise was a favour you did for yourself. The allusion to the past reminded Pix of the history there. Mal had betrayed him before. And all Pix had done in response was to prevent his cohorts from going on a murder rampage in revenge. Maybe he just had that big a heart.

He didn't comment on Mal knowing he was a prison inmate. If he hadn't done his homework, then it wasn't a hard at-sight deduction, "Well I'm certainly in the market for some absolution. Not that I don't love debating the relevance of the current national kidnap law with some slick lawyer firm, but you'll save me several months." Witnesses? Three. One was high as a kite at the time, one didn't own a national insurance number and was thus ineligible to testify even if he could be bothered, and the third... Well she was inside the church right now. Lying down. Nothing from that allegation would stick.

"But what could you do about it? All due respect but everybody in this town worth leaning on is in the back pocket of a Sin or a mobster. They're not yours anymore. Or did I imagine that part of the conversation where we mentioned Wrath's hostile takeover?" He may have been running his mouth a little, but not without good reason. Pix had been where Mal was, recently. He knew what it meant to pick yourself up by the bootstraps. And people like them were never short of a trick, "Did the mercenary miss a few pieces?" The sprite glanced at his watch.

Malan'tai didn't but the bracelet bit for a second he wouldn't let that information go by though, apparently he had the look of someone to be walked on now. His hands removed themselves from Hugh as the little monster of rage raised its head. He walked back in front of Hugh and glanced over his shoulder. "Did you forget I run most of the major news networks. It makes it easy to keep up with events."

He turned fully around his eyes burning slightly when Pix had completely finished his speech. "I have tricks up my sleeves still Hugh. Favors owed to me older than your world. Bonds running deeper than the iron center of this planet. Don't presume that I haven't taken steps to put myself back in place." He stopped himself and breathed deep for a few seconds before smoothing his suit.

Malan'tai collected himself and said seriously. "Prepare yourself Hugh, you're going to see the kinds of tricks someone with my abilities is capable of. The sands of fate are shifting. Make sure you aren't on the wrong side of them." He would turn around and headed back inside leaving the sprite to decide in private. Regardless of where he was now, Malan'tai still had eons of memory and more resources than most could ever discount, combine that with the mind of a ruthless businessman and things will happen.

Hugh watched the old dinosaur leave with some disquiet. For all his grand claims there was still blood in the water from Mal. But as he said. Only a fool would count him out, think he had nothing left. Pix was no fool.

Of course you have tricks. But you can't help bragging about them. So his much vaunted media network was still in working condition. That was where the influence would come from. Good to know. Anything that could effect the prison was of interest to him. While Mal had been away, Pix had decided the prison would be his. It wasn't going to be an overnight operation, but his old acquaintance had just sped things up half a year.

He knew exactly what side to be on when those sands shifted. Pix checked his watch again and then glanced at the road. Not long. He didn't go back to the church but moved further into the funeral grounds. Lifting his pants-leg he checked on the ankle monitor. It looked a little dead. Before he'd come outside he'd had Kris drain the device to stop it restricting his powers.

That alone would have been enough to safeguard him against any number of threats. But they had gone one further. He sat down on the edge of a fountain and opened up the casing. There was a small wad of explosives inside. Coupled with the electric outlet for ignition and the signal receptor it already had, the pair had improvised a pipe bomb. Percussion was no problem to Pix in an explosion. Not perfect, but to be fair they only had about a minute.

Pix was fully aware of what someone like Mal was capable of. He was looking at it.

The prisoner pressed the explosive material onto the underside of a fountain tier so Kris could find it later. He then closed back up the casing tight, rolled up his smart trousers, and then took off his shoes. The police weren't long in responding to the discrepancy in his ankle monitor. They arrived to find him with his feet dipped in the pool, reading a Bible.

“...oh. Oh! You don't think that- The water. And the... Whoops.” His day trip was over, they escorted him back to prison from there. It didn't matter if they believed him or not. Pix's trial was about to go very well. Very well indeed.