Chapter Text
“WHAT THE ACTUALL HELL WERE YOU THINKING?! WERE YOU EVEN THINKING?! DO YOU UNDERSTAND AT ALL HOW MUCH MONEY YOU COULD HAVE COST US?!”
“H-hey, take it easy Lamp, I said I was sorry, alright? You don’t need to be so loud, I’m sitting right across the table, you know…”
“Oh, I’m about to do more than just ‘be loud’ you son of a bitch,” the bespectacled man in question hissed in anger as he reached across the table to grab his partner by the collar, seriously contemplating choking the smaller man while glairing down at him in pure unfiltered anger.
It was already bad enough that he had had to come to the warehouse late because he had gotten held up at work (although when trying to climb the ladder in politics, sometimes you just have to make personal sacrifices), but it was a whole different can of worms that, as soon as Lamp had set foot in the building, he was greeted with a sight that took it’s time to burn itself into the back of his mind. Hell, even as he was currently reprimanding his partner (who looked in turn both terrified as well as hungover via the side effects from the drug that had been in his system from earlier), Lamp could still see the scene of that poor kid getting bent over the control panel and pressed again the glass by Hamegg clear as day…
“I-I said I was sorry, okay?! What more do you want from me? I already told you I didn’t care if you took the fee from breaking that damn jar out of my cut from the bets for tonight, but I swear to God I don’t know what came over me, so you yelling at me isn’t going to do anything good, you know?”
“You don’t know what came over you?! Hamegg, I had to call security to get you off that poor girl, who by the way, you were still taking your sweet time with even after she passed out! Hell, you even tried to stab me when I tried to talk to you after we dragged you out of that damn room and took the girl to the infirmary we had to set up in the back! If I hadn’t sedated you, I would probably have had to have someone knock you out because you wouldn’t calm down, never mind the fact you kept talking about all the crap you and her still had to do with each other –”
“Hey, that’s not true–” the shorter man started to murmur under his breath, only to grit his teeth as his headache (which he had had prior to dealing with all this crap involving that damn jar and that woman from earlier that Lamp was going on about and which wasn’t helped in the slightest now given how hard Lamp was currently shaking him in anger) seemed to intensify to the point he started to close his eyes to give himself a bit of relief.
“Do you even understand what I’m saying to you…? If you’re actually sorry like you say you are at least take the time to look at me, damnit!” Finally releasing the shorter man from his grip since the latter couldn’t apparently bother to look him in the eyes anymore, Lamp finally found himself taking a deep breath to calm himself before rubbing his temples as he closed his own eyes.
How the hell did everything end up like this…? This was supposed to be a simple job…
About a year ago prior to when all this shit had hit the fan, you see, Lamp (who had spent the past 3 years climbing the political ladder across the country where he was currently staying) had run into an impasse regarding his finances as far as advancing his political career and taking care of his family were concerned. As such, he had figured that by reaching out to an old colleague from back in his younger gangbanging years, Hamegg, he could set up an arena where he could make some cash on the side (which up until now had been successful in all honesty) while simultaneously cracking down on the robotic riots that had been plaguing this particular city for months now. In other words, after buying the warehouse that the two men were currently sitting in with the last bit of his savings about a year ago, Lamp and Hamegg had managed to set up a small empire in the world of illegal robot fighting rings, Robo – Crush, via obtaining malfunctioning/’dangerous’ robots off the street or buying them directly from black market vendors since buying said warehouse, and for a time, things were going great!
However, all good things must come to an end, and after having run into some trouble with the recent fights not raking in as much money as they used to, money Lamp desperately needed for an upcoming campaign he was planning on running to try to get elected as an official in this city so that he could establish a base of permanent operations for him and Hamegg, Lamp had decided to reach out to more of his and Hamegg’s old gangbanger buddies. From here, it didn’t take long before Lamp found himself becoming acquainted with a local drug cartel leader who had connections going back to one of the original gangs Lamp himself had been apart of back in the day, and who also seemed to be his and Hamegg’s one way ticket to a large pay out.
After this fateful meeting, then, everything seemingly played out like it was destined to be. After getting acquainted with the cartel leader, Lamp came to discover that they had been funding a local drug company’s research on a controversial aphrodisiac/drug, Ganicane, a drug the cartel had been planning on selling to the highest bidder on the black market for almost a year now, but after some legal disputes, said company had lost the rights to the research to a rival company who planned to destroy the research as well as any remaining samples of Ganicane that remained after a court hearing in a few days. As such, the cartel, royally pissed this series of events had occurred, offered to make a deal with Lamp that the bespectacled man had found hard to refuse:
Around midnight on Friday, the cartel would be sending one of their lackeys to break into the rival company’s factory which just so happened to not only be located close to Lamp’s warehouse, but which also contained a decently large sample of the drug stored inside the premises. From here on out, Lamp would meet up with her (he had never been told what her name was, and was only shown a photo of what she looked like as well as given a description of what she would be wearing) at his warehouse sometime early Saturaday morning, give her a ‘cut of the profit’ (which, if Lamp was being honest, wasn’t even a quarter of what the drug was going to sell on the black market for) after taking the jar from her, and send her on her way. An exchange that, on paper, should have been a walk in the park.
Unfortunately, given how Lamp was currently staring back at his partner (who had broken the jar in question before he managed to drug both himself and the unlucky girl the cartel had sent to get the jar in the first place) over the table he was sitting at on the verge of passing out despite having previously slept for the past 15 hours straight (again, because he was crashing from the drug that had been in his system), it was clear as day that said simple exchange didn’t go according to plan in the slightest.
For one, the lackey the cartel had sent to retrieve the Ganicane sample hadn’t taken as long to get it as the cartel had apparently thought she would (she took only 2 hours after entering the building exactly at midnight to get the drug), and so afterwards she had shown up earlier then the cartel and Lamp himself had anticipated to wait for Lamp at his warehouse. Now normally, since he often got done with work around 5:00 PM with enough time to go home, see his family, and head back to the warehouse for Robo – Crush around 1-2:00 AM, the lackey should have still been able to run into Lamp to make the deal and then be on her way. However, Lamp, again, was running late to the warehouse that particular night due to having to stay behind at work. As such, because he himself knew he wasn’t going to make it there in case the girl showed up early, he had instructed Hamegg to patrol the grounds outside the front door to the warehouse while staying on the lookout for the girl in question. Unfortunately for Lamp, something must have gotten grievously misunderstood in their chain of communication since apparently the latter, after running into the girl, had thought she was an intruder and/or someone trying to sneak into Robo – Crush without a ticket, and thus needed reminding from the former to keep her in his line of sight while hosting the event until Lamp could get done with work to head over there.
In short, since he himself couldn’t be there until after 4-5:00 AM (or around the time Robo – Crush should have been almost over), Hamegg had one job and one job only: He needed to keep the girl with the jar in his line of sight at all times until Lamp arrived, all the while making sure no harm came to either her or the jar since, in addition to being worth a lot of money, Lamp wasn’t 100% sure just what was in Ganicane (he knew it was supposed to be a ‘aphrodisiac’ but wasn’t sure just what ingredients were in it, as well as if it had any negative side effects after you were exposed to it) and didn’t really care to find out.
Unfortunately, Hamegg being Hamegg meant that such a job was bound to fail in the end. As such, once the dust had settled after Lamp and the security guards he had had on staff that night had managed to get the girl away from Hamegg and to the infirmary they were forced to set up in the back room of the warehouse which they often used as a makeshift auto body repair shop for the robots used in the arena after Lamp's partner had broken the jar and gotten Ganicane on himself and that poor girl, it was only as Lamp found his vision returning to the present to observe his partner now passed out in front of him from exhaustion and/or crashing from the high Ganicane had given him that the taller man found himself giving a groan as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Indeed, given the events that had spiraled out of control up until now, it didn’t take a rocket scientist as far as Lamp was concerned to figure out that this so – called 'simple job' he had been pinning his hopes on for almost a month had blown up in smoke…
“Oh well,” the bespectacled man finally sighed as he rubbed his temples yet again before taking his glasses off his tired face only to tuck them away in his jacket pocket, followed by him pulling a lighter and a box of cigarettes out of his front pocket shortly after. “At least those nurses that cartel sent over from that back – ally doctor down the street were able to get a sample of that damn drug from Hamegg and her’s bloodstream. So, even though it’s not going to be as much of a payout as it would have been if I had given them the larger sample, at least I should still have enough money to fund my campaign and Robo – Crush for the rest of the year…”
“…does that mean I still get a cut too after all…?”
“YOU WERE AWAKE THIS WHOLE TIME?!” A candle lighting up on the back of his head, it took everything Lamp had not to slap his partner (who apparently wasn’t sleeping like he had thought he was, the little shit) while also holding back a heart attack as he dropped his lit cigarette onto the ground before making eye contact with the man trying to lift his head off the table in front of him.
“Y-yeah, sorry about not talking, it’s just…after you shook me around like that, I thought I was going to throw up and shit, so I figured if I rested for a bit I would feel better…” Rubbing his eyes with the backs of his hands as he sat up, Hamegg squinted at the man in front of him before a small grin stretched across his face as he eyed the still lit cigarette on the ground at their feet. “Do you mind sharing? I know you’re probably still pissed at me and everything, but now that I’ve rested a bit, I think I can actually start talking about what happened again.”
“Sure, why not? I mean you slept for 15 fucking hours already and I had to almost risk my career to prevent you from getting arrested, but sure, let me give you one of my last cigarettes even though I probably won’t be able to go to the store until tomorrow.”
“Really? Thanks Ace, you’re a true pal, you know that?” Eagerly reaching his right hand out towards Lamp as the grin on his face grew wider still, the latter couldn’t help but roll his eyes while muttering a ‘yeah, I bet’ under his breath before reluctantly handing over what was asked of him, all the while wishing he had a drink so that he would be able to better deal with the situation at hand.
Waiting a moment after the man in front of him finally lit the cigarette up with a match he had had on him in his suit pocket, Lamp sighed as he leaned on the table via his elbow before getting back to discussing the matter at hand as he stomped out his own formerly lit one on the ground with his right shoe (considering how dirty these floors were, he didn't think it was worth picking up even if it was one of his last ones).
“You said you’re ready to talk, right? So tell me, what exactly do you remember as far as the last 24 hours are concerned, Hamegg? I put my ass on the line to make sure you weren’t arrested and took the steps to make sure that woman isn’t pressing charges against you, so the least you can do is tell me just what the hell was going through your head when I found you on the balcony with her.”
“Well first, before we get into my memories and everything, can you please explain to me again by what all you mean by that? You sound so serious about me almost being sent to prison, and I still don’t really understand what happened to that girl, so if you explain those things to me again then maybe I can fill in the gaps? Because I’ll be honest with ya Ace, I think we’ll be here much longer if you ask me to regale you with the tale of how I ended up with the worst hangover I think I’ve ever experienced in my life after getting splashed with some mystery slime – liquid shit.”
“Alright, but this is the last damn time I’m explaining this shit to you, so you better pay attention because I’m on the verge of just throwing you to the cops so that I don’t have to deal with your ass and the paperwork anymore. You remember how I called you around 2 in the morning yesterday, yes?”
“Yeah, you told me to watch that girl and the jar she had with her while also hosting Robo – Crush, I remember that much.”
“Okay. So then, after that phone call, you remember how I texted you about how those guys were trying to rig bets during the first match, right?”
“Yeah, you said to tell the girl that so that I could take her with me up front to the control panel so that I could keep a better eye on her and that jar. Oh! By the way, did we ever find out who it was that was trying to cheat us?”
“Hamegg…”
“R-right, sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to get off track. So, anyway, after you called me, I remember taking her and the jar to the control panel, I remember that that actually happened right, but then after that the rest is kinda fuzzy if I’m being honest. Just what exactly did you say I was doing with that girl again?”
Sighing internally, Lamp gritted his teeth in frustration as he turned his gaze to the side, his face a light pink as he started speaking once again. “Wipe that shit eating grin off your face, you idiot, you know exactly what you and that girl were doing. I’ve known you long enough by now that whenever you sleep with anyone you can’t stop running your mouth about it until you either get burnt out on talking about it or you sleep with a different person, so just get it out of your system already… I don’t care if you and that girl had sex, I’m asking how it happened, because if you got her to consent to everything the two of you did then me wasting those pills on her was for nothing!”
“Wait a sec, what are you talking about? You never mentioned giving her pills earlier.”
“Oh yes I did, and even if I didn’t talk about it, you shouldn’t be surprised! I told you earlier you two were going at it until she passed out, and you yourself were still going long after that had happened by the time I finally got to the balcony with security to, once again, calm you down since you were acting insane, so what the hell kind of pills do you think I’m talking about, smart guy?”
“Oh, you meant those kinda pills? Well, yeah, I guess you giving her a morning after pill should have, er, been a given… S-sorry about that again, Ace…” Watching in disbelief as the man across from him rubbed the back of his own head sheepishly, Lamp pinched the bridge of his nose before glaring at the latter.
“‘Been a given’? After you finished inside her that many times, you better be praying that she doesn’t actually get pregnant from all that shit you put her through! Because, while I did have the nurses give her a morning after pill like you said, the nurses looking over her also told me that after taking the Ganicane sample out of her blood they noticed she might have started ovulating*1, so in the event the memory pills they gave her in addition to that pill start acting up, and that girl ends up getting pregnant and decides to take action by reporting you to the police or blackmailing you for money, then that’s on you! So don’t come dragging your ass back to me to fix that crap when I’ve already done all I can to help you, especially if she decides to risk getting herself put in jail just to get you arrested out of spite.”
“'M-memory…pills'? What the hell are you talking about…?”
I-is this bastard only hearing what he wants to hear, or is he just that stupid…
Sighing in frustration, Lamp shot daggers at the man across from him before taking a deep breath so that he wouldn’t completely lose what little bit of his temper he still had left. “Given all that you did to her, the nurses, being involved with the drug cartel paying us, suggested we give that girl you slept with some experimental pills that should alter her memory from the last 24 hours or so, so that while she will remember meeting you and being in that room with the jar, her brain should theoretically bypass the crap you did to her after you broke the jar and drugged the both of you. That said, since she’s still sleeping in the infirmary, once she wakes up I will give her the money I owe her for all this, and after confirming the story the nurses should be telling her once she wakes up soon, that she fainted while in your care after the jar broke and that that’s all that happened while she was with you, you and I are going to send that poor kid on her way. Provided, again, the memory pills actually work like they’re supposed to.”
“So, then if she ends up remembering everything we did together, or if she ends up becoming pregnant…”
“Then that’s your problem, Hamegg, not mine. Knowing you, half the shit you two did probably wasn’t consented to on her end at all, but you’re my friend and I don’t want to see your ass get arrested because you got high from whatever the hell was in that jar and you decided to act like an idiot, so be thankful I’ve at least done this much for you, you hear me? I’m putting my fucking career on the line for this bullshit, so if you end up knocking her up, I think the least you can do is stand up and take just a bit of responsibility, that’s not asking much from you considering all I’ve done for you up until now!”
“Y-you’re right, I’m sorry… Thank you again for helping me out here, you really are a true friend, Ace.” Watching as the man across from him sulked before looking down at his lap while taking the smoke out his mouth, Lamp rolled his eyes at his old friend's dramatics before groaning in annoyance as he felt his cellphone vibrate in his pants pocket. Fishing the device out to look at who was calling or texting him, he gave another groan as he rose to his feet. Clapping Hamegg on the shoulder, he snapped his fingers to get the smaller man’s attention before pointing to the still lit smoke in the latter’s hand.
“Yeah, I bet. Now hurry up and either put that out for later or throw it away, it’s time we go tell our little guest goodbye.”
“W-w-wait a minute, Mr., I can’t take all this money, I broke the jar, remember? I don’t want you to get in trouble with my boss because you gave me too much for some broken glass!”
“Nonsense, this is the money you deserve for all your hard work, kid! Besides, you aren’t the one who should be apologizing here for that broken glass, isn’t that right, Hamegg?” Turning his head to glare slightly at the shorter man sitting next to him briefly (who, in turn, flinched slightly in his seat as he studied the floor tiles), Lamp quickly turned his attention back to you with a smile on his face once again, an action which was oddly calming you down since you were no longer trapped alone in the same room as the creep sitting next to the former.
Since waking up about half an hour ago, although you were still feeling sluggish despite, at least according to the nurses who had been looking after you, having slept for almost 17 hours straight without getting up to eat, use the bathroom, etc., you still had enough self – awareness to recognize that you weren’t in an ordinary hospital room. Rather, you seemed to be staying in a modified room that gave you the impression that, prior to your little visit, it had been used as some kind of mechanics – space, something akin to a car repair shop or the like (it certainly smelled that way too). However, this observation wasn’t the only thing that came rushing back to you after waking up as, when the two men in front of you had entered the room just a few minutes ago, you almost immediately recognized the one on the left with the curly black hair. Indeed, you would be hard pressed to forget the bastard that not only broke the jar that could have killed the both of you, but which luckily hadn’t had the chance to affect you in the slightest since (at least according to the nurses) you had fainted from stress and exhaustion before the chemicals could even touch you, but who had also spent a good portion of late evening Friday and early morning Saturday terrorizing you (and most likely causing you to faint to begin with period).
As such, after making these observations as they continued to approach you, you tried your best to calm yourself so that you wouldn’t pass out again when the taller man in the grey suit with glasses began to speak to you.
“Good, you’re finally awake! You know, after everything you went through, I was beginning to worry about you, kid! I honestly thought for a minute that these lovely ladies here were wrong about you not being in a coma…”
“…w-what..? Who are you? Are you a cop or something…?” Giving the taller man a weary look, your eyes widened in surprise as you noticed what appeared to be a candle suddenly appear on the back of his head as he looked at you surprised in turn in regards to your question.
H-how is he doing that?! Am I imagining things or am I still dreaming…
“What?! Good lord no, at least not in this series anyway*2. I believe you were told about me prior to coming here, maybe? You see, I was the man you were supposed to meet up with to give that jar to, before my partner Hamegg here, who as I’m sure you probably know by now is a bit of an idiot –”
“Hey!”
“ – broke the jar you were supposed to give to me. However, don’t worry too much about that, because after it broke all the chemicals spilled on the floor, that’s true, but I was able to salvage enough to still get the drug through to the proper channels, so I am now here to give you your money for all your troubles!”
Looking the candle man up and down slowly, your eyes widened in realization that he not only matched the description of the man your boss had originally told you to meet up with at the warehouse, but that he was also wearing a grey suit, the same suit your boss had told you the man you were meant to see would be wearing. Relief washing over you briefly, you quickly began to panic seconds later as, since you had been distracted by getting lost in your thoughts, you failed to notice the man, Lamp as you would later come to find out his name was, had grabbed his wallet out of his jacket pocket and was now counting out a rather large sum of cash that sent your mind reeling.
An action which currently brought you back to the present, and which led you to the previous conversation above.
“A-a-are you sure? That looks like an awful lot of money, and I, um, don’t honestly think I really deserve that much even if you say that I worked hard for it. I mean, that’s, like, almost half a million in your hand and you’re still counting…”
“Well, what were you honestly expecting given the mission you were sent on, Miss? I mean this drug my friend, your boss, sent you to retrieve is going to make big bucks on the black market, so I think just a little over half a million is more than enough to cover the finder’s fee. Unless, of course, you wanted me to cheat you out of your cut?”
“Of course not, I just, um…” Trailing off as you folded your hands in your lap with your head down since you could feel your face starting to heat up in embarrassment, you also couldn’t help the small smile creeping across your face as Lamp continued to count out your earnings. You couldn’t really explain why you were so happy to hear his words, but the candle man kinda reminded you of a father figure, or rather the dad – type person you had often found yourself surrounded by while you were still back in college via your professors. As such, before you started getting lost in thought again by reminiscing on your golden years (i.e. back before your life had turned to crap and you had fooled yourself into thinking you still had a promising future ahead of you), you forced yourself to look at Lamp once again to receive the money he was about to pay you, only to freeze up as your eyes wondered off to the side slightly and made direct contact with his partner, Hamegg.
Well, at least I was right about his name and who he was after all… Thank God he actually allowed me to live long enough for me to wind up here, although I’m still pissed he didn’t get into any trouble for breaking that damn jar… I wonder if he fainted too, eventually? Maybe even while he was working or announcing those robot fights? Oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter, although I wish he would stop staring at me, I just looked at him for a second…
A chill running down your spine as you still felt the raven – haired man’s gaze on you (thereby draining away any warmth his partner had left behind in its wake), you shifted uncomfortably on the cot you were still sitting on while praying that the candle man would hurry up just a bit more so that you could collect your things and leave.
“And that’s $700,000 in cash right here, Miss! Feel free to count it out yourself if you’d like to, but I can assure you that it’s all right there as I said, and before I lose it, don’t forget to also take this as well too!” Looking up from the large wad of cash in your tiny hands, something that had taken your attention away from the fact that Hamegg was still looking at you (albeit discreetly now) for some reason, you quickly found your attention on Lamp once again (albeit mostly to block out the fact that his partner was still staring at you for your own mental health) as the candle man handed you a money clip that he than instructed you to wrap around the cash he had handed you moments ago.
“Since you don’t have any way to carry your cash other than in your jacket kid, make sure to keep that clip on you until you can get a wallet or a purse to carry it properly, okay? Some of the nurses told me you were planning on staying here in town for another week or so, so if you end up checking into a hotel or anything, consider opening a checking account temporarily so that you don’t have to watch that money like a hawk from now on. That said though, if you decide to not do that, don’t let that money out of your sight, alright? I hate to sound like a dad and everything, but I tell my own kids the same crap all the time, and after seeing how they handle their money as well as remembering how I used to be back in the day, I’d hate to see all your hard work go to waste after all the trouble you went through to earn this cash in the first place, you know?”
“Yes, um, sir, I’ll make sure to keep that advice in mind. Thank you very much, I really appreciate all your help!” Smiling warmly at him, you couldn’t help but look down at your lap in embarrassment once again as you heard the candle man laugh lightly at your reaction.
“Don’t mention it, kid, and don’t worry about those little formalities, Lamp or Mr. Lamp if you prefer will do just fine! Since you’ll be here in town for another week or so, you’ll also probably be seeing me and my partner here once or twice again, so feel free to say hi if you see us in town and thank you yourself for getting me that jar sample, I can’t tell you how important this is to me.” Standing up and stretching his hand out to you, you found yourself shaking the candle man’s hand after stuffing the cash in your jacket pocket, and after giving a brief awkward wave goodbye to his partner for formalities sake, you picked up your shoes, an old box of cigarettes you had been keeping on your person, and finally your lighter (all of which Hamegg had taken the liberty of confiscating from you when you had apparently been distracted earlier when he had first brought you into that damn balcony room), and turned on your heels to meet up with the nurse that was going to be walking you out of the warehouse.
Maybe things really are starting to look up for me after all…