Chapter Text
Talon had never had reason to question Marcus. Not in what he was told to do, not in what the man himself chose to do. After all, the man had an uncanny way of knowing what would happen in most situations and Talon had always admired this.
So on a day he was looking for something Talon said he'd left in the basement, Talon thought nothing of retrieving it and simply bringing it back upstairs. But as he looked for the packet in the silence of Marcus' downstairs' study, he heard a faint sound. A sound like someone sobbing. Moving in the direction of the sound, he pressed his ear against the wall to realize the sound got louder. Groping along the wall, he found a door, opening it to reveal a secret dungeon.
That's when he heard Marcus' voice from upstairs.
Shutting it quickly, he ran back upstairs to present the packet, apologizing for his delay.
Marcus brushed it off, taking to the packet and discussing Talon's next job.
It was hard to concentrate, his mind still on the wails of a man's voice echoing.
In the upcoming days, Marcus had a job to attend to, leaving the house under Katarina's control for a few days. Though he'd tried to forget the sound, he couldn't quite let it go.
Marcus had never mentioned torturing someone on such close quarters and he was quite curious as to what his lord would inflict on another person.
Katarina very rarely checked in with Talon, leaving him with plenty of free time to check out the dungeon on his own time. A day after the man left, he went back into the basement, finding the door once more and ensuring it closed behind him (and that he could open it from the inside) before traveling down the halls.
There were multiple cells, all empty. Some of them showed no trace of having ever been used.
Until he reached the very end of the hall, where in a relatively small cell was a man curled on his side, facing away from the bars.
He was dressed in only pants, tan body and brown hair looking out of place in the dark space. This was clearly a child of the desert, someone who likely loved the sun. Just being underground was probably torture enough.
Then the man rolled over and Talon saw a face not that much older than his own.
“Hi, Talon,” He said from the floor and Talon took two steps back in defense. “Relax, Marcus has to give me names and information if he wants specific readings. You do so much of his dirty work, he had to give me more about you,” The brunette rolled to sit up a little more, looking over Talon. “Your pictures don't do you any justice.”
“Who are you?”
“Malzahar,” He smiled widely, even with the bags under his eyes and the light bruises across his body, he looked friendly. Talon would have almost gone as far to say he was attractive: almost.
“Why are you down here?”
All the kindness on his face vanished in a flash, a stern frown taking its place. “Start taking guesses, Talon. You think he pulls kids from the gutter for anything but turning a profit? Not everyone he uses does he adopt.”
“Then you must not obey orders.”
Dark laughter poured from Malzahar's mouth, slapping his knee as Talon stood there, struck by this person's antics. Who acted this way when they were sitting in a cell, at the mercy of anyone who came by?
“Oh, Talon. I obey his orders just fine, I just can't tell him what he wants to hear every day. I can only see the future, I can't change it. Especially not down here,” He gestured to the emptiness all around him.
“See the future?” Talon echoed, taking an unconscious step forward.
“Yes, Talon. I can see the future. Your future,” Malzahar scooted forward as well. “Want me to tell you a little of yours?”
“No-”
“You have a job waiting for you upstairs right now, one that Katarina will want you to leave on immediately. The man will die easily, a knife to the throat, a knife to the side,” Running a finger just under his ribs, Malzahar continued smiling. “You'll be witnessed though, so there will be a second casualty. Luckily, it won't be too big a deal. She's just his girlfriend, after all. Easy to cover up as a homicide, suicide. You're smart enough to make it look good.”
“How do you know what I do-”
“Marcus won't be pleased, but that's okay Talon, because you make up for it. The information you get out of her before she dies makes up for it-”
Somehow they were face to face now, Malzahar's hand touching the edge of Talon's chin. Startled, Talon jumped back, staring at Malzahar's smiling face before turning to run away.
Upstairs his heart rate hadn't returned to normal, but sure enough, Katarina was in the kitchen with the information for his job.
“I need you to take care of this immediately,” She said, not bothering to ask why he was flushed or why he was breathing so hard. When he picked up the information, he stared at the information, startled to read about it.
“I'll head out now,” Talon replied, going to suit up before leaving without another word.
The site was nothing special, some mafia head's apartment, average security. Nothing Talon couldn't handle. Falling silently into the man's bathroom, he spotted him easily, dropping two knives into him without worry.
He heard the sound of something dropping, flipping to catch the woman by the neck, snapping it a bit too easily. Setting it up to look like she'd hung herself, he pilfered the room for something to prove the kill and make up the second casualty.
She had an interesting necklace, which upon second inspection was a USB drive. Snatching that and the man's ring, he left quickly, a routine inspection finding the deceased couple less than five minutes from his departure.
Marcus was home two days after his mission and wasn't pleased at all about the second kill. But when Talon handed him his proof, his eyes lit up at the USB drive.
“Good job,” He said. Talon felt a thrill of success from his head to his toes.
Now he wanted to speak to that demon in the basement more than ever. Maybe that person could get him even more recognition.