Billy Goats Gruff - Trashed & Picking Up The Pieces

Cain's vision was blurred as he coughed, one eye swollen shut and his nose stuffed and aching, probably broken. He hoped not. At the same time, he was kind of grateful because he couldn't smell a damn thing as he found himself in a damn dumpster. He grunted and he unsteadily pushed the lid above him open. “Mal?” He rasped, clambering unsteadily out.

“Cain!” Mal said, jogging over to help. “I know I told you you could get trashed, but come on.”

“Screw you my face hurts so goddamn much.” Cain groaned as Mal helped him out.

“It’s been killing us for years,” Mal quipped back, tilting Cain’s head for a better look.

“You. Suck. So. Much. Dude hit me twice and folded like wet paper.” Cain winced as Mal inspected his face.

“Yeah, he was some sort of anomaly,” Mal told him. “I got a good visual on him though, and we can run audio recognition. Plus he was wearing tags.”

“Tags? Like? Military?” Cais said tenderly touching his nose.

“Like the military. Don’t touch it, we’ll ice it up when we get home. Where’s Dogo?” Mal asked.

“Dunno. Haven’t heard a peep.” Cain said, trying not to touch his nose. “He’s fine right? Can’t be too far?”

“Dogo!” Mal called, whistling two short blasts.

Dogo dipped in and out of consciousness for a bit. It was all he could do to wheezed air in an out his throat hurt so much. The distant whistle help bring in enough focus to paw at his com. He tried to talk but it only resulted in instant regret. He took a ragged breath and tried tap code against the com.

Help. Can’t. Breath.

Mal looked at Cain, then took off to where they’d seen him last.

The duo traced their steps back in the most tense game of Hot and Cold. Checking any and every dumpster they encountered. They were surprisingly close to where the Rave was still raging when they flipped the lid, finding Dogo, pale and glassy eyed, still wheezing for breath. The bruising around his neck already a deep purple.

“Shit, okay, relax, relax.” Mal ordered, gingerly helping the boy out of the trashcan, “We got you.”

Cain was on the other side helping extract Dogo to try and get him to his feet, grabbing his arm to keep his wobbling wheezing brother steady.

Dogo leaned heavy onto Cain, standing up right when you were short of breath just made his head spin. Worse he was feeling pretty damn stupid getting so easily jumped like that.

“Damn, got you good, huh?” Mal said lightly, as he messaged Kimura with his free hand.

“Who the hell was he … also how did you get out so intact?” Cain said realizing Mal didn’t have so much as a scratch on him.

Kimura texted Mal back immediately and was sending a private medi unit there asap.

“I gave him the shoe,” Mal said, as if that explained everything.

Dogo gave Mal a confused look.

“Is … that like … code for … something?” Cain said equally confused. “It was sex wasn’t it. It's slang for sex right?”

“Why do you always assume it’s sex? You need to get laid bruh,” Mal chastised. “So get this, the guy - definitely some sort of paramilitary, or at least he thinks he is. He had tags, I got a good close up of them. And he’s definitely some sort of anom. His eyes were blacked out. As in black sclera - it didn’t look cosmetic.”

“Dude hits like a freight train.” Cain huffed. “Gotta be, getting the jump on me and Dogo like he did. Real question is what can he do other than gorilla punch.”

“I sure as shit didn’t want to find out,” Mal told him. “He said leave the girl alone, obviously he’s either a boyfriend or brother… something. But we should be able to ID him, and then hopefully pigtails. Maybe he’s her connection, who she gets the Carbon Copy from.”

“If he watches her back like some sort of pitbull it’s a sound theory. Red jacket ain't dealing so they found someone desperate or dumb enough who was willing.” Cain speculated and the flashing light of the medi unit zoomed in.

“Desperate and dumb describes a lot of people there,” Mal said with a shake of his head. “Why would she be trying to pawn it at the sprawl? That goes for thousands of credits, no one here has that sort of credit bank.”

“Desperate and dumb.” Cain reminded. “Damn my nose is killing me … well go over that footage with a fine tooth comb. Later.” He said as they eased Dogo on a stretcher, the paramedic taking over as they piled in. “So damn close too …”

“At least… we have some sort of lead,” Mal said as the med-evac got them the hell out of there.

Cain gave a grateful sigh when got an icepack on his face. “More than what he had in weeks but it was a hell of a cost.”