being fifteen and twenty years younger respectively, the soldier in them recognizes a command when given, making them stand a little straighter.
“You have our word,” Danny vows, and for whatever reason, I believe him. Even if they turn down my offer and walk away, I don’t think they’ll repeat anything I’m about to say.
“I don’t work for the new Gemini. I am the new Gemini,” I tell them softly and hold back the smirk when both of them look at me in shock.
“What? How? Why?” they manage to blurt out between them. I take a risk and give them my story, glossing over Megan and Wyatt as much as I can, and finish up with my plan.
“Holy fuck! I don’t know if I’m impressed or just plain horrified,” Baker blurts out.
“It’s okay to be both. It’s not the life I envisioned for myself, but it’s the one I’ve found myself tangled up in. I’m not gonna lie, it’s gonna get bloody, and I can’t guarantee everyone will come out the other side—” This time it’s Danny who holds up his hand.
“We get it. This city has been under the control of that fucking tyrant as long as I’ve lived here. You’re either with him or against him, and if it’s the latter, he will wipe you and your whole bloodline from the planet as a punishment and a lesson to the next person who dares to defy him. If you think you can topple him from his throne, I say fuck yeah, I’m in. I have enough blood on my hands to pave my way to hell already, what’s little more?”
He looks at Baker, who is watching me avidly.
“Why were you on the streets?” he asks me softly, but I don’t miss the way his jaw clenches.
I don’t answer, there was a reason I left that part out.
“Someone hurt you?” he asks, not giving me a chance to avoid answering.
I nod once, not giving him the details, those are mine and nobody needs the ability to track me back to Clyde. Plus, if I don’t mention it, it’s far harder to slip up and say something I shouldn’t.
“Fuck, you were just a kid,” Baker growls. I don’t say anything, letting him work through his anger, knowing it isn’t directed at me.
“The things I saw when I was a soldier were fucked up. We were in the middle of a war zone, but even so, I wasn’t prepared for the things I saw—the women, the children...” He swallows hard before looking away for a minute. When he turns back, his eyes are blazing.
“When I came home, I thought I had left the dregs of society behind. Instead, what I found was worse. We don’t have war and poverty as an excuse, we are just natural-born monsters with an appetite for greed so profound that it’s impossible to sate. I’ll help you, I’ll be at your back, your side, and right in front of you if that’s what you need. I’ll be damned if I came home from war just to live in a new type of warzone.”
I swallow down a lump in my throat and fight back the shimmer of tears I can feel pressing in on me.
“Thank you. I’ll try to rein in my crazy when I’m around you, but things are going to get worse before they get better and I need to prepare for that.”
“Girl, let your freak flag fly, we won’t judge. Now tell us what you need from us today and we’ll get loaded up.” Danny grins, which lights up his whole face. It’s infectious, and I can’t help but smile back and fuck, it feels good.
“Are you guys armed?”
They look at me as if to say what do you think?
I roll my eyes. “Right, stupid question. Okay, I need to visit one of the division heads. I’m gonna call him up first. He slipped me his number the night of the initiation. I need allies, and the more division heads I have on my side, the better.”
“So is the guy replacing Leo?” Danny questions, tilting his head.
“Yep. I don’t know the story behind the old Leo passing though, do you?”
Danny shakes his head, but Baker looks at me thoughtfully.
“Don’t hold me to this, but I heard that there was a disagreement between Zodiac and Leo. Then the next thing I know, Leo, who was my age, had a surprise heart attack.”