Page 38 of Fight
“Jynx, that needs about five stitches,” Rip says drily, clearly not impressed.
I shrug, “Yeah, a couple of stitches.”
“That’s not,” Mase starts and then shakes his head, seeming to think that whatever he was going to say isn’t worth it after all, “never mind, come back here, and I’ll stitch you up. I have some numbing stuff this time.”
“Thanks,” I smile as I climb over the front seats and plop my ass down on the bench next to Mason so that he can stitch up my arm.
“I’m going to have clean it up, and it’s going to sting a bit.” Mason adds with a frown, “The numbing stuff won’t do much good because of the amount of dried blood, and then I’d just end up wiping it off when I clean the slice, so it wouldn’t work anyway. I mean, I could try it anyway, but . . .”
I put my finger on his lips to stop him from rambling, which is what his concern has very quickly turned into, “Mase, seriously, it’s fine. It’s only a few stitches, and as I’m sure you can imagine, I’ve had worse injuries and far more stitches without any numbing spray. If you’d rather I can stitch it up myself, it’s not too awkward an angle.”
“No, I’ve got it,” Mason replies, as he gets his supplies out of his many pockets, I really need to get myself some of those pants, they’re damn handy on jobs.
Once Mason focuses on what he needs to do, and not my pain level or anything like that, he has me stitched up and ready to go in a couple of minutes which is a good job because Rome suddenly says, “I think we may have been out here for too long. The front door has just opened, and some of the grandparents have started to come out.”
“Come on, let’s go in and see what damage they’ve done to the estate's alcohol supply,” I chuckle as we all get out of the van.
“Did everything go okay?” Ruth asks, her face lined with concern.
Rome smiles, as we all approach them, “Everything went fine. Daniel and the three who were still alive have all been taken.”
“I’ll get an update when they’re processed, and if I want to know which facility they’ve ended up in,” I add.
“Good,” Francis says firmly, “now, celebration drinks?”
“Yes, let’s.” Dexter agrees, “Thanks to the kids, we are now one step closer, and a big step at that, to getting this town back where it should be.”
“And that definitely deserves a drink,” Mason Sr adds, “besides, you all look a bit worse for wear, are you okay?”
Rip nods as we follow them through the front door and into the front room, where the other grandparents are all waiting, with drinks in their hands, “Yeah, we’re fine. Nothing too serious, and we had fun.”
“I’ll say,” Cecil replies, “we saw the aftermath of your fun. Damn impressive.”
“Thanks, Grandpa,” Ace replies, sounding proud. “Oh, that reminds me, we have the smugglers to deal with, but I’d also like to put up some proper security around town, and obviously since that’s our families specialty I was wondering if maybe you would like to help me, so that you know how to work it all when we go back?”
Cecil grins, “Absolutely, you’re going to have to train me up on the newer systems but I learn pretty damn quickly, and I do know some things so hopefully it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”
“Great,” Ace replies.
We accept drinks from Thomas with a grateful smile, and I share a nod and raise my glass with Malory. She can sure as hell hold her own, and while I understand why leaving this life behind is the best thing for her, she’s got the skills to be incredibly successful if she chose to stay; I’d happily make her a member of the Ravens. After a quick rundown of the events, after it turns out that Malory decided to wait until we were back to tell them anything because she didn’t know everything from every angle since we all had different jobs, and entry points, which to be honest, makes complete sense. We tell it from each of our points of view, and the grandparents seem quite impressed by the time we’re done.
As we accept our second drinks, Rome says, “Alright, enough work, talk. Shall we light the bonfire?”
“Absolutely,” Cecil grins, jumping up. “I’ve got my gun ready. I couldn’t find any explosives, though.”
“I’ve got some, I can share,” Ace replies casually.
“You have explosives on you?” I ask, shocked.
“Well yeah, it's perfectly safe as it is,” Ace replies, trying to reassure me.
“I’m just going to trust that you know what you’re talking about, and I’m only going to trust that you know what you’re talking about because I’ve watched you diffuse bombs, so I’m going assume that means you wouldn’t be stupid enough to blow yourself up.” This is my rambling reply.
“And I can tell by your rambling that it makes you nervous,” Ace says, “but I promise you’re right; it’s perfectly safe.”
“We’ve been trained in this sort of thing since we were kids; remember, dear, in anyone else’s hands, it wouldn’t be safe, but in his it’s more safe than it could ever be,” Cecil reassures me with a knowing smile.
“Well, alright then,” I reply, and then wanting to change the subject, I add, “Let’s go burn some of this godawful shit.”