I Ain't Got Nobody (c)

[Goblin]

"If things go well with Riddle, she should get us everything we need," he said. "Going in would be way too risky. But if there's someone else you want to ask for..." After all the grief Cav had given him about Script and Riddle, Goblin wasn't about to let him off easy when it came to Footsteps.

[Cavalier]

Cav frowned at him. "Don't be an ass. You know damn well I want to see 'Steps."

[Goblin]

"So ask for her, then." He already had one of the ropes tied around his waist. A moment later, he vanished over the edge of the roof.

[Cavalier]

Cav sighed and tied a rope around his waist. He looked at Skittery. "Maybe you oughta stay up here and keep a look-out." He jumped over the edge of the roof.

[Skittery]

"That's what I was gonna do anyways," Skittery muttered to himself. "Not like I know anyone in the refuge right now. Thank God."

[Goblin]

Goblin swung out of the way when Cav dropped down. He looked up at Skittery for a moment, then knocked on the bars. The window opened to reveal the usual face of Ten-Pin. He gave the two of them an incredulous look. "Goblin, are you ever gonna actually leave?"

"Yeah, yeah," Goblin muttered. "Get Riddle for me, all right?" Cav could talk to 'Steps when the business part of the evening was over.

Ten-Pin's eyes practically burst out of their sockets. "You...you want to talk to..."

"Just do it," Goblin growled, hoping McArthur hadn't packed her off to a brothel already. Luckily, Ten-Pin just shrugged and disappeared into the crowd.

A couple minutes later, a girl approached the window. Goblin grabbed the bars, leaned forward to get a better look, and came dangerously close to panic. "I'm starting to think this might be completely insane," he whispered to Cav.

And then Riddle was there, and they were just staring at each other. It was really hard to say who was more traumatized.

[Cavalier]

Cav frowned. He hated Riddle as much as the next person. "Just fuckin' tell her and let's get the hell outta here."

[Goblin]

Thank God for Cav's bluntness, or he might have just stared at her all night. Goblin shook himself and determinedly went back into business mode. "We need Maggie's file," he told Riddle.

"Her...file?" She frowned. "What the hell for? She ain't here anymore--"

He pulled the key to the storage closet out of his pocket, reached through the bars, and slapped it into her hand. "Here's your goddamn key back. Just get it."

Now she was starting to look intrigued. "You know I could just run off with this and not give you a goddamn thing. You've got something else to offer me."

Goblin glanced at Cav, nodded slowly, and pulled the tiny bottle of dark liquid out of his pocket. "It's a present for Warden McArthur. If you get us the file."

He didn't know for sure about Riddle and Gypsy's relationship with McArthur. How he'd controlled them, what he'd done to them. But he'd guessed easily enough, and he could see right now from the look in Riddle's eyes that his guess was spot-on. The rest fell into place easily enough--Riddle, like him, was the revenge type. She nodded and vanished into the crowd, and Goblin focused on deep breaths while he waited.

[Cavalier]

Cav's eyes widened the second he pulled out the bottle. Once Riddle was gone, he turned on Goblin. "What the fuck did you just give her?!"

[Goblin]

"I didn't give it to her yet," he pointed out. "And how did you think we were gonna get rid of McArthur? Run in there with guns blazing?" He rolled the bottle between his fingers. "If everything works out in Five Points, the Eastman Gang collapses and the Refuge gets shut down. But that won't be soon enough for some of the girls in here. I thought we'd speed things up a bit."

He found himself wondering how much of this Skittery could hear, and whether he'd realize that even this mission to find Maggie was also part of the big revenge scheme. Skittery would no doubt hate him more than ever. And he didn't really blame him.

[Cavalier]

Cav stared at him. "You're gonna kill him. You're gonna give her some fuckin' poison or whatever to kill him. And what happens when she turns on you and finger you, again??"

[Goblin]

"What's she gonna say, that I showed up outside the window one night and handed her a bottle of poison? Whether they believe her or not, she still takes the fall for slipping it into his coffee one morning. And that's real jail time, or worse." He shook his head. "No, she won't waste time trying to frame anyone for this. She'll just run off." And he believed she could do it, too. If there was anything he believed about Riddle with all his heart, it was that she could pull off a murder and a clean getaway.

Or if not, she might just die trying. Because Riddle didn't look quite as devious and calculating as he remembered. She looked just like he felt. Tired.

She'd just better be back with that file any second.

[Cavalier]

He shook his head. This was turning into a hot mess. "You know Skittery isn't gonna like being dragged into this. All he wants is to find Script." He frowned at him. "Which really oughta be your motivation at this point."

[Goblin]

Goblin glared at him. "I spent three goddamn weeks thinking about nothing but Script, and who was the one who told me to get back in the game? That everything that happened to her happened for nothing unless we finished the plan? I can't be everything at once, okay!? I'm either thinking about her or thinking about all this, so take your fucking pick."

And it wasn't until that sudden outburst that he realized just how close to a total breakdown he was getting. Luckily, he finally spotted Riddle heading for the window again, and she had something in her hand.

[Cavalier]

Cav didn't respond, only glowered at Riddle as she approached the window. He'd talked Goblin back into this goddamn plan for purely selfish reasons -- it was the only way he was going to get Footsteps out of this hell hole. He didn't care about the big picture, and he couldn't understand why Goblin cared so much.