The Trial: A Bribe... (Fic)

[theropod]

Thanks to Guiltyshirts for this idea, credit is all yours :D Please enjoy this little thing here, I went a little more serious than I meant to here. Sorry Kurt!

THUMP

 

“...The hell is this?” Bdouble O stared at the chest now dumped on his desk. Behind him, Generik didn't look exactly pleased either.

 

“One bribe, returned.” Zisteau smacked the side of the chest and the lid sprang open. Stored safely within were the numerous 'gifts' he'd received from the pair. “Everything's there, the lava, the emeralds.”

 

“Why?” Generik asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You accepted it earlier-”

 

“Yeah and now I don't need it. Lava? I have a lake of it in my ravine. Emeralds? I have my own village. I don't need your blood emeralds, and I don't need your bribe, so take it back.”

 

Bdouble O stared into the chest for a long moment, a heavy uncomfortable silence filling the hidden meeting room. It was a little place set up for meetings just like this, hidden enough away from their real hideout that Etho would never find that even if he found this place. Still, he hadn't been expecting to bring the pigman here to have his gifts pushed back in his face. The mobster rose from his comfy seat and reached for the lid, slowly closing it and cutting off the light from the lava within, a thoughtful expression on his face as he considered the potential threat they now faced.

 

Zisteau stood firm in the silence, gaze fixed on Bdouble O. As much as he wanted to turn and walk out, he was quite aware that you didn't just throw a bribe back in a gang's face without some repercussions.

 

“...No.”

 

The sudden break of silence almost made Zisteau start. He held steady however. “No?”

 

“You're going to take this here bribe, you hear?” Bdouble O tapped the chest and it shrank down to a manageable size. He picked it up, looking at it rather than at the pigman, quite unconcerned with Genny at his back. “And you're going to vote 'not guilty', and do you know why that is?”

 

“Enlighten me.”

 

“Because we have something that you don't want to lose.”

 

Zisteau's heart dropped out of his chest. “I fail to grasp your meaning.”

 

“Oh no, I think you grasp it very well. Genny...?”

 

With a cackle, Generik threw a few photographs onto the desk between them. Zisteau was almost afraid to look but he refused to let it show, instead reaching for the photos. He wished he hadn't.

 

Kurt looked like a beaten puppy at the best of times, but this was brutal. Half the hair on the side of his head was gone in the picture, angry red burns covering the skin of his neck, cheek and scalp. Another had him seated in what looked like an underground pit, wrists bound behind his back and something that looked suspiciously like a hangman's noose around his neck, the far end tied high above out of sight. Yet more showed off various painful looking injuries. In all of them, he looked as though he'd barely survived whatever it was they'd done to him, and it was painfully obvious they weren't letting him heal his wounds.

 

Anger rose in Zisteau, clouding his vision in red. The photos were crumpled in his fist before he could get ahold of himself. No, force it down, breathe, calm, you're above this, you're more than an animal. Think. Plan. Do as they say and he'll be safe. You can kill them later, just make sure he's safe and out of reach before you do something stupid. Play it like Vechs, and you'll win.

 

The photos were dropped to the table. “What makes you think I care about Kurt?” Zisteau demanded, only just keeping his fury out of his voice. “Just because we were a team once doesn't mean we turned out like you and Guude.”

 

Generik's lips curled up in a mad little grin. “Oh no, of course not. After all, what human could ever love a beast like you, hm? Mr Pigman with an unrequited crush, come to return his bribe after his beau gets a bomb threat.”

 

“It's not that hard to put two and two together Pigman, you aren't as subtle as you like to think.” Bdouble O smirked. “So, since Kurt refused to back down, we blew his base. And now, he's our insurance. The prosecution is down one key witness and you are going to ensure the jury vote not guilty. Because if you don't, Mr Zombie Pigman, then your little sweetheart in the cell is going to end up in the fertiliser you use on your farms. Do we understand each other?”

 

“...” Zisteau's mouth was dry, for all his victories and brilliant planning in battle, he couldn't see a way directly out of this that would save Kurt.

 

“I said, do we understand each other, Pigman?”

 

“...Yes.” he said quietly. “We understand each other, so long as you understand that I'm going to kill you for this.”

 

Bdouble O only threw the small chest to him. “I look forwards to it.”

Comments

[guiltyshirts]

Scarred Kurt would be badass. :p It could work for either, it was just easier for me to picture Genny as a grovelling weasel when he's out of options. *lol* Also I kept coming back to BDubs and Kurt being friends at some point. Perhaps Kurt actually stops Zisteau from killing him, then does it himself, for closure maybe. I can see Zisteau letting him have that.

[theropod]

Hmmm...maybe Kurt thinks to spare him, give him a second chance - and Bdubs just can't let it go, makes a threat against them, leaving him no choice but to take him out.

[guiltyshirts]

I like that. I can see Kurt wanting to believe there's still a good person in there somewhere. His 'criminal empire' has been smashed, he has nothing, right? Then he makes a grab for his weapon and lunges at them, and Kurt cuts him down.

How's that? ;)

[theropod]

That works wonderfully <3 I shall finish watching this Chivalry video then go write more, since I seem to do the best writing at half one in the morning.

[guiltyshirts]

I'm pretty sure it's happened at the end of more than one action movie, but what the heck. XD

[theropod]

It works XD And I doubt either of them would let a threat live once it targeted them.