Rue: Web of Deceit - Part 2

Life, Organisation Association

Given their first mission for The Spider, Rue makes their way over to a house party in the middle of the day to give Tara's new squeeze an unwanted gift.

When they leave The Six-Nines, Rue welcomes the crisp air like an old friend. They're usually not big on cold weather, but this morning it feels as confirmation that they're still standing. They might have made a deal with the devil, but if it means they'll survive, then that's all that matters for now. If things get too much... Well, they will cross that bridge when they get to it.   Giving Doug one final glare, Rue turns in the direction they'd come from, sniffing subtly to catch a whiff of Tara's scent. Thanks to the disgustingly strong perfume she'd been wearing, it doesn't take Rue long to pick up her scent close to where they initially pickpocketed the blonde. They track the smell through the recreational district and towards some of the nicer parts of Bathala. They realise, as they keep walking, that they're getting closer to the Innovation District and Bathala University.   About 10 minutes from the University, Rue makes a turn down a posh looking street. The buildings here are all new-builds, the brickwork meticulously clean and the gardens thoroughly maintained even in winter. Through the windows, Rue can see spacious living rooms with open plan kitchens, and they can't help the pang of jealousy they feel within.   Rue puts up their hood as the scent gets stronger, indicating that they're getting close. They turn to hide behind an obnoxiously square hedge when they see a familiar woman at one of the front doors up ahead, speaking to someone who has just stepped out of the door she's holding open.   "Hey babe!" Tara squeals, throwing her arms around the frankly unimpressive man in front of her. You can only imagine that the guy is very rich, because he looks like the human equivalent of a butter sandwich. If human relationships were a buffet, Rue is fairly sure they've just found the plain croutons.   "Hey Tara," he replies as she begins to undoubtedly crush his windpipe, with a voice that could be compared with the drone of a bee if the insect wasn't quite so eloquent and interesting.   "Come on, come on, come on!" She cries, pulling away and dragging him by the hand away from the house, the door barely having enough time to slam behind them as she charges down the porch, "We can not be late to Chrissy's birthday party!"   "But, Tara, it's already been going on for eighteen ho-"   "Shut uuuup!" she cries as they turn down the street.   Rue recoiled at the woman's over the top personality, watching from a distance as they headed down the road. The man might be as interesting as watching a snail crossing the street, they still preferred him over the walking impersonation of bubble-gum.   As they disappeared from sight, Rue contemplated their options. They could simply post the envelope through the letterbox and be done with it, but then there was the risk that she may find the photos instead. Knowing that The Spider would want the job done right, Rue would either have to find a moment alone with the human crouton, or they could confront them both at the same time. Then again, if she realises that they're working for The Spider, she might try to snatch the envelope away before he has a chance to see its contents.   Debating their options, Rue decides to follow them to the party, hoping to blend in with the students and find an opportunity to hand the man the envelope without Tara noticing.   They're not lead far before the sound of EDM music and smell of cheap alcohol starts to irritate Rue's enhanced senses and they know they're getting close. Eventually the pink and plain wafers lead them down a suburban road and towards a rather grandiose house. The front door is wide open and various groups of young adults are milling around on the front lawn and throughout.   With their quarry making their way inside, Rue is faced with their toughest challenge yet; fitting in amongst regular teenagers. The thought alone sends a shiver up their spine as they consider the far more preferable option of throwing themself in front of a moving car. But the prospect of that wad of cash proves too tempting to pass up.   Begrudgingly, Rue realises that the only way to not stand out at the party is to keep their hood down. The noises and smells are, for lack of a better word, appalling, and they can feel a slight headache coming on at the prospect of entering the house. Still, the envelope in their pocket carries a weight with it far beyond the stack of papers, and the prospect of surviving throughout the winter makes them take the first step.   Once inside, Rue looks around and quickly spots a whirlwind of fuchsia pink disappearing around a corner towards the kitchen, followed by an excited screech from what Rue suspects might be Chrissy and Tara, though it could just as easily have come from a couple of banshees.   Making their way through the crowd, they spot the boring man standing off to the side of the two women, watching silently as they bounce and embrace each other. The man looks to be as out of place at this party as Rue feels. Still, they keep a close eye on them, waiting patiently for Tara to move further from his side so they can hand him the photos.   It doesn't take long. Within a few moments, the gaggle of squealing girls have foisted their bags upon the walking all-beige colour catalogue that Tara had decided to bring with her and proceeded to head out into the garden for what promised to be an intense group selfie session. Despite becoming little more than a talking- no, droning- coat rack, Rue can't help but notice him grin with genuine affection as he watches the girls walk away.   It looks like he genuinely likes Tara. Which may well be his only defining character feature as they can almost feel the black hole that is his presence at the party threatening to suck anything fun into its void and crush it until it too is as captivating and exciting as a raw potato.   Not wanting to wait any longer, Rue pushes through the crowds towards the void of a man. They can barely see them behind the pile of bags and coats, and so Rue takes a few of them and places them on the counter, pushing aside a bowl of... It smells fruity, and slightly toxic, "You came here with Tara, didn't you?"   "Oh hey!" he says, noticing they're taking some of his load off of him, "Golly gosh! Thanks bunch for that, friend, but there's really no need. I'm just holding 'em for my best gal over there." he nods in the vague direction of the vapid squealing, "Why yes I most certainly did come with her. She's just about the best thing that ever happened to me, y'know?" he gazes wistfully in her direction and sighs quietly, "Think I'd follow her just about anywhere..."   Rue feels a pang of guilt at that, realising the potential consequences of what they're about to do, ''You might want to have a look at these before you follow her anywhere...''   As they reach for the envelope, Rue notices a faint tremor in their hand. It almost feels like they're watching themself from outside of their own body as they hand the man the envelope, their eyes meeting his confused gaze, ''Does this look like she's been working at an animal clinic?''   Time seems to slow around the two of you as you watch this blameless man open the envelope that promises to shatter this happy little lie he's been living in. Rue wasn't used to this type of apprehension. It had no real reason. They didn't know this man, and after this night, wouldn't likely see him again, but they couldn't help but feel like the world was becoming a little more grey as he pulled out the photographs and beheld their sordid contents.   Whether they meant to through some morbid curiosity or merely caught a glimpse by accident, Rue was quickly made very aware of why the Spider's clients found Tara such an enticing draw. There were images of her on stage, lounging with VIP's, and even a few behind closed doors, making herself and her twisted employer a tasty profit.   It didn't take many images for the young man to wordlessly drop the photos to the ground in horror, the sordid images splaying out over the floor as he turned away and promptly started retching into the nearby kitchen sink, crying "no, no, no, no, no," loud enough for other guests to begin noticing.   As people start to turn towards the blubbering mess of a man, Rue starts to take a few steps away from the damage they've caused. As they turn to get out, muttering a faint ''Sorry...''   They see another person picking up one of the photos from the corner of their eye, a shocked laugh coming from the man before he holds the photo up for others to see. The scene is rapidly blowing up, with hardly anyone checking up on the retching boyfriend and instead favouring the scandalous images of their friend. Rue quickly tries to weave past them and out the door, hoping to avoid the girl in question.   Rue's heart thumps in their chest as they weave through the throngs of gawking students. The only sounds they can hear are that and the growing sounds of hooting and cheering from the scene unfolding in the kitchen. They manage to escape the scene, seemingly unnoticed as other groups of people are drawn inside to see what all the commotion is about.   Their hoodie suddenly seems incapable of protecting her from the bitter chill outside.   Rue continues to walk for what feels like hours, the cold biting into their skin and sending shivers down their spine. 'It was never going to work out between the two of them,' They try to convince themself. 'She was lying to him, it was only a matter of time until he would find out the truth.' Still, the prospect of forcing Tara to return to the place she'd just thought she'd escaped left a bitter taste in Rue's mouth, especially after seeing what she had to do there.   Their feet carry them back to the Recreation District, and as they're getting closer to The Six-Nines, Rue feels a weariness much more powerful than the fatigue they experienced before. Doug is gone when they arrive, replaced at his post by a woman in her late forties taking a long drag from a cigarette who smiles as Rue approaches, "You lost, hon?"   ''I wish.'' Rue grumbles back. ''I'm here to see The Sp-'' They pause, uncertain what to call him. ''I'm here to see Mr. Creel.''   "Oh right," she says, a somewhat pained look on her face as she drops her cigarette butt to the floor and crushes it underfoot, "You sure you wanna do that, Kid? The boss... he ain't someone to be taken lightly."   ''I think it's a little late for that advice...'' Rue smiles sadly at the woman and shrugs. ''Appreciate it though.''   Rue nods at the woman and walks back into the dimly lit club. There are a few more people there than earlier that morning, though it's still far from crowded. Rue heads towards the back of the club, back towards the private area where they know they will find The Spider.   Passing by several of the VIP areas, Rue can hear the uncomfortable sound of activity all around them. Their enhanced hearing subjects them to every disgusting sound, every whispered profanity, and they put their head down, trying their best to tune out the sounds as they make their way to the back office. Not even bothering to knock as they arrive, Rue barges straight in and catches the Spider himself, sat at his desk with his feet up, watching a television on wheels that had been positioned in front of him. He laughs with the same moist gurgle as his speech.   "I'm impressed, Kid," he says, nodding to the screen. As Rue approaches they see some sort of candid camera feed, from a phone or something, that shows them handing off the envelope and the devastating aftermath, "Real hit and run job. Pretty cold if I do say so myself!"   Rue looks at the scene in front of them with disgust. They watch as Tara walks back inside with her friends, only to be stared at with a mixture of disgust and lust. They watch as realisation dawns on Tara, a look of horror crossing her face as she locks eyes with her bawling boyfriend, who then storms outside seemingly without uttering another word.   Pushing past the definitely-not-guilt bubbling up within, Rue crosses their arms over their chest, ''So now what?'' They ask, working hard to hide their shame.   "Now, I wait for that uppity little strumpet to come crawling back... maybe literally, I haven't decided yet. And you," he throws a bundle of notes up into the air in their direction, "You get yourself a nice meal and a warm bed for the night. And have a shower, grimy doesn't become you, Morsel." He chuckles to himself, licking his teeth as he devours Rue with his eyes, "And do come back tomorrow... I have no doubt that this will be the start of a beautiful relationship."   Rue catches the bundle of money, briefly wondering if they'd ever held as much cash in their hands before. They tuck the pile into their jeans pocket, glancing at Creel once more, his focus already back on the TV screen.   As soon as they left, they turned into a nearby alley, retrieving the bundle from their pocket again and splitting it in 3, hiding some of it in their boot, another small bundle in their left jean pocket and the last one in the right. As they do so, they can feel the first roll that they snatched from Tara. They place their hand on it, feeling the weight of their actions within.   That night, Rue pays for a cheap room in a youth hostel. Though they're reluctant to follow The Spider's instructions, they suddenly feel desperate to shower off the day's events. They step under the mediocre stream, scrubbing at their skin until it feels raw.   Strangely, the shower, despite being powerful as a light breeze and a little cold, does make them feel a little better, as if a little bit of their shame was flushed down the drain alongside the loose hair and dead skin. They step out and are quickly confronted by the bathroom mirror, making uncomfortable eye-contact with a person whose eye-bags and chapped lips look like they belong to someone much older.   Using the ragged towel provided by the hostel, Rue dries their hair as much as possible before wrapping it around them. They give the shirt that they discarded on the floor a quick sniff, realising at this stage that they should probably use some of the money for a change of clothes. Feeling deflated, they let the shirt fall from their fingers and sit down on the edge of the bed, which squeaks in response.   They fold up their jeans, the money still split between their pockets, fold their socks in with it, and use it as a makeshift addition to the thin pillow provided, equally for comfort and to keep their loot safe.   Despite their exhaustion, sleep doesn't come for Rue.   To be continued...