The area leading to the old freight tunnels were quiet, save for the rhythmic sound of boots against damp stone. Talia walked with measured strides, her coat pulled tight against the underground chill.
Beside her, Lorne exhaled sharply, rolling his shoulders like the weight of this whole damn errand was a personal insult.
"Roe's got better things to do than give orders to a bunch of fresh meat," he muttered, his tone edged with irritation. "Said I should handle it. Like I got nothing better to do either."
Talia smirked slightly but kept her eyes ahead. "You were always good at following orders."
Lorne shot her a look but didn't take the bait.
Instead, she shifted gears. "We receiving more of that blue stuff?"
Lorne grunted in confirmation. "Yeah. Next shipment's coming in soon. Roe's been real eager to get more."
Talia hummed in thought. "And what's so special about these new guys?"
Lorne scoffed, adjusting the strap of his sidearm. "Roe took a liking to one of 'em after the fights in the Rusted Fang. New guy put on a hell of a show. Got guts. Might actually last a week, unlike the last batch."
Talia kept her expression neutral, but her interest piqued. Roe wasn't easily impressed.
Still, she had a different suspicion about why he wasn't here tonight.
"I heard he's been busy."
Lorne's head tilted slightly, but he didn't speak.
Talia continued, voice casual. "Word is, he's got some new prisoner locked up. Someone he's been…messing with."
She didn't name names, but the rumor had spread fast, someone important was in Roe's grasp, and if the whispers were true, he was enjoying himself far too much.
Lorne's jaw tensed.
"Don't talk about that." His voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. "Focus on the job."
Talia let the conversation die there.
By the time they reached the freight tunnels, the meeting spot was just as dreary as expected, old rusted tracks, broken crates, and the stench of mildew hanging thick in the air.
And then, from the darkness, footsteps.
Matias and his new companion emerged, the dim glow of overhead lights catching the sharp lines of their faces.
Talia's heart skipped, just for a second.
Matias.
He looked the same as the night before at The Lanterns Rest, The same as he did all that time ago. Different, but the same.
His stance was still solid, steady, but there was something harder in his eyes now. More weight behind them. More distance.
She pushed down whatever that feeling was and let her expression remain unreadable.
Lorne, however, wasn't nearly as composed.
His gaze locked onto Castin, and a slow, dangerous grin spread across his face.
"Well, look who came crawling back," Lorne sneered, cracking his knuckles. "You're that son of a bitch who punched me out."
Castin tilted his head with a lazy smirk. "I punch a lot of people. You'll have to be more specific."
Talia barely listened.
She was watching Matias.
Watching the way he shifted, his jaw tense, his hands hanging a little too carefully at his sides.
Memories stirred, unbidden.
They had worked a routine job for the Rat King.
Scouting near the outer tunnels. Watching for outsiders. Marking possible threats.
Boring. Simple.
Until Matias had gotten the bright idea to raid an abandoned supply stash.
"You're an idiot," Talia had told him at the time, arms crossed, watching as he pried open an old storage crate with far too much confidence.
Matias had just grinned, pulling out a dusty, half-full bottle of whiskey.
"And yet, here you are, still standing next to me."
She had rolled her eyes. But she stayed. Because, of course, she did.
They ended up on a rooftop later that night.
The world below them was quiet, the faint hum of Rat City a distant echo. They passed the bottle back and forth, the whiskey burning its way down, but it wasn't the alcohol making her feel warm.
It was him.
The way Matias leaned back against the ledge, loose and comfortable, like the weight of responsibility hadn't settled on him yet.
The way he watched her when he thought she wasn't looking.
The way his voice softened when he asked, "If you weren't stuck here, where would you go?"
She took a slow sip, considering.
"Topside, maybe," she said, wiping the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. "Somewhere with open air. Sky above me instead of stone."
Matias hummed in agreement, taking the bottle from her hands. Their fingers brushed, just barely, but she felt it everywhere.
"Wouldn't last a week up there," he teased. "You'd miss the tunnels too much."
Talia scoffed. "Like you wouldn't miss them more?"
Matias smirked, but he didn't argue.
For a while, they just sat there, drinking, talking about stupid things. The places they'd go. The lives they'd have if they weren't always following orders.
She wasn't sure who moved first.
Maybe it was him, shifting closer. Maybe it was her, tilting her head just slightly toward him. Maybe it had been building for too long for it to even matter.
But suddenly, she was looking at him, really looking.
At the way the light from the streetlamps below cast soft shadows over his face.
At the way his breath hitched, just barely, when she reached for the bottle in his hands.
At the way his gaze flickered to her lips before he caught himself and looked away.
He was so close now. Close enough that she could feel the heat of him, even in the night air.
And she knew, if she leaned in just a little more.
"Talia," Matias murmured, her name catching somewhere between a breath and a warning.
She felt herself smile.
"I know," she said softly.
And then she kissed him.
It wasn't hesitant. It wasn't careful.
It was inevitable.
The bottle slipped from his fingers, forgotten as he reached for her instead. Calloused paws on her waist, fingers tracing over fabric, over fur.
He kissed her like he had wanted to for months.
Like he had been waiting for her to meet him here, on this rooftop, in this moment, for so much longer than either of them had admitted.
The whiskey was still on his lips, but she barely noticed.
All she knew was that Matias was solid and warm beneath her hands, and for the first time in a long time, nothing else mattered.
The next day, everything changed.
Matias got promoted.
More responsibility. More distance. More reasons to be anywhere but with her.
The closeness faded.
And before she could even understand how she felt about it, it was just… gone.
Talia blinked, snapping out of the past.
Lorne and Castin were still arguing, voices rising and falling like some tired pissing contest.
And then Castin turned, looking between her and Matias, something clicking in his expression.
His smirk sharpened.
"Oh, you're that Talia."
He winked at Matias.
Talia barely had time to react before Matias' fist collided with Castin's arm.
Castin grunted, rubbing the spot with an exaggerated wince. "Touchy subject?"
Matias shot him a look, but his face was flushed just slightly, and that alone made Talia's lips twitch in amusement.
Some things never changed.
Lorne stood with his arms crossed, impatient, while Castin and Matias waited for whatever "important task" he was about to throw at them.
"Alright, listen up." Lorne's voice cut through the dim space. "You two are overseeing the next shipment."
Matias lifted a brow. "Shipment of what, exactly?"
Lorne sighed. "What the hell do you think?"
Talia leaned against the stone wall nearby, her tail flicking idly. "More of the blue stuff, right?"
Lorne gave her a sharp nod. "Yeah. And I don't need to tell you this, but don't screw it up. It's my ass on the line."
Castin smirked. "So it's not our job to care about the product, just make sure it gets where it needs to go?"
"Now you're gettin' it, smooth-skin," Lorne drawled.
Talia pushed off the wall, stretching like she was already bored of the conversation. "Sounds easy enough."
She didn't spare Matias a second glance as she turned to leave, but just as she passed him, her tail curled briefly around his leg.
Matias stood bolt upright.
A split second later, she was gone, disappearing into the tunnels alongside Lorne.
Castin let the silence hang just long enough to be unbearable before turning to Matias with the biggest shit-eating grin he could manage.
"Well, well. You've still got a fan."
Matias shot him a glare, ears flicking back, but that only encouraged Castin more.
"You gonna tell me about that, or should I just start guessing?"
Matias punched him in the arm again.
"Ow." Castin rubbed the spot with a mock wince. "Yeah, okay, that tracks."
They didn't have to wait long.
The delivery agents came in quietly, slipping through the tunnels like they'd done this a hundred times before.
No loud escorts. Just three figures carrying backpacks, weighted heavily with something small but valuable.
Castin and Matias stepped forward, watching as one of the couriers unclipped his pack and carefully pulled out a small, metal box.
Matias took the box, flipping it open.
Inside, rows of small glass vials sat nestled in padding, the liquid inside swirling with an eerie, electric blue glow.
"Looks intact," Matias muttered, scanning the rest of the boxes as Castin peered over his shoulder.
Castin, ever the curious one, turned to the closest courier. "So, what's this stuff actually for?"
The courier hesitated before shrugging. "Some kinda sedative, I think."
Matias and Castin exchanged a glance.
"A sedative?" Matias asked, skepticism creeping into his voice.
"That's what I've heard," the courier replied, adjusting the straps of his backpack. "Don't ask questions. We just get it here."
Matias exhaled sharply. "And from here?"
The second courier jerked his chin toward the tunnels leading back toward the Rusted Fang.
"You two are takin' it the rest of the way. Rixis is expecting the package."
Matias gritted his teeth.
Of course.
Of course he had to go back to Rixis.
"Let's get this over with," he muttered, grabbing one of the packs before striding toward the exit.
Castin followed, smirking all the way.
When they reached The Rusted Fang, they didn't go through the front this time.
They went around the back entrance, where Rixis was already waiting.
And judging by the black eye he was sporting, Matias' last visit had left an impression.
Rixis sneered the moment he saw them.
"You gotta be shitting me."
Matias didn't say anything, just tossed the bag of vials toward him. Rixis caught it, barely sparing it a glance before looking back up at Matias.
"You're really gonna show your face in my bar again?"
"Didn't exactly have a choice."
Rixis clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "Yeah? Well, fuck off. You and your little smooth-skin friend. I don't wanna see either of you in here unless you got business."
Castin grinned. "You wound me, Rixis."
Rixis scowled. "Get out."
Matias, not eager to drag this out, turned on his heel and left.
Castin lingered just long enough to throw Rixis a wink before following after him.
Rixis' muttered curse followed them out the door.
Castin ran a hand through his hair. "Dont know about you but I could use a drink."
Matias chuckled. "Good, I was just about to ask, come on, I know a place."
The walk to the Tavern was quiet at first, the kind of silence that wasn't uncomfortable, just thoughtful. The tunnels leading there were familiar, worn stone, damp air, distant flickers of lanterns guiding their path, but tonight, something about them felt heavier.
Castin finally broke the silence.
"You really think that stuff is just a sedative?"
Matias exhaled through his nose. "Of course not. If it was, we wouldn't be running it through Gunrunner hands. We're missing something."
"Yeah, no shit." Castin kicked a loose rock down the path. "I've seen drugs move through gangs before, but this? We don't even know who the buyers are. Or why Roe is so keen on getting more."
Matias nodded, eyes ahead, brows furrowed in thought. "We need to figure it out before it gets out of hand."
"Before?" Castin scoffed. "I think we're already past that point."
Matias didn't argue.
The Lantern's Rest was a far cry from The Rusted Fang. It wasn't a dive, nor was it high-end, it was comfortable, the kind of place where people went to drink quietly, not get into fights.
At least, most of the time.
Tonight, the air was warm with the scent of ale and aged wood, the dim lighting making the place feel smaller than it was.
And sitting at the bar, nursing a drink, was Talia.
The moment she saw them, her expression flattened.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. I've got a bone to pick with you to, especially you Matias" she put a finger into Matias' chest.
Matias sighed. "Good to see you too, Talia."
She turned fully in her seat, looking them up and down. "You two are really working with the Gunrunners? What the hell are you thinking?"
Castin opened his mouth, but Matias shot him a look before calmly replying. "We're handling things."
Talia's tail flicked, her gaze sharp. "Handling what, exactly?"
There was a pause, just long enough for Castin to glance at Matias, silently asking is she in or out?
Matias exhaled, shaking his head. "She can be trusted."
"That's what they all say." Castin muttered, but after a beat, he sighed in defeat.
"Fine. You want the story? Here it is."
Between a few drinks and careful words, Matias and Castin filled Talia in on what they knew, the deliveries, the secrecy, the blue liquid that no one seemed to have a full answer on.
Talia leaned against the table, thoughtful.
"I don't know much," she admitted after a moment. "But I've heard whispers. Yeah, it's a sedative, but it does something else to certain people."
Castin's fingers drummed against his mug. "Certain people? Like who?"
Talia hesitated, then lowered her voice.
"I overheard something about Roe testing it on some prisoner, 'testing their abilities' apparently"
Matias frowned. "Testing their… abilities?"
Talia nodded. "Yeah. That's what I heard."
Castin leaned back, arms crossed. The puzzle pieces weren't fitting together yet, but something about it all felt off.
"Whatever it is, Roe's been getting more of it. A lot more." Matias muttered.
"Which means something bad is definitely happening." Castin drained the rest of his drink.
"Agreed."
At some point, the drinks had settled into them, smoothing out the tension, at least for the moment.
That's when Talia pushed her chair back, stretching. "Alright, boys. I'm heading out."
Matias raised a brow. "Will you be okay getting home?"
Talia smirked. "What, worried about me?"
Matias rolled his eyes.
Talia chuckled. "C'mon then, walk me."
Castin made a mocking gesture. "Oh sure, just leave me here. Where am I supposed to go?"
Matias tossed him his keys without looking.
Castin caught them midair, glancing down at them before smirking. "You dirty old rat."
Matias ignored him.
Talia just laughed as they walked out the door.