Burn It All Down

The iciness of the night air made Cardin shiver as he looked out toward the building he had come for. From where the car was parked at a distance, he and Nigel had camped there for the last two hours, watching the staff clean up, call their goodbyes, lock up, and leave. It was time.

Beside him, Nigel asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah." Cardin kept his gaze fixed in the direction of the bar. He had asked Nigel to bring him here, had climbed out the window so that Keary wouldn't see him leave, and now that he was here, he couldn't back out. Doing so would only confirm Keary's assertions that he didn't have what it took; he would have wasted Nigel's time to drive him out here; and most of all, he wouldn't be able to live with himself for being too weak to accomplish what he had resolved to do.

"Just remember: anybody comes in, no mercy." The rust-haired man lit up a cigarette.

"Got it." Pulling his mask over his mouth and nose, the blonde slung the strap of a large bag over his shoulder. "Wish me luck."

"None needed," Nigel returned easily as he held the lighter out to the blonde. "You'll be fine."

Cardin took it with a nod and set off. The redhead watched him carefully skirt around the area covered by security cameras. When the golden-haired boy had vanished around the corner, Nigel took another long, slow drag, and exhaled deeply before speaking, seemingly to the air: "I was gonna send him back afterward, promise."

In the alley just behind him, the shadows shifted, and after a beat, Keary stepped noiselessly out of the darkness. Expression inscrutable, he came to stand beside the other man, argent eyes fixed after Cardin.

Nigel exhaled a cloud of smoke, knowing there wasn't going to be any thanks from his friend for informing him of their whereabouts despite Cardin's explicit request. "You really don't have to worry about him, you know. He's more than capable of being one of us."

He saw Keary's jaw clench, but the dark-haired boy stayed silent. Nigel sighed.

"Remember when Kumiko and Mikka first started? They got by on sheer rage. Finn took some time to master his weapon too. But with Cardin… He's proficient in several weapons, and when he was on the mission last night, it was like he became a different person. Like he was born to fight." He took a final puff before flicking the cigarette butt away. "You'll see what I mean. Anyway, since you're here, I'm gonna head home. You both have things to sort out, and I'm sleepy," he yawned as he turned back to his car and waved. "Try not to lose your temper this time."

...

The lock had been relatively easy to deal with, thanks to the tips Nigel had given him, and in almost no time at all, Cardin had managed to let himself in. With not a second to waste, he shrugged off his bag, extracted from it a large can of gasoline, and began to meander through the venue. There was no light save for a dim glow coming from the shelves of liquor bottles displayed on the wall behind the bar, but it helped that he had been there before; knowing the layout allowed him to move about more easily in the dark.

He tried not to gag on the fumes as he scattered the flammable liquid on the floor, the tables, the walls, the grand piano, and the upholstered seats that ran along the walls. At the bar, he emptied random bottles of hard liquor across the counters before adding on the gasoline. Although this kind of alcohol alone wouldn't burn long enough to inflict the amount of damage that was required for the task, they could still fuel it.

As he came to the table at which he had sat when he had last come here, he paused. The memory of how the lady, Edith, had flirted with Keary still triggered jealousy, but he knew she had nothing to do with the laundering. This bar was her dream, a dream that he was preparing to raze to the ground in order to prove a point to somebody who seemed determined not to be persuaded. The thought tugged at his conscience.

But then he recalled the look on Keary's face as he had made his confession–that he had been with her, had been her plaything–and Cardin's heart hardened. He was thoroughly exhausted from the series of events that had led him up to this moment, and he had no mercy left to give.

Sorry, Edith. You had your chance, and you used him like a toy. He deserves more than that– I deserve more than that, and there's no other way right now to get through to him.

Sorry.

He continued on, managing to cover more than half of the bar when a sudden click made his head snap up. From outside came the sounds of men chattering and joking loudly with each other as the key turned in the lock. Cardin froze, focusing on the sound past his pounding heartbeat.

You should have wished me that luck, Nigel, he thought bitterly as his eyes flitted to the back door from which he had entered. Then he stopped himself, and took a deep breath. He couldn't afford to keep running away from this anymore.

No mercy.