Chapter Text
January 7th, 1981. Brooklyn, Coney Island beach. 7:15 p.m.
It has been a while since Cyrus' meeting, more specifically: 544 days. Like a year, five months and twenty days or so. I still can remember that night; seven delegates of almost every gang in New York, all together for the call of this woman. No one imagined how everything would go down, and all because some gang couldn't respect and follow the rules. And now, that gang wanted to meet. Again.
“What do you think they want?” asked Cow, leaning against the rusty wall of the hangout, arms crossed. “I don't know. But that's why we’re going”, Cleon was aware of the danger, messing with the Rogues meant a total risk, a risk not every Warrior could handle. “Would the Riffs come too?”, asked Swan this time, while she finished cleaning her pocketknife, “No. Not this time, they have a meeting with other gang”.
“Hm. That's a great help actually!”
“Ajax-”
“Just saying” responded Ajax, putting her hands up in defense. “She has a point,” Rembrandt said, making eye contact with Cleon. And when she does that, everybody knows that she’s being serious. “Why do we have to handle this on our own? The Rogues are the responsible for Cyrus’ death, if they want to talk about the truce they also owe an apology for them”.
“Rembrandt is right” Mercy said while getting up from her chair, “can't they just send two Riffs at least?” Maybe Mer was not with us since the beginning of that night, but yet, she standed by our side, even if she didn't knew why the other gangs wanted us – well – dead. “They said we could handle it, that we're tough,” responded our leader. “Well, at least they recognize that” mumbled Ajax, a little grin on her face.
“So, are we actually going?” I asked. I would’ve expected something like “Yes, we are” or “We’ll go with some back up just in case”. But instead, all I got were seven looks, frowning eyebrows, at me. “What?” I asked, “We all are going to Hell's Kitchen for the truce with the Rogues, right?”.
“Well…”
“Uh…”
“Actually, eh…”
No one wanted to answer. They weren't looking at me. Cowgirl started laughing, Cochise stood up more straight, Mercy passed an arm behind her neck. They were not telling me anything. “What’s going on?” I asked Cleon; I needed to know. “Fox …” Cleon paused. And when Cleon makes a pause… I never liked it. “You’re not coming this time”.
I blinked once, twice, three times. She was not serious. “I'm being serious”, she said with a firm voice. Fuck, she was being serious, totally serious. “But– why?!” I didn't mean to raise my voice, but at this moment I didn't care that much either, “You need me there!”.
“Fox, you're still recovering” said Cochise with her usual calm tone, “That was almost a year and a half ago, I'm fine”, that was not true: my bones were killing me with the freezing air of winter. Stupid bones. “You need me there, I'm the scout, the- the memory girl!”, “Fox, you can't even get some blocks from here without getting some cramps”, That was not really helpful, Mercy.
I didn't like this. I'm not a baby, I'm a 20-year-old woman, that practically makes me an adult, but they still treat me as if I was a little kid. I saw Cleon giving a quick glance at the rest, and then Swan nodded. “Come on” was the only thing Swan said, then she directed to the doors with the rest behind her. Now it was only Cleon and me. Which meant a kind of serious talk. I got up from my chair, tried not to show my slight height difference on the sides due to my limping leg, “Cleon. Why can't I go?” I asked.
“You heard Cochise, you're still recovering from Union Square”
“But that was a long time ago! I could stay hidden behind a container or on a rooftop or something” I didn't like the idea of them going on their own with the Rogues; I knew they could defend themselves if anything went wrong, but the meeting was with the Rogues. The Rogues! I would never trust them. Maybe Luther was no longer around, but I don't doubt that whoever the new leader was, he was really influenced by him or something like that. “And what if they find you? You wouldn't be able to run or fight. We could be away to help you”. I knew Cleon was right, but –
“Besides,” she continued, “we need someone to stay in charge while we're gone”. While we're gone. “What do you mean by that?” I asked, my voice trembling a bit. “Well, in the worst case where we don't make it –”
“You'll be back; you have to!” I shouted, and I'm pretty sure that the rest heard that because it was clear the little scream that Cowgirl gave, and then Ajax's “Shit! Yo, girl, the fuck?! You dropped my gin!”. Cleon laughed quietly while shaking her head slightly, eyes closed; something she often does when one of us does something stupid or silly. “Sorry” I mumbled while tucking my hair behind my ear, feeling my cheeks a bit warm from the embarrassing moment. “Anyway, in the worst case where it takes us longer to come back, we need you in charge of the gang”.
“What? But, why me?” I was confused, why would I have to be in charge? “Can't you put Vermin or Snow? They’ve been in the gang more time than me”.
“True, but first of all: Vermin is kind of impatient, while Snow is very calm, there's no point in between for none of them. Second, you're one of the main seven; now eight, right?”
“Yeah…” I looked down, “And I've seen how you’ve led the other scouts: you not only give them orders, but you also listen to them and trust in them” she said.
“But I don't consider myself as a leader, I'm not like you nor Swan. Not even like Cochise”.
“Listen to me” Cleon put a hand on my shoulder, holding me tight, strong, with trust and the truth. “You’ll never be like us”, my eyebrows frowned, I put my eyes wide open, “We don't want you to be like us. We want you to be you”. Be… me? “What do you mean?”.
“You’ll understand it with time. But for now, we need you to stay, not only to recover or to keep you safe, but because we need you here. You're part of the future”. Part of the future. I can make a change. I think. I looked at Cleon, met her fierce eyes, with a big trust in me. Then I turned to see my Warriors through the window of the hangout: six women, all different in unique ways, yet, a family. This family trusted in me, and I trusted them. I sighed before speaking up again, looking directly at Cleon, “Alright. I’ll stay”. I saw Cleon smile, “That’s my cub” she said, and then she messed a bit with my hair. I gave her a quick smile, it was the only thing I could do at the moment.
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They were going to leave at dawn, a bit early, but that would mean that they would have the whole day to come back. Just in case that they would have some problems. Cochise kept reminding me what I have to do in case I would fall or my muscles wouldn't work or something like that; luckily today I didn't have any visit with any doctor. “Remember, don't touch my drinks, I don't want to clean the floor if you throw up or something” said Ajax, tightening her gloves a little. “Eww, I don't want your shit” I said, and Ajax acted a bit offended, and I got some “Oohh” from Cowgirl, Mercy and Rembrandt.
“Okay, come on, the train it's about to leave”, said Cleon after giving me a little nod, it was like a “Don't worry, we'll be fine”. I gave them a last goodbye, though Cowgirl made it look like it was a goodbye for forever. “Think you'll find a mural to criticize there?” I asked Rembrandt, I knew she was going to do it anyway. “Probably, don't set the department on fire” she said while pushing me a bit. I had to give her an offended look, “I only set the kitchen on fire once! And that was a long time ago”, Rem just laughed and then she got on the train with Ajax.
“Once, but one more second and you set the whole apartment on fire” said Swan while passing right beside me, a smile showing in her face, something unusual from her to be honest. I just rolled my eyes, and then put my hands on the pockets of my jacket. “See you later, lucky girl” said Mercy, giving me a kind of military salute. “Hey, get back home alive, okay?” I said, and by the look that she gave me, I could say that I made a sad or concerned look. “We will. Promise”, she responded.
A few moments later, the train began to move. I was dying of fear: feeling the ground shaking, the loud noise of it, the smell of the oil. I came back to my senses quickly, not letting the memories come back… From that night. They would be back on this day, nothing would go wrong, it’s just a meeting.
Right…?