Work Text:
John sat at the "neighborhood Mexican restaurant" of his town, his favorite eatery for a long while, waiting for his order to bring home to Vriska.
"Hey. Good afternoon."
Someone greeted him, a TV repairman fixing the restaurant's wall mounted flat screens. He looked at the repairman about his age or younger, who had the street smart kind of expression on his face.
"Yeah. Good afternoon?"
"Mr. John Egbert?"
He must have known his face from the online news coverage of Vriska's situation. Still, it takes no small effort to recognize John Egbert from anyone else living around.
"Right? Do you..."
"Yeah. Mr. Egbert, I think I can give some help to your family."
John nodded. The repairman was using the word "family" without any irony.
"Just call me John."
"I'll never trust the government if I were you. You can't talk to anyone in the government, right? You want to change the law, but I'll tell you it's easier to break the law. Fight them, but don't fight them. Family is everything."
John frowned and stood up. He'll just get the food from the counter and leave. The repairman stepped in front and lowered his voice:
"John, all I'm saying is I will help you get Vriska to somewhere safe until the heat dies down. There's a really good friend of mine who buys secondhand electronics and dirty hardware..."
"I'm not interested in whatever you're selling me."
"Smuggling stolen computers is an art. We aren't going to Mexico. We have Honduras. Bolivia. Every country that has immigrants coming to Oregon and Washington State for you to choose. Besides, it's not only me who wants to help you. Just ask, and I'll introduce you to the boss of these people."
John thought about possibilities, then he though about what the possibilities mean.
"...Fine."
"Okay. The next week all the cameras in this restaurant will be off, you should just come here and tell the staff to phone me. I'll be over with the friend in half an hour."
"Thanks for helping."
"Enjoy your evening with your family, John!"
++++++++
John returned with Jade a few days later in almost closing hours, and Jade brought a Noveske N4 with her. Just as a conversation tool to help the Crockercorp thugs to silence them, or smugglers who wanted to sell Vriska abroad, understand why they shouldn't. He didn't bring Terezi just because of the one in eight hundred eighty eight chance that the repairman might be actually helpful.
The manager and her servers didn't pay any attention to the rifle on Jade's back when they asked them to make the phone call. This is the Pacific Northwest after all, a region early in its history once decided to evict all households who did not own a gun. Well, they didn't own guns because they are Chinese, but if that case was true they are probably also evicted for the same reason.
Indeed, within thirty minutes, the repairman arrived with another man in a cowboy hat. He waved at John, then backed out of the restaurant to leave the friend to talk with them.
"Glad to see you. Pardon me, but no need for introductions. I'm here to talk about saving..."
"And we'll save her from you."
"Hold on for a minute, okay? I am not buying her off you, and you will not pay me for any service either. I'm just a friend of your family. There are places for her outside America, which you can visit and move to. My team moves people closer to what they need, what they need to them, all the time."
"How do you plan to move her from our home anyway?"
Jade asked, showing off with a smile that her gun is not loaded for the moment while hinting the rest.
"John's home will be broken in by burglars, who stole everything worth more than a hundred dollars that are not fastened down. In the process the burglars will also remove an animal container device that they have no idea whether it is occupied."
John couldn't believe the guy in the cowboy hat is still trying to fool them. Or is he also trying to intimidate them?
"Some of the stolen goods will be found still inside Oregon, some will be sold to a refurnishing shop in Honduras, but the container and its occupant will not be found without a complicated set of secure networks and private forums. Nothing is easy, but you will have proof that you did the right thing."
John caught a few words that answered some questions but raised worse ones. He asked:
"You are not... That kind of Troll lover, are you?"
The stranger smiled.
"Lots of people just have no sense of boundaries. The wrong kind of Troll lovers existed since the day there first are Trolls. And then later the right kind also came into being. Blood mixing happened one way or another. Trolls are not just some kind of artificial evolution robot made by ectobiology. They are not mutant Hominids either. Anyway, desire, power, loneliness, curiosity worked hand in hand to make one generation of half Trolls after another. No matter how heinous, Human behavior always made interesting future prospects."
"Swish... Click."
John recognized the sound of a CZ52 pistol being armed under the table. He had no idea Jade brought it along but he had his doubts. The man in the cowboy hat didn't flinch.
"I can share many stories about feral and tribal Trolls. Though, I think I need to tell you about something else so you can see what I see - There are so many people around with Troll ancestry that you personally know one. Terezi Pyrope. Don't know if you have went to someone called Zahhak's clinic, he has a horned ancestor somewhere in his family tree. There is a place for Vriska and we can find it together."
John is almost attempted to believe him.
"We? Just tell me what the fuck do you have to do with my life?"
The man leaned over and put his hat overturned on the table.
"So... You're telling the truth."
The man has horns.
"The rest of my team are pure Humans, but we have this kind of rescuing experience."
John gestured for the man to put his hat back on while Jade chuckled and disengaged her pistol. He felt a slap on the shoulder from her:
"Let's roll with it?"
This plan will be hard, but the point is it will be a challenge.
"Fine, let's roll."
++++++++
A week later, the Egbert home was raided by a group of unidentified criminals when John is on a visit to Feferi. The burglars took away upwards of $2,000 in electronics, cash, jewelry and other valuables, plus one animal container and what John reported to the police as his younger sister; After much confusion it is made clear that the sister referred to is a Troll, authorities concentrated efforts into finding the material losses instead.
Three weeks later, Vriska began hosting an interview and liveblog series of her own on Liveleak.com from a half-tribal settlement of Trolls, half-Trolls and Humans.