Out of the Courts

“Tony, if this wasn’t a serious situation I wouldn’t be telling you about it in the first place.” Friday afternoon wasn’t a time for seriousness, made evident by everyone else on the street, eager to start the weekend. Riff was immune from the excitement, concealed by the wooden backboard of a newsstand. He knew there was a grave situation at foot but he had yet to convince Tony on the subject. “Something’s up!”

Tony sharply twisted his head, patience already worn thin. He had tried to think of excuses to deter him but even the ones he did say did nothing to convince Riff to leave him alone. “Ice doesn’t have to spend every minute with you, he’s probably off doing something else,” Tony reasoned at last, refocusing on the newspaper he had borrowed.

“We were going to meet after school let out,” Riff explained, even though he had already told Tony that. “He never showed up to his classes. I checked at the office-”

“Must have been interesting to be in there and not be in trouble with the principal for once,” Tony commented, biting back any semblance of teasing in his voice and expression, gaze firmly on the newsprint.

“Shut up.” Riff laughed at that. In trouble with the law or the school, it was all the same. Luckily only one of them would lead to jail time. “But what I was going to say, the office had roll call from his homeroom but he wasn’t on the list. He didn’t show up to any of his classes.”

The vendor had yet to see them, or even if he did he didn’t care much for the teenager reading the merchandise. Tony flipped to the next page where the article continued. “So he must have been sick.”

“Except, according to my sources, he wasn’t at home,” Riff continued, rocking on his heels and landing flat on his feet in time to levelling Tony with a pointed look.

“You climbed up to his window.”

Riff nodded grimly to confirm the statement. “His bed was untouched and he wasn’t in the family room either. I waited around to make sure he wasn’t somewhere else in the house. Ten minutes later and still no sign of him.”

The corner of Tony’s eye twitched. It did sound suspicious but there had to be some explanation for Ice’s absence. “Did he say anything about going out of town with his family?”

“Tony, his mom was at home – probably for the whole day.” It didn’t do anything to calm his nerves when Tony frowned. “I’m going to guess that if I looked now his dad would be home too.”

“Did he say anything to one of the girls?” Tony asked. If the article was of any importance he didn’t show it. No longer was he reading it but he even lowered his hands, the paper suspended at hip height.

He would have run his hand through his hair but that wasn’t a wise idea. He had already done that more than enough that his hair looked as ruffled as he was. “I asked Graziella and she had nothing to say. When she asked the other girls the closest bit to any information she found was that someone had seen Ice leaving school yesterday. He seemed just fine, didn’t look sick or worried or anything.”

“So you think something has happened to Ice.” It seemed logical enough, and with the Jets anything was possible. Action had a scuffle a few days ago with a Hawk and there was also the basketball debacle Riff and Ice had with the Emeralds ten days back. “But he should have managed on his own.”

“If it was one on one, or one on two, sure – he would have been fine,” Riff agreed, but he moved closer, not that anyone was paying them extra attention. The newspaper vendor finally had a real customer and everyone else was absorbed in their own lives. “But when we were jumped there were four of them. Four took Ice down. It’s possible that the Emeralds – or the Hawks – took him.”

For a second Tony looked like he was about to admit that anything was possible. Kidnapping was admittedly a rare thing but being predictable wasn’t a good thing either. “It could be that he had something to do that he wasn’t comfortable telling us about.”

Riff crossed his arms, not jumping to defend his beliefs quite yet. Tony was his best friend, lived with him even, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t allowed to get close to anyone else. He and Ice had always been friends but their friendship shifted to something more after sharing the bed at Doc’s. Inadvertently getting Ice to talk about his family and his childhood had led to a deeper understanding and trust that went both ways. When Riff wasn’t hanging out with Tony he was with Ice and sometimes he invited Ice along with them anyways. At Jet gatherings, small or big, they would find themselves close to each other, separate from Tony but other times with him too. With everything that was implied with this new aspect of their friendship they filled in each other as far as plans were concerned. Ice had made no mention at all that he needed to take a leave of absence or that he needed to cancel their plans for the afternoon. It left him unsettled, really nervous to be honest.

“I always tell you what I’m doing,” Riff said at last, wiggling his fingers between arm and ribs.

“Even the things I don’t want to know about.” He heard Tony’s little mutter, managed a bit of a smirk but he couldn’t hold it for long. “The rest of the time, the city’s better for knowing, and I do appreciate you telling me,” Tony reassured him.

“Then come out with to do some reconnaissance.” Riff might have not needed the company but ever since the encounter with Cloud he felt more confident when he was part of a pair. “We can go to the main hangouts, take a peek-”

“But we’re still only theorising. We don’t know what Ice might be doing. Kidnapping has never taken place on our streets. We’ve done fighting, vandalising, spying, the odd pick-pocketing but never have we – or anyone else – taken someone else,” Tony reminded, setting the newspaper down on the ledge. “Until we know for sure we shouldn’t do anything.”

“That’s not acceptable!” It was a testament to how well they knew each other that Tony didn’t jump at his shout, only turning his gaze to him, looking only mildly exasperated. “What if he’s in trouble? We need to find out something.”

“Why don’t you go back to his house? This time knock at the door, parents don’t usually like the dropping in through windows tricks.” His article done he put his hands in his pockets, strolling away to leave the newspaper and Riff behind.

“You are being unreasonable.”And yet it wouldn’t hurt to take Tony’s advice, there was a chance that Ice’s parents knew something. Crossing the street he set off in the direction of Ice’s apartment but before he got to the first intersection he stopped. The street was rather noisy, kids running and playing on the sidewalk and cars returning men to their families, but he could have sworn he heard someone calling his name. Within seconds it was clearer and louder and he could even tell who it was before he came into view.

“Riff? Riff!” A-Rab was running faster than he usually did, urgency in his shout and feet. The speed would have knocked them both over had he not caught A-Rab by the arms, using the momentum to spin him back against the wall, balancing them both. A-Rab was gasping for breath but he was already pushing back, trying to get Riff to move in the direction he came from. “We – got to go – get him.”

He looped his arm around A-Rab’s shoulder, walking with him down the street like he’d been doing in the first place. “Get who?”

The slower steps allowed A-Rab to gather enough breath together so that he wasn’t breaking between words. “An Emerald has Ice.”

All of his fears were confirmed. “What?!”

“He’s carrying him, Ice looked. . . awful. His face’s bruised - and red and he looked exhausted and – and – he could barely hold his head up. Ice was struggling to get away but the jerk wouldn’t let him!” A-Rab stared at him wide-eyed, face pale but cheeks flushed from running. Riff managed to keep back his own nerves but jolted when someone grabbed his shoulder. He relaxed only a tiny bit at realising it was Tony, twisting to face him at the same time A-Rab did. “He’s probably taking him away to finish him oh-ohhhh-oooohooooff!”

Tony placed his other hand over A-Rab’s mouth before he burst out sobbing. Usually it was Baby John who suffered hysterics but apparently it was a trait shared between the two friends, either that or it was contagious. “Which way were they going?”

A-Rab mumbled into Tony’s hand, eyes welling up with tears, but once his mouth was free he managed to show that he did have a small grasp on coherency. “They’re down the street, three blocks but then right. I just hope they’re still there.”

Riff and A-Rab took off running, stopping once they were at the corner that separated them from their friend, Riff holding up his hand in a gesture for silence. Tony walked at a regular pace but when he joined them he peered around the wall with them. Luckily Ice’s struggling meant that he was slowing down both him and his captor. The two were a fair distance away but they could see him hobbling along, leaning awkwardly on the shorter boy’s shoulder though he didn’t appear to be suffering, able to support Ice fairly easily. Ice was definitely in rough shape, dazed, listing and tripping, unable to hold himself straight and no matter what he did he couldn’t break away.

Luckily for him the side-street was empty. Rather than wait, anger peaking as Ice’s strength dwindled, Riff stepped out from behind the corner, bolting down the sidewalk. He heard Tony curse, A-Rab’s feet pounding the pavement alongside his own but he had only one thing in mind.

In a matter of seconds he watched Ice mumble something to the other boy, holding him back while taking a step away. The boy stayed back for only a second, long enough for Ice’s leg to give out with not even that one step. He grabbed Ice before he could hit the ground but it was both of them falling backwards when Riff collided with the Emerald. “Get the fuck off of him!” Grabbing hold of the boy’s shirt collar he shook him roughly before ploughing his head against the pavement.

“Harder!”

“Stop it!”

“Cool it!”

“You think I’m going to let you get away with roughing one of ours?” Riff demanded, giving him another shake to rid him of whatever he was going to say, lips parting instead on a growl as his head struck the ground again. “You’re not dragging him off again you little punk!” What he didn’t expect was fingers digging into his hair, dragging his head up and around until he was looking straight at Ice, glaring at him when he should have been glaring at his attacker.

“He was helping me,” Ice gritted out, almost sounding angry for the low words, though looking deeper into his face Riff could see the stress of pain trying to take him down. The grit was for the effort to keep his gaze from wavering and voice from fading.

“Helping to beat you up!” Riff snapped, not taking his eyes off of Ice. It didn’t impede him from punching the boy to the stomach who swatted his leg in retaliation. It hurt more than he expected but he gave him another kick while standing up, taking Ice’s arm to help him up. He didn’t realise just how bad of shape Ice was when his leg gave out again. Before he could catch him the kid had jumped to his feet, quick to catch Ice with arms around his chest. “Hey, beat it before I beat you!”

“Yeah, and which one of you is going to get Ice to wherever you need to take him? You couldn’t hold him up,” he stated, barely giving Riff a once-over before looking past him. Riff glanced back, taking in A-Rab looking even more short standing beside Tony. Tony wasn’t taking a step forward to help, leaving him to turn around with an exasperated exhale that had the other boy smirking. “You need my help, and I’m willing to give it. Consider it charity.”

Riff shook his hand, fingers curled tight to his palm. “I’ll give you charity.”

“Include answering our questions as a part of your charity and you’ve got yourself a truce – for the time being,” Tony bargained. Riff spun around to stare incredulously at Tony but not before the boy sobered up, nodding resolutely.

“I can do that.” The boy followed along, though not without shooting Riff a dirty look for blocking his and Ice’s path. A-Rab watched the three of them warily, perhaps expecting more punches to fly, but Riff lowered his fist slowly, knuckles remaining tense and white where they hung at his side. Tony led the way, looking around first before motioning them to wherever he thought would be a good place to have their exchange.

It wasn’t Doc’s, though that would have been a good place with their chairs and tables for Ice to sit. For that reason Riff knew they weren’t going to the playground. He was surprised when Tony jiggled the lock to a bar, closed between its business hours. The next shift wouldn’t be in until seven, guaranteeing them at least an hour of privacy. Unlocking the door, and how Tony had a key for the bar Riff didn’t know, they filed inside, Tony and A-Rab pulling down chairs from around one table. Four chairs circling it A-Rab started to sit down but a warning look from Riff had him shuffling backwards with the flair of a waiter, pulling the chair out to allow Ice to slowly lower himself into. Getting off of his feet should have been a relief but he remained tense, wincing in pain no matter how he moved.

Tony gestured for the unknown boy to take a seat, which he did, seating himself beside Ice. He placed his forearms on the edge, leaning forward to meet Tony’s eyes. He wasn’t scared but he didn’t try to challenge the scrutinising look that Tony was giving him. Riff’s knuckles ached at the barely there glance shared by Ice and the boy, Ice’s eyes drifting to his for half a second in an unspoken message. If Ice was at all grateful for the goddamn brat’s so-called help he was gonna. . .

Huh, he was really starting to sound like Krupke.

Riff sidled up to Tony, propping his elbows against the bar’s counter to join the face-off. “So, the two new best friends, want to explain how you befriended one another?” Riff asked, looking expectantly at both of them.

“I was helping him out,” the boy stated, shrugging as though the answer was obvious.

A-Rab laughed sharply from behind their backs. “Yeah, because Emeralds help out Jets all the time.”

Neither Ice nor his friend looked at A-Rab but glanced to each other from the corner of their eyes. Riff could feel Tony shifting beside him, straightening up and away from the bar. “Then why were you with each other?” Tony asked.

Ice shifted uncomfortably in his seat but didn’t look away from Tony. “I was out walking yesterday and because I was here, in our territory, I didn’t think I needed to have my guard up. Apparently I should have because several Emeralds jumped me. I tried fighting them off but there were too many of them. They restrained me and knocked me out.”

“And where were you all this time?” Riff demanded, looking back to the boy now that he wasn’t trying to defend himself. He never got the chance, Ice speaking again.

“He wasn’t there. It was Cloud all over again – and Jade, Forest and Grass. A couple of other guys that I didn’t recognise too,” Ice explained, only then allowing himself to look at Riff, though Riff was ready to turn on Tony and expound on all the ways he was right. He held back the words, giving Tony a pointed look in their place. “I didn’t see Grady until later.”

“I didn’t see him until they brought him in – tied up and blindfolded.” If the boy was indeed Grady as Riff suspected he didn’t speak quite as confidently as Ice did. He kept his gaze on Tony but judging by how his forearms tensed and loosened at random he was probably playing with his hands now that they were in his lap. “They were. . . beating him up, and of course he couldn’t defend himself.”

Riff exchanged looks with Tony and A-Rab, though it was Tony who spoke next. “How did you know it was them?”

“They took off my blindfold once I was there.” Ice shook his head regretfully. “I don’t know if it was their hangout or if it just happened to be some place that they chose for the night.”

“It was an abandoned building out by the water. I was supposed to be there for part of my initiation but. . . once I heard everything that was happening, I kept hidden,” Grady said, shame colouring his face.

“You were supposed to beat Ice up too?” Offended as A-Rab was, all of them were, his voice cracked with anger. “You were expected to do what they were doing to him?”

Grady couldn’t hold back a shudder. “Y-yeah.”

“Some scary gang member you are,” A-Rab drawled in mock-fright, dancing backwards as though he was trying to escape him. Grady worked his jaw while Ice paled, something that didn’t escape Riff’s attention.

“Why couldn’t you do that?” Tony asked, his tone and face remarkably calm.

Grady pursed his lips together, seemingly lost in thought for how he narrowed his eyes in concentration, but he only looked lost in the end, humiliated and despairing. “I just couldn’t.”

“And because of that you decided to break Ice free? Why didn’t you do it last night, huh?” Riff asked, moving closer to the table to better interrogate him.

“Everyone – the. . . six of them, they were all there for shifts to make sure that Ice didn’t have a chance to escape. I didn’t have a lot of time to work with, only sneaking in when everyone was coming or going.” Grady met Riff’s eyes, not even flinching as he pulled a chair around, sitting in it backwards to join them around the table. “I managed to get Ice some water at one point but getting him out was impossible until I overheard them talking about going to a meeting. That was about. . . maybe an hour and a half ago.”

It was remarkable how steady Grady’s voice was, after being nervous talking about his friends beating up Ice. Riff regarded him for a few seconds before looking past him to Ice. “This is true?”

“They had me tied up all night.” Ice pushed his sleeves back, showing the chafing marks that rope had left around his wrists, working deep in several places to draw blood. “They. . . they didn’t let up at all.”

From off to the side, the several feet separating the table from the bar, Riff caught Tony nodding from the corner of his eye. “Was this part of a threat to us?” Tony asked.

“It was a message to me, maybe a bit to Riff too,” Ice mentioned, the corner of his mouth pulling up all too quickly. Any amusement didn’t last long, exhaling it noisily through his lips. “For interrupting their business at the playground.”

“Figures,” Riff muttered, not surprised but not expecting anything to the extent that Ice embodied. “Does that mean they’re after me too?”

“No, I never heard them mention you,” Grady replied, smirking a little once he realised Riff was giving him a dirty look. “I know who you are, Riff, lieutenant of the Jets, but I didn’t hear them say anything about going after you. You’re too much of a higher up to go after.”

“I suppose I should be grateful for that.” Riff rolled his eyes, hooking his fingers into his hair. “They’re not going after anyone else then, are they? Are they finished with us now that they’re finished with Ice?”

“As far as what I knew this morning, yeah. I can’t fill you in on anything else. Since I didn’t complete my initiation I didn’t get into the Emeralds,” Grady pointed out. “I have no more information to give you.”

“What a crying shame,” A-Rab remarked.

“I’m drowning in tears,” Grady added sarcastically, turning around in his seat to shoot A-Rab his most forlorn look. A-Rab did laugh dryly, a sound part disbelieving but also demeaning.

“You expect us to believe that you’re helping Ice?” Riff knew the dubious nature of gang versus gang interactions, even at a truce nothing could be taken at face value. He wondered if he could even take Ice for what he was saying. What he said was going against everything else he did. Learning how to read Ice’s behaviour had its disadvantages. It didn’t help that his gut believed that there was something more to the story that Ice and Grady refused to tell. “You’re not leaving anything out?”

“Oh, yeah, there is,” Ice mentioned, nodding once. Grady looked to Ice, taken aback, but Ice barely acknowledged it. “I’m so damn sore that I’m going home now. Grady has already offered to help me so we’ll just be on our way.”

“Woah, no, I don’t think so,” Riff insisted, standing up at the same time as Ice did. Ice may have wavered on his feet, for whatever injury it was Riff didn’t know, but Ice had the extra height and a determined look on his side. “We still have questions for both of you.” When Tony shook his head Riff resisted the urge to do the same. “Me and Ice know the Emeralds are trying to expand their territory. What else are they looking into?”

“Well – I know about the playground, but that’s about it,” Grady admitted.

Okay, so maybe the kid was telling the truth about not being in with the Emeralds. The playground was news ten days ago, dated information. “What about the other boys – there were two more involved. What are their names?”

Grady thought about that for several seconds but eventually twisted his chin down. “I don’t know their names but I can tell you what they look like.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Riff was feeling more benevolent than he actually was, even going as far as patting Grady on the shoulder once he was standing too. “Head out now, I can take Ice home.”

“No,” Ice said quickly, shuffling unsteadily to Grady.

He didn’t need to hear A-Rab sucking in his breath at hearing Ice’s response. It was like two punches to his stomach, swift and hard in quick succession. “Come on, I owe you the favour after last time, you carried me to – bed and home.” Riff nearly had said Doc’s but stopped at the last minute, still not wanting to let Tony know that his boss had let them shack up for the night.

“I’m really in bad shape and I don’t know how much help you will be,” Ice explained before unconsciously gesturing to Grady with his head. “Grady was able to get me out so I know he can do it.”

“You don’t think I can do it?” Riff moved around the table, coming in to Ice’s other side.

“I know you have other stuff to do,” Ice mentioned.

“We need to figure out what we need to do,” Tony pointed out, laying his hand on Riff’s shoulder. He hadn’t heard him come to the table, stepping up behind him, but he must have given a silent indication that Grady and Ice could leave. They made their way to the door, almost out but Riff had sat down, glaring at their heads, when he felt his jeans stick to the chair.

A look down at the material showed something dark staining it, thick and clinging also to the seat. “Ice, are you bleeding?” Riff looked up quickly, eyes not going as high as their heads but to Ice’s legs. All of them were looking at him, quickly finding the stain just above the knee, cut across in a big bold line.

“You should go to Doc’s,” Tony said, eyes raking over him worriedly.

Ice’s shoulders sunk with a sigh. “I’ll be alright.”

It would have been one thing had Riff been the only one unconvinced, but Ice didn’t sound like he believed himself either.

*

He didn’t come in through the door like Tony recommended. He stayed to the fire escape, peering in through the window though not going in. He would once Ice got in but predictably, and understandably, he wasn’t. He was also lucky in that Tony kept their talk short. Tony already knew that he was distracted. Any serious talks would have to be saved for another time.

Once again he heard shouting from the next window over, the one that looked into the living room. The same voices, a woman and a man, were arguing.

“I don’t know where he is! I’m not a map!”

Whatever response Ice’s dad was about to give was stopped cold, barely two words spoken when he went quiet. Moving quietly and swiftly to make a cat jealous Riff peered around the second window, eyes catching the outline of three figures rather than two. The one right in the doorway was hardly inside before getting a punch to the face.

Ice was home.

“Where have you been?”

“Why didn’t you phone?”

Between the rapid fire questions and more that Riff couldn’t entirely hear he could only imagine that Ice was answering and ignoring as he deemed fit. Where there were answers Riff couldn’t hear him at all. It didn’t help that they were moving, Ice limping towards his bedroom. Sure enough, once he crept back to that window, he could see Ice dropping to sit heavily on his bed, his mom and dad following to keep yelling at him.

“And don’t think you’re not getting any dinner,” his mom stated firmly, no longer yelling but spinning on her heels to leave Ice alone with his dad.

“Fine.” Riff barely heard the word, Ice slumped with his back to the window. His dad said something, unheard to Riff, ignored by Ice, which warranted a swift hand to the side of his head. He left the bedroom, Ice leaning sideways and eyeing his bed. Carefully pulling off his shirt he slowly lowered himself the little bit more needed to lie down.

Bruises over scars, and the reopened cut on his shoulder, dried blood caking out several inches out and down had Riff hurrying down the ladder in search of Cloud.

*

Going into Emerald territory should have been a means for getting knocked out like Ice but Riff managed to exercise all his stealth abilities to their finest. He lurked from shadow to shadow to check out the few hideouts that he knew the Emeralds frequented but none of them were in use. This late at night he supposed all of them would be in bed but today he needed some kind of a break. He had one of his good friends beaten up and was lied to by the same friend. At this point he was hoping to run into any Emerald. They would at least be able to point him in the right direction to find Cloud, once he coerced the information out of them. Or maybe he could beat them up in retaliation.

No, that wouldn’t suffice, he only wanted Cloud. He knew he was close when his feet had taken him past the residential area and closer to the shoreline. There were only a few buildings around, warehouses currently not in use, but he heard voices, one that he recognised immediately, a high pitched laugh that stilted before warbling again.

Crouching, ignoring the breeze coming in off of the water that wanted to make him shiver, he edged closer to the warehouse the sounds were coming from. The laughter was interspersed with goading but the other voice was lower, grinding out angry words.

There weren’t any windows that he could easily access, too high up and without any way to climb to get a view, so he peered around, hidden by one of the large double doors that led inside.

“If – If I knew how good you were at fighting, we might have still let you in.” Riff could hear Cloud but he couldn’t see him. Staying outside wasn’t helping his search, so taking a quiet deep breath he slipped inside, eyes intent on all the shadows, ready to jump back into hiding if he saw any shadows that moved or Cloud himself and his – attacker? Who in their right mind would go after Cloud? Well, aside from himself.

“And find myself in association with you?” There was something familiar about the voice though Riff couldn’t place it, darkness and metal distorting it. The further he winded his way through the aisles of the warehouse, empty storage shelves stacked all the way to the ceiling to form walls separating one aisle from the next, he had the impression that he was getting lost. The chances of finding Cloud were getting slimmer with each passing moment though he still heard their voices. The unknown man snorted, the sound somehow carrying. “I don’t think so.”

“You were close to doing it last night, before you decided to not show up.” Cloud laughed again, though the slurp that accompanied it had Riff pausing, wondering what it was he couldn’t see. “My mistake, you were there. Never thought you’d have sympathy for one of them.”

“I saw what you did to him – when the others were gone. That wasn’t beating him up.” Riff clenched his jaw and hands, understanding the discussion going on, knowing that they were talking about Ice. “You goddamn sick-” Riff started running, no longer concerned about being seen or heard. By the sounds of it, a pained grunt, he wouldn’t be detected anyways. “Bastard.”

He knew he was close when he saw a pinprick of light at the end of the aisle he turned down.

“It has a name you know.” A crack, flesh meeting flesh hard and fast, had Riff pumping his legs harder. “I understand if you don’t get it, it’s only educated people who would know about it.”

Riff rounded the corner, nearly tumbling to a stop when he found himself stepping into the furthest reaches of a lit lantern. Safely away from the light, but cast into view, was Cloud, closer to the ground for being beaten up at the hands and feet of Grady standing over him. Riff didn’t have the time to admire Cloud’s newly shorn hair, curls no more, for staring at Grady. “What are you doing here?”

“Exactly what it looks like.” Grady hadn’t appeared meek in their first exchange, perhaps reserved, but meeting him this time he looked nearly dangerous. The blood on his hands helped with that but also the menace and confidence in which he stood. He nodded to Riff, not smiling, but looking satisfied. “It’s what you’re here to do too, isn’t it?”

Riff looked down at Cloud in consideration, who smirked up to him. “Oh goodie, I have two heroes who want to fight for Ice’s honour! He’s such a lucky maiden. Well, was.” Grady kicked him hard in the ribs which had Cloud twisting and falling to the dusty floor, coughing when plumes rose.

“Far be it that I let him have all the fun.” Riff stalked up to Cloud, grabbing hold of the few short curls he still had left, only an inch’s worth, pulling him to his feet and slamming him against the nearby metal shelves. “No one hurts one of my best friends and gets away with it. No one gets away with making my friends lie to me,” Riff spat out, bringing his face right up into Cloud’s.

“He wouldn’t tell you the truth?” Through blood and broken tooth Cloud grinned, starting to laugh again. “Grady wouldn’t tell you the truth?”

Riff cast a quick look to Grady who sealed his lips tightly. He couldn’t quite tell if he was shaking his head resolutely or if all of him was shaking with rage. “I – It’s bad. Cloud – what Cloud did is wrong on so many levels, and I don’t mean beating Ice up. What he did afterwards.”

“What did you do?” Riff stomach had turned, cold and twisting, not helped when Cloud smirked, tight lipped to show he wasn’t talking. “What did you have to do when you decided punching and kicking Ice wasn’t enough?”

“Whoever fixed up that cut I gave him did a pretty good job. If I wanted it to heal I would have left it alone, but it looked like Ice needed a reminder of how much I took control of him that night.” Cloud already had one black eye but shaking him sideways Riff was able to give him a matching set. Cloud laughed it off, twisting his head until his gaze drifted up. “And that’s the thing, I love having control. You need to realise that I have the power.”

He squeezed Cloud’s chin, yanking it down so they were looking eye to eye again. “So what did you do to show Ice you have that power?” Riff growled.

Cloud waggled his finger, luring Riff forward so that he didn’t need to move to whisper in his ear. “It’s something I can teach you, first hand. And I’m sure you’d love to do it to Ice too.” Riff stiffened against him but didn’t move back, not when Cloud was speaking again. “In. Out. Hard. Fast. In. Don’t stop. Even if. He yells.” Lulled by the cadence of his words Riff wasn’t able to piece together what he was saying right away but Cloud rocking forward, pelvis first, had Riff recoiling but not without flinging his fist out again, catching bruised cheek so hard that he felt bone give out under his hand.

Riff grabbed hold of his hand, barely registering the pain flaring up in his knuckles. Gaping and breathing hard he imagined Cloud moving as he had, hips pounding forward but not against him. In his place Ice was there, hands bound, shoulder and thigh bleeding, pulsing in agony. What hurt more than that was the way that Cloud thrust into him, unrelenting, unyielding.

How he didn’t retch he didn’t know. Staring at the blood coating the back of his hand, the dark red filling his whole vision he lunged forward, grabbing hold of Cloud again but twisting him around to throw him to the ground. “You sick fuck!” Before he could continue the assault Grady had started he was pulled backwards by his shoulders, Grady’s strong hands and wide stance keeping him from breaking free. “You deserve to be killed for this!”

“You don’t want to start a war with the Emeralds, not with dragging all of the Jets into it,” Grady countered, stepping forward seeing that Riff wasn’t going to let him pull him any further back. He spoke lowly, not letting Cloud overhear them, though past Grady’s shoulder Riff promised vengeance on Cloud, his whole face full of fury. “I’m not involved with either gang. I can deal with Cloud on my own.”

“No you aren’t.” Riff pulled his arm free, though in more honesty Grady probably let him do it. It was likely the same reason that he was able to grab Grady, pulling him along so that they were starting down the aisle he came from, towards the doors that opened into the night and the city beyond. Riff shifted his grip to push him, stepping behind him to twist back to address Cloud, picking himself up off the ground.

“We are not done with you,” Riff promised, fingers a gun directly on Cloud. “This isn’t over yet.”