The White Shadow 1: The Dancer

Chapter 7

Darryll looked over at Diane who held a small green and white box adorned with a red cross in her arms. With disapproving eyes, Darryll groaned and stumbled into the coach that sat by the empty fireplace, gripping his throbbing arm. When Diane moved to apply first aid to his injury, Darryll turned to glare at her. "We discuss a plan of action during this. If you're not finished by the time we're finished, then clearly it's not worth it."
Diane was stupefied, "That makes no sense. You work with computers, you should be logical."
"You're wasting our time. Fix me."
And Diane thrust herself into the sofa beside Darryll and opened up the box, before she remembered something important. "Before I work on your arm, I need to show you something work related."
Darryll's groan was guttural, "...make it quick."
Diane shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone. After opening photos she put the screen to her chest, and explained quickly, "So I was concerned about how our enemy was getting information on us, so I went back to the apartment and-"
"You went back?"
Darryll's eyes were wide, As Diane replied, "...yes."
"Hm. Just a little surprised is all. And you call me a workaholic."
"I never call you a-"
"Just continue."
Diane continued, "I went back to the apartment and found this in the lights."
She flipped her phone over and showed Darryll the image. She held her breath as Darryll's eyes closed, and he drew his breath in. Diane edged away just a little from the dormant volcano that was Darryll. She tried to explain herself a little, "I, uh, I destroyed it. It's remains are in a park somewhere." Darryll only flared his nostrils and blew out little puffs of air, and his brow furrowed and his eyelids clenched...
But then he blinked And his grimace melted away, and be opened his eyes again. "Great job with finding this, Diane. Remind me to reward you later. But the Dancer's gonna learn soon that it's been destroyed, so we need to act fast. Let's take the night, and then go next morning. I'll find where the thing is from."
Diane smiled playfully, "As a reward may I take the time I need to heal your arm, or at least bandage it?"
...
"Fuck you."

Diane observed as Darryll relentlessly scoured his digital archives for the bug she had found. His eyes were wide and determined, and glowed blue in the computer screens haze as they moved franticly darting from image to image. Darryll's shoulders grew stiff as he leaned over high computer. Diane took a length of bandage out of her box, and then asked him, "May I have your arm?" When Darryll stretched his arm out to her, she began to wind the bandage around his arm, being tight enough that it wouldn't fall, yet soft enough that Darryll felt as little pain as possible. Darryll still winced at the process, however, through his teeth, as he typed with his right hand. Then, as Diane lay Darryll's arm back down, his face lit up with an elated grin, and he turned back to Diane, "Gottem."
Diane peered over Darryll's shoulder at the computer screen, which was presenting two names, "Sunny and Deadilous?"
"They're a manufacturer," Darryll explained, "And as far as I can tell, they have no real affiliation, so as long as I can get into their records, I can find where the Dancer bought the bugs from! Yes! Thank you so much Diane!"
Diane smiled, comforted by Darryll's childish happiness. "So let me guess, I'm gonna go to one of the stores and get the records?"
Darryll scoffed, "Not so fast, we have a few options. One: we pay for the information. Like I said, SnD's have no affiliation."
"But we have no money." Diane pointed out.
Darryll nodded, "Yep, we're broke. So thats a no go. Unless we stole money from somewhere, but I know you're not a fan of doing that"
"No stealing from innocent people." Diane's expression was one of utmost certainty. "After all, we need some level of moral standard."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Darryll waved offhandedly, "So I'll need some information on where SnD's keep their records and fast, before it gets buried under all the other transactions. But before we go to the source, we need to find the source."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know where SnD's servers are, and I can't trust my usual informants, they could be on the Dancer's payroll. But," Darryll raised a finger on his good arm, grinning, "if we go to one of their hardware stores, I can get into the cash register and find out where the signals are going, and then use that to find the location of the servers." He leaned back, "It's a little more maths-y then that, but bottom line, we have a chance."
Diane was still not entirely certain. As she began to wrap the sling around Darryll's arm, she asked, "Are you sure you need to do it? You aren't really in good condition. Can you bring your arm to your chest?"
Darryll lifted his arm, and Diane asked again, "And can you learn a little forward? Perfect, thank you."
Darryll raised his good arm again, this time with two fingers, and replied, "Two reasons why I need to, and can, go on this assignment. One," He lowered one finger, "I'm not about to risk being by myself in this condition. That's a recipe for disaster, especially given that I don't have a gun. Two," Darryll raised his second finger again, and leaned back as Diane finished tying his cast, "There should ideally be no fighting. We will need a distraction, but I know and oldie but goodie that I can use. We'll be in and out."
Diane looked at Darryll through the doubtful slits of her eyelids, "Remember what happened the last time you said that?"
Darryll looked over at Diane, directly at her with his sunken, sleepless eyes, and declared, "I learn from my mistakes, Diane. Remember that."