Catabolism - Part Two: Diplopia

Chapter Fifteen

Danny has felt many things.

He has felt the highest highs and the most hellish lows. He has known the buttery taste of oblivion. He has felt pain beyond what the human brain could conjure.

Lately, however, he has been feeling very little; often cold emptiness. The pain was still there, of course, it was always there, but between the cracks in his nerves. The roiling seasickness of feeling both over-stimulated and under-stimulated. His mind full with his hands cupped hollow. Too much of not enough.

Working on the project was the only thing that kept his mind focused, dedicated. Yearning. Hoping that in the end, one more feeling would finally emerge.

But now. Watching the fuzzy monochromatic pixels on the screen connected to the bargain bin home security camera that he spent the morning rigging up, he felt... something. Excitement. Anticipation. Intrigue. Things that had no name.

She was here.

Danny thought it would be harder, more of a challenge. He worried it was happening too quickly, that she would need more time. That he would have to be more direct. Whisking her away into a fortress would be an obstacle, but not an ending.

And yet she was here. Perfectly on time. Her first move made without even realizing it. That was on him for underestimating her. He would not do that again.

"You were right," the voice of his muscle sounded from the doorway. He would not come closer, Danny had him trained well. "She's here."

"Of course she is," Danny muttered to himself more than anything. No drug could synthetically recreate this feeling. It was too pure, too real.

"She wants Rot."

That made Danny pause, the corners of his mouth twitching. His fingers thrummed rhythmically. Was that surprise stirring in his stomach? He had thought himself a step or two ahead.

"Did she ask for it by name?"

"No."

The word lingered in the dank air of small, dark off shoot. There was more not being said, Danny knew. He tilted his head sharply in the muscle's direction, though not taking his eyes off her. The devil was in the details after all.

"Said she heard about it." He could hear the large man shift. He was getting fidgety, going to need another dose soon. "She was asking about the stiffs who ODed."

And there it was. Another feeling, a rare one. Pride. That was how. She was putting it together. A bold guess, one that he would pay off in spades.

"Clever clever clever," Danny hummed to himself. He very nearly smiled, wondered if he remembered how.

She had made her move, the next was his, and this, he wanted the honors of doing in person.

What she wanted, what she was owed, he kept close. Everything else he let the dealers handle. Nothing else was as important now. He reached for the medical cooler, unlocked the deadbolt sealing it.

"She doesn't know what it is." The muscle was still standing, waiting for orders.

Neither do you, Danny thought with a sniff. But unlike you, she will figure it out. A puzzle for her to solve. A trial to prove herself.

"Not yet."

After so long of feeling nothing but the fallout of a waking nightmare, Danny was going to indulge. And he invited his little mermaid to impress him.

"What about the Fed with her?"

Danny smiled, and it was real. Eric had been right to worry. But Danny was not. The man was no obstacle. Nothing was now.

"I don't see one."