Adrenaline

⌊Chapter 5⌉

The last thing Rich wanted to do tonight was deal with Joe of all people. He'd rather go head-to-head with Blake, but here he was, taking the job anyway. It was good money, but that was the only upside. As he weaved seamlessly through alleyways and dark streets, he looked at the envelope with the cash inside. Yeah, good money. He sighed faintly, shaking his head as he pushed on. It began to rain again. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Andy would be pissed if he saw what Rich was doing. Granted, there was a deep part of Rich that was pissed at himself too, but what else was he going to do? Keep infiltrating Black Tower over and over and over again before he's killed? Or captured then killed? He had to keep telling himself that this was worth it. With enough jobs like this, Rich would have the money in no time to bail Alex out of prison.

Then?

Then they would leave. Rich, Alex, and Andy.

Where?

Somewhere. That didn't matter right now. What mattered was the 48. Rich watched the crevices between the stones in the alley ground fill with water, and that water moved down the spaces like a small river connecting the whole city. There wasn't much of a connection otherwise. The alleyways were littered with graffiti and advertisements on soaked paper for small companies that never got anywhere. Fire escape routes climbed the towering buildings overhead, the rain hitting them with an impact that sometimes made Rich look over his shoulder questioning if it was a person or just the weather.

The moon cast a soft reflection on the slowly growing puddles of water that were visible to it, yet most were hidden by the city's edifices. Since he was on the eastern/southern side of Adelmir, there wasn't much traffic, but Rich's hearing was still impaired from the rainfall.

Rich had only come face-to-face with Joe once before, and it was for the very reason he hated him. Joe was trying to kidnap a kid, and Rich fought him off. The kid then recognised Rich and became even more scared before running away and telling her parents. Probably. The police went on a huge search for him that night so it was likely that's what she had done. It was interesting to know that even a 6-year-old knew who Rich was and believed he was a murderer just because their parents and Blake say so. Rich kicked a rock along the ground.

Andy was right. About a lot of things. But he was right about Rich. He didn't know what he was going to do if he broke Alex out. He didn't even know if he could. Black Tower was so heavily guarded, and with a new soldier apparently out for his blood, it was uncertain Rich could get further than he had ever come before. He hadn't seen Alex since the incident 7 years ago. He hadn't gotten far enough into Black Prison to find him and his cell. For all he knew, Alex could be dead, and Blake was using the idea of him being alive as bait for Rich to walk right into his trap.

But if there was a slim chance Alex was still alive and in that prison, Rich wasn't going to give up. Alex was the only real friend Rich ever had aside from Andy. Alex had been there since Rich started school in Adelmir without an idea in the world about who he was or where he belonged. Hell, he didn't even know who his parents were. The story was that Andy had found him alone on the street when he was around 2 1/2-years-old. Once he noticed that nobody was coming for Rich, he took the kid into his own care. Apparently Rich could already say his name at that age.

Occasionally Rich would try and think back to before Andy found him to see if he could remember just a sliver of anything. He wanted to at least see a face that he hadn't seen after Andy found him. Like a faint memory of a person popping up. That never happened though, and Rich would often end up just falling into a downward spiral of paranoia he didn't like to show. Andy was the only one that knew just how mentally disturbed Rich was, as he did a fantastic job hiding it behind a cocky façade - to throw people off. Maybe throw himself off too. Rich hated remembering his own problems, so he would push them away with action. Those actions always led to consequences which distracted the young man from the real problem of things. Adrenaline was like a drug to him now. It kept him isolated from his feelings to be like an empty shell of what was once a person.