by Mattie Hope
"Eh, you know medics."
"Jax," she said dangerously.
"They say I need physiotherapy. But I can't afford that shit, you know that. And Rita and Zheng already paid for my operation. I can't let them pay for anything else."
"Christ, Jax, I'll pay! Are you kidding me?"
"Come on, Kath. You don't have to―"
"Jax, we're family. Don't argue with me on this. I want you up and walking by the time I get back, you hear me?"
Jax knew better than to argue with her when she sounded like that. "Thanks," he said. "I, uh. I love you."
"I love you too, chucklehead," she said.
*~*~*
When Zheng had mentioned dinner, Jax had thought he was asking him on a date. He'd barely had time to get excited before Zheng squashed his hopes by inviting Rita along too.
He'd been too tired to go out last night, so they'd made plans to meet at the noodle place this evening, after Zheng's shift.
("The noodle place?" Zheng had repeated. "You know I'm paying? We can go anywhere you like."
"I wanna go to the noodle place," Jax had insisted. He liked the noodle place. As if he wanted to go somewhere you had to wear a tie and they had three different kinds of fork.)
He felt like kind of an idiot when he and Rita got there―a little early―and he realized that he wasn't gonna be able to reach the counter, because he was in the damn wheelchair.
"So this is the noodle place!" said Rita brightly.
"Uh-huh," said Jax.
"I think I'm going to order the veggie box," she said. "How about you? Or should we wait for Zheng?"
"I dunno. How hungry are you?"
"I'm fine to wait."
"Yeah, me too," said Jax. "I think I'll just grab a beer for now. Can you order for me?" He gestured at the counter.
Rita frowned. "Should you be drinking? Didn't you take a painkiller?"
"It's one beer," said Jax.
"I…don't really feel comfortable…"
"Fine!" said Jax, "I'll get it." He wheeled himself up to the counter, and the noodle guy peered over the side. Jax had to ask for the beer twice, because the guy didn't hear him the first time.
He was in a shitty mood by the time Zheng turned up, and it only got worse from there.
All he seemed to want to do was pay attention to Rita. Like when he ordered his noodles and asked for extra pork, he turned to Rita and said, "It's lab-grown. I hope you don't mind?"
"Mind?"
"The pork. I assumed you were Muslim, because of your surname."
"Oh, yes," said Rita. "Well, I'm not very observant. But I am a vegetarian, actually. It's fine, though, thanks for asking."
And then there was the thing with the chopsticks―Zheng picked them up, expertly, with the hand on his arm extender and started feeding the noodles into the side of his beak. It was amazing. Jax looked at the fork he'd asked for, suddenly feeling like a dumb little kid, while Zheng and Rita used the chopsticks without any trouble. Rita, okay, fine, but how the hell was Zheng so good at that? Jax had to know, so he asked him.
"I've been eating with chopsticks since I was a child," said Zheng. "I was raised to integrate into Chinese culture, hence the name. I started out in the Chinese district on 1. I only ended up here by chance, really."
"I was wondering about that," said Rita, before Jax could compliment him on his English, which he wanted to do. "Is 'Zheng' your first name or your surname? I thought it was a family name."
"It is, traditionally," said Zheng. "But actually, we go by mononyms, since we don't have families. There aren't enough splices to worry about duplicating names."
"What about if you have your own children? Would it become a family name then?"
Jax stared at her and shook his head, and she frowned in confusion. Goddamn it. Too late now.
"We can't have children," said Zheng, sounding calm enough.
"Oh," said Rita.
"And what about your family, Rita?" Zheng asked.
It went on like that all through the meal: Zheng asking Rita questions; Rita answering them; Jax sitting there feeling surplus to requirements.
There was one moment where Zheng turned to him and asked him if he needed a painkiller―probably because his bad mood was showing on his face―but other than that, it was like this was Zheng's talk show and Rita was the star guest.
Jax had to admit that Rita was pretty (sort of), and charming (in a way), and sweet and enthusiastic (definitely). You couldn't say any of that about Jax. And he knew that she had a scientific interest in splices, if nothing else. Did it stop there? Or, how far was she willing to take it?
But, Christ, it smarted to think that Zheng would use taking him out as an excuse to get closer to Rita. That was low. Maybe he was just being polite to her, trying too hard not to make her feel like a third wheel. But it was his idea to invite her in the first place, and there was being polite and then there was hanging on someone's every word.
Rita knew how he felt about Zheng, too, but he guessed it wasn't her fault. She was just answering his questions. Zheng was the one who kept asking them.
After the meal, they dropped Rita at her door, and then Zheng lingered.
"May I come in?" he asked.
"You talking to me?" snapped Jax.
Zheng looked around, apparently baffled, confirming that Rita was already inside. "Well, yes."
"You sure about that?"
"Jax, are you sure you don't need a painkiller?"
Actually, it probably was time for another. And he probably shouldn't have had that beer. "None of your business."
"All right," said Zheng. "But could I come in? I need to ask you something."
"This again," said Jax. "Fine, whatever."
He strained to reach his keypad from the chair.
"I'll get it," said Zheng. Jax had given them both his code, since it was hard for him to reach the door. Rita was in his suite more than her own, the last couple of days.
Zheng got them inside, helped Jax transfer from the wheelchair to the couch, and went to get him a glass of water and a pill. Jax sulked throughout. If he'd been in an even slightly better mood, the idea of a gorgeous splice in his suite taking care of him probably would have seemed like a dream come true. Well, maybe. In most of his dreams he could walk.
Zheng perched on the armchair and waited for him to take the pill, then he leaned forward.
"Jax," he said, "have you noticed anything…strange about Rita?"
Jax's brain just picked out the fact that Zheng was asking him about Rita, and the whole night caught up with him and he got mad before anything else could really sink in.
"Why are you so obsessed with Rita? What, you like her?"
"It's…not that I don't like her," Zheng responded carefully, which was dumb and made no sense.
"That's not what I said. I said you like her! You're into her! You have a thing for her!"
"What?" said Zheng. "Are you―is that why you've been glaring all evening?"
"Maybe," muttered Jax. "But like, it was like I didn't even need to be there. It's not my business who you want to take out, but you could have the decency not to drag me into it, when you know―you know how I feel about you, all right? Come on."
"Jax," said Zheng, "that's not what this is about at all. I'm sorry. I can understand why you got that impression from my behavior tonight, but I'm not―interested in Rita. Romantically. Or sexually. I was asking if you'd noticed anything strange about her."
Jax took a breath. He wanted Zheng to say that he felt that way about Jax, too, but him not being into Rita was something at least. "Right," he said. He considered the question. "Uh, I don't know. She talks kind of a lot?"
"But has she said anything contradictory? Anything that doesn't quite add up?"
Jax thought about it, although his head was kind of swimmy from where the painkiller was starting to kick in, on top of the bad idea beer. "I mean…sometimes she'll ask me a question, and then it's like, she knew the answ
er already. Like maybe…maybe she was just trying to see what I'd say? But I guess I just thought she was trying to make conversation or something."
Zheng hummed, like a human "hmm," except the sound was different. Jax wanted really badly to put his hands on Zheng's throat and feel it. He got a little caught up wondering whether he'd ever get to again. It seemed like a long time before he thought of something to say.
"Why are you asking, anyway?"
There was a pause. "It's probably nothing," said Zheng, "but I have a feeling there's something fishy about her."
Jax laughed. "Fishy. That's funny. Because she's a marine ethologist. Octopuses aren't actually fish, though, you know, they're mollusks."
"Right," said Zheng. "Well, like I said, it's probably nothing. Just…let me know if you think of anything. And don't tell her I asked, will you?"
Jax shook his head. "Promise," he said.
"How about we get you to bed?"
"Are you coming?" Jax asked hopefully. He was floating, now.
"Not tonight," said Zheng.
*~*~*
It was a couple of days later when there was a loud pounding on the door, followed by the bleeps of his code being entered. Rita usually called the intercom before she came over―just let it ring for a second then canceled the call, so he didn't have to get up but had a little warning―so was it Zheng? It was his shift, though.
It was Rita, as it turned out, in a bathrobe, with dripping wet hair and the strangest expression on her face. "Call Zheng," she said. "I found something."
Chapter Ten
"I was getting out of the shower," Rita explained, "and I slipped―the bathmat was out of place―and I caught myself against the wall, and it moved, and I realized it's a false wall. So I felt around until I found the catch, and…" She gestured into the room. "A second lab."
Zheng could still barely fit in the room, but he shoved down the feeling of claustrophobia. It was something he was used to doing. Everywhere on the Metros felt slightly too small for him. He looked around the tiny, hidden lab at the single tank and its lone, unmoving inhabitant. "Is that a blue-ringed octopus?" he asked.
"I think so," said Rita.
He turned on her. "You think so?"
She sighed. "There's something else I have to tell you," she said.
They went back into Gershon's bedroom, where Zheng felt he could breathe again. Jax was already there, sitting in his wheelchair―the three of them hadn't been able to fit in the bathroom together―and Rita sat on the edge of the bed, while Zheng stood.
"I'm from Interpol," said Rita.
"Interpol?" Zheng repeated disbelievingly.
"What the hell is Interpol?" asked Jax.
"Earth police," Zheng told him.
"That's not exactly―" Rita began, then cut herself off. "Well, anyway. I was sent to make sure the investigation was being handled properly."
Zheng bristled. "You didn't think I could handle it?"
"You shouldn't take this personally," said Rita. "Doctor Gershon was an Earth citizen, and the Metro guards haven't always been all that forthcoming about sharing intel with us."
"So I suppose it has nothing to do with me being a splice?"
"Of course not! Murphy was supposed to be assigned to that case, and it's not as if we monitor every―"
"Aren't we all supposed to be Earth citizens?" Jax interrupted.
"I'm not," said Zheng, wheeling on him.
"Can we all please just calm the fuck down?" said Rita. "We're all on the same side here."
"Says the woman who's been lying to us since minute one," Jax retorted.
"And that wasn't personal."
"You made it personal! You made me think we were friends!"
That shut her up. For a little while. "We were concerned that you had been cleared as a suspect too soon," she said at last, "perhaps due to your prior relationship with―"
"That was after we cleared him," Zheng protested.
"― with Murphy," Rita finished, shooting him an irritable look. She turned back to Jax. "Part of my assignment was to try to befriend you. But I was confident pretty quickly that you had nothing to do with it. I'd like us to be friends, Jax. Real friends. I do like you."
"So, to be clear, you don't actually think that we were mishandling the case," clarified Zheng.
"Not everything is about you, Zheng!" snapped Jax.
"You two really need to get your shit together," said Rita. "It's painful to watch. If you're going to try to make this work, you need to be on the same team."
"Are you giving us relationship advice right now?" asked Zheng disbelievingly.
"Yeah, read the room, Qureshi," said Jax. "If that is your real name."
Rite rolled her eyes. "It isn't. And look at that, I got you on the same team."
"So, what is your real name?" asked Jax.
"I could tell you," Rita started.
"But then you'd have to kill me?" Jax guessed.
"Either that or quit my job, and I'm not sure I like your odds."
Zheng wasn't sure he liked her. Had the Rita they'd known just been a character, or was she in there, somewhere?
"You know," he said, "I knew there was something off about you."
"Oh, really?" said Rita skeptically.
"Ask Jax if you don't believe me."
"He did say something about it," said Jax vaguely, "but anyway, hey, that night we met and you corrected my grammar, did you only know that because you'd been cramming?"
"Actually, I knew that anyway," said Rita. "And to be strictly accurate, you tried to correct my grammar first."
"Can you prove you're with Interpol?" asked Zheng, trying to get back to something vaguely relevant.
"Well, I've got my ID card," said Rita, "but it's got my real name on it. And I could show it to you, but then I'd have to…et cetera." She grinned. "I was joking about that. My name is Rita. Rita Bakshi. Hang on." She stood up and went to the bureau opposite the bed, rooted around in a drawer, and withdrew the card. She showed it to him. "See?"
It was a picture of her, without the glasses or the fringe. Zheng glanced at it. "Fine," he said. He wasn't ready to forgive her yet. He didn't appreciate being lied to.
"Well," she said. "We should really sort out this octopus situation. Don't you think?"
*~*~*
Maldonado answered their call and frowned. "Uh, hey, Rita. Zheng." He looked at Jax. "Uh…"
"This is Jax," said Rita. "Don't worry, I told them."
"You knew," said Zheng. It made sense, of course. The institute had put up that page for Rita, and someone would have had to feed her information about taking care of the octopuses.
"Hey, man, I'm sorry. If Interpol tells you to assist with their investigation, you do it. Anyway, what do you need?"
They told him what they'd found.
"Oh, man. That poor octopus," said Maldonado. "Are you sure e's dead?"
Rita and Zheng looked at one another.
"It's been weeks," said Zheng. "E was holed up in that little lab on es own. Nobody knew to feed em. And e wasn't moving."
"That's so fucked up," said Maldonado. "Hey, can you take the camera into the lab so I can check? I can identify the species, too."
The monitor in the main lab was too unwieldy to carry, so they transferred the call to Rita's tablet and showed him the lab. Jax stayed behind, again, grumbling a little that his wheelchair meant he always got left out.
"Shit," said Maldonado. He sounded as if he were on the verge of tears. Zheng could understand it. He couldn't help but think of the little, dependent creature, alone in es tank, waiting for somebody to find em, slowly wasting away. At least Gershon's death had been swift.
At Maldonado's bidding, they poked (carefully) at the little body with the end of a net. Zheng wasn't expecting anything, but against all odds, e moved, and flashed es neon-blue rings. Rita took a very pronounced step back.
"Oh my God!" said Maldonado, clapping his hands together. "There must be a
food source in here."
They looked around, and sure enough, there was a mini-fridge in the corner full of shrimp.
"E must have gotten into the fridge," said Maldonado. "What a smart cookie. Hey, Rita, feed em something."
"Isn't it venomous?" said Rita.
"Yeah," said Maldonado, "that's a blue-lined octopus. I didn't mean by hand."
Rita still looked dubious. "I'll do it," said Zheng. "It doesn't matter if e bites my hand. Do you have something in the other lab? Other than shrimp. E's probably sick of that."
Once they'd found some crab for the little blue-lined octopus, they transferred the call back to the monitor in the main lab.
"Can't believe she smuggled a blue-lined on to the station," said Maldonado. "That's pretty reckless. Then again, she was always a little eccentric."
"How do you think she got bitten?" asked Zheng.
"Hard to say. They usually give you some warning before they bite you―flashing the colors and stuff. And she would have known better than to feed em by hand," said Maldonado. "Maybe e got out and she stepped on em without realizing. That's how most bites happen in the wild. Or maybe she got complacent and took a risk. I guess we'll never know for sure. Finding the position of the bite on her body might help narrow it down."
"The medical examiner ought to have found it already," said Zheng, irritated.
"They're not always that obvious," said Maldonado. "I've been bitten plenty of times―though not by a Hapalochlaena, obviously―and there's not always much to see. Usually there's a little swelling, but seeing as she was dead anyway…I mean…"
"And they were probably operating under the assumption that the route of the poison was ingestion or inhalation," said Rita.
Zheng ignored her. "And why didn't she call the medics?" he asked. "Is it possible she didn't notice?"
"I've had bites and not known it right away," said Maldonado. "I mean, you'd think with a blue-lined she'd be on her guard, but I don't know."
"The lab was all locked up behind her," said Rita. "Maybe she was wanted to hide it before she called the medics, and then she ran out of time."
"Maybe she couldn't afford the treatment," said Jax quietly.
"She might have just panicked," said Maldonado. "There's no antidote to TTX. She might have felt like there was no point. She was probably right. It's hard to treat."
