A Fabulous Pair

Maxis groaned as the sunlight struck him. Despite his best attempts to wake up early and be as much a part of the business as his father, there were some days he felt he was designed for a different lifestyle.

Ren snored beside him, his lip twitching and a thin line of drool pooling out of his mouth and onto a pillow. The stain was large, and with a smirk, Maxis cricked his neck side to side and shook his shoulder. "Bro, it's time to get up. There's work to do."

"Yeah, yeah," Ren said, rolling over to the opposite side. "Just five more minutes."

"This was your idea. Get up."

Ren snored louder. It was so obviously a fake attempt at falling asleep. Well, he asked for this. Maxis leaned back, arched his legs, then shoved him.

"Uwahhh!" Ren cried as he rolled across the floor in his sleeping bag. He crashed into the wall, hissing through his teeth as he sat up and scratched his head. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Neglection is not a good look for you. Come on. If you want to get this done, then we need to start now."

Ren frowned, and Maxis ignored him as he strolled over to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

To Ren's credit, he could jump out of bed and be perfectly fine in whatever he was dressed in. Pants, T-shirt, boxers, it didn't matter to him. He could fall asleep in his clothes if he wanted. Maxis liked to do things the proper way, just as his dad had taught him, but Ren was a bit of a wild card at times. By the time Maxis exited the bathroom, Ren was waiting by the front door, ready to go.

"Now you're the one holding us up," he grinned.

Maxis rolled his eyes and plucked his keys from his pocket. "Let's go."

---

Vanille was a shining example of human-monster architecture. Beautifully paved roads, sparkling blue water, and box-shaped buildings made up the majority of the city. It was an expensive place to live, but one that brought in a significant number of tourists. Maxis made the drive on occasion to collect provisions for his father, and each time he did, he reminded himself to take a moment to breathe and enjoy the scenery.

"Have you ever seen this place glow at night?" Ren asked rhetorically.

Of course he had. Numerous times. In fact, the city was so spectacular, so majestic to view, that those who lived outside the city would find nearby mountains and hills and prop up scopes to get a better view. Their photos filled the pages of magazines and headlines, citing it as a wonder of civilization and a shining beacon of hope and love. On occasion, Maxis would thumb through the magazines, waxing nostalgic on how adamant Terra was about living here. Maxis had promised to bring her here one day.

"Of course," Maxis said as he made a left turn at Golden Wind Ave. Even the drivers were polite. Nothing like the dredge he had to deal with back home. He found himself daydreaming momentarily, then shook the thought away. He could dream later. They had a job to do.

"Ahhh, man. I'd kill to live here someday," Ren said, perching his feet up on the dashboard. "Get a couple of their MELO-MELON popsicles on a hot summer day. Maybe have some of their world-class pasta for dinner." He groaned. "Shit, that sounds good."

Maxis frowned. He liked to believe he had a fair balance of work and play, but sometimes Ren seemed to be nothing but play. "Let's stay focused," he kindly reminded him. "You do remember that this was your idea, right?"

Ren clicked his tongue. "Of course I do." He tapped his elbow nervously, then put his hands behind his head. "Doesn't kill ya to take it easy once in a while, though, yeah?"

Maxis refrained from rolling his eyes this time. The beauty of Vanille was striking, sure. Its food and populace, astounding. But there was a time and place for this sort of thing, and this wasn't it. A smirk tugged at the corner of Maxis's mouth, and he jerked the car to the right, causing Ren to squeal and vanish.

"Real funny," Ren said from the back of the car.

"Just tryin' to keep you on your toes," Maxis chuckled.

After some playful banter and jabs, Maxis drove his vehicle into the parking lot of the apartment building that Vinny supposedly lived at, then turned off the ignition. "You got your ammo?"

Ren patted both of his pants pockets. "Locked and loaded."

"Good," Maxis nodded before exiting the car. Ren got out the opposite side, and as Maxis stepped up to the front door, he frowned. He rang the doorbell, then moments later the door clicked open.

"Damn, I feel like I'm gonna catch something just looking at this place," Ren said as Maxis pulled the door open. The door squeaked at the joints. Dirt and indents decorated the bottom half of the make, suggesting someone had kicked it in at some point. The hum of electricity emanated from the lamp above. This place was falling apart at the seams.

"Just keep your head on and we'll be fine," Maxis said. "Come on."

"Yeah, yeah, right, right," Ren said, following closely behind.

Vinny, and by extension, anyone who associated with Bruno, was a dangerous fellow who most likely had people after him for one reason or another. If not Bruno, then a rival gang of miscreants who'd like to see him dead or worse. With that in mind, Maxis elected to take the stairs instead of the elevator. With how filthy and dilapidated the place was, it seemed the safer option. Some may have called that paranoia, but Maxis felt no such thing. He was careful, watchful, and did his best to anticipate the moves of others.

The carpet was thin and old as they ascended the steps, and for a moment Maxis was baffled. He'd never visited an apartment or hotel in Vanille, but with it being the shining example of what a city should look like, he imagined most of the hotels would at least be somewhat clean. He shook his head, kept his hand away from the railing, then paused as they approached the third floor.

"Anything up there?" Ren asked.

Maxis shook his head. "Not that I can see." He walked up the remaining steps and looked down the hallway to his left. Rows of doors lined both sides of the corridor. The style resembled a hotel more than an apartment complex. As he traveled the length of the hall, he noted how quiet the floor was. Not a single peep could be heard from any one of the rooms. "It's weirdly quiet," he remarked.

Ren chuckled. "Yeah, I don't like this. At all."

"Breathe in and out, bro. You said it was 303, right?"

Ren nodded. "That's what Scales said, yeah."

As Maxis came up to the door labeled 303, he noted several documents and letters hanging out of the mail slot. There were so many that some of them had piled onto the floor or slipped under the door. He kneeled down with a frown, plucking a pink letter out of the bunch. "Eviction notice," he mumbled.

"Can't believe the guy's still getting letters," Ren said.

"Me neither." As Maxis moved to turn it over, Ren snatched it out of his hand. "Hey!"

Ren turned it around in his hand, then slipped his finger under the seal and tore it open.

"You can't open other people's mail," Maxis said.

"I just did," Ren snickered. "The guy's long gone, anyway. I don't think his eviction letter is going to bring him back." He tore the letter from inside, shuffling each paper to the back as he glossed over it. "Boring."

"Let me have that," Maxis said, stealing the letter back. He looked at the top-right corner and noted that the letter was old. Quite old. "This letter's over a month old."

"Yeah. Like I said. Long gone."

Maxis grunted and let the letter fall from his hand. He kneeled down and peered through the keyhole in hopes he might see something. It was much too dark, however, and he pulled away, shaking his head. "I can't see anything." He stood and tried the handle, but unsurprisingly it didn't budge. "Do you think you can get in?"

Ren pocketed his hands and stared at the door. "I'm trying."

Ren's teleportation was the very definition of unreliable. To date, Ren was still unsure how to make it work in a way that didn't risk life and limb. He'd noticed certain aspects of his ability, such as its inclination to follow light, or teleport him away from harm when his emotions got out of control. But for the most part, it was like playing the lottery. He rarely won.

Maxis could tear the door down, but he didn't want to leave too much evidence of their intrusion. He imagined that Vinny couldn't have very many people looking after him anymore. But those who did were not likely in their right mind, considering Vinny's line of business with Bruno.

He squeezed the handle, and the brass knob began to buckle. The wood whined, and as splinters frayed from the edges of the knob, the whine grew louder. "Damn it," he said, letting go. He turned to Ren, only to find that he wasn't there. "Ren?"

A bang from inside the apartment put Maxis on the defensive, and he fell onto his back foot, his arms raised into a fighting stance. The door lock clicked, and the door squeaked open to reveal Ren. A banana peel was perched atop his head, and something had stained his left shoulder.

Maxis sniffed the air. He smelled awful. Rotten, even. "What happened to you?"

Ren sighed. "I flashed into the fridge." Ren turned to leave, when Maxis caught him by the forearm.

"You got something on top of your head."

Ren frowned, patting his head for the rotten peel. "Eck!" He plucked it with his pointer and thumb fingers, then tossed it to the side. "Oh man, now it's got its slimy goop all over my hair. Damn it."

"I think it added. Made you more appealing," Maxis chuckled, shutting the door behind him.

"That was so fucking lame," Ren sighed, turning his head to a stack of papers and documents on the coffee table. "Guess we just start digging?"

"Pretty much."

Maxis entered the apartment, locking the door behind him.

"Wonder what we're looking for."

Maxis shrugged and entered the kitchen to his left. "Anything? Everything? Something that'll give us a clue as to what's going on with that eyeball of yours."

"Think it's got any connection to what happened with June?"

Maxis opened the fridge, gagged, then shut it and waved the smell out of the air. "I doubt it. That's kind of a leap."

"Well, I mean, weird shit's been happening a lot more often than usual. You gotta admit that."

"Yeah," Maxis said, opening an old book on a nearby shelf and thumbing through the pages. Weird that Vinny had something like this in his home. He didn't picture him as the type. "But I don't want to jump to conclusions without any evidence." He put the book back on its shelf and decided to do a run through the apartment.

The carpet was brown pocked with cigarette burns and stains. Maxis kneeled down to have a better look, taking a quick whiff. He couldn't smell anything in particular, which wasn't surprising considering how long Vinny had been gone. The remains of a wine glass rest on a table beside him, glass scattered across the carpet.

"Hey, be careful," Maxis said. "There seems to be glass on the carpet."

"Yeah, I got one of the stupid shards stuck in my shoe on the way to the door," Ren snapped. "Man, what the hell was wrong with this guy?"

A lot, from the looks of it.

For someone who dealt with Bruno on a frequent basis, Maxis had expected more of the man's home. Instead, it looked no different than some of the delinquent homes close to the seedier areas of his town.

He pushed his way into the bathroom next, noting a large crack across the glass of the mirror. The basin was stained all manner of brown, and a large needle was floating in a pool of water. At least, he hoped it was just water.

"Hey—"

"Dude, look at this piece of junk," Ren interrupted.

Maxis turned around and returned to the living room to find Ren pushing aside stacks of magazines and documents. Underneath was an old message machine. Maxis hadn't seen one of these since he was a kid. In a way, it was kind of nostalgic. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and—

"Who has such an ancient piece of tech like this?" Ren balked. He pointed to the landline phone next to it. "He's even got one of those cord phones. What year was this guy living in?"

"The present, I'm sure," Maxis chuckled. He flicked his head toward it. "The light's blinking. Let's see what's on it."

Ren pressed the button, and he and Maxis crossed their arms as a woman's voice came on the line.

"Vinny, this is your mama. I just wanted to give you a call and talk for a bit. I miss you, you know? I'm sorry if I did anything to upset you, but you didn't come to the last family dinner, and you haven't returned any of my phone calls." The woman paused. "Please just give me a call back, okay, sweetie? Mama loves you. Bye bye."

The recording finished, and Maxis hummed. "What's the date on it?"

Ren leaned forward and brushed his finger against the panel. "Uhhh, about a week ago?" He shook his head. "Dude, I can barely read this hunk a junk. Could've at least retrofitted it with a backlight."

"Probably too old for that," Maxis reasoned. "A week, though. I wonder—"

The front door's knob jiggled, and a familiar pop song sounded from beyond. "Vinny! Open the door!" came a man's voice.

"Shit," Maxis hissed, looking over his shoulder at the bathroom. "In there. Come on."

Ren didn't seem to like the idea, as he pursed his lips and shook his head as he quietly followed Maxis into the bathroom. "There, there," Ren whispered, pointing behind the door. "It hits the tub, so maybe they won't look."

"Oh man, this is not good," Maxis said as he readjusted the door so that they were boxed in between the tub and the door.

"Shut it," Ren suggested.

"No. That's going to make it look suspicious. If it's closed, then they'll want to check it out. Keep it open."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Ren asked. "That's going to leave us wide open."

"No, it won't, just listen to me."

"What about the mirror?"

"It's broken, don't—"

Crash!

Maxis and Ren clammed up as soon as the shattering of wood echoed against the walls of the apartment. Footsteps followed, and from the sounds of it, there were two of them. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" It was the voice behind the door.

"We have been waiting for far too long, you little snake in the grass!" came another's voice.

The men had high lilts to their voices, descending and ascending with dramatic tone. There almost seemed to be a laugh hidden behind their words, and their cocky demeanor disturbed Maxis to his bone.

"Fuck, is he gone again?"

"Maybe he finally bit the dust. We're not the only ones after him. You search over there, Swor."

"No, Gato. You search over here. I'll search over there."

One of them clicked their tongue. "Heads or tails, love?"

What the hell? Why are they acting like this is some sorta game?

The ring of silver followed. "Call it."

"Tails, of course."

The other man giggled. "You always did prefer tail over head. Oh my, would you look at that! Tails, love!"

"Slay, King!" Footsteps rapidly approached. "Then, as I said, I will take your spot, Gato!"

Maxis and Ren reeled back, hands clapped to one another's mouths, muscles tensed.

The man came in and hummed in a half-giggle. "Now, what do we have here? Oh my. Bit off more than he could chew? What ever is in this little pond he created?"

"Hey, I'm gonna—" The words barely left Maxis's mouth when he suddenly realized Ren was no longer there. Ah, shit. 

"Where's our fucking coke, Vinny?" came the other man's voice. A crash followed shortly after, followed by another, and another. "Piece of shit!"

"Calm yourself, babe," the man in the bathroom said. Maxis swallowed hard and carefully leaned to one side in hopes of getting a better look at the man. Although the cracked mirror made it difficult to make out some of the man's finer details, he did note the man's flamboyant choice of attire. He wore a pink tank top and pants. Piercingly violet—or pink, Maxis struggled to tell—eyes were set in a face with plump lips and hair so blonde he wondered if it was white. The man fingered his hair in the mirror, catching errant strands and pursing his lips.

The most notable feature, however, was the tattoo on his shoulder. Resembling an angel's wing, it was blue and stretched across his shoulder blade. He couldn't see well enough from where he was, but from how it continued off into his tank top, he imagined that there was another similar extension to the tattoo on his other shoulder.

"Can't believe this moron thought he could supe this place up with clinical trials," the other man's voice came from the living room.

"You do what you can to survive," the man—whom Maxis assumed was Swor—said as he batted his eyelashes. 

"You think that maybe we should delve into that NEON stuff, too?"

"Hell Nah," Swor said, smiling. "I heard it from Rena-Chan on BlikBok that it's not vegan or even gluten free."

"Oh, well fuck that, then."

Swor giggled and turned to leave when something on the floor caught his attention. "Eck," he retched, "the least he could do is clean up after himself."

"Find a rat?" Gato asked from the room on the opposite side of the apartment. Something in the distance fell over, and the sound of snapping wood and shattering glass filled the air.

"No, thank goodness." He sighed. "Think I can bill his family for… whatever the hell it is I just stepped in?"

"Let's send it up to Bruno!"

Swor left the room, and from the sound of Gato's footsteps, Maxis assumed Gato had given up the search as well. They noted the message machine as well, and after playing it back, they sighed. "Forget this. We're going to miss the event. I do not want to be late," the man Maxis assumed was Gato said.

"We still have plenty of time," Swor giggled. "Don't you fret, we'll arrive just in the nick of time like we always do. Boballin knows how we operate."

Gato clicked his tongue. "Okay, fine. Good riddance to this pigsty."

The door shut, and Maxis breathed a sigh of relief. With them gone, that just meant he had to find out where Ren was. He walked back into the living room, taking great care to be quiet and slow, just on the off chance that they barged back in with some epiphany.

"Ren, are you in here still?" Maxis whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "If you are, give me a sign."

Thunk thunk thunk.

Maxis turned to his right, gasping when he saw Ren hanging upside down outside the window. Ren offered a weak wave, and Maxis threw open the window, sneaking out onto the scaffolding. Looking up, he saw Ren's foot had wedged itself between two of the bars. It looked painful.

"Mind helping a guy out?" Ren sighed as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

"Yeah, I got you, hang on." Maxis straightened his back and reached up, sliding his fingers between the bars. It was a tight fit, but the metal was old and rickety. Without the proper leverage, it proved to be a bit harder than he had anticipated, but the metal bent, allowing Ren to fall free. Maxis stumbled to try and catch him, and Ren fell over the side with a yelp. "Ren!"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Maxis gasped as he watched Ren hit two of the railings on his way down.

Crash!

"I'm okay!" Ren cried.

Maxis was relieved to see that he'd landed in a pile of trash bags. He started down the ladder, then stopped when he saw Swor and Gato at a distance across the street. Ren started to say something, and then Maxis put a finger to his lips to silence him. Ren caught the hint, and Maxis watched as the two men got into a pink Lamborghini. He ducked beneath the railing, hiding behind the web of black iron, then watched as they drove away. The license plate was too far away to read, but a vehicle like that would stick out.

"We should chase it!" Ren said.

Maxis flinched. "Shit, dude," he breathed.

"Oh, sorry. Hey, I'll meet you at the car."

"Are you going to be all right?"

Ren hopped on his one foot, offered a quick salute, then vanished.

"Here we go again," Maxis whispered, shaking his head. Seeing that he was already outside, he figured he may as well take the ladder down. The rickety nature of the ladder made him a bit nervous, but if Ren could fall from this height, then so could he. He landed at the bottom, patted away the dirt and muck from his hands, then plucked his car keys out of his pocket as he made his way back to the parking lot. He was halfway across the street when a woman's shriek filled the air.

"The hell was—"

A gunshot followed shortly after, and Maxis instinctively ducked for cover. When a second shot came, he realized it was from the apartment building. He wanted desperately to believe that what just happened, did not in fact happen, but if his time around Ren had taught him anything, it was that you needed to be prepared for anything to go wrong.

Maxis raced across the street into the parking lot. Like clockwork, Ren came running out of the apartment complex, a woman in a towel and a large man close behind. The man had a shotgun aimed at Ren, cocking it for effect. "I can't control where I end up, I'm sorry!" Ren cried. Maxis thought to intervene, but Ren teleported once to his right, twice to his left, then was suddenly gone.

"Where did—"

"Drive!" Ren cried from inside the vehicle. He was wet with water and… was that coconut?

Maxis hopped into the front seat, threw his keys into the ignition and threw the card into drive. To his surprise, the car that had been parked in front of him earlier was gone, and so he soared out of the parking lot just as the angry man was firing his weapon at them.

"Yeah, eat our dust, you—!"

Ren's words were caught short when Maxis spun the steering wheel to his left. The tires screeched against the street and a cloud of smoke billowed into the air. Shifting the vehicle into its next gear, he slammed on the gas and made a clean exit away from the apartment complex.

"Dude, smooth driving," Ren laughed.

Maxis sighed. "What the hell happened back there?"

Ren visibly swallowed. "I flashed into a woman's shower."

Maxis sighed. "This is why I can't bring you anywhere."

"So, uh, where we going?"

"Boballin."

"Oh. Okay, cool, cool."

Some minutes later, Maxis looked at him in the rear-view mirror, then scratched the back of his neck. "Did you get a good look at her, at least?"

"Ten out of ten, bro."