Blood Bourbon

Save Yourself

Two Hunters, in police uniforms.

Ryker had heard the concern in Daryl's voice on the phone and had assumed the man had just parked in a bad neighbourhood. He wasn't wrong about the assumption that the cowboy had been oblivious to the different threat cues around him but it was the two biologically engineered freaks that were stalking after Daryl that really had Ryker worried.

If Hunters were pretending to investigate the destruction of Daryl's truck, something was up. He had seen them as he was driving towards Daryl, whom he only recognized due to the man's movements. Clean shaven and in a suit that may not be designer but still fit him amazingly, Daryl was nearly unrecognizable. He looked rumpled, a little damp and on edge, like he knew something was wrong but he looked completely different from the cowboy Ryker knew.

Daryl seemed to have a sixth sense for Hunters, and clearly didn't like them, though Ryker had a hard time understanding why. If Daryl had been altered, why would he be naturally opposed to the very same mutations?

It wasn't until they were in traffic and heading towards a Knight Corp owned hotel that Ryker relaxed enough to smile and truly appreciate how good his cowboy looked when he cleaned up.

Daryl fidgeted in his seat, giving him an embarrassed grin. "Interview. Completely over my head, probably just wasted a day. And lost my truck in the process."

"That thing... was a little... past its prime." Ryker chuckled, forcing himself to address the humour of the fact that the human was mourning the loss of a vehicle that should have been lit on fire two decades ago.

"It was faithful. And I've travelled everywhere with it. And some punk kids just decided they wanted to burn shit... cops said it was random." Daryl rolled his eyes, but something about the way he said it made Ryker feel like Daryl wasn't completely buying it.

Ryker turned his attention to the road again as Daryl pulled out his phone and typed out a message on it. Even being concerned as he was, it drew a grin to his features to see Daryl mouth the words he was texting. The man was a fish out of water when it came to technology.

Nearly the moment the message was sent, and Ryker knew exactly when that was because Daryl had the damned sounds on, the phone rang. His cowboy scowled and answered it, "Hey Charlie."

The volume was low enough that he only picked up the less than pleased tone of the human on the other end of the phone, but not the precise words. It seems brother wasn't too happy.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Ryker was in the neighbourhood. Yeah... The guy from the cat thing. Ah. I don't know." Daryl pulled the phone away from his ear and looked to him, "where are we headed?"

Ryker broke into a grin, knowing the team he had met the other night would be less than happy about being out of the know. "My hotel."

Daryl watched him for a moment, giving him an odd expression, before turning his attention back to the phone, bringing it to his ear. "Hotel. Yeah, I'm fine. Just weird stuff... No, he's alright. I don't think he wants to come for dinner tomorrow."

"I'd love to." Ryker offered, drawing a surprised, if exasperated look from the other man.

"He says sure. Right. I'll see you in the morning." When Daryl hung up, he dropped his phone into the cup holder, turning his attention back to Ryker with a frown. "Charlie gets paranoid sometimes. Something has his back up, him and the boys were trying to drill me about being aware of my surroundings earlier. Probably why I got a little weirded out back there."

Ryker didn't want to worry him, or raise the topic before he really knew what was going on, but he couldn't let Daryl lull himself into complacency. That paranoia might have saved his life, might have stopped him from blindly trusting the fake cops. "Does your brother... have resources in my line of work?"