One in Ten Ch. 08

"As soon as we get new phones," I gave a wan smile.

"Why do you need new phones?" Angel asked; at this point the whole metro/phone idiocy was revealed to us by Angel.

Of course, we had been total ignorant of the technology we were trying to spoof. The metro doors have a scanner which sweeps you when you get on each car. The beams could detect the card through several layers of clothing. That's how they know how much to bill your card each month. We had thrown away our phones for nothing. Capri mumbled something about too many bad spy movies, but looked suitably embarrassed.

Seneca showed up a few minutes later. She and Angel had a hushed conversation. It appeared that Seneca had some contacts with the local precinct and, by calling in a favor or two, could have a patrol car close by tonight - in case things went poorly with the evening commuters. I thought about it. I figured two cops wouldn't be of much use if things went bad for me.

I would rather have them in a place to support Seneca and Angel instead, if that was even possible. They left, Capri and I cleaned up and had a late lunch. I was happy my stomach had calmed down enough for me to hold anything down. Shortly after finishing, Capri received a bizarre call from her mother while I was in the bathroom. 'Mom' quickly got to the point.

"Capri - my child, do you still do that 'thing' with Israel?" she asked.

"Thing? What thing?" Capri wondered.

"Fellatio. Put his thing in your mouth until he ejaculates," Mom clarified.

"Yeah, Mom - four or five times a day," Capri fabricated convincingly. "He's a real beast."

"Oh, Good," Mom smiled. "Could you regurgitate some into a plastic baggy? Put the baggy in a chilled thermal container and mail it to me?"

"I can do that for you, Mom," Capri agreed. "I can go start on that right now, if it is important."

"You do that, Honey. It is very important - four or five samples?" Mom pressed.

"At least," Capri concentrated. "Do you want anything from our anal intercourse?"

"Ah..." Mom stammered. "Noooo, I think the oral product will be enough for now."

"Okay Mom, I'll overnight it to you," Capri smiled lovingly.

"Thank you, Capri. I'm proud of you," Mom smiled back at her daughter. They cut the connection. Capri stared at me as I tentatively stepped forward.

"She's PROUD of me being a cum-dumpster?" Capri growled. "Whore!" I struggled for the sympathy, for the diversion, for any words that would ease her anger.

"Well, I guess it's nothing but butt-sex now, eh?" I moped.

"When we survive all this madness, remind me to kill you," Capri laughed, but she was happier.

We went to the gym early today. First off, being around multiple women I barely knew wouldn't have done me much good, so going while most of them were at work seemed to be the best choice. Also, if the world held together long enough, I would be going to the MAL rally at seven. Capri said she understood. She spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stomp on my feet and kicking at my ankles.

Samantha showed up at five with our new phones. She immediately requested a hug. I readily complied; an indicator of my rebounding calm, if not sanity. She took her time and I wiggled her hips against me playfully. Sam and Capri coordinated with the other girls on what food delivery service to use and dinner plans were solidified.

Kuiko and Aniqua both had their hugs and were settling in when Capri's prophecy from this morning started coming true. Ambrosia, Fatima, Carrie, Amelia and three girls I didn't recognized showed up at my door. Whatever defensive benefits of not opening the door would give us, it would only make the mood worse, so I suggested we hear them out.

I knew what they wanted and it wasn't to tell me what a good job I'd done this morning, or to see if I was okay. We had lost a guy last night - now there were only six males left. They were probably going through the same nightmare right now, or would soon. Samantha and Aniqua met the crowd at the door. They were the biggest. I didn't have to tell them the score; they could sense it.

In this district, tribalism was starting to rear its ugly head. Faith in the city to provide for their welfare was disintegrating. Since the police (in their minds) were letting all the men in this district move, vanish, or die/be killed, the local women had to take over the responsibility for the welfare of their men.

To put it politely, the women at the door, and the doors of my fellow males in my district, were about to turn men into property. Less kindly, they were here to rape us.

It was akin to people rushing the superstores for water when disasters hit. My plan was working. Trust in cops was being thrown to the roadside. As a consequence, a very personal battle for my survival was working itself out on my doorstep. If my allies got the shit kicked out of them, I was going to get a lesson on just how bad anarchy could be.

"We would like to talk with Israel," Ambrosia said. She was learning the art of a 'request not being a request' very well.

"Talk - he's listening," Aniqua replied. Kuiko came out with a collection of knives, dumped a few on the sofa cushions then brandished two.

Had one not been a bread knife, I would have been more confident in our chances. As it was, I felt paralyzed. I wanted to go to the door, stand bold and firm as I told them to go home, thus saving my friends. I reached for that person, but he wasn't ready to jump in the fight at the moment. The best I could do was not run to my bedroom, or bathroom, and slam the door shut.

"I think he should come to the door," Fatima menaced. "We outnumber you."

"I think you know the price of admission," Capri grumbled right back. The situation was tense, the women outside were wavering - crossing the line into assault, maybe murder, wasn't easy. The question about who had the advantage on who was resolved though.

I heard a gun hammer click into 'I'm about to kill someone' mode.

"Alright, you bitches," Venus snarled. She and Roni had climbed the stairs behind the mob and out of my camera view. It didn't take me a second to realize by the look on the ladies spinning around in the back that they didn't like what they saw.

"What? Who are you?" Carrie gulped.

"I'm the possessive bitch with the gun. Now I'm not a good shot, but you idiots are packed around the door of MY man, so I'm not likely to miss at this range. Ladies inside, you might want to back up, in case I blow a hole in one of these whores," Venus growled.

"No one has to die," Roni tried to soothe down the situation. "All you ladies I don't know, there is a stairway down at the far end of the hall. Use it." Clearly walking past Roni and Venus on the stairs those two had just come up was not an option. I would have liked to think we had stepped back from the precipice of chaos, but we hadn't.

Venus didn't own a gun that I knew about. I seriously doubted she had gone through the background check and required waiting period to get one either. By brazenly threatening others with an illegal firearm in this manner, all we had proven was that my tribe was tougher than theirs - for now.

The 'invading' tribe left. Aniqua, Sam and Roni retrieved the food that Roni and Venus had left on the stairs when they heard the commotion. The girls took turns heading out, gathering a few clothes and toiletries and settling into my place. Only when we settled down to eat, did the first of two problems arise.

"Venus," Roni asked, "where did you get the gun?"

"Have none of you been listening to Israel?" Venus scanned the group. "The world is going down the crapper. We need to be prepared. We should all get some guns."

"Okay," Kuiko grinned. "I know a guy." The rest of us were skeptical.

"Kuiko, I don't think that is a good idea," Aniqua cautioned her friends.

"It's okay. He likes me and I think he has some assault rifles," Kuiko chirped. Oh yeah, that was going to make the next complex pool party a lot more interesting - not that I thought we were going to have one.

"Rule One: Always assume that at my place, or anyplace I am at for too long, they are listening in," I warned them. "Venus, I don't know what to do about your piece. Don't show it to Angel for now and we'll see what happens." Venus looked down at the gun in her lap.

"We should buy you some accessories for that," Capri added. "Things like bullets, clips; a holster perhaps."

"Oh, speaking of buying things," I pulled out my wallet, "here you go Samantha. Thanks for getting us the phones."

"Where did you get so much cash?" Roni asked. It then occurred to Capri and I that all the other women had actual jobs - that required actual work - that required actual attention.

All Kuiko and Aniqua knew was that I had called Kuiko about giving blood, some technicians showed up, drew the blood and left, and then they had called back asking to draw more blood. Since Kuiko hadn't heard from me and didn't want to miss out on some more 'epic' sex, she had refused. The reasons why I had made the request were never discussed.

I let Capri unfold the tale, from when we left the condo, the fun at the metro (which helped explain the savages at the door this evening), to the Sentinel, GNN, the shoot-out at the Prometheus Club and finally, the ride home. They were dumbstruck.

"Me first," Venus hopped up.

"What?" Roni and Capri questioned.

"I want those antivirals that Kuiko has," she clarified.

"You just want to get fucked," Aniqua grumbled.

"Don't look at it as if Israel and I are having sex," Venus reasoned. "Think of it as me getting a booster shot, an injection, being vaccinated, inoculated, or whatever floats your boat."

"Damn it, Venus," Roni hopped up too. "Israel could have been shot and killed today. The government, or some other group, will grab him sooner than later. We need to protect him, not jump his bones."

"Wait, wait, wait," Capri stood and waved all the other voices down. "It gets better."

The second problem of the night.

"Israel, what are you planning to do tonight?" Capri smiled wickedly at me. I'm sure, by the way the women were looking at me they had their psychic fingers crossed and were hoping I'd say 'I'm want to bang (insert the thinker's name)! I want to bang (insert thinker's name)'.

"I'm going to the MAL rally," I muttered. I knew that look, too. It was the 'how do we tie him up without freaking him out' look. I could feel the secret feminine communication network buzzing around me. Being a man, I wasn't hooked up to their frequency.

"Israel, have you thought this through?" Roni inquired gently.

Kuiko looked like she was going to cry - or throw herself out my window. With her size, she most likely couldn't break it.

"I don't know what to say," I sighed. "Yesterday, I asked men to stand up for their rights and resist, but at crunch time this morning, I gave up my dowel and submitted to an illegal search."

"I deceived my fellow men. I let down Kenny, who went to jail for me, and Luanga, who I instructed to do the opposite of what I did Monday," I kept going. "If I keep yelling at my brethren, telling them to resist and then I cower here while the government lies to them at the rally, I'm continuing to be a hypocrite and coward." There was silence. They didn't get it.

"I understand," Samantha spoke up. "Gut check time, or as my coach kept telling us 'winners don't hold anything back'. If you gotta go, you gotta go. Do you think they'll let any of us come with you?"

"Invitation only and security should be tight," I answered.

"Are we seriously thinking of letting him go?" Venus gasped.

"It is not our choice to make, Venus," Aniqua said. "If this becomes strictly a battle for survival, then Capri is right - we have lost the right to continue on. We have become animals."

"You know, when the world crashes down," Kuiko commented out of the blue, "I'm really going to miss the internet."

"I am going to miss batteries for my vibrator," Roni confessed. Seeing the others stare at her. "What? We can't expect Israel to perform 24/7."

"I'm going to miss microwaves," Aniqua added. "That means I'll have to learn how to cook."

"Fine - fine," Venus plopped back down. "He goes if he wants to go. The rest of you shut up so I can cry in peace."

"My Mom wants me to send her some of Israel's sperm," Capri snickered. There were a chorus of 'huh's'. "I'm thinking of going down to the zoo and milking a bull elephant and sending a bag full of that to Mom instead."

"Damn Girl, those things are huge!" Aniqua laughed. "I mean they are as long as your leg - huge."

"Really? I'm not going to ask how you know that," Capri winked.

"When I say I've been lonely - I mean real lonely," Aniqua snickered.

"Understood," Capri mused. "Kuiko, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Not milking an elephant penis," Kuiko giggled, "that's for damn sure."

It was nervous, silly energy, but it had gotten us over the hurdle. By twisting away from fear with laughter, the group had progressed to the level where they could accept me as a true equal. My voice counted - it really counted. In my heart I knew this might be the last time I could do this - force my own will on the group.

After tonight, we would become a democracy because I could trust the group to see beyond gender and into the ideas and ideals of the speaker. True democracy was not about the tyranny of numbers, but consensus. Consensus was the result of the belief that everyone in the group, even the opposition, had worth - they counted.

How in the Hell, after all the wrong turns my life had taken, could I still believe I was an idealist? It was simple. I had not let them win. In a very crude, sexual way it was that I had the confidence in one girl, my first date, to ask her to hold off on true intercourse and she respected my wishes. In the kaleidoscope of my fractured mind, that memory burned through.

Listening to the women in my living room talking while I dressed in the bedroom, a tiny shiver of one memory collided and melded with another. No women I had ever known had not betrayed me in one way or another. That was the terror of distrust for me - but...no woman, or man, was perfect. They would all betray me soon or later.

I now understood this wasn't bad. It was human nature. We all let people down around us, even the ones we cared about. Pain had led me to hunt for perfection. That was a pointless quest and a pursuit that led to madness. What I should have been looking for was restitution. Did that person know they had wronged me and were they trying to make it up to me?

The same held true for me. Was I a true friend, looking after those I had wronged and balancing accounts with them as well? Honesty, Truth and Love - the harshest bitches on the block. I meditated for twenty minutes before heading back to my assembled friends.

"You look nice," Kuiko beamed. "Really nice."

"Thank you," I blushed slightly. More Bethany clothes.

"That wasn't a compliment, you jerk," Capri glared. "Last chance. This is stupid."

"Note and acknowledged, Ms. O'Hara," I nodded. "I need a taxi." I pulled out my phone and began looking up taxi services. My phone rang.

*FBI across the street* it read. I shuddered. I wasn't upset. I was peeved.

*Do you like my new underwear you Pervs? + HUGSZara* I hung up. I didn't care if they liked my underwear.

"Them?" Capri asked softly.

"Yeah."

"Damn it, you just took a shower, shaved and got dressed. Can't they leave you alone for an hour?" she griped.

"Who?" Roni got out first.

"Santa's Little Helpers," Capri grumbled. "I really ought to do something about them."

"Let us not revisit the whole 'you dismembered in the morgue' thing, shall we," I requested. "Besides, I gave them a piece of my mind this time."

"Not the sexy part!" Kuiko blurted out.

"What did you do?" Capri studied me.

"I called them pervs," I declared. "No, I did not, Kuiko. The sexy is all for you." She smiled.

"Oh yeah, that will do it," Capri pressed her wrist to her forehead and announced dramatically.

"What do I want to do more," Venus mumbled, "fight over the sexy or find out what the hell is going on?"

"Perverted Santa's Little Helpers who leave dismembered bodies in the morgue and have an apparent issue with Israel naked or semi-naked," Roni mused. "Capri, after he leaves, you are going to do some explaining."

"I think this is my cue to leave," I told the room then headed for the door.

"Aren't you going to call a taxi?" Aniqua reminded me.

"The FBI is going to drive me there," I grinned.

"What makes you say that?" Samantha gulped.

"When the alternative is letting me flag down a cabby that may, or may not, be homicidal, my bet is they'll drop me off at the arena," I explained.

"Makes sense to me," Kuiko nodded. "If I had a car, I'd give him a ride."

"Kuiko...for once I agree with you," Venus muttered.

"I'm not as dumb as I look," Kuiko turned that 1000 watt smile on Venus.

"Of course you are not," Roni chortled. "Otherwise you couldn't walk and talk at the same time."

I went around and kissed each one of them - on the lips. Normally that should have made them happy, but they kept looking at me like they'd never see me again. Clever girls. I left the complex and scanned the streets. There was the car, at the edge of a car park down the street. It wasn't as if there were many car owners in this part of town.

I hurried across the street and I was whistling. Special Agent Sosa lowered the window as I approached. Across from her was SA Saris, also with Dimple's team.

"Yes?" Sosa sighed. "When staking out a place it sort of blows our cover if you walk right up to us, by the way."

"That's cool," I grinned. "We aren't staying here anyway. I need a ride to the Arena."

"Do we look like a taxi service?" Sosa smirked.

"I'm going - you are following. We might as well make it easy on us - save a few volts," I reasoned.

"Get in," Saris grumbled. I gladly did so and off we went.

"Planning to get arrested?" Saris asked.

"Planning? No. Expecting it to be a possibility, yes," I admitted. "Any news?"

"Dr. Fremont is still missing, but her company hired a GlobeMaster to haul a whole lot of something to Bolivia," Sosa answered.

Seeing my confusion, Saris added.

"A GlobeMaster is a really big aircraft, used for hauling freight, not passengers."

My impulse was to say 'can you shoot it down,' but the illegality of the action was stunning.

"Anything on your front?" Sosa inquired.

"Let me see, my Capri's Mom wants her to be a cum-dumpster, seven girls stopped by my place today to drag me out of my home and make me their bitch. My tribe made them back down - this time. Now my ladies are camped out at my place, murdering my AC unit and praying I make it back home in some sort of working order," I outlined.

"Why did they let you go? Are they some kind of pansies?" Sosa mocked.

"I'd hit you upside your head for that comment, but you are driving, armed and most likely a much better fighter than me," I replied. "They are not pansies. They risked harm for me today."

"What happened at the firefight today, anyway?" Saris asked.

"Not really sure," I lied. "Bullets were flying and I was running for my life."

"You didn't see anything?" she persisted. Damn her interrogation abilities.

"Wait - with guns going off I thought you would be happy I was running away," I evaded.

"Why didn't you wait for Agents Vabishi and Fraklos to get there?"

"Capri and I got across the street so we ran for it," I shrugged.

"Next time, lay flat and we'll come get you," Saris told me.

"Thanks, GI Jane," was my snarky comeback. "Maybe if you let me have some sort of combat training I'd know what to do next time." I was making light of things, but in the back of my mind, like a cornered badger in the dark, I knew I was in a vehicle with two women I didn't know.