When You're Broken On The Ground

Chapter 66

Trigger Warnings: knives, stalking, spies, pickpockets/robbery/muggings, reference to Thomas' accident

Word Count: 1144

Honor sips her tea calmly while Janus continues to glare at her, pointedly not sipping his tea. Roman watches them awkwardly, as one would when meeting a woman dressed in as many layers as Janus, though they are black and grey compared to his black and yellow, with a gold veil to hide her face.

"Glad to see your instincts are still sharp," she says, finally breaking the silence as she sets her teacup down. Her voice is probably what Roman would say is from a middle aged woman, but he couldn't be sure what her true age is. Actors learn to change their voice to better fit a character, which includes going higher for younger and lowering for older. Spies are like actors, right?

"What do you want?" Janus snaps, eyes not moving from her figure. Roman wishes he understood what's going on, but he's lucky enough to be listening and watching, so he stays silent. "And where exactly is Dice?"

"Mr. Critic is perfectly safe in a backroom with some agents," Honor replies. "As for why I'm here... why can't I just say I needed to talk to you Líar?"

Janus scoffs. "You could have come to my house or called me into the agency if you wanted to talk. Instead you infiltrate a private shop and wait for me to come, risking discovery by civilians, like Roman."

Honor huffs. "I'd hardly call your family 'civilians', not by the way Mr. Shadow-Prince reacted at least." Roman fights to remain neutral, knowing Janus has done a lot of lying for and about them since day one. What he chooses to say has to be outlined by him, Roman can play along after Janus establishes how much the agency knows. "Have you been training your family Líar?"

"Please, as if we, with the lives we've had to live, wouldn't pick up at least some techniques," Janus shoots back at her. "Precautions were taken, that's all." He pretends to admire his nails, covered in thin black gloves so it's not like he can actually see them or anything.

"Mr. Shadow-Prince played along seamlessly when you realized something was off, as far as we can tell," she argues calmly. "I find it hard to believe that he didn't know what was going on, considering he was holding an extended knife when you found me."

"What can I say," Roman says, smiling charmingly at her as her veil turns slightly so it seems like she's looking at him, "I'm a talented actor."

A pause, as if she were raising an eyebrow at him. "Ah, but that's for scripted performances Mr. Shadow-Prince, not the unscripted real life. Surely, you must understand my suspicion."

"Ah, my dear madame, that simply isn't true!" Roman protests. "As everyone in the theatre knows, the only predictable thing about theatre is its unpredictability. If someone forgets their lines on stage, we can't just reshoot like in a movie, we must improvise and act as if nothing is wrong. If a prop falls, we must stay in character and move around it, as if it's all planned. If someone makes a misstep, we must direct them without taking the audience out of theatre's enchanting spell. You'll find that many actors are good at improvisation simply because it can create a smoother show."

"He's a smooth talker, I'll give you that Líar," Honor hums. "But where exactly did that knife come from, Mr. Shadow-Prince?"

"Oh, you know how open criminals are becoming nowadays!" Roman laughs, violently pushing away the pictures of Thomas' accident, the lines of statistics Logan crunched, the data that they memorized, the graphs of crime over a week, a month, a year. The increased awareness of crime, the increased worry, the decision that they'd never go out without a weapon, the fact that he did have a knife slipped into his shoe but that he hadn't had a chance to grab it before Janus gave him one. "I had it in a smaller pocket I always have in my jackets, just as a precaution." Thank Walt Disney he had decided to keep his knife in his shoe instead of his jacket, so Honor would believe him.

"Quite a precaution for such a famous person," Honor muses. "You do know you could hire a bodyguard or two?"

"And lose any autonomy I have?" Roman shoots back, pairing his words with a tired smile. "I can deal with a few crazy fans and pickpockets by myself, thanks. Besides, I rarely walk the streets alone anymore, so there's a low risk anyway. And," he says, leaning in, "between you and me, at least half of my family is just as scary as a bodyguard."

Honor stares at him, then turns back to Janus. "Either he's telling the truth, Líar, or you trained him, in which case I doubt I'll get a real answer."

"Would I ever lie to you, my dearest Honor?" Janus quips, voice silky and smooth, laying his sarcastic charm on thick.

"If I find out you lied to me..." Her threat hangs in the air, years of handling stagefright the only thing keeping Roman from full panic as she stares at Janus, who just smirks at her. "Now then, I believe all my questions have been answered. I hope to see you, Líar, soon." She waves a hand at them, as if telling them to leave.

"What about our appointment with Dice?" Roman asks, standing up. "We did come here for more than whatever this delightful conversation has been."

"Come back next week," Honor suggests. "I have a feeling he may be open then."

Before he can open his mouth and snap a reply back at her, Janus stands, sweeping their weapons off the table, and walks out, forcing Roman to follow. He knows how important an exit can be, and he won't rob Janus that. Just as he knows not to say anything as Janus elegantly picks up his abandoned bag, exactly as he left it, and they continue out of the empty shop. Janus slipped his weapons into his jacket pockets sometime between grabbing them and walking onto the street, so no one stops them as they walk in silence back to their cars, which are conveniently parked close to each other. Roman nods a good bye to Janus, who nods back, before they get in their cars and drive away.

It's only when he gets home, Virgil and the others' cars in the driveway, right as Janus parks behind him, that he realizes that Janus wasn't necessarily going back to his home, just a different route to Roman's home.

"Long time no see," Roman quips, trying to smile as they walk to the door and he pulls out his keys.

"Long time indeed," Janus tiredly laughs.