14. Ambrose

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"He won't want to go with you," the Boss warned in Ambrose's ear, "He's never been... receptive to the family business."

"I'd imagine," Ambrose whispered back, crawling along the wall and keeping his open ear peeled for any noise that didn't come from himself.

Vix - or Nicolas, as he'd recently learned - was something of a goodie-two-shoes. He wasn't the most popular hero by any means, but any time he was given an interview on the news, he spoke of nothing but how happy he was to help people. He didn't seem to be faking it as much as other heroes; he seemed to genuinely think he was a wonderful person. It came as no surprise to Ambrose that he didn't want anything to do with Demeaux.

Although, considering the break in at James' place, maybe he wasn't such a goodie two shoes after all.

"When you find him, just knock him out. He can take it. I don't want him struggling too bad and messing things up."

"Uh-huh," Ambrose replied quietly, though he doubted he would be knocking Vix out. Considering Blindsight's history of how they dealt with their captives, he had a feeling that Vix would be more than willing to follow him out.

Ambrose had been in the warehouse before, though never frequently. It was a scary place, even for him; the lighting was never quite bright enough, the air vents always creaked just a bit too much, and for being one of the central hubs of Blindsight activity, it was always so... deserted. Only slow, methodical thumping from lord knows where filled the air.

He had never been particularly skittish, but Ambrose was as susceptible to the terrors of his environment as the next man, and he felt his heart leap in his chest each time any even slightly unnatural sound met his ears.

Ambrose didn't know why he was so terrified, to be honest. He'd never lost to Blindsight - the worst that had happened was when he'd ended up bleeding all over Keiren after a fight with their leader, but he didn't even consider it a loss. He'd hurt that bastard more than that bastard had hurt him; the Blindsight leader had a physical dispar that allowed him to manifest dark tendrils from his skin, and Ambrose had managed to tear multiple of them off. Still, he was scary.

That fight was probably one of Ambrose's most worrisome. The Blindsight leader had come equipped with a gas mask, making him essentially invulnerable to Ambrose's dispar and leaving Ambrose with nothing but his gun and his surroundings to defend himself. He hopped that the leader wasn't there: Ambrose wouldn't be able to survive an encounter with him without backup.

"Why did I go alone?" Ambrose murmured under his breath. It was stupid. Stupid of him for not taking anyone with him, stupid of Victor for allowing him to do so. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Because you're the only one in Demeaux with enough of a heart to help me out here." Victor suggested. Ambrose found that stupid too.

Keiren and James were Ambrose's most common partners when he went on any sort of mission. Both of them, he was sure - mostly Keiren, but still - had plenty of heart left to care. Keiren would have most certainly agreed to help, and even James probably would. Ambrose had a hard time believing that they were the only three in that entire organization that would help.

"D'you mean to say that I'm the only one willing to do this without extra pay?"

The boss didn't answer.

Right, then. He thought, I'm not getting paid for this. What a genius you are, Ambrose.

Still, Ambrose continued along. He wouldn't leave Vix - or Nicolas - or whatever there just because he wasn't getting paid. Besides, he could lobby for payment later.

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