BlackHeart Biohazards

Slip the Hangman’s Noose and Run (2628 words) by thesavagesabretooth

Summary: What if there was one thing the Phantom was more afraid of than dying? What if instead of following orders, he had thrown everything away for Simon Blackquill? What if they ran?

part 1 here

–

In the end, the Phantom had been a coward yet again. He had lied, yet again. As was his habit.

He hadn’t wanted to spoil the last few hours he’d get to have with Simon with Simon’s anger upon knowing the truth.

Instead he’d told him a kind lie. A fun lie. The kind of lie he knew Simon would like.

Bobby Fulbright wasn’t actually a police detective at all, but rather an interpol investigator on the trail of the Phantom. He’d been installed in the police department specifically to monitor Simon, in case the prosecutor’s reappearance drew him out. Like Simon, this had been Fulbright’s last chance to catch the Phantom before the case would be thrown into the garbage. But now, with the assignment ending with Simon’s execution, he’d gotten too close. He couldn’t let go. Not of Simon, and not of the Phantom.

It was almost close to the truth.

He could tell Simon liked his lie, from the way that his smile sliced his face like the curve of a blade.

“An interpol investigator,” he purred, giving Bobby an appraising look from the passenger seat. “I never would have guessed. So you’re a rogue agent now?”

“That’s right, sir.”

“Then we can’t count on any aid from your department.”

“I’m afraid not, sir. They’d have you executed, and I’d be thrown out for this, if not jailed myself.”

“Brave, stupid man,” Simon grumbled. He tented his fingers thoughtfully. “It’s just my luck that they didn’t assign a more intelligent agent to this case.”

He hung his head performatively as he drove. “Sorry, sir.”

Simon laughed sharply. “No apology necessary, Fool Bright. A smart man wouldn’t be here right now. Alright, give me five minutes.”

Bobby raised an eyebrow as he watched Simon stare intently at the tips of his fingers. “What for, sir?”

“I’m planning our next move. Interpol agent or not, we both know that you aren’t a master of forward planning. Or intelligent thought in general.”

The Phantom found he couldn’t argue with that on any level. Well, even if planning ahead was pointless since they’d be caught almost immediately, Simon looked like he was having fun, so there was no need to stop him.

He laughed loudly. “You’ve got me there, sir! Please, I put myself in your hands.”

“Good man. Do we have any access to funds?”

He scratched the back of his neck. “I took a large sum of money out of my savings in cash before I got you out of prison, sir.”

That was a lie. The cash in his briefcase in the back was part of the money furnished by his organization for facilitating his job. He hadn’t touched the Bobby Fulbright account in days. Doing so would have only painted a target on him– and besides, the man didn’t get paid much anyway.

“Good man, Fool Bright,” Simon repeated. “Very well. Give me a moment.”

Bobby nodded, and concentrated on driving, sneaking glances at Simon in the rearview mirror.

After a moment, Simon said, “You seem very anxious, Fool Bright. You may put your arm around me, if you like.”

The Phantom made a show of being amusingly flustered, and he slipped his arm around Simon’s shoulders, since that was what the prosecutor wanted from him. 

Simon wasn’t stupid. Bobby was lying to him. 

He wasn’t sure exactly what the truth was, but the idea that Bobby Fulbright had anywhere the capability to be an international investigator seemed like it was a laughably obvious falsehood. Perhaps he’d made up the story just so Simon would be impressed with him, or would somehow be less worried about him losing his job at the department.

It didn’t really matter why Bobby was lying though. Only two things mattered.

First– Bobby had cared enough about him to throw everything away and break him out of jail to save him from execution. 

This first fact Simon believed with unshakable conviction. It was the entire foundation upon which he was currently reforming his unexpectedly long life. He was here because Bobby wanted him to be here. As a samurai, Simon understood that this meant that he owed the man his whole life, whatever remained of it. No matter what else was the case, this was true. This was the bedrock of Simon’s new life.

Second– Bobby said that he had been following the Phantom case, and was in possession of some details which might constitute a lead on hunting him down.

This fact Simon was less sure of. Since he didn’t fully believe that Fulbright was an international investigator of any kind, he had no idea how much faith to stake on his supposed lead.

Well, he’d stake all of it on it anyway. 

It’s not like he had anything better to do. If that was what the man who saved his life wanted, that was what they were going to do.

“South Asia, you said,” Simon murmured, as he leaned into Fulbright’s arm around his shoulders. The weight of it was comforting, and he hoped it comforted whatever dire thoughts were circling the fool’s as well. “Cauli, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, sir. That’s the best information we have as to where the organization might be located.”

“Well then, the first step is to get there, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Well, ah, obviously, sir, but that will be a little tricky you know, with airport security and everything? I mean, travel papers alone.”

“Worry not, Fool Bright,” Simon said with a grin. “You may not have the brains for this sort of thing, but I’ve been among criminals for the past near decade of my life. I can get us out of the country.”

Simon enjoyed the expression of supreme surprise on the man’s face. “You can?”

“Without a doubt. I had a friend in the clink who was acquainted of a master forger. Point us at Sacremento, Fool Bright, and we’ll stop in the first second hand clothes shop we see before we go see the men I have in mind.”

“Second hand clothes?”

“Indeed,” Simon smiled broadly. This was almost fun. “We can’t go around looking like a cop and a prosecutor, now can we? And brand new clothes will tip off any criminals we meet just as much as our current ones.”

“Oh! I see!” Fulbright beamed. “You’re talking about going undercover! With disguises!”

He chuckled. “Well spotted, Fool Bright. I am indeed. It appears as though to catch our criminal we’ll have to become criminals. Well. I have quite the head start. But you, you’ll need a lot of work.”

As the Phantom dug with Simon through racks of used clothes in a dingy second hand store in some ugly town south of Sacramento, the big smile written on his face was almost genuine. It was as close to actual pleasure as he ever got.

Simon had given the Phantom a role. His first new role in a whole year, and Simon had invented it for him.

As they drove the several hours between Los Angeles and their destination, Simon had spent the time improvising a backstory for the pair of them as criminals. Simon was Taka, a no-good, disowned son of a branch of the Kitaki crime family, who had gotten into selling narcotics and was fleeing the country for a while due to heat from the cops.

Bobby was to be Watchdog, or just Dog, Taka’s personal enforcer and bodyguard. At first, Simon had said that all he had to do was stand there and look tough, but the Phantom had asked him for a little more.

Simon had raised his eyebrow. “Method actor, eh, Fool Bright? Very well, then.”

Dog was an orphan who had been raised as a bodyguard for the favored sons of the Kitaki family, but his loud, obnoxious ways– drinking and gambling, and especially getting casual and friendly with his charges– had angered the head of the family and Dog was going to be executed over it. Young Taka, however, had used the last his sway with the family to have Dog’s life spared, and the two of them were instead exiled in disgrace to manage low-rent Kitaki dealings far from the core of the family.

The two of them were in a torrid love affair, though Taka was a spoiled brat, disgusted and embarrassed to be seen with such a low level and obnoxious thug of a lover and he was forbidden to touch him in public. Despite this, and despite his vices, Dog was completely loyal to his master.

It was an interesting role. A variation in some ways on Bobby Fulbright, and the Phantom thought it gave him some insight on what Simon liked about Bobby– or maybe just about the range Simon thought that Bobby would be able to act.

It wasn’t completely different, but it was different enough that the Phantom was almost excited to change faces, even in a subtle way, and perhaps interested in seeing if he impressed Simon with his abilities.

“You’re sure you want to go by Taka?” Bobby asked as Simon came out of the dressing room in black jeans, a black hoodie, and some old blue t-shirt with an unidentifiable band logo. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t bring him with us.”

“It’s a fitting tribute,” Simon said, raising his chin. “And don’t trouble yourself. I wouldn’t have seen him again after today in any case. I– will believe he’ll be well treated.”

Bobby should be very touched and moved by such a statement. His face screwed up with deliberate emotion, his eyes welling with overflowing tears as he grabbed Simon’s hand tightly. “It’s a fitting tribute, sir. I’ll call you Taka, then.”

“Good. Dog.” Simon smiled slyly at him, as he took his own armful of clothes in to get changed.

There it was again. Something like pleasure, or pride in his chest.