Introductions

* * * * * * * * *
Part 35

"Do you think... could she be right?" Ricky asked carefully as Farrell flipped off the driver of another car they passed. "I mean about the... is it really rape?"

The darker-haired man snorted and rolled his eyes, watching Hypatia's car in the rear view mirror. "Of course not, you big GIRL. Rape is like..." he frowned. "It's like that thing in 'the Accused', okay? We're not violent, right? And they don't even know what happened, so it doesn't count. We're just doing what we said. Kicking the lighter Powers in the balls."

Ricky sighed silently and nodded. "Okay. I just... I don't want to HURT anyone, Farrell."

"And you're not, Rick. WE'RE not. Hell, Hy's even on board now and who can blame her? We're right about not having souls." Iggy looked smug and shifted slightly in his seat as he shifted and cut into the next lane, smirking at the squeal of brakes he heard when their sister followed. "And we might have a surprise for you tonight, bro'."

Storm-grey eyes narrowed curiously in a gaze at the other man. "A surprise? Do tell, Farrell..."

Ignatius smirked and shook his head. "Let's say it might have something to do with an idea I had... that Hy sort of... elaborated on." He did his best not to look at Ricardo's crotch and when he failed he forced himself to pull his eyes away and look at the road again, not embarrassed exactly but... uncomfortable. Then again, with no soul, who was to say that the idea of having sex repeatedly with his brother and sister was wrong? They'd been one being before, after all, and... that would be as close as they could get to being that again. "I think you'll like it," he added after a moment.

Ricky frowned, shifting in the passenger seat to face the window, the knee closest to Ignatius bending higher. "If you say so," he mumbled, watching the scenery go by.

* * * * *

She could do this, Hypatia thought. She COULD. And she didn't have a soul, so there was no betrayal involved. No harm, no foul.

Nobody would be hurt and GODS, why did she even care about that?

Her mind whirled in circles, questioning the decision she'd made, but... the Powers weren't talking to her, so she was on her own. With no true concept of good and bad, all she had to go by was her own impulses, and...

The wicked and willful smile spread across her lips again as she gunned the engine, pulling her car out and around her brothers' before sliding in front of them and signaling as they reached the outskirts of Boulder.

She pulled into the crowded parking lot of a diner and parked, then headed towards the front door and waited for the blokes.

"Need to do a bit of shopping, gents," she said when they approached. "I only have the one outfit that's suitable for clubs and it's dirty from the other night. How about we get a bite and then hit a mall?" She chuckled and gave Iggy a suggestive smile. "Besides, I'd like to get a little something... special... for later." She winked.

Farrell laughed and grabbed Ricky's hand, dragging him into the diner while Hypatis followed. "Sounds like a plan, sis... after we eat. We'll need our strength if we're gonna go shopping with a girl." He winked back then looked at the woman behind the register. "Three," he said, indicating himself and his siblings.

* * * * *

The shopping had taken just long enough, Hypatia thought with a sly smirk. She'd managed to get a few things that even her brothers had agreed would help in their quest... things that would announce her status as the 'girlfriend' of whichever bloke WASN'T on point. She'd also managed to get a pair of cell phones, one of which she had, the other of which resided in Iggy's pocket, presumably.

She trailed along behind her brothers' car, then pulled the new phone out and hit the only number that was programmed into it.

"Iggy," she said, her grin in her voice, "I need to shower and change, alright? How about I find us a motel and meet you later?"

"Yes, I'm sure an hour will be fine," she answered his question. "I don't want to come across as less than you guys deserve, now do I? Besides, gent... wouldn't you rather I be all sweet and clean when we... get down to it?"

She smirked wickedly. "That's what I thought. So where am I meeting you?"

One hand scrabbled over the seat of the rental car, finally finding the pen she knew was there. She wrote directly on her other hand-- the one on the steering wheel. "I'll see you there, brother... just after full dark. And... I can't wait until later," she purred, ignoring the twisting in her gut. "Give Ricky a kiss for me," she added teasingly before hanging up.

* * * * *

She parked on the small rise a good hundred yards from the club, watching the parking lot closely through the binoculars she'd snuck off to buy at the mall while she'd said she was going to the bathroom. It hadn't even been noticed amongst her other purchases.

She smiled darkly, seeing her brothers' car pull in and wait just inside the entrance then dialed the new number she'd entered into the new cell. "They're there. Just past where the drive widens. Left side. Two of them in a maroon Corvette."

"Are you sure about this?" the voice on the other end asked slowly.

"You heard the tapes, detective. They're obviously insane. Do I sound like I could be their sister?" She frowned, suddenly wondering whether the mini tape recorder and the audio evidence would be enough.

A sigh. "No. But I don't understand why you won't testify."

"I don't want to get that involved," Hypatia said softly. "Now, if you want to apprehend a couple of serial rapists, I suggest you watch them and... they need to be in jail, Nick. Forever. But twenty or thirty years should do."

"I... thanks for the heads-up, Kelly," the detective said with a sigh.

"No problem," she said softly before ending the call and dialing her brothers.

"Iggy... sorry, mate. I'm a bit lost. Where are you?" she lied deliberately, not mentioning how she'd gone directly to the police station once she'd been free of him and Ricky.

She released one very fake sigh. "Well, go ahead. I'll be there in the next half hour or so. I seem to have gotten... turned around." Or not, she admitted silently. She'd never had any real intention of participating in their sick games to begin with. 'Turned around' was just a somewhat charming euphemism.

"No... no, it's fine! Don't wait on MY account! Maybe I'll just meet you gents back at the motel... get all tarted up and ready for you..." NOT. Not ever, although she forced her voice to stay lusty and intrigued.

She smirked again then forced a breathless laugh. "I'll be waiting," she murmured as she hung up, her eyes still watching the club through the binoculars.

And that much was true, in any case.

* * * * *

She waited a good forty-five minutes, staring at the front door until she saw Iggy and Ricky nearly carrying a young black man outside. "Gay bar," she murmured to herself as she watched them maneuver the out-of-it bloke into the shadows beside the club.

She gave them five minutes before she picked up the phone again and hit Farrell's number.

"Hello, brother..."

"Uh, Hy, this really isn't a good time..."

"Sorry, Farrell, but... I need to tell you something."

"Yeah? What?" he sounded impatient.

"See, here's the thing... brother. I was thinking about what you said. About us not having souls."

"Yeah, what about it?" A definitely impatient sound.

"Well, I figured something out."

"Did you."

"I did. And what I figured out is..." She pulled a cigarette from her latest pack and lit it, inhaling deeply. "We still know right from wrong. We still know whether we're doing something that's... evil. And even if we'll never be rewarded or punished after our bodies die... maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe the rewards and punishments we receive in our mortal lives are enough. Of course, I already knew that."

"What the... fuck... are you talking about, Hy?" Iggy growled over the line.

"You know enough about right and wrong to think you're hurting the Powers, Iggy," she said softly, one hand on the switch for her headlights, "And that means you've CHOSEN the darkness. Chosen to dim the light."

She flicked the knob once, twice, three times, still watching through the binoculars as red and blue lights began flickering from the ten unmarked police cars around the parking lot.

"And just so you know, brother... the young man Ricky 'did' in Tulsa...? He DOES belong to one of us. He's connected and prophesied and... but you don’t care, do you?“ She sighed, taking another deep lungful of smoke and exhaling. “Goodbye, Ignatius. Enjoy your 'free will'… until you choke on it."

She ended the call and climbed from her car, watching her brothers being swarmed over and cuffed while the young man who'd been their victim was wrapped in a blanket, his pants still loose around his ankles.

She wished she could have signaled sooner but... it had been necessary for the young man to be violated if she was going to avenge Robert, and... at least now Iggy and Ricky would be in prison, having been caught in the act, as it were.

She’d have to remember to send their latest victim an anonymous donation for the therapy he’d probably need once he found out what had happened, but that was fine. It was the least she could do for allowing her so-called brothers to violate him.

Hypatia's smile was bittersweet as she got back into her car and drove off. She'd stop at some point to drop the purchases she'd made with her brothers into a donation box somewhere and... maybe someone would find a use for the pre-paid new cell phone. She'd never use it again... and she'd never had any intention of wearing those clothes.

The very fact of the men who'd helped her choose them made them... dirty.

* * * * *
(A/N: HUGE thanks to Kat for the review! Apparently she's the only one still reading, so *HUGS*.

Hope this cleared up some of your not-liking of Hypatia. *grins* I TOLD you she knew what she was doing. :P)