K/T/H: Unkonventionelle Mittel
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120_minutenTeam: Schwarz
Challenge: K/H/T: Unkonventionelle Mittel [fürs Team]
Fandom: Heroes of Olympus
Charaktere: Reyna Avila Ramírez Arellano, Nico di Angelo, Jason Grace
Wörter: 1337
A/N: Dieses Mafia AU. - Der Ghost King ist zurück und beschäftigt ein paar Cops des LAPD.
“An observation detail?! To hunt down a mythological mafia killer? Are you fucking nuts? Who do you think pays for this shit show?! Why don’t we go and hunt unicorns while we’re at it? Fuck off! And Ramírez, I swear to God, I will have your ass demo--” The heavy glass door fell shut behind them with a bang, cutting off Captain Hedge’s no-doubt very colourful description of what was going to happen to Reyna if she dared to even contemplate doing her damn job.
She rolled her eyes at her partner who merely shrugged, the hint of an amused smile playing around his thin lips. “He’s right though.”
Reyna glowered at Nico di Angelo which earned her nothing but another shrug. They’d been working together for way too long. “Just saying. We don't have anything and he’s worried. Rightfully so.” He started for the pair of desks they shared in the far corner of the office, hidden away behind two filing cabinets and the coffee maker.
“What is this about, die Angelo? I thought you were with me on this.”
Nico lifted his hands in defense. “I’m with you on whatever, you know that, Ramírez. But the way I see it, there’s only three ways this can go: One, the Ghost King is, in fact, just a rumour, a ghost story. We embarrass ourselves, get demoted to paper pushing forever but we'll live. Two, he is not one killer but two or three working for the da Cacchia and Levesque families and one working for Grace and his merry men, maybe. We catch one of them, get a pat on the shoulders and that's that.” He trailed a hand through his hair, messing it up even further. “Or, three, the Ghost King really is the non-partisan, untouchable killer they say he is, we get on his nerves and die.”
Reyna crossed her arms in front of her chest. She wasn’t disagreeing, per se. “So?”
“So, nothing. Just, Hedge is right, if we had any brains we would stay out of that and bust a Levesque warehouse or something.”
With a sigh, Reyna picked up her coffee mug from the desk, and took a sip of the too cold, too bitter concoction. “You don’t have to do this, di Angelo.”
“See, there’s the problem, I believe I do.” He began shuffling through the photos Reyna had laid out on the desk, sorting a few of them out after a critical examination. “Just for the record: My money is on scenario one.” Nico’s hair was ruffled and he had dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept in days. Which was probably the case, Reyna hadn’t actually paid too much attention to her partner’s habits while digging her teeth into the Ghost King murders.
“You look like shit, by the way. What has been keeping you up and about?”
He gave her a weak smile. "My sister has some… problems. I’m just helping out."
"I didn't know you have a sister."
"Neither did I for the longest time." He flipped through the photos he’d sorted out from the pile. “So, we don’t get an observation, the best photo we have could also be of Maggie Thatcher, so what do we do now?”
Reyna shrugged. “I might have one more line of inquiry. However, it’s... unconventional.”
“I’m all ears, Ramírez.”
“What would you say if I told you that I have a contact with the Grace family?”
Nico raised an eyebrow. Surprised, but not exactly scandalised. Of course, he’d been in Vegas for years and nobody knew exactly what his story was. “I’d say you’d need an in with the Golden Boy himself to get us the information we need.”
Reyna just raised an eyebrow. And Nico groaned.
Nico had decided to stay in the car, insisting that he would gladly be never promoted ever to help Reyna out but was not going to commit career suicide by being caught chatting to one of the most infamous mafiosi of the city. That suited Reyna just as well, she really didn’t want to explain how she knew Jason Grace, the Golden Boy himself.
“Reyna.” Jason was as tall and blond as he’d been all those years ago. But his suit was tailored, his hair trimmed neatly and his eyes cold as ice. A woman was standing behind him, her colourful tracksuit a stark contrast to Jason’s impeccable look. Her glare, however, could have melted flesh from bones. Reyna swallowed heavily.
“Jason”, she returned the greeting with a nod and then turned to the woman, forcing herself to smile. "Piper."
"You came alone?" Piper's tone was caustic. "That's… well." She shrugged. “Optimistic.”
Reyna had to bite her tongue. “I have an agreement with Jason, that I trust he will honour.”
“Of course.” Jason smiled and motioned her to sit in his booth with him. “We’re all friends here.”
Piper scoffed but vanished back into the crowd of bar patrons without another word.
“Can I offer you a drink? It’s good to see you again, Reyna.” He poured two shots without waiting for her response. Guaro, the good stuff they’d stolen from Reyna’s father back in the day. She couldn’t help but smile wistfully. “How is working for the cops?”
“I’m not working for them, I am one of them, Jason.”
“Could have fooled me. Shouldn’t you have made sergeant years ago?”
Of course he still knew how to get into her head. Reyna swallowed back the all too familiar anger and frustration. “And you should have been arrested years ago. Funny, how these things work.”
“Funny indeed. What can I do for you?” He lifted his glass, toasting in her general direction, and drank without waiting for her response.
“I'm working on a case and I need information. Jason, you owe me.”
“Of course. So you're here on official business? Unconventional, Detective Ramírez Arellano.”
Reyna levelled her eyes at him. "Tell me what you know about the Ghost King."
Jason raised his eyebrows and for the fraction of a second, his cold facade slipped and he looked... worried. Reyna really had had enough of guys worrying about her.
"The Ghost King is, quite literally, a ghost story, Reyna."
"That's bullshit and you know it."
"Rey…" Before Jason could start on his undoubtedly well-meaning sermon, his pet arsonist appeared next to him, out of nowhere.
"There's a cop lounging outside," he declared before noticing Reyna. "Oh, and in here. Ramírez, that pale kid yours?"
"Valdez, good to see you out of prison for a change. And, yes, that's my partner."
Valdez raised his eyebrows and his mouth twitched. "Well, that's… something." He leaned down to Jason, whispering something into his ear and then trying to cover it up with a peck on his lips. It was almost smooth.
Reyna looked after him as he vanished as quickly as he had appeared, and when she turned back to Jason, his face was pale.
"Rey, you're in way above your head. Forget about the Ghost King."
She raised an eyebrow at his oddly sincere tone. "So he does exist after all?"
"You have no idea. I beg you, Reyna, you have no idea what he is capable of."
Disappointed, Reyna shook her head. "And you, evidently, have no idea what I am capable of." She downed the drink. "Nico and I will find him without your help."
Jason reached out but stopped short of actually touching her hand. "Nico is your partner, hu? How do you know you can trust him?" There was something in his voice, something unsaid, something… vulnerable? Reyna shrugged.
"Well, unlike other people I've trusted before, he hasn't started building up a crime empire yet, so I'll take my chances." She got up and didn't look back, not even as he called after her. He had made his choice, she had made hers. And there was a killer out there she needed to catch.
Challenge: K/H/T: Unkonventionelle Mittel [fürs Team]
Fandom: Heroes of Olympus
Charaktere: Reyna Avila Ramírez Arellano, Nico di Angelo, Jason Grace
Wörter: 1337
A/N: Dieses Mafia AU. - Der Ghost King ist zurück und beschäftigt ein paar Cops des LAPD.
“An observation detail?! To hunt down a mythological mafia killer? Are you fucking nuts? Who do you think pays for this shit show?! Why don’t we go and hunt unicorns while we’re at it? Fuck off! And Ramírez, I swear to God, I will have your ass demo--” The heavy glass door fell shut behind them with a bang, cutting off Captain Hedge’s no-doubt very colourful description of what was going to happen to Reyna if she dared to even contemplate doing her damn job.
She rolled her eyes at her partner who merely shrugged, the hint of an amused smile playing around his thin lips. “He’s right though.”
Reyna glowered at Nico di Angelo which earned her nothing but another shrug. They’d been working together for way too long. “Just saying. We don't have anything and he’s worried. Rightfully so.” He started for the pair of desks they shared in the far corner of the office, hidden away behind two filing cabinets and the coffee maker.
“What is this about, die Angelo? I thought you were with me on this.”
Nico lifted his hands in defense. “I’m with you on whatever, you know that, Ramírez. But the way I see it, there’s only three ways this can go: One, the Ghost King is, in fact, just a rumour, a ghost story. We embarrass ourselves, get demoted to paper pushing forever but we'll live. Two, he is not one killer but two or three working for the da Cacchia and Levesque families and one working for Grace and his merry men, maybe. We catch one of them, get a pat on the shoulders and that's that.” He trailed a hand through his hair, messing it up even further. “Or, three, the Ghost King really is the non-partisan, untouchable killer they say he is, we get on his nerves and die.”
Reyna crossed her arms in front of her chest. She wasn’t disagreeing, per se. “So?”
“So, nothing. Just, Hedge is right, if we had any brains we would stay out of that and bust a Levesque warehouse or something.”
With a sigh, Reyna picked up her coffee mug from the desk, and took a sip of the too cold, too bitter concoction. “You don’t have to do this, di Angelo.”
“See, there’s the problem, I believe I do.” He began shuffling through the photos Reyna had laid out on the desk, sorting a few of them out after a critical examination. “Just for the record: My money is on scenario one.” Nico’s hair was ruffled and he had dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept in days. Which was probably the case, Reyna hadn’t actually paid too much attention to her partner’s habits while digging her teeth into the Ghost King murders.
“You look like shit, by the way. What has been keeping you up and about?”
He gave her a weak smile. "My sister has some… problems. I’m just helping out."
"I didn't know you have a sister."
"Neither did I for the longest time." He flipped through the photos he’d sorted out from the pile. “So, we don’t get an observation, the best photo we have could also be of Maggie Thatcher, so what do we do now?”
Reyna shrugged. “I might have one more line of inquiry. However, it’s... unconventional.”
“I’m all ears, Ramírez.”
“What would you say if I told you that I have a contact with the Grace family?”
Nico raised an eyebrow. Surprised, but not exactly scandalised. Of course, he’d been in Vegas for years and nobody knew exactly what his story was. “I’d say you’d need an in with the Golden Boy himself to get us the information we need.”
Reyna just raised an eyebrow. And Nico groaned.
Nico had decided to stay in the car, insisting that he would gladly be never promoted ever to help Reyna out but was not going to commit career suicide by being caught chatting to one of the most infamous mafiosi of the city. That suited Reyna just as well, she really didn’t want to explain how she knew Jason Grace, the Golden Boy himself.
“Reyna.” Jason was as tall and blond as he’d been all those years ago. But his suit was tailored, his hair trimmed neatly and his eyes cold as ice. A woman was standing behind him, her colourful tracksuit a stark contrast to Jason’s impeccable look. Her glare, however, could have melted flesh from bones. Reyna swallowed heavily.
“Jason”, she returned the greeting with a nod and then turned to the woman, forcing herself to smile. "Piper."
"You came alone?" Piper's tone was caustic. "That's… well." She shrugged. “Optimistic.”
Reyna had to bite her tongue. “I have an agreement with Jason, that I trust he will honour.”
“Of course.” Jason smiled and motioned her to sit in his booth with him. “We’re all friends here.”
Piper scoffed but vanished back into the crowd of bar patrons without another word.
“Can I offer you a drink? It’s good to see you again, Reyna.” He poured two shots without waiting for her response. Guaro, the good stuff they’d stolen from Reyna’s father back in the day. She couldn’t help but smile wistfully. “How is working for the cops?”
“I’m not working for them, I am one of them, Jason.”
“Could have fooled me. Shouldn’t you have made sergeant years ago?”
Of course he still knew how to get into her head. Reyna swallowed back the all too familiar anger and frustration. “And you should have been arrested years ago. Funny, how these things work.”
“Funny indeed. What can I do for you?” He lifted his glass, toasting in her general direction, and drank without waiting for her response.
“I'm working on a case and I need information. Jason, you owe me.”
“Of course. So you're here on official business? Unconventional, Detective Ramírez Arellano.”
Reyna levelled her eyes at him. "Tell me what you know about the Ghost King."
Jason raised his eyebrows and for the fraction of a second, his cold facade slipped and he looked... worried. Reyna really had had enough of guys worrying about her.
"The Ghost King is, quite literally, a ghost story, Reyna."
"That's bullshit and you know it."
"Rey…" Before Jason could start on his undoubtedly well-meaning sermon, his pet arsonist appeared next to him, out of nowhere.
"There's a cop lounging outside," he declared before noticing Reyna. "Oh, and in here. Ramírez, that pale kid yours?"
"Valdez, good to see you out of prison for a change. And, yes, that's my partner."
Valdez raised his eyebrows and his mouth twitched. "Well, that's… something." He leaned down to Jason, whispering something into his ear and then trying to cover it up with a peck on his lips. It was almost smooth.
Reyna looked after him as he vanished as quickly as he had appeared, and when she turned back to Jason, his face was pale.
"Rey, you're in way above your head. Forget about the Ghost King."
She raised an eyebrow at his oddly sincere tone. "So he does exist after all?"
"You have no idea. I beg you, Reyna, you have no idea what he is capable of."
Disappointed, Reyna shook her head. "And you, evidently, have no idea what I am capable of." She downed the drink. "Nico and I will find him without your help."
Jason reached out but stopped short of actually touching her hand. "Nico is your partner, hu? How do you know you can trust him?" There was something in his voice, something unsaid, something… vulnerable? Reyna shrugged.
"Well, unlike other people I've trusted before, he hasn't started building up a crime empire yet, so I'll take my chances." She got up and didn't look back, not even as he called after her. He had made his choice, she had made hers. And there was a killer out there she needed to catch.