Walls Came Tumbling Down

"Is he a suicide risk?" Chrissie asked, though she suspected the answer full well. She hadn't yet seen Matt face-to-face. She was sitting in the main monitor room, sipping orange tea to shake off the weariness of her long journey. She glanced at Stephen Gevanni, who pulled a face and looked down.

Lauren sighed, raising her face from her hands, "Too bloody right, he's a suicide risk! Why do you think that I haven't left his side until now?" She was exhausted. Dark shadows surrounded her eyes. "Has Mello not woken up yet? Has he not said anything?"

Chrissie sipped the hot, citrus drink and peered through the steam at the younger woman. "What is your stake in this, Lauren?"

"I work for them."

"Why?"

Lauren blinked. "Why, am I on trial now?"

Chrissie smiled, sweetly, though her eyes never left the Finn. "I'm just getting the lie of the land, before I go kicking shit through it." She gestured towards Gevanni. "I'm equally fascinated as to why Near has left one of his people here. There is evidently underlying politics. So why are you here? And why do you work for Mello?"

"I do not have to answer your questions." Lauren countered, then rose out of her seat, with a yawn arresting her once she was on her feet. "You are a lawyer, Chrissie; that is why you are here. But until we know that there are definitely charges to answer, then I don't even have to co-operate. I'm awaiting my orders from Mello and, until then, I will be working within my remit. I will stay with Matt."

Chrissie rolled her eyes. "You're dead on your feet and, unless a lot has changed that I'm unaware of, Matt won't speak to you anyway. He probably won't speak to me either, but he and I have been here before." She turned suddenly to survey Gevanni. "What's Near's position?"

Gevanni coughed and straightened a little in his seat. "I'm just here to keep the peace."

"Like fuck you are. What's Near's position?"

"I'm afraid that you will have to speak directly to him for that." Gevanni appeared casually unmoved, looking right back at her with a nonchalant air. "I'm not at liberty to say."

Chrissie nodded, "So you don't know, because he doesn't quite know whether Matt is his problem or a collective problem, as outlined in the brand new, ink not yet dry, wonderful Resolution." She glanced back at Lauren, who was just standing there, swaying slightly. "You don't know who you can trust. The answer is that you can't trust any of us. However, of the untrusty gang of miscreants in the generation before you, I'm the least likely to top him. Regardless of the history between us, that you have no way of knowing about, I'm also surrounded by cameras. It would be witnessed and I would be the next one in a cell. I don't kill my peers. I marry them and bear their children, or I take them in off the streets and ensure that they actually make it into adulthood. You met Century, did you not? He's lived in my home for two years. Did he look like someone in fear for his life?"

"Yes."

"From me?"

Lauren sighed heavily. She drifted towards the doorway, leading towards the wing holding Matt, but stopped part way there. "It's been over twenty-four hours. Mello has to be coming 'round soon, unless the prognosis was worse than I've been told." She looked back. "Is it?"

Chrissie was watching her. "He's been in surgery. He'll be unconscious for as long as the doctors deem necessary." She noted the alarm that sparked in Lauren's eyes. "I commend your paranoia, which is the number one survival skill in our company, but I assure you that it's misplaced. He has Hal as a bodyguard. If she was good enough for an American president, don't you think that she would be just as handy protecting Mello from the wiles of," Chrissie smirked, "Deontic."

Lauren frowned. "I don't think that Deontic would..."

"No, neither do I." Chrissie laughed. "So Mello is safe and sound. Who would you need to hear from, in order to believe that I can be trusted with Matt?"

"Mello."

"Then we have a problem." Chrissie sipped her tea. "Anyone else?" In the broad doorway, Lauren didn't reply. "How about Dee? I could get her up on that screen. You could ask her yourself." She watched Lauren shake her head, then slide around the wall, into the corridor running parallel. Chrissie sighed. "I'm done with maternal. Let her be Matt's guard-dog. It's one less job for the rest of us." She could see that Gevanni was languidly watching the screens too. They displayed Matt sitting immobile, head bowed, on his bed, with the security guard posted outside. They also showed Lauren's progress back to him. "Does she fancy Matt?"

Gevanni shrugged. "It's not reciprocal, if she does."

"Of course it's not." Chrissie tutted. "She's totally the wrong gender for Matt." She finished her orange tea. "It's more likely that she's encountered Mello in full charm offensive. He's got her wrapped around his little finger to the point where she's evidently forgotten that he doesn't necessarily outrank her." She held out the warm mug towards Gevanni. "Thank you. That was very refreshing." There was a short smile, which Gevanni returned. "Near knows that I'm here. Are you answerable to me?"

Gevanni inclined his head. "I'm ultimately answerable to Near, but he has asked me to accommodate you within the limits of my discretion. Would you like me to show you to your room?"

"Near didn't say that." Chrissie countered. "He said to play along with me to see what I do. You added the bit about making me comfortable during my stay, because that wouldn't have occurred to him. But yes, I will see my room, thank you." She stood and gathered her handbag, laptop and wheeled suitcase. Gevanni leapt up to take the latter from her. "I'm fine with it, thank you." She waited, pointedly, until he led the way to her lodgings. "I'm going to need a map of the building. I want to know precisely where the entrances are and where each of your prisoners are being held. My first priority is to ensure that Matt and Neuron will not encounter each other."

"I'm afraid that you have restricted access yourself, ma'am."

Chrissie nodded. "Get it ready anyway." She cast him a sassy smile. "You'll need it for after I've spoken with Near." Gevanni looked blankly at her, then unlocked a door. "I knew it would be this room. It's where Sal and I were last time." She entered and surveyed it, with one long look around the room. "Right."

Gevanni had waited in the doorway. "If you need anything, give me a shout."

"How is Near?"

"What?"

"I'm not asking you to break the Official Secrecy Act. I'm asking you how, in your opinion, your employer is." Chrissie put her bags down on the floor. "I will be contacting him myself shortly, hence I will draw my own conclusions. You have been in his company for years. I am asking you to inform me of your own."

Gevanni shrugged. "He's Near."

Chrissie produced a business card from the breast pocket of her coat. "These are my contact details, separate from Watari. I am not requiring you to spy on Near for me. I merely ask, should he ever not be alright, then you call me."

"Yes, ma'am." Gevanni replied, politely and without much conviction.

"If he's going up against Mello, then he might need someone to talk to." Chrissie mused. She watched him carefully, out of the corner of her eye. "But, of course, you won't call me. It's merely an option." She sat down upon the bed, testing its springiness. "Has Matt been given an electronic game to play?"

"No, ma'am."

Chrissie frowned. "That is an error. You're giving him time to dwell upon things. Does he have his cigarettes?"

Gevanni grimaced. "He's not supposed to have them, but Lauren is helping him smoke through the bars."

"That's wrong." Chrissie dismissed it. "He is not being punished here. He is being held in custody for the attempted murder of his partner. He is, of course, innocent until proven guilty."

"The lighter and games were considered tools that he might use in a bid for suicide or escape."

Chrissie tutted. "Idiotic." She reached into her handbag and drew out a lipstick. "This is Matt. If he wanted to escape, then he would have worked out how to by now. Ditto suicide. You are dealing with a mind almost as fine as Near's. Don't under-estimate him." She took out a hand mirror from her handbag and applied her lipstick. "You do look awkward, hanging around the doorway there." She gave a faint smile, as Gevanni let go of the jamb and shifted his foot. The door began to close. "Mello wants to see him, you know?"

Gevanni quickly stopped the door again. He looked a little startled. "No. I'd not been told that."

"Hal called me last night. Mello's awake and asking for him." She stood from her bed. "Ergo, I'd better meet with my client and deliver the good news."

"Pressing charges?"

Chrissie shook her head, as she left her room. She took the key from Gevanni and locked the door, before depositing the key into her handbag. "Complicates matters a lot, doesn't it? There are questions of justice in this place." She started off up the corridor, in the direction that she had watched Lauren take. "I'll deal with my genius. You go and seriously perturb yours."

Gevanni kept pace with her. "Near doesn't really get perturbed."

"No." Chrissie laughed, but it was without mirth. "I don't suppose he does." She paused, before adding, "Outwardly." She winked at him, before continuing on. "Good day, Mr Gevanni, and thank you for your assistance here."