It was midnight and Spades Slick was just getting ready to go to bed. It had been a long and trying day and he was looking forward to just climbing under that soft comforter and snoozing for a good eight hours. Suddenly he heard a thud outside his apartment door.

The Dersite froze and looked toward the closed door, his eyes squinting with suspicion. What was that? Was someone outside his apartment? The only reason anyone would be outside his apartment at this hour was because they had bad intentions, as in wanting to put a bullet through his head.

Oh no. No way was that going to happen. He wasn't going to go down without a fight. Whoever was out there was going to get way more than they bargained for.

Grabbing a knife out of his top drawer, he moved stealthily toward the door. His body tensed as he tiptoed toward it, expecting a bullet to splinter the wood on its journey to penetrate his skull.

Cautiously he reached out and unlocked the door. He gripped the knob and slowly pulled it open. It let made a long drawn out creak as he did so.

What he saw when he did made him freeze.

Snowman was sitting by the door, her shoulder leaning heavily against it. She looked like she'd been in some kind of scuffle. He cursed and pulled the door open all the way, causing her to fall onto the floor.

He cursed loudly, staring down at the trench coat clad woman. What was she doing outside his apartment?! This was the last thing he needed right now.

Kneeling down, he grabbed her shoulder and shook her demanding she wake up. "Hey, you, get up!" he snapped at her. "Now!"

Snowman moaned softly and lifted her head, her white eyes opening and looking up at him.

Slick frowned, feeling annoyed. What now? He didn't need this. Couldn't he have one peaceful evening without this dumb broad shoving herself into his life? If she thought he was going to give it up to her again she had another thing coming.

Snowman of course didn't know what he was thinking. She didn't even seem to care at the moment. J...ack.." she croaked, reaching up to grab him by the front of his shirt. Help me..."

What?!

The short mobster stared down at her, too shocked by her request to even be angry or offended that she's used his former name. Did she really ask him of all people for help? and why was she asking him that anyway and in that voice? What was her problem?

Then he saw it.. or at least some of it.

Her body was covered in cuts and bruises and it was obvious she was still bleeding. Slick wasn't sure why the sight made him angry but it did. Maybe it had to do with the fact that it was someone besides him doing it.

Angrily he grabbed her arms, gritting his teeth. "Who did this?"

Snowman didn't respond so he shook her, trying to get her to tell. "Answer me, you dumb broad!"

But the female Dersite couldn't answer because she'd passed out.

Slick frowned at her, letting go of her arms. Just perfect. What was he going to do with her now? He couldn't just let her lay on the floor with her legs sticking out of his apartment like that. The neighbors might think he was the one who'd beaten her like that. He needed to get her out of sight.

Grumbling to himself he gripped her arms and pulled her into his apartment, frowning when he saw the blue blood trail that stained the floor. He would have to clean that up. Just perfect.

Once he had her inside he dropped her on the floor and went to clean up the mess before any of his nosy neighbors poked their ugly faces out of their apartments to see what he was doing. He noticed the stain started right at his door and wondered if she'd used all her energy to faze in and out of time to get to his apartment. But why there? She knew he hated her! Why would she come to his home after being beaten up by someone?

What even gave her the assumption that he'd help her? Surely she knew she risked forfeiting her life...

No, she knew he wouldn't kill her. Not when doing so would destroy the universe. Of course she had to come to him. Who else was there? The other members of the Midnight Crew? Nah, she hardly ever bothered with them.

It didn't take long for him to clean up the blood stains. Once he was done he went back inside and shut and locked the door before turning to the unconscious woman still laying on the floor. What was he going to do with her? He couldn't very well leave her where she was, getting blood all over his carpet.

He grabbed her arms and drug her across the floor. Once again her blood made a blue trail across the floor but he ignored it. Now that his door was shut he didn't have to worry about anyone seeing it.

Snowman moaned as he drug her and her head flopped backward causing her hat to fall off her head and land on the floor. He'd worry about that later.

Spades drug her into his bedroom and pulled her onto the bed, flopping her onto the mattress. She was a bit heavy and he had to strain to pick her up. Seems she gained some weight since their last encounter, he wondered if she knew. She'd probably be offended if he told her and maybe take out an eye to punish him for calling her fat.

Once he was sure she wouldn't fall off he left the room and started cleaning up the stains, his mind running through all the questions he had for her when and if she woke up.

Of course she'd wake up. Those wounds were bad but not life threatening, he'd given he worse punishment. Or that's just what he told himself, blasted female.

While he waited for her to wake up he cleaned up the stains on his floor and then made a phone call to his "best friend" Diamonds Droog.

"Snowman's at my apartment!" he exclaimed before Droog could even say a word.

The other Dersite didn't even seem surprised. "Oh."

"Oh!?" he exploded. "What do you mean oh?!"

"I mean what I said." Droog replied flatly. "am I supposed to sound surprised by this?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" he snapped.

"It means what it means." he heard his friend take a drag of his cigarette. "what do expect me to do about it, Slick? Go over there and join you in a threesome?"

Spades couldn't respond. what exactly did he expect Droog to do about it? It wasn't like he could tell the man to come over and help him bury a body. Snowman wasn't allowed to be killed, no matter how much he longed to do so. What the heck did that threesome comment have to do with anything?!

"I can't keep her at my apartment!"

"Then kill her."

"I can't do that either and you know it!"

Click.

Droog had hung up on him! He couldn't believe it!

'Some help you are!" he shouted into the silent phone.

Cursing Slick slammed the phone back into its cradle and turned toward his bedroom. Looks like he would have to deal with her all by himself.

Sighing, the mob boss walked back into the bedroom and stood over the woman who lay on his bed. He studied her body, taking note of the scratches and bruises on her legs and neck and face. He was sure there were more under her coat but he wasn't going to open it to satisfy his curiosity. If she woke up as he did it she'd probably still have enough strength to pummel him.

Still he couldn't resist not reaching up and placing a hand on her cheek. He didn't know why he did it, it just seemed the thing to do. His long black fingers touched the smooth black carapace. It was cold, as cold as her eyes when she looked down on him when he used to work for her when she was the Black Queen on Derse.

He pulled his hand back with a growl. No. He wasn't going to let his mind wander in that direction. The past was past and he wouldn't let himself relive that again.

Cursing, Slick pulled away from the bed and left the room. She wasn't going to wake up any time soon anyway. He flopped onto the sofa and stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out if this was a stroke of luck or a really bad omen.

There was so much he could do to her right now and she wouldn't be able to stop him. He could make her pay for all the pain and humiliation she'd put him through. Hey why not? She deserved it after all. No one could blame him if he added a few new scars to her body.

Wasn't like anyone would notice.

He eyed the knife on the coffee table. It was very tempting.

No. He held himself back. He couldn't do that. In the state she was in he risked killing her by accident and thus killing himself. It would be best if he kept any torture fantasies to himself.

Sighing he looked away from the knife and tried to focus on something else, though his eyes kept wandering back to the bedroom. Why did fate have to be so cruel?He hated fate. He wished he could find fate and cut off its head and use it for a football while playing the body like a bunch of bagpipes..

No not bagpipes, he hated those two, that annoying wailing cat sound it made drove him cray. This was a dumb train of thought anyway. Think about something else, you idiot!

Slick pushed away all thoughts of fate and annoying instruments and returned to his previous ones. Trying to figure out what had happened to her. It was obviously something bad but he could only guess as to what it was and why she'd been beaten so severely. Had she crossed someone or had her new master gotten sick of her and done this?

For some reason the very though of Lord English laying a finger on Snowman made him angry, though he couldn't figure out why. She deserved it after all. If she wasn't so obnoxious and witchy all the time... He should be shaking the man's hand not feeling like he wanted to find the creep and rip his head off. But there was no proof that had even happened...

"I'll have to ask her when she finally wakes up," he told himself. Yeah, that would settle it. He'd satisfy his curiosity and then figure out what to do from there.

In the meantime he figured he'd do some reading to get his mind off of it

There was a copy of Terrier Fancy on the coffee table so he grabbed it and opened to the last page he'd read. Since Snowman was likely to be out for hours he didn't have to worry about her coming in and seeing him reading magazines about dogs. What was wrong with dogs anyway? They were loyal and made great companions, not that he ever owned one. He just enjoyed reading about them and it was better than the smut Hearts Boxcars and Diamonds Droog were always looking at with those stupid faces.

Soon he was so engrossed in his magazine he wasn't aware Snowman had regained consciousness until he was brought back to reality by a loud THUD coming from his bedroom.

Spades instantly closed the magazine and got to his feet, crossing the floor in seconds. What had she done now? He stood in the doorway of the room and paused. Snowman was now laying on the floor, curled up in a fetal position.

"Snowman?"

The female Dersite lifted her head, her eyes wide with... fear?

Instantly she recognized him and that glimpse of terror he thought he saw vanished from her eyes. "Slick?" she asked, her tone holding more than just a question. "Where am I?"

"My apartment."

"What am I doing here?" she demanded, sounding suspicious.

He frowned, annoyed at her accusatory tone. "You tell me," he responded. "You're the one who appeared at me door all bruised and bloody and begged me for help, like some whore who had gotten away from her pimp."

This seemed to bring her memory back and she looked away, saying nothing.

"Don't you dare give me the silent treatment," he hissed. "not after you fazed your sorry butt all the way across the city from who knows where. If you tell me it's not my concern you can just leave and find someone else to play mute with."

Snowman looked up at him. She knew he was right, he could tell by her expression. "I didn't know who else to go to," she said honestly."You were the first person that came to mind."

"Why?" that made no sense since they both hated each other equally. Why would she go to someone who would prefer to see her dead than someone who would care if she was alive?

"Why not?

He didn't know how to answer that.

"Does it bother you?" she asked, trying to get up off the floor. Something was wrong with her left arm though and she flopped back down onto the floor with a small cry of pain.

Slick sighed and moved to help her up. She thought he was going to hurt her and kicked him between the legs. "Don't touch me!"

He lay on his side on the floor, curled up, feeling agony in his nether regions. "What the heck?! I wasn't going to hurt you, idiot!"

Snowman didn't seem to believe him, though and gave him that suspicious look he'd grown to know so well from his past on Derse. He glared at her now. They weren't on Derse anymore so that look didn't intimidate him.

Eventually she caved and looked away. Slick managed to get up, though now he winced and walked toward her. "Okay, let's get you back on the bed."

She didn't fight back as he helped her off the floor. Once the woman was back on the mattress she lay down with a sigh. Once again Slick noticed the bruises. They looked worse with the light on.

Snowman noticed him staring and covered her legs with a blanket.

Right away he turned his attention away from that though he started feeling annoyed again. Why would she bother hiding it now? He'd already seen it all. Hiding it wouldn't do anything now except maybe make her look petty.

So now he wasn't sure what to do except maybe kick her out now that she was awake. But he couldn't do that either since she couldn't even stand up on her own and... she still hadn't really told him what caused her to get all those bruises in the first place. Not that he didn't have his own ideas.

That's when he realized she was staring at him. "What?" he demanded, defensively.

"I want to be alone for a moment."

"And why is that?" he demanded. "afraid to tell me who beat your sorry butt all of a sudden?"

She gritted her teeth and looked away. "Just go."

"Fine," he said, letting her have her way for the moment. He wasn't in the mood to fight with her about it right now. 'but don't think this discussion is over."

Snowman closed her eyes as if she'd fallen asleep. Slick cursed and stormed out of the bedroom leaving her alone.