Forsaken of Federal Hill

Lola looked at her phone again and chewed her lip, feeling incredibly guilty. There was no one else to call but she knew that her friend could be heading headlong into trouble again so she dialed Randy’s number again.

Voicemail

”Uh, Hi it’s Lola again. I’m sorry to bother you but I was hoping that maybe your friend had heard from Tanya. When I went to get food she checked herself out of the hospital and won't answer her phone now. Thanks,” she hung up her phone. So much for meeting a nice guy all of this drama was sure to scare him again. She sighed and headed back to her car.

Randy finally caught a moment to himself and pulled out his phone. He was pleasantly surprised to see messages from Lola. He decided to check the voicemail first.
He cursed when it was done. Fucking junkie bitch. Least she'd left Lola out of her mess. Too bad that girl was loyal as hell. A situation Randy was all too familiar with, having gone through it with Riley and... well he honesty hoped Trixie ended up like Riley not...
He dialed Lola.
"Hey, sorry girl I was busy, me and Rashid were out taking care of some business earlier. Far as I know he ain't heard from ya girl. Whatchu need doll?"/[color] he wasn't sure if they had time for a man hunt, but Rashid did think Trixie was valuable so he would bring it up if Lola gave him a reason to.

For a moment, Lola felt really hopeful that the call back meant they had heard something.

”It’s okay, it’s just before she left she was talking about helping solve a problem but I don’t understand what that could be. I don’t know how she got her self released either and she didn’t tell anyone where she went but I’m afraid she might have gone home,” Lola didn’t think it needed to be said why she would be concerned about her friend going home and why she couldn’t follow her there.

That was trouble. All kinds of trouble. Buy maybe it lined up with their hunt. But would the amped up werewolves even listen to him? He'd say it real loud if he had to.
"You want me to go find her? If so, you're gunna need to come here to keep her from runnin' out again." the second part was almost enough to make him grin, if the news weren't so grim he would have.

She hesitated, was this the real reason she had called? Lola wasn’t worried about keeping Tanya from running again, next time she wouldn’t be so stupid to take her eyes off the woman.

”She's got me really worried, Tanya was upset about something when we last talked but she wouldn’t say what it was. She usually tells me what’s up so I don’t know what could be wrong,” she admitted, sighing. ”I don’t know where here is but anything to help her out.”

"Ain't gunna lie to ya, we got a lot on our plates right now. But I'll make some time to look for her soon as I can." he promised her before giving her the address to the Outreach and looking for Rashid.

Rashid listened as patiently as he could without saying anything while Randy told him what happened. "The fuck man, what were you thinking, threatening her like that? Whatever, it's done, nothing we can do. We got some time while We wait on Valentine's recovery, and Luke promised he'd call me when she was up. No way they leaving you and me out of this." Rashid needed to be doing something, and sitting around with a loopy She-Wolf and a mopey, anxious Luke was driving him crazy.

"Get her up to my office, the others are all up on the third floor. We can cover some ground while we wait. Help the girl out, make sure that Trixie isn't as suicidal as Luke was earlier." Emotions make us all do stupid things. Tch, fuck off preacher.

"I know, I'm sorry Rashid. I looked at her and I saw.. well you know who I saw." he still couldn't talk about it, especially not to Rashid. Randy had been the one who stayed clean, he'd stuck with his friends so long he hardly recognized them anymore. He finally had to leave, he couldn't take their lies and their desperation to get high. It had taken a friend's death to make Riley come crawling to Randy and ask him for help.
Seeing Trixie like that... it brought up old wounds.
"Besides, Helen was being cut on and all she cared about was a fix. I don't think any of us woulda kept cool, 'cept maybe May. She has ice in her veins." he took out his phone and quickly texted Lola they'd help.

Lola had just left the Dollhouse when Randy texted her back and it was almost a relief, what she had learned didn't sit well in her stomach. Originally her next destination was going to be Trixie's apartment but she wasn't sure it wise to go there, she didn't ever know when the other girl's boyfriend would show up and she was downright scared of him. Lola shot a text back that she'd been there soon and turned her little car towards the community center.

At the community center she looked between the two men looking like she was sorry for loosing track of the other girl as she filled them in

"She was pretty upset at the hospital but I didn't think they'd really let her leave so I went to go get some food. I guess while I was gone she tricked one of the staff into releasing her and took off. I went over to check the Dollhouse first, I don't know why but thought maybe one of the other girls had seen her. June said had been in there looking for Lex, something about her coming home if he'd let some girl go."

While they waited for Lola to show up, Rashid filled Randy in on the craziness that occurred without him. Then came listening to this third piece of madness.

"We need to find her before she does that then. Valentine is back, safe and sound. I don't want Trixie to make some promise that she has to keep because the asshole 'technically' made good on his side already. That's crooked."

That something inside him stirred at a new prospect though. "Where does Lex live, anyway? That way we can try to catch her before she goes there." Too easy.

Lola’s eyes widened and she nodded slowly even though she was still clueless as to what was going on. All she knew is that Tanya might be heading straight back to her abuser to make some sort of deal.

”Yeah, that's easy. She lives with the asshole,” she said as she scratches down the address. ”Just be careful okay? That guy scares the shit out of me.”

----

The taxi pulled away from the curb and the sick feeling in Trixie’s stomach with from just nervous butterflies to a knot of dread. Lex hadn’t returned any of her messages, which was odd even if he was still piss off on her so there was no telling where he was at that point of time. Not knowing when or where he could pop up was almost worse knowing that she was planning on going back to him, assuming that he agreed to stop doing whatever it was to Rashid and Randy’s friend. Of course, the offer would be worthless if he got his hands on her first because it wasn’t unlike Lex to keep her somewhere against her will.

She’d wasted a lot of time at the Dollhouse, shit was messed up and she’d talked to as many girls as she could before the new management could say anything. Some of them had some pretty scary things to say, things that made even her blood run cold.

The front door was unlocked, but it almost always was. It didn’t matter how bad a part of town they lived in, because no one messed with Lex. To her relief, the place was empty and she went about packing a bag full of miscellaneous things. Even though she didn’t know where she was going to stay because Lola’s place was out of the question, she knew that staying there wasn’t the brightest thing ever. There was a little bit of a silver living to her shit-cloud, in the back of her dresser was the small stash a blow she’d kept and Lex hadn't found yet.

"Thanks girl, we'll make sure she stays outta trouble with him. Meantime, I don't want this coming back to bite at you. Stay here for a bit. Third floor is my place, and generally safe for visits. Just watch out for the stray shirt on the couch. Second floor is rented out to a private party for the day, so it's off limits. If you have any questions, reception can help you. First floor is open to the public, so if something happens that makes you nervous, head to my room, lock the door behind you."

Rashid turned to Randy and nodded before getting up. "I need to make sure the guests know I'll be out for a bit, I'll meet you downstairs."

The apartment was eerily quiet and she wondered if Lex had even been there in the last few days. It wasn't like he did any of the house work either and the kitchen was always bare. There was a knot of doubt starting in her stomach, she didn't know what she was doing. It might just be easier to go back to her everyday life, give in to the fact that the Scorpions were going to run the Dollhouse and all the girls lives were about ready to get harder than they already were.

Her mind was running too much, all she wanted to do was help but the only way she knew how was throwing herself back in with that crowd. Lex would catch up her eventually either way, he'd just be more mad that she'd tried to bargain with him.

Unable to decide what she was doing, she gave into her urges and started setting up a line on the dresser. It'd been a few days so she was more than ready to just get stoned and forget about all the shit that had happened. Trixie had just picked up the hollowed out pen when she could have sworn she heard footsteps through the thin walls. Fear gripped her as she tried not to panic, assuming the worst that Lex was home.

Rashid and Randy drove down in relative silence. Relative being that Randy chose the music station, and they didn't talk much, but beats were enjoyed as they tried to tone down the stress of the day. They reached the run down buildings and backed into a corner spot so they could scream outta there if things went stupid.
Keys in hand, Rashid and Randy walked down the hallway to the numbers that Lola had scratched out for them. "I think this one's it. Count yourself ready, dunno who's home." A blind moment want him to knock, but when he reached out, Rashid noticed the door wasn't even shut all the way. With a gentle push and a hand up, Rashid looked inside, unsure of what to expect, but ready to beat down anyone stupid enough to come at him.

She had dropped the pen on the mirror and moved into the living room. At this point there was no hiding, Lex would find her regardless even if she tried something stupid like sneak out a window.

Of all the people she had expected to walk through the door, Rashid and Randy had been on the bottom of that list. At first she stood there, fear still reflecting in her eyes from expecting to see someone else and it didn't change much once recognition set in.

”What are you doing here?” she said with more than an edge of panic in her voice. ”Lex could be by any time… he'd.. you're not safe here.”

"Girl, I'm safe wherever I go." Rashid stepped in warily. She said he wasn't there, but Trixie was terrified, and he didn't need to see it to know. Once he crossed the threshold, he listened about for anyone else inside.
"Now come on, lets get you and your girlfriend reunited before that waste of air shows up. My car's waiting, grab some clothes, you won't want to come back here for a while." Rashid tried to be matter of fact in his delivery, but her anxiety was putting him on edge. Her work was going to go up in supernatural warfare, and he wanted her nowhere near the nuke spot. This was likely to be collateral, at least if he had a say in it.

It was almost cute that the professional boxer thought he could handle someone like Lex and his crew just because he'd spent sometime playing a sport. She did remember that Randy had some weird healing thing so it wasn't far fetched to believe he was some sort of super body guard.

”He's not going to just give your friend back. You could trade…” She glanced back towards the bedroom where her bag was on the bed at the lines she had made sat untouched. Leaving wouldn't be hard, but coming back would be even worse if she left. ”He's obsessed with me, I'm sure he would trade your friend for me.”

"Lola's already at our place. Dangerous place to get a fix girl, I told you I'd keep my word." he said, hoping hearing Lola had called them would calm Trixie's nerves.
"We got our friend back and I would love Lex to show up right the fuck now. His friends that like to beat on girls didn't bleed enough for the Champ and me. Ain't that right Rashid?" he said, a little sadistically, letting the implications hang.

Rashid stepped past her to the room, saw the mirror and flipped it off the dresser, a small white cloud settling as he moved around. "We don't need leverage. We got our girl. We came here for you, keep you from doing something silly. Like trying to trade yourself for a girl he doesn't even have. Where's your bag?" He took a drawer out of it's railing and dumped the contents onto the bed. We need to move. Rashid snickered at Randy's remarks. That whole thing was over way too fast, it was true.

She made a small sound of protest as she watched him flip her mirror. ”Fuck, I've had a hell of a few days, I needed that!” She said trailing him into the room. Trixie felt like a helpless idiot, Lex didn't even have their friend still. Why did she always have to screw things up? Biting back tears, she stuffed the remainder of her things in her bag, glancing over at Rashid a few times. Her head felt like it was going to split in two, her body still ached all over and she probably looked like broken doll. Trixie couldn't help but wonder why they were wasting their time on her.

”Alright, I'm ready,” she said slinging the bag over her shoulder. Trixie looked down one more time at the rest of the stash that had come out of the drawer with her things as hesitated a moment before trying to snatch it up.