One year later
John tugged his jacket tighter around his body and shoved his clammy hands into his pockets. Mason pressed a comforting hand to his arm and he relaxed, shoulders sagging. They walked past a group of clubs, all fussing over a stack of papers that had them looking fairly ruffled. John subtly pointed them out to Mason and he nodded.
For the past few months they'd been coming into town, the Diamonds and Clubs that walked the streets seemed to always have their heads bent in hurried discussion, worry lining their faces. It was quite the shock for John, who had only ever seen Diamonds with an air of untouchable superiority surrounding them. Something was happening. One look at Mason set their plan into action.
When they came up on a lone Club, John moved just enough for them to bump into each other, causing the papers the man was holding to fall to the ground. He was a small, portly man with graying hair that clung sparsely to the sides of his head and bushy eyebrows that sat heavily over heavily sunken in brown eyes. There were beads of sweat collecting on his forehead, and he opened his mouth to shout, but when his eyes met John's his lips clamped shut and he crouched to collect his papers.
Mason crouched down to help him, subtly slipping a few papers into his coat, and the man apologized profusely for knocking into John. John, still in character, just scoffed and tilted his nose in the air, making sure to look at the man though slit eyes. He didn't speak, just patiently waited for the two Clubs to stand and nod to each other. The man slipped away and John'and Mason continued their stroll, checking the coast was clear before slipping into an alley way between a shop and an apartment building.
The smell of dirt and mold sat heavily in the air and the sound of something dripping interrupted the silence every few seconds, interrupting the silence. Mason's eyes skimmed the papers he'd grabbed quickly, while John scanned the mouth of the alley, making sure nobody appeared.
"Holy shit," Mason whispered and John raised an eyebrow. Mason saw his expression and his face dropped. John felt his chest clench, but he shook off the disappointment. "Nothing about them John, I'm sorry, but this is some big stuff. Apparently there's been a few cases of arson. Experiment labs have been burned to the ground. It says here that every single time, all of the occupants are killed, even the Spades inside. There's also some stuff in here about Diamond's being killed in their homes, but they haven't found the killers yet."
"Wow." Mason nodded, folding the papers and hiding them in his jacket. "Wonder who's behind it. I mean, if it were Spade's don't you think they'd get the Spades inside the labs out before burning them to the ground?"
Mason was already shaking his head.
"Not necessarily. Look, Eric was lucky to come out of the labs the way he did, but most people aren't like that. He told me about them once." Mason looked up, eyes shining. John's eyes flickered down to the Club shown proudly by his button up shirt, which was tailored for Clubs to show their mark. "Most of the Spades that end up there are never the same. They're treated like animals so they become animals. I imagine whoever did this, if their on our side, they knew that and it was more of a mercy killing."
"It's kinda shitty though. I mean, those people didn't even have a chance." John sighed and grabbed Mason's arm, dragging him out of the alley so he couldn't continue to argue. John had never had a stomach for such mindless violence. The fact that diamonds were being murdered in their own homes sent something whirling in his chest, that made him distinctly uncomfortable. He shook it off and settled on watching their surroundings as they walked. "You said it was this way, right?"
"Yeah, that's where his tracker went off. I don't know how it suddenly came online after being disabled for so long. We have to be careful, this could be a trick." John nodded, eyes never finding Mason's.
John didn't go outside much before he found himself with Ryan and the Spades. He'd spent so much of his life locked up in that room and he'd always dreamed of going into the city like a normal person. Now all he want's to do is go back to camp.
The city was, admittedly, very beautiful with it's tall, sleek buildings. There weren't many cars as everything was so close together that there was little needs. Besides, what was the use of power and wealth if you couldn't walk outside and flaunt it. The streets were so artificially clean that it was unsettling. John missed the crunch of leaves and twigs under his feet, and the outfit he was wearing was stiff and uncomfortable against his skin.
When Fitz sent them out for the first time all those months ago John had felt overjoyed. After so long moping in his (and Jaren's) tent he was itching to get out and search or be of some use to the camp. He recalls the morning that Fitz had called him and Mason into the head tent.
It was a fairly sunny day and John's head had been pounding. He sat in his tent with Matt and Toby, who he'd grown fairly close with. They hadn't been doing much, just talking about the latest updates from the northern spade camp and how they were settling into their new location. They'd moved further West after the invasion, and settled into a nice spot that was big enough for farming. It'd taken a few weeks before Fitz was comfortable enough to send a few Spades out to get some of the stuff they'd left, and when they'd returned Fitz had immediately set people to work. The groups going to get things from the old camp grew larger until they were fully settled into their new place.
At that point, John was wondering what Fitz wanted him to do. He'd been going to the gun range as often as possible with Toby and Matt, the two best shooters in the camp. It had taken a little coaxing for the two to reveal that Fitz had pushed them to invite him, but he didn't mind. Anything to take him mind off of Jaren was fine by him. Besides, he was a pretty decent shooter.
Toby and Matt were just starting to fight about who had a better shot technique when John's communicator buzzed. He'd pulled it out, confused to see a message from Fitz telling him to come to the leader tent. The last time he'd been to the big tent, he'd been convincing Fitz to let him stay at the camp. His stomach rolled, what if he was being kicked out? He took a deep breath than told Toby and Mattabout the message.
"I'm sure it's just about a mission or something. I doubt it's anything to worry about." Toby smiled and John relaxed, leaning forward a bit and allowing her to pull him into a hug. "I know things have been hard John, and I know Fitz knows that too. He's a really good person and an even better leader. He wouldn't ask anything of you if he didn't think you were ready.
With that, John had gathered all of his courage and set off.
When he got there he was relieved to see Mason stood waiting for him. He smiled toothily and pulled John into a hug. Mason had, surprisingly, been a huge support for John. When they'd moved he'd stayed in John's tent to take care of him. At the time John hadn't wanted to move or eat or sleep and Mason was probably the only reason he'd survived those dark few weeks.
"What do you think he's called us up here for?" Mason shrugged, chewing on his bottom lip, a nervous habit that John had only recently noticed.
"I reckon we're goin on a mission or something. I mean, a Club and a Diamond? Perfect for any work in the city." John nodded, not having thought about the fact that he and Mason would be the most inconspicuous pair outside the camp.
Finally, Fitz appeared and waved them inside. The leader tent was nothing special. There was a large fold up table in the middle, with a few chairs placed around it. It was simple, easily transported when the need arose.
"I've got a mission for you two. Reconnaissance. We need to know what's going on in the city, and since we've got you John, we have a unique opportunity here to get inside without detection." John nodded along as he drew out the lines for what they would doing every other week for the foreseeable future. Checking out labs, getting gossip from Clubs and Diamonds on the streets, anything they found would need to be brought back to Fitz.
"One more thing," Fitz had said, eyes flickering up to meet John's, "I want you guys to keep an eye out for Smitty and Four Zero. I'll tell you if his tracker reactivates, okay?"
John clutched Jaren's spade necklace, blinking the tears from his eyes. "Yeah, of course."
After that Fitz set out to coach them on how to act in public, the pompous diamond and his Club assistant. He also gave them some clothes. John's were a rough, expensive fabric. He didn't even want to think about how Fitz had acquired them. He'd just went with it because he knew he had to if he ever wanted to get out of camp. Still, when he saw his reflection he nearly vomited. He looked just like his father. He decided to not look at himself when he was in his diamond attire.
And that's how he and Mason became the city team, going out and getting information wherever they could.
"Sir." John stopped, looking at Mason. He still hated the fact that Mason had to call him sir in public to keep up appearances, it made him feel disgusting. John turned, having gotten caught in his thoughts, and his jaw dropped.
The lab where they knew Jaren's tracker to be was nothing more than a pile of blackened rubble.