Fragmented World - Round 5.5

Agapito nodded. "...Yeah. I just hope it will be enough..." He offered.

"Your help is appreciated, in any case." Memphis nodded assuringly. "The rest is our problem; we don't know how to contact her yet. But we will come up with something. Something to make sure she will notice."

*

Iris took a breath, and coughed. He twitched, trying to move his fingers, but couldn't feel a thing. "Hey, miss?" He cleared his throat. "Could you please loosen the bindings? I can't feel my fingers here."

Serafina gave him a long look from where she sat, but said nothing, only continuing to do whatever it was she was doing, ignoring him.

"Are you ignoring me? It's not cool," mumbled Iris, struggling gently. "'s not like I can manage any harm, you know, I suck so bad as an assassin that they never let me get out of the building..."

"Yet you are still an assassin." Serafina replied coldly. "That makes all the difference."

"You sound like you hold a grudge." Iris commented.

"I'm not about to tell you my life story, boy." Serafina stated, glaring at him. "I'm a bounty hunter for a reason."

"All right, hate me," sighed Iris, quietened down. He tried to think of where he could be right now. It was an abandoned place, but it was not deserted. From here he could hear the sound of children frolicking outside. He could even hear them telling a story.

[I want to have the Duo codified the kidnapping into a fairy tale and let the kids spread it around... to hint to Sera that the twins are already with them. But I can't have it done. =_=]

Serafina didn't listen at first, but eventually she did because she had nothing better to do. However, she twitched, realizing this was no normal story after a little while.

"Have you heard the story? About the snakes and the prince? The snake queen had two sons, and the sons went missing. The snake queen was very worried, and then found out that her sons were hiding in the Prince's castle. She kidnapped someone very dear to the prince, and the prince is sad because the snake queen's sons didn't want to leave the castle. What is the prince to do?"

She was silent for a moment, and then she pursed her lips. So that's how it was. The snake queen's sons betrayed her after all. That changed everything. If those two weren't going to return, her effort wouldn't be for naught, she'd just collect the bounty for her prisoner.

Iris too listened to the story because he had nothing better to do. He didn't figure it out at once, but once he did, he thought it was kind of lame. The Prince? That was just... too much. Too much. He wondered who had made up this story; if it was his brother, then he was not as smart as he seemed. Or he was just not gifted in the art of words. Only in that of killing.

He heard the woman moving - She now knew the Duochromatics wouldn't answer her demands. Maybe she would take him to the police... Maybe. Iris felt a shiver, as if someone had blown into his ear. The policeman these days weren't exactly the image of justice. He didn't want to think about what they would do to squeeze information out of him.

*

At that moment, the Duochromatics had set up their network. At each police post, one of them would stand, waiting for Serafina to show up. Once they caught sight of her, the alarm would be rung, and the news would spread... from the lowest to the highest.

"And by then," Memphis told Ros, "I want to be informed. You have to hold her there until I arrive - I wish to personally deliver this letter to her."

Sera wasn't going to follow their plans however. She knew full well that the Duos were probably looking for her, and she wouldn't be that obvious. Nor would she call the police, since the phone lines were possibly monitored. In fact...

Just as she had before, she wrote a letter. In code, even. A code the police were used to seeing. At first glance, it seemed like a personal letter to one of the policemen. It wouldn't fool the Duochromatics if they gave it a thorough looking through, but they had to be quite desperate to do that.

She grabbed another man off the streets, which began to feel a bit repetitive but she wasn't left with much of a choice. With a bribe of a bit of money and telling him that it was a personal letter to the chief of police and his assistant at the nearest Police station, she sent him off before returning to the factory.

Iris welcomed her back with a pale face and half-closed eyes. From the floor, he looked up and wheezed softly, "Hey there..." Even though weak, the sarcasm was clear in his smile.

Just near him, a thick container made of metal was kicked open. If it was damaged and whatever inside was leaking out, no-one would see with just looking normally. The container was marked with a skull and "hydrogen cyanide".

[ For your convenience, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanide_poisoning ]

(Wooo, scary o3o)

Serafina could only stare for a moment before bristling when the realization of what exactly this meant. Was this boy just that stupid, to start knocking over things in an abandoned factory of all places. It was one of those situations where you get to understand the environment before knocking things over and trying to get loose from a sticky situation.

Pulling her shirt over her mouth in the hopes that it would block out some of the poisoned air although she knew that she had already breathed in some already. "Idiot!" She growled, picking Iris up. She couldn't exactly leave him here now.

"W-Well, no other way to get you outta here, is there?" Iris spoke into her back, even though it was too weak to make her feel a thing. "Like a snake, aren't you? Stay put in your hole..."

He hissed, gasping, trying to get some breath.

"That's incorrect. Snakes don't stay in one place. They need to move." She said coldly, moving as quickly as she could through the factory. "And if that was your plan, trying to smoke me out, it was a foolish one. You might bloody well be the death of both of us now."

"Hehe... I got that a lot too... They always say I suck, y'know? Oh... I complain too much... I should," he choked, "-should just shut up... or something."

The air started to get clearer, but Iris had inhaled quite a dose of the poison gas. As much as he breathed, it wasn't enough. He gasped, but still tried to speak. "I'm sorry about your friends... though..."

Serafina could hear Iris's struggles in his tone. "Just be quiet and focus on breathing." Serafina ordered sharply. "And whatever you do, don't fall asleep or pass out."

Change of plans. She saw that her funds were quickly diminishing, but she could care less at the moment. After leaving the abandoned factory, she changed her course not towards the nearest police station, but rather, in the opposite direction. Towards the Duochromatic's headquarters.

The boy agreed to this command and simply quieted down, focusing his effort on wheezing weakly on Sera's back. He didn't know where he was being taken. However, by carrying a bound person on the streets, Sera made quite a show of herself.

The telephone in Memphis' room rang loudly.

"Target locked. She's coming straight this way."

Sera really didn't care at this point in time. In fact, she wanted people to see her.

She continued down the street, slowing once she reached the clocktower, the one she was perched in earlier. She put Iris down and using a knife she had hidden on her before, she cut his bonds.

"I should be on my way." Memphis nodded briefly. "She is dangerous, so it would be most unwise to go alone." His yellow eyes fixed on Banafrit and Vaserfal. "Who wants to see an old friend?"

Banafrit hesitated, then nodded. She wasn't sure what to expect from the bounty hunter, but she did her great damage before and now she had Iris. She wanted to make sure he was safe.

...

Serafina glanced at Iris. "Can you make it all the way by yourself or do I have to stand here and wait for someone to come and get you?" She questioned coldly. She had no reason to stick around like this, and she'd prefer to go altogether. There wasn't any strings attached to this sudden selflessness.

"Wha-? Y-You're letting... me... go?" Iris asked in total confusion, slurring a little. He tried to think why she would want to let him go, "T-There are policemen out there, right? You- I- I won't fall for that-" He looked deadly mortified and began to tremble, "I won't return there, no-"

*

Memphis selected his choice of rifle, then nodded to Banafrit. "Let's go."

Serafina stared at the boy, and then laughed darkly. "You think the police would stand a chance while being so close to the Duochromatic headquarters? You really are foolish."

Without another word, she left Iris standing there besides the clock.

Iris simply stared at her when she left. What was it that she wanted? His erratic thoughts were interrupted when he heard two thumping sounds from his side: it was Memphis and Banafrit. His brother, though, didn't particularly care about him - He set straight after the Bounty huntress.

Banafrit observed Iris worriedly, as if she knew something wasn't right. She wrote silently in her notebook

Are you alright?

...

Serafina glanced over her shoulder, gaze hardening at Memphis. Frankly she didn't want to deal with another assassin today. She already had the police to deal with, since they would definitely demand an explanation. Not to mention she didn't know the young Duochromatic's motives. It was in their best interest to kill her, after all.

She changed course from casually walking down the road, instead slipping into the nearby alleyway.