"Did you girls really have to tie up my arms too? It's not like I can get very far anyway. Plus my ass itches."
Two white gloved hands gripped onto the charcoal neck gaiter, yanking the covering over the last aggressor's maroon eyes. If he didn't just try to kill one of them and capture the other, there was a solid chance he would have been found as rather attractive by the two onlookers with his rugged jaw and scarred bottom lip. Crouching down to the seated eye level, blue eyes studied his seated position, focusing mostly on the several bullet wounds peppered in his legs. His gaze held for the better part of a minute before looking back up at the third person in the room.
"I've never really been the one to interrogate before. More Sera's speed. Got any ideas?"
"No."
"Damn."
Both of the cafe employees turned their attention back towards the lone struggling captive, various looks of curiosity and confusion spread across their faces. Despite having been shot a grand total of four times in each leg, the temporarily crippled man didn't express his pain a single time. He continued to sit with his back resting against the wall, no signs of physical discomfort anywhere on his body. Revealed with the removal of the face covering was his circular tattoo on the right side of his neck. Taking notice of it, Cipher glanced at the only body that didn't have the covering on, a matching symbol tattoo split by the neck wound from earlier.
"Hey, how come you're not in pain? Even I've been shot a few times, I know this hurts like hell."
Prodding at the bullet entry wounds, the captive Nihility member didn't budge a muscle, like his entire body was made of stone. Even his facial expressions remained free of pain. Cipher's gentle touch soon transformed into harsh pokes and forceful pinches around the wound, but to no avail. Any sort of reaction he was trying to elicit from the man was simply just not going to happen.
"Maybe we could tear an arm off? Would that give us something?"
"Woah, woah, woah, ladies, relax! You girls really have never done interrogation before. Unless this is the weirdest good cop bad cop situation I've ever seen."
Kanashima switched her gaze between the two chatters. There must've been some sort of joke both of them were in on, and she was completely missing it. Was she just too uneducated for this obscure reference? This concept wasn't in any of the stories or pieces of media that she grew up with. She definitely didn't want to be associated with anything bad or cop-like.
"You're definitely the bad cop, Kanashima."
Am I trying to be good?
"Are we cops?"
"Forget it. What's with you, kid?"
"You can't possibly be older than I."
"Answer the question, or I really will tear your arm off."
"Maybe you're the bad one."
Somehow, over the course of a few minutes and various amounts of trial and error, Cipher managed to glean a modicum of information pertaining to his identity. Surprisingly, his painless party trick was actually his bug, not anything intentional or beneficial like a property. Kanashima was quick to write it off as a decently sized advantage, but apparently there were a lot more disadvantages than she had considered. The mere thought of being stabbed and not knowing it until the pain evader dropped dead from blood loss was frightening. Not many people ever want to give away the details to their bug, even her, and she couldn't blame the kid for not wanting to reveal it to them earlier.
"So Mr. Novocaine, what's your name?"
After their previous back and forth, neither side was willing to keep up with the tango of retorts and snide comments for much longer, if at all. Ignoring the most recent and poorest attempt at making fun of him, their incapacitated victim simply answered without a hint of dripping sarcasm.
"Carmine. Carmine Forger."
"Well Carmine Forger, what's the deal with the tat? Nova work by the way, gotta link me the artist after this."
"Look I didn't mean any trouble. I'm not even that affiliated with them! I'm still a new guy. Only joined for the money, I swear."
The fire in Cipher's eyes died down to a flicker of confusion. Carmine's words confirmed his initial thoughts of a gang being responsible for the break in, but they seemed a little extreme for the average, run of the mill, local gang. Even some of the more popular ones didn't really have such a random conviction, especially not to a seemingly random girl. As much as he wished his partner was joking with her comment, he was getting a sense it was a little too on the nose.
"Kanashima, what do you make of this?"
"The Nihility. I already said, They're after me."
"And?"
A simple one sided shrug was all Kanashima was able to manage in response to her Wild Eyes helper. That was all the information the second pair of aggressors offered her and unfortunately they weren't too keen on rambling on more. Her partner's gaze held on her for a few moments, slowly turning into a frown at the lack of a helpful response.
"Whatever. You, Carmine Forger. Explain."
"Hey, I don't know either you crazy woman. This is my first mission, they didn't tell me shit. Just like they didn't tell us that we'd be in danger!"
"Bullshit, saw the way you wanted her."
"Look, all they said was there might be somebody who the leader identifies as 'target', and we were to take them alive. We'd get a pretty payday. That's it!"
"You really weren't joking."
This little nugget of information Forger had didn't come at a surprise to Kanashima in the slightest, that was pretty much what the other guy told her anyway, just with footsoldier steps. Even if they didn't tell him why she was so desirable, he probably knew a decent amount of usable information for her, considering they were intent on capturing her. Taking a quick peek at the interrogator, it seemed like he came up with a similar thought.
"How much do you know about The Nihility?"
"A good amount of general information. The orientation was pretty thorough."
"...Alright, I'm tearing a limb."
"Wait no! Please! I have a baby sister!"
Stopping in their tracks, the effeminate duo stared at each other for a brief moment, shades of sorrow flooding into their eyes. Just so many times before, it seemed like the two were wordlessly on the same wavelength. Perhaps she underestimated how much chemistry she would have with the crew. It was actually nice being a part of something again, even if it was just one singular person.
It… kinda feels like Morgan. My connection with him.
"We'll try to help you out, kid. Let me call our boss, see what to do with you."
"Didn't expect you girls to have a soft side."
"Don't push your luck. We could just kill you for terrorism."
The now frightened captive tried to search for any sort of joking expression on either of their faces, his ruby red eyes widening with every second he didn't see one. With Cipher turned away and on his personal communicator, the only clue for him was through Kanashima's own stonelike face. Shielding his eyes from the purple gaze, he mumbled under his breath.
"Ah, these girls are so scary, I've really done it now."
Their phone call only lasted about ten minutes, but most of the discussion topics went right over her uninformed head. Despite only being on the crew for one mission, both Serafin and Cipher weren't too concerned with what she was hearing even though it sounded quite private and dangerous.
Are they confident I'm going to stick around? Maybe I should.
Normally carefree and facetious, Cipher could be surprisingly efficient and serious when needed. He delivered a debrief extraordinarily fast for everything they had just experienced in the store without any room for the bullshit he was putting in for Carmine or Ray. Their boss' response was just as snappy, but that was to be expected with her own personality.
"Okay kid, the boss is interested in you. So here's the deal."
"I'm listening."
"We leave you here, make your way to Parkway Cafe, and tell somebody that 'In diamonds, we are coal'."
"What the hell? What sense does that make?"
"We can just kill you now, or if you don't show in three days we'll track you down."
"Geez, okay lady!"
"And don't worry. We compensate. Probably better."
Compensate? Does this mean I'll be getting paid too? Maybe it really isn't a bad option.
They went over the terms that Serafin detailed to the both of them one more time. The instructions were simple enough for him to remember, there were no worries there, it was just time for the two cafe employees to figure out their next course of action, and perhaps discuss things a little more intensively. Kanashima was definitely left with some questions after the debriefing.
"What did the Boss think of the Nihility? Of Carmine?"
"She knows something, that's for sure. And she has a clue of why they're after you, but isn't certain. Lastly, she wants to learn about them more, and thinks we can find a use for somebody affiliated with them."
"Why not just tell us?"
"Beats me. She has her own ideas and her own plans. It means something to her so it's going to get attention, don't worry."
"They're after me exclusively. Why complicate the Wild Eyes with them?"
A frown curls down from thin, pale lips. Biting his cheek, he held eye contact with her purple irides for a solid minute. She really didn't think it was that difficult of a question. Wasn't it obvious that she was the problem? It really was a good thing they agreed on a single mission, even though she had no clue how she would handle an entire organization's attempts at kidnapping her.
Finally finding the proper words, a white gloved hand found itself resting on top of one of her shoulders, firmly grasping the muscle. It took a little bit longer for him to speak once more, opening and closing his mouth a few times. With a deep breath, he forced one of signature smiles to spread across his face.
"I don't know the full details, Sera wouldn't say. But just as I have my reasons, she wants to keep you on board, no matter what. You would have full support from the Wild Eyes, from myself for sure."
"What could I possibly have, possibly be that makes me so much more valuable than the next?"
"Only Serafin knows that at the moment. Just hear her out after your trial mission."
If they'll still have me… do I even want to? What if I'm trapped?
Simply nodding in response, she let out a deep breath she didn't even know she was holding. The past few conversations have been particularly heavy, and her brain was beginning to scream its signs of fatigue through her Inverse Pressure overclock. There were too many issues, too many threats at the moment, and one could still be right in the very room with them.
Just gotta keep moving. No choice. Just like the trial.
"Anyway. If they're hunting you down, you need a face covering. Don't worry, Wild Eyes will comp this one too."
Really?
"I have a scarf."
"You need one for right now, and any time we will be dealing with these guys. Ray's still probably hard at work, we should check in with him."
Following the lead of her duo, they left Carmine behind unsupervised to talk to Ray Taylor in the studio. Several more pieces of fabrics, clothing, and anything being tended to were scattered around the place, with the tailor himself currently working on a lower half body model raised to eye level. Being completely engrossed in his work and having his back turned to the single door, he jumped in shock once Cipher appeared right next to him, patting the larger man on the back.
"It's just you guys, good. Got worried for a moment. Pants almost complete, so perfect timing."
"Great. Hey Ray, we're going to need something to cover that face too."
"Don't blame ya."
"Hey, that was super rude!"
What? What was?
"Besides, the jacket should do just fine. Zip it up and button, idiots."
Letting out a loud, audible sigh, her partner just nodded along, no longer wanting or willing to continue the line of conversation with the abrasive man. Working the zipper on the black reinforced coat, it sealed right up through the collar, forming a ring around the lower half of her face. The buttons came soon after, finishing up the double breasted trench coat look.
"See, looks great. Now toss on these pants."
"Ray… your work usually is so much more stylish than this."
"Here, you try this with about as much time as I was alloted."
These guys are really the ones that would help me with the Nihility?