My head felt heavy. Well, my... everything's a bit too sore in my opinion. Lots of stars tonight. That's weird. I blinked, but I'm still outside. Well, my eyes are.

Reset. Quick.

I get up on my feet, stumbling a bit as I did. My head felt disgustingly cold. I focused, recalling my vision from somewhere outside.

It took a few seconds but I finally saw myself again. Dazed expression, disheveled jacket, crumpled shirt, torn leggings. My long red hair looked like a mess. That's... Unacceptable.

I looked dazed, maybe a little flushed. Shit, my heart's still pounding.

The back of my left leg covered in blood. That's a problem. I'll deal with it later.

I turned away from... the other two in the room as I covered my face with my hands. Gotta get myself together. My head felt strangely uncluttered.

Deep breaths. 1... 2... 3...

Right.

As soon as I was sure that my face wore a presentable expression, I let my hands down. I fixed my jacket and patted down my clothes. The hair... well, I didn't bring a brush. I should really start bringing one.

"Had your moment?" The voice was a little muffled but I could make out the words. At least my ears stopped ringing.

I turned around and set my sights on the Corvus and Seven.

His bat was gone. For now, at least. Neatly folded underneath his jacket. He was crouched by floor near Seven, though his eyes were locked on me. It made me feel uncomfortable, to be honest.

Seven was still on the floor, making absolutely no effort to get up, though her eyes were fixed on something in Corvus' hands. Her hood was off and I could see a little frown on her face. It looked like she was furiously thinking about something.

I took a quick glance outside and took notice of the large Crowd surrounding the building. The masks were on now, and I see them surrounding two groups of people. One looked like the guards from earlier, the others were just the rest of the thugs from the crowd.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I wore a thin smile as I gingerly made my way towards Chiri. I wasn't limping. Well, maybe a little. My leg still hurt but I didn't rush myself. Could be worse.

I heard him huff as he tilted his head. Probably rolled his eyes while he was at it too.

My body hurts less now, but I knew better. Tomorrow's going to suck, I just know it. I can already see the headlines; Cause of Death: Cramps.

I took a longer look outside the building, planning for a way out. There's no way I can get out of this unspotted. Not without help, anyway. Surprisingly, no one's looking in through the windows.

Fighting shouldn't be impossible. Not easy, but doable, even with the leg. It's bleeding now, but it's not deep. Moving it too much might be bad though. Where's my sheath, anyway? I need a cane.

Oh right, dropped it.

"So," I sighed, tightening my fingers around Chiri. They felt a little numb. "How's this gonna go?"

He doesn't look interested in a fight, but he might try something funny. Getting out of here with my own two feet will be... challenging. Seven probably won't have any trouble getting away though.

Speaking of which, how is she?

She's up, positioned away from the two of us. I didn't see her standing. Probably warped. At least she didn't slit my throat. Not yet, anyway. How does any of that work, anyway?

We were practically flying earlier, even if it felt way too much like falling. Momentum probably carries over. She can probably change orientation too.

That's bullshit! Just because she's one generation newer than me doesn't mean she has to be this high spec of a character! I mean, come on!

"Depends." Corvus sighed as he got up, raising that thing he had in his hands for us to see.. Black, small, rectangular. A remote or something?

Seven frowns, her eyes scanning the room. It lands on what looked like the leader and the other guards, then her face turns neutral. Her eyes land on me this time, and I practically feel her sizing me up.

I act like I just noticed her staring. Turn, smile, and wave. Hey, it throws people off more often than you'd think.

She looked surpised and I earned another confused frown directed right at my face. Not gonna lie, I took some satisfaction from that. It pleases me very much. Please, keep making that face.

Anyway, why isn't she running? There's nobody left. As I kept thinking about that, I suddenly realized that I had an easier time looking at her face. Is that cape thing getting in the way or something? My eyes wandered down, suddenly fixated on the cold glint of steel wrapped around her neck. A collar?

...That...That explains a lot, actually.

The sound of sandals tapping against the cement grabbed my attention, pulling me out of my thoughts. I see Corvus walking towards Seven.

Seven freezes, eyes focused on him as she tensed up. I try to take a step foward but a portal opens right across my face as her weapon readies for another attack.

Are you stupid!? I'm trying to help you out here!

Corvus reaches into his jacket and... pulls out his phone? It was the same one from earlier.

"Stop that." He spoke quietly, but his voice held some authority to it. Seven frowns, but eventually relents.

The portal closes but I'm not sure if I should take another step forward. There were a few moments of awkward as he fiddled with the phone, but before I could take a look at the screen, I just caught a glimpse of a closing app.

"I might have someone who can deal with that." He spoke flatly, lazily pointing at the collar as he continued. "I'll just get things in order and then I'll give you a call. Could be next week, could be next month, could be next year; I'm not really sure. There's a few things in there you might want to read, so at least hold on to it for a while." He continued, pointing at a folder in the screen with '[READ ME!]' labelled all over it.

Okay, what?

"You can read, right?" He asked, a little off put by the stupefied expression on Seven's face.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"...I...can?"

"...Should I take that as a yes...?" He shook his head before turning towards me. "Whatever. Anyway, you."

He points towards me, beckoning me over with a lax wave of his arm. He looked harmless, for some reason. It's the shirt, isn't it? It must be, he wouldn't look so stupid otherwise.

I approached, completely alert, just in case he tried to pull anything. There might be only 3 of us in the room, but he could just sic Seven at me, or just let the Crows come in. Ah, I'm going to die tonight. Maybe worse. He knows, I'm pretty sure he does.

He stared at me wordlessly for a good few seconds. You're not going to do anything right? You're a completely reasonable human being, right? Oi, say something.

I kept my face completely blank as I ran a few plans through my head. All of them revolve around stabbing, slicing, and kicking. And sadly, none of them look like a good idea. I need Seven if I'm going to get out of here.

"You're here for her, right?" I nodded, the question itself seemed harmless enough. There was a short pause, but he eventually gave me a quick nod of his own and held out the remote. "Good, keep a close eye on her."

"Hm." I hesitantly grabbed it. You're being suspiciously nice all of a sudden. "You're not taking her?"

"She's more trouble than she's worth." He huffed tiredly, completely unaffected by the silent protest painted on Seven's face.

I didn't say anything to that. Even if she did try to kill me, I probably would've done the same thing. Well, I did almost cut her eyes out, for one. That would've been tragic. Even without any of that, leaving her on her own is definitely not a good idea, that's for sure.

Still, your loss. Lackey, get! I sure am lucky, huh? God, that was horrible.

"And to be completely honest, you are too." Corvus added.

"Very true." I shrugged as I took the remote. I relaxed a bit on that one. I'll try to keep it that way.

"At least you're honest." He sighed, and then clapped his hands once. It was surprisingly loud. "Right, let's wrap this up: Keep a low profile. Your friend over there has made a fine mess these last couple months, and quite frankly, there's no one out there that's happy about it. City's enough crap as it is."

"That was the plan." For once, Seven didn't seem to have any complaints with that.

He hummed, sounding somewhat satisfied by the answer.

"Now buzz off. I still have work to do." He looked around, frowning at all the blood and corpses. He stopped and lingered on one person that must've been the leader.

He's still alive? Still breathing, but doesn't look like he'll live for long. Losing way too much blood. There's movement outside.

What's that? A bloodbag? Why is someone coming over with a blow torch?

Oh. Oh...

Nope. No thank you, I'm not sticking around for this one! I want to get some sleep, for fuck's sake!

"Uh... Seven?" I called out cautiously, catching her attention. "Mind if we...?"

I didn't even need to finish the sentence as she grabbed unto my shoulder and just jumped. Thankfully, we didn't flip around this time so the jump was rather comfortable. It's definitely way better than taking the train, that's for sure. Ah, crud. I left my sight behind again.

I heard crickets, the distant revving of cars, accompanied by the steady hum of a street lamp. I reset my field of vision again, and the first thing I see is a vending machine. That's nice.

We were a few steps into an alleyway and our surroundings were pretty much stacked with beer crates, trash cans and other things that tend to smell of dust and... squid.

Let's not think of that.

The street lights a few steps ahead, standing a few feet above us.. Insects buzzed, erratically making their round around the lights, tapping against the lights with an unsteady rhythm.

In front of us was an empty street, completely quiet. And behind us were... a series of turns that would eventually lead to a shopping district. The lights and the noise were hard to miss, even from this far.

I catch Seven staring at me again, waiting. She looked... curious. It's a little unsettling how she doesn't blink much, now that I think of it.

"What?" I wore a slight frown, looking just the slightest bit bothered.

"...Nothing." She finally spoke. Her voice was soft, low and a little raspy. I should get her something to drink. "You space out a lot."

"That, I do." I smiled, mostly just to seem nice. I was about to pull Chiri up and sling her around my back but... sheath. Right.

"Should I get it?" She took notice of that pretty quickly.

"That'd be nice, actually. Know where it is?"

"I'll look."

"No." That... might've sounded harsher than I meant. "I mean... that's not a good idea."

Not to mention a little embarassing. But... it was a nice sheath, y'know. Sentimental value, and all that. I scanned the warehouse from here, it was significantly easier than usual, even from this far out. Could be because I warped out so my sight still seems a little fresh.

"Wait, I think I remember where it was." I paused, pretending to be on the verge of some typical "Eurika!" moment. I spot it lying by the crates, away from the Crows. That's convenient.

"Ah, 3rd warehouse, closest to the sea. Should be somewhere behind it." A quick nod and she's off. I recalled my sight for now, wouldn't want to trip on something stupid.

Isn't she eager? Oh, right. Remote. What's in the collar anyway? It doesn't explode or anything, right? Is there some sort of safety precaution on it? What happens if she gets too far from the remote? I'd really rather not test it.

I started counting as I walked towards the closest vending machine to buy another bottle of water, already adding the two seconds from when Seven left.

3 seconds. I push a coin in.

4. I press the button for water.

5. There's some clatter a bottle of water slipped down towards... what's it called again? Whatever.

6. I crouched, cringing from the pain in my leg but I still reached into the slot for the bottle. Chiri awkwardly scraped against the pavement.

7. Bottle in hand, I stood up with a grunt. I turned around, just in time for Seven to come back. There's a slight breeze, followed by the faint smell of saltwater. Hm. That's interesting.

Speaking of timing, did she do that on purpose? Anyway, probably more than a second of wind up between teleports. How much time did she take to look anyway?

"Thank you." I smiled as I handed over the bottle of water. She takes it and hands the scabbard over in return.

I do the usual twirl before sheathing Chiri. It just doesn't feel right without the flair, even if I keep receiving raised brows for it. Heck, I'm getting one right now. Eh, she'll get used to it. It's not the most embarassing thing I keep doing.

She's still soundlessly holding the bottle though.

"What, you're not going to drink?"

"...Oh." She seemed a little hesitant but drinks anyway. After a gulp or two, she hands it back without another word. Okay, weird, but whatever.

"My house is just right around..."

6 streets over.

"...way over there..." I pointed in the general direction, already having doubts about this whole testing thing. Her eyes follow, but there isn't much to look at. The apartments just weren't visible from here. Where is this, anyway?

Residential area. Probably safe. It's late in the night but there's still a good chunk of houses still busy. Lots of nightowls round these parts.

"...That's a wall." Well said; you're not completely wrong!

"Just get on a roof for now."

She shrugged as she placed a hand of my shoulder, and my vision blurs again. Just a stone's throw away. Though you'd still need a good throwing arm to reach the roof of a 3 floored building.

I pointed towards my house. Well, mum's house. It was an old dormitory. Apparently, a school used to own it about a decade ago. I wouldn't really know. I've been here for a little less time than that. It was big. Way too big for just the two of us. Ever since Vert and the old man moved out, it's been a little too quiet.

"Try to go around the back." The lights were still on. Well, crap. She's probably waiting by the entrance. I really don't want to deal with her right now... "And there's no one around. Take that thing off once we get down."

I heard an affirmative grunt as my vision blurred again. I can't make anything out when the terrain just... overlaps. We really don't mesh that well, huh?

Having enough of that crap, I watched from above. A bird's eye view. She crossed most of the space with just one warp, stopping just one street short. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, maybe on reflex.

3 seconds, another jump. Another rooftop, this time with a clear view of my room. Second floor, 3rd from the right. Lights were off and the curtains were open. Windows were closed, though.

"Last one."

She just answered with a flat hum. One second, and I see my room. Faint moonlight through the window, messy desk, unkempt sheets. Untouched bookshelves. I really should clean up more often.

It was dark, more moody than pitch black.

"There's someone here." I heard Seven's voice, along with the sound of a light switch being flicked on.

"Shit." I heard the familiar clicking of a tongue right after that.

"Language, young lady."

She looked the slightest bit disappointed as she stood there by the closed door, one hand around her waist as the other lingered by the light switch. The usual red shawl was loosely wrapped around her back, hanging loosely by her arms.

Might as well file a trademark on that one, considering how she always kept that thing on her. It made her hair seem a bit duller in comparison.

Red eyes looked me up and down, and I see her locking unto the bloodied leg. She stared, then her eyes darted towards Seven; who still had her cloak on, and weapon drawn. Despite that, Mum's expression didn't change.

She closed her eyes, arms crossing in a slow, deliberate motion. There was a quiet sigh, and her eyes lost that little bit of edge to them. I can still talk my way out of this!

"I see you've made a friend." She smiled, even as she shot me a look that demanded an explanation.

Ah, this was going to be a long night.