Cross hummed a small tune as he worked, his head bobbing from one side to the other. The other three occupants of the room would likely have asked him to stop, had they been conscious. They also would have more than likely attempted to stop him. They, however, wouldn’t wake up any time soon, not after inhaling the amount of sleeping gas that they had.

“You’re a tough one,” Cross sighed to himself as he leaned back on his haunches, staring at the blank face of the safe before him. Ideally there would have been a lock to pick, or even a combination dial to spin, but it was nothing but a flat surface.

Of course, that was only a security measure, and under normal circumstances, a damn good one.

This wasn’t a normal circumstance.

Reaching into the pouch strapped to the small of his back, Cross fished out a small velvet bag. Upending it, he poured the contents into his cupped hand. With a clang, a handful of various sized rings tumbled out.

“Let’s see here… you, you, you… not you… and you? Maybe?” Cross replaced the rings he didn’t need to the bag and returned it to the pouch. The rest he placed on his left hand. The hairs on his hand stood on end as the magic flowed across his skin for a moment before settling in line with his body’s natural channels. He wiggled his fingers back and forth for a moment until the tingly feeling went away completely. Smiling slightly, he turned back on the safe. “Alright baby, talk to me.”

“She looks a bit busy, but I could talk to you for a while.”

Cross’s smile fell away and his shoulders hunched over for a moment before he turned to look over his shoulder. “Hey there, Hardt. Didn’t know you were in town.”

A young woman with large, black eyes stared down at him. Her hand rested casually on the hilt of the very large sword that was strapped to her hip. The black scarf curled around the majority of her face obscured her expression, but it didn’t appear to be overly happy. In fact, it could almost be said that the woman radiated violence.

“I actually just got back. I heard from Servilia you were skulking about and thought I’d see for myself.”

Cross removed the rings from his hand and dropped them back into the pouch on his back. “How much did that cost you?”

“More than I would have liked. Though if I turn you in, I could recoup that a few times over.”

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Cross raised up one hand in surrender. “Hey, I haven’t technically done anything illegal yet.”

Her eyebrow went up and she nudged one of the bodies with her foot. “What do you call this?

“Self-defense? Preemptively?”

“Cross.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t make this difficult.”

“Come on, Hardt, have I ever done anything difficult?” Cross gave her a smile before he threw down the flashbomb he had pulled from his pouch earlier.

The room filled with a blinding light and Cross threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding being skewered through by Hardt’s sword. He heard her let out a growl of annoyance as the blade loudly clanged off the safe.

Not waiting for his eyes to adjust, Cross scrambled towards the door. A stab of pain through his temple sent him diving to the ground and air hissed as Hardt’s sword sliced through spot he had just been. Though he felt a touch bad, he took the moment to kick out his foot in her general direction. He was rewarded with something solid against his boot followed by a shout of pain and the sound of Hardt falling to the ground as her knee buckled.

Vision returning, Cross was dismayed to suddenly find Hardt’s sword lodged in the ground only inches from his head.

“You’re gonna kill me!” Cross shouted as he crawled out of the room and back onto his feet. “You’re supposed to take me alive!”

“They’ll take dead by this point!” Hardt shouted back as she struggled back to het feet.

“Guess we can’t talk this through then,” Cross said as he slammed the door shut on Hardt. Whipping a ring out from the pouch, he touched it to the door knob. There was a metallic thump and Cross grinned as the door suddenly shook.

“Cross open this door!”

“Sorry, Princess, no can do. That lock is broken. Couldn’t open it if I wanted to.”

A dent appeared somewhere around Hardt’s height. Cross guessed she had punched the door. He shook his head. Always so violent.

“Anyway, be sure to tell Servilia I said ‘hi’ next time you see her.”

“Cross!”

Beginning to hum again, Cross turned on his feel and walked away. Though he had most definitely failed to complete his assignment tonight, he couldn’t help but feel like this was already a victory in its own right.

His pace picked up as he heard the shriek of metal on metal and Hardt’s blade pierced through the door.

xXx

“You’re home early, Cross.” Jiana called as Cross slipped into the room. Seated at a rather old and beaten up desk, she nevertheless managed to exude a sense of grace. A true feat considering they were technically located in a sewer.

“Yeah, about that…” Cross reached up and rubbed the back of his head as he approached the desk. “Hardt showed up.”

“Did she now? Alexis has a bad habit of finding you, it seems.”

“Servilia tipped her off.”

“You should have paid Servilia not to do that, then.”

“I didn’t even know Hardt was in town. Last I heard she was off Hunting for the Lovejoy family.”

“And yet here she is now, ruining your request. You know the client won’t be happy that you failed.”

“I know, I know. I’ll figure something out.” Cross grumbled as he started to turn away.

“Cross.”

“Hmmm?”

“Leave town for a bit.”

“What?” Cross nearly recoiled. “Why?”

“Because I’d rather not have to pay the many many many bribes it will require to free you once Alexis catches you.”

“She’s not going to catch me.”

“Cross.”

“What?”

Jiana leaned forward in her chair and tapped her lower back. Cross gave her a confused look for moment before reaching back and feeling his back. His fingers met something slender and hard. Wrapping his fingers around the object, he pulled it free from where it was embedded in his pouch.

It was a throwing knife.

“Oh.” Cross said lamely.

“She’s growing impatient with you. If she kills you, there is nothing I can do. So, take a trip.”

“But…” Cross started to argue, but after a moment let out a sigh and nodded. He spun the knife around in his palm. “Yes, Mistress.”