From the unsurprised expression she held, he took a wild guess she knew that part, and was just asking for…the point of asking? It’s a common question, and most people already know the answer, yet they ask it anyways. Perhaps they hope some kind of back-up plan will appear before them, but a back-up plan would involve more people. And the more people involved, the riskier it is. In the end, it would be counter-productive.

But so was Herl spilling the whole plan to everyone in that room earlier. Sure, they were only the highly trusted members, but that’s still a fair few that didn’t need to know. Was the whole operation a fake to bait out traitors? No, that didn’t make sense. Herl was a mysterious guy. The more you think about his actions, the less they make sense. But in the end, things always seem to work out with that giant.

“Well, then” she moved on, “Shall we have toast to tomorrow’s mission?” she retrieved two glasses of champagne from beneath the table, in the slots where players would put them, and offered them to the two.

“I don’t drink” Ajax refused the drink.

“Not even for this?” she asked, yet didn’t push further. “That’s alright. I respect a man that is firm in his beliefs. Discipline is a virtue”

“Oh, I’m far from disciplined. I use to drink more Irn than I could afford”

“Cheers” Thorn clinked his glass against Rhae’s. Ajax said cheers, yet didn’t pick up the glass of champagne.

“Well, I’ve kept you for a while” she said, “Though, if I could keep you a little longer, Ajax, so we could discuss the route, that would be nice”

Thorn nodded, leaving the box, “See you in the car”

Now, they were alone, ready to discuss the route in detail. After all, it was their lives on the line with this plan. No matter how it went, Thorn wasn’t going to die in the field. As for Martin, he could just teleport away, unless they caught him by surprise, and if they did, Ajax and Rhae were as good as dead.

“So, we’re gonna start here” Ajax pointed at an alley a bit away from the MetEx building. “From here, Martin will teleport us into this section. He can’t bring us into the control room since he has never seen it, ‘cause it’s got no windows, likely for that exact reason, and to prevent spying. So, we’ll then have to pass through this corridor. There are triggers for alarms and cameras everywhere so if Thorn fails to breach the net, we’ll di-”

What? Ajax’s sight was soon blocked by Rhae’s mesmerising blue eyes, as her black hair cascaded down her back. Suddenly, he felt a tongue invade his mouth mid-speech, catching him off-guard. She tasted…great. As their lips met, a sweet and intoxicating blend enveloped their senses, a tantalizing mix of warm honey and ripe strawberries. Their lips brushed together, and an electric current of anticipation surged through them. Ajax was…shocked. And then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

“I’m sorry” she said, shocked by her own sudden movement. “It’s just…you could die at any moment, you know? I asked if you were single beforehand, of course, I’m not a homewrecker” she seemed a little ashamed still, despite speaking as though she wasnt. “You can forget it. I just wanted to…you know? I could die tomorrow, so I jus-”

“It’s fine” Ajax ended her rambling. Though, he wasn’t bothered; it wasn’t the first time something like that had happened. Back when he had a pretty bad drinking problem, barely spending a minute sober, he hung around with a pretty strange crowd.

“Sorry” she said, again, her lip twitching a little. She wasn’t the best kisser, but she wasn’t bad either. Ajax suspected she hadn’t done it much.

“It’s fine” he repeated himself. “Though, I do have to ask why? It was a little sudden”

She hesitated for some time before speaking. It seemed Ajax’s calm, unbothered attitude made things more awkward than if he had reacted a little more strongly.

“Are your parents controlling?” she dodged the question.

“They’re dead” he replied bluntly, not helping the situation whatsoever.

“Sorr-”

“Don’t be. Not like you killed them” he interjected before you could apologise for the hundredth time. Not really the attitude of a killer. It made Ajax a little worried about tomorrow’s operation, if she was as fragile as she acted. If he died tomorrow, he’d have to kill Morti all over again, and he wasn’t having that.

“I suppose” she said, feeling a little awkward. “Now I feel a little spoiled with what I was about to say”

“It doesn’t matter. What were you going to say, princess?”

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“Why do you keep calling me princess?” she seemed offended.

“Because you look like one”

“Oh” she blushed a little, “Thank you. Erm…I was going to say that my parents are pretty possessive. Like, I can’t leave when I want, I have to ask permission to do different things, if I wanted a boyfriend they want to interrogate him first. I feel like a prisoner. They won’t let me just live my life, you know? Sorry, I know how ignorant I sound”

“Stop apologising” he said, sick of her pointless, empty apologies. “You want to feel alive? Not just live, but feel truly alive”

“Exactly” she said, happy someone understood her.

“Let me show you something. I’ll show you what it feels to truly be alive”

For a moment, she became lost in thought, pondering on his offer.

“What do you have planned?” she asked, intrigued.

“That ruins the surprise” he replied with a smile. “I’ll drop Thorn off and we’ll go on a little adventure. Although, we mustn’t stay out too late, princess. Back before eleven”

“What are you, my father? Giving me a curfew now?” she teased.

‘What am I doing? Why am I wasting time entertaining this little princess? There’s a big day ahead. Yet…I want to do this. I’m doing this…because I want to’ he thought, a smile forming on his face. For a long time, he was doing what he had to; surviving. But now, maybe for a short while, he could do what he wanted to do, for once.

“We’ll see by the end of the night” he replied playfully. Ajax was a strange flirter. Become her father by the end of the night? What the hell did that even mean? Wait…flirter? Why was he flirting with this princess? What about Alice?

‘What about Alice?’ he suddenly thought.

Soon, they left the box, leaving all the glasses in the room to be cleaned up, exiting the building at the clock struck eight. With a wave goodbye to a curious Otto, Ajax and Rhae entered the Porsche, to Thorn’s confusion.

“Are we dropping her off?” Thorn asked, surprised. How did she get to the casino in the first place? Why’d she need a ride back?

“No, we’re dropping you off” she replied from the back, much to Ajax’s amusement. This girl was fun, for all her weird quirks and faults. Yeah, she apologised way too much, but she could also be a little fun. Sometimes, she was impulsive, just like Ajax.

“What?” Thorn’s eyes flung open in shock, “Ajax?”

“We’re dropping you off” he repeated Rhae’s words. After that, Thorn grew silent, his lips sealed until the end of the ride, exiting the vehicle with a simple ‘See ya’, allowing Rhae to hop into the front of the Porsche, climbing over the centre console.

“So, you going to tell me where we’re going yet?” she asked, seatbelting up in the shotgun seat.

“No, no, princess” he shook his head, “Let’s not spoil the fun. Surprise is a vital part of living. It’s the things that you don’t expect that make you truly feel alive” he said, before setting off once again, following the busy road down a route he seemed to have memorised.

Sitting in the shotgun seat, Rhae was desperately trying to figure out what they were going to do. She had no idea what was going to happen, and for some reason…it excited her. If this was to be her final day, she could proudly say she had lived, if only for a short while.

After a little bit of driving, Ajax turned off to a dirtroad, leading down to a make-shift race-track. All over, there were skid marks. Whilst there was an attempt at placing tires around the track, it was shabby work, and there were quiet a few holes in the walls. Safety was not present here.

And at that, Ajax slammed the accelerator.

“AJ?” Rhae asked in surprise as the vehicle rapidly sped up. “AJ! Stop the car!”

In response, he simply guffawed at her suffering whilst they approached the sharp turn. “Did I ever tell you I got my liscence revoked?”

Her eyes flung open in shock as her face warped to horror. In that moment, Ajax threw the vehicle to the side, performing the most outrageous turn of his short career, causing the vehicle to wobble around, almost flipping over.

“AJ!” she yelled as the car began to stabalise again, coming to a stop. Clearly, she was pissed.

“Again?” he asked with a vicious smile.

“I’ll kill you” she groaned, staring into the killer’s eyes; he laughed in her face.

“Did you not have fun?” he asked.

“We almost died, for Christ's sake!”

“Exactly” he smiled at her, “Was it not fun? We almost died, but we didn’t. It’s those brushes with death that prove we’re alive”

She wanted to refute, anger brewing in her eyes, yet suddenly, she found herself breaking out into a laugh. She couldn’t control it; it was instinctive. Ajax joined her in the laughing as they sat in the motionless car, his tires likely wrecked from the performance, yet he didn’t care. It was fun.

“I wouldn’t call it fun,” she said, causing Ajax to sulk. She was no fun. “But I felt so free. So alive. Thank you, AJ”

“Don’t worry about it” he smiled. “But you did have fun, don’t lie”

At that, he looped round the track, this time going a slow speed, exiting off the dirt road, returning home. Whilst part of him did it for the princess, another part of him did it for himself. He wanted to blow off some steam after the past few days. He wanted to stop thinking so much and just act for a minute. In the span of a few days, he managed to get betrayed and killed. Then, he went for revenge, and he failed; he failed a lot. But finally, he succeeded. Now, everything was on what happened tomorrow. Would his new partner prove herself useful? He’d have to see.

But right now, in this moment, all he cared about was living.