EquinoxSol x RangerKay

"Would you care to elaborate for me, then?" he asks, glancing at the recorder to make sure it's on.
 
Annabel grinned. "Oh, you scum sure are dense." She frowned.

"There once was a land called the U.S. of A. and it was a land of democracy and order....until they took the Almighty from their small world. The other countries grew jealous of their power and wealth." She took on the tone of a storyteller. "One country put in place a 'president' to weaken the country through his immorality and deceit."
 
Niko frowned, writing down nearly verbatim what she was saying, his pen moving furiously across the paper. "Continue," he prompted her when she stopped, pausing in his writing for a second to tear out a fresh sheet of paper.
 
Annabel looked him over, noticing he was attempting to keep up with her tale. "This president weakened the country, by dividing it. Those that were in support of him became the Republic, those that opposed remained the US. This president believed he could outwit everyone, unite them, and turn a prosperous united country into one of hate. Other countries jumped into the fray, providing weapons for both sides, sitting back and watching as the great nation fell." She shook her head and smirked. "The world watched, quietly...as this wealthy and powerful nation plummeted into chaos and destruction." She shifted on her seat. "Compared to that, your history is boring." She felt uncomfortable. "Can we seriously take these 'cuffs off?"
 
Niko ignored her question, and instead replied with, "I don't know, I think that having a group of rag-tag revolutionaries attempting to destroy a great nation rather interesting. Besides, all history is boring if you're the one making it in the present." Leaving her with that information, he continued writing, the sound of his pen scratching the paper the only sound in the room.
 
"So, anything else there is that you would care to tell me for free, or must I give you another of my secrets?" Niko asked, pausing in his writing to look up at her, his hazel eyes looking into hers.
 
"Ah, of course...When I was in training, I stayed up all night, nearly every night, because I knew I wouldn't be able to wake up at five in the morning, and I'd get yelled at by my sergeant if I slept in," he stated, glancing behind him again, wishing he was able to come up with lies on the spot, so that his C.O.'s wouldn't be hearing any of this.
 
Annabel grinned. "How cute." She yawned before she continued. "When I was a kid I would stay up all night keeping watch, worried that the Republic scumbags would preform a night raid and try to take us."
 
"Really?" Niko asked, not wanting an answer. "My father was teaching me how to set up bombs in order to kill Republic women and children. That one bombing eighteen years ago? I was five, then, and the bomb was one I had constructed personally." He closed his eyes guiltily, biting the inside of his cheek so hard he could taste blood in his mouth.
 
"When I was five, I was pledging my allegiance to the Queen of Shadows and allowing her to train me in the finer arts of life." Annabel paused. "Although, that's an interesting tidbit from you...you would've made an excellent soldier in the slums."
 
"I wouldn't think so," answered Niko. "Being responsible for the deaths of women and children at age five is enough to deter him from any sort of extremist groups who might have forced you.
 
"Not if you are forced to do it...those in the slums learn..." Annabel paused looking for the right words "...skills...in order to live their lives. Lives not in fear or oppression but knowing that if it came down to it, they could fight and defend themselves."
 
"But that's just the thing. I was forced to do it, and yet I still think about all the people I helped kill. At least here I am not forced to do anything I wasn't told I would be doing in the beginning," Niko tells her, frowning.
 
Annabel laughs. "Well, if that's how you see it." She shook her head. "Now, please either kill me or take these stupid 'cuffs off...I can't feel my hands anymore."
 
"I can't," Niko replies, thankful for the distraction from the game they had been playing. "Guess you'll have to suffer until you comply," he added slyly, wanting to see if she'll bite.
 
"Comply with what?" Annabel asked crankily. She was growing tired with all these games. If she had a means to kill herself, she probably would have already, just to save her from the torture.
 
"Answer the questions," Niko said sternly, frowning. "Tell us your connections with the US. Stop playing these damn games."
 
"Well then kill me. I'm tired, hurting, and beginning to get cranky..." A fire lit in Annabel's eyes and they flashed as they looked at Niko. Maybe in some other life, it would not have been this way. He was charming and handsome and if they had meet differently, perhaps something would have come of it...but for now, she was still a criminal and a cranky one at that. Ordinarily, she was funny and several young men of the slums had already asked for her hand, however, she had found none of them to her liking. None of them had possessed an intelligence close to her own, and she had grown bored with their conversations and attempts at romance.
 
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