Playing with Poison

[Shuboni]

It was Clause's first time in the new assassins guild. He thought he could use the skills that he had picked up throughout his life to be a great hitman. Everyone in the guild was given an ID badge that didn't have any company name or logo on it. He looked over the one that was given to him.

Name: Clause VonRamstun
Age: 25
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 160 lbs.
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Other: Purple
Ethnic Background: White

There was a picture of him on the front, next to the credentials. He couldn't get into the building without this. His picture was droll, his glasses were dipping down on his nose and his expression was angry. "Not quite the face of an accomplished hitman, but this will have to do." He had to get in some training. His skills with knives could always be improved, but he believed that a handgun would be a perfect backup weapon. So, that's where he headed, to the range.

There was a supervisor there, only to make sure that nothing happened between the others. While the other members had pistols and handguns, the supervisor was carrying a fully automatic .50 caliber rifle. Best for intimidation.

Clause checked out a .45 glock with a few clips of ammo to get some practice. He went to an open spot in the range, next to a man who was a much better shot than he was, and set up a target for himself. It was a fairly usual target, though the range had more than just the man with the target on his head. There were hostage prints as well. Another range, for practice with a long range rifle, had moving targets. One target amongst many that had to be taken out. Solely.

Clause preferred to be close to the target. He took aim with the glock in his hand and fired at the target, one shot after the other. He called the target back using the button on the side to check his handiwork. Two kill shots out of the ten he fired. "Hm. I need a lot more practice."

"You're telling me." The man next to him said, chuckling a bit. "You're the knife guy, right? Good that you're picking up on a real weapon. I wouldn't use it unless you're compromised." Friendly advice, but Clause felt he was being patronized.

 

[Charlie]

Her footsteps were light on the cracked pavement. Hair bouncing lightly upon her shoulders which were framed in shape and proportion with the rest of her slender voluptuous figure. She could feel the tapping of the rain against the stretched material of her umbrella and turned her head to the side in listening to the beats of the nightclubs pounding away their drum and bass. There was a light sigh, when she came to a sudden stop hearing a rather loud gunshot from an ally way that didn't seem to be very far. Her head spun around and she shot a glance to a dark corridor in the concrete jungle she called, New York.

Turning on her heel she began pacing quicker to the source of the noise, and then turned a corner to find an old man laying at the feet of two teenage boys with their hoods up. She called out, "Hey! Get away from him! What are you doing?!" Then they turned to her, and all she could see was a wide smear of jagged sharp teeth. Her eyes widened and she stepped back a moment, the old man was bleeding to death and she had no idea what to do or where to turn. Her head spun around and she gave out a light cry for help.

 

[Shuboni]

Someone came into the firing range and spoke with the supervisor about something. Something sounded urgent. He strolled down the range and clapped Clause on the shoulder. "Clause, the higher-ups got word of some kind of disturbance outside. They want you to go check it out. Sounds like a couple of wolves are eating an old man or something. Grab some weapons and get going."

Clause nodded, set his pistol down, and pulled a couple of weighted throwing knives out of his belt. "Wolves, hmm? Let's check it out.

Clause and the range supervisor were out in the hallway when they heard a scream. It was horrifying. To the normal person, it would be awful, but Clause just shook his head. He loved the way that humans feared what they didn't understand, it fed him. This city was big and mysterious, people were constantly afraid. He had no need to worry.

He came out of the fire escape and looked down over the site. A young lady was watching two hooligans beating an older gentleman. "Well, isn't this going to be fun." He wasn't that far off of the ground, so he climbed over the railing and dropped to the ground with a soft thud. He was in between the girl and the horrifying scene, knives positioned for defense. His attire didn't match his disposition or personality, wearing a leather jacket with black gloves, but it all served a purpose. "What do we have here? Miss, stand back. I think I need to get rid of these... things."

He had a guess about what they were, since their teeth were jagged. So he knew exactly how to fight them. "If you two get out of here now, I might spare you a limb or two." He taunted.

 

[Charlie]

She felt a cold rush up the back of her neck as the two began advancing on her. Then she could hear the clank of a door, and her gaze switched upwards to the sight of the figure coming down from the railings. It seemed like something in a movie, and there was a strange part of her that wanted to laugh, and pinch herself. When he was standing in front of her she couldn't help but feel the urge to try and turn and run away. But something was burning in her heart to stay, she wanted to see what would happen with this guy, was he for real? He just looked like any old somebody who was a nobody in this god forsaken city.

Her eyebrows lifted and then she got to her feet, losing her stepping and almost tripping over into the wall.. Almost? She went tumbling down and grazed the side of her arm on the brick corner of the building nearby. "Crap.." she cursed whilst holding onto her arm and scampering around to find her handbag. Seriously? Could she look any more ridiculous. Although she doubted any attention was on her right at this moment as the men were confronting one another. However, she did notice the old man trying to make away with it behind the two devilish beings. Out reached her hand towards him and she beckoned him over with her other hand.

When she leant forward she found herself practically edging around the stereotypical-backdoor-bin setting. Her slender fingers reached out towards the man, and she felt an impact of a foot on her hand. When he face turned up it was one of the demonic creatures. She was trying to focus to see features but only under the hood was white grinning teeth and black around it. There was rumour of such creatures existing, however, there had never been solid proof that they were around.

Renee was a journalist, and for a journalist to be seeing such things made her absoluetly tingle with curiosity. She tried to reach for her camera in her bag and take a quick snapshot of the moment.

 

[Shuboni]

Clause watched as the two men were approaching him, knives at the ready. This was a nuisance. Absurd. If they were demons, they should have felt what he was, right? No, he was masking it. If he pulled the veil off of his powers, everyone would feel it. He looked towards the girl that was... getting into the middle of it? No, she was trying to help the old man. He would have to take care of this quick before either of them noticed what was happening. He really didn't want to leave two dead bodies right outside of the guild, it would be careless. Especially with two witnesses.

The girl was fiddling for something. Did she have a firearm? Was she going to take a picture of them with a cellphone or something? He really didn't want to break something. If it were only one witness, this would be a lot easier. Nobody would believe just one witness and no evidence. But two witnesses makes something seem fishy, especially when they have no connection to each other. A detective would be all over that, trying to figure out what was going on, searching the surrounding buildings of the crime scene.

Maybe Clause could pass for a special operations agent? He had credentials without any other markings on it. There was a magnetic strip inside, which you could kind of see going around the edges. He checked his blades, there was an ample amount of poison on the tips. A well placed shot could kill anything, he would just have to lie his way through all of this and it would all be good. A clean-up crew would be sent for the bodies, leaving no trace behind.

So, a quick disposal. The men went to attack him, he stuck both of them in the forehead with his knives. Quick and easy, enough force to break through the skull and scramble whatever was inside. Poison directly to the central hub, it wouldn't even need to spread through their body. It was a gruesome death, that left a lot of evidence. One of the reasons why he wanted to take up a firearm.

He approached the woman and the older gentleman. "Are you two alright?" Everyone told him that it was obvious that he was from Germany, though he wasn't. He had an Austrian accent, that most people just assumed was German.

 

[Charlie]

She quickly snapped a photo on her camera and swiped it back into her bag. She spoke reassuringly to the old man and patted his hand in motion with her voice, nodding on several syllables to try and keep him comforted. She heard a slight grunt and then a curdling gurgle. Holding her face forward but taking in the scene from the man's expression. When she heard the man's voice her body slightly turned around and then she looked back to the man briefly, not realising that he was still there, it was as if everything disappeared for a moment and she didn't quite realise where she was. Her eyesight fell blurry for a second and she shook her head and turned back apologising for her pause. "Yes, sorry.. We're fine.." There was another long pause and her head trailed around for any evidence left on the ground. When her sight came into focus, she realised that there really was.. nothing there. 'What did he do to them?' She thought to herself. She brushed some rough patches of hair out from her eyes and then got up helping the gentleman up, and nodding to him to say her goodbye's and making sure he was okay. When she turned back around and looked to the man she said, "Are you alright?.."

 

[Shuboni]

The fact that there were no bodies left told Clause that they were, in fact, demons. Her question caught him off guard, though. What could be wrong with him? He was left untouched. He adjusted his glasses, letting him see this girl better. She had no bruise, no scratch, nothing. The older gentleman was in critical condition. "Yes, I'm fine. Though, this older gentleman needs to get to a hospital."

He took out his phone and dialed the concierge. "Yes, I need an ambulance. Mhm. I'll give you the details later. You have my location? Alright." He hung up the phone and turned back to the girl. "An ambulance is en route." There were sirens going, not very far away. "Once they get here, we'll need to leave. I'll escort you, alright?" He leaned on the wall, listening as the sirens got louder. "I want you to tell me what you saw. I can question the man after he gets to the hospital and is in stable condition. Hopefully those thugs didn't hurt his memory."

Before the woman could say anything, the ambulance pulled around the corner. A few EMTs came out with a stretcher, helping the man get on it. They checked out Clause and the girl, asking them general questions about their health and anything that might be wrong.

"Don't worry about me. Worry about the lady and the older gentleman." The EMTs were persistent, though, and wouldn't leave him alone until he answered all of their questions.

 

[Charlie]

Her eyes were following around and intaking all of the events that seemed to be occuring one after the other. She recognised his tone of voice and realised he was calling somebody of the health authority. She tried to gesture to him not to come, raising her hands and waving and cutting her finger across her neck... If the police turned up, they already know her a little too well. Looking around her she could only see one exit and that was the one where the sirens were coming from. She quickly tucked her hair in her scarf and lightly lifted her hand to the man with a soft nod speaking in an accented tone of voice. "Excuse me Sir, thank you for your help, but I'm quite alright. However, I must be going now so.. so goodbye!" She said and made a dash for it around the corner.

She couldn't face the police again. It was like getting a lecture from your principal at High School when doing something wrong. "Again, Renee? Again? You always seem to get yourself in these situations all the time. You journalists just don't know how NOT to be nosey ey?" She gave a gentle sigh as she turned her head around and lookde behind her and realised that they weren't following. A stunning feeling of relief shot through her body and she turned against the wall and leant down into it looking up.

It was a brief moment before she was balling up her fists, scrunching her face up and cursing. "Crap, I forgot my umbrella.." She began walking back but stopped before turning the corner still hearing the voices. 'Argh... I'll wait till tomorrow or something, besides it's just a stupid umbrella... T'was on $3 from the store... I'll just get another one.'She turned and started walking in the rain again, until reaching the floor of her apartments and looking for her keys. She began cursing again. "Crap! Those must have fallen out of my bag when grabbing my camera... Ah.. damn." Her fingers punched in the button, the most regrettable thing of the night all together.

With an eye roll a woman answered the intercom, her voice husky and television blaring in the background. "Hello!? Who is it?!" She had a thick Brooklyn accent.
Renee closed her eyes tightly and said, "It's Re-.."
"Renee!?! How many damn times!" The woman looked at a tally chart next to the phone. "This is the 9th time, Renee! I swear to god..." There was a buzz of the phone and Renee rolled her eyes as the door opened.
She traipsed up the stairs, past the "out of order" sign on the lift. Grunting and cursing every so often to the noise of screaming kids behind the metal doors of Main Street 105 Apartments.

She got the key from her annoying neighbor who gave her another lecture before she could take it. Renee's mind was just blurred now, she wasn't even taking anything in. She opened the metal door smeared with graffiti and went inside. Throwing her back down and slamming the door shut. She collapsed on the patchwork ripped up sofa, and screamed in a pillow.

 

[Shuboni]

After the EMT's finally left, Clause decided he was going to tail the woman. She didn't answer his questions at all. He needed those answers to make a final report. His phone buzzed in his pocket, he answered. "Clause."

"Is everything taken care of out there?" A garbled voice said over the speaker.

"Not yet. There was a witness. Only one, and the scene was unbelievable enough that the cops won't believe her. Though, I would send a clean-up crew for any residual evidence. Blood splatters or objects left over. The bodies are already gone." He furrowed his brow, annoyed. "Along with the murder weapons."

"Good. A crew will be down shortly. Interrogate the witness, see what kind of story she's going to give. Make sure she has no evidence." The call ended.

Clause looked around the scene. A cheap umbrella and something sparkling on the ground. Clause picked the umbrella up then picked up the other item. A set of keys. One of them was for an apartment. It didn't have any markings on it. Clause would have to find her using some of his power. "Well it belongs to her, it must have some kind of trace of her left on it." He was about to start when the clean-up crew arrived.

They had a very thorough procedure, using special acids to destroy any DNA evidence then washing it away with solvents. Any forensic specialist that could get a sample of the acid after the solvents were used would say it was rainwater. One of the crew approached him. "Whatcha holdin, laddy?" He asked, in a Scottish accent. It was his job to destroy evidence, so it was perfectly passable that he asked about it.

"It's a key to the witness's apartment, I believe." He held it up for him to see.

The man studied the key for a bit then nodded. "Yup. Main Street 105. The cheap woman runnin' the place uses them. Ah' swear, you could carve keys out of stale crackers and they'd hold up fer longer than these. Used ta live there until I got this gig."

Clause nodded. "Thanks. I'll have to check it out." He started walking, letting the umbrella out. There wasn't any rain at the moment, but he could use it to hide his face from any curious eyes. He might not be the most memorable, but he was pretty suspicious looking.

He walked down the street, one hand holding the umbrella, the other around a knife in his belt. It was a small blade, but it was tipped with a neurotoxin that would make anybody seize up with a single cut. That is, if they're human. He approached the apartment building and looked up at the windows. The woman was probably getting over what she had just seen. Why did she leave, though? Was she a policewoman? Was she someone running from the law? This wasn't the flashiest apartment building, it wouldn't draw too much attention.

He pushed the buzzer on the front door. "Excuse me, did anyone lose their keys recently? I saw a young woman drop them and wanted to return them. I was told by a colleague of mine that she came this way, in quite a hurry."

 

[Charlie]

When she heard the phone ring she jumped nervously on the sofa, and collapsed off of it face first onto the ground. She let out a groan and then stumbled up to the phone by the door. When she answered it she looked down the intercom screen and her eyes widened. 'Shit, it's the guy from the fight..' She nervously stammered a little and then coughed a bit to put on a deeper tone of voice. "Why, no you must have the wrong person! I do not know of anybody who has lost there keys! Sorry! Goodbye!" She hung up straight away and her eyes sunk back into her head with a sigh of relief.

She turned on her heel and started walking back into the apartment with a soft humm under her breathe. Pulling off her coat and scarf and throwing it aside she brushed over her polka-dot dress, and ran fingers through her hair. When she stepped into the little room behind the broom and mop standing against it, she took her camer along with her and started to print out her photographs. Dipping them in the liquid under the red light before hanging them up to view she wandered off to allow it to dry. "Sheesh... I wonder if he noticed..." She knew she wasn't the most convincing of people when it came to her lies.

She turned on the shower with a grin and started mocking the put on voice she did down the phone. She began stripping down and taking off her underwear before stepping into the running water. Her body just got into it and she began closing the door before she heard the phone ring again. She let out a giant sigh and grunt and attempted to ignore it.

 

[Shuboni]

Clause wasn't getting anywhere with this. This girl was stubborn. Not like a policewoman who would take him on, but like... 'A reporter?' That was the only explanation. He had to be mean, he had to use his resources. He pulled his phone and leaned in the doorway, calling his concierge on the phone. "Sharon? Yes, it's Clause. Get the guild to release some funds for me, I have a stubborn witness. Just enough for a hotel close to where I'm at." There was a pause. "That's really the closest hotel? Get some funding for a rental as well. Yes. Yes, just use my number. Yes it's in their best interest! I'm starting to suspect that she's a reporter! Tell them that and they'll probably give me more funding. Thanks." He hung up his phone and turned back to the building.

"I guess I'm going to have to do it this way." He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out an empty badge. The badge itself said 'Special Operative' and there was a sleeve that fit his credentials. He slipped it into the sleeve and got ready. Reporters had a hard time with police, but flashing this badge might get him somewhere. If a special agent were working on the case, she would most likely want to get some information.

Maybe contacting the management would help him out with this. He called Sharon again. "Connect me to the owner of this apartment complex." There was a click and then the connecting tone, waiting for the other party to answer.

 

[Charlie]

She could hear the phone ringing in the shower, and stared at it for a little while blinking.. 'It's probably just him again..' She said to herself and hopped right back under the water allowing it to run over her body. When she leant down to grab the bottle of shower body wash, her foot got caught on her scrub, and she went tumbling forward out of the closed doors of the cloudburst and head first onto the harsh tiles on her bathroom floor. She gave out a groan and held her hand on her head, but when peeling it back noting that blood was smearing her palm she panicked. Rushing around her room for something to cover it up she whimpered.

It was late, but the local hospital was still open.. It would mean leaving her house though.. She sighed and rolled her eyes looking outside of her window down to the backstreets of the apartment. A smile stretched along her face.

She had grabbed her scarf, a pair of sunglasses, and even a wig to cover her identity. Patching up her forehead she took the most ridiculous hat to try and cover it up as well. She wore her flattest shoes, to make it easier to run in, and stepped out onto the metal stairwell which would lead her down to the streets of New York. She was so quiet, and closing her window behind her made a dash for it to the hospital.

 

[Shuboni]

Moving his way through the complex, Clause was inside of the room that this witness was living in. He had to flash the badge a couple of times before they would let him in. But, of course, there was nobody in the room. He searched through the house, not finding a thing. "Blast, how did she get past me?" He smelled something, hot water and fruity soap. A shower. But the water wasn't running. "That might be my best bet right now."

Clause made his way into the bathroom and searched. Again, nothing. Nothing that would help him immediately. "There has to be something. There always has to be something. A lead on where she went-" Something was on the floor. it was red and shiny, like a gem. Who would have dropped something so illustrious? No, it was liquid. Some of it was smeared as well. One clean drop, and one smeared. Not so much smeared as splattered, like an impact. Clause bent down, took off one of his gloves, and touched his fingers to the bead of blood that sat perfectly on the ground, a drip.

He looked towards the door and found another spot, but not a bead. It was a splatter, but smaller than the impact. Higher fall than the bead. She must have fallen and hit something. Her nose, her head, something that was fragile enough to leave a lesion. When she was getting back up, a drop fell. As she was leaving, another fell. She must have put something on to cover it, because that's where the drips ended.

"If I'm going to use my powers in this investigation, now is the time. Nothing conspicuous." He closed his eyes and rubbed the blood between his thumb and forefinger. The girl's memories played in his mind. There wasn't enough to look that far back. She had fallen out of her shower when answering the phone. Without noticing, she had split her head open. A bit panicked, ready to give him the slip, she decided to put on a disguise and go to the nearest hospital. The memories stopped there, since the distance between the surviving cells and the body was so great.

"I'll have to act quick." He washed the bit of blood off of his hand then replaced the glove. "I'll call Sharon, she can get me there before her."

"Clause! Calling me already?" Sharon chimed.

"Yes, I need to get to the nearest hospital. I'll be catching my witness there." Sharon wasn't the concierge of the guild, but she worked with them. She was a concierge for demons that didn't have a place. So, it was safe to relay how he got the information.

"Hm. I have a good plan for you." Sharon's smug tone was apparent. "How good is your medical practice?"

"Well, I know quite a bit." Clause offered. "I mean, I have enough education to be a... nurse practitioner."

"In the emergency room?"

"Of course."

"Dealing with injuries?"

"Easily."

"Looks like you have a temporary identity as a nurse practitioner. A ride will be there in a minute and a half, will have you there in three minutes, and you'll be on call waiting for a new patient. You'll have specialties in cuts and scrapes and head trauma." She finished with a giggle.

Clause let out an exasperated sigh. "If you feel this convoluted plan will work-"

"She'll have nowhere to run. Plus, she'll think you're a doctor."

"Nurse practitioner."

"Whatever. Just go along with it." Sharon hung up. Clause made his way back out to the streets to get his ride.

 

[Charlie]

She kept walking down the streets, it had finally hit the early hours of the next day, and she was getting some rather funny looks from the most unlikeliest of people. Night women, prostitutes, were eyeing her up and down. Them, in their practically strings of attire barely covering up anything apart from the thin line which revealed their genitals and the tips of their breasts. Some of them even wore thin air, and they were pulling her funny looks? She swapped sides of the street just to make herself feel better and adjusted the sunglasses on her eyes. She could hear taunts of laughter shifting her way from the youth holding cans of alcohol and laughing at their best friend who vomited directly into the other's face. Her top lip pulled back into a frown of repulse and she lowered her head and picked up the speed to keep on walking to the hospital.

The white light hit her face like the morning sun after nights of darkness. She was greeted by the hum of local voices sitting down on rows of chairs, which then faded into silence. They were all staring at her, she let out a nervous laugh and said, "fancy dress party..." They were silent for a moment before the receptionist stood up to the glass.
"Can I help you?" Renee walked over and smiled nodding removing her facial disguise.
"Yes, please, I'm here to get some stitches.. I tried to patch it up but-.."
"There's a nurse waiting for you in Room 12." She receptionist said with a smile.

It was still quiet, and she was still being watched. People who had been waiting for hours were so envious of this woman who seemed to just get a spot straight away. What right did she have to go in front of the que? However, she was just as shocked.
"Oh.. uh... alright." She looked to the direction of the receptionist's hand and her gaze turned to follow it. She pointed to make sure and gave the eye gesture of 'this way?' The receptionist nodded.

She started walking past the awkward silence of the rows of people and walked into the dingy white room with a sigh. It was empty for the time being and she felt a relief being alone. She smiled and pulled off her disguise setting it aside and pulling free the patch which was now shaded with blood. There was a click of a door, and she didn't look up as she said, "Thank god you're here, I fell you see and well I need some-.." She stopped as the eyes fell on the man from the alleyway.. "stitches...." she finished.

 

[Shuboni]

Clause was in scrubs. An unusual outfit, the material felt strange against his skin. His eyes were locked with the girl. She reminded him of a deer caught in headlights, scared of what was to come yet curious as to the situation. He could tell how she was running the scenario through her head. If he was correct, she was astonished to see him in this getup and astonished to hear that he was a nurse at this hospital. If he was correct, she thought he was a cop of some sorts, and she didn't deal with cops. She had problems with cops. She rushed off because she wanted to write the story she stumbled upon as fast as she could.

Now, Clause had two options. Did he twine her fate with that of the guild by telling her exactly what he did? Of course, he would leave out the details of what he was or what he did to the men in the alleyway, or even what they were or what happened to them. He also had the option of convincing her that he was really a doctor who happened to be on the scene. But that would be harder to play. He had no excuse as to where the knives came from or anything, why he told her that he had some questions for her or even who he called to have an ambulance en route so early.

A few eternities later, which was merely about a half of a minute, he decided that letting the questions come out naturally would be best. He motioned to the hospital bed. "Sit down." He would tell her the truth. Not all of it, but enough to play her into a dangerous game. If she reported it, she would become a liability, and the guild would have do dispose of her. She would know.

Clause decided to play up the nurse practitioner bit for as long as she didn't ask questions. He picked up the cleaning kit first, to clean and sterilize the wound. "Lie back. I need to clean you up. And please, take off that hat and wig." Clause had practice with stitching before, he knew the materials and procedures as well as any army medic. To be a part of the guild, you needed to know how to do these things. He didn't normally keep a suture kit with him though.

He first took a damp cloth and started wiping the excess blood from the area. "Took a spill, hmm? Fell out of the shower?" He was hoping to catch her off guard.