To Change Time

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"Don't worry, I am too." Ronin admitted, seeing no harm or shame in doing so. Honesty was always better than lying as far as he was concerned, even then the honestly was something unpleasant. At least in the long run you could truly say that you'd told the truth about it instead of trying to pretend it wasn't real or that it didn't happen. He didn't believe in sugar-coating anything either. Though, tact was not a bad thing to have. Tact was good...and learning WHEN to tell the truth was good, too. Always tell the truth, but pick your timing.

Pale? Well, yes, he supposed he was. He knew just how much danger they were probably in. And what the stakes were. Anya didn't and she was relying on him to know what he was doing.

Ronin had to wonder when she'd start cluing in to the fact that he almost never knew what he was doing...

Still, he had to smile at her words. Definitely warmer. He put his finger to his lips, though, cautioning quiet. It didn't last for long, though, as they probably traveled all of twenty miles before stopping and the cars were shut off. There was the sound of car doors opening, something scuffling as if the prince had been dragged out of his seat and then some muffled talking before a door that squeaked on its hinges opened and footsteps retreated into what Ronin would guess was a building of some sort.

After a minute he decided it was worth risking a look and did so slowly, his eyes catching sight of no one, taking in the run-down apartment building in a rather seedy part of a town. Hmm. Interesting.

His pale green eyes glanced back at Anya before he moved up further and then jumped out of the truck, crouching by the side, looking around again to make sure they hadn't been seen before he made a psting noise to alert Anya that she could come out, too. Once she was by his side, he looked up at the building again and frowned.

"Interesting place to bring him."
 
Anyone would have appreciated the warmth after what having gone through such a horrible experience as they had. If she ever returned back home, then she would leave out on a journey and go to a warm country, and probably avoid all places that had minus degrees. At least during the time they had it, visiting during a warm month would definitely be okay.

For mile after mile they traveled. Those cars went too fast for Anya to even try to guess how far they've traveled. At least with horses one could guess on how fast the horses steps were and how long they had traveled. Now there was no steps to measure, nor did she know how fast the vehicle could travel, on top of that she had no idea for how long they had been traveling. Her sense of time wasn't the best, sometimes five minutes felt like an hour, other times ten hours felt like one. But the car did stop eventually, and no matter the distance or the time it had taken, it seemed like they finally could get things done.

They had to wait of course, since they couldn't be discovered. They heard noises from the outside, footsteps and muffled protesting, most likely from the prince. It wasn't like there was any idea to put a gag on a companion after all.

Anya waited as Ronin carefully looked out. Her heart was beating loudly, almost to the point when she honestly believed it could be heard across the country. Then Ronin went out. A part of her just waited for the shots that would take him down, and then she would be stuck there all by herself. But the only thing she heard was a psst coming from a familiar voice. It seemed like it was safe to come out now, and so she did.

"What do you think they want with him here?" She asked. It was certainly an interesting place. A rundown building in an equally rundown part of town. Couldn't be a high class organization moving around. Or maybe it was and they simply tried to make it seem otherwise, or they could just be cheap bastards that didn't want to waste too much money.

"Do you think we'll be lucky enough to find them on the first floor?" She then added. It would make it easier if they could spy in through a window and see the situation. But if they kept him on another floor, or in the basement, if there was one, then they were a bit doomed. Maybe they could listen through the door, but if someone came from the outside or the inside it would be hard to hide.
 
"I'm not sure, Anya, and that's what worries me." Ronin muttered back to her, half-distracted as he searched for an inconspicuous opening to the building. Going in the front door wasn't an option, but going in the most secret door would be bad, too as that was likely where the other people had gone and they'd be guarding it. 'Course they might be guarding all other entrances, as well, but that was a risk that had to be taken.

Getting in wasn't really the problem the traveler was focusing on, though, but rather on why they were here at all. This...wasn't right. This place was wrong somehow, but he just couldn't put his finger on what it was that was making the hairs on his arms and neck stand on end.

Pale green eyes glanced to the blond and Ronin shook his head, voice quiet as he gestured for Anya to follow him as they snuck around the cars, gaining some ground toward the building itself. "No. In an operation like this, they won't want to be on the first floor where they could be shot at or a SWAT team could swarm through. But they won't want to be too high off the ground either that they couldn't escape quickly. I'd guess the second or third floor, near the center of the building where the fire-escape is located is where we'll find them."

How he knew that...was probably better not questioned.

They'd come to the last car and now all that remained between them and the building was about twenty feet of open space. Just looking at it made Ronin nervous, but he knew they'd have to cross it to get to their destination. He looked to Anya then and offered a smile, reassuring as he held out his hand.

"Ready?"
 
What worried the young blonde the most was that they didn't have any kind of plan yet, and no clue where the enemy could be. Were they in a position where they could see them coming? It was quite possible. If that was the case, then they would most likely not make it all the way to the building before someone started to shoot at them, or someone else came out and threatened them.

Anya listened intensively on Ronin's words. What he said definitely made sense, but his certainty in it being at either the second or third floor seemed a bit off somehow. While it was a good theory, so far they had no proof of it being true. They would just have to go forward and see. One part of her wanted to ask him one thing though. What was a SWAT team? If she were lucky she would remember it once everything was over, but she doubted that. And as it certainly weren't the best of times to chat about those kinds of things, her curiosity just had to wait on its turn.

They had reached the last car and Ronin looked at her with a smile of reassurance whiel holding out his hand to her. She smiled back. "Ready." She confirmed and took his hand. Nervously and excited, they crossed the Then they crossed over the open space as fast and silently as their feet could take them. No bullets were shot towards them, and no one seemed to notice them. If they did, then maybe they simply waited for them to get closer, so they wouldn't have the chance to run.

Finally arriving at the building, after what had seemed like an eternity, they pressed themselves towards the building so that they wouldn't be seen from the roof. Still there were no one coming out to check on the two suspicious people that had hurried from their hiding place towards the building. They probably weren't seen. Or maybe it was a trick to make them feel secure when they tried to get in.

"So, which way now? You spoke of a fire-escape before. If people can escape that way, can it also take us inside?" She asked. Taking the main door might not be the best option after all. Though they might not be able to get into the floor they want to. If the kidnappers happened to be in the same room as the fire escape leads into, then they would have to find another way. If only they could see through the walls for their locations.
 
Ronin smiled a bit at her thinking and nodded. "You've got it, Nelisyi. We'll try the fire-escape and see if that can't get us where we need to go. If it doesn't, well try something else. Maybe getting in through a window on the first floor." He gave that option just to assure her that there were other alternatives, but the male was hopeful the escape would give them what they needed and they both inched their way against the wall until they rounded the building, heading into the alley and to the fire-escape.

The traveler had to jump a bit to grab the ladder that slid down to the ground and he winced when there was a slight screeching noise of rusty hinges, but as he and Anya stayed still for just a moment, waiting for the worst - someone having heard the sound - nothing happened. Ronin let out a breath of relief and gave his companion a bit of a smile before starting up the ladder, knowing she'd follow. Sure, it was polite to let ladies go first, but when there might be gunfire...better he get shot then her.

When they got to the first landing on the second floor, the dark-haired male carefully checked the window, staying crouched down, but the room was empty and when he leaned over the railing as far as he could to look in the room next to the first, he still saw nothing. Ronin shook his head to Anya and against started climbing, moving on the second landing very carefully as he peeked over the window, eyes narrowing to see the room was empty. Repeating his actions from before proved that the next room over was empty, too and he put a hand out, cautioning the blond to stay as he went up another level.

But those rooms were empty as well and he carefully made his way back down and spoke in a whisper. "We'll go in here. It's as good a place as any and at least we know it's safe in that room."

Even as he spoke, he was lifting the window slowly, wincing at the creaking it made before he climbed in and extended a hand to help Anya, listening carefully for any noise that might alert them to the nearness of the people they were trying to find.
 
Nelisyi. He had called her that so many times now she might just consider changing to it. Most of the people at home would have laughed at her for thinking so much. She was a woman, she should stand in the kitchen and take care of the children. If only she could have been born in a future that didn't have such a view on women.

Hopefully her mind could help them through this time of hardship. Anya followed Ronin towards the staircase. A horrible sound came from it as the man tried to get it down. They barely even dared to breath as they waited for someone to come out to find the source of the sound. But no one came. Eventually they dared to continue. They made their way up, Ronin first, which was greatly appreciated as Anya's skirt might just show a bit too much from beneath. Not because she didn't trust him to not look up, but it could still happen. While she thought the clothes she usually wore were far too concealing, the clothes in this time period might just be a bit too revealing.

On the second floor was nothing. Anya stayed on that floor as Ronin checked on the third floor. When he came back he simply told her that they were going in where they were. He opened a window and the blonde woman followed him inside. They were incredibly careful so that they wouldn't make any sounds. Anya even took of her shoes, as they could cause more sounds while they tried to sneak around. She sneaked towards one of the doors which lead to another room and put her ear towards it. No sounds seemed to come from the other side. Either it was empty, or someone was incredibly quiet. The other two doors led to rooms they had seen from the windows, so they already knew they were empty.

"I think no one is close enough to hear us in here if we keep a low tone." The girl finally whispered when she was sure no one was on the other side of the door to the unknown room. "How are we supposed to get to the floor where they are? If we step out the door we might just get greeted by a gun to the head." She said, reminding both of them that getting to their target seemed almost impossible as they couldn't see through walls.

Suddenly one gunshot could be heard through the building. Then a silence fell. Anya looked up into the ceiling wondering when the next shot would come. "Well... At least we know they are upstairs now." She whispered. Had they shot the prince? They might just have wanted to scare him. Maybe they had more hostages?
 
Anything Ronin might have said was silenced by the gunshot and he looked toward the ceiling, face whitening so rapidly it appeared as if he might pass out or be sick. The male did neither, merely staying completely still for a moment, nothing moving up his eyes as they flickered over the ceiling as if it might give him answers. In the end, it wasn't the room itself, but the feeling that swept over him that told the traveler that no harm had truly been done.

He breathed, the first one he'd taken since the shot rang out and some color seemed back into his face slowly as he gave Anya a slightly shaky smile, but a genuine one.

"He's still alive."

If the Prince hadn't been, Ronin would have known it. He'd be writhing in pain by this point if Karen's plan had succeeded. But it hadn't and there was still time, though, the headache he was developing told him not a great deal of it. All the more reason to start moving! "All right, we need to go." He moved toward the door, speaking softly. "If we go we might die, but if we stay, he definitely will and I'm not willing to let that happen. I like the first odds better."

A grin flashed as he opened the door, stuck his head out quickly, looking both ways and then pulled it back in just as quick. "Coast is clear." At least on this level and Ronin started down the hall, trusting that Anya would follow...even if he'd raised far more questions in her head than he could answer right now.
 
He's still alive? How did Ronin even know that? He seemed to know a lot which he shouldn't. While Ronin liked the first odds better, Anya didn't particularly like any of them. She couldn't even pick a favorite or a worst scenario. While she certainly didn't want an innocent man.. prince, to be killed, she wasn't a fan of possibly dying. Especially not after almost having frozen to death on a plane.

"I wish we had a third alternative." Anya sighed, waiting for Ronin to check the door. As soon as the coast was clear he was off, and of course she loyally followed. They were in this situation together, there was no way she would back away now.

"How do you know that he's alive?" Anya asked him as silently as possible as they walked down the hall. That question would haunt her into death if she he didn't tell her, and considering the risks they were taking, it was probably best to get the question out of the way. He was hopefully right. Saving the prince just to realize that he was a cadaver didn't seem like the funniest rescue mission.

The silence was good, because then they could hear if someone walk in their direction. But at the same time bad. Because if some guards stood with guns at a corner and they couldn't see or hear them in time, then they could be done for. Then they heard something from upstairs.

One floor above them, a man started to head down as he talked on his phone. "Don't worry, we have him. When he doesn't come back in a few hours, they will start to ask questions. Eventually with a bit of false evidence everyone will believe that America is the culprit. It won't take long before they get into a war. With all the tension I wouldn't be surprised if World war 3 broke out. ... .. Definitely better. More money for us... ... .. Who would get in our way? No one knows what's going on. I think we're safe right here. What should we do about the prince afterwards?... ... That's a good idea. If his body is found on American ground then it will become even more provocative."

The two time travelers were hiding beneath the staircase. Not the best place as they could be visible if he just turned around once he had gotten down the stairs. Luckily he didn't, instead he continued to walk down the hall and through a door. Anya breathed. "Well.. He seems to be alive, but not for very long. I wonder what they need him for before they kill him. It must be something or else they should have just killed him in America."
 
They did have a third alternative.

There was ALWAYS another option. Always that third option that no one liked to talk about. That option people chose all the time without admitting to themselves that they were choosing it. It was an option everyone was tempted to take, an option others would ridicule someone over if they spoke it out loud - even if they'd thought of it themselves, especially if they had.

It was the third option of doing nothing. They could let the Prince die. Turn around, walk the other way, pretend there was nothing they could do to make themselves feel better. They could do nothing. It had always been an option, but Ronin, for his part, had dismissed it the moment it had come into his head. He'd done that too often, perhaps in his early, younger days, but he had and it had haunted him since. He wouldn't do nothing now...and somehow he didn't think Anya was the type to back away either.

So the traveler said nothing about it.

Just as he said nothing in answer to Anya's question - at least not the answer she wanted. "Tell you later." He barely whispered it and was glad for that as they would have been caught had he said anything more. Ronin frowned at the blond's words as soon as the man was out of sight, his eyes searching the floor even as he searched his mind, trying to come up with a logical, plausible reason why they hadn't done exactly as she'd said, because she was right. They should have killed him by now. What was the point to bring him here, to another country only to take him back to America again?

His mind tore through every scenario, but Ronin finally had to shake his head, uneasy, extremely so by now as he spoke. "I don't know. Maybe the Prince will. Come on."

They made their way up the stairs quickly, but as quietly as possible, ducking into the first open room and pressing up against the wall by the door, hearts racing. Ronin looked carefully down the hall again and nodded to Anya. It was clear. "We need to find out which room he's in." Which would mean either waiting for someone to come back upstairs and enter the room or for them to risk being out in the hallway and listening at the doors for noise.

Neither plan seemed all that great, but they didn't have much of a choice - not counting their third one, of course.
 
Anya and Ronin went upstairs and hid as well as they possibly could. Though nowhere were really safe for them. After all, they couldn't possibly know where they had placed gunned men whom were eagerly waiting for something to happen. Waiting for some foolish person to intrude and almost figuring out their plan just to get their head blown off. Hopefully that wouldn't happen.

Finding out which room the prince had been placed in would be far from easy. They had no knowledge of the building, no knowledge of the group that held the prince, not nearly enough information of their plan, and they had no plan themselves. Most people would definitely call what they were doing a suicide mission. But neither Anya nor Ronin would let it come to that. No matter what fate had already planned out for them.

"It might be a room almost directly over the room we stayed in. The shot sounded as if it came slightly to the left of us, but pretty close to our position. I'm fairly certain it was either the room above us or the one next to it." Anya commented in a whisper. "Though I guess an echo can confuse the ears, in that case it could still be any of them. But we'll at least have somewhere to start."

Now the problem was how they would check the rooms out. Looking into them would truly be suicide, but it wasn't certain that anyone would make noises. The guards could be silent while they awaited their orders, and in that case they might just walk into a trap.

"Let's start with listening if we can hear something going on in there." She proposed. It was better than doing nothing. If they heard something they could just stand by an see if they left the room at some point and then sneak in. If they didn't hear anything from any of the rooms they might just need to open the doors and hope no one would kill them.
 
Ronin blinked at his companion, truly and thoroughly impressed by how much information she'd gotten by just hearing one shot from a gun. He had no knowledge to say she was wrong, but even if he had, the traveler STILL would have been impressed. Still, a smile quirked at his lips when she immediately started backtracking, obviously second-guessing herself, afraid to be wrong and be made a fool of.

It was a habit he'd fix soon enough.

Being wrong was half the fun! Finding out if you were was the other half.

"Sounds like a good plan."

Ronin flashed a grin before moving out of the doorway and into the hallway, calculating where this room would be in relation to the one they'd been in a floor below. He deduced the correct room soon enough and cautiously moved toward it, pressing his ear against the wood. There was nothing at first...and then there was everything as the knob on the door twisted and Ronin felt adrenaline spike through his system as he leaped back from the entrance that swiftly opening to reveal a guard.

It was far too late to hide - no where to hide fast enough - and the traveler froze for all of two seconds - two long, eternal seconds - before a smile came to his face, strained at the edges, but otherwise almost calm as the guard stared at him and then instantly drew a gun, pointing it toward his head. A second man soon appeared and Anya found herself in the same position as the second guard started talking on his phone - supposedly to the guards downstairs.

Ronin raised his hands and his voice was almost cheerful. "Easy with that thing. Didn't your mothers ever teach you not to play with guns? Those things are dangerous."
 
Anya followed the man whom seemed to find the suspected room pretty fast. She barely even remembered which room they had been in. Only what had happened while they were in it. The young girl might be good at picking up sounds and figure out where they came from, and she might notice details in the things people said or in the things she saw. But her short term visual memory was quite horrible. She had to really concentrate to remember where she came from and where she was walking to be able to go back the same way. At least they were good at different things, or else they might have gotten stuck where they were for a while.

She stayed a bit away from him as he checked the door, trying to listen so that no one came from behind them. But that was not where the sound came from. It came from the door which Ronin was checking. Anya instinctively stepped forward, even though he should have tried to run. She wanted to pull him with her. She were able to stop herself though as a second gunman came and pointed his at her. She froze. She had never seen a gun being used before. But she had read about them from history books. These were much smaller than the riffles she were used to reading about, but she was certain they could do the same damages. They were killing machines.

One of the men raised his eyebrows when Ronin spoke. It must have been surprising to hear someone speak with an almost cheerful voice in that situation. Anya almost thought he was going to get shot for it. "Let's kill them." The second man said hastily, not wanting to waste time on two intruders.

The first man disagreed greatly to that idea. They had to know who they were and what they did there, and most importantly, if others knew about them. "No. Let's tie them up and question them first. They might have important information." He told his partner. He told someone on the phone that there were intruders in the buildings and they should check if there were more. In the meantime they would take care of these two. Afterwards he gave Ronin a glare. "Get up." He said with a threatening voice. The second man instructed Anya to lift her arms up into the air as Ronin did. She weren't sure of the purpose of it, but she were in no position of refusing.

The men forced the two intruders, and failed saviors, into one of the apartment doors. It was the room just across the one Ronin had tried to listen in on. "Tie the man up first." The first guy instructed his companion, figuring he might do something stupid if they did the girl first. He himself kept his distance, so that if one of them tried something funny, he'd be able to shoot them before they'd reach him.
 
Ronin did as told - really, getting shot wasn't high on his to-do list - but it didn't stop him from speaking. They hadn't told him to shut up yet after all. "Believe me, we know next to nothing. If we had, we certainly wouldn't have been caught like this. I mean, really, this is just embarrassing." He outright grinned as he was shoved into a chair and his hands secured behind him, the knots tight enough that they'd start cutting off circulation soon enough. Testing the strength of the binds, the traveler nodded. "Hmm, tight. Very good."

By this point, the two men were giving him odd looks, but Ronin seemed not to notice - probably purposely so - and looked instead to Anya as she was tied up, too. "How does pizza sound to you after this?" His smile, strangely enough, was actually very genuine, not really expecting much of an answer before he turned his attention back to their captors, brows rising. "So, what exactly to you plan on achieving here? I mean, war? You can't possibly hope to control the outcome of that. No one wins in war and you know the bad guys always get caught. You need to brush up on your history, gentlemen."

"And you need to brush up on you future."

The voice was feminine and pale green eyes snapped to the door as she walked in. With green, lightly scaled skin and even greener wavy hair, it was clear she wasn't human. Oh, she looked a great deal like a human if one disregarded the whip-like tail with the spear-point on the end and the lizard-clawed feet that didn't allow shoes. She had no chest to speak of, nor a naval as her high-rise shirt revealed and her fingernails were claws. Fangs were evident as she smiled.

"Hello Ronin."

The traveler didn't even blink twice at her appearance, instead quirking a brow, head tilting slightly. "Do I know you?"

There was a chuckle and her tail swished around as she came further into the room, coy and smirking, completely confident in herself and the situation in a way that Ronin instantly didn't like. He liked her answer even less.

"Not quite, but Karen has told me so much about you."
 
Anya didn't understand how Ronin could be so calm during such a situation. But he probably had gotten a lot of practice during his years as a time traveler. She however had a very hard time relaxing even with him trying to lighten up the mood. Maybe when that gun left their faces, it might become different. Soon enough it was Anya's turn to be tied up. They weren't careful about it. The ropes were so tight she wondered if she started to wonder if it wasn't a corset.

Then came a quite weird question. She didn't get much chance to answer it, though even if she had it would have been in form of another question. What's a pizza?, she wondered to herself. Was it an activity future people liked to do? It did sound a bit like pita, which was a bread. Could it be food?

While her mind tended to wander a bit too much even for her own taste, in this situation she was very happy over that. It made her temporarily calmer, and even when she got back fully into the now, she still weren't as afraid as earlier. Ronin had helped her calm down, though probably not for the reason he thought.

Almost immediately after the man was done with her ropes, another person entered the room. A female. At least Anya thought it was a woman. The strange creature had a lot of human features, but it did not seem human still. For someone like Anya, raised christian in the 19th century England, it was as if she were seeing a demon for the first time. Aliens or mutations didn't exist in her vocabulary. At least not yet.

The strange serpent like demon seemed to know, or at least know of Ronin. And he didn't seem too surprised to see her, even though he didn't know who she was. Then the name Karen came up. Wasn't that his childhood friend? On the plane he had told her about that girl. Not very much though. Only that they had been friends and now they were separated. He had seemed so sad about it, she hadn't even had the heart to ask what had broken them up. Anya had theorized that the girl might have died, but now that was an impossibility. If the demon hadn't taken the poor girls soul and now had all her memories. Maybe she should stop letting her imagination run to wild.

"Wh.. Who are you and why have you kidnapped that prince?" Anya interrupter their little moment. She had almost been about to say what instead of who. Even if it was a demon, that sounded incredibly rude. Especially if she was wrong about what she was. There were humans that had been born with incredibly strange features, usually they had to join freak shows to earn a living. While Anya didn't believe that was the case this time, she couldn't completely rule out such possibilities.
 
Yellow eyes flickered to Anya and fanged teeth smiled, interest flickering as the green-skinned female approached the blond. "Well, well, what do we have here?" She glanced at Ronin, a grin threatening as she slowly circled Anya, a predator stalking prey, deciding where best to strike. "Did you finally find yourself a new companion, Ronin? Karen was so very sure you'd never get over her. She was nearly right, wasn't she?" The alien laughed as the traveler's pale green eyes seemed to darken.

His voice was very calm, though.

"And which companion are you, Nefvene? Four, five?"

"Twenty-one." She looked proud of the fact and Ronin looked pained. The female laughed and looked back down at Anya, yellow eyes glittering. "How long have you been with him, hm? A year? Six months?" Looking at Anya's face, she studied the human's eyes for a moment and then smiled widely. "Oh, not even that long, have you?" Laughter spilled out and she touched Anya's cheek, claws deceptively docile. "Sweetie, you have a lot to learn. See," She straightened and moved back toward Ronin, tail flicking back and forth.

"You see, the dear prince you're so worried about, he's merely a pawn in a much bigger game. Oh, he'll cause a lovely war with America and Israel, but his purpose has a much more specific benefit." Her grin was vicious. "It brought Ronin right to us."

Ronin went very still, paling just a little, but his voice was still calm. It was apparent that it was far more forced this time, though. "This was a trap?" He didn't sound surprised by that fact, just trying to confirm it. He'd known for a long time what Karen was capable of and this was the least of her crimes, but it still hurt. The traveler knew now why the pain in his head had increased, though, and why he'd been unable to ignore the plight the prince was in.

Because Karen was involved.

"A trap and you fell right into it. Just like you always do. You just can't help trying to save everyone, can you Ronin?" The alien laughed again and turned to Anya, eyes glittering. "Though, we didn't expect you to have a companion. I don't have orders concerning her. That might be....fun."
 
The strange creature acted like a shark as she circled Anya. The young blond girl just waited for her to bite, but of course that thought was quite ridiculous. If anything would happen she would probably be shot or hit. But considering the creature had those fangs, it might no be an impossibility. Did she eat humans? It would certainly be one of the more interesting ways of dying.

As the demon like woman spoke, it became evident that Ronin hadn't been able to get over his past companion very well. He had already told her that he only had one companion before her, but now it seemed as if it had a much deeper meaning than what she had originally thought. At first she had suspected that the man simply hadn't wanted or hadn't found someone fitting for it. Now it seemed as if his heart had been broken, and he hadn't dared to get a new companion. His childhood friend seemed to have taken the other rout, as she now was on her 21st companion.

Anya didn't answer the being's question, but it still seemed as if she could see the answer in her eyes. As if she could look into the poor blond's soul. She had to force herself to not look away when the unnatural woman touched her cheek. This was not the situation she had thought she would get into when they started to chase terrorists. Instead of saving a prince, it seemed like they would have to save Ronin instead as he had been the target all along. What a mess.

The girl did not like the sound of the strange woman's last words. Fun? What exactly did she mean with that? Did she even want to know? Probably not, but she would get to know eventually either way. "Please tell me that your version of fun is to start a book club." Anya commented weakly with a small nervous laughter. This was not a comfortable situation.

"We've been told to kill all intruders except for that man though." One of the men reminded the woman. But he seemed slightly... scared, for raising that fact. He obviously had no authority over her. And even if he had, they were probably not used to beings that looked like that. Anyone would be frightened, even if they tried to tell themselves that they weren't.
 
A dangerous hiss answered the man's words and the alien shot him a warning look. "Be silent, Qader." It was a command, not a suggestion and she looked back to Anya with a grin. "This isn't an intruder. This is Ronin's plus one and he's our guest." She chortled to herself then and looked to the two guards, waving her hand. "Take him to the cage. Karen will see to him when she arrives. This one's mine, though."

She said it with a cruel gleam in her eyes and Ronin's eyes, unnoticed, darkened further as the guards came toward him. One stood back, aiming a gun and the other came behind, reaching for his bonds....only to find they were already undone. The traveler surged backward then, purposely tipping his chair back into the man behind him, causing the guard to fall forward first, folding over Ronin even as the other guard shot. The bullet hit his comrade before Ronin, the chair and the now injured guard collapsed together in a heap.

It was protection for Ronin as the other guard didn't know where to shoot, already flustered at having shot his own comrade. The traveler used that, grabbing the gun of the man he was tangled up with and aiming, shot toward the other guard. Ronin had said he didn't like guns and he didn't. He loathed them. But that didn't mean he didn't know how to use them or that he wasn't willing to use them for a good enough cause. He liked the idea of Karen's companion torturing Anya even less.

Even so, his bullet didn't land, it only hit the wood beside the guard, making the man duck and in that moment, Ronin surged out from his place and shot again, purposefully missing again, keeping the guard backing away still further, shooting randomly though until he hit a wall himself and brought his gun up to shoot more accurately. Ronin didn't allow it, calmly and precisely clocking the man over the head, striking out faster than the eye could follow.

And then he turned back to the alien, knowing they didn't have a great deal of time. The shots would have alerted those around them that their was a fight and they might approach cautiously, but they'd come.

The green-skinned woman hadn't moved, arms folded, smirking as her tail twitched this way and that. "My, my, Karen said you were good, just....oh, how did she put it? Ah yes, I remember; weak, pathetic. All that power and what do you do with it?" She grabbed Anya's hair, tilting the human's head back and up. "This? You waste your time with this?"

"Let her go." It was said so calmly. So deceptively calm. He wasn't even holding the gun anymore, but somehow the darkness of his eyes and the way he was speaking, was weaponless and yet not bothered by that fact was far more concern for alarm. The alien smiled in the face of it, but some semblance of uncertain flickered in her eyes, made her tail curl. "Or what, Ronin? You'll kill me? You don't kill, remember?"

"I won't have to."

Yellow eyes narrowed, the alien's hand releasing Anya's hair and she took a step toward the traveler, but it was as far as she got as Ronin suddenly disappeared....only to reappear behind the female. She turned swiftly, snarling, but it was too late and his fingers found a place behind her neck, instantly making yellow eyes roll up in her head before she collapsed to the floor. It was only when he was done, when all was quiet for just a few precious moments, that Ronin's pale green eyes lightened again and he moved to Anya, hurriedly starting to untie her.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt?"
 
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Anya felt a bit of a panic bubble up inside her. She tried to get the ropes up, but they were tied way too hard. Being separated with Ronin was the last thing she wanted at the moment, but it didn't seem like they would have a choice.

Ronin was full of surprises though, and had already been able to break free from the ropes to the blond's surprise. She watched with both amazed and horrified as bullets were flying back and forth, and a man was used as a shield. Very successfully too. On one hand it seemed like they might be able to get away, on the other it seemed as if Ronin might get killed. If not by the two men then by the yellow eyed beast. But for the moment, she was just standing there, watching the chaos unfold in front of her without seeming to care much. It was first when the tumult stopped that she cared to intervene. She weren't in any particular hurry though.

The girl soon felt how her hair was being pulled backwards and her head soon followed. Now she was certain that she would be bitten in the throat. Or clawed. Whichever she would probably bleed to death within minutes. Hopefully she would never get children or do something important in her own timeline anyway, so nothing about the future would be changed. That was not how she wanted it to end though. And luckily it did not become her end. Her hair was freed as a fight seemed to be about to start between the time traveler and the green skinned woman.

With a move Anya couldn't see from her position, and probably hadn't seen even if she had been in another, Ronin moved so fast to the back of the demon so she did not notice it, and then she collapsed. The blond weren't sure what had just happened, but it was at the very least something good.

Then Ronin came to her aid and started to untie her. "No, I'm fine." She told him, sounding slightly shaken. "Hurry, someone will probably come any second." She warned, even though he probably had thought of that too. But people did blurt out all kinds of things when they were panicking, even the most obvious ones.

When she finally were freed and they were ready to get going, Anya took the chance to ask something Ronin seemed to know and she didn't. "What is she? A demon?" She asked as she massaged her wrists while her eyes tried to find the best way out. If they took the window they would get out, but the prince would still be inside. Guards might take the door within seconds, and there was no way they wouldn't look into the other rooms. The door was a possibility though, if they were lucky enough to get out and run into another room before the guards came. Knowing it was a trap, would Ronin even considering continuing on the mission? Or would he leave the prince to die? She fast scrapped the latter. Ronin wasn't that kind of person.
 
"She's a Nefvene. An alien. She's from another world. I'll explain more later." Ronin answered quickly, moving to the door and opening it just a crack. He cursed softly under his breath and shut the door again, looking instead to the Nefvene on the floor. The traveler moved to her quickly and a swift search of her clothes brought up a vial with liquid the same shade as the alien's skin. Ronin grunted a bit at it, not much pleased about what he was about to do, but willing to do it anyway as he moved back to the door.

Opening it, he threw the vial out and then shut the door again quickly, listening to the small explosion outside and then the ensuing coughing. Pale green eyes met darker ones and the traveler smiled a bit. "It's just a knock-out agent all Nefvene carry with them. It'll make a human sleep for about two days. No harm. They'll just be really hungry when they wake."

At that he did chuckle and then brought his shirt up to his mouth, nodding to Anya to do the same with the top of her own shirt before he opened the door and moved out into the haze of green. Ronin reached back to take his companion's hand, making sure she wouldn't get lost and he moved to the door they'd tried to go into earlier.

It was ajar and the guard inside was just drawing his gun when Ronin sighed and released Anya. Damn, he hated doing this.

The dark-haired male disappeared again, vanishing into thin air before reappearing once more, this time directly beside the guard. The man looked flabbergasted and that gave Ronin time to knock him out, catching the man before he hit the floor. It was more out of a desire not to make too much noise that might attract anyone still conscious than to save the terrorist a fall to the ground.

The prince, for his part, was both tied and gagged, but that didn't stop him from staring with wide eyes at his rescuers and Ronin grinned. "Well, we're not the cavalry, but perhaps we can be of service, your highness?"
 
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A nefvene? Anya wondered to herself. So it hadn't been a demon as she had suspected. It almost made the young girl want to apologize to the strange creature. But after reminding herself that the green woman had tried to do God knows what towards them, she figured that her ill thoughts had been well deserved. It had been one thing to think badly of a nice person simply because of their appearance, but this book had been just as evil as the cover had suggested.

The blond girl watched the time travelers strange movements as the footsteps came closer and closer. They were trapped, but Ronin seemed to have a plan. Hopefully it would go better than last time. Something was thrown out the door and then was a small boom. Anya looked startled at her companion whom was quick to reassure her that it was nothing dangerous. "People from the future have the oddest things in their pockets." She remarked. Never would she carry around a weapon or even sleeping gas. If one did not work with dangerous people, like the police, why need something to protect oneself? Sure, it happened that innocent people were attacked, but was it really that normal in the future so that everyone needed it? Or was it something only creatures from other worlds used?

Those were questions she probably had to spare for later. In the meantime, Anya covered her mouth with her shirt and followed Ronin through the gas filled corridor. Soon she felt his hand in hers, which felt very reassuring as she weren't certain if she would be able to not get lost in the thick green fog. Then they entered another room.

A guard drew his gun, but Ronin were fast to take him down. Once more did he vanish into thin air. How he did it, the young girl did not know. But she would ask about it eventually. The guard was fast knocked out after the surprise attack from behind and they made their way to the prince.

Maheem, which was the prince's first name, was first incredibly shocked, but once Ronin spoke to him he came back to his senses and started to speak. Of course his mouth was gagged, which was probably why he tried to speak to get them to release him. Anya was quick to take off the mouth gag and then started to work on the ropes.

"Who are you people?" He asked, mainly looking at Ronin whom had made an impossible magic trick right in front of his eyes.

"Friends. We're here to save you." Anya reassured him as she finally were able to loosen the ropes. "And ourselves." She added. They had after all gone into a trap. "Now we need to find a way to get out without getting seen, and find one of those..." Anya had to stop and think for a moment as she had forgotten the word. "planes." She finally remembered. "And probably a car." She then remembered. After all, they had traveled with a car quite a bit. So to get back to the plane, or to some other place that had those giant machines, they would most likely need to travel some more.

"They didn't seem interested in my jet. It might still be where they left it. Though I am uncertain if there's enough fuel to get very far. And a pilot would be needed." The prince said, offering a traveling solution. The pilot had betrayed him, and would most likely not fly them back. Instead he might just pull a gun on them if he found out they were escaping. But with such a talented man like Ronin, maybe that wouldn't be a problem.
 
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