“Rexikat?” I heard a soft knock on the door as I was about to go through the portal.
“Rexikat, it’s me Nyx. Can I come in? RaXi… she isn’t… I don’t feel her at Zero’s. I think the Villains have her, and using her as a bargaining tool.” I paced towards the door, and then paced back, holding a hand to my head.
“We will bring RaXi back. You have to believe in us. Please? Xemmsur and I… we have the will to find her, and we will, there is no question about that. We have lost so much around us we will not lose anyone else. I know that Xemmsur will fight and fight bravely and whoever gets in the way will be tested.” I waited to see if she had anything else to say before I left.
“Everyone is brought to the test sooner or later, as apprentices we accept that like we always have. Please, I ask that you put your faith in us. We are stronger that what we seem.”
She finished talking, and I sighed. “Sorry, Nyx,” I murmured, “but I can’t accept that. I'm not an apprentice, and never will be. I'm a tigress, and I always protect the things that matter to me, no matter what. If you fail, I ]have to be ready to bring her back.”
I opened up a portal in front of me, walked through, and cast a chain through the darkness, muttering, "Find Citadel Abyss." My chain would find the highest source of energy in the world at the moment and latch onto it, leading me straight to the citadel. When I went through the other end of the portal, I found that my chain had wrapped around the ankle of a man, and quickly extended it to a full-body wrap.
Taking another chain, I went up behind him and pulled the chain around his throat. "Tell me your name," I growled.
His hands scrabbled over mine, trying to pull away the chain. "Verex," he rasped out.
Verex...why did that sound familiar? "Okay, Verex," I said, "I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're going to answer them honestly. Does your organization know where RaXi is?"
"RaXi! You know her?" He choked himself, straining to be free of me, but I wouldn't let go that easily. "Yes! They do. They just sent someone to get her."
I processed this for a moment. If Organization Zero had already sent someone while we were in the meeting, then...
"Please," Verex gasped. "I don't want Marlex to get RaXi, but I can't go myself. I don't know who you are, but if you can help me, perhaps we can make some sort of deal."
...What was it with these Organization Zero guys and deals? I released him, taking all of my chains back. "Your leader has already sent someone to retrieve RaXi, but you didn't want that person to go. If that person gets to RaXi first, it could mean bad things for her. You want to go yourself, but you can't. Am I understanding this correctly?"
Verex nodded.
"Fine. Where is Pashnirix?" I asked. Putting this information together with what I knew of Organization Oblivion’s plans, it looked to me like there was going to be a two-on-one standoff between us and them over RaXi.
“His room is two floors up, at the end of the left corridor,” said Verex, and I raced off to find the Dragon.
Two floors up, and down the left corridor…I skidded to a halt outside his door and jiggled the doorknob. I knocked impatiently, and nearly punched Pashnirix in the face as he opened the door.
“Tigress? What are you—” He looked confused as he addressed me, but I didn’t have time for that. I shoved him into his room, shutting the door behind me, and looked to him seriously.
“Listen. You need to do Verex a favor. You need to go and…” I thought for a moment about what I would ask him. I needed to figure out a way to keep RaXi safe in the event that Nyx and Xemmsur failed. I could ask him to find out where RaXi was, but by the time I could get there, it would probably be too late anyway; someone would have won the fight already. Verex seemed ridiculous worried that Marlex would get to her first, so I guessed Marlex was a viable threat. But Nyx and Xemmsur were on their way at the moment to get RaXi. I couldn’t send Pashnirix against them; they’d be slaughtered.
“Rexikat?” Pashnirix questioned me again, and then looked up as someone else pounded on his door. He pushed around me and opened the door to Verex, who was still coughing. “Verex? What is going on?”
Finally, I made a decision. “Pashnirix, I need you to go to wherever RaXi is being held, and observe the fight between Marlex and two Nobodies from my Organization. Should Marlex win…should he win, could you knock him out and take RaXi for yourself?”
Verex gave me an angry stare. “Take her for himself? Why?”
“To keep her safe, that’s why!” I whirled and shouted at him, all my frustration finally releasing. “Because she’s my friend, and I don’t want to leave her at the hands of her enemy! And I think you feel the same way, Verex, and since neither of us is in any position to help her, Pashnirix is our best option!”
“Do I get a say in this, perhaps?” Pashnirix said calmly. “You haven’t exactly told me what I get out of this, Rexikat.”
I regarded him carefully, and asked, “What do you want?”
“In exchange for defecting against my Leader, betraying my organization, and aiding the enemy, I’d say—”
“Don’t think of it as aiding the enemy,” I snarled, “think of it as saving your ass, because if you do this, and she gets hurt, I’ll tear you to pieces and leave you writhing and screaming in your own guts.”
Verex stared at Pashnirix. “Or you could always say you simply wanted the credit for yourself,” he said slowly. “You and I both know that you have no particular vested interest in this organization.”
“Well said,” Pashnirix murmured. “But I still require some sort of payment from the Tigress. Perhaps…conditional terms. If my intervention is not necessary in your organization’s retrieval of RaXi, then you will owe me the amount of time that I wasted. However, if your organization does fail, and you wish me to take RaXi instead, you will have to fight me for possession of her.”
I thought quickly about his offer; I didn’t have much time to contemplate. For a back-up plan, it didn’t really seem too awful. Should Nyx and Xemmsur win, I would simply have to escape for however long necessary. And if they lost…I had no doubt I could hold my own against Pashnirix in a fight.
Holding out my hand to his in firm decision, I said, “Deal. But you won’t interfere if Nyx and Xemmsur win?”
Pashnirix held a hand over where his heart would be. “Cross my heart and hope to die,” he said sarcastically, before answering seriously, “You have my word, Tigress.”
----------------
KitKat: ...I can't believe you just made a deal with Pashnirix. You really must trust him, huh?
Rexikat: It wasn't about trust, it was about--
KitKat: Oh, yeah, I forgot, you guys are secret lovers. That's what secret lovers do, right? Back each other up?
Rexikat: -_- You say that one more time, and it'll be you I'm tearing to pieces. I made the deal to make sure RaXi would be returned safely, more than that stupid LEADER can say for himself! *starts angry ranting*
KitKat: Oh boy.
