[00] Now Entering Kill Town...

[Tamsin]

Having arrived from the Land Before Time, Tamsin and Maleficus found themselves roaming the streets of the city in which they arrived just after Dante`s Abyss. Once again, time seemed to cheat them as they had the feeling that they had been away longer then they really were. But that was not the only feeling they had....their insides felt nauseous as their bodies readjusted to their powers no longer being amplified by the land of the Mystics. Although they wondered whether their telepathic link remained, they did not dare test it out of fear of ending up feeling worse. As such, they spent some time quietly overcoming their temporary illness, contemplating on what they had experienced.

Suzaku recalled the inspection of the Delishea temple she had conducted with the now deceased Frozen. In retrospect, it made perfect sense that Andu Hondo was the responsible party in the initial killings. Afterall, all the official guests of the families were accounted for and only someone of such a high stature as Hondo could have gained access to the palace otherwise. The fact that one of the two nobles was killed with a throwing knife made the girl wonder if Hondo had some skill in throwing knives like her. Of course, she would never find out. His plan to create a powerful army of Mystics backfired, since it weakened him as well, sealing his demise when facing up against an empowered Nova.

"We have a new assignment," the namek suddenly broke the silence after recovering from his sickness, although he still felt somewhat grated from being subject to Gelidus`s merchant-like voice while in an ill state. "We are supposed to either capture or kill two members of a smuggling ring. Apparently, they have been exporting a lot of...."unwanted" items and it is causing chaos on the market." Of course, while that was the limit of their employer`s explanation, it was obvious to the rogue that the truth was probably that someone simply did not like the serious competition and wanted them out of the picture. The adolescent did not preoccupy herself with that, however, wondering instead if the two will wind up dead like their previous two targets or if they will decide to peacefully surrender.

After another extended period of silence, the New Evil decided to talk about the issue that had been nagging him since their encounter with Hondo: "Tamsin, about the first golem....."

The servant did not immediatelly respond, her head slightly tilting from the embarrassement she felt and her face forming a sad expression: "I am sorry, Mas-....Maleficus. It is not that I wanted to keep it a secret from you. But a good servant never troubles his master with her own conce-."

"You aren't just my servant, Tamsin!" the mercenary interrupted her. "Remember what I told you back during Dante`s Abyss? I need someone I can trust, I need....a friend. And friends should be able to entrust their problems to each other, no matter who has them."

"I....I understand," the maid responded meekly.

"Good. Now...do you want to tell me how you managed to do that?" The Namek suprised even himself with how kind he was being, which went completely against his otherwise volatile nature. Remembering how he politely adressed the Furli king, he wondered if the genial nature of his female companion was starting to rub off on him.

Nodding in agreement, the silver-haired human began to explain her situation: "I...do not understand it myself yet. But....during my training at Servus, I would sometimes desire to get an item, like a knife, or broom, and that item would already be in my hand. And then, during Dante`s Abyss, when I was in trouble....I sometimes was able to call the Ki Knives that I was carrying to myself. And....well, you know what happened in the Land Before Time. But I...I still do not know what it is or how to fully use it willingly."

The rogue carefully listened to every word, being very curious regarding Tamsin`s hidden power. But as she continued her explanation, the Namek saw something that nearly made his jaw drop. Standing merely a few meters away from them were two individuals, a man and a woman with dark hair and a brownish tan. Both of them wore fairly fashionable attire, the female wrapped in a long and elegant green coat while the male wore a suit of a similar colour with a white tie. The two observed Tamsin and Maleficus, the man wearing a wide grin above his carefully trimmed goatee while the woman`s glossed lips remained sealed.

"Maleficus, what is wrong?" the teenager asked as she finally realised that her master was not paying attention to her.

"Those two.....They are our targets!" he responded, remembering quite clearly the two pictures that Gelidus showed him over the video transmission. But before he could act upon it, the pair he was looking for ran into a nearby dark alley. Not wasting any time, the mercenary ran after them. Slightly perplexed from how sudden everything was occuring, the maid followed suit.

Suddenly, after a short chase, both of them found themselves at an intersection between alleys with the two targets staring at them at the end.... of each of the four directions. Incredibly flustered by this, Nova and Suzaku moved in circles, not able to comprehend what is going on.

"Wha....what trickery is this?!?!" came the agitated response, but none of the four pairs facing them said anything. Suddenly, the skin and clothing began to melt away, revealing metallic parts beneath them. Even as a person who was a partial android, the rogue could not hide his disgust from what was happening.

"M-Maleficus..." the female servant said weakly, drawing her blades and facing her master back-to-back. As the gruesome transformation continued and more metal appeared beneath their facade, the unknown beings began to slowly encroach on them from all sides.