You Were Never Here [CLOSED] (751 views)

[Maddie]

[VIOLENCE WARNING - ADULT THEMES]

Greed skimmed the unconscious body at his feet with unsettling indifference. Resting an age-worn, bloodied club over his shoulder, he spoke lowly in an emotionless tone, “I hope you watched what I just did to your friend here, ‘cause I’ll being doing the same to you if I don’t get my answer soon.”


The abandoned warehouse, located in scenic ghost town Neovia, smelled foul and was damp with mold. Greed had used the old building many times for his “business calls,” so he was well adjusted to the odor. In fact, he would have almost found it pleasant, if anything were actually pleasing to him. Dissatisfaction was a common theme for Greed. Like now, for instance. Pesky rats were always cheating him out of his well-deserved cash. Why does no one learn?


“Did I stutter? Or do you need more convincing?” The small white kacheek began to tap the end of the club in the palm of his hand, looming threateningly over a man bound to a chair. “You better start talking,” Greed continued with intense, stinging eyes. “Where has your boss hid my neopoints?”


The bound man remained silent and refused to make eye contact. Greed was not worried by this; it was typical. A neopet could only take so much before cracking under the pressure. As much as his victim tried to hide it, he was shaking and beginning to sweat. A good sign.


Displeased and bored of the charade, Greed took a firm grip of the club and jerked forward, landing a hard swing on the man’s left knee. The man cried out in pain and squirmed in his chair; Greed was certain he had fractured a bone. The kacheek sighed; if only these rats would cooperate, he wouldn’t have to resort to such violence. Oh well. It was their loss.


 “I’ll ask one more time before I aim for your skull, crack it open, and personally search your gray matter for the answer – Where. Are. They.” 

[Mo]

It was a still, but restless night in Neovia. Around the Haunted Woods, especially tonight, an easily spooked Neopian wouldn't last five minutes with the cold, dusty feeling of fog wrapping around their ankles and that unshakable tingle of eyes watching their every move. It was a night for trouble, and lots of it; Liquorice could feel it in the air.

After a long day of planning a sea route with some of the most dim-witted sailors she believed she'd ever met in her life, Liquorice should've been exhausted and ready to turn in at this hour. Plausibly, she should've been. But as she exited the shabby makeshift meetinghouse into the threatening night air in the worst part of the town, she felt the Pirate side of her wrestling her sensible side, and winning. She smelt the heavy scent of danger in the night air and she found she was too antsy to rest, so she didn't even bother to return to her sleeping quarters. Instead, the ever-curious Xweetok decided to creep around the town and search for something thrilling to do before she left this place.

Her wandering paws took her around a musty arrangement of buildings, for purposes she did not know. She did know that she was in the end of town where the "fun" happens- and she didn't mean apple bobbing.
Sneaking through alleyways and peering into buildings, both abandoned and occupied, Liquorice worked up a pumping adrenaline rush at the excitement. She reminded herself to stay wary, just in case someone tried to pick on her. She looked soft, for a pirate.

Perhaps it was her affinity for trouble that brought her to this particular abandoned warehouse; she didn't know what was in store for her. She leaned against the outer walls of it to take a breather and noticed a dim light source spreading a ray of flickering illumination across the alleyway she was in. A Neopet cried out sharply, but she did not hear it. Her ear twitched. That's interesting... she thought, focusing on the stream of light. Someone in an old building like this, at a time like this?

As a child, her mother told her that curiosity killed the Kadoatie, but her father reminded her that satisfaction brought it back. Although Liquorice revered her mother as a knowledgable advice-giver, she took her father's advice on this one. She crept over towards the entrance of the warehouse (which happened to be a hole facing the alleyway, bore into the walls by who-knows-what, who-knows-when) and peeked into it, paw on her dagger. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't this; three Neopets, one on the floor (unconscious, or dead?) and one bound to a chair. The last one, an interestingly small mobster, stood over the two of them with a threatening look and an even more threatening weapon.
Oh, boy, she thought.

[Maddie]

Initially, Greed was too preoccupied to notice the nosy snooper he had picked up. Continuing with "business," he pressed the club against the man's forehead and began to count, "five... four... three..." His eyes began to wander out of boredom, completely aware that he would most likely have to just kill the man - but it was then that he caught sight of the intruder. Greed stopped mid-count, right on one.

He stared hard at Liquorice with an ominous, unconcerned look. Keeping his eye on the xweetok, he leaned towards the bound man, whispered, "Excuse me, sir," and promptly knocked him out with his bare hands.

With a fierce glare, Greed began to advance slowly, deliberately towards the intruder, club in hand and poised for assault.

[Mo]

Liquorice was usually a sensible neopet... But only when she wanted to be. Tonight, what she really wanted was a thrill. She got like that, sometimes; and sometimes, it cost her. She knew she was at one hell of a risk here- sure, she could take on some kid with a bat, but that fedora and pinstripe getup meant that he probably wasn't working alone, and she was the easiest pirate in the world to sneak up on as long as you stayed out of her sight.

She had enough time to realize what was going on before she was seen. Okay, so this kid was part of some shady gang, probably, and was roughing up some poor soul who has secret info or took his money or something like that.
Reminding herself to stay attentive, she concentrated on the Kacheek, who seemed to be the only one speaking. His mouth moved with a tempo, counting backwards with a steady pace. He was probably about to hit his victim with that nasty-looking bat.
Four and three followed five easily, and two only a little late; but Liquorice noticed the icy stare before one was uttered.

Her heart leapt.

He turned towards his victim and mumbled something she couldn't read, then began to approach her with malicious intentions. Well, she thought, I guess I'm part of the show tonight.

"Look," She spoke towards the Kacheek, in a voice that seemed too calm and too slow. "I don't want trouble from you." She held up her paws but minded her dagger closely, should things come to that.

[Maddie]

Greed continued his approach, unrelenting. Luckily for Liquorice, it was a long walk. The kacheek passed an inspecting glance over his snooper, taking note of her concealed weapon. He had been in enough scraps to recognize the presence of a weapon, visibly seen or not. How bothersome. If only he hadn't played lone wolf tonight, this would have been much easier. Shame on him. He willingly admit to his overconfidence. Should have brought along another member or two.

Surprisingly, Greed stopped a few feet away from Liquorice, staring her down. "I can't let you leave with what you've witnessed here tonight," he spoke in a low, venomous voice. He dropped his bat to the ground with a loud, reverberant clang and explained, "I've noticed you posses a close range weapon as well. It's too fair." The kacheek then reached under his hat and yanked what appeared to be a gun out from under it, immediately pointing its muzzle towards Licorice. "Move and I'll shoot. Drop your weapon."

[Mo]

Yikes.
Liquorice couldn't hear the poison in his voice, but she could feel, and she could almost see it dripping from his mouth as he hissed those cold words. He's serious, she thought, her nerves buzzing excitedly beneath her skin. More serious than the ruffians I'm used to... That's for sure.
He pulled a gun on her, and she groaned.
She'd been trapped at the mercy of a gun's barrel before, and escaped it many times-- what really bother her was the guy behind it.
"Okay." She complied, begrudgingly tossing her dagger to the floor. Although escapism was her specialty in combat, she knew when she should run and when she shouldn't.
She sure hoped she'd get that knife back, though. It was her favorite.
"I only have one on me," She explained, paws still in the air. "So you don't have to waste your time checking."
She glanced to the sides briefly, checking for others. It looks like he's alone, she thought. She hoped she was right. One gun was a lot easier to handle than many.
Oh boy, had sure dug her own grave tonight. Worry nipped at the nape of her neck, but she calmed herself with a reminder that there was only one. She could slip away from this...
... But she'd like to see what was going on here, first.
She fixed her stare on the kacheek and waited for him to continue.

[Maddie]

Greed spared a quick glimpse at the weapon Liquorice had thrown on the ground. A dagger. That would have been an issue. He returned his gaze to her with a faint appearance of satisfaction. "Good," he told her flatly, and pulled the trigger.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. The ammo exploded from the barrel and accelerated towards the defenseless, unsuspecting xweetok. Perhaps it was the suddenness of his rash behavior that accounted for the lack of pain (so alarming was the situation that it could not be fully processed), but that was disproved when reality became clear. It wasn't a lethal bullet that discharged, but an ensnaring net. Liquorice was soon enveloped by a network of binding ropes that instantly formed tight coils around her limbs and ankles. Stumbling forward from disorientation, Liquorice dropped like a fallen tree.

Greed gave the smoking gun a garish twirl and concealed it under his hat once again, all the while retaining his unmoving look of apathy. "Sorry. I changed my mind. You're too dangerous," he informed her with mock sympathy. He walked towards her squirming body and began to check that all the ropes were secure and that Liquorice was fully immobilized. Crouched at her level, he gnashed his teeth and snarled, "Listen, you naive ferret, I know this is probably more than you bargained for. All I need is for you to agree that you were never here. Familiar with the phrase "I swear on my life?" I'll be taking that literally. Don't force me to resort to other means of keeping you quiet. Are we reaching an understanding?"

[Mo]

Liquorice, polished as her reflexes were, was hurtled into a brief state of shock. She had not heard the shot, and didn't flinch until it hit her.
Once on the ground, bound tightly, she cursed to herself. She struggled, though she knew it was useless- more of an instinct, really- then took a breath to calm herself. Panic never helped in any situation, she knew, so she fought to keep her adrenaline pumping to a minimum.
Despite her prior (possibly false) confidence, she knew she was at bay of her captor now. Great.

The xweetok lay still and, as she saw no way out of this at the moment, fell into submission. She rolled her head towards the kacheek as he approached- he said something that she didn't catch- and stared at him harshly yet curiously. Her ear twitched. She didn't look threatening.

Greed knelt, and as soon as he met her with a snarl, she narrowed her eyes and returned his cold glare (although hers didn't have the same affect, and her scowl was interrupted with heavy breaths). Bitter about being captured, she had forgotten that rationality is key in these kinds of situations. She stared at his mouth, reading the words he spat towards her with disdain.
"Who would I tell?" She breathed, and though her voice shook from her deep inhalations, it was still slow and smooth. "Do you not see what I am? Pirates don't run to the law for help." As she lay still, her breaths came more easily. "If I were spying on you, I would have done it more carefully."

[Maddie]

Greed leaned back and strummed his fingers together impatiently. "A likely alibi," he replied with a suspicious look. "Then again, I also consider it the perfect cover up. The color of you skin allows easy access to the "I'm a pirate" card - but I don't trust cards so easily. Your color nor your clothing prove you are, indeed, a pirate."

Shifting his weight around, Greed rested his hands on his chin with a thoughtful look. "Even so, I'm not saying I consider you a spy. You are simply a voice from which words can form. Words spoken to one person eventually travel to the next, and to the next, and to the next. Word "gets out." Suddenly my stunt is on the front page of every copy of the Neopian Times. I don't care if pirates don't run to the law. It doesn't take contacting the law for news to reach the law. You seem like a smart enough girl to grasp this ridiculously simple concept."

[Mo]

Liquorice relaxed a little bit, knowing she wasn't in immediate danger. Her dark eyes flickered with intrigue.
"With that logic... Would it particularly matter if I were a pirate at all?" She spoke softly, too; she didn't want to draw more attention to the herself (especially with this guy in front of her), that's for sure. Though her words were steady, there was a slight, uneasy monotone about them that weaved in and out of her sentence, hardly audible.

Liqorice almost smiled, but didn't. "I like to think so, yes. But what now? Do you merely plan on killing me? That would be no fun at all." The two of them were very different, she could tell; Liquorice enjoyed her petty amusements, but she wasn't sure they would phase this serious character. Her heart still pounded, but she played herself off as nonchalant in an attempt to lower his guard. "I'm useful. It would be such a waste."

[Maddie]

Greed appeared remotely surprised. "I do not want to kill you," he asserted firmly. "You must be under the impression that I am a violent person by nature. I am not. I am only violent when I need to be, when people push me. Which unfortunately happens more often than it should." He sighed in a frustrated manner and narrowed his eyes towards the two unconscious neopets in the back of the room. Quietly, he brooded, "I'm so unimaginably disappointed in humanity," bleakly to himself.

Once he returned his attention to Liquorice, Greed steepled his fingers over his mouth and began to speak in a straight-forward manner. "To answer your inquiry, the next step is to shake you down for information. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy, given that you comply." There was a glint of malice in his eye before continuing. "I need your name, your pirate crew name (if you really have one), and your ship name (also assuming you have one)," he ordered. "And remember: I'm a reasonable guy. I'd rather not resort to violence, but I will not hesitate to act if your push me to do so."

[Mo]

Liquorice's ears perked up. This time she allowed herself smile, just a little, as a tiny surge of relief unburdened the constriction in her chest. "That's good to know," She breathed; she squirmed a little when her joints began to ache from the bindings around them. Well, at least he wasn't going to kill her, immediately. That took away one of her problems.
"I understand completely," She added, and was almost surprised to hear herself say it. Her gut still held a gnawing bitterness towards this kacheek (because deep down, she was a bit of a sore loser) but aside from that nasty "ferret" comment, she could tell that he was just doing what he had to do. He wasn't exactly someone she'd go out of her way to make friends with, but in this situation... She'd rather stay on his good side.

Liquorice felt little anxiety when he began asking questions. She didn't really have anything to hide.
"Alright. Easy enough," She squirmed a little, her aching legs like a thorn in her side. It became straining to look up at him, which she needed to do to carry on this conversation easily. "Since you are a reasonable guy, would you mind sitting me up? It is a little hard to concentrate on the floor." Maybe she was getting too cheeky, but she didn't think she was pushing it too far. "I'll answer any questions you present me with."

[Maddie]

Greed's expression appeared to relent instantly. "Yes of course," he replied briskly in a tone that bordered apologetic. Dropping to his knees, Greed wedged his arms underneath Liquorice's bound body, hoisted her up, and propped her against one of the factory's molded walls. He had moved her farther away from the exit in the process, but not by much. He figured it'd help him in the long run; sometimes all it took was a few extra steps to augment time and stop an escapee.

"Now you scratch my back, yes?" Greed hurried her, retrieving a small notepad and pen from the inner pocket of his pinstripe suit. He plopped down in a cross-legged sit and waited attentively (impatiently) for answers.

[Mo]

Liquorice smiled to herself while he was turned away, propping her up. She saw this as a good sign, maybe a hint that he really was reasonable, and she became more open to whatever was coming to her. She felt less threatened now; her tied-up state was a little demeaning, but her pride didn't extend so far that she felt the need to demand freedom. This was all protocol, as was the whole interrogation she was about to comply to.
"Thank you. Of course," She kept herself sitting as erect as she could, knowing that if she let herself sink to the ground she wouldn't be able to get herself back up. Despite her color, she really didn't look that much like a pirate-- she was fit enough, but not strongly-built; she thought before speaking; she was too together, too calm to be a pirate. All she had were the scars, the knife, and sometimes, the faint smell of alcohol. Not tonight, though; she was glad she chose against drinking tonight.

"First of all, your prior assumptions were correct. I am not a pirate," She was in no hurry (unlike the kacheek), and explained this clearly and slowly. "At least, not by occupation. I didn't mean to lie to you earlier, it's simply easier to say that I'm a pirate when I hail from Krawk Island and have the right color and spend most of my days with them, anyhow."
Liquorice thought it curious how he sat in a cross-legged position, emphasizing his youth. She wondered what his story was.
"To answer your other questions, my name is Liquorice- that's with a Q-U, not a C- and I am a navigator for hire, by trade. I have no crew, nor a ship of my own any longer. I work with others for a living, but on a whole I work alone." She let herself smile at him a little, though she wasn't sure if he noticed with his furious scribblings into that notepad. "Don't worry, I'm not lying. I don't have a reason to."

[Maddie]

"Yes, yes, I have no other option than to believe you at the moment," Greed mumbled with a slight head shake, keeping his eyes glued to the notepad. Jerking his pen back and stabbing the paper to form a crude period, he tore his eyes away from the page and continued his interrogation with a bored sigh, "Think you could tell me why you're here tonight, Liquorice? Any reason a Krawk Islander came to visit the distant, dangerous-" he yawned mid-sentence, "-outskirts of Neovia?" Smacking his lips together, his pen was once again poised to scribble more notes.