CLOSED.

[Mademoiselle Alvinette]

I WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT, YOU PUTZ!!!! was the first thought in Natalie's brain. And good luck to him getting her classified as an endangered threat; her Agency knew who and what she was, and they employed her anyway. Natalie didn't want to be tortured, but she was dang sure not going to tell this schmuck a thing. He was the one with the fancy laptop; let him find the answers if he was so smart!

"Vintrict," she said as calmly as she could, "if you don't want me to believe you're the bad guy, then stop actin' like one! Let's forget for a second that you've got me tied to a chair and you're threatening me. Think about the history we've got. You continually insult my intelligence, maturity, everything else, you've abducted me three times now, you take sick pleasure in makin' me think you took advantage of me in my sleep...WHAT DOES THAT SOUND LIKE TO YOU?? So if you wanted me to be on your side, you did a crap job of it."

"And no, I'm not gonna tell you a thing. I don't even know who YOU work for! Why in the WORLD would I even tell you what my favorite SONG is, let alone anything else?"

[Vintrict]

He quickly gripped both sides of her jaw with a single left hand. He put anger on his face.

"You want to know why I'm doing this to you? Because you're vulnerable. You're weak. You're still alive because of the hair's breath of luck that you had. That has ran out. Any moment now, someone is going to end your life. And you don't care!"

He let go of her, the rage still placed on his face.

"I've protected humans for many years. And the one thing I hate seeing is those with a death wish. Those who fail to protect themselves or those around them, even when the answer is in front of them. You're naive. You're scum! And you're the type of people that only gets in my way."

He pulled out his gun, his thumb pushing down on the hammer as he aimed it at her forehead. He pressed the cold metal against her skin. He wanted to see the fear in her eyes.

[The Poppy King]

Agent L

64N, L45.55, 711...

VWOOP.

Upstairs, for a moment, a crystal-clear portal opened for just long enough to allow a man dressed in an inconspicuous black suit with black sunglasses to walk through as he adjusted the dial on his somewhat over-sized camera. He seemed ordinary, despite the fact he had just walked through a gateway through matter. A second after he was clear, the portal closed behind him, leaving ordinary wall in it's wake once again. After finishing the adjustment to his camera, the man plucked a flip-phone from his pocket before opening it, dialing a number and holding it to his ear while he walked down the corridor to the room he needed.

"No, I just arrived." He answers to the person on the phone, stopping in front of a door before checking it to see if it was the one he needed. Seemed like it. "Yes, I'm just about to... I've a few moments, checking it now." There was an English accent to his voice, one forged by education instead of region, very well-spoken. The man withdrew a tablet-like device from the opposite pocket with his free hand, flicking his gaze between the door and the screen as if taking in the various details. Seemingly satisfied, he placed the tablet back into his pocket. "Yes, it's the right time and place."

Turning to the door to Vintrict's room, the man knocked thrice upon the door before calling to the occupants within; "Good evening Sir, I'm with the-" he paused for a moment, frowning before talking once again to the person on the other end of the phone. "What do you mean, ju-" a second's pause. "No I'm not doing that, it's stupid a- fine." With a sigh, he continued talking through the door. "I'm a pizza delivery man."

[Mademoiselle Alvinette]

Natalie gasped as Vintrict grabbed her jaw with one hand. It hurt. She would have bruises there for hours, if she lived through this. "You're hurting me," she said through clenched teeth, defiance in her stare. I will not break down, I will not break down, I won't I won't I won't...

But those words hurt so much, more than his grip on her jaw had. This was the true Vintrict, the angry one, the torturer, the one who could and likely would end her life in this very room, and he was wrong about her. She may have flaws, she may be weak, but everybody had flaws. No one was perfect, and she was NOT scum!

"If I'm scum," she said softly, hurt in her eyes and a tear rolling down her cheek, "then how come I have so many loved o--"

Gun in her face. Gun. In. Her. Face. She stared at him for a split second, then shut her eyes. No. She would NOT let him see the panic. If she had to go while she was tied to a chair, she'd at least try to do it with dignity.

Then there were three knocks at the door, and a guy who was "with" something, but no, he was a pizza guy, was asking to be let in. Natalie sucked in a breath. What in the world? "What, did you seriously buy a pizza just so you can eat it in front of me? And you wondered why I never called you about that date. Jerk..."

[Vintrict]

Natalie was unbelievably stubborn. It agitated him how many contradictions she had. This wasn't even brave. It was suicide for her. The approach of someone outside was known well before he got close to the door. Vintrict could sense anyone close by. He was that cautious. The man's words, however faint they were, were carried through the air into the ears of the windmaster. He wasn't an idiot. Someone had come for her. He could tell because there was a magical disturbance, followed by the intrusion of this new body. A portal, no doubt.

Vintrict was a ruthless hunter. He was trained that way. In a way, Natalie was seeing a true part of himself. But his eyes lacked the drive to go through with it. He only displayed his real eyes to those he was ready to kill. Facial expressions were easy. He gave a sigh, removing the gun from her head.

"Looks like someone came to save you. I'm going to offer you a choice, Natalie. If you want to help fix all the problems between us and that at Solomon's, you're going to have to cooperate with me whether you like it or not. But if you wish to continue to resist me, I will not hold back on the cleansing of Solomon's and everything dark within. And remember when I said I wasn't the only hunter coming there? I doubt any of your friends will be able to hold out against some of the world's best."

He began unclasping her the latches around her limbs. Once they were all off, he took a step back, placing his hands in his pockets.

"The choice is yours."

[The Poppy King]

Agent L

"I don't know, he's not answering the door." Clearly secrecy wasn't high up on this man's list. He was talking loudly enough for anyone to hear if they wanted to, but it didn't matter. "Should he answer the door?" A moment's pause as he listened to the reaction. "Exactly, I wouldn't either. As long as the APiT is changed then we're good." The inconspicuous average-looking-guy rolled his eyes before knocking on the door once more, three times, harder. "Err, your... pizza is getting cold. What are you going on about... I've delivered it on time so it's not free, don't try to cheat me here." A few moments pause as the man continued to listen to the response from the phone. "Yeah, I know. Some people, tsk."

The man moved his camera a little, sliding the strap so it moved behind him in order to keep it out of the way should he need to use his hands. It had been calculated that this would go smoothly, but the Twins had been wrong before. "That's our job. Turn up at the right place at the right time, even if we just have to say a line or two." More speech to the woman on the phone. "Okay, but you're buying. I think we're almost done here, order it in 20 minutes." After that, the ordinary man would close the phone and push it into a pocket before withdrawing a sleek metal cylinder with curved ends from his pocket before knocking against the door once more. He stood in a relaxed pose, breathing calmly.

[Mademoiselle Alvinette]

The pizza-guy-who-was-most-likely-not-a-real-pizza-guy was getting a little impatient with his knocking at the door, and Natalie was almost amused thinking about how Vinny boy was going to explain this to the neighbors. Unless he makes a habit of bringing girls up here and tying them to chairs. Nooope, dooo nooot wanna think about it. Makes me think of some kind of horror flick...

At least she knew that he was likely not going to shoot her in the face, not yet anyway. Natalie let out a sigh of relief as Vintrict sighed and removed the gun from her head. There was probably gonna be a mark there too. But it was painfully clear that she and Vintrict were likely on opposite sides of this conflict now, that he saw her as a blight just like he did everyone else at Solomon's. She couldn't cooperate with him, and yet she couldn't stand to see the carnage either. There had to be some way to stop it.

"Vintrict, I'm startin' to get the feelin' that if there's other hunters on their way to Solomon's, you called 'em there. Stop layin' all this on me. You have a choice too," she said softly, a range of emotions in her eyes, ranging from fear to hurt to a determination to save her friends.

And as he was releasing her hands and feet, she asked, just out of curiosity, "What do you mean by cooperation? And...and why did you let me go if I'm such a threat?" The man confused her. She was almost afraid to get up out of the chair, at least while her limbs were still numb. "Or is this more head games?"

[Vintrict]

The knocking was getting annoying. Once again, he didn't answer it out of principle. He'll get his answer when Vintrict felt like it, or when Natalie decided to go open the door. Or if the person decided to bash it down. Whichever happened first didn't matter to him.

"I sent no one. But if I wanted to, I could stop it. I have no incentive, however, to do so. This is the right thing to do. What I am offering you is an option for you to favor. You want to see this to a peaceful end. I want to see this to an end whether its peaceful or not. Your best bet is to convince me. And to do that, you're going to have to throw away all those assumptions of yours and face logic."

He closed his eyes.

[The Poppy King]

Agent L

As patient as ever, the man knocked thrice upon the door once more. Everything was going to plan, so there didn't seem to be any need to open the door. The man began to hum a tune to himself; Danse Macabre, the first thing that popped into his mind. While continuing to hum, the man used his free hand to push back the black sleeve of his suit far enough to read the face of the silver wristwatch he wore. Making good time, just as the Twins predicted. Letting his sleeve fall once again, the man returned his gaze to the door and knocked trice upon it again. A light sigh. There wasn't any way to rush the event, but he was quite eager to get to his dinner... hopefully his partner wouldn't forget to ask to have the mushrooms removed this time... "Wouldn't this whole thing go a lot easier without a nice, hot slice of cheesy pizza? If you don't want it, I'm sure I can find someone else who does."

[Mademoiselle Alvinette]

"You mean you want me to face your idea of logic," Natalie replied. "And I've never been able to understand you. You're a walking contradiction. I mean, for heaven's sake! You corner me in a bar, tell me I'm a problem, corner me in the BATHROOM and put me to sleep, I wake up tied to a chair and you start threatenin' me, and now you're just lettin' me go? You act like you wanna kill me, and then you back down...and I've never gotten a straight answer from you on anything!"

Her shoulders slumped. "What do you want me to do? And I'm not sayin' I'll do it. I just want some answers, for once, startin' with whom you work for, and how you propose to end this."

She really wanted to let the poor "pizza" guy in, but she wanted Vintrict talking, and she figured that the best thing to do would be to let him talk without anyone else in the room.

[Vintrict]

((Gonna head out to eat.))

Vintrict walked over to his seat, sitting down.

"First thing you can do is send away whoever that is that came for you. I can wait."

[The Poppy King]

Agent L

Oh God, now he was craving the curry. Beef curry with beef-fried rice... the man frowned, trying not to get distracted until the Subject was safe. It would be over soon enough and he'd be sitting in the park with his partner, gorging himself on Chinese takeaway. What was their next job..? Urgh, pick-up from Mulwats... the Cressitarian loved to help carry the boxes, which meant that the crates were covered in his mucus secretions. Gross. They'd definitely eat before going on that job.

Blinking twice, the man reminded himself not to get distracted and knocked twice upon the door. If his timing was correct, this would mean that it was time to... "Miss, we call his kind a "Chess or Checkers" type. You think you're playing one game when you're really playing another that he's making up the rules to. Staying here will only leave you with more cryptic answers and get you nowhere, and I know you know that. I also know that you want to know how I know you know that, but all can be explained later." The man couldn't actually hear what was going on behind the door, but he'd played this conversation out in his head many times before arriving. Hopefully he'd remembered his cue, otherwise this would be a very short and a very odd conversation...

[Mademoiselle Alvinette]

Natalie had just gotten up to stretch, but she sank down in the stupid chair again when Vintrict told her to send away the person outside who could very well be her lifeline. She was well and truly torn. She wanted answers, but she also did not want to wind up in restraints again.

And then came the voice through the door, telling her that this really was all just head games. She knew he was right, that he probably would never give her any real answers...and Natalie had an idea.

"Hey Vintrict? Counterproposal. I wanna hear you out, but I want some real answers," she said firmly. "So how about you call me after I'm through talkin' to this man, and I'll arrange another meeting."

And then she said to the man across the door, "Just a sec! Don't wanna keep you waiting, but I need to get my stuff together!"

[The Poppy King]

Agent L

Appearance: The Man in Black

All according to plan.

The man had been counting down the seconds, 5... 4... 3... and then the door opened. A little early, but you could never be exact with the science. Hearing the doorknob turn, L stood to the side in order to avoid anyone within the room seeing him - at this point, only Natalie could see him and anyone who walked into the corridor. It meant he would't have to bother with the speech. Upon seeing Natalie's face, the man smiled and offered the woman his hand. "The name's L. Pleased to meet you, Natalie. I'm sure you want answers, but I'm only supposed to to tell you after we're away from this place. Is that fine with you?" He asked to confirm. It was hard to read his expression with the black sunglasses hiding his eyes, but he looked relaxed and likeable enough. "I've a car outside we could take if you're not fond of Dimension-Hoppers." He offered while simultaneously clicking open the silver cylinder in his hand.

The three beeps, increasing in pitch, signified that the device had charged. From Natalie's angle, she might see three black buttons where L's thumb was resting. The other side had a wide piece of glass that stretched from side to side. It was one of the main reasons why L was wearing the sunglasses. The signifying item of his agency.

[Mademoiselle Alvinette]

Natalie gasped when the guy burst in. "Sooo not a pizza guy!" she said with a surprised little chuckle. Indeed, the fella looked like a character from a sci-fi flick. And was that...A FLIPPIN' NEURALIZER?? The FLASHY THING?? Yyyeah, Natalie wanted to make sure she stayed on the REAR side of that! As traumatizing as things had been for the past few hours--heh, WEEKS--she still wanted to remember it. ALL of it. I don't want to forget how this guy has twisted and warped me...I need to remember it, for self-preservation, and so I can warn my friends!

"I don't mind dimension-hoppin', just get me outta here!" Natalie breathed. She was grabbing stuff left and right, and then she stood well behind the agent guy, not wanting to get her memories wiped. "I'll even tell ya where to drop me off!" And if she felt the need to escape from this guy, well, she had her gun back and she was loading it again. Tungsten core rounds...

"Vintrict...like I said, if you really wanna talk nonviolent solutions for the blockade and all the other craziness, we can talk like reasonable adults, maybe tomorrow. No abductions, no cheap tricks with my oxygen supply, no bull. Make me think you're sincere."

She turned to Agent L again. "I'm ready...let's split."

((Red needs to go to bed soon because it's actually early morning where he is, so I went ahead and posted. sweatdrop ))