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Walpurgis opened the door carefully, making sure to cause as little noise as possible. Drawing his knife from his belt, he flipped it in his hand. Creeping through the safe house, he noted a light coming from Shaw's old room. With his back to the wall, he peered inside.

A hooded figure was crouched down with a candle lighting a small area around them. Walpurgis launched forward and grabbed the intruder by the forehead, pressing the edge of his knife to their neck. "Who are you?"

The figure was silent for a moment, before they drove an elbow into his knee while simultaneously grabbing the hand holding the knife. Knocked to the ground, Walpurgis dropped his knife before immediately snatching it back up. He pointed the knife at the hooded figure's back only to find a gun leveled at his face.

The two remained motionless for a time before finally the hooded figure lowered the gun. "Ah wish ya'd stahp tryin' ta kill me everytime we meet, Walpurgis." The woman pulled back her hood, and Walpurgis found himself face to face with Karina Shaw.

Sighing, he sheathed his knife. "And I wish you would warn me ahead of time when you're going to be sneaking up on me." He shook his head as Karina grinned. "You're not even supposed to be here, you're still undercover in Zatao."

Karina shrugged. "Ah told 'em ah had a death in the family, and ah had to go back fer tha funeral."

"Uh-huh. And how did you find out I was going to be here? I assume you didn't nearly blow your cover for the sake of looking at old pictures."

"Trias let me know ya were actin' strange, talkin' 'bout taking a break, and ah figured ya'd be comin' ta kill Hughes. And ah want in." Karina stared expectantly at Walpurgis.

Damned old man... Walpurgis matched her stare. "Well, I'm not." He lied.

Karina grinned. "Ah know a lot about ya, Walpurgis. Ah know yer a really nice guy, who even helps his enemies. Ah know what kinda food ya like. And ah know yer a terrible liar. Ya always keep eye contact when yer lyin', 'cause ya think it makes ya look like yer tellin' the truth. It does, just not ta me."

"So, what's yer grand scheme, Walpurgis?"

He shook his head. "Don't have one, yet. I figured I'd come up with something on the go."

Karina gave him a dead look. "So.... what? Ya were just gonna walk in there and kill everyone?"

"No, I only want to kill Hughes. No one else needs to be hurt."

The woman sighed, and she shook her head before looking Walpurgis in the eyes. "Walpurgis - Ah love ya, but sometimes yer ********' stupid. Like now. He's the goddamn commisioner now, yer not gonna just waltz in there an' kill 'im without hurtin' anyone else." She turned her steel blue eyes up to the ceiling and began to tap rapidly on her knee with her finger. A mischievous grin crawled over her lips, and she looked back to Walpurgis. "How 'bout this: we blow some s**t up." He opened his mouth to protest, but she held a finger to his lips. "We're not gonna kill anyone - just blow s**t up. We tell the cops beforehand that someone's planted bombs around the city - we blow somethin' up ta catch their attention. While they're scramblin' around, tryin' ta evacuate people from the dangerous spots, we sneak into the police HQ and off Hughes. Whaddya think?"

Walpurgis was silent a moment as he thought it over - it was risky, but it was probably the best chance to get to Hughes without harming anyone. Assuming it went like Karina was saying. "You said we'd blow something up to get their attention - Saffron's a packed city. What could we blow up that wouldn't hurt someone?"

Karina gestured around the room. "Ain't been anyone here in ten years, and after we kill Hughes, we won't really need it - we'll be going back ta Zatao." She paused. "'Course, we'll still hafta set the bombs at the other locations - blow some s**t up after they've been evacuated so the cops don't think we're kidding."

Walpurgis nodded his understanding. "Alright, how do we go about that?"

She grinned coyly. "Ah got just the idea in mind."

Karina walked into the room clutching her head, one of the straps of her dress hanging limply off her arm. "Agh, my ********' head.... Never drinkin' again, man, ah swear..."

Walpurgis looked up at her approach and smiled knowingly. "You say that, but you'll probably be drunk again before the end of the week."

The hungover rocket sighed. "Yeah, yer prob'ly right." She clenched her eyes shut tight as a wave of nausea assaulted her. "Think I'm gonna puke..."

Walpurgis pointed to the left. "Bathroom's down the hall."

Karina gave him a tired look. "Yer such a d**k."

Walpurgis shrugged. "It's not like you need me to hold your hair, it's short enough."

Karina was thoughtful for a moment as she twirled a finger through her hair. "Should ah grow it out, ya think?" Only a moment, before she clapped a hand over her mouth and rushed down the hall.

"Have fun!" Walpurgis called out after her.

After a while of loud wretching, there was silence, followed by "Eat a d**k, Walpurgis!", then more wretching.



Hours later, Karina was feeling better and Walpurgis had a few blossoming bruises along his upper arm. "You didn't have to hit me." Walpurgis murmured, rubbing his sore arm.

Karina glared at him as she held the phone away from her face. "And ya didn't have to be a d**k, so we're even. Now shut up so ah can make this call."

Walpurgis did as he was told, and listened quietly. "Hello, is this the police? Oh, good. Listen, I have to make this fast - they're watching me." A pause. "I don't know who! But there's going to be something big going down - a bombing, I think. I overheard one of them talking - said they were going to blow up a bunch of places. The Happy Miltank, the movie theatre, uhm..." Karina pulled out her gun, and Walpurgis tilted his head. "Oh no, they're here! Listen, you've got to evacuate the people! You've got to-" Karina fired the gun at the floor and dropped the phone on the ground.

Turning around, she whispered furiously to Walpurgis. "We've got to go, now! The cops will be crawling on this place soon." She picked up Shaw's old mask and put it on, already wearing the rest of his garb. Walpurgis was also in mission gear, and he too put his mask on.

The two rushed out the door and clung to the shadows. Sure enough, within five minutes a patrol car pulled up to the hide out. Karina waited until the two police officers had drawn their guns and were creeping toward the entrance before detonating the charges. Stunned, one of the police ran back to the vehicle and started shouting on the radio. Though they couldn't make out what he was saying, it was obvious that he was explaining that the call wasn't a joke. The two ran off, keeping to the shadows.

Karina ducked into another empty room and was about to leave when she saw two pokeballs sitting on a table. Smiling under her father's mask, she quickly pocketed the pokeballs. Should make a pretty nice gift for someone, and it's not like ah care if someone here gets in trouble over losin' them.

While she was stuffing the pokeballs into her pocket, she brushed her hand against one of the explosive charges she had brought along. Looking around, she grinned. This'll be a good place. She placed three charges around the room and bolted out into the hallway.

Commisioner Hughes swore repeatedly as he tried to shove the desk off of himself to no avail. Looking up at Walpurgis and Karina's approach, he stared in horror as he saw Karina. "No. It can't be... You're dead! I killed you myself!" Walpurgis looked over at Karina, but the mask hid any emotion she might have shown. The man continued to scream. "You can't be here, Shaw! You're dead! I killed you! I killed you!!

Karina leveled her gun at Hughes face. "Good ta know I got tha right guy." Hatred seemed to drip off every word she spoke. Without another word, she pulled the trigger, and her father's murderer fell backwards, blood pooling under his head.

Karina turned away from the grisly scene. "Let's go." She said, and she left the room. Walpurgis cast one last look back at Hughes' corpse before following after her. The woman pulled another detonator from her pocket and pressed the button, and explosions rocked the building.

"What was that?" He asked.

Karina didn't look at him as she continued heading for the roof. "Ensurin' our escape."

The two made their way back to the alleyway, where Karina took off her mission gear and shoved them into a cardboard box. "Put yer stuff in here." Walpurgis removed his coat and mask, placing them inside the box. Karina knelt down and closed the box before picking it up. "Now we act like we're goin' home 'cause of the warnin'."