Half his face throbbed with pain as he was led out of the infirmary and toward the visitor center, but he refrained from complaining or asking who the guest was. The guards had grown ridiculously cautious with him of late, enough to make a fellow feel rather lonely, and their faces were tellingly closed as they walked him along. After recent events, whoever came a-calling had to have a certain amount of pull to be given access to him. The kind of pull that made the two grunts beside him both apprehensive yet eager to please if their bearing was anything to go by. Or perhaps, he thought as they entered one of the private rooms, the guest in question was simply a rather pretty girl.

And she was a pretty girl, though not at all what could be considered his type. Small and pale, she gave a particularly fragile first impression, sitting primly under the room's harsh fluorescent lights. The impression veered toward slightly unworldly as he took in the pale blue eyes under curiously arched brows and the dark waves of impractically long black hair that framed, enveloped, and nearly overwhelmed her. A fairy princess. Who was now gesturing for the guards to leave, they didn't seem entirely pleased with the notion. They grumbled and postured as they left, assuring him that any malicious actions on his part would find a swift retribution most dire awaiting him just outside the door.

The door closed, she looked at him expectantly, and he wondered just what the ******** she was about here. Was this an opening gambit of sorts or was she just slightly stupid? He stared back for several moments before sighing softly, "I'm afraid you have me at something of a disadvantage, as you most likely know who I am, but I find I can't say the same."

Her mouth made a little o in surprise, and when she spoke, her voice was soft and held a slightly breathless quality. It was voice on verge of gasping that caused him to wonder if perhaps she was rather more to his taste than previously thought. "Your voice doesn't match your face at all," she smiled at him, somehow pleased by this.

Considering the fact that his face was a mass of bruises, with one eye swollen to a degree most would find alarming, this was perhaps a compliment, but then again, maybe not. He simply smiled back at her, a predator bearing its teeth, and waited for her to continue. She looked aside, thick, dark lashes fluttering against her cheeks. "Two years ago," she glanced at his face and then away, the smile took on a slightly dreamy quality and suddenly she seemed less there, "..you found something in Mexico. At Palenque. They remembered you. Half mad, walking a line between life and death. In search of a woman who held half your soul."

She made it sound like a fairy tale. He'd been feverish and more than half mad, never mind the soul nonsense. His own smile grew a touch feral, "That far back? It seems as if you've gone through some trouble to find me."

"Oh," her eyes slid toward him, brows lifted high, "...don't worry. It wasn't difficult."

The little b***h.

"But the thing you took...do you wish to keep it?" She asked, voice full of genuine curiosity.

The little b***h.

"I don't wish for things, my dear, I make them happen," his voice and expression began to grow sharp, "Do I intend to keep that which is mine? Yes, I do. So if this is an offer to buy..."

She ******** giggled.

"Oh no, buying wouldn't do any good, you'd just summon it back, or it to you. I'm right aren't I?" The girl's attention was once again fully in the here and now as she awaited his answer, "You've bonded? That's why you did what you did. The experiments...I found your old labs."

His expression was set and still as he simply looked at her. She fidgeted, not so much from discomfort as from growing excitement.

"But we can talk about that later, once you decide."

"And what exactly is this decision I'm supposed to be making?"

She startled slightly, "Oh, if you want to come with me, so I can explain it all to you. I think you'll be a great help to me, once you know what you're doing."

The little b***h.

"And if I don't?"

Pale blue eyes looked at him sadly, "Then there's no use for you. We can still use the weapon, but...it would be a waste, since it probably won't bond again for a long time."

He didn't bother explaining that his weapon, his Marie, would have to be pried from his cold dead hands. Despite her youth and fragile appearance, there was something in her tone that took his death a simple fact should he fail to comply. He'd died or come close enough any number of times over the last few years, and the idea had lost a great deal of it's thrill. Despite this, he'd still rather not actually die any time soon.

"Well, that would be shame now, wouldn't it?"

She smiled sweetly, "Well, you never know, we could get lucky. But the sure thing is always preferable, isn't it?"

The little b***h.

"Is there a deadline for this decision?"

"Hmmm...you have until the door opens, and they take you back?"

The sound of the knob turning filled the silence after her reply, and he couldn't help but laugh at the timing, "Fine. I'll go with you. Why ever would I not? Though how you plan to get me out of here..."

Her expression brightened, and she leaned close, curious and eager as the door began to open, "Edward Acosta...that's not the name you were born with, right?"

Suspicion clouded his expression, but before he could respond, she continued, "So you won't mind him dying? Just a little bit?"

The little b***h.

The bullet hit him from behind like a goddamn sledgehammer, and the last thing he saw that day was the spray of his blood across her dress. The sight would remain with him for long after she properly introduced herself as Velda Delacroix, council member of Deus Ex Machina, leader of it's Life Division, and his new boss. It was a sight that would haunt his thoughts for years to come.