"COME OUT RIGHT NOW!"
'Dammit kitty. You have the worst timing.' Kurt thought, giving the cat a stink eye.
"If you don't show yourself, I swear I'll burn this place to smithereens! You have five seconds!" The bald man warned.
'Really!? You didn't hear the meow? It was clearly a cat!'
"FIVE!"
'Come Kurt, think. What's the best way to get out of this?'
"FOUR!"
"THREE!"
"TWO!"
'Screw it. Let's improvise.'
Stepping out from his hiding place, Kurt showed himself to the two thieves and walked to them with a vote of confidence.
"Sorry I'm late, boys." He spoke smoothly.
Still feeling agitated, the bald man raised and pointed his lit hand at Kurt.
"Who are you, one eye?"
Kurt raised his hands to show that he is of no threat and asked, "What do you mean? Who else would ask to meet you two here?"
"Boss," the man in all black whispered, "I think this is the buyer."
The bald man, who is referred to as boss, stared at Kurt carefully. He scrutinized him. Trying to look for any signs that he was indeed the buyer and not some random person who happened to be spying on them.
Finding nothing that suggests the latter, he asked, "Hmm. Are you really the buyer?"
Kurt did not say anything. He only smiled and nodded as if he expected their reactions.
"Ha!" the boss put down his hand and laughed, "You're late, you know. Any second longer and I might've looked for a new buyer."
"Sorry about that. Being late is a bad habit of mine." Kurt too put down his hands and walked closer.
"That's bad for business. You better fix that habit before it gets you in trouble."
"I'm well aware…. Speaking of business." Kurt led on.
"Ah yes, let's get to it shall we. Tell me, you got the money?"
"That depends," Kurt answered, "You got the stuff?"
"Of course we have the stuff," the man in all black interjected, "Let's not play these games and get this over with. I don't want to be in the creepy alley any longer than I have to."
"You make a fair point my ninja friend. No wasting time it is." Kurt took out his pouch of coins and shook it in front of them.
"Looks a little light, don't you think?" The boss questioned.
"It's only gold coins." Kurt bluffed, "Think of it as a bonus for stealing from, and losing that pink haired girl so cleanly."
"You were watching me?" The ninja-looking man was surprised by this revelation.
"In case something went wrong. One can never be too careful." Kurt acknowledged him.
"Wow~ No one ever notices me. It's only ever the boss here." He looked at Kurt with a creepy look that suggested he's smiling underneath his mask.
"The hell are you getting all emotional for?! Move it!".
Pushing him out the way, the boss took out four dog tags.
"These are the version two display tags that your cult requested. So how are we going to do this?"
"Let's keep things simple," Kurt suggested, "I take ten steps back and you put the tags on the ground. Afterwards, you take ten steps back and I move to take the tags and put the coins on the ground. I leave with the tags, and you leave happy rich men. Fair?"
"I don't like it," the boss shook his head, "Why do we have to let go of the goods first. As far as I'm aware, you're the ones who need us. Not the other way around. We can just look for other buyers."
'Damn you baldy! I thought you had a pea-sized brain.'
"Fine. I'll go first then. Happy?" Kurt smiled.
"Swell."
The two thieves proceeded as planned and took ten steps back. When they stopped, Kurt crouched down and put the coins on the ground.
'Am I really doing this? Just for some random pink haired girl I don't even know? Argh, this is all that cat's fault!'
After putting the coins down, Kurt stood up, raised his hands in the air and slowly took ten steps back.
Seeing that the coins were lying there, the boss slowly walked towards it with the tags in his hands. Behind him, however, the ninja followed.
"Why are you following me you idiot! This is a one-man job. Are you trying to spook the buyer or something?!"
"S-sorry boss. I didn't know…"
"Yeah yeah. What do you know? Just go stand back."
The ninja walked back with deflated steps as he got yelled at.
'Oof. From what little I've seen of their dynamic, I'm almost starting to feel bad for him. Almost.'
When the boss reached the pouch of coins, he put the box of tags next to it and looked at Kurt as if waiting for approval.
He nodded and Kurt nodded back.
The boss slowly grabbed the pouch, stood up and carefully walked back.
'Dammit. That was my lifeline in this messed up world. Sorry Willy.'
The boss finally stood next to the ninja and waited for Kurt to pick the tags.
"It would be rude of me to just leave. I'll wait for you to take the goods. That way we can both leave satisfied."
"How magnanimous of you." Kurt replied.
As he walked to pick it up, his face showed no signs of suspicion but on the inside was another story.
'Please don't look inside the pouch! Please don't look!'
Just as he was about to pick the box up, two sets of voices spoke at the same time, "Hey! This isn't only gold coins!" The boss yelled — "What's going on here!" The new voice could be heard yelling as well.
"What the-" The boss was distracted and looked at the unknown person.
'Now!' Kurt sprung up and threw the box at the ninja.
"Hey! Be careful with that!" When the ninja tried catching it, he noticed Kurt sprinting towards the distracted boss.
Confused on what to prioritise for that split second, he had a brain fart and stood still.
That split second was enough time for Kurt to grab the boss in a choke hold.
"Acch hrrk ugh…." The boss tapped and struggled to breath as Kurt squeezed.
"Shhhh. I'm holding just enough so that you don't pass out." He whispered. "Now let's see where this new development takes us."
Kurt focused his attention on the new arrival and asked, "Who are you?"
"My my my… What an unprecedented turn of…. events~"
The new figure was a man dressed in thick black robes that covered his whole body and had a hood covering half of his face. On the hood, covering his eyes, were two crudely painted red eyes that were crying out blood. This blood design trailed from the eyes all the way down to the bottom of the robe.
"Are you perhaps… a cultist?" Kurt took an educated guess.
"What an ugly thing to call us!" He yelled.
Raising his arm up into the air and tilting his head back, he continued, "We… are the children… of Goddess Bula~ AHAHAHAHA!"
"W-wait a minute," the ninja, now holding the box in his hands, turned to Kurt and asked, "Weren't you the cultist-"
"HAA?!" The cultist screeched.
"I mean! Uhm… gentleman. Weren't you the gentleman you were supposed to meet us here?"
"Oh noo…" Kurt said sarcastically. "You got me. Cats outta the bag."
"Ark… l-let go! Hrrk… of me!"
"Quite baldy!" He squeezed a bit tighter. "You're just a worthless small-time thief so you don't get a say in this. By the way, I'll be taking this back."
He quickly snatched back the coins he lost and continued the hold.
"Excuse me boys. I don't mean to interrupt whatever game you're playing but if you don't mind me, I would like to purchase that box the fellow in black is holding."
"What?! No way! How can I trust that you two are not working together?!" The ninja held the box closer to his chest as a precaution.
"No no no my friend~ That's not how this works." The cultist reached into his robe and took out a pouch of coins. He then dropped it on the floor and out came coin after coin after coin. All of them, gold.
"W-whoa…" The amount falling out stunned the ninja.
"Are we in business my friend?"
The ninja looked at the coins then at the boss.
Faintly but ever so clearly, he heard the words come out the boss's mouth,
"R-run…ugh… a-away."
"W-what?"
"You better listen to baldy here." Kurt said. "That lunatic dropping the coins on the ground like that is practically a sign that screams 'this is a trap'."
"B-but-"
"RUN YOU IDIOT!" The boss yelled, pulling Kurt's arms away just enough to do so.
Snapping out of his daze, the ninja prepared himself to run away when suddenly-
"Oh no you don't!"
The cultist drew a knife and stabbed it into his right hand. On his left hand were markings that had all sorts of shapes and symbols and when blood gushed out the right, he clapped the two together.
CLAP
Mana burst out from him and scattered around the area.
"ARGH!" The ninja froze.
'Why can't I move?' Kurt too froze
"Good~ It seems my spell worked hehe." The cultist walked slowly towards the ninja and took the box. "I'll be having this, thank you."
"N-no!" The ninja panicked.
"Hmm? You can still talk? Guess I still need to refine the spell~ Ah well! There's always next time! AHAHAHAHA!"
"Give it bac-"
"QUIET FILTH!"
SLASH!
GUSH!
thud
The ninja's head fell to the floor as the cultist cut right through it.