La Belle Gabrielle

[Kana Lémartes]

Kana turned back to Zack, and scowled.
“If she is telling the truth, why is Joey Risk still alive?”
He turned back to Kerry.
“I’ll give you one last chance, McDonald. Why does Joey Risk still live?”
Kerry stared at Kana out of her remaining eye.
“You’re crazy, you know that?” Her voice was quiet and shaky, but determined.
Kana laughed.
“So I’ve been told.” He reached to his waist and pulled out his gun.
“But, as you either cannot or will not give me the information I require, it seems I have no further use for you.”
He aimed the gun at her head. Kerry closed her eyes and steeled herself.
Kana pulled the trigger. Seconds later, he fired a second shot into her chest, and a moment later, all that remained of Kerry McDonald was a pile of bloody ash on the floor.

[Zackary Kalen]

Staring impassively at the pile of ash on the floor, Zack clicked his lighter a few times before finally pulling out a cigarette and lighting it to replace the one Kana took.

"Well, that was a collossal waste of a cigarette," he said, frowning and chewing slightly on the end of his fresh nicotine stick, before folding his arms and just tilted his head at Kana. He had a feeling things were not over yet.

Exhaling slowly, he decided to take a chance and ask,

"Who's this 'Risk' guy anyway?"

[Kana Lémartes]

Kana ignored Zack at first. Instead, he replaced his gun and crossed to a phone that hung on the wall on the far side of the room. He picked it up and dialled an internal number. After a few seconds, he barked an order for a cleaner to deal with the mess in the room, then hung up. Then he turned back to Zack.

"Joey Risk is..." he paused, wondering how to phrase it. "An aquaintance of my family. My brother wishes him dead, and it has recently come to light that he is alive when we believed him not to be."

Just as he finished speaking, the door of the room opened and a woman entered, carrying a dustpan and brush. She bowed slightly to Kana, who nodded towards the pile of ash. The woman swept it wordlessly, and tipped the ash into a black bag she pulled from her pocket. She left the room and returned a few seconds later carrying a cloth, mop and bucket. She cleaned up the blood stains and waited for Kana to dismiss her.

Kana watched her clean in silence, and dismissed her with a wave of his hand when she had finished. Then he turned back to Zack.

"Ready for more?" He asked, smiling sadistically.

[Zackary Kalen]

Zack chewed on the end of his cigarette, before tilting his head,

"And I assume finding out how a dead guy can live is the reason you're beating about people now, is it?" he asked, but without any hint of implication or disdain. He exhaled before returning his lighter to his pocket and watching as the woman impassively cleared up the ashes of what had been...what was her name again? Either way, the tactic of not remembering their names was working.

At Kana's question, Zack raised his head slightly and replied with a wry smirk,

"Oh, lucky me," he said, sarcasm loosely veiled in his voice.

[Kana Lémartes]

((Sorry I've been so long replying! >.< No excuse really, just couldn't be arsed to reply. *slaps wrist*))

Kana's smile faded at Zack's question.
"The reason" he said slowly "That I'm 'beating people about' is that these are the people who are supposed to have killed him."
He paused for a moment and the sadistic smile returned to his face.
"And now, back to business."
He picked up the phone again and dialled another number.
"Send me Jones. Room 3."
He placed the phone back in the cradle and waited.

[Zackary Kalen]

[[OOC: Busy week, coursework due, sorry. But here's the reply (of doom.)]]

Zack's eyebrow twitched slightly. So this Risk guy was supposed to have been assassinated? How the hell was he still alive?

At Kana's summons for yet another hapless victim, Zack decided it was probably time to make himself comfortable. He slid down the wall until he was seated, his arms propped on his knees, cigarette now loosely dangling from his fingertips.

"So...who's Jones?" he asked.

[Kana Lémartes]

"Griff Jones, otherwise known as 'the Shadow'" Kana replied, leaning against the wall casually. "Pathetic alias, isn't it?"
He looked up. A strand of his hair had fallen out of place during his encounter with Kerry. He smoothed it back into place.
"Another of the 'assassins' responsible for Risk."
He paused.
There was a sharp knock on the door. Kana smiled sadisically again.
"And you're about to meet him. Enter!" He barked.

[Zackary Kalen]

As far as Zack was concerned, anyone who used the name 'The Shadow' as an alias should be taken out back and shot for unoriginality. He didn't say so, however, as he had a feeling Kana would take that literally.

It didn't help he had a feeling he might have just predicted a possible way for this poor sod's most likely death.

"Not the most original name, I've come across, no," he admitted, before whistling slightly at the knock on the door and propped his elbow on his knee, resting his chin on his hand, "Rinse and repeat the process I assume. Although, minus the cigarette through the eye this time? I'm kinda fond of this brand, and they're hard to get outside of Kent," he said, taking a drag.

[Kana Lémartes]

Kana let out a barking laugh. "You assume correct! And since you asked so nicely" He laughed again. "I'll spare your cigarettes." He said, voice tinged with sarcasm but sincere.

At that the door swung open. A tall man stood in the doorway. He was slim, but muscular. His dark hair was peppered with grey and worn short. He was dressed in black from head to toe.
"You called for me, sir?" He said, addressing Kana.

"Jones..." Kana gave him a curt nod and stood up from the wall. "Come in."

Jones entered the room and the door swung shut behind him. He glanced at Zack and frowned slightly, trying to work out why he was there.

"Zackery Kalen. My brothers... newest recruit." Kana said passively. "To business.... tell me..." He strode slowly to Jones and looked him in the face. "What you know about Joey Risk."

Jones' face crumpled in a frown and he looked down, puzzled.
"He's... he's dead. Sir." He replied, flicking his eyes to Kana.

"Think again, Jones." Spat Kana. "He's been seen. By my brother. He is alive. Now..." He took hold of Jones' chin roughly and forced him to face him.
"Tell me why."

[Zackary Kalen]

"Do I get a gold star?" Zack responded lightly, but still with sarcasm, a small smirk on his face. "Why thank you," he added, an amused lilt in his voice, when Kana promised to leave his precious cigarettes alone this time.

He glanced over at the door when Jones entered, giving him a quick glance over, followed swiftly by a self-assured and slightly jaunty wave at the man's curious look, and Kana's explanation. He then settled back, closed his eyes and proceeded to attempt to carefully erase the man's identity from his mind once again.

One eye cracked over, however, at the continued insistance that Risk was most certainly dead. One person, he could definitely believe to be lying, but the same lie coming from two people was beginning to make more of a pattern - either they'd made a pact to simply claim Risk was dead (although the confusion act was very convincing in his eyes, and would probably warrant an Oscar if it really was acting), or that they honestly did not know why Risk was alive.

How interesting.

[Kana Lémartes]

Jones' eyes widened.
"He.... alive? Sir.... he....he was dead! I saw him! We all saw him!"
Kana spat into Jones' face and released him, jerking his head to the side.
"Spare me your sob story." He said savagely. "I've had enough of that from McDonald."
He strode over to the rack on the wall again and picked up a thin, cruel knife. Jones' eyes began to dart around the room, searching for a clue to Kerry's fate, and he started to sweat.
"S...sir?"
Kana's eyes glinted, full of malice, and he flickered across the room. Standing behind Jones, he held the knife to his throat gently.
"You heard me. Tell me what you know of Risk."

[Zackary Kalen]

Once again, the reaction was slightly confusing for Zack. If these people were so utterly sure that they'd left Risk dead as a doorpost in some alley somewhere, or something, then how could he be alive? He almost wanted to say they were lying, but that was honest fear right there - okay, the knife at the throat was probably helping with that - and it just didn't add up.

And Zack did not like things he couldn't work out.

"'Scuse me," he said, raising his hand lazily, like a child in class, before continuing regardless of the response, "I'm not gonna take long, don't worry. But, you and that lady before were pretty damn sure this Risk guy is dead. Clearly, however, he's not. How, exactly, does that come about? Did you even bother to check to see if the guy was dead?" he finished, a sneer present in his voice.

Okay, he was kind of asking what Kana was asking, only he wasn't pointing a knife at the guys throat. Maybe he'd get a straight answer from the guy if he didn't threaten his life. Maybe. He might have to kick Jones in the groin if he stuttered though.

[Kana Lémartes]

Kana turned his head to Zack, still holding the blade steadily to Jones' throat. He smirked at the question.

Jones said nothing, frozen in a combination or terror and confusion.
"Well" hissed Kana "answer him." He shifted the knife slightly, nicking Jones' throat slightly.

Jones gulped as he felt the warmth of his blood trickle down his neck.
"Y...yes, sir.. I... I checked him myself.. he... he was dead sir. I... I don't know how he.." He stopped and closed his eyes, gulping down breath.
"I don't know how he's alive, sir..." He said, opening his eyes again.

Kana scoffed, but did nothing. He stood calmly, knife still to the assassins throat, and waited to see Zack's reaction.

[Zackary Kalen]

Zack pushed himself to his feet and frowned slightly. Mentally, he was running through Jones' answer in his mind - they'd checked to see if Risk was dead. They'd checked, they hadn't just walked off and left him there.

"You honestly don't know?" he asked, however making sure that Jones knew that the question was somewhat rhetoric. He took a few steps forwards and stared down at Jones carefully. He didn't want to kill the man; he wanted the truth. As far as he could see, the sooner the truth came out, the sooner Kana would stop killing people and the less mess there would be all around.

"So, here's the information we have so far," he said, holding up a hand and checking of the points on his fingers, "Firstly; You, and a few other merry little assassins were supposed to do a job and kill this Risk guy. Off you went, and ding dong the witch is dead. Only, not. You failed. Secondly; you don't have a clue why you failed, seeing as you - and I assume everyone else - seem to be very sure Risk was dead. Thirdly; You CHECKED to see if Risk was dead, and he was, but somehow he's running around now, very much alive." He held the three fingers aloft for a second, before lowering them and folding his arms.

"You see the problem here, right?" he said, almost patronisingly. "So, here's a couple of my theories:

One; you're lying out of the other end of your ass. Even if your stories match, it's very easy for a group of people to piece together a compelling and logical, yet fictional, story. So I can't even be sure if the fact your story matches somewhat with the other lady's means you're telling the truth. In which case, there is very little I can do to stop Kana over there letting that knife slip accidentally-on-purpose through your jugular," he shrugged, before continuing,

"Two; You're telling the truth. There's some honest fear and confusion in your eyes right now, and that's earning you a few brownie points, but it doesn't explain the major issue here."

Finally, he crouched down in front of Jones, hands dangling between his knees as he kept his focus solely on Jones,

"So, if you like living, which I'm sure you do, I recommend you start by listing everything about Risk's death. Right down to how you checked to see if he was dead. What we need is information. Why Risk is alive. Maybe we can get this if you tell us how you went about your merry business."

As far as Zack could see, this was the most logical option right now. And it didn't involve killing the only people who could tell them the details of how Risk was disposed of.

[[Long post is long.]]

[Kana Lémartes]

[[Long post is very long! I'll reply at some point soon, promise, not leave a gap of like 2 weeks between posts... prolly won't be til Monday tho, cuz Rich is down this weekend.]]