Beyond Birthday lay on the grey bed in his cell, silently grinding the edge of a rock against the bed frame as he waited. He grinned to himself as minutes passed and ran the tip of his index finger along the rock's edge, testing how sharp it had become. The skin was sliced open and blood began to fill the small and narrow gap.
He waited a minute before resuming his work on sharpening.
It was another ten minutes before she actually showed up. When her silhouette appeared in front of the bars, Beyond tucked the rock away in his pocket and swung his feet down onto the floor before actually sitting up. He slid down to the floor on his knees as she fiddled with the keys, looking for the right one.
"Where the hell is the lock, anyway…?" she muttered, glancing the bars up and down.
"The very bottom, oddly enough," Beyond answered, crawling towards the bars. He wrapped his hands around them and sat on his heels, watching her with a malicious grin as she kneeled down in front of the lock.
"… How did you find out about him, anyway?" she muttered after a brief moment of silence, only occasionally being interrupted by the jangle of keys.
"Your maiden name is not Keelahan, and you mentioned in earlier sessions your connection to the prison," he answered softly, leaning his forehead against the bars now.
"But how did you find out my name isn't Haliburton anymore?" she insisted, tilting her head up to see him from under the brim of the stolen prison guard hat.
"A magician never reveals his secrets," he smirked.
Her eyes narrowed into a glare before she turned the key and unlocked the door. "There," she muttered, standing up and swinging open the door as he, too, stood up. "Now, I have your word you'll leave--- Ack!"
Beyond had cut her off mid-sentence when he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pressed the sharpened rock edge to her neck. "Yes, you have my word; he is to be left alone. Unfortunately enough for you, however, I still need a hostage in order to get where I'm going, Ms. Nannie."
Nannie wrapped her hands around his arm and leaned back against him in a vain attempt to get away from the weapon as he spoke, sending her hat fluttering to the ground. "And where is it you're going?" she growled.
"Winchester, New England. Did you touch that with bare hands?" he asked.
"What, the hat? Yeah, why?"
"It has your finger prints on them, then," he sighed, shoving her towards it. "Pick it up; you don't want him to think you've run out on him, do you?" he asked, the crooked smirk back.
Nannie glared at him from over her shoulder before turning back towards the hat and stared at it silently, weighing her options. She could make a run for it and hopefully find another guard before he caught up to her, or she could stay and not risk losing an eye or finger.
"Go on…" he chided.
She drew in a deep breath and leaned over to snatch the hat from the ground. Just as she had bent over, however, Beyond slipped the gun out of its holster from her disguise. He brought his free hand back to the slide and hovered over it.
And then she broke into a sprint, the hat caught between two fingers which now curled into a fist.
Beyond smirked, shaking his head and pulled back the slide. The bullet entering the chamber sounded loudly and bounced against the dank corridor walls. "Nannie…" he called in a disapproving tone.
Nannie grimaced; there was no way to out run a homicidal maniac, let alone one with a loaded gun. She shouldn't have even tried, and regretted her decision as she came to a quick halt and slowly turned around.
"Our exit is the other way."
"So it is…" she muttered.
"B…?" came a groan from inside one of the other cells. "Is that you…?"
Beyond's face contorted into that of annoyance, the first real emotion displayed since Nannie arrived.
"What are you doing outside your cell?" the voice inquired as its owner trailed to their own caged door.
Beyond turned the gun on them and fired without a second's hesitation. The bullet shot through their skull and embedded itself in the blood-splattered concrete wall.
"You always were the one to get on my last nerve, Tryte," he muttered, glaring down at the body before recomposing his daunting demeanor and grin and turning the gun back on Nannie. "Shall we go then?"
Nannie stood still, frozen with fear as she stared at the lifeless body. "W-w-what…?"
"Can we please leave now? The schedule is bit tight, actually…" he sighed.
"P-please… Don't do this… T-take someone else, B-Birthday…" she stammered, taking a cautious step back.
"What a terrible thing for the supposedly self-sacrificing psychiatrist," Beyond snickered. "If it's death you're worried about, you're wasting your energy. If I was going to kill you, Ms. Haliburton - or Mrs. Keelahan, whichever you prefer - you would already be dead. Now hurry along, before my patience does wear thin."
Nannie hesitantly tore her eyes from the grotesque scene and stared back at Beyond, trembling.
"Dammit…" he muttered, lowering the gun as he impatiently walked towards her and roughly grabbed her arm. He jerked her forward and commenced to drag her along after him down the dark hall. "Why the hell do you now choose to fear murder after pretending to cure those who do murder's mind?"
"I-I've never actually seen one committed in person…" she admitted, still shaking.
He rolled his eyes. "That's something you'll soon be used to."