6
Stand Your Ground
The two teens stood there, exhausted and quiet.
Rutherford could only think through this as careful as he could. There was no way he could tell her about the Blade Children, even if she knew Kiyotaka or even Little Narumi or not. He couldn't bear to get the Blade Children in danger. He was desperate to be saved. The thing was that he knew she had a point.
"…Save all that angst and that monologue for a love story or something." Rutherford coldly replied. "Either way, there will be a day where I will have no choice but to go after you again. Until then, just enjoy what you have left. Let yourself know that your fate is not a destined one by choice."
"I don't care!" Shade blurted. "I don't care if I die… I don't care how I die either. I mean, of course… My mother would sure be devastated… it wouldn't be all the good. She'd never find a way to cope with just herself. But… I'll let her know somehow that I'll be ok. I'll be in a better place by then… because I'll be with my dad." Shade said grimly. "If I were you Rutherford… I'd finish myself off right now."
Shade backed up and extended her arms out. Rutherford sharply turned to her again. What was she saying? She wasn't scared to die? What was wrong with her?
"What will it be?" She questioned again. "Poison? A knife? A gun? Cutting my air supply? Whatever you choose I am ready. I don't care how painful it is." Shade stood there with a determined look on her face. She knew what she was doing was risky, but whatever Rutherford decided, it was all up to him.
Rutherford walked up to Shade. She closed her eyes getting ready for the worst. That only thing Rutherford did was pat her shoulder. Shade opened her eyes and looked at him oddly.
"You are one stupid, stupid little girl…"
"Stupid… or afraid?" She suggested looking up at Rutherford in the eyes with fire. Rutherford tilted his head, and turned around again.
"You are really not afraid to die…" Rutherford mentioned.
"Says Mr. Obvious." Shade snapped. There was a small pause.
"Guess I'll have to finish you off then. Glad you came to your senses." Rutherford snapped.
"Yeah, I guess so…" Shade then smiled a very confident grin. "But I'm afraid you are in my little spider web now."
"What?!" Rutherford turned as Shade pulled out her cell phone. It was on a recording system. It was on the entire time Shade was against the wall being threatened by Rutherford. "You rat!"
"Tell me everything about Kiyotaka, and this secret you're trying to hide from me! Now!"
"How long was that on?" He demanded.
"Since you shoved me against the wall over there, pretty Eyes."
"Are you insane?!" He snapped. "You can't possibly-"
"Oh but I think I can Rutherford." she smiled. "You see, there is this girl with pigtailed braids at the new school that I just transferred to. She's a very talented hacker and is also my school's newspaper president. I don't think you'd like it if all of this got confirmed into the press, now would you?" Rutherford growled. She was talking about Yuizaki. If she knew that weird Yuizaki girl, so this had to mean she knew little Narumi too! This was blackmail. She was good, he would admit to that, but she was also an amateur and an evil brat.
Shade snickered.
"What's the matter? Cat caught your tongue?"
"…I won't tell you everything about Kiyotaka… yet." He responded.
"Hmm?" Shade put away the cell phone. "What do you mean?"
"Let's settle this like professionals." he stood up straight and stepped forward. Shade suddenly got suspicious. Was this a way for him to get out of her blackmailing plan?
"In what way exactly?" Shade interrogated. "What are you suggesting we do?"
"Follow me."
Rutherford led Shade into the darkest parts of an alley and through there he made a shortcut through a park that was close to downtown Tokyo. Shade soon began to smell salt in the air. This only meant they were near the water. They had arrived soon after to a colony of abandoned warehouses.
"Here…" He mentioned. He slid a door open, enough for both of them to squeeze through.
Now inside the faded green house, Rutherford switched on the fluorescent lights. He led her to a rickety old table, for where he just found out of nowhere with 2 chairs. This was started to feel uncomfortably strange and familiar to Shade, as if she knew one day she would get into something like this unintentionally.
From there, Rutherford pulled out a revolver from his coat, which he removed to reveal his usual all black ensemble. It seemed to be one with 6 slots in the chamber.
"Ever heard of Russian Roulette?" He sneered. Shade's eyes widened. This guy was nuts!
"…You're kidding."
"I'm never kidding." Rutherford stared Shade in the eye as a chill was sent down her spine. How could he come up with something like this so quickly? Was this a setup? Did he plan this ahead of time? Whatever it was, Shade had no choice but to play along.
"…Ok fine… I'm in." She submitted.
"You're getting more surprising the more we go on." His English accent was starting to show. "The gun only has one bullet in it. Whoever gets the bullet is the loser."
"What's the point of that? One of us will be dead and gone. How are we supposed to determine if I leak the information to the press or if you get to go scot-free?"
"Simple. We'll just point the gun at the places where we would only bleed from." he explained. "It loses the touch of Russian Roulette since you're supposed to shoot yourself in the head, but you never know which one could be the unlucky one." He crossed his arms and sat back. "We will only point the gun at our shoulders, arms, or legs. No matter if either one of us gets the bullet, medical care and finances will be provided by me. If I get the bullet, then fire away with the media you have collected and I'll tell you everything about Kiyotaka. If you get the bullet, then you'll let me go free and you'll be targeted by someone else another day in the next few weeks. I don't want my face getting into the wrong kind of public."
"It kinda already is with this stunt." Shade reasoned. Rutherford narrowed his eyes and shrugged.
"…What's the difference?"
Shade looked down at the gun attentively. She sat back and let this flow as smooth as possible, and tried to organize all her thoughts to make them as clear as she could in her mind. There was one thing she didn't understand. Why would Rutherford supply the medical care? Sure he was rich, that she knew, but why would he pay for her expenses under his belt if she got the bullet in her leg or her arm?
She decided not to ask. Instead, she just made one statement, and one statement only as she stared at the gun, then at Rutherford.
"Who gets to go first?"
