Annie went pale and looked at Susie full of dread. "That has to be him." She whispered.

Susie was caught off guard, but she still didn't buy what Annie was saying about the whole "assassin"
thing. That just sounded batshit crazy. "Your family probably just set him to look for you because you jumped out of a window like some sort of maniac."

"Who's there?" The man's voice was close, very close to the playground. By how quickly the footsteps were approaching, Susie guessed he would exit the forest soon.

Not wasting any time, Annie bolted toward the playset and dove underneath the slide area, begging Susie to follow with how dramatically she was waving her arms.

Yeah, no. Susie shoved her hands in her pockets and rolled her eyes. "Someone who wants to be left the hell alone." She kept her stance to look aggressive, but she was still afraid this "assassin" was actually a cop. There had to be some still searching for her from last night. Unless her mom just didn't give enough of a shit, which was a probability.

A monster entered the play area, smoothing out his suit. It was relieving that he wasn't a cop, but Susie could see why Annie was so terrified of him. He looked scary as all hell with that scar on his face and his larger stature. But, to put it simply, he was just a bunny monster in a damn suit. Susie chuckled lightly under her breath.

"Sorry," The man apologized. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Well, ya did. If you don't mind, I'd like to go back to sulking on the swing."

He raised a brow. "Hm. Well, before I go, who were you speaking to just now, Susie?"

Her body stiffened. How did he know her name? She had never seen him in her life. In her peripheral vision, Susie could see Annie shaking her head "no" violently. Not being one to rat someone out, calling attention to Annie wasn't a preferred option. Another part of her figured it was the only option if it turned this guy's attention away from her. The fact he knew who she was was freaky enough in itself. Susie would gladly put Annie in danger before herself.

For now, Susie decided to form some kind of lie. She had plenty of experience in that field. If all else failed, Annie was right behind the slide as a scapegoat.

"Just ranting to myself." She shrugged. "I didn't think some weird asshole would be listening in on me though."

His expression stiffened. "That's fair I suppose." A hand hovered by his belt. "But I have another question, dear Susie. Where's the human?"

By the way bunny boy was standing, it was obvious he had some sort of weapon. Maybe the dude was a cop.

Shit.

But Susie kept her expression neutral- more like annoyed and unintimidated. She still wasn't sure if she was ready to rat out Annie just yet. "Annie? Why the hell would I know."

"Her name is Amina." He corrected.

Susie wrinkled her nose. Who fucking cares? Same thing.

"And I think you do know. I know a liar when I see one."

"And I know an asshole when I see one."

Her eyes followed his paw that was now closing in how his belt. She had to think of something good to say but options were little to none.

"She-"

The man raised his paw out to stop her from speaking, but he wasn't looking at her anymore. His eyes were on the ground.

At first, it was hard to tell what he was doing, but it dawned on Susie fairly quickly that he was looking at the footprints from where Amina had bolted toward the slide. He looked up, smirking at Susie, before drawing his weapon. And it indeed was a gun. Maybe the dude was an FBI agent? The hell did that moranic red head do?

The gun was now pointed at her.

Is he after me too?! She thought to herself, horrified.

"Come on out, Amina. Unless you want your pal here to get hurt."

"We aren't pals." Susie snapped. She was ignored nonetheless.

Amina could be seen in Susie's field of vision ever so slightly, though, her expression couldn't be seen. But it was clear she wasn't planning to move any time soon.

Is that asshole actually going to let me get killed? That mother fucker!

The gun clicked. He must've just turned the safety off. "Amina, I'm not messing around."

Susie gritted her teeth, sharply scolding through them. "Yeah. He isn't, asshole."

Amina bit her lip, blood still dripping from her nose and some of it even going into her mouth as she raised her arms in defeat, stepping out from the tiny playground she was using as cover. She looked like she was about to pass out, her knees shaking like leaves.

"A-are you going to kill me?" She managed to say through a whimper.

The monster immediately barked out a laugh, lowering the gun for just a moment from the meer baffling question. He raised it up again, dramatically wiping a fake tear from under his eye. "Me? Please, that's not my decision to make. As long as you surrender yourself, that is. And you did. So I say we're good here, yeah?"

"What'd she do?" Susie asked. It wasn't a good idea to demand answers from a man with a gun, but Susie couldn't help but desperately want an answer.

"The same thing as you." He stated coldly.

Susie gaped at him. "What?!"

He raised his paw out again to stop her. "Allow me to correct myself. Her offense was much worse. But same difference, eh?"

"Yeah, well, what the fuck did I do?"

"The same thing as her." He laughed as Susie fumed, knowing she wasn't going to get a straight answer from him. "Now." Lowering the gun, with safety still off, he put it back in his holster, keeping it open for quick access. "I hope you two understand I'm going to have to take you in."

"Take us in?!" Amina finally put her arms down and shook her head. "Susie was the one who set the house on fire, not me!"

"Fuck you!" Growling, Susie shot her a warning glare.

The bickering continued, rather, Susie continued to swear at Amina. The man took out bracelets. "This isn't about the house fire, girls. Now, if I may…"

Taking a step back, Amina pointed a shaky finger at them. "What are those?"

"Handcuffs."

Those weren't handcuffs. They were damn mental bracelets. Susie raised a brow. "Handcuffs? I've been arrested plenty of times to know what handcuffs look like, dumbass. What are they? Kinky sex bracelets?"

"Hmmm," He looked down at them. "Ah. I see. Silly me. I'll just show you how it works so you aren't confused." An unknown button on one of the bracelets clicked under his thumb, right before he tossed it toward Amina.

A second one followed it, as if pulled by a magnetic field behind. A light blue glow illuminated around each of them as Amina's eyes filled with panic. She didn't have the chance to move as the two "bracelets" latched onto her wrists at full force, sending her flying onto her back. They were separated at first, but soon, what seemed to still be a magnetic field, involuntarily made the two attach to one another. Her hands were now tied in front of her as she stayed on her back.

Now that Susie could see them a bit closer, the blue light seemed to have some electrical pulse thrashing around within. She didn't know how else to describe it. Amina struggled to get back onto her knees and winced when wood chips dug into her skin.

"What type of technology is this?" She questioned. Surprisingly, her voice was more steady, but not any less full of fear.

"Top of the line." The other cuffs attacked Susie without warning while he responded.

Susie now understood why Amina had fallen back so harshly. They were so heavy and shot onto her wrists at such a high speed. It was like they were attracted to her wrists like they were magnets too. It hurt and Susie did stumble backward, but she managed to hold her ground. She wasn't some 110 pound looking stick like the wimpy human beside her.

The gun was now drawn again. "There's trackers on those suckers so I wouldn't think about running." His other hand reached into his left pocket, pulling out what looked like a tiny remote. His eyes didn't sway from the two of them as he typed in a code without even having to look. While he was doing so, Susie noticed the wind in the area beginning to pick up speed. Not something that was extremely noticeable, but it was to her, oddly enough. And just like that, the wind died down again. A gust of wind had just flown by out of nowhere.

Susie soon realized that gust had a purpose. As soon as it passed by the man, his suit remaining pristine in the wind, a blue glow formed behind him in the gust. It was the same glow that was coming off of their handcuffs.

Electric pulses bounced off of one another, a 'pop' echoing through the air as a blue portal came into view. Nothing was visible on the other side.

Am I tripping on something? Susie wondered. Maybe she accidentally ingested something she wasn't supposed to. She did eat practically anything.

"In ya go." He gestured the gun toward the portal.

Amina gulped, eyeing Susie to get a quick read off of her. "In… there?"

Susie may have hated Amina, but in that moment she related to her. The two of them didn't want to go in there at-fucking-all.

"Yes, Sherlock, in there." He mocked. "Your head won't explode, promise."

"We aren't going in there alive." Taking caution to have extra bite in her words, Susie tried her best to come off as unafraid. Even though she had no idea what the hell was going on. It wasn't like Amina did either. "Go ahead and shoot us."

"No!" Amina took a step forward. "I'll go in, don't shoot me." Her words were quick and desperate.

Pussy.

The man grinned. "It'd be wise to follow your friend, Susie."

"She's not my friend." Susie looked down in defeat. "But- Goddamnit, fine. I'll follow. Only because I'm smart enough to know we're gonna die either way. Doesn't matter which way we go out."

Amina gave her a concerned look before the monster shoved her (very harshly) into the portal and proceeded to turn to Susie. "You're next, cupcake."