Negan's eyes shifted from the woman's to the katana and then back again, locking her gaze.
He remembered her from Alexandria and from that time he introduced himself to Rick and his group by killing the ginger-haired flattop and the widow's husband. She had been on her knees then, just like all the others, and he had pointed Lucille at her which she definitely didn't care for but still handled better than most people in that particular shit-your-pants situation usually did.
Her name escaped him but that didn't really matter to him right now; what mattered was how in the hell she had slipped into the heart of the Sanctuary, and where the fuck his clearly incompetent men were.
Had this woman simply gone unnoticed through the entire complex or cut her way through his people like some bad-ass ninja from a Tarantino-movie, blood and guts flying everywhere, painting the walls a scarlet red?
I don't buy it. No sir-ree.
It just didn't add up, there had to be others. This was no lone-ranger shit, Negan decided. There were too many Saviours and too many precautions taken for one person to make it in alone.
She had to have had help of some kind, perhaps from that disobedient fucker, Rick.
Yes, this had Rick the Prick written all over it.
How he was going to pay for this one.
But what about gunfire?
There had been none, otherwise Negan would surely have heard it, wouldn't he?
Either Rick and his group had managed to secretly scrape together enough guns and silencers to storm the Sanctuary or they had made their way in using just knives and what other tools Negan had let them keep when the Saviours emptied Alexandria's weapon deposit.
Was that scenario even possible?If so color me impressed, Negan thought as he took measure of the woman looming over him.
Of course Rick still had to go, but goddamn if Negan didn't have to at least give him some credit for this stealthy-ass operation before he swung Lucille and sent Rick off to die in a puddle of his own brains and blood.
If he ever made it out of this tub that was.
"Darlin'.." Negan's smile had faded a little but still remained fixed in place, a mischievous glint now shone in his hazel eyes. "…what in Jesus' holy ballsack are you doing here?"
"Did I not make myself clear before? Don't speak unless you're spoken to!" She hissed and with almost surgical precision let the sword lightly glance over his skin under the right side of his jaw, merely grazing it sufficiently to draw blood.
Negan let out a surprised grunt, but remained still, never taking his eyes off the woman. The katana was still pressed so hard against his neck, a single wrong move could cause the blade to cut into his carotid artery.
A few drops of blood travelled from the fresh cut, down his chest and mixed with the water, turning it a light pinkish color.
"Next time I'm cutting deep," she warned him.
I'm gonna pretend that didn't just happen, he wanted to say, to threaten her perhaps or give her an ultimatum like a stay-and-die-or-leave-now-and-remain-amongst-the-living kinda thing, but something about the woman's demeanor combined with the vengeful look in her eyes, persuaded him to be silent for once.
Instead Negan smiled wider.
"Get up" she repeated, this time her voice betrayed her impatience. "very slowly. Can you do that, Negan? Or do I have to hurt you for real?" The woman let the katana glide over to Negan's shoulder where it came to rest, edge pointed towards his neck, and took yet another step back, granting him a little room to move.
As per que Negan put both hands on the tub's edge. "Oki-dokey, but I'm warning you" he said with a grin "after you've done seen what I'm packing, hell you might never look at another man the same way again!"
Watching the sword follow his every move, he lifted himself carefully from the tub, painfully aware of the threat mere inches away from his jugular, and straightened up to his full height.
The woman's uninterested eyes rested on him, then travelled down the length of his naked body and back up.
"Sure…" A snort escaped her. She seemed equally parts amused and angry now. "I will probably never do that, but not for the reason you think. Was the water really that cold?"
Negan opened his mouth to give a comeback, but she halted him by pressing the side of the blade down on his shoulder. "No, no. Remember what I said? only when spoken to."
Negan swallowed bitterly and shot the woman the stink eye; a look she simply returned and somehow seemed better at than him. With her free hand she motioned for him to step out of the tub and he complied by carefully stepping out onto the tiles besides her, his eyes never leaving hers.
"Very good" she said in a tone that suggested more sarcasm than praise "now turn around and put your hands behind your back."
