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Kori struggled hard against the giant X, feeling a painful lump sprout from her head where she hit the wall. "Let me out!" she yelled, hoping to wake Dick and get some help.
"Eeh... not likely." A cold hand pressed against her cheek. "My, aren't you the pretty one... but so exposed, oh so exposed..." It was then that Kori realized her hair had returned to its natural fiery red. The cold fingers reached and forcefully took out her colored contacts, as well. "Ah, there are those pretty emeralds."
Kori growled. "What do you want with me?"
The man stepped into the feeble light. Kori saw a white mask with a red X over it, and black jeans, a black shirt, and a black jacket. "You're the most renowned thief in the underworld," the man stated simply, curling a lock of her hair around his fingers. "I'll have need of your services... assasinations, stealing, and the like..."
Kori reached up and slammed her feet into the man's gut. "Why would I help you?" she asked with a slight snarl. "You have captured me, pinned me to a wall... that is not a way to gain someone's trust!"
The man laughed. "Well, then. How can I get you to trust me?"
"What is your name? What are you planning to do with these 'X' pills? And why did you have Richard put into this?"
The man laughed again, and Kori burned with fury. "You can call me Red X. The X pills? They're supposed 'miracle workers', and everyone gets sick from time to time. Best of all, I can disguise them as anything... aspirin, cough medicine, whatever. And soon, the world will be at my mercy, because I'll have contaminated every medicine there is. Oh, and third... Richard Grayson? He's just in my way."
"But how? I am assisting him in finding you to get a share of these pills... would he not be your ally?"
Red X looked at her and shook his head. "Cute but clueless. You think you know this Grayson guy? He's actually a secret agent, Miss Anders... assigned the mission of taking you and Miss Roth out."
Kori's eyes widened in shock and betrayal. "And... Garfield...?" She dared not ask.
"His partner."
The foreign woman closed her eyes, as, to her shame, tears burned inside the lids. "Ah, don't cry, now," Red X said, and she could hear the smirk in his voice. He leaned close to her and lifted her chin up. He tilted his mask forward slightly and pressed his lips to hers. Kori was shocked and disgusted at the same time, but fear paralyzed her. A sharp metal object was being held against her neck. If she as much as moved her head, he'd slit her throat.
Then, a fist came out of nowhere, and Richard appeared.
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Garfield took Rachel's arm as she emerged from the ladies' bathroom, all remnants of tofu ice cream cleared from her face. He grinned at her, and she smiled back-- a truly rare thing-- and they walked together, merely enjoying one another's company, their missions at the very back of their minds.
Suddenly, Gar felt a pang of guilt. What was he doing? He was supposed to be escorting Raven (or Rachel, if she really was the thief) to prison... instead, he wanted to kiss her! This is so messed up, Gar thought angrily, and groaned.
Rachel turned her head. "What's up?" she asked, noticing his anguished face.
"I... nothing. Just brain freeze or something." He grinned again, but the life in it was gone. Not wanting to press, Rachel nodded.
They were walking through a maze of parked cars, trying to get to a store, when Gar suddenly stopped, making Rachel run into him. "What is it?"
"Do you hear that?"
Rachel listened, and there it was-- the unmistakable tik-tik-tik of a...
"BOMB!" Gar threw Rachel out of the way and covered her with himself as a huge explosion rocked the street. Debris and rubble covered the pair, and water from broken pipes sprayed over their bodies. Gar groaned. "Raven, are you okay...?"
Rachel nodded numbly. "Oh, my God, Gar..." She pointed to his back, where he was bleeding from a shard of glass. Wincing, Gar pulled it out, and managed a weak smile.
"I'll be fine."
"Oh, Gar..." Without thinking, without caring, Rachel threw her arms around him, sobbing into his shoulder for everything... the bomb, the injury, the ice cream... the fact that she couldn't love him but was anyway...
Silently, Garfield Logan hugged her back, and they sat there, locked in an embrace, as police cars and ambulances surrounded them and the fire burning in the background.
"I love you, Raven."
He didn't know how the words came out. It just seemed suddenly right there, with the chaos in the background, with her sobbing. And he was even more shocked when he heard her reply.
"I love you, too, Gar. And... my name's Rachel."
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Richard said nothing as he cut the X with his pocket knife, and neither did Kori. She looked once at Red X, lying knocked out on the floor, and then ran after Dick, who was running down a tunnel. She grabbed his arm, stopped him.
"What?" Dick was trying to run away... from her. That hair, those bewitching eyes... Carey Anderson was Kori Anders, master thief, and he couldn't take her to prison. He just... couldn't. Then, he saw with astonishment, tears in her emerald eyes, and the eyes in question burning with anger.
"You work for a spy agency?" Kori asked incredulously, hurt and anger cutting through her words like a knife.
Richard stopped and sighed, then nodded. "Yeah."
"Why did you not tell me?" she yelled, but she knew it was a stupid question.
"Oh, well, what was I supposed to say?" Dick shouted back. "'Oh, sorry, but I have orders to take you to jail, maybe kill you if you don't come with me, and I hope we can still be friends!'? That would have worked out really fucking well!"
Kori's eyes blazed. "Why did you toy with us, then? Why did you not just capture us when you first saw us?"
Dick gritted his teeth and thought up a quick excuse. "You're a great fighter-- one of the best in your field! Do you honestly think Gar and I could have taken you two on?"
"Oh, do not start with me!" she screamed. "You could have brought weapons, guns, tranquilizers... and you toy with us for another day, pretending to go on some quest for the X pills! You lied to me!"
"I lied? At least I told you my real name!" Dick shouted. "Who's Carey Anderson anyway? What's your actual name?"
Kori roared in fury and kicked at the wall, actually breaking off a piece of plaster. "MY NAME IS KORI! KORI ANDERS!" She sobbed angrily, leaning against the wall headfirst. "Kori Anders!"
Dick fell silent, breathing hard. Seeing her like this... a master thief, crying as if her life depended on it...
Kori felt strong arms encircle her waist, and against her better judgement, she fell into them, wrapping her own arms around his neck and crying softly into his shoulder.
"I am sorry."
Dick started. "For what?"
Kori looked up. She was strangely calm. "For everything. For the thievery, the spying, the... the fact that I am a criminal."
He looked down at her and brushed a stray hair off of her face. "Why are you a thief, anyway?"
She sighed, looked down. "I have had a bad childhood, you might say. And when I met Rachel... her name is not Raven... we paired up. We started to steal food, as we were both homeless, and found that we had a... what is your word? A 'knack' for it." She paused. "They say we murdered."
Richard blinked. "You didn't murder anyone?"
"No, we would never kill someone." She looked back up. "Whenever someone is murdered, people speculate... and who better to be speculated than the best two thieves in the world?" Her voice was bitter. "I am not that kind of person. What started out as a need for survival turned into a career, and I regret it. Rachel does, too. We are unable to lead normal lives."
Dick let her pull away. "Look, Kori... I'm not going to take you into jail."
She looked surprised. "Why ever not?"
"I just... can't. Not after meeting you, knowing you." He sighed, pulled his hair through. "It's... complicated."
Kori looked away. "I know."
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NOT THE END! Don't worry, still got a chapter to go. ;)