"I thought you didn't work for Interpol," Verde says.
Reborn clutches his shirt to his bare chest and looks around the changing room as Verde's voice takes over the classical violin solo playing over the speakers. Verde's voice must only be in the changing rooms because Reborn can still hear violin playing in the main area of the store.
"Do you have cameras in here?" Reborn asks in confusion.
"The manager is sad and lonely," Verde explains. "I'm just hitch hiking."
"Could you not?"
"Do you work for the police?" Verde demands. "Why did you kill the Urlare Don?"
"I work for whoever pays me more," Reborn huffs. He quickly redresses back into his original shirt and jacket, leaving the new suit he wanted to buy still hanging from a hook on the wall. "Where's the camera?"
"Left. More. Up."
Reborn squints through a gap in the metal bouquet decoration and finds something reflect back at him. He rips the entire thing right out of the wooden backing with a loud crack, nails and all.
"Is our Cloud Interpol?" Verde asks.
Reborn holds up the metal decoration as he steps out of the changing room only so Verde can perfectly see his eyeroll. "Skull just gets into places he really shouldn't."
The manager is already hurrying over since Reborn was not quiet when he ripped the flowers out of the wall.
"Is this camera yours?" Reborn asks because it's always good to fact check.
"What are you - no. No." The man shakes his head too sharply, speech too rapid. He reaches for the flowers desperately. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave, and you'll be paying for the damages-"
Reborn smashes the decoration over the man's head and takes great pleasure in doing it again to the fallen man's handsome face. The manager is certainly not better than Reborn's breathtaking visage of course, but he's passable and there's something about destroying pretty things that makes Reborn happy.
"You're doing this in broad daylight in a crowded shopping mall," Verde points out, now coming from the speakers in the main area above Reborn.
"I'm not going to kill him," Reborn dismisses, tossing the flowers away with a tinny clatter. "He's not going to say anything either if he wants to keep his head."
The manager is not moving, bleeding heavily on the floor. There are no other sales assistants or security cameras in the shop right now so Reborn just smoothes out his suit, steps over the manager and strolls away.
"You are definitely Mafia," Verde mutters. "Why don't you just kill the Monster rather than playing coy?" Verde sounds upset so the two definitely didn't have a fun time after Reborn ran out.
Reborn wants to ask what happened but pretends he didn't hear Verde instead, because he doesn't want to admit that he did try to kill Fon, and that it did not go well for him.
Still haven't tried a Chaos Shot though.
Unfortunately, thinking of Fon makes Reborn think of the colour red and the fact that -maybe- Reborn might -possibly- be dying of too much fire.
Holding it all in because God forbid someone slap a 'Sky' label on him like he's good for nothing but looking pretty sitting on a throne, batting his eyelashes at some 'well-bred' Guardian to do his dirty work as if Reborn's body count isn't already in the thousands.
"Verde," Reborn says, pausing just at the door of the shop.
"Hn?"
Reborn purses his lips. "Send a car over."
"I do like this place," Reborn muses, perching on a stool and rolling himself over to a bench with an array of glass equipment in sealed plastic bags. "I'm a mathematician, did you know?"
Verde is slumped back in a chair next to a wall full of monitors, arms crossed, and a frown firmly etched into his face. "What do you want?"
Reborn spins himself around and pushes off again, rolling over to Verde until they bump chairs, sitting right beside each other and looking out over the large room. "Why do you want a Sky?"
"To experiment on," Verde immediately answers.
"Oh?" Reborn glances sideways at the taller man. "You'd tie yourself to a stranger, die with them, just to get a lab rat?"
The overhead lights catch on Verde's glasses as he turns to Reborn. After a moment of silence the scientist looks away.
Reborn smirks. "I'm flattered."
"What do you want?" Verde asks again.
Reborn shrugs. "I figure … we're stuck together now." He drops his gaze to his own knees. "You did help me distract Fon, and back at the shop too, so I suppose I owe you a little experiment."
Verde raises an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"Non-invasive," Reborn demands, straightening up. "No weird drugs, no tying me up somewhere. Just, I don't know, give me something to put my flames into and you can study that."
Verde hums. "Okay, now tell me what you actually want."
Reborn blinks. "Do you not want my flames-"
Verde stomps on the foot rest of Reborn's chair and shoves the hitman back so he can twist to fully face Reborn.
"You're suspicious," Verde interrupts. "I can feel something dark and ugly through the bond."
"Ugly?" Reborn retorts sharply, the congenial mask falling away as his expression twists into a snarl. "You drugged and kidnapped me, I cut out two monitoring chips from my stomach, you sick Frankenstein fuck. Tell me again who's ugly, I dare you."
Verde pushes up his glasses.
Reborn takes a deep breath. "Make me something to take excess flames and we can negotiate on an experiment."
"Do three without question."
"I can rip off your legs, Verde, and then put them right back on just to do it all over again, let's not forget which one of us makes a career out of killing people."
"You clearly need me-"
"There are other people I can go to," Reborn cuts in with a sneer. "Not as smart or as fast but they'll get the job done."
Verde scoffs. "Will they perfect it before whatever this is overtakes you?"
Reborn smirks. "I have never been afraid of death," he says with a morbid humour in his tone. "I am looking for other options simply because I don't give up without a fight but don't mistake me for someone who is scared of his own trade."
Verde takes a long moment to consider this. "We negotiate two experiments."
"Deal. Have it ready by next week." Reborn slides to his feet and walks away.
"There is no one," Verde calls out. "No one you can go to, who is even remotely at my level. Don't insult me like that again."
Reborn flips him off over a shoulder.
