"You were waiting for me? How?" I demand.

Perry smirks. "Let's just say that your only friend isn't quite your friend."

I growl as it dawns on me. "Naomi. She set me up."

"She's an O.W.C.A. agent," Ohio informs me. "Always has been. She's been working for us for years."

I feel a stab in my heart. Naomi has been my friend for over a year, and all this time, she's been working for my enemy? She sent me right into a trap. That hurts.

"Come quietly," advises Perry, glaring. "Maybe we'll go easy on you."

I snort. "I'm definitely not coming quietly. In fact, I'm not coming at all. You can't make me go anywhere with you."

"You've killed people we care about!" Ohio snaps. "We're not letting you leave here free!"

I lower into a fighting stance. "Try and take me."

Ohio is the first to charge. He leaps at me and aims a skilful blow, but I block it and duck down to avoid another strike. Then Perry charges in.

I'm able to fend them off fairly well, but they're both highly trained O.W.C.A. agents, and I'm one single platypus who's more skilled with a gun from a distance than hand-to-hand. So I decide to level the playing field a little.

I turn and run. Scooping up my gun, I jump as high as I can and grab the support beam I was holding onto earlier with one paw, holding my rifle in the other.

"Come down here and fight!" Perry snarls.

"Not going to happen," I counter. "I have no chance against you two."

"That's the point," snaps Ohio. "That's why Perry brought me instead of coming here alone."

"He should have come here alone," I say, swinging up onto the beam. I aim my gun down at the two platypuses. "Now I have to kill both of you."

They immediately run backwards, out of my range. I curse and drop down from the rafters, ready to fire, but before I can, Ohio races towards me and grabs the gun, trying to pull it out of my hands. I pull back angrily, and we wrestle over the rifle for a while, but then Perry breaks us apart, and the gun falls to the ground between us.

I grab it as fast as I can, then I'm forced to run away as the two platypuses pursue me. Just as Ohio is about to grab me, I leap up and manage to clutch the rafters again, swinging my legs out of Perry's and Ohio's reaches. I balance on the rafters, aiming my gun down at them.

"Stop going up there!" yells Perry angrily.

"Aww, are you going to sulk?" I taunt.

"No, I'm gonna kick your butt when you come down here!" Perry retorted.

I smirk. "See, that's the good thing about being an assassin who only uses a gun: I'm better at long-distance fighting."

I fire.

The first bullet misses, but that's only because I intend for it to miss. The second bullet is designed to hit Perry's chest, but Ohio manages to pull him out of the way. I growl and aim again, but before I can fire, Perry whips off his hat and throws it like a Frisbee. It takes me so by surprise that I can only do a clumsy dive to the side to avoid it, which causes me to slip off the beam. I land on my feet, but Ohio immediately leaps on top of me, knocking me over, and pins me down. "Game over," he snarls.

"For you," I spit back, my gun in my hand.

The shot I fire is clumsy, but it hits him. He falls backwards with a yell of pain, blood spurting from the wound in his chest. Perry sees him fall and races over to him, a terrified look on his face "OHIO!" he screams.

I scramble backwards as Perry catches Ohio and lays him down gently. "Ohio, please say something!"

"Pe…rry…" I hear Ohio rasp.

"Stay with me, buddy! Please just stay awake!"

I quickly turn and begin to run away, but then Perry appears out of nowhere and slams something hard into the back of my head, stunning me terribly. I topple forwards and hit the floor. The last thing I feel before I pass out is something metal clicking around my left wrist.