When I finally opened my eyes, my surroundings were quite fuzzy. There was a sharp pain pulsating through the back of my head, making me wish I hadn't have woken up. Lord knows how long I was out for. I tried to move my arms, but they were instantly restrained, the course feeling of rope rubbing against the skin of my wrists and ankles. I groaned softly, a gentle hand brushed across my jawline.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Snowman purred, a smirk tugging at her lips as I stared into those bright green eyes with a hazy expression. "Sleep well?"

"Not necessarily. The service here is terrible," I replied, feeling the corner of my mouth twitch. "I don't even get some breakfast in bed. I mean honestly, what kind of business are you trying to run here?" She chuckled lightly before pulling away.

"Enough flirting, you two," a gruff voice called in disgust, my attention turning towards a man half laying on the couch. He was propping himself up against the arm and his hands in his pockets. "It's gonna make us all sick." He was wearing a white button-up shirt with the top few buttons open, revealing his chest. Atop his head sat a red hat with the number 7 on it. Crowbar. On the floor in front of him was a kid, couldn't be more than 13 or 14. He was cross-legged as he twiddled his thumbs, the split tails of his jacket spread on the wood. He had shoulder-length blonde hair covered by a purple hat with a 4 in a white circle and sky blue eyes, a few freckles dotting his cheeks.

"Believe me, he's not my type," she murmured, circling me. "Now then, why don't we get down to business? What are you doing here in the first place?

"I could ask you the same thing," I scoffed, looking up at her as her hand fondled with the leather handle of the whip hanging off her hip.

"So it's going be like that, huh?" she hummed thoughtfully, turning back towards me and signaling the man on the couch. "Come here, Crowbar. I need you to do a little… persuasion for me." He grinned, the stubble on his chin glittering in the pale moonlight. He reached for his weapon—a silver crowbar with a bit of red on the forked tongue—which was conveniently laying against the wall closest to him, and walked over. He stretched out his neck as he prepared himself, giving a small audible pop at each turn of his head. Finally, with feet slightly apart, he swung, the bar hitting my left shoulder and causing me to cry out in pain. He swung once more and hit across my jaw, splitting my lip open and sending droplets of blood splattering onto the floor. He paused, Snowman crossing her arms.

"So, are you willing to make a deal?" she asked, my lip swelling up. "You talk, and we don't kill you." I coughed from the blows and glared up at her, spitting the blood that gathered on my lip at her. She made no attempt to dodge it, but merely stood there and squeezed her eyes shut as a few little drops spotted her face.

"Crowbar?" she murmured as she stood up and used her sleeve to wipe up the blood and spit. "How do you think we should handle this?"

"I say we just kill the bastard and get it over with," he answered while leaning on the crowbar's tip. "Guy's obviously not gonna talk, so why're we wastin' our time?" I saw a bit of movement in the corner of my eye, seeing the kid sitting by a thin lanky guy with dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he just got out of an asylum as he fiddled with a small doll with a few needles in the chest, a green top hat with a 6 on it. When did Clover move? Damn kid's quiet as a mouse.

"Hey," Snowman huffed, roughly grabbing my chin and forcing me to look at her. "We're not done here. How many of you did Slick send?"

"You act like I'm just going to give you the answer without a fight," I growled biting at her hand as she pulled away. Crowbar than proceeded to beat me under my breath was jagged and blood oozed down my forehead, dripping onto my shirt.

"I bet you that Aradia girl came with him," Die half-whispered, Snowman nodding in agreement.

"More than likely," she added. "He never goes anywhere without her." I looked around to see if there was a way to escape. There was a window on the other side of the room, but that'll be suicide trying to get over there with five of them against one. I could try the door, but I don't think I'll get anywhere with this chair… Maybe I could try to get ahold of Megido and Boxcars.

"—stening?" I heard a female voice say, snapping out of my mindset. "I might just kill you now if you aren't going to pay attention." I looked back up, seeing a wicked grin on Crowbar's face.

"Ya really mean it?" he laughed, standing up straight resting the bar on his shoulders. "You're really gonna let me kill him?" She nodded and held up a finger.

"Only if he continues to daze off," she sighed, walking towards the window, the brim of her hat glowing in the moonlight. "Before that though, I want to hear him scream. Beat him." Here we go again… Pain exploded all over my body as I was brutally attacked, more and more blood spilling onto the floor. With one final swing, the split tongue hooked onto the back of my shoulder blade and dug into the skin while thrusting me forward. I fell to the ground in a clatter, the back of the wooden chair breaking under the pressure. A strangled yelp escaped my lips as the busted wood dug into my back, forcing me to turn my upper body onto its side in an attempt to keep it from puncturing the skin. I heard heavy footsteps to my left, a flutter in my stomach.

"Oh thank god, Boxcars. Help me get out of here. Where's Megi—" I stopped myself, my grin soon disappearing. It wasn't Boxcars.. It was Cans..

"Oh ho ho," Snowman chuckled lowly. "I knew he would talk eventually." She turned around and looked at the buff man.

"So did you find any sign of Scratch?" She received a shake of his head.

"He must have skipped town when he heard you were after him for snitching. Most of his clothes were missing, as well as his pistol and all his ammunition." Snitching? So they were here for revenge.

"Well there's no use staying here now," Crowbar grumbled, wiping the blood off the metal with his jacket. "English's gonna have our heads on his cane when we come back, sneaking off and nonetheless empty handed.

"He'll have YOURS at least," Die replied, earning a glare.

"Oh shut up, you walkin' bag of bones," the man barked, squeezing the metal in his hand hard enough to turn his fingers white. "At least I'm actually USEFUL in this group."
Soon the entire room erupted into argument, Clover taking this opportunity sneak past everyone and crouch down by me.

"You appear to be in quite a conundrum," he murmured.

"Yeah, no shit," I grumbled through gritted teeth, trying to move my arms away from the broken chair. I managed to get the wood out, but failed to get the ropes loose enough to free my hands.

"You know, sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel can only be seen by a blind man." I paused and tried to look him, my eyebrows furrowed.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I hissed, loud enough to make everyone pause and turn to us. He suddenly pushed to his feet and kicked my chest, a crack coming from the ribs. I couldn't help but let out a yell, curling into myself in an attempt to shield it.

"Groveling will get you nowhere, you piece of shit!" he exclaimed, another yelp filling the room as he kicked in the same place. The crack was louder. "Just stop begging!" His whole personality flipped, leaving me utterly shocked. There's no way this was the same kid that was here just a second ago. Crowbar chuckled darkly, crossing his arms as the little guy scampered back to the couch, his feet tapping across the back of the chair and his hands playing with .

"Wow, I didn't know the kid had that kind of fire in him," he commented, nodding in approval. "That's a shocker." I couldn't help but stare at each little foot as it hit the fabric, thinking about what he said. 'Sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel can only be seen by a blind man…' Then it hit me; he was telling me to use Morse code to get ahold of the others. So he's another mole within their ranks. I looked up into those crystal eyes and the corner of mouth twitched ever so slightly.

'Thanks, kid,' I thought before my phone buzzed in my pocket. I felt each pair of eyes burning into my skin as Snowman pulled it out and answered it, a sly grin revealing itself.

"Hello, Sweetie," she purred while pacing the room. "I hope you don't mind, but your little friend is a bit tied up at the moment." I swallowed shallowly and began hitting my heel against the wall subtly, loud enough to enough to be picked up through a wall, but subtle enough not to draw attention to myself.

" - ... .. .-. -.. / ..-. .-.. - - .-. / ... ..- .-. .-. - ..- -. -.. . -.. / -. . . -.. / ... . .-.. .-. / -.. .-. - - -./"

I repeated the message about three times before a loud crash echoed through the halls, everybody's head snapping toward the door.
"W-What was that?" Clover whimpered, his childish personality returning once more.

"I'm not sure," the woman murmured while ending the call in the middle of Slick's rants. "Cans, go check it out." He simply nodded and walked outside, nobody daring to say a word. BANG! There was a gunshot and a heavy thud from downstairs. We all expected to see the tub of lard to come through the door, but once again, a heavy silence hung through the air. Before I could prepare for it, the metal came barreling down onto my shoulder, making the pain so much worse than before.

"What did you do?!" Crowbar screamed at me, his cheeks red and flustered with rage. "There's no doubt in my mind you killed him!" It took nearly all my strength to muster up a choked reply.

"I-I.. couldn't hav-ve… I'm obviously.. R-Right here…" I hissed, seeing the veins in his neck pop.

"You bastard," he cursed, raising the weapon to deal the final blow. Before he could swing, Snowman grabbed his wrist and roughly pulled him back.

"Enough. You'll have your chance—"

"Oh shut it," he retorted, cutting her off and pulling his arm away roughly. "I'm tired of followin' orders from a pussy-ass bitch who's too afraid to act. I'm tired of it."

"Why don't we at least give him an honorable death?" the blonde murmured weakly from the couch, his feet still. "That way he won't get a feeling of…"

"Of what?" the man barked, angry eyes flashing toward him. "Give him a goddamn feeling of what?"

"Victory," the kid meekly replied, hands shaking in his lap. "He told me he enjoyed seeing us all broken up like this.. He said that because of our fighting, we would be easy to target later." The man paused and lowered his weapon, his rage finally taming.

"Damn…" he sighed, a hand running up underneath his hat. "He's right.." Snowman pulled out a colt revolver from the inside of her jacket and rested it on her side.
"Want to put him in position?" She asked Crowbar, my heart beating like a drum as he pulled me to my knees. Oh god.. This would be in the end.. I looked around, hoping to see the face of something that could help me, but all I was met with was my impending death and the bright green eyes of my executor. She cocked the gun and aimed it right between my eyes. I took a shaky breath and squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the pain to disappear as the sound of a gunshot filled my ears.

MORSE CODE TRANSLATION: "Third floor. Surrounded. Need help. Droog."

Hey guys! Thanks for sticking with the story even though it's been almost a year since the last update! School's been a bitch and I couldn't really think of how to write things. ^^;; As always, reviews are nice.

~3~