"No. No-no-no. You are not reaping me, that is just not happening!" Ace stepped back, her hunter instincts immediately kicking in. She reached for the gun in her belt, only to find that it was, of course, not there. Death only tilted his head slightly, walking towards her with short, measured steps, his hand slowly raising. She knew that if he as much as touched her, lights were out just like that. Snap. One little touch was all it took, and she'd be out cold. That was, frankly, hella terrifying.
She'd pretty much expected Hank to step up, and he did step forward, right in Death's path. The Grim Reaper halted, his hand mere inches from Hank's arm. The horseman just raised his eyebrows at the blue-furred man as he stood in his way, then sighed deeply. "I'm not here for you. Please step aside." All the response he got was a low growl, and Death simply sighed once more. "Very well then, if you insist." Slowly, Death stepped closer to Hank, his hand slowly nearing its target. Just one touch and it'd be over. He was literally only millimetres away when finally Ace could take no more.
"Stop!" She resolutely stepped forward, pushing Hank aside, safely out of Death's reach. Facing the horseman with somewhat wavering courage, she held out a hand. "Reap me then, but don't touch any of the people here." Death did not respond, he merely reached for her hand, his face a mask of cynical apathy. She closed her eyes tightly, awaiting his cold touch as her heart began to race and her breathing sped up.
"You should think twice before you do that." Ace nearly grimaced – why did Hank have to postpone the inevitable? It was quite obvious that Death was not about to let her go, and she would rather have him reap her soul now than in a few minutes. Death reluctantly halted, his hand outstretched to the point where his fingertips nearly touched Ace's. When she opened her eyes he was looking at Hank with ill-hidden annoyance. The scientist had donned his glasses again. Oh goodie, made him look much more science-y. Not that Ace cared about that.
"If I am not mistaken – and I very rarely am – then the established bridge between our dimensions will not be destroyed simply by the death of Ace. She came through, you came through, and it is more than likely that more creatures will come through." Hank silenced when Death caught his gaze, but the horseman only inclined his head slightly in a gesture for him to continue. He was handling it well, Ace had to give that to him, he did not seem panicked or nervous, in fact he was as calm as she would've been if she had had anything to oppose Death with. As it was, she didn't. But he clearly had.
"When more creatures do come through, they will undoubtedly attempt to wreck some manner of chaos upon our world. If Ace remains here, alive and able to fight, she can minimize the damage done, and thereby guard the stability of the inter-dimensional realm. If you kill her, no one in this dimension will have the expertise to deal with those creatures, and the damage will be substantial." Hank was speaking a little faster than usual, but apart from that, he seemed quite cold. Only the smallest of signs, his fidgeting with the sleeve of his lab coat with one hand and a slight downwards curl of one of the corners of his mouth, revealed that he was all but happy with the situation. Death listened, and he listened intently, much to Ace's surprise. He wasn't exactly the way she had thought he would be, of course she'd heard he was different, but she had never had the chance to see for herself during her brief encounters with him.
"I see." Death tilted his head first slightly to one side, then the other, looking at Hank as though trying to cross-examine him to ensure that this was not some wild attempt at a lie. Of course he instantly realised the logic in the argument, and he also knew that the scientist was right, he was just truly opposed to compromising. It seemed, unfortunately, to be necessary in this situation. He should have seen that, he was Death, the pale horseman, he had always been the one with the big picture, how had he been blinded? Well, it wasn't exactly his dimension…
"Your argument is valid, of course. I will make an exception." To Ace's great relief, he withdrew his hand, and she stood for a moment, regaining control of her racing heart, before she stepped away. Just to be at a safe distance. Death held up a finger, silencing whatever relieved sigh might have come from either of the two mortals. "But there is one condition; When she is to die, I must be the one to reap her soul. You must keep her alive until I come back for her when she has reached the age in which she would have died had she been in her own dimension." Without even waiting for a response, Death turned around, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Ace was left practically gasping for air as though she really had died for a moment, and she felt as though she was tasting sweet air that she never thought she would breathe.
Hank was not nearly as stunned as she was, for some reason, and as he removed his glasses once again, this time placing them carefully on his desk, which stood only a few steps away. He had his back turned to her, both hands placed flatly on the desk as he leaned heavily against it. "You seem to be attracting the attention of some quite powerful entities of your dimension, Ace."
She wasn't even listening to him, but merely staring at his back, his actions only now fully sinking in. "You could have died, why the hell did you defend me?" She did not mean to sound accusing, but she did. Mostly it was an automatic response to the shock of having the personification of Death literally one breath away from ending her life with nothing but a single touch. He did not turn around, but merely sighed at her, and she immediately realised that she had been wrong to bite at him like that. "I should say thank you. You saved my life." Asking why was pointless, she probably wouldn't understand anyway, or it would just be weird. If he had some emotional reason for it, she did not want to know. That would be awkward beyond measure.
"You are the only defence we have if something does come through from your dimension, you said so yourself. We will be in grave danger if vampires or werewolves began spreading." Now, that was an explanation she could wrap her head around, although there was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite grasp, Oh, nevermind. It wasn't important. She was alive, that was what mattered. The rest they could deal with later.
"Yeah, that's true. So… maybe you could show me the grounds and I'll tell you what safety precautions you should take?" Yup, that was good, Ace, change the subject. Away from all the touchy-feely stuff. To safe, solid ground. Safety, yeah, she could deal with that.
It took a moment for him to respond, he seemed slightly befuddled, but regained his composure almost immediately. "Yes, yes of course. What precautions do you have in mind?" He asked with genuine interest, ready to take whatever steps she thought necessary. Any steps that were reasonable, of course.
She smiled devilishly, more than delighted to be back in her trade.
"Generous amounts of salt, for starters."