Author's note: Hey so, it's pretty much on time :). This chapter was both a pain to write but fun at the same time.

The sun had barely peaked over the rocky horizon when Poppy left the inn to begin her trek to the other side of the city. The early light tinged the dark, stone buildings in a golden hue, which, when coupled with the occasional brightly coloured shop, was strangely pretty.

The morning air was quiet, with only the occasional early-riser on the solitary streets to break the stillness. Nearby, a wiry Shuriman opened their bakery while further up, a burly Freljordian unlocked a flower shop. Both nodded in greeting to the yordle as she passed.

It was late morning by the time Poppy finally made it to the eastern sector. Unsurprisingly, it was quite similar to the region she'd already investigated. However, rather than the half-residential, half-business setup, this section was primarily commercial buildings.

This brought a couple of unseen problems; in-particular the business of the area. Realistically, the yordle girl shouldn't have been surprised. Commercial centres were the epicentre of a city's life-force, providing companionship, goods and work for practically every trade. It made sense that even a band of assassins would thrive where commissions and information were at an all-time high. However in a city like Noxus, such a crowded area proved extremely difficult for the young yordle to assert herself. Despite her resolve, Poppy found herself pushed around by busy shoppers and workers alike.

Finally, after hours being overridden by the larger citizens, she decided to cut her losses and instead heading towards a couple of less occupied store fronts.

Ducking into an antique store, Poppy looked around the quiet shop. The place was dim and dusty, causing the girl to blink rapidly as she started to navigate through the cluttered shelves. Despite the mess, she could still tell that the shop was mostly empty with only a couple of customers browsing the shelves.

Adjacent to the entrance two store hands were moving a tea set – the lanky Ionian arranging the items that the pale, stocky Noxian was passing up to him – in the far corner, a dwarf was cleaning a breastplate, all the while the hard-eyed manager watched them all from behind his desk. Most of them ignored the yordle as she entered, the exception being the scarred Noxian at the counter who regarded her with wary eyes.

"May I help you?" came the belligerent query.

"I'm hoping so," Poppy spoke, approaching the desk. "I'm looking for someone."

"Information will cost you money here," the man told her in no uncertain terms.

The girl rolled her eyes, before pulling out a single gold piece. Before handing it over, she held it up for him to see and asked, "If I give you this, will you tell me what you know about Andreas Nightwing and the Blackthorns?"

The man's hand had been inching towards the coin when he stopped, face going pale. "Andreas?"

At the sound of the name, every other person in the store paused, before glancing over at the pair, bodies tense and faces fearful.

"Get out." The manager spoke shortly.

"What?" Poppy asked in surprise.

"Get out now!"

Her purple eyes narrowed, measuring his reaction, before she shrugged, "Alright."

Turning back towards the door, the yordle casually made her way out. Once she was outside the store, however, she let her ears perk up, trying to pick up any following conversation. Sure enough, her sensitive ears quickly picked up the store owner's voice as he talked to his subordinates.

"Kill her," was his brief order.

The girl felt her heartrate increase at the blatant remark, but she forced herself to keep her breathing even and her steps calm as she walked away. The last thing she wanted was for them to know that she'd been eavesdropping.

As she casually wandered down the street, Poppy attuned her ears to the noises behind her. It was a little harder to pinpoint, over the noisy, surrounding chatter, but she could still make out three sets of footsteps keeping pace behind her.

Just to be certain, she paused, pulling her map out of her pack and pretending to study it. Sure enough, the footsteps came to a halt, before instantly picking up again with her renewed motion. Confident with her deduction, the yordle strode with purpose now, heading down the street before turning down a side alley that would bring her closer to the second outer wall.

The noise of the bustling market place died down as she entered the backstreet, allowing her to accurately make out the sounds of her pursuers.

Poppy allowed herself a small smirk. With how few yordles lived in the city of Noxus, she doubted its citizens had much of an idea about how good her hearing really was. Unlike most human prey, she didn't even need to turn around to gather all the information she needed to fight.

From the heavy footfalls and the even heavier breathing, she quickly deduced that the stout workhand was the closest to her. Slightly behind him and to her left, were longer, more steady steps, suggesting the lanky worker.

Poppy frowned at the light footsteps furthest back. Those definitely didn't sound like they belonged to a dwarf, which meant they were from someone new – someone unknown. But that wasn't what was seriously worrying her. Their pacing suggested they were most likely a short human, but their footsteps were still too light for what their size indicated. She could only draw one conclusion: this person had experience doing this sort of thing and that made them very dangerous.

The yordle had no more time to think however, as the stout worker sent a powerful punch straight at her head.

She ducked the blow, before ramming straight into his gut. Unprepared, he gave little resistance as she charged him into the wall; his head colliding with the sturdy bricks and knocking him out cold.

He crumpled at her feet, but Poppy was already diving to the side of the second man's sword. Rolling to her feet and catching the next blow with her hammer, she twisted the weapon out of his grip. The lanky workmen had time for a brief look of panic before the hammer caught him square in the gut. Reflexively, he doubled over, gasping for breath only for the girl's fist to slam into his face, swiftly knocking him out.

A glint of light caught her attention and she turned. A knife grazed her cheek, thrown off course by her movement. The yordle gritted her teeth at the stinging sensation but couldn't afford to spend any further attention to the dripping cut as she frantically she searched the alley for the final man.

Straining her eyes and ears to their limits, she was able to deflect and dodge the rapid flow of knives he threw next, but despite her best efforts, she still couldn't keep track of his form.

As she ducked a pair of throwing daggers, Poppy felt her aggravation and panic growing, causing her to forcefully push the emotions down. She needed to keep a cool head. After all, no matter how skilled, he couldn't have an infinite set of knives. Eventually he would run out and she could make her move then. However, the steady voice in her mind questioned: what he would do then?

Her answer came quicker than she could anticipate, as the Noxian let loose a vast flurry of kunai directly at her.

Acting on instinct, the girl whirled her hammer in a barrier before her, thankfully blocking the majority of the incoming projectiles in time. One stray blade, however, still got through her guard before plunging deep into her forearm.

With a cry of pain, she involuntarily grasped the deep wound tight, trying to halt the flow of blood, steadily leaking out.

Her inattention came at a cost. "Got you," a smug voice whispered just behind her head.

The girl turned, desperately trying to shield the cutting blade she knew was coming, even as she braced for the cold sheering steel. Only it never came.

Instead she spun around just in time to see the lithe Noxian being thrown up against the wall by a very angry gargoyle. The knife he'd held clattered to the ground, way out of reach as the acrobatic man struggled helplessly in the stone giant's crushing grip.

Galio barely paid the man's struggles any attention, instead turning back to look at his friend.

"Are you alright?' His concerned gaze swept her form; expression darkening as he quickly noticed the inflicted wounds. He turned back to his captive with a furious growl, causing the man's eyes to go wide in fear.

"Galio stop!" Poppy pushed herself between the two, Whomper at the ready. "I'm alright. Please, we need him alive."

The gargoyle's narrow, red eyes continued to bore into the Noxian for a couple more seconds before he conceded. "Alright." With a final glare, he released the man and backed off slightly. But he did not lower his guard.

The dropped Noxian shook as he gasped in ragged breaths, but he still managed to glare at the girl as she turned her attention to him fully. Poppy ignored the look as she spoke, "I take it from your attack that you do in fact know something about the man I'm looking for. You will tell me what you know about Andreas Nightwing."

The man sneered up at her, "You don't scare me, little yordle."

A warning growl from Galio quickly wiped the scorn from his face as his eyes swung towards the looming presence behind the yordle.

Squatting down to eye level, Poppy regarded the small Noxian with cold interest. "If I was you, I probably wouldn't aggravate him further," she advised him. "My friend here is already extremely unhappy with you hurting me and he's very, very hungry. Right now, I'm the only thing keeping you alive."

Implicitly, she knew Galio was playing along, barring his teeth as he continued to growl. She had to stop herself from grinning as the man visibly paled, his resolve plummeting. Instead, she pressed further. "I can only keep him at bay for a limited time, so if you continue being uncooperative, I'll be unable to stop him from tearing you to pieces. But, if you answer my question, you get to live. Doesn't seem like much of a choice to me. Now, where do I find Andreas?"

Tearing his eyes away from the menacing stone golem as her words grew hard, the man reluctantly spoke. "The Blackthorns have a couple of bases of operation, making it hard for outsiders to locate them. But I did hear that they're supposed to be meeting tonight at their storehouse."

"And where is this storehouse?" Poppy pressed.

"It's located behind Burlson's Butcher shop in the central marketplace. You can't miss it."

The girl gave him a grim smile, "See. Was that so hard?"

Before he could respond she knocked him out with her hammer.

"Was it really wise to let him live?" Galio queried.

Poppy shrugged. "I said I'd let him go if he cooperated."

"Hmm," was the gargoyle's ambiguous response. He paused, looking back at the downed men warily, even as his yordle companion started striding down the alley.

"Come on," she called back. "We still have a good amount of daylight left. I'd like to get a good look at the storehouse and make a plan before barging in there."

As he joined the girl, she turned to him, face morphing into a soft, shy expression so very different from normal. "Thank you, by the way. For helping me out back there." She wanted to say more, but found it difficult to phrase it.

Fortunately, Galio understood. Giving her a gentle smile, he spoke, "Anytime, my friend. Though, for future reference: never in my life have I considered eating a person," he added indignantly.

"I know that," she said with a small smirk. "But he didn't. I'm sorry Galio, but I needed the leverage."

Her friend gave a sigh. "Very well. But next time, I get to be the good cop."

Poppy let out a genuine laugh, "Fair enough. I'm not very good at it anyway."

He'd kept his breathing even as the conversation ahead of him continued; his eyes closed and body limp so not to draw attention to himself. Mounting another surprise attack on the two foreigners had crossed his mind, but he'd quickly decided against it. After all, it hadn't worked out that well last time, and with two of them now, his chances of success had dropped even lower. Instead, all he did was peak through his lashes at the yordle girl and the giant stone thing's backs as his companion spilled their intel.

He fought down a sneer at the grovelling. It was pathetic – but he knew it couldn't be helped. For now, he just had to be patient and wait for the two foreigners to leave.

Once he was sure they were gone, the stout Noxian swung back to his feet; swiftly navigating his way back through the busy streets. Finally, he came upon a nondescript door near the outer wall.

Knocking twice, then three times rapidly, he waited for the door to open.

What he did not expect, was the cold edge of a blade against his throat.

"And just what are you doing here?" a menacing voice sounded next to his ear.

The pale workhand swallowed. "I have some news for you, Andreas," he explained.

The assassin didn't speak, but the slight relief of pressure on his throat was message enough to keep talking.

"There's a yordle girl in the area who's been looking for you. I don't know why she is, but she has some very detailed information on you."

"This girl, what does she look like?"

"Umm," the man cast his thoughts back, bringing to mind an image of the yordle. "She has blue skin, pigtails and doesn't smile."

Andreas' response was not what he was expecting, as the deadly man, let out a hearty laugh. "Unbelievable! She followed me all the way here – to the heart of my very own domain? Well, she's got guts, I'll give her that much. Now," the Noxian focused once more on his prey, "how much does she know?"

"S-she knows about your meeting tonight and where it's located. I believe she's planning to attack you there. But I-I swear I never told her any of that."

The stout man could feel a trickle of sweat slide down his forehead at the deathly silence behind him. After a couple of agonizing moments, Andreas finally spoke. "Lucky for you, that actually works in my favour. Now, before I let you go, is there anything else I need to know?" The dark, underlying threat was clear as day.

"T-the yordle," the man stammered out quickly. "She wasn't alone. There was this huge winged, rock thing that was watching over her from the shadows too."

"Interesting. So the gargoyle came with her." The assassin withdrew his knife. "Go now. I have a surprise welcome to plan."

Finally breathing in a full breath, the workhand turned to the dark-clad assassin. "What about me? Don't I get anything for providing this information?"

The glinting grin in the dark backstreet was anything but reassuring. "You get to leave with your life."

"Right," the man nodded, before sprinting away from the notorious assassin.

Once out of sight, however, his pace slowed to a leisurely stroll as he smirked to himself.

Everything was going according to plan.

Dun. Dun. Dun :). Not many chapters left to go now. Though, I should warn, I may not be able to get the next chapter up on time. I always keep a couple of chapters written ahead of time for consistency, but with how busy I've been over the last couple of months I've caught up with myself. I've been using a lot of my free time to write the next chapter in time, but just warning that it still might not be enough.

Fun fact: The tacos in last chapter were a reference to Kled's voice line about them :).