Over her life, Shion had been in several tight spots. There was the time she was in the middle of a guildwar and she had taken what was questionably the wrong side; The time that she found a sect of Crows hiding and had to work very, very hard to convince them she hadn't seen anything and that she wasn't a threat; Several times in which she'd ended up on the bad side of the Big Bad Inquisition, of course. One specific time had been one of the eraser squads that had been roaming through the town that she happened to be in.

The amount of dancing around the borders of the village and hiding she had done had been mentally taxing. Those people were so overpowering...she had fled as soon as she possibly could.

This guy, on the other hand, she knew wasn't on the same level. She was able to pick into this "Inquisitor's" brain the way a child turned on the waterworks for candy. Unfortunately for him, she knew the handcuffs only worked if both of the cuffs were on her wrists. So she had time to convince this little sapling that the mistake he was making was one he probably wouldn't survive. Her objective had been fulfilled - she had escaped confirmation of her presence in this elevator with the help of this man. She couldn't care less what happened to him from here.

"Oh, is that what you are?" Eyebrows rose in tandem with widening eyes, an impressed smirk appearing on her face. "I couldn't tell from the handcuffs or the domineering attitude. You holy types are all very kinky, aren't you?" Her free hand spread wide over his stomach as she made the mental link. The instant she did, his body began to move, a meaty fist clamping down on her free wrist.

Well. He was much better at what he did when he was actually awake to resist it. Too bad for him she was already in his head. She sent him intense feelings of sorrow and regret, so intense that he wouldn't be able to focus on the beautiful disaster in front of him. Shion giggled as she felt him attempt to resist, but his mental defenses were so pathetic that she was surprised that he was even an Inquisitor at all. She could feel he had immense potential in the spiritual area - so much so that it had probably earned him his place.

Too bad he'd never met a lovely lady like herself before. He might be a little more prepared for the real world if he had.

Within seconds the man bowed his head, shoulders shaking and eyes screwed shut. Tears rippled down his face with such vigor that it was a synch to grab the key from his bag, unlock herself, pocket the cuffs and sigh at him. She saw in his mind that he was a good man, even if he was sorely misguided, but she couldn't let go of him until she was far away enough away.

The sobbing man shielding a woman that he had been scandalously close to made the rest of the trip awkward, to say the least. To this day it was one of the few times in her life that Shion actually felt a modicum of shame for her actions, even if they had kept her from being killed.

Eventually the group made it to the Plate. All hastily exited the elevator aside from the Inquisitor, who solemnly shambled into the crowd, objective forgotten. Playtime over, Shion made it her goal to get on whichever airship would take her to Phaion and out of the eyes of her Sisters for, hopefully, the rest of her life. She'd be happy if she never saw another raging lesbian with a knife again in her-

Oh, that was a knife on the base of her spinal cord. That could mean only one muffin-eating thing. Any moment now something like, 'I'm going to get so much credit for catching you' was going to escape the girl's lips and Shion would have to cause a scene and then the ENTIRE plate would be thrown into chaos with the chase.

Oops. She was talking.

"...wants you dead more than our Matron does," said what sounded to be Teresa, ex-girlfriend of Tiffany's squadmate Alissa. This girl liked thinking she was good because she could hide, but hiding didn't do all of the work for you, and Shion knew that. Teresa, along with being horrible at strip poker, was cocky. To demonstrate, if Teresa had been looking down, she would see Shion's hands slowly creeping towards the other's wrist to dig in nails and make the stiletto drop from her grip. See the subtle tensing of her leg muscles, winding and ready to spring away at the slightest movement of the knife.

"You never got to hear what happened to me, did you? Or do you even want to?" Shion snorted lightly. Her moment was soon. She just had to wait for the other two Sisters waiting in the crowd to approach to throw them all off. Shion resumed her steps, knowing that Teresa would follow her, a shadow darkest in the light of day. "I don't think this is going to work out."

Shion's wrists flicked, easily grabbing the stiletto and redirecting it towards one of the Sisters before hunkering down and throwing Teresa over her shoulder. The dull thump of bodies hitting each other echoed through her sensitive ears as she bounded forward, heading into the crowd and sprinting as fast as she could.

The smell of lemon and roses followed her, a wall of smoke hiding her escape from the suddenly confused crowd and the definitely-angry assassins. She ran. Then she jogged. Finally she walked, hood up. She had to move. Quickly.

Hurry.

Hurry.

Hurry.

The wind seemed to carry her through the crowds, her legs moving in different directions than her mind. How did they find her? She knew she smelled them, but she knew she hadn't been spotted on the way up. She had the best cover, the easiest routes to the Tower, and she was careful. Gods damn it, she had been so careful! They couldn't have spotted her below. Or…

Or maybe they hadn't had to spot her on the ground. Messenger pigeons could find Towers easily...and they would know she'd want to leave the area as fast as she could. They knew she would come to the Tower.

And that was why she smelled the flowers while she was in the elevator. They had come up before her, waiting for her to get here. Fucking Matron for knowing her so well! Now what was she supposed to do? It wasn't as if she could jump off of the Tower. She couldn't go back to the elevators either; Those girls would be stupid if they left the only exit point for a fleeing target. Her only chance was to get onto an airship, but would any let her on? Bounty boards would have her face by now, and officials kept those records all over the Plate-

Lost in slight panic and thoughts only of escape, Shion didn't notice the red-headed woman approach. Nor did she hear the question that seemed to be asked at least three or four times before a gloved hand laid itself gently on her shoulder. Shocked yellow eyes met kindly blue ones, bangs framing a kind face.

"You look like you're needing to get somewhere fast," The woman noted with a smile, eyes flicking over Shion's shoulder for the briefest of moments. "...and that you don't care where that somewhere is. Follow me, we'll get you out of here."