(Untitled)

[the_oldfirm]

"We have heard that professional assassins are offering their expertise to denizens of the Nexus. Since our preferred targets are, at the moment, under some annoying protection, the partnership of Croup and Vandemar would like to extend our services to anyone who would like a personal annoyance permanently annihilated

Comments

[strawhat_hater]

"Ah. This all makes sense now. I see..."

[the_oldfirm]

"I am afraid I do not see what you mean, sir!"

[strawhat_hater]

"Simply referring to another quandary, good sir. I believe I was just recently asking about taking a job to kill "certain someones" who may have been you both. Unfortunately, a weasel-ish looking man already had the contract."

"Regardless, if one wished to retain your services, what are the going rates?"

[the_oldfirm]

"Ah? Someone has hired an assassin for assassins?" Croup sounds pleased. "We would, of course, need to ascertain the nature of the job."

[strawhat_hater]

"I don't know if it's he's an actual registered one, or simply has it as a side-job."

"I see. Do you have a list of some of your works I might know? I've sailed in quite a few worlds."

[the_oldfirm]

"Ah, well, good sir. We burned down the city of Troy. We brought the Black Plague to Flanders. We have assassinated a dozen kings, five popes, half a hundred heroes and two accredited gods."

[strawhat_hater]

"Interesting. Not events on my world, but I have read of them in another. It would seem the one constant in any world's history is that it is an accruement of human suffering. Truly impressive craftsmanship."

"I would appreciate a means to contact you, should I require your services in the future."

"That aside, I enjoy work that has a certain aggressive edge to it. Are there any duties you gentlemen could currently use assistance on?"

[the_oldfirm]

"We can be easily contacted if you leave a message at our current headquarters.

"And if you're interested, I pose to you this conundrum: if the four people you are going to kill are currently protected by an antiviolence field, how would you bypass it, or find some way to remove them from it?"

[strawhat_hater]

"Excellent."

Crocodile lights a cigar, blows a small ring of smoke, and continues.

"Find a way to lure them out of it, if you wish to be quick about it. Some people are notoriously sensitive if a loved one is threatened. They can't stay together in the Nexus forever. Or you may find something that they cannot resist. Everyone has one thing they can't pass up."

"If you want the simplest approach? Wait. Being within the sub-dimensional ether of this place is like having cabin-fever after a while. There are few who can stand being here indefinitely. The key is to merely keep eyes on them until such time as they can take it no longer. Remember, a prime predator needs patience, to procure such panicked prey."

[the_oldfirm]

"The first approach we have tried; they have managed to elude us." Croup sighs elaborately. "I'm certain we could procure Mister Mayhew's old ladyfriend and use her as bait, but another such failure would be... frustrating.

"We are waiting, good sir. We are waiting."

[strawhat_hater]

"Have you designed a means to keep them from retreating back to the Nexus? A failsafe?"

[the_oldfirm]

"We are trying to ascertain how such a thing could work. Do you know of any proven methods?"

[strawhat_hater]

"Are the targets gifted with power beyond that of regular humans? It depends a lot on what they can do."

[the_oldfirm]

"Two of them are normal human beings. One has whatever power he can get his hands on. The last has a familial Knack that lets her open a door from anywhere to anywhere. She'd be the most difficult."

"She's slippy," Vandemar agrees.

[strawhat_hater]

"Can she open it in mid-air, or does she need a solid surface?"

[the_oldfirm]

"She seems to need a solid surface of some sort." Croup smiles slowly. "And contact with her hands... or some part of her body, at least."