John continued walking as if nothing unusual had happened. On the inside he was in turmoil, however. ‘Where? Who?’ he asked in quick succession.
The nightmare elental just giggled, ‘That wasn’t part of our deal, so you’ll have to find out on your own.’
John suppressed a sigh of annoyance, ‘Well, I guess I will find her by myself.’
‘Oh? You noticed her already?’ Siena wondered.
‘Nope, I lied, but now I know it’s a woman. Thanks,’ John smugly answered.
‘…I could have lied to you,’ Siena returned.
‘You are a terrible liar,’ John thought back at her. ‘Thanks for warning anyway, now I just need to filter the correct woman out of the crowd. Shouldn’t be that hard.’
Siena distanced herself from his thoughts, thus making clear that he wouldn’t learn anything more from her. She did leave him with the hint about his stalker’s gender though. Trying to look as nonchalant as ever, he turned into an alleyway and used Possession on one of the bricks of the walls.
If he had to solve this mystery on his own, he would need to start by looking for whoever followed him. Of course, he didn’t expect to find out who by the first alleyway he crossed this way, as the amount of people around was too high to simply filter out one person. The chance of just grabbing sobody who was going in the sa direction was too high. If he repeated this strategy, entering an alleyway and then possessing sothing inside the street to check who entered it behind him often enough, there should only be one person left at the end, however.
‘The fact that Siena was able to locate her ans that she can’t be much further away from than five tres,’ John thought, ‘so I am searching for a person that is female and is physically following close by.’
It took around 4 more alleyways before he found the person that was suspicious and another 3 until he was certain that she was the only candidate. A brunette, fairly plain, around her forties in boring worker’s clothes. No one would think about her for an extended amount of ti or notice her in passing. Not even an Observe, made during a casual glance over his shoulder, revealed anything of interest, but John had been fooled on that front before, and he was aware that there were ways to obscure what he saw.
‘Momo?’ he stretched out to his support back at the mansion as his feet carried him towards the north side of the district.
‘What is it?’ she asked, slightly annoyed.
‘Can you ask Lydia for if there is so local law or custom concerning catching an information broker on your tail?’
‘…Sure,’ Momo answered after quickly going through his recent mories. About a minute later she returned with the result, ‘Long story short: It is a punishable offence, level of punishnt varies greatly. Vigilante justice is frowned upon but, in small portions, not strictly forbidden. Local authorities have the right to drag you to court if you overdo it.’
John continued to walk around, seemingly random, in the search of so isolated place. What he found was the backyard of a building that was for sale, lying in the shadow of the tall wall that separated the third and fourth ring.
The informant hesitated when she saw John go there. She had been steadily falling back as the crowds got thinner, and now that her target vanished from the main streets completely, tracking him further would be very dangerous. It would pose too great a risk for her to follow him into such a far-off place. She probably guessed that John had found out about her and was trying to trap her.
The woman ca to a halt, hiding at a dark corner, probably thinking about whether it was worth following John further. None of her guesses helped her when Siena appeared behind her; the nightmare elental’s hand pressed on the woman’s mouth to muffle any cries for help.
As Siena’s claws dug bloody lines into the stalker's cheek, she whispered, “Such a naughty little girl. It’s ti for you to get punished.” The spy was dragged away by the nightmare elental and brought to John, who was waiting for their arrival.
The Gar had Gno create two sowhat adequate chairs. Made from stone, they were maybe not the most comfortable seats one could imagine, but at least they were seats. The woman was placed in front of John, and finally, Siena pulled her hands away. Her sharp claws left long, red lines.
The nightmare elental returned to John’s side. She was the only one of his elentals that John currently had made manifest. “Who are you?” John asked straight out. No answer, just an amused glare. Of course, that would have been too easy.
John observed her clothes one by one. Enchanted vest, Uncommon, nothing important. Sturdy boots, Common, nothing important. Brown gloves, Common, nothing important. Spy’s earring, Rare, Misinformation 2 – Bingo.
He went over the rest of her equipnt to find out anything he could or check if anyone was tracking her over a Possession or sothing of that kind. If there was soone, his hiding skills were stronger than John’s detection. “You done starring?” the woman asked.
“Yes, not much to stare at, really,” John stated and gestured at Siena; “As you can see I have a finer woman at my hand.”
“Mhm, nicely chosen words,” Siena humd. “I like it. You know what I would like even more, Master?” The nightmare elental’s claws were suddenly in front of the captured woman’s face. “If you would add a few more wounds to this face. They would be such beautiful scars.”
“We will see about this, servant, we will see,” John said, careful not to drop Siena’s na, just to be sure. Siena took a step back, and John shifted in his chair, the armguard underneath his suit rustling. “Until very recently,” he said, looking at his fingernails as if what he was saying wasn’t the slightest bit important. “I had an information broker on my tail. I am sure you are aware of this.”
He was pretty sure that his acting ca across as forced, but all he needed to do was back this up with so actions that fit the bill.
The woman just continued staring, a drop of sweat running down the side of her head and mixing with the blood coming from the thin scratches across her cheek. She could act as cool as she wanted, but they both knew that, now that she had been caught, John was not only in the superior position, but that he could do whatever he wanted with her. Even if she scread now, Siena would cut her throat before any help arrived. The woman was probably thinking that he wouldn’t kill her if she didn’t act up too much. John needed her to think otherwise.
“So, let’s be honest here, did you think I was an easy target?” John wanted to know. “I an, I wouldn’t be surprised. SecretBlonde gave away VERY extensive information about . It must have looked like I was just a fool with no idea how to hide myself. Not that that was necessarily untrue. I am going to pin most of this on SB being highly able, however. Having been highly able.”
John omitted all reasons for why he spoke in the past tense; all he needed to get across was a simple fact: SecretBlonde was dead. The why should be speculation running through the woman’s mind.
“You wouldn’t kill a harmless woman, would you?” the woman pleaded, ensuring John that she had co to the exact conclusion that he had wanted her to. A hesitant gesture of his hand and Siena cut off the woman’s earlobe before she could react. It fell to the floor together with the earring that had faked out the Observe result.
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