This Can Only Go Well

[ViolentMedic]

((Russell ‘Fitz’ Fitzroy continued from Alpha Hunt Foxtrot.))

The plan had been to split up. Find Kitty. Try not to die and get back to report it. Leveraging speed over safety.

Fitz was walking along the edge of the lake, and occasionally stopping to lie down and peer through the scope. Kaede wasn't far behind him. He didn't think she had a method of murdering him and taking his stuff. He hadn't gotten around to asking.

He could see across the lake. He could still, if he focused on the mountains they’d left Matthew and Shawn by…

Yeah, there they were. Far in the distance, in range of being seen but not shot at. Little from here, barely visible through the scope. They’d been in shooting distance for a while after the separation. Fitz was keeping track of them. Though it was getting harder now that he was at a lower altitude. Especially with how he had to crane his neck down as it was to see through the nonadjustable scope.

“I should have dibsed the mountains,” he muttered.

The machete was in his bag. The town wouldn’t be too long of a walk, though it would take him far beyond the agreed-upon area they were searching.

“So, Kaede. Theoretically. How much do you care about this plan?” Fitz asked.

As he asked, he sat up enough to move the sniper rifle so it was pointing at the lake, so he could check the opposite bank.

[decoy73]

((Kaede Tsurumi continued from Alpha Mike Foxtrot))

Fitz was the one shooting. Kaede was merely ... there. If he died she could take his stuff, but he would actually have to die, and she didn't have it in her to kill him yet. All she could really do was look out and squint in the general direction that Fitz was looking. She couldn't even see Matthew of Shawn. And as for the plan itself ...

"I guess I care. It means that Kitty won't kill us."

[VoltTurtle]

"Hey now, I wouldn't rule that out."

((Kitty's voice rang out like a sudden, sharp chord on a piano.))

She popped out from the treeline, shotgun pointed in the vague direction of both Fitz and Kaede, but not directly at either of them. It had taken her a while to sneak up on them unnoticed, but the effort was worth it if it meant she was in control of this situation. Couldn't take risks when someone was holding a gun that large!

Slowly, Kitty marched closer to them, weapon still at the ready, until she stopped a few meters away from them both. Her face bore a dissonant, friendly smile. She really was happy to see Fitz. The worst part about this place, besides the fact that she was probably going to die, was that it was boring. Having someone to talk to sometimes was fun! It broke up the monotony!

It helped that she knew Fitz, unlike Fae. She wouldn't say that her and Fitz were close, but they had both been in the anti-SOTF club, even if Kitty was a distant member at best. That meant they had talked before, something she couldn't say for most of her peers. While he never seemed particularly interested in her like her friends had, he had been cordial to her. At this stage, that was enough.

"Hiiiii Fitz," Kitty chirped, almost sing-song. "Been a while since we talked. Gale's probably mad at us both for going on the tr-trip."

Kitty quizzically tilted her head to the side, mangled cat ear flopping against her hat.

"So, what plan were ya talkin' about? I'd love to know!"

[ViolentMedic]

Fitz tilted his head, grimacing at Kaede’s answer, clearly unconvinced that it would be the case.

He opened his mouth to respond, but the worst voice on the island to hear from behind spoke up.

Fitz screamed like a girl. He clammed his mouth up quick after and cut it off into something closer to an undignified yelp, spinning around quick, but the damage was done to any effort to look in control of the situation.

“Hhhh--”

He didn’t raise the rifle towards her. It would take too long to line up and aim.

“--heeeeEEEyyy,” Fitz squeaked, his voice almost lilting in an attempt to mimic the sing-song tone Kitty was using, though ruined in the face of the fear that was making his rifle tremble. “Y-yeah, she… she...” He swallowed, then said, “She’s probably damn pissed right now, huh?”

He took a step back, but going further would lead him onto the ice.

“Oh, uh… the real smart plan to… to, uh… well, for the record, I wasn’t really about it and was about to suggest mutiny.”

[decoy73]

"Eeeeep."

It wasn't Kitty that scared Kaede. It was the gun. The big ass gun that could easily be pointed at her and blow her stomach outside of her body.

"Uuuhhhhh ..." Kaede just looked around nervously. She hadn't realized it, but she'd been doing so well in gaining self confidence. Now, she was simply clenching her nether regions to prevent "seepage."

[VoltTurtle]

Kitty's gun was scary, but the real threat was behind her eyes.

A few days ago, she would've been afraid of Fitz's gun, paranoid that he was going to shoot her with it at any moment. A few less days ago, she would've shot him before she ever gave him the chance to make good on that threat. Today, she was frenetic, but not afraid. One need not be scared when they were the monster everyone else feared.

"Oh, a mutiny?" she chirped, putting on her best pirate voice. "That sounds fun! Make the captain walk the plank!"

She giggled, very quietly, to herself. The adrenaline was pumping, and it was like electricity in her bloodstream. That rush had become addicting; it was when she felt most acutely alive.

"You two should relax, by the way!" she mewed, her speech back to normal. "If I wanted to kill either of you, I would've done so already!"

Kitty smiled, showing off her fake canines, back in her mouth for the first time since she had arrived.

"I don't wanna hurt you," Fitz at least, Kaede she could take or leave, "I'm just bored! And I wanna talk. So, here! A gesture of trust! Don't try to abuse it..."

She lowered the barrel of the gun, now no longer pointed in their direction, but still ready to be raised and fired at a moment's notice.

"So, tell me, if you're gonna mutiny, then who's in charge of your little crew, and what were they planning?"

[ViolentMedic]

It took a moment for what Kitty was saying to catch up enough for Fitz to be able to breathe a little. He let out a small, shaky laugh.

“Yeah… suppose that’s doable on a lake. Just need… an actual plank.”

His knuckles were still white as he looked down at his gun, loaded since the trapping cabin earlier.

“You know… after that first announcement, I would have taken my chances with the gun. But… well. Things change.”

He nodded a little and shifted the gun further downwards. He glanced sideways at Kaede.

“She’s got a point, huh? But you can run that way if she changes her mind, and I’ll run this way, yeah? Probably won’t get us both.” Fitz gestured in some random directions, then shrugged at Kitty. “No offence. I’d be jittery even if you weren’t on nine lives.”

He looked back to Kitty, though his eyes flickered around, trying to look for movement in the trees or around the lake.

“Fine, let’s chat. Haven’t done that properly since… I guess Cedar, really. Which reminds me, before I get to the mutinies and betrayals and all that. Alex. You killed him, huh? I…” Fitz’s mouth tightened up briefly before he straightened up and focused his gaze back on Kitty. “I… I guess I owe you one for it.”

[decoy73]

Nope. Kaede wasn't talking. It wasn't just that she had nothing to say. The other was that she was too scared to say anything. The thing is that the fear also extended from her mouth to her legs, so while part of her wanted to bail right there, she couldn't. All she could do was to stand there and watch FItz and Kitty make nice talk while holding big guns, all the while she had one can of pepper spray.

Nice ...

[VoltTurtle]

"I'd be offended if you weren't jittery, honestly."

Now that Kitty was embracing her darker impulses, it felt intoxicating to have so much power. That was something she had never been afforded back home, anywhere, by anyone. Maybe they had been right to do so, given what she had done so far with the power she was afforded, but she wasn't about to give it up. She only had one restraint left, the one hugging her neck, but in time, that too would be removed.

"And... you're... th-thanking me?"

Kitty sounded surprised, and a little taken aback. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Everyone's been really... m-mad at me for everything I've done, up until now," she said, slightly mournful, without any of her prior bombast. "You're the f-first person to... say anything nice about it. Any of it."

Her smile grew wider, taking on a vicious, but not threatening, edge. She had never had the chance to be proud of her violence before, but Fitz had given her the perfect opportunity. For a moment, she forgot about the little plan she wanted to know about.

"I assume he killed someone close to you?" she continued, the confidence returning to her voice. "If it makes you feel better, he died like an idiot. Tried to ambush me when I got my first prize, and it didn't take."

She could almost taste the blood in her mouth.

"So I ended up ambushing him instead, and I did a much better job."

[ViolentMedic]

Fitz snorted, eyes sliding away from Kitty as he did so. “I believe that. He stole my gun when it only had one bullet in it, and tried to threaten five people with it. ...Only reason he survived is because I accidentally shot the guy he was wrestling.”

As Fitz spoke, his eyes slid back up to the mountain. He couldn’t see Matthew or Shawn without using the scope. His fingers drummed lightly on the gun.

“Four deaths I saw stem from him, and he only got blamed for Cedar. He shot Tenshi in the arm, and Dawn copped the blame for that one when she had to amputate the infection. Tully was fighting him off when I shot him. And Mildred came after me because of what happened to Tully. Tell you what… that guy caused a lot of death in a five-minute fuckup.”

Fitz glanced down at Kaede, checking that she wasn’t going for the pepper spray or anything that would break this fragile peace, then looked back at Kitty.

“Cedar was my girlfriend… but she wouldn’t have asked for vengeance. Too nice. Tully and Mildred, though… they said he was too dangerous to keep walking. So that’s two deathbed promises that you kept for me. Two less ghosts haunting me. So, yeah. I’m thanking you. For that one. The rest… well.”

Fitz shrugged.

“That’s not really my business. The game ends with the same body count either way.”

[VoltTurtle]

"Ha! Hahaha!"

Kitty laughed, a little manically, her smile growing ever wider.

"You get it," she exclaimed happily. "You get it! You're the only one who has..."

Nobody else ever understood, no matter how hard she tried to explain. Everyone she killed would've died anyway, for that was their fate from the moment they had arrived here. As much blood had been spilled by her, it was only done at the behest of the real perpetrators. If her and her classmates hadn't all been kidnapped, she wouldn't have a single drop on her hands. But, they all had been, and she shouldn't have to feel bad about removing obstacles to her own survival.

"You know what?" Kitty posited, scrunching her face up in thought for a moment, before reaching into her bag and feeling around. "Here-"

Kitty tossed a ration bar in front of Fitz's feet.

"A peace offering! I've got more than enough to spare, and you've been nice."

She hadn't fully made up her mind to let the two of them live until this moment, but that had cinched it. She wouldn't dare kill the only person that understood why she had hurt so many people.

"And you're welcome, for keeping those ghosts off your back. Now, tell me..."

Her voice took on a predatory rasp, her smile becoming a tinge sinister.

"What was your little plan again? Who was the ringleader? And where can I find them? I've got a... gift, to give them."

[ViolentMedic]

Fitz didn’t dare move to pick up the ration bar. His expression was stone-cold blank as Kitty cackled, the effort into not flinching or shifting backwards meaning he couldn’t really make any facial expression at all without it collapsing in on him.

Somehow, the test was passed.

He didn’t dare move forward to pick up the ration that had been tossed at his feet, though he finally managed a faint smile at the ‘you’re welcome.’ At Kitty’s… request, Fitz considered the matter for three seconds.

“It’s Matthew,” he said. “Ran into him this morning, so it’s not long-standing, and he nearly shot me on sight so he didn’t endear himself to me or anything. And he brought up some history, plus I heard the announcements… so I know you ain’t fond of him, either.”

He drummed his fingers against his chin in somewhat fake thought, before he decided on pushing his luck.

“I’ll tell you exactly where he is right now, if you lend me Ashlyn’s ‘weapon.’”

[VoltTurtle]

"Weapon?"

Kitty raised another eyebrow, this time out of confusion.

"What weapon? Her sword?" she asked, genuinely puzzled as to why Fitz would want that when he already had a gun. "Sorry, but Kai took that one when he abandoned me."

She shrugged at Fitz and sighed, trying her best not to dwell on Kai's betrayal, lest she start crying in front of her new friend.

"Unless you meant something else? In which case, sorry, I think whoever shot her and left her for dead took it."

More to the point, Fitz wasn't exactly in a position to negotiate. He had already revealed that Matthew was still after her, something Kitty wasn't surprised to hear. Now she just needed to know where he was, so she could properly avenge Ren, and put that whole matter to bed. If Fitz didn't want to say for whatever reason, she could still force him to do so.

"Now, quit holding out, where is he?"

[ViolentMedic]

“…Okay, it was worth a shot.”

Enough luck pushing.

Fitz raised an arm and pointed directly at where he’d last seen Matthew and Shawn through his scope, thought he didn’t dare raise the gun to check if they’d moved up or down.

“They’re monkeying about on that mountain trail there. I don’t know how long they’ll be up there for. So you probably want to hustle.”

His legs tensed as he gave away his only bargaining chip, eyes shifting briefly over to Kaede again and then back to Kitty.

[VoltTurtle]

"Makes sense!" she mewed. "Explains why you were watching through the scope..."

Kitty gave her widest smile of all, this time with all her teeth on display. Her eyes betrayed a fierce, bloodthirsty glare. The grenade launcher itched at her back where she had it secured. It was time for Matthew to learn why going after her had always been a mistake.

"Then I better not waste any time!" she purred. "Maybe you'll see me again, or maybe you won't..."

She began to back away from Fitz and Kaede, keeping her weapon at the ready, and not taking her eyes off of them as she slipped back into the treeline.

"Byeeeee, Fiiiiitz~"

With that final farewell, Kitty disappeared out of sight, into the woods.

((As she departed, all that could be heard was the pounding of footsteps through the snow, and then silence.))