[IC] Collision Point: Steam, Magic and Blood

[Voltus_Ventus]

Silence dropped the necklace with an internal 'eep', she looked down at it, it was glistening blue in the thick green carpet. She picked it up again cautiously and peered into it with one eye, hoping to see what talked to her. She sat down on the floor and put it around her neck, she proceeded to take her black book from her satchel and wrote: 'is anybody there?', she held it up to the sapphire.

[Totts]

The sapphire began to glow in a 'J' shape, and was quickly followed by "A-R-M-I-N", the necklace then began to whisper "I got killed by Rhodri Fren? You know him? Youve got to tell Voltus to make a beeline for Steamland, thats where he is, but that's all I know, tell him to hurry."

[Voltus_Ventus]

Silence picked up her pencil and started to write with a frown: 'he can't, his body is too badly damaged for such a journey' she held up the book to the necklace again waiting for a response from the strange talking gem around her neck.

[Totts]

The necklace has a ffew indisticnt pharses before they gradually quietened down into nothing. The necklace then showed a sequence of letters "Voltus is yours" before flashing up an image of Jarmin's face, an old, disgifured woman, missing one eye and having deep wrinkles.

[Voltus_Ventus]

Silence dropped the amulet and huffed through the corner of her mouth 'great, now I feel guilty' she thought to herself as she got up from the thick, luxuriant carpet and walked down the corridors clutching her black leather note book, the twinkling, chiming sounds of magical healing pouring out of adjacent rooms. She stopped at the door where voltus was lodged and was about to push through, when she hesitated. Her hand on the door poised to push but she didn't want to go through knowing she did something wrong, knowing she disappointed someone...
She steeled herself and thought to herself 'it's not your fault', she pushed through the door and avoided Voltus' gaze, she busied herself at a small take covered with brown bottles and shaving razors before turning to him and passing him a note: 'we're going to prepare you for surgery, ok?'

[Totts]

Rhrodri prowled the corridors, he wasn't going to be as stupid this time, he had obscured his face, but his trademark ginger hair was still visible. He went into a room where there was nobody else and dispirsed into gas before floating up and reforming inside an air vent. He heard sound like 'prepare the surgery' and 'Voltus' he crawled along the piping, trying to remain silent until he came across the surgery room, he removed his mask and put it into his pocket, there was a small hatch in the air vent beneath him, just perfect for the person on the operating table to look up and see him. 'perfect' he thought to himself, as a he pulled out the necklace he picked up, the one Jarmin was trapped inside, the one Silence had so carelessly left in the room. He pushed his face close to the hatch and smiled, waiting for Voltus to be moved to the room.

[Voltus_Ventus]

Voltus felt the stretcher being wheeled down the halls, beneath the blanket he was naked and most of his body shaven. The IV dripped slowly the anesthetic laced in it taking effect, he blacked out. He slippped back Into conciousness as the harsh white lights of the operating room stung his eyes, the pulled him into the center of the room and put a leather mask over his mouth and instructed him to breath, as he did he started getting sleepy and swore he could see a red blur in the vent above.

[Totts]

Rhodri let out a devilish smile and pulled the necklace up to where Voltus could see it. This was it. This was Rhodri's favourite part. He had killed Jarmin, taken the necklace, but this was the best part, rubbing it in. Rhodri laughed silently, looking down on how powerless Voltus was underneath him. Rhodri kept on mouthing "Jarmin's dead, Jarmin's dead" to see what his reaction would be.

[Voltus_Ventus]

Voltus slowly slipped into a sleep, his eyes locked on the vent where he could see mouth movement but he couldn't react, couldn't move, the drugs have taken control and his eye lids started to slide closed but all the while staring at the vent: Jarmin's Dead Jarmin's Dead...

Silence readied herself and placed the scalpel at his abdomen, 'Kidnies, liver, spine and pelvis' she thought to herself, almost chant like as she started to cut in, each cut a smooth movement which was the opposite of how she felt, she felt nervous.

[Totts]

Rhodri stared at Voltus, his chest already crisscrossed with scars, the cuts Silence was making wouldn't exactly make a difference. Rhodri admired her knifework, it seemed almost... beautiful, Rhodri wondered if she'd make a good assasin. He watched her doing the operation, using each instrument as if it was second nature to her, Rhodri marveled at this. He reached up and scratched his head. Rhodri hadn't noticed, but a couple of his bright red hairs had fallen through the vent, one of them had landed directly in one of the dishes, the steel providing the perfect contrast to spotting it.

[Voltus_Ventus]

Silence reached for a tourniquet but instead saw it, a red hair floating from above, she gulped nervously and put the scalpel down, slowly, shakily her head turned upwards towards the ceiling and she froze her pupils as small as pinpricks. There was the assassin, smiling at her. she shook her head slowly, her eyes misting up, silently pleading him to have mercy, she slipped the mask from her face, 'please just stop' she mouthed 'he's been through enough'. Slowly her hand reached for the scalpel and she started to cut again, more shakily this time, her Gand shuddering slightly.

[Totts]

Rhodri slid himself through the air vent, slowly drifting onto the flaw. Still wearing his devilish trademark smile. "You don't have to worry about anything" He whispered 'You see, I've got a contract on Voltus, a very, very profitable contract, all you have to do is make a few bad cuts here and there, and you'll be rich, I'll give you some of the reward'. He walked forward, expecting a reply. "Oh, I almost forgot, silly me! You can't speak can you? You know, with all that money, you could get your voice back, your ability to speak!" he tempted her. He then leant in closer, his warm breath flowing out of his lungs onto her ears, "Wouldn't that be nice?"

[Voltus_Ventus]

She was shuddering now, tears running down her cheeks as she tried to drown out his venomous words, she was about to cut the kidney free from it's place when she saw it, a large high pressure artery, 'it would be so easy to cut it' she whispered in her head to herself 'no ones here'. Slowly she raised the knife and pressed it against the blood vessel, her hand trembling, but she didn't push, the guilt in her stomach wouldn't let her kill this poor soul. She looked up and mouthed one simple word: 'No'.

[Totts]

Rhodri simply frowned. "The reason I'm not straight up killing him myself, is because the contract is very specific, he has to be killed by someone close to him, someone he though he could trust." "Now, Silence" he said, as if he was talking to a child "I'm making you a deal, all it is is one little cut and you get your voice back and get to live the rest of your days in luxury, the man who ordered this contract is very wealthy." he said. "Another part of the contract is that I can interact and advise you, but I can't hurt you, or help you in your killing action." He stood up tall and whispered in her ear "You don't have to be scared, do you really think I'd risk my perfect contract record?" he said, then he planted a kiss on her cheek, smiling again.

[Voltus_Ventus]

Somewhere deep down she was frozen, caught between two thing she wanted more then anything: Voltus and her voice. Her hand was held aloft above the artery it pulsed slowly, calmly with the beating of his heart. She started to sob lightly, not wanting to do it but at the same time wanted to, she wanted to whisper, to sing, to talk. Her hand hadn't moved from above the artery, it was pushed against it now infact. Trembling she started to push down harder.

[Totts]

Rhodri whispered softly in Silence's ear "You don't have to do this, you know. Is your voice worth his life? Besides, if you finish the operation, he'll kill me, and I'm sure he's rich enough to grant your voice back. That was one of the terms in my contract, show another way out." He smiled and slowly lifted her hand from the artery "I know you're not strong enough to do it, so I'm going to have to accept my fate, I'd rather die than lose my perfect record." He manouvered himself to the side of Voltus and said "Come on now, you haven't got much time left to operate."

[Voltus_Ventus]

Hours. Hours she had to operate, cutting and stitching, replacing his kidneys, his liver, realigning his spinal columns. 'So much damage' she thought to herself as she worked, Rhodri watching intently. The last stitches were coming together and she put her tools down in a tray of cleaning solution and just looked at Rhodri looking at her. Slowly her hand reached the IV needle in Voltus' hand and yanked it out, 'he'll be awake in 5 minutes' she wrote and passed him the note. She walked out in a hurry, her eyes red from crying and sleepiness.

[Totts]

Rhodri steadied himself, in a few short minutes, he was going to die. Voltus was going to kill him. Still, better to have died perfect, than to have run away flawed. Rhodri picked up a set of handcuffs and chained himself to the chair, he wasn't going to let himself escape, the record meant everything to him. Rhodri sat there counting the minutes, his trademark smile fading, almost into a fearful expression. Rhodri sat up straight and prepared himself as Voltus' eyes fluttered open.

[Voltus_Ventus]

Voltus opened his eyes to the cold white light of the operating room, he felt stiff and a sharp pain lanced through his torso. He sat up on the table and held his head in his hands to steady himself from light headedness. "come to finish me off," he whispered to the assassin "because Silence couldn't...". Voltus refused to look at the red haired devil, his eyes instead transfixed on his hands. "so many people have died to these, many I've killed, many I couldn't save," he gave a small gulp "432109, 785380, 684290, 484188, 3345841 and so many more. And I'm tired."

[Totts]

"I'm not here because I want to finish you off, that's not part of the contract. I'm here because I want you to finish me off. I failed to fufill my contract, and I must pay with my life." He explained to Voltus. "Please, please don't have mercy. I want to die with some dignity, not by killing myself." He pleaded to Voltus. "The scalpels are right there, don't you want to take revenge for Jarmin?" "When you kill me, there's something waiting for you in the necklace, it's not Jarmin, but it's something Jarmin would have wanted to give to you while she was still alive." Rhodri ran a hand through his red hair for one last time 'Please Voltus, kill me.'