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[I]He doesn't even know who did it?[/I] Fixer thought amusedly, cocking his head slightly to the left as he listened to Ixion's brief words on the subject of the one who had poisoned him. [I]That's unexpected coming from a man who would boldly state that he doesn't leave witnesses. But then, he hasn't exactly been all that impressive and rather self-conflicting today, so I suppose it shouldn't surprise me. It would've been easier if he knew who it was, though... would've potentially saved me quite some time.[/I]
"I'm observant 'n' well-informed, not omniscient," he probably unnecessarily redefined the perceived limits of his knowledge, shrugging with his left shoulder and waving dismissively with his right hand. "I don' kno' who di'it, I just figured tha' if 'e dude's still 'live I should prob'ly find 'im 'n' make an example of 'im, eh? Might still do tha', even if ya don' kno' who it was; I'm real good a' findin' info."
He patted his coat-pocket with his right hand upon making that last statement, as though to use the Necrology as evidence of his proficiency at this particular skill... and to put it bluntly, there probably was no better way of demonstrating how good he really was at tracking down even the most obscure information from the most unlikely sources than that little black book. Ever since he had broken as a tool - which would be a several months before Paul IV realized that he had so, and a similar length of time before Corpse Forge learned of his betrayal - he had been lurking the corners of these northern lands and found every scrap of information he possibly could about the tools and their identities and pasts. The fact that the Necrology contained more-or-less complete information on fourteen people for which Corpse Forge and the governments doing business with them had made every effort to hide the existence of was indeed a quite amazing feat, and he had actually found rather comprehensible information on a number of past tools as well, those who had either died during the fulfillment of their function or had been disposed off once they had reached a point of being incapable of continuing to function.
The only tool he had been incapable of finding [I]any[/I] information on - not even the slightest hint of an identity or a trace of a past - was himself. He was the only current tool, or at least the holder of a tool-specification based on its associated Dirge, not mentioned in the Necrology. For some reason everyone had been far more diligent about erasing his existence from the world than they had with the others... it was rather frustrating, really. Not even the Grand Master knew. Only the Oracle could possibly know.
And without that information, he knew that he would eternally remain the heartless, sadistic and violent Fixer. Without reclaiming the spirit that Corpse Forge had taken from him, he could never be a complete person again.
Not that he wanted to be... he just wanted the option.

He wanted to say a little more, addressing both Ixion and the sniffer and letting them know the terms under which he was letting them walk away today without a fight, but even as he opened his mouth behind his mask to speak, the violet eyes in the shadow behind the dark red visor were drawn from the assassin's countenance by the sight of movement behind him. Fixer glared past his fellow contract-bound servant of the Ancient One and straight at a new arrival in their little alley, all amusement instantly vanishing from his demeanor. Time to think fast. The penin was moving in at a brisk pace. He only had seconds.
The first thought that came to Fixer's mind was to simply kill this individual who dared ruin his fun, erasing the witness before any more attention was drawn to what was going on here. He was actually already starting to move, his weight shifting on his feet as he prepared to rush forward and end this interloper so quickly that he would not even figure out what had happened in the afterlife. But even as he started lifting his right foot to take the first accelerating step, Fixer's mind recognized this penin; I'onriyi Grace of Winds, the magus and magical craftsman who was considered of similar standing to most lesser nobles and merchants, and who was a personal friend of the Blue Duke. This alone would merely have made killing the man inconvenient, since he would have had to hide the fact that it was the Fixer who had murdered him to avoid unwanted attention to his workings in Rodoria, but Fixer also recalled that this particular little penin mage was one with a thirst for adventure; in fact he thought I'onriyi was out on an adventure right now and thus away from the city. He would have had to have returned pretty recently for Fixer not to have learned about it yet.
But that was what really complicated things for him; adventurers were people who were liable to acquire quality equipment, powerful artifacts and to eternally improve their skill and strength, and so most non-worthless adventurers were automatically included on his list of people who could potentially make for an entertaining diversion in the future. He did not want to kill I'onriyi now while he was still this weak, considering that he could possibly make for a genuine challenge in a hypothetical future. On the other hand, I'onriyi was not exactly known for being morally ambiguous... and even if Ixion had apparently acquired some misguided sense of honor that had nearly ruined everything just before, he and the sniffer were clearly a bit more tolerant in terms of ethically questionable actions such as murdering servants of the realm. The chances of the penin being any kind of amicable once he saw the dead body with them were not very good. In fact, chances were that I'onriyi would even assume that Ixion, who was standing in the alley as well, seemingly having a friendly conversation with someone as obviously shady as Fixer, was an accomplice to the murder... which was technically true, but would make for some unfortunate circumstances.
[I]Think fast.[/I] Dead body behind him, Ixion in front of him, witness behind Ixion. Killing I'onriyi would be troublesome and was not something he wanted to do. Letting him live and escaping would likely implicate Ixion and cause trouble for him. But if Ixion was perceived as not being on peaceful terms with the obvious murderer - if hostile actions were taken between the two of them, suggesting that they were in fact enemies - Ixion might be viewed as someone who had tried to intervene.

[I]Now it's your turn to think fast, Ixie,[/I] Fixer thought, his mind having worked so fast that he was still only midway through his first step by the time he reached this conclusion. He immediately changed the movement from a step forward to a forward thrust of his knee, bending the leg as he accelerated, aiming the attack at Ixion's abdomen. If landed the kick, which was likely considering how abruptly he had performed it, he would set his right foot back down and, while the assassin had the air knocked out of him, would proceed to thrust his right hand palm-forward into Ixion's chest with enough force to throw him right off his feet. Hopefully it would not actually injure him very badly, but it would hurt and look good.
Of course it would be even more convincing if Ixion fought back, but Fixer was not altogether sure whether that would be a good idea... Although it would make their performance more believable to I'onriyi, he was not confident that he could fight for any extended period of time without crippling or killing the other.