[img]https://i.imgur.com/4uuThLm.jpg[/img]


[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/909715047918497815/1037211200871731300/Umbri_banner6.png[/img]


Temujin shot up to look at the new figure, and instantly saw red. [color=DC091C][b]“YOU…!” [/b][/color]He shouted and wiggled, still unable to do much else. [color=DC091C][b]“You two-timing, turncoat knave! What are you doing here?!” [/b][/color]

The shape tilted his head towards Temujin, and his eyes smiled with recognition. [color=CD09DC][b]“...Temujin. What a pleasant surprise,”[/b][/color] he said, his tone naked of sarcasm. [color=CD09DC][b]“Need a hand?” [/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]“Fuck you.”[/b][/color]

Umbri kept very quiet and still. She didn’t know this man Temujin was shouting about. She could guess from the hand on her waist what his intentions in saving her were. She wanted to ask Temujin what was going on, but didn’t have the space to. To play along with a dangerous stranger or side with the raving lunatic with no arms to defend her…

[b]“Temujin?!"[/b] The thieves perked up in alarm, staring at the funny robot with different eyes. 

[b]"Shit,”[/b] Shanks grunted. [b]“You said he was your robot!”[/b]

[b]“Your new girlfriend brought a Rogue with her, Stake. [i]The worst one.”[/i][/b]

[color=#A4303F][b]“He [i]is [/i]my robot,”[/b][/color] Umbri interrupted the rising panic. She looked down at him. [color=#A4303F][b]“Temujin, sit.”[/b][/color] She pushed him over with her foot and looked back at the others. Her expression hadn’t changed once.[color=#A4303F][b] “Quite tame now, you agree?”[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]“Ah…!”[/b][/color] Temujin gasped, or rather, squeaked. He looked up at Umbri, shrinking against the floor. The instinct to react swiftly and violently had been thoroughly beaten out of him at this point. [color=DC091C][b]"Y… yes… master,"[/b][/color] the cyber ninja answered through gritted teeth. Umbri's brows shot up and her mask almost broke. She was not expecting that AT ALL.

Stake's eyes lifted with a smile. He scoffed, then chuckled, then laughed out loud. [color=CD09DC][b]"A-he he he!"[/b][/color] The shape gestured to Umbri with his free hand. [color=CD09DC][b]"Now you see why I brought her along."[/b][/color] Two long, slender fingers lifted to stroke her chin. [color=CD09DC][b]"Only the prettiest roses have such sharp thorns." [/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b][i]Kill me, kill me, kill me. What do you want?[/i][/b][/color] Umbri thought as she slowly blinked and smiled passively like there were no thoughts there to threaten or interfere with whatever the hell he was doing. Those pure yellow eyes… What sort of chrome was that? The thieves were laughing all around her like snapping dogs.

[b]“WOW, this is great!”[/b] Stabby exclaimed, walking right up to Temujin to crouch over him and wave a hand over his face. [b]“He really can’t do anything, can he? He really wants to kill us, doesn’t he?”[/b] They poked him repeatedly, their tone getting more and more akin to talking to a pet. [b]“You wanna kill us, don’t you? Don’t you? [i]Don’t you?”[/i][/b]

[i]Crunch.[/i] Umbri pulled the axe from Temujin’s back - he flinched - and used it to shove Stabby off. [color=#A4303F][b]“Give back the thing you took out of him.”[/b][/color]

[b]“Heyyy..!”[/b] Stabby waved their hands around. [b]“Come on, what’s he gonna do with it?”[/b]

[b]“You seriously kept it…”[/b]

[color=#A4303F][b]“It’s not about him. You stole from [u]me.[/u]” [/b][/color]She scanned the room, the axe pointed at Stabby. [color=#A4303F][b]“I don’t know how this band of thieves operates, but where I’m from, you don’t mug your teammates on the clock.”[/b][/color] She cocked her head. [color=#A4303F][b]“That’s recreation.”[/b][/color]

Stake folded his arms. The wrinkles of a smirk creased beneath his eyes, which were watching Umbri like a hellish hawk. Temujin peeked from where he laid, staring with the only kind of gratitude he was able to offer: silence.

[b]“Geez, fine,”[/b] Stabby relented, fishing through their pockets to toss over the electrolyte generator. Umbri caught it next to her face. [b]“We were just hazing you.”[/b]

[color=#A4303F][b]“And the hyper-reflex capacitor.”[/b][/color]

[b]“Wh-?! Seriously -”[/b]

[b]“Well, I’m glad that’s sorted,” [/b]Shivs said, and addressed Umbri with a deeply sarcastic, [b]“Welcome to the team, Sugar.” [/b]

She gestured Stabby back with her head and they trudged over with their hands in their pockets. Umbri pocketed the loot she’d swiped back from them. Shanks gave her a nod and went after them, turning his back on her and blocking the view of the others to give her the privacy to look Stake in the eye and squint, openly suspicious.

Stake brought his palms together. He returned Umbri’s stare and kept his voice low, [color=CD09DC][b]“You handle yourself well.” [/b][/color]His gaze lowered to her neck, and Umbri could see a glint in his eyes - he knew. [color=CD09DC][b]“...Especially in such dire circumstances.” [/b][/color]

Umbri kept her eyes on him, even as she did not address him, and instead tilted her head Temujin’s way to murmur, [color=#A4303F][b]“Tem, who is he?”[/b][/color]

Temujin let out a sound - somewhere between a sigh and a hiss - as he answered, [color=DC091C][b]“He’s a Rogue. Or rather, he moonlights as one, the lawbreaking scum.”[/b][/color] Stake chuckled, and tilted his head to concede, [color=CD09DC][b]“The Collective doesn’t get by on charity, least of all in Northbridge. I dabble in side-hustles like this from time to time.” [/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b]“But you’re still a Rogue,”[/b][/color] she figured, relaxing a little, [color=#A4303F][b]“And you can’t let a civilian die, even in work like this.”[/b][/color]

Stake gave a slow nod, unflinching even as the train stumbled on turbulence. [color=CD09DC][b]“That’s why you’re here… [i]Sugar.”[/i][/b][/color] Temujin groaned, contempt emanating from his being. [color=DC091C][b]“A Rogue who steals is a hypocrite. A hypocrite has no principles!”[/b][/color] He looked at Umbri, his tone urging, [color=DC091C][b]“A man without principles can [i]not [/i]be trusted!”[/b][/color]

Umbri flicked her eyes over Stake one last time and mouthed [i]‘thank you’[/i], before turning to Temujin and crouching down with the intention of strapping him back to her.

[color=#A4303F][b]“What about a Rogue who kills?”[/b][/color] She asked.

Temujin laid still as she worked. [color=DC091C][b]“There’s a difference between killing and murder, [i]Hooker,”[/i][/b][/color] he answered with a growl. 

[color=#A4303F][b][i]“Really?[/i] How so?”[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]“Murderers forfeit their lives when they prey on others, to satiate their greed, their lust, their hollow desires. Murderers aren’t human, they’re garbage.” [/b][/color]A passing light emphasised the skull-like shape of Temujin’s face. [color=DC091C][b]“I just take out the trash.”[/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b]“Hm…” [/b][/color]Umbri disappeared for just a second. She looked past him, somewhere else, and it was plain to see - [i]Worn out sneakers stained by the sick and grime on the pavement. A girl, eleven or twelve, carries a baby in her arms in the middle of the night. It’s screaming, its face is purple, the girl can’t hear it any more. She’s stopped by an overfilled dumpster. She’s stopped to look up at the moving billboard of a club. A naked woman is dancing.[/i]

She blinked as she returned, life injected back in her features. [color=#A4303F][b]“Well, I don’t think I could do either of those things,”[/b][/color] she said softly and picked him up.

[b]“Stake! We’ve cracked it!”[/b] One of the thieves called. Umbri fixed Temujin on her back and went to go see.