Fiora's vision was fading, but there was no way a binding spell would knock her out, would it? A mysterious, red figure appeared before her, though it wasn't her father and it certainly didn't alarm him. “Fret not, I'm a friend... well, friend of a friend of a friend.” He drew a blade and made a small cut on Fiora's wrist, letting a few trickles of blood spill out. “That should suffice. You'll thank me later. Now, I'm late for an appointment.”

The figure vanished as quickly as he appeared and the wound didn't seem to hurt at all despite the warm drops of blood running down her hands. Held tightly against her body, the blood was trapped between her wrist and the leg of her leather shorts. It prevented Garen from noticing anything.

When Fiora had warned the bastard that her friends would be coming for her, she had no idea just how soon it would be. Imagine her surprise then, when the carriage door opened and Garran of all people was standing right outside the nobleman's door. There was a great cry of outrage from the pirate and all hell broke loose, and Fiora strained to free herself of the binding spell as she was dragged behind a thick, oaken door and hauled away. She couldn't help but start laughing hysterically at the whole situation. [i]Garran is saving me from Garen.[/i] She noted while trying not to look crazy.

“I did warn you I have very protective friends.” She began in a monologue. “That man is a pirate and gets into brawls for entertainment when he's sober and in a good mood. I really don't envy you right now.”

“Silence!” Garen snapped angrily as he entered a room and dumped her immobile body into a large cage. “This ought to hold you. It was designed to restrain even dragon daeva, and absorbs any impact upon it to reinforce the barrier around it. That pirate wouldn't be able to rescue you even if he had a ship and broadsided the steel.”

The binding spell on Fiora was released and she fell limply to the floor – Garen obviously didn't want her hurt too badly as he shut the cage and confined her within it. The floor suddenly fell away and Fiora found herself suspended in a steel container in mid-air. Her father was still hovering in front of her, smug grin across his face as he thought he must have outwitted the pirate. “You may have bought yourself a little more time – but Lady Hagumi is one of my companions, and there is another seraphim assassin among us as well. They can both fly, not discounting two dragon daeva and an inventor who could probably think of something to cross the gap, if he doesn't just shoot you down on sight.” Fiora continued her speech in a mocking tone, intent on pissing the bastard off until he did something stupid. Well, he already did, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

“Shut up, you ill-mannered wench! I intended to take you in and provide you with a lap of luxury you had never enjoyed -”

“None of which I asked for and you seem to be doing a poor job of it now that your home is about to be demolished.” Fiora cut across the man, as Garran's yells echoed throughout the house. She walked right up to the edge of the cage and leaned against it casually. “Besides, I don't need to live in luxury – every ounce of my being and who I am today is thanks to growing up poor. It has tempered me and taught me much more than you ever have or will.”

Her hands ran over the door of the cage and she made her best impression of a sweet innocent smile mixed with generous amounts of condescension. “For instance, how to pick a lock.” Fiora swung the cage open and stood herself against the edge of it. “Now, you might be able to explain away my kidnapping as taking me under your protection... but I wonder if you can explain away why a young girl plummeted to her death from your home?”

There was no way Fiora was going to end her life to spite some fool of a absentee father figure, but he didn't need to know that. Men like Garen were more concerned about their reputation and status. Fiora's death would not only bring to light his indiscretions as a young man, but label him as a murderer. Proving her point was the way her father started moving closer to her and held up a hand to stop her from jumping. “Let's not be hasty, now.” He was obviously trying to close the distance so he could catch her or send her back into the cage and lock it more securely. It was fine by Fiora, she only needed him to get a little closer.

“Well, you should have said that when you built this cage.” Fiora continued on her tirade of insults. “What is the use of being able to hold a dragon daeva in here and keeping it from being broken by force if a single lockpick is all it takes to undo all this security?” She rolled her eyes at Garen, watching him as he inched closer... just a little more...

Fiora's hand whipped out quickly and grabbed her captor's outstretched hand, pulling him towards her as she started draining him. Shock widened his eyes as he realised what she was doing to him. “The only gift you have given me, [i]father[/i].” She hissed as she raised her other hand, fingers pointing straight down at him and hitting him squarely in the solar plexus as she used a technique she had not needed for years. “This was what years of living on the streets taught me when I had to fend for myself. Did you know that there is a pressure point here that blocks the flow of vital energies around the body? In humans and daeva that would paralyse them momentarily. With my ability, and relay the life essence I absorb back into the blow and make the paralysis permanent. In seraphim, it extends to their magic as well.”

Garen tried to resist her attempts at holding him down, but soon that any magic he was summoning fell apart at his hands. Fiora smiled and retreated from him. “Oh relax, I was kidding about the permanent paralysis.” It was a half-truth. As much as she wanted to take the high road, she had a debt to settle with the man and leaving him without magic until he found someone with her level of skill to undo the block she placed on his vital point, he would be as useless a seraphim as he was a father. Though now that she had her revenge, Fiora was regretting exacting it so soon.

“Now what am I going to do about the floor...” She wondered to herself as she realised she should have probably gotten him to disable whatever had vanished the floor. “I did not think this through.”