Glayp'neir (Arc 1)

She stops in front, and bends over panting. The Doctor is tipping his hat and giving her an introduction, but why here specifically?

"It's Airgetlam." She says between heaves, then darts her vision to Sharpe.

"We have a problem. I was sitting next to that guy on the bench and a girl, and she just randomly got abducted by some creepy mage guy. Said something about a "Castle Vikuur" wherever that is..."

She sees her old friend give her a worried look.

"Look, I know we just got caught up and all, and I just met that girl, but I can feel it, She needs us! Please Sharpe!"

She waits for an answer from him as she gestures to him, urging him to not dawdle. She looks to the Doctor.

"You know magic, right? What doctor doesn't? It's really efficient!" She says approaching him. "Please, can you tell me anything about words used to subdue someone and induce sleep?"

She looks at him intensely, waiting for an answer as well.

"A sleep spell you ask? That is very basic magic." Dr. Atrium says  looking at Airgetlam. "Though that is usually used for dark purposes. After all, it is easier to steal, kidnap or kill a person while they are asleep. Sleep spells are usually used by Shadows, like myself. Then again I don't use it to do any I have stated. For me, I use it when patients who will not be still, it would hurt to much if they were asleep, or just on children...the move around to much. Why do you ask? I take it you ether saw someone just randomly fall asleep when they shouldn't of...or you were the victim of a sleep attack."

He looks up at the rising moon and frowns. "looks like the moon isn't going to be full for a while."

He walks over to the young man and notices his scar. He frowns again, how could someone so young get caught up in this. He then remembers that he isn't that old himself and has been through a more this this guy. He sits down next to him and pats his shoulder. "Cheer up, everything is fine for now. You have nothing to fret. If you think you have gotten yourself into some deep waters, I would be willing to help. I am sure what ever has happened, there is a way out of it."

He smiles at the man, then look up at Airgetlam. "Why did you want to know about sleep magic?"

"Nothing's fine for now. Everything's gone to shit! This is a mess! I mean look at it, I started out with basic daily routine. All I was trying to do is going to my damn stand, sell my items and then finish the day with some earnings that barely keep me over water! I'd rather have that at the moment instead of this! People being kidnapped or something! People on a manhunt with me being thier prey! People brawling earlier today beating up each other and their stands. I mean, what the heck even is all this? And how can it be that so much happens in one day? Ugh, to hell with all of it!"

Jian gets up, puts his charm around his neck and then starts walking.

"I'm done, I need sleep, it's not that late but I crave my bed."

Saying that he's done here he starts to wander off, having enough of what happened today. His reaction might be rude, but he can't really care about anything at the moment.

Sharpe watches him have his fit and walk off, desperate for closure. He winces, and stides after him, putting his hand on the man's shoulder.

"While you have choice in what you do, free will and all that, you can't just walk off and hope things'll get better. If people are looking for you, I think you're in a lot better company with us. Even if you don't trust me or Air, you're at least safe with the Doc. And from what I see, you're more likely to cause collateral and go into a wild fury and just end up getting yourself killed." He tells him intensely.

"Look, you're wanted, someone just went missing. This can't be a coincidence. and you know what? What if during the night or tomorrow, someone tries to pin me, Air, or Doc with something. I saw a guy earlier looking like he lost an arm wrestling match with a snake, just 'cause of what the doc must've done to him, Air saw an innocent girl get abducted in the streets. If this persists, we may all be in some deep shit."

He balls up his fists.

"You help us, we'll help you. I'll personally give you enough so you can stay afloat for a week or two. I've got the coin."

He looks down at the ground, and shuffles his feet.

"It's your choice, like I said, but if you chose to walk away, the odds are stacked against you. If you chose to stay... well they're still stacked, but it's not as bad. I can tell though... You're looking for something... something was ripped away from you a long time ago... And you're not the only person who's gone through that."

"I want to know one thing in case you leave. I want your name. I won't give it out or anything. I promise you that."

He waits a bit, but the man doesn't say or do anything. He turns toward Airgetlam.

"Air, you've known me for a real long while. You know I'm right behind you with what you need."

He moves his head just a bit, waiting on The merchant's reaction.

Airgetlam listens to the explanation given, and nods, She sees the speech Sharpe makes, and makes a loose fist, putting it near her heart.

She looks to the Doc.

"Mr. Atrium, to be exact, we heard a whisper and suddenly she was up on her feet, but got disarmed, and he materialized out of thin air, and said something about a castle... He was using sleep magic, I'm sure of it."

She looks to the man who is walking away, and is now dead in his tracks.

"I would suggest you stay, if I may offer my opinion. Sharpe does not extend that comfort often. Especially not to a stranger. Also, that guy might be dangerous himself, if you join us, he might have a bounty, and if then... You could maybe get some nice gold for yourself and clear your name!"

The moment Airgetlam calls him "Mr. Atrium", he turns and glares at her as if she was an enemy.

"Call me Dr. Atrium, Doc or Atrium, don't ever call me Mr. Atrium." He says this to her in a very cold tone. He turns and takes a beep breath, then turns back to her. "I am sorry about that...I don't like being called...that. As for your offer, I will stick around if the young man does. I am going to be fallowing him for a while rather he likes it or not. As for the bounty this man may have, I am not interested." He chuckles. "I wouldn't be able to collect the money if I wanted it to begin with."

He turns and starts to fallow the man when he stops and turns back to her. "You said Castle Kituur? I know that name...but where? hmmm" He starts thinking then looks back up at her. "As for what happened to you, and this kidnaper. He is a Shadow for sure. The only two ways I have found out how to teleport, both requiring more magic skill to do then I have. The first is to use the suns light. The caster becomes a ray of light and uses the sun to go to a different part of the land. The other, is with the shadows. The caster sinks into the shadows and and rise at a different part of the land, rising from a different shadow. It requires a lot of skill to teleport yourself, even more to bring someone with you. I am pretty sure the man you speak of took the girl, turned invisible, then sunk into the shadows to the castle. A very powerful man..."

He frowns thinking. He turns and fallows the young man.

As he's being stopped by Sharpe he then turns around. All he actually wanted is to be alone for a while. Is it really that hard to understand? He doesn't say a thing about it though and sighs deeply instead. He knows by now that none of them want anything bad for him, but the more faces surround him. The more unrest lies in him. Another sigh comes from him.

"I'm Jian."

He's brief. No real desire to add anything to it. He takes a look into the group of the people and then continues.

"This is a more serious case to me than it might be to anybody else. These people are responsible for me being here instead of being at home, which I doubt still stands as it used to."

He's not expecting anybody to have a remedy to any of that. Telling them didn't change the fact about how he's feeling either. All that he has on his mind at the moment is to take them out, one after another, but more importantly, to just finally get a moment to be alone and rest. Regardless of that though, he then sticks two of his fingers into one of the herb pouches, gets out some grinded herb with a mint note to it and consumes it. He's being doubtful that anybody knows what that could be. He doesn't sell it and it's just a bit of the remains he got from the orient. It's not really an addiction of his but he enjoys the taste of it and it also gives him the feel of being sated.

He looks up for a second, letting out an annoyed sound. Catching a deep breath he then looks down to the people again.

"Guess I have no choice anyhow. I mean, at least one of you constantly will stick around, so I basically can do whatever."

He walks back to the bench, being a bit annoyed. His dehydration remained unnoticed by himself, until now. His head hurts and his mouth is a bit dry, his vision also is a bit spinning. Chugging down all the water that was in his flask he then feels a bit better. It's a small flask though, so that definitely wasn't enough.

He takes his dagger and takes out a charm which he then silently begins to work on. He tries to make the carving look cleaner and the shape of the charm look better. But except of that, nothing comes from him, no sound, no word, no expression. Just the sound of wood being carved, over and over again.

Sharpe watches the man now called "Jian" walk back to the bench. He looks over at the Doc and Airgetlam. He takes a few steps, turns away, and scratches his stubble. He always does that when he's thinking.

"So. Castle Vikuur, eh?" He says to Airgetlam, "Well, I've no doubt this guy'll shred like tissue paper when put to a blade and a few bullets." He grins sinisterly.

"Doc, you fine coming with us? We could use you." He walks over to him and slows down next to him and whispers.

"Give Jian some room for now. Guy needs it."

Airgetlam looks at Doc, bowing her head a little with a solemn expression on her face.

"S-sorry..."

She turns back toward Sharpe, more serious now.

"I don't think we're enough for a guy like that, if he's what Doc says he is. You and I both know how to fight, but I'm more partial to the shadows. Doc, I don't know what he's capable of, and from what I see, he's a medic with the ability to become very nasty very fast. As for Jian over there... He looks like the kind to go axe crazy..."

She looks down, then back to Sharpe, who is scratching his chin.

"We need someone who can melt someone's face. With Fireballs. Lots of them, and can counter magic." She gets up and walks over to Jian for a brief moment, and slowly bends over, giving him a hug that lasts a few moments. She leaves her embrace of him and walks away, saying nothing. He needs comfort, not words.

He chuckles when he hears Airgetlam calling him "a medic with the ability to become nasty fast." She has no idea the hard ships he as been through...still, he shouldn't of snapped at her. Acting nasty will get you no where or worse, dead and by the looks of things, he is going to be with this new group for a while. He nods at Sharpe when he tells him Jian needs room. He notices that the Jian quickly down a flask. He must ether be really thirsty, or that is alcohol and he wants to forget. Thinking the man needs more water he walks over to him and polls out a spare water skin that he has and puts it next to him. "feel free to drink as much as you need. you look like you need it."

He walks back to Sharpe and Airgetlam. "So my newly found friends, what is the plan? Judging by the looks of both of yeah, I am the only magic user. I do know more then just healing spells, I can't throw fireballs like Air wants, but I can use ice. I am also skilled with knifes and can handle myself on my own so no need to think i will be a burden if i can use magic." He looks around, it is getting dark and fast. "If we are up agents Shadows, then we don't want to be in the middle of this town when it is completely dark. We want to get into a well lit room with no windows and only one way in. I have plenty of coin so we can sleep where we want. So, where do you two want to go? You need to decide quickly, the night will be apon us soon."

Sharpe sticks his finger at Doc at the mention of ice.

"That's actually good, I want some crowd control."

He looks at the ground once Doc finishes his description and suggestion on what to do next.

"Well we should find an inn for obvious reasons, preferably one with a tavern. Not just for booze, but we might be able to find someone there. We'll need either an offense mage or a sort of mage-knight or fighter of some sort who specializes in mixed combat like that. We'll also need to ask around and look for info on this Castle..." Sharpe pauses.

"Did you say the name sounded familiar? Where did you hear it? Anything of use?"

He stares at Doc for a minute.

"Agreed, but can we make sure the guy's not dangerous to us OR an asshat? I'd be really grateful."

She watches Doc go over to Jian and give him a flask. She hopes it's not alcohol, that's the last thing the guy needs.

She looks towards Sharpe and Doc as Doc comes back.

"I would like to say that if we go to any inn, may it not be Eman Ytirucsbo? That's where we first met the bounty hunters, so I'd prefer a place they haven't been."

"You don't seem to get it Sharpe, I am an offensive mage. Healing is very easy for me so I do it on the side to make some money. Note I am not as strong as the kidnapper, but I can hold my own in a magic duel. As for the castle, yes I have heard of it. It must be in one of my many books, I will look when we get to an inn and I have time to go through my stuff." Dr. Atrium looks around and thinks a little then looks up at Sharpe. "I think I know an inn where we can stay and were we can get some info. The inn is called the Solis et Umbra. It is near the backside of town. Does that place sound good to you guys?"

He keeps carving, listening to what they're talking about. He doesn't get involved into this conversaion though due to the lack of interest, regardless what'll be the next step. He's forced to stick with them, kind of, but he might aswell wander off later on when the time's right. He doesn't know yet.

As they finally seem to settle down to a plan, he finishes his work. He literally never felt so annoyed about something like today. His blade slides into the leather holder. The charm into a pouch. He then takes a bit more of the herbs and rubs them into his mouth. He looks around a bit and sees a man in the distance looking at him. He's suspicious but remains silent about what he is seeing. Instead he tries to approach him, by slowly getting off the bench, walking off into the crowd.

Sharpe raises an eyebrow.

"Well, I don't know if you're honestly dedicated or not. But in any case, I'd like to have at least one more person to rely on, strength in numbers, you know?"

He paces a bit as he talks. Every so often, his foot will swing and he'll rotate, change directions.

"You do that. As far as the inn idea, that's fine. The further the better." He stops his pacing for a moment, and lowers his brow.

"Do you know anyone there, if I may ask?"

Sharpe hears a few footsteps on dirt behind him but does not pay attention to it. Maybe Jian is getting up and finally feeling centered.

Airgetlam looks back and forth, starting to lose interest in the conversation at hand. she knows what the game plan is, but her curiosity is leading her elsewhere. She looks over to Jian on the bench and-

Jian isn't there.

Her pulse elevates, and start starts looking around for him, darting her vision about. She sees him walking off into the distance, putting more of those herbs in his mouth, whatever they are. He's walking away in to the crowd.

She starts to power walk after him, and tries to catch up to him. The crowd begins to block her, but she manages to get through, and sees one of the men from the tavern...

... And Jian approaching him.

"Jian! Wait!" She calls out, but she is unsure if he hears her or not.

Dr. Atrium nods at Sharpe. "I get what you are saying. I am sorry, it would seem I misunderstood you. Numbers are good."

He hears Airgetlam yell, and turns to see what she is yelling at. He sees that Jian is walking in to a busy crowd. "Damn it. I thought the boy had more brains then this. Sharpe, You are probably faster then I am! You need to go get him and fast!"

His heart is pounding, adrenalin kicking in. He looks around quickly making sure no one is moving to them while Jain is out of there sight and range. While he is scanning, he sees a lady staring at him and slowly making her way to him. He curses under his breath and puts his bag down and puts the cat on his bag. "Please don't move cat but if things get bad, run. I am sure you will find a better master then I." He looks at the lady and frowns. "I hate fighting girls..." He takes out two scalps and stands his ground.

The shouting of Airgetlam does not reach him, the noise of the crowd on the market lets the shouting drown. He approaches the man which has longer black hair and a scar over his eye. The man himself then soon has a smirk on his face as thier view finally meets up close. They start to talk in thier native language.

"Tch, it's you. What do you want?"

Jian spoke up to him, this face is familiar.

"Well listen. You're at the point where people actually take thier time looking for you. Me personally, I just tag along to see how this goes. You know that I'll report in and tell them that I met you, right?"

The man laughs, then his face turns serious again and he continues.

"Well, jokes aside. How are you holding yourself over water? I am tagging along to see if you actually were alive. I won't tell them, but neither will I tell you where they are. I am just here to watch all this happen, under the disguise of being one of them."

He goes back to smiling, then laughing for a short time. He seems amused by this whole situation.

"Listen, Guoliang, it's really cool that you seem to enjoy yourself. But what the heck is up with this shit, are you trying to mock me or something? You know EXACTLY what happened back then, you even know that YOU weren't like that before! But no, instead you watch this manhunt as it goes, how rotten can you possibly be now!"

Jian's hand slides down to his grip of the dagger as he said that, his face has a stern look.

"My, my. What a temper you have, my brother Jian. Well, if you really want me to tell you what exactly happened, sure! Our mother, well... She didn't make it!"

Guoliang laughs even harder, even slapping his leg. He then suddenly gets slammed onto the wall behind him, with the edge of the blade on his throat.

"You dare to continue at this rate Guoliang and I'll slit your throat! I might be in fear when it comes to combat, but you... At this rate, I wouldn't mind just pulling my blade through it and let all this blood run down, right here and right now!"

Jian has the blade right at his troat, the edge even already cutting into it just a bit to make a drop of blood escape from that miniscule cut. He breaks quite a sweat, his eyes shooting through his brother's.

"W-Well hey, that's the spirit! Are you planning on murdering what's left of your family like that?! C'mon, bring it on then! Pull this blade through my throat! Bring me upon what you think is the solution to what is happening! Oh but, oh my! Look over there, you see that girl with that tank-top? She's one of them, I tell you that much. Haha! Well she's not looking, you can select your action wisely. I'll let off a loud scream and she'll turn around... Or.... Well you know, you can run for it! Sounds fine, my oh so strong little brother?"

Guoling's playing by the dirty rules, but he was right, that girl really is there, looking at some barter stands with the back turned towards them two. Jian's letting off an angered, quiet growl, then letting go of his brother and making a run for it.

"Next time Guoling. When you say something like that again, you're dead, I swear!"

He runs off into an alley a bit down the road, then hiding in the shadows to recover from what he heard.

The masses push and shove each other along as the stream of people converges towards the event grounds to find good seats before the evening show. Some guards are patrolling down the other street past some late night stands. The city is as busy as ever. As Airgetlam walks through the busy masses, her line of sight to Jian occasionally cut off by the masses, a beggar reaches for her arm. "Please, lady. You look like a fine young woman with a lot to spare, would you please consider? I have two children and a wife and an older brother all on the streets and we need to survive in this harsh and cruel reality!" The man reeks of alcohol and looks dirty and unshaven. His stanky breath pollutes the very air in front of him. He pulls on Airgetlams arm trying to keep her attention as she tries to walk past. For a clear moment, Jian and the other man can be seen up against the wall, a knife held to the persons throat. Then a carriage pushes the masses appart and blocks the view as Airgetlam and the beggar are pushed back a bit.

Moments later the carriage passes and Jian is gone. In his place is the woman with the purple tanktop and strange hairstyle. She's talking to the nervous man who is rubbing his throat and laughing. He pats her on the shoulder and then they both move down the street and disappear into the crowd, missing the back alley entirely. Past where they dissapear, a policeman is carefully watching Airgetlam and the beggar, having spotted them through the crowd. He has a serious look on his face and his arms are crossed. He nodds at Airgetlam in a "don't cause any trouble" kind of way before slowly pushing through the, now massive, crowd towards them. And suddenly the beggar is gone.

Jian stands in the backalley with his back against the wall and his arm over his face, trying to recover from the momentary outburst. A backdoor opens a whiles back and a girl with some kitchen clothes, a bandana and some trash bags walks down the alley to the trash bins next to Jian. She doesn't pay much attention to him and opens the bin. The trash is full to the brim and she sighs, letting the bags drop to the floor  in front of the bin. She then truns on a dime and makes her way back inside, the welcoming scent of baked goods wafting behind her. The bag next to Jian rustles and three rats chase each other out of the trash, making the bag fall over and a few papers fall out as they race across the back alley and down into the masses.
One of the papers dragged away by the air land infront of Jian. On one of them was a pamflet with a blurry image of a castle and another image with a bar and people laughing and dancing. The heading reads "Solis et Umbra, New Art Display! Artist Pen Yibua's "Château de Vikuur" and "Las Luminaes" on Display!". It was not common for an Inn or Tavern to have any events or displays but it seemed to attract a lot of customers. A lone beggar walks down the back alley, his hands in his pants as he awkwardly walks past Jian, smiling at him with the creepiest look a man could bare. He stumbles down the back alley and dissapears out of sight.

Airgetlam spies the back alley Jian took refuge in, and promptly jogs over to the other side of the street in between traffic. She looks around the corner for a second, and spies him reading a pamphlet, crinkled and tan.

"Jian!" She yells.

He looks up and she walks over to him, minding the rats partaking in the bounty of wasted food betrothed by the alleyway. Her face is filled with worry and her heart is starting to beat slower, but she can still feel the anxiety from before, it is simply fading.

"Can you please not run off like that? You'll land yourself in trouble... like that guy you held a knife to... Who was that anyway? I saw him at the inn a while back, but you seem to have known him."

A yell from the cooks in the bakery to pick up the pace sounds. They must provide immense amounts for all tonight. She looks at the leaflet and spies something along the lines of Solis et Umbra, and something about an art gallery or exhibition of sorts.

Sharpe nods and takes off toward the crowd, a million voices, raising seemingly as one. Airgetlam calls out to Jian, but to no avail. She too eventually disappears. He sees across the street the woman with the tank top, looking around. He grips his sword, but doesn't unsheathe it. Don't want to cause more commotion.

"Shit... this ain't good. He's gonna need to watch himself more." He hears Doc say something about fighting girls and he turns. He'll leave Jian to Air, she can probably talk some sense into him. As for Doc, a young miss is approaching him for some unknown reason, but she looks like she might have malicious intent. The Doc takes out some scalpels.

"Gak, man, what are you doing?" he cusses under his breath. "You fool, didn't you think maybe she wants to ask the Good Doctor his medical opinion or something?"

The party is scattered. Sharpe hopes another fight won't break out. They're too spread out and they don't have nearly enough manpower to handle something like that, and the chances the police are going to help them is lower than the chances they'll arrest them.

The girl has her head tilted to the right a little and is smiling ear to ear. When people do that, it is never good....and it is always creepy. She keeps walking to him until she a few feet away.

"I see your little group has split up, makes things alot easier for us. Thankfully the boy is stupid, we should be able to get him in no time. I am here to make sure you don't interfere. There are others to take on the others in your rag tag group." She smiles and licks her lips.

Dr. Atrium begins to study the girl. She as short pitch black hair that is a total mess. She is wearing a leather vest and a white long sleeve shirt under it. She is wearing black gloves and jeans that have leather padding on her thighs and shins. On her side she has a rapier witch she draws out and points at him.

He throws the fist scalpel at the girl. She easily dodges out of the way and laughing at him as she does so. She then lunges at him, he throws the other and it nails her on the side of her but it doesn't slow her down. He jumps back and dodges her swing and pulls out his giant scalpel to fight with. She slashes and jabs the rapier at a very fast speed and Dr. Atrium is only able to block a few of them. She steps back and laughs at him, "Is this really the best you have? I was told that the "Good Doctor" was deadly with knives and was able to use magic that could wipe a town. You are not the man I was looking forward to fighting."

Dr. Atrium is panting, the cuts he has aren't deep, but that doesn't mean they don't hurt. He looks at her and chuckles. "I haven't heard that title in a long time. You don't understand, I don't like to fight girls. I was raised to not hurt a lady."

The woman laughs at him again. "This is too rich! You are willing to die because I have a pair of tits?! Well, I guess everyone has a weakness. Well, I grow bored of this. Time to die."

She charges at him again. Dr. Atrium holds out his hand, palm facing her. "I said that I don't like to fight girls, I didn't say I wouldn't." He then glares at the girl and closes is hand, the moment he does, she stops in her tracks and falls on her knees and looks back at her feet. She gasps when she sees that the shadows have grabbed her feet. She tries to move her hand that caught her fall but it too is covered by shadow and is unable to be freed.

"What is this?!" She shouts at him as he walks over to her.

"Magic, my girl. Magic. I waited to use it so I could see how you fight. You charge and swing as fast as you can. I knew that if I were to back up and talk, it would get you to charge again." He walks close to her and she uses her free hand to swing at him. He walks around her and walks to her backside. He then pulls out his glass syringe, it is filled with a green liquid. He stabs it so it goes through her pants and gets into her rear-end, he then pushes the plunger down and injects the green liquid into her. It doesn't take too long for it to kick in, when it does, she collapses, sound asleep.

A deep sigh escapes from Jian. What even happened now? His brother, here, kind of teamed up with people that work against him. This all just gets more and more frustrating. His face rests in his hands, and he slowly slides down until he sits with his knees in front of his face. His head falls into them and soon he gets all jittery. Several quiet sobs are hearable and tears then slowly run down his cheeks. He's at a point where he last was when he was chased away. His mother, claimed to be dead, just like the rest of the family. He now lost hope to ever see her again. Louder cries escape and he curls up tighter, he want's out of this, just away from this. If only that mysterious woman could be here to take care of him like she did back then. If only somebody could understand what he's thinking. If people would just make life easier instead of harder, well, then all would be different.

He leans up against the wall, quietly sobbing. He grows tired and takes out his blade. He can't stop looking at it oh so often to remember his family and friends. He wipes the few drops of blood from the blade and slides back into the holder. The charm then ends up in his hands, tightly gripped. Frustation, loneliness, sadness, emptyness, that sums up how all this feels to him... And that in one single day...

She frowns, watching Jian tear up and wipe away the liquid sadness from his face, and the blood from his dagger. She slowly and cautiously walks over to him and kneels down in front of him, looking into his eyes. She puts a hand on one of his cheeks, and wipes the tears away. She smiles and slides her arms around him, then pulls on him.

"You've been through more than you can tell anyone. You can't trust anyone with your past. And rightfully so. But just because life is shitty doesn't mean there isn't someone who cares." She softly says to him.

she puts a hand on the hilt of the dagger, two fingers on each side of the grip.

"Keep that safe for now. You'll need it later."

She looks at the pamphlet, and raises it up to him, trying to cheer him up and get him focused.

"I see there's something about Vikuur here... maybe while we're there, we can see some nice art. What do you think, Jian?"

Her eyes glisten and her mouth widens. Airgetlam's heart has spoken.

As the woman approaches, Sharpe draws the sword from his sheath, and gets into a stance, but as soon as he does, he finds her bound by Doc's shadow magic. He watches as Doc inserts a needle into her, and she falls asleep. He slides his katana back into it's scabbard.

"So then.. I guess my blade wasn't needed after all. You're more than you look Doc, I'll give ya that. Also good to know in a way that Jian isn't the only one with history..."

He pauses and scratches his stubble.

"I need to ask though, any ideas where to hide the body? I don't want her goons coming looking for us and finding us. After that, we'll look for Air and Jian