Lost in Paradise [Otome & Akiva]

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It was almost funny how swift Xerxes' would reply that their client was trouble. It made her wonder just what kind of bait was dangled in front of her partner to make such a cautious man accept such a shady job. Otome herself did not have the capacity to conduct her own background check, at least not on a client of this high profile. Curiosity merely won her over at the fact that they were offering that much to a no name like herself. Of course she wasn't too thrilled at the possibility of their client betraying them that evening. She believed that she had done a good job after all despite the troublesome conditions. But with her partner not being too optimistic at all she figured she ought to prepare for the worst.

The first question was who would do the honors? From her earlier line of thought, she felt that Xerxes had more at stake. So if she had to be fair, he should be the one to take the traitor's head. In exchange, she would amuse herself with the clean up of the pawns that would most likely be sent their way. That would be the scenario that would play out. Speaking of amusing things, being led around by the hand with her partner in front of her made her feel like she was being protected. Intentional or not, it reminded her of a similar memory from a few years ago. Much in the same way she didn't need protection back then, but it was cute that her 'protector' was trying so hard.

"I shall do my best to not be a burden."

She would reply politely in a somewhat playful yet also reassuring tone.

Upon arriving at their destination Otome would immediately notice that something was off about the client waiting there for them. In her opinion he seemed too careless, lowering his mask and then making a bit of small talk. It didn't look like he had their reward prepared for them at all either. It seemed Xerxes' assumption was on point. Revealing his true colors, it would appear that they were simply being spoken to through a hologram and the real one was back downstairs. Otome of course noticed the men approaching from the other side and her partner looking over behind her meant it was safe to assume they were coming from behind them too. It was such a waste of the set up that she had prepared, but she had already decided what she wanted to do here.

"He owes you quite a sum doesn't he? You should go after him. I feel that if we let him get away tonight, things will only get more troubling for both of us down the line. You can leave this lot to me."

After saying her piece, her seemingly harmless tail would once again split up to reveal its true nature, her nine tails in full display. Two of the tails would suddenly extend towards opposite sides of the balcony as the first henchmen from both stairs reached the top. They would find themselves getting promptly swatted back and sent tumbling down the steps by Otome's tails. There were at least a couple of hundred kg of force behind those strikes. She might have even broken something before they fell. She wasn't playing around.

"Go on. I'll catch up with you soon enough."

It was quite foolish of them to give Otome the high ground. Considering where she was at it would be difficult to approach her and get past her mass of tails. Meanwhile any attempts at trying to shoot at her from below could be fended off by simply stepping backward deeper in the balcony as it wouldn't give them a clear shot.

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So many things were going on all at once. It was a first for Otome to get caught up in such a chaotic situation. She preferred being in control almost every step of the way. Though if she had to name a plus, it would be the enjoyment she was feeling from the panic in the air, knowing that it was her and her partner who was the cause of all of it. It was a strange thing, like secondhand emotion. But she wouldn't think too hard about it for now. They still had to get out of there safely before this becomes a memory they could look back fondly on.

He seemed reluctant to leave her alone first, at least until she gave a small demonstration of what exactly her quirk was capable of. In hindsight she could have given him a boost and thrown him down from the balcony instead of him jumping off on his own. But it would appear that his own quirk was suitable for this sort of chase anyway. It was a lion-like transformation with all of the speed and nimbleness you'd expect from a feline creature. Watching him from above, she saw that he easily caught up to their fleeing target and had him pinned, causing her to smirk. Her prediction on the distribution of their roles for this scenario was spot on.

Now a dilemma was presented to the guards. On one hand they still had to put down Otome somehow. But on the other hand their boss was now at the mercy of Xerxes. The shrewd fox would not miss this moment of indecisiveness and use the opening to make her way down herself. Sliding down the rails of one set of stairs using her tails to keep her balance, she managed to take out a couple of more guards along the way before finally making it back to the dance floor. The guards at the foot of the stairs finally decided that Otome was the closer target but they were too slow. While they still had to draw their weapons, her tails had already extended to nearly take off their heads with a powerful slap.

She wasn't satisfied yet. In her mind these guards would only get up again later. Approaching the guards lying on the ground after getting hit, she would proceed to smash their kneecaps so that they couldn't stand up if they tried. Those who were still conscious would yelp in agony, sending further waves of fear to anyone who still hadn't gotten out of there, as well as getting a frightening imagery of a nine-tailed young woman mercilessly picking on guys who were already down. Music to her ears.

At least one guard however was more tenacious than others. Gritting his teeth when Otome destroyed his knees, he reached for his gun, not knowing that Otome had been watching him the entire time from behind her mask. She had been pretending that her attention was elsewhere and was distracted. His hands were shaking from the pain of falling from the stairs earlier and he struggled to steady his aim. Before he could pull the trigger though, one of Otome's idle tails would suddenly whip downward at his hands, breaking a few fingers while causing him to lose his grip of the gun. Otome walked closer and bent down in front of him, grinning at his struggle, though her mask hid it.

"I'm trying to hold back from killing anyone you know. This wasn't the contract I received. I'm thankful for you being my playmates for just a bit, but let's not pull out guns okay?"

The man shouted a rather offensive slur in his moment of defiance, but Otome would promptly shut him up with a blow to the head. She wondered how her partner was doing.

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Having all but incapacitated the opposition on her side, Otome finally got the chance to head over to where her partner was. By the time she turned around however, it seemed like things were already settled. Her partner had undone his earlier transformation and was the one heading over to where she was. Meanwhile their naughty client was... still alive. He didn't have the insufferable smug look on his face anymore but he was very much alive. It didn't even look like he received any lasting injuries, though his eyes were on Xerxes the entire time.

It appeared there was an order for the guards to stand down as well. The remaining ones that Otome had been keeping an eye on didn't look like they wanted anything more to do with her. Well, the fact that the men had stopped troubling them now meant that her partner settled things somehow. Perhaps he struck a new deal.

"Is it over already? I hope you got him to cough up what you wanted."

Xerxes had put his mask back on. He was probably as careful about showing his real face as she was. She could respect that though. Everyone had their reasons to keep their identities secret especially in this line of work. It made her wonder if he wore a mask even outside of masquerade parties like this.

With the sound of sirens in the distance, the police finally getting involved signaled that it really was the end. It would be best if they didn't stick around longer and Xerxes shared the same sentiment offering his hand to Otome once again and politely requesting that they leave now while she accompanied him somewhere for a drink. That she referred to her as Fox-chan gave her the impression that he was trying to make a joke and so if he was feeling humorous then she figured maybe things did work out for him in the end.

"If you're looking for company after this then you would have to a draft me a new contract too."

She would reply in jest but offer her hand anyway expecting to be led out much like earlier. She had her fun and for Xerxes who probably took this betrayal hardest between the two of them she didn't want to cause him any more headaches. Though if he really was serious about having a drink she would have to decline later. There was a reason she was drinking only fruit punch all night.

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