My Friend, Ruby

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira crossed the threshold of the Cardsdale Hotel, Ailith following close behind her. Catching sight of herself in the glass doors, she took a couple of seconds to remember that the brown-eyed 20 year old staring at her was herself. Self-consiously stroking one of the new, dark blonde curls that framed her face, she turned to survey the lobby before her.
In happier times, when the Cardsdale Hotel had actually managed to make a profit because tourists weren't too terrified to cross the notorious No Man's Land, it'd been something of a luxury to go there. It was expensive, but well worth it. Cardsdale Hotel had been busy, and decorated to match its guests' exquisite taste. The lobby was large, and had been a warm, rich red; its' walls decorated finely with painting after painting. Everything matched everything else, yet it never seemed... stuffy- never echoed that infamous 'Holier-Than-Thou' attitude.
Now... things were quite different.
The once thick, expensive carpet was now stripped naked of its old grace; threadbare and mediocre, it was stained as if to serve as a permanent reminder of Cardsdale Hotel's fall from grace. The wall paper was peeling, and usually damp to the touch. Now, it had faded from its cosy crimsom colour, replaced by a pale orange. Strange plants continually crawled and scratched at its now empty surface, for no more paintings complimented its faded face.
The lull of voices still remained- people used the hotel quite frequently, but ever since it'd been cut off from business, the hotel had had to drop its prices dramatically. Now, it was a struggle to pay off its debts, and it was no secret that Cardsdale Hotel was close to going out of business. It wouldn't matter if it did anyway- people would always be there.
It'd become a haven for those who had nowhere else to go.
At the front desk, a tired-looking man bent over a scrappy register. Kira approached him cautiously, wondering at the fact someone still bothered to write down who was at the hotel and who wasn't.
"Good afternoon, sir," she said politely, in a smooth American accent. Her Irish one always felt a little too conspicuous. "My friend and I were hoping to visit a Ruby Strand- "
"Names?" he said tiredly, his bloodshot eyes sweeping over them.
"Eleanor Morphy," Kira replied swiftly. "And this is Imogen Robson. Miss Strand said that she'd be meeting us- ?"
"I was not made aware of any visitors," he said promptly, scribbling down their fake names. "Are you certain- ?"
"Ellie!" came a strange, dreamy voice from behind them. "Imogen! You came so early!"
A pale, tall redhead came through into the lobby, waving as though greatly surprised but pleased by their appearance. 'Ellie' let her face light up with joy too.
"Polly!" she laughed, rushing forth to hug her, feeling strangely dirty as she did so. "It's so good to see you..."
'Imogen' hugged Polly too, her face a reflection of 'Ellie's'.
"We're fine here!" 'Polly', or indeed Ruby called airily to the beady-eyed receptionist.
He was still glaring at them with outright suspicion. Kira didn't feel good about him at all, but there was no time to hypnotise him. Following Ruby, she and Ailith began upstairs, Kira silently thanking her shadows all the way...

[Ailith Rayner]

Once inside the en-suite and with the door shut and locked, Kira pulled round a chair and sat Ruby on the bed facing her. Ailith checked out the bathroom and, satisfied it was clear and winows were locked, she nodded at Kira and moved half-way between the door and the bed and looked around. The same faded theme had extended from reception to the rooms. It felt strange, like the Titanic Ailith mused. What once was grand had now decayed due to years of unuse and neglect. The warm yellow paint still clung to the walls and a single picture of a vase of flowers on a bare grey windw-sill was the only decor left in the room. The King-sized bed was the only furniture bar the enormus oak wardrobe with matching chest of drawers. It looked like there had been a set of bedside tables but the carpet was worn and a crease had been left in their stead. Cheery place.
"Are we set Ailith?" Kira's voice sounded softly over her thoughts and Ailith snapped back to attention. She slipped a hand into her jacket and tested the scabbard.
"Yeah." Taking another sweep across the room and the window before looking at Kira. She had turned back to Ruby and was clearly focused. Ailith found it amazing how much Kira had trusted in Ailith in such a short space of time. How does she know that Ailith wasn't a spy for someone else? Maybe she knows. She can probably tell the character of a person better than me. But me? I need to scout and search a person hard before I would have placed this much trust in someone. No matter what the signals. The Assassins School did that to people, the moment you forgot to watch your back, was the moment someone stabbed you there. It was a kind of paranoia. Ailith was now too careful about people that worked closely with her. Kira was either better than Ailith at this or ignorant to the risk. Ailith didn't even find the assumption of the latter amusing as it was so preposterous it wasn't funny. Kira was the Head of Spies and as Ailith thought about her dedication to her group she commended it. Loyalty was something Ailith valued above all else. Being so close to the Police force and working in an Assassin's School taughte her that with out loyalty from every member, an organisation may fall to pieces and self-destruct. She felt that wrench of empty guilt every time she thought of the Assassin's Creed she was made to recite every morning for two years of her life. That act of pure disloyalty and lies as they passed through her lips made her feel dirty and bloodstained. She was the single member that was disloyal in the organisation, she caused the fall of that school and wierdly, she felt bad about it.

Ailith looked at Kira and silently vowed to her, as she had done to her late father, that she would never and could never turn against her or to the establishment to which she now belonged. Kira sighed as she got zoned in and Ailith paid close attention.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Questions, questions... think. Just think for a bit. Take your time. Don't rush it. Once you get into the flow of things, everything will run smoothly...
Ailith stood by, watching her closely- but at the same time, Kira could tell her spy was on red alert. Kira knew for a fact that Ruby was under her thumb. It was literally a case of Kira saying, "Jump," and Ruby asking, "How high?" Ruby wasn't their concern... She guessed you could never be too careful. 'Safety first' should really become her new catchphrase. But she hated how ghay it made her sound. Ghay as in stupid. Please don't ask about the strange inner workings of Ellie's mind.
Moving on...
"I know we've kept you waiting a long time, Ruby," said Kira softly, stroking an alien-feeling curl out of her eyes. "I'm sorry about that. But you've been very good. My friends, Lisle and Seamus, say you've been keeping a low profile- you haven't drawn any attention to yourself, and of course, we're still friends, aren't we?"
There was something strange about the light tone Kira was taking with Ruby. It was... light... feathery... almost flippant. It could easily have been mistaked for friendliness. But Kira was actually adjusting the tone of her voice to suit her purposes. Hypnosis could be a little strange. You had to work on things like your pitch and diction- different tones excercised different amounts of power over your subject. For example, when Kira had first ensnared Ruby, a lot of it had depended on eye-contact. Once Kira had Ruby, she kept her tone slow and relaxed- smooth and alto. She'd wanted nothing to distract Ruby from her eyes; the words she spoke just had to be heard, even if they weren't heard as such. It was a bit like... whenever you walked into a shop, and the music that's playing is like background music, yet sooner or later you find yourself singing along.
However, this voice was bouncy, and now that she was out of the way of prying ears (for the most part) she'd reverted to her own Irish accent. People always said there was something musical about it, which was perfect as far as Kira was concerned, because this music only enhanced the hypnotic experience. So both tones had been relaxing, but of course, in very different ways.
One was designed to capture; the other to pry.
And Kira was a master of both.
"Ruby, the first time we met, you told me you were against Orchid Hill. Is that true?"
The lines around Ruby's lips tightened for a moment. "Yes."
"Why is that?"
"Ruddy school ain't got no right," muttered Ruby darkly. "As if I ain't good enough for it's d**ned education- "
"Nobody's saying that, Ruby," Kira cut her off, in case her voice rose and attracted attention. "You have to keep very quiet though... okay?"
Ruby nodded glumly. "Long story... family... war... but then Marius came along and suddenly... things just made sense."
Kira let Ruby take her time. She was working her way up slowly. She didn't want to put too much pressure on Ruby all in one go. Hypnotism took patience. After all, you were bending another person's will to your own.
"We should all be separate," Ruby said suddenly, sitting up. "Diversity?! Bah! Don't mean a thing. No- we're all different, so why should we pretend otherwise? Besides- " she paused for a sharp laugh- "education ain't worth it if I'm spending it with a little piece of goblin muck, or some filthy, fairy half-breed."
"Definitely," Kira encouraged her, "Marius really has all the right solutions then?"
"He doesn't lord it over us, either," Ruby sighed happily. "We mean something to him. We're his friends- his equals. He... he really cares about us."
"I know," Kira smiled softly, her professionalism keeping a firm grip on her heart. "I know. So... no wonder you decided to join up with Orchid's enemies!"
"With the League of Marius," Ruby grinned. "I've been on a fair few missions too. Our latest one was when my partner and I kidnapped that pathetic little excuse of an Academic. It was so easy too! I know he in particular enjoyed her little stay with us..."
Kira's stomach twisted painfully, and she found for a moment that she couldn't reply. It didn't matter though. She had Ruby talking now.
"But this time..." Ruby paused, her eyes widening with an almost vulgar excitement. "This time... we're gonna' get them good. We won't lose. We're hitting 'em where it hurts- "
Suddenly, Ruby stopped, her wide eyes growing pale. Her mouth hung open, a little dry by the looks of her parched lips. Her small pink tongue licked over them, moistening them briefly, but it had little effect. Kira resisted the temptation to look at Ailith, and continued letting her blue irises burn into Ruby's eyes.
"Keep talking, Ruby, you're doing well."
"Are... are you sure, Eleanor?"
"Positive."
"This... this is definitely... what Marius wants?"
It was strange how hypnotism effected peoples' minds. For example, if Kira was hypnotised, she would end up half-deluded that her aunt was still alive. Another example would be Madeleine- that witch of a Warrior. She'd happily believe that her brother was talking to her, and so would strip bare her soul for her questioner.
This was the one person Ruby cared about most.
The thing Ruby cared about most.
It only made Kira sad that it was someone who would never... ever return those affections... One look at this poor, hapless figure before her; completely lost in the delusion Kira had hooked her in with; told Kira what to say. It told Kira a lot of things about her 'friend'.
"He told me so, Ruby," smiled Kira, leaning forward and ignoring the continually worsening twists and turns of her stomach. "He told me- and these are his exact words- 'If she succeeds, she will make me the happiest man on earth, and I will make her the happiest woman that ever lived.' "
"It will make me so..." Ruby said softly, a fearful hope brightening her eyes. "Yes... yes, you're right. I believe you, Eleanor. You're a good friend."
"I know," Kira replied smoothly. "Now... tell me about your plot against Orchid."
"Oh, it's simple enough," Ruby said flippantly, waving it away as though it was nothing. She was still lost in whatever news Kira had apparently imparted. "There are a good... oof... five or so of us working at the Hotel, except Michael. I don't know where Marius called him off to. D'you think that- ?"
"Never mind that now," Kira urged her on. "The plan. Talk to me about the plan."
"We're gathering support in the village," Ruby smiled widely, baring all of her small, pointy, coffee-stained teeth. "Imagine the impact of a Cardsdale revolt! Spreading your good word, Marius. We keep to your code, of course, and the villagers we've got on our side understand the code too. It's easy to learn- but mega difficult to crack. We're hosting our meetings, and a lot of the youth culture... well they're listening to us! Easily manipulated, I'd say- "
Suddenly, Ruby stopped again, but this time, her pale eyes turned shockingly white. There was a moment's silence, and suddenly-
Pop!
It wasn't an overly loud noise; it was more like whenever you crack your fingers, except it gave the listener the strange sensation that they were underwater. With that one noise, Kira felt as though her mind had been ripped out of her skull. In a flash she found herself wrenched half-way across the room, with Ailith at her side, and as Kira got up, she knew the dreadful answer.
Only one thing could've had that effect on Kira: her spell over Ruby had been broken. In hypnosis, things had to be eased in, and eased out, because you were delving so extensively into your brainpower, and pushing it out of you, into someone else.
The shock of the breakage had reduced her head to a throbbing mess. She could barely see past her streaming eyes, but she wiped them impatiently away.
"Ruby?" she muttered wildly, turning to Ailith and biting her lip to ignore her urge to cry out in pain. "Ruby- where is she?"
Kira needn't really have asked. Only one thing could have cut off Ruby's brainpower like that- only one thing could have severed the ties Kira had so carefully built up, and maintained for so long.
Ruby was dead.

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith had listened intently to both the interogation and the corridor outside. Nothing so far had been disturbed behind the door, to be honest Ailith expected as much, but it didn't pay to slack off.
d**n! They're gathering an army. A resilience. And in Cardsdale that wasn't had to russle up. But keeping it secret that would be hard. And getting so many and keeping them updated was bound to test the ... code? What code? Oh a code. Something to think on.
"I'd say-"
Barely after the word was finished Ruby froze and her eyes. It was like her iris an pupil just vanished. Ailith looked at Kira and back to Ruby, she went to move forward to query Kira when a weird, sort of quiet but ear-popping pop invaded Ailith's ears. At the same time, Kira tipped over on her chair and slid across the room, while Ailith jumped forward to hinder her progression across the floor. Ailith knelt. Kira was blinking rapidly but she would sort herself out. Ailith looked up at Ruby and what she saw was something she had hoped not to see again this soon. Ruby was slumped in her chair, ams limp, legs bent and head lolling onto her shoulder with an open mouth and flung wide eyes. The pose of unexpected death.

Kira was getting up, maybe a little fast, for her eyes had filled and where trying to see everything at once. The tiniest of frowns had appeared on Kira's brow letting on to Ailith the intense pain that she was going through. Kira brushed her eyes in an effort to see but they just kept filling. She turned sharply to face Ailith and demanded almost bitterly, "Ruby? Ruby - where is she?"
"Dead." Ailith replied bluntly. "She's still slumped on the chair but she's definately dead. Are you alright? I'm not an expert on hypnosis so I won't know what to do if you go out cold on me."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"I'll be fine..." mumbled Kira, brushing her dark blonde curls out of her face.
Pulling herself up, she moved forward to examine Ruby. How'd this even happened? Kira sure as heck hadn't done it. Everything had been going really well...
... Ruby had been questioning it...
"D'you hear something?"
There was a murmuring beneath the floorboards- the unmistakable sound of muffled, panicked voices.

[Ailith Rayner]

"I do now." Ailith breathed. "Do you think we should leave her? We could remove her body from the room to the ground below, the window opens to an alley and I brought 5 metre rope."
"Do we have enough time?"
The voices became higher and louder. The commotion below was getting urgent.
"If that's them possibly. Even if it is we can't leave via the front door anyway."
"OK, let's do it."

Ailith unwound the rope from round her body in less than 10 seconds. The voices hadn't moved but were at the same disposition as before. Kira had begun to unwind her own rope which was 2 metres and was attaching Ruby to herself using a double bowline. While Ailith tied her own rope in a clove hitch to a bed leg which she pulled closer to the window as carefully as she could to avoid unnecessary noise. A reef knot tied the two ropes together and Kira threw open the window and stepped onto the windowsill. Ailith stood with the rope around her waist and knees bent she crarefully but deliberately lowered Kira down and she, with Ruby, abseiled down the side of the building with remarkable speed. Which was just as well because the voices were moving. Eventually there was no more rope and Ailith tuged gently enough so the Kira wasn't pulled off the wall but firm enough for Kira to feel that was the end. Ailith listened hard, for the voices in the corridor but thankfully heard the ker-flap as Kira dropped the last few metres to the ground before the shadows appeared to warn her of the dangerous closeness of the enemy. With lightening speed Ailith yanked free the clove hitch and used another knot to the window on the outside. Ailith stepped on the window sill as Kira did and shut the curtains behind her. The voices had entered the corridor from the stairs at the far end. Ailith jumped and slid down the rope swifly, pulling the window bam shut before jumping the last few metres and rolling as Kira had done with another person (which is significantly more difficult).
"Where'd you learn that one?" Asked Kira with a slight smile.
"Just a trick I learned a-" Ailith stopped and scratched her nose to cover the almost last part of the sentence. "So where to now?"

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira struggled a little to hide how impressed she was at Ailith's composed, business-like tone. She couldn't help it. The only other Spy (that of course, weren't Lisle and Seamus) she could really think of that had these type of skills was that other guy, Jude. Between the two of them, Kira bet she could raise a bloody army to rival Madeleine's.
"Okay, again, we don't want to waste too much time..." she said thoughtfully. "But maybe we should hide her body. They don't know she's dead yet, after all, so that could buy us a bit more time. It must've been the bang whenever I flew across the room that alerted them..."
She hoisted Ruby's body up a little higher, trying hard not to look at the blank, lifeless eyes that gazed at her almost reproachfully.
"Bury her? We can burn her of course, but smoke would be a little conspicuous..."

[Ailith Rayner]

"You got a spade?" AIlith nearly laughed. Ailith took a sweep of the allyway. It was silent and deserted, but nowhere ever is for too long. A car bonnet peeked round the corner of the allyway.
"How fast can you run with two people?"

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira bit her lip, giving Ruby another hearty tug. "I'm not sure. I need to be quite light to travel at a fast speed. Ruby really weighs me down. I think I could still make it for about... oof... 10 or so miles an hour?"
It wasn't much, but it was something...
"You can make a spade out of metal, couldn't you?"
The voices were growing louder. Kira stared up at the window, and quickly ducked into the shadows, whispering quickly under her breath so that the shadows would follow Kira and Ailith, and hide them under a dark cover. Sliding along the side of the wall, Kira ducked behind into another alley, and came to where a car was sitting.
"What could you do with this hunk of metal, Ailith?"

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith ran her fingers under the bonnet, located the catch, lifted the bonnet and propped it up with the rod.
"Sorry Dad." She whispered under her breath.
Ailith stepped to the side of the car, leant over and pinched the bolt which connected the bonnet to the rest of the car. After a second, the metal had watered away like mercury. She vaulted over the car and did the same to the other side an dthe bonnet was free.
Ailith took a breath in, "This is going to make an awful noise, get ready to run."
Ailith placed a foot on one end of the sheet of metal and folded it in half. An almighty crunch, with the volume of a crappy motorbike exhaust, shattered the quiet in the street. Ailith and Kira winced with their faces and as Ailith finished the second fold in her arms shouts were coming from the hotel room. Kira grabbed Ailith's hand and bolted as fast as she could with two people and a car bonnet dragging you down. Ailith ran as fast as her legs would allow but she still felt that she was barely keeping up. Ailith mentally applauded Kira, the poor soul was up for a rough 10 minutes.

*Ten minutes later*

Kira let go of everything and panted for a while. Ailith was near to throwing up herself.
"Holy frigg!" She laughed and coughed. "I think we lost them!"
"Well I d**n well hope so!" Kira laughed. They looked around. The were on the outskirts of the town on Orchid Hill's side and all was quiet.
Ailith began curling the metal but stopped about a quarter of the way down. At this bit she softened the metal and curved it round into a basic spade shape, with a pointed end and a sharpish edge. At the top she softened the metal well down and bent a handle with a comfortable-ish grip.
Meanwhile Kira had layed down Ruby (respectfully), and decided to make the digging process that little bit faster and easier she began to move what little water that was in the soil to the portion in which Ruby would be buried.
Ailith looked up and frowned at Kira. "What are you doing?"
"Making life easier." Kira replied briefly, her concentration was audible.
Ah that's right. Water bender. Of course. Ailith thought. She looked at her spade pursed her lips for a second then pushed the top of the handle back into the spade and covered her hand with the metal. She walked over to where Kira had finished softening the earth and began to dig.
After 5 minutes, a hole of a metre and a half cubed was dug. Ailith stood to stretch her back. She relieved her hand from the spade, refashioned the handle and passed the tool to Kira.
"Maybe I should have nicked the boot as well." Ailith pondered aloud. Kira looked up at Ailith and, after a second, smiled. Hah! She got I was being humorous, Ailith returned the smile. eventually. At least she got it.
When the hole was dug the two girls lowered Ruby's body into the hole and with a scrape of the spade the earth was tipped into Ruby's grave. Ailith and Kira replaced the grass topped sods walked across the hole and it was as if the hole had never existed. Ailith and Kira sighed, Ailith lifted her spade and the two spies headed back to headquarters. With new chilling information.