RoT: Part 2 (Cilian - Sheryll)

Sheryll stepped out in the sun and shivered a little. The winds blew about and threatened to pull her hair out of its ponytail. She looked back at her assigned "partner" and smiled. He was rather conspicuous, walking around in such garb; if this wasn't new york he would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Sheryll turned away from him and looked down at the list the nice attendant girl had given them. She surveyed it and memorized both the map and the instructions before passing them to her partner. The assignment was being uploaded to her handlers at their base out in who knows where. Her instructions had been to relay any important data she gathered so they could ease her entry into the group. A message came back and displayed across her vision. "There will be a file waiting for you back at your apartment, in addition you'll find that we've left a Laser Designator unit for your usage. Good luck Captain."

Sheryll blinked and the message disappeared. She glanced back and looked at her partner again. he appeared to be reading the instructions.

He seems nice, a little bit hoighty-toity, but nice. she mused. He seemed to look over at her. Sheryll just smiled before turning to him, her face showing a huge grin as she analyzed him.

"Hi! I'm Sheryll, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm 28, I love donuts, the color blue, and long walks in dark alleyways." she joked.

"Oh and speaking of dark alleyways, mind if we stop by my apartment and pick up some stuff, I'm not dressed for the weather you see."

She stared at him for a minute before tilting her head and adding "now you say something"

Sheryll loved meeting people, even people who she might have to capture one day. She always followed her father's advice and acted friendly, which -besides being common courtesy- also made it easier to catch them off guard if she needed to. She thought back to all the people she had had to capture or kill and it was always so sad that they resisted. It wasn't like her father mistreated them, he only got mean if they made him after all.

That was one of the things she loved about him, he was always so kind to people, even when they were nothing but hostile in return. Even back when she had been deployed in Africa or Afghanistan, he had taken care of her and made sure she was comfortable before being heading out on her missions. What she loved even more were the gifts. Every time she completed a mission he would buy her something. When she was little, it was ice cream or dolls, but as she got older, he began buying her things like clothes or jewelry. Though she really loved it, she wished sometimes he'd buy her something like a butterfly knife or at least something other then stereotypically girly things. She chuckled, she was gonna ask him if they could just sit and watch a movie -maybe Kill Bill- together when she completed her next mission.

She hadn't seen him in a few months. All his latest gifts had been delivered in the mail or by agents. While that might have worried her if she was any normal girl, Sheryll knew her father was busy with research and that the gifts were his way of showing he cared, even though he couldn't say it to her in person.

Upon discovering who his partner was Cilian let out an involuntary gasp of relief, that and he also finished the delightfully hearty meal presented to him at Cucina's. He wouldn't have to be saddled with the various brooding macho men who staunched into the restaurant, rather, he was partnered up with the woman sitting opposite him and after a quick evaluation of her he was glad, for she appeared to be a bit more energetic and amusing than the other members. After receiving the quest and discovering that the woman named Sheryl was his partner she quickly bounded out of the room with a gleeful smile, he gracefully followed once bidding farewell to the other people present.

Once he made it outside the cool breeze caressed itself against his face, a slight tingle going through his being as he approached his partner. Sheryl was already looking over the map and after a moment of apparently absorbing the info she turned to face him and quickly handed it over to him. The quest was quite specific in its requirements but overall nothing too ridiculous and after a brief evaluation of it Cilian shoved it into his jacket pocket. Sheryl immediately started introducing herself and Cilian couldn't help but a crack a smile, she was quite the lively one.

"Well my name is Cilian Blanc and the pleasure is all mine" Placing a quick peck on his partners hand, being suave and courteous hasn't gotten him into trouble so far and hopefully it won't with Sheryl, "and by all means go ahead and change I have no qualms about better attire" he grinned, the girl did seem to be dressed a bit too casually for any sort of mission. Although, neither was he for that matter but Cilian would not be the 'Black Tie' if he didn't wear an actual black tie, and with black tie's come suits and with suits come tailored precision and the utmost quality.

"You lead the way" he said, motioning for her to begin their little quest for the thrones organization, hopefully they could finish before night would settle in.

From their initial greeting Sheryl seemed like a very decent person, boisterous and sassy she somewhat reminded him of his sister, although such thoughts were immediately buried for they brought up a chapter of his past he'd rather forget. However, this was ultimately a business partnership, Cilian did not know the extent of her abilities and she didn't understand his either. He did not know if this bubbly personality of hers was a facade for all he knew she could be a cold-blooded killer...but for the time being said bubbliness was actually quite entertaining.

Sheryll hopped up clapped her hands in joy. The young man was rather courteous and she appreciated that. She grabbed his hand and smiled. "Okay Cilian, let's go grab some outfits!" she chimed, happy that he was easygoing and flexible, at least he seemed so.
Sheryll grabbed his hand and led him through a series of twists and turns back to her place. "Well, here we are. Home sweet home. Come on in, I'll only be a minute" she said running off into her bedroom.
On the bed lay a large package. The smile on her face vanished as she closed the door and sat down on her bed. Sheryll ripped open the package and read its contents silently to herself, absorbing the information with little trouble. She reached into the torn up remains and pulled out the laser designator.

Everything appeared to be in order so she quickly changed into a new set of clothing more appropriate to her mission. It was a long sleeve coat that went down to her ankles, under it a pair of tight black denim pants and a long sleeve mesh shirt. Under all of it however, was her N.A. suit which she did a quick check of. Everything seemed to be in order as she walked out the door, her ever present smile returning in a flash. She saw Cilian and walked over
"Well, how do I look?" She inquired, giving a brief twirl. "It's not the prettiest thing, but it's far more practical then what I had on. Just hope I have time to come back here and change again after we're done." She sat down for a moment before getting back up and getting a bottle of wine from the fridge.
"We're going to drink this to celebrate once we succeed. Oh wait... do you drink?" she asked, mildly embarrassed.
She hadn't even asked him how old he was. "I'm sorry, if you don't I can always pick up something non-alcoholic on our way back, that is, if you want to celebrate" She said, half asking, half telling.
She wanted to make a good first impression and she wasn't in any rush, seeing as the intel had pinpointed a large operation down at the docks.
Sheryll stared out the window at the New York skyline, unaware that her smile had disappeared before perking back up and saying
"well, let's get to it shall we"

The initial delightfulness did not fade once Cilian introduced himself, rather, Sheryl's enthusiasm seemed to grow as she clasped his hand leading the way to her apartment. Her grip was surprisingly strong and Cilian immediately noticed the lack of warmth..as if she was made of metallic substance, but such thoughts were ignored for a later time as he was dragged though the maze of streets away from the the restaurant. The alleyways were indeed dark, however nothing from the usual, just plenty of rodents and the occasional homeless person. Once arriving at her cozy little apartment, roughly the same size as his she bounded to her room leaving him to awkwardly wait in her living room. Maybe she's actually a serial killer and i just got led to my unfortunate demise he thought to himself quietly chuckling, her child-like mannerisms could easily let off an air of vulnerability but he knew she must've had some special gift to allow her into Thrones.

Not soon after disappearing into her room she came back in a more suitable costume..a bit more appropriate for tracking down street level thugs and the like. Upon doing a little twirl Sheryl once again started talking, mentioning celebratory wine which Cilian immediately agreed to..it had been a while since he had wine with such an interesting person. However the task at hand halted any pre-conceived thoughts of success and the woman herself actually motioned for the start of their mission.

Once exiting the apartment the cool Spring air brushed itself against Cilians skin, he shivered not only from the cold but from a growing sense of giddiness..this would be the first time since his early years with the Jackals that he'd be part of any organization. There was also the likely chance that he would have to use his power during this little test and he brushed the hilt of Balizarde strapped to his side. The Frenchman was ready.

"So where are we off to now?" he spoke in his silky voice, making his new partner giggle.

Sheryll giggled, she enjoyed the company of the man was was to work with. He had agreed to wine and she hoped they could pick up some donuts on the way back, she had an unnatural obsession with the pastry, it was just something about the sweetness of the dough mixed so perfectly with the the frosting and glaze that it made her giddy just thinking about it. She sighed, ready to start the mission but unable to rid herself of her smile or her bubbliness.
She found it unusual to say the least. Usually whenever a mission started she turned into a cold unfeeling person who could describe a thousand ways to rend someone into a fine pulp in the same voice as if she was quoting the wholesale price of yams. "Well, I suggest we take out the biggest objective first" she said.

"I've gotten some intel that suggests there's a major arms smuggling ring down near the docks. Heh, what is it with smugglers and docks, I mean, I get it; that's where they ship everything, but it's just so cliche. Why not build your base under the docks or even just inland on the second floor of a toy store? But no, always right on the docks" she mused, lolling her her head back and forth, her arms behind her.

Sheryll wasn't used to working with someone else and so she wasn't really expecting a reply to her question. As they walked Sheryll kept rambling on about everything from her demonic doughnut lust to exactly how many tons a giant ant could lift. None of it had any bearing on the mission and was simply her trying to pass the time. It was incredibly weird for her to work with someone. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy the company or had a problem with people, it was just... she had always been alone on the job, or at most had forces backing her up, but never something like this; where they could just walk down the street to their objective and yet casually talk.

Sheryll stopped briefly to look at a dress in a store but wound up not buying it, which was a shame because it was exceptionally beautiful. Sighing Sheryll walked back out the door and continued rambling on for a few more minutes before stopping and looking at Cilian. Then; in a rather nervous voice she asked "I'm not bothering you with my constant jabbering am I?"

"No of course not, It's actually quite pleasant. I haven't really had a conversation with anyone since coming here", Cilian answered assuring Sheryl that she was in no way being a nuisance..which she wasn't. The past ten minutes involved her chatting away, whenever she'd go onto different tangents Cilian would simply nod and laugh preferring to let the girl speak about everything she had to say before the action started. They even had time to go inside a store, unfortunately not coming out with anything but more things to talk about, well, in Cilian's case more things to listen to.

The one thing that struck him most from Sheryl's ramblings other than her obsessions with donuts was that she had already located an operation down by the docks. Not just that but she also mentioned 'intel', it seemed that she had people backing her up, which in itself could be a very good thing or an equally bad thing. However the mission required him to work with her and as far as he was concerned already having a plan of action was better than wasting time looking for trouble.

"Well I guess its time to have some fun" he said with a growing smile as he took off his glove," it would be the polite thing for me to also grab some intel" he grinned as his eyes immediately darkened turning into black orbs, the tattoos on his body began to quiver and shift down his arm causing a quick jet of black ink to erupt from the tips of his fingers. It hovered in front of them for a bit and immediately contorted as his mind moulded the black liquid. Sheryl stood to his side with her eyebrows raised, it would've been more courteous to let her show off her unknown abilities first but Cilian wanted that celebratory wine as soon as possible.

"Say hello to a little friend of mine" he muttered as the ink suddenly took the form of a black bird, it flapped its wings, the black liquid giving it a sleek sheen as the cool air blew around it. After momentarily hovering in front of its creator the creature soared ahead of them, making Sheryl gasp in delight.

"I just asked it to scope out the docks, it should be there in no time, whatever it sees I'm currently seeing as well" He said in a rather matter-of-fact voice giving Sheryl a little smile, such a gesture would have been quite normal if it weren't for the dark pupil-less eyes that were still present.

Sheryll stared as ink flowed from Cilian's fingertips before forming into a bird. The creature was beautiful, a stunning jet black, it was like art in motion when the creature took off, not a single drop lost despite its wing beats. She looked at him, his normally caramel colored eyes had become orbs of black the same color as the bird's whole body. As he looked at her he smiled, his gaze would have been unnerving to most, but it was far from the worst thing Sheryll had seen a superhuman's body do.

Sheryll smiled back, intrigued by his power as he explained it to her. "That's amazing Cilian, I can't wait to show you what I can do." She said, feeling quite giddy. They weren't far from the docks and she was all fired up. What an unusual feeling for her. Then again, today had been a whole plethora of unusual sensations. "Race you" She said right before taking off, she wasn't running superhumanly fast, but she was almost at the maximum an average human could go. She saw his raven in the air above her as she slid up against a wall. The gate to the docks were flanked on both sides by a large brick wall spanning the length of the marina. Sheryll waited for Cilian to catch up before she started talking.

"What do you see? How many of them are there? Also, how many are in the open?" She looked back at him as she finished speaking, a small grin on her face. "Oh well, doesn't matter. Unfortunately the note said 'try not kill anyone' so I won't be able to go full speed, but I hope I provide a nice show" she said, ready to hop the wall. "I hope you're ready for the party, because I'm about to hit the dance floor!" She yelled, taking off towards the wall and clearing it in a single leap. As soon as she was at the peak of her jump she loosed two of her wires near where she had been standing, easily cutting through the brick masonry and creating an impromptu entrance. "I know we're supposed to be discreet here, but if we want to get to the bakery before they close we'll have to skip a few steps in the process" she quipped.

"Now watch me go to work!" she said as she ran forward, looking for her targets. Several men looked at her, confused as to why a young woman would be dashing across the docks at such a breakneck pace. Then she saw it. The building her handlers had identified as the smuggling ring's headquarters. Leaping into the air, Sheryll let loose all her hand and feet wires and let the momentum of her descent carry her into a spinning dive, quickly closing in on the building; the light glinting off of her wires the only clue to what was happening. In a matter of moments the building began to fall apart and collapse in on itself in a series of clean cut pieces falling inwards.

Sheryll retracted her wires save one. Walking up to the broken remains of the building, she began viciously hacking and swinging her arm as the sole wire did it's work. Blood began fly and limbs could be seen sticking partway out of the rubble very briefly before being sliced up into tiny pieces. Sheryll watched the dock workers scream and pull out firearms on her. "Oh come on boys, do you really wanna hurt little 'ole me?" she said, a great big grin on her face, not her usual innocent, childlike grin, but one filled with sadistic glee. "You're not even worth my time."

"Cilian!" she called.

"Would you kindly take out the trash?"

Sheryl's reaction to Cilian's unique show of the supernatural was fairly different from a normal person, many would have simply been put off by his 'freaky' eyes but this new companion of his did not seem bothered at all. Her childlike glee and curiosity were quite contagious and Cilian found himself giggling with Sheryl as she challenged him to a race. The woman bounded like a professional athlete, literally kicking up dust in the air as she bolted to the brick wall near the docks entrance, catching up was completely unnecessary. I'll just let her win Cilian thought, chuckling to himself because in all seriousness there was no way he could keep up with that speed, on the ground that is.

Once he caught up to her she was grinning like a child about to enter a candy store, her previous energy levels seemed to have maxxed out and she immediately started firing questions about the ink creation circling above the docks. He knew that there were 34 men located in and around the building, they were armed with pistols and rifles, nothing that you would consider out of the ordinary for a gang, but the one thing that did stand out was the heavy artillery vehicle behind the building adjacent to the arms dealers. Unfortunately before Cilian could even mention this possible threat, or mention anything at all for that matter Sheryl nimbly pounced over the wall, her petite figure instantly betraying her startling agility and physical prowess.

As she was midair something extended from her body, Cilian had to strain his eyes from his low vantage point and assumed that wires of some sort were emitting from her body. His guess was proven right as his ink creation soared above her, viewing the woman's frightening display. Extremely thin metal wires protruded out of her hands and feet ripping through the air as they followed her body's movements. "Oh dear.." Cilian muttered watching as the metal tendrils created a dangerous vortex around her. As she hurtled straight towards the building, the wires sliced through the iron framework and brick masonry like a hot knife does through butter. Muffled screams were heard as the structure collapsed in on itself leaving behind perfectly shaped pieces of rubble, men struggled to escape under the ruined complex and many did not have time to free themselves as Sheryl continued her onslaught, literally dicing flesh and bone as she slowly walked on top of the ruined building.

Dock workers flooded out of other buildings and shipping containers, armed with anything they could find as the solitary woman cut down any resistance, the men shrieked as they witnessed what could only ever possibly exist in a B-grade horror film. Her childlike glee was now replaced with a cackling merciless killer, and for a split second Cilian felt a tingle of dread flow down his spine as she turned to face him, the tattoos on his body shuddering against the surface of his skin. Her once demure face was covered in the blood of her prey and as she screamed out for his assistance Cilian flinched, the armed men gathered at the end of the dock raised their weapons at him knowing now that he was Sheryl's accomplice, "ohh this is gonna get messy" he muttered, scrunching his brow as he noticed the presence of ink on all of the men surrounding him, "You gangsters really need to learn to get proper body art" he sighed as he clicked his finger.

The men instantly dropped like flies as the ink on their skin melted into their bodies temporarily flooding their brains causing them to topple over unconscious, weapons hurtling to the ground with a heavy 'CLUNK'. "Sorry friends, you left me with no choice..." he said under his breath as he absorbed the ink from their bodies onto his, their tacky tattoos now part of his growing arsenal of ink. Cilian couldn't kill them,mainly because they had done nothing wrong to him but also because the instructions given specifically said not to... however Sheryl must've skipped that one.

As he turned to face his partner, who had now retracted her highly dangerous metal extension he was about to speak when the armored truck came hurtling behind the building, its wheels screeching as it turned the corner. He had been so distracted with the gangsters that he forgot to keep an 'eye' out on the other possible threat, the heavy artillery gun shattered the atmosphere as bullets sped towards Sheryl..

Sheryll turned her head to look at the huge vehicle barreling towards her. "So ungraceful" she said, extending three wires from her fingers and splitting the tank-like vehicle in three. It was then that she saw it, a single man sitting in the seat, his leg only inches from her cut. She flicked her wrist and cut the remaining bits of tank into little more then scrap metal before rushing forward and yanking the man -as well as the seat he was strapped in to- out of the crashing remains.

"My, my, my. What do we have here?" she asked, snickering as she looked into the terrified man's eyes. "A little slug who got a hard shell and thought he was king of the world. Well let me teach you something little boy..." she let her sentence trail off as she yanked the man out of his seat.

"I hope you're not afraid of heights." She cackled as she shot out another set of wires from her other hand. The wires traveled into the frame of a nearby crane and lodged there. Once she was sure that the wire was secure she allowed the wire's retraction to pull her up until she was standing on top of the crane, the terrified smuggler still firmly in her grip.
"Do you know what my favorite game is?" Sheryll asked the man, staring straight into his eyes. He shook his head violently and appeared like he was going to speak when Sheryll cut him off "Nnnzzzt wrong. My favorite game is twenty questions. Now let me explain the rules for the folks at home." She grinned maniacally as she retracted the previously lodged wires into her hand. A small buzzing noise was heard and then she released five more wires... except these ones weren't sharp. She looped two of them around the man's neck and the other three around his torso. "The rules are simple. Answer right, I lower you. Answer wrong, I give more slack to the wires on your chest, but I'll make that stylish new necklace of yours tighter. Ready to play? Yes? Good." She chirped as she dropped the man about 10 meters and slowly stopped him.
"First question: who do you work for?"
The man just blubbered about his family
"Nnnzzzt, WRONG!" she giggled as she let loose one of the restraints on his torso.
"Second question: where's your home base?"
He just started screaming and crying.
"Nnnzzzt, WRONG AGAIN!" she called down, releasing a second wire from his torso.
"Last question: For the million dollars; why did you think you hurt me with such a puny tank."
Before the man could answer, Sheryll heard a squawking noise and turned her head. It was Cilian's crow.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you wanted to play too" she said in the same sweet voice she had used on the way to her apartment.
Sheryll slowly lowered the man to the ground before swinging down herself.
"It appears you get to play the lightning round my friend. Let's meet our special guest! Cilian, come on up" she giggled as she lifted the man's face up to look at the approaching form of Cilian.

The bird did work much to Cilian's relief, it managed to distract Sheryl from potentially hurling the man to his demise. This little performance of hers was barely discreet and there was the very likely possibility that a collapsed structure filled with human mince meat would attract the attention of the authorities and such attention would be extremely troublesome, not only for them but the whole Thrones group as well.

As Sheryl and her playtoy returned to a more accessible playing field, Cilian walked over to the sobbing man, his eyes pleaded mercy and his shaking form left Cilian with a bad taste in his mouth; it was almost a waste of time to still be here, whatever illegal operation that was being performed had swiftly been halted by his bizarre partner. Considering all of his options Cilian exhaled, he preferred to leave many tasks such as these to people more suited to cold-blooded killing..he was simply too lazy to follow through.

Like a cowering child about to get disciplined, the man, possibly the most dangerous gangster in this area had his dignity completely erased by the wire wielding maniac named Sheryl. As Cilian stood a few feet away from the traumatized fellow he glanced at Sheryl, who possessed a maniacal look on her face, her soft - almost childlike complexion - had been replaced with a psychopath. 10 points for knowing she was a psycho Cilian thought quietly chuckling to himself noticing that the gangster had already soiled his pants.

"Sheryl, my dear, I'm sorry but I don't think I can give you the show you want" his smooth voice framing the seriousness of his words. She looked slightly disappointed but only replied with a smirk, "however, this man will be sure to never forget this day.." and with that Cilian made a quick pulling motion with his hand. The man let out a gargled cry, whatever sound he hoped would make its way out of his throat was whittled down to a pained squeal. The man's body went erect as the tattoos covering his arms, chest and back ripped their way through his skin and clothing, to the casual observer it would appear that Cilian was absorbing the very life out of the man. The black liquid flowed straight towards Cilian's awaiting palm as the gangster flopped forward with unsightly bloody gashes on his skin.

Looking up at his partner, Cilian rubbed his hands together as Sheryl simply stared at her now unconscious prisoner. "I hate to bring this up but how on earth do you plan on cleaning this mess?" Cilian exclaimed nodding at the rubble and bodies surrounding them, he wasn't sure if it was his thinking but he was certain that he heard sirens in the distance . Hopefully that wine will be worth it...

Sheryll chuckled a little at the whimpering man as he fell forward on the ground, Cilian's use of his powers was quite entertaining to her. Then, as he asked her how she planned to clean all this up... Sheryll's brief mania faded, replaced by a sense of confusion more then anything else. In combat she was usually calm and professional, but for whatever reason, this time she had lost it. She knew her father would be mad, she had gone completely berserk instead of following the instructions given to her by the attendant.

"Shit" she said, her voice cold and filled with contempt, not for Cilian or anyone else, but for herself.

Sheryll began to pace back and forth, deep in thought before a message appeared in her vision. "Don't worry sweetheart, we'll take care of this. You just get out of there."

Sheryll's every present grin returned as she turned to Cilian. Her voice was once again filled with its usual childlike glee. "Cilian! Good news, my dad's gonna send some janitors to clean up. Now let's go to the bakery and get some sweets, then we can go find a woman in need!" She bounced up and down, ecstatic that she wasn't in trouble. Before she took off however, she stopped and looked at herself. Her suit was dripping with blood. Sheryl took the L.S. unit from her belt and pointed it at the wreckage of the building she had cut. Sheryl pulled the trigger and a voice appeared in her head "Drop pod requested. Specify content drop."

"A change of clothes would be nice" she said aloud, briefly forgetting that Cilian could hear her.

"Drop approved, deploying pod in 3.2.1."

All of a sudden a sound like an airplane engine echoed around them, lasting only for a second as the pod smacked into the ground near the rubble. Sheryll walked over and opened the pod's casing. Inside was a metal briefcase containing civilian clothes. "Cilian, dear, I'll be just a moment. Promise not to peek" she said jokingly. In just a few moments she had adorned a new set of clothes and walked over to Cilian.

She grabbed Cilian's hand and led him out of there, seeing in the corner of her eye, the first chopper marked with the symbol of her father's 'Janitors'. They arrived at the bakery fairly quickly, she knew the way by heart after all. Sheryll went in and came back out with a small bag of donuts. She sat down at a table outside and began eating. After she had devoured two or three she cleared her throat and spoke to Cilian."I'm really sorry you saw that side of me, it's not usually like that, today was just so... I don't know, and I was so excited to have a partner and we were gonna get doughnuts and wine after and... I'm just really sorry. I understand if you don't want to partner with me after this." She said nervously while looking down at the table, rather embarrassed.

Cilian was silent as he gingerly picked at the glazed donut in front of him, the meal from the restaurant was still being digested but refusing donuts from a girl who just destroyed a building would have been foolish. It wasn't even 15 minutes ago that Sheryl had managed to become a deadly juggernaut, nothing could stop her as the wires cleaved their way through metal, brick and flesh. What was even more alarming was the almost immediate arrival of a mysterious group of men coming out of some helicopters, they must've been the ones who sent her the 'gift from heaven'...clothing which literally dropped out of the sky.

Now that she had reverted to her cheery self, stuffing her face with the sweet pastry and laughing away as if the whole world was a delightful bundle of donuts and sunshine. He wasn't certain if she really was bit of a psycho because she surely acted like slaughtering a whole band of grown men was akin to attending a zumba class. This sort of killing spree was done coldly with a calculating mind and by no means was Cilian innocent of murder either, he had singlehandedly wiped out a criminal syndicate back in his homeland and did so in the most gruesome ways possible. However that was driven by uncontrollable rage and revenge..this however seemed like a hobby of hers, he had certainly been paired up with one of the most dangerous individuals he had ever crossed paths with.

His moment of reflection was broken by Sheryl who stopped eating and slowly began speaking to him, she was stuttering, fumbling for words as she tried explaining her behaviour at the docks. Cilian gazed over at her, she was like a little girl lost in a big confusing world..well that's what he observed anyway. The frenchman sighed and a gentle grin spread across his face, "Sheryl, I wouldn't worry about that..I too have a much darker side" he said in a hushed voice biting his lip,"..I guess you just really wanted that wine eh?" he smiled reassuring her that the little performance at the docks did not effect their current partnership.

Sheryl sighed and flicked her hair back, his answer must've been a relief to hear and she immediately offered him another donut, the tense atmosphere of before slowly evaporating into the cool evening air. Coming to America had brought more surprises than CIlian thought, and teaming up with a femme fatale such as Sheryl was certainly something he didn't forsee.

"Well i guess we should find our damsel in distress now" He motioned catching the gaze of his partner, his silky accent making her grin.

-

The black crow was still present at the docks, now perched on the crane that Sheryl had used earlier for her little game with the gangster. Its beady black eyes observing the activities below it. Even though the two had exited the area Cilian still had eyes on the operation that began once Sheryl dragged him away to the donut shop. Strange men had flooded the area and immediately went on to dispose the rubble, hosing down the blood and removing the unconscious dock workers into a large truck; and any other 'bodies' they found were hastily removed from sight. Their covert operation lasted only 10 minutes and by the time they finished they had flown away in jet black helicopters, the docks had returned to their original form..sans a building and 34 men..

Sheryll let out a sigh of relief at Cilian's dismissal of her earlier behavior. It wasn't at all how she had expected him to react. So far in her life, anyone who had seen her in combat either was scared of her or one of the people who helped make her what she was. Cilian was the first to see it and show so little reaction. Though she was surprised, she was also quite happy. "Thanks, that means a lot. I'm just really sorry about what happened down by the docks." she stated, before adding "That's not usually how I am, so you don't have to worry about seeing me like that again".

Sheryll found it odd that she cared at all, seeing as her whole reason for joining The Thrones was to act as a sleeper agent. Cilian was smiling at her. She found herself at a loss for words, so she simply smiled back, shelving the thoughts for later when she was alone and not distracted.

Sheryll stood up and looked at the sky, her ever present smile had returned. She wasn't quite sure how to proceed. This sort of operation was not her strong suit by far. Her usual missions were more like what happened earlier that day. She had done one rescue operation before but that barely counted, seeing as she'd been forced to kill the target afterwards for resisting.
She wasn't sure why her father had sent HER of all people to infiltrate this group. Sheryll got the feeling "nonlethal" was a big part of their Modus Operandi and that was not something she was good at. She thought on it and could come up with no satisfactory answer. Oh well she chuckled to herself. If any superhumans get away from these guys then I can always hunt them down later in my spare time.

She looked over at Cilian who was waiting patiently for her to snap out of her reflective state.

"Sorry, kind of spaced for a second there. Let's go for a walk, shall we?" she asked, though the fact that she began walking down the street brokered little argument. She felt content. The last time she had felt this... normal... was when she had gone on a trip with her dad to the beach. That was by far her fondest memory. As she recalled that day, her smile grew bigger until she was grinning from ear to ear. She was going to have to see if she could go the beach with someone from The Thrones sometime. She didn't really 'know' any of them except for Cilian but it couldn't be that hard. Everyone loved going to the beach after all.

She turned her head to look at Cilian who was trailing slightly behind. Sheryll slowed down a little, keeping pace with him for a few minutes before speaking up. "So, Cilian, any ideas where we'd find such a distressed damsel? I mean, we're in New York so it can't be that hard to find a woman in need." she quipped, trying to break the ice. Even though he had said that it was nothing, a small part of her mind kept saying that she had somehow wrecked any chance of a normal relationship with him because of her actions.

It had been more than an hour since the two had been excused from the Italian restaurant and rushed off to start their little mission, their initial comfort with each other began to slowly return as the sky took on a darker hue. To any passing civilian they would have appeared like normal people just casually walking down the streets of New York City chatting away like the world presented no problems at all. However both of them knew far better than to think everything was fair and square, Cilian in particular, after witnessing Sheryl easily take down a whole group of men. This momentary lapse of thought was broken with his partner directly asking him where to find any women in distress.

"Well I actually have no idea..I'm the new guy here" he said half smirking, a bit annoyed at his current 'foreigner' status as it didn't really help with his sense of direction,"I do think its a bit sad that the mission included rescuing a woman..are such things that frequent over here?" he remarked, slightly disturbed by the very words he just spoke. In all honesty Cilian did not want to come across a woman in distress, he would have much rather preferred it that all the woman in this city were safe enough to not have the label of 'damsel in distress' placed on them as if it were expected of them to get into some sort of mess.

Sheryl glanced at him and gave him a tender smile, a complete change from how she appeared not so long ago, she must've been thinking the same thing...either that or she pitied the poor Frenchman and his naivety.

The cool silent breeze embraced them as they trudged down a street, it was a comfortable silence and Sheryl was probably too stuffed to even speak, but she was grinning like she had when he first met her which was a good sign she wouldn't emit wires and cut him up to pieces. Turning a corner a few pigeons beat their wings as they escaped the well dressed intruders, all was well and calm when a shadow flickered across his peripheral vision. It only lasted a split second and he was certain it was the shape of a body and as he swiftly turned his head he was faced with an empty alleyway. Rubbish bins lined its walls and an eerie atmosphere breathed its way out of the graffiti laden passageway. Cilian strained his eyes looking for anything that could present itself as a threat, something disturbed him about this little alley but he could not pinpoint what it was.

"Follow me.." he whispered into Sheryl's ear gesturing towards the backstreet. Somebody had just been here and it was either his gut telling him that something was not right or his tattoos, which seemingly had a mind of their own alerting to a possible danger...