Honor Amongst Thieves

Station Square.

Rebuilt at least once in its history, it stood as an example, a sign of victory against overwhelming odds. It's citizens had all the rights to be stand proud of its accomplishments and lasting appeal.

But take one step away from the iddylic gardens and parks, away from the picturesque houses and well-kept streets...

The thief followed the back alley behind one of the establishments he had often frequented. This street, from this bloc to the next, four streets total, was his home. And his turf.

He didn't have a good memory for names, but he knew the people that lived there and Each new face stood out like a sore thumb.

The latest arrival he went after - a mongoose.

The mongoose walked along the back alleys, making her way outta town. Her footsteps had an squishy ound to them as she walked ever so hurriedly towards the exit of the city.

~I-i gotta get out of here,~ she thought to herself as she made her way through the back alleys, ~I don't wanna hurt anyone. Not again, not now. I shouldn't have come here to feed... there are to many people here...~ as she ran, her form began to deteriorate as her body began to turn a solid yellow color. She began to panic as she rushed into a deeper back alleyway as she began to deteriorate more.

She ran between the two buildings, running around several corners as she kept going. "Gotta find the way out, gotta find-" she stopped mid-sentence as she rounded a corner only to reach a dead end wall, "No... no.. no,no,no,no..." she collapsed to her hands and knees in a panic as she devolved into incoherent babbling.

"S-so tired... so weak... so....Hungry," her voice changed as the sclera of her eyes turned black, leaving only a sickly green pupils. Her form barely holding together.

The thief raised an eyebrow as he followed what was starting to look less and less like a mongoose. By the time it had reached the dead end, it was by far the strangest and grossest thing he had ever seen, but his curiosity - and the potential for some loot - kept him going.

And he did, step by step, coming ever so closely, only stopping when all that was between them were a good twelve, maybe thirteen feet.

The now slime like creature had deformed to simply a liquid version of what she looked like before, Her clothing and all other detailed features had melted away. As she kneeled there, she let out a gurgle as she she sniffed the air, smelling that someone was not only nearby, but behind her.

"I'm famished... I need something... to eat," her voice had become dark, uncaring, greedy, "You'll do nicely for my meal." Not a second after she stopped speaking, tendrils shot from her back and snaked there way to the figure behind her. Her mind completely lost she sood up and launched herself at the figure, Her eyes full of hunger and insanity, hissing as she descended upon him.

The thief sighed, grabbing a key from his keychain, the tool quickly transforming into something that resembled a sword.

Being the kind of guy that tackles his problems head-on, he'd go for a simple, vertical slice, aimed at whetever the thing about to pounce him was.

As she descend the figure grabbed something from a keyring he was holding. With that, it suddenly grew into a large key shaped weapon. The figure then slashed upwards, hitting the slime dead center, splitting it apart, it Let out a howl of pain as it dropped.
The two halves splattered across the ground around the male. At first there was no movement, then suddenly it pulled together around him intending to trap him in its clutches. 

"That won't work," the slime hiss as it quickly closed around him, the form of the female mongoose taking shape again as it reached out with its arms to grab him, "Your mine!"

Now the thief would make an attempt to dodge by sidestepping.

"Yours, huh?"

The slime hissed as it swarmed him, "Yes!" her arms barely missing him as the figure sidesteped her attempts to grab him, "I'm... hungry... hold... still!" She immediately lunged fowards trying to tackle him.

"Not a chance."

Grabbing his weapon with both hands, the thief would make a forward thrust.

As she swarmed after him he suddenly thrusted forwards, right into the side of her head.

"G a h !" She let out a howl of pain as the blunt tip of the key her, her body immediately going limp as her eyes went blank and collapsed. As her body hit the ground what seemed to be a violin shaped locket fell out of her as the rest of her form pulled together. Within moments her body was back to its mongoose shape, with her unconscious.

The thief would put the key back on its keychain, where it would transform back into an innocent, household item, which he then put inside one of the inner pockets of his coat.

He'd then walk over to her and pick up the locket she had dropped. He'll have a good look at it back home; might be worth something.

She stirred as she felt someone near her. She looked up to see what she now saw as a skunk in a jacket holding her locket.

"W-wait... please... don't take that... " she tried to get up but she was to weak to stand. Much less barely hold her form. "I'm sorry... I couldn't control myself, p-please give it back..." her eyes began to fill with tears as she realized she couldn't do anything and was at the mercy of the person before her.

The skunk would eye the locket, then its strange ownder. Craftmanship wasn't anything special and it likely would't hold any value other than sentimental.

Not really worth the effort of stealing.

Without a word, he'd offer her his hand to pull herself up.

She watched him eye her locket, her hopes sinking as her body quivered from how weak she was. She looked up in surprise as instead of taking it and leaving, held out his hand to help her up. She held out her hand, hesitant at first, and took his and pulled herself up. As her hand made contact the skunk would feel a slight burning on his hand.

"O-oh no! S-sorry," she quickly released her hand and stumbled backwards against the ally wall, "I'm sorry if it hurt. I didn't mean to, honest." She looked at the hand he held the locket in, "Please, may I have m-my locket back?" He strength was still fading although she seemed a little bit better after touching him for a second.

"It didn't," the skunk would coldly state, handing her her locket.

Without saying anything else, he'd turn his back on her and start walking

Partway, he'd turn around, asking "You coming?"

She eagerly took the locket back, hold against her chest and let it absorb back into her body.

"T-thank you..." she let herself slide down the wall to a sitting position as he turned without a word and began to walk away. ~I didn't hurt anyone... I'm ok with dying here...~ she began to her eyes close.

"You coming?"

She looked up in surprise as she saw he was looking at her. Was he wanting her to go with him?
"What... ? Why? I could've hurt you and I attacked you... " she curled herself up a bit tighter as she looked at him, "Why do you want me to go with you?"

"You're wounded." The skunk would would simply say and approach her.

Without a second thought, he offered her his hand once more. A few burns wouldn't be the end of the world.

She stared at his hand for the longest of time before deciding to take it, this time there was no burning as she mentally stopped herself from absorbing his energy, "Are y-you sure?", she asked as she stood up and began walking behind him.

~I shouldn't be going with him, I shouldn't be going with him... he might trap me and call G.U.N... or the police. I might lose it again...~ her mind was a storm of panic as she followed him, her body morphing and barely holding her disguise from earlier.

The thief would nod. "I know these streets in and out," he'd tell her as they were walking. "And I know at least one or two snitches with ties to G.U.N. skulking around. You're lucky you didn't bump into them."

She looked at him in surprise as she kept a good six behind him, keeping pace with him as they went.

"S-so your not going to turn me in?" Her voice was still a little shaky as she spoke, "Where are we going then?" She continued to follow him. ~What does he want with me?~ she thought she surfaced the locket around her neck, holding onto it tightly.

"The train station," he'd state. "I'm buying you a ticket outta this place."

There was nothing he could do about her wounds or her condition apart from escorting her from one place to the next.

Her eye's immediately widened, she quickly reached out to grab his arm and stop him, "N-no, please, not there. I can't be somewhere around people for that long, and if i lose control on there..." she shuddered at the thought of all those people with nowhere to go, stuck with her if she lost it, "Please... just help me get to the edge of town, I-i can leave from there and I won't be near anyone."

The skunk would raise an eyebrow. "The nearest town or city is miles away," he'd proclaim. "How many have you fled before?"

Just from the way it attacked and how the mongoose herself was talking about, her condition didn't sound like something she could just outrun.

She let go of him and shamefully turned her gaze away, "I-I've been like this since I was... created... I don't wanna hurt anyone, honest," she held the locket tight in her hands, "I feed off of the energy of others, that's why your hand burned the first time. I come into towns or cities every once in a while to try feeding off of the passive energy people give off..." she kept her gaze at the ground, not looking up at the skunk, "I started losing control and I ran."

After she finished speaking and turned to him, letting herself go back into her liquid form, "Please... just help me get out of town and I'll never come back, I promise," she looked away again, "I'm better off staying away from people and starving to death... then I won't be able hurt anyone again."

"I see. If that's the your plan, I won't interfere," thief told her. "But, should you change your mind-" he'd hand her a scrap of paper, with a phone number scribbled on it. "I'm willing to help you get to the bottom of this."

There was no point to running if all she was hoping at the end of the day was death. Had he known, he would have instead directed her to the sewers and let the last traces of her existence be fought over by rats.