It’s been more than a week since Michelle came to Oak and according to her, things moved in a snail place at the god forsaken town. But finally, the fight between the Martello and Tessio crime families had gained some friction. Michelle heard that, during one of the meetings the Martellos have managed to kidnap one of the Tessio men without giving themselves away. Obviously, they were the prime suspects; so, Martin and Remy did not wish to get involved directly. Instead, it was Michelle’s job to interrogate the kidnapped man for information.

Michelle was trained to be an assassin; she had no experience interrogating. Despite that, she jumped at the opportunity to push things forward. She did not wish to stay in Oak town forever, stuck as the ball in the tennis these two families were playing. The sooner she got rid of Vincenze and established Martin as the crime lord of Oak town, the sooner she could head back to base.

As instructed, Michelle waited near the main market street to meet with one of Martello’s men. Almost ten minutes past the designated time, the man finally arrived, and the two began walking towards the secluded building where the captive was held. “Wear the balaclava and do not mention the Martello name. Got it?” the man instructed, handing her the mask. “I’m no amateur. I know what I’m doing,” Michelle snapped, snatching the balaclava from the man and wearing it before entering the building.

Knowing the kind of job she was going to be doing that day, she also changed her attire accordingly. She wore a long loose robe to cover her from neck to toe, to ensure the man cannot identify her body type. She also wore really high heels to give a false sense of height. Finally, using the balaclava the Tessio man gave her, she covered her hair and most of her face too. The only thing the captive can identify was that, she was a girl with golden eyes. Michelle believed that was not specific enough to track her down.

The minute she entered the room, the captive began yelling. “Do you know who I am?! You will regret this. My boss is gonna make you pay,” he screamed. Michelle hated loud mouths like him. Given her way, she would have loved to simply snap his neck and be done with it. However, she knew that would accomplish nothing. “Keep it down and maybe you will leave here in one piece. Otherwise, I’ll send you piece by piece to your boss,” she said calmly. Hearing her, the man gulped and quieted down immediately. “I know what you want. But there is no way I’m gonna tell you that information,” he said, trying to be tough, but the crackle in his voice giving away his fear.

“I’m not big on playing nice,” she said, before punching him hard in the gut. The man did not expect her to get violent so quickly, and was completely taking by surprise. The punch knocked the wind out of him, and he gagged for breath. When he finally recovered, he managed to mutter something non-committal, only to be punched in the same spot again.

535/1000

It took Michelle a couple of hours of extreme patience, but she finally cracked the man. When he finally agreed to tell her what she wanted to hear, he had more bruises than parts in his body and was coughing up blood. Finally, he gave up when the assassin threatened to knock out his teeth, one by one. “Okay okay… I’ll tell you… Just stop,” he breathed. “Good! Finally,” Michelle said, with relief obvious in her voice. “It’s not like I have fun pounding a tied-up man, you know,” she said, sitting back. “All I know is that there is going to be a lot of cash being moved next week,” he said, giving her the half-truth and hoping that she would let him go. “Oh come on! You gave me false hopes here. That’s mean. You shouldn’t be mean to a lady,” she said menacingly, before knocking his two front teeth by kneeing him in the mouth. “UGH!” he screamed. “We already know that you will be moving money. Next week is not specific enough and we know you know the route they will be taking. So, don’t play dumb and give me the details now,” she said, kneeing him in the gut this time.

Realizing he had no way out of this, the captive finally caved and began to spill all the information he had. “Alright… Okay! The start point is the cash house near Castle Phantasm,” he started, but quickly went into a bout of coughing. Michelle wondered if he was stalling and was beginning to lose patience. But from the amount of blood the man was coughing up, she couldn’t suspect him of foul play anymore. She waited for him to recover and continue. “From there, we will be going through the south main road towards the Swineherd pub, where the money will be stashed until further instructions,” he finished. “Okay! But with that much money, there will be lot of men protecting it. How do you plan on moving through the streets without raising an alarm among the Knights?” she wondered out loud. “We will have a bunch of men cause some ruckus near the Majura gallery during the transport period. And while the Knights are busy handling them, we will move the money without any resistance. Or that’s the plan, at least,” he said, before beginning to cough again.

Michelle smirked at him, but there was no way he could see that through the mask she was wearing. She stood up and raised her hand over his head. Assuming that she was about to hit him again, the man began pleading. “That’s all I know. I swear… Please! Stop,” he begged. The assassin simply put her hand on his head and ruffled his hair, causing him to flinch. “Good boy,” she muttered, before leaving the room. Once outside, she removed the balaclava and gave the information she collected to the Martello man waiting outside. “Good job,” he said, before giving her the usual meagre amount of Jewels they always gave her. She weighed the reward bag on her hand and rolled her eyes. This means I have to do more work to pay the rent. She was in half a mood to request more, but before she could even utter a word, her employer spoke. “If you have a problem with your payment, take it up to the boss. I’m just the middle-man here,” he said. He tried to sound strict and badass, but the crack in his voice gave his fear away. Maybe it was because he could hear the captive scream while she was inside.

Michelle didn’t dare create a scene over her payment. After all, that was not why she was doing this. So, she just nodded and left.

1163/1000
-Exit-