#does anyone else think mine would be a great fish monger

[rnn11203]

Mine + daigo as fishermen (ﾉ･_-)☆

[sometimesiwritetoo]

Blood Money - Chapter 18

Chapters: 18/?

Pairing: Noctis/Prompto/Luna

Rating: M for violence

Warnings: None

Summary: Look closely. In the shadows, there is violence. Prompto was engineered to do one thing, and to do it well. Contract by contract, he shaped a world he could only observe. Touching lives only by ending them.

Check it out over on AO3!

Torture was not something Prompto had much experience in, but he was able to get by just fine in this instance.

Countess Lilah Tretch’s resolve started off strong. She was loyal to her friend, Duchess Ella, and had been taught basic techniques for enduring torture. Not to mention the fact that the longer she held out the more likely someone would realize she was taken when she failed to check in. Despite that she was still only a duchess. There was no way she’d hold out long enough.

One of the most basic torture methods Prompto knew involved tying a double ended metal skewer to her neck with one end right under her chin and the other end on her chest. It was a slow method that kept Lilah from dipping her chin down lest she sent an end through the fleshy underside of her chin or through her chest. He left her with her hands tied behind her chair for several hours while he helped Noctis and Luna clean up the bodies and hunker down for the next few days.

“Wow.” Noctis said as he rooted through the kitchen. “It’s been a while since I’ve had caviar. Can’t believe she had something like that all the way out here.”

Prompto was not surprised. Not only did she have caviar, but she also had different types all staked on top of one another in her cabinets. Next to them were crackers and several bottles of fine wine. He expected Noctis to pull them all out, but he closed the cabinet and moved onto the next.

“People like her cannot be parted from their luxuries.” Luna said. She collected blankets and laid them out in a thick stack on the floor of the living area. Next down were the pillows which she arranged at one end in a thick pile.

“What’s that for?” He asked.

“Sleeping. I’m not sleeping in any of her rooms, I don’t what she’s done in them.”

“This place has ten rooms!”

“And the rich have time to be creative.”

“What makes this space safe?”

“Because I decided it was.” She announced. “Noctis what are you making?”

“Fish egg and champagne cocktails.”

“You can have mine.”

“I’m kidding.” Noctis brought out some quail eggs, steak, and bread. “Breakfast for dinner!”

“Is there anything green in there?”

“No. And don’t look.”

Luna ignored him and found a bag of parsnips among several other fruits and vegetables. “We’ll have these with it.”

“We just stormed this place. We don’t need to eat healthy.”

“We don’t know how long we’ll be here. We have to ration everything.”

She and Noctis were back to “debating”, it was nice. Honestly he was wondering if this was a sign Luna was dealing with the situation better or if she was spiraling, but he didn’t know how he would tell the difference. Noctis clumsily crack the eggs on the side of a pan and dropped them in some hot oil. The yolks cracked and the oil spattered from such a high heat, but they came out edible. The steak got chopped up and Noctis cooked it until it was tough then failed to put any salt on it. Prompto did not say anything as he ate his plate. He’d eaten way worse food.

They finished and Prompto attempted to excuse himself. But Luna invited him to sleep with them under the blankets. He wanted to refuse, but if this kept everyone happy and calm then he could try to deal with it. He left his jacket and shoes on the nearby couch and got under the covers at the edge, expecting immediate silence after their long day. But that didn’t happen.

“Where is the Countess?” Luna asked. “I haven’t seen her.”

“In her room.”

“Locked up?”

“Yep.”

“But we didn’t feed her.”

“I know.”

Luna sighed. “We’re torturing her aren’t we?”

“I’m torturing her. You guys are just eating her food.”

“What did you need us for then?” Noctis asked.

“Aranea didn’t want you around in the city. Thought you guys would be better off out here.”

“So we’re hiding?”

“Yeah.”

“Great.” Noctis rolled over and stuck a pillow over his head to sleep.

“Are you gonna kill her?” Luna asked.

Prompto paused. “Maybe. Probably.”

She paused. “I can’t wait for all of this to be over.”

“Me too.”

Prompto did not sleep well. He hated sharing rooms, and beds moreso. When he was younger and more volatile he’d actually gotten into several midnight fights with a former roommate that the sisters let eventually end with a death. But this wasn’t The Compound, and it made everything go smoothly. He could deal with it for a few days. He wasn’t going to see them after the job was done anyways.

In the morning he checked in with the Countess. She hadn’t been able to wiggle her way loose or knock the pin away. She was sweating after the several hours spent strapped up in her evening dress. A sizable bloodstain had formed on her chest which seeped through the white of her clothes, but she kept her mouth firmly shut when he shut the door and approached.

“Any news on Duchess Ella?” He said casually. “Maybe a location?”

The Countess’ lips did not move.

“Well. I’ll leave you to think about it.”

He left, if it wasn’t the technique then it was the time that got people talking. There was some other things he could do if this didn’t work, and he knew he could always call Vincent, but he doubted it would come to that.

There wasn’t a television or most forms of entertainment in the house, but there was a library. Prompto found Luna and Noctis already inside browsing. Luna found a few Crystal Thrones books and had settled by a window to read them. Noctis still seemed to be looking for something interesting to read in the historical section. He took one of the Crystal Thrones books and settled in.

---

When the monthly payment didn’t come Aranea knew they were in trouble.

While there was some reserve money leftover from previous months there wasn’t nearly enough to bribe or secure resources for the unidentified amount of time they’d need it. She would’ve attempted to get in touch with Noctis, but Noctis wasn’t directly funding them and doing so might reveal their location to others. She’d need to find something else.

“What do we have that we can sell.” She muttered to herself. Both Biggs and Wedge were running through their recorded resources.

“Info on agents for Scarlet, treeline, Seekers of Truth, and A-line.” Biggs said.

“That’s all general information. And neither the Seekers of Truth or A-line are big players right now.”

“Security codes for the entire train line.” Wedge said.

“They’ll be updating those for the celebration.” So they were useless.

“We could do a few favors.” Biggs said.

“I don’t want to put our name out there like that. We’re vulnerable as it is.”

“But we could rent out a few specialized skills. Yuffie’s a decent torturer.”

“No.”

“We could see information Prompto gets from the Countess.” Wedge said.

“We could… But what if we need it. We can’t sell it to anyone who’ll use it against us.”

“We could just… sell her?”

“We could…”

“Brutus will always pay for that kind of information.” Biggs said.

“They’ll lowball us. We should sell to people who’d pay a premium for information.”

Wedge searched through known players. “silence might be best. They have funding from the Emperor’s political rival Jacob Spyre.”

“What’s his position?”

“He’s openly spoken against Aldercapt for at least a decade.” Wedge frowned. “But he’s known for his temper, and there’s no reason to believe that he’d be any less of a war monger.”

“Why does he oppose Aldercapt then?”

“Machismo. Arrogance? Narcissism? All three probably? He doesn’t have any political allies besides his sister who is currently out in the countryside. If we sold this to him it’s unlikely it’ll be all that beneficial. silence doesn’t have the resources to hunt down the Duchesses and keep a presence here.”

“But they could be holding their trump card.” She sighed, there was no easy answer to this. “Reach out to him. We’ll give him her location. If he accepts inform Prompto and he’ll handle the trade.”

“Okay.”

Aranea retreated to a room, to sit down and take a break from the people. Downstairs Cindy and Ignis were feeding Gladio’s gluttony since he was the only person around, who wasn’t Noctis, available to eat everything. Yuffie was sleeping and Claire was similarly troubled in the living room. It was usual stuff. They were a wet works team, working in a hostile environment was normal, but the delicacy of their operation was stressful. She did not envy the handlers who had to organize these large scale operations and juggle ten, twenty, sometimes thirty agents and ensure they had the resources they needed to get the job done.

Whether or not they were successful it would be a relief for the operation to be over and to return to The Organization. She could tell that everyone was feeling it.

An hour after the sunset Wedge came in to inform her that he would meet to exchange payment and information at one in the morning. She mentally began picking and choosing agents. Claire and Yuffie were not in optimal condition, and she’d need more than Cindy, who was not much of a melee combatant, if she wanted to cover her bases.

“Wake up Ignis and Gladio.” She told Wedge. “They’re coming with me.”

She got Cindy, who was up and ready quickly, and they both waited for Gladio and Ignis to come down. The two were clearly reluctant to wake up at such an odd time, but there was not much of a choice in the matter. Shit needed to get done.

“What are we doing?” Ignis asked immediately before they left.

“The prince’s funding has been cut off. We’re trading the Countess’ location for some money.”

“So the capitol noticed that he wasn’t doing what he promised to do.” Ignis sighed, “And now they’ve cut him off.”

“Dammit.” Gladio whined. “When we return I’m resigning.”

“This is all fascinating.” She deadpanned. “Come on.”

The meeting place was in an abandoned building in the red light district. Aranea did tend to enjoy the atmosphere of a typical red light district, but Niflheim’s capital was something else. No cops, but little foot traffic. In times of struggle the red light district always turned into a second battling ground. Meetings to exchange information rather than sex. Workers killed their john’s. John’s purchased information about other clients. A worker killed because they found out too much. And in the morning the bodies would be gone without anyone saying anything.

Silence agents were already at the meeting place when they arrived. Three agents. One man and two women. All armed with knives but no guns. Others potentially hiding outside, but Aranea couldn’t worry about that. Whether they had backup or not would not matter if she made sure everything went smoothly.

“Hello ma’am.” The redheaded woman said. Her face was perfectly neutral as she approached the center of the building. “Do you have the Countess?”

“Not with me.”

“Obviously.”

“Yes, I have her. I will give you the location when I have the money.”

“Our client would like us to confirm several things. Is the Countess harmed?”

“Minor injuries.” Aranea said carefully. Just enough to answer the question. No details.

“Does she know the location of the Duchess’.”

“I don’t know.”

“I see. What reason would you have to obtain her if not for that information?”

“Leverage.”

“Hmp.” The woman reached her hand out behind her. The man, tall and heavy set, placed a briefcase in her hand. “You will be paid in the local currency in the amount agreed upon.”

Aranea took the briefcase and began the labor of checking that it was accurate. She held one up to check the seal through a small stream of light coming through the window. It was authentic so she set it back in it’s case.

“She’s located in the Snowpeak mountains. Five miles north of the train station. My agents are with her.”

Aranea handed the suitcase to Gladio so they could head out. Cindy, who entered the building last, followed protocol and headed towards the door first. Aranea didn’t take two steps before realizing something had gone wrong. When she caught sight of Cindy struggling to open it she knew that they were in trouble.

A knife came sailing from the dark rafters towards Aranea’s chest. She caught it before it connected and immediately threw it back as hard as she could. Gladio dropped the money to summon his sword and Ignis just barely blocked the red headed woman.

There was no way of knowing how many there were and where they would be located. Even if they killed all of the ones in the building there could be others outside. Priorities shifted, get out and warn Prompto. She flanked the red headed woman and jammed a knife in her back. Ignis tossed one of his knives over her head to catch one of the men off guard. He crumpled to the floor as Ignis summoned his weapon back.

“Get the money and go!” She ordered. Cindy grabbed the suitcase of money and threw it through a window. The impact made a hole big enough for her and Ignis to dive through. Gladio charged the door, knocking it off its hinges and knocking out an agent on the other end.

“We have to split up.” She yelled before Gladio could get too far. He followed her and she lead him on a chase through the red light district. Down random alleys then cutting through the business district. They slowed down when they arrived downtown and waited for a bit at a twenty-four hour coffee shop before heading back.

Cindy and Ignis arrived before her both bruised and battered, but successful in bringing the money back safely. They’d already started on counting it and checking random bills to insure their accuracy.

“You two can go to bed if you want.” She said to Ignis and Gladio.

Gladio shrugged, his face looking very tired. “I don’t think I’ll sleep much right now. Did we at least get paid?”

Cindy shook her head. “Half of them are fake. We could go get the rest from them, Biggs was telling me that what was there was likely their entire group and he managed to get their faces by hacking into the cameras on the edge of the district.”

“Are they convincing?”

“Very.” She handed over a bill. “It passes all but one chemical test. We could potentially use it to purchase stuff, but they might have numbers they can track.”

“We’ll use them. Did Biggs call Prompto?”

“Yeah. He’s wrapping things up right now.”

---

“She’s going to be at the New Seasons event alone.” The Countess sobbed. “Th-The emperor didn’t want to risk it. Please let me go.”

“Who else knows she’ll be there?”

“Only Marina.”

Prompto was not entirely satisfied with that answer, but he was running out of time. If he had more resources he could move her to a more secure location and continue from there. But he didn’t have those resources. He took one last look at the Countess’ crumpled form. Her blood stained dress and dark rimmed eyes. She’d been awake for three days sitting in that chair. He’d cut her hamstrings on the second and did an intentionally haphazard job of stitching them back up. Torture always was an uncertain science. The victim could end up so messed up that their confession was meaningless. But there was no way to go back.

He untied her arms. They fell uselessly against her sides. She groaned in pain and relief. He let her have it for a moment before he plunged a knife through her neck.

He left her body in her bedroom and headed out. Noctis and Luna were waiting in the living area, both packed and ready to leave.

“So are we done?” Luna asked.

“Yep. We gotta go now.”

Aranea wired funds for him to purchase a snowmobile rather than risk the train. He drove it halfway there before they switched to the bus for the rest of the way. They were all mostly quiet and contemplative on the way back. There was no time for a real conversation.

Once they were all back at the safehouse Aranea briefed him on what happened while they were away and the new plan. With the event on a few days away they’d secured a brief itinerary of the event.

“Claire and Yuffie are both back on their feet. CIndy and I will just follow to make sure that they stick to the itinerary and they’ll make the kidnapping. I’ve got a cabin near the route set up for them. So you’re on standby until after that.”

That was fine with Prompto. He had a lot to think about.

---

Yuffie’s leg was still sore, but she had to ignore it.

She and Claire had been sitting in the same spot for a week. They watched the Duchess’ small procession traipse through the mountain trail towards the city. Got a feeling for the size and speed at which they moved, then located the return route and set up. Bombs on the mountaintops to induce a slide. Bombs located on the ground to slow the procession. They then camped out and kept their radio on. Aranea told them when the Duchess arrived, when she left, and gave hourly updates on her progress.

“Half a mile out.” She said over the radio. “We’re backing off now.”

Claire sighed. “This is it.”

They split up. Claire took the other half of the road and she snuffed out their fire. They waited and watched as the shielded, black car flanked by two snowmobiles churned through the thick snow. Yuffie thumbed the trigger. Watched them slowly make progress. She only had one shot.

When they passed the marked tree she breathed in, out, then pulled the trigger.

The explosion made the ground rock. The two flanking guards were launched from the bikes with such force that they died upon impact with the ground. Claire jumped from her hiding spot and rushed the car, using the gun on her blade to killed the driver and shoot out the locks. Yuffie ripped a door open and reached inside. Another guard sat between her and the Duchess, and he was already distracted trying to shoot Claire. Yuffie stabbed him through the back of his shooting shoulder and pulled his body out of the car.

Once Claire grabbed the Duchess she hit the second trigger. The explosion on the mountain tops was more a distraction than anything, but the snow rapidly began to fall down towards their position. Claire dragged the Duchess up towards the mountain opposite the explosion and they both just barely made it before the snow partially covered the attack. It was sloppy, but they didn’t have the resources for clean up.

“Let me go!” Duchess Ella screeched. She was panicked and repeatedly tried to tear herself from Claire’s firm grip. Yuffie breezed past the two and began the moderate trek up towards their remote safehouse.

They wouldn’t be safe forever at the location, but it was far from main roads and through a relatively difficult path. Claire jammed a sedative into Ella’s neck and ten minutes later they were making the journey towards the safehouse in complete silence.

Once inside they tied Duchess Ella up and waited until the drug wore off. It was a moderate dose, but it didn’t start wearing off until well past dark. She woke up slowly, until she could properly access what had happened, when her head snapped up and she began to struggle against the bindings.

“Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!” She chanted. “You don’t know what you idiots are doing! They’ll find me!”

Claire let her chant for a bit before silencing her by bashing her head against the wall. The Duchess began to sob instead, squealing and squirming.

“If you cooperate then you’ll be fine.” Claire said. She pulled out the phone Wedge provided. They had about ten minutes on it before they had to hang up and destroy the card inside.

She dialed the number Prompto had found in the Countess’ phonebook. It rang and rang and rang for a good minute before the click and a voice. “Hello?”

Claire put it up to her ear. “Hello Marina. We have your wife,” Marina let out a hitched breath over the phone, “We wanted to set up a meeting to discuss a trade.”

“Don’t do it Marina!” Ella sobbed.

“Shut up!” Claire snapped. “We’d like to meet at the Firelight lake tomorrow at midnight. Alone. Do that and we’ll return her safe and sound.”

“I don’t trust you!” Marina stammered. She sounded close to tears herself. “How do I know you’ll do what you say?”

“I don’t care if you believe. Be there or don’t.” Claire shut the phone off then crushed it under the heel of her boot. “Sit tight. You’ll be here for another twenty-four hours.”

With the threat made they had more waiting to do. Yuffie let Claire rest first and after that they traded off shifts. Duchess Ella continued to whimper and moan, making threats that she couldn’t personally keep. Yuffie shoved a sock in her mouth after an hour and from there they both tried to keep from going insane.

---

Prompto arrived at the Firelight Lake in the morning and spent the day keeping watch of the area. Few people came in and out in that time due to the heavy snowfall. He supposed that in the spring it was a nice place to be. He found torches and several benches circling the lake. Without the six inches of snow it might’ve been a romantic spot to be.

Unfortunately there wouldn’t be any romance that night. By three in the afternoon no one was at the lake. Prompto took several chances to make a lap around and check for hidden weapons or to see if someone had snuck up without him noticing. Thankfully he found nothing in his many scans. By ten he was confident that no one else was there.

Aranea and Cindy arrived at eleven. He gave them a walk around and showed where he’d be hiding then left them to organize and debate while he got into position. The woods that surrounded the lake were empty, and he was able to comfortably  watch as Duchess Marina’s car drove up. It was still for a moment before Marina opened the door and exited. No one else opened the door to follow.

Marina was armed. He could tell that she had a small gun in the lining of her fur coat and a knife in her boot. But he could also tell that she was too nervous to use them. It was placed incorrectly, creating a lump under her coat, and she kept patting at it nervously. Prompto didn’t bother to warn either Cindy or Aranea as he followed Marina up the path towards the meeting place.

His job was to more keep watched rather than listen in. If the deal went south they could handle it as long as there weren’t any surprises waiting for them on the outside.

His patrolling took him far from them where he couldn’t hear before circling back. When he got closer he could hear Marina’s urgency. Her almost wish for a fight, while Aranea was calm and didn’t give her anything to latch onto. Cold and businesslike. Debate the terms and keep responses brief. So while Marina dug for a reason to call it off and alert the emperor Aranea calmly answered questions with as little information as necessary.

Prompto headed back out again. It sounded like they would wrap things up quickly, but he didn’t want to rule out someone taking the chance to sneak up and interrupt right before the deal was confirmed.

The phone in his pocket rang. He panicked a bit as he fished it out, Yuffie and Claire were on radio silence unless there was an emergency, it clicked and the call connected.

“Ella’s dead.” Claire said. Her voice sounded almost painfully strained as she spoke. “We got jumped an hour ago and they killed her.”

“Who?”

“Couldn’t find out. We have suspicions. We’re going to regroup back in the city and discuss it.”

Claire hung up. Prompto chose to wait until the deal was settled and Marina left before he approached Aranea and Cindy. It looked like the deal itself had been settled, but it wasn’t fulfillable without a Duchess to trade.

“Ella’s dead.” He announced. “Claire called just ten minutes ago.”

Aranea closed her eyes and pinched at the bridge of her nose.

“Oh god damn it!” Cindy complained. She rested her forehead against a tree and let out a long whine.

“Where are Claire and Yuffie now?”

“Heading back to the safehouse.”

“Fuck. Let’s go. Sort this shit out.”

They all hurried back to the safehouse to regroup. Claire and Yuffie arrived with new injuries, Yuffie had a long cut down an arm and Claire had a giant bruise on her stomach. They got patched up by Cindy while they debriefed.

“There was about five of them. One took the Duchess’ head and after we killed three of them the last two immediately left.” Yuffie said.

“Sounds like they need proof she’s dead.”

“Probably. I was thinking it might’ve been the emperor himself.”

“I was too. He’s the only one who would benefit from it. Keeps Marina from talking. But were you tagged? How did they find you?”

“He has the resources to scout an area like that.” Wedge interrupted. “I don’t think we were tracked, I think he just has the money and manpower and search a mountain range for three people.”

“Then why didn’t he have them killed?” Aranea asked.

“Cause he can’t afford to lose more people? All he needed was the head, and with that he can lie to Marina to say that we’d already have killed her and that we didn’t hold up our end of the deal. He cuts off the most viable means of finding us by killing the one thing that would get Marina to talk. And therefore our only means of finding where he is. They didn’t need to kill Claire and Yuffie, and if they stuck around to try they might’ve all died. Especially since they both killed over half of their agents already.”

“Dammit.” Aranea was silent as she contemplated that information. “He has to come out eventually. He has to have projects that people are working on. He’s at war after all… Alright. We’re going to all split up and track down advisors and manufacturers. He’ll come out eventually to talk to them and when he does we’ll get him then.”