To be honest, Mercy wasn’t entirely sure why she invited him over. Like him, she was only good at short relationships, nothing more, and she rarely had ever invited anyone to her home. What was she supposed to do in a situation like this? Just sit there awkwardly until someone said something.
“Wow, what a great conversation starter you are. But yeah, I suppose it’s pretty nice.” She sat down on the sofa, settling down next to him. “I just moved here a few months ago.
from Washington state. It looked pretty rough when I got here, but… I think it’s improved.”
Mercy stole a glance around her home as she relaxed against him. It wasn’t anything like her last apartment, the one she shared with her ex. Maybe it was better that way, though. It made it easier to forget the things she didn’t want to remember.
With a sigh, Mercy reached for her cup. Gosh, she needed a drink.
Magnus snorted at her first comment. Yeah, he knew his conversational skills were lacking. This was what happened when you only spent one night with most people you came across. So she wasn't from around here, huh? That was probably good. It meant she wouldn't have seen all of the kills that Magnus had committed, but she had certainly seen a couple. Kills that were still unsolved, he was sure. Unless she had invited him here to tell him she knew, though he highly doubted that. Had to stay alert, though.
"So you're from Washington?" he asked, trying to ease the conversation along. "What's it like there?" Magnus had moved around a bit, sure, but it was much easier to be an assassin when one had a stable base of operations. Most of his moves had been because someone had figured out where that was and was plotting to kill him in revenge. However, he'd gotten a lot better at hiding since then. Magnus was nothing if not a fast learner. One had to be if you didn't want to end up dying in his profession. If it could be called that.
She gave a simple shrug as she stared down at her hands. She hated talking about this subject. “Washington was fine, I suppose. It was a pretty state.”
Mercy was originally from California, but she had moved to to Washington with her husband after they got married. However, things quickly took a sharp turn downhill, so her life in Washington wasn’t one she liked to remember.
“I lived there with my ex. But he- he wasn’t the greatest…” She looked away, twisting one of her blonde locks around her index finger. “But we had a nice apartment. It was a decent size, too.”
Of course Magnus had stumbled upon a difficult subject by accident. He really did need to work on his conversational skills outside of one night encounters. But to do that, he would actually have to spend time with people outside of those one night encounters. Pass.
Still, he felt awkward for bringing it up. So he tried to keep the conversation moving. "Your current place is pretty cool, though. Don't know what your last place was like, but this one could definitely be the better one. My place is pretty much a pigsty if I'm honest. So I think you're winning as far as living situations go."
“I suppose. It’s a little hard to get used to living all alone, but it’s something you get used to…”
Mercy let out a sigh, looking down at the rings on her fingers. This was a good example of why most of her relationships were short. She always a fun personality when people first met her; she was flirty and optimistic. But, as people began to hang around her more often, it wasn’t long before they discovered that that was all a facade, a mask put on to hide reality. But she wasn’t here simply to talk and flirt with him. She needed to speak to him about a certain topic, but she needed to do it in a way that wouldn’t scare him off.
She scooted close to him, looping her arm through his. “Magnus, you know what’s funny?” she said. “That time at the coffee shop wasn’t the first time that I’ve seen you near a crime scene.”
Fuck. That was definitely bad. See, he knew there had to be some ulterior motive for her asking him to come over. He should have just said no like his gut had been telling him to. What an idiot he was. Ah, well. Now was the time to throw the suspicion off of himself.
"Really? That is kinda funny," he responded, raising an eyebrow. "That's just my luck, honestly." Please let her believe that. He was a good actor, and cool under pressure, but she was also a cop. Mercy might have experience searching someone for their tells. Magnus knew he had one, but it was subtle that most people didn't notice. He wasn't close enough with anyone for them to notice. Was this why Mercy had spoken to him at the bar that night in the first place? He was never spending a second night with someone again after this.
Magnus was so stupid. Had he been thinking straight earlier, declining her offer would have been easy. He was too curious for his own good sometimes, and now it was coming to bite him in the ass.
Mercy felt his demeanor immediately change, and she noticed how he tensed up. She knew there was more to this story, and she wasn’t going to leave until she found it what it was. Maybe she should bring out the alcohol. People always tend to speak their thoughts more openly when they’re under the influence. Sure, there was no guarantee that what he said while drunk was true, but she already knew he had some connection with these murders. Any statement he made about it would only back up her suspicions.
“Well, I’ll be looking forward to seeing you at the next crime scene I go to,” she teased. She acted she was brushing the whole conversation off, but in reality, she was just getting started. “Oh, and I got something before I came home.”
Mercy stood up, leaving his side for a moment to go to the kitchen and retrieve the alcohol bottles. While she was there, she got two plastic cups, but she made sure to fill one with water before heading back to the living room. She handed him the other and poured the alcohol into it.
She sat back down on the couch next to him. “I know going to someone’s house like this can be a bit awkward, so I got something to make it better.”
Hm. He hadn't seen her pour herself any alcohol, but he figured whatever he said about that might be suspicious. Considering she was pouring straight out the bottle, it was very unlikely she was trying to poison him, but she clearly was trying to get him drunk, and he doubted it was actually to get used being in a new place. He would be awkward either way, and knew that from limited experience. Besides, he wasn't a lightweight, so it would take a while to actually get him drunk. One or two drinks wouldn't matter much for him.
Still, despite her ending that topic of conversation, Magnus suspected it was indeed far from over. She was a cop; there was no way she'd just drop it after that, even if she had bought his lie. Investigating this shit was her job. But for now, he would play along. If she thought he didn't suspect anything, maybe he could fool her into thinking that he was innocent after all, or the least had much less to do with the murders than he actually did. This was going to be a long night.
"Thanks," he responded, taking the cup. He held it out, waiting for her to do the same to clink the cups together. "Cheers."
“Cheers.” She clinked their cups together before she took a sip. “I’m still recovering from a hangover, but here we are. How am I not an alcoholic?”
To be honest, though it was painfully hard to admit, she kind of was one. It was difficult,
— if not impossible— to get through a day without alcohol, and she relied on it to help her through everything.
Throughout the night, the two continued talking, and eventually, it became easier and easier to communicate. She had to admit, while she did have some major suspicions, Magnus was nice to be around, and he never failed to intrigue her. However, even though she liked being around him, that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to bring up the topic she had been waiting to discuss with him. That was the whole reason he was here, after all, but she needed to make him comfortable with her first.
The two were up late into the night, which was fine for Mercy because she didn’t have work the next day. Eventually, she turned to him, a gleam in her bright blue eyes. “Wanna do something fun?”
While Magnus was used to being suspicious of every little move everyone made, especially cops, the company and alcohol slowly made him drop his guard a little. He wasn't about to spill his life story or anything, and he was still alert–though maybe a little bit buzzed–so it wasn't as if he would just give up his secrets. He still held onto his suspicion in the back of his mind, but now that the topic had been changed and they had talked for a while, it wasn't the only thing he was thinking about anymore.
At her question, Magnus raised an eyebrow. What did she have in mind? He had no clue what she might be thinking, considering most of his "something fun" was either taking a vacation or getting hammered, and if it was either of those, it would be the second. But he wasn't letting himself get too drunk tonight. Not alone, not with a cop. He might as well see what she meant.
"That depends, what do you consider fun?" he asked with a smirk, curious.
“Hmmm… I dunno.” She paused for a moment, returning his smirk. “We should play a game, love. Truth or dare?”
She knew she was unlikely to get anything out of him with a silly game like this, but it was an opportunity to probe him for more answers. He definitely knew what she was up to— she had no doubt about that— but if she wanted him to tell what he knew, she was going to have to push him harder.
Mercy lifted her glass to her lips. “And don’t chicken out on me, alright? It’ll be fun.”
Well, this was a very middle school idea. However, it had been a long time since Magnus had played truth or dare, probably not since high school. Man, he had been a different person back then. For one, he had hope. But he was also much more gullible than current Magnus. However, he knew his limits. If the game got out of hand, he always had the option of leaving. Besides, he doubted Mercy was dumb enough to use it to straight up ask him if he had committed the murders. Fine, why not play?
He snorted. "Are we in middle school?" he asked, taking a sip as well. "It's a bit juvenile, but what the hell, I'll play." This would probably be stupid, but he was fine with stupid. He would just have to make sure that she didn't try any dirty tricks. Luckily, Magnus was sober enough to anticipate that this game might not just be light-hearted fun. It would take a lot more alcohol to actually get him drunk. Buzzed was good, though, it kept his mannerisms loose enough while keeping his mind mostly sharp. He was confident that he could come out of this alright.
Mercy didn’t know how to go about this. She could straight up ask him about the crimes, but that would be much too straightforward on her part. Plus, this wasn’t an official interrogation, so it wasn’t likely that she would get him to ever speak to her again. She could try and encourage him to get more drunk, but that wouldn’t work… would it?
“Pssh, middle school or not, we’re still doing it.” She playfully nudged him. “Since you think it’s so dumb, you get to start.”
He rolled his eyes, giving her a slightly annoyed look but starting nonetheless. Magnus cleared his throat dramatically, partially for fun and partially to give him a moment to think before asking the question. "Alright then, truth or dare?" he asked, putting his chin in his hand.
This was probably not going to be that exciting, since most of the dares he had done due to this game were about licking someone's shoe or kissing someone. But then again, he hadn't played this game in years. He wasn't sure what he could possibly ask a grown adult to do if dared, but thought about it as he waited for an answer. As for truth, Magnus didn't usually care for the details of other peoples' lives, but he would have to think of something appropriately juicy without being too rude to ask. This was going to be difficult.
Mercy turned herself so she was facing him and sat back against the arm of the sofa. She noticed the annoyed look he was giving her, so she smirked back at him. This was going to be interesting.
“Hm… dare.”
She figured he would ask her to do something stupid like most people do when they’re playing this game, but it didn’t matter. This game simply served as a gateway to ask him more questions surrounding the crime scenes, nothing more. She would just have to figure out how to do it without looking suspicious.
Magnus tried to think back to the dares he had done in high school because of this game, and whether any of them could possibly apply right now. Most of them were stupid, childish ideas that would just be awkward if he used them now, but perhaps there was something that he could use? Maybe she could do something embarrassing? But what was embarrassing? Jeez, this was harder than he thought.
"Okay…" he began, stalling for time as he thought. "I dare you to drink a smoothie made out of the first three things I see in your fridge." Yeah, still pretty high school, but at least it wasn't 'lick your shoe' or 'kiss the hottest person in the room.' Magnus could have done worse.
“Ew, Magnus, really?” She laughed softly and stood up. “Well, I guess it could always be worse.”
With a roll of her eyes, she got up and left for the kitchen. Soon, she came back with a brown smoothie in her hand. She chugged it down and, while she did gag many, many times, she managed to keep her dinner down as she finished up the smoothie.
Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she glanced over at him. “Alright, love, truth or dare?”
This game went on for a little while as they dared each other to do anything that came to mind and kept all their truths surface-level questions. Mercy did dare him chug a bottle of alcohol once, in hopes of getting him more drunk, but she knew she would eventually have to bring up the murders again.
“So, Magnus.” She leaned back against the sofa, messing with the rings on her fingers.
“Why exactly did you come up to me that night in the bar?”
She knew he had told her that it was simply because he found her interesting, but part of Mercy struggled to believe that. She had strong suspicions that he was a criminal, and part of her also believed that he was an expert strategist. Was there some altering motive behind him approaching her?
Magnus blinked, a bit taken off guard by the question. Sure, it wasn't too surprising, given that they were playing truth or dare, but it was a bit different from the other silly questions they had been asking until now. Not only that, but he could have sworn that Mercy's gaze intensified after asking it. Was she hunting for a compliment? No, she wasn't the type. Perhaps she was trying to figure out his true intentions. Some women really seemed to want to vet him out before he could so much as have a real conversation with them (which, fair), and maybe that's what Mercy was trying to do? Somehow, though, he suspected she had an ulterior motive. And for once, he wasn't just acting on his natural suspicions of everyone, but a very specific suspicion based on her earlier comment and weird energy tonight. He didn't like it.
He raised his eyebrows. "Well, you were staring at me," he said with a chuckle. "And you're pretty, so I wanted to see what that was about. Plus, you're more interesting than a lot of the people I usually end up spending time with." And that was basically it. Originally, he'd had no way to know if she were a cop, or else he likely would have avoided her instead of getting himself tangled up in this. But then again, he never did seem to do things in his best interest.
A sudden thought occurred to him. Had she watched him out of suspicion? He had just assumed it was because she was into him, but had she had her sights set on him from the very beginning? Was she just trying to get him to confess to his crimes? He may be on the edge between tipsy and a little drunk, but he could think clearly enough to gather that. If anything, the alcohol was making him more paranoid. Thankfully, he had enough self-control to hold these thoughts inside of him, but his motions had slowly gotten less controlled, including his facial expressions. He tried to reign himself in. No, he would give away anything. He had practiced to make sure that even drunk, he could hold his own and act mostly normal, just in case something came up during a night of drinking. He was about at his self-imposed limit too. If he drank much more, he would cross over into being properly drunk, and he would not let that happen.
Hm. Well, he seemed to be telling the truth. Maybe he didn’t have an ulterior motive. After all, she had been keeping tabs on this man for months, and he always seemed to have some sort of strategy for everything. She would’ve figured that he had a reason for meeting her, but it seemed like she was wrong. He only approached her because she was pretty and interesting which, she had to admit, was a bit flattering. But she couldn’t think about that now. She had to stick to the task at hand.
“Aww, you thought I was pretty? Well, I gotta admit, I thought you looked somewhat handsome.” She smiled and winked at him, taking another sip of her drink. “Truth or dare.”
She settled back in the couch, watching him for a few moments. She didn’t think she would ever get him to spill any of his secrets, but he was starting to look a bit more drunk. Maybe she just had to push harder.
Magnus had stopped taking sips of his drink several minutes ago, recognizing his limits and avoiding going overboard. He was starting to think that Mercy was trying to get him drunk, with her daring him to chug more alcohol and seeming pleased when he drank more. It was a bit suspicious, perhaps creepy, even. Still, if he dwelt on that too long his suspicion would obvious, and then neither of them would get anywhere. No, he wanted to hide his suspicions of her, because if he were a normal civilian, he'd have nothing to worry about. So he did his level best to get into that headspace.
Her comment did flatter him, though, if he were honest. He was loathe to admit it, but flattery did work on him. It always had. He couldn't help but preen if an attractive person took an interest in him. He pushed that aside for now, though. He had to focus. Had to act like a normal person here. He didn't want to choose dare in case she tried to make him consume more alcohol, because he was done with that for the night. Which only left him truth. Great. At least he was an amazing liar. He didn't think he would get this far in the assassin world unless he was cool under pressure. Those who weren't usually ended up six feet under.
"Truth," he said, breathing out a sigh. This game was beginning to stretch on. "Do you mind if I get some water real quick?"
Mercy messed with the rings on her fingers, getting the slightest bit anxious. She was running out of time, and she was sure Magnus thought she was being incredibly suspicious. He would probably never contact her again, and while she did have enough information against him to have him arrested, she didn’t want that. She needed his help. She decided it time to simply get straight to the question, no more funny business. After all, she wasn’t here to accuse him of murder, but to ask him for his assistance.
“Yeah, yeah. Sure. But wait just one second.”
She leaned over and picked a set of files off of her table, shuffling through them. “Okay, I’m done with all these games. Look, I know your suspicious of me, but I’m not here to interrogate or arrest you. I need your help.” She dropped on of the files in front of him, revealing a symbol on the front. “Recognize this gang symbol from anywhere?”
Magnus stared at her. What was she playing at? Surely this was some sort of test. If he said no, he would be lying and therefore more suspicious. If he said yes, wouldn't that seem a bit suspicious for someone who was just a "normal person?" Why did she need his help? Couldn't she just get any lowlife and ask them the same questions? What did he know that she cared about? Or, more accurately, what did she know that he knew that she cared about? It was confusing, the situation being flipped on its head like this.
He supposed he didn't have much choice here, since she clearly knew more than she was saying, and he didn't want to have to pretend that he didn't at least have some idea why she was suspicious of him. Maybe this really was a sort of olive branch? Or maybe it was a trap. Either way, Magnus would have to be careful here. Still, he figured his best bet was to tell the truth, and she asked him how he knew, he could make something up. He was a gifted liar, and great at making shit up, the second part of that especially good when he was a little drunk. His lying skills, not as much.
"Yeah," he answered, giving a short nod. "I've seen it before." Good, keep it vague. He could work with this. Probably.
She raised an eyebrow, searching his face for a moment. How curious. It wasn’t often that one her suspects told the truth. She knew he had been involved with the gang somehow; after all, she had been tracking him for months. But to what extent, she didn’t know. Some of the things he had stated in interactions even led her to believe that he might not have the best feelings towards the gang. That’s exactly why she was there, talking to him today. If he was enemies with this gang like she thought he was, she could possibly convince him to help her take them down. She needed him with his insight into the criminal world, and he needed her for her police background and tracking down infamous criminals. It could work.
“What do you know about the gang this symbol belongs to?” she asked.
She needed to keep the questioning calm. She wasn’t accusing of anything or even bringing up the murder, she simply wanted to know his feelings about the gang. Once she deciphered them, she could decide on her route from there.
Jesus, was she trying to get him to implicate himself? Not that he had any love for that particular gang, or really, gangs in general, but it was weird that she had suddenly started asking him these questions. Then again, she'd made that comment about his appearances at multiple crime scenes earlier, so it was possible this was what she had wanted from the beginning. Maybe the real reason she didn't outright accuse him of anything or arrest him was because she wanted him to answer her questions about the gang. But why was she so interested in them? Was she really sincere about needing his help with this?
"Why are you so interested in this gang?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "There are plenty of gangs in the city, so why ask me about this one in particular? You don't think that I'm in some sort of cahoots with them, do you? Because let me tell you, they've done some pretty fucked up stuff." This coming from an assassin might be the pot calling the kettle black, but still. At least Magnus had only taken out the people he was asked to, people who were largely not good people in the first place. This gang had gone after completely innocent people, and while Magnus was hardly the morality police, some of the ways that the gang killed people were downright brutal. Not to mention there were rumors they used torture to get people to talk. Magnus may be an assassin, but he was never cruel with it. He tried to kill his marks as quickly and cleanly as possible. Anything else was ensuring suffering.
“No, Magnus, I don’t think you’re in cahoots with them. In fact, I think the opposite,” she answered. “And as for me, I’m interested in this gang because I’ve heard things. Rumors of what they’re planning on doing. The gang grows in numbers every day, and every day, more and more people are killed by them. Hundred, Magnus. Hundreds. And the government is too afraid to hold any of them accountable. That’s why I need you.”
She hesitated, wondering exactly how much of this information she should be sharing with Magnus. He was a criminal, after all, and he could easily go and share this with his criminal friends. But something about him made her doubt that he would do that. Besides, this was her last chance to convince him to be on her side.
“I know about your criminal history. I know about the things you’ve done, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because you, unlike thousands of others criminals, hate this gang, and if I’m not wrong, you want to take them down. I could help you. We could the perfect team. You, with your knowledge on criminal activity, gangs, and whatnot, and me, with my police experience. I know how to track people down. We could get rid of this game, Magnus, or at least put a halt to what they’re planning,” she said. “Now, if you hate this idea, okay. We can go on with our night, talking and laughing like nothing ever happened. I’m fine with that. But I want you to think about what I said. Think about all the people who have been brutally murdered because of this gang.”
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