THE DEAD ZONE ~ Marhinki

.02

Mari found his house quite easily, and she couldn't help but wonder what this man did for someone to pay 7 grand for his death. She knelt and picked the lock, checking every so often in the blinking red light on her wrist. 

She entered the room and to her surprise, the man she was assigned to kill was just standing there, as if he were waiting for her.

"I wondered how long it would take for you to come," He said, he sounded almost sad. "Who sent you? Hecox?" He glanced down at her wrist. "I see, it was Padilla then." Mari was taken aback.

"How did you know...?" She questioned. But he only shrugged. 

"I had two options, I would become one of you, or be slaughtered. I suppose it has come to the second." 

"But why...?" She asked, unable to believe the conversation she was having with the man before her. 

"The why's don't matter anymore. Where would you like me to stand? I hope we can get this over quickly. You only have a small amount of time."

"Stand?" Mari echoed. The man frowned. 

"Yes, stand. You've come to kill me and I would like for you to get it over with, I don't want to make you outstay your time." 

"Why are you so worried about me, when it is your death that is about to take place?" The man didn't respond, suddenly becoming very interesting in the floor. Just when it looked like he was about to speak, the door smashed in, and armed men raced into the room. 

"Matthew Sohinki!" One yelled, each of the pointing a gun at the man standing in front of her. "You are under arrest for the murder of the prince!" Matthew, just raised his eyebrows, while the armed man turned to Mari. His eyes locked onto her wrist. "And tampering with government property!" The men quickly restrained Matthew, using cuffs to keep his hands behind his back. The leader, the one who had spoken, grabbed Mari by the wrist. 

"It's just like you isn't it, having relations with the likes of them," The leader hissed, shoving Mari's wrist at his face. He then spat at Matthew, and glared at him like was something vile. 

"Release me," Mari hissed. 

"You are an Arcane," The man hissed. "You have no rights, you aren't even seen as human."

"Remove your hand or I will rip your arm off and beat you to death with it," Mari threatened.

"Release her, Hecox," Matthew said quietly. "There is no need for things to get messier than it already is." Hecox just rolled his eyes, but did release her wrist. He then strode over to Matthew and snapped something onto his wrist. It was blinking red, and identical to what was clasped onto Mari's wrist. 

"I hope they tear you apart." Hecox hissed.

"I'm sure they will," Matthew responded smoothly. "At least one of us will get a happy ending."

~*~

They both were sitting a van, chains connecting them by wrist and ankle. The man called Hecox, was sitting across from them, glaring at Matthew, who didn't seem very bothered. In fact, it was only when Mari's light flickered green, that any one them moved. 

"Shit," Hecox said, and felt around blindly for him gun, keeping his eyes locked on the two of them. He found it, and stood, pulling the keys away from his belt. He pressed the gun to Matthew's head, all whilst unlocking his chains. "Fix her," He snapped, pressing the gun firmly into the smaller man's temple.

"Right," Was all Matthew said, and he knelt down, gently puling Mari's wrist towards him. He examined it for a moment, but Hecox seemed to think he was doing nothing, so he jabbed the gun into Matthew's head.

"Fix her, or you both die," He barked. Matthew didn't answer him, in fact he barely seemed bothered by the threats the other man was imposing. Instead, he simply reached down into his shoe, slipping a needle from the sole, and inserting it to a hole that Mari had never noticed on her wrist before. A screen popped open, reveling wiring tangled all up inside.

"It would be so much easier if you had a key card," Matthew said, glancing back at Hecox. "But you're too proud, so I'll do this the hard way." He sighed, and reached the needle into the mess of wring. He silently tinkered around in there, until her wrist emitted a soft click, and a needle was inserted into her skin. But he didn't stop there, he continued to mess until the light on her wrist was back to red, meaning it was disabled. 

Hecox immediately snatched the needle from Matthew, and roughly connected the chains back onto him. Only once Matthew was secured, did he remove his gun from the man's temple. Then Hecox, examined the sole's of Matthew's shoes, removing two more of the needles that he had used to fix Mari's wrist.

"If her's doesn't activate the second you step into the Dead Zone," Hecox warned. "I'll have you both killed." 

"It will,"Matthew said quietly. "I haven't figured out a way to disable them completely." Hecox scoffed. 

"And you never will. They'll kill you in there, and I will finally be happy." Matthew rolled his eyes.

"At least my death will bring someone's happiness." And the three of them lasted into silence. Until Hecox fell asleep and released obnoxious snores. 

"I didn't kill the prince," Matthew said. "I don't know if that changes anything you thought of me, but I didn't kill him." Mari just raised an eyebrow at the man sitting next to her. He sighed at her questioning look. "I made the keycards and sold them to the government, because they asked me for them, and you don't say no to the king. However, they were afraid I'd make more, and I did, so they sent people to get rid of me. The government pinned the murder of the prince on me so that the public would have a reason to hate me." He sighed again. "Anyways, that's all I had to say." 

He turned away from her, leaving her completely alone to her thoughts. It was almost refreshing to hear he wasn't a murderer, and for some reason, she didn't want him dead. Maybe it was the fact he saved her life, or was extremely attractive, but she felt like she couldn't let the Arcanes rip him apart. And in that split second, she decided that Matthew Sohinki was going to be a great addition to this team, they could use some brains. And if her group opposed? Murder was always an option.