"... How about an alliance between the two of us?"
Cleopatra had just asked something major right out of the blue! And although Gerald and Ann's answers were also instant, they weren't quite in sync:
"Yes!" "What?"
Naturally, the first one had to be Gerald and the second Ann... After all, leave it to the gem of the Deathlands to sway the decisions of men...
-Stomp!-
"Ow- Hey! That hurts!"
Naturally, getting swayed by beauty was one thing, the repercussions... Were another. And Gerald's reckoning had come remarkably quick: in the form a hard foot grind by Ann, who is rightfully mad at both the pretty girl and the blind man who couldn't see real beauty!
Anyways, after soothing Ann, they both turned their attention to a nonplussed Cleopatra, as if she had expected their reactions, and had subsequently gotten used to it. But while Cleopatra thought nothing of it, Ann couldn't hide her embarrassment and could only try to move along as fast as possible.
"*Cough* So... why should we ally, and for that matter, have anything to do with you? There's no way we can confirm you're trustworthy, after all-"
But before she could drone on about how Cleopatra wasn't even remotely worthy of her and Gerald's trust, the subject of her rants interrupted:
"While I would love to listen about your reasons, we, unfortunately, cannot- No, do not have the leeway to properly talk about it here, let us go somewhere more private, Hmm?"
After a slight pause, she glances at the door behind the group, before cautiously speaking again:
"After all... The walls have ears,"
***
Outside the room where Ann and Cleopatra were talking, a woman stood behind the door.
"...The walls have ears,"
Eyes widening, the woman quickly jumped away from the door, like a cat being surprised by a cucumber. Suddenly, like a chameleon, she turned invisible.
Seconds pass, then minutes, but just as she was about to go back to eavesdrop, the door suddenly burst open, and Ann suddenly ran out, her eyes wet with tears...
After she ran past the invisible woman, another person came storming after her. Naturally, if your girlfriend ran away crying, would you run after her? Of course, and that's what Gerald did. Running after her, he shouted:
"Ann! Come back! Let's talk to them-"
"No! They're so mean, I can't take it anymore!"
But she just cried out tearfully, her voice mixed in with sobs and sniffles.
Cautious, the woman stayed hidden, waiting to see if the other people in the room would follow. And she was right:
-Step! Step! Step!-
She could hear slow, calm footsteps from the door. Turning her head, she could see a hunky figure, his chiselled chin and clean face made her heartbeat. Furthermore, his rimless rectangle glasses made him both smart and elegant.
He was, of course, Isaiah, and although his hot demeanour left the woman drooling at the mouth. It no doubt relieved her to no end when she saw him not turn his head in her direction and just walked in the same direction as Gerald and Ann.
But her relief didn't last long, after all, the next person who walked out of the door was someone she didn't want to see at all.
"...Arachne, It's such a surprise to see you here... Bitch,"
The person who walked out was Cleopatra, but she wasn't alone: following her was Naturally the only other person in the room... Jesus Christ.
Although Cleopatra had just insulted her, Arachne, the mysterious woman, had no time to quip.
"Arachne... It seems your new friends were more important than your former masters... How disappointing,"
At first, Arachne was more inclined to stay silent. After all, one wrong slip and the whole operation would be a complete disaster.
But when she heard what Jesus had just said, she could stay silent no longer. And as if he had just touched her reverse scale, she began shouting in furious wrath:
"You old fucking geezer! How dare you say that! I was not a pet for you to own, nor that dead fuck's lab rat!"
Suddenly, Jesus also became volatile and he started talking back:
"How dare you insult Orion!! You should be thanking him for even turning your inferior body into something like our's!"
Their verbal volleys continued for a while. Until Cleopatra cut in:
"Shut it both of you... Arachne; I don't care if you have some bad blood with the old man or grandpa Orion. But you've made a mistake spying on the dealings of us... Ouroboros won't save you now,"
Hearing her veer back to the topics of her eavesdropping. She suddenly smiled and said:
"Heh... Some dealings you have! Making the people you're trying to negotiate with run away crying! Shishishi!"
"Tch... If it wasn't for that damn icy fuck I would have already been tasting the body of my Ger-"
-cough-
Interrupting her musings. Jesus intervened and said:
"Don't worry, nothing will happen to the deal... Just some extra convincing is needed."
Now, all of you may be asking: 'what was happening before this scene?'
Well to answer that, we'll have to travel back in time to 5 minutes ago...