Orion could sense a familiarity to the area, he didn't think he'd end up so close to where he started. They were in the Syndicates territory now. They finally stopped at a dark alley; Orion was left facing a brick wall dead end.

The man pulled out a butterfly knife, flicking it around with a precision Orion couldn't help but admire. "What's in the bag." He threatened, his expression implied he had the upper hand, but he did not. This might have been his first time trying to mug someone, as he wasn't particularly good at acting tough.

Orion stood still and tilted his head, "Eh? What ever could you mean?" He held the bag closely and forced a hesitant smile. Not only where they alone, but the place appeared to be more quiet than usual, it didn't seem like anyone would pass by any time soon.

He quickly analyzed the situation and pieced together various plans of attack. A knife wouldn't be a problem, a gun might be a different story. This would be useful actually; he could finally find out what this product was intended for.

Part of him was rather excited to find out but he did not let it show on his face. He gave the man a confused expression attempting again to feign ignorance. If there were two things, he knew best, it was the various fields of science he studied and being able to convince anyone around here with his halfway decent acting skills. He didn't have a choice if he wanted to survive this terrible situation he was stuck in.

"People don't wander in this part of city without a purpose, you're selling something aren't you. Give it to me." The man stepped closer to Orion brandishing his knife again, to be more threatening or to assert dominance somehow. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either works for me, though the hard way is much more enjoyable." 

He smiled deviously then licked his blade in a threatening manner, a childish threat in Katz's opinion. Katz decided it would be for the best too go easy on him; he'd likely never had a run in with someone dangerous. He could tell from the well-kept nails and smooth skin on his hands that the man had never been in a fist fight before.

Katz opened his eyes widely, making a slightly obscure expression. He looked down at the bag, "Honestly..." He sighed somewhat sarcastically before taking something from his pocket without letting Asher see what it was.

He made a serious expression for a moment but quickly changed it as he looked back at Asher.

He didn't know what the drug did, but he wanted to find out. He needed this information something to help him flesh out the syndicate's current trajectory. He no longer cared about getting this stuff to the destination, he kinda wanted to sate his curiosity and well, avoiding getting stabbed would also be great.

At this point it didn't matter anyway, he was still lost, and he would never return in time. He had all but forgotten he had a reason to return. That was how the syndicate continued to squeeze compliance out of him after all. The things he needed to do and his memory of needing to do them were always at odds. 'Maybe I shouldn't do this...' He tried to reason with himself. But his thoughts were quickly interrupted.

"Hurry up, I don't have all day." The man's impatience only grew by the second. He began moving closer to Katz in a threatening manner. As he closed the gap between them and he was now face-to-face with Katz, it became clear how short this man was. Their height difference made it impossible for Katz to feel threatened, but he continued to act the part. The man lifted his blade towards Katz’s neck "Hurry it up." he snapped scowling.

'Does he  think he looks intimidating?' Katz pretended to cower slightly, "Alright, alright, Hold your horses." He said shakily, he knew if the syringe plan failed he could snatch the knife from him.

He analyzed Asher thoroughly. He clutched the syringe in his hand being as careful as he could before he began to open the bag. A slight smirk fell upon his face again for but a moment before fading away, he was careful not to break character. He sighed as if crestfallen and forlorn.

The man rolled his eyes, clearly fed up with him stalling. He kicked Katz’s leg forcing him to the ground. He kicked again as he tried to stand up and a few more times after that to be certain he wouldn't try anything.

His kicks weren't anything to brag about, but they did sting a fair amount. Katz let him take the bag, his feigned expression was something like shock. "Tch. You should've just listened." Finally with the bag in his hands he got it open to peruse the contents.

The man clearly had no idea what he was looking at, "What the fuck is this?" He was distracted clearly trying to figure out what could possibly be in the container. It wasn't any sort of drug the man would be aware of, that much was for certain. It likely didn't exist before today if Katz had to guess. A mystery to them both.

Somewhere in his mind he had decided this man would be a perfect test subject. Any reservations Orion had were dropped when the man proceeded to kick him in the face while he was already down, trying to prod an answer out of him. The final straw as it were. "What the fuck is this?" He repeated brandishing his knife again.

Katz coughed and shifted his glasses which were lucky not to have broken. He glared at Asher with a slight smirk upon his lips. He swiftly jabbed Asher in the leg with the small syringe he had been hiding in his hand.

It felt almost freeing to be on the other side of this sort of exchange for once. It reminded him of something but only for a moment.

Orion got up quickly and cracked his knuckles, "I believe we shall both find out soon enough." He eyed Asher carefully, He tried to maintain a stoic expression, but it was rather obvious he looked a bit excited. "Don't make any sudden movements."

"What the fuck!?" The man shrieked and fell down, he tried to get up but he couldn't maintain his balance and ended up back on the ground. 

"I told you not to make any sudden movements." Katz shook his head in disappointment.

 "You-!" The man pointed at him accusingly, but his hand soon fell, the rest of him collapsed to the ground soon after. The man struggled to move but couldn't do anything more than twitch. There was clearly a paralytic component, and a fast acting one at that.

Katz inspected him carefully, "Whatever it is, It's fast, probably contains supernatural components if I had to guess." He laughed leaning over his body. "I honestly thank you for being so gullible." He lifted the man over his shoulder and looked around a bit confused as to where he was exactly.

"Well, whatever it is shouldn't kill you. So, you don't have to worry about that... For now." Katz could see the terrified expression on the man's face. 

"I’m kidding… Just feel like I should say... Threats only work if you're actually intimidating, or your opponent is actually helpless. But I don't know if you could even scare a child with that poor attempt. You messed with the wrong person, sure, but you probably could've gotten somewhere if you put more effort into it. Try harder next time." Katz lectured on for a few moments while he was trying to gain his bearings.

"Wait a second... Ah yes." He started walking after spotting a familiar sign in the distance, it was the entrance to a now abandoned apartment complex. It only looked abandoned, however, a number of syndicate members lived in this place now. 

"Sorry to do this to you but... Ah, no. I'm not sorry. You did try to mug me, and you did kick me in the face. And you were definitely going to stab me." He tossed Asher on the ground without care and got out a key. "They used to be such nice people."

It was Orion, Orion lived in this place. But the man didn't have to know that. And he was a nice person, usually, but definitely not right now and definitely not with this angry little man.

He laughed to himself for a moment before taking the man by the collar of his shirt and dragging him inside. A one-bedroom apartment with a minimalist vibe that made it hard to tell if someone ever lived there. It's not hard to be minimalist when you don't have things. He didn't have a need to decorate a place he could hardly remember to return to anyway. He often slept in the lab in some feeble attempt to retain his mind.

He dragged the man to the center of the room before heading to the cabinets for some equipment. Just some supplies to monitor the man’s condition, and well first aid supplies in case things turned south. He likely wouldn't need to deal with it, and if it were only a paralytic drug, he wouldn't need to do anything at all.

But he doubted that was the case.