When Kirian finally woke up, he was in a dark room. His head pounded painfully and there was a slight ringing in his ears. His eyes, still adjusting, only saw sinister shadows in front of him. When he moved to brush his hair out of his eyes, he found that he couldn't lift his hand up.

Huh.

Everything slowly came into focus and Kirian could finally take in his surroundings properly. He blinked a few times and realized that he was strapped into a chair of sorts. Testing his limbs, he found that straps had been placed around his ankles and wrists. Another larger strap was placed around his torso. A voice pulled him out of his trance.

"Hey, focus up!"

The loud, raspy sound made Kirian's head pound and he winced. Looming over him, the shadows had turned into a small group of men in suits. In front of him stood a particularly imposing man who was snapping in his face.

"Finally! We got questions kid," the man growled. His face was long and severe, with small scars littering his bronze face. His hair was so thin and blonde that his scalp shined through.

Kirian only groaned and muttered, "What?"

"Don't 'what' me! Who sent you?"

Kirian frowned up at the man. "What do you mean? No one sent me," Kirian said back.

He was quickly coming to terms with the situation. He had been caught, like an idiot. He was likely in some sort of interrogation room, the distant groaning and whimpering made that clear. A dark bronze spot sat on the ground near to him, and the air smelled of bodily fluids and fear. One wall was lined with different torture devices that Kirian stared at wistfully. He hoped he would get the chance to try them out himself at some point but it didn't seem likely that he would be doing the torturing.

The scarred man slapped him suddenly and Kirian hissed, "What was that for?"

"Don't lie to me, punk. This is a very dangerous building you're in."

Kirian rolled his eyes. "It didn't seem that dangerous when I walked in the front door," he retorted.

The anger on the man's face was delicious. The brute brought his hand up again and struck him hard. This time, Kirian could taste blood in his mouth.

He spit the blood right at the man and grinned recklessly. In an instant the man had grabbed Kirian's collar angrily and was about to do some more damage when a voice spoke out.

"Stop."

The man holding Kirian instantly let go and stood back. Kirian's eyes shot to the source of the interruption and saw something moving in a far corner.

A man sitting casually on an armchair in the back of the room stood. Immediately every other person in the room turned to him. Kirian couldn't quite make him out but he could tell the man was tall and broad. His skin was tan and dark hair sat at the top of his head. He didn't say anything but the group moved out of the way as he walked directly up to Kirian..

He crouched a little and brushed the hair off Kirian's face roughly. He stared at him intensely for a moment before saying. "You don't match any files we have on anyone who could do that kind of damage. What's your name?"

Kirian found himself taking in the man's features for a beat too long. His eyes wandered the man's deep, tan skin and dreamy brown eyes. Long, curled lashes stood out on his decidedly masculine face. All strong nose, high cheekbones and square jaw. His face was free of blemishes and stubble and held no lines except for the ones burrowed between his knitted, dark eyebrows. He was a young man, but the dark shadows under his eyes made him look aged beyond his years.

"Answer him!", the scarred man yelled from behind.

Kirian quickly collected himself. "Kirian," he responded in an even tone. The smirk that slipped off his face at some point returned twofold as the captivating man stared down at him with curiosity.

"No last name?"

"Well, that's confidential. Don't you have some more interesting questions?" Kirian teased.

The man stood up to his full height, looking down his nose at Kirian. He said with authority, "Why did you kill my men?"

Kirian chuckled, "It's actually a really funny story. Do you want the long version or the short version?"

A flicker of a smile breached the man's expression but his voice remained firm as he responded, "Long."

Kirian took a dramatic breath and started, "Well today was my day off and I was planning to have a little dinner. There's this really cute place I wanted to try that does gourmet blood sausages and they have plants all over, super cute-"

"Watch it," the man interrupted, "wasting my time will only make things worse for you."

Kirian only glared at him.

"I'm getting to it. So basically, I was wearing a super cute outfit because I wanted to take pictures, " Kirian gestures down to his now soiled black crop top and baggy jeans, "I was walking past your building, thinking I looked hot, when one of your security guards threw out a silly little slur. Well, I didn't appreciate that so I had a little conversation with him about human decency and he decided to flash his gun at me.

Now, I don't usually get like this with strangers but I've had a really hard week and I've been trying to be more upfront about what I want from the people around me.There's a really good podcast I can show you that was talking about it, super helpful. So I told him, very calmly, that if he didn't apologize, I would cut out his tongue. The dumbass didn't believe me, and said some other not-so-nice words so I sliced both his achilles and his shoulders. He cried a bunch, blah blah blah, he can't talk anymore cuz he has no tongue and also he's dead"

Kirian shrugged casually, the easy smirk still on his face. The men around him blinked a few times, unsure how to respond.

The handsome man clears his throat and stares at Kirian with continued intensity. He pushes again, "That doesn't explain why you killed all the other guards and breached the building."

Kirian looked at him with a bored expression.

"I mean, I feel like it's pretty obvious self defence. They saw me killing their friend and tried to , y'know, kill me. I had no choice but to fight back. Then, and I'm not saying this is right, someone shot at me from inside and I invited myself in to shove the gun in their mouth. I mean honestly I still kinda feel justified. You hired close minded shits, I split a few of those minds open."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Kirian looked around with a look of feigned innocence on his still bloody face. Then, like a dam breaking, many of those men started stepping towards him in unison before the handsome man raised a hand, making them all stop in their tracks. Still, the anger on their faces was unrestrained.

"So, to clarify, no one sent you here?" he reiterates.

"No, literally why would I ruin one of my favorite jeans on a job?" Kirian asked, his face scrunched in disgust.

The man sighed and rubbed his temple. "So you do take 'jobs'. Are you an assassin?"

"Duh"

"Why should I believe that no one put you up to this?"

"I don't know, maybe check your security cameras?" Kirian shot back sarcastically.

The handsome man runs a hand through his hair before saying in a resolute tone, "Tobias, put him up in a secure room, send the IT twins to look over the security cameras."

Tobias looked like he was about to argue, but clenches his fists and nods, "Yes, Mr. Radashawn."