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Salt and Sulfur (MessedupRp x Skeith Takahata II)

Maria stopped Charlotte with a hand on her chest. By now seeing her talk to her rbbit was a normal thing for her, but her expression was new to her. She looked at Charlotte in the dimly lit tunnel and stared her in the eye "Charlotte... They scare me too. But I promise, we're safe. They probably aren't even involved! It's just some thugs from the Descendants trying to raise some hell and get a ransom. Besides you're not alone Charlotte... I've got your back." The words were foreign to even Maria, until literally a day ago, she had considered this woman her mortal enemy. A psychopathic killer with no heart who she wouldn't trust with her life. Now she saw her for what she was. While still a psycopath —who found a bit too much fun in arson— she was only a person. She has fears and doubt's just like Maria and she was beginning to see that.

If anyone had told Maria just a week before thay she would be running through an underground tunnel WITH Charlotte, comforting her when she was afraid. She would have laughed. But something changed in that one night and part of a day. She began to see a human inside of Charlotte. "Now... Let's go find that elf and kick some Descendant ass along the way."
 
Charlotte paused again when she heard Maria speak. When she made eye contact with her, her face met her own serious tone even if it was only in moments such as these. Her wide eyes stared into hers as she reassured her. When she insisted that Charlotte wasn't alone, that she could count on Maria, her eyes widened that much further. She found herself once again tempted to try to kiss her, this time she resisted, not even making the attempt. She hated feeling vulnerable and she hated the idea of letting Maria see her that way, but she already had seen her that way twice now. "You're right... I'm okay."

She nodded when she insisted they press on, returning the focus of their efforts to the Descendants. She could live with that. She wasn't afraid of the Descendants. If anything, the Descendants were the embodiment of everything she despised about wealthy humans. "I can do that. That sounds like fun." She nodded quickly in affirmation.
 
Maria smiled sweetly, allowing the chink in her armor to reassure Charlotte. She gave her a quick one armed hug and turned on her heel, taking Charlotte by the hand and leading her down the tunnel. She let go after a few yards to let Charlotte walk in front. Assuming it would make her confidence return.

Watching her walk forward, her mind mulled over that hug idly as she trotted with Charlotte. She hadn't really thought about doing it. Even though it seemed a small gesture but it felt like more. Something about it made Maria feel strange inside and she couldn't place her finger on it.
 
At Maria's smile and brief hug Charlotte grew stiff for a second. She looked down at where their hands were joined for a long silent moment, trailing behind her. The contact was electrifying, causing her to feel goose bumps on her arms. When her hand was released, and she was allowed to take the lead again, she continued walking forward. A faint blush was clinging to her cheeks as she walked with a bit of a skip in her step.

It was bizarre how Maria's touch and words could restore Charlotte's confidence and wash away her concerns. Then again, it was also bizarre how Maria's presence could draw out moments of vulnerability in Charlotte. Charlotte knew that she was in love, but had no understanding of the strange emotions Maria drew out in her, amplified by her madness and child like mentality. Charlotte began humming gently to herself to occupy herself as they walked.

If they had been using a motorized vehicle down here, it was safe to assume they would be walking for sometime to bridge that same distance. Charlotte could feel the anticipation building, not knowing where in the city they would come back up.
 
Maria kept her eyes peeled and her rifle at the ready, she kept averting her eyes to the walls as she walked. Reading the odd scribbles left by carious members of the city's underground. She had always been fascinated by these shady groups but she could never find any information on them, aside for a few basic manuscripts and some hands on experience with them only told her so much.

Now walking through these tunnels, her mind was only a bit expanded by the scribbles on the walls. Lots of lackeys tagging the walls with messages like "Marcus was here" and similarly mundane messages. She did however notice this floor. Steel plates that had been patchworked over one another, made to be q path down to center but there were plenty of gaps to the city below off to the sides. She could faintly hear the noise of children playing and loud conversations between friends and she smiled a bit. At least some people in the city were enjoying themselves.
 
Charlotte continued to lead the way, her wrist mounted guns were still locked and ready, but she walked at a more casual stride with her arms at her side. She glanced back towards Maria from time-to-time, as if to verify she was still there. She peaked over the edge of the plates, seeing the city below. She paused for only a second to stare. She had never seen the lower levels from this perspective before. It was a little jarring, and certainly strange. Her eyes twinkled for a moment as she thought. "I bet I could surprise you at work from up here!" She said with a giggle. surely one of these tunnels moved over, possibly even under the police station. She knew that if she had reason to monitor the police she would have handled it that way.

She came to an abrupt halt as her head hit something hard, causing her to fall back onto the seat of her pants. "Ow!" She rubbed her forehead as she whimpered softly. She looked up to what she hit to see another ladder going upward. She blinked a couple times as she stared at it. She should have imagined that they would connect multiple locations this way, why else build the tunnel. "So, do we keep moving, or have a peak?" She asked, glancing back towards Maria, still seated on the ground. She still rubbed her forehead, but a playful smile decorated her lips.
 
When the silence was shattered by Charlotte's cry of pain, Maria dropped into a shooting stance and aimed in Charlotte's direction. With a sigh, she stood back up and looked up at the ladder. "We probably should. I'll go first Charlotte... I don't want you getting hurt." There it was again, those weird actions that she didn't even think about. She hasn't thought to say that to Charlotte but she had.

She slung the rifle back over her shoulder and took the rungs in her grip, testing the strength before she began climbing up towards the cieling of the tunnel. At the very top was a metal hatch with a large wheel to open it. She looked down at Charlotte again and grabbed the knob. Twisting it with a grunt of effort. As it finally came free the hatch swung upward.

She pulled herself into the room above just enough to be able to look around and see what there was to see. Inside was a darkened room with several long glass tubes and brass pipes attached to them, each was filled with water and lights on the floor that made the blue-green glass glow through the water. Floating inside each tube was some odd mutated life form or another. Seemingly asleep or not yet completed, a biomancy room. She looked down the ladder and motioned Charlotte to come up with her.
 
The young elf smiled softly when Maria expressed concern for her safety. She sighed happily as her mind immediately took the expression of concern to a romantic place. She followed her up the ladder when beckoned, but any joy fled her face as she popped her head up from the latch. She slowly stood in the room, looking around as color left her face. "I knew it... I knew it... I knew it..." She muttered, cradling her head as she whimpered. Her hands clutched tightly as she looked at each of the bizarre creatures. "This place has to go... I have to destroy this one..." She said looking about in a near panic.

Her hand hovered over her bag where she stored her explosives. She was going to tear this building down. There was no thought in her mind regarding Maria's approval of her methods. Her fear of biomancy overwhelmed any desire to satisfy Maria's wishes.
 
Maria gasped and dashed to Charlotte. Putting her hand over Charlotte's and removing it from the bag of bombs, "no no no no no Charlotte. Not yet at least okay? We're safe. I'm here and I'm going to protect you. Okay? I won't let anything happen to you. Now we need to stay calm and collected. We'll set charges now. Look for our clues and when we're a safe distance then we can blow up the building. Okay?"

As she spike she slowly moved Charlotte's hands to be clasped between her own. Behind Charlotte her mother was shaking her head and twirling a finger around next to her head, eliciting a glare from Maria at the apparition. She turned her attention to Charlotte and gingerly pulled her into an embrace, "I'm here Charlotte... We're going to be fine. I'm going to keep you safe. Nobody will hurt you."
 
When Charlotte was stopped from withdrawing a bomb she nearly glared at Maria for a moment. As soon as her hand was clasped between Maria's hands she began to settle. The manic, desperate gleam in her eye fading some. She panted heavily, still whimpering softly. "But, what if..." As she was pulled into her arms, being held, she leaned into her. Trying to settle her nerves. As she continued to insist that she would protect her she felt herself become more centered again.

She slowly pulled away from Maria staring at her for a few silent moments. "But... What if something happens to you?" She asked. Once more, being held by her and this close, she had to suppress a very real pressure to kiss her. "I can't... I couldn't..." She sniffled lightly. She closed her eyes, shaking her head as she turned away, biting down on her lip hard. She couldn't let herself get caught up in being love sick and scared. They had an investigation to complete.

She opened her bag again, reaching inside for the complicated home made explosives. "I'll plant them now and detonate them later." She said quietly. She mounted and armed one in the room, turning back to face Maria. "Let's just... Let's just get this over with, okay?" She asked, still clearly unnerved.
 
Maria opened her mouth to reply, to say what Charlotte would do if she wasn't around but nothing came. She could only stand and stare as Charlotte placed the charges. Her mind whirring in her head. Finally, she waled over to Charlotte and held her shoulder lightly, one hand coming up to rest on Charlotte's cheek. "Listen... I'm always going to b here for you Charlotte... I'm always going to try my best to keep you safe, but some day, I may be in need of your help. I may not be good enough and I need to be able to trust that you'll be strong. You'll be strong, and no matter what happened to me. You either complete the mission, or you rescue me. Okay? Can I trust you to be brave and one day save me or the politician?"
 
Charlotte's face grew bright red as Maria placed her hand on her cheek. She stared at her wide eyed as she spoke. Speaking about Charlotte coming to her rescue one day. She didn't like the implication that the day may come when she was expected to choose between Maria and another objective when she spoke of saving her or the politician. She knew that in that situation Maria would want her to choose the alternative, but she couldn't even imagine making that decision. She nodded her head. "I... Of course... I would never let anyone hurt you." She said softly. Her hand reached up to scratch at her ear again as she always did when she was nervous.
 
"Okay... Now stay close to me... I'll keep you safe." She raised her rifle and started walking, at every chance she got , turning off the lights indei the tanks. Blacking out the tanks and whatever mutant floated inside. Soon the cramped hallways and workrooms opened up into a large circular room with several doors and hallways. "Which way should we go."
 
Charlotte followed Maria out into the main hall, looking around at all the doors. She was worried that each one would lead to more labs and more disturbing mutations. She walked towards the center of the room, turning to look at all of there options. "We should probably check all of them, right? If you're missing something you should look everywhere."

Charlotte was clearly upset about being there, but she was trying to disguise it for Maria's sake. She didn't like making her worry about her. She began pointing at each of them in turn, obviously doing eeny meeny miney mo in her head. Once she settled on one she began approaching it, keeping her guard up.
 
"No no no... Not that one. The ground is too dirty. Many people go in there, we need to find some kind of office, so the ground would be less dirty since less people go inside. She smiled and pointed to a door, "like that door... Let's go see what we can see." She walked up to the door and tested it. Locked, "Charlotte. Do you have some way to persuade the door for me silently in that bag there?"
 
Once Charlotte was stopped, she looked at Maria puzzled. She looked down at the ground, realizing what she was explaining. Once more she was impressed by Maria's ability, even if these things were obvious to someone who was a detective. Was she nurturing her for this kind of work? Surely she knew that even if she were ever to move away from anarchy, she had committed too many crimes to ever work in law enforcement.

She nodded when she asked about the door. She gave a small giggle before producing the same tools she had used at the last manor. "Just a moment." She kneeled down in front of the door. With a little bit of work, the lock popped free, and the door slowly swung open. "After you." She said, stepping out of the way.
 
Maria sighed a d grumbled, "I was kind of hoping for something more explody... Do away with this place for good." She swept into he room and looked from side to side, keeping her eyes on the room. "Clear, come on in." She lowered her gun and looked around the office. On the shelves lining the walls were books and manuscripts on biomancy, shelves filled with skeletons of mutated animals, calling cards from several different prostitutes which Maria considered discreetly slipping into her pocket for later. "Okay... Look for anything talking about an elf or a politician, if not. Look for some kind of odd code word."
 
Charlotte looked at Maria with a puzzled expression again as she heard her speak. She had said to persuade the door silently, hadn't she? "You can't make something explodey be silent, silly..." She said walking further into the room with her. The skeletons were much less upsetting than the actual mutants, but still unsettling. As they entered the office, she began to glance around at all of the documents. She paused as well, much less subtly examining the prostitute cards. Her lips spread into a smile as she recognized some of the names. She was friends with some of them. Certainly not a customer however. No matter how wild and crazy Charlotte was, she was wholesome in one regard. She was saving her first for her beloved detective.

Hearing Maria speak about looking for specific things, she continued her investigation. She moved to sit at the desk, sliding open different drawers and pulling different documents out. While doing so, she felt a fake bottom in one of the drawers shift. She frowned for a moment before a grin spread across her lips. "I maybe found something." She sang cheerfully, spinning around in the chair to face Maria.
 
Maria darted over, discreetly pocketing the cards and looking where Charlotte indicated "genius! We must be careful though, there may be a booby trap set here to throw anyone off the scent." She slowly and carefully took the bottom out and lifted up a peculiar thing. A sheath of papers, many depicting drawing and charts of some strange beast, a mixture of metal and flesh, these she deftly out away from Charlotte's view and held up the other sheet. A flyer for a very high end vrothel and dancer club on the second level.

Maria stared at the scantily clad woman on the paper for a minute before an idea struck her, "wait a minute... This is here for a reason. They might have taken the politician to this place, keep her there for a while. She'll be hidden and maybe they can even make her pleasure a few clients and earn some cash." She stopped abruptly and turned to Charlotte, "we're going to a bothel Charlotte." As she said that a voice shouted from the doorway.

Standing in the door were two men, wearing brass masks with red goggles and respirators, black shirts, vests and pants and carrying sawed off shotguns each. Maria took a bomb from Charlotte's bag and lobbed it at them, they jumped out of the way and it exploded behind them. Maria took Charlotte's wrist and pulled her along, "run!"
 
Charlotte watched as Maria pieced everything together. There was simply no end to how impressive her skills as a detective really were. She nodded in agreement before adopting a look of disgust at the idea of the politician being forced to pleasure clients at a brothel. She bore no ill will towards any woman who pursued such a profession out of choice. More power to them, so far as Charlotte was concerned, but this situation was different and sickened her to her core. She nodded when she insisted they would head to the brothel, knowing that it was the wisest next step.

At the sound of the voice, she was about to raise her wrist guns before one of her bombs was lobbed at the men. Her eyes flew open wide as the bomb went off, more impressed by the fact that Maria had thrown it. The sight of the explosion awoke an adrenaline rush of sorts on the manic anarchist. Despite how eager she was to continue the fight, she heard Maria's command, feeling her hand on her wrist. She followed behind her, glancing back the way they came. She reached into her bag with her free hand, pulling the detonator from inside. She held it close, prepared to detonate her charges the second she was given the go ahead.
 
Maria rsntheough the door, punching the butt of her gun into the face of the nearest of the two and firing a shot into the eye of the second. Across the circular room another door burst open and a group of guards came out, dressed similarly from the door next to them came two men in dark green robes, sulfur mages. Maria cursed, "oh shit... Maria... We may need to be going back the way we came but keep that detonator ready."
 
Charlotte followed closely behind Maria, not that her hand on her wrist left her much choice. As they burst into the circular room, prepared to make their escape, Charlotte looked up in surprise as the mages burst on to the scene. She looked to Maria, nodding quickly. Charlotte remembered exactly which door they had used to get to this room and began moving in that direction, this time pulling Maria behind her. "Then we do this my way!" She said with a loud laugh. She raised her free hand, still clutching the detonator. Keeping her finger of the detonation switch, she squeezed the pressure trigger in her gauntlet, firing the wrist mounted cannon at the Sulfur mages. The bangle like ammo belts jingling as they cycled through the weapon.

She quickly ushered Maria through the door, hastily, she pulled one of her bombs free from her bag and without warning lobbed it back towards the doorway behind them. She turned quickly, tackling Maria to the ground as it detonated, caving part of the hallway behind them. Through the dust, Charlotte giggled darkly in the wake of the small explosion. She pushed herself up from the ground, Maria still beneath her. "Are you okay?" She asked, hoping that she'd protected Maria from the worst of it. Charlotte's back stung and she could feel liquid running down her skin. Surely some shrapnel and debris had lodged into her back in the contained blast. Still, she smiled confidently, or perhaps manically down at Maria. She concealed her pain, or perhaps, didn't truly register it. After all, enveloped in chaos was when she felt most alive.

She stared at Maria silently for a few seconds before hearing commotion from beyond the pile of debris. "This is our game! No one invited you!" She shouted through the collapsed hall. "Come on! Play time's not over!" She said, eagerly helping Maria to her feet. Her wild smile unfading as she dusted herself off, her face still covered in dust with a small cut above her eyebrow.
 
Maria was taken by surprise for a second before adjusting and firing off her own pistol at the mages. They ducked under a table while the guards took the brunt of the damage. The explosion knocked her down but left her alive and mostly unharmed. The wild look in Charlotte's eyes scared her. Gone was the sweet innocent girl she had been traveling with, in her place was a maniacal sadist determines to kill anyone in their path.

She jumped to her feet as something came from the rubble, a tendril of green energy, tendtiling toward the capsules. Maria gasped as she saw something inside the first open it's eyes. Maria didn't even think. She scooped up Charlotte in a bridal carry and ran, speintng through the hall as the monstrosities broke free. Glass breaking and feet padding as they followed after them.

Maria's legs pumped and her forehead beaded with sweat. The hatch was only a few feet away, she helped Charlotte down and looked back, taking the controller from her hand, she shot back the mutants enough to get herself into the hatch. She locked it behind them and slid down to the bottom of the ladder, pressing the button and listening to the soft boom as the bombs went off.
 
Charlotte's smile fell away at the look of fear she saw on Maria's face. For only a moment, the world stood still and silent. She never wanted to see that expression. She certainly never wanted to be the cause of it. Before she had a chance to speak, the tendril of green magic shot through the rubble. Charlotte's expression soon mimicked Maria's as she stared in horror as the creatures began to move. She gave a startled yelp as she was hoisted into Maria's arms and carried towards the hatch, she stared back the way they came as the monsters pursued them. Charlotte had never seen the creatures moving before, this was a special kind of terror for her.

As she descended to the bottom, she looked up in sudden fear, worried that Maria might be taken by the beasts. Charlotte was relieved when Maria slid down the ladder behind her, hitting the detonator. As the bombs began to detonate, she could hear them going off and the structure above beginning to collapse. Charlotte knew what that meant for them. She quickly took hold of Maria's hand and began running back the way they came before the tunnel could collapse on top of them.

Once she was convinced they were safe she released Maria's hand. She took several steps away from her, her hand raised in front of her as she stared at Maria. She was wide eyed and shocked, certainly aware of the fact that Maria was afraid of her. "I..." The impossible paradox of innocent and frightened child and destructive maniac was obviously too much for the detective. "I didn't... I wouldn't..." She shook her head quickly, clutching her head as she clenched her eyes shut. Charlotte turned away quickly, unable to look at Maria. The back of her previously off-white shirt was now wet and red from shielding Maria from the debris. "I'm sorry!" She began running back the way they came from.
 
Maria ran after Charlotte and tackled her down to the ground, careful to keeo her bacm off the feound. holding her there, she held her face steady and looked her in the eye, "listen to me Charlotte.. It was the heat of the moment and you startled me is all. You only took me by surprise. If I was really afraid of you, I wouldn't have risked my life to make sure you got out of that chamber alive." She gently brushed a lock of hair from Charlotte's face and hugged her, "we're in this together now. We're partners."

She led Charlotte back the way they came keeping an arm around her shoulder to keep her up, fearing for her bloodied back. The walk was relatively long and as soon as they had lft the mansion, Maria let Charlotte blow up the kitchen of the mansion, she too had placed her hand on the button with Maria so they both pressed.

Soon as they made it back to her apartment she turned to Charlotte and locked the door, "Charlotte... Take off your shirt... I want to get your back bandaged up and checked."
 
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