Strange Birds of a Feather - Chapter 2

cw: violence, gore, implied abuse

'Oh, dear.' Oswald says in horror.

'What's wrong, did you find something?'

'I did, Sam, and it is quite daunting. It seems like a child trafficking ring operates under the address we aquired.'

'Oh my god, that's terrible!' I say in disgust.

'It is. Child trafficking is nasty work, I would never stoop so low to be associated with such a thing.'

'So, what do we do now?'

'I think we should pay a visit.'

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We arrive at the address. Just the two of us, we want to handle this in our own way. The building looks fairly plain, which makes sense, they don't want any attention drawn onto themselves.

'Uhm… Oswald.' I turn to him.

'Yes?'

'Do you have a plan to enter the building?'

'I am pretty sure I could figure out something.'

We step to the door and someone opens a peeping hole.

'Do you have an invitation?' he asks with suspicion.

Oswald looks dead into his eyes. 'Yes, of course we have an invitation.'

'Oh, in this case please come inside.' the man says with a friendlier manner, and opens the door for us.

'See?' Oswald says proudly as we are marching inside. I stop to grab the guys neck and slam him to the wall. I bite into his neck, right across the artery meanwhile he is screaming in pain and fear. When he is too weak to scream I let him go to bleed to death. With Oswald we enter the main area, where we find about ten people. They give us a passing glance at first, but when Oswald attacks the first person to suck them dry, everyone in the room starts panicking. The next person's head gets to be ripped off by me, than someone's guts are spilled, limbs and heads are torn off, we are making a real bloodbath until everything becomes silent. But we still can hear a heartbeat from behind a desk, pounding fast in fear. Oswald and I are walking to the desk where the last survivor is covering.

'No, no, please, don't hurt me.' they start pleading in terror. I grab their hair.

'Uhum... how many kids said this to you before?' then I punch through their head, leaving a large hole in it. Then we go to upstairs where hopefully we can find the kids. Behind the first door we open there is some slimeball with his pants already around his ankles standing in front of a bed where a frightened kid is covering, no older than 8. Then Oswald rips off the guys dick which makes the child scream in fear.

'It's okay, noone's going to hurt you anymore.' I try to console the crying child. Then we go through all the rooms, finding 14 children. The oldest is 16 years old, and there are a few toddlers. 'This makes me sick. The poor things.'

When we lead the kids out of the building they notice the aftermath of the massacre, and start crying at the sight. Oswald and I are looking at each other. 'I'll handle this.' he says.

Outside the building he is about to hypnotize the terrified children, but before he starts the process I interrupt him.

'Uhm… Oswald. Could you make them forget the time they were here?'

'Yes, of course.'

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Oswald and I are go back to he gym. Lili is there again, but despite everything she seems to be in a foul mood.

'Oswald, all the kids are ended up home safely, though for some reason they don't remember anything. I don't know how you did that, but I am very grateful. Thank you.'

'Great. Now I assume everything can go back to normal.'

'Well.' she sighs. 'Not really. The parents of my students were afraid that their children would be taken by the boogieman too, so they wouldn't let them to come to my gym. I don't blame them though. I just don't know what to do now. Building a new clientele is not easy.'

'Would you work for me then?' Oswald asks. This surprises me, he never told me he was planning to offer a job for her, and to be honest I didn't expect it either.

'Thanks, but no.' Lili says with a stoic face. 'Been there, done that.'

'Lili, listen to me. I know I have let you down before.' Lili nods. 'But I want you to know that you are very important to me, and I am really sorry.'

'Oswald.' she says with surprise. 'Did you learn a new word?'

'Well, I might have been changed my ways a little bit.'

She briefly glances at me. 'Okay, deal. I need a job and after all what can I lose?' she then smiles. Maybe this is the first time I have seen her smiling. Then she offers her hand for a shake, that Oswald accepts.

'Deal then. You won't regret it. I need someone who is in charge of my henchmen anyway.'

'You know me, if there is some brawling, I am in it.'

'Alright, then come with us, let's make this arrangement official.'

They seem to be so casual with each other, I feel awkward for just standing there and watching them. It feels like they are in their own world that I don't belong to. This makes me feel a bit lonely.

Back at Oswald's office they discuss the conditions of Lili's employment. I have to say she is really a good negotiator when it comes to her payment.

'Welcome to the team, Lili? Or shoud I say Peppershrike, in case you want to have your old alias?'

'Yes, Peppershrike will be perfectly fine, Oswald.'

'I knew that, it really suits you.' he smiles. 'Now would you please place your thumb here so I can acquire your thumbprint?' he shoves a tablet in front of her. She pauses for a moment.

'For what exactly?'

'Now see, you can only access my penthouse if your thumbprint is recorded, since I only allow my most valuable people there.'

'Oh in that case there it is, you can have it.' then she places her thumb on the tablet. 'Since you have mentoned it, can I see your crib?'

'Of course, come with us.'

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'I have to say, this is really nice, Oswald.' says Lili as she is looking around in Oswald's living room. 'Hey, I didn't ask before, but how comes you're not wearing your brace?'

'Hm... my foot got better. I don't need it anymore.'

'That's cool.' she concludes. Then Teddy comes to greet her. 'Oh, look at you, what a cute little dog.' Lili says with a smile. Then Missy comes over and rubs herself onto Lili's leg. This is unusual of her, in most cases she is indifferent at best with strangers. 'Oh, hello, kitty. Oswald, did you shift to mammals?'

'Heh, not exactly, Lili, they belong to Sam. Their name is Teddy and Missy. But now let me show you my precious birds, Titania and Auberon and in the lounge you could have seen my dear penguins, Ophelia, Othello and Oliver.' says Oswald proudly.

'Hm... okay, I get it.' Lili says as she is glancing at me.

'But please, sit down, stay with us a little bit. Do you want some tea?'

'Do you have jasmine green tea?'

'Yes.' I say. 'I go and make you some.'

I go to the kitchen and make Lili a cup of jasmine green tea and a cup of peppermint tea for myself.

'And you don't want some tea? You like tea.' Lili asks Oswald when I go back to the living room with the two cups.

'No, I don't think I like tea anymore.'

'Hm... that's weird. You changed. Even your teeth look more pointy.'

Oswald freezes for a moment. 'No, they are not.' he says.

'They are not?'

'Uhm… no, they were always like this.'

'Oh, sure. And tell me, how long have you been in a realtionship with your assistant?'

I almost spit my tea out. What an unexpected change in topic! It takes Oswald off guard as well.

'Uhm… Lili... I don't know what you are talking about!' he says defensively.

'Oh, come on! He really knows his way in your home. Even his pets live here.'

We both look away awkwardly. 'Yes.' Oswald says finally. 'We are together for a while.'

'That's fine, no judgement here.' says Lili. It's so weird, I just realized that our relationship have never been discussed before. Suddenly makes me think, what kind of relationship are we in exactly? What is the nature of it besides being sexual? Is it romantic? Could it be romantic? For some reason romance doesn't really make sense to me, but I still really love Oswald. And what about him? Does he feel the same way? Or does he have romantic feelings for me? What if he wants to be in a romantic relationship, but I can't give it to him? Maybe I should let him to reconcile with Lili. Even though I wouldn't like it, but I just want Oswald to be happy.

'So… uhm… What about you two?' I ask. 'Are you used to date?'

For a moment they just stare at me in silence, then at each other.

'Pfft. No way.' Lili starts giggling.

'Heh. Don't worry, Sam, you don't have to be worried about that.' says Oswald.

'Yeah, this tadpole used to be my best friend. He was like a little brother to me.'

'Hey, don't call me like that!'

'But you are just a tadpole, what can I do?'

'You know Lili.' Oswald suddenly becomes more serious. 'We could still be friends.'

'I don't know about that, Oswald.' she smiles sadly. 'I still need time to trust you. We will see it.' then she stands up. 'Well, now I have to go. It was fun, maybe I should pay a visit once again.'

'We will wait for you with open arms.' Oswald says. 'Let me show you the way out.'

'Okay, good bye Sam.'

'Good bye Lili.'

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When Oswald comes back he stands in front of me and pulls me a little closer.

'What happened, Sam? Were you jealous?' he says smirking.

'Uhm… yes, Oswald, maybe I was a little bit.' I admit. 'I'm sorry, I was selfish.'

'What's wrong with being a bit selfish?'

'I wanted to see you happy, so I thought it would be fine to resume your old relationship. But then I realized, I don't like it, I want you for myself only.'

'Oh, really?' he says in a sultry voice. His lips are dangerously close to mine. 'Then come with me and I show you what you get for being so selfish.'

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