The Red Hand

Interlude 20 – Are Ya’ll With the Cult.

"MMMMMMMMMMMMPFH!" A blindfolded man tried to scream as his fingernails were removed, but the gag in his mouth muffled any attempt to call for help. He was being interrogated in a dark and dank place, though his tormentor was anything but the average interrogator.

"Good bun-bun!" Chloe smiled as she pat the young Bunny-Girl Remmy on the head. After her encounter with the sneak thief, she learned that the bunny-girl and a small group of other kids and teens were working together in order to get attention from "The Tribunal" as they called them, which Chloe assumed was a local thieves' guild. "Now then, let's see if we can work on those toenails of his, nya."

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMPF!" The bound and gagged man tried to wiggle free, but the tight bindings meant that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Ms. Chloe, where did you learn about interrogation like this?" Remmy said she began the very painful task of ripping the man's toenails off one by one. "The adults never teach us so advanced torture methods!" Her eyes shone brightly as she inflicted great pain on the captive man.

"I was taught by my first myaster." Chloe gave a happy smile as she recalled that time. "We were even subjected to this same kind of pain to learn to resist it. Ah, memories, nya." She chuckled as the man screamed in agony. "Ah! No!" She quickly intervened to stop Remmy. "The toes have a lot more blood than the fingers, so be careful where you hammer in the tool. Otherwise, he'll bleed out, and we can't have the subject expire yet." She wagged her finger as she demonstrated the proper technique and drove the spike under the nail bed.

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMPF!" The man screamed again before passing out.

"Awwww." Remmy's ears drooped. "But I wasn't done playing with him yet..."

{Cute bun-bun.} (Chloe)

"Do not worry! There are plenty of more where that came from, nya." Chloe snickered as she pointed to the men chained up in a cell behind her, all of which had looks of horror on their faces. She'd taken to grabbing people off the streets, mostly criminals and other troublemakers, so that she could teach the kids about torture and interrogation. “We'll get you and the others up to speed on 'Advanced Interrogation Techniques' as myaster calls them.”

{She said that's the culturally acceptable way to say torture nowadays.} (Chloe)

"P-Please! Let us go!" One of the chained men begged for mercy. "I'm sorry for mugging that guy, so please just let me go!"

"Sorry, nya, but we need you for demonstration purposes." Chloe shrugged. "Maybe you'll get to leave if you survive, nya."

{But I doubt you will.} (Chloe)

"We can't do that, Ms. Chloe!" Remmy vigorously shook her head. "Their blood must be spilled! The Tribunal would command that none of these men survive! All should perish!"

"Hmmmm, okay." Chloe pat her on the head and fluffed her ears. "Do you think the Tribunal would let us talk to them after we put this bunch to death?" Her main goal was to meet this 'Tribunal' and bring it under her control, and if a little bloodletting was needed to get to that point, then so be it.

"No..." Remmy said with a sad look in her eyes. "They will probably want more than this, and they are very selective..."

{I suppose they must only want to meet truly elite thieves and assassins. Taking the lives of mere thugs is something that any old common murderer or criminal can do, after all.} (Chloe)

"Well, don't you worry your fluffy little ears, nya!" Chloe giggled as she poked at the girl's ears. "I'll get some us good prey, and then the Tribunal will surely want to meet us, nya!"

"Hurray!" Remmy cheered with a massive smile. "But we should still deal with them, as not spilling their blood would upset the Tribunal."

{Blood should not go unspilled!} (Remmy)

"Okay, nya!" Chloe nodded. "Now, how about I teach you all about human anatomy and how the skin works?" She smiled.

"Hurray! More teaching!" Remmy cheered again. "Can you show me the best way to peel them like potatoes?" She asked with sparkly eyes.

"Of course, nya!" Chloe said, enjoying the bunny's enthusiasm.

{WHAT KIND OF HELL IS THIS?!?} (Captives)

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After a rousing round of war crimes, Chloe and Remmy cleaned up and went out for dinner at a nearby inn. The Rabbit Girl was surprisingly ravenous, and Chloe commented that she and a certain Vampire that she knew would get along well.

"Remmy is very cute, nya!" Chloe said as she pinched the girl's cheeks from across the table. “Very, very cute!”

"Ms. Chloe, that hurts..." Remmy squirmed before being released. "Why must you always pinch my cheeks? I've told you to stop treating me like a child!" She puffed her cheeks out, which Chloe found adorable.

"But you're only thirteen, so you're a child." Chloe retorted with a snicker. "Besides, I know a very fluffy kitty from back home, and she likes to be spoiled, so I tend to do this whenever I see something fluffy now, nya."

{Though, this girl ain't got nothing on myaster! Her fluff level is over 9000!} (Chloe)

"Where did you even come from anyway, Ms. Chloe?" Remmy asked as she took a sip of a spoonfull of soup. "Were you some kind of agent for the Beast Kingdom?" She figured that Chloe was a former member of its intelligence agency or was involved in Northwind.

"I came from a faraway land, nya." Chloe gave a vague reply, not wanting to confirm or deny her guesses. "But what's important is that I'm here on a super duper extra secret mission, nya!" She winked.

"Secret mission?!?" Remmy raised her voice before clapping her hand over her mouth."What kind of secret mission?”

"Well, it's the kind of secret mission that would require that I kill you if I told you." Chloe snickered, though she wasn't joking. "Though I can tell you that meeting this Tribunal is very important to it, nya."

"Cool!" Remmy beamed, and her ears wiggled as her mind raced, imagining what kind of crazy mission that Chloe was on.

{Just imagine how much blood she's spilled!} (Remmy)

"Very cool indeed!" Chloe agreed, oblivious to the dark thoughts within the bunny-girl.

"What about you?" Chloe asked Remmy about her past. "You told me that your parents abandoned you, but how did you end up here, nya?" She asked as she took a bite of meat.

"Hmmmmm." Remmy thought for a moment while chewing. "I don't really remember much of it, but one day I was just here." She shrugged. The bunny had missing parts of her memory and only vaguely recalled what happened before a few years prior. "I think my parents sent me on a carriage to a nearby village, and then I just wandered here. An older boy who used to lead the orphans took me in, and I've been running with them ever since."

"Older boy? Where is he now?" Chloe asked.

"The Tribunal came one day and took him." Remmy smiled. "It was a glorious day when they came, though Johan was a bit nervous." She giggled.

"Have you ever seen him since then?" Chloe asked as she took a sip of her drink. "It doesn't seem like he still helps you, nya." She'd moved the kids into a nearby warehouse that she acquired via completely legal means, and was using it as a base. During that time she'd kept a close eye on who came and went, and she never noted anyone like Remmy was describing.

"Of course not. He won't help us or visit us anymore." Remmy replied with a head shake. "The Tribunal requires that you abandon your old life to join, and you are given a baptism that makes you anew!" She smiled. “So its only natural that he never returns.”

{I wonder if it's like when myaster made Misha?} (Chloe)

"A newly christened Unholy Assassin is basically an entirely different person after the Tribunal inducts them. They even get a new name and a really cool outfit!" Remmy giggled as she imagined what her assassin name would be.

{Why does this girl know so much? She's just a child, but to know so much about the inner workings of a thieves'/assassin guild, especially one this secretive, isn't sitting right with me, nya.} (Chloe)

"Do you ever talk to the Tribunal people?" Chloe asked how much contact that she'd had with the organization. "You seem to know a lot about them."

"I've only met them a few times, but Assassin Boahl once told me that I had a gift!" Remmy said proudly. "He told me that one day I'd be brought before the Tribunal as long as I poured my heart into it!"

{If nothing else, this girl has the heart of a killer.} (Chloe)

"I see. Well, if they ever show up, I'd like to meet them." Chloe yawned. "But let's finish up our meal today. We should get back and head to bed before it gets too late."

"Yeah, I'm starting to get sleepy too." Remmy yawned and the two quickly finished up dinner before heading outside. The Bunny Girl said that she wanted to check on the other orphan groups before heading back, and promised to meet Chloe back at base in a bit.

"Be safe Bun-Bun!" Chloe waved goodbye before jumping away.

"Don't worry, Ms. Chloe, I'll be fine." Remmy's happy smile slowly morphed into a twisted one as she turned around and started walking down the street while humming a tune After a bit she turned down an alley and made her way into the slums where she came across a drugged-up man slumped against the side of a building.

"A girl?" The half-conscious man looked at her with dilated eyes. "What's a cute little bunny like you doing-" His words stopped as Remmy drove a knife into his throat.

"Hush." Remmy slowly pat the man on the head as she flicked the knife, causing blood to slash outward and paint the side of the building. “You don't need to say anything. All you need to do is die.”

"Gack, ack!" The man fell over, choking on blood.

"Don't worry, it will all be over soon." Remmy smiled and giggled as she drove her knife into the man's back, piercing his lung. "I know it is a humble one, but I hope this offering is sufficient, Lord Korex." She started stabbing the man over again as she said some kind of demented prayer. "Oh Lord of Murder, may you accept my offering of this man's blood, for you command that blood must flow and so it shall! For you command that life must be ended and so it shall! Oh Lord of Murder, please embrace me and grant me thy blessing!"

*STAB*

With one last blow, the man's life was ended, and all that remained in the alley was a bunny girl giggling as she stood over a bloody corpse.

"Ahhh, Lord Korex... I hope one day to be brought to your loving embrace..." Remmy continued to giggle before cleaning herself up and heading home before slipping into bed.

{And perhaps Ms. Chloe will be there to join me!} (Remmy)