Her mana must have been playing with her indeed or perhaps it was being all hyped up and in the moment for she could clearly envision Mack pressing her down on top of on of the desks and taking her from behind. He didn't even bother with her cloths just hitching up her skirt a little and pulling aside her panties as he buried his sheath inside her, flowing against her urgently like a pubescant teen with a porn star. Or at least that's what she had envisioned before Johnny arrived and she found Johnny entering and hurried toward him.

Johnny of course was relieved to see her, cradling her up in his arms bestowing a hug upon her. He gazed deeply into her eyes, his lips so very close to hers as if he were about to kiss her in that moment before he broke away in that moment. He was still holding her though not as closely as his gaze fanned to the twins then back to her.

"Then let's waste no time!"

It was clear that he had been concerned since things were taking so long but everything seemed to have gone well enough and now was not the time for questions anyway. He left the station, his hand clasping her wrist as he lead her. He did not run probably not wishing to draw needless attention to them as he lead the way back to their car and an awaiting Greg.

The large man sat behind the wheel of the car watching things as the quartet approached, the rear door opened by Johnny so that Pia and the twins could get in the back while he took his place up front.

"Drive."

Greg pulled out into traffic taking a bit of care as he analyzed those words. There seemed to be no excitement in them so he figured that they were in no rush, well no more than usual that was. A few moments later they were on a highway, some time after that they were across the border. How long, Pia couldn't say for there was a gap there in her memory just as if she were dreaming and a great deal of time elapsed but nothing important really happened so it was skipped.

One moment she was in the car, the next in a run down building. She had the knowledge she was in Mexico now. She was alone at the moment, Greg checking out the perimeter of the building and the twins a few rooms over looking over their guns should they need them when Johnny entered into the room, a smile on his features.

"I don't know how you did it Pia but you did. It was all worth it, we got the Frezno Diamond and the law is well behind us at this stage not to mention that the twins made it out of that jam back there."

Pia was monetarily dazed, as the scene had shifted. Yet they seemed to be safe, she could let her guard down a little.

She blushed a little from the praise. She did not quite know how to say she did it.

"It's magic,", she said, shrugging. "So.. we made it.."

She smiled. "So, what happens next?", she said, curious to know where this was leading.

If this really is a setup from Aegir, he must have something in store..

Aegir certainly had been busy in her head, though what had seemed like a good while in her mind had actually only been a few minutes though it was long enough for him to have already rectified the situation that he had found her in. But since he was rather enjoying himself and had the chance to experiment with his own creativity, which his species lacked, he found no reason to dispel the rest of this false experience just yet.

Johnny regarded her for a moment, a smile touching his lips as he nodded slightly. "Indeed, it must have been. What happens from here? We fence the Frezno Diamond, split the money and go our separate ways, Of course, not all of us need to go our separate ways ..."

He had been about to say more when he heard a crash from the other room, the sound of glass shattering on the floor or so it sounded like. His head whirled in that direction. "Did you hear that?"

"Eeek!"

Pia's reactions had been honed from more than a year of monster ambushes, and she whirled around to face the direction of the sound, at the same time stepping quickly backwards.
Fighting panic, she let her eyes dart around the room, looking for either a hiding place or an escape route. It was perhaps symptomatic of her experiences; Pia's first reaction was that this was a monster attack, not a police bust.

Johnny moved in front of her. In one fluid motion he produced a pistol from beneath his trench coat as he stepped forward. His gaze shifting from side to side to take in everything that he could. Nothing out of the ordinary as he pushed opened the door leading to the kitchen and he continued on.

When he moved into what served as a living room he witnessed both Mack and Jack. Playing cards littered a table where one of the twins had been playing solitaire while another portion of it had gun parts and the other was cleaning them.

A bottle of scotch laid on the floor smashed as it was knocked over or rolled onto the floor, shattered pieces of glass intermixed with the dark patch of liquid of the liquor.

While Mack was face down his brother was leaning back, arms out to either side. A bullet hole in his chest and two bullet sized holes in one of the windows. A pool of blood formed up on the table and dripped down to the floor.

Johnny stepped back, his gaze fling all around though he shot out an arm at once to prevent Pia from advancing.

The mix of fresh blood and strong spirits gripped Pia by the nostril before her eyes had time to scan the scene and her brain managed to comprehend it. Cold, hard fear gripped her as she understood what had happened. The twins. Dead. Killed. Living bodies being destroyed by tiny, merciless pieces of metal.
She could feel something hard, heavy and painful form in her stomach. Pia had become used to living in a place where brutality and violence where not uncommon, but at least she was reasonably sure that most of the monsters encountered so far would stop shy of actually killing her. Actual slaughter of human beings was not something she was used to, and with her being the kind of person she was, she probably never would.

Seeing people she had known, even briefly, lay dead on the ground filled her with dread.

She almost froze, a mix of horrid fascination and panic chaining her to the floor. Johnny's command snapped her back out of it, and obediently she stepped back. Her brain kicked into action.

"Johhny! Away from the window!", she whispered, afraid Johnny would be visible from outside, where the assassin would be hiding. There was something else too. Her brain ticked, thoughts grinding.

"Where is Greg?"

"Right here!" He nearly startled her, whether he was that quiet or she was that transfixed on the grisly scene could have been anyone's guess. He had his gun drawn too and appeared tense. "What is it? I heard a noise outside towards this end of the house, I checked outside but couldn't find anything save for some broken class and couldn't see inside too well ..."

"The twins," Johnny interupted with a shake of his head. "Dead."

"Dead! The cops? We need to get out of here."

Johnny shook his head in answer, "no the cops wouldn't have done this, nothing like this."

Greg stepped forward to see the scene for himself she guessed.

An ugly bolt of suspicion struck her. Outside.. just before the shots where fired..

It was an ugly thought, and not long ago, it was a thought that would not have popped into Pia's naive head. After learning the truth about Shokushu, or at least enough to know humans where behind it, after she had experienced some of what she had from the 'sashes', the prefects and head girls, Pia had suddenly found herself a little less positively inclined towards her fellow homo sapiens.

Still, she knew nothing, and the story was plausible.

"Uh.. gentlemen.. I think maybe we need to do a tactical withdrawal.. Like right now? Uh.. Greg.. careful with the window.."

Johnny nodded, "lead the way Greg, to the car the safe house well, isn't safe."

Greg glanced in the direction of the window, his eyes widening a little as he took half a step forward then halted not wishing to exposure himself he promptly stepped back and pointed.

"O- What the hell is that?"

Johnny glanced in the direction of the window then leapt to the side instinctively it seemed. He had kept his perphreal vision on Greg, suspicious as well and it was a good thing too since once his head had turned Greg lifted up his gun and fired the shot would have killed him rather than hitting him in the arm felling him.

Immediately Greg pointed the gun at her and gestured with it for her to move closer to Jphnny.

"Oh my God! You shot him!"

Pia darted over to Johnny, dropping down beside him. She was not an expert on medicine, even less so on shot wounds, but she tried her best to asses the damage. "Johnny.. are you alright?"

She glanced up at Greg. Her expression was a mixture of fear, anger, betrayal and confusion, as well as worry about Johhny. She knew better than to try to run, or even worse, attack the larger man. After all, he had a gun pointed at her. A piece of cold metal, promising death. Pia realized this was likely it. Greg just had to pull the trigger. He would likely shot her first, she being a bit closer than Johnny. She would be killed because of his greed, and right now, she could do little about it.

"SHIT!" Johnny grasped his injured arm, crimson blood oozing through his fingers as he clasped it so it took a little bit of work for Pia to get a good look at the wound. She was no expert but knew that there were no organs there and out of all places to be shot the arm was the best place over all.

The wound did not look too deep nor was the bullet still lodged their either, which was a good sign of course it was still likely that the lot of them would be killed.
t
"You just had to go back for the twins, to think they could still be alive. Anyway, I can't do you in just yet, Johnny, not until you tell me where the diamond is."

"Go to hell," Johnny spat.

"Oh, I thought you'd respond like that and hence why she's still alive," Greg aimed the gun at her as he cocked the hammer back of his revolver. "Tell me where the diamond is or I'll give her a nice present."

"Don't Greg! Let her go and I'll tell you where the diamond is, kill her and I won't tell you a god damn thing."

Greg flickered his gaze back for a small moment then back to Pia. "Oh, I wasn't going to kill her, at least not quick. First I think I'll put a bullet in both knee caps then maybe the elbows if you didn't cooperate then maybe I'd have to get a little more creative after that."

"You.. you set us up, didn't you? Was it you who called the police?", Pia almost snarled in anger, but her rage was choked as she stared into the barrel of the gun. She shivered as she heard his words. She would be killed, slow. But before she died, Johnny would likely get killed too. She hoped she did not have to watch.

"Please.. please.. Don't.. Are you that greedy? The diamond would have us all set for life.."

Pleading or reasoning would not help, she knew. He had betrayed them, murdered the twins.. He had no better side to appeal to. Pia was deathly afraid, but she knew she would not let it end here.
Unblinking, she stared at Greg, as if she could somehow peel of his skin with her vision, divine something, a weakness.. anything.

"Smart girl, dividing by three is far better than five, then I got to thinking that why divide it at all? The cops will eventually stumble upon your bodies but we're in Mexico now and the police here are easier to buy. Just give me the diamond, I already have a buyer lined up for it, a fence if you will."

Greg had ignored her pleas of course watching her mostly though his gaze flickered between the two ensuring that no one went for a weapon. Pia could only discern that greed had gotten the better of him since the diamond was valueable enough for the three of them, provided that he had gotten a good enough deal from this fence of his.

He regarded her cooly for a moment. "A piety, this was not my original intent, toots, but plans change after all. We could have had quiet a bit of fun too."

"Let her go and the diamond is yours -"

"Now if I do that and she's gone then there's no reason for you to tell me where you got the diamond now is there?"

"Greg, I swear -"

"Swear all you want though you know it's true, you probably already think that your dead and if Pia is gone then there's no reason for you to tell me know is there, I wonder just how long you'll watch her suffer before telling me."

"Alright! That's not neccessary, just promise me that when I tell you you'll let her go."

"Sure, now where is it?"

"Don't!", Pia nearly shouted. "You realize he will kill us both if you give it to him?"

There was no doubt in her mind that he would. The second he had the stone, he would have no use for them. They would be a liability, and two bullets were of little value when compared to the diamond.
But even if they did not say anything, the alternative did not sound too good. Pia was attached to her legs, and did not look forward to a bullet in each. Somehow she would have to buy some time. At least until they could either escape, or subdue him, or something.

Pia tried to force herself to think rationally, to keep from panicking, to keep from thinking about what had happened to the twins. She would be able to live without the diamond. She would not abandon Johnny, or let him get himself killed.

"Is..Is there any way to do this without killing anyone?", she said, looking at Greg.

"How about taking me as a hostage, then releasing Johnny to fetch the diamond? I am willing to bet my life on him returning it to you.."

Greg gave it some thought, possible scenarios running through his mind as he seemed to consider flaws and the like then answered cooly. "That's fine with me. Initially I just wanted to grab the stone and leave with it but Johnny you hid that thing quiet well it seems and thus killing you out of hand causes me a certain degree of trouble.

"But, I like this plan. Get the diamond and while you do that I'll disappear someplace with Pia. You can leave the stone someplace and when I have it then I'll leave Pia there, no sense making things more difficult on me, huh? Oh, you guns, wouldn't want to take a bullet in the back.

"You got," he paused glancing quickly at his wrist watch chancing the second delay, "one hour. Leave it in a sealable bowl, you can get a container there in the kitchen. Bury it a few inches in the ground on the north side of the tree outside in the yard, if it's there within the hour I'll leave Pia there."

"Go to hell!"

"You first," he pointed the weapon at him and cocked the hammer of his revolver. "So, it's the hard way after all ... you die, she dies, everybody dies."

He gazed at Johnny for a second who swung his gaze between him and Pia. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Good boy, Pia, get his gun and slid it over there."