~Karma's POV~

I sighed a little, walking into the Detective Agency. I was wearing my normal detective wear, dragging my feet a little. I reeeeally didn't want to be back here but I could only take so much time off before someone got suspicious. I was greeted by Asano and Nagisa at the door. Nagisa approached me with a smile. "Good morning Karma!" He greeted cheerfully. I grunted a response. Asano gave me a knowing look and polite nod, handing me a cup of coffee. "Thanks." I grumbled, downing that s*it quickly. Nagisa sweat dropped. "Geez. You both seem exhausted this morning." He said. "The hell are you on about Nagisa? Asano is always tired. I just don't want to be here." I said, elbowing the strawberry blond male. Asano shot me a glare and I just stuck my tongue out at him. Nagisa laughed a little. "Since when do any of us want to be here?" He questioned. "Amen to that." Me and Asano said in unison. "Anywho, I'm sure I have plenty of paperwork to do since I left. Might as well get a jump start on it." I said with a shrug. I walked over to the elevator. "Need some help?" Nagisa questioned. "Nah. I'll manage." I called back. I stepped into the elevator and clicked the button for my floor. Once the doors closed behind me I let out a sigh of relief. I took a few deep breaths, calming myself down. Once the ding sounded, my mask was back on. I walked out the elevator and walked to my office. Greeting a few of the others as I walked past. Once I arrived at my office I fished out my keys and opened the door. I flicked on the lights and froze. The blue haired reincarnation of Satan himself sat on my desk waving at me. "Hiya Karma!" Ashley greeted cheerful. I stood, completely still. "Nope. Not today Satan." I said, closing the door. I sprinted across the floor startling a few people as I ran to Karasuma's office. I pounded on the door. "KARASUMA OPEN THIS D*MN DOOR!" I shouted. I opened the door myself, seeing a shocked Karasuma at his desk. He cleared his throat, shooting me a look. "Karma, welcome back." He said. "Cut the bull, right now!" I said. He tilted his head to the side. I slammed a hand down on his desk and pointed in the direction of my office. "THERE IS A DEMON IN MY OFFICE! GET IT OUT!" I shouted. Karasuma gave me another look. "So? You're the devil aren't you? Order them to leave." He said. I gave him a blank expression. "Still had no idea you were capable of sass. Either way, apologies sir. But this is one demon I have no control over." I stated flatly. "Pfft. I find that one hard to believe. What demon can't you terrify into submission?" He questioned. "Ashley Iceheart." I stated in a monotone voice. Karasuma's eyes widened as he started sweating nervously. "U-umm...I'm sorry. Please repeat that." He said. "Ashley. Ashley Iceheart. Y'know, from Jr. High. The one that literally caused school wide chaos due to pranks that rival mine. The girl that had more bloodlust than me and Nagisa put together. THE ONE THAT NEARLY KILLED ALL OF US ANYTIME SHE WAS P*SSED! Y'KNOW! THAT ASHLEY!" I shouted.

~Time Skip~

Everyone sat in the meeting room mumbling things to eachother. I was pacing behind Karasuma causing a few people to worry. "Attention, attention everyone." Karasuma said. Silence washed over the room. "We have a bit of a predicament." He continued. "Karma if you will." He said, gesturing to me. I shot him a glare before clearing my throat. "Does everyone here remember Ashley Iceheart from Jr. High?" I questioned. Everyone broke out into murmuring and whispers. "I'll take that as a yes, weeeeell, the problem is-." "HEY STRAWBERRY WHERE THE F*CK DO YOU KEEP THE CANDY IN THIS PLACE!?" Everyone froze and quieted down, not daring to breath with her that close. She sounded like she was right outside the door. "Oi. Where the f*ck did Karma run off too?" Ashley questioned. "Maybe he hid somewhere upstairs the coward." And with that she left. Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief and looked at me. "Why did you bring her here!?" Oakada whisper shouted. I pointed at her in anger. "Hey! F*ck off! She appeared in my office this morning when I came in! I didn't bring her here!" I angrily whispered back. The others all shot eachother looks. "How are we going to get rid of her!?" Nagisa questioned, shaking in fear. "God why did the female Karma have to show up? The male is bad enough!" Meg grumbled. I shot her a nasty glare, about ready to murder everyone in this room minus Asano and Nagisa...And maybe Sugino. He hasn't been an a*s to me at least. Now that I think about it no one in my branch has been an a*s to me. Only those on Karasuma's side of the agency. Oh joy. This makes my job so much better. I rolled my eyes a little. "Karma you look deep in thought. Do you have an idea?" Sugino questioned. I hummed a little before pulling out my phone. "I think I can call someone who might be able to get rid of her." I said. I quickly dialed Flame and held the phone to my ear. "Hello?" She questioned. "Hey Flame, it's Karma." I said, moving away from the others a little and keeping my voice down. "Oh hey Karma. Geez you sound tired. Something ya' need? I heard from Joker that you were going back to the agency today." She said. "I need a favor." I said. "Oh?" She questioned. "Come and get Ashley out of the agency. Now." I growled. Flame hummed a little on her end. "Nah, I think I'll let you babysit today. After all I'm tired of being mature." She said dismissively. I sighed long and deep. "What do you want?" I asked. "Hmm? What was that?" Flame questioned. "What. Do. You. Want?" I repeated. "What do you want from me so that you'll come and get Ashley?" I growled. Flame was silent for a little while. "Some chocolate, a tarot card reading, and I want you to attempt to braid Joker's hair." Flame said. I grabbed a notepad and pencil and wrote that all down. "Alright. No guarantees with that last one though. Sure I'll try but we all know how stubborn she is." I said. "That's fine. But if you do manage take a picture and send it to me so I'll know you did it." Flame said. "Alright. Do we have a deal?" I questioned. "Sure thing. Anytime you need me to help with Ashley these will be the conditions. Except for that last bit, it'll change each time." Flame said. I nodded. "Deal." I agreed. A small headache came on as those same words repeated in my head like when I made my deal with Joker. Only this time instead of it being Devil and Tower Arcanas it was the Magician Arcana. "Alright, later Flame." I said. "Later." She responded. And with that I hung up. I put the notepad and pencil away walking back over to the table. "Good news. After a little negotiation I got someone to get rid of Ashley." I said. Sighs of relief washed over everyone. "On a related note, does anyone know where I can get a bunch of chocolate?" I asked. Everyone gave me looks and/or sweat dropped.

After a couple of minutes we heard shouting from above us and I smiled. "Looks like she finally got here. Thank God." I said. The doors opened to reveal Flame dragging Ashley by the back of her shirt, unconscious. She walked over in front of me. I nodded to her. "You owe me now." She said. "I'm aware." I responded. "Welp, you have your tasks, I'll just assume you'll pay me back later." Flame said. "Of course. I never go back on my word." I said, crossing my arms. Flame smirked a little. "I know...I know everything after all." She said with a shrug. She held out her hand for a hand shake. "Pleasure doing business with you." She said. I shook her hand. "I look forward to working with you in the future." I responded. She nodded with a knowing look. "Yes. Of course." She said. And with those parting words she left, dragging the still unconscious Ashley with her. Everyone gave me looks. "Who was that?" Nagisa questioned. "An acquaintance of mine. She's Ashley's adoptive older sister." I explained. "Ohhh! Where did you meet her?" Sugino questioned. I shot him a look. "A friend introduced us. I have a life outside of work y'know." I growled. "Anyways, I'm going to get back to work. Knowing how things typically work around here everyone's probably dumped all the paper work on me." I grumbled. I walked out of the room, closing the doors behind me as I walked back to the elevator. Once I arrived at my floor, I walked into my office and just sat down, sighing. I shot a look at the mountain of paper work on my desk and facepalmed. I grabbed my pen and the first paper, getting to work. I finished off a lot of the paper work and there was a knock on my door. I looked at the still massive pile and just sighed. "Come in." I said. Nagisa opened the door and walked in with a smile. "Hey Karma. How you holding up?" He questioned. I growled a little. "Being honest with you not so well. I'm working but the pile doesn't seem any smaller to me." I complained. Nagisa smiled. "You sure you don't want any help?" He questioned. I sighed. "Nagisa, I'll be fine. Wouldn't be the first time I've had to do a lot of s*it alone. I'll manage. Besides you have a lot of work to do yourself don't you?" I questioned. Nagisa sweat dropped. "Eh. True." He said. I paused for a minute, giving Nagisa a look. "Hey...Nagisa. Are you alright?" I asked. The blue haired girl/boy flinched back a little in shock. "W-what do you mean?" He questioned. "You seem....upset lately. Is something bothering you?" I asked. Nagisa waved his hands around, a little frantically. "What!? N-no! Just a little stressed is all! Yeah! Nothing going on at all!" He said. I sighed a little. "Y'know for someone who's very talented at hiding their true intentions you suck at lying." I pointed out. Nagisa froze a little before staring down at his feet. "Heh. Point taken. You'd expect me to be better at it but then again I've never been that good at hiding things from you." He said. "Yeah, Mr. I Get Abused By My Mom And Only The Red Headed Sadist Could Tell Before Koro-sensei Found Out." I said sarcastically. Nagisa forced a dry laugh. "Well there was a reason you were my first and only friend, Mr. I Get Lonely So I'll Stick With The Only Person Not Scared S*itless Of Me." Nagisa said with his own eye roll. I chuckled a little myself. "But seriously. What's going on? Has someone been talking s*it?" I questioned. "No. It's nothing like that." Nagisa said. "Then what is it?" I questioned. Nagisa dropped eye contact and opened his mouth. "Karma um...Has something been going on with your bloodlust lately?" He questioned. I flinched back a little, stomach dropping in shock.

"Um...Why are you asking?" I questioned. Nagisa gave me a cold glare. "Karma don't play dumb with me. I've known you long enough to know when something is going on bloodlust-wise." Nagisa growled. I dropped eye contact, afraid to look at the blue haired male any longer. "....You've been the alleyway murderer haven't you?" Nagisa questioned. I flinched again and started fiddling with my gloves. "I had a feeling. So it was you." He said. "I've been on enough Crimson Dragon cases to recognize the stab marks at a glance. Not only that, but barely any evidence at all despite the clearly unhinged killing? Yeah. I'm surprised no one else has caught on yet. Then again, I do know you best." Nagisa said. "Typically these murders of yours had a pattern. Once or twice a month. Maybe once every other week depending on what went down here at work. But never scarily often. So I didn't feel the need to bring it up. Then, after the last encounter with Joker, it started being a once a week thing, sometimes more often. Then, around the time of Terasaka's death, it all stopped, and went silent." I finally looked up slightly to meet Nagisa's eyes. Finding that the held unbelievable amounts of concern. "Karma, what happened? You had such good hold on your bloodlust before hand until that encounter with Joker. Me, Asano, and Mr. K all saw that you had changed after that encounter but no one is doing anything. And it's frustrating. What happened? Please Karma. I'm worried." Nagisa said. I sighed a little, resting my head on my desk. "You think you're worried? Nagisa I'm freaking terrified right now. I don't know exactly what she did to me that night, but I have an idea. And it's not pretty. Nagisa....I'm going to be completely honest with you, and you can't tell anyone about anything I'm about to say. But right now, Joker has me trapped in a position where I can barely do anything without her wining. Ever since the beginning, since our first encounter, we've been locked in this...Real Life Game of Chess. A game in which I started with major disadvantages. She's been manipulating the board since the start and right now she has me pinned. I'm losing. I'm losing to her and it scares me. It's been months since we started this game and without me even realizing it she's been manipulating me into doing precisely what she wanted me to do. Secret meetings that no one knew happened, deals made that bind me in place, my bloodlust rages, the slow flame of insanity that she's been fanning inside of me, all of it." I explained. I started pulling at my hair a little, sitting up. Nagisa gave me a look. "What deals?" He questioned. "I've made two deals with her. One on pure accident when I didn't know the female I was talking too was Joker. And the other one I proposed myself after I found out she was Joker. She lured me into that one. She made it look like it was a slip up on her part, that she had made a mistake. I moved in, exactly as she planned, because I believed it was my chance to get some breathing room. I was wrong. So, so wrong. These two deals bind both of us in place, sure. But I have less breathing room. And it all works in her favor. Something that I have to keep in mind now, is that Joker doesn't make mistakes. They're all traps. Traps meant to bind me in place. And they've all been working flawlessly. Because...well....My views on Joker are slowly changing. I'm realizing that we aren't vastly different, me and her. Joker has even stressed that I'm exactly like her. That I have bloodlust like her. That I'm insane like her. She brings it up in almost every conversation we have. And what scares me the most is that she's right. I am like her. I'll never admit that to her face, but I know its true. In fact if I had been in her same situation, I probably would be the insane murderer that's wanted all across Japan. If I had been the one to fall into insanity. If I had been the one to drown, as she puts it." I hadn't realized it at the time but my hands started shaking. "She has me trapped Nagisa. And she has plans for me. I think I've found out what those plans are, and how she plans to achieve them. The problem is I can't do anything about it because of the deals we've made. And-and. There's something else entirely. I'm not sure what she's been doing to me. But she's been doing something! Something that doesn't make me want to go back to normal. Something that doesn't want this madness to end. Ever since she's had me trapped in this madness a small voice in the back of my mind always makes me question things that I don't want to question. It makes me question why I keep trying to fight her. It makes me question what it would feel like to be insane like her. It makes me want to go back to her, over, and over, and over....." I trailed off, lowering my hands back to my sides. It makes me competitive with her. It makes me want to be the only one to take her down. But at the same time it makes me want her to drag me down into insanity. I thought. I grit my teeth and 'tch'ed in annoyance. "I'm not sure what's f*cking happening to me. What she's doing to me. But I'm still determined to beat her. Which is why I told you not to tell anyone about this. I'm stubborn. Another trait me and Joker, unfortunately, share." I grumbled.

All of a sudden we heard laughter and someone fell through the roof. I stood up suddenly, glaring at the female, who's laugh has become all too familiar to me. "Joker what the f*ck! Why are you here!?" I shouted. She just continued laughing violently and Nagisa grew pale as a ghost. Er....Paler than he already was. Then another girl fell out of the ceiling, then another one. Only the last one actually landed on her feet. I immediately recognized Joker, Demon, and Flame. Nagisa stood up with a wide eyed look of fear. "KARA-!" I got up and covered his mouth, cutting him off. "Nagisa. Don't do it. You call for Karasuma and we're both screwed. If you call for him, they'll kill you, then me. Well....maybe not me. They'd probably kidnap me. We don't want that. It's not-it's not a good thing. But I don't think you want to die. And I don't want to die. Don't scream or shout. Calm down. Don't show fear. They smell fear." I whispered to him. Ashley landed next to Flame with a thud. "Why did you leave me at the organization?" She wined. "Especially that one." I added. She immediately looked around. "I smell fear. Who's fear is it?" She questioned. Joker and Demon got up before they all pointed guns at us. Nagisa closed his eyes tightly with a small wine and muffled 'I'm gonna die'. I just snickered a little. "Nagisa, you do realize that they're just f*cking with you right?" I questioned. Joker smiled a little, putting down her gun as did the others. Flame turned to Ashley and started scolding her for following them. She then handed Ashley a mask and pulled up her hood, hiding her hair. "C'mon Ash. Don't confront someone without a mask on, you know this." She said. "Hey Nagisa. Little something to note." I said. I forced a brave smile despite being absolutely terrified. "Right now we're facing down four of the most dangerous people in the world. And that is no lie." I said. He whimpered a little and I felt a little bad for how scared he probably was. "Alright. We're gonna work this out. We're gonna negotiate. I'm going to remove my hand, very slowly. Don't scream alright? Just stay calm." I said. I slowly began removing my hand from his mouth. After a few seconds of silence I relaxed a little. "KARASUMA!" Nagisa screamed. I facepalmed. "You done goofed kid." I growled. Hearing the sounds of guns being loaded and then cocked, I looked at Joker who was growling a little. She snapped her fingers. "Kill him." She hissed. I stood in front of Nagisa, holding my arms out in a protective manor. "Whoa. Okay. Calm down. L-let's not get hostile. He's my friend." I said nervously.

~Joker's POV~

I sighed a little, should I kill the blue haired male? Or respect Karma's wishes in keeping him alive? I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked over at Breeze. "Psst! He could be useful to us." She mumbled to me. *Ding*. There's the light bulb. I smirked a little, lowering my gun. "Change of plans. Knock him out. Both of them." I said, snapping my fingers. Breeze grabbed a bottle and I gave her a look. "Correction. Flame. Knock them out." I said. "On it." She said, getting out the blow gun. "Aww...Why do you get to do all the fun stuff?" Breeze questioned. "Because I'm actually mature and have control on my craziness." Flame responded. I sighed a little as Flame knocked them out. "Breeze, watch the door. Flame, start tying them up. Ashley, help your older sister." I said. They all nodded and went to their respective tasks. Karma fell to the ground, passed out already while Nagisa followed soon after. Flame pulled out a few ropes and started tying up Karma and Nagisa's hands. Ashley helping her out a little. While Breeze watched the door. "Alright." Flame said, standing up. "We should be good now." She added. I nodded. "Breeze, you grab Nagisa. Flame, you handle Karma." I said. "What about me?" Ashley asked excitedly. I heard something running down the hall and pulled out my gun and knife. Pointing the gun at the door just as Karasuma showed up. He glared hard at us, pointing a gun at me. "Freeze Joker!" He shouted. I hummed a little. "Check the situation again Karasuma." I said. Flame and Breeze put their guns up to Karma and Nagisa's heads while Ashley pointed her gun at Karasuma. "There's four of us. We have two of your detectives. And all of us have good reflexes. You really want to pick a fight with us right now?" I questioned. He growled a little before lowering his gun. I smirked. "That's better. Let's get out of here girls." I hissed, turning to look at the others. Flame was the first one to back away to the hole in the roof. She put away her gun, trading it for a grappling hook and shooting it into the hole we fell out of. Pulling the unconscious body of Karma with her, she was pulled up into the hole disappearing. Breeze followed, handing Nagisa up to Flame before jumping up into the hole herself. "Ice Demon, you go with them first." I growled. She nodded, jumping up after Flame and Breeze. I slowly backed up towards the hole, and Flame dropped down a rope for me. I wrapped my hand around the rope, keeping my gun on Karasuma before tugging on the rope a few times. "Pull me up." I growled. They pulled me up quickly and just like that, we successfully kidnapped Karma and Nagisa.