I hate women's clothes I think as I twist my arm around, trying desperately to get this stupid dress on.

I mean, what tyranny is this? I am half-convinced the entire reason men made dresses was to keep women submissive and in their place. If they had to wear one of these things, or a corset, they would have never invented them, or made women wear one. Instead, they would let us wear comfortable trousers. I think, along with cursing in several different languages, as I remember I need a corset on, and have to take this thing off, only to put it back on. Thank goodness the corset has front laces, so I don't have to ask someone for help, which would be far too embarrassing for me to do.

"Honestly, why could I not wear trousers again? I could pretend to be a man and finish my mission that way. Maybe slip the poison in his drink. But heaven forbid you choose how you complete your mission when you're the boss of the agency. Especially when you're a woman." I mutter aloud as I slip off the dress, put the corset on, and then put the wretched thing back on.

"Now that you can not breath at all and feel like you are going to die, you can go out there, get your stupid mission over with, and then get this freaking dress off. It's easy, LB. Just pretend to be a server, slip the poison in your assignment's drink, go back to your room, and when the poison kicks in, leave during the confusion. Easy. No room for error, plenty of other escape routes, back up plans, and this plan is foolproof. Nothing can go wrong." I mutter as I steal my nerves for the task at hand.

I move with ease, as the assignment comes in at the time he should. The only problem, he has an entire crew with him. He was supposed to come alone. After all, his fiancee is pregnant, so she shouldn't be here, and none of the others even like him. I believe that none of them would even cry if I killed him. Never mind, this just makes you have to be sneakier with your escape. It changes nothing else.

I wait for them to order drinks, and then inject myself into their lives. For the last time hopefully. "Since you have such a large group, I was wondering if you would like to sit at a table while waiting for those drinks. I have one with the exact number that would be needed open." I say in a hopefully friendly tone, with an obviously fake smile. I haven't truly smiled a big genuine smile since that day. Smirk yes, smile nope.

They all look at one another, before the one I assume is the leader, I'm sorry Captain, my target's finance, nods to me, telling me yes. Well, at least one thing has gone right. I've successfully injected myself into their lives.

I move over, and grab the whiskey that they all ordered, except the Captain. I'm not surprised by this. I may be remembering my lessons that I could not even be bothered to care about since I am not having any kids wrong, but I think something about pregnant women not drinking alcohol of any type was one of the things. Though, I would have thought that she might try to test that theory, given everything that I've heard about her.

I close my eyes, gather all my stability, before starting this. Remember, LB, he deserves this. He has done bad things, and he's a pirate. Yes, they are also pirates, but they haven't done half the things he has. Just when I feel like not doing this, I remind myself of the real reason I am here, and why I took this case. He has ties with Avidgor. He's helped Avidgor do to others what they did to me with Brady. He made other people go through that. He deserves this more than all but one other person in the world. That's why he needs to die. You need to start getting your revenge.

I slip the poison, Wolf's Bane of course, into the cup on the far right. I then take them over to the table with a huge smile plastered on my face, and serve them, making sure to give him the deadly cup.

Since they already paid, I start to move back to my room to the side, but watch them from my peripheral vision, and wait.

I wait for them to all drink their drinks. I wait for the glee that will come over me when the stupid red head tilts it up, and all his drink goes down his throat, including the poison.

As I reach the hallway, about to turn the corner, something that I see makes me freeze. Their stupid Captain is breaking the rules by trying to drink. Drinking from her fiancee's cup!

I know I shouldn't do it, but I do. My instincts to save an innocent, or relatively innocent overtakes me. No one was supposed to be hurt besides him, especially not someone pregnant.

So, with some judgement that when I'm questioned on my actions I'll say it was slightly impaired (After all, it wouldn't be the first time I drank alcohol even though women technically shouldn't. Something about our brains not being able to handle it. They should just be glad I'm not underaged this time, even if there is technically no age on when you should start), I slipped back to align myself with that group perfectly while staying in the shadows.

When the Captain grabs the cup out of her fiancee's hand, since he's playing into my hand trying not to make his fiancee drink his special alcohol, and as she slowly brings it to her lips, I throw my knife, shattering the glass, and making sure she doesn't drink any of the poison. I then rush to my room, before anyone can catch me, or see where the knife came from.

Once in the safety of my own room, I rip the dress off, not caring how much it apparently cost, since it barely covers anything, and the 'fashion' these days is awful anyway. I mean, men wearing wigs to look like old women, you have to be kidding me right? And the main reason, the kings did it to cover up hair loss and graying hair, so everyone decided to do it.

I rip the blasted corset, throwing it across the room, not caring if I never see the blasted (oh how I want to use a stronger word that would be highly inappropriate for any man to say). Actually, I do care if I never see it again; I highly do not. Trousers, a shirt, and straights for the rest of my life.

Once in clothes that I can actually breathe and move in, I start seeing which escape plan would be the best. Which escape plan will escape with, with all the stupid changes to my plan. Especially when I still need to kill the target, without harming any of his group. Complicated much. Why in the world did you want to do this again, LB?

Because it's better than the alternative choices, so just shut up.

Well, I'm you and I'm what's keeping you sane so I kind of can't.

Shut up, please. I can't stand another day when the voices in my head are fighting each other, and I kind of need you guys working together to get me out of here alive. Preferably without murdering anyone, even if you guys are already looking for places to hide the bodies. And, even if you are keeping me sane, you are going to make me go insane if you keep this up.

I close my eyes, and decide to escape now. I don't have to poison him. I wanted to make it look like an accident, but if I have to make it obvious, so be it. As long as the job gets done, and no innocents get harmed, I don't care.

I slip through the window that was already open, and slip into the alley and shadows. Right where I belong and feel most comfortable. Where no one can see me, and everyone is at my mercy. Where I am the only one in complete control, even if it might absolutely corrupt me, better me than someone else who might use it for the worse.

I watch in the alley, and once I see the target, with his companions of course (Why can't anything go my way for this mission), I start to move.

I shadow them correctly, making sure to move silently, stay in the shadows, and far enough behind not to be noticed, but close enough to see where they're going, disguising myself after they look behind each time not to be recognized, and acting like I belong.

Thankfully, something finally goes my way. The target goes away from his group. Him going to a tarven, while his fellow crew goes back to the ship.

I don't even think twice about who I follow. I shadow the target, but instead of going into a tarven, he enters another alleyway.

I shortly follow, my senses peaking as I go after him. I let my senses out to be aware of all my surroundings while following him, as I hear something of interest.

It is the voice I never wanted to hear again. Avidgor. And another males, who I don't know, though it seems he and both of my targets know each other.

I mean, it's just as easy to dispose of two bodies and kidnap/torture another one. Or better yet, dispose of all three and end all my troubles, after I get revenge from him of course.

As I slip up, trying to get closer to hear what everyone is saying while still staying hidden so that I have the element of surprise against three experienced men fighters.

Though, right as I get all my daggers out and ready to attack, the mysterious one and Avidgor leave, just leaving my target left for me. Whatever, I'll get them eventually. They can't hide from me forever.

I slip against the wall, trying my best to try to get in the crevice, which I do, and he walks right behind me. Before he gets onto the main street, I slip behind him with my gloves on.

As he tries to get out of my grasp, I slam him against the wall, putting all my weight on his neck.

As he flails around, trying to escape my grasp, I have to put more weight against him, as I reach for my dagger. Just a simple cut, and then I'm free.

As I put it against his throat, he stills, looking at me in shock, as if he can't believe a woman was about to kill him. That's the problem with men that are okay fighters. They think they're so much better than what they are, and that no one, especially not a woman, could defeat them. It's pretty fun to prove them wrong and see their reaction.

"Before you die, think of all the people you forced to kill a loved one. Don't worry, I'll get your fellow competitor and apprentice to Avidgor, and then Avidgor himself, but you will be the first of the actual enforcers that I kill. And while you're thinking about that, think that you could have prevented this if you had paid attention to all the middle men I'd been killing; then you would have know you were next, taken more care to keep yourself alive, and might have even survived it all, considering you've only done ten Trolley Problems." I hiss in his ear, and see the look of terror fill his eyes with each word I say.

"You are the Ice Queen." He whispers hoarsely, barely even able to get the words out.

"Yes, I am. And now, I will get a small taste of my revenge." I hiss in his ear, as I reach my dagger to his neck, before I'm suddenly pulled off of him by two men, two of his companions.

The one that holds me close to his body, grabbing my wrist and holding onto me tightly as I try to escape his grasps to kill Dirk. This one is the Spainiard, and I growl at him as he whispers how I need to calm down.

The other one that twists my wrist at an unnatural angle that will hurt after my adrenaline wears off, is much older than all the others, with thinning gray hair. He must be the uncle, Ruben I think his name is. Pirate Captain before a huge storm hit, and now he's taking orders from his niece, Captain Eva 'Storm' Van Acker.

"Ruben, Miguel, did either of you find Dirk? Eva is getting worse." I hear another male voice at the end of the alley, on the street.

"You might want to come see this, Laurens." Miguel calls out, and a feeling of doom hits me hard. Not all of this getting kidnapped by pirates again; didn't I do this already with Merrick.

"We don't have time, get Dirk back to the ship. Eva is getting really bad; she might not survive, especially since we don't know what's making this happen." The voice says loudly, with a major sense of urgency, and I really want the earth to swallow me now.

"Take her with us. She probably knows what's wrong with Eva. She's the Ice Queen." He growls, finally regaining his breath, and then taking off running, presumably to the ship.

The Spaniard strongarms me to the ship with a bruising grip, and tripping pace. Once there, not even breaking pace, he escorts me onto the ship, I really want to die at the looks I'm getting from the crew. My life might be easier if that would happen.

He drags me into a small room, what I assume is the medical room.

I see all the inner crew there, and start to feel claustrophobic at the people in here who want me dead, and the glares that they are all giving me that could kill me.

"Now, you have five seconds to tell me what is wrong with my Captain, and my cousin, which could harm my little niece or nephew, and how to fix it, or so help me, your life will be living misery before I kill you."

A female is threatening, and I start to breathe heavily.

"The problem with her is that she has been poisoned by Wolf's Bane, or Monkshood, whichever you prefer. To be clear, the poison was meant for him," I spit out, glaring at Dirk, and wanting to move my hand over to him, but it's still being held tight by the Spaniard, "and the only thing you can do is pray that she drank less than two milligrams of poison, since anymore and there's nothing we can do. There is no antidote for it."

At all the glares that I receive, and threats that are likely to follow them, along with the bruising grip getting even tighter, I know I have to give them some positive news if I want to survive this.

"Which I highly doubt that she drank that much, since I broke the glass when I saw she was going to drink it. The most she got was a milligram at the top, enough to give her some symptoms and make her feel awful, but not enough for her to die." I say quickly, and the glares lessen slightly, but not enough to make me fully relax.

"I'm going to-" Dirk threatens, moving close to me, before the cousin, Maartje, I think, steps between him and me.

"No. You are not Captain, Eva is. We will put her in the brig, and let Eva decide what to do with her when she recovers. And 'Ice Queen' you better hope she does survive, because if she doesn't, it doesn't matter if you didn't mean to poison her, she died because of you, and you will wish that you were dead, before I'm done with you, and I get the first call to hurt you. The rest of the crew will want their turn, I am sure of that, so before you die, you will wish you were dead at least eighty times." She threatens, before nodding to Miguel to take me away.

He jerks me out of the room, grabbing my hurt wrist, and pulls me down to where the air is getting more stagnant.

He shoves me into a cell in the brig, and memories overflood me. Memories of my time with Merrick. Memories that I'd rather forget and leave in the past.

He doesn't say a word, just glares at me, slams the cell door shut, and then turns out the lantern here, leaving me in complete and total darkness, along with pain and the normal human reaction; worry.