As the gunshots rang, 'Watch' quickly made a swift turn around the corner, causing the shots to miss him by an inch and instead hit the wall. He relaxed for a moment, before feeling a presence above him. He instinctively grabbed one of his two daggers, and held up in a defense stance, just right in time as his pursuer jumped down and hit the blade with another one.

He was taken by surprise, getting knocked back to the wall. He flinched in pain for a split second, before holding the blade back up to block his opponent's as they dashed towards him. The sound of blades colliding was filling the air.

He got the upper hand this time, knocking his opponent away and immediately backing away. He knew he couldn't win in a face to face fight, and he also didn't want to fight, knowing who the person he's fighting was.

He saw them equip their guns again, and so he ducked down, rolling on the floor while the shots rang out and went straight above him. As soon as he knew the coast was clear, he swiftly got back on his feet and bolted away.

"Stop running away and take the fight!"

'Watch' flinched, a bit taken aback. He knew 'Freeze eye' wasn't one for talking, and rarely spoke unless aggravated. Despite that, he didn't respond, he could barely stand being there, and definitely didn't want to start a conversation.

He dodged another round of bullets as he did an agile horizontal roll, turning the corner of the alleyway and taking cover. He knew that in terms of speed, he'd definitely be able to best them and probably run away safely, but on the other hand he also knew that they had more experience and would definitely defeat him in terms of combat. The fact that they were after him in the first place guaranteed that they certainly won't be giving up easily.

He gritted his teeth and got back into a defensive stance, expecting 'Freeze' to turn around the corner any second. What he wasn't expecting though, was a surprise attack from above. He barely had any time to react as they slashed the air, jumping down while attacking with their seax knife. He was able to dodge last second, but the attack resulted in a small bruise, which immediately bled upon getting cut.

It was now the worst case scenario he had been trying to avoid; a face to face battle.

He wished he didn't discover who they were by accident, it would've made the situation a bit more bearable, since in that scenario that would just be neutral rivals. He wished he hadn't eavesdropped on the phone conversation, he'd be feeling better about fighting.

He started backing away a bit, not enjoying the tense staredown. He wanted to flee the battle, but there weren't many ways out of the situation, considering the fact that they were in a messy, dark, cramped alleyway.

"...back then, you were the one that helped him, weren't you?"

Out of the blue, 'Freeze' asked a question, not lowering the tense atmosphere, but shattering the silence.

"...what do you mean by that?" 'Watch' was a bit confused by the question, but didn't let his guard down.

"Your friend, 'Red Bullet'," They repeated, "You were the one that helped him last week, weren't you?"

'Watch' froze, why are they asking about him all of the sudden-? "I know not of what you're asking."

"I was tasked with hunting down your friend last week," They explained further. "But I suspect that you've interfered somewhere when I was doing so."

"..." He didn't really know how to respond, and he knew less on why the topic suddenly shifted to 'Red'. "Are you stating that that's the only reason why you've chased me down here?"

"Oh, no. I was tasked to eliminate you by a client," They looked over at him. 'Watch' visibly flinched at the stare, but tried to hide it. "But, you know, I had a suspicion I needed to confirm, and so I couldn't just kill you on the spot. Otherwise, you'd be dead by now." He stated bluntly.

"...what's the suspicion?"

"Is 'Red' actually dead?"

"..." 'Watch stayed silent for a while, not giving the answer. He looked back at them. "...Why does it matter to you? You saw him fall, right? So it's safe to assume he is, so why are you asking me about this, you were the one there, you should know more about what happened in detail than me."

"Ah," Something changed in 'Freeze's stare as they said that. "So you admit it."

"W-what?"

"You stated that I 'saw him fall'," A small smirk creeped on their face. "But how could you know that he fell unless you witnessed it yourself?"

"..."

"So you did interfere," They continued when 'Watch' went dead silent. "Initially I was wondering why you two have been so quiet even though I supposedly... 'killed' one of your friends."

"..."

"Still not responding?" 'Freeze' sighed. "Look, at least say something, I don't feel satisfied just killing you right now."

"...If that's the case," 'Watch' mumbled. "Why do you care so much about 'Red' being alive or dead? You usually wouldn't care less, especially when you could've just said that you saw him die either way to your employer. That's what you usually do, right?"

And now, it was 'Freeze's turn to go silent. "...I admit, you're right, I usually don't care if I fail a task, especially if the target earned the right to survive. Being honest, 'Red' surviving doesn't really make me mad, well, the fact that this happened twice now does make me a bit irritated at the fact that he always has to rely on someone else. I do wonder why you and 'CrossShot' are even affiliated with such an amateur-"

'Watch' cut him off, his tone rising a bit. "He's not an amateur."

"Whatever floats your boat," they rolled their eyes before continuing. "Anyways, it's true that I usually don't care about failing jobs, since I could just kill my employer instead, but..." They shifted a bit. "...this time it's different."

"'This time'-?"

"I guess you can say that the client that ordered the hit on 'Red' was... an more important than usual one," They sounded a bit more serious. "I couldn't really afford to fail that one."

"Don't you get important clients all the time, and don't you usually don't care anyways?"

"No, it's different," 'Freeze's tone sounded a bit more tense. "This time, if I failed... Let's just say the consequences are more- severe."

"...what are you getting at?" 'Watch' started getting a bit skeptical, taking a step back. Even if all they said were true, he couldn't think of a reason why they would just tell him all of that.

"Hm?"

"Why are you telling me all of this?" 'Watch' asked. "I thought you said you were here to kill me."

"...I guess I did talk a bit more than usual," They stated. "Oh well, it doesn't matter now, I said what I said, I also got the answer I wanted."

Realizing what they meant by that, 'Watch' started backing away and getting on guard. He then realized something else. "Wait- is the person that employed you the same person that went after 'Red'-?"

"Hmm?" 'Freeze's gaze shifted a bit. It looked like he debated with themself on what to say, before flipping his seax knife back out and getting into a stance.

"Honestly, who knows."

For your trust in your instincts lead to your demise