PA19

One foot touched the floor, easing down onto the wood as it creaked. Mercury was a man who'd lived through the worst of times. He was used to trusting his instincts.

And right now they were screaming that he wasn't safe.

Throat dry, he moved on, one step after another. Pausing at each moment to see if anything happened, only to feel ever more tense when nothing did. A few long moments later he reached the desk, taking a deep breath as he slowly walked around it.

His fingers had barely touched the cool wood, when he leapt backwards – eyes narrowing as a carving knife slammed down where his hand had been but a moment before. His body ducked, eyes scanning for an assailant… yet… nothing.

He was the only one in the room…

Traps… the explanation settled into his mind at the same moment a fork settled into the carpet where he'd once stood – making a little vibrating noise as it wobbled in place. Crouched now, upon a fabric sofa, he paused to survey the room.

The man had trapped his office… that was… well, genius actually. A stupid move for just about anyone else, but killing any intruders was something he was sure Cinder would have approved of. No doubt there was some kind of safety switch near the door, that he could use to deactivate them. Mercury could see a wide range of objects that could have housed a switch… problem was; they could each just as easily house another trap.

The coat rack, with a long blue coat resting on it? How about the bookcase by the door… the light-switch, the globe of Remnant, the coffee table? What if it was scroll activated, some software system he could use to turn it off and on at will?

He'd never be able to find it. Not in the brief period of time Emerald could afford him.

A whistle sounded from behind. He didn't see it, didn't even turn to look. Instead he trusted that any trap would be aimed at his current location, and threw himself forward. Something stabbed the couch behind him, even as his back slammed into the coffee table, bouncing off it as he hit the floor. He didn't stop there however, growling as he rolled towards the door – a series of thunks sounding behind him.

This was bullshit! Who the hell trapped their room to such a degree?

A madman? Or a dangerous man… with not only something to hide, but the willingness to kill to protect it.

"This is out of my league," he whispered, pushing up onto his feet and diving to the left as a fresh knife struck the wall behind him. The firing mechanisms… he couldn't even make them out, there hadn't even been a click of his weight settling on a switch. Motion activated, heat activated?

AI? Was this some variant of Atlas technology?

His thoughts were cut off as a new trap sprung, a fork burying itself into the wall between his legs. So close that he swore he could almost feel the wind against his crotch.

"Okay, I'm out – fuck this…" operation breaking into the mark's room was definitely a no-go. They'd have to go with something subtler… perhaps aimed at the target himself. Either way… it wasn't a complete loss.

At least they now knew the guy was legit.

"Cinder will want to know about this," he said as he slipped from the room.

Back within the office, a knife shimmered – twisted, and vanished. The other weapons began to break into particles of light, even as the damage they had caused disappeared as though it had never been. White heels clicked lightly against the floor as mismatched eyes narrowed on the closed door.

A second later she too vanished, the room left exactly as it had always been.