Job Fifteen: 
Chick In a Box Complex

        Ahura sat on the roof top watching the pick up point intently with Raphael by his side. It had been two long hours since the intended pick up time, but there was never telling what could happen in a business like this. The thief rolled over onto his back to stare at the large box upside down. 'It looks like no one's coming.'

    *It would seem that way, so what are we going to do with this giant box?* Raphael asked his bondmate, who was now raising and about to make his way down to the box.

    He paused, "Most likely sell it to the highest bidder," He hopped off of the low roofed building and landed softly (with quite a bit of effort) next to the box. With a sigh he waved to the wyrm of leapt off the roof and into his arms. "Let's haul this monster back."

***

    Ahura watched the expressions on Sindiri's face go from shocked to outraged in about five seconds. The young man shook his head sadly as the Data Translator exploded into a slew of unidentifiable curses.

    The assassin peaked over her newspaper with disinterest at the scene. None of this really concerned her, she had still gotten her payment for her job, and it was not fake money either.

    "It looks like we need to open the box," Ahura smiled and tapped the giant metal case with a finger. "And we have three locks to get through. Raph, would you like to start by taking out the key lock?"

    The dragon, who was growing by the day, nodded. However, he was stopped by his bondmate in proceeding. "What is that on your face?" Ahura Mazda asked curiously.

    The dragon blinked, *This was a gift from my Daddies.* Raphael said in the sweetest possible tone. He was wearing a set of bright gold, glittering, and rose tinted glam sunglasses. They were oversized on the little wyrm's face and happened to make him look a bit like Elton John.

    "Glam glasses?" Gi asked from over her newspaper.

    "Why on Earth are you wearing such silly things?" Ahura raised an eyebrow.

    *I told you that my Daddies gave them to me.* He tilted his head, *Are they that distracting.*

    "Yes."

    "Very."

    "They look like they belong to a gay man."

    *Oh fine I'll take them off.* The dragon said and carefully took them off. Now to open the key lock. It was a simple task in its own right. All he really needed to do was shove something sharp into it and jimmy the lock open. Raphael's eyes fell to his tail spines. He eyed the size of the key hole. If he carefully inserted one of his spines he would be able to open it... or get stuck in it.

    After inserting the spine the lock opened with a loud "click."

    "All right, Raph!" The thief patted the dragon on the back (so to speak) and sat down next to him. "Thanks for the assist. Now it's my turn to work some magic."

    The wyrm watched curiously as the master thief leaned forward and spun the free moving lock slowly. Every so often the young man stopped and started to turn the lock in the opposite direction. Finally the lock came to a halt and clicked open. Ahura was quite thankful for the old style locks, they were a lot less work to uncrack.

    They were now down to the finally lock. A key pad lock, where the commonly used numbers were beginning to wear off. That, or whoever had used the box previously, had oily fingers that deteriorated the  weak painted numbers. 

    It was really a matter of guessing which numbers were right on the first time and if they did not guess the right numbers, what happened could be terrifying. Ahura looked to his bond, who gave a little shoulderless shrug.

    The thief's finger hovered above the number '5' for a few moments before he made an arbitrary decision to type in the numbers as quickly as he could. There was a long empty pause before there was a slight hiss of rushing air and the creaking of the giant lid opening.

    Ahura looked at the contents, shocked. "There's a woman in here!"

    Anghiari looked over her newspaper curiously. There was indeed a woman in the box, if you could call her a woman. She was pure white, and covered in fur. Her hair was long and it trailed past her shoulders and slightly past her waist. She had a long tail, which was covered in short fur, with long strands on two sides and on the tip. Her ears were long and pointed with small stuffs on the end. She had hooves and pure white wings as well. She was also quite naked.

    The thief leaned in closer to the curled up figure. Slowly he reached out to touch her on the head, and stopped a good two inches away from her head before her eyes suddenly jerked open. They revealed bright red irises, which cause Ahura and Raphael to jerk back in surprise.

    The woman sat up suddenly. If she had room she would have backed up. She did not scream, she simply stared with her bright red eyes at the strange couple in front of her.

    Anghiari finally put down her newspaper to inspect the strange woman in full. She was hardly surprised that Ahura had been dragging around a woman in a box. Clients had asked him for stranger things, she was sure of that. Her clients had certainly asked her for bizarre things. "Well now," she said calmly, "What is your name?" The assassin asked as she stood up and walked over to Ahura and Raphael to inspect the girl from the front.

    She blinked and tilted her head. "Non parlo inglese," she said simply.

    Ahura blinked and looked up at the assassin who was leaning forward to get a good look at the strange hybrid woman. "Do you know what she said?"

    "'I don't speak English.'"

    "Well, that was very nice of her to clear up. What are we supposed to do?" Ahura looked at the woman. He blinked a few times in surprise. The woman was staring at his bondmate intently. Ahura did not like that, at all.

    Raphael stared back, what else could he do? Well, he could try and talk to the woman, but if she did not know any English, how could she respond. Then again, he really had nothing to lose. *Um... Miss. What's your name?*

    She blinked in surprise at the wyrm, "Athena Corrin."

    "Oh, well, she understands a spot of English if it comes from a magical creature apparently." Ahura said as he rose. "Okay, we need to put clothing on her now, she's awful distracting."

    "Good idea, but I hate to disappoint you. She is not going to fit in my clothing." Gi said with a smug look on her face.

    "Well, she sure as hell isn't going to fit in mine," Ahura flailed rather nicely.

    "I know that!"

    "She can't run around naked!"

    *Don't you at least have blanket or something to cover her with?* Raphael asked curiously.

    Ahura looked to Gi, who nodded and wander off to retrieve the conversation. That left Ahura, Athena, Sin and Raphael in a room alone together. No. Sindiri had apparently left when they had discovered the young woman in the box, meaning that left the three alone.

    Sweat was sliding down the young man's face. This was, by far, the strangest situation he had ever been in. "So, since she understands you, why don't you ask her why she's was in a box?" Ahura asked his bondmate.

    *Ma'am, what exactly were you in a box for?* The wyrm asked.

    She seemed to ponder for a few moments before answering in Italian, "Sono una chimera, stavo facendo gli esperimenti per generarlo. Sono stato spinto in questa scatola contro la mia volontà. Non ho idea perchè sto dicendovi questo poiché nessuno possono capire. Perchè sono comunque qui? Dove sono?"

    Ahura blinked. Why did they bother asking her a question when they could not understand her?

     "She said, 'I'm a Chimera, they were doing experiments to create me. I was shoved in this box against my will. I have no idea why I'm telling you this since no one can understand. Why am I here anyway? Where am I?'" Gi had returned from her scouting mission of finding a blanket. She handed it to the young woman and said, "Siete nella casa di un assassin e di un ladro. Stavate andando essere give ad uno dei suoi clienti, ma non hanno rivelato mai al punto d'incontro. Ora siete attaccati con noi."

    Athena hesitated before taking the blanket and wrapping it around herself. She looked from Ahura to Anghiari and then to the dragon. There was no escaping this reality, she just had to live with it.

    "So, what exactly are we going to do about this mess?" Ahura asked his bond and his partner. He was greeted by a very awkward silence.