M "I was paid- to- paid to kill the- him-" He panted, coughing from the dust his face was buried in but he tried motioning to Ali- who was writhing on the ground. His head was pressed in the dirt, wincing for a moment. He was pretty stunned still, staring at the sky and breathing heavy. The man wiggled a little beneath her.

"Classy. By who?" Kitty asked coldly, gently pressing the knife down. She turned to look at Ali, a flicker of concern crossing her face. As the man wriggled, she dug her knee and her knife closer into his back. "Don't push my patience, little boy." She snarled.

The man winced. M "I don't know- I don't know! It went sent to me in a letter with no name attached," He was speaking quite frantically now that her knee was digging right into his knee. Ali rolled over onto his stomach, pushing himself up slightly. Clenching his jaw.

Kitty listened to his tone of voice, quickly deciding he was telling the truth. She eased up on her knee and looked over at Ali. "Ali, what do you want me to do him?" She asked innocently, as though she hadn't just threatened to paralyze a man.

He was still out of breath, his shoulder ached from the impact and his wound was throbbing. His hair was messily drooping over his face and eyes as he glanced over. "Let him go." He said with a certain strain, pulling his knees up beneath him. He had three supports now.

Kitty looked back up in surprise, tempted to argue. "But- but he tried to kill you..?" She attempted to point out. She knew he was in no fit state to argue with so she huffed and did as she was told. She first leaned down to whisper into the mans ear. "You're lucky my friend is lenient. I am not. If I ever see you again, you will not be so lucky. Now, you have to the count of five to get around that corner before I make good on my threat. Go." She hissed, standing up and twirling the knife around her fingers as she let him go, as if every part of her itched to throw it at him. Still, she kept count on her fingers so he could see if he looked back.

He narrowed his eyes as her. Glad she listened to him and released the man, who ran away as fast as he could in a random direction as soon as she released him. Ali sat back on his legs, his head hung. "He was trying to kill me to make some money." He said in a tired voice, looking up at her.

Her gaze flickered over to Ali and she pocketed the knife, walking hurriedly to his side. She kneeled beside him, tilting her head at him in curiousity. "Yes. But there are other ways to make money that don't include killing my friend." She said softly, gently leaning forward to look at his shoulder and survey him for wounds. "...why did you let him go?" She asked, hesitantly. Now that she was looking at him, he seemed exhausted.

He stared at her for a moment. He wondered why she wasn't going to let him go. "He didn't hurt me, he didn't want to kill me. It wouldn't have been the first time someone has tried. ..I think more like the fiftieth time?" He was surprisingly compassionate toward people, even ones who'd just tried to end him. He pushed his hair out of his eyes, though it did fall back down a little, clearly a middle part. He could see her worry now.

Kitty gave him an astonished look that turned into a small sort of glare. "I'm sorry, he didn't want to kill you? Of COURSE he wanted to kill you, Ali, he ran at you with a knife, fully intent on murdering you! Even if he WASN'T lying, and he did it because he wanted money, by proxy that still means he wanted to kill you!" She huffed, sitting back on her heels and burying her face into her hands. Fifty times. She couldn't tell if he was naive, gullible, optimistic, or just really compassionate. She lifted her head out of her hands just enough to glance between his eyes, giving a sigh. "You can't be left on your own. Come on, you're staying with me." She decided promptly, grabbing his hand in an effort to help him up. ...As lean as she was, she couldn't quite do it all by herself.