Interlude: Arcobaleno IV

Collonelo is an idiot, she thinks as she paces around the small living room of her little apartment. He's now in the position he always wanted, a colonel, as he's always wanted to be after he learned what his name meant and now he's leaving everything just because she was 'kicked out' of COMSUBIN?

It's an insult to everything she believes in and the worst thing is that he understands that too. He doesn't protest when she yells at him, he doesn't put any defense when she slaps at him. He understands her and her fury and that just makes everything worse.

Lal glances at the phone on top of her couch, an innocent-looking thing, as if it hadn't held her ire when she talked with him, once again asking where she was and what she was doing now. He's also angry, but his anger isn't like the hot rage she feels, his is cool and just for her. He doesn't listen to her when she tells her it was her decision to leave, everyone that knew her even for a day could immediately understand she had faith in the military and that she liked it. It wasn't hard when one can plainly see how hard she trained to be one of the first high-ranked women in a place made for males. When one can easily find her records and discover she's been pressed charges for a mission she didn't go in the first place.

But he can't tell him it was because of those stupid flames, can't she?

A Flame user can't be a part of the military, as those cloaked figures told her. She had the option to leave with her pride but she was foolish and thought to be invincible. She didn't know how much power the Mafia wielded when everyone thought they were already settling when everyone said they were soon to be eliminated. That they were nothing like before.

How foolish, indeed.

Now her only venue of work is the one thing she worked to bring down. The Mafia had her clutches on her and she couldn't escape them. For some reason, every don knew about her and wanted to form a contract with her, her knowledge was valuable after all.

She doesn't know what to do.

That doesn't mean she's naïve, though.

Throwing herself to the side, she takes the gun behind her back and aims at the figure standing next to her door.

She shoots once, twice, and sees the bullet go through his chest, not making any damage at all.

"Who are you?" she hisses, not moving from where she's crouching behind her couch. He's not armed but with this whole flames business she's just learning about, she's not sure about anything anymore.

"I'm called Chekerface, thought you'd be interested in a job."

"I'm not," she answers back, not missing a beat.

"Are you sure?" He motions to the floor next to her wall, where she hasn't realized she's thrown her phone towards to. "It seems to me you're frustrated by your lack of power. Wouldn't you be interested in a way to gain it back? To obtain the power to be above the Mafia? You want to bring it down, don't you? I can help you."

She doesn't admit how his words struck a chord inside her. "Yeah, and I'm a princess."

The man chuckles. "It's good to be skeptic, but when one is in the Mafia one has to learn to believe the impossible."

"I'm not part of the Mafia."

"Aren't you? It's true that you can choose a job that doesn't have anything to do with the Mafia or the military, but I don't think you're the type to abandon all you worked hard for."

"And you want me to believe someone wants to help me for the sake of their hearts?"

He pulls out a finger. "I never said that. I simply don't care what happens to the Mafia, I simply want the Strongest Seven to work for me. You'll be paid, of course. With money, or with information."

She slowly pulls her finger off the trigger. "Information?"

"Let me tell you about the Arcobaleno," he says, pulling another finger and making a card appear between them. "And what are the benefits of forming part of it."

-