Extracting Information By Force

Richard counted five of them. Four men and one woman. The men had hand guns strapped to their waists and they didn't cover it up, letting it glory in Richard's full view.

Richard reckoned that the reason behind this was to instil fear in him. The woman, however, had a submachine and her hair was braided to the back. She looked…frail.

Richard glanced at the four men and his eyes landed on one of them. He had spiky hair and high cheekbone. His chest was a little puffed out and his eyes were dark with thick eyebrows. He had thick, bushy beards and eyebrows.

A large knife scar ran down his left cheek, definitely a sign of years of battle and struggle, Richard noted. Another thing that made him conclude that this man was the 'Skull' was the large skull tattooed to his left shoulder.

Over all the man looked very muscular and tough. Richard stepped back a bit and bowed—a sing of submission—and said, "I presume you must be Skull?"

The man glanced at Richard and chuckled slightly. That slight chuckled sounded like a death warning and almost sent shivers down Richard's spine. He looked at him. The muscular man pointed at the frail woman. "That's Skull."

Richard raised an eyebrow. "Skull…" inwardly he added, '…is a woman?'

The lady, seeming to read his thoughts, casually took a seat behind the table and interlocked her fingers with a smile. "Are you disappointed?"

Richard stood before her with a slight smirk. "It's not my business who Skull is, I want information."

The lady leaned back into her chair and smiled. "Everyone looks for information but can you pay for it?"

"I heard something about 'exchange'."

Skull nodded and twirled her finger on the table, her smile never leaving her face. "Accurate though this time it might depend on what you want. No two knowledge have the same price tag."

"I am aware," Richard replied. "I want information about the recent activities of the Zeros in this area."

The lady's smile stiffened but she quickly recovered her poise and tapped her finger on the table with pursed lips. "That information might cost you more than just an exchange of weapons or money or information."

"I see…"

"You look like a fine man, I must say." Skull ogled Richard from head to toe. She frowned. "I would decide but your jacket is ruining a lot of things. Tell you what?"

"What?" Richard asked in a somewhat heated manner. His gaze travelled to the four men behind Skull and he noticed how their hands had reached to their guns by their waists. Richard didn't mind.

Skull smiled and turned to the four men. "You see what I mean when I say he's a fine man?"

The four nodded readily. Richard resisted the urge to roll his eyes outwardly. Skull then turned back to him and said, "I want to play with you for a day."

"Play how?"

"To put it simply," she said, leaning forward a bit more. "I want to have fun with you—in bed—for a whole day."

"Is that considered an exchange?" he asked.

Skull chuckled lightly. "The exchange depend on me my good fellow. I make the rules."

"But not for me…"

Richard glanced back and noticed that the two guarding the door were still aiming their guns at his back and the four men, despite not drawing out their weapons, were ready to take him out if he made the wrong move.

The moment Richard said that, he pressed his right hand against the table top and launched himself towards the frail lady on the opposite end. The jump was as quick as it was surprising. Richard quickly tackled Skull to the ground.

He used the momentum to roll himself to a kneeling position and at some point he had pulled out his electrocutor. He didn't wait for anyone to react. He pulled the trigger and fired three metallic bits at the muscular man.

His reason was simple. The muscular man seemed to be a threat and he didn't want to find out if he could take him in a hand to hand combat.

The muscular man, who had yet to recover from his shock from the quick moves that now had their leader trapped, fell to the ground with silvery-white electric arcs twisting about him. He convulsed and his body shook before he lay motionless.

Richard tightened his hold on Skull's neck. He made sure that she was securely rooted in place, unable to pull any tricks. Richard put the electrocutor to her head and with a smile said, "Tell your men to stand down."

Skull struggled for a bit but in the end she just giggled. "I like you even more now."

Richard fired again but this time, the man he was aiming at—one of the two men guarding the door—quickly jumped out of the way but the small metallic bits didn't fly by. They quickly spiralled and changed trajectory, heading for the man nearest the targeted one.

The metal bits were also magnetic and were attracted by metals. The closet man hadn't jumped too far away, hence his gun which was made partly from metal and also the large chain he had on his neck was enough to attract the metal bits to him.

The man fell as well with electric arcs spiralling around him. The other men kept aiming their guns at Richard but they didn't fire immediately. Skull was in their line of sight and they would risk shooting her.

Richard gripped her neck tighter till she coughed. This time, she readily gave the command. "Don't attack him. Stand down."

Her men lowered their weapons but not completely. The sight of two of their companions lying on the floor, motionless, was enough to raise red flags in their head. The moment he let go of Skull, they thought, we'll blast him to kingdom come.

Richard, with his hand still gripping Skull's neck, asked with a firm voice. "What information do you have regarding the Zeros?"

Skull coughed again. "If you will just let me breath then I'll tell you."