Ever The Contrarian

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"Hey! Hey, wake up!" a voice came. Mags. Mercury jolted awake and promptly vomited into a bucket that was, for some reason, next to her. Convenient! "Yeah. That's kind of my fault, sorry." Mags said, and Mercury tried to move her arms. They were tied with an itchy rope behind her back. bleughhhh. I hate itchy ropes. Dont you, Mer? "Ugh, I know. The rope is of terrible quality. I'm surprised it hasn't fallen apart." Mags said, next to her.

"AYEEE! YOU!!" Mercury snarled, her memories jumping back. "Yes! me! i'm sorry, I didn't know it would turn out like this." Mags said, smiling guiltily. No! dont be fooled by the pretty face, Mer! stay strong! "YOU SOLD ME OUT!!!!" Mercury screamed, and Mags sighed. "Yes, but should we just focus on escaping?" Mags asked, and Mercury nodded. No, No! dont fall for his seedily good-looking traps, Mer! pleaseeeee, Im begging you! "Fine. But after this, you're going to pay me pack as an apology."

To her surprise, he nodded. "Alright, fair enough." what???? another rich lakey??? yes! mercury was ready to use every ounce of coins out of him! "Alright! 100 million coins!!" Mercury said, and Mags sighed. "Fine."

"WAIT, WHAT?! I WAS JUST JOKING!" Mercury said and then cleared her throat. Juice him, Mer! Squeeze out every. single. penny. leave no crumbs! "Er, I mean, I'm not complaining. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mags." she corrected.

"Mhm. Likewise." Mags said sheepishly. and mercury got up. It was a bit harder because she couldn't use her hands, but she managed. "Come on! there hay bales! help me look, please!" she said, kicking uselessly at the hay. has she lost her marbles again? why are you kicking hay, Mer? "hmmm? what are you looking for?" mags asked, getting up, and Mercury grinned. "Well, this is a stable. Whenever there's a rock in a horse's hoof, the stablehands usually just toss it to the side. So, technically, there should be a sharp rock over here somewhere, sharp enough to injure a horse. Get it? help me look?"

Oh, she's peachily smart. Nice.

"wow, you're smart." mags said, now kicking the hay. hey, thats what I said! Mercury blushed. She's weak to praise, remember? "Thanks," she said and then lept back as a sharp object picked her feet. right on time, sharp rock! too back you had to show up like that, though. "OH MY GOD! OUCH! I FOUND THE ROCK, BUT I STEPPED ON IT-" Mercury screeched, hopping around on one foot while Mags covered his mouth to hide his laughter. owwww! the rock was too sharp! "HEY, DON'T LAUGH, I'M IN PAIN-" Mercury yelled, crouching to rub her toes. fricking rock! Mags smiled and moved the hay around to uncover the rock. Like Mercury had predicted, it was extremely sharp on one side.

"wow. you stopped on that thing?" Mags said, bending down to pick it up. it was, of course, wickedly sharp. "Well, at least we found it," Mercury said, turning around. Mags cut her ropes, and she rubbed her sore wrists. "this is outrageous! even someone as poor as me could have brought better quality rope!" Mercury sulked, holding up the rope. "Well, have a safe journey," Mags said, sitting back down to lean against the wall. "Hmmm? what? aren't you going to turn around so I can cut you free?" Mercury asked, and Mags smiled, confused, and tilted his head at her. "Don't you remember that I almost killed you?" Mags said, and Mercury shook her head. Basically, she fell for the pretty face an was now ready to cut him free. "It's fine. You got double-crossed too, so I think you already learned your lesson. and, plus, look, I got my ID!" she said, pulling out the scroll. "So, turn around." Mercury said, grabbing her longsword from her pocket and cutting Mags free. "you had that all along?!' mags asked, and Mercury sighed. 'Well, I couldn't exactly trust you before, and I still can, but it's faster than using the rock. Also, there's no one watching us, so there's probably only 4 people at the most. Now, I need to find the architectural weak point of this building. It looks like an old stable, and luckily it's already crumbling. If I pull out a brick, like this, then the entire thing should fall apart. Like a big Jenga tower!" Mercury said, delighted. She pulled out the odd brick, and a waterfall of bricks cascaded down on her.

"EEEK!" she yelped, covering her head, frozen in place. the bricks rained down, and a cloud of dust erupted. They were defiently going to hit her - she would be buried - an arm grabbed her arm and yanked her to the side, the bricks barely missing her head. It was Mags. 'Oh god! Are you okay?" Mags yelped, worried. Mercury started. Aside from her almost dying, which was quite normal by now, This was the first time his smiley facade had cracked. "?? did the bricks get your head or something?" Mags asked, tapping the side of her head and smiling. smiley facade, back on! awwwh, man. what a partypooper, lol. "Oh, nothing. But, oh well. hail hail, it worked!" mercury said, turning around and studying the modest pile of bricks in front of them. She hadn't expected it to work out that well - but, that was good! More bricks to yeet!

"Alright! Now, here, take 5 bricks," Mercury said, picking up 5 bricks and handing them to Mags. They were all broken and chipped, revealing sharp edges and even sharper points. "What? why?" Mags asked, and Mercury huffed. "What do you mean, why? We're going to throw them. at the people who dared to try and tie us up with cheap rope!"

Mags laughed. Mercury smiled, and suddenly someone burst in through the door. "Hurry!" Mercury said, chucking the brick at the man's head. Of course, it missed and hit him straight in the nuts instead. LMAO. GOOD JOB MERCURY HA HA HA HA!!!!

"You have quite a deadly aim..." Mags said, and Mercury whacked him. he saw her, lol. "No! I was aiming for the head!" she protested, and more people stormed through. "That's even worse, then!" Mags said. But he and Mercury were chucking bricks with all their might. Yeet, Yeet, Yeet! There were only three people, and soon they all lay unconscious, with a pile of bricks around them. "Yes! Now, let's grab the horses, and a map if we can find one, and get out of here! Before they wake up! I just saw a spider nearby, argh!" Mercury said, grabbing Mags by the wrist. "Oh? are you scared of spiders?" Mags asked, grinning, and Mercury frowned. "Yes! obviously!"

Mags scrunched his eyebrows at her. "Aww, no fun. You admitted that too easily." Mags said, and Mercury opened the door to see a grand-ole map that was bigger than she was. she asid she wanted a map, but she could never hope to carry something that size. it was ridiculous to even think about. it was intricately labeled, and finely drawn. It must've taken someone months.

Mercury studied the map. There was no way - they were too close to the town for the kidnapers to evade the police so long with pure luck. "No political backing and this is too well planned out... this wasn't by them! they must be doing it for someone!" mercury said, looking at the scribbled on the map. Every single part of the kidnapping, as well as multiple scenarios, were laid out on the map. meticulous! "This is... very well planned," Mercury said, running her fingers over the writing.

"Hmmm. I wonder who it could be." Mags said, tilting his head. Mercury snapped back to her senses and sprung up. "Yes! you're right, it doesn't matter who it was! let's get out of this old crumble, and back to civilization!" Mercury said, dashing out the door. toodles, creppy old stable! "Hey! wait for me!" Mags said, and Mercury walked straight over to the horses. "Come on! My friends are waiting! it's been an hour, so I can still pass it off as me getting lost." Mercury said, hopping onto the first horse she saw, which was a midnight-black percheron. "So, you would lie to them?" Mags asked, saddling his own pure-white Mustang, and Mercury nodded. "I don't want them to worry about me."

"It must feel nice to have someone worry about you," Mags said wistfully, and Mercury snorted. "It sure does. But, you must have someone who cares about you, right?"

"Does it look like it?" Mags said, smiling wistfully. guess that was a no. "Oh, alright, then. Ill be the first one. Friends?" Mercury said, holding out a hand. Mags stared at it for a minute, and then beamed at her. Mercury blinked against the light. Too bright! tone it down! Mags shook her hand.

"Friends."