OxO with @menace-to-society

She nodded, letting out a sigh. “It can be, but hey, I gotta make money,” she said. “I guess I’ll just catch an Uber home and call it a night.”

She stood up before she grabbed her purse and coat. This felt like such an odd way to end things. Sure, they had had a lot of fun together, but leaving on such a short notice felt a little strange to her, especially considering the fact that the likelihood of them ever seeing each other again was slim. Part of her liked it that way, but the other half of her longed for companionship.

But, instead of getting his phone number or doing anything to continue their relationship, she simply bent down and kissed his cheek. It was better this way. With her job, she didn’t have time for relationships; things like that were too stressful.

“G’night, Magnus.”

"Night," he responded, only then realizing how tired he was. He stifled a yawn and smirked at her one last time. Yeah, he was probably never going to see her again. But that was alright; he rarely saw people again unless they were regulars at a bar he was currently frequenting. He hated seeing people again because then you had to remember their names and pretend to give a shit about their lives. This way, he only had to think of conversation topics and be interesting for one night, which was an easy enough feat.

He should be getting home soon, so as soon as Mercy was able to get into the Uber, he would head home himself. Magnus was also starting to wonder if he should give the bars a break for a while; this routine was getting exhausting. But what else would he do? He had no real friends, and there wasn't much else for him to do on the weekends. Or really any night. He supposed he could start a new television show, but that sounded decidedly less interesting. Well, he could figure it out tomorrow.

Maybe instead of going to the bar, he could get some sleep for once. The thought almost made him chuckle. Yeah, fat chance.

Eventually, early in the morning, Mercy got home, and she was barely able to get much sleep at all before she was woken up by her screeching alarm clock. She let out a groan and ran her hand down her face. The last thing she wanted to do this morning was get up, but she knew she had to be at her job. They were counting on her. So, with a groan, she pulled herself out of bed and began to get dressed.

She spent most of her day patrolling the streets on her small town, her head pounding from her hangover. If there was one thing about this day that she was happy about, it’s that it had been relatively calm so far; the worst thing she’d dealt with was a minor car accident. But, right as she was thinking this, Mercy’s police scanner came alive.

“We’ve got a possible homicide scene on Westchester street,” the policeman on the other end said. “Need backup immediately.”

Well, this was great. Just when she thought her day was going well. With a groan, Mercy turned on her police siren and headed towards the scene of the crime.

Magnus was unsurprised at his lack of sleep, but he was basically running on caffeine and fumes at this point. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in who knew how long, and honestly, he wasn't sure he was even capable of getting more than a couple hours of sleep at this point. When he woke, he quickly dressed, double-checked his intel and mission, and went straight out to take out his target.

The man paying him for this job was quite wealthy, and therefore was willing to part with a sizable amount of funds (though perhaps quite small to the man in question; rich people were often Scrooges). It was a lot of money in Magnus's opinion, at least, so it was good enough for him. He had been able to find his target quickly, sneaking up on the man in an alleyway before he could really react and ending his life with a headshot. Simple and easy. Magnus took no pleasure in killing his victims, but he also knew a fair amount about each of them and most were not good men. Still, he tried to kill them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Luckily, Magnus didn't get any blood on himself this time, so that took out some of the complication of escaping. He was very good at not getting caught, so he was several blocks away by the time he heard the police sirens and saw the blue and red lights heading towards the scene of the crime. He doubted they would find much. He was always careful with this sort of thing, always using gloves and disposing of any evidence before he got very far away from the crime itself. Now, he was sipping on some coffee at a café several streets away and scrolling through his phone like several of the other patrons, looking by as the police cars drove past with feigned curiosity. Magnus was a great actor.

The scene was just as bad as Mercy had imagined it would be. The police officers discovered a man’s deceased body in an upper bedroom, and by the looks of it, it was a homicide. As soon as the crime scene was secured, Mercy immediately got to work collecting clues and, most importantly, speaking to witnesses.

By the time a few hours had passed, Mercy had collected all the information she could from the deceased man’s home, and she had interviewed all of her witnesses. Well, all except one. The man who lived next door to the victim— a twenty-one year old named Jack Cooper- had been home at the time of the homicide, and his cousin, whom he lived with, was sure he saw something. Mercy knew Jack would likely be an important suspect, so she began to try and track him down. She quickly managed to find out he had left to go to a coffee shop. The same coffee shop that Magnus was at.

With this new information, Mercy got back into her police car and drove over to the coffee shop. It was a small business, and it barely had anyone in it as it was a weekday. However, despite this, Mercy failed to notice Magnus as she walked in, going straight to the counter to buy a coffee. Sure, she wasn’t probably supposed to do this on the job, but this case was getting her stress levels up.

Magnus was continuing to scroll through his phone as he noticed the door jingle open for another person walking in. He glanced up to see who it was out of curiosity, and noticed it was the same woman from last night. And she was in uniform. Shit. He continued to sip his coffee, hoping that she would get a to-go order and then leave without noticing him. At the very least, a conversation with her would awkward, and at worst, incriminating. This was why Magnus should stop his bar-going habits.

Should he say hello to her? Would that look more incriminating than simply ignoring her? What would he do if this was regular chance encounter with a woman that he'd met at a bar? Probably pretend that he didn't see her. So that was what he did, gazing back at his phone before she could look in his direction. He was now very focused on it. He opened a reading app, doing his best to engross himself in the book. At least he could convincingly pretend he was distracted by that if she did see him. Thank god for his acting skills.

With every fiber of his being, Magnus was praying that she took her coffee and left, not seeing him there. If she intended to stay in this cafe a little longer, as soon as he finished his coffee, he would get up and leave as inconspicuously as possible. Alright. Cool. He did his best to focus only on his phone and his coffee until she hopefully left. Magnus was not a fast coffee drinker.

For a long while, Mercy didn’t see him, busy paying for her coffee. But eventually, she stole a look around the room to search for Jack, and Magnus was the first person who caught her eye.

Who would’ve thought? She was expecting never to see this man again, or at least not in the near future. She never would’ve assumed that she would see him the next day during an investigation.

After she got her coffee, Mercy walked over to him simply to say hello. After all, they had spent an entire night talking and possibly even flirting with each other, so she figured it would be rude not to.

She stopped at his table and gave him a smile. “Didn’t expect to see you so soon,” she said. “Couldn’t stay away, could you?”

Magnus looked up at her comment, eyes widening slightly in genuine surprise at her approach. He hadn't expected this, but she seemed like an actually nice person, AKA the opposite of himself. He was polite enough, because while he knew he sucked, he didn't want to add being a creep to his list of bad deeds. He could at least pretend to be friendly.

He chuckled slightly at Mercy's words, smiling slightly as he took in her face again. She was really pretty. "I just can't help myself," he joked, taking another sip of coffee. Dammit. There was barely any left now; another few seconds and he could have left. That was the worst luck.

"I didn't know you were a cop," he added after a moment, casually. "I do like a woman in uniform." He laughed at himself, knowing how incredibly cheesy that sounded. He had meant to say it semi-ironically, but unfortunately it might not come out that way. Ah well. Hopefully after they had a brief, awkward conversation, Mercy would leave and soon so could Magnus. He could always say he had to go if the conversation dragged on too long. He couldn't wait for this moment to be over.

Mercy glanced over her shoulder at Jack, who was sitting at another table minding his own business. She needed to keep an eye on him. Just because she wanted to stop by and talk to Magnus for a few moments didn’t mean she wanted to lose her only lead.

“Oh, do you, now?” She glanced back over at Magnus and smirked. “You know that you’re flirting with an on duty cop, right? I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

Part of Mercy was glad she got to see Magnus again, but the other part of her dreaded it. Despite them being so different, they had one thing in common; they both didn’t have real friendships. Like him, she preferred to meet up with people for one day and forget them the next. But with Magnus, it was a bit different. She wanted to meet up with him again, continue what they had started in the bar. Of course, she didn’t want an actual relationship. That would be too much to handle.

“You know, you can’t flirt with me here, but you can do it elsewhere,” she suggested. “Want to meet up one more time? Preferably not in one of those loud bars.”

She figured he would say no, but whatever response she received was fine. Besides, this shouldn’t be her main focus. She had an investigation to work on.

Well, this was definitely a surprise. Magnus mulled it over for a few seconds, trying to decide if seeing her again was worth the potential awkwardness or the fact she might be investigating a homicide that he had definitely committed. He didn't want to be caught, and he was so good at getting away with it. This was his career. He didn't have a backup. Well, if he agreed to this, it might make him less suspicious. If he had something to hide, he would definitely turn down her offer.

"Depends where you want to meet up," he responded, raising an eyebrow. Here we go. Now if she said somewhere stupid he had a legitimate reason to turn her down, and hopefully he avoided suspicion. He did also notice her gaze going towards another man at the cafe, and figured it was likely that guy was why she was here. Thank god. So she wasn't suspicious of him at all. Probably. He hadn't got away with so many of these things by assuming that no one was suspicious of him, so he always had to act like people were watching, just in case.

She paused for a moment, thinking it through. Would it be strange if she invited him over to her home? Not really, she supposed. After all, she would much rather spend time at her house than go out anywhere with people.

“We can go to my place. Eat pizza, watch a movie, I dunno.” She gave a simple shrug. “But if that makes you uncomfortable, we could go somewhere else.”

A large part of her was expecting him to turn down the offer. After all, they’d only hung out once, and he seemed like the person who would only want a short relationship. Besides, she was sure she wouldn’t see him again, so why even bother asking if he wanted to come over?

Weirdly, Magnus kind of wanted to accept her offer. Normally in this situation, he would be wanting to end things immediately and part ways hopefully for good. But Mercy intrigued him, if he were being completely honest. The only problem was that she was a cop, and likely investigating his case (though she didn't know that part, of course). Then again, she didn't know that it was him, or they wouldn't be having this conversation right now. But would accepting make him look more or less suspicious? It was dangerous, that was for sure, but Magnus was no stranger to dangerous situations. He thrived on them, actually. The thrill he got from being thirty seconds away from dying was amazing, almost like a drug. It made his daily life much more boring–well, also a bit depressing considering his circumstances and the time it gave him to occasionally wonder how his life had gotten to this point.

At any rate, it definitely seemed as if she was expecting him to say yes to going somewhere with her, even if he turned her current offer. Before he could think through it any more, he found himself blurting, "Sure, works for me. Should we exchange contact info?"

Well, fuck. He was in it now. He could just put her info in his "normal" phone, and not the burner he used for work. What was he getting himself into here? Then again, maybe if he had a friend on the inside, he would be less suspected for future crimes. Maybe this was actually a good thing? All he could do was wait and see, he supposed.

Mercy had to admit, she was a little shocked that he said yes to his offer. Because of his pause after she’d suggested the idea, she was sure he would throw her idea down immediately and never speak to her again. A valid response, she supposed, but she couldn’t help but be delighted that he actually suggested her offer.

“Aw, you want my phone number? How cute.” She wrote down her phone number on a piece of paper and gave it to him, winking at him as she did so. “I’ll be sure to text you m6 address, okay? We’ll meet up tomorrow.”

Mercy stole another glance at Jack, who was still sitting near the cafe window. She wanted to stay with Magnus, talking and ignoring the task at hand,but she knew tha5 wasn’t an option.

Magnus smirked, giving her a mock salute. "I'm good with that," he agreed. He noticed her continued glances towards another man sitting across the cafe and downed the last sip of his drink. "I'm going to head out so you can get to your police business or whatever." He stood, heart pounding, and glanced back at her over his shoulder to say a quick goodbye before walking out.

"See you later, Ruthless," he said, cringing internally at his bad joke. He hoped that she understood he was trying to be funny by using a word that had an opposite definition of her name. This was why he had no friends. Well, that and his profession of literally killing people. The joke was funny to him at any rate, so he supposed it didn't really matter much whether she liked it or not.

He threw his empty coffee cup into the trash on his way out, hoping to god that no one had thought that encounter was suspicious. He thought it had gone relatively well, but Magnus would still act like everyone was watching in just in case. He couldn't afford to slip up now, or ever.

She smiled and rolled her eyes at his joke before she walked over to the man standing at a table. Magnus definitely intrigued her, but his sense of humor was definitely a strange one. Though, she had to admit, she did find it rather cute.

She spent the rest of the day investigating her case, and by the end of the day, she felt somewhat confident about how it was going. However, like any good police officer knows, it can only take a few hours for a case to completely flip on its head. That was how it was with this investigation. The next day, it quickly went downhill; many of the tests Mercy had sent in came back inconclusive, and many of the people who had been cooperative the day before suddenly lawyered up and refused to speak. That’s why, when Mercy returned home, she didn’t feel like having company over. But couldn’t be rude. So, with the remaining time she had before Magnus arrived, she began to get ready. She changed into a casual dress, curled her hair, and fixed up her home the slightest bit before he arrived.

Magnus didn't hear any news for the rest of the day and into the next one, which meant things were going well and the police had nothing. As he always said, no news was good news. When the time got closer for him to visit Mercy, he felt a rush of nerves. Well, at least he could try to subtly ask about the investigation while he was there on the off chance that she had more than he thought. Or maybe he could actually relax for once.

Hah. Now that was a funny thought. He was not the type of person who could fully relax even if he could afford to. He made sure that he looked presentable, not too flashy but nice enough that he looked like he had actually tried. There. Good. He headed over, going over every little detail in his mind before he parked his car and walked up to the front door and knocked. Here goes nothing. What an interesting pairing this was. An assassin and a cop. And she had no idea whatsoever.

When she heard a knock at the front door, she rushed down the stairs and towards the entrance of her home, making sure to check how she looked on her way there. She felt incredibly nervous, which was weird for her. She was a cop, after all, and she had learned had to maintain control of her emotions, but she couldn’t keep her hands from shaking as she opened the door.

She stepped back when she saw him, her eyes scanning him from head to toe. She was clearly checking him out, and she didn’t bother trying to hide it.

“Well, look who decided to show up,” she teased. “Part of me thought you might not come.”

Magnus grinned wolfishly, hands in his pockets. "I am a man of my word," he responded with a chuckle. He definitely noticed her checking him out, and responded in kind. She was dressed up a bit more than he was, and it was honestly kind of cute. The amount of thought she put into everything was obvious. From what he could see of her house, it looked neat and thoughtfully decorated. Made sense for what he knew about her.

While she looked glad to see him, she didn't have the sort of joy he suspected she would from cracking a difficult case. So that probably meant he was fine, then. Still he couldn't be sure. It might be a trap. The only reason he was alive was because he thought like that. Everything could potentially be a trap. Trust no one. So while he liked her, and liked spending time with her, he was far from trusting her. He was certain he never would.

He simply stood in the doorway, waiting to be invited in. It would have been awkward to shoulder past Mercy anyway. He wondered what was going through her mind.

She walked into the house, beckoning him to follow her. The house was well decorated with a unique bohemian style, and despite the fact that she had a tiring, full time job, she managed to keep it organized and clean. Well, at least the living room looked that way. Mercy knew full well that her office was a mess with her files and papers scattered everywhere.

“There’s pizza in the kitchen, if you’re hungry.” She grinned back at him. “Hopefully you didn’t eat before you came here.”

Mercy, however, was not hungry, so she sat on the couch and watched Magnus for a few moments. She found him incredibly interesting, and even though she had spent an entire night hanging out with him, she still couldn’t seem to figure out why.

He had not eaten, so that was good news. She'd mentioned pizza yesterday, but he wasn't sure if that meant there would definitely be pizza. He didn't usually eat that sort of thing because he had to remain in shape to be able to defend himself in case one of his marks was particularly feisty. But every once in a while, he would eat some junk food, and pizza was something that he enjoyed. So he was honestly a little excited by the thought of eating pizza, but obviously didn't want to mention it.

"Okay, I'll go grab some and come back," he said, heading over and grabbing himself a couple slices before settling down on the couch. He ate as slowly as he drank, wanting to savor the food. Honestly, Magnus wasn't sure where to go from here because most times he was at someone's house alone like this it was for a one night stand. He didn't make a habit of visiting others' houses for fun, or very often, for that matter. So this was a bit uncertain territory for him.

"You've got a nice house," he said between bites, trying to figure out what her goal was here. He blinked, stopping himself from analyzing her like she was another target. This was what happened when he spent too long with someone; he ceased to function normally. He was only good for small encounters, nothing more.

To be honest, Mercy wasn’t entirely sure why she invited him over. Like him, she was only good at short relationships, nothing more, and she rarely had ever invited anyone to her home. What was she supposed to do in a situation like this? Just sit there awkwardly until someone said something.

“Wow, what a great conversation starter you are. But yeah, I suppose it’s pretty nice.” She sat down on the sofa, settling down next to him. “I just moved here a few months ago.
from Washington state. It looked pretty rough when I got here, but… I think it’s improved.”

Mercy stole a glance around her home as she relaxed against him. It wasn’t anything like her last apartment, the one she shared with her ex. Maybe it was better that way, though. It made it easier to forget the things she didn’t want to remember.

With a sigh, Mercy reached for her cup. Gosh, she needed a drink.

Magnus snorted at her first comment. Yeah, he knew his conversational skills were lacking. This was what happened when you only spent one night with most people you came across. So she wasn't from around here, huh? That was probably good. It meant she wouldn't have seen all of the kills that Magnus had committed, but she had certainly seen a couple. Kills that were still unsolved, he was sure. Unless she had invited him here to tell him she knew, though he highly doubted that. Had to stay alert, though.

"So you're from Washington?" he asked, trying to ease the conversation along. "What's it like there?" Magnus had moved around a bit, sure, but it was much easier to be an assassin when one had a stable base of operations. Most of his moves had been because someone had figured out where that was and was plotting to kill him in revenge. However, he'd gotten a lot better at hiding since then. Magnus was nothing if not a fast learner. One had to be if you didn't want to end up dying in his profession. If it could be called that.

She gave a simple shrug as she stared down at her hands. She hated talking about this subject. “Washington was fine, I suppose. It was a pretty state.”

Mercy was originally from California, but she had moved to to Washington with her husband after they got married. However, things quickly took a sharp turn downhill, so her life in Washington wasn’t one she liked to remember.

“I lived there with my ex. But he- he wasn’t the greatest…” She looked away, twisting one of her blonde locks around her index finger. “But we had a nice apartment. It was a decent size, too.”

Of course Magnus had stumbled upon a difficult subject by accident. He really did need to work on his conversational skills outside of one night encounters. But to do that, he would actually have to spend time with people outside of those one night encounters. Pass.

Still, he felt awkward for bringing it up. So he tried to keep the conversation moving. "Your current place is pretty cool, though. Don't know what your last place was like, but this one could definitely be the better one. My place is pretty much a pigsty if I'm honest. So I think you're winning as far as living situations go."

“I suppose. It’s a little hard to get used to living all alone, but it’s something you get used to…”

Mercy let out a sigh, looking down at the rings on her fingers. This was a good example of why most of her relationships were short. She always a fun personality when people first met her; she was flirty and optimistic. But, as people began to hang around her more often, it wasn’t long before they discovered that that was all a facade, a mask put on to hide reality. But she wasn’t here simply to talk and flirt with him. She needed to speak to him about a certain topic, but she needed to do it in a way that wouldn’t scare him off.

She scooted close to him, looping her arm through his. “Magnus, you know what’s funny?” she said. “That time at the coffee shop wasn’t the first time that I’ve seen you near a crime scene.”

Fuck. That was definitely bad. See, he knew there had to be some ulterior motive for her asking him to come over. He should have just said no like his gut had been telling him to. What an idiot he was. Ah, well. Now was the time to throw the suspicion off of himself.

"Really? That is kinda funny," he responded, raising an eyebrow. "That's just my luck, honestly." Please let her believe that. He was a good actor, and cool under pressure, but she was also a cop. Mercy might have experience searching someone for their tells. Magnus knew he had one, but it was subtle that most people didn't notice. He wasn't close enough with anyone for them to notice. Was this why Mercy had spoken to him at the bar that night in the first place? He was never spending a second night with someone again after this.

Magnus was so stupid. Had he been thinking straight earlier, declining her offer would have been easy. He was too curious for his own good sometimes, and now it was coming to bite him in the ass.

Mercy felt his demeanor immediately change, and she noticed how he tensed up. She knew there was more to this story, and she wasn’t going to leave until she found it what it was. Maybe she should bring out the alcohol. People always tend to speak their thoughts more openly when they’re under the influence. Sure, there was no guarantee that what he said while drunk was true, but she already knew he had some connection with these murders. Any statement he made about it would only back up her suspicions.

“Well, I’ll be looking forward to seeing you at the next crime scene I go to,” she teased. She acted she was brushing the whole conversation off, but in reality, she was just getting started. “Oh, and I got something before I came home.”

Mercy stood up, leaving his side for a moment to go to the kitchen and retrieve the alcohol bottles. While she was there, she got two plastic cups, but she made sure to fill one with water before heading back to the living room. She handed him the other and poured the alcohol into it.

She sat back down on the couch next to him. “I know going to someone’s house like this can be a bit awkward, so I got something to make it better.”

Hm. He hadn't seen her pour herself any alcohol, but he figured whatever he said about that might be suspicious. Considering she was pouring straight out the bottle, it was very unlikely she was trying to poison him, but she clearly was trying to get him drunk, and he doubted it was actually to get used being in a new place. He would be awkward either way, and knew that from limited experience. Besides, he wasn't a lightweight, so it would take a while to actually get him drunk. One or two drinks wouldn't matter much for him.

Still, despite her ending that topic of conversation, Magnus suspected it was indeed far from over. She was a cop; there was no way she'd just drop it after that, even if she had bought his lie. Investigating this shit was her job. But for now, he would play along. If she thought he didn't suspect anything, maybe he could fool her into thinking that he was innocent after all, or the least had much less to do with the murders than he actually did. This was going to be a long night.

"Thanks," he responded, taking the cup. He held it out, waiting for her to do the same to clink the cups together. "Cheers."

“Cheers.” She clinked their cups together before she took a sip. “I’m still recovering from a hangover, but here we are. How am I not an alcoholic?”

To be honest, though it was painfully hard to admit, she kind of was one. It was difficult,
— if not impossible— to get through a day without alcohol, and she relied on it to help her through everything.

Throughout the night, the two continued talking, and eventually, it became easier and easier to communicate. She had to admit, while she did have some major suspicions, Magnus was nice to be around, and he never failed to intrigue her. However, even though she liked being around him, that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to bring up the topic she had been waiting to discuss with him. That was the whole reason he was here, after all, but she needed to make him comfortable with her first.

The two were up late into the night, which was fine for Mercy because she didn’t have work the next day. Eventually, she turned to him, a gleam in her bright blue eyes. “Wanna do something fun?”

While Magnus was used to being suspicious of every little move everyone made, especially cops, the company and alcohol slowly made him drop his guard a little. He wasn't about to spill his life story or anything, and he was still alert–though maybe a little bit buzzed–so it wasn't as if he would just give up his secrets. He still held onto his suspicion in the back of his mind, but now that the topic had been changed and they had talked for a while, it wasn't the only thing he was thinking about anymore.

At her question, Magnus raised an eyebrow. What did she have in mind? He had no clue what she might be thinking, considering most of his "something fun" was either taking a vacation or getting hammered, and if it was either of those, it would be the second. But he wasn't letting himself get too drunk tonight. Not alone, not with a cop. He might as well see what she meant.

"That depends, what do you consider fun?" he asked with a smirk, curious.