The Collector watched the blonde haired thief girl from the other side of the window, considering his options. From his research, the Changeling knew her to be a quick, agile opponent that moved faster than a striking snake. This may be a problem... he thought.
He considered the chloroform bottles and rags on his belt, and wondered if perhaps a different approach might be more effective. After a long bit of thinking, he decided to go with the tried and true. I'll play it by ear. Rounding the corner, he took the shape of a friend of the girl's, Yuna.
"Hey!" he greeted cheerfully in the foreign feminine voice. He couldn't give her time, so as soon as Rikku smiled and looked up, she received a facefull of knockout gas.
"Huhhh...?" the blonde girl let out breathily, confused as to why her limbs were all so heavy suddenly. She tried to turn to run, but that was the only effort her body could muster, and she collapsed onto the floor.
"Wow. Easier than I thought," the man said as he stood over the weakened, sleepy girl triumphantly. He knelt down and lifted Rikku's head. She looked sleepily all around the room, finally seeing who she thought was her friend. Her eyes fluttered rapidly, fighting to stop her eyes from repeatedly rolling back, and failing.
"W-what are you... doing to me... Yuna...? You're kn-knocking me out..."
He laughed. "Why, that's the intention, my dear." He pulled out the chloroform dabbed rag and pressed it over her mouth and nose. She looked up at him, confused, her head slightly raised of her own strength. She fought hard, her eyes still rolling around her head and crossing, and finally collapsing completely limp in his arms with a resigned and very breathy, "Oooooooohh..." Finally, another down. This one took a few weeks of prep. He walked around her and pulled off her heavy work boot, and placed the upward needle in the sole. Inside the vial under the needle was a powerful toxin that induced heavy, heavy sleep. It was the Collector's method of stopping his victims from escaping. The first moment where they arise and put weight on the foot, the needle jabs in and renders them unconscious for a good few days.
He lifted her foot and placed the boot back on loosely, careful to not jab her with the needle prematurely. No, the chloroform would keep her under long enough to place her with the rest.
He lifted the unconscious girl, her legs and and dangling helplessly back and forth in a swaying motion. Her head hung limply backward, exposing the full length of her neck. Tempted, he gave it a small kiss, and exited.
The now blonde haired Changeling sat happily aboard the air ship, his legs crossed and his back against the wall behind him. Cloud is the perfect disguise... He left for some errands earlier, and luckily for me, told no one. He let out a long sigh, and quietly hummed a tune. He had sent Tifa a message not ten minutes ago, and since the final sending off of the remnants of Sephiroth, Cloud and Tifa had become rather friendly. She wouldn't think anything other than something innocent, and innocence was the very source of the Collector's success. It is always so easy the man smirked, and tossed up and down a small bottle. Inside contained a chemical very difficult to come by. It was chloroform, only with a much longer lasting effect. Another bottle with normal strength chloroform was attached to his belt, and would be the first agent sent into play. He put away the stronger of the two and pulled out the weaker, as he heard Tifa's boots clunking toward the door, in the hallway. He stood as she entered.
The dark haired girl was more beautiful than rumors, in her normal outfit. "You called?" she said playfully, and gave her hair a casual flip with her hand. And it begins he thought. He tossed the small spray bottle of chloroform and caught it again, and took a step toward her. "I got you something in town." Her eyes lit up happily. "It's nothing much, and I wasn't sure when to give it to you. Your birthday isn't any time soon, so I figured now would be as good a time as any."
She leaned lightly against the door frame, seeming pleased, though a bit impatient. "You didn't have to call me in here. You could have come to me. I was working on something," she scolded.
He shrugged. "I like to bother you," he smiled. "It's perfume, though. See if you care for it." He stepped forward, and she stood up straight. "Alright, now it's not very strong, so you need to inhale really quickly and deeply," she nodded happily. Not very strong indeed he thought.
He extended his hand and pressed down the button to release to puff of gas. The green vapor shot out in a large flume, and she inhaled as he instructed. The effect was immediate. Her eyes widened in shock and her mouth opened slightly, but it was too late. Her eyes seemed to glaze over, and she let out a long, "Oooohhhhhhh..."
She stood for a moment, swaying drowzily back and forth, her eye brows arching up in the middle. Her eyes crossed and she blinked widely in a last attempt to fight the powerful gas. "Cloud, I think I'm gonna... fainttt..."
With that, her crossed eyes rolled up and under her eye lids, and she began to fall backward. The Collector shot an arm out and caught her on her lower back, and her torso flopped backward limply like a dead fish. Her arms dangled, and he watched her, knocked out hard, with a deep sense of satisfaction. "Gotcha, my dear. I thought you were supposed to be strong?"
He lifted her cute, limp form into a cradle carry, and turned to carry her over to the bed. Her heavy boots added weight to her encased feet, which swung limply like two shapely pendulums. He laid her onto the bed, and kneeled down at the end. He lifted one of her ankles, and grasped the heel of her boot and pulled it gently off of her long, slender, socked foot. He gave the inside of the boot a quick sniff, and pulled away. Jesus! I don't think I'll even need the other chloroform! he joked.
Just then, Tifa seemed to be coming out of the chloroformed sleep, and stirred a bit. She opened her eyes and moaned a little, and when her eyes uncrossed she lifted her head and looked at him curiously as he held her warm, socked foot.
"Cloud? What're you--" Her cut her off, pulling off her sock and pressing it over her nose and mouth. Breathing in the rather potent smell of her own foot, her eyes went crossed again, and she let out a disgusted, "Mmmmm..." and fainted yet again, her head falling backward onto the pillow limply. He pulled out the stronger bottle, dabbed some of the powerful green liquid onto the sock he had removed, and pressed it over her mouth again, letting her breathe it in.
He flopped her over his shoulder and grinned.
Mission accomplished.