Shinigami-cat: Well, here's the next chapter… I OWN NOTHING!

Blackmailed by a Thief

After the incident with the man trying to mug him and Francis running away again he had nothing better to do than to follow the Frenchman's advice and go to the clock tower. It was a little difficult to see in the beginning, but he eventually found it.

It was a strange, tall, gothic structure. Surrounded by all manner of people. For some reason there seemed to be a fair few people around it. It seemed to be construction, well at least some part of it did.

'I wonder what the White Rabbit has to do with clocks?' Pondered Arthur. He walked forwards towards the front of the crowd. As he moved he heard some of the locals whispering, gossiping about the construction.

"Said it was an earthquake they did."

"Bet it's just a lie or something… Heard it was a gas explosion."

"Unsafe for humans now they say."

"I heard that it was a Droid malfunction. One of them exploded and made one of the back rooms unstable."

"How did the Droid explode?"

"No clue."

"Think they'll fix the tower anytime soon?"

"Haven't a clue. Seems like nothing ever gets done around here."

"Too right about that."

Arthur frowned a little as he looked over at the building. There didn't seem to be much structural damage done to the building, it was just an extension. As he observed anything he noted two things; firstly there seemed like there would be a back way in. Easy enough to find with a little poking around. Secondly, there was someone in a black hoodie that had been following him since he had stepped into the crowd. It could have just been Arthur being paranoid though. He couldn't see the person's face and every time he turned around they would move out of site. He could only see them out of the corner of his eye.

'Bloody nuisance.' Thought Arthur bitterly. 'If he tried anything I will stab that fucker in the throat.' Sighing a little he walked out of the crowd and tried to find another way in. It didn't take him too long to find. It was unguarded and sealed off with police tape. Probably stolen. There was no police force down here.

Arthur easily pulled the tape away and opened the door. The inside of the building seemed pretty standard. Nothing too unusual for a Gothic style place. He sighed a little and started to walk up the steps of the clock tower. After about a minute he heard the back door open, close and feet tap against the stone floor.

The blond hissed a little and quickly looked around to see if there was some place he could hide. As luck would have it there was a small door that lead into a cupboard. Obviously put in later, but still quite handy. All he had to do was hide inside and wait for the person to follow him up the stairs.

As soon as the man in the black hoodie walked by Arthur quickly pulled the person into the room and pinned him against the wall. "Why are you following me?" He hissed.

"Dude, relax." Said the hooded man. "I'm just going home. I can't help it if my way is your way too."

"So your way home involves running up a bloody clock tower?"

"Just to see where I'm going." Said the man. "Look, I'm not dangerous. Search me. I have nothing on me that could kill someone."

Frowning, Arthur did just that. Once he was sure that this person had nothing on him he backed off a little. "Is the clock tower some kind of reference point here or something?"

The man took off his hood and grinned. He had bright blue eyes and blond hair that had s strange cowlick that didn't seem to want to go down. "Kind of… I just like coming up here and looking at everything… You can see every territory here."

"Territory?"

"Dude, have you been living under a rock?" Asked the man. "The territories of the Cards, Chess and Checkers or course. Right now were in Chess territory, but I need to get to the Cards. I'll show you." He took Arthur by the arm and pulled him up to the top of the tower.

At the top of the tower Arthur could see everything; the makeshift London town, the large hills that divided it from the large industrial looking area with its shiny chrome and copper and the large expanse of water that surrounded something that looked like a medieval village.

"Chess territory is that shiny place and Cards territory is the castle place." Said the man. "If you look closely you can see the castle on the top of the hill way off in the distance… That's where the leader of the Card's live."

"What about the other's?" Asked Arthur. "The Chess and the Checkers?"

The man pointed to a building surrounded by a high gate. "That's where the leader of the Checkers lives… She's a little… not all there in the head, but then again who is sane down here? Anyway and that's where the leader of the chess lives." He pointed over to a large industrial building with a broken clock on it.

Arthur nodded. 'I see… Well If I can't find the White Rabbit I'll just have to confront these people in person. Highly dangerous and I'll probably get killed, but I should be fine.'

"Dude, you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Muttered Arthur. "I never got your name."

The blond grinned. "Alfred, and you would be?"

"Arthur… Thanks for your help, but I should be going. I have places to be."

Alfred pouted a little. "Aw, but we only just met. Where are you going anyway?"

"None of your business." Snapped Arthur. He turned and started to walk down the steps.

Alfred shrugged a little. "Okay then… but I highly doubt you're doing anything innocent if you're carrying this thing around." He pulled Arthur's vorpal blade out of his pocket and held it up. It still had a blood splatter pattern on it.

"How the bloody hell did you get that?!" Cried Arthur in shock. "Give it back!"

"No way dude." Said Alfred with a smirk. "This is a vorpal blade… If I sold this to the right person I could be a very rich man…" He turned the knife over in his hand, admiring the glint and shine of the silver metal. "I'm wondering how you got something like this… Whoever you got it from really wants you to survive and the only people I've seen with one of these are people from the agency."

'Shit.' Thought Arthur in frustration. 'How the bloody hell can I get that off him and how does he know about the agency?'

Alfred chuckled a little. "Look, I won't ask why you're here or why the agency gave you such a dangerous weapon. Hell, I won't even ask you why you're here… But if you want this back and want me to keep my silence you're going to have to pay for it."

Arthur's jaw dropped. "You bloody… You're nothing but a thief and a blackmailer! I'd sooner push you off this building than pay you to stay silent!"

"Too bad." Said Alfred in a whimsical manner. "You see, a vorpal blade would make me rich, but turning in one of you guys would make me a king. Everything has a price. How much is your life worth to you?"

The blond sighed and rubbed his temples in frustration. "Fine… What do you want, Alfred? Bloody bastard."

"I want you to take me to the Card territory." Said Alfred simply. "There's a thick fog that obscures the path to the Chess territory and there's a monster that block the way to the Card territory. If you do that for me I'll help you out with whatever you're doing and I'll pay you handsomely for your help."

"How will you pay me?" Asked Arthur. "In stolen goods? No thank you. I'm not the kind of person that benefits from other's misfortune."

"How nice of you to think you're all innocent in a world of madmen and thieves." Cooed Alfred. "You killed someone with this already. Self-defence or not you shouldn't have."

"Who are you to lecture me on the matters of mortality!" Snapped Arthur. "You're a common thief! A pickpocket! A scoundrel! A blackmailing beast!"

Alfred rolled his eyes. "I'm none of those things… Well, not really. Think of me as more of a jack of all trades. I can be very helpful, I've been living in this psycho city for most of my life. If you need something I can get it. I can find hidden places and bits of information. I know almost everything that goes on in this place. I'm priceless."

"And you think that means I will automatically bend to you will?" Snapped Arthur in frustration. "Give me my knife and let me be on my way!"

"But I can help you." Said Alfred. "I can get you to where you need to go without any hassle. Trust me."

"Why should I trust you?" Growled Arthur. "I already have someone who can show me around."

"And where are they?"

"… Around."

"Very helpful." Said Alfred sarcastically. "Look, if you don't help me I'll tell the leader of the Checkers that a member of the agency is in her territory and is after something. I can tell you now, she'll cut you down on the spot. Remember, my silence is cheap."

Arthur frowned as he thought over his options. On one hand he really didn't want Alfred to blow his cover, and on the other hand he could easily kill Alfred if he got in the way. The only way he could do that was if he had his vorpal blade back and that wasn't happening anytime soon.

"Fine." Muttered Arthur. "If it really must be that way then fine. I'll take you to the Card territory, but you have to give me back my weapon."

Alfred nodded and handed back Arthur's vorpal blade. "Okay then. Pleasure doing business with you. Now, are we heading straight there or do you need to do something first?"

The blond hesitated a little as he put his knife away. "I need… I need to speak with the leader of the Checker's gang. She might know or have access to someone I need to find."

Alfred chuckled a little. "So you're a finder? You find people for people? How do you know this person you're finding isn't happy?"

"Their family was murdered in cold blood and they were taken by a hired hit man or contractor or something… I've just been hired to find them."

Alfred nodded. "Sure… I'll help you get in there. No problem." He started to walk down the steps of the clock tower, pulling Arthur along with him. Arthur just rolled his eyes, wondering what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into now.

TBC

Shinigami-cat: Well I hope you all liked this chapter. Please review.