Part two of the double-update! ^^
Chapter 4
It was basic recon. Zoro was used to this kind of shit. And some archaeologist – not a soldier, but a goddamn archaeologist – was telling him how to do his job? Oh, hell no. He was going to do this his way, her carefully crafted plans be damned. In his experience, the best-laid plans always went to shit in the first five minutes, anyway.
Okay, so he was in. It hadn't been that hard – some guy with a thatch of bright blond hair had practically exploded out of the building, and slipping in after him had been the easiest thing ever. Hiding in the men's bathroom until after visiting hours were over was almost easier. Security was lax around here, even during the day. At night, it was like a fucking ghost town, except instead of ghosts, you had crazy people. Charming.
The first basement was pretty boring. Thank God all the stairs were all in the same place and in full view of the front door, so Zoro knew to bypass this area and not get hideously lost like he normally would have been. The only use that archaeologist woman seemed to really have was in her access to maps, not that Zoro had had the foresight to bring one of the damn things with him. She, in a fit, had decided to confiscate them. What was she, his mother? What was she going to try to do next; send him to his room?
Room 2016A was supposed to be in the second basement somewhere, right? The basements were just long hallways with doors on either side. How hard could it be?
Oh, shit, there was somebody here. Security. Shiiiiiiiiiiiit. His torch gave him away, laid out on the floor in front of – would you have it – Room 2016A. Zoro felt his heart give a leap as he heard Luffy's voice through a little window at the top of the door.
"Hold up, Luffy. I think I heard something over there."
"Relax, Ace, it was probably just somebody in that room, there. People do live here, you know."
"Yeah, but they don't leave their rooms after dark. I'm just gonna go check, okay? Be right back."
Oh, God damn it all, the guard picked up his torch and was shining it over in Zoro's direction. What was worse, there was almost nowhere to hide. His only option was the stairs. Zoro practically flew down them. He had no idea why he chose to head down. It was stupid and he knew it. He was just boxing himself in, but his legs had already started and it would be even dumber to go back up and run right into the guard. He had full and complete confidence that he could beat the shit out of any rent-a-cop on the market, but this guy… this guy was apparently a friend of Luffy's, which made that no longer an option.
Wait.
A friend of Luffy's.
…Interesting.
He stopped just as he hit the fourth basement. He could hear the guard's rubber soles punching the cement stairs above him. As he neared and flashed his torch into Zoro's face, he addressed him. "Hey, you."
"What are you doing here? You know damn well that visiting hours are over and you sure as hell don't work here," Ace said.
"Thanks there, Captain Obvious. You're friends with Luffy, yeah?"
Ace looked a little taken aback. "Er… yeah. Wait, and you're calling me Captain Obvious?"
Zoro grinned. "Obviously. But that's not why I'm here."
"Then why are you?" Ace peered at him, then at the swords on his hip. "You're one of the two people Luffy busted out of prison two months ago. Roronoa Zoro, right?"
It was Zoro's turn to be surprised. He had made plans to beat anyone who figured out his identity comatose, but the guard had yet to so much as twitch in the direction of a weapon or a phone. "How did you know that?"
He shrugged. "I do my homework on my friends when they're in a place like this."
"…I suppose that's reasonable."
"And I suppose you're here to… I don't know, break him out of here like he did for you, or something?" Ace asked, half-sarcastic.
"Exactly." Ace froze and stared the man hard in the face. "You going to do something about it?"
"…Do you have a way of getting the doors open?" Ace finally asked.
The question caught Zoro by surprise. "I've got my swords." He rattled the hilts for effect.
"Not gonna work," Ace said, shaking his head. "The locks are pick- and sword-proof. They also have giant titanium fucking bars holding them closed."
"Then give me the keys." Zoro thumbed one sword slightly out of its sheath in the eventuality that he would need to threaten the guard a little to get the keys.
"Do you see any keys on me, dumbass?" …No. There weren't any keys anywhere on that thing that was meant to look like Batman's utility belt but just ended up making everyone look like a plumber. "I don't have them. They're all with Norton, and he's locked in himself. There's no way into these rooms tonight."
"…Tonight?" Zoro asked, eyebrow quirked.
Ace sighed. "Listen, my name is Ace. You already know I'm friends with Luffy, and you wouldn't be trying to break him out if you didn't hold him in at least some measure of high regard. I don't think Luffy belongs in here any more than you or I do. I can't help feeling that he's sane. Weird as fuck, but sane. I'm not a psychologist. I don't know how to tell if somebody's crazy or not. I don't know if letting him leave might hurt his mental health. Now, I don't know you and I have no reason to like or trust you. But if helping you out is going to help Luffy… fuck it. Sound reasonable?"
"So what are you suggesting here?" Zoro asked.
"There are two questions at play here: Is Luffy sane and if yes, why the fuck is he in here? Wait until tomorrow night. I've got the night shift again instead of the guy who normally does. During the day, I'll check with Luffy's files. If something seems fishy about his records, or if he seems treatable outside of this place, I'll get you the keys. If he really is crazy… I tell you to turn your ass right back around tomorrow night, but not before proving to you that Luffy really is better off here. I just want what's best for him."
Zoro took careful notice of Ace's eyes. They weren't the eyes of a liar. He meant every word he said. Something about his almost naïve willingness to work with criminals reminded him strongly of Luffy. "…Deal."
"All right. So for tonight, you might want to leave before Norton wakes up or stops watching porn in the camera room for long enough to see you walking around here."
"Mm." And with that, Zoro trekked up the stairs to the second basement. He could not resist swinging by Luffy's room after all this nonsense.
"Hey, retard."
"Zoro!" Luffy cried.
"Quiet down; you wanna get me caught?"
"Naw, not really. But didn't you already get caught? Ace?"
Zoro frowned. "For some reason, he wasn't too intent on catching me."
"See? He's nice. You're nice, too. That's why nobody's in the hospital right now," Luffy observed. He was probably right.
"Listen. Me 'n' Ace are going to try and see if maybe we can get you out tomorrow night. You want to leave, right?"
"Yeah," Luffy muttered. "It kind of sucks here. Ace isn't around all the time, and nobody's around the rest of the time. And they never give me enough meat."
Zoro grinned at that. "Okay. If we manage to get you out, the first thing we are going to do is go to a steakhouse and someone is going to treat you to a massive meal. Not me, 'cause I'm broke. Somebody else."
"Told you we were going to be friends," Luffy said, grinning ear to ear.
"No promises, remember."
"Okay. See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah. See you then."
(A/N): Yes, it's shorter, but y'know what? You're getting two chapters tonight. Shut up.
For those who might not know, 'torch' is a British colloquialism for a flash-light. I'm really used to it, but I just now remembered that some people might not be familiar with the term and wonder why, if the torch was set on the floor, why the floor didn't catch fire. Well, now you know.
