Author's Note : Next chapter and the one after it should be in sequence, time-wise. Then we'll start covering some ground again, until the next 'surprise upset' event anyways.

Most of you know what me trying to predict my pacing ends up as, so… yeah. I have attempted forewarning…

Russian Roulette : Second Chamber

Chapter 62

(Friday the 22nd of October, 1971. Flamelight Industrial, Mafia Land.)

Mafia Land had a very expedited process for the cleanup after an invasion attempt.

At least for the bodies.

Given they mostly circled the world at the equator, dead flesh and bodily fluids had to be removed quickly or cleaned up before they started to rot or fester in the heat. Mafia Land janitorial teams also knew what the enduring criminals of specific sectors tended to string up dismembered limbs or put severed heads.

There was a light post on Body Avenue that always ended up with several pairs of severed hands tied to it post invasion attempts. A fountain near where his patron lived with her sister that someone put heads into the water and left the bodies otherwise unmarked on the streets, not always only after someone attempted to forcibly take over the island.

He wasn't remotely sure why some criminals decorated certain places with dismembered limbs, they just did.

The broken doors and shattered brickwork took a little longer than body removal. Given the former invasion attempts and the little actual damage they could do to the infrastructure Bjǫrn wasn't greatly surprised by it, but he had been up all damn night waiting for the team to replace their underground access door and his understanding was getting a bit thin.

It was more important to keep surface level things cleaned up than repaired in good order, he knew it perfectly well. The criminals that made this place home would not give a damn about bullet holes or shattered brickwork as much as they would getting sick because the island wasn't quick enough to clean up their gore.

There had been no damn way he'd be getting any rest until their mercenary outfit sent in the next shift's guardsman for the shop. Or until his patron got in from an emergency flight to check over the damages herself.

Their night guard had to be sent to the hospital for a broken collar bone and wrist, with a concussion-like symptoms for a chaser. The nightshift clerk was retained well past his normal hours so he could speak with their boss about what the thief might like to reward him with for not hiding under his desk in the situation, he had some superficial cuts and bruises but otherwise insisted he was okay.

Bjǫrn was just strained from using so much Storm Flames, they weren't what he reached for first even on this deathtrap of a tourist hell. While he was uncertain what stress or injury Master Fong might be suffering, the assassin had wandered off after clearing out their section of the underground and was not present to inquire about, that was more Viper's concern for being the one to pull the Triad member into the situation.

With a lack of anything else to do, he ended up speaking with both Hayley Shaffer and Andre Roux more than he normally did.

The Englishwoman, being a veteran Mafia Land waitress, had things put back in order as best as they could be quickly with bustling efficiency. She had the floors swept up then mopped, the shotgun shells and broken teeth fragments with two shattered mugs from the refreshment counter removed from the odd corners they ended up in, before he even realized she had arrived for her shift. The 'Louisianan' American, as Andre claimed, was removed from the shattered desk to sit on the only surviving couch to rest on while they waited.

Hayley started hauling out the broken furniture next, with the ripped-up cushions, so her side of the conversation sort of faltered to occasional interjections.

Which was unfortunate, Andre only knew the boss through mostly rumors. They had met, on the week Sonya set aside to help her sister at the hospital experimenting with Cloud Flames, but one meeting and knowing someone was not the same thing. Another mostly independent woman confirming Sonya wasn't that terrifying to speak to was useful.

…also, being a thief, one did not lightly ask the boss for any expensive favor. Or at least, that was the assumption when that was all you knew about someone.

"I don't want to go home, and I don't want to stay here. People can live here," Andre defended himself at Hayley's pointedly amused look, "I just can't. I hate this island, I hate the people here, and I really just hate living in this hot mess."

"Any specific reason for that, or is it just what this place is?"

"All of the above." Countered the guy dryly before plastering a dark hand over his face tiredly. "I'm not a competitive, aggressively confident, person. I'm not a callous man. It's why I work nights, ironically. So long as you stick to your lane or route, you're not going to be accosted or brutally murdered… usually."

Bjǫrn was interested in seeing if Sonya did give the man what he wanted, being her money man he knew for a fact she really didn't care all that much for money or the expense of things she wanted done. Was doing more than the bare minimum as defined by his contract enough for her to be accommodating or would the woman decide she wanted him on night shift even more?

Clerks were rewarded for kills, and were expected to remain in place in case of an invasion. Not defend the store in a concentrated effort to take the boutique by force. Not defend their downed guardsman who had a shattered arm from the initial surge of bodies attempting to overwhelm them.

"If you could, why not go back to where your home was?"

"I'm wanted for a murder. I didn't do it," hastily defended Andre, scowling somewhat harshly into the middle distance, "but… there's no way to prove it. And because I'm black, I'll be taking the fall even if I could prove I had nothing to do with it. No other suspect, I'm fucked either way."

"We can give you a different identity." Pointed out the Lackey fairly, then shrugged that off entirely. "In fact, if you leave the island at all, I'd highly suggest getting a new identity."

"Yeah… Mr. Roux will not be leaving the island. Sorry."

Both he and Andre turned to the entrance of the store, at the owner of the simpering confident voice. A heavily tanned blonde, of equally heavy Scandinavia-European descent at first glance, smirked confidently as she referenced something on the clipboard she had in an arm.

"Mhmm… see, he's been marked out as a possible risk factor." She continued brightly, making a little annotation before looking at them and giving the pair of them the most insincere bullshit smile Bjǫrn had ever been on the receiving end of. "While it is entirely understandable you might wish to reward surprising competence, I'll have to insist you reward the man in a different fashion. Okay?"

The Lightning-Storm made an absent-minded noise that had driven Viper up three walls and across two ceilings while he was learning from the miser. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I'm Diana, from Personnel, Lackey Bjǫrn… no-last-name." Bringing up the pen held in her right hand, Diana from Personnel made another little mark on her clipboard. "If you have no further questions or concerns-"

"I'm going to have to stop you there." Said Lackey interrupted with blandly, familiar with the hit-and-run tactic she was attempting to go for to avoid having anything to do with giving restrictions to one possibly already pissed off Cloud Flame user. "It's not up to me, what bonus my patron will give Mr. Roux. I have no influence on it and will be up to one Miss Bazanova to decide herself. If you want to try that to her face, by all means."

"Very cute, Lackey sir." She shot back instantly, too professional to give any indication if she got caught out in her aim or if his statement had any real effect on what would happen if Sonya decided to help the man anyway. "I'm not the one that makes these rules or enforces them. I am merely here as a courtesy to help you avoid a hit on your employee so you cannot claim to not have known of his status after the fact. Have a nice day."

Of course, her swishy exit was immediately foiled by the highly unamused Sonya Bazanova standing right behind her. Clutching a to-go paper cup of presumably black tea in one hand, holding Alek's leash tight in the other, and red-rimmed eyes that spoke of little or frequently interrupted sleep since Bjǫrn called her last night about the situation to go with an unimpressed expression on her sharp features.

Hayley took one look at all of them inside the store from behind the thief and decided that immediately leaving for some other aim was in her best interest.

Bjǫrn hoped she was going for breakfast or some more tea, that would hit the spot right about now.

"Who the fuck are you?" Sonya eventually prompted Diana from Personnel with a vague gesture with her drink, shortly and with the bare minimum of concern in her slightly more raspy than normal voice. "And why the fuck do I care what you deem 'appropriate' at all?"

"…I'm from Personnel, Miss Bazanova." While still simpering, her tone was gratifyingly more wooden and a little less than perfectly polished this time around. "Just here to pass on a warning, to prevent… unfortunate situations."

The Storm-Cloud flatly stared Diana down, silently.

Given the red-rimmed eyes, he privately betted she hadn't bothered to do more than take a quick shower before heading here once he informed her what had happened. It took long enough he was sure neither Anna nor Usov got her here, but it wasn't long enough for the trip to have been by boat rather than air.

Needless to say, the thief wasn't looking as put together as she usually did. Drawn features tainted with exhaustion, a pinched expression to go with faint dark circles under her still sharp grey eyes… that she wasn't in a good mood was obvious to everyone with eyes.

"I am not the one that enforces these rules, I don't have any say in these situations, I'm just here to ensure all parties are aware-"

"Shut up." Sonya instructed shortly, reaching down to unclip Alek from his leash so the dog could do whatever dogs did. Straightening up again while winding the strap of leather around her freed wrist, she used one pointed finger to back the other woman up and out of her way. "Stay right there. I will deal with you in a moment. Bjǫrn."

"Da, Dama." He fetched out his pocket notebook, more to keep him organized while reporting than to remember all the details she didn't have yet. "I've heard back from the hospital, our injured guardsman has a broken wrist bone to go with the broken collar bone and a mild concussion. We are covering medical expenses?"

"Yeah, fuck, whatever. Even if he was arguably useless last night." She muttered more into her tea than him, snapping her fingers and pointing again at Diana from Personnel to get the woman to sit down on the only other surviving couch until she was done hearing his reports. "Who brought in Fon?"

"Viper did."

"So it is on them to pay the uselessly useful asshole, okay. Next."

"I think he was hoping to pay you back, Dama."

"I did not ask him to do shit." She refuted immediately, absently checking for her canine companion's location and not finding anything wrong with Alek sniffing every mark or spot of damage he could find.

"I believe we would have been a little fucked without him, Dama."

"Fuck… fine, maybe he will get off my ass about paying me back."

Bjǫrn checked the order of his notes again. "No concerns that Viper apparently has designs on the shop?"

"Eh, Mist."

…point. "Then the point of contention, Dama. This is Andre Roux, our night-shift clerk."

She glanced at the man, who meekly waved a hand from his spot on their only whole surviving couch. "And?"

"We have contract clauses for kills made during an incident, for staying in place until the situation is over, but not for stepping in when our guard is overwhelmed during a concentrated effort to knock over the shop."

She thought about that, then turned to the dusky dark-skinned man. "So… you want…?"

"I want off this island." Andre informed her with blunt honesty, as Bjǫrn told him to while they waited. "Please."

Sonya studied him for a few long moments. "As far as I am aware, you have two choices-"

"Miss Bazanova-"

"EITHER," she shot Diana from Personnel an ugly look for the interruption that had her shutting up again, "you lose your memories and get a whole new life OR you move in near or with a criminal inclined power willing to mind your behavior for compliance to Omertà."

A beat of silence where she dared the older blonde to say something, then the thief turned back to the man.

"Either option."

"Ah… the second one?" Andre offered obediently to her pointed look.

"Bjǫrn."

"Da, Dama. I will have it taken care of."

"Not at the castle, he can have his own apartment in the village." Pausing to take a noisy sip of apparently still hot beverage, grimacing about it rather absently that spoke of entirely too little sleep and not enough tea for her liking. "That it?"

"As far as I have been informed of, Dama." He made note to see if Italy was in any extradite treaties with the US and arrange a short-duration full language course for the man, but either way they perhaps should secure Andre an alternative identity to use until or unless that murder charge cleared up. "Oddly, they have not said who it was that attacked us yet."

"Still?" Sonya pondered that, absently unwinding Alek's leash from her wrist and tossing it to the slightly damaged reception desk awaiting both their morning clerk and any customers. "Huh."

"…you don't find that very unusual?"

"It happens when the attackers are trying to implicate others and not name their syndicate." Revealed the thief dryly with a shrug, whistling sharply to call her dog back from the unsecured underground access point in their ground floor. "Last time it happened was before your time. I was… like thirteen or something. The backlash was vicious, for Mafia Land in general. I do not think the syndicate recovered enough to get back on the international stage yet. They might have died, actually."

That made a bewildering amount of sense.

"You, go to bed." Sonya instructed shortly, with no little envy in her tone that he queerly appreciated right now, then turned to the night clerk and their semi-hostage. "You, Andy-whatever, you also go to bed. Bjǫrn will need time to put things into motion. Plan on maybe not being here next week or the week after, you're going to Italy. Learn to fish for the rest of your life, or something, just keep your fucking trap shut. You."

Sonya stopped, checked each of them over almost absently, then turned back to him.

"Is little miss brass ones not on the morning shift?"

"She has taken upon herself to clear out the broken and damaged items." Bjǫrn informed her honestly, even if the woman came in three hours early to help clean up and was here when the thief arrived. "She should return momentarily."

"…right, whatever. Do not let Alek out without someone or being on a leash, and if Fon wants to play with my dog it is fine he knows where everything is. I will be back whenever, depending on what 'Personnel' has to say for themselves."

"Very good, Dama." He took great pleasure in politely agreeing, and the new pinched expression on Diana from Personnel's features. "Have a good morning."

Sonya seized the other blonde by the neck when she attempted to sneak out behind the thief's back using her free hand, giving him an absent nod before turning on a heel and taking them both right out again.

"So… that's a thing. She always talk like that?" Andre asked rather politely for those that got drive-by-Cloud running over everything he ever hoped or dreamed of. Possibly not believing the woman's intentions, he'd learn better in time. "Little stilted."

"…I have no idea where or from whom she learned English from." Bjǫrn had to admit to slowly. "I assumed it was from a tutor or perhaps her mother, but Lisa doesn't speak English like that either."

(Tuesday the 26th of October, 1971. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"But-!"

"I'm not your mom, kiddo." Skull informed his nephew regretfully, only slightly struggling to keep the smirk off his face as they reached the ground floor of the castle. "I'm not the one who has to un-ground you."

Shamal waved both arms, stomped a little foot on the unforgiving marble under his sock clad feet, and pouted valiantly up at him. "But zio! Mamma didn't say how long I was grounded for!"

"Me thinks that might be her point, little Mist-ling. Kind of sucks when someone else inconveniences you because they have other things going on."

"That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair, your point?"

His adorable shit of a nephew groaned miserably, trudging past him to the dinning room for breakfast forlornly. Acting as if everything had conspired to crush his little soul with tedious drudgery… the spoiled little brat.

Skull rolled his eyes, amused.

That was a tactic straight out of their mother's book of raising bratty children. Using whatever they overstepped themselves with to turn back on them, so they keenly felt whatever little show of arrogance themselves. He remembered Tatiana complaining about this same exact issue of being grounded longer than she assumed for being a bitch to their ballet teacher, a long time ago.

A little heads up that his sister was leaving him to be the 'rationally sympathetic but uncompromising' influence for said brat would've been nice. Maybe being dragged along on her week of vacation with their older sister would've been equally nice.

Not that he could say much about Tatiana claiming her time with their sister a week a year. He got in a whole two years solely to himself first, after all. He also lived with Sonya, the rare times he was 'home'.

Little awkward being left behind with her entire household of people, but they were all very on the ball and didn't require anything from him. It made him feel both superfluous and uncomfortable, but mostly due to how little he knew Usov and Larion's parents.

Or Cesare. Or Hawk, for that matter… or Verde and ol' Scruffy himself.

Or the kids themselves, because fuck knew he had little to nothing to do with the clan once Arseniy got him out of there with a bare overview of what he'd have to do if he wanted in. They probably knew very little about him too.

It wasn't often that Skull had attacks of responsibility, last time was the whole 'while I don't need life insurance my audience might' conflict before his first world tour. He should… probably 'make rounds' and talk to everyone as much as they might want or need. This was his home too, and he might be different than Sonya but he was willing to help these people just as much.

Since Skull was a little less intense than his little sister, there was the possibility he might be told a few things before they became a major issue. Just from idle chatter.

There was also a possibility no one would tell him more than polite necessities, because again he was not Sonya.

"Master Skull?"

"Morning, Miss Anna." Turning, and utterly unsurprised his sister's mirror spy picked to show up directly behind him rather than crawl out of the shiny floor closer instead, he grinned fondly at the young woman taking measured steps to join him. "What's up?"

He also regarded the massively oversized spider clinging to her skirts with mild amusement.

Even if she was being naughty, the stuntman was pretty sure the spider wasn't supposed to be outside her room upon daybreak, the Mist just smiled prettily in his face. "I am unsure if milady warned you, but our butler should be returning from his lessons this week."

"Cool, we have a butler."

Anna blinked at him, still waiting.

"I take it he needs to be picked up?" Skull probed.

"He does. Ser Maximillian knows where he was sent. Thursday afternoon, if you could. Three o'clock."

…well, he didn't have any other chores left undone for the week but routine things he could do whenever. "Sounds good, thanks for letting me know ahead of time Miss Anna."

She bobbed him a curtsy, only slightly off from textbook perfect because Pavuchky was crawling up to her back, sinking through the polished floor instead of going back to the windows to take her leave.

Skull turned and ambled off to get himself breakfast before dragging the kiddies to school, since Hawk was off doing something or another still and hadn't gotten home yet. He hadn't really been listening all that well when Sonya sent the man to find whatever, but the Storm was still gone and maybe he should've listened at the time.

It might've been important…

(ooo000ooo)

(Tuesday the 26th of October, 1971 continued. Le Rhul guest suite, Marseille, French Republic.)

"This is bigger than what you got us last time." Tatiana observed whimsically when Sonya finally dragged herself out of bed to go see about Alek's tiny-ass bladder capacity.

She regarded her sister flatly through one eye, rubbing her left to get the gritty feeling she woke up with to fade. "Well, we're going to have others. It's not just going to be me, you, and Galina all week."

Still dressed in her running outfit, picked for the significant factor of compressing her chest down to reduce as much bouncing as possible, the nurse kicked off her other running shoe to impact the wall next to the door with a light thud. "Oh I'm not complaining, Nya. It's just… this is very fancy. Very… selective. Very remote."

She grimaced, absently accepting the leash her dog fetched for her to clip to his collar. "Well, if Fiorella is going to come Thursday or Friday for the rest of the weekend, we need to be able to accommodate her guard detail."

"So that plan is still on? I get to get some sugar this weekend?" Tatiana beamed at her, letting herself fall onto her side stretched out on the couch that came in this suite of rooms.

It was as white as everything else was, and everything in this hotel was either white or painted white. Sonya didn't appreciate it in the early morning, it was all eye searing and headache inducing. She'd greatly rather the more 'usual' mix patterns of orange and green and maybe sometimes brown that carpeted the hallway outside the suite, but no. Nope, instead they get the utterly washed out and headache-inducing 'clean' suite.

"Nono can't exactly forbid his wife, not when Lisa might be able to make the weekend and do a little more of what needs to be done 'one-on-one' instead of over phones. Even if I am not remotely his favorite person."

"…did he try?"

"Not in so many words, no. He's being extra annoying about where I picked, the security measures already in place, and the like." Most of it fed from paranoia about his wife's safety, which the thief could swallow a hell of a lot easier than him being an asshole because he could be.

The Sky had instantly agreed to part with two of his Guardians to add to Fiorella's security detail, two Storms and a Mist Vongola trained up specifically to bodyguard the woman above all else. It would've been three of his Guardians, had Sonya not been the one to invite his wife to a little French get-a-way vacation.

Timoteo did not remember about that stupid dead Mist's meddling, she was pretty damn certain of that. He recalled the threat though, that something wicked had targeted his wife for death. He also recalled just enough to know Fiorella needed time with her Mafia Home Tutor to safeguard her, not just so she could swim in the cesspool of Mafia women of his social circle.

It was a weird thing, to Sonya. No non-Mist Italians remembered anything about what they did or why when it came to that subject… except Timoteo of Vongola. Even more strangely, while it was obvious he didn't recall the exact reason, the man was fully willing to feed his paranoia beyond what would be understandable without that knowledge.

"Do you mind I'm going to be busy this weekend with two others?" Sonya inquired of her sister, mainly to change the subject before she gave herself a headache wondering why the Sky was doing what he was doing.

Tatiana laughed at her, rolling over on her front to pose much like the girls on 'sexy' calendars playfully. With a puffed out, if flattened right now, chest and her legs in the air behind her. "No, Nya. You're safe from me. Especially if you can get Ganache here for those same days. If you need to do a little political maneuvering with your little friends, I can entertain myself with 'Lina and my man."

A completely dressed for the day Galina, who had been trained as a thief and apparently still retained a significant amount of stealth on bare toes even if she was now married and more a businesswoman these days, silently snuck up on the nurse with a glass of ice water. With a wicked smirk the Lightning poured the entire glass, ice and all, on her older sister's lower back and ass left unguarded with her lazy posture stretched out on a couch.

With a startled and shocked yelp, the Sun scrambled away from both the furniture and her own best friend. "'LINA! Fuck woman! We weren't ignoring you!"

The brunette tossed her long wavy hair to hang loose down her back with an imperious sniff, waltzing on with bare feet to where their kitchenette was on the interior wall separating their suite from the rest of the hotel. "I have an opinion on being left the odd one out, since your man is going to be here this weekend. Excuse me if I dread being your third-wheel."

"…we could-"

"No." Denied the Lightning instantly before Sonya could finish her thought, a green-painted nail giving away the abortive motion to touch her wedding ring. "Peter doesn't do well with sudden temporary changes. He wouldn't be able to relax if we brought him up here for only a few days. I would rather he be slightly lonely for the week than subject my husband to that for my benefit."

Already over the shock of cold water being poured on her ass, Tatiana regarded her friend seriously as she shifted her weight from side-to-side and pulled wet fabric from sticking to her rear. "Nya and I always use Marseille for vacation, 'Lina. It's not all that far away from the castle. If it's the newness that triggers him, a few day-trips every so often might get him used to the city to come with you next year."

Pausing, the woman regarded each sister in sequence. "Am I invited next year?"

"If you want." Sonya offered easily. "All we do is visit beaches, go shopping, and basically avoid responsibility for an entire week. If you can stand the 'do nothing serious' part, then feel free to come along whenever you want."

That was kind of the sticking point with Lightnings, which she knew full well just from wasting two hours of Verde's morning every now and again. He loathed having nothing but his own mind to occupy himself with if she wanted to be lazy on him, and he shared a Polarization with Galina.

A week might be a little much for an Inverted Lightning to spend doing nothing.

"Or," continued Tatiana without needing to know what she was thinking to suggest it, "just a couple days. Like Wednesday and Thursday of next year's vacation, with an option on Friday if you feel so inclined."

Galina regarded her skeptically, then glanced at Sonya. "Would you mind?"

"Not remotely. You also don't have to wait for us to go on vacation," pointed out the Storm-Cloud simply with an absent shrug, "you can declare a few days for yourself… or yourself and your husband."

"I need Tatiana if I'm to do 'nothing'." Refuted the woman with a dismissive wave of one hand, refilling her glass at the kitchen sink. "Peter might work instead, we'll have to just see."

"Fair enough." Scratching Alek behind the ears for so patiently waiting out the whole conversation, even if she was supposed to be taking him outside for fresh air and a quiet piece of grass, she finally started walking her dog. "I'll get breakfast, if you two will decide what the hell we're going to be doing today."

"Yeah, hey. When is your Rainy lady going to be here for shopping?" Tatiana called after her, sticking her head out the doorway after her.

"Thursday. Lal said she had a couple things she left pending to get settled before the weekend after next and begged off an entire week of being here for only a few days."

Sonya had no doubts the delay was a bid to 'minimize' how much she bought the woman. Reducing just where she could take the Rain and how long they had to outfit her. It was a very sly bit of micro-management if so, but it'd fail miserably without her needing to raise one finger.

Lisa would be here tomorrow, after all.

(Thursday 28th of October, 1971. The Arcobaleno Manse, far outside of Farindola, Province of Pescara, Abruzzo, Italian Republic.)

Lal repacked the box with all the discarded packing material, kicking it to one corner of the still weirdly spotless basement level of her 'new' home. "Thanks for the help, Hawk. I really appreciate it."

The Storm shrugged that off absently without looking back at her, finishing the new painted lines of the interior shooting range with a flourish of a paintbrush. "It was something to do."

…sure it was.

Regardless, the man was an extra pair of hands. This place was so damn massive for one woman to handle that she needed the help. Especially if she was going to spend this weekend in France, the next one would see a whole lot of criminals forced to come here mostly against their wills again.

Hawk, and that first week with the loan of Cesare the murderous assassin Mafioso, had helped her make a serious dent in outfitting this place so people could live here.

The indoor shooting range tucked against one side of the basement was her bid to maybe give Reborn something to violently attack instead of sulk in the dark. Like Skull had claimed when Sonya told them about it, it was both highly appreciated and very responsible for the Mafioso to retreat from them instead of inflicting his anger or stress from getting jerked around a condemned wreck of a building on those that had nothing to do with irritating him. There wasn't another interior room without windows now in the rebuilt manse aside the closets, and Lal made it a point to buy entirely too much cleaning liquids to shove in various hallway closets or under sinks just in case.

Hopefully she hadn't left anything undone that would trigger his OCD and all this wasn't necessary, but she'd rather have it ready and done beforehand if it happened.

If the hitman would rather shoot something this next round she'd rather he do it where it could be easily cleaned up. Otherwise it was very nice to have to keep her own skills sharp, and why she was bothering at all to install one in the basement.

It was only one of several little touches she spent the time to do while she had to sit on her ass all alone out here. There was a gymnasium setup they spent all yesterday putting up in the backyard for the siblings to do their stupid circus shit on. Hawk built a gazebo out of a kit in the 'front' yard for Fon to sulk on if he wanted to while she shelved three bookcases on the ground floor with a mix of textbooks and non-fiction for Verde if he wanted something different to do. She bought cookie making supplies for Luce, and twice the number of baking sheets since they ruined the pregnant woman's new bought ones the last bullshit weekend.

Sonya's murderous chef had already stocked the kitchen with all the tools and implements they'd probably need, getting all the nonperishable staples himself set up in various jars and containers to keep them. All she had to do was get the fresh groceries for eight adults next week, then maybe they wouldn't need to stress over how the hell they were going to stay fed this time. With a God damned coffee maker, and all the options for caffeine that a professional chef knew of.

There was nothing obvious to get or build for Viper to waste time on instead of maybe trying to demolish their 'new' house/manse/occasional jail/whatever the hell this place was.

"I suppose all that's left is the garden, and landscaping."

"And I'm going to duck out here." Hawk immediately informed her with an impressively level tone, hauling the only half empty paint cans to the little but growing store of 'excess household supplies' that was growing along the wall caging in the staircase down here. "I kill plants, I don't grow them. I can trim a hedge, I can mow the lawn, but I killed the last three houseplants I tried to put in my room back at the castle. I forget to water them… probably."

Lal rolled her eyes at the man. "Just buy me some grass seed mix and some shrubs, then fuck off."

She just was going to buy some full-grown shrubs or something, plunk them in the dirt around the manse, and call it good aside watering them every other day. Hopefully there was some grass mix available that would grow in a forest clearing…

…you know, she didn't actually know if this place was legally allowed to be here. The manse had been relocated to a national parkland, shoved right up near to the mountains but far enough away to be mostly level ground. Given how they got here and the whole bullshit of the condemned wreck sitting on the land sans any of its supports, she privately doubted the place was on any register as a privately owned domicile. Or as an address to deliver to.

Maybe something to bring up to the others, or just to her Tutor. They could make a thing of it, her very first 'criminal' act could be silently listing the residence wherever the fuck such places were listed down or getting them the zoning rights after the fact.

Maybe.

"…what would grow out here?" Hawk inquired slowly, both looking puzzled and hesitating instead of getting on with the next project he had been loaned to her to help with getting things done. "Aside from trees, obviously."

"It should tell you on whatever fucking label," Lal informed him as she led the way back upstairs, unsurprised they had to go over something she thought was common knowledge but was completely unknown to him, "we're looking for plants that do well in shade. Partial to full, only direct light needing plants near the house… if we can find either a greenhouse or an outdoor garden shop nearby."

"Mou, that… you can leave to me." Viper droned primly from the massive sectional couch that took not only herself and Hawk but Cesare's help to muscle into place. "I will take care of it."

She squinted dubiously at the heavily cloaked figure, but then again… "Here to drop something off?"

They wouldn't be the first one. Reborn had been and gone two weeks ago, whatever he did was finished off with replacing the doorknob on 'his' room with a different one to firmly lock it and without a word spoken to the Rain more or less guarding the place. Given Sonya was also footing the damn bill to get all this shit to decorate and make into a less depressing mausoleum even if it was Lal that wanted it, the thief and stuntman just sending their own personal touches via others was unsurprising. Luce sent two men to outfit 'her' room earlier in the week, another changing of locks that probably wouldn't be a damn use given one of their number was a professional thief.

Fon was the only one to think of forewarning her he would be there early next week to stash his own clothing in the building before their next 'enforced' weekend. The assassin sent her a fucking letter, all polite and respectful-like written in Italian so she could read it. Not through the post, obviously, but by another Triad thug sulking about whatever it was he did to be sent on a messenger run.

It was still the most hilarious shit she had ever seen. The Triad assassin was the politest of everyone she had been forcibly recruited with. Neither of the siblings counted, Russian mom had a man sent to help her and Skull had invited her out of the manse instead of visit.

"I'm moving in, roommate." Viper informed her pointedly.

"Alright. Did you see the seven colored lights on the porch? Flick your dark blue one on." It'd probably be utterly useless of a warning system, but it was something to cut down on the surprise and probable accidental breaking of doors and walls when the others dropped by for whatever reason. "And just don't make a shit ton of noise when I'm trying to sleep, please."

"…is that it?"

"I don't own this place, we all do." Lal reminded the Mist with a negligent wave of a hand, getting out of the way so Hawk could get out of the basement too. "Let me know when to water shit when you're not here, if you want to handle the lawns."

Viper regarded her silently for five full seconds, then just evaporated from sight.

"…Sonya's footing the decorating bill. If you want-"

In the space of a blink the Mist was back, exactly where they had been seated on the long couch. "Mou, no need to twist my arm about it."

"We'll get lunch on our way, how about that?" It was sheer bribery, but then again that's what Skull advised to get to know his best friend beyond polite necessity.

"I'll meet you there." Refused the Mist flatly, proving that getting to know and hopefully amicably getting along with her 'roommates' would be a trial and a half for each individual.

If that was what they wanted to go with… "I want information, and you're the only information broker I'd want to rely on so far. How much will I need?"

"You don't have the money."

"No, I was pretty sure of that." Lal agreed somewhat pointedly herself. "And furthermore, not until my Tutor's requirements for me working my own aims is passed. Which means I'll probably be a little richer when I'm ready to shell out for the information I'm looking for… or poorer."

"And you think bribery will help you?"

"Can't hurt." She allowed for calmly. "Letting you abuse the arrangement I've got to make this place livable is a favor, isn't it?"

Russian Mom would know, either through her man listening in to them or Lal herself when she reported everything. The point wasn't that she was going to do this behind her Tutor's back, but that if this was the way they all wanted to act she could do it too.

Besides, the information Sonya had for her came from this individual to begin with.

Viper delicately plucked at the cloak they always wore, letting the other cross their ankles neatly without bunching up the material. They then crossed arms over a completely flat chest, which contrasted sharply with the deliberately feminine posturing. "Interesting… mou. We'll discuss it over dinner…"

"Won't be here. I'm leaving tonight for the rest of the weekend."

"I'm aware. We'll have dinner when you return, with permission from your Tutor to tweak what she gives you for paying me off."

Lal nodded firmly, grabbing her jeep keys from the little shelf full of hooks that could hold about ten key ring sets.

It was interesting the miser was so cautious about letting her bribe them. It gave more weight to the claim that criminally inclined factions respected the whole Mafia Tutor arrangement, if what Skull claimed about his best friend was as true as he said. It wasn't as if she doubted Russian mom's claims, or the stuntman's, but the more collaboration she got the more comfortable she was in relying on that.

Although the Mist had a point of double-checking she could let them have the last of the budget for 'household expenses' the thief gave her and her men to help out. She didn't know what the woman thought she was going to buy, and with even the most ridiculous shit she could think of to occupy the others already bought and put into place… she still hadn't spent half of it.

To make it all the more stupidly obscene of an amount, that was the same account that they bought seven sets of bedroom furniture from. The massive couch, the dining table and chairs to seat eight adults and a possible plus two kids with elbow room to spare, enough linens to cover everything that needed it, a whole three sets of plates and utensils, everything now in the kitchen cupboards, all the stupid cleaning supplies, the rugs and floor runners, shelves and racks to hold coats and shoes, all the little touches to turn this place from an empty shell into a rather empty home.

None of it was bargain-bin value, either. Cesare wouldn't touch anything not 'top of the line', Hawk was getting damn good at trading out what she picked for higher quality stuff since he was here as her pack mule. Lal got surprised about three times in unpacking it all and putting them in place before she gave up and just let the man swap things around in front of her instead of behind her back.

A whole entertainment system, television and speakers, a record player with several records were more for her so she felt less alone but still didn't leave much of a dent in the funds Sonya gave her. They didn't get radio stations this far out, unfortunately, otherwise she would've just got a radio. The brand-new ham radio setup also in the basement was for extreme emergencies only.

The last touch Cesare left them with last week was an entire rack of wine and the glasses to match, fifteen different bottles ranging from simple reds and whites to dessert wines and at least three different bottles of cognac. An emergency set of tools to handle everything from a blown fuse, when they didn't have a fuse box, to replacing a tire if someone's car blew one was Hawk's touch to their ground floor coat closet.

Again, all that hadn't even halved the sum of money shoved into her hands after volunteering to do it instead of the incredibly apathetic about it thief.

Everything here was still too big for one woman, no matter how she tried to fill up the space. She suspected that even if Viper was honest about moving in, they'd rarely see one another unless they wanted to.

…maybe Viper just liked to take care of plants. Or wanted to.

Who knew?

"You're still going to be picking the plants out, right?"

Viper snorted, not rising from the couch as Hawk silently followed her to the front door. "Of course, mou. As I said, I'll meet you there. Hawk, if you would secure a few armchairs, both I and Verde would appreciate it. And I suppose Reborn."

"Right then." Lal stepped out the door, striding over to the wooden railing on the porch to click off the little light blue electric light sitting on the railing. Viper's dark blue one was on, up until the moment she flicked the switch for her own.

"Might want to think of maybe a couple for 'guests' visiting." Hawk suggested as he pulled the heavy slab of wood closed behind him. "Might be equally as good to know that before going in and getting surprised that way when you thought it was just the Mist or you in."

"Do you remember where we got these?"

"…ah, fuck no. We've been to too many stores these past few weeks for that."

Blowing out a heavy sigh, she took in the two options they had for the latest trip back to whatever. "Then 'guests' will have to live with getting candles. We're probably going to need the truck's flatbed over my jeep's back bench and limited boot space. I'm fairly sure there's going to be several pounds of sheer dirt and mulch needed to make this place halfway decent looking."

The Storm pointedly glanced at a wristwatch ticking away around his right wrist, having to use his left hand to peel his ever-present long coat's sleeve back far enough to see it. "You've got until seven until the boss wants you in France. Might want to think about a shower and a change of clothes before Miss Anna gets here."

"That leaves us… what? Five more hours?" A good thing the Mist volunteered to do the gardens, Lal wouldn't have the time to unload anything much less start in on planting anything before she had to get ready. "A good thing we're just transporting shit this round."

The man grunted in good humor, but as always he was a little reserved by nature so it was just a quiet sound behind her as they got going. Again.

As this was his second round of getting everything a large structure needed to be habitable, Lal really appreciated Hawk's help. He occasionally only spoke up about shit he thought of she could use after they paid for everything and were in the middle of hauling all the shit to the cars, piled all the damn receipts in a fucking shoe box instead of order them to hand in once they were done or accidentally tossed it out with the trash, and had a brain bigger than his muscles for being a scrappy wire of a man who mistakenly thought he could carry some things heavier than they looked… but he was damn useful.

He also helped her feel less alone. Next month, after the 'Arcobaleno' meetup, it'd suck not having him around.

(ooo000ooo)

(Thursday 28th of October, 1971 continued. Le Rhul guest suite, Marseille, French Republic.)

Lisa admired the manicure her younger daughter did for her this afternoon in an absent moment, slitting a sideways look at said daughter's new student. "Sit back down, Miss Mirch. If you would."

Equally as new to the mafia as her own dear Fiorella, a painfully new false name to boot, and prior military. Respect for authority had been drilled into the 'Rain' so hard that the simple request had the woman dropping heavily back into the dining chair she very nearly got away from, when Lisa was in no way part of the structure she should be obeying.

Ah well, that obedience suited her aims right now. Though she hoped the woman would break that unthinking obedience to authority shortly.

"Tatiana? If you and Galina would?"

"Sure, mom. We'll clean up then get out of your hair." Obviously confused but as always willing to roll with things until she learned enough to object, her eldest beamed at her as she grabbed the mostly empty plates.

They were piled up on what little counter space this place had instead of cleaned, but again that suited Lisa's needs. Galina gathered the discarded cutlery and refilled wine glasses from the bottle they ordered for dinner before making way with the rest of it, the minx. Tatiana linked arms with her best friend from girlhood and the two of them left the suite obviously planning some kind of mischief to get up to.

Lisa pushed the wine to one side, settling her arms on the table between them and pinned her younger daughter with a look. "Explain this 'Arcobaleno' thing to me."

Damningly, Sonya started with a tired sigh. "There's… I believe there's three of them. Immortals, undead, undying, whatever. What Vongola knows as 'Talbot' from what Verde's cautious research has to say about him, the 'dead' one, and the 'ancient' one. All three of them seem to be Mists. Talbot's the source of those 'Flame user rings' for sale in Mafia Land, so he's mostly a non-entity. I want to murder the dead one, so I'll make that a non-entity eventually. It's the ancient one that's the problem."

Although she had an arched blue eyebrow at that news, Lal Mirch took up the thread from there. "He's so obviously fake and exaggerated in what he's shown us we could probably all pass him on the street and not realize it. Checkerface, what we were told he calls himself, is powerful enough that 'our generation's Most Powerful Mist' can't stop or disrupt whatever he does."

"I came here, Skull went to Japan. Lisa… Reborn went to America, Fon remained in Mafia Land itself. Fuck's sake, Lal went a mile or so underground. He could still reach every one of us at the same instant. We got a rough greeting with the ground for attempt, but the image he presented didn't even waver."

Well… that was very much not good, to go with a terrifying reach of ability. Cherep had glossed over that part when he told her what was going on in her children's lives. "Aims?"

"…the Arcobalenos were once an organization that worked quite like the Vindice, once upon a time. They either stopped coming together or fell out of favor some three or so hundred years ago." Mused the little master thief her lover trained up out of an abandoned girl slowly, grey eyes distant as she recalled the history she loved to collect to this day from memory. "Arbiters in disputes, a terrifyingly effective killing force when need be and someone overstepped themselves just that far enough to need it. In the lack… it sounds as if Vongola rose as an Italian-centric pale copy, until they devolved into being just another criminal syndicate when the Vindice became a wide-spread thing rather than a spotty happenstance of a 'haunting'. I don't know how true all that is, it's from what Checkerface handed me in 'bribery'."

Actually looking at her Tutor now instead of her, the painfully new Rain woman frowned thoughtfully. "He didn't actually claim to be the one pulling the Arcobaleno teams together, Reborn just suggested it and Checkerface let it go unrefuted."

"But Viper knows just enough to identify him as the 'ancient' one on first meeting." Sonya countered that point with, shrugging that aspect of her current difficulty off. "Either he is, isn't but wants to outdo whoever it had been for personal or not reasons, or he's just copying what was once done. The reasons all really don't matter all that much, he wants the 'best' and picked us out of basically nothing in a few cases. Yourself. Verde, he doesn't really get out much at all or even all that often. Skull rarely… well, not recently has he really needed his Flames at all. Reborn, Fon, Viper, and I are all easier to swallow. We are known for our types. I don't think anyone ever pointed at Luce and claimed she was the most powerful Sky in Italy either."

"So what's the point of dragging us together, if the Arcobaleno are supposed to do what the 'Vindice' do?" Lal demanded shortly, puzzled and skeptical enough for someone that arguably didn't know all that much about what she spoke of.

"There might not be a point, or he might be making a point with us. We just don't know enough, Lal." Rubbing her own forehead irritably, her daughter grimaced with dissatisfaction and irritation. "It's bad enough he's powerful to the point of forcing what we don't want to do, I honestly don't think there's much of a point in trying to fight him about it. If he wanted us dead he could easily do so, as terrifying as that thought is."

"So you're just going to roll over?"

The thief dropped her hand to pin her student with a flat, faintly lavender look. "He wants to pay for 'the work' he wants done. He could puppet each and every one of us and I suspect he wouldn't even break a sweat doing it, but instead he's taking the pains to entice us. No, Lal. I'm going to squeeze him for every red cent while I bid my time to see what it is he's after. I honestly don't mind being used, as long as whoever's using me is upfront about it. I let other people use my skills or reputation to get what they want, why is this all that different?"

Lisa kept silent, as there was an uncertain individual in the room. She had a sinking feeling that her daughter's lack of protest or struggle about being collected against her will was an unfortunate holdover from being raised as a Zolotov rather than having her loyalty earned.

No one earned Sonya's loyalty first, before using her. No one but Cherep and Fiorella, so far.

She and Arseniy hadn't either. They trained her to steal for them first, then loved her for herself second.

The military woman at her side, either confident in eating dinner with hardcore criminals or able to fake it well, shoved a hand through her blue hair in exasperation. Raking it back from equally frustrated brown eyes, annoyed and feeling more than safe enough to show it. "You're assuming he's going to eventually show something. What if he's leading us into an extremely elaborate trap? Just because he can but isn't doing something is no reason to trust that asshole's intentions. Are you going to willingly let yourself die, when an ounce of caution would've saved your ass?"

"I could, but that would be stupid." Sonya dryly shot back, drawing up both legs to wrap her arms around and rest her chin on top of. "I could also refuse every and all 'order', but that would be lazy. Possibly even dangerous, depending on entirely too many factors than I want to think about. No, Lal. I'm going to watch the others do everything. From how he got Fon's attention, he's going to drag his heels on everything for every damn millimeter he can. For how he slapped Viper across the face, that bitchy miser's never going to stop until they learn how he did it to turn against him. Reborn's sixteen times more suspicious by nature than the both of us put together, if there's even a tiny crack in what Checkerface is showing us he'll be all over it like a particularly bad sunburn."

"…so, what the hell are we going to do?"

"We're going to do what we do best." She announced almost tiredly. "I'm a thief, Lal. I research things and then take them from others. I find what it is that others value, what they'll pay for, then get there first. I can't do anything while there's too many unknowns in play… but see. That's Verde's job, quantifying the unknown. Identifying and studying everything down until it's a science he can put to use studying something else. I might not know what Checkerface wants right now, but I will. I won't get in the way of the others while they do what they do best, but I'm not going to do nothing either. If I can, I will."

Lal Mirch blinked slowly, then shot Lisa a look as if only now recalling she was here listening to them.

"What will you do, Miss Mirch?" She inquired politely, as her daughter had quite clearly gone over all her reservations and thoughts on the topic.

"What else can I do? I'll watch their backs, while retraining myself to live in this fucking nightmare of a society. I'm a tactical officer, not some leatherneck infantry commander unable to adapt."

…hmm, not at all objectionable. "Nya? What is the next step for you all?"

"Malicious compliance, I believe. We tried a denial so far, it's either that or another round of being in place but not doing what's asked. Or a mix and match of the two, it wasn't like we agreed to try scattering across the world the last time. Should be somewhat interesting… maybe."

It didn't sound like there was anything left undone she could suggest trying, and a well competent group her middle children were stuck with or not the lack of anything she could help with stuck a nice thorny burr into her pride. Some nebulous entity wanted something shifty and unknown with her children, and if anyone thought she'd sit on her laurels instead of attempting to help them…

…but then again, unnecessary help where it wasn't wanted could be equally as disruptive or hazardous itself as condemning them to whatever was going on.

Lisa did not like the situation. Sonya was one thing, quiet but powerful and possibly just waiting to murder whatever was trying to leash her in time. She regularly encountered these risks, approached them with the full understanding that there was always a bigger fish in the ocean she might just end up at odds with. Cherep… was not like his sisters, and she still had a soft spot for the orphaned little boy-child her ever so icy younger daughter dragged home.

If it came down to murder to free themselves, Cherep would grieve for the death. It wouldn't matter if 'Checkerface' was trying to entrap them, or had some other nefarious designs on 'the most powerful' of their generation, the boy he had once been cried over dead chickens they ate just as much injured wildlife that came afoul some part of urban city life. Chicken was Cherep's favorite meat, just to make it all the more headache-inducing for her when it came to assigning her children chores.

It might have been some years since she last saw the heart wrenching sight, but she was equally as certain he still cried over any injured or dead wildlife on the roads today as he once did their damn neighborhood raised chickens.

"I would like to be kept appraised." Lisa informed her daughter and her student, measured and calm to keep her feelings from influencing them in any way. "If only to ensure you all don't disappear on us, mainly to help you navigate whatever aims and the political repercussions you will probably not be able to avoid while on another's behalf. Keep yourselves safe as you can, everything else can be mitigated or negotiated. Death hears no pleas nor bribes."

Sonya regarded her with bitterly tired amusement.

…well, usually death heard no pleas or bribes. Whatever it was her two middle Cloud-gifted children were doing with Cloud Voodoo made that a little less final, which was a comfort of a sort.

Not much of one, but of a sort.

"With that dealt with the best we are able to… Nya, sweetie. Nightshade?"

Under Lal's mildly disbelieving eyes, her younger daughter's face turned a dull shade of cherry red and she hunched back into her knees. "I claim my Fifth Amendment rights."

"You are neither American nor are we in the US of A right now, dear." Lisa countered with sly amusement, plucking her abandoned wineglass back up to sip. "Please? Arseniy wants to know."

Since, of course, Sonya's favorite was the vor and anything he wanted from her she was always willing to give… the little thief sighed and unbent. "Okay, fine… what do you want to know?"