A/N: Out of all the chapters I've written so far, this one is definitely my favourite. I'm also trying to add as many canon places as possible so you guys have a general idea of what the areas look like. The majority of the places in this story are part of the Dead or Alive universe.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Tecmo and Team Ninja. Please don't sue me.

BREAKING CHAINS

Chapter 3

Hitomi was filled with both nerves and excitement as she followed Bayman and Eliot out of the police station. When they reached the car, Hitomi attempted to call shotgun, but Bayman stared at her in a way which denied her access.

"Ignore him, Hitomi. He just hates it when people sit at the front passenger seat," Eliot stated.

"Oh... Well, that's no problem!" the detective smiled. She then headed over to the back of the car and sat next to Eliot instead.

The car ride felt never ending. There was a part of Hitomi that wished they would never get to their destination since she was worried about screwing up on her first day of the job. She looked over at Eliot who was smiling at her.

"Don't be worried about the investigation," he told her.

Hitomi blinked in surprise. "How did you kno-"

"I was once in your shoes, remember? Just be confident and you'll be fine."

Hitomi nodded at the young man. "Okay. I'll try."

Bayman rolled his eyes at the conversation happening behind him. "I hope this isn't going to be some shitty romance fling."

"I-I would never do that!" Eliot stammered. Hitomi couldn't help but smirk at the British male and decided to tease him.

"Oh really?"

Eliot couldn't believe his ears until his expression changed. It looked as though he were having second thoughts now. "Well…"

"It was just a joke," Bayman retorted. "Don't try anything funny or I will kick the both of you out of this car."

All Hitomi and Eliot could do at this point was look at Bayman through the rear vision mirror and nod in fear. Although, Hitomi couldn't help but voice another question which soon came to mind.

"Why did Gen Fu send the three of us to the Douglas residence? Shouldn't one person be enough?"

Eliot gave a small chuckle. "You've clearly never been there… It's a really big mansion. You'll see for yourself once we get there."

When the trio arrived at the Douglas residence, Hitomi immediately knew what Eliot had been referring to. The building in front of her was huge enough for at least ten families to reside in. Surely, it would be lonely for Helena Douglas to live there by herself. Ever since her mother had been murdered by Christie two years ago, Helena was on her own. What would she do with all that extra living space? Or maybe she just liked the Victorian feel of her mansion.

Hitomi only knew Helena through the opera channel on her television. She is well known and recognised as one of the highest paid celebrities in DOATEC City. At the same time, Hitomi internally admitted that she was excited to meet another celebrity. She already knew Tina Armstrong, the famous pro wrestler, on a personal level, as well as her father, Bass Armstrong. They were both well acknowledged and feared in the fighting ring.

The previously known karateka dusted her casual outfit. She really needed to collect her policing uniform soon. Nevertheless, she followed her two workmates up the stairs. She couldn't help but notice the sign on the wall from afar which read Lorelei. Once they made it all the way to the top, Hitomi rang the doorbell and waited in silence until someone answered the door.

Hitomi was amazed to finally meet Helena Douglas. She looked so much different in real life in comparison to her various appearances on tv. She was much shorter, had a more slim frame, and her blonde, waist-length hair was held up in two ponytails. What surprised Hitomi was Helena's sense of fashion. Whilst normally being seen in elegant dresses on tv, Hitomi found it odd that she would choose to wear something that a lolita fashion model would wear.

"Helena… Douglas?"

"No. I'm Marie Rose. Lady Helena hired me as her servant recently... Lovely to meet you all," the young girl said with a polite curtsey. "Come in, please."

As she followed Marie Rose, Hitomi couldn't help but feel embarrassed that she confused Helena Douglas for her own servant. She tried to ignore the sudden insecure feeling by looking at all the unique rooms they walked past. Each room was non surprisingly huge, and some of them even looked identical.

Eventually, Marie Rose came to a stop and slowly opened the door ahead so Hitomi, Bayman, and Eliot could step through. Hitomi noticed all the antiques and tea sets lying around the room. But what caught her attention was the blonde woman in front of her. She was sitting at a table as she clutched her chest in worry. Bayman rolled his eyes at the sight of her.

The three of them headed over to Helena with caution. They stopped a few feet away from her as Hitomi decided to acknowledge her.

"Helena Douglas?"

The French woman looked up from the floor and sighed in relief. She was a very polite, but seemingly overdramatic woman.

"Oh, thank goodness you are all here!" she spoke with a French accent. "For a moment, I thought I was going to die tonight. Luckily, that is not the case…"

"That's great news," Eliot cheered. "... But what happened, exactly? I'm a little confused."

Helena looked at Eliot with a dreadful expression. "Here… Let me show you."

The opera singer quickly got up from her seat and hurried over to the balcony. It was becoming dark and windy outside, but it was still easy for everyone to see due to the full moon.

"Okay, let me begin…" Helena prepared. "Marie and I were standing right here on the balcony. We were talking about the tennis match I had just won. I even earned myself a first place trophy-"

"Get to the point!" Bayman urged.

"Please be quiet and let me tell my story," Helena glared at the Russian man. She then coughed lightly. "As I was saying… We were talking about my successful match until I heard a loud, rattling noise and then a few banging sounds afterwards."

"I can confirm this," Marie pitched in. "I was standing next to Lady Helena when everything happened… After hearing the banging sounds, I offered to walk in first so I could fight off the attacker… But they were no longer there. They unfortunately stole some things. And… something of mine is being stolen right now," she said as she quickly looked at Eliot. "My heart."

Hitomi tried her best not to crack a smile as she looked at Eliot. The British man had gone completely silent and his face was now similar to a beetroot. He looked as though he was going to collapse from even being acknowledged by the young servant.

Bayman turned his focus to Helena since everyone else seemed to be distracted.

"Do you know what items were stolen?"

Helena looked at the ground as she recollected her memory. "Let's see… I believe it was my trophy, my tennis racket, and some tennis balls."

Bayman looked up as soon as he finished writing the missing items on his notepad. "That's all?"

"Yes," Helena confirmed. "What I do not understand is why they stole my tennis equipment when they easily could have asked? I mean, obviously I would not hand over my trophy, but everything else, sure."

Hitomi nodded at Helena's statement. "Helena has a point. Did you see all the different antiques when we were inside? Why would they steal some tennis equipment instead?"

"Speaking of antiques..." Helena started as she headed back into the house. "Look at this shattered thing! Do you know what this is?!"

"No…" Hitomi answered.

"This was my mother's favourite vase. It is now RUINED," she said with immediate anger. "The selfish convict will pay for this!"

Hitomi nodded in understanding. She felt bad for Helena since she had lost the person who meant the world to her, as well as their most prized possessions. The detective decided to ask Helena more questions regarding the incident, but the opera singer stopped her from doing so.

"Don't you think I should be questioned by Bayman? He has more experience and I would like to get this case solved as fast as possible."

"Not a chance," Bayman said. "I'm going to be checking all the rooms to make sure nothing else has been stolen."

As soon as Bayman exited the tea room, Hitomi paid her complete attention to Helena once more. She decided to ask the most obvious question.

"Do you have any enemies that could have done this to you?"

Helena looked at Hitomi with a serious expression. "Yes. Actually, there are a lot of people who seem to hate me…"

"I can name them," Marie offered. Hitomi smiled and nodded at the gesture, so she continued. "Well, there's Leifang, Bass Armstrong, Ayane, Zack, and Lisa Hamilton. Some of them don't really hate her, but you cannot deny there is a source of conflict there."

Hitomi wrote down the list of names. She found herself to struggle as she wrote down the last name.

"And that new man in town. What is his name… Rig? He's a strange one. Add him to the list," Helena added.

"We can't just add someone to the suspect list because you think they are strange," Eliot commented. He seemed to be over his embarrassment involving Marie Rose.

Helena glared at Eliot. "Add him to the list."

The colour on Eliot's face suddenly disappeared. He seemed to be frightened of the opera singer. "Okay, I'll add him…"

After when all the remaining questions had been answered by Helena, they ended up waiting for a while in silence due to Bayman still conducting his search. Everyone remained seated on the lounge as they waited for him to come back. By the time he did come back, he seemed to be very angry with everyone.

"Did you people not hear me call for help?!"

Everyone gave him a funny look. "No?" Eliot said, confused. "We didn't hear a thing."

"Why were you calling for help?" Hitomi asked. "Did you find the culprit?"

"Does it look like I found the culprit?!" Bayman snapped. "No. I was lost. This place is a bloody maze!"

Bayman looked as though a vein had popped in his head. He then quickly sighed and tried his best to control his temper. He decided to share his findings with everyone.

"I've looked in every other room in this ridiculous house. Nothing else seems to have been stolen. And seriously," he looked at Helena, "how many bedrooms does one person need?!"

Helena gasped and glared at the man in front of her. "Excuse you, but I have extended family who like to visit from time to time."

"Are they from a village?! You could fit a whole town in here!"

Helena ignored Bayman's retort and began to think about her previous experience just before. "I could have died tonight… I bet Christie escaped from jail and is now trying to kill me. She must be stopped! I demand the death penalty to be put on her!"

"It wasn't her," Bayman confirmed. "I visited her cell earlier today."

Helena glared at Bayman once more. "Two assassins talking - or plotting - together is never a good sign."

Bayman was going to share his piece of mind with the French woman until he decided against it and ignored her jabs instead.

"I'm not going to argue with your weird insults. I'm used to the flack from this stupid town," he spoke. "Anyway, our investigation phase is over. We're going back to the station."

"Fair enough," Helena sighed. "I hope you will call me once it is revealed what monster did this tonight." She then turned to Marie Rose. "Marie, you should walk them out. Afterwards, I could do with some tea."

"Will do," Marie Rose smiled with a curtsey.

They all walked out of the building in silence with Marie Rose. As they reached the front door, the servant held it open so the three officers could exit the building. She nodded at Bayman and Hitomi, and then looked at Eliot.

"Until we meet again, Eliot."

The door then closed and Eliot was left staring at it in awe. His cheeks flushed a slight tint of pink and he found himself stammering at the door.

"Y-yes… Until… again… wow."

"Stop talking to the door, Eliot. We need to go back to Gen Fu and report to him," Hitomi said with a slight smirk.

Eliot straightened his navy blue tie along with the rest of his uniform and looked at Hitomi with determination. "You're right. Let's go!"

A/N: I'm sorry this chapter was so short, but I needed to get straight to the point and not drag it out. I hope you guys liked the way I portrayed Helena and Marie Rose. If not, then that's cool. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Anyway, that's it for now. Feel free to review if you'd like. Constructive criticism is always welcome. :)

Until next time!