The Heist: Epilogue

Even as weakened as she was, it still took four marshals wearing strength-enhancing suits to muscle Brooklyn out of her cell and down the hallway.

She really wasn't sure what was going on. Her most recent memories were a confusing muddle of rage, fear, and inexplicably grief and flashes of battles against what seemed to be at least three or four different people. She vaguely remembered freaking out after having discovered that she had pissed off the Brothel, and then someone had made her mad, and then things got blurry. And the next thing she knew, she was waking up in some kind of cell, feeling sick, exhausted, confused, and worst of all, handcuffed. Her hands were thrust into a single steel encasing behind her back, with two more covering each of her lower legs.

Brooklyn had no idea how long she had been left there. In her dilapidated state, all she could do was slip in and out of consciousness, occasionally surfacing long enough to struggle weakly against her bonds before passing out again. But nothing she did made any difference. She was too tired and too sick to fight back. She was beaten. Broken. Weak.

Crippled.

But then, just as she had exhausted herself again and was about to slip back into the dark, the door to her cell slid open with a metallic clang. Brooklyn snapped to full wakefulness. She tried to sit up, but then four pairs of hands reached down to grab her.

Even then, she almost made a fight of it. Being touched revived the last few embers of her spirit, and she shoved her shoulder against the stomach of one of her captors, driving the wind from her. Ducking down, she tried to break free and make a run for it, but then two more grabbed her legs and pulled them out from under her.

From there, she was dragged screaming down the hall. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know where they were taking her. Sweat blurred her eyes and fear clouded her mind. She couldn't disappear like this. The Brothel was very good at making the people it didn't like vanish. It couldn't happen to her, not like this.

The next thing that she knew, she was being forced down to her knees. There was a buzzing sound, and the metal shackles around her lower legs adhered to the ground. Two pairs of hands then yanked her steel-encased arms down, painfully forcing her to arch her back. It touched the metal on her legs and stuck tight. Brooklyn inhaled sharply. Magnetic binds. She wasn't going anywhere.

Not that she knew where she was now. It felt like a big open room, though it might have been the size of a linen closet for all she knew, given that the only light source was a single spotlight shining oppressively down on her from above. The beam was so intense that she could feel the heat of it beating down on her. If left in it too long, she was probably going to start to tan.

The four silent assholes that had brought her there disappeared then, melting into the darkness. Brooklyn strained mightily against her bonds, but all she succeeded in doing was giving herself a rash.

Again, Brooklyn didn't know how long they left her alone, her lower legs all but sealed to the ground, her upper body bending forward in excruciating fashion, her mighty arms, which had delivered her from so many perils in times past, held immobile behind her back. Sweat dripped down her face and burned her eyes, but she couldn't wipe it off. Her throat regularly clogged with saliva and mucus, and she could barely turn her head to spit it out, causing it to drip down her cheek half the time.

It was torture. There was no other way to describe it. Someone was pissed at her. And unfortunately, she knew exactly who that someone was. She just wished she knew how long they intended to make her wait before delivering the final verdict.

Maybe she passed out again, but soon she became aware of another presence. Then a voice with a thick Canadian drawl said, "Clean her up. Just the face though."

Brooklyn almost gasped. A cool, damp towel started dabbing away at her face, wiping away the sweat, spit, and hardened mucus. It was by far the most wonderful thing she had ever felt. She almost wept with the joy of it.

Then the cloth was withdrawn. Brooklyn let out a groan of protest and strained after it, instinctively seeking the comfort it had provided, but it was gone.

However, it had at least done the trick of clearing her vision, at least somewhat. Squinting, she could just make out the shape of some short, dumpy looking bitch with brown hair and glasses. On her own, she didn't cut an impressive figure at all. Brooklyn could have crushed her on a normal day without even trying. But the sleek, formfitting black uniform she was wearing filled the restrained giant with terror.

"Ah, you can see me," said the girl. She nodded. "Good. Can you understand what I'm saying?"

Brooklyn briefly considered not answering. But as that would just lead to more torture, she reluctantly nodded.

"Good. Most people with crazy drop withdrawal can't even manage that. You're a hearty one." With a sigh, the girl clasped her gloved hands behind her back and started walking in a slow circle around Brooklyn as she talked. "Well, I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Alexis Smith. I was, until its recent closing, the mamasan of the Marsters Brothel headquarters." There was a pause, and then she said, "If you're unfamiliar with the terminology, that means I ran the place. The branch, the local operations, the whole damned city. Until you happened."

Brooklyn boggled at this. "Wait, wha…" she gurgled out. "Didn't…didn't see you…"

"Oh, you did. You just mistook me for one of the girls, and I saw no reason to correct you. Which isn't to say you didn't screw me over in a big way." Alexis stopped pacing around Brooklyn and stood directly in front of her, looking down at her prisoner. "The riots were one thing. That was all the Persephone Protectorate's doing. We could've evacuated and lay low until everything blew over without losing much face. These things happen, after all. But you?"

Suddenly Alexis reached down to grasp Brooklyn by the jaw. The giant squeaked in surprise. As squishy as she looked, Alexis was surprisingly strong. "You made me look like an idiot in front of the overdom. I'm not exactly what you'd call happy about that. Incompetence tends to be frowned upon in the Brothel. I'll be lucky to end up with a desk job after this."

Snorting, Brooklyn tried to wriggle out of her grasp while protesting, "Didn't…didn't know you was Brothel. Didn't know…"

"I really don't care." Giving her face a rough shove, Alexis released her and turned away. "Fortunately, despite everything the situation is not unsalvageable. You got us into this mess, so now you're going to help us get out of it."

"Any…anything," Brooklyn wheezed. "Whaddeva you want. I'll…I'll do it."

"Oh, you definitely are," Alexis said agreeably. "First, we're going to help you with that little drug problem of yours. A little detoxification, something to clear your mind and get you working properly again."

"Th-thank y-you…" Brooklyn said, and meant it. Compared to what the stories said happened to those who crossed the Brothel, she was getting off pretty easy. Sure, she could put up with a little rehab and criminal community service, no problem.

Then. Alexis swiveled slowly around to face her, her hands clasped in front of her waist, and Brooklyn's chest seized up. Alexis was smiling. Nothing big. Just a little twist of the lips, but it was enough for Brooklyn to know that she was in for it. "Then when we're done with that," Alexis said, "when you're finally clean, we're going to pump more drugs back into you."

"What?" Brooklyn sputtered.

Alexis then held up a tiny vial, this one full of some sort of clear liquid. "Not the same kind as before. No, these are a little…different from what you're used to. Less fun for you, more useful for us." She leaned in close, close enough that if it weren't for the restraints, Brooklyn could have lunged forward and bit her. "You see, unlike crazy drops, these will leave you sound of mind, steady of temperament, in perfect health, and utterly convinced that you are, in fact, the real mamasan of the Marsters Brothel."

Brooklyn gaped. What? What good was that going to do?

But Alexis wasn't done. "After all, someone has to hang for funding those leechers and polluting the streets with their filth. We've decided that that someone is going to be you. You will stand trial in our place, believing fully that you were the one responsible for our horrible crimes. You and what other bits of your gang we can round up. You will then seem untouchable during trial, with all the best lawyers abusing every loophole and employing every dirty trick to get you off, all while you sit there smirking, completely certain of your victory. Naturally, everyone watching will be gritting their teeth and bemoaning the corruption that plagues their community's upper crust and allows for a monster like you to exist." Then the source of that corruption chuckled. "Then a hero will arise, a rogue lawyer from some other community bringing with her undeniable evidence of your guilt, while at the same time exposing the courts for the frauds that they are. Outrage at the scandal will no doubt incite even more turmoil, and the whole of the legislation will be turned out, to be replaced with a new regime. The courts will find you guilty, and you will be sent off to serve a very lengthy sentence in La Martiz penitentiary. And the public will finally rest easy, knowing that the cancer has finally be cut out.

Brooklyn finally got it then. In her addled state, most of what Alexis had been going on about sort of went over her head, but she understood being framed. And she understood La Martiz.

No one ever came back from La Martiz.

"No," she whispered hoarsely. Then she lurched forward, desperately trashing against her restraints. "NO! You can't-"

Alexis simply pointed a finger. From her hand leapt some sort of pale grey ooze. It slapped over Brooklyn's mouth and stuck like glue, sealing it shut.

Alexis smirked and turned to walk away. "But before we do that, there's just one matter left to take care of."

Brooklyn's eyes widened when someone else stepped out of the darkness. It was the bird, whatsherface…Kisa! Right. It was that bird dinosaur alien thing, the one she had thought was the one in charge. The one whose leg she had crushed. The one she had begged to intercede for her and her gang. For her part, Kisa seemed to be enjoying the exchange of roles, if the way the skin was crinkling around her eyes in a ghastly alien smile was any indication. "You've met Kisa, of course," Alexis said by way of introduction. "For whatever reason, during your occupation of our premises, you seemed to believe that she was the one in charge, and acted accordingly. Now, despite considerable duress, Kisa here conducted herself quite admirably and was instrumental in our escape. There is quite the commendation waiting for her, as well as a hefty pay raise." Alexis then walked away, disappearing into the dark, though not before saying, "As well as a certain…perk."

With that, she was gone. Brooklyn was left alone with Kisa.

Brooklyn stared at the bird with wide, terrified eyes. Despite being recently cleaned up, sweat was already seeping into her eyes again, burning and blurring. Still, she didn't close them. Kisa's fleshy beak opened, revealing rows of crocodile-like teeth.

Then there was a whirr, and suddenly Brooklyn felt her body start to shift. Whatever it was that was holding the restraints on her legs to the ground was moving, and her long, muscular legs were being painfully rotated out around in both directions. Except it was only her lower legs that were being moved. Her haunches weren't allowed to stretch out, so they ended up being twisted in opposite directions like a pair of big, meaty screws. Beneath her gag, Brooklyn heaved and forced out muffled screams. Though she possessed neither, she could feel bones snapping and tendons rending. And all the while, Kisa watched and Kisa smiled.

But the Brothel wasn't done. Soon her legs had rotated full around to the point where they were now backwards. The cuffs on her hands were now stuck to the floor, bending her back further while her horribly twisted legs are then slowly, torturously stretched out, her calves facing up while her knees press against the ground. Then, just when she thought that it can't get any worse, they started rotating again, twisting her legs back all the way around so that they're facing the correct way again. Mercifully, they reversed the direction to do so rather than make a full three-hundred 60 rotation, else they might have torn her legs right off. That doesn't make it any less horrific though. By then, Brooklyn couldn't even squeak. She prayed that the pain would force her to pass out, but alas her body, her perfect, powerful body, had betrayed her. It was just too tough, too resilient. She had wished for a body that could withstand inhuman levels of punishment, so that's exactly what it did.

Then, when she was finally stretched fully out, Kisa reached behind her back and pulled out a sleek, segmented black rod. She fingered some kind of switch, and the rod tripled in length. The tip swelled out and shaped itself into a heavy, spiked rectangle.

It was a warhammer. Not nearly as elegant or powerful as Brooklyn's own, but it didn't need to be. Brooklyn understood then. Her legs hadn't been twisted off out of mercy. After all, Kisa needed them still attached for the next part. Brooklyn had crushed her leg, and now she was going to return the favor.

"All right then," Kisa purred as she stepped forward. She swung the warhammer easily back and forth like a prize baseball hitter warming up before stepping up to the plate. "Show me some leg."

…

"…should have this mopped up soon," said overdom Veren. In life, the vaskergoros was perhaps the single most massive members of the Brothel. However, the holographic representation of her that stood on the Madam's desk was barely six centimeters tall. The metaphor was unintentional, but quite evident. "Once our little scapegoats have been sent off to La Martiz and the upper crust reorganized, things should settle down in time. Though I'd recommend against moving back in for at least five years, or however long it takes for this little debacle is nothing more than an unpleasant memory."

"Do what you can to make that easier," the Madam told her. "Burn us in effigy if you have to."

Veren inclined her head. "Of course. I already have a new mayor ready to rise up and lead the condemnation. Though might I inquire as to what is to be done about Etherdale?"

"Leave them be for now," the Madam sighed. "Though Lily is to be taken into custody before the end of the week and put on trial the same time as Brooklyn McNally. Their simultaneous sentencing will go a long way to quieting things."

Veren again inclined her head. "It shall be done, Madam. Overdom Veren out."

The tiny image winked out. Letting out a pained groan, the Madam leaned back into her plush chair and closed her eyes. She pressed her fingertips into the flesh of her forehead and gently kneaded her aching brow. This was far from the greatest disaster to strike at the Brothel's operations. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, it was practically business as usual. But it sure made for quite the headache.

Then she cast a glare down at the two red blinking lights on her desk and her lip curled. Sensing her companion's irritation, Margot lifted her head from where it lay in the Madam's lap and she looked quizzically up at her. "Oriko?" she said. "What's wrong?"

"Hush, dear," she murmured, gently stroking the unstable girl's silky black hair. "Just have to deal with a rat."

She pressed one of the lights, and a glimmering representation of Lord Reibey of the Withering Lands took Veren's place on her desk. He was of the same scale as well, which made his resemblance to one of the rodents from back home all the more noticeable.

If anything, the rogue Incubator looked as irritated as she was. Glaring up at her, he squeaked, "You had me on hold."

The frustration vanished from the Madam's face, to be replaced by gentle serenity. "My apologies, my lord. But-"

"You had me. On hold. For hours! Do you have any idea how stupid that was?"

Actually it had been a little under ten minutes, but certain concessions had to be made whenever she spoke to Reibey. "Again I apologize, but there was a situation that required my immediate attention."

"Does it look like I care?" Reibey snapped. "You're the one who wanted to talk to me, which I graciously acquiesced to. So if I take the time out of my schedule to…Wait, what's that?"

He was referring to a second holographic image that the Madam had brought to life over the table, this one a couple of still captures, that of the Matriarch stood tall as the centerpiece, her hand outstretched to unleash a wave of force, and the notorious Elite Guard Mato Kuroi was unleashing a hail of bullets.

"As you may or may not be aware, the city of Marsters and much of the surrounding territory is in a state of upheaval," the Madam said. "Our dealings in that area were brought to light thanks to some indiscretions of one of our associates, and the locals took exception. We were forced to evacuate entirely and are currently doing damage control."

"What does that have to do with-"

"These images were taken almost immediately following the evacuation," the Madam said. "They were taken within our headquarters." She rested her elbows on the desk, clasped her hands together, and leaned forward to regard the tiny Incubator from over her fingers. "So perhaps you'd like to explain why your second in command and one of your Elite Guards were doing wrecking my property?"

Reibey jerked back like a cat that had just pawed a piece of rope and found it to be a cranky rattlesnake. "That was your base?" he demanded.

"Indeed. And to be quite frank, it surprises me that you would knowingly send two of your most valuable assets out of the Withering Lands without first checking the point of arrival. Setting the whole trespassing issue aside for now, did you know that there was a city-wide riot taking place? Had your people been seen, it may have found its way to your door!" The Madam slowly shook her head. "My lord, with all due respect, that is a level of recklessness that cannot be repeated. You must take greater care with how you conduct your affairs."

Reibey was quite unaccustomed to being lectured, which was a shame. And predictably enough, he responded by evading and taking the offensive. "What! Well, ah, they were only there to recover Cocoa Somethingoranother and…that fish thing. Which really begs of question of why those two were doing at your place in the first place! You weren't trying to keep them from us, were you?"

The Madam sighed. "Lord Reibey, you know as well as I do that doing so would make no sense. No, the agents you hired us to assist in capturing those two bungled their job at every turn, which you've already hired us to help clean up, if you'll recall. Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff came into our possession in the aftermath, and we were preparing to hand them over to you. For free, even." She narrowed her pale green eyes. "Unfortunately, the uprising took place before we could do so. And seeing how your people were contacted directly from our headquarters by said failed agents, I can only assume that they broke into our facility during the chaos in hopes of finishing the job."

"But…"

"Oh, and speaking of which…" The Madam pressed another button. More images sprang to life around the first two, forming a collage. A thin, dour-faced girl with mess purple hair. A deranged looking curly-haired child. A pair of blonde twins. "Upon further investigation, it would seem that those same failed agents, whom I remind you are directly responsible for your current troubles with Cloudbreak, and also broke into my facility and caused you to send the Matriarch into the middle of a riot, are also directly responsible for upsetting my former associate's operations and thus led to my business being disrupted."

"What," Reibey said flatly.

"Precisely," the Madam said with a nod. "It would seem that thank because you decided to cut loose a quad of incompetent amateurs rather than spend the extra money and hire the professionals, those amateurs have gone on a rampage that has affected us both." More holographic images came into view, these overhead shots of specific locations. "Cloudbreak. Etherdale. Seagirt. Marsters. All now in chaos thanks to those four. I'll send you the full details if you like, but suffice to say…" The Madam deactivated the collage and leaned forward so that she was practically eye-to-eye with Reibey's tiny image. "Lord Reibey, I am going to be frank with you. That was an unfathomable blunder. I urged you to avail yourself of my services in order to procure Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff, but you didn't. You instead went with those four idiots, who, surprising nobody but yourself, managed to fail at everything they were supposed to do while causing an enormous amount of damage for us both. This sort of behavior cannot be allowed to continue. Do you understand me?"

If Reibey had teeth he would probably be gnashing them together. As it was, his tail was tying itself up into knots. "Are you threatening me?"

"I am advising you. I am more than happy to help you in any way I can when it comes to any sort of…discrete operations, but from now on, I must insist that you deal directly with me and my organization from now on and let us handle such situations how we see fit. Oh, and again, never let the Matriarch teleport into an unknown location. The next time, she may not come back." There was a pause, and then the Madam said, "I am saying this for both of our sakes, my lord. Please heed my advice in this matter."

Unsurprisingly, Reibey bristled under her admonishments. But as unstable and unwise as he could be, he at least wasn't a complete fool. Finally he wilted enough and muttered, "Okay. Fine. I'll do that."

"Thank you, my lord," the Madam said, inwardly sighing with relief.

"I suppose you want repayments for your loss of business as well?"

Though demanding such was customary, the Madam waved it off. "It's of no concern. It's a mere setback, one that we should have no trouble recovering from. Though in regards to Kyoko-"

"Ah, screw her," Reibey growled. "She's more trouble than she's worth. Forget the whole thing. I'll just get Oblivion a puppy or something."

Now that made for an interesting mental image. "Very well, consider her forgotten," she said, mentally moving those two to her personal list. "And in regards to said failed agents?"

"Does it look like I give a damn?" Reibey demanded. "You're right, they're idiots. Screw them too! Do what you want with them, I don't care!"

The Madam's list gained four more names. As they did, she gained a flash of insight.

Ever since her death, the Madam's particular gift of foresight had been…unreliable. Of course, she had never had much control over it, but her brief glimpses into the future had declined to the point where she honestly couldn't tell them apart from flights of her imagination. The last one she had had kicked off the series of events that had led to her ousting the previous Madam and taking her place. None had occurred since. She wasn't sure why, mainly because there were so many suspects. The afterlife was unstable by nature, with so many conflicting magics, worlds, and bizarre twists of realities that trying to gauge the future was probably a lesson in futility. In time, she had given up on them entirely, and was grateful for it.

But as soon as Reibey had finished writing off everyone he had gone through so much trouble obtain and those who had caused him that trouble, the Madam found herself in the grips of an image so bright and so vivid that it couldn't be anything other than her gift talking. It lasted less than a second, and she recovered before he noticed. But it certainly gave her something to think about.

"Thank you for your time, my lord," she said, perhaps a bit hastily. "I look forward to doing business with you in the future."

"Sure you are," he said crankily, and vanished.

The Madam leaned back in her chair and considered what to do with this new information. Bored by her friend's business affairs, Margot had fallen fast asleep, her head still in the Madam's lap. The Madam unconsciously ran her fingers through the girl's hair while she thought.

In cutting those six (well, eight, if you counted the Tomoes) loose, Reibey had unknowingly set in motion a series of events that was headed on a swift downward spiral. A tiny little snowball had been dropped on the top of a steep hill covered with fresh, white powder. And when it reached the bottom…

The Madam smiled. Well now, that was interesting. And unlike a certain other vision she had had right before her death, this one was not at all unwelcome. In fact, it fitted in neatly with her own agenda.

Then she glanced at the second blinking light, which had been waiting patiently while she had wrapped things up with Veren and Reibey. Reaching down, she activated the call.

A third image came to life above her desk, this one of a humanoid figure wearing loose brown clothing. However, it was quite evident that this was no human, if the orangish-yellow skin, clawed hands, avian legs, webbed feet, and main of bristles instead of hair were any indication. Her third caller looked up to regard her with slitted yellow eyes and smiled, displaying two rows of needlelike teeth.

"Molder Asiriss," the Madam greeted the leader of the afterlife's only savian colony. "Thank you for waiting. Shall we get down to business?"

…

Kyoko wasn't sure where she was, how she had gotten there, or most anything. Everything was a jumbled blur in her mind. All she knew was that she had held on as long as she could until at last she could go on no further.

From there, she slept.

After several hours, she woke up long enough to be given some sandwiches and a thermos of hot soup. She scarfed them down without question and passed out again. She woke up again and was fed more sandwiches and slices of fruit and then fell asleep against. Both times she was too addled to really take stock of her surroundings. She had a hefty sleep debt to pay off and a ravenous hole in her stomach to fill, and couldn't concentrate much beyond those two tasks.

Finally she felt herself coming to for the third time, though this time she brought a little more of her conscious mind with her. She found herself lying on a white blanket spread over grass, with another blanket scrunched up around her. Directly over her was what looked like a white canopy held up by four poles, forming a sort of open tent.

Blinking, Kyoko hoisted herself up on her elbows and looked around. The best she could figure, she was in some kind of public park. There were other tents set up with other people resting under blankets or sitting together in little groups while girls wearing white uniforms bustled here and there, checking in on the people under the blankets while bringing food to the ones that were awake.

Okay, it was obviously some kind of relief group. Obviously that riot she had witnessed had gotten really out of control, and these people were helping those affected. Well, that was pretty neat, but how the hell had she gotten there?

Frowning, Kyoko laid back as she tried to piece her way through her murky memories. The last thing she clearly remembered was getting jumped by Annabelle Lee. Again. She had to give the anorexic amputee credit, she was damned persistent. Kyoko could respect that of her, if she wasn't so busy hating her for all the hell she was putting her through. Maybe in another life, they…no, wait, scratch that. She had had another life, and would've hated Annabelle Lee just as much in that one too.

It was then that Kyoko realized that she wasn't alone under the blanket. There was an arm lying across her stomach and a head lying close enough that it might have been resting against her shoulder when she had been sleeping. Kyoko jerked a bit in surprise, and came very close to swinging out of pure reflex. But then she recognized the short, shaggy blue locks and was almost knocked over by a surge of relief. She even smiled a bit.

Sayaka sleeping soundly, her upper body turned toward Kyoko, the tips of her fins sticking out of the bottom of the blanket. Her left arm was flung over Kyoko, the fingers twitching a bit against the curve of her waist like it was trying to hold on. If she was dreaming, they didn't seem to be pleasant ones, if the way her face was all bunched up was any indication, though the sliver of drool that trickled down her cheek did sort of ruin the melancholy effect.

Kyoko stared down at her sleeping friend, her phantom heart slowly trying to recover from the initial shock. While Kyoko still had no idea where she was, just seeing Sayaka there next to her helped relieve some of the burden on her mind. It was weird, but ever since her final few minutes of life, when she had looked up at the towering, armor-encased monstrosity that the stubborn idiot had become and realized that no amount of pleading would ever bring her back, she had decided that from that point on Sayaka was her responsibility. Of course, at the time that had meant putting her out of her misery and following her into the black, but the way she saw it, just because the black had not been nearly as quiet and peaceful as advertised or that Sayaka was no longer in factory condition didn't mean she was freed from her obligation. Sayaka may be an amnesiac mermaid with a weird identity complex, but damn it, she was Kyoko's amnesiac mermaid with a weird identity complex! The two of them had rarely gone outside of shouting distance from each other since arriving, and now with things being the way they were, Kyoko intended to keep it that way.

Now that Kyoko had confirmed that her amnesiac mermaid was still with her, she found herself wondering what the next step should be. She had no idea how long she had been asleep, but her body was insisting that it could use a little more, so the thought of curling up and rejoining Sayaka in the warmth of slumber sounded pretty damned attractive. On the other hand, her stomach was countering with the fact that a few sandwiches, soup, and sliced apples did not at all make up for the meals that she had missed, and she had to admit that it was stating its case in rather eloquent fashion. And whenever her stomach spoke, Kyoko was predisposed to listen.

Then, as she woke up a little more, another voice joined the conversation in her head, this one more craggy and hard-bitten than the others. The survivor in her pointed out that while they may not be in the hands of their known enemies anymore, Kyoko still had no idea where they were or in whose care they had fallen into. Sure, it seemed nice and hospitable, but so had the Persephone Protectorate. And even if the help was genuine, there were still too many people after them to risk remaining in the open.

The other two voices shut up then. They had long learned that when Kyoko's survivor instincts started talking, they had better listen. With that in mind, Kyoko reached over and jostled Sayaka's shoulder.

The blue-haired mermaid let out a sleepy groan of protest, so Kyoko shook her harder. Finally Sayaka let out a resigned sigh and blinked her eyes open. She looked up and squinted in confusion at the insistent redhead.

"Huh?" she mumbled. "What in the-"

Then enough of her mind must have surfaced to notice several things amiss, as she suddenly sat straight up with a gasp. "Holy crap!" she blurted out, a wild look in her eyes as her head jerked back and forth, searching for expected threats.

"Whoa, whoa, hey! Calm down there, fishstick!" Kyoko said. She grabbed Sayaka's shoulder and tried to pull her back down before anyone saw that they were awake. Being noticed might lead to being asked questions, and she didn't want to risk that until she learned more about where they were and what had happened.

Sayaka stared at her as if she had (haha) seen a ghost. There was something about her face Kyoko didn't like, something weird and haunted. It reminded her too much of the bitter emptiness that had worn her down in her last few days of humanity.

She noticed other things too. Sayaka was still wearing the same black tee-shirt she had gotten from the Persephone Protectorate. By now it was filthy with sweat and…other things. The collar was torn in several place, courtesy of Brooklyn's fists. And there still was a bullet-hole over her stomach. The pale flesh beneath was of course whole and unblemished again, and the rest of her wasn't so much as bruised, but it hadn't been too long ago that she had been beaten nearly to death. Getting shot in the head like she had been near the end was one thing. Getting pummeled like she had while being helpless to do anything about it stayed with you.

"Easy, easy," Kyoko said, hands in the air as she tried to calm her blanketmate. "It's me, okay? Just chill, and keep your voice down."

Sayaka shuddered, and some of the crazy went away. "Kyoko?" she said.

"Uh-huh. Are you gonna be okay?"

That made Sayaka frown. "Uh, I guess? Where are we?"

Kyoko shrugged. "Search me. I just woke up myself, and we were here. Best I figure, we got mixed up with a bunch of other folks that got hurt in all this crazy. Which…could be worse."

"Oh," Sayaka said. "Uh, I guess. What…what about the bad guys though? Brooklyn, the Brothel, Annabelle Lee, all them?"

"Don't got a clue," Kyoko admitted. "Last thing I remember we were headed for that window, then thing got real blurry, and we were here. So I guess we got out."

"Oh," Sayaka said again. She looked rather perplexed by this new information, or lack thereof. "So…we're safe then?"

Kyoko snickered at that. "Yeah, 'safe' ain't happening for us anytime soon. But hey, better than that cell. Or that closet."

"So we're safe…er?"

"Ah," Sayaka said. Then her eyes rolled up and she fell back, flat on her back.

For a moment Kyoko thought she had passed out completely. But Sayaka's eyes were still open and staring upward, with both her arms outstretched in the crucifix position. "Wow," she said at last. "What an awful week."

Chuckling some more, Kyoko shifted onto her side and propped herself up on one elbow. "Look at you. Things go a bit nasty and you fall to pieces."

"Fall to…Hey, listen here, Ms. Sakura. I'll have you know that…oh, it's Mami."

Kyoko was a fast thinker, but she didn't do well with sudden subject changes. "Huh?" she said.

Without moving the rest of her body, Sayaka revolved her hands around so that both her index fingers were pointing up. Following their path, Kyoko got her second pleasant surprise when she saw that Mami was there with them.

Her former mentor was sitting cross-legged with her shoulders bowed and her arms resting in her lap. Her normally perfect blonde hair was hanging in tangled streamers around her face. She was fast asleep. One of her muskets was resting in the crux of one elbow, indicating that she had been standing (well, sitting) guard before weariness had taken hold.

"Wow, she really did come to save us," Kyoko said as she pushed the blanket away and sat up.

"What, did you think it was a dream or something?"

"Honestly, I was starting to wonder. Hey, where do you think Charlotte went?"

Sayaka shrugged. "How the heck should I know? Should we wake her?"

Whatever Kyoko's answer might have been became a moot point, because suddenly Mami started to stir. She straightened her shoulders with a sleepy groan and winced as she discovered a sore spot. Rubbing her eyes, she looked up.

Then, seeing Kyoko and Sayaka both awake and watching her, she stared.

Kyoko started to smile. "Hey, you-"

Then for the second time, her and Sayaka's backs found themselves in danger of being snapped in half courtesy of two very strong arms and more affection than restraint. Mami had all but thrown herself at the pair and swept them up into her embrace like a pair of stuffed animals. In a few moments they were probably going to have the same consistency of stuffed animals as well.

"Mami…can't breathe…" Kyoko wheezed out.

"My whole life is pain," Sayaka croaked.

Letting out a sound that was half a laugh and half a sob, Mami released her hold. "I'm…I'm sorry," she said, wiping away tears. "But I had no idea if I'd ever see you two again, so…"

"Yeah, yeah, glad to see you too," Kyoko said as she painfully worked out the new kinks in her back.

"I almost believed you were gone, send off to Oblivion. And it was all my fault. If Charlotte hadn't been there pushing me on, I would've given up." Mami shook her head. "Just look at me. I really am a mess, aren't I?"

"Hey, keep it together, yah big pessimist," Kyoko said, giving Mami a friendly punch in the shoulder. "First you're all hugs and celebration, and now you wanna bring the mood down?"

"Yeah, Mami, it's not that bad," Sayaka said. "I mean, we were only kidnapped by two sets of criminals at once! You're acting like we were in trouble or something!"

Mami let out a long sigh that became a chuckle near the end. "I missed you guys," she said.

"Oh, and speaking of Charlotte, where is she?" Sayaka said as she looked around, as if Charlotte were hiding in some corner of the tent.

"She went to go find us some transportation," Mami said. "We might've escaped, but there's still too many parties after us. It's best if we leave here quickly and quietly."

"And 'here' would be…" Kyoko prompted.

Mami shrugged. "A park. The Second Life Fellowship set up a sort of relief station here, for those who got hurt or lost their homes in the riots."

"Second who of the…"

"Christian charity organization," Mami explained. "They mostly work with wayhouses and help those who have trouble adjusting to the afterlife, but fortunately they're flexible. The crowd brought us here after we escaped."

Kyoko stared. "The crowd?"

"Yes." Mami shook her head. "The mob that attacked the building you were being kept in. Apparently we landed right in their lap on our way out."

Sayaka's face scrunched up. "And they helped us? Don't those types usually go all paranoid and attack everyone?"

"I don't really have much experience with riots, so I couldn't say," Mami said. "But please remember that however heated they might be, they're still people and not animals. And since the reason they were rioting in the first place was because they found out about those criminals who were holding you in the first place. Something must have convinced them that we were innocent victims that needed protecting."

"Which we were," Kyoko observed.

Then Sayaka raised her hand like a confused third-grader in the middle of a bewildering math lesson. "Uh, hey, Mami?"

"Yes?"

"Look, I know a lot's happened, and it's great that we all got out okay, but…" Sayaka took a very deep breath. Then she all but exploded. "What the heck happened? Why'd Lily give us to the Brothel in the first place? What is the Brothel even? How'd people find out about them? Why were those Void Walkers there? Who was that girl with the machinegun? What! The! Heck! Is! Going! ON?!"

Kyoko winced at the outburst. "Pssst! Hey, swordfish! Dial it back, dial it back, okay?" Then she turned to Mami. "Though I really gotta agree. The fuck just happened?"

Mami took a deep breath of her own. "Well, there's…a lot to go over, a-and I'm still a little confused about much of it myself, but…"

"Lily was really a bad guy, wasn't she?" Kyoko said.

"Yes," Mami admitted.

There was a long silence. Then Kyoko said, "Okay, go ahead."

They spent the next several minutes exchanging stories. Mami told her of Lily's powers of persuasion, and how she had used them to put together her leecher organization under the guise of being the good guys. She told them how the "leechers" they had been told about were actually a struggling wayhouse established to help those overwhelmed by madness. Then, with shame in her face, she told them about the attack, how they had cut down wayhouse workers and mad girls alike as they had tried to flee, how she had tried to quell her reservations by lying to herself, and how all the covens in the forest had risen up against them, turning what was a lopsided attack into a pitched battle. And she told them about how despite all evidence to the contrary,

Then she told them about the Void Walkers.

Kyoko whistled through her teeth. "Well, damn. So those assholes ended up with the good guys?"

"Yes," Mami nodded.

"And they were fighting for them?"

"Yes," Mami said again. There was a short moment of hesitation, and then she said, "And not only that, but they're the reason why Lily lost and we were freed."

"What," Sayaka said.

"It's…it's true," Mami sighed. "I mean, they were likely just trying to save their own hides than anything, but from what I hear, Annabelle Lee singlehandedly took down Lily's command ship and kept her from escaping. And Arzt was the one who, ah, finished her."

Kyoko's face scrunched up. "Who?"

"Arzt. She's, ah, the one with syringes for fingers."

"Ah. Right. Her." Kyoko took a deep breath. "Okay. So, you're telling me that the bitch who poisoned me twice is the one responsible for saving everyone in that forest?" She shot a glance to Sayaka. "And oh yeah, Anna-freaking-bell Lee is some kind of hero?"

"Hey, don't look at me," Sayaka shrugged. "I'm still dealing with the fact that Lily was such a monster."

Mami's face hardened. "I don't know, Kyoko. Like I said, they could have just been trying to save themselves, but that's how things ended up. If it weren't for them, the wayhouse would've been finished, Charlotte and I would still be under Lily's thumb, and you would be in Oblivion's hands by now."

She then told them about the next part, about how upon learning that the chaos in Marsters meant that a rescue was still possible Annabelle Lee had proposed a truce and a temporary alliance, claiming that they had been screwed over by the Void Walkers and the Brothel alike, and wanted some measure of revenge.

"Y'know, I'd almost buy that," Kyoko said. "Except for the part that smells of bullshit. Which is all of it."

"Oh, we knew they were probably going to doublecross us," Mami admitted. "But we didn't have any other options if we wanted to save you."

Kyoko's eyebrows rose up. "So hang on, are you saying you were planning on backstabbing them first?"

"Yes," Mami sighed. The way she said it one would think she was admitting to shooting puppies or something. "But they were better at it, unfortunately."

"Yeah, but still. Kinda impressed. Didn't think you had it in-Ow!" Kyoko jerked back as Sayaka gave her an admonishing smack in the temple.

Working together, the two of them told Mami about their own adventures, about how they had come to their senses and realized that they had been captured by the enemy. Of their escape and recapture by Brooklyn and her gang. Of Brooklyn's declining mental state and her panic at learning that she had pissed off the Brothel. Of how she and Kyoko had finally come to blows, leading to the giant's eventual breakdown, the Brothel's escape, and finally Annabelle Lee's appearance, where the two stories finally joined.

For her part, Mami didn't ask any questions. She just listened. Kyoko's story was simpler, after all. Especially since Kyoko left out her fight with Sayaka over the name thing and Brooklyn's own sad tale. There seemed no reason to bring those up.

When the stories were done, Sayaka spoke, voicing the foremost question that was on all of their minds. "So, what're we going to do now?"

Of course Kyoko's reflexive answer was, "Keep going." They had been through some tough shit, yes, but they had endured and come out the other side. The road was still open before them, and she knew in her heart that it had closed up behind them. There was nothing to do but keep going forward.

Except.

Except.

Except, except, except…

Except they had been on their little adventure for just a bit over a week, and what had happened? Extremely destructive kidnapping attempts in the middle of what was supposed to be the safest place in the afterlife. Entire packs of savage children driven feral by accumulated madness that supposedly infested entire pockets of this world. Mind-controlling soul sappers that had dominated their free will without even trying hard. Ruthless mercenaries that had come within moments of selling them off to their enemies. Brutal gangsters that broke limbs to make a point. They had been beaten, broken, battered, and brainwashed. They had been driven so far past the point of exhaustion that passing out was become a familiar sensation. They had been starved.

They had died. Repeatedly, in some cases.

Kyoko had known that this trip was going to be rough. She had known that there were going to be dangers and monsters and bad days and lots and lots of pain. And that was fine, you know? She was used to all that. But somehow, she had never realized exactly how much of all that there would be. From her standpoint, she really did end up in the Bad Place. The afterlife was only nice in a few secluded pockets, with the rest being a torturous, unforgiving slice of Hell. And from the look of things, they were going to have to plow through the worst of it. As bad as they were, these first few days were probably just a prelude.

Kyoko didn't scare easy, but she would be lying if she denied that she was a little scared now, scared of what was in front of them. They had only survived this long on a prayer and a handful of flukes. Maybe for the first time, she was starting to realize just huge the task ahead of them was, and just how small they were in comparison.

But she also knew that there really was no going back. And come Hell or high water, she was not giving up.

So she stayed silent.

"Do?" Mami grimaced. "W-Well, I suppose we ought to return to Cloudbreak to begin with. The rest of the Alliance will need to know of that Compact violation, and we really need to-"

Then she stopped talking and looked up, her face lighting up. Kyoko instinctively turned to the other end of the tent to see what she was looking at. Charlotte was approaching. The pink-haired witch looked tired, worried, and pretty put out about something, but was otherwise all right. She carried a white plastic bag full of boxes in one hand and, weirdly enough, a rolled up newspaper in the other. To this, Kyoko could only twist her face up in confusion. Time in the afterlife outpaced that of the world of the living roughly at a rate of seven to one and they had the technology of several different species to play around with and develop, and yet for some reason they still had newspapers. Out of all the weirdness she had seen, that unsettled her the most.

Charlotte ducked her head to pass under the white canopy. When she saw Kyoko and Sayaka awake and looking at her, she froze for a moment, her eyes widening. Then her face relaxed a bit, and she even smiled a little. "Oh, thank God," she murmured.

"Hey, Charlotte," Sayaka said with a happy grin and a wave. "You've got no idea how glad I am to see you."

Despite their differences, Kyoko was also glad to see Mami's wife. After all they had been through, a vague sense of dislike was practically deep, passionate love in comparison. Still, she braced herself for another spine-cracking embrace and prayed that any paralysis would pass soon.

However, it seemed that Charlotte wasn't really as much of a hugger as her wife. Instead, she set her bag down and gave Sayaka's hair an affectionate tousle and gently held her to her side for a few moments before murmuring, "Don't you ever, ever scare me like that again."

"Come off it, it wasn't our fault," Sayaka said.

"I know, and that's what scares me the most." Then she turned to Kyoko.

Even though having her body's basic structure rearranged wasn't really on the table anymore, Kyoko hadn't really let her guard down. Now she was expecting some more of Charlotte's usual behavior toward her. A cold look. A thinning of the lips. A subdued yet clear message of, "I don't like you."

But instead, Charlotte continued to smile warmly and gave Kyoko a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Hey, Sakura," she said. "Good to see you too."

Kyoko wondered if she should play it safe and dial back the smartass greeting she felt growing. After all, Charlotte had been through a lot to save her, and had also lost a lot because of her. So maybe a little tact and diplomacy was called for.

Nah.

"What, no hug for me?" Kyoko said, sticking her lower lip out in a pout.

Fortunately Charlotte seemed more amused than anything by her cheek. Rolling her eyes, she reached into her bag and pulled out a clear plastic box. Inside was a turkey sub, which was then tossed to the insolent redhead.

"Even better," Kyoko breathed. She all but tore the box to pieces to get at the sandwich.

"Good answer," Mami said as she leaned over to kiss her wife on the cheek. "So, any news."

Charlotte sobered then. Sitting down on her knees, she started passing out more sandwiches as she talked. "Yeah, and it's bad. We need to leave. Like, within the hour."

Sayaka paused, partway through her sandwich, her cheeks bulging like a chipmunk's. "Why?" she mumbled, her mouth still full.

In answer, Charlotte unrolled the newspaper. "This is from last week."

Their faces pensive, they gathered around to read. Their reactions were not positive.

"Oh, fuck me," Kyoko groaned. "This is bullshit!"

"They're blaming us?" Mami whispered, her hands clutching at her chest. "They're saying we're the ones trying to kidnap Kyoko and Oktavia?"

"But…how?" Sayaka said. "I mean, you said that fight went all over the place. You guys were trying to save us from Annabelle Lee and her goons. Someone had to see. Don't they have cameras and whatnot?"

"You'd think so," Charlotte said grimly. "But no, it seems that they've still decided that Mami and I are traitors working for some shadowy third party, and are directly responsible for trying to sell you two off."

"But…but that makes no sense!" Kyoko protested. "It's obvious that Oblivion was behind it all! The Alliance already blames her for everything anyway. Why throw you guys under a bus?"

"Because like you said: bullshit," Charlotte growled. "They need someone to hang, so it's got to be us."

"But it's stupid!"

"Yeah, not really disagreeing there."

Mami, it should be noted, had stopped contributing to the conversation. She just sat back on her haunches and closed her eyes. Her face was now very pale.

"But that's not the worst of it," Charlotte said.

Kyoko slapped a palm into her own face and groaned. "Oh, of course. We beat the odds, escape clean, all of us back together again, so of course things get worse." With a resigned sigh, she let her shoulders slump and said, "Okay, fine. Let's hear that one too."

Before letting the other shoe drop, Charlotte first nervously looked from left to right, even twisting around to check behind her back. Then she lowered her voice and said, "Look, when I was asking around for some way to get out of here, I talked to some people who were in that mob that tore down Starlight Motors."

"Hope you said 'thanks' for us," Kyoko said.

"Oh, I did. And they were pretty happy to hear that we were okay. But see, here's the thing: we're actually pretty far from ground zero, so I asked them why they brought us all the way out here. And they told me that since the local government is probably still in the Brothel's pocket, they wanted to get us somewhere out of sight. They were even saying that they should probably put us up in someone's house if we were planning on staying much longer."

"Well…that's nice of them," Sayaka said, her face scrunching up. "But you're saying that the government's going to be looking for us?"

"Maybe," Charlotte said. "I don't know, but it's best to assume the worst. But here's the big problem. Turns out that there was recently another leak of Persephone Protectorate documents. Specifically, a member's list. One with both names and pictures."

Mami's head jerked up. She inhaled sharply through her nose.

Kyoko gritted her teeth. She could be a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but she wasn't stupid. "Which includes you two."

"Yes," Charlotte said. "And from what I hear, the whole mind-control bit was left out."

"Who was stupid enough to leave that lying around?" Sayaka wondered.

Charlotte shrugged. "Don't know, no one does. It wasn't the Protectorate this time though. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't the wayhouse either. So if I had to guess…"

"The Brothel," Kyoko said. "Getting some payback."

"That's what I think too," Charlotte said. "The girls that told me just mentioned it in passing, so I don't think anyone's had the chance to really go through it. But when they do…"

"They'll think we're still leechers," Mami said.

"Right," Charlotte said. "So yeah. We really need to leave."

Kyoko swallowed. She exchanged an uneasy glance with Sayaka, who seemed to be having the same thoughts that she was. They had already known that this quest of theirs was going to get their friends in a lot of trouble. Learning that they had already willed their home away had been a pretty hard pill to swallow.

But this? This was far worse. Because Kyoko had entered their lives, their friends had turned their backs on them. They had been made into scapegoats for something that wasn't even their fault. They had been sent through a hellish predicament, endured impossible trials to save her and Sayaka, and when they had emerged, the world had declared them to be monsters.

Six months ago, Kyoko wouldn't have cared. Six months ago, she would have declared that her problems were no concern of theirs and their problems were of no concern to her. But that had been before Sayaka, before death, before the truth. Now, she was entirely too mindful of the effect she was having on others.

Kyoko had been in the afterlife for only a few weeks, and already she had turned the only friends she had into fugitives.

Good Lord, what were they going to do now?

…

Another year, another lengthy wait between chapters. This one was brought to you by suddenly finding myself in the middle of having to move to a different city back in February, and trying to pull it off mostly by myself with naught but by pickup truck while working six days out of the week on top of that. Needless to say, it wasn't fun.

Still, I got through it, and managed to get this up for the six-year anniversary. Though I should warn you that my internet situation is still sketchy, so any sort of communication or fixing mistakes is sort of questionable at this point.

Anyways, this wraps up The Heist. Like I said earlier, there'll be one more episode before I go take some time off to write that book. Oh, and I know that this episode was pretty unconventional and hard to follow, so I'll also see about putting together a recobbled version as a side thing, for anyone who has no idea what was going on. Which was probably most people.

Until next time, everyone.