| Wolves in Sheep's Clothing Chapter Seven Vengeance |
"Gomen, Joker-san… but these knots are so complex. It's like trying to undo a three-year-old's shoelace in the dark," said Neon. An indeterminable amount of time had passed before Joker had finally succeeded in freeing her hands. Neon's feet were freed, now, too. She had removed his blindfold with no problems, but his feet and wrists were giving her fits.
"Ganbatte, Neon-han," he said cheerfully. "You can do it. Just don't get flustered."
The closet door was suddenly flung open.
A short little boy carrying a large golden Kougan Anki stood in the doorway.
Neon had been about to pounce, but she checked herself when she realized who it was.
"Koganei!" she exclaimed happily. "Glad to see you! Do us a favor, and cut through Joker-san's ropes. And free my feet, too."
With three easy motions-snick, snick, snick-the ropes fell, useless, to the floor.
"How simple was that!" he exclaimed, grinning at his two superiors. A tiny fang protruded from one corner of his mouth. "I would've expected better from you."
Joker swatted playfully at Koganei. "Baka," he said. "As soon as we get back in Japan, I'll tie you up in a little squirming bundle, throw you in a closet, lock the door, and see how long it takes you."
"Hai, hai, hai," answered the little boy, looking bored.
"Is that any way to show respect for your superiors?" inquired Joker, stretching in his efforts to regain his circulation.
"My, he's more and more like you every day, Joker-san!" said Neon, unnecessarily. She spied her purse, still on the counter where it had been flung earlier. "My Fukyo Waon!" she exclaimed joyfully, clutching it to herself.
"The madougu is gone," said Joker, checking the cabinet where it was usually kept locked. "But the blueprints… here they are." He tucked them under his arm.
"So what's the plan?" asked Neon.
"We three are going to go back to the suite and get packed up for a hasty departure," said Joker. "I'm going to get my Taishaku Kaiten and pay a certain someone a little visit. I shouldn't be long. Neon-han, you and I will come back to this place in time for tomorrow's board meeting."
"Sounds good," said Neon. "Kaoru-kun, why'd you decide to come here?"
"You said it would only take you two or three hours, not eight," answered Koganei. "When it got to be midnight, I figured you might need my brilliance to help. I didn't think you were here… but Neon-san's purse was on the counter. So you had to be somewhere, ne?"
"Your brilliance, huh," scoffed Joker.
"More and more like you every day," repeated Neon cheerfully.
* * *
Lawrence woke up from his sound sleep to see a shadowy form standing at the foot of his bed. The intruder seemed to be holding a pitchfork of some kind…
"Sleep well?" inquired the voice kindly. "Now, if you don't mind, I have some questions I'd like to have answered…"
Lawrence's eyes grew wide. "Who… what are you?" He could see in the moonlight that the figure wore some sort of cape and pointy mask… enormous mismatched gloves… how strange.
"Oi, don't interrupt my questioning! You haven't even let me begin yet!" laughed the intruder good-naturedly. His smile gleamed in the moonlight, but it took on a menacing look soon enough.
* * *
"And they're all in?" asked Joker, standing across the street from the Montfort Corporation's building with Neon.
"Henson went in about fifteen minutes ago… I've counted ten board members… sundry and various regular office workers."
"Too bad for them," remarked Joker unfeelingly. "Ah, well. Neon-han, you're on."
Neon raised her Fukyo Waon to her lips. The notes of her Requiem floated eerily across the street towards the first floor of the corporation's building. Within minutes, it had begun to tremble, finally collapsing into a pile of rubble. Police and fire engine sirens wailed in the distance as they rapidly converged upon the disaster area, but Joker and Neon had disappeared by then.