Chapter 8: Escape from New York pt. II
Chapter 8 is here! Wave, kids!
As always, props to my beta readers.
All the crazy crap has been taken care of in my life, so chapters may be written faster. Or slower. Depends on the computer games.
Anyways, e-mail may be sent to marvinman@fastmail.fm. I welcome e-mail. Really.
And now, Chapter 8.
---------------------
2:00 AM: Bennington
Jeric walked ahead of Byara, who currently was waving her Beretta 92F at the tunnel behind and in front of her, occasionally firing off a shot at something she thought she saw.
"Jeric... this place is scaring the hell out of me. How much farther?"
"It's all right, my dear, not very far. Hopefully, we can get to a place where the cops can't find us and where we will be able to get some sleep. In the meantime, be careful where you fire off your weapon. You may attract unwanted attention."
"I hope you're- OH MY GOD!" Byara yelled, pointing at the SWAT corpses. The corpses were flayed alive, and their armor torn off and destroyed.
"Oh, god," Jeric said. "The rats got them. I hope they didn't take anything good. Let's take the stuff off the corpses, in case there are more. Byara, can you handle a two-handed gun?"
"Sure." Byara took the sub-machine gun, and loaded it. Jeric put away his laser gun, and picked up two pairs of night-vision goggles. He handed a pair to Byara, which she promptly put on. He did the same, and turned on the goggles. They moved quickly but quietly, in an effort to avoid more wererats.
----------------
2:25 AM, Bennington NYPD
----------------
The replacements arrived at the police station, ready to go.
"All right, gentlemen, you've got a mission and a big one: You're gonna take down one of these god-damn nuts running around with a laser gun around here. We sent in three of the remainder of the SWAT team, I haven't heard from them yet. Your mission is to aid them and to find that wacko. Understood?"
"Sir! Yes, sir!"
The SWATs left the room, thinking, We were dragged out of bed in the middle of the night for some guard mission!?
------------------
It took them ten minutes to find the last spot of where the other three SWATs of Rainbow Team were. The twelve activated their night-vision goggles, loaded their weapons, and went down into the sewers.
Their first sight was not a pretty one.
"OH, JESUS!" one of the SWATs screamed.
There were dead wererat corpses everywhere, and they covered the three dead SWATs; two had their weapons missing.
"Call for reinforcements!"
"We ARE the reinforcements, you clod."
"Oh."
----------------
2:41 AM: Bennington Sewers
"Jeric, I'm scared," Byara said. "And the gloominess of the sewers isn't helping. Or the stench."
"I know, dear. Just hang on."
"Until when?"
"Until we can find an opening out of the sewers."
"Why?"
"Well, their bloody operation to take out the Thieves' Guild was partly successful. The reason it's not entirely successful is because I'm still alive, and I still have the laser weapon in my grasp. They'll put out an APB on me, most likely with a reward, since I'm running around New York with the most high-tech weapon of death in the world. A pretty big reward, most likely."
"Dear god!"
"Yeah. I'm considering faking my own death to get the money."
The two continued on. They went through a network of pipes, until finally, they reached a point in the tunnel where torches were lit to provide light, and also where they thought they heard humming.
"The hell?" Byara said out loud. "What is that peculiar sound?" Jeric said. It sounded faintly like music.
"There's a bend around here. Let's check what that noise is." Jeric suggested.
"No!" Byara said.
"Why not?" Jeric questioned.
"Don't you know about this? The monster/killer/demon is always making people check around the corner, and then, WHAM!" Byara slammed her hand against the pipe to further emphasize her point, then quickly clutched it in her other hand. "Ow."
"Yes, but we have weapons. If it makes you feel better, I'll check for you. If a monster is around, you'll have a ten-second head-start to escape!" Jeric said, and smiled proudly.
Byara stared at him as if he had just grown a second head. Jeric walked around to the corner and peeked around it.
It was an old man. An old man in blue wizard's garb, making a potion with an alchemy set. Stacks of spellbooks were piled in the corner, right next to a straw bed. A small lantern was hung in the corner, lighted. Right now, he was standing still, as if concentrating on something... then he stopped meditating and turned to Jeric. Jeric yelped out of a combination of fear, suprise, and force of habit.
"Ah! Visitors! Please, do come in, I usually don't have people knocking on my door. Well, if I had one, anyway..."
Jeric was befuddled. He remained silent and partially hidden.
"Please come in, good sir. Don't be shy, you have nothing to fear from a doddering old magic-user."
Jeric gave up and said, "How did you know I was here?"
"A Wizard's Eye spell."
"Huh?"
"Never mind that, boy." The wizard scratched the gray mullet growing on his chin. "Aye, you don't look the magic-using type. But then again, you never know. Every one of us has a little bit of magic inside..."
"Yeah, that's nice. Byara! He's friendly! Come out and meet him!" Byara walked into view, and stood right next to Jeric.
"Anyways, my name is Jeric Halper."
"My name is Gorfin Yana."
-MEANWHILE-
"Hey! That's my character's name! You stole my name from my Neverwinter Nights character, you bastard! I hate you! I hate you forever!" someone reading this fanfic said.
-AWAY FROM THE NONSENSE-
"Jeric, who is this man?" Byara inquired.
Gorfin looked dumbfounded. "I am Gorfin Yana, once again. Perhaps you would like me to write down my name for you?"
"She meant your job, Gorfy." Jeric said.
"Oh. I am a wizard. One of the better ones, but I prefer to stay out of the news. I don't want people asking me to flibberjibbit their creaky door or go slayeth that dragon. And what might be your name, human-elf?"
"Byara." Pause. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Ah. Strange name, but all right. The last time I ever had visitors was when some hunters accidentally shot arrows into my cabin, but I'm not complain- Jeric, what are you doing?"
Jeric was over by one of the pipes. He pushed a loose screw that was out of place ding two pipes together into place into its original position. Suddenly, a ledge came down from the ceiling. The ledge was a basic, original ledge that was pulled up and down into the ceiling by a chain, connected to a metal structure that connected the chain and the ledge. The ledge came down onto Gorfin's alchemy table, and snapped it into two.
"Blast and damnation!" Gorfy screamed, hopping up and down. "What in the hells did you do!?"
"I am finding our secret passage, which will, ultimately, cause a lot of frustration for the police," Jeric said. "Now, we will be on our way. Thanks for the memories, Gorfy, but you gotta change where you live. The smells can't be this bearable."
"Stop mocking my magical Mechanus enviroment!"
"Yeah, I can make up stuff too. Come on, Byara."
--------------------------------------
2:48 AM: Elenmor
Marvin woke up suddenly from a nightmare, breaking out in a cold sweat.
"Ugh. What the hell was that all about? I want some dreams that make sense!" Marvin said.
"Marvin, sir, please go back to sleep. Even battleaxes need to rest once in a while," Mr. Friendly said.
"I can't sleep now. I've had two successive nightmares that I can't remember, and now, I'm energized and raring to go." Marvin paused and checked his watch. 2:49. "I'm gonna get something to drink."
Marvin got up, and walked out of the room. The castle was very quiet, and he heard snoring in the other rooms. Luckily, there were some rugs on the stone floor, so he couldn't disturb the other sleepers.
"Now," Marvin whispered under his breath, "time to go to the... oh, shit. Where is the lavatory?"
While Marvin was examining the situation, his bladder began to complain.
"Okay... I'm going to have to start guessing, or there will be a most unfortunate mess. Wai wai, or such."
Marvin crept up to the room in front of his room. He quietly opened the door...
"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" the woman inside the room screamed. Marvin quickly closed the door.
"Okay, wrong one. Uhm... how about this one?" Marvin tried another door.
"Wh- who are you? Get out, you git!" a nobleman yelled at the intruding Marvin.
"Oh, sorry. I was looking for the bathroom-"
"GET OUT!"
"Okay, okay, geez. But first-" Marvin closed the door before a chest drawer could hit him. The drawer banged against the door and fell.
"Okay... where, dammit, where?" Marvin tried another door.
"Oh, dear gods! Get out, thou pervert!" another woman screamed.
Marvin closed the door again. "Goddammit, where is the bathroom?!"
Mr. Friendly crept up right behind Marvin and said, "Use the chamberpot!"
Marvin blinked. "What's a chamberpot?"
Marvin was one of the lucky several people in the new Realms who learned what a enchanted talking battleaxe's groan sounded like.
-----------------------------------------------------
2:50 AM: Bennington Food Court, Super Happy Fun Takeout
The ledge in the wizard's lair took them up into the kitchen of the "Super Happy Fun Takeout", located in the first floor of the Bennington Food Mall, or nicknamed "Fat-Ass and Rich Teenager Central" among the cynical, mainly for its popularity among teenagers, people who have health problems, and overworked people. The Food Court was a three-story building, containing all the fast-food restaurants in Bennington, leaving room for all the other snooty restaruants and the growing fad of mom and pop businesses. People usually got here by car, by walking, and, but very rarely, by the ledge that was activated in the sewers. The Food Court is open 24 hours a day for your eating convenience.
The chef was suprised to see Mr. Halper, Mrs. Halebein, and that haggard bum with the long gray beard known as Mr. Yana. He screamed something in Chinese, brandishing a long knife.
"Whoah! Whoah there, sir! What did you say?" Jeric said.
The cashier, Chris, came into the back of the kitchen. He was wearing a Super Happy Fun Costume, which was decorated with random buttons, some showing his allegiance to the San Antonio Spurs, a few Digimon buttons, and a "P2P IS THE WAY TO BE!" button. Chris spoke to Jeric. "Hello there, Jeric. The cook's having a bad day, don't mind him."
Jeric spoke without hesitation. "The Thieves' Guild, Chris, it's gone! It's been captured by the police! Someone ratted to the cops!"
The chef pointed the knife at Jeric again, and spoke a warning in Chinese. "Uhm, can-" Jeric started.
"Thieves' Guild?" Chris said, a tone of confusion in his voice.
"Yes, the Thieves'- oh, damn. I forgot you didn't have a clue about what that ledge goes to, and how it's the quickest way into the Thieves' Guild without having to go through the guards, which is also pretty convenient for taking in-"
"Could you please get to the point? I have customers waiting."
"Is the owner in right now?"
The chef poked Jeric in the chest with one of the fingers on his free hand. Jeric responded by slapping the chef's hand away, causing him to jump back and utter a low growl.
"Please stop." Chris said, a tone of annoyance seeping into his speech. "You'll rile him up, and then he'll be too exhausted to work."
"Sorry. Is the owner in?"
"Yes. I'll go get him."
Chris walked around to the door on the left, which was the owner's room. "Hello, sir. Some Jeric guy's here to see you."
Mumble, mumble.
"Yes, he's from the Thieves' Guild, he used the secret ledge in the back."
Mumble.
"No."
Mumble?
"Yes! Look, not to be rude, but I have to serve the customers!"
Mumble, mumble.
"Thank you."
Mumble, mumble.
Chris walked out, going to back to the cashier's table. Jeric and friends walked in to go see the owner.
The owner's room was a medium, rectangular room, used to count up the finances and earnings of the day. It contained a bed, some whiskey, a medicine cabinet, a toilet, a sink, a small color TV, and a mini-fridge. It was also the home of the 80-year-old "Owner". The "Owner" was gray-haired, bald, fat, wearing dentures, and looked ready to keel over and die any day now.
The owner mumbled out his sentences. "Jeric, my lad. Welcome to my home. I hope Chris wasn't too annoyed. He's got a lot of work to do, and not enough time to do it..." The owner chuckled. "I swear, that boy's got the vigor I had when I was in my early twenties. A bit odd, and he plays his loud rock noise a bit loud, but he's a good lad." He paused for a moment. "Ah, but enough about old memories. What brings you here today?"
"What?" Byara said.
"I said, what brings you here today?"
"Could you please speak up?"
"Why are you here?" The owner said, in a louder tone.
"The cops found the headquarters, Owner, sir. It's all over. The dream is gone."
"They did?" the owner said, and sighed. "Ah, old times. The cops eventually would have found it... but not this soon. I guess someone got careless."
"Careless... yeah, that's it..."
"All right. Son, I need you to go to Louisiana and tell the Thieves' Guild about this. We are going to start fresh and anew. I need you to go to Louisiana and ask the Thieves' Guild there to help us out. All I ask is that you send an electronic encrypted mail to an address I will give to you privately. Please tell your friends to leave the room."
Gorf and Byara left the room, and closed the door behind them.
Meanwhile, Chris continued to have problems at the cash register. A man with a green mohawk, carrying a plate of kung-pao chicken, was next in line.
"Uh... like, yeah, man, this chicken doesn't have any soy sauce, man... could I, like, have some soy sauce?" Chris bent down under the counter, and came back up with a small squirt bottle of soy sauce. "Thanks, man."
The man unscrewed the cap of the small bottle, laid it down on the counter, bottlemouth pointing at Chris, and brought down his fist on the bottle. Soy sauce splattered all over Chris' shirt. The man with the mohawk laughed, and walked away, leaving his tray on the counter. Chris picked up the two chopsticks on the tray, left his counter again, and walked over to the guy with the mohawk, who was about to leave.
"Hey, asshole!" Chris screamed.
The guy with the mohawk turned around. "Hey, there, soy boy! Haha! You're so stupid- hey, what are you doing- GET AWAY FROM ME! OW! OW! OW! AIEEEEEE!" Chris finished jamming the chopsticks up Mohawk guy's nose. "The Super Happy Fun Restaurant asks that you please do not abuse the cashier or any other employee for humorous benefit, sir. Have a nice day." Chris turned around and went back to work.
----------------------------- 3:00 AM: Gorfin's Room
The SWAT team was completely befuddled at the wizard's room. "What the hell is this?" one SWAT member asked. "Why would someone want to live in the sewers?"
"And where's Halper?" another one asked. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know... these thieves have all the tricks." Luckily, the ledge was reset to its original space- when it was retracted back into the ceiling, the hidden ledge was virtually undetectable.
"Dammit. We lost him. Jeric is either hiding somewhere in here, or he's used a secret passage to go somewhere else. Everyone, start investigating. Look for anything suspicious-"
"Uhm, Paul, this WHOLE ROOM is suspicious-"
"Anything that might open up a passage to another room or something. Start looking!"
----------------------------------------------------- 3:02 AM: Chase Scene
Marvin woke up to the angry sounds of angry elves. "What now?" he said. "Can't a fella sleep in peace?" Marvin got up, walked over to the door, and flung it open. There were several angry elves.
"You boorish... boorish... human!" one of the elves said.
"You stupid git!" another said. "Can this PLEASE wait until the fucking morning?" Marvin said, annoyed.
Everyone, except for Marvin, gasped when they heard the foul language.
"This man with his foul mouth! All the more reason to boot you out of Elenmor!"
"All right, let me try this: Get away from my fucking room or I'll start firing my gun."
"Blasted human! Get out of Elenmor!"
"How about you get your head out of your ass?"
"My head is not in a donkey, you sick, violent human!"
"Oh, good GOD..."
"Leave, human! Leave! LEAVE!"
"You know what? I need sleep. And you deluded maniacs need some, too. Now, how about if you go away?"
"Never! Lea-" *SLAM* Marvin sighed, and went back to bed, falling asleep to the throngs of angry elves. "Screw the chase scene, I need my bloody sleep!"
----------------------------------------
Uh, heheheh... uhm... dammit. Uhm, Chapter 9 is coming soon! This first book was originally going to be 13 chapters, but I may extend it to 15 or 18...
Chapter 8 is here! Wave, kids!
As always, props to my beta readers.
All the crazy crap has been taken care of in my life, so chapters may be written faster. Or slower. Depends on the computer games.
Anyways, e-mail may be sent to marvinman@fastmail.fm. I welcome e-mail. Really.
And now, Chapter 8.
---------------------
2:00 AM: Bennington
Jeric walked ahead of Byara, who currently was waving her Beretta 92F at the tunnel behind and in front of her, occasionally firing off a shot at something she thought she saw.
"Jeric... this place is scaring the hell out of me. How much farther?"
"It's all right, my dear, not very far. Hopefully, we can get to a place where the cops can't find us and where we will be able to get some sleep. In the meantime, be careful where you fire off your weapon. You may attract unwanted attention."
"I hope you're- OH MY GOD!" Byara yelled, pointing at the SWAT corpses. The corpses were flayed alive, and their armor torn off and destroyed.
"Oh, god," Jeric said. "The rats got them. I hope they didn't take anything good. Let's take the stuff off the corpses, in case there are more. Byara, can you handle a two-handed gun?"
"Sure." Byara took the sub-machine gun, and loaded it. Jeric put away his laser gun, and picked up two pairs of night-vision goggles. He handed a pair to Byara, which she promptly put on. He did the same, and turned on the goggles. They moved quickly but quietly, in an effort to avoid more wererats.
----------------
2:25 AM, Bennington NYPD
----------------
The replacements arrived at the police station, ready to go.
"All right, gentlemen, you've got a mission and a big one: You're gonna take down one of these god-damn nuts running around with a laser gun around here. We sent in three of the remainder of the SWAT team, I haven't heard from them yet. Your mission is to aid them and to find that wacko. Understood?"
"Sir! Yes, sir!"
The SWATs left the room, thinking, We were dragged out of bed in the middle of the night for some guard mission!?
------------------
It took them ten minutes to find the last spot of where the other three SWATs of Rainbow Team were. The twelve activated their night-vision goggles, loaded their weapons, and went down into the sewers.
Their first sight was not a pretty one.
"OH, JESUS!" one of the SWATs screamed.
There were dead wererat corpses everywhere, and they covered the three dead SWATs; two had their weapons missing.
"Call for reinforcements!"
"We ARE the reinforcements, you clod."
"Oh."
----------------
2:41 AM: Bennington Sewers
"Jeric, I'm scared," Byara said. "And the gloominess of the sewers isn't helping. Or the stench."
"I know, dear. Just hang on."
"Until when?"
"Until we can find an opening out of the sewers."
"Why?"
"Well, their bloody operation to take out the Thieves' Guild was partly successful. The reason it's not entirely successful is because I'm still alive, and I still have the laser weapon in my grasp. They'll put out an APB on me, most likely with a reward, since I'm running around New York with the most high-tech weapon of death in the world. A pretty big reward, most likely."
"Dear god!"
"Yeah. I'm considering faking my own death to get the money."
The two continued on. They went through a network of pipes, until finally, they reached a point in the tunnel where torches were lit to provide light, and also where they thought they heard humming.
"The hell?" Byara said out loud. "What is that peculiar sound?" Jeric said. It sounded faintly like music.
"There's a bend around here. Let's check what that noise is." Jeric suggested.
"No!" Byara said.
"Why not?" Jeric questioned.
"Don't you know about this? The monster/killer/demon is always making people check around the corner, and then, WHAM!" Byara slammed her hand against the pipe to further emphasize her point, then quickly clutched it in her other hand. "Ow."
"Yes, but we have weapons. If it makes you feel better, I'll check for you. If a monster is around, you'll have a ten-second head-start to escape!" Jeric said, and smiled proudly.
Byara stared at him as if he had just grown a second head. Jeric walked around to the corner and peeked around it.
It was an old man. An old man in blue wizard's garb, making a potion with an alchemy set. Stacks of spellbooks were piled in the corner, right next to a straw bed. A small lantern was hung in the corner, lighted. Right now, he was standing still, as if concentrating on something... then he stopped meditating and turned to Jeric. Jeric yelped out of a combination of fear, suprise, and force of habit.
"Ah! Visitors! Please, do come in, I usually don't have people knocking on my door. Well, if I had one, anyway..."
Jeric was befuddled. He remained silent and partially hidden.
"Please come in, good sir. Don't be shy, you have nothing to fear from a doddering old magic-user."
Jeric gave up and said, "How did you know I was here?"
"A Wizard's Eye spell."
"Huh?"
"Never mind that, boy." The wizard scratched the gray mullet growing on his chin. "Aye, you don't look the magic-using type. But then again, you never know. Every one of us has a little bit of magic inside..."
"Yeah, that's nice. Byara! He's friendly! Come out and meet him!" Byara walked into view, and stood right next to Jeric.
"Anyways, my name is Jeric Halper."
"My name is Gorfin Yana."
-MEANWHILE-
"Hey! That's my character's name! You stole my name from my Neverwinter Nights character, you bastard! I hate you! I hate you forever!" someone reading this fanfic said.
-AWAY FROM THE NONSENSE-
"Jeric, who is this man?" Byara inquired.
Gorfin looked dumbfounded. "I am Gorfin Yana, once again. Perhaps you would like me to write down my name for you?"
"She meant your job, Gorfy." Jeric said.
"Oh. I am a wizard. One of the better ones, but I prefer to stay out of the news. I don't want people asking me to flibberjibbit their creaky door or go slayeth that dragon. And what might be your name, human-elf?"
"Byara." Pause. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Ah. Strange name, but all right. The last time I ever had visitors was when some hunters accidentally shot arrows into my cabin, but I'm not complain- Jeric, what are you doing?"
Jeric was over by one of the pipes. He pushed a loose screw that was out of place ding two pipes together into place into its original position. Suddenly, a ledge came down from the ceiling. The ledge was a basic, original ledge that was pulled up and down into the ceiling by a chain, connected to a metal structure that connected the chain and the ledge. The ledge came down onto Gorfin's alchemy table, and snapped it into two.
"Blast and damnation!" Gorfy screamed, hopping up and down. "What in the hells did you do!?"
"I am finding our secret passage, which will, ultimately, cause a lot of frustration for the police," Jeric said. "Now, we will be on our way. Thanks for the memories, Gorfy, but you gotta change where you live. The smells can't be this bearable."
"Stop mocking my magical Mechanus enviroment!"
"Yeah, I can make up stuff too. Come on, Byara."
--------------------------------------
2:48 AM: Elenmor
Marvin woke up suddenly from a nightmare, breaking out in a cold sweat.
"Ugh. What the hell was that all about? I want some dreams that make sense!" Marvin said.
"Marvin, sir, please go back to sleep. Even battleaxes need to rest once in a while," Mr. Friendly said.
"I can't sleep now. I've had two successive nightmares that I can't remember, and now, I'm energized and raring to go." Marvin paused and checked his watch. 2:49. "I'm gonna get something to drink."
Marvin got up, and walked out of the room. The castle was very quiet, and he heard snoring in the other rooms. Luckily, there were some rugs on the stone floor, so he couldn't disturb the other sleepers.
"Now," Marvin whispered under his breath, "time to go to the... oh, shit. Where is the lavatory?"
While Marvin was examining the situation, his bladder began to complain.
"Okay... I'm going to have to start guessing, or there will be a most unfortunate mess. Wai wai, or such."
Marvin crept up to the room in front of his room. He quietly opened the door...
"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" the woman inside the room screamed. Marvin quickly closed the door.
"Okay, wrong one. Uhm... how about this one?" Marvin tried another door.
"Wh- who are you? Get out, you git!" a nobleman yelled at the intruding Marvin.
"Oh, sorry. I was looking for the bathroom-"
"GET OUT!"
"Okay, okay, geez. But first-" Marvin closed the door before a chest drawer could hit him. The drawer banged against the door and fell.
"Okay... where, dammit, where?" Marvin tried another door.
"Oh, dear gods! Get out, thou pervert!" another woman screamed.
Marvin closed the door again. "Goddammit, where is the bathroom?!"
Mr. Friendly crept up right behind Marvin and said, "Use the chamberpot!"
Marvin blinked. "What's a chamberpot?"
Marvin was one of the lucky several people in the new Realms who learned what a enchanted talking battleaxe's groan sounded like.
-----------------------------------------------------
2:50 AM: Bennington Food Court, Super Happy Fun Takeout
The ledge in the wizard's lair took them up into the kitchen of the "Super Happy Fun Takeout", located in the first floor of the Bennington Food Mall, or nicknamed "Fat-Ass and Rich Teenager Central" among the cynical, mainly for its popularity among teenagers, people who have health problems, and overworked people. The Food Court was a three-story building, containing all the fast-food restaurants in Bennington, leaving room for all the other snooty restaruants and the growing fad of mom and pop businesses. People usually got here by car, by walking, and, but very rarely, by the ledge that was activated in the sewers. The Food Court is open 24 hours a day for your eating convenience.
The chef was suprised to see Mr. Halper, Mrs. Halebein, and that haggard bum with the long gray beard known as Mr. Yana. He screamed something in Chinese, brandishing a long knife.
"Whoah! Whoah there, sir! What did you say?" Jeric said.
The cashier, Chris, came into the back of the kitchen. He was wearing a Super Happy Fun Costume, which was decorated with random buttons, some showing his allegiance to the San Antonio Spurs, a few Digimon buttons, and a "P2P IS THE WAY TO BE!" button. Chris spoke to Jeric. "Hello there, Jeric. The cook's having a bad day, don't mind him."
Jeric spoke without hesitation. "The Thieves' Guild, Chris, it's gone! It's been captured by the police! Someone ratted to the cops!"
The chef pointed the knife at Jeric again, and spoke a warning in Chinese. "Uhm, can-" Jeric started.
"Thieves' Guild?" Chris said, a tone of confusion in his voice.
"Yes, the Thieves'- oh, damn. I forgot you didn't have a clue about what that ledge goes to, and how it's the quickest way into the Thieves' Guild without having to go through the guards, which is also pretty convenient for taking in-"
"Could you please get to the point? I have customers waiting."
"Is the owner in right now?"
The chef poked Jeric in the chest with one of the fingers on his free hand. Jeric responded by slapping the chef's hand away, causing him to jump back and utter a low growl.
"Please stop." Chris said, a tone of annoyance seeping into his speech. "You'll rile him up, and then he'll be too exhausted to work."
"Sorry. Is the owner in?"
"Yes. I'll go get him."
Chris walked around to the door on the left, which was the owner's room. "Hello, sir. Some Jeric guy's here to see you."
Mumble, mumble.
"Yes, he's from the Thieves' Guild, he used the secret ledge in the back."
Mumble.
"No."
Mumble?
"Yes! Look, not to be rude, but I have to serve the customers!"
Mumble, mumble.
"Thank you."
Mumble, mumble.
Chris walked out, going to back to the cashier's table. Jeric and friends walked in to go see the owner.
The owner's room was a medium, rectangular room, used to count up the finances and earnings of the day. It contained a bed, some whiskey, a medicine cabinet, a toilet, a sink, a small color TV, and a mini-fridge. It was also the home of the 80-year-old "Owner". The "Owner" was gray-haired, bald, fat, wearing dentures, and looked ready to keel over and die any day now.
The owner mumbled out his sentences. "Jeric, my lad. Welcome to my home. I hope Chris wasn't too annoyed. He's got a lot of work to do, and not enough time to do it..." The owner chuckled. "I swear, that boy's got the vigor I had when I was in my early twenties. A bit odd, and he plays his loud rock noise a bit loud, but he's a good lad." He paused for a moment. "Ah, but enough about old memories. What brings you here today?"
"What?" Byara said.
"I said, what brings you here today?"
"Could you please speak up?"
"Why are you here?" The owner said, in a louder tone.
"The cops found the headquarters, Owner, sir. It's all over. The dream is gone."
"They did?" the owner said, and sighed. "Ah, old times. The cops eventually would have found it... but not this soon. I guess someone got careless."
"Careless... yeah, that's it..."
"All right. Son, I need you to go to Louisiana and tell the Thieves' Guild about this. We are going to start fresh and anew. I need you to go to Louisiana and ask the Thieves' Guild there to help us out. All I ask is that you send an electronic encrypted mail to an address I will give to you privately. Please tell your friends to leave the room."
Gorf and Byara left the room, and closed the door behind them.
Meanwhile, Chris continued to have problems at the cash register. A man with a green mohawk, carrying a plate of kung-pao chicken, was next in line.
"Uh... like, yeah, man, this chicken doesn't have any soy sauce, man... could I, like, have some soy sauce?" Chris bent down under the counter, and came back up with a small squirt bottle of soy sauce. "Thanks, man."
The man unscrewed the cap of the small bottle, laid it down on the counter, bottlemouth pointing at Chris, and brought down his fist on the bottle. Soy sauce splattered all over Chris' shirt. The man with the mohawk laughed, and walked away, leaving his tray on the counter. Chris picked up the two chopsticks on the tray, left his counter again, and walked over to the guy with the mohawk, who was about to leave.
"Hey, asshole!" Chris screamed.
The guy with the mohawk turned around. "Hey, there, soy boy! Haha! You're so stupid- hey, what are you doing- GET AWAY FROM ME! OW! OW! OW! AIEEEEEE!" Chris finished jamming the chopsticks up Mohawk guy's nose. "The Super Happy Fun Restaurant asks that you please do not abuse the cashier or any other employee for humorous benefit, sir. Have a nice day." Chris turned around and went back to work.
----------------------------- 3:00 AM: Gorfin's Room
The SWAT team was completely befuddled at the wizard's room. "What the hell is this?" one SWAT member asked. "Why would someone want to live in the sewers?"
"And where's Halper?" another one asked. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know... these thieves have all the tricks." Luckily, the ledge was reset to its original space- when it was retracted back into the ceiling, the hidden ledge was virtually undetectable.
"Dammit. We lost him. Jeric is either hiding somewhere in here, or he's used a secret passage to go somewhere else. Everyone, start investigating. Look for anything suspicious-"
"Uhm, Paul, this WHOLE ROOM is suspicious-"
"Anything that might open up a passage to another room or something. Start looking!"
----------------------------------------------------- 3:02 AM: Chase Scene
Marvin woke up to the angry sounds of angry elves. "What now?" he said. "Can't a fella sleep in peace?" Marvin got up, walked over to the door, and flung it open. There were several angry elves.
"You boorish... boorish... human!" one of the elves said.
"You stupid git!" another said. "Can this PLEASE wait until the fucking morning?" Marvin said, annoyed.
Everyone, except for Marvin, gasped when they heard the foul language.
"This man with his foul mouth! All the more reason to boot you out of Elenmor!"
"All right, let me try this: Get away from my fucking room or I'll start firing my gun."
"Blasted human! Get out of Elenmor!"
"How about you get your head out of your ass?"
"My head is not in a donkey, you sick, violent human!"
"Oh, good GOD..."
"Leave, human! Leave! LEAVE!"
"You know what? I need sleep. And you deluded maniacs need some, too. Now, how about if you go away?"
"Never! Lea-" *SLAM* Marvin sighed, and went back to bed, falling asleep to the throngs of angry elves. "Screw the chase scene, I need my bloody sleep!"
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Uh, heheheh... uhm... dammit. Uhm, Chapter 9 is coming soon! This first book was originally going to be 13 chapters, but I may extend it to 15 or 18...