Brrrrrring, brrrrrring, brrrr-
Those were the last rings the unfortunate alarm clock ever gave before a tree-trunk arm seized it, crushed the life from its frame and threw it across the room, where it found a new career as part of the wall. The bus-boy, who'd been quick enough to let go, gaped in shock before grunting as he was grabbed next and pulled near.
"I do believe," Oxwald said as he flicked up his sleep mask, "that I requested my slumbers not be disturbed?"
All things considered, the noble hadn't been a rude guest to their hotel, exactly. It was just the fact that he didn't extend such courtesy to anything or anyone else outside of it that had left the staff walking on eggshells during his visit. No-one wanted to be the bearer of bad news for him, but they knew to a man that him finding out recent events hours later would be even worse.
As Oxwald listened, the boy waited for him to suddenly snap (and maybe snap something else), but the golden giant stayed deathly calm. "Ah," he nodded once the news was finished, releasing him, "I knew he'd do something like this eventually. Much appreciated, lad."
The boy stepped aside as Oxwald rose, handing him a towel as he moved toward the bathroom. "As thanks I'll give you a bit of advice," he called a moment later over the sound of the shower. "If you want to woo a lady, the quickest way is to be her knight in shining armor. It's foolproof."
"Um, s-shouldn't you be hurrying sir? It sounded serious."
"All in due time, lad. I'll be there at the perfect moment - you can stake the Warrington name on it!"
One Piece: Bounty Seven
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Heroine of Justice, Part 7
The slope of the hill meant Rolando's men saw Victoria not long after she reached the road. She saw one of them glance over her wardrobe, and bit her lip: of course these would look odd, wouldn't they? But it wasn't as though she'd planned to entertain a party of armed thugs tonight.
The other retrieved a snail from his pocket and spoke inaudibly to what could have only been Rolando. "Good evening, Miss Lancaster," he said, hanging up as she neared. "Mr. Tepes will be pleased to see you arrived so promptly."
"Yes, well, given the circumstances I couldn't very well refuse," Victoria sniffed. "May I enter, or do I need to ask permission to enter my own home?" As she said this, the lady reached out and gripped her other arm, not seeming to realize it. Her eyes wavered and looked down.
Oh well, who cared what she wore? Just some dumb girl trying to act tough, that was all. "Of course, Miss, just a moment." Together they swung the gate open with a creak. "Mr. Tepes says he'll be waiting for you in the front hall."
Victoria said nothing, striding past them.
"...and if that's the reception we get, I really don't know what he's expecting her to do," the first grunt sighed.
"Yeah, but I mean, you know he doesn't care, right?"
"I dunno," the goon murmured, shutting the gate again. "I feel like some part of him expects her to fall head over heels for him anyway. Must be a noble thing."
The other shrugged. "Not our problem, anyway. Ours is keeping watch for that prick in the glasses and his buddies."
"'Canary in a coal mine duty', ya mean?"
"Except we get paid."
"I do hope Lady Lancaster is alright," Richard murmured, starting up the road toward the Lancaster manor. "I can't imagine what that man might be planning for her. It doesn't bear thinking about." He turned, looking at the woman behind him. "Do you think she's alright?"
Cindy's face looked utterly serene. "Unless they made that announcement for the fun of it, I cannot imagine she is at the mansion. Whether that means she is safe, I could not say."
"A-Ah, right," Richard said, trying not to look embarrassed. He rallied. "But invading her home like that is still unacceptable! I've long lost my patience with that man, and it's high time he be taught a lesson."
"As you say, Richard," she replied calmly.
The young noble risked another glance at his companion. "And with that in mind - this time, might I ask that you follow my orders? Please?"
Cindy curtsied. "But of course. My only desire is to help you, Richard."
Victoria had entered her home many times over the years, but she had never felt more ill-at-ease doing so than now, not even the first time after her parents had disappeared. The man responsible for why turned and gave her a pleased smile. "Ah, Victoria. So pleased to finally meet you."
If she had a usable book and he didn't have hostages Victoria would have gladly blown his smile across the whole hall. Instead she gave a light bow, her pride even feeling that was too far. "Good evening, Rolando. Is everyone here safe?"
The nobleman's eyebrows twitched. "Ah. I do apologize for my man's…boorish choice of words. I assure you, harming a hair on the head of anyone under your employ was never my intention."
Victoria had done enough of what you could call lying to know a particularly bald-faced one when she heard it, but she bit her tongue rather than call him on it. "I'm very happy to hear that. May I ask what you wanted me here for?"
"Why, nothing more than to see you in person, and to have a chat between nobles," Rolando said happily. "Proper nobles, that is. Not like that brute Oxwald, or that young fool."
He approached and took her hand in his, patting it. "I must say, you're an exceptionally beautiful young lady. The commoners here said as much, but the descriptions simply didn't do you justice."
Both of Siegfried's friends could have broken his hand for trying that. Victoria settled for forcing a smile. "Thank you." She turned her gaze down at the floor. "Oxwald will be here eventually. He was here earlier today, in fact."
"Ah, was he now," Rolando muttered. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the brief murderous look in his own. "No doubt you ran soon after," he added in a kinder voice. "Anyone would, in that situation."
He waved his free hand at the rest of the hall and the men lounging within it, not to mention Rottwell standing atop the stairs. "But you need not be afraid. With me around, this manor is impregnable, even to a bull like him. As protectors go, I daresay I'm far superior to the one you hired."
No-one could have doubted the look of confusion she gave him for a moment. "Hired? I didn't hire anyone to protect me."
"...hmhm, pardon me, then," Rolando said with a smile. "I ought to have known better. Shall we retire to a more private locale?"
The fence ran across the entire length of the estate. It was tall, and could have put a serious cramp in the style of any burglar thanks to the spikes it ended in. Siegfried wasn't a burglar, but he was getting the distinct impression the Lancaster elders liked their privacy.
Stretching his hands, he began his ascent. "Climbing into a young lady's yard - I wonder what you'd think about that, Sir?" It wasn't a terrible climb, all things considered, not after the rope in training. Even the spikes at the top weren't too big a concern. Stopping just below, he gripped the metal tightly, kicked off, and then swung himself up and over. He let go at just the right moment to drop down on the other side.
The Lancasters hadn't been courteous enough to plant any bushes, but there was a tree near where he'd dropped. Siegfried slid against the back side and took a look around. None of Rolando's men had raised an alarm, and they were around: two that he could see on this side, and probably more elsewhere. But even if there was no-one better for bullying civilians or attacking en-masse, it was obvious they'd never had to stand guard before. They were patrolling, or what they thought was a patrol, but failed to realize there was no point to that if one of them wasn't watching the other's back at all times.
Knocking them out was tempting, but risky, and Siegfried had spotted a way in that would leave them none the wiser. He moved from his cover and slowly edged closer, then at the right moment shifted into the quiet run he'd been taught at the academy, making a leap to his target. The Lancasters hadn't planted bushes, but they'd been fine with some ivy on their wall.
Siegfried was fine with it too, since it held his weight. He climbed up enough to be out of sight, waited a moment as the two passed by underneath, and then ascended further to a balcony on the second floor. The double doors leading onto it were unlocked, and thankfully silent.
None of Rolando's men were in the long hallway, but that didn't stop him being watched. Roughly a dozen portraits stared back at him, all of stately or stern-looking nobles that could only have been Victoria's relatives. Holding back a sudden urge to bow, Siegfried looked at the hallway itself.
Each end of it branched onto a new hallway, and he could hear some noise coming from the left side. He went in the opposite direction for now, nearer to the portraits, which were hung around an important-looking door. Inside was what could only have been the collection of her father's Victoria had mentioned. Intricate paintings and shiny-looking baubles were inside, all behind glass and all meaningless to Siegfried.
"Rolando's mouth would water if he saw all this, though," the bounty hunter thought to himself, and then raised an eyebrow.
"Can you hear me, Victoria?"
"I can," she replied. "I'm with Rolando now, and we're moving to the sitting room. It's on the second floor, with the wide window. Did you make it in safely?"
"I did, and no doubt the others as well." He smiled to himself. "An idea occurred to me just now for how you might neutralize your guest safely."
She listened for a moment. "Goodness, Siegfried, that's awfully underhanded. I like it. I think I know some ways to keep him busy a while, too - unfortunately."
Siegfried listened back as she gave him the information he'd need. "Right. I'll tell you if anything comes up. Good luck."
"You as well."
Back in the hallway, Siegfried carefully edged his way back to the left (not hard, when the floors were all carpeted) and snuck a look around the corner. There were a few doors on this hallway, and one was open. Inside came some rustling sounds.
"Look at all this stuff," grumbled a voice. "They'd have needed four hands and two heads each to wear it all at once. And the kicker is it's not even half as big as the boss' collection. Think he'll even glance at any of this stuff once he's married her?"
"Not sure, but you'd better hope he doesn't, or he might notice you just pocketed that bracelet," came another. A door opened, and they whistled. "Their wardrobe's just as crazy. No justice in this world, is there?"
"Having their kid get married off to Rolando sounds like justice to me."
Siegfried clenched one fist. He approached cautiously, but even on normal floors these two probably wouldn't have noticed him coming. One of them was rifling through a chest of drawers, while the other was half-inside the closet to its left.
The first only saw him when he was within arms-reach, and by then a swift blow meant he saw no more. His friend poked his head out at the noise, but a chop to the throat and another blow cut down any possibility of him raising an alarm. Siegfried relaxed, dusting his hands off. Evidently you didn't need to be a noble to be ignoble.
He quickly shut the door and dragged the stricken guards into the wardrobe, locking it tight. Hopefully this would all be done before they woke, but then he had hit them both quite hard. Then the bounty hunter took a luck around what was, evidently, his new friend's parents' room.
Not a place he'd planned on entering, so there were no expectations for it to prove or dispel, but it seemed a pleasant enough place for two married adults to spend their time. Other than the wardrobe and drawers there was a bed large enough to fit several people and a desk on either side of it, one holding a mirror. But that was all.
What really struck him about the room was that everything inside it looked as though its owners had just stepped out for a moment. The bed had been made, the floor was clear of dust, and it looked as though they'd be back at any time. Siegfried suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
He shut the door behind him carefully, and inspected the hallway. 'Right next to their room', she'd said, and indeed Victoria's room was just a few steps away. That was clear thanks to a plaque proclaiming as such in bright lettering.
"And now heading into a lady's room. More than a few of the lads swore I'd never get that far - even if she's not actually in it at the moment."
When he stepped through, Siegfried had to smile. He felt he knew Victoria fairly well already, but the sight of her room drove that home. It was practically split in two: a veritable army of stuffed animals were on and around the bed, all of which looked nearly brand-new.
On the other side was a specially-built desk. A pencil, pen and eraser were set carefully on it, as was a container full of loose paper. Open on the desk was a notebook flipped part of the way through, though Siegfried didn't take a closer look.
And yes, of course there was a book-case next to the window. No dust was on it, and not a single book seemed out of place. A brief scan of them even showed they were all in alphabetical order. It didn't take very long for Siegfried to find what he was after, and then he was gone.
At the same time Siegfried was making his way into the mansion, two ladies were finding their own on the north side of the estate. It didn't take long before they made it to a back door. Some guards had noticed them on the way, and were now enjoying long naps.
"Locked," Adrian mouthed after testing it carefully. There was a window nearby that she scooted below. After a moment of listening she held up two fingers.
Asakura nodded, retrieving a long, thin needle from her stash of weaponry. She stooped, inserting it into the keyhole and twisting it. The motion was done carefully to produce no noise. Adrian watched, raising an eyebrow.
Finally the lock gave a faint click. Adrian crouched low. Nodding, Asakura flung the door open.
Behind were two of Rolando's men, one lounging on a chair, the other leaned against the wall. The presence of mind they'd had to watch this back entrance didn't help them as Adrian leaped through. One went down from a swift punch to the stomach, while the other was seized and pushed against the wall.
"Alright now," Adrian said, not too unkindly, one hand clasped over his mouth. "First off, unless you feel really brave right now I wouldn't even try shouting a warning to your friends. Do you?"
He shook his head. "Thought so," the assassin replied. "I would have just knocked you out, really, but I figured I'd ask: any chance you could tell us where the people here are being kept?"
The goon's eyes flicked between Adrian, holding him off the ground with one hand, and Asakura, twirling a kunai. Grunting, he jabbed his head vaguely to the left side of the hallway they were in. "''n th' 'itchen."
"Ah, makes sense. G'night," Adrian said happily, knocking him out with an identical blow.
Asakura watched as she moved the two into sitting positions, even putting one back in the chair. "That's more mercy than scum like that deserve. They've done nothing but endanger the people here."
"You're not wrong. But if he hadn't hired them, it would have been somebody else, right? " Adrian whispered back as they crept down the corridor.
"The same way another of your group would be hired, if not for you?"
"Exactly," Adrian said, nodding. "I've never made a habit of coming down too hard on the hired help if I can help it, since I'm sort of that myself." She smiled. "Just a different kind of help."
The kitchen resided on the east side of the house, through a pair of double doors that conveniently lacked a lock. Gesturing for Asakura to wait, Adrian slid up to them as quietly as her namesake. She made a quick look underneath and returned to the shinobi's side.
"Looks like the cook and the maids," Adrian said, pursing her lips. "Five guys, and they all have at least one of them in arm's reach. Could be tricky."
"Was there a window?" Asakura asked.
The assassin nodded, frowning. "Yeah, but a tiny thing, you'd need to be-" She paused as Asakura looked at her. "Superhuman. Right, what am I saying?"
"I'll give you a signal once I'm prepared," Asakura said, walking back toward the entrance. "You should know when you hear it."
"I must say, this is quite a pleasant little room," Rolando said happily, sitting down on one of the couches. There were two, both across from each-other and separated by a table. "I did hear that you are quite the reader. I myself have a space like this for my little hobby." He indicated his camera, which he'd left on the table.
Victoria watched as he shifted in his seat, and with a certain amount of satisfaction sat down on the opposite coach. It lasted about a second before she realized Rolando was now looking right at her, not to mention the lens of his camera. In some ways a gun would have been better. You could only imagine a gun doing one thing to you, after all.
They also weren't the only things watching her. "Is something the matt-" Rolando began, following where she was looking, and then growled. "What are you doing here?"
"Protecting you, Master," Rottwell said with a bow. "Such is my duty. Is there a problem?"
"Yes, there is. Me and Lady Lancaster are going to be speaking alone," Rolando said after taking a deep breath. "As in, not with a third person."
The bodyguard looked unconvinced. "Leaving you along isn't in my contract, Master, not even with a girl like that. Something might-"
"No, nothing will," Rolando snapped. "If you think a girl like this is anything but harmless, your job is getting to you. And you won't be on the job any longer if you don't get out THIS SECOND!"
Rottwell blinked. "Very well, Master. I'll be just outside."
"I do apologize for that, Victoria," Rolando said when he was gone, voice laced with charm once more. "I regrettably did not hire him for his mind. Now then, shall we talk?"
"I don't see why not," Victoria replied. She paused. "Tell me, Mr. Tepes - would you be at all offended if I asked why you are here?"
If he was, it didn't look it. "Why am I here?" Rolando echoed. "To see you, Victoria: a young lady entering adulthood who seems like she could use a guide into it. Do I require any other reason?"
"Well, I suppose not," Victoria admitted. "But it's just something I've been wondering since after I looked into you." She waved a hand at the manor they were in. "I won't deny this estate is worth more than most people would ever see, but it's nothing compared to the Tepes fortune, is it?"
"...if I must put a number to it, I suppose so," Rolando said cheerfully. "But as I said, that wasn't why I came here. You were my only consideration."
Victoria reached up and toyed with part of her hair. "May I ask why? People have said I'm beautiful, but enough to do all this for? You wouldn't have even known exactly what I looked like."
Rolando looked amused. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing. "Very suspicious for someone as young as you. But you aren't wrong: while you are quite beautiful, that isn't a quality hard to find for me."
He leaned forward, picking up the camera. Victoria forced herself to stay still as it was focused on her. "Yet there are some qualities that cannot be found so easily, and are worth more than any amount of Beri. I speak of course, of aesthetics, and you, Victoria, sounded like you had plenty."
The nobleman gave a happy sigh. "A girl without her parents, both naive to the ways of the world and unsullied by them? A kind young lady persisting despite her frail body? The more I learned about you, the more I wanted to see you on the other end of my lens."
The way he spoke about his hobby wasn't quite what Victoria had expected, but it was still very Rolando: charming until you paid attention to what he was saying. But unless he was a far better liar than he seemed, that probably confirmed a question she'd been privately wondering. And it was hard to imagine him coming up with any deception while holding that camera. He sounded almost like a boy again.
It was enough that he didn't seem to hear the familiar beeping of a Snail Transponder coming from his pocket. "I really embody all that?" Victoria asked a touch sharply. "Even just sitting here like this?"
"Oh, positively!" Rolando said, still in the reverie of his hobby. He stepped back behind his couch, sweeping the camera across her. "It's crystal clear in your poise: proud, yet powerless. Your eyes, too: I can see the hate in them, but you know I have you in the palm of my hand."
He lowered the tool and came forward, standing over her. "I won't ask you to love me, or even marry me - I have many women who won't even consider that. In fact I insist you do the same. Anything else might ruin you."
Victoria stared back at him. "I assure you, I don't think that will be a problem." She gestured to the camera. "If it will satisfy you, take as many as you like."
The sound of the Snail had stopped. She hoped that was a good sign. Rolando smiled. "I was hoping you would ask that." He lifted the camera. "Now, lean back a bit…yes, just like that…"
It had been about a minute and change, but Adrian was getting antsy. Not because she was worried about being found - she could knock any of these jokers out a hell of a lot faster than they could raise the alarm - but because this just wasn't how things went for her. She'd never had to wait around like this for someone else, or worry about people staying alive.
Had she heard anything that could be a signal? The bird seemed to feel it'd be obvious, but it wasn't like they were best buds or anything. What if it had come already? Not only would it gum up their mission, it'd make her look like an idiot.
Adrian frowned as a gust of wind intruded on her thoughts from outside. Weird, hadn't it just been calm out…side. Oh, duh. She resisted the urge to slap herself, and slid silently up to the kitchen doors again.
Another gust came, and she heard the clatter of objects falling to the floor. "Somebody shut the window already," a voice grumbled. "If we're gonna be watching them all night I'd rather not be cold doing it."
The Black Cat grinned. That voice sounded pretty slurred: sampling the wine cellar, boys? She listened to the creak of a chair sliding back, and footsteps crossing the room. Now this was what she was talking about: knowing what you had to do, and listening to the target moving where they had to be for you to pull it off.
She could practically picture it. The guy would lean forward, put his hand on the window sill. He'd tense, go to push, and then his eyes would flick up as-
The crack of muscle against bone was an even greater signal for Adrian than the wind. A burst of Shave took her through the doorway, and from there things crystallized. Just as she'd said, there were five of Rolando's men guarding what could only have been the cook and three maids. Each of them was bound, gagged, and looked terrified.
What didn't help matters there (besides her, anyway) was Asakura hopping in through the window. It hadn't been made for letting in anything but some fresh air, but the masked girl made it through all the same. The guard who'd gone to close it was currently reeling from taking one of her knees to the face, while the others were caught in that good old split-second of surprise.
She could already see Asakura shifting toward the left side of the kitchen, even as she added in a vicious kick to take the guard down for the count. Fine; Adrian turned to the right side. But ah, then the specifics of this job came up again. Trashing these guys would have been simple. Doing it while they had hostages and having to be silent was a different matter.
A wide table occupied most of the kitchen's center, which Adrian made a quick hop onto as she ran toward her first pick, who'd been sitting at the head. The pistol he had just retrieved hesitated in his hand as he looked from the charging assassin to the trembling girl forcibly seated nearby. Adrian's fist flew in too fast for it to matter much, though, striking him square on the side of his head and sending him straight into unconsciousness.
Nearby, the cook was dragged closer to a guard who'd been lounging nearby and seemed more alert than his fellows. A knife flicked into his hand, and he seemed about to shout some kind of warning. The dropped gun Adrian hurled at his face probably wouldn't have cared what it was, though.
On the other side of the kitchen, Asakura wasn't quite so fast. She'd brought down the fourth guard with a vicious trip, but now the fifth had backed into the corner, dragging a maid with him and putting her in a choke-hold. "D-Don't move," he stammered, "and put your hands down."
Asakura did so wordlessly.
"Ha, ha ha, good, now-" the grunt got out before a thump blanked his expression, and he fell backward. That tended to happen when, say, a gust of wind blew open a heavy cabinet door into the back of your head. Just as a hypothetical.
"Well, that went alright," Adrian said under her breath. All in all that had taken about a minute. "Let's move on to - shit," she growled, dashing over and kicking the one who'd opened the window into total unconsciousness, and slamming a hand down on the snail he'd pulled out. It quieted down, but had already got a ring off.
Asakura frowned. "My apologies. He played dead exceptionally well. Do you think that gave us away?"
"Maybe, maybe not," Adrian shrugged. "If it's the first, we'll know soon. No sense doing nothing."
She turned to the servants and held up one finger. "Now when I take this off, I expect you to be quiet. Got it?"
A maid indicated she did. "Is Lady Lancaster all right?" she asked once the gag was removed. "They said she'd come back here because of us, and now that horrible man has her!"
Not even a peep about the fact Vee was why they'd been held at knife and gunpoint. Amazing. "Last I saw her, she was fine," Adrian said. "Keeping her that way means you all staying here and keeping your heads down. Block the door if you can."
"Is this all of you?" Asakura asked, freeing the others from their restraints.
"Well, the gardener isn't with us," the cook offered, "but I couldn't tell you where he might be. I do remember seeing Johnathan, her butler, being dragged off to the top floor. I imagine he's guarded, so…" He shrugged. "I suppose you two will be fine."
"As sure as I knew she'd have a butler," Adrian muttered, walking back to the door. "Remember what I said, okay? Things might - nah, will get loud out there, but stay here anyway. It's safest."
When they were back in the corridor Asakura frowned slightly. "Are you certain that's wise? Most of Rolando's men are still at large, not to mention that bodyguard of his."
"Can't say I've ever been certain of anything," Adrian replied. "But better we know where they are than not, and the less chance they have of panicking the better. It's how I usually operate…" she gave a toothy smile. "Just in reverse."
"Anyway," the assassin shrugged, "as it stands the hand we're holding is pretty good. Sieg is keeping an eye on Rolando and he's a coward besides, his men are just common grunts, and I can keep Rottwell busy if I need to. What's to worry about?"
From the door of the kitchen the corridor stretched ahead to the entrance hall. As the two crept closer, the crack of splintering wood came as the doors were literally booted off their hinges. Two heavy boots crossed the threshold with a thud each.
"Are you home, Lady Lancaster?" Oxwald's voice boomed. "I've come to rescue you from peril, and not a moment sooner! Let anyone try to get in my way!"
"...don't look at me like that. I said as it stands."
To Be Continued…
Jack: Has anyone ever told you you're a bit stubborn?
Asakura: Having a Devil Fruit power is not the same as being powerful yourself.
Cindy: Ah, pardon me. Should we have sent an invitation?
The Heroine of Love and Justice, Part 8
Victoria: 'Anything but harmless', you said. Funny how that can be read multiple ways, isn't it?