AN: I'm honestly tempted to make this an RFA harem, because the idea of this sassy maid somehow netting the unsuspecting RFA in the long run is pretty funny.
Queen's Favor
Chapter 8
What this penthouse really needed was a sign she could check off days for how long it'd been without an accident or life threatening encounter.
She ought to have a prize, as this was the 30th day without incident.
Unsurprisingly, no such thing awaited her when she arrived at the penthouse. Aside from the one gift (which she kept at home most of the time, as it was much too valuable to wear at work), her enigmatic employer - contractor - left her nothing else but the odd bit of food and endless weird messes that made her wonder just what he got up to when she wasn't there. He did arrive from time to time when she worked, but as always he left her alone and merely gave her pleasant compliments or a stiff drink at the end of her shift.
The cat was troublesome as ever, but hadn't caused her any injury.
She leaned down to rub the cat under her chin, and then tossed some bell-toy further into the room. No longer nearly as starved for attention, the flowy white cat pranced off after the toy. After a bit of fussing, Elizabeth had gotten back into the habit of just expecting her in the mornings, not all day, and so the cat mostly only smothered her when she first arrived and whenever it was her break time.
Honestly, she didn't even need to keep a watch on her, because Elizabeth seemed to have that timing down, and wouldn't brook any kind of deviation. She'd never had to interrupt any of her work just to go play with the cat, but she had no doubt that Elizabeth would put her paw down about it if she ever tried.
The phone rang.
That in of itself wasn't particularly unusual. Although it seemed most of his contacts either knew his working hours or used whatever gold-encrusted cellphone he owned, there was always the odd whoever that called anyway. The strange thing about it was that after the first call went to whatever voicemail was attached to the phone, it started ringing again. Immediately. At first, she was a bit worried there was some urgent matter actually meant for her on the phone. But that was absurd, as she had her own phone on her - and she double-checked, it was fully powered and getting signal - and anyone that desperate to speak to her would get through to her phone somehow.
Ten minutes passed with it ringing, and it was getting on her last nerve. Only her immense sense of self control - and need for the sweet, sweet pay the job provided - kept her from ripping the phone right out of the wall and then possibly throwing it out of the window.
"He's not here, you needy stalker!"
She didn't pick up the phone and say that, obviously. But it did make her feel a little better saying it out loud.
Almost eerily, the phone stopped ringing.
Maybe it just took that long for whatever desperate caller that was to figure that out. Maybe she should let the penthouse owner know he had this obsessed caller? Just in case? Not that his security didn't seem tip-top as it was. Aside from the cat-napper, anyway. But apparently they were friends somehow.
She jumped and gave a short shriek when her phone rang in her pocket.
The number on the phone was unknown. Probably, it was just spam or something unrelated.
If nothing else, at least she had an excuse to chew out the caller without getting fired, if indeed it was related at all.
She frowned at the phone a moment, before finally accepting the call with a huff.
"Man, you are way too good at resisting the urge to answer the phone call of destiny!" She couldn't immediately place the voice, but it...sounded way less creepy than she'd expect for a phone stalker.
"...Huh?"
"Ninja maid! Your dulcet tones are always such a gift!" Oh, it was him. Wait. How was it him?! "I heard you were gravely injured as punishment for allowing my escape from yon castle, so I had to call you to show my appreciation, but then you just ignored all my calls! For so long! Are you just afraid of phones, is that why you ignored the phone call of destiny?"
Wait.
Wait. Many questions all jumbled together at once.
"That's not what I-that's..how-how do you even know about that? How do you have my number?! Who are you?"
"Oh, wow! My first interview~. I didn't come prepared." Although his voice sounded as if his phone were on speaker on some desk or something, she didn't miss the teasing tone in it. "Fortunately, I can answer all the questions at once! FOR YOU SEE! I am none other than the diabolical genius, world famous hacker 707! ...If you think about it, you'll see that answers all three questions."
Yes, she understood how it applied to all the questions.
No, she didn't believe it at all. The scrawny little screaming nerd she'd twice tackled didn't have the right look to be a hacker, firstly, and secondly she couldn't imagine why a high profile heir to a giant corporation would associate with someone criminal. And another thing: even if he were a hacker, why would he fixate on harassing the maid?
He was definitely some kind of a stalker.
"I'm going to call the police and have them trace this call."
"That's...sort of the spirit!" He laughed on the other end of the line. "Anyway. It's tragic, but...I've been trapped inside my house for a month, unable to go out and see Princess Elly! About now is when I'd normally go out to get a recharge by visiting her, but...alas! I'm going to be trapped even longer in here. That's why I need you-"
"No."
"-to be my hands!" He didn't even miss a beat. "You must send my affection to Elly through the phone!"
"Absolutely not. I know the kind of things you do to her."
"Don't put it like that, Ninja Maid! Our love is purer than that. If you could just snap a picture-"
"I'm going to hang up now. If you call back, I'm turning it off this time."
"NO WAIT-"
Seriously, though? How in the world did he get her number? Had he stolen it somehow during one of their scuffles? Or did he trick the company into sharing it with him? He didn't seem all that wily or convincing to her, but then...maybe he could be a bit more charismatic to someone whose first interactions didn't involve him screaming bloody murder in their ears or sitting on their boss' bed in a cheap maid outfit.
She rubbed her forehead and flopped down on the couch. Her head still hurt from the crank calling, and that voice shouting in her ear didn't help the situation at all, either.
Elizabeth wandered into the room, tail flicking as if she, too, still had ringing in her ears. The little furball looked up at her for a moment, as if silently scolding her for daring to take her break early, before prancing over and hopping up onto her lap.
"Yeah. Didn't think you'd have a problem with it." She reached down to run her fingers along the cat's soft white fur, and the little monster bumped its head up against her hand, as if demanding more petting.
Honestly. It'd be kind of a bummer when she had to move on to another place to clean some day. The odd life-threatening situation and conniving cat wasn't actually all that bad of a compromise for having such luxurious breaks and so few really alarming messes. The owner wasn't home all that often even when he wasn't out of the country, and it showed. Both in the demanding cat, and in the lack of lived-in messes she encountered.
She scoffed to herself as the cat grabbed her hand in its paws and gnawed lightly at her fingertips. Easy to say it's not that bad a compromise when it's been a month since any peril though, huh?
"Alright, geez. If you're going to keep biting like that, I'll get you something to eat that isn't human."
She stretched, listening to the alarming musical starring her back and spine. She liked to think that all came from the hard work she put into the day, and not the torture rack that her bed had slowly been devolving into since it started running low on fluff and springs.
Well, it was fine. With what she made, she could really start saving for medical exams, a better bed, or even moving somewhere that looked less like an 'Escape from New York' movie. The evening air was cool on her skin as she walked, and she wondered idly if it might even be worth it to just go ahead and start using a car. The walk did take a while, and it meant getting up extra early in the mornings.
The streetlights flickered on above her, as the sun finally got low enough in the sky to upset them.
Actually, tomorrow was payday. She glanced down and grabbed frayed blonde locks in two fingers. Her hair could probably do with a good trim. She could look even more killer in her uniform with a good cut and style.
Someone shoved into her, nearly knocking her face-first into the pavement. She manged not to collide with the ground, but only by engaging in a rousing round of pinwheel hopscotch.
It's not like I was just taking up all the space in the sidewalk!
She rounded on her assailant, but the figure already moved away from her at a quick pace, hood up, obscuring their face in the evening shadows.
"Hey-!"
They - probably a he, given their relative height - didn't even hesitate or react to her calling out to them. Despite the two of them being the only ones in the street. Which was almost as rude as nearly knocking her over in the first place.
Naturally, she chased after him. Just to make sure he could get the earful he deserved.
He was surprisingly agile, as he took quick turns through multiple alleyways without any warning. Frankly, she was starting to worry that she might inadvertently be tailing someone to a drug deal. If I see anyone shady popping up, I'll just...
...Okay. So maybe she'd gotten a little too into giving some random jerk on the street an earful just for bumping into her. Now that she thought about it.
She blinked, looking back and forth on the street.
Wait. Where did he go?
She'd barely even gotten distracted at all, and yet the figure she'd put so much effort into following was just...gone. A few businesses stood nearby, metal gates locked down tight, and one or two houses that looked burned out and boarded up. There were no obvious entrances to any of them.
A short distance down the road stood a building she'd have considered tall before that penthouse spoiled her. Distant city lights reflected on the windows of hundreds of rooms, but not one of them were lit up, even in the increasing darkness of the evening.
"Weird." Businesses usually kept their lights on for security purposes, right? At least dim ones. She frowned and made her way closer to the building. A modest parking lot with various marked carports sat in front of it. Completely empty.
There weren't any obvious signs on the building indicating whether it was one big business, or if it was a mini mall of some sort that just hadn't successfully rented itself out to any local businesses. Well. All the same, the man likely disappeared in there. Somewhere.
She wasn't crazy enough to go investigating it, though.
...Instead, she just...needed to figure out how to find her way back home. And not chase after random people who made her angry on the street.
"...Ah."
Well. Crap. She had a pretty decent idea of what direction she came from, and she could probably make her way back to the main road. But it was also late, and a pretty shady part of town.
She frowned, and dug out her phone. Light flooded her vision as she turned it back on. "GPS...please work."