Interlude:

The Loyalists

Admiral Havelock nodded to Sam as he left the carriage, and walked into the hound pits courtyard, seeing Emily and her…companion throwing stones at some bottles on a wall. Children.

"Empress!" He called out. "Gotten up to anything while I was out?"

Emily looked up at him and shook her head, smiling. "No, not really."

"And you, young man, gotten anything done?"

Thomas coughed awkwardly, scratching his neck, while Samuel whistled to himself and went indoors. "Well…Before I answer that, the place with the bars is meant to be a dungeon, right?"

The Lord Regent

"It's outrageous!" Hiram Burrows practically shouted, before flopping back into his chair with a sigh. "It's like that man Martin is openly mocking me in court and there is nothing I can do about it! Blaming the Empress' death on Daud and some other witch, they've even sent Overseer Hume into the Flooded district to look for them, have you ever heard such nonsense?" He stopped himself when he realised what he was saying, and growled. Draped on the side of his chair, Lady Boyle pouted. "I'm sure it's not that bad, you're still in charge, right?"

Hiram sighed. "I am, but the only remaining Pendleton and the new High Overseer are both campaigning against me."

"Well then, I shall just have to win some of the politicians over tonight at the ball." Lady Boyle smiled. "No one puts on a show like me and my sisters, and we have a wonderful prank planned for our guests tonight."

"Good." Hiram stood up and stretched. "I must oversee the augmentation of my defences. You should probably head to the manor."

"Uh, sir?" came a man's voice from the doorway.

Hiram sighed and spun on the guards waiting outside his door. "What Now?"

Jack and Geoff shuffled nervously. "Uh, you aren't going to like this…"

The Dishonoured Protector

"Sir, the men aren't happy. The prisoners aren't giving us an inch, the once who talk are worse than the ones who won't, and Daud is nowhere to be found."

Overseer Hume glared up from behind Daud's desk at the man, an Overseer with a music box watching the show from beside him with vague amusement. "Remind the men that Daud is an ageing mercenary, and that they are Overseers of the Abbey." Another Overseer walked into the room, clicking the door behind him. "Daud will show, until he does hold position. And what do you want?" He turned to the new Overseer, but his outline blurred, and a man in a whaler mask but an irregular coat seeming to come out from the back of the crumpling man, pulling a pistol from his bandoleer and firing at the music box, shattering a key mechanism and disabling the device.

Hume drew his sabre and engaged the man, grimace set on his face. "Daud, I take it? I'm unimpressed. I was told that your victims never saw you!"

The masked figure vanished, and there was a cry from behind him as the man embedded a dart in one of the Overseers necks, before vanishing again. Spinning in confusion, he saw another Overseer fall, before a pair of arms wrapped around his neck. "The dead cannot see." Came the man's voice, as Hume's vision went black.

._.

Daud burst through the sewer gate, weapon in hand as Billie Lurk appeared before him. "Overseers." She growled. "They've attacked the hideout, kidnapped most of the assassins there. Hume is in your office waiting for you, and-"

"I took care of it." Corvo appeared before Daud, coat rustling, as he and Billie did a double take.

"What?"

"I took care of it."

Daud blinked. "The whole attack? You just-"

"I was scouting when it happened. I came back, freed the assassins, and took out Hume. He and the other Overseers are in the process of being questioned." Even through the Whaler mask, Daud could feel Corvo's stare. "No-one kills you except me."

Billie let out a small breath, fogging up her mask slightly. Good. They didn't realise…well, I was going to drop it anyway-

"Oh, and also-" Corvo vanished, reappearing behind Billie and twisting her traversal arm behind her back in a move that was as sudden as it was unexpected. "The boat you were searching for at the slaughterhouse, and the person you just went after without me. Her name was Delilah, correct?"

Daud, stood there watching impassively, nodded. Corvo twisted the arm further, causing a hissed reaction from Billie. "Well, she paid us a visit when all was done. It turns out someone ratted us out to the Overseers. Guess who?"

Daud sighed and turned away. "Take her back up to my office, I want a full account of this."

When both vanished, Billie unresisting, Daud stood there for a good few seconds. A single bead of sweat rolled down his temple.

So hey, you know how i just came back from the grave? Well, i'm going back into it. Holidays, gentlemen and ladies, without wifi of any sort! Yaaay...

Don't worry, i'll still be writing, which means more when i get back, but you're going to have a two week wait, unless i visit a Mcdonalds with free wifi or something. Or try to use my 4G, but Pokemon go wont work by itself!

At least i finished off this little segment off for you all early. See y'all!