Notes: Just some useless trivia about this chapter – Scraps mentions that he helped out in the repairs of Misthallery by using one of Descole's robots. This is actually a reference to the ending credits of Spectre's Call, where you can see an image of Scraps driving a robot as everyone repairs the town. Also, while I didn't remember this when I started writing him, in Lost Future the place that you find Catanova is in front of the black market that leads onto Chinatown. So it's a funny coincidence that he's now attached himself to this group of black market children. Perhaps deep down Catanova is the true villain who controls all the black markets in the Layton world. Who can say?


Badger wished he could be sure exactly where they were right now, but it was dark and he still wasn't all that familiar with the area. As best he could tell they weren't too far away from the hotel and Crow at least seemed to know where he was going, which was reassuring. All the same, he couldn't put his mind too much at ease, given where they were going and what they intended to do...

"It's not too far off," Crow said, from up front.

"And what exactly do you have in mind for when we get there?" checked Scraps.

Crow looked back at the them and grinned; "That's the beauty o' it – I dunno. There's no way we can scope this place out propah durin' the day, wot with all the workahs bein' there, so lookin' around it now will let us find out wot might be useful. Maybe we can take some stuff tonight, but we'll probably be comin' back anothah day with more o' a plan."

"I'm so relieved to hear there's no plan," retorted Scraps. The sarcasm dripped from his voice.

"Don't be like that, ya love this really," Crow dismissed.

"Eh, I had been getting a bit bored around the house. And there's only so much stock backlog I can gather before it becomes overkill, since we're not doing any auctions yet. This is at least something different," agreed Scraps.

The three of them continued to walk through the silent streets. They had reached an unspoken agreement not to tell Umid about their intentions, since it was unlikely someone with a moral-compass as good as his would agree to this. It wasn't as if the Black Ravens were criminals, but sometimes they did resort to less-than-legal means to get the job done. And this was going to be one of those times.

When they'd first arrived in London, Badger couldn't have imagined that it was possible to be anywhere at all without tons of people being all around you, but right now it felt as if it was just them out on these roads. The lack of traffic and other background noises was far too noticeable. Badger couldn't help but focus on the sound of his own breathing. Which he didn't find all that soothing.

"What was- ...argh!"

Both Crow and Badger jumped. It was unusual for Scraps of all people to cry out. Badger fumbled with the torch he'd brought and shone the light in his direction, only to find Scraps flat on the floor and grumbling. A large cat flicked nonchalantly between his legs, purring loudly. As Scraps pulled himself back up, he shot the cat a glare.

"It's only Catanova," sighed Crow, as Badger turned the torch back off.

"What's he doing following us around?" Scraps tutted.

"Umid's started leavin' some leftovahs out for 'im an' since then 'e's taken a likin' to us," answered Crow.

Catanova, as he was known, was a stray tom cat who hung around the local area. Apparently he'd picked up that nickname from being particularly amorous towards any and all female cats he encountered. Though from Badger's experience he seemed to be more interested in where his next meal was coming from than anything else.

After this brief interruption they carried on their way, with the occasional shooing sound from Scraps suggesting that their unexpected travelling companion hadn't left them alone just yet. Not that it mattered, since they soon reached the place that Crow was leading them to.

As soon as they lay eyes on it, Badger recognised the construction site from having gone by it a few times before. Even in the gloom of the night there was no mistaking where the surrounding buildings gave way to the large patch of exposed air, littered with half-finished constructs and tall cranes. There were some shacks running down one side of the land, presumably where the workers were staying if they couldn't get home. No one knew for sure what the place was going to be when it was finished, but rumours pointed towards a small shopping centre or something to that effect. Not that it was anywhere near to being completed anyway, so there was little to talk about right now.

It was cut off from the rest of the world by a metal fence and a locked gate. But something like this wouldn't stop Crow once he set his mind on going somewhere. The leader hoisted himself up and over the gate, landing with a soft thud on the other side. Badger followed along behind him and then Scraps came last, with slightly more difficulty than the other two.

They peered around, seeing the yard from the inside for the first time. It was clear that the builders hadn't expected anyone to bother coming this far, as things like bricks and cement mixers lay all over the place. In a weird way it almost looked like a messy child's bedroom. Except for in some areas, where clear progress had been made in regards to the walls of the future building – but these were mostly high enough to see from over the fence anyway, so didn't take them by surprise.

"If we're gonna find anything, this is our place," Crow proclaimed.

"Y-yeah..." mumbled Badger, as he looked around in awe.

Scraps made to reply as well, but then suddenly descended into a hiss of curse words. It seemed that Catanova had followed him even this far, but Scraps's angry tone sent the feline bounding off towards the workers' huts. They watched as Catanova disappeared over a ridge and caused some unseen dogs to start barking angrily.

A light flickered on in one of the windows.

The three of them ducked behind part of the concrete structure as quickly as they could. They waited there for a few minutes until the dogs eventually quietened down again. When that happened, Crow risked a look around the corner.

"Okay, it's all clear," he whispered, "But we should try to keep it down. Don't wanna let anyone know we're 'ere."

As they all walked back out again, Badger noted that the light from the window had turned off once more. Whoever had been disturbed probably guessed that the dogs were just barking at a stray and settled down back to sleep. All the same, Crow was right that they'd need to be careful. The last thing they wanted to do was upset any dogs and alert the whole construction site to their presence.

They set off towards the opposite side of the yard, as far away from the shacks as they could get. After a few minutes Badger decided it was a good time to carefully start shining the torch around, as long as he was sure to keep the beam of light close and low to the ground. The three of them watched it shining off various objects as they walked. But while a lot of it looked interesting, they couldn't be sure how much use it'd be to them back at Sharpace Rest.

"What are we even trying to do?" Scraps asked, "At the house, I mean."

"The entrance needs to be widah an' the basement needs to be biggah," Crow replied, as if this was as easy as painting by numbers.

Scraps gawked at him; "And how do you expect us to tear Umid's house apart without him noticing!"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it; now look ovah there," Crow demanded.

He pointed on the ground where the torch light had been only a moment ago. Badger moved it back in that direction and sure enough the gleam of a metal container was just visible. They approached it to find a tool kit, forgotten by an absent-minded worker.

"Jackpot..." Badger whispered.

It was unlocked, so Crow pulled it open. Inside was an assortment of tools in all shapes and sizes. Many of which Badger didn't know the first thing about, let alone what they'd be used for. But he didn't need to know those things to be certain that this would be helpful to them. If nothing else came of this trip then they'd have this, at least.

Once it was closed back up, Crow picked it up and put it into his bag. Part of Badger worried that it might be too heavy for the stout leader, but he didn't want to hurt Crow's pride by suggesting this. Regardless, Crow seemed to walk on without too much trouble.

They wandered for a while longer but didn't find anything else nearly as likely to be of use as the tool kit was. Before long Badger started to feel the boredom radiate from the other two. And with boredom came mischief.

"Reckon ya could drive one o' those?" Crow asked Scraps. He motioned towards a vacant crane.

"Psst! Of course I could!" scoffed Scraps, "Don't you remember when Socket fixed up those spectre-bots for the town repairs back in Misthallery? I was one of the ones who drove those things around."

"Yeah, but that was then an' this is now," Crow teased, "I doubt ya could do as good a job in a propah machine like this."

"Just watch me!"

Badger gasped in horror as Scraps climbed up the side of the crane and pulled the door open. He couldn't be serious about doing something so reckless! But the grin on Crow's face suggested that he wouldn't try to stop him if he did attempt to hijack the crane.

"Yer can't do this!" Badger called, "What if we get caught?"

"It'll only be for a few minutes," purred Crow, "I'm curious now, so we gotta let 'im try."

"Some idiot left the keys in this thing! This really is the least secure building site in the world," Scraps cackled.

The bottom almost dropped out of Badger's stomach as he heard the crane start up. It whirred into life and while the noise it made wasn't the loudest, to Badger it might as well have been an explosion. He turned his head back towards the shacks, but fortunately it seemed that it hadn't been loud enough to stir anyone in that direction. For the moment they were safe.

"Ah'reet, yer made yer point, now geddown!" hissed Badger.

"But I've not even started yet," Scraps taunted.

He demonstrated by pulling one of the handles inside the crane. It made the hook to lower down at a gentle pace. Nothing too major.

"Cor, ya really are a natural, Scraps," Crow praised.

To drive this point home, Scraps pulled the handle back, which caused the hook to raise up once more. Except that on it's journey down, the hook had managed to lodge itself in a concrete pipe. As it attempted to pull this up, the pipe instead came loose and toppled over into one of the brick structures. The crack this made echoed throughout the yard.

That was it. The dogs were barking again and the light came on at the same window as before. They heard a door open, but none of them stuck around long enough to find out what followed. Scraps scrambled down out of the crane without even turning the power off.

The barking from the dogs was quickly becoming louder.

"Damn, they're comin'! Let's split up to confuse 'em an' try to get outta 'ere as fast as we can!" Crow instructed.

The three of them darted off, each all too aware of the fact that the metal fence itself was too high to climb easily. They'd have to get back to the gate somehow, but a clear path would be impossible now that they had dogs and probably people after them.

Badger knew that he was the fastest, so he had the best chance with the dogs. He skidded around and scanned the area for them. It wasn't easy to make out in the dark, but he could hear the barks headed towards where he thought Scraps had ran off to.

"Oveh 'ere!" he boldly called out.

That caught their attention. So he turned and sprinted before they could get to him, his route being inconvenienced a little by the various debris that was scattered all over the ground. Part of him felt that could have got to and cleared the gate if he put his mind to it, but there wasn't a chance that he would leave his friends behind.

A quick glance upwards showed that Crow had made it up onto one of the higher structures. But someone was following him. And although Badger couldn't make out who that person might be, it definitely wasn't Scraps. So he rushed over to where Crow was, trying to make a grab for the leg of his pursuer.

What he caught was the bottom of a robe, but only for a brief moment before the momentum of the other person's running whipped it out of his grip again. It was enough though. In the glint of the moonlight Badger had been able to see all the way up that outfit – from the black gown to the almost plague-doctor-like mask that hid the face of its wearer. The Black Raven.

His mouth fell dry. How was this possible? Once he managed to get his voice back he shouted up, hoping that Crow would hear him.

"It's the Black Raven! Whoeveh's followin' yer 'as the Black Raven on!" he bellowed.

The dogs were almost on Badger's heels now, but it then Scraps returned the favour from Badger distracting them before. He rushed across their path. They turned to follow Scraps instead, leaving Badger to bear witness to the scene that was unfolding in front of him.

His words had reached Crow, who turned in almost a dream-like state as he registered what Badger was saying. It was hard to see exactly what his expression was, but Badger could only imagine how shocked he must be to discover he was being chased by his own creation. There was only one other person here who this could be. And it seemed that Crow had reached the same conclusion as Badger about it.

"Umid...!" Crow cried out, his voice echoing across the yard, "Stop! This is a misundahsta-"

But Crow didn't get that far. The Black Raven charged into him, knocking him from where he stood. The two of them fell to the ground together and rolled as they landed. After a few seconds it was the Black Raven who recovered first, punching at Crow again and again.

That was when something inside Badger snapped.

Whoever this person was, they were hurting Crow. Nothing else mattered any more.

Badger flew at the Black Raven, knocking him off Crow and pinning him to the rubble beneath them. No one hurt Crow. Anyone who hurt Crow would face him. His arms moved on their own as they hit out. He could hear his mouth let loose a flurry of insults, but his brain couldn't register exactly what was being said. At this moment he knew nothing except to stop the person who had hurt Crow.

"Badgah! Badge'...! Stop 'ittin' 'im!" screamed Crow, as he pulled himself back up from where he had landed.

"...Badger? What?"

The voice from the Black Raven was not that of Umid. It was deeper, probably thick from being punched to start with, but there was definitely a different quality to it than Umid's. Though at the same time somewhat familiar to Badger. He let dull comprehension wash over him as he slowed his movements to a stop. All he could do now was stare down at the person pinned under him.

As Crow hobbled over to join them, the figure raised a shaky hand to take the mask off its face. Behind it was the last person they expected to see in London.

"...Roddy?"

Both Crow and Badger uttered this in awe. Their friend glared angrily up at them. Then Badger scrambled to get off, suddenly all too aware of how much his hand was stinging from having punched the mask.

Roddy pulled himself up to his feet, looking just as confused to see them as they were to see him. He looked from Badger to Crow, then shook his head.

"Is this what the Black Ravens are doing in the big city?" he muttered.

"Nevahmind wot we're doin' 'ere! Wot about you?" snapped Crow.

The faint sound of the dogs barking could still be heard in the background, but none of them were paying too much attention to that right now. Hopefully Scraps could keep them distracted for a bit longer while they all figured out what was happening.

"This is such a pain," Roddy sighed, "I'd been trying to figure out where you'd all got to – thanks for not writing, by the way – but I never expected you all just to turn up here like some thieves in the night."

"Joke's on you, 'cause that's exactly what we are," Crow chuckled, in a very hollow tone.

"This isn't funny, Crow!" shot Roddy, "It's taken long enough for me and mum to get down to stay here without you turning up from nowhere to ruin it!"

"Why would the two of yer come to London?" asked Badger, completely lost as to what was going on with Roddy.

"It's 'cause that's where 'is dad is," Crow answered, "I'm right, ain't I? I knew ya were tryin' to work stuff out with 'im back when we left, but I nevah expected ya would come 'ere."

"Yeah, well stuff happens without your knowing about it," Roddy countered, "But you're right about that. Dad's been... well, he finally got back onto his feet after the underground London fiasco. This is his first big job and we all saved up enough so we could be together again. As long as I helped him here."

"An' it ain't like ya a strangah to 'ard work," Crow added.

"Not after everything you put me through, no. You workaholic birdbrain," Roddy huffed.

There was a loud screech behind them, definitely of the feline variety, followed by a whimpering cry from one of the dogs. A massive, furry, black creature barrelled past them, with Catanova hot in pursuit.

"Sausage, no!" yelled Roddy.

The animal chase situation was soon made worse by another canine joining in to race after Catanova. From what Badger could tell, this one was a mongrel, much smaller than the black one and had reddish-brown wiry fur. Though it was clearly the more fierce of the two, chasing its quarry until Catanova scampered too high up one of the constructs for the dog to follow. Once there Catanova looked back down in mild interest, otherwise seemingly unmoved by what had just happened.

"Heel, Ringo! I said heel!" demanded Roddy.

Upon hearing the voice of its master, Ringo settled down. Though not without one last grumble in Catanova's direction. With this drama out of the way, a tired Scraps came to join them, panting heavily from where he'd been running away from the dogs.

"...That stupid Catanova saved my life..." he murmured, almost in admiration.

"Your cat is called Catanova?" asked Roddy.

"Your dog is called Sausage," Crow pointed out.

"Fair point," Roddy snorted, "They're not mine though. Ringo and Sausage guard the yard, but Dad looks after them most of the time. And they're harmless really, just... not when they get worked up."

"Catanova isn't ours eithah," explained Crow, "Just a stray who taken a likin' to us 'cause we keep feedin' 'im."

"Typical Crow. You're not even in London a few weeks and you're already coaxing new blood to join the Black Ravens with the promise of rich rewards," Roddy hummed.

"Don't even joke about that..." Badger muttered darkly.

While Roddy didn't understand the context of Badger's accusation, it did draw his attention back to the northerner. Part of Badger wanted to wither under Roddy's gaze, but it seemed that he was in a good mood. Despite his face being a little worse for the wear from Badger's assault, he was grinning widely.

"Looks like you were more than able to toughen up and look after him then, Badger," Roddy praised.

"I doun't think punchin' someone who jumps on 'im counts as lookin' afteh 'im," dismissed Badger.

"That's at least part of it. Seriously," Roddy assured.

It was hard to tell if he truly was being serious or not. But it seemed that Crow wasn't impressed at this line of discussion and waved his arms to get their attention back on him.

"All right, so Badgah saved my useless arse from bein' beaten up by my best mate. Can we get back to ya bein' in London, Roddy?" he inquired.

"Yeah, what's Roddy doing here?" Scraps added, having been late to the party.

"I'll give you all some answers, but let's at least go inside first. And Crow, whatever that is in your bag that I bet you've nicked, put it back," scolded Roddy.

"Oi, if someone's gonna leave a 'ole tool kit lyin' around then they're askin' to lose it," argued Crow.

All the same, he did take it out of his bag. A very pained look crossed Roddy's face.

"That's my dad's..." he sighed, "I've told him before to be more careful with it. Honestly, he probably does deserve this, but he won't get very far without it."

"Ya can 'ave it back then," chimed Crow, as if he was doing Roddy the world's biggest favour. He passed the tool kit over, seeming to read something that was engraved on it as he did so; "...Michael Hardy. Is that ya dad's name?"

"Yeah, that's him. The lazy pain," Roddy answered, "I'm not sure if I told you this story already, but after he left Misthallery to work on a job all those years back, he ended up getting involved in that big mess with the underground London. Not that he had any idea what it was at the time. But that's why Mum and me couldn't get in touch with him. Though it doesn't matter now we're finally back together again. It's just a shame that it took this long to sort out."

As they walked back towards the shacks, Roddy stopped briefly to turn the power off from the crane that Scraps had hijacked before. It seemed that his forgetful dad had also been the one to leave the keys in the ignition, which caused Roddy to frown disapprovingly.

"We've met some people who got involved with that as well," Crow told him, once Roddy had finished with the crane, "Some friends o' mine from a 'otel. They were all unknowin'ly trapped there for a while, just getting' on with their lives. Even that cat was down there, so Becky tells me."

"You're having me on!" laughed Roddy.

"Maybe Becky's playin' me for a fool then. Wouldn't be the first time," Crow mused.

The group made their way into one of the shacks, where the light had been left on from earlier. The room that greeted them was what looked to be an all-purpose kitchen and living room, though another door led off into what Badger presumed to be the bedroom. The two dogs pushed past them and settled in a basket, allowing Badger to get a proper look at them in the light.

He'd been right about his assessment of Ringo, the small dog looked like a mix between far too many kinds of terrier. It settled into the bed proudly, as if being personally responsible for saving the day. By contrast, Sausage was a much more nervous ball of fur. It was almost comical to watch, given that Sausage was the biggest dog that Badger had ever seen. Not even Wren & Socket's beloved dog Phant came close. Although Badger had only been shown pictures of Newfoundland dogs before, he was willing to bet that was what Sausage was.

"Look at those two, they're the two most hopeless lads I've ever met. And I include you when I say that, Crow," said Roddy. He watched the dogs affectionately for a moment, before pulling out a seat at the table and motioning for the others to do the same.

"You do seem to attract 'em, Rod," confirmed Crow.

"Anyway, now it's your turn to do the talking," Roddy pressed, once they'd all sat down, "We all figured that you'd be too busy getting on your feet to get in touch right away. But I'd hoped to have heard from you before I came to London."

Being reminded of the others sparked Crow's attention. He ignored Roddy's request for him to explain themselves and instead focused on the Black Ravens back home.

"I'll let ya know about us in a minute, tell me 'ow everyone's doin' back 'ome first though," he pleaded, "We 'ave bin sorta caught up in our own work lately, but in the back of my mind I've worried about the lot o' ya."

Roddy gave a self-assured little smile.

"It wouldn't be my place to spoil the surprise," he evaded, ominously, "But don't worry – only good things have happened and any challenges are what we could handle. I never would have been able to leave them if I didn't think they were able to manage."

"I knew Marilyn would make a great leadah," Crow praised. It seemed like a weight had been lifted from him.

"The leader's doing as well as she can," hummed Roddy. And Badger definitely felt as if they weren't being told the full story about that. But before any more questions could be asked, Roddy went back to what he'd said before; "So anyway, now it's your turn to explain yourselves. I heard you call me Umid just before I knocked you to the ground. Who's that and why would you think he was the Black Raven?"

"Umid's our newest recruit 'ere in London. I'm sure we'll introduce ya before too long," Crow explained.

Badger wasn't sure what sort of face he'd pulled in regards to Crow's answer, but it must have been something, because Roddy's eyes glanced in his direction. Then Roddy smirked knowingly and returned to looking at Crow. Suddenly Badger felt self-conscious. Just how obvious had he been about his feelings for Crow all this time?

"I'm surprised you'd let someone in so quickly. But then again it'd be difficult to set this up with just the three of you," Roddy replied.

"We wouldn't even be 'ere without Umid," confirmed Crow, "Especially since 'e's lettin' us stay in 'is 'ouse. We're gonna set up the auctions there, but the rooms are too small right now. That's why we came 'ere, since we wanted to sort the place out an' needed the tools to do it with."

"You weren't... planning on driving that crane right out of here, were you?" Roddy asked. He seemed scared to know the answer.

"There was no plan," Scraps assured him.

"We needed somethin', but we didn't know wot, no," added Crow.

Roddy sighed; "I should toss you all out on your ears, really I should. Because I can already tell that this is going to be a massive pain in the neck. But you're lucky I'm a bleeding heart and that I was looking for you anyway. Take me over to this house tomorrow and I'll let you know what can be done with it. Then I'll twist Dad's arm to see if he can help."

"Ya the best, Roddy!" cheered Crow.

"Keep it down, will you? My parents are asleep in the other room," Roddy scolded.

"Yer mam's 'ere too?" Badger checked. He hadn't been expecting that.

"Yeah... well, we couldn't afford another place," explained Roddy, "But we knew that we all wanted to be together, so we decided that we'd stay here at the work site as a family. Maybe it's weird, but we're all happy this way."

"I'm glad for ya," Crow said, "No one's waited as long or worked as 'ard for this as you 'ave, Rod. It's great that it's all finally comin' togethah."

"Even more so now that I've found you lot," added Roddy, "Though you are all more trouble than you're worth. If you'll have me, I'll be glad to join up to the London branch of the Black Ravens."

"Roddy... ya didn't even 'afta ask about that. Ya already in."

And that was something that both Badger and Scraps wholeheartedly agreed upon. The gang regaining one of its old members was the best possible outcome. With Roddy and hopefully his dad's help, suddenly the possibility of turning Sharpace Rest into a functioning auction house didn't seem so far away after all.