The Misadventures of the Du Couteau House Chapter 7
Author: Tinnuwen
Co-Author: FallenAssassin9
Disclaimer: Tinnuwen and I, FallenAssassin9, do not own League of Legends or any of its merchandise, the owners of said game and merchandise is Riot Games, this is nonprofit story written by our love of the game, its lore, and its characters.
Tinnuwen: We also don't own Skyrim, so all references are obviously not ours :P
The sun had just begun to set when Allison and Cassiopeia are seen arriving back to the mansion after going clothes shopping. The guards, or rather servants, following them can all be seen holding stacks of clothes and shoes going well above each of their heads. "Not laughing now are you?" the original guard of burden said happily, watching the others partake in his current task.
Ahead of the guards a happy Cassiopeia turns to her "sister" and says, "Thanks for taking me shopping today Katarina!" smiling brightly. Allison replied with a smile and pat on the little blonde's head. Allison opened the door the mansion and let Cassiopeia and the three guards walk through before closing it. Turning to the guards Cassiopeia asks in a sweet voice, "Can you bring all of the clothes to my room?"
Groaning, but grateful that the clothes block their view of the puppy dog eyes Cassiopeia is surely using the guards begin the long trek up the stairs into Cassiopeia's room. Before any words can be said between Allison and Cass the door the mansion is opened again as Marcus walks in hanging his coat up on the hanger near the door, turning to them Marcus smiles before asking, "Hello girls, did you just get home to?"
Running to her father excitedly Cass gives him a hug while looking up at him and answering, "Uh huh, Kat took me shopping all day and we got a bunch of pretty new clothes for me."
Marcus smiles down at Cass patting her on the head before asking, "Oh and where are all of these clothes now?"
"The guards are bringing them up to my room," Cass replies before her eyes widen and she covers her mouth with her hands.
"Cass…" Marcus starts with a mock glare and frown, "What did I say about using the guards as your personal carriers?"
"Not to…" Cass replies while looking down and shuffling her feet. Allison looked upon the scene before her, nearly laughing out loud at the family's antics. Since Kat was so quiet, Allison assumed this was actually quite normal in the household.
Looking away from Cassiopeia and towards his other daughter Marcus notices the laughter she is barely suppressing and says while raising his eyebrow, "Oh, you find this funny Katarina?"
"I can't help that Cassio makes some of the best facial expressions sometimes, I just can't just hold it in this time." Allison said coyly. Cassio flushes at the comment. The little Du Couteau starts complaining while the older two smile knowingly. A few seconds after, Allison offers her assistance for showing their father the new clothing the two had bought earlier.
Before the three can go up to Cass's room a servant walks up to Marcus and says, "Sorry to interrupt sir but dinner is ready." Blinking at the man Marcus pulls out his pocket watch and checks the time. "Thank the stars! I don't need to see you and Cassio prancing around in dresses anymore." Katarina complained.
"Huh, so it seems, time seems to have flown by today, come on girls' time for dinner," Marcus orders while walking into the dining room.
"Aww, but I wanted to show you my new clothes," Cassiopeia complains.
Turning to his daughter Marcus smiles and says, "Now now, there will be plenty of time for that after dinner, for now let's eat." Smiling at Marcus's promise Cassiopeia follows the older two into the dining room with no further complaints.
Looking out into the marketplace Darryl sighs before complaining, "Man we need to find something to eat."
"Is food the only thing you're capable of thinking about?" Talon bites out while admitting to himself that he has muttered the same words to himself many times.
"Oh you have no room to talk, you're the one that murdered your partner because he kept messing up your attempts at getting food," Darryl shoots backs.
"Fair enough, although you are right we do need to get something to eat if you are to keep your strength up for the inevitable encounter with some fool who comes trying to recruit me," Talon replies while looking at surveying what is within Darryl's line of sight trying to find someone to steal from.
Darryl had been surveying the marketplace for ten minutes with Talon both trying to find someone easy enough to steal from without attracting attention. "What about that guy? the one by the weapons merchant who is trying to sell some jewelry to that lady at the stand," Darryl asks Talon hoping that he will finally give him the go ahead.
"The merchant himself, No, I've stolen from him three times already he will be on the lookout, but the lady he is selling to would be a good target, just steal the jewelry off of her after she buys it," Talon answers giving Darryl orders on what to do.
"Okay, sounds good," Darryl replies waiting for the lady to buy something from the merchant. Darryl doesn't have to wait long as the woman buys an expensive looking emerald necklace. As Darryl starts trailing her he notices someone else in black clothing sneaking up behind the women with a knife. Putting two and two together in his head Darryl is tempted to rescue the women but decides to asks Talon on his decision first, "What should I do, looks like that thief over there is going to kill the woman."
"Take the thief out, silently though, no need to cause a bigger scene than necessary," Talon answers giving Darryl all that he needs to act. Walking up quickly but quietly to the would be murderer Darryl goes over the ways he can kill him in his head before deciding on what he figures would be the quietest option. Only three feet away from the man now, Darryl brings his blade arm out from behind his back and bends it at an angle where the blade will go through the man's back while severing the spine in his neck. As soon as Darryl is two feet away he acts quickly pulling the man backwards while bringing his blade up.
"Gah," is the only noise the man makes as the blade enters his body between his shoulder blades before being driven up through the man's spinal cord and severing his vocal cords. Darryl pulls the man into an upright position before pulling the blade out and quickly walking away leaving the man to stand for about three seconds before collapsing on his back in the middle of the market place a pool of blood forming beneath him. It doesn't take long for someone to notice and start screaming, looking over at his original target Darryl notes in amusement that she hadn't even seen what transpired behind her before the first scream.
"Nice kill, now use the chaos as cover for you to steal the necklace, walk behind the women and cut the latch with our blade and grab it," Talon explains telling Darryl what to do next. Following his instructions Darryl slightly tugs the necklace back just enough for there to be room for him to slip his blade through without it touching the woman's neck before cutting the latch and quickly pulling the necklace off. Necklace in hand Darryl quickly walks over to a nearby ally before disappearing into the shadows.
"Well that went well, now let's see if I can't trade this necklace for some cookies at Morgana's bakery," Darryl comments with a smirk on his face.
Back at the Du Couteau mansion the family of three can be seen gathered around the dining room table as servants busily hand out the food and drinks to them. As the three begin to eat the silence doesn't last long as Cassiopeia asks, "So Daddy what did you do today?"
"Well technically I am not suppose to reveal any information about what happens in meeting with the Generals to anyone in case of a security breach," Marcus says knowing exactly what his daughter will say next.
"Aww, come on can't you tell us, please," Cass pleads while looking at her father trying to convince him with her puppy dog eyes.
Already planning on telling them if they asked beforehand Marcus couldn't help but tease his daughter before finally answering, "Well I suppose I can tell you."
"Ha, father always does this to Cass whenever he gets back from a meeting. She never seems to realize father is just messing with her," Katarina comments enjoying the routine that Marcus had set up with Cass.
Marcus takes a few bites of his food before looking back up at his daughters and explaining what happened during the meeting, "The meeting like I said before was about what happened during the festival, specifically what to do about the one that caused all the havoc by releasing Sion."
"Were you able to find out who that was," Cass asks paying full attention to her father's words.
"Yes, the perpetrator is a thief who goes by the name The Blade's Shadow, he's a thief from the Noxian slums who is famous for killing all of the people that the local thieves and assassin's guilds send after him in an attempt to recruit him and dumping them in the gutters," Marcus explains answering his youngest daughter's question.
"How crude, and this is the person you say ends up working for father? Some gutter trash, what a joke," Katarina comments, still not believing that her father would hire someone from the streets as a personal assassin.
Allison takes a bite of her food before thinking back at Katarina, 'Look deeper in the situation next time. There is more to him than meets the eye.' The Du Couteau family ate fairly quietly before Marcus said he had to run an errand. Cassiopeia was a little sad at first, seeing as though she wouldn't be able to tell him about her day until later. Allison knew it would only be a matter of time until Darryl finishes his part of the story.
Walking down an alley with a fresh batch of two dozen cookies from Sinful Succulence Darryl is content with the food in his stomach, although Talon is still stunned by what happened inside the bakery.
"I… I can't believe that women kissed you on the cheek… who does that," Talon asks in a dazed tone not used to other types of physical contact besides that of stabbing or breaking bones.
Chuckling before popping another cookie into his mouth Darryl eats it before replying, "That's what women do when you get them gifts, particularly expensive gifts like that necklace. Plus with your dark, mysterious, bad boy persona you could get women eating out of the palm of your hands." Stopping and realizes that since he is in Talon's body Darryl would be able to do what he just said.
'Oh I will have to take advantage of this later,' Darryl thought with a smile on his face. Unknown to Darryl he is currently being watched by a shadowed figure on a rooftop above him.
'This is the Blades Shadow? He couldn't be that much older than my daughter,' the figure thinks before deciding to drop down behind his target three shuriken in hand.
Talon heard a soft, thump that he almost missed before his instincts started screaming at him, "DUCK!" Talon shouts out shocking Darryl who quickly follows Talon's instructions the three shuriken just barely missing his head before bouncing off a wall at the end of the alleyway. Turning around Darryl see's a man dressed in black with a dark hood and a mask that comes up just past his nose with a rapier strapped to each leg.
Deciding to put some distance between them Darryl asks while slowly backing away, "Let me guess, you want me to join your little guild and if I refuse you will have to kill me right?" The figure instead of responding draws his rapier and dashes at Darryl so fast he can barely bring up his arm blade to deflect one rapier before rolling away from a stab by the other one.
'Shit, this guy's fast, Talon any advice,' Darryl thinks to Talon keeping his guard up in case the man attacks again.
"In my experience most enemies that are fast tend to not be too heavily muscled, try testing your strength against him but be careful, this man is more dangerous than anyone you have fought yet,' Talon replies hoping that Darryl can somehow manage to defeat this threat like the last two.
Deciding to give Talon's idea a try Darryl is about to make the next move before the figure talks for the first time, "Are you just going to stand there? I don't have all night you know." Angered at the taunt Darryl charges at the man dodging to the side of a stab by one of his rapiers and grabbing the arm while going for a stab at the man's next which he stops with the guard of his rapier. Realizing that something is wrong when the man's blade isn't budging no matter how hard he pushes Darryl tries to retreat but was just a bit to slow as the man acts faster pushing Darryl's blade to the side with stabbing him in the shoulder.
Shouting in pain Darryl had just enough time to bring up his blade arm to block a stab at his neck from the man's now freed arm. The man doesn't let up however and jumps back before dashing forward at incredible speeds aiming both of his rapiers at Darryl's heart. Darryl attempts to block the blades once more but is shocked as his blade gets broken and the arm guard pierced through stabbing him in the arm before he is launched back and crashes on his stomach at the end of the alley.
"Get up, you can't lose I refuse to die like this!" Talon shouts to Darryl who looks forward and see's the three shuriken from before within arm's reach. Coming up with one last idea Darryl reaches for the shuriken and gathers them up in one hand.
"I got to say I am disappointed, I expected a bit more from you, oh well let's get this over wi-," The man is cut off as Darryl spins around and tosses the shuriken at the man's head, the surprised by the tactic ducks just barely avoiding the shuriken. Taking advantage of the man's crouched position Darryl dashes towards him while grabbing his broken blade aiming to stab the man through the neck.
Just as the blade is about to enter the man's throat he vanishes, "What the… where the hell did he?" Darryl isn't able to finish as his question is answered by the man stabbing him in the leg and kicking him into the ground.
"Aggh!" Darryl screams out in pain rolling over as the man presses the tip of one of his rapiers against his neck.
"Now that was clever, using my own weapons against me like that, but also rude I was in the middle of talking, now as I was saying it's time to end this," The man finishes.
'Sorry Talon, looks like I wasn't able to keep us alive after all," Darryl thinks before closing his eyes expecting to die.
"It's as I always say, live and die by the blade, I always figured I would die fighting someone and I can honestly say this man is better than me from that fight, you fought well though, I only wish I could have fought him myself," Talon answers only saddened that he wasn't able to fight the man who is his better in combat.
The blow Darryl was waiting for never came as the man said, "Oh don't close your eyes I'm not going to kill you, well maybe. That is mostly up to you." Opening his eyes Darryl quickly catches on to what is happening and what this event is.
"My bleeding shoulder, wrist, and leg would beg to differ, and how is that mostly up to me," Darryl asks hoping that his hunch is right.
"Hmm, you remind me of my daughter, and it is mostly up to you as you can either choose to work for me… or I can just kill you now," The man responds in a cheery tone.
Raising his eyebrow Darryl replies with, "That isn't much of a choice, who the hell are you anyway?"
"I am Marcus Du Couteau General of the Noxian military," the Man now revealed to be Marcus answered.
"Wait isn't this the man you said I would end up working for," Talon asks remembering what Darryl told him he knew about his life earlier.
'Yes, yes he is, thank god things are following along the right path and he didn't just kill us outright,' Darryl thought back before answering Marcus's ultimatum.
"Like I said, not really much of a choice, I accept… but under one condition," Darryl answers remembering the condition that Talon gave in the lore.
"And what would that be," Marcus asks curious about what the young man could want.
"I will only take orders from those that have proven to be my better, in this case you," Darryl explains giving his condition.
"Fair enough, now let's go show you to where you will be staying from now on. This alley's stench is getting to me," Marcus orders putting away his rapiers.
"Yeah one issue there, you stabbed me in the leg remember," Darryl mentions while gesturing towards his still bleeding leg.
"Oh just walk it off, consider it your first mission under my employ," Marcus says in a happy tone while walking away from Darryl and stopping at the end of the alley, "Well are you coming?"
"Bastard," Darryl mutters before slowly gathering himself towards his feet and hobbling after Marcus.