Rozen Maiden: Märchen

EPISODE ELEVEN

Mission Impossible

Kanaria blinked. Fortunately there were no humans around to see. The Dolpa reception was being held in the lobby and cafe on the ground floor, whilst Micchan's Enju doll collection had been taken up to the exhibition hall on the second floor. As per the plan, the Rozen Maidens had been hidden among the collection, each of them wearing a different dress than normal to guard against the possibility of being recognised by one of Grimm's hired goons.

And then they'd been left there, surrounded by a variety of other dolls on display as part of the auction. Unlike the Rozen Maidens however, these were all normal dolls of the non living variety, and did not bat an eyelid as Kanaria got up and peered about.

"Okay ladies, the coast is clear," she announced, struggling to keep the nervous excitement from her voice. A short distance away Shinku stood and adjusted one of her ribbons. Souseiseki was next, feeling slightly awkward and uneasy wearing such a frilly feminine dress. Hinaichigo stretched and then hopped down onto the richly carpeted floor, gazing about in awe at all the dolls on display.

"So many ... and they're so pretty!"

"Pay attention now, Hinaichigo," Shinku warned, hopping down to the floor as well, "We must not lose sight of why we are here."

"I don't see any sign of the Box," Souseiseki observed as she quickly scanned the various shelves and display cases in the exhibit hall. Kanaria searched about as well but then shrugged it off.

"Well, we knew it wouldn't be that easy, didn't we?" She rubbed her hands together in devious anticipation. "Time to get to work, ladies!"

They had to move quickly, as it was only a matter of time before the reception downstairs finished and moved on up to check out the dolls on display. Pandora's Box was probably being held in a secure room somewhere, and would only be brought out after everyone had already finished looking over the main exhibit. No doubt an attempt to prevent it from hogging all of the attention away from the other dolls on sale. Either way they needed to complete the next stage of the plan without setting off any alarms or getting caught. One wrong move and the entire scheme could fall apart right here and now.

The Rozen Maidens began by searching about for an opening into the building's air ventilation system. It was a hot and sticky day outside, yet the interior of the Tenshi-no-Sato was kept at a refreshingly cool temperature by a state of the art HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system that included a network of air ducts running throughout the structure.

One might scoff at the mere notion of stealthily crawling through the air ducts of a building, so often was the trick employed for dramatic effect in fiction, and indeed the air ducts inside the Tenshi-no-Sato were far too small and flimsy to support the weight or size of even a human child, air being quite light and requiring little actual space to travel. Nevertheless the Rozen Maidens were not human, and were both smaller and lighter even than human infants. Thus once Souseiseki had prized a nearby vent cover off with her shears, the dolls had little difficulty traversing the tiny dark air ducts.

"Unyuu, Hina doesn't like the dark..."

"Stop being such a baby," Kanaria chided the little blond doll, "The worst thing you'll come across in here are rats."

"Aaagh!" Hina stopped mid-crawl and peered back at her, "R-rats? Big rats?"

"I do recall the Giant Rat of Sumatra from the Adventures of Kunkun was a rodent of rather unusual size and ferocity," Shinku remarked, not helping matters one bit as Hinaichigo whimpered and shook, too afraid to move any further. Souseiseki hung her head and let out and exasperated sigh.

"Will you stop scaring Hinaichigo?"

Eventually they reached their destination - a meshwork grill covering the vent opening into the third floor security room. It was pretty much what you'd expect of a security room, with banks of computer screens showing video surveillance feeds and electronic lock maps. Everything was in the green, for now, and the one bored looking security guard on duty sat lounging in a swivel chair reading a magazine. That was just as well, as Kanaria's greatest concern was that their initial movements would be noticed on camera. Evidently not, if the guard's lack of concern was anything to go on.

"Lempicka," Souseiseki whispered, calling forth her blue-tinted artificial spirit. The tiny sprite zipped around her for a brief moment before slipping through the gaps in the mesh grill before them. It hovered unnoticed above the security guard, and a moment later his head lolled back, thick snores punctuating the room, just audible above the gentle hum of the air conditioning system.

Too easy.

Off came the vent covering and within seconds the dolls were standing on solid ground once more, only slightly dirty from their covert clambering through the air ducts. As Shinku used a vacant chair to reach the door handle and turn the lock, Kanaria flipped open the cell phone she'd packed and hit the speed dial for Jun's number.

"Yes?"

"We're all set here," the little grey-haired doll replied after taking a moment to catch her breath at the sheer excitement of it all, "Commence Operation: Pandora!"

With the only security guard present firmly entrenched in dreamland, the dolls were free to follow Jun's progress as he slipped away from the reception downstairs and quietly made his way to the third floor. He did encounter a couple of Volks employees along the way, but as per his pre-mission training he simply strode confidently past them as if he belonged where he was and was doing no wrong. Sure enough they paid him no mind and the dolls saw Jun let out a sigh of relief as soon as he was out of sight of them.

"This all seems a little easy," Souseiseki remarked, her brow furrowing as she followed Jun's progress on the computer screens, "Doesn't anyone find it odd that security is so lax? I would have expected more from this Grimm person given what we've heard about him."

"Indeed," Shinku agreed, "In all likelihood however Mister Grimm has intentionally made it easy in order to lull would-be thieves into a false sense of safety," she said, "No doubt he has some elaborate trap in place to catch those who make an attempt on the Box."

"Not to worry," Kanaria extended a hand, her eyes closed in a bored fashion, "I already anticipated that eventuality during the planning stages of this marvellous and ingenious scheme of mine. Like I said before, we want him to think he has the upper hand. Little does he suspect that he's up against the one and only Kanaria! I'm more than a match for his woefully inadequate intellect, y'know?"

A few minutes later Jun arrived, slipping into the security office upon sighting Shinku's head poking through the open door. He shut the door behind him and then leaned against it, sagging as he did so.

"I can't believe I'm really doing this," he muttered sullenly, "You guys do realise I could go to jail when this is all over? And that's assuming Grimm doesn't decide to just shoot me."

"Oh yea of little faith!" Kanaria scolded him, hands firmly on her hips, "Trust in the Kana; the Kana is good."

Still grumbling at the inherent danger involved, Jun wheeled the security guard's chair aside and pulled a vacant one over for himself. Seated before the rows of computer terminals and video screens, it didn't take him long to locate Micchan. He could see her flapping her arms comically in the lobby as she stood talking to someone. Good then, the reception was still in full swing. Nevertheless they needed to get moving as they hadn't yet reached the point where they could afford for anything to go wrong.

Finding the Box wasn't exactly difficult either - Jun located it on a prominent screen marked B2F. It nestled inside a clear glass display case in the middle of a small white room. With a few minutes worth of searching he was able to punch up a screen showing the status of various electronic alarms and sensors protecting the Box, and shutting each one down was a simple matter of clicking options with a mouse. Easy.

Now came the hard part. The room containing the Box was on the second basement level of the building. They were currently on the third floor, above ground. They needed to get down there, swipe the Box, and then get away with it despite there being an entire lobby full of guests, Volks employees, Eike Grimm, and of course whatever gun-totting security he had brought in the way.

Not so easy.

"Okay Shinku, Hinaichigo, you're up," Jun said, turning in his swivel chair to face the dolls. He started with surprise, his eyes growing large as he saw what they were doing.

"Unyuu," Hina frowned, puzzled by something, "Why do the girls in this magazine have parts Hina doesn't?"

After Jun had wheeled the sleeping guard to one side, the magazine the man had been browsing through to pass the time had slipped onto the floor, where Hinaichigo had retrieved it. Now she stood gaping at the glossy coloured pictures contained therein, Souseiseki and Kanaria standing each side of her as they, too, peered intently at the thing. Shinku however was preoccupied staring up at the computer screens.

"What are those lumps on her torso?" Souseiseki enquired innocently, pointing at one of the pictures. Kanaria scratched the side of her head, thinking.

"Umm ... I think those are the mammary glands, aren't they?"

"Ohh. What do those do?" said Souseiseki. Kanaria glanced across at her, her expression somewhat uncertain.

"Well I ... I think they make milk, y'know?"

"Milk?" Hina's pale green eyes widened and her face lit up with joy. "Oh! Really? They sound neat, Hina wants some mammaries too!"

Jun stared, horrified, his glasses slipping down his nose as his face turned bright scarlet from the sudden rush of blood. Beside him Shinku regarded the trio of dolls and their newfound interest with curiosity, wondering what it was they were talking about.

"What is it you have there?" she asked them calmly, "Let me see."

"NO!" Jun leapt out of his seat and wrapped his arms around Shinku, enveloping her head completely, "What are you guys doing? Don't look at that stuff!"

They all stared at him, dumbfounded by his reaction. Meanwhile Shinku flapped her arms about, protesting fiercely at Jun's embrace with an irate and somewhat muffled voice. Hinaichigo turned her attention back to the magazine for a moment and turned the page. Her expression clouded over with confusion and she tilted the article to one side, squinting oddly at it.

"Unyuu...? What's that thing sticking out between this man's legs?"

"AAGGHH! GIMME THAT!" Jun released Shinku, bolted forwards and snatched the adult magazine from the little doll's tiny hands, thrusting it behind his back to hide it from them. Unfortunately Shinku was standing behind him and got quite an eyeful of just what Hina and the others had been gawking at. She promptly turned the same colour as her usual dress, her name becoming even more apt in the process.

"Oh," she said, "Oh my. How ... how frightfully vulgar."

Jun jumped as if he'd been stung and then spun around, blushing so fiercely that it was a wonder he didn't set the fire alarm off. With dolls behind him and another doll before him, he searched frantically about for somewhere to hide the offending item but found nothing. As he paused for a moment to glance at the stupid thing, he actually saw just what they had been looking at himself and very nearly fainted as a result.

"AGHH!" Jun yelped, lowering the pages out of his sight so as to try and preserve his severely bruised innocence. "That does it!" He stamped over to the door, wrenched it open and hurled the dirty magazine out into the hallway.

Where it hit Emil Grimm full in the face and knocked the poor startled boy to the floor.