Rozen Maiden: Märchen
EPISODE ELEVEN
The Box Bandits
When Emil had recovered from the initial shock of being floored by a projectile magazine, he sat upright and gaped at Jun, who in turn gaped right back at him. Then Emil noticed the dolls peeking out from behind Jun's legs and his grey eyes grew wide at the sight of them.
"Wow," he breathed, impressed by what he saw. Jun got over his own shock and - glancing down the hallway to make sure no one was watching - snatched the startled boy up and pulled him into the security office. The door was hastily closed and locked, and once more Jun leaned against it.
What followed was an extremely strained silence between them, filled with the background hum of computers, air conditioning and the snores of a heavily sleeping guard. Emil, Jun and the dolls all exchanged awkward looks for several uncomfortable moments, Jun acutely aware that they were in the middle of a highly elaborate heist. Finally Emil smiled nervously and offered Jun the magazine.
"Nice to meet you again," he said pleasantly enough, "Here is your ... umm," he took a moment to actually glance at the magazine in his hands, which up until now he hadn't taken much notice of. When he did it became obvious that he had done so, as his normally quite pale face blushed to a very noticeable degree.
"Yeah, that ... I can explain ..." Jun hesitated, making various awkward movements with his hands as he tried to decide what to do. Finally he took the offensive magazine, shuffled across the room to the guard snoozing away in a chair, and laid it across his slumbering face. Turning back to the young boy, Jun gestured vaguely for a moment before wilting. "Actually ... no, I can't," he finished lamely.
"What now?" Souseiseki whispered into Kanaria's ear. The second Rozen Maiden clawed at the side of her head and wailed.
"I ... I'm not sure, this isn't part of the plan, y'know?"
Emil stared at the assembled dolls again until realisation dawned on his youthful features. He jabbed a finger at them, prompting them all to lean back slightly. "Hey," he said, "you're Rozen Maidens, aren't you?"
"And if we are?" Shinku challenged, still not sure of this human's intentions. She needn't have worried so, because Emil's face split into a wide grin and he clasped his hands together gleefully.
"Oh, wow! I can't believe I'm looking at actual Rozen Maidens!" he gushed, doing a very good impression of Micchan when faced with the crowd of doll celebrities downstairs, "You guys are, like, legendary!"
Jun rubbed the side of his head in astonishment as Emil ... well, fanboy'd over the Rozen dolls. It was true that the Rozen Maidens were something of a legend amongst doll collectors and enthusiasts. He'd learned as much that time Shinku had broken down and he'd gone online trying to find out how to fix her. Most people believed them to be fictional, and their reputation was almost mythical. The Rozen Maidens were to the average doll-nut (if there even was such a thing) as Excalibur was to the average sword-nut.
"Can I touch you?" Emil asked with reverence, optimistically extending a finger towards Shinku in an effort to affirm the reality of the famous doll. She glared at him.
"No."
"You can touch Hina, Hina likes cuddles," Hinaichigo offered cheerfully.
Jun sagged as this went on for some time. Thrilled though he was that the kid wasn't about to go running off to his big brother to raise the alarm, they were still on the clock. There was work to be done. "Uhh, guys?" he said after a while, "We got places to be, you know. Wanna move things along?"
Emil got up and looked from Jun to the sleeping security guard, as if finally remembering the circumstances that had brought him to this moment. He frowned. "Wait, what are you all doing here?"
Jun hesitated, unsure what to say. "Well, we ... uhh ..."
"You're here to steal Pandora's Box, aren't you?"
"Well, you see, we kinda ... sorta ... yes."
Emil let out an exasperated sigh and moved to the bank of computer terminals. "Why didn't you say so?" He began clicking away with the mouse, his face a mask of concentration. "Good, you've disabled the alarms and sensors already. How are you planning on getting down there, though? My brother has that thug Sam stationed outside the room, guarding it."
"Wait just a second-" said Jun.
"You're okay with us stealing it?" Souseiseki finished for him. Emil shrugged and smiled slightly at them.
"Well of course I am; I only tried to steal the thing myself for you. Got caught though. Sorry."
"Say what?" Jun gaped at the admission. Emil hopped onto a vacant chair, his legs dangling above the floor as it was adjusted to sit someone taller. He regarded the Rozen Maidens with a singularly intense expression that was quite surprising.
"I know about the Alice Game," he said quietly, "It's a horrible thing if you ask me - the idea that you all have to fight each other for your souls. I'd do anything to help put a stop to that. It just isn't right, you know?" He sighed and looked away, staring off into the recent past. "When Kohaku came looking for her father a few days ago, she told me you were searching for the Box. My brother stole it from you, didn't he?"
This drew a series of startled gasps from the dolls. Jun's eyes widened and his mouth hung open at the mention of Kohaku's name. "You saw Kohaku? Was she okay?"
"She was," Emil muttered with more than a little bitterness in his voice. He scowled. "That demon Laplace has her imprisoned somewhere with her father now, I think."
Jun almost growled at that. He really hated that damn interfering rabbit. Emil seemed annoyed with himself for some reason, his hands clenching in his lap and his brow furrowing at the recollection of those events.
"There wasn't anything I could do. My brother will stop at nothing to have what's inside the Box. He's set this auction up as a trap to lure in whoever has the key." At this he blinked and looked around at them all with sudden concern. "You didn't bring it with you, did you? If you did then he'll get it for sure."
"We don't have it," said Souseiseki, before glancing over at Shinku. "I wonder who does?" she added, pondering the matter. Shinku met her gaze but said nothing, wondering the same thing herself. Jun in turn glanced at his watch, then at the reception party on the security monitors. They were fast running out of time. He felt a knot of tension build in his stomach.
"We're behind schedule," he pointed out, growing increasingly anxious, "Shinku, you and Hinaichigo have to bring me the Box if we want to keep to the plan."
"He's right!" Kanaria squeaked, suddenly remembering her carefully thought out heist. She jumped up and down and flapped her arms frantically. "If we don't get a move on then everything will have been for nothing!" She shoved Hinaichigo towards the ventilation duct they'd used to gain entry to the office, the little blond doll protesting at this and waving her arms to keep her balance. Shinku followed with a much more ladylike gait.
"Have no fear Jun, I shall return with the Box without delay."
"Oooh, Shinku, you're heavy!"
Shinku scowled, arms extended to keep her precarious balance. "I have told you before," she scolded, "you must never tell a lady that she is heavy. Now keep me steady and lower me down a little more."
After traversing the air ducts to reach the room containing the Box, Hinaichigo had then used her strawberry vines to lower Shinku down from the vent opening towards the glass display case. The only thing missing from the scene was some appropriately dramatic background music. Instead, all was silent save for the groaning sounds of Hinaichigo as she struggled not to drop her sister.
"Just a little closer ... there, stop now."
"Unyuu," Hinaichigo wailed, her face screwed up tight from the effort, "Suiseiseki is right, Hina is too puny for this."
Shinku hefted her cane as she dangled less than a foot away from the glass display case. She cast a wary glance towards the door, behind which lay the giant bear of a man who had stolen the Box from them in the first place. This part was tricky, as she would have to break the case to get to the Box, and the sound might alert him. She did however have a trick up her sleeve, so to speak.
The rose ring on her hand flared with a brilliant ruby red light as Shinku unleashed her time altering magic. With a swift motion she brought her cane down on the display case, splintering it into a hundred jagged fragments. Rather than creating an accompanying racket however, Shinku's act of vandalism produced only a muffled and rather dull sound, as if the entire room were submerged underwater. The glass shards spun away in slow motion, their momentum and sound both subdued by Shinku's magic, which caused the flow of time for the glass to drag like a schoolchild stuck in an exceedingly tedious lesson.
The door did not open. Shinku breathed out a sigh of relief and nudged the spinning fragments of glass aside with her cane, before reaching out with it to hook the handle of her cane around the handle of the Box. Once she was sure she had a secure grip, she signalled to Hinaichigo to pull her back up. A moment later they were both safely inside the air duct with Pandora's Box securely in Shinku's grasp. She took a second to redirect her magic, reversing the flow of time for the still-falling glass down below.
When next someone came to check on the Box they would find it gone, yet the locked display case it had sat within perfectly intact and untouched. Her magic had restored it back to its original state just as easily as if it were Jun's bedroom window.
Emil slipped back into the security office, having taken a quick look around to make sure all was clear. The reception downstairs was wrapping up, which meant someone would be bound to go and check on the Box. When they did they would notice it was gone and raise the alarm. It was time for them to make their escape.
"I think it's safe, but you better hurry, I don't think you have much time-" he stopped and stared. Jun stood with the Box clasped in one hand while he stifled a yawn with the other. The dolls all clamoured around him, visibly anxious. What drew Emil's attention however was one doll in particular. Frowning, he advanced towards her and peered at her. "Wait a second ... what happened to your hair?"
"What are you talking about?" said the doll with the mismatching eyes. Emil gaped and pointed an accusing finger at her.
"Hey, your voice is different! And ... wait, I thought your right eye was green and your left eye was red - now they're the other way around."
"I so do not know what you mean, human," the doll extended her hands, as if to shrug off his observations. Before Emil could raise the matter further, Kanaria jumped up and down and flapped her arms like a chicken attempting to take flight.
"C'mon! We gotta hurry if we wanna get out of here, right?"
The group left the security office and made their way to the elevator. Unfortunately it was in use, and worse - it was on the way up, possibly to the third floor where they were. Not wanting to meet whoever was inside, they opted to take the stairs instead, and quickly made their way back to the doll exhibition room on the second floor.
Where they were greeted by an unfortunate sight.
"Finally," said Eike Grimm, sounding relieved, "I was beginning to think no one was going to take the bait."
The German doll collector stood barring their way, flanked by several intimidating looking men in dark suits. As they glanced back the way they'd come they found themselves confronted by three more hired thugs - no doubt the men who'd taken the elevator had followed behind them.
In short, they were trapped. Boxed in, as it were. Eike Grimm smiled a particularly wolfish smile at them.
"I'll take the Box back, if you don't mind," he said pleasantly, yet with a subtle hint of menace in his voice, a promise of pain if they decided they did mind. "Oh, and the key to open it as well, of course."
"We don't have it," Jun muttered, not liking the look of things one bit. Eike snorted.
"Do you expect me to believe you stole a Box you have no means to open?" He smiled and shook his head to show his doubt for that scenario. "I hardly think so. Hand them over now and I shall allow you all to walk away unharmed. I give you my word."
"And if we do not?" Shinku challenged. Eike sighed at her dramatic response and snapped his fingers. As one his men each drew deadly looking handguns from their shoulder holsters, and the group of Box bandits found themselves staring down half a dozen black barrels. Jun gulped.
"Ask a silly question."