TOK! TOK! TOK!
When you're stuck in prison without anything better to do, you start noticing patterns. You'll find that there's an order to the chaos. A 'natural' state of things, if you will.
Here at Fort Whiskey's prison blocks, there's a usual din of sights and sounds before lights out: hushed whispers of the inmates, a shouting match between neighbors or a scuffle or two if you're lucky. Sometimes, you'll even hear forewoman Koseki laughing like a squeegee before she catches herself and falls silent, one of the bau bau sisters tricking the other inmates that the other sister isn't real or the crazy top dog Korone threatening to take someone's fingers.
The inmates were all in their cells, but there was not a uniformed prison guard in sight. It was a natural environment with its rhythm and blues. There was never a dull moment, really.
So, when we heard those footsteps, the usuals of the prison block started falling silent one by one.
Inmates left and right fell silent and congregated by their closed cell doors to see what was going on. From behind the bars of my cell, I spied Bijou, the sisters and Korone doing the same.
In my own cell, Botan's leisurely lounging was interrupted too as her lion's ears twitched and stood in attention from where she laid. Even a three-day newbie like me will notice it.
TOK! TOK TOK!
They were distinctly heavy footsteps. Polished leather boots on concrete. A lot of them, too. They were getting closer. Their very presence spoiled the 'mood'.
Botan sat upright on her bunk and turned to me.
"The coppers should be having their dinner right about now… the good stuff too, Koro-san told me." Botan explained to me, "They don't do patrols at this time."
If I was a guard in this prison who was in on the take from Enma and Warden Nerissa, I wouldn't miss the 'good' food to walk the beat. I know how good that 'good' food is, after all.
"Maybe they missed us." I snickered, "We're pretty enough to be missed."
Botan laughed, "You might have a point there, Ouro."
After a while, a gaggle of prison guards - eight of them - came into view. They marched in formation and had a tense air about them when they arrived at our corridor. Then, they stopped just outside our cell.
"Prisoner Ouro. You have a visitor." declared one of the guards.
"... me?" I asked, surprised.
"Yeah, you. Who do you think I'm talkin' to? Big cat over there?" The guard asked sassily, pointing to Botan.
Botan raised her brow at the guard and growled, "Watch where you point that finger of yours. My friend Koro-san one hall over might get ideas."
Suddenly, Korone's voice boomed in the block.
"Did someone say FINGER? Botan-tan, do you have a finger for me?"
"Yeah. This copper's waving her finger at me like a gat, Koro-san."
Korone pressed her face against the bars of her cell and glared at the guard with a sickly sweet grin, "Oooh. That's not very nice. Want me to fix your problem, Botan-tan?"
The guard's sass evaporated in an instant and her face went pale. Heh, she was quaking in her boots in a heartbeat. Botan and I relished the sight of her squirming.
And yet the guard and her posse didn't leave. They stood their ground and waited for me.
Visiting hours should have been over for a while now, I thought.
Unless…
Botan smirked knowingly, "Looks like your copper friends got through to that horny warden. Go. Don't keep your friends waiting."
I smiled back at Botan, "Alright. But you'd better be back here when I come back."
"Heh. I won't run away this time, Ouro." Botan stuck out her tongue.
And so, the guards opened up our cell door. They slapped handcuffs onto my wrists and brought me through the corridor towards the Visitor Center.
As the handcuffs around my wrists rattled, I couldn't help but smile.
…
…
…
The guards brought me out of Block B and whisked me into the Visitor Center. Everywhere I went on the way there, the other guards watched me with complex expressions. They sneered and scowled at me just like they did when I first got here, but they kept their distance from me this time around.
I wasn't the same easy target and punching bag they booked in here for eight years, after all, and they knew that. It's nice to finally be shown a little respect around here.
My impromptu parade eventually came to an end at the prisoner-side entrance of the Visitor Center. Warden Nerissa Ravencroft was waiting there for me with a bunch more guards too.
Nerissa folded her arms and glared at me.
"Warden." I greeted her casually.
"Inmate." Nerissa furrowed her brow.
She brought out a keyring and gestured for me to come over to her.
I obliged and held out my cuffs.
CLICK!
The cuffs went off and I rubbed my wrists. Nerissa, meanwhile, passed my cuffs over to one of her guards and she faced me with displeasure.
"Listen here, Kronii Ouro." Nerissa started, pointing straight at my face. She tried to speak with authority, but her voice was shakier than when I met her in Enma's prison 'apartment', "Don't you try any funny business here. You're still my prisoner."
I rolled my eyes.
A part of me wished that Botan and her buddy Korone were here to talk about fingers again. Nerissa Ravencroft was clearly on my list of people I want to see squirming helplessly: one of the many, believe me. But I can stand on my own too.
I was a detective once upon a time.
I knew how to push people's buttons - and Warden Nerissa's, without Enma or Bijou to back her up, were easy pickings.
"I'm just talking to police officers, warden." I taunted her, emphasizing her rank, "Surely, an upstanding police officer like yourself would know that police officers aren't involved in funny business. You run a clean ship here in Fort Whiskey after all, right? Just like the S.S. Winningson, yeah?"
Nerissa's cheeks puffed up and her face went red with anger. She glanced around her gaggle of prison guards, hoping for one of them to try and clap back at me, but none of them dared to speak a word.
I smirked at Nerissa and taunted her, "Is there something wrong? Did I say something that hits too close to home? Heh. Too close to shore, maybe?"
Nerissa furrowed her brow and hissed at me, "One hour. You have one hour."
Nerissa did an about face and stormed out of the entrance hall. It didn't take a genius to figure out where she was heading after this. She's less of a warden and more of Enma's errand girl - less of a raven and more of a homing pigeon.
…
Now that their boss ran with her tail behind her legs, the guards stood around me anxiously.
"M-move along, prisoner." urged one of the guards. She waved her baton around, but her trembling body told me that she couldn't hit me even if she wanted to.
So these are the jailbirds, huh? Like warden, like guard.
"Yeah, yeah." I sighed.
The guards opened the prisoner-side door of the Visitor Center for me and led me inside. They showed me to one of the booths behind a cyclone wire barrier and pulled up a seat for me.
Once I got comfortable, the room buzzed with a brief alarm.
KRRRING!
After that, the visitor-side door opened.
A familiar figure stepped through the threshold: Ina'nis Ninomae, the new Chief of Police of The City. Not so new anymore, though. A year's passed since she took over from Enma in City PD, so this wasn't the same wallflower Ina'nis that I knew from the Forensics Department. This wasn't the Ina'nis who avoided my gaze like I was Medusa or something and slinked away whenever I entered the room like she was taking cover from a gunfight.
This Ina'nis had blossomed and grown - spectacularly, if I might add. And I don't say stuff like that lightly.
She stood and walked upright. Her smile was painted with confidence that she didn't have much of before. The way she rocked the police chief's uniform, with the snappy peaked cap and the snazzy sash almost made me jealous.
Almost.
The rings in her eyes that she had from her time in Forensics were still there. Old habits die hard, I guess.
This blossomed Ninomae pulled up a seat across from mine and gave me a once over through the gaps of the cyclone wire.
"Hello again, Kronii." Ina greeted me with a grin and crossed her legs, "You know, Ame and I always thought that you'd look nice in prison stripes. The whole prison aesthetic suits you. If I had time to spare, I bet I could sketch a really nice picture."
"I don't know if I should feel insulted or complimented." I snorted and sighed, "You… didn't rustle Warden Ravencroft's feathers just to see me in stripes, did you?"
"I'm not as petty as Chief Enma was." Ina smirked.
"Fair enough. But you did come to my aid in the yard this afternoon, Ninomae." I spoke earnestly, "I would have been royally screwed without you."
"You have to thank Miss Shishiro." Ina reminded me, "She was the one who called us, after all."
I rubbed my chin and hummed.
"Yeah. She told me about it. She said that you and your pals are here in Winningson for some kind of event, if I recall correctly."
"That's right. Ame, Kiara, Subaru and I are here to represent City PD in a big security conference run by the State Department. Seems like The Nation is gearing up for some sort of international event and they want all hands on deck to prepare for it."
"An international event…? What - are we declaring war on Pekoland again or something?"
"No, nothing like that, thankfully." Ina shook her head, "Rumor has it, the Daitōryō-sama of Pekoland, Pekora Usada, will be visiting The Nation for a state visit. But that's not why I'm here to see you right now."
Ina leaned closer to the cyclone wire that separated us and passed a small notebook to me through the gap.
"Take a look at this, Kronii. You'll understand."
I took the notebook and flipped through the pages. I read one of the entries out loud.
"Reminder. Buy cookies from the grocer." I imitated Ina's voice, "Squiggly line, squiggly line and… is that an octopus sketch? And why are they saying 'wah'?"
Ina suddenly blushed and panicked.
"Oh…!" She stammered and fidgeted, "I, uh…!?"
For a brief moment, she became the same old Ina'nis that I remembered from back in the day. Her mind looked like it was going a mile a minute, but she cleared her throat, reined herself in and got right back down to business.
"T-that's not what I wanted to show you!" Ina huffed, "Turn back a few pages."
"Alright, alright." I smirked.
I did as I was told and read through. With every page I read, my jaw dropped. Ina, on the other hand, watched me closely as I read.
"Well, Kronii. What do you think?"
I closed the notebook and looked Ina in the eye.
"You're… planning to take down the Vanguard Syndicate."
"I am, yes." Ina smiled, "I'm here to build a case against them and get as much intel as I can to dismantle them. They've been growing more powerful lately - to the point that their affiliates are causing trouble as far away as The City. I wanted to nip the problem in the bud."
"Hmm… if these four boys are bold enough to have their rackets in The Nation's capital, they'd have a pretty damn long reach." I assessed.
"Exactly. The thing is, Kronii, Winningson State isn't my jurisdiction - and I'm just a guest here. I can't deploy the resources or manpower I'd need to stamp them out, so I need people who are based here that I can count on to do the job. I can't really rely on Winningson PD much either."
I folded my arms and scoffed, "Can't agree with you more there. If Chief Enma's involved in this whole mess somehow, then Warden Ravencroft isn't the worst of the worst in this town."
Ina nodded.
"So, I figured it would be nice to have a Queenpin who owes a favor to City PD managing things down here. And you're the first person that came to mind, Kronii. It won't be much, but Ame, Kiara, Subaru and I will offer you our support to get the job done."
"You guys don't mind setting a snake loose in Winningson, huh?" I grinned at her, baring my sharp serpentine fangs, "Will you be able to get me out of this place?"
"Within the week. Maybe even… tomorrow!" Ina answered without hesitation, "I'm going to invoke the old TEMPEST Act they used to draft prisoners for the Pekoland War. There's a lot of loopholes to go through, but I think I can build an airtight case. You'll be fighting a whole different kind of war though, Kronii."
"That sounds like something Chief Enma would have done." I commented.
"The only difference is that I actually try to run a clean ship up in The City." Ina insisted, "If cutting you loose in Winningson makes things quieter in The City, I'll do it. And trust me, I could use a good night's sleep." She then faced me squarely and asked, "So. Are you in?"
"I have very strong opinions about the Vanguard boys, Ninomae. I'd love to get even with those punks." I declared. Then, I paused and raised up my fingers, "I do have three favors to ask you."
Ina nodded firmly.
"Shoot. If it's within my power, I'll get it ready for you."
A small smile formed on my lips. Then, I made my requests.
"First, I'll need your help - any help - to find Mumei Nanashi and bring her to safety. Winningson PD and the Vanguard Syndicate are after her right now, you see. She's going to need all the help she can get."
Ina rubbed her chin, "That's a tricky ask, but I'll see what I can do. What else do you need?"
"Second, there's another inmate that I want you to bring out of this joint with me." I added.
"Botan Shishiro?" Ina guessed with a smug smile.
"You read my mind, Ninomae." I chuckled.
"Consider it done." Ina nodded, "And number three?"
I took a deep breath, joined my hands together and asked, "I want my car back."
…
Queenpins 2: The Big Brass Ballad of Kronii Ouro
Visiting Hours
…
To Be Continued
