IV
Location: Londinium
Time: "26 days to SkyFall", 12:00 am
The smell of burnt butter bread coming from the kitchen of the Edinburg Palace could be smelt even from the entrance gate, along with the fire alarm ringing and black smoke flying out the window. Maids running in and out with fire extinguishers, chefs using all they had to put out the fire and smoke. Her Majesty was standing at the door with a beet-red face, covered by a bunch of bodyguards while a certain silver-haired guest sat at the table with parts of his clothes burnt, holding a cup, watching the lively scene around.
It was as expected, a disaster.
Around an hour ago, Queen Esther happily put the raised dough of her "self-invented" recipe of butter bread into the oven, arguing with her bodyguard, Petros Orsini, that the amount of unsalted butter she kneaded into the dough was completely reasonable. Abel Nightroad was sipping a cup of over-sugared tea, reminding her that the oven may need fixing since it had sparked several times earlier when he used it to reheat some pies. Eventually they settled it down to the point that it would just be a "You only bake once" event so it wouldn't matter much.
And now the whole kitchen was on fire, chefs and maids screaming, the castle was being surrounded by civilians and journalists. All that was just because of a burnt butter bread.
…
"I can't fathom how two men of high education like you two wouldn't see that too much dough in a baking tray is the problem." Said Duchess of Erin, as she settled down on the couch in the living room after thanking a maid for the tea.
"I tried to remind Her Majesty that it was a lot of dough, I just didn't expect it to lead to a huge fire in the kitchen." Petros fumed, voicing his defense. He did try after all.
"And I told her to be aware of the oven too." Abel sipped the rest of his tea then turned to the maid, asking for another cup.
"Please stop, I got it, okay?" Esther sighed, rubbing her temples. "I really should have paid more attention to the dough and the oven as well. I went a little wild with the recipe, and I underestimated the oven, lesson learnt."
With that, the Queen of Albion sat down on the couch, folding her arms and looking very annoyed. The butter bread wasn't just a sudden idea, she had been wanting to make it since the time her comrades in Rome moved to join her here in Londinium, she just couldn't find a free day to actually make it. Now that she had free time, yet she ruined it herself.
"Ugh." The red haired lady palmed her face and crouched her back. If she could vanish she would. "I really want to cook something for you all… But I am so bad at cooking…"
A frilled fan brushed at Esther's hand and made her jolt a bit.
"You aren't bad at cooking. You are a disaster at cooking, Esther." Jane tapped the folded hand fan onto Esther's head, although gently, there was some sort of annoyance in the gesture itself. "If I were you I would just order a gigantic birthday cake from the most famous bakery in the city and call it a day. But you want it to be special, don't you?"
Esther looked at Jane with a very confused expression. This woman, "Calamity Jane" was notorious for being cruel and apathetic, but now she just gave a convincing conclusion about human emotion over a cake.
The Duchess of Erin chuckled and tapped the hand fan on Esther's forehead again. "I believe everyone appreciates your effort, your Majesty. But remember, if you are not good at something, just ask someone else to help instead of burning the kitchen down."
Esther blushed like a beetroot, speechless at what Jane told her. It's true that she needed to learn more than just how to reign a country.
The tranquility was interrupted by Petros shouting at Abel to not eat the burnt cake and Abel wailing that he was starved to death he could eat charcoal.
…
Location: Turm
Time: "26 days to SkyFall", 5:00 am
Dietrich walked through the long, seemingly endless corridor, stepping down the spiraling stairway, his left hand tapping along the wall. He suddenly stopped midway, on the 37th step of the stairway, knocking on the wall 3 inches above the handheld. A gentle electrical hum reached his finger tips, and a very small button was uncovered from a hidden tile on the wall.
Dietrich's lips curled up with satisfaction as he pressed the button and a secret door opened.
Not everyone in the RCO knew about this door, not even the Ipsissimus himself, but in all honesty, Cain had no need to know. Therefore, in the end, only two people knew, Dietrich and of course, the owner of the room behind this door.
Today Dietrich was in a good mood, so waltzed in the door, whistling the tune of Moonlight Sonata. One would expect a secret room to be filled with skeletons that weren't meant to be uncovered, however, this secret room was very clean.
In fact, if you knew its owner, you would know that this was no secret room but an office.
"Isaaaaaaaaaaak!" The brunette called out with a lazy tone.
No response.
Dietrich poked his head into the main room. The fish tank seemed to have been fed lately and the colorful fish were swimming leisurely around. Documents and reports stacked up neatly on the desk, the cigarette tray was empty. The side, the table with testing devices and a set of lab kits were tidied and cleaned, Dietrich could even see his face reflected on the metallic surface.
Everything looked to be in their own designated place.
Only the owner of this office was nowhere to be seen around.
"Going somewhere again?" Dietrich made himself comfortable on the long couch that was probably used as a bed by the Magician whenever that man needed to conduct long-time experiments in this room.
Some dark blobs started forming from the shadows in the room, and Dietrich just stared at them. Those were Schatten Kobolds, Isaak's little funny things that were trained to guard whatever their master told them to, at least in this room, their task was just guarding.
The creatures turned their heads in sync towards Dietrich, as if sniffling at his scent. Even with many years being around these things, Dietrich still couldn't feel at ease. They could be calm and behaving at one moment then the next second they were already at the target's neck, with their shark-like teeth bared. Dietrich didn't like things he couldn't read.
Well, that would be hypocritical, despite all things, he did like the Magician.
But that man had always been an exception.
The black blobs retreated into the shadows after a while, surely they recognized the Marionettespieler and he was a frequent visitor to the office anyway. The young man's eyes wandered around the room, the cigarette scent was still lingering, the Magician must have been in here in less than an hour ago.
He sat up and rubbed his chin.
Didn't Kampfer say he had no reason to scheme for anything else as the "Skyfall" operation was progressing?
…
Location: Londinium, a certain abandoned apartment
Time: "26 days to SkyFall", ? am
"A miniature wormhole." The Professor pointed the tip of his cane at the spot in between the black eyes of the person sitting on the couch. "That would explain why no one had ever been able to catch you."
The raven haired man continued to flip the newspaper in his hands.
"Actually, no." His eyes, black like the deepest depth of the ocean, skimmed through each line of the page with a blank expression. "How I didn't let myself get caught is a different story."
Some more pages flipped and he reached the end of the newspaper. William didn't put down the cane, facing this monstrosity wearing a human face, one wrong move could mean death.
The sharp black eyes slowly turned to look into William's eyes.
"You know what I can do yet you still think that cane of yours could do anything?" A light head tilt.
"Better give it a try than die doing nothing." William gritted his teeth.
The raven chuckled with amusement, pressing his head forward so that it touched the tip of the cane and William's breath hitched. A provocation.
But his fingers were frozen in place. He had no fear, nor reason to not shoot this man to death. The question, however, was whether this monstrosity would die or not.
Of course, up till now, the answer was still "no".
"Repeating the same action and hoping for a different result is the work of an idiot." After a long silent while, the man spoke up while leaning back to the couch. "You had witnessed it too many times, enough for you to know I won't die after a bullet shot. Don't bother wasting your ammo on me."
"And yet you aren't here to kill this old man either." The brunette still clenched the cane in his hand tightly. "I would be dead before I even reached this apartment if it was your original intention."
They both smiled.
"What is it that you want?"