After The Fight

JP with mdman, Redsword, Jaxx, Lucian, Lasersexpanther, Lorem and Cindy

"Your Grace," said Sung. Feeling the Duke when he was close was not the problem. But The Duke did mask his presence. Because of the situation. Sung just gave a nod of respect to the Duke. Sung kept an eye on Pascal. "Yes, your Grace it is," Sung replied and pointed his sword back at Pascal's throat. "I apologize that you were awakened at this hour, your Grace," Sung said sincerely. "Now, your Grace, would you like me to wake him or end him?" asked Sung his tone cold and with little emotion.

Masao fixed his shirt with his free hand, pulling the laces on the front back into order. "Thank you for the aid Mr. Vor." Masao said checking the lightly paint splattered shirt.

Sasha entered the room hearing the tail end of the conversation between the Duke and Sung and said to nobody in partrticular. "It is not as if we need to question them. We know what they are after.”

"Given the circumstances, is more than understandable." The Duke replied, he didn't seem upset over the wake up call.

The Duke thought for a moment regarding what Sasha said before responding. "Yes, I believe you are correct Miss Lagrave. The rest of the men can be disposed of, just do it discretly. Maybe, have Cronk help you. However, this one, pointing to the still unconscious Pascal, "Is the Empirical mage that has been working with the Children. He might know where the leaders went. I think he should be questioned, then we can decide what to do with him."

Out in the hallway, Harold came out from the back, he had been helping protect the servants, as was part of his duties. "I have accounted for all the servants, they are all fine." He had even found Camille.

"Very good," Elizabeth said to Harold. "I need to check on Aceline, Nanny Sako and the children." She paused, "Harold, please get me enough rope to tie up these men."

Harold who was very good at anticipating what Elizabeth needed, pulled out the rope from his pocket. Elizabeth thanked him, took the rope, magically imbued it and then asked to no one on particular. "Who would like the honors of tying them up? The rope will be like chains on them and they won't be able to get out of them."

She then looked at the one who had been shot in the stomach, closed her eyes for a moment. "Except him, he has passed on.”

Sasha stepped up to the Duke who was still looking at Pascal. "Your Grace if I may." she said, but didn't actually wait knowing her thought could mean everything falls apart if she didn't act fast. Grabbing the man by his jaw and forcing his mouth open she stuck the fingers of the other hand in his opened mouth running a finger long his teeth, stopping she reached a second finger in wiggling a tooth until it popped free. She held the 'tooth' in her palm and let the Duke get a good look. The object at a glace looked identical to a tooth, how ever it was made of bees wax, "Cyanide cap coated in bees wax." she said, "All he would need to do is wait until we were not paying attention, use his tongue to pop it lose bite down and swallow and we'd get nothing out of him." Sasha explained, before checking the rest of his teeth, he was an imperical mage, he'd be smart enough to plan for her to find it, but she came up empty for a back up after three passes. Standing back up she put the wax tooth on a desk. "If you will excuse me I need to wash my hands." she said giving a bow.

Cronk arrived to Lady Bosses office, seeing the mayhem that had already passed as evidenced by the blood upon the office floor. He was disappointed he had missed the fun.

“Masked One smart,” Cronk commended.

It was then he had begun to feel the draft to his backside. Embarrassed, Cronk backed out of the office with his back against the wall. Reaching behind himself, he buttoned the flap to his Union suit.

With the battle ended, Vor nodded to Maseo as he leaned his back to the wall.

"Anytime Captain, though hopefully the Children don't make this a habit."

His hands were shaking from being in combat, even if Maseo had done the work. He had been taught to defend himself in his youth, but never had been forced to use such skills.

He steadied himself with a prayer and a deep breath before looking to return to his room. No point in seeing to Pascal, he was in good hands and he had a dwindling hope that his alter ego was still secure. He figured that this rather flimsy assault meant they had either sparse or incomplete knowledge of who lived here, so didn't want to risk Pascal somehow getting the news of his true allegiance. With the threat handled, he made his way back to his room and prayed he could finish rehydrating with some measure of peace.

Harold rounded up some of the male servants to help with tying up the culprits and moving them off to the side.

Elizabeth walked over to the front window and peeked out from behind the closed curtains. People were still gathered in front of the house, and police were showing up. Well, time to deal with that.

Harold opened the door, allowing the two officers into the hallway. Meanwhile, Elizabeth went into her office and said, "Father, we have visitors of the law enforcement kind."

"Ah, I am not surprised. Well, let me take care of that and then, Mr. Sung, you and I can question Pascal." The Duke commented, then left the office with his daughter.

Seeing the two police officers in the hallway, the Duke nodded at them. He flashed his ring. Being the Head of the Order his ring was gold with a black stone in the middle. The mark of Queen Victoria on one side and stars on the other. The police seemed to instantly recognize the ring.

"Your Grace," they said, simultaneously as they bowed. Then one of them explained, "Forgive us, but we were required to check out the alarm. What should tell the people outside?"

"Faulty wiring, a false alarm, an animal must have set it off. However, there was no disturbance here." The Duke calmly ordered.

"Understood," the same officer said. The two officers left, they informed the neighbor that an animal tripped the alarm but everything was under control and everyone should go back to their houses. The crowd dispersed.

The Duke went back into the office, and said to Sung. "Let's wake up our guest.”

The voice of the Duke snapped Lily out of her passion as she pulled away from the mindless doctor. He was completely overwhelmed by Lily’s kiss that he appeared in a drunken manner. Then Lily looked around to see Sasha and Cronk downstairs and sighed in relief. She then looked at the good doctor and smirked at his current state. She was happy that she could have such an effect on him and that she somehow managed to keep him from changing. She let Harold know she and the good doctor were safe and about the two thugs she wounded. Then she waited for instructions from Lady Elizabeth.

Elizabeth found Lily and Jackal on the stairs, after they were no longer entwined with each other. "Miss Lavigne and Dr. Jackal can you both go check on Miss Ipsum and make sure she is alright. Tell everyone is clear." Elizabeth knew no one had penetrated the gnome's fortress so Lorem was likely fine.

Dr. Jackal was still a bit light headed as Lily took his hand and led him down stairs slowly as she replied to Lady Elizabeth, "Of course Lady Elizabeth." She was a bit embarrassed as it dawned on her that the others saw them kissing earlier. So while supporting the dizzy good doctor she led him out to where Lorem's workshop was. They passed a few servants who thank them for protecting the manor, despite not knowing what they actually did. Once they reached the workshop Lily knocked on the door and rang the bell to get Lorem's attention.

“Lady Boss want dead gone?” Cronk asked.

Elizabeth looked at Cronk, "Yes, get rid of the bodies. Start in the backyard. Dr. Jackal has an incinerator in his lab. Thank you, Cronk."

She was thinking about what to do with the other men tied in the hallway, when they all seemed to convulse and then die. Elizabeth was surprised. Poison? Probably. "Mr. Cronk, all these men are dead now as well. So, just work as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Lorem heard the knock and bell; however, already knew it was Lilly and Dr. Jackal due to her magnificent gnome ears. She had barricaded herself in a small enclosure for security, the new system console being the roof of it. It took a a minute to move things enough out of the way to enable her to crawl out, dragging her hand cannon behind herself.

The couple on her workshop doorstep could hear the rhythm of a series of high caliber locks being undone on the other side of the door. Finally it cracked open and a hesitant Lorem peeked into view.

She judged by their calm demeanor that things must have been dealt with already. “Is it over?” She squeaked shyly.

Lily smiled at Lorem and replied, “Yes, Ms. Ipsum, the intruders have been secured. Lady Elizabeth requested we update you on our current situation.” Lily then gave Lorem the highlights of the story and omitted the graphic violence and her kissing the good doctor.

One-by-one Cronk hoisted the dead bodies upon a shoulder, carrying them to the Good Doctor’s lab and throwing them into the incinerator. The more bodies being incinerated, Cronk began to smell the sweetness of pork being cooked. Was it his imagination? Certainly the cooks were not preparing breakfast at this hour. Cronk looked to the kitchen as he gathered the last body. It was still dark. But Cronk was definitely hankering for bacon. He wished it was time for breakfast. He sighed and carried on with his duty.

After checking on those residing in the cottage, and finding them all fine. The team leader went with Harold to do an inventory of the damage done.

Elizabeth noted that most of the damage was nicks or holes in walls or the banister. There were a number of blood stains on the carpet downstairs. The vase Lily had thrown wasn't a particularly expensive one, easily replaced.

Just when it seemed like the damage wasn't that bad, Elizabeth was stopped in her tracks by the sight of a now empty stand and the pieces antique Chinese Vase scattered on the floor. The vase had been a gift from Chinese dignitary. It was from the Ming dynasty, and worth a not so small fortune.

Elizabeth knew that the men hadn't gotten to the back of the hall, where the vase had been. Sasha and Cronk had come through here and she would lay a bet on which one had broken the vase. "Well, I will tell my father about the vase when he's done with interrogating Pascal. It can be cleaned up now."

Harold retrieved a maid to clean up the mess.

Lorem opened the door wider so that she was entirely in view now. The loaded hand cannon was now visible as well in her right hand. She sighed in relief, “Thank goodness. Is everyone well?” She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt that this might not have been as bad if the security system had been completely finished.

Dr. Jackal was regaining his bearings as he rubbed his temples and about this time as Lily replied, "Yes ma'am. No one was seriously harmed according to Harold. It was a team effort to thwart the intruders and protect the staff. I must admit I was a bit shaken up after my first time in combat. I managed to injure two of the thugs with my pistol, but now realize I need to train more and gain more confidence for the next time. I am sure Lady Elizabeth will have us all report on our perspectives in order to improve on our defenses in the future once we are done with organizing the manor. Will yuou need our aid with anything?”

Lorem nodded in affirmation. At his question she turned her head and look at the interior of her workshop. It could use a good organizing and cleaning; however, she made the mess so she would clean it herself. “No assistance necessary Dr. Jackal. Thank you for asking.” A smile returned to her face, assured that the danger had passed and all was well. “Do you know who it was that broke in and why?” She inquired.

Dr. Jackal replied, "Umm sure." , as he rubbed his eyes to clear his thoughts. Lily replied, "It was an Empirical Mage and several thugs to my understanding. Mr. Sung and his Grace are dealing with questioning him as Mr. Cronk is removing the thugs from the manor. I am sure it will be a while as the staff is cleaning up the mess in the manor." Lily smiled as she felt more confident in her position while talking to Lorem.

Lorem smiled in thanks for the information. “Thank you.” She felt better that at least what was operational was adequate enough that this top notch team could make up the difference. Of course her mind did not jump to the fact that there were dead bodies as consequence. She merely imagined everyone got caught and was being either interrogated by proper authorities at the moment or taken away for incarceration before a trial of charges were pressed. “Well, I won’t keep you two any longer, as I also have a lot of cleaning to undertake. I appreciate you coming to let me know and setting my mind at ease.”

Dr. Jackal and Lily then excused themselves from Lorem and made their way to Dr. Jackal's lab to see if Cronk needed any help with the incinerator. Though he didn't say it, he was concerned that Cronk might break it and catch the lab on fire. Lily was doing her best to be of service now.

When the Good Doctor and the Young One entered the lab, Cronk grinned. He denied needing help, as he was loading the last of the bodies into the incinerator.

“Cronk finished,” he did as he threw the last body into the chamber. “Human smell like pork when cooked,” he suggested matter of factly. “Cronk hungry for bacon.”

Lily covered her mouth at Cronk's comment in both shock and being grossed out. Dr. Jackal on the other hand smirked as he knew what Cronk was talking about since he was all to familiar with the taste of human flesh. Then the good doctor replied, "Ummm Mr. Cronk if is just you and I alone that conversation would be fine, but do keep in mind the others in this house will find that conversation unpleasant." Then Dr. Jackal checked the incinerator to make sure the controls were set correctly before saying, "It looks good Mr. Cronk. You did well as usual. Ms. Lavigne since it has been a difficult morning, what say we as the staff for some tea, coffee and snacks to tide us over till breakfast is served?" Lily regained her composure and nodded as she replied, "Yes that would help to calm our nerves. I will aske the staff when we return." Then the good doctor said, "Hopefully this will tied you over till breakfast Mr. Cronk.”

“Bacon and sausage?” Cronk innocently asked Lily.