The Guild of the Forsaken

CHAPTER 42 - What Is Begun in Anger Ends in Shame

Dark Red - Steve Lacy

November 12th 2024

HEMINGWAY MANOR

20:00

Max has never been a fan of violence. Ironic really if you look at the company he keeps. Blindly following a woman with a graphic history of it.

He rather stupidly was under the impression that he would develop a thicker stomach, after all he has seen and inadvertently caused but nothing of the sort had happened. The sight of a caved-in skull or a disembowelled body has never once failed to turn his stomach and have him upchucking lunch.

On the race occasions when Max got his hands dirty and caused violence at the source rather than directing from the shadows, the sheer number of injuries acquired by the targets before their death significantly reduced. Max has a preference to be quick and with no unnecessary bloodshed. 

Admiring his handy work as the two security workers lay motionless on the floor without a singular drop of blood spilled, Max takes to using his foot to roll them out of the way. Tying them up and assuring himself that they won't awake anytime soon he sets to getting himself comfortable in front of the dozen monitors displaying CCTV footage of areas around the Manor.

It seems that Hemingway had taken the necessary steps for making sure his Auction was secure. Guards at the door, live CCTV in every corner and an extensive background team. A tough competitor when planning how best to rob a place.

Fortunately, while the technology was good the people Chloé had hired were all idiots, as she was instructed to employ of course. Navigating the surprisingly organised network of controls Max sets up a screen to keep an eye on the live footage of Marinette and Luka as they watch the Auction unfold.

Thanks to Chloé's intel the Court had found out that the Bat Miraculi was being kept in a secure room (more akin to a safe than a simple room of treasures) with a variation of other valuable items. Secured by a collection of electronic and manual locks the room was a fortress and would likely be impenetrable. For the Court however it was a simple bump in the road.

The difficult part would not be opening the door but rather keeping anyone from realising that it was unlocked. While the people that Chloé hired were of a certain intellectual calibre, he was sure that even they would notice something was amiss.

Reaching into his pocket Max paws the Squid Miraculi before pulling it from the confined space. Admiring the myriad of colours as they glint under the artificial light Max reminisces when Marinette had shoved the broach into his pocket before kicking him out of her flat with a wink. Eyeing the Guards unconscious forms in the corner Max's mind suddenly alights with a devious idea.

20:15

'It's ready for you but be cautious when leaving and make sure you walk unseen."

Max's voice slithers into Luka's mind, a gentle and soothing sensation as it calms the nerves that jostled and jerked at the gentle intrusion. The gossiping voices of his table partners are muted into white noise as Max's voice bounces around the cavities of his brain.

No further words, or a deliberately outward recognition of Max's instructions are needed. The man himself surely watching from somewhere and would have caught the minute straightening of Luka's posture as his voice invited itself into his brain.

Wiping his hands and excusing himself delicately to the acknowledgement of no-one. Luka restrains himself from glancing at Marinette's table as he slips unnoticed and undisturbed from the boisterous ballroom and into the subdued corridors of the Hemingway Manor.