BONNIE & CLYDE (Timebomb) [CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN]

I) 3 - "MY ROOM"

• October 22nd, 2023 : 1PM...|

The old damaged door shot open from a violent kick, shutting the poor amount of people inside the lair down. Two heads turned, directly staring at the young man who had just entered the lair. "Ekko." A deep voice spoke.

The aforementioned 'Ekko' continued his way finally stopping at a bar, just in front of the owner, known as Vander. "I got the pictures." He simply said throwing an envelope on the table. Dropping off the glass he was earlier cleaning, Vander took the envelope and slightly opened it to see a bunch of paper. He then put it down satisfied. "Good job as always, Little Man." He smirked as Ekko instantly rolled his eyes in response.

It was a nickname he didn't like at all. Vander chuckled seeing his reaction before opening a box that was situated underneath the counter. He got hold of a bundle of dollars that he slowly slide to Ekko. "Thank you man." He nodded at Vander who just smiled as an answer. Ekko then turned his back and started moving to a board in which several papers were hitched. More precisely, wanted posters or basically some missions.

That's what they do, here at Arcane. A small clandestine guild that counts a little amount of people. People including Vander, who actually formed it standing behind the bar as always, Renata, doing her suspicious experiment, Scar that was sitting in the corner, just watching what was in front of him, completely silent, and 5 other people that weren't present.

The so called Little Man decided before to leave the place, to go and handshake his friend who he hadn't seen in a week already. Not that he wasn't used to it, but everyone here was dear to Ekko. "Hey man." He said offering his fist. Loyal to his quiet self, Scar didn't respond but instead bumped his fist into Ekko's which was a satisfying and usual answer for the latter. "What you doing ?" He asked seeing his friend was just sitting here, probably for a long time seeing how comfortable he looked.

Scar simply showed him the poster he was holding in his hands as Ekko nodded. "Oh, I should probably take one too." He warned himself even though he just returned home from a tailing mission. He turned his head back to his friend who nodded in response, confirming his thoughts. After all he had nothing better to do at the moment and a little challenge wouldn't kill him. "Wish me luck." He said knowing he wouldn't need it as his friend gave him the salute.

Ekko went back to the board taking a glass from the bar on the way. Sipping on the sweet liquid, he was looking for a mission that would challenge him, if any interesting one. "You won't find anything interesting there.." he heard a voice turning his head to Renata's direction, as he recognised her voice. "What you mean ? Those aren't bad." He said frowning.

"You look like you're searching for more.." she teased. Curious to know what she had to say, he approached her as she invited him with her finger. The older woman encouraged Ekko to take a seat, putting a poster on the table. "Where'd you get that from ?" He asked getting suspicious.

"It doesn't matter, listen." She brushed it off turning the paper his way so he could analyse the offer. "In this distant mansion, they say the CEO of Mauve, the richest guy in this city hides the most precious thing. Something that holds so much value in his eyes, that he locked it in a secret place, and it never left the house. Worth at least 5 millions." She explained, emphasising on the « five million » as she pointed to where the price for this mission was written.

It right away caught Ekko's attention, what could be worth so much in there ? Was it gold ? A rare item ? Something from a luxurious brand ? Eventually the One Piece or Eldorado.. He took the paper in his hands, staring deeply at it to not miss any details. "Interesting... I'll take it." Ekko slammed the paper on the table making a loud noise. He then stood up leaving his now empty glass on the table.

"Keep it safe for me, I'll return with the treasure." He added leaving the poster in her care.

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As he arrived to his house, Ekko quickly prepared his stuff for the mission, loading his guns, changing outfits, packing some essential things in his backpack before sitting in his small kitchen to eat instant noodle with a fried egg. Simple, but good.

Ekko has lived here for the most he could remember. Basically forever in fact. Vander offered him this place, it wasn't fancy of course, but it was bearable. Ekko managed to survive by himself in there, mostly eating food from groceries, or restaurant when he had the money and will. The rare times his friend passed by, she would order him around to clean the place and try to cook something for him, which he appreciated and found annoying at the same time. He knew his lifestyle wasn't healthy, but he couldn't change it. That's how he handled life for more than a decade after all.

One thing about this place, Ekko was never going to call it home. He never had a place to call home in fact. He would, from time to time, refer to the guild as his home, but it was alive only when his friends were present. In the other case, it was just another filthy place in his eyes.

Finishing his plate, Ekko threw the box in the trash before leaving his house making sure to lock it and taking his motorcycle keys. The route to the mansion was almost 3 hours from here. He sighed putting his earphones in and rushed to his destination.

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He arrived, as predicted three long hours later. He took note to obviously stop at a station because his motorcycle was now low on petrol. Of course Ekko made sure to stop his vehicle far from the mansion so he wouldn't get caught, there were probably many CCTVs and bodyguards positioned outside.

After a 15 minutes walk, he could see the house, and much to his surprise, no one was standing outside. A trick maybe ? He thought at first, because there was no way they would let something worth 5 million in a house without any surveillance. But again he remembered, the address to this place was nowhere on the Internet, it had to be pointed on a paper map and it was hid by many trees, in addition to have a wire fence. It looked more like some sort of prison in his opinion, but he decided to not let room for more thoughts and moved.

He still acted really discreetly in case someone was indeed here to protect the place but once he managed to get through the wire fence, there seemed to be nothing, or no one. The boy then decided to look around for any CCTV when his eyes met two at the front door. He didn't hesitate and took his silent guns, successfully shooting both.

He walked to the door noticing a window was luckily just beside it, so he didn't waste more time and broke it to take the handle of the door. Everything was suspiciously too easy, but he didn't really mind, since it was to his advantage after all. He started walking around prepared for any confrontation and noticed many pictures displayed on the walls. He did a quick tour in the first floor of the mansion, but there seemed to be nothing, just a kitchen, and an almost empty living room, it counted only a couch. Nonetheless, it was clearly the house of a rich person.

His gun ready, he slowly took the stairs, watching everywhere around him. A special door had many colourful drawings in it. Ekko frowned looking at it.
"A child's room ?" He whispered to himself.

"My room." Another voice spoke and before he could react, he was knocked off receiving a strong hit on the head.

AN : the clandestine guild idea came from Fairy Tail btw, so those chapters were introduction to the main characters of the story, I think posting 1-2 chapters a week would be the best decision until I finish my Gwen x Miles fanfiction, hope you enjoyed !