"Judgment": A Dishonored Fanfic

Chapter 4

"Y'know, you could have gone home." Daud said as he looked back towards Elaine as she wheeled an empty wooden cart along, a few paces behind them.
"I started this mission, and I'm gonna finish it." She said stubbornly as it wasn't the first time he'd said that to her. "My mind doesn't change the more you ask, either."
"Don't say I didn't warn you. This will not be pleasant."
"I've seen some pretty awful things on my travels. You just worry about yourselves, okay?"
Corvo grinned. "You heard the lady. Let's get looking."
Daud paused. "...dead ones first, please."
"I'll wait over here." Elaine said as she headed for an alley. She took the two backpacks out of the cart, placing them onto the floor at her feet, and hoped that her friends would be okay. She also hoped that she wouldn't have to use the small tin whistle she'd been given in case she saw any robbers. She'd had quite enough adrenaline for one day.
"Rats first, I think." Corvo said. "Easier to carry."
"Still can't believe we've gotta do this." Daud grumbled.
"You and me both. But, the sooner we get this bit done, the sooner we get home to relax. So stop whining."
"I am not whining. I'm strongly protesting."
"Just shut up and search."
Most of the rats they encountered at first were fortunately not plague rats, but also, unfortunately alive. However, after a few uncomfortable minutes of trawling through trash cans with sticks, they finally struck very smelly gold.
Daud lifted a prime specimen out. "Yes!" He smiled. "Look, Corvo, I found one before you."
"I'd hardly class that as a proud achievement. Just put it in the bag- and whatever you do, don't take your mask off until it's safely in there."
"Doesn't look really old. It can't be that bad."
"Try it if you want, but I'm going to hold onto my lunch."
Muttering under his breath, Daud produced his cloth sack and shoved the tiny, bloated corpse into its depths. "How many more do we need?" He asked.
"Two or three. I've got one too, now. Seems like trash cans are the way to go with this."
"And then two or three live ones?"
"That's right."
"Seems a waste of sleep darts."
"Would you rather carry it home with its mangy teeth embedded into your boots?"
Corvo is far too good with his words today, Daud thought.
"So what happened back there, then?" He asked instead. "Y'know, upstairs in Galvani's flat?"
"We searched for that safe, found it, and got the loot."
"Oh ha ha. That's cute. C'mon, what else happened?"
"You believe something did?"
"Yeah, I bloody do. You pair took far longer to get that stuff than was really needed- even if it was well-hidden. And correct me if I'm wrong on this, but you're rather more...friendly with Elaine now. You tried it on, didn't you?"
Corvo smiled. Couldn't prevent it.
Daud's face broke into a grin. "Knew it. Was it good?"
"It was only a few kisses, you idiot."
"I suppose that I don't mind sharing you with her...any chance of watchin' you go at it? You're bound to, sooner or later."
Corvo stopped his search, and turned to stare at Daud with his mask hiding the look of shock on his face. "You what?"
"You heard. I mean what I say. Remember?"
"I thought that was just words. You do that a lot."
"Oh no, I'm quite serious, my amorous friend. I wouldn't mind her watching us, either. Would add a certain spice, ei?"
"...you, have some very perverted ideas."
"That's why you like me."
Corvo could easily imagine the wink Daud had just given him.
"...this is not the time nor place to discuss this." Corvo went back to searching his nearby trash cans.
"That a yes, then?"
"Drop it, please. I'm not talking about this now."
"Okay, sure. I'll ask another time."
Corvo ignored him and focused on dead rats instead.
After they'd found a few more, they returned to Elaine with their sacks and deposited them into the cart.
She instantly wrinkled her nose. "Fragrant, aren't they?"
"We have air filters." Corvo told her. "Not too much, I hope?"
"No, I'm fine. But I did make sure to bring a peg just in case."
"A clothes peg?" Daud asked. "You should put it on anyway. That's bound to look real funny."
She rolled her eyes. "Typical." She gave them two more sacks from the cart, and the two men walked off to attend to the next unenviable task; living plague rats.
"...how are we gonna do this without gettin' bit ourselves?" Daud asked. "They can strip a body in a minute flat."
"I was just wondering about that myself." Corvo admitted.
"Some leader you are." Daud teased.
They ended up going back to Elaine to ask her advice.
After a few seconds thought, she had something.
"How about...you go and look for dead weepers first, and use one of them to bait the rats?" She offered. "They might still go for a weeper. It's either that or finding a normal corpse."
"...I knew that." Daud insisted.
"Of course." She smiled sweetly.
Unfortunately, dangling a smelly weeper onto a pack of plague rats from the safety of an overhead bridge didn't work.
"Shame." Corvo said. "Would have made it nice and easy."
"Maybe it's cos' they're plagued too? All plaguers together?"
"I'd say so, yes. Options?"
"...I have one, but you won't like it much."
"Less than I already like this? Let's hear it."
"Where's the one place that you're guaranteed to find a shitload of dead, non-plagued human bodies?"
Corvo's heart sank; he actually felt it.
"We could always go for the grave of someone who was an utter bastard." Daud added. "Would almost be an act of kindness then."
"...no choice, I guess. Let's go."
"What, no protest? No holier-than-thou speech?"
"Just doing what needs to be done."
Daud grinned. "Oh, baby." He crooned. "Okay, let's do this."
Roughly ten minutes later, the pack of angry, scabby rats were leaping off the ground to try and get their eager, drooling jaws into the body of the late Tom Griswold, who according to Daud, had absolutely, definitely robbed several old ladies at knife-point while alive, as well as other highly unsavoury habits.
Corvo was trying very hard to believe that.
"Look at 'em go." Daud said with a hint of admiration. "Once we drop that down, they'll be all over it more than I am you."
"Don't miss, then."
"I never miss, thank you very much."
For the first twenty seconds, the two men were morbidly rooted to the spot, captivated by the sight of the rats literally shearing chunks of flesh off the corpse at an alarming rate. Then, they shook themselves back into the job at hand, targeting three of the most avid eaters and shooting them with sleep darts.
Combined teamwork with rope and sticks soon lifted their happily-dozing prizes towards them, which went into their sacks- and they, got tied with a very secure set of knots.
"...I don't think we'll mention this to the lass." Daud said.
"For one of those few moments in time, I totally agree."
"Well if we do, you won't exactly be getting your dick in her this side of ever." Daud then slung his sack over one shoulder and trotted off towards where Elaine was waiting.
Corvo bit back his reply as he followed close behind.
After that, the living and dead weepers were much easier, due to their larger stature and their ease of locating. Before long, they were trundling towards the inlet where Samuel was waiting with his boat, the trio's unusual cargo being hidden by a sheet.
Samuel still greeted them with his usual, lopsided smile, mainly because he'd also covered the inside of his boat with similar sheeting, and also because he didn't have to touch them.