Corlone Hospitality

Dressed in a green t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts with white tennis shoes, Victoria was in Ace of Spades having a non-alcoholic drink... a Strawberry Slam, to be precise. She was reading over a possible lead concerning the last known location of Lawrence Sheridan, her adoptive father. According to the note that was delivered to her, he was last spotted in Sakuramori a month ago. That was Black Rose territory... or rather, it used to be Black Rose territory. She had no idea whether Sakuramori was now independent or had become the territory of another guild.

Victoria read the signature on the note. It was from a woman named Florence Manderley, an old friend of her father's... or so she claimed. Since Victoria did not have any jobs to do at the moment, she was tempted to take a trip to Sakuramori and see if what the note said was true. Fate had other plans for her. The tavern door suddenly opened and in came eighteen masked men dressed in black and equipped with magic firearms.

Victoria froze. Were they syndicate remnants who had escaped the police in Rose Garden? By the time she could react they had all streamed in and had held some of the patrons at gunpoint.

"Stop right there!" A leader of the town guards called out. Ten men were behind him. Victoria watched as the outnumbered town guard rushed into the fray and struggled to fight the invaders. As gunfire erupted she sprung into action and tried to evacuate the patrons through a back door. She had managed to evacuate half the patrons and even knocked out an intruder with a Hand Cannon spell to the head when the valiant guards were overpowered. When one of the intruders put a weapon to the head of the guard captain, it was over.

"We're looking for a mage named Victoria Sheridan. If she comes with us now, no one else has to get hurt!" One of the men declared. Victoria could not win this fight. She could win it, but the cost in innocent lives would be too high. The intruders had won this round.

"I'm Victoria Sheridan." Victoria announced, walking out from behind the counter with her hands raised. Four of the armed men immediately rushed over to her. She was escorted to the leader of the intruders.

"Come with us and no one else will get hurt." He ordered her.

"Fine. Just leave them out of it. This is between me and whoever hired you." Victoria consented. She was escorted out of the tavern under heavy guard. They obviously did not want her to get away. Seconds later Victoria felt a blow to the back of her head and everything went black.

[Word Count: 458]
[Total Word Count: 458/2,000]

-Corlone Mansion, Rose Garden, ten hours later-

Victoria woke up to find herself sitting in a chair with her hands tied behind her back and two black-suited men standing in front of her. Her shirt, shorts, and shoes were missing. This was not good. Suddenly Francesca Corlone strolled into view. That was not a face Victoria wanted to see.

"It's been awhile since we last met." Francesca said smugly.

"I was hoping it'd be a lot longer before we met again." Victoria quipped. Francesca slapped her across the face.

"Your little guild isn't here to protect you." Francesca informed her.

"I know you didn't send your goons all the way out there just to bring us together for a reunion. What do you want?" Victoria asked in boredom. Francesca smiled.

"Tell us all the secrets of Black Rose. We know they disbanded, but they might have some secret stuff still lying around." She got to the point of this "conversation."

"Sorry sweetie, but there's a couple of problems. First, I can't tell you any guild secrets because I'm sworn to silence. Second, even if I did tell you, I don't think anyone in your two-bit operation's smart enough to know how to use them." Victoria rebutted her. Francesca frowned and punched Victoria in the left eye. She punched the brunette there a total of four times. The eye was now starting to swell shut.

"You can act cute if you want. I've got all night. I'll get those secrets one way or another." Francesca stated. She had a metal baseball bat brought to her. She then tapped the end in her hand.

"We can avoid all this if you just give me what I want. Just tell me Black Rose's secrets and maybe I'll forget about what you did to me months ago." Francesca offered in a tone of false reassurance.

"No thanks. I'm sworn to silence. I also know I'm dead anyway. You're not gonna let me out of here alive because if I tell the police what happened to me, a world of hurt is gonna come down on you and your family." Victoria refused the offer. Francesca flew into a rage and hit Victoria in the stomach with the metal bat. She hit the brunette there five times before she stopped. The mage turned her head sideways and threw up the Strawberry Slam mixed with blood.

"I'll get those secrets. I don't care how long it takes or what I have to do to get them." Francesca repeated. Victoria's stomach was hurting badly. Still, she could not betray Izayuki's trust. The blonde held out her hand and the bat was taken away. In its place a taser was given to the mob princess.

Francesca shot it and hit Victoria in the stomach. The prongs dug into her flesh, adding to the pain the metal baseball bat had given. Francesca pulled the trigger and the volts raced down the wires and into the brunette's body. Victoria screamed as she twitched uncontrollably. The blonde pulled the trigger and shocked the mage again.

"Just tell me already." Francesca demanded.

"No." Victoria said.

"Tell me!" Francesca repeated.

"No." Victoria repeated.

"TELL ME!" Francesca shouted.

"No." Victoria held her ground. Francesca pulled the trigger and watched as the mage writhed in agony. It was a full minute before the electricity stopped. Victoria was taken out of the chair and hauled away by the two men.

"String her up for me. I'll be there shortly!" Francesca instructed as the men hauled her way. Victoria was in too much pain to resist. This was not a good day.

[Word Count: 604]
[Total Word Count: 1,062/2,000]

-Two hours later-

Victoria was hanging from the ceiling by her wrists. The sadistic mob princess had used a rope and pulley to drop Victoria almost to the floor and then pull her back up at least nine times. It felt like her arms were almost dislocated, which was the whole point. A metal baseball bat had also been taken to her legs with special attention paid to the knees. As a result Victoria had bruised legs and aching knees.

Francesca had been hands-on with the torture the entire two-hour period. She wanted Black Rose's secrets so badly the brunette could taste it. One of the Corlone men suggested going after Sabertooth's secrets, but Francesca was smart enough to shoot the idea down. In a rare moment of intelligent thought, Francesca stated that after the raid to snatch Victoria, Sabertooth would be ready and waiting for another raid. That was the smartest thing that the mob princess had ever said.

Now Victoria was left alone in darkness with nothing but a lit candle for company. Francesca told her that as soon as the candle went out, her life would end. Victoria was not going to stick around for that length of time. She would get out of here, but first she needed to get down from the ceiling without breaking her legs.

Victoria remembered her shadow power that she used during the Abandoned Cabin job and tried to activate it. However, with all the pain she was in, focusing would be difficult. Unless she wanted to end up in an unmarked grave, she would just have to find a way to focus. Victoria focused on the candle until the shadows began to shift and take the form of hands. She directed one to hold the candle and moved it over to the rope while the other hand grabbed her around the waist.

The mage had the first shadow hand hold the candle under the rope and waited until it burned through the rope. The second hand saved Victoria from a drop to the concrete floor; it gently lowered her until her feet touched the floor. The mage immediately went to her knees. Her legs were in no shape to walk, but she had to get out of here.

She mustered the strength to stand up and try the door. To her immense surprise, it was unlocked. They apparently did not expect her to escape. She hobbled out into a grimy and dimly lit basement and quietly shut the door behind her. She had escaped the torture room, but the hardest part was yet to come.

Victoria had to get out of the mansion without the benefit of knowing which way to go. There were no convenient basement windows to smash and climb out of, so that was not an option. She would just have to wing it during the escape.

[Word Count: 480]
[Total Word Count: 1,542/2,000]

Victoria hobbled quietly down the dimly lit hall, shadow power at the ready. She kept an eye out for any patrolling guards or Francesca herself. She had better be quick. As soon as her absence was discovered the whole place would be on the hunt for her. The Corlones had a vested interest in making sure the mage did not leave here alive.

She kept quiet as she slowly and painfully made her way to a corner. In front of her was a set of stairs leading up, but she flattened herself against the corner. She heard two men talking.

"Francesca wants those Black Rose secrets pretty bad. Did you see that mage she was working over?" One asked the other.

"Yeah. She's in a world of hurt, but soon she's gonna wish she had died. Francesca's gonna throw her in the downstairs crematorium once she gets what she wants!" The other responded. Victoria's heart skipped a beat.

"Francesca likes to burn them alive?" The first voice asked in concern.

"Yeah. And she just stands there and watches. She scares me. It's like she feeds on suffering." The second replied.

That gave Victoria all the motivation she needed to get out of this hole. First she needed to find her clothes, especially her shoes. She would not get very far without them.

"Did you burn that mage's stuff yet?" The first voice asked.

"Yeah. The shirt, the shorts, everything. She won't need 'em where she's going." The second voice answered in the affirmative. Victoria frowned and clenched her teeth. That sucked. At least she could just get out of here now.

Victoria waited until they had stopped talking, then quickly hobbled to the stairs. By some miracle they had not detected her absence. She hoped that luck would hold.

-Upstairs, Corlone Mansion-

Victoria quietly shut the door behind her. She was now walking on red carpet with a gold border that reminded her of Marina Renault's apartment. Now was no time to relax. The half-naked mage had to find a way out. She also spotted black-suited men walking around.

To her right was a set of thick wooden double doors. In front of her was a hallway that had two doors, one on the right at the halfway point and the other on the left just in front of it. At the end of the hall was a turn to the right. The double doors were most likely the front doors of the mansion, but that would be too obvious an escape route.

Victoria decided to go straight ahead. Leaning against the wall for support, she slowly edged down the hallway. She was starting to regain a little feeling in her arms, but not enough to fight her way out. She edged down the hallway and almost suffered a heart attack when the right door burst open and a black-suited man with a frown on his face stomped out.

"That asshole Lucio cheated me! He has cards hidden under his sleeve! Lucky at cards my ass! His parents are loaded! He doesn't even need the money!" An angry man shouted as he yanked open the door in front of the one he just came out of. He was so angry about the card game that he did not even notice her. That tunnel vision was to her benefit. Her relief was short-lived when the right door burst open again.

"Frank! Frank, come back! Wait a minute! I can explain!" A younger man pleaded with the first as he too opened the left door while oblivious to Victoria's presence. Once both doors were shut she wasted no time in getting down the hall. She peeked around the right corner and spotted a man in cook's attire opening a door down the hall and to the left. To her horror Francesca followed right behind the cook. Great.

Victoria paused in her precarious hiding spot, hoping that the mob princess would leave the kitchen soon. The kitchen was likely Victoria's only safe way out. A full minute later Francesca stalked out with a red face. She probably beat up the cook because he had made a dish the wrong way. Once she was sure the coast was clear, the brunette slipped into the kitchen.

-Inside the kitchen-

Victoria entered to find a medium-sized kitchen with black-and-white checkerboard tile. It had a kitchen island with various plant-based ingredients scattered on it and pots and pans hanging on hooks in the walls. In the corner of the kitchen was the cook, who had just put some ice in a plastic bag and was holding it to his eye.

"Look, I'll get it right. I just need more oregano!" The man said as he shut the freezer door. He saw Victoria and his tone changed.

"You must be that mage they're talking about." He said to her. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and an expanding waistline.

"Yeah." Victoria said warily. She hoped that he would not sound the alarm. She was ill-prepared for a fight.

"Don't worry, kid. I'm not on their side. I'm just hired help." He said to her. He jabbed his thumb towards a door just behind him.

"Take that door to get outta here. It'll lead to a loading area where you can get out through a hole in the back fence." He said to her.

"What about you?" She asked the man.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'm the only one who can cook around here, so I'm safe." He assured her.

"Thanks mister." Victoria said to him before slipping out the back door.

[Word Count: 936]
[Total Word Count: 2,478/2,000]

-Outside the Corlone Mansion-

Cold air slapped Victoria's face as she turned and shut the door behind her. She turned off the shadow power and quietly hobbled down to the back fence and began looking for the hole that the cook told her about. She quickly located it and got on all fours to crawl through it. She had just crawled through the hole when she heard loud female screaming. She quickly crawled behind some bushes and listened.

"THAT MAGE'S ESCAPED! FIND HER AND BRING HER BACK TO ME!" Francesca screeched. Victoria fought to suppress a snicker. That bimbo must have been upset to find that her punching bag had escaped. Francesca probably felt the police breathing down her neck already. Victoria had to make good her escape before she was found again.

She crawled off into the bushes and slowly worked her way back into town. She needed to get to the train station.

-Inside Rose Garden-

Victoria staggered into Rose Garden wrapped in a tarp she had found on the town outskirts. Without shoes her feet felt every step on the paving stones. She needed to find some clothes so that she did not get arrested for indecent exposure. She had no way of knowing if the Rose Garden police were in the Corlone family's pocket or not and she did not want to find out while she was so vulnerable.

She limped down a street until she came across a brown-haired man dressed in a white t-shirt with brown dress pants and brown dress shoes. He was walking with a suitcase in hand. He turned to face her and a look of recognition crossed his face. It was Ted Cranston!

"Hey Victoria! Why are you... oh man." He started but trailed off as he saw the black eye she had and the bruises on her legs. She opened the tarp to show her bruises and the small holes where the taser prongs had stuck into her stomach.

"The Corlones are after me. Can you get me outta here?" Victoria asked him. Ted opened his suitcase and took it to her.

"I was on my way to the train station to get outta here myself. I'll help you. Get dressed." Ted said to her as the pair walked into a back alley. Victoria picked out a black t-shirt and blue jean shorts, then grabbed a belt to keep them up. The shorts were still a bit too big for her, but they would do. She quickly threw on the clothing and was ready in about four minutes.

"Thanks Ted. You're a lifesaver!" Victoria said to him as the pair exited the alley. Now that she was dressed, she should not have any trouble with the police.

"We've gotta get to the train station. Follow me!" Ted commanded. The pair walked briskly to the train station and got in line for tickets. They waited in line until it was their turn. Ted handed over the required amount of Jewels, which was 800 Jewels per person. The pair had their tickets in hand and were just about to board the train when a pair of police officers approached.

"I heard Black Rose disbanded." One of them said to Victoria. She did not like where this conversation was going. Knowing her luck, they had just run into some officers on the Corlone payroll.

"It did." Victoria said calmly. Ted kept quiet.

"It's a shame, really. They did so much good for this town." The officer continued.

"Yeah. It was a surprise to me too." She replied. Ted turned around and saw a quintet of men in black suits approaching.

"Victoria..." Ted muttered while jerking his head sideways and to the back. Victoria saw them too. What bad timing.

"We know you guys have gotta get going, so we'll let you catch your train. Good luck." The officer said to him. He and his partner walked over to the men while Ted and Victoria scrambled onto the train just before the door closed and presented their tickets. The two got into their assigned seats and risked a glance out the window. She saw the five men being held up by the two police officers.

"That was close." Ted told her.

"Yeah." Victoria sighed. That was too close.

-Ace of Spades, four hours later-

The pair got off the train at a station not too far from Ace of Spades. They walked through the town gates, then walked into the tavern. Marceline looked up from the bar. Two guards armed with magic guns stood nearby.

"VICTORIA!" She exclaimed. She literally jumped over the bar to run over and hug the brunette. The hug was painful, but it beat being hit with a metal baseball bat.

"Uh, who's the guy?" Marceline asked.

"He's Ted. Ted Cranson. He saved my life by helping me get out of Rose Garden." Victoria answered. Ted gave a small wave.

"Rose Garden? What happened?" Marceline asked.

"I was treated to Corlone hospitality." Victoria dryly commented as she slowly raised her shirt to show off the bruises. The black-haired bartender gasped.

"If it weren't for Ted, I'd probably be dead by now. The Corlones wanted Black Rose's secrets. I didn't tell them anything." Victoria said.

"I need to get to Capital Crocus. That's where my brother is." Ted chimed in.

"Just stay here awhile. Lay low a few days, then go to Capital Crocus. I'll take you there myself." Victoria said to him. Ted looked like he was willing to accept. Then hesitation crossed his face.

"Those train tickets wiped out the last of the money I had. What about the bill?" Ted asked her.

"You saved my life. I'll pay for every day you stay here." Victoria assured him. He kept her from being found and recaptured. He risked his life to save her when it was in his best interest to lay low. She owed him more than money could repay.

"Really? Thanks. I owe you a lot." Ted expressed his appreciation. Victoria was glad to be home. Now she would have to tell Ryo about Ted and the Corlones. The Corlones had better be ready for the backlash that was about to ensue.

[Word Count: 1,036]
[Total Word Count: 3,514/2,000]