Chapter 167

  Old Chef Out (Part 2)

  After their failure at the movie theater, Erin and Ryle were nursing their bruises in their hotel room. The muscled giant of a woman that they had accidentally attacked had given them a thrashing they would have been feeling for the next few days had it not been for Lexton’s potions.

  The damages they suffered would have been even worse, if Erin hadn’t figured out a way to distract the person beating them up. Using her artificial hand to shoot fire at one of the empty seats, the sudden burst of flames had surprised the muscle lady so much that the two of them managed to get out of her grasp and run out of the theater. Thanks to this, they also avoided getting caught by law enforcement, as all attention was focused on the raging fire.

  However, even if they had managed to avoid being too badly beaten and arrested, the fact that they had failed their mission was weighing heavily on them. They didn’t have much time to capture Madeline in order to replace her, as there was only one more day for them to accomplish the task. They needed to be successful tomorrow or they would face the consequences of failing Rayleen, which was something Erin wanted to avoid as much as possible.

  “Well, that totally sucked,” Ryle muttered as she picked a clump of dried blood out of her nose and flicked it away. “How the hell is it that we’ve beaten trained soldiers, expert assassins, bandits and giant monsters, yet some cook is giving us this much trouble? If the others knew about this, I’d probably bury myself alive out of shame!”

  “I get what you’re saying. This isn’t how I expected this whole thing to go,” Erin said as she took a can of soda out of a fridge and held it against her forehead to help ease her headache. “Considering what we’re up against, you’d think that we would be able to do this with ease, yet we’re having more trouble than ever before! It makes no sense!”

  “You can say that again!” the blonde said in agreement. “Who knew work like this was so hard!?”

  Meanwhile, unknown to Erin and Ryle, a certain ex-assassin was suddenly feeling very happy, while working at her part time job at a burger restaurant.

  “Well, you certainly look happy for someone who is tasked with cleaning the toilets!” one of the other workers said, noticing the happy look on their colleague’s face. “What’s got you in such a good mood all of a sudden?”

  “Not sure. I just got this strange yet nice feeling,” Zena said with a smile on her face. “Something like how people who have wronged me are now getting what they deserve.”

  Back with Erin and Ryle, the two were trying to come up with a new plan for tomorrow so that they could kidnap Madeline.

  “So what are we going to do? Are we going to try following her around tomorrow as well and try to find an opportunity to get her?” Ryle asked. “I don’t mean to be all negative and a smart ass, but that didn’t exactly work out well for us!”

  “Normally, I would say that we should try the same thing again, despite our earlier failure, but I don’t think we have the luxury to do so,” Erin replied. “We are on a pretty tight schedule here, so we can’t allow to waste any time. Our best option right now is to simply got straight to her and improvise what we do. I’m sure we can manage it.”

  “Great! I like the sound of that! I hate simply waiting and sneaking around like a bunch of creeps! Straight and forward is my way to go!” Ryle said excitedly with a grin on her face. “...So what exactly are we going to do?”

  “Simple. Tomorrow, when we find, her it doesn’t matter where she is. We are going to go after her and grab her,” the redhead explained. “So even if she is in her hotel room in the middle of the day, we are going for it. We’ll take her out of her room and take her to Rayleen’s people.”

  “Awesome! That’s what I’m talking about!” the blonde said as she pumped her fists in the air from excitement. “Finally we do things my style! We’ll just bust into the hotel, beat up the security, grab the cook and-!”

  “Hold on! Hold on! That is NOT what I meant!” Erin quickly said. “Just because we are going to use a more straightforward method, it doesn’t mean we are just going to act like a bunch of bloodthirsty lunatics! That will only draw unwanted attention to us from the police and possibly even Golorath’s people, if they happen to be here! What I meant is that we are going to go directly where she is, assess the situation there and improvise a plan on the fly!”

  “...Isn’t my idea just the same?” Ryle asked. “I mean, it’s about improvising in the end.”

  “Not the type of improvising we’re looking for. I especially would like to avoid having to improvise dodging bullets from whoever we might end up pissing off!” the redhead said. “Look, just follow my lead tomorrow. You’ll understand once we get down to business.”

  “Fine. But my method would have still worked!” the blonde said as she went to bed.

  The next morning, Erin and Ryle returned back to the roof of the building they had been at yesterday when they were first observing Madeline. The only real difference was that they had arrived there much earlier than before, much to the displeasure of the still sleepy Ryle. Erin had decided to do this so that they would be able to get their sights on their target without any risks of her possibly slipping away.

  This unfortunately was not seen as a worthy reason by a certain blonde, who made her displeasure with the whole thing known.

  “Hey, did we really have to come here at the goddamn crack of dawn!?” Ryle complained while yawning. “I was just having the best dream ever about Arnie and that doggy guy I sawyesterday and-”

  “Yeah, please don’t tell me any further details of that. I am sure I don’t need to hear them,” Erin quickly said. “As for why we came here so early was for the simple reason of making sure that Madeline doesn’t slip away from us.”

  “How the hell could she do that? I doubt she’s even awake! You don’t do much slipping while still asleep!” the blonde continued to complain. “I mean… If she was a sleepwalker, then maybe… But I doubt that’s the case! Most decent people are still asleep at this time!”

  “Actually, there are a lot of people who get up this early in order to start being productive. And I’m not sure I’d call you of all people decent,” the redhead said bluntly, as she took out her binoculars and began to look for Madeline. “And this might be just needless worry on my part, but I don’t want to waste any time for today, as this is our last chance to capture her for our mission. I intend to stick to her, until we have caught her and taken her to Rayleen’s agents.”

  “So…. Your plan is to essentially act like a stalker?” Ryle asked in an awkward tone. “I get that you’re driven to do this and all, but don’t you think that’s a bit too much?”

  “I’M NOT A STALKER! I’M A KIDNAPPER!” Erin shouted angrily, before realizing what she had said and an embarrassed blush came over her face. “Just… Just help me out with this, okay?”

  “Sure. Whatever you say,” the blonde replied as she rolled her eyes.

  For a moment, the two of them stood in silence, as Erin observed the window to Madeline’s room, waiting to see their target. As she was doing this, Ryle watched over the streets in case the chef had already went outside and was returning, although she was getting distracted by other things getting her attention.

  It wasn’t long until their patience was rewarded, as Erin saw Madeline walk past the window, stretching her arms after a good night’s sleep. With the location of their target confirmed, the redhead called out to her partner.

  “She’s in her room!” Erin said as she started to run. “Come on! It’s time for us to get to work!”

  “Got it!” Ryle said as she followed behind the redhead. “So what exactly are we going to do, though? Are we just going to go through the front entrance?”

  “Absolutely not. A place like that must have at least a couple of security cameras there and we don’t want to leave any proof that we were ever there,” Erin explained. “Instead, we are going to find a less obvious entrance.”

  The blonde followed the redhead as she led her to the back of the hotel. There they hid behind garbage cans and watched as some of the employees unloaded trucks filled with necessities for the business, such as sheets, food and other such things.

  “What exactly are we doing here?” Ryle asked. “I doubt these guys are going to just let us go inside.”

  “Well, we aren’t going to ask for a permission, so it doesn’t matter,” Erin replied. “The reason we’re here is because there is only one camera and just a couple of employees. If we time our movements carefully, we should be able to slip past all of them without getting noticed.”

  The blonde looked around and realized that her partner was correct. There truly was only a single camera, one which they could probably even disable with ease, if they had to. There weren’t even that many employees over all. There was at most three or four members of the hotel’s staff there to unload the two trucks parked there and they didn’t seem like they were paying too much attention to their surroundings, as they were still sleepy from starting work so early. The truck drivers themselves were no better, as one of the two was actually asleep behind the wheel and the other one was reading a newspaper with sleepy eyes.

  “...Alright, I see what you mean,” Ryle said. “What do we do?”

  “I need you to get ready to sneak over to the blind spot of the camera and take it out,” Erin explained as she grabbed an empty bottle from one of the trash cans. “I’m going to create a distraction for you. Once their attention is drawn to it, go there and pull out some of the wires on that camera.”

  The blonde nodded and waited for the redhead to do her part. Erin waited until there were just a couple of employees around, before throwing the bottle with all her might at a nearby window. The sound of breaking glass immediately woke up the sleepy employees, who all began to look towards the direction where the noise ad come from. During that time, Ryle went quickly and quietly behind the workers, until she reached the security camera. In one swift move, she grabbed some of the wiring and pulled them out, effectively breaking it. Before anyone had the opportunity to look behind them to see her, the blonde had already gone back to Erin.

  With the camera out of the way, the two only needed to wait until there was a moment where no one was looking at the back entrance that the employees were using to come and go between the back of the building and the trucks. As soon as an opportunity came, they quickly ran to the door and walked inside, hiding in the closest room that was unoccupied.

  “Alright! We’re in!” Ryle whispered excitedly. “But now what? What are we going to do next?”

  Erin was about to answer, but as she looked around, she realized that they had come to the place she had hoped to find. It was a storage room that held all sorts of equipment, including uniforms.

  “I think we already found what we needed next,” the redhead said with a smile as she walked up to one of the uniforms and picked it up. “We’re going to disguise ourselves as part of the staff and move over to where Madeline is staying. That way we won’t be drawing any unwanted attention from the employees or guests.”

  Erin turned to look at Ryle, expecting the blonde to show signs of excitement for the great idea. However, instead of any sort of praise, she had a questionable look on her face as she stared at the redhead.

  “...Are you sure about this? Have you forgotten how it all went down last time we did something similar?” Ryle asked. “I don’t know if you had fun, but I don’t want to be forced into cleaning up mountains of sewage again!”

  “Hey, that was bad luck! You can’t really hold anybody accountable for it, except bad luck!” Erin said. “Besides, it all worked out in the end, didn’t it? We managed to go around unnoticed and got Stacey out of there. What happened afterwards… didn’t go well, but that’s a different case entirely. The point is that we’ll be able to move around without raising any suspicions from those around us, so we should be all good.”

  “If you say so,” the blonde said with a shrug. “Just so you know, if I’m being ordered to clean up another massive breakout of turd water, you better believe I’m making you do it with me!”

  “Trust me, even if we get some sort of an order like that, we are only going to pretend that we’re doing it for a moment, before leaving right away,” the redhead said. “I don’t have any desire to actually do any work for this place any more than you do.”

  Putting on their disguises, which consisted of red uniforms that resembled old time outfits worn by elevator operators, the two emerged from the storage room and started to make their way to the room where their target was staying. Just as Erin had predicted, they weren’t drawing any unwanted attention from the people around them, whether they were guests or employees. Apparently, there were more than enough people working there that no one really knew everybody that worked there. Not to mention, the fact that it was still early in the morning and everybody was most likely still rather sleepy helped in that regard.

  “So far so good,” Erin whispered as the two walked while making sure to avoid cameras. “Look around for a large container. Like a big crate or something.”

  “What for?” Ryle asked in a whisper.

  “Because we are going to need something in order to transport you know who out of their room,” the redhead replied. “We can’t just carry her out like it’s nothing.”

  The blonde nodded and looked around a bit more. Her eyes then fell on what seemed to be a cart that was full of blankets and other cloths. These were most likely dirty laundry that was being taken from rooms to be washed.

  “Do you think that could work?” Ryle asked while motioning towards the carts. “I’d say she should be able to fit into one of those.”

  “Good thinking,” Erin replied with a small smile. “Let’s grab one of those and get going.”

  The two waited until the worker who had brought the cart had walked away and was no longer paying attention, allowing them to grab the cart for themselves and move towards the elevators. Now they needed to get to Madeline’s room, which posed a bit of an issue.

  “Hang on… How do we get to the right room?” Ryle asked as the elevator’s doors opened in front of them. “It’s not like the room’s number was written on the outside. Hell, we don’t even know the correct floor she’s on!”

  “No need to worry about that. I’ve got an idea,” Erin replied as they went inside the elevator and she pressed one of the buttons. “I wasn’t just looking a her when we were observing her movements. I actually counted the floors of the building, so I know which one her room is located at.”

  “Wow! Really!? That’s pretty impressive!” the blonde said while the elevator’s doors closed and it began to move upwards. “Guess you’re quite the mathematician, huh?”

  “I mean, it’s not really that much. Simple counting really,” the redhead replied with a shrug. “I honestly never enjoyed actual math all that much. It was only thanks to having good friends that I managed to get through tests in school.”

  “By those friends, are you referring to the Overlords?” Ryle asked with a raised eyebrow. “Or at least the people that they used to be?”

  “Yeah… They really helped me out back in the day,” Erin said with a melancholy look in her eyes, as she began to think about her past. “I was pretty good at school, but at some point I started to associate with the wrong crowds and my grades took a nosedive. I wasn’t exactly failing, but I wasn’t bringing back results that you could really be proud of, which my parents weren’t happy about. When I started hanging out with Devin and the others, they insisted on helping me out, saying that I would come to regret not putting any effort into school. In a way, they were right, as there were far more possibilities open for me than if I had just been going as I had.”

  “So what did you do after school?” the blonde asked, curious over her friend’s past. “I mean, you had the opportunities, right? Did you go to a fancier and more advanced school or did you get a really good job?”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Neither. After I… did what I did to Devin and the others, I couldn’t find a purpose for my life,” the redhead explained with a sad look on her face. “I did keep up my studies either out of habit or in some weird way of honoring them, but I never managed to do anything with it. I tried to look for a way to live that would have atoned for the things I did to Devin and his friends, but I always knew that I could never make things right. In the end, I ended up becoming the disappointment that my parents feared I would be.”

  An awkward silence fell over the two as the elevator finally reached its floor and the two walked out. Ryle looked around and saw that they were alone in the hallway, so she decided to try and lift Erin’s mood a bit.

  “Hey, uh… I just wanted to say that I know you’re blaming yourself over what those guys did here and all, but you should remember that none of us blame you, okay?” the blonde said. “Even if they had a rough time back in your world and all, it doesn’t give them the right to come here and mess things up for anyone. And the way I see it, you trying your best to stop them is doing more than enough to make amends for whatever you might have done back then. At leas you’re in the clear in my books.”

  The redhead was a bit taken aback by the sudden comfort speech she received, but it made her smile regardless.

  “Thanks, Ryle,” the redhead said. “I’ll be sure to remember that.”

  “No problem! Just saying what I’m sure the others feel as well!” the blonde said with a big grin. “Anyways, now that we are on the right floor, we need to find the room, right? Any idea which of these is the correct one?”

  “I think I know which one it is,” Erin said as she began to walk down the hallway while looking at the doors. “I have somewhat of a rough idea as to where Madeline’s room is from the time we were watching it from across the street. If my estimations are correct, then the right door should be…”

  The redhead trailed of as she kept walking past the doors, until she came to a stop in front of one of them.

  “This one,” Erin said.

  “Got it!” Ryle said as she stood next to the redhead. “So what’s the plan? What are we going to do?”

  “Simple. We knock on the door and tell her that it’s room service,” Erin explained. “If she tells us that she didn’t order any room service, we’ll just tell her that it’s a regular inspection, where we go to rooms to change sheets and do some cleaning. Even if she tells us that some employees came already to do those things, we’ll ask her to let us in just to make sure everything is as it should be.”

  “And once we’re in, what do we do then?” the blonde asked.

  “I’ll try to get her attention, so you can sneak up on her from behind and knock her out. Then we’ll just use something we can get our hands on to tie her up, hide her in the dirty sheets and take her with us,” the redhead explained. “Although, try not to use too much strength, okay? This isn’t some burly thug that deserves to have their skull cracked open. Try to be as gentle as possible.”

  “You do know that there isn’t really anything gentle in knocking someone unconscious, right?” Ryle asked.

  “Just… try not to leave her with any permanent damage at least,” Erin said with a sigh. “The whole reason we’re doing this the way we are so that we could avoid unnecessary deaths.”

  With their plan ready, the redhead gently knocked on the door and waited for a response. When they heard nothing, she tried knocking on the door again, using more force this time.

  “I’M COMING! I’M COMING! WAIT A MOMENT!” a shrill voice shouted from the other side of the door, surprising both Erin and Ryle.

  The voice they had heard didn’t sound like Madeline at all. Instead, the person shouted much older and far less gentle than the person they had followed around yesterday. Just as they were wondering about who it was that was on the other side of the door, it opened to reveal someone completely different from the person they were looking for.

  Instead of Madeline, there was an elderly gnome lady, who had a cane and was looking up at the two of them with an angry glare.

  “You youngsters these days are so damn impatient! If someone doesn’t immediately answer, you get all upset and start acting up!” the elderly gnome complained. “Well? I am here! What is it that you two want!?”

  Erin and Ryle shared an awkward glance, before turning their attention back to the gnome.

  “Our apologies, madam. I believe we might have come to the wrong room,” Erin began to explain in order to not cause a scene that would blow their cover. “You see, we’re from room service and-”

  “You’re from where!? Well, it’s about time! I’ve been demanding that someone would get sent over here since yesterday!” the gnome lady said as she stepped away from the door. “Get in already! You two have some work to do!”

  The redhead glanced at her partner, only to receive a shrug in response. Knowing that the old gnome would most likely start complaining loudly and possibly even contact the other staff, the two were forced to comply with her request for now. They needed to keep up the act of being hotel employees for now.

  Walking into the room, Erin and Ryle looked around, wondering what it was that had the old gnome so upset. However, no matter where they looked, everything seemed to be in perfect order and not even a speck of dust could be seen anywhere. They had to wonder what it was that had her in such a bad mood.

  “So? What are you two waiting for!?” the old gnome asked angrily. “Get to work already!”

  “Uhh… We are more than happy to help you with whatever the problem is, but we’re having an issue telling what exactly is wrong,” Erin said in a polite tone. “What is it that is wrong with the room? Could you point us to it?”

  “Oh, for the love of-! Are you two completely blind or just stupid!?” the old lady said with her anger clearly rising. “LOOK AROUND YOURSELVES! Can’t you just see everything that is wrong around here!?”

  “Excuse me, madam, but I really can’t see anything wrong,” the redhead said, flabbergasted over how the gnome could have anything to complain about. “If you could just work with us a bit, we-”

  Erin was cut off, as the old lady suddenly jumped up and struck her on the head with her cane.

  “How dare YOU, a simple worker, ask ME to work!?” the gnome said in an offended tone. “I AM A PAYING CUSTOMER! I’M NOT THE ONE WHO WORKS HERE! YOU’RE THE ONES WHO DO ALL THE WORK HERE! AND YOUR JOB IS TO KEEP ME HAPPY!”

  “Hey, she didn’t mean it like that!” Ryle said, angry over her friend getting mistreated. “All she was asking for was for you to-”

  The blonde ended up facing the same fate as Erin with the gnome hitting her on the head with her cane.

  “Shut your mouth! I can’t stand listening to people who are obviously idiots and you certainly sound the part!” the old lady said angrily. “I should have known just by looking at the two of you that you weren’t the smartest people! Honestly, you just look like a pair of thugs! Where do they get people like you!?”

  “You’ll get your ass kicked with the shit you keep pulling, you old bastard,” Ryle muttered in a low tone that only she and Erin heard, prompting the redhead to hit her with her elbow.

  “Well, madam, since we are so incompetent, could we ask you to properly guide us?” Erin asked, straining to keep up the polite act. “As you’ve said yourself, we aren’t as smart as you are. Therefore, might you be so kind as to assist us just a little bit, so we can serve you in a manner that is more fitting?”

  “Hmm… I suppose you have at least some potential to be a halfway competent employee. If nothing else, you know how to speak properly to your betters,” the old gnome said thoughtfully. “Very well. Even if it isn’t my job, I suppose it could be seen as my civil duty to offer guidance to incompetents like you two. So listen up well and do as you’re told! I am not going to tolerate any misbehavior from either of you! Especially when I have decided to graciously help you!”

  “You are truly kind,” the redhead said as she bowed her head a bit, still playing the part of the overly respectful employee. “Now, would you be so kind to guide us on what it is you need us to do?”

  “It’s actually quite simple and the two of you should be able to handle it with ease!” the old lady said as she walked up to a nightstand next to her bed. She then took a handkerchief out of her pocket and quickly wiped it over the piece of furniture before showing it to Erin and Ryle. “Here! Do you see what I’m talking about!?”

  Both Erin and Ryle leaned closer, struggling to see what the issue was. They then spotted a very thin layer of dust on the handkerchief.

  “...That’s it? That’s what you’ve been complaining about? A very tiny amount of dust?” Ryle asked bluntly. “Seriously, how could this be such a big-”

  The blonde’s complaints were cut off by her partner pulling her closer.

  “Shut up before she uses that cane of hers again!” Erin whispered. “We just need to play along for now. This whole thing will be ruined, if she starts a ruckus and gets the actual staff involved!”

  “Of course this is a big problem! What do you think I’m paying you for!?” the old gnome continued to rant. “I was promised that my room would be spotless and that’s what I expect! So get to work, you two! I don’t have all day!”

  Erin and Ryle shared a look before getting to work. The faster they got done with this, the sooner they could go back to their actual mission.

  A couple of hours later, the two were still working in the old gnome’s room, as she had more than one issue that she demanded to be solved. Besides the very tiny amount of dust that was supposedly covering everything, they were also tasked with making the old lady’s bed look absolutely perfect and to wipe all surfaces to the point you could see your reflection on them.

  While Erin and Ryle were more than capable of doing this, the issue was the old gnome’s level of demand. No matter how well the work was done, it was never good enough. There was always some flaw, something wrong or it just didn’t meet her expectations.

  To make matters worse, the constant nagging and complaining from the old gnome was starting to get on their nerves. Ryle had to hold herself back from simply punching the old lady and even Erin was beginning to think similar thoughts, even if it meant that their cover would be blown.

  “Would you two put some more effort into this!? You’re like a pair of fat sloths, just dragging your feet around!” the old gnome yelled angrily. “I expect this room to be completely spotless and I won’t take anything less from you! And you better get it done or else you can forget about tips!”

  “No amount of tips is worth this crap,” Ryle mumbled to herself as she tried to hold back her anger. “I’m about to go and strangle that old bitch, if she nags at me one more damn time.”

  “Normally, I would be against it, but I’m starting to think that’s a good idea,” Erin whispered to the blonde, equally angry. “I’ll help you bury the body as well.”

  “Hey! Stop whispering over there! It’s rude to talk in front of your customer among yourselves!” the old gnome yelled. “Besides, if you have the time to talk, you have the time to move those hands of yours and get some actual work done! So focus on your work!”

  Hoping to avoid further nagging, Erin and Ryle stayed silent and focused on their work. At the moment, the redhead was wiping a table and the blonde was cleaning a ceramic flower pot that had some flowers in it to decorate the room.

  Looking down at the table she had been wiping for some time now, Erin tried to judge if it was done well enough to satisfy the old gnome. Despite the fact that the piece of furniture was literally glistening from all the work she had done, the redhead knew that it wouldn’t be enough. She reached for the bottle that held the chemicals meant for cleaning different surfaces, but the tiredness and frustration over what she had been through was getting to her. Almost right after opening the bottle, the plastic container slipped out of her hand and spilled its contents all over the table.

  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU INCOMPETENT BUFFOON!?” the old gnome screamed in fury as she ran up to Erin, cane at the ready to be swung. “Can’t you even use your own hands properly!? Isn’t it already bad enough that you’re absolutely useless at your job!?”

  “I-I’m sorry, madam!” the redhead apologized. “I promise I will-!”

  Erin’s desperate pleas were cut off, as the old lady began to swing her cane violently on her head.

  “You can make all the promises you want, but what does it matter when you can’t keep them!?” the old gnome yelled while she kept swinging her cane at the redhead. “You’ve already shown that you can’t do the simplest of tasks, so why would I listen to anything you say!?”

  While Erin was getting attacked, Ryle stopped what she was doing. Her anger had finally reached a breaking point and she was not going to allow her friend to get treated in such a terrible manner.

  Deciding that it was time to put an end to the abuse they were suffering, the blonde sneaked up behind the old gnome, while still holding the flower pot. Then she held it over her head and simply dropped it, crashing it on the gnome’s head and knocking her out.

  While Ryle looked satisfied and even proud of what she had done, Erin looked horrified.

  “RYLE, WHAT THE HELL!”?” the redhead yelled. “Why the hell would you do that!?”

  “Hey, I thought we were both sick of her attitude and mistreatment! I just decided to finally put a stop to it!” the blonde said. “Besides, I couldn’t just sit back and watch while she was beating you with her stick! I had to put a stop to it!”

  “While I’m grateful that you felt the need to defend me and all, I still think you went too far this time!” Erin said. “Even if she was mean and abusive, she was still an innocent old lady. What you did might have actually killed her!”

  “Oh, please! With the way she was going, she was far from a frail old lady! I doubt she’s going to suffer more than a simple migraine!” Ryle said nonchalantly. “Besides, no way was she just an innocent lady! I don’t think anyone who is actually innocent would act like that!”

  Ignoring her friend’s excuses, the redhead went to check the old gnome to see of she was still alive. Much to her relief, she detected a pulse and even heard breathing.

  “Well, good news is that she’s still alive… Thank God for that,” Erin said as she let out a sigh of relief. “But once she wakes up, we are going to be in big trouble! There’s no way she isn’t going to complain to the other employees, who are then going to come looking for us!”

  “How’s that a problem?” Ryle asked. “By the time she wakes up, we’ll be long gone from here! We are already close to the person we really came looking for, so all this does is put a time limit to how long we can stick around!”

  “I guess you’re right… But we still shouldn’t just leave her like this. Let’s at least wrap her head, put her on a bed and do as much as we can to make sure she doesn’t suffer too much damage from this,” the redhead said. “It’s the least we can do for getting her involved in this whole mess.”

  “Fine. I suppose we owe her that much,” the blonde said. “I still think you’re overthinking this.”

  Erin was about to respond, but something happened that caught both of them by surprise. All of a sudden, the old gnome began to move, slowly getting up from the spot on the floor she had been laying on. This shocked the redhead so bad that she quickly ran up to her partner, who was also staring at the gnome with wide eyes.

  Once she had gotten up, the old lady slowly turned to look at her two attackers. The cold and empty stare in her eyes sent chills down the spines of Erin and Ryle, who were terrified by the sight.

  Both got ready to be attacked in response to what they had done, only for the old gnome to not do so. Instead, she slowly walked away from them and headed for a nearby closet. She opened its door and began to rummage through it for something.

  “Uhh… Madam?” Erin called out, but received no response. “Are you alright? Do you need some help?”

  “Hey, shut up!” Ryle whispered to her partner. “The less attention we draw from her the better!”

  “Oh, I’m completely alright. I just thought that my normal methods aren’t enough,” the old gnome said calmly. “I just thought that I needed some better tools to properly educate you two.”

  “And… what kind of tools would those be?” Erin asked, fearing what the answer was going to be.

  “Tools like this!” the old lady said as she pulled out a large spiked club from her closet and held it at the ready, while glaring at Erin and Ryle. “Clench your teeth and get ready for some proper education!”

  Erin and Ryle screamed in terror, as the gnome ran towards them.

  After a brutal beating, both Erin and Ryle were thrown out of the old gnome’s room, who promised them that they would be fired by the end of the day. This didn’t matter to either of them, as they weren’t actual employees, and were just happy from having finally escaped their torment.

  “Well… That totally sucked!” Ryle cursed as she gently rubbed her sore body. “How about next time you actually get the right door!?”

  “Hey, I didn’t do this on purpose!” Erin said while also holding the most painful spots on herself. “Besides, how could I have known that the granny from hell lived here!?”

  Just as they were slowly getting back up, a familiar voice called out to them.

  “Oh my! My what happened to you two!?” a gentle and kind voice asked in a worried tone.

  Both Erin and Ryle froze upon hearing this voice. They immediately knew who it belonged to before even looking up. Before their eyes stood Madeline Fryer, their target.

  Upon seeing the person they were supposed to kidnap looking at them with wide eyes, Erin’s mind began to run through all the worst possibilities. Had she somehow recognized them from the incident at the movie theater? Or had she heard any of the commotion that happened in her neighbor’s room? Was she going to call the staff?

  However, all of her worst fears were proven wrong, when Madeline knelt down and offered her a helping hand with a kind smile on her face.

  “I’m terribly sorry about what my neighbor did to you two. Are you hurt?” the older woman said. “Come. Let’s get you both treated in my room.”

  Erin and Ryle shared a look of wide-eyed surprise, before allowing Madeline to help them up and lead them to her room. Once there, she proceeded to treat both of their injuries with some medical supplies she had with herself.

  “It’s a good thing that I brought these with me just in case. I mostly keep them around for work, but I do take them along from time to time,” Madeline explained as she rubbed a soothing ointment on the bruises Erin and Ryle had. “There. Does that feel any better?”

  “Actually… it does,” Erin said as she gently touched one of the bruises that had ointment put on it. “It feels a lot better! Thank you!”

  “That’s good to hear,” the older woman said with a smile, as she walked away from the two. “My neighbor can be quite the violent person, as she has driven many other employees to the point of tears. It got so bad that I thought they stopped sending people to her. I guess I was wrong, though, seeing as you two were sent there.”

  “Well, it wasn’t like we were sent, rather than we just found the wrong door,” Ryle said, only to receive an elbow jab from Erin to shut her up.

  “Since the two of you are here, would you like to have some cookies?” Madeline suddenly asked, as she pulled a batch of freshly-baked treats from the oven. “I enjoy cooking and baking, but I often make way more than I can handle myself, so it would be nice if these didn’t go to waste.”

  Despite being completely taken by surprise, Erin and Ryle both accepted the cookies they were offered and ate them happily. Smiles came to their faces, as they savored the taste of the what were possibly the best cookies they had ever had.

  “I see that you like them,” Madeline said with a smile. “I’m glad. Eat as much as you want, since I’ve got plenty more!”

  “These are really well-made,” Erin said with a smile. “Thank you.”

  “Yeah, these are the best I’ve ever had!” Ryle managed to say with multiple cookies in her mouth. “Have you ever considered opening your own bakery or something!?”

  The question seemed to stir something within Madeline as her body suddenly froze for a moment and a saddened look came to her eyes.

  “I… actually work as a cook, which was my dream ever since I was a child,” the older woman said in a quiet and sad tone. “Unfortunately, it’s not as pleasant as I had imagined…”

  An awkward silence fell over the room, as Erin glared at Ryle for her question. All the blonde could do was shrug with an apologetic look on her face.

  “But let’s not worry about such things! After all, I’m still on vacation, so we should enjoy ourselves!” Madeline said happily, having pushed away the sad thoughts from her mind. “Now, do you two like cake? I was just planning to make one and I would love for you two to try it!”

  The pleasant atmosphere and Madeline’s kind nature almost brought tears to Erin’s eye, as memories of her own mother and grandmother came to mind. It had been quite some time since she felt such loving care from another person.

  “Uhh… Erin? I just remembered something,” Ryle suddenly whispered to the redhead. “You remember what our job was, right? Are we really going to… You know?”

  The realization over what they had to do hit Erin like a truck. They already had reservations over attacking someone who was harmless and innocent, but having actually met Madeline and being treated so kindly by her made the idea unbearable.

  Still, as much as she hated to admit it, they had no choice in the matter.

  “...I hate my life,” the redhead muttered. “No other choice. Let’s do this.”

  Getting up from the couch she had been sitting at, Erin walked up to Madeline, who was in the middle of preparing her cake.

  “Excuse me, madam?” the redhead called out, getting the older woman’s attention. “I just wanted to say that we are incredibly grateful for the kind treatment you’ve given us. You truly brightened our bad day.”

  “It’s alright, dear,” Madeline said with a smile. “I’m just happy that I was able to help.”

  “Also… It pains me to say this, but I have to apologize.”

  “Huh? Apologize for-?”

  The rest of the older woman’s question was cut off, as Ryle sneaked up behind her and hit her over the head, knocking her out. Madeline’s unconscious body fell over into Erin’s arms, who caught her before she hit the floor.

  “For that,” the redhead replied to the unconscious woman in her arms in a sad tone.

  With their target knocked out, Erin and Ryle proceeded to tie up and gag her, hoping to prevent her from causing any trouble in case she woke up while they were still carrying her around. They tore up some of the sheets in order to make the bindings they used.

  “You know, I’ve done plenty of stuff that’s bad in my life, such as kill people,” Ryle said in a depressed voice. “But this is one of the times I feel absolutely horrible over what I’ve done.”

  “I know how you feel. This was just wrong on so many levels,” Erin said with a sigh. “We can only hope that Rayleen’s people won’t do anything bad with her.”

  With their target captured, Erin went to check if the hallway was clear for them to leave. However, much to her shock, it was filled with people, all seemingly leaving their rooms at the same time.

  “What the-!? Why is everybody on the move right now!?” the redhead asked after closing the door and walking back. She then looked at a clock on the wall and realized the answer to her question. “Of course! It must be lunch time and all the guests are on the move!”

  “So what do we do!?” Ryle asked while holding Madeline over her shoulder. “With a place this big, all the hallways, elevators and stairs are gonna be filled with people! Not only that, but there’s going to be a lot of staff walking around!”

  Erin thought about what they could do. Going out just like that was not an option, as they would just get caught. However, they couldn’t simply wait around either. She had seen some of the employees move around, most likely going to rooms while the guests were out in order to do some cleaning and other tasks. In other words, they were stuck in a situation where they couldn’t leave or stay.

  It was then that the redhead had an idea. If they needed to get the people out of their way, they just needed to force everyone to leave.

  “I have an idea,” Erin said as she removed the glove covering her artificial hand. “I’m going to start a fire and cause the building to evacuate. That should give us a chance to escape in the middle of the chaos and confusion.”

  “Woah! You’re going to go all pyromaniac!?” Ryle asked in a shocked voice. “Are you sure that’s a good idea!? You might burn the whole place down!?”

  “Right now, I’ve had such a shit day that I no longer care,” the redhead replied as she readied her hand. “All I want is to get done with this job.”

  Without any further talk, Erin fired a small fireball from the palm of her mechanical hand, setting some of the furniture in the room on fire. It didn’t take long for the fire alarm to start blaring and the sound of the people outside the room starting to run. Covering Madeline with sheets in order to hide her, the two soon joined the panicking mass of people, using the chaos and panic to slip out of the hotel and run away.

  Their job was now completed, even if they didn’t feel good about it at all.