Paintings for Sale

[Bobbie]

Danielle could feel the cold energy emanating from the Professor for just a brief moment, but she tried to ignore it. For just that second, it felt like some sort of victory, whether it was long lived or not. To finally be able to call the gorgeous malamute her own was incredible, even if it was only temporary. Then the tides turned at the captain was yelling at her instead.

With an open jaw, Danielle stared in disbelief as her plan backfired terribly and only gave more reason to be in some kind of trouble. First she was infuriated by this annoying woman whose bark seemed to be sharp, loud, and irritating, then she felt panic rise within her. If she got arrested, not only would her reputation be stained and Rosalina’s father would certainly not allow her to marry his daughter, but she would also most likely miss the transaction with Mr Marlowe and lose a lot of money. Then Danielle froze. The look of terror on her face was replaced with pure hatred as she closed her mouth, narrowed her eye and glared at the woman who made a very big mistake when assessing the situation on two accounts. First of all, Gabriel was not her boyfriend, nor will he ever be. Secondly, Beast is less of a monster than her or any of her guards!

As she almost bore her teeth, ready to snap a reply to correct the woman on those two points, Gabriel stepped closer and spoke up before her, again with the same calm and that gentle smile and the tone to accompany it that sent a shiver down Danielle’s spine, a reminder of what a creep this man had the capability of being. However, she had enough sense in her head to keep that thought to herself as his words were to her benefit, and so she listened and turned to the captain, now with a little smile and a nod to verify everything that the Professor was saying.

Finally, the woman gave the order for only Gabriel to be arrested. Did she feel terrible? Yes… but he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. If worse came to the worst, she and Beast would go back to the station once the paintings were sold and sort the whole situation out as a big misunderstanding.

“We won’t!” Danielle agreed, before stepping away from all the guards and watching Beast. “Come on, Beast! You and I need to keep walking, and you get a nice big treat when we’re done!”

---

Danielle: #fffd17

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #9

Some guardsman came to Gabriel, putting handcuffs around his wrists, just as Danielle tried to walk away with Beast, who however didn´t move an inch and instead watched the Professor in confusion.

“Wooof, woof?!”

The malamute asked unsure what she should do.

“That´s all right.”

Gabriel nodded with a smile on his face.

“Just go with her all right? I just have to speak with these nice people in private and then join you.”

Hearing his words, the captain frowned.

“Didn´t we just establish it´s her dog?”

The Professor shrugged in response, gracing her with what he considered to be his most charming smile.

“What can I say, I always was very popular with women, and as it seems it applies to dogs too.”

The captain rolled her eyes and made face as if she saw something incredibly disgusting, before pushing the Professor slightly towards a different street.

“Sure, you are…now let’s go. I need to be back on street to keep people calm and that giant of yours under control.”

Frowning, Gabriel wanted to say that Sigrid wasn´t “his giant” and that she was an adult and pretty much capable of taking care of herself, but something was telling him, that pushing this woman even more than he already did wasn´t a good idea and so he kept quiet and followed her with a gentle sigh.

Their base, or (should he rather call it a police station instead?) was an average-sized, newly looking house with a well-kept front yard. Shame it wasn´t as welcoming inside as it was from outside, as the captain led him through the entrance hall with reception into the cellar, where the prison cells were located. They were two. One was occupied by a dirty homeless guy who looked like someone that was off the hangover, while in the other one were four people. A strange mix of three men and one woman, all young people with the oldest one being twenty-five, maybe twenty-six years old, all looking as if they were from the lower classes of the society.

“Alright, which one would you like?”

The captain asked sarcastically.

“That´s not much of choice….”

Gabriel muttered quietly but obviously not quietly enough for her to not pick it up.”

“Very well, Drunken George it is….”

---

Meanwhile back in the street Beast looked in the direction in which Gabriel left sad and confused.

“Why….awaaaay?”

She asked Danielle on the verge of panic as she clearly didn´t understand what was going on.

“Theeeese hoooomans eeeeeeebil? Gooood? Whyyyy daaaaaddy goooone?”

As she howled these words a loud sound appeared behind them as some woman fainted after hearing this incredibly large malamute talk.

[Bobbie]

Danielle went to petting Beast as she could see how confused the poor doggo was, and she couldn’t blame her. Watching Gabriel be taken away like that must have been hard for her, and while she knew Beast could utter a few words and possibly understand even more, the situation was becoming complicated even for a human to understand.

With a sigh, she scratched behind her ears as she looked in the same direction. “No, they’re not-” Her words were cut off as a woman fainted behind them and she glanced back. “Okay, let’s move away from all these civilians and we can talk.”

The blonde walked with Beast, hoping that she would follow without being difficult, as she tried to take the quieter streets to avoid more trouble arising with the locals. “The Professor gets into a lot of trouble, because of… well, not because of you, but…” she paused as she thought about how to word this without insulting the beautiful malamute that she wished she could call hers on a more permanent and genuine basis. “Okay, some people are just a little extra cautious, and they want to make sure that there aren’t any problems, that’s all. Remember we’re not locals here, we’re a bunch of scary foreigners with a dog that’s bigger and more gorgeous than anything they’ve ever seen before, and a giantess.” It took all of her will power not to groan or roll her eye at that final statement, feeling the urge to once again reiterate that she did try to warn Gabriel about this. “He will be fine,” she added, finally withdrawing one hand from Beast’s fur to adjust her bag on her shoulder. “Once we sell the paintings, we will go back for him to make sure of it.”

---

At the station, the people within the two cells looked at Gabriel. The youngsters instantly scoffed and seemed to condemn Gabriel for his appearance alone, as prim and proper as he was dressed. Not one of them had a shadow of a doubt in their mind that he did not belong to their class. The homeless man in the other cell, however, presumably Drunken George, only looked at Gabriel once before a hiccup caused his head to tilt back and he was staring at the ceiling instead.

Lost in drunken stupor, it was only when the door rolled open that he looked at his new cellmate and offered a big grin with a few missing teeth. Reaching forward, the stench of his dirty clothing and the alcohol on his breath filled the space between him and Gabriel, as he grabbed the wealthier man’s hand to shake it vigorously. Meanwhile, his free hand latched onto the Professor’s shoulder as the drunkard tried to steady himself.

“Hello, HELLO! Welcome! To my humble abode! Don’t get lost on the de-” a hiccup interrupted his words which were spoken at varying degrees of volume. “Details! There’s a bench… there’s a p*ssin’ pot! And the rest is…” another hiccup once again prevented him from going any further without a pause. “Is whatever you want it to be!”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Drunken George: #a5930e

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #10

Beast paused rising her head high as if she was posing for a photograph when Danielle said that she was big and gorgeous.

“Me beauuuuuutiful!”

She howled, immediately attracting the attention of a nearby playing group of kids. However, her good mood didn´t last long as she realised the rest of what Danielle said as well.

“Daaaaddy trouuuuuble? Daaaaady strooooong, why nooooot kuiiiiiiiil theeem?”

The malamute howled again, this time causing the jaws of the curious children to drop, just a second before they started running away screaming. Beast quickly turned her head in that direction with a curious expression on her hairy face.

“Hoooooman pups ruuuuuuning. Shouuuuuuld I fetch?”

---

Inside the local prison, Gabriel´s handcuffs were unlocked just before the Professor was pushed into a cell with the man they called Drunken George, who immediately tried to introduce himself to the Professor. Feeling the alcohol from his breath on his face, he had to remind himself to stay calm and kind many times over, otherwise, he would just break that man´s hand together with his neck.

“Wonderful.”

He answered with a kind smile, gently pushing his dirty hand from his shoulder.

“Isn´t it nice? You already made a friend. Hope you don´t mind the stench because you´ll stay here until the judge gets a time for you.”

The captain said ironically, before leaving the cellar. Something in her voice was telling him, that it won´t be today, so Gabriel headed towards the bench, only to be stopped by an ironic remark from one of the men in the next cell.

“Well, that´s first. A rich guy that got arrested for something else than being drunk and rowdy? I thought that the cops are here only to do the dirty job of guys like you.”

Not really interested in getting pulled into a fight with him, Gabriel only glanced over the group. Four people, three men, and one woman. The one who was talking to him with in his early twenties, with short brown hair and light brown eyes, a plain, uninteresting face, and tattered clothes with a high number of bruises all over it, telling a story about how he didn´t get there without a fight.

“I am a foreigner.”

The Professor answered silently, switching his attention to another member of their group. Taller than the first one and more muscular, with short black hair and stubble beard, probably in the middle of his twenties, wearing an attire one would expect from a blacksmith, battered maybe even more than the first one.

“Yeah, West Blue, judging by the accent? Not many fancy people from there visit this place. What got you busted?”

Gabriel didn´t answer, taking look at the third member. Short and sturdy guy, a few years younger than the second one. Face shaved and bruised, with short brown hair and features resembling the one that was talking, so much, that the professor was almost certain they were siblings.

“Brough a large dog to the town and knocked out officer by accident.”

He decided to respond in the end, causing laughter in the first guy and prompting the rest of them to turn in his direction as well, including the last one, the only woman in their group. Wearing a simple dress that nicely empathized her curves despite clearly remembering more winters than she did she had long dark hair and a pretty face, that immediately remained him of a puppy. One that was lost, terrified, and…hurt. The last part added when he noticed a fresh bruise on her face filled him with a cold rage that was hard to control.

“And you?”

[Bobbie]

As the massive doggo posed, Danielle couldn’t stop a little chuckle from escaping her throat. “Yes, you are,” she agreed, her gaze fixed on the creature that she had genuinely grown to adore.

However, all the attention that she was attracting was less desirable as the malamute’s howls caused shock in the people all around them. As the children began screaming and running away, Danielle watched them and called after them, “She’s just a prop! For a movie!” Then she quickly turned back to Beast. “No! Do not fetch… let them run, we have other business to take care of. The sooner we deal with that, the sooner we can go back for the Professor.”

Despite having already brought up the issue of Beast causing alarm with her talking, it seemed that the dog-lover couldn’t find it in her to hush Beast, and simply continued walking with her through the streets that were getting narrower. “The Professor can’t just kill anyone he crosses paths with, you know. That’s what will get him into more trouble… the problem is that he’s a bit of a creep and when he opens his mouth to speak, the situation somehow always gets worse…” With a sigh, she rolled her eyes. “So I hope he's not saying or doing anything stupid to anger that captain any further. He just needs to stay put and wait for us.”

Since the treasure huntress had no means of navigation, she looked ahead of them, tilting her head slightly to gaze toward the sky at the taller ends of buildings that towered over others. There was a clocktower to their left, and what looked like an odd reflective monument that was nearly impossible to decipher whatever item or figure was being commemorated to their right. “That has to be the Mirror Museum. It can’t be far, maybe ten more minutes walking, then we find the parlour. You can’t let other people hear you talking though, it’s freaking people out.”

---

As Gabriel went to sit on the bench, the annoying man walked after him and sat down beside him. Dropping onto the wooden seat with a thud, he let out a long sigh as if he’d been hard at work all day and this was only the first time he was sitting down.

His new cellmate, however, seemed more interested in conversing with the people in the cell next door than to him, which brought a frown to the drunken man’s face. “What does it matter where he’s from?” He asked in a gruff voice and a grumpy tone. “We’re all in here now, and he’s been put in this cell with me, not you lot… so why don’t you little rascals go on with your business, while we adults talk, eh?” His comment made himself chuckle, “Yeah, you uh… you bunch of kids!” Another chuckle came from the man who crossed his arms and let his head nod slightly.

With the first snore, he jolted awake once more, turning to Gabriel again and nudging him with his dirty elbow. “Eh, what did you say you’re in here for again?” He rudely cut into the conversation, having just missed the answer to his very question.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Drunken George: #a5930e

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #11

Beast looked somehow disappointed when Danielle said she shouldn't fetch them, relaxing the already pre-tensed muscles that were ready to spring her in their direction.

"Aaaaalriiiight."

She howled, before pausing for a second as she realized what else Danielle said

"What's mooooovieeeee prooooop?"

The question was followed by a curious poke as the malamute's wet nose gently hit Danielle's face.

"Creeeeeep, creeeeeeeep, creeeeeep!"

Chuckling like a small child that found new unknown world funny, Beast howled these words several times before asking

"Whaaaaats a creeeeeep? Youuuuu creeeeep tooooooo?"

She asked curiously, but her patience wasn't strong enough to actually wait for the answer and so she continued.

"Woof! Woof! Beaaaast quuuuiet aaaand beaaaaautifuuuuul, neeever in trooouble!"

She said proudly, following Danielle as the good girl she was. All the way up to the Mirror Museum.

"Goooood! I am muiiiiising daaaaad"

She whined, revealing that perhaps she wasn't such a good dog, but rather a sad one.

---

Meanwhile, in the prison, Gabriel sat down on the bench, only to get up almost immediately, as Drunken George sat right next to him because while he didn't have a problem with him personally he sincerely hated the stench of alcohol that was everywhere around him.

The man he was talking with gently chuckled, either missing or ignoring the way Gabriel was looking at his cellmate. She however noticed, quickly turning away with a blush on her face.

"Well, you´ll have it easy then. The judge will just sentence you to a fine and if you'll pay they'll escort you to your ship and out of the island. If you want, you will spend a month in prison for every unpaid million, or at least that's how it used to work around here. "

Gabriel slightly frowned, ignoring the vexing drunkard and his question.

"Used to?"

The young man shrugged.

"Well, see Henry over here?"

He pointed at the talker black-haired guy.

"His dad used to be a judge in this place. Good guy but had quite an important flaw. He was just, which didn't sit well with the rich guys who directs this show. So they kicked him out of the office. He fought back and the next thing we know he " hanged himself" in his garden."

The jovial tone of his voice was interrupted by a much deeper and angrier one coming from Henry himself.

"Will you shut up?!"

He snapped, however, and got only a shrug in response.

"Why should I? It's not really a secret anyway. Besides, look at this fella, you can tell he is loaded just from his suit alone. And did you see how he looked at Eponine? Maybe if he learns what happened he can bribe someone to get her out. Can imagine that being his girlfriend can not be worse than the sh*tty fate that's waiting for her now."

“Robert!”

Henry yelled in anger while his sister´s face turned red so much it was visible even through her dark hair.

For a moment even Gabriel was left speechless by this cheeky individual, but before the two men could trade some more words or even strikes, he raised his voice in question.

“And what´s that fate going to be?”

The one named Robert grinned in response, but it was a mix of dark humor and sarcasm rather than happiness.

“What do you think rich guy? When their dad died, we made our own investigation and found what really happened, went to the authorities, and next what I remember is waking up here. As it turned out, the corruption was even deeper than we thought. The new judge claimed we were revolutionaries that were preparing upraising and called some CP agents to take care of us.”

His grin became much grimmer.

“These things…”

He pointed at his own bruises.

“Are from the time they were asking us about our Revolutionaries friends. Shame I don´t know any, sending them to go and ***** themselves would be much cooler that way. They are upstairs, by the way, probably getting ready for round two.”

He chuckled but paused as he noticed the considerable shift in Gabriel´s expression. It became much darker, aloof, and focused. These people that hurt the beautiful puppy were still in the building. That was unforgivable.

“Ehm…anyway, they already told us where our final destination will be, whatever we´ll talk or not. Tequila Wolf, the beautiful bridge where we´ll work ourselves to slow and probably agonizing death. Isn´t that wonderful?”

[Bobbie]

As Beast continued to howl despite Danielle’s request for her to be quiet, she let out a sigh, “Beast, you need to keep it down just a little bit… I am not a creep and stop saying that. I still can't believe I'm saying this to a dog.” The fact that Beast was calling the Professor a creep didn’t particularly bother her. It was accurate. Then the talking dog called herself beautiful and Danielle laughed - that was also accurate. “Yes, extremely beautiful, but I don’t think you’re never in trouble!”

Shaking her head, the treasure huntress continued walking until they reached the Mirror Museum, then she looked around for some fancy-looking parlour. It was terribly easy to spot as it was lavishly decorated with a number of large decorative signs to attract customers. Just as she was about to start walking in that direction, however, Beast said something that made the woman’s heart ache.

“Beast…” Pausing for a moment, she stepped in front of the malamute to scratch her neck gently, while standing nose-to nose without having to slouch at all, considering her massive size. “The Professor will be fine, I am sure of it. Once we sell the paintings, I promise you we will go back for him. Until then, you and I get to spend some time together.” With another gentle smile, she wrapped her arms around the large dog’s neck to hug the fluffy creature while rubbing her back, then finally pulled away. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder, then dusted some fur off her clothes before she started walking once more. “Come on. Be on your best behaviour now.”

The walk from the Mirror Museum to Marlowe’s Parlour was not long at all and they made it there within minutes. The door was open and they were immediately welcomed in and guided to the lounge area by an elderly man who looked nothing short of a butler, where some patrons were sitting around with a beverage in hand and having a nice chat.

“My name is Danielle, I’m here to talk to Mr Marlowe about the paintings. He should be expecting me.”

The balding man stood there and stared at Danielle for a moment, eyeing her closely, but when he seemed to make up his mind of what to think of her, he nodded. “Of course. I will notify him of your arrival, please have a seat.” As he gestured toward the velvet sofa, it only took him a matter of seconds to realise his mistake and he swiftly corrected his recent statement, “Not the dog. Mr Marlowe would not be very pleased to have a… uh… well, she really is quite a big dog.” The man uttered nervously, perhaps only getting Beast’s gender right by sheer luck. With that, he turned and left.

Danielle frowned and looked at the sofa, then at Beast, “We’ll both stay off the sofa…” she offered, as if that could somehow remedy the injustice that the poor doggo just faced, but it was the best that she could do to show her support in the face of such discrimination.

Thankfully, their wait was not very long, as a man with very well-groomed facial hair and matching chocolate brown hair of mediums that was kept relatively tame with a simple backward comb with his fingers soon descended a wide staircase to meet the pair in the lounge area. Her eye narrowed as she watched him, in pure distaste of his lavender long-sleeved floral robe, made of some fine silk or satin that allowed the fabric to slip off the man’s shoulders with minimal effort. Other than that he didn’t seem to be wearing much else, his skin from head to toe evidently tanned where it wasn't concealed by his garment from too many hours in the sun.

“You must be Daniel!” He called out, his sandals making a soft squelching sound as the foam soles were pressed under the man’s weight against the floor. A short but sharp yip came after the man’s greeting, taking Danielle by surprise - there was a dog, somewhere. The confusion on her face was obvious as she looked around for it, but with the second little bark, she was able to spot it… a tiny chestnut chihuahua was tucked away quite cozily within the man’s robe, secured at the waist with a sash to create a little home for the tiny dog, supported by Mr Marlowe’s arm. It's little head with large black beady eyes was peeping out.

“Yes, Danielle-” she tried to correct him, but the dog continued barking and barking. She thought it was cute at first, until she realised that what the tiny little thing was challenging was the massive malamute that could probably chew the little thing up for breakfast.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Walnut, stop it! We don’t greet our guests like this!” He sighed, before glancing at Beast, whom he had been trying not to gawk at this entire time for both her beauty and size. “You have a very beautiful dog, Walnut just isn’t used to being around other animals. You must have had this one for a long time, how did you get it to grow so big?” He asked, assuming that Beast was in her senior years due to her size alone.

Danielle began to sweat as she was faced with a question that was impossible for her to answer as well as the potential for an absolute disaster if Beast didn’t play nice here. “Uh… she belongs to a friend. I have the paintings we discussed in our letter correspondence.” Quickly, she tried to change the subject.

---

George looked at Gabriel as he stood up, and while he was too drunk to realise the reason for the man moving away from him, he didn’t miss the way his question went completely unanswered. Watching him for a moment, he then followed his gaze into the neighbouring cell and onto the woman.

Perhaps it was his desire to be included in something, or an attempt to seem more sober than he actually was, but something prompted the man to insert himself in the conversation once more.

“I remember him! Judge Rowan, they called him, eh?” he said, dramatically, as he chuckled and nodded. “He and I were good friends, we were. It’s a shame what happened to him, good lad.” With that, the man rose to his feet, not lingering any further on the topic and took the time to balance himself, before once more moving toward Gabriel. Again, he put a hand on his shoulder as if the poor Professor were some kind of magnet with an uncontrollable pull on this drunkard.

“Aye, look at him!” he gently pinched the fabric of his suit between his fingers, “It’s nice. Think about how nice he’d treat his ladies, huh? Hell, I’d marry him if it gets me out of here sooner!” with a loud laugh that echoed throughout the station, he let his arm rest on Gabriel’s shoulder and leaned on him as if they were best buddies.

For a moment, the man’s drunken smile faded when Robert mentioned their punishment. “Rowan was a fine man who was too good for this justice system.” He spoke in a more serious manner and in a respectful tone as his familiarity with the former judge may have been genuine. "Rest his soul, the world's a mess without him. These monkeys don't know right from wrong if it slapped them in the face." To emphasize the spite in his words, he lowered his gaze and spat at the floor, close to where he and Gabriel stood.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Butler: #79b9b9

Mr Marlowe: #9c79b9

Drunken George: #a5930e

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #12

Still feeling a bit down, Beast looked at Danielle, who hugged her around her large neck howling silently.

“Youuuuu goooooood frieeeeend, I´ll beeee goooood guiiiiiiiirl!”

She sealed her promise with a lick of Danielle´s face, before following her into the parlour. She remained completely silent for the whole time walking next to the young treasure hunters as a good dog should until the servant offered them to sit down. Having an opportunity to lie down on such a beautiful sofa, she sprang towards it, only to freeze in place, when he said that she wasn´t allowed there.

“Wooooof?!”

She asked, visibly offended by such preposterous order. For a moment, she was looking at the sofa, obviously weightings the pros and cons of jumping at it, before returning back to Danielle with an offended snort.

“Awoooo!”

The malamute howled in response to the treasure huntress’s attempt to calm her down, still looking upset about that thing. Why was she banned from there? She was gorgeous! Her mood definitely didn´t get any better, when Mr. Marlowe showed up with the little chihuahua barking at her, from that man´s robe. She snorted again, this time with a mix of amusement and anger, leaning forward to take a closer look at that tinny excuse for a dog, before barking from the top of her lungs right into its face.

“WOOOF!”

---

Back in jail, the Professor was in a very dangerous mood. Discovering that the beautiful puppy in the next cell was not only imprisoned unjustly but also hurt by someone in this building pushed him over the edge, erasing every single trace of his previous kind personality, replacing it with cold cruelty. It wasn´t a good moment for anyone to be close to him, let alone touch him without a warning.

When George´s hand hit his shoulder, his first impulse was to break it, to teach that old drunkard a lesson he would carry for the rest of his life, but he managed to suppress this impulse as he mentioned he was an old friend of the deceased judge. Truth or not he spoke about him with respect buying himself forgiveness for his previous behaviour and enforcing the story Robert just told him. It was a fortunate decision as the sound of someone´s steps appeared on the stairs above. So instead of that he simply turned at him, giving him a full taste of his killing intent.

“Sit.”

The single word uttered with a tone usually reserved for a misbehaving dog left even the drunkard speechless. Then he retracted his hand, slowly as if he was afraid that any fast movement cloud provokes this beast in front of him to attack, before he backed down, dropping himself down on the bench, cold sweat running down his face. Just in time one of the members of the city guard walked down the stairs with a somehow bored expression on his face, which quickly changed into an alarmed one when he noticed Gabriel´s look.

“Hey man relax a bit, I have good news. The judge is willing to look at your case right away. Mainly to get our city rid of that giantess of yours, so just put your hands through this hole I have to handcuff you. Security reasons you know…”

Without a word, the professor stepped towards the doors from his cell, putting his hands through the appropriate window, and waiting for the guard to do his job. He wasn´t among the ones that were originally arresting him so he couldn´t compare the difference in his behavior but it was obvious how uneasy he felt in his presence. Still, he carried out his duty, putting a simple steel handcuff on Gabriel´s wrists, before unlocking the cell.

“Blink”

The doors weren´t even fully open when the Professor simply disappeared from his cell, appearing a heartbeat later behind the unfortunate guardsman. Throwing the chain of from his handcuffs around his neck he quickly tightened it, releasing it only after the guardsmen stopped his struggle.

“Holy…!”

Robert gasped for air with eyes wide open as he watched Gabriel kneeling down, to check the pulse of his victim. It was there, which was good even in his current state he wasn´t really keen on killing someone who was just doing his job.

“Who the f*ck are you mate?!”

The young prisoner had at least enough sense to keep his voice down while the rest of his cellmates were just staring at the Professor with a mix of surprise and pure fear. He couldn´t care less about the opinion of most of them but the terror he saw in Eponine´s eyes pained him.

“That´s none of your business.”

He growled in response, unlocking his cuffs, before taking the key from their cell. As he moved forward, Henry found his senses again, putting himself between himself and his sister.

“If you think you can take her…”

Gabriel silenced him with a single annoyed look.

“Shut up and be glad you are in the same cell as she is.”

He growled, unlocking their door.

“Stay behind me and try to keep up.”

[Bobbie]

Beast’s snorts and snarls were a little bit worrying to the owner of the tiny little dog, very well aware of the size difference between the two pets and the tension in his muscles was enough to communicate this. Danielle was frozen on the spot as Beast moved toward the chihuahua, afraid of what Beast might do, but she promised to be on her best behaviour…

“Beast, don’t-” Danielle started to warn the massive doggo, but it seemed that she was too late, as Beast barked in Walnut’s face at an alarming volume that seemed to make both her and Mr Marlowe jump. As for Walnut, the little creature recoiled and disappeared inside the man’s robe in a sudden movement, causing him to nearly lose his balance with the shifting weight running around his body to hide behind him.

Feeling responsible, the supplier of stolen artworks reached forward to grab the man’s arm - he couldn’t have been much older than her, maybe around the Professor’s age.

“Whoa, thank you, Daniel…” he sighed with relief as Danielle’s grip saved him from a terrible fall.

“Walnut, get out of there!” The man reached into his robe to try and get the little menace out, but each time he did, Walnut would move away to be out of his reach, resulting in the poor man rotating on his axis in a full 360 degree spin, trying to reach the dog. Finally, he let out a sigh and with a very unimpressed look at his dog’s behaviour, he seemed resigned to have the upper half of his kimono, secured at the sash, as a makeshift safe haven for the chihuahua. Glancing at Beast next, he wanted to say something about this being her fault, but perhaps it was her terrifying size that made him hold his tongue.

Meanwhile, Danielle simply stood there, watching the man look utterly ridiculous. Is this the same man that Namkhai and the Professor were so worried about? she couldn’t help but wonder. He’s goofy, and can barely handle a dog the size of an overgrown rat, how is he supposed to be a threat to anyone? Absent mindedly, her hand gravitated to Beast’s body, petting her instead of reprimanding her for her aggression toward her fellow canine. Maybe he’s reformed or something…

“Right,” clearing his throat, Mr Marlowe recomposed himself as he tried to preserve what was left of his dignity, “Never mind Walnut. Shall we get right to business?” He gestured toward a green door that was situated behind the reception desk of the lounge as his gaze soon shifted to the real prize - the paintings on Danielle’s back.

Glancing once toward Beast, silently gauging how easily she would fit through the door, she then nodded to Mr Marlowe, but didn’t budge.

Sensing her distrust, he made the first move to lead them to the door, turning the glass doorknob and entering the room first. Inside, there was a large wooden desk with a fine polish on its surface and a mat that spread across its entire length. A few tools were present along with some measuring instruments and a large lens. Along the walls of the room were several hanging paintings, maps, and other valuable art pieces, as well as several locked chests of varying sizes that sat upon a number of shelves. These were what caught Danielle’s eye the moment she entered as she wondered what was inside them - certainly something valuable, perhaps even more so than these paintings.

Once Mr Marlowe reached his side of the desk, he stood at his large cushioned seat that was really more like a throne than an actual chair, and extended a hand toward one of the two seats that were on the other side of the furniture. “Please, sit down.”

It was only once the large desk was between him and Beast that Walnut emerged and hopped out onto the desk, letting out a brave little yip toward Beast, then quickly pounced off it and into the corner where there was a little doggy area set up. Here there was a basket that was the perfect size for the chihuahua, several pillows and toys, which Walnut got right to chewing on once he was comfortable on a purple velvet pillow.

Taking her seat, Danielle brought the bag of paintings in front of her but made no move to bring a single one of them out yet. “I would like to see that you have the money first, then we will go through the paintings one by one to confirm their authenticity if you’d like before officially making the payment.” She knew it was a risk, there was no guarantee that Mr Gatling’s paintings were all genuine, but something about his fancy manor and his way of flaunting his wealth through such an elaborate party where these paintings had been stolen from made her believe that he wouldn’t stand to have anything less than the finest on his walls.

With a smile, Mr Marlowe began to unlock his desk drawer.

---

As George fearfully sat down and obeyed Gabriel’s order, everything happened fast. So fast in fact, that his eye couldn’t even track the Professor’s movements partly due to the incredible speed at which he moved, and partly as an effect of the alcohol in his system.

In equal shock to what Robert was in, he stared at his cell mate as if just realising the kind of man he was dealing with. However, unlike the younger individual, George didn’t ask questions, but merely stared as if he were some sort of guardian angel sent from the heavens to spare the man or the others... perhaps even some chance at redemption. This epiphany seemed to work like magic as when the man rose to his feet, he wore a deathly serious expression on his face, any shred of evidence of him having been drinking all gone save for the smell of it on his clothes and breath.

Following the well-dressed individual out of their prison, he continued to stare at Gabriel in awe, then he looked at the other jailed youngsters, and finally back at Gabriel again as the two parties interacted and spoke.

George reached out to grab their saviour’s shoulder, but it seemed he had learnt his lesson after his last attempt to do that and he withdrew his hand. Instead, he turned to the unconscious guard and grabbed his ankles to drag him into the cell, then took his security ID and his wooden baton, before stepping out of the jail and shutting the barred door.

Having sobered up like a switch inside him had been flicked, he stood beside Gabriel instead of behind him with the baton in hand and determined to at least get Henry out. “Let me help. I owe it to Rowan…”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Butler: #79b9b9

Mr Marlowe: #9c79b9

Drunken George: #a5930e

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #13

Beast raised her head in a proud victorious gesture when the little cheeky chihuahua got scared and disappeared in her owner´s robe, almost knocking him down on the ground. Served them right. One for daring to bark at her and the second one for having a policy against big and majestic dogs on his sofa. She knew that she promised Danielle to behave but couldn´t help herself and so a mischievous giggle escaped her throat, before walking back to Danielle´s site, poking the treasure huntress with her wet nose.

Mr. Marlowe took her behavior surprisingly well, however, especially given how Namkhai introduced him as a terrible bad guy who had his hands in almost all criminal activities imaginable. His current behavior however couldn´t fool Beast. She was a smart girl and knew that Namkhai was quite clever, at least for hooman and that hoomans who partnered themselves with chihuahuas were rarely good people. And since her dad wasn´t there, it was her duty to protect Danielle against all plots this Mr. Marlowe prepared against her.

Following the blonde woman into Marlowe´s office she took a place next to Danielle´s left side, without letting their host out of her sight. When Walnut makes his way out of his master robe she watched and ignored him completely, as the dominance between the two of them was already established. Beast was almost ready to sit down when she noticed that Mr. Marlowe´s hand disappeared under the table. Swiftly leaning forward so her mouth was barely a few centimeters away from his face she released a blood-chilling growl all hair of her furry coat raised making her almost twice as big in the eyes of the onlookers.

---

The four prisoners were visibly terrified of Gabriel, but they did as he said. Being the most courageous or perhaps carefree of the bunch, Robert went first, followed by Henry who was doing his best to always stay directly between Gabriel and his sister, their group closed by the last man whose name Gabriel didn´t learn yet.

As the Professor turned around, he noticed the change in George´s behavior, which made him re-evaluate his opinion about him. Perhaps there was a deeper story behind this drunkard, one that he would like to hear when they all get into the safety of their ship.

“Alight, you´ll be the rear-guard.”

He muttered heading upstairs.

If everything was ideal, they would sneak through the station without anyone noticing but, they weren´t living in the ideal world so as they reached the ground floor a door next to Gabriel´s right side opened, and a young guard walked out, yelling towards the cellar

“Hey Marcus, what are you doing there for…”

He didn´t finish as the Professor´s fist hit his chin, sending him directly into the land of dreams. It was a good hit. Maybe too good actually as it sent him several steps back, too far for Gabriel to catch his body before it hit the ground with a loud THUD! And afterward, all hell broke loose.

Another door opened further in the corridor and on Gabriel´s left revealing a man in his early thirties wearing a suit not so different from that one Gabriel was wearing.

“What was….S*IT!”

He cursed, pulling out a small revolver, before pulling the trigger. The Professor knew that with his skills he would be able to dodge even in this narrow corridor but that would mean that the people behind him would take the hit and so he stood his ground instead, muscles clenched to the level of steel.

“Indestructible”

Six bullets left the weapons and six of them hit the mark, tearing through his suit and skin but failing to penetrate deeper through his technique, leaving behind only small wounds and growing bruisers.

“OH FU…”

The agent screamed in panic, but Gabriel was already there. Moving with a blinding speed he ran through the corridor with his Blink technique, pushing the hand with the gun away, before stabbing the man through the chest with his Spear. There was no mercy for people that hit that cute girl in the face.

Stepping over the first agent´s body, he found himself in a small room with a single table, two chairs, one of which was equipped with steel shackles, and a small cupboard. There were signs that someone got a beating there all over the place and another four agents, quickly dropped their cigarettes and reached for weapons.

“Blink”

Moving with blinding speed again, the Professor appeared behind the one staying furthest away from the door, stabbing him from behind, only to notice that the third agent already drew a long knife, swinging it against Gabriel´s face.

“Empty Moon…Spear”

Intercepting its movement, the Professor gently pushed the attack of its path, robbing the agent of his balance, before stabbing him too.

“Soru!”

The fourth agent disappeared from his line of sight in an attempt to flank him. He was fast, but not fast enough for Gabriel to track, so when he appeared again, the Professor was ready.

“Shigan!”

“Stalking Moon…”

Using the power of the incoming jab, the Professor rotated his body alongside his arm, moving behind his opponent, only to catch him in a rear-naked choke.

“Drop it!”

He yelled at the last remaining agent whose weapon of choice was another revolver that was pointed at his direction.

“I said drop…Indestructible”

Terrified the agent pulled the trigger instead. Driven by a reflex, Gabriel tensed his whole body again, but it wasn´t necessary as the bullet found its mark not in his head, but below in the chest of his hostage.

“Blink”

Cursing for himself, he released his technique moving towards his last target before he could really realize what was going on. Grabbing him by his wrist, Gabriel twisted and pulled, turning that man´s weapon against himself, before pulling the trigger for him.

As the last body dropped to the floor, he turned back to the door realizing that Eponine and her brother were standing there watching him in pure disbelief.

“What are you waiting for?!”

He growled, adrenaline still pumping through his veins in a dangerously high dose.

“Get out of here, before the guards get here!”

[Bobbie]

With any and every prompt from Beast, Danielle would pet the large malamute, clearly unable to resist her gentle prods from her wet nose. Even as she sat in Mr Marlowe’s office, one hand moved to pet Beast until the furry animal moved to be within an inch of the poor man’s face, a vicious growl coming from her throat as her coat seemed to double in size.

Mr Marlowe flinched and he leaned back in his seat, letting go of whatever he was doing under the desk, while his Chihuahua sat up, alert, and started barking at Beast again to defend his master.

“I’m just getting the money! Please, Daniel, control your dog!” he exclaimed in shock, not expecting such aggressive behaviour when all he was doing was precisely what Danielle asked of him. The key was still in the lock of his drawer, the keyring hanging from it with several other keys, some to the locked chests on the shelves, others to locks that concealed his more secretive business in the basement that he hid so very well from his most recent associate.

For a moment, Danielle didn’t intervene, perhaps testing what Namkhai had said about this man. Where was his army of bodyguards? All she met so far was an old butler who only put forward a polite request for Beast to stay off the expensive sofa with hardly any form of enforcement whatsoever and a cute little chihuahua. She wondered if they would show up if she waited a little bit longer, eyeing the man for his reaction, trying to note even the slightest micro-expressions as she allowed Beast to remain so close to him in such a terrifying form for a bit longer.

“Hello?!” Mr Marlowe seemed to be running out of patience as he stared at Danielle, incredulous at the fact that she was doing nothing to discipline the bear that she brought in here with her. His attention quickly returned back to Beast, however, as he didn’t dare keep his eyes off her for very long, and it seemed even Walnut had enough sense in his little head to know not to challenge her, the tiny dog’s barking having stopped now.

“It’s okay, Beast, it seems he’s quite harmless.” She uttered, almost disappointed by how utterly defenceless this man seemed. It was such a contrast to the image that Namkhai had painted of him. Here she was, facing a man who didn’t even have the courage to reach past a large furball who wouldn't hurt a fly to retrieve an item from his desk.

Mr Marlowe recomposed himself and once Beast gave him some room, he unlocked the drawer, took the keys out and tucked them away into his pocket, then pulled the drawer open to retrieve what he was looking for. However, his face soon twisted into a frown and he tilted his head to get a better look inside the drawer, before silently cursing to himself.

“Never mind…” he grumbled to himself and took out a chequebook instead of cash. “Cheques will have to do. There are twelve paintings, correct? I promised you 200 million for the twelve of them…” with a slightly annoyed look, he began to fill in the cheque for the given amount, trying to hurry now as his trust in this pair was beginning to dwindle. He was growing more eager for this transaction to be over by the second. The worst of all was that he wasn’t expecting a dog to be here, certainly not one of Beast's size, and the longer this went on for, the higher the chances were of her sniffing something out. Thankfully, this room had enough lit incense to mask the scents of the other ‘goods’ stowed away downstairs without triggering any irritation in her sensitive nose.

“Wait. I was under the impression that 200 million will be given in cash.” Danielle suddenly spoke, causing the man to pause, his eye twitching lightly as he looked up at her.

“What difference does it make? Money is money, there are several local banks in the area, you can go and cash this cheque the minute you leave my parlour if you’d like.”

Danielle sighed, having done some quick math as she looked worried - 200 million would not be perfectly divisible by 12 paintings, which would mean that were they to be paid individually instead of as one large amount, that number would either have to increase or decrease to a rounded figure. If it was the latter, the deal was off, and she knew how badly he seemed to want these paintings.

“I would just like to have record of payment for each and every one of the twelve paintings. If the sum is given in cash, it would be easily split into twelve, no?” She asked, pretending to have not noticed this discrepancy. “I would like payment to be made per painting, please. Twelve cheques of equal payments.”

“That’s…” The man’s patient demeanour wavered, but he soon corrected himself and smiled again. “As you wish… so twelve cheques of… sixteen million?”

“Seventeen million. Sixteen by twelve would be just under 200 - which we've already agreed upon - if my math is correct…”

“Seventeen million it is!” his voice seemed to rise an octave as he filled in the first cheque, then flipped the sheet over and did the same for the second one. As he was busy doing this for remaining ten cheques, Danielle glanced at Beast, quite pleased with the fact that she earned herself an additional four million.

“There! Now, the paintings?” he set the twelve cheques aside out of Danielle’s reach for now as he stood to lean over the desk. The treasure huntress who was eyeing that stack of cheques did the same and brought the first painting out of the bag and onto the desk, unfurling the canvas.

“Genuine and original, just as promised…” she said but then held her breath as Mr Marlowe sceptically grabbed his lens and held it over some of the finer details to see for himself.

“This is magnificent… how did you get your hands on these paintings?”

“That’s not your concern. Shall we look at the next one?”

---

With a silent nod to Gabriel, George ushered the other four escapees forward to be between himself and the Professor.

“Come on, come on…” he mumbled, as he rushed them along and then hurried up after them in the stairwell till they made it to the ground floor. Unfortunately, everything was not plain sailing from there, however, as when Gabriel sent his second victim flying through the air only to crash down in the least graceful manner possible, he made a lot of noise that alerted many others to come and investigate.

As they stood at the end of the corridor, George let Gabriel handle the guards who approached him, and did his job as the rear-guard, watching their back for any unexpected surprises. Once a room was emptied, he gestured for the youngsters to seek refuge inside, keeping them out of harm’s way as it sounded like all hell broke loose in the room where Gabriel was.

“Wait here,” he said to Robert, Henry, Eponine and the fourth young man who was too scared to utter a word, and left them for a moment to go and check on Gabriel. What he saw made the man freeze in horror as he stood in the doorway - the Professor had his hand through the chest of one of his opponents, while at least two other guards were still standing and a few others were down on the ground, having suffered the man’s vicious attacks. Without making a sound, George quickly returned to the four ex-prisoners, planning to keep them away from the gruesome scene he had just witnessed, but before he could get to the room he left them in, he was cut off by two guards that came stampeding through the hallway to assist their peers.

Gripping the baton tightly, George swung upward to throw the front man’s head back with a strike to his chin from the metal stick - which he originally thought was made of wood.

As the two tumbled, they were able to support each other’s weight and prevent each other from falling over to the floor, but were not fast enough to counter an oncoming attack from their assailant as George rammed into them like a bull.

All three men fell to the ground with George on top. Now gripping the baton in both of his hands, he used it as a bar to press down on one man’s throat and cut off his air supply until he’d stop struggling and lose consciousness. The other guard, who was unfortunate enough to be at the bottom of the body pile was unconscious from the fall.

Rising to his feet, he swung the baton in his hand like it was second nature to him, to find that the youngsters did just what youngsters do - they didn’t obey instruction and did not stay were he left them. In fact, all five of them, including himself, were standing in the corridor as Gabriel snapped at them to get out.

“Move, move!” George reinforced the Professor’s command, pointing to a door for them to hurry up.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Butler: #79b9b9

Mr Marlowe: #9c79b9

Drunken George: #a5930e

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #14

Beast pulled back at Danielle´s request, however, still watched Mr. Marlow carefully and with a hint of suspicion in her large brown eyes. Something was wrong there, here instincts were telling her as much, but she couldn´t figure out what it was. Did it have something in common with the fact that he didn´t have the promised money and offered her a cheque instead? Maybe, it would be definitely helpful if the oversized malamute knew what cheques are, she should probably ask Danielle later. But…that probably wasn´t it since the young treasure huntress agreed to that exchange. No, there was something…

She paused as she realized it. That smell, there was something strange in the air. The man was trying to hide it with various incense, but she could still catch a glimpse of it with her sensitive nose. She had to warn Danielle in case it would be something important, but how when she promised not to talk?

“Wooof! Woof! Woof!”

She suddenly barked, poking the woman with her wet nose, before running towards one end of the shelves, completely ignoring the terrified chihuahua. Once there, she started barking again, hitting the shelf with one of her paws, to mark it as the place from where the strange smell was coming from.

---

Led by George the kids ran outside of the building followed quickly by Gabriel. As the Professor rushed back to the corridor, he realized two things. First, there were two more guards lying on the ground hinting, that George was pretty skilled with his weapon of choice and truly deserved his apology after they´ll all get into the safety. Second, the guard captain was already in the corridor as well, stabbing him with a murderous Gaze.

“YOU ************”

The curse was followed by a headless charge with, and fist readied for a punch. Such a simple attack would be normally easy for the martial artists to dodge or block, but with the five people behind him he couldn´t risk they would get caught in it as well, so he decided to take it head on.

“Indestructible!”

Only after he hardened his muscles to the level of steel did he realize, that something was wrong with this punch. As her arm suddenly grew in size, covered itself with dark fur and the knuckles on her fists grew hard, hoof-like brass knuckles.

“Beast Punch!”

She yelled, as the fist connected, punching straight through the Professor´s technique and sending him flying through the door out at the street.

“Urgh…”

He cursed when his back collided with George and the whole group flew outside.

“Run to the port!”

He yelled to get his voice through the confusion and painful groaning, that followed.

“Find a ship under Toroa flag and tell Namkhai that the Professor send you, go!”

He snapped his orders while climbing back at his feet. Just in time to see a giant aurochs smashing through the front wall of the police station, charging straight against him, with blood-chilling battle cry.

Taking a deep and firm stance, he shielded the fleeing group with his own body. However, this time, instead of taking it head on, he captured her horns with his arm, turning and twisting, to transform the flow of her power into a throw that saw her horns planted deep into the pavement at a safe distance from Gabriel´s body.

“Empty Moon: Reversal”

The Professor opened his mouth in an attempt to talk her down, but it was only a waste of effort as the captain swiftly transformed into her human form, before jumping back, taking the form of a large and heavily muscular minotaur before even landing.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?”

She yelled at him furious.

“These men were CP agents! CP agents! And now they are dead! At my station! Can you imagine what kind of sh*ts you ******* threw me into?!

She raised her fist for another strike but stopped when she noticed Gabriel chuckle in a way that made her skin crawl.

“What are you laughing at?!”

The captain growled with a tone that was implying she just begged for an excuse to get even more angrier at him.

Gabriel shook his head in response.

“Nothing…it´s just I find it quite ironic, don´t you?”

He asked, nodding towards her arms that grew too big for her shirt, tearing its sleeves to pieces, while revealing two tattooed words, one at each forearm.

“Courage, honor, it seems that these two values are important enough for you to carve them into your flesh, but do you even understand their meaning? True courage is fighting against the corrupted government of this place even when its servants outnumber your thousands to one. Honour is resisting tyranny, even when everyone else suckles and grow fat on its hypocrisy and lies!”

He looked directly into her eyes and saw a deep shock in them.

“You know nothing of honor nor courage. While these kids you held locked up for crimes, they didn´t commit are embodying it.”

Gabriel saw as something deep inside her broke down as her arm dropped, but he didn´t have enough time to wait for which side she´ll chose so he took advantage of her broken spirit and lunged forward, twisting his whole body behind the single strike.

“Dragon Fist!”

The strike connected with her solar plexus and sent her to the ground, while her body was transforming back into it´s human form.

[Bobbie]

Danielle and Mr Marlowe looked through the paintings together, as the woman pretended to know a thing or two about the treasure she brought to her buyer, while he was simply too absorbed in his scrutiny of the artworks. However, each time and to his amazement, every canvas would be verified as authentic and would be gently set aside, as the collector didn’t dare roll up such a delicate and valuable item as Danielle had prior to bringing them here.

As Beast seemed to grow restless, Danielle looked away from Mr Marlowe for a moment to see what was wrong with her, but she didn’t say anything yet. The massive dog only seemed to be sniffing the air, and she assumed it must have been the scent of the paint or dust and mustiness from the old paintings that was bothering her sensitive nose. In hopes of comforting her, she gently rubbed behind her ear, but her attention went back to the artwork on Mr Marlowe’s desk as he examined the fine details.

“This is the fifth out of the twelve that seems to be genuine…” he muttered, as if such an accomplishment were impossible, yet Danielle had succeeded.

“Should I feel insulted?” the blonde snapped at him as she raised the sixth one out of the bag and onto the desk, prompting Mr Marlowe to quickly move the previous one out of the way unless he wanted it to remain tucked away underneath. “Of course they are genuine, all twelve of them are. Allowing you to verify that is simply out of politeness, how dare you even imply that I would bring you anything other than authentic material?”

Mr Marlowe flinched and he stared at her as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t. Danielle continued her bluff and shook her head, about to grab the seventh one already, aiming to rush through them because she was not quite sure if her promise could be kept. If he is so shocked at five of them being genuine so far, something must be wrong... some of them might actually be fake.

“Wait, wait… I’m not done with this one yet.” The wealthy man stopped her, then resumed his inspection. Beast’s sudden barking filled the room, sending Walnut into a fearful frenzy of whimpers and howls, which made Mr Marlowe raise his head in irritation once more. “Will you keep your dog quiet? If she doesn’t stay quiet, she will wait outside.” While the man had quite an approachable manner initially, the more time passed, the more unwelcoming he appeared to be, and even Danielle was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable around him.

“Beast…” she turned to the malamute, before being met with a large, wet nose, nudging her side as her arm was pushed under Beast’s strength. “What is it?” A frown grew on her face as she realised that Beast was barking for more than just attention as she took off to a corner of the room where one of the shelves was. She glanced at Mr Marlowe, who was too engrossed in his inspection to notice and had taken it upon himself to pick up the seventh and move on quickly and efficiently, then she turned back to Beast, following her to the shelf. “Is there something else up there?” She asked in a hushed tone as she tried to peer over onto the shelf, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. There was one of the precious chests that she had noticed earlier, and a stick of incense that was burning to give the room a rather pleasant smell without it being too overbearing. There were three of the sticks around the room.

Then she wondered if Beast was trying to tell her there was something inside the chest, so she reached up for it. Her fingertips had only touched it when Mr Marlowe’s voice boomed, “Please don’t touch that!”

Worried that he would go back on their deal and not give her the cheques, Danielle quickly obliged and withdrew her hands. “Sorry. I was just curious - as a fellow collector, I’m sure you understand…”

The man in the lavender robe watched her cautiously for a moment, as if trying to determine whether he wanted to continue this deal or not. In reality, he was assessing how much of a problem Danielle and that dog of hers were going to be. He needed them out of his parlour as soon as possible, but he couldn’t have that before each and every painting was assessed. Currently holding the tenth of the twelve masterpieces, he had already rushed through the last two so much that he wasn’t even entirely certain that they were.

“Of course, I understand…” he replied, before gesturing to the chairs again, “May I please ask you to remain seated while you wait? I’ll do my best to be quick, but this is an art that cannot be ru-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Danielle narrowed her eye. “The incense is bothering her sensitive nose.”

Again, the man frowned. “Then she can wait outside.”

Taking that as a complete lack of empathy for her furry friend, Danielle was now glaring at Mr Marlowe. “If she leaves this room, I leave with her and all twelve of those paintings and I assure you that you will never see them again from any other seller. I will not sell them to another person, let me make this clear to you - I will burn them. Either get rid of the incense or be done within seconds.”

Mr Marlowe couldn’t believe his luck - any other dog would have most likely not been able to pick up on any scent, which he was certain of since he could test this with his own pet chihuahua and a few other dogs that came and went. Yet here he was, facing a ridiculously massive breed who could just be grumpy because of the aromatic sticks burning, or perhaps she could have picked up on something more dangerous. With no way of knowing, he certainly couldn’t take any risks, so he quickly unrolled the tenth painting, then the eleventh, and finally the twelfth one, all on top of one another to get very little more than a single glance at each image. Hastily, he picked up the cheques and stretched his arm out over the desk toward Danielle. “Here. The paintings are all authentic, the money's yours. Pleasure doing business with you - my apologies for any inconvenience to you and your… dog.”

With a pleased smile, Danielle reached out to take the stack of papers, signed to his name with 17 million on each one promised to her.

---

As George led the four youngsters outside, he paused to look back and check that Gabriel was alright. He allowed the others to pass him, just in case any danger was following them out - which it was, but not the kind of danger that he was expecting.

The body of the Professor was hurled through the entire corridor and out the door to collide with George. His eyes wide, he made some attempt to catch him, mainly because if he simply stepped out of the way, Gabriel would smash into the remaining four escapees instead, and he was supposed to be helping protect them, not put them in further harm's way. The collision was one that he underestimated, however, as all five of them were knocked over like bowling pins, thankfully not piling up on top of each other.

Groaning, George clambered to his feet, the baton he was holding having been flung out of his hands somewhere in that mess. His body ached with the blow from Gabriel’s body, but he recognised something - his muscles were so tense and rigid, it reminded him of a technique that he had seen in CP agents. Was this Professor one of them?

Having no time to waste, he helped the others up from the ground. “Toroa flag, Namkhai, the Professor, got it!” he replied, already rushing them to get moving, but then froze and looked back at him once more, "Namkhai!? Titan of Bokh, Namkhai?" George was well aware of who that was, and this Professor here was an associate of his? The day was getting more and more interesting, but he didn't have the time to stand around and gawk at that any longer. He was tempted to stay behind and help Gabriel, but he had enough sense to see when he would simply be in the way. Besides, there was another thing that he noticed… this woman - or beast - who emerged from the station after the Professor seemed to have a personal vendetta against Gabriel, and he knew better than to get in the middle of a lovers’ death brawl like that. 

“Jeez, what did you do to her, marry her sister?” he asked, rhetorically, before he began to make his way to the port with Robert, Henry, Eponine, and the fourth young man who had still not uttered a word.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Butler: #79b9b9

Mr Marlowe: #9c79b9

Drunken George: #a5930e

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #15

While George was leading his charges away from the site of the fight, the captain fell to the ground unconscious with Gabriel standing above her body, breathing heavily, not because of exhaustion, but because of the cold rage, that was burning deep inside of him. Hurting such a beautiful and innocent creature like Eponine just to cover up your own crime was unforgivable a crime punishable only by death. If he just knows where to find the responsible ones…

In front of him, a group of local guardsmen rushed to help their captain, batons, and swords in their hands.

“Yes, these could work…”

The Professor frowned, readying his spear, only for his attention to be drawn elsewhere. To his left, a giantess was saying something. Too far away for him to understand the words properly, but her booming voice was enough to snap him out of his murderous rage because from Sigrid it was only short travel to Danielle, his other puppy, that was left alone with an incredibly dangerous man and reckless malamute.

“Oh no…True Step!”

The guardsmen were already around him, swinging their weapons that hit nothing but empty air, as the Professor suddenly accelerated to a blinding speed, flying high in the sky, to take a look at the city from above. Gabriel took a moment to orient himself, before kicking the air again. It took him several steps before he landed in front of the Marlowe´s Parlour, or what he thought was it.

Not bothering himself with knocking, the Professor barged in, destroying the wooden door in the process with a well-placed kick.

“WHAT THE!?”

An elderly butler jumped in surprise, watching Gabriel with eyes wide open.

“Where is she?!”

The Professor growled coldly.

“I…I…where is who?!”

The butler stuttered, before falling to the ground as he tripped over his own food in a desperate attempt to run away from the furious Professor.

“What did you do with Danielle?!”

---

Meanwhile, in Mr. Marlowe´s office, Beast was confused as to why Danielle was ignoring her attempts to draw her attention toward the shelf from which the strange smell was coming. Well, maybe ignoring wasn´t the right word as both of them seemed to pay their attention to her only in a different way than she hoped for. That man even going so far as to threaten that he´ll kick her out.

“Whooooooo?!”

The malamute howled in response with a mix of surprise and frustration, before walking back to Danielle to grab her arm and pull her to the shelf, but there she stopped with her mouth open just a few inches away from the treasure huntress.

For a moment she was standing there watching the transaction unfolding before she closed her mouth and walked behind Danielle where she sat down realizing, that the woman didn´t look stressed at all. On the contrary, it was Mr. Marlowe who looked desperate, so perhaps, everything was as it should be? She was confused and frustrated that, because she promised Danielle not to speak when she wanted to talk to her so bad…but maybe it would be enough to tell her outside?

As she was pondering about it a loud noise hit her ears as someone kicked the door in, which was followed by Gabriel´s voice.

“WOOOF! WOOOF! DAAAAAAAAAD!”

She howled happily before freezing on spot, realizing what she has just done.

“W…w…woof?!”

The massive malamute stuttered, taking a careful look at Mr. Marlowe and Danielle to see if they noticed.

[Bobbie]

As Danielle took the twelve cheques, she quickly counted them to make sure that they were all there and signed, with no tricks. Raising her head to look at Mr Marlowe, she smiled and opened her mouth to thank him, just when a loud bang could be heard outside.

“What on earth?” Worried that Danielle and Beast may have somehow brought back up to find out what he was up to in his basement, he watched them for a moment to gauge their reactions. It seemed they were equally surprised as him. Then the unthinkable happened - the massive malamute in his office uttered a word in between her barks. In horror, Mr Marlowe jumped back to create more distance between him and Beast, a finger rising to point at the dog. “You… You can talk!? You’re not a dog, are you?” He asked in fear that she could be a devil fruit user, transformed into this form to catch him out for his illegal doings. Of course, it all made sense now! She was here to sniff around the place and report back! This entire deal was a ruse and he had been played!

Danielle’s eye went wide and she looked at Beast, then at Mr Marlowe, then at Beast again. “What?” She laughed, “What do you mean she can talk? She’s a dog - can your chihuahua talk?” The blonde began to pet Beast, hoping to reassure her that it was going to be okay. “I think the stress of this transaction is getting to you, Mr Marlowe.”

With that, the man hurried out of his office to inspect what was happening, only to find his butler on the floor and Gabriel standing over him. He was dressed so neatly, could this be a government agent?

“Can… Can I help you… sir?” he asked, his voice shaking as he caught a glimpse of the shattered door before his gaze fell upon the Professor's bloodied hands. At that moment Mr Marlowe was convinced that today would be the day he'd face up to his crimes - or die.

Meanwhile, inside his office, Danielle snatched one of the chests from the shelves and put it inside her bag that was now emptied of its paintings. “Come on, Beast… let’s get out of here before the Professor ruins everything.” Ruffling her ears, she hurried out of the office, bag on her shoulder and cheques in her hand.

“Professor, there you are!” she called out, frantically waving the cheques to get his attention while Mr Marlowe had her out of his vision. Pointing at the cheques with her free hand, she mouthed ‘ALL GOOD’ to him, before continuing. “This is an arts and history professor, my associate. He assessed the paintings before they were brought over to you. I told you it wasn’t necessary to check them all again.” At least part of that statement was true, and she hoped it would be enough for Gabriel to go along with her partial truths without displaying the same awful lying skills he had earlier.

“My butler… my door…” Mr Marlowe was in shock of all the damage that was done to his beloved parlour and his employee.

“Pleasure doing business with you, Mr Marlowe. I will be in touch when I’ve got my hands on the next collection.” Danielle continued, before turning to Gabriel and trying to quite literally push him back out through the gaping hole of a door that he created. “Move it! Before he decides to charge us for all the damage you’ve caused. What were you thinking!?” She hissed at him, thankful that Mr Marlowe seemed to be too stunned to even hear her.

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Danielle: #fffd17
Butler: #79b9b9

Mr Marlowe: #9c79b9

Drunken George: #a5930e