//------------------------------// // Chapter 107 - Mansion // Story: Quest For Harmony // by destinedjagold //------------------------------// Claire was watching the news on her television screen across the table as she sat on her sofa. She turned her head on the arm-rest of the sofa, and grabbed the remote. Extending her arm, she pointed the remote at the television as her thumb prepared to push the button of increasing the volume. Loud sirens were reaching her apartment, and she could barely hear the news. Just as she was about to push the button, the television died as her vision dimmed. Blinking, she stared at the remote, thinking that maybe she might have accidentally pressed the on/off button. “Oh...” Kronz spoke, a bit surprised as he momentarily stopped whatever he was researching in his laptop. He was seated on a wooden chair, busy with his laptop on a small desk on the corner of the room. He blinked, and sighed, before returning to his task. “...so that's why he asked about the location of your home's generators...” “W-what?” Claire asked, standing up and walking towards the teenage male. “Y-your brother seriously sneaked into my dad's mansion!?” “Relax,” Kronz replied as he went back to his internet browser. “I'm sure he knows what he's doing...” He typed a website's address, and hit the ‘Enter’ key, and immediately, he was greeted with an error page. With force, he planted a palm to his forehead. “I forgot... No power means no wi-fi...” He pulled back, dragging the chair with him. He stood up and stretched that lasted for a few seconds before sighing in relief. He then turned to Claire with an awkward smile. “Do you happen to have some unused USB cords, pliers, electric tape, an unused wi-fi stick, screwdrivers, an old phone, and some wires?” Claire blinked...twice...thrice... Xilfer was thankful for the rain, for it somehow drowned the sounds he makes as he swiftly moved towards the garage located at the west-side of the mansion, while hiding behind the tall garden bushes that lined the walls of the mansion. He needed to duck, to avoid being spotted by someone on the other side through the large glass windows. He was about to round a corner when he stopped as he saw, through the gaps of the bushes, a large guard dog lying down under the large doghouse resting at the very wall that surrounded the mansion. He held his breath, and sighed quietly after realizing that the dog was fast asleep. The rain must have also drowned his scent somehow. That, or the dog is too old for guard duty. He took a few steps towards the garage, and he was thankful that the large metallic door was left open. However, something heavy slipped off from his pocket. He stopped and turned slightly to grab the gun. He stared at it as he remembered how he easily pulled it out from the guard he knocked off earlier in the guard house. Shaking his head a bit, he decided to just hold the weapon as he swiftly moved inside the garage. He walked inside, and sighed in relief as he stood up. Finally, he could stretch his legs, but before he could, he froze after a terrified gasp reached his ears. He quickly turned to the source and pointed the gun at the trembling maid. He held guns before, and even had the experience of firing at other gunners who were enemies of his gang back home and on neighboring towns. He held the gun firm, aimed at the maid who was now too terrified to even move or breathe. “Don't move, and don't shout,” Xilfer warned with determined eyes as he walked closer and closer to the helpless maid. Finally, he stopped, after the gun was now within an inch away from the female's skull. Pointing the gun this close wasn't a good idea, for only those who know how to handle these kinds of things, but Xilfer knew all too well that at her current situation, her mind couldn't think of anything other than follow his orders. “Follow my orders, and I'll let you live. Deal?” he smiled with killer eyes, and he received a terrified breath as her response. He eyed her for a short while, admiring her sexy form. He guessed that she was probably around twenty-five to thirty. She had nice curves, but unfortunately, he came here for other reasons. “Turn around,” he said, pulling the gun away for a few inches before she slowly followed what she was told. As she did so, Xilfer stared at her rear. He admired the scene for a second or two before pulling his arm that held the gun behind his back and pounded her neck. And the air in her lungs escaped her mouth as she fell unconscious. Xilfer grabbed her falling form and hid her behind the stacks of boxes. Looking around, he saw pieces of dirty clothing and some rope, and other stuff that he didn't need. Grabbing the rope, he tied the maid's feet and arms. Then, after whispering his apology, he slightly opened her mouth and slid the dirty cloth before wrapping it behind her neck. With that done, he needed to continue with his task. He looked around, but found no generators. He sighed. Maybe he took the wrong way? He continued looking around and saw a door that could lead him inside the mansion. He eyed the door for a second before nodding to himself. Before he stood up however, with his free hand, he grabbed the unconscious maid's chest, and squeezed it a bit before walking towards the door. What he just did, he wasn't sorry. He stood before the door, and leaned his ear on the wooden door to listen at the sounds on the other side. It was quiet... Too quiet. He stepped back and stared at the door. He thought that maybe the door was just too thick. Shrugging, he grabbed the handle and slowly and quietly twisted the knob. As soon as he could no longer twist it any further, he slowly pulled the door open, however, he found out that the door wouldn't move. He tried pulling a little harder, and a little more, and a few more, but the door just wouldn't move. He arched an eyebrow as he wondered what kind of a door was he dealing with. A stupid idea came to his head, and he tried to slowly push the door, and presto, it worked. He blinked in confusion and he made a small opening and took a peak. For long years of robbing other people's homes, he never encountered a garage door to open the other way around. The coast was clear and he found himself in a large tiled room filled with faucets and washing machines and other stuff for cleaning cloths. He let out a low whistle of awe, as he now added to his wishlist to add a room specifically for washing clothes only in his future dream house. He looked around for a bit before his gaze fell on white lab coats hung on cloth hangers. He vaguely remembered that Claire's dad had a few scientists working here in this mansion, so if he were to sneak in, he'd need to look like one of them. That, and he need to take off his soaking clothes as well. Kronz plugged a USB cord to his laptop's USB ports, and soon, an icon on his taskbar made him smile. “B-but how's that possible!?” Claire said in amazement. She couldn't believe that Kronz was able to create a device to connect to the internet using an old phone's signal chip, or whatever it was that Kronz had said. She tried to pay attention while Kronz built his very own device to connect to the internet, but she fell lost from all the foreign words the young genius was babbling. Kronz only grinned as he checked his mail. “Well, the only downside is that the speed will be slow, since I'm only using a mobile phone's signal...” And after a few more seconds, his inbox had loaded, and there, he received a new message. “From Spike?” he whispered to himself as he opened the mail. Claire leaned closer so she could read Spike's message. “Kronz, we just reached the end of the long stairs. We're now inside this small room where there's a brown wooden door with a crystal on top of its frame. We tried opening the door, but it won't open. And oh, there seems to be a crystal statue of an alicorn right in front of the door, by the way.” Kronz then clicked the reply button, and began to type his response while Claire was reading what he was typing. “An alicorn? So far, there are three alicorns that I know of: Celestia, Luna and Cadence. Can you describe that statue for me?” He then clicked the send button, and he then stared at the ‘sending’ window, and waited for it to vanish. He sighed. After all of this, he'll never go back to slow connections again. Xilfer looked at himself, and smiled as the entire lab coat could safely seal the gun he hid. He now wondered if he needed to fix his hair, but he saw a few movies where scientists are always busy with their brains, and always ending up with messy hair. With a shrug, he decided to walk towards the other door. He was about to grab the doorknob when it suddenly twisted. He stopped, stunned, as he realized that someone else was twisting the knob from the other side of the door. He instinctively pulled his hand to grab the gun, but he wasn't fast enough as another maid pulled the door open, almost hitting him in the process. “Ah!” the maid said in surprise, and immediately bent forward into a bow. “I-I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't mean to...I mean... I didn't know that you were...” Xilfer blinked as the maid mumbled an apology. He forgot that he was wearing a lab coat. He mentally slapped himself as he pulled his arms to his coat, as if trying to fix himself. “It's fine, I'm fine...” he said as the maid stared back at him. He guessed that she was in her middle forties. He frowned a bit. He didn't like old females. Who does, anyway? His lame older brother, perhaps. He never actually understood why his brother had a soft heart to old people. He shook his head slightly. “I was just heading out anyway,” he smiled as he thought of something to say that wouldn't sound suspicious. She probably came here for a reason, and he's not going to let her find that cute unconscious girl in the garage. Now that he thought about it, he needed to be quick before that girl wakes up. “Might I ask what is keeping you to your nerves? You know that opening doors like that could hurt someone, right?” “Oh... I know... And I'm really sorry...” she bowed again as her form of apology. “...but the young miss wanted me to look for Elly.” Elly? Young miss? “Does this Elly perhaps have blue gorgeous eyes and long golden hair reaching down to her shoulders?” “Why yes!” the maid said cheerfully. “Have you perhaps seen her?” “Indeed I had,” Xilfer was growing tired of talking like a gentleman... “Though I apologize, but I just recently asked her to get me a few things in the city for our work...” he trailed off. He wanted to add the area of where the scientists work, but he doesn't have a clue where that is. “Oh, I see...” the maid frowned slightly. “I'll let the young miss know.” She nodded her thanks before walking away. Xilfer smiled gently as he closed the door behind him, while eyeing her in the corner of his eye. He now found himself in a spacious hall. It was probably the living room, but he had to stop the urge to whistle in awe at how grand the place was. There were a number of maids walking to and fro, and all were not minding his presence. He grinned inwardly that his disguise made him blend well, but with these many people walking around, one of them is bound to find that unconscious girl. He saw her taking the stairs up, and as soon as she disappeared, he looked around, and as soon as he was convinced that no eyes were on him, he went back inside and leaned his palm on top of the doorknob of the door leading to the garage. He exerted his strength to push down the doorknob, until he heard a faint metal-snapping sound. With the door jammed, it'll buy him some more time before anyone could discover the girl. With that done, he now wondered if he should go directly to the place where the scientists are working, or go and look for this young miss for an impromptu plan. He doesn't have a clue where the former is located, but he has a good idea where the latter is.