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Delandow set down the audio diary and leaned back in his chair, sighing, closing his eyes as he fell into deep thought about what was to come. After a few moments he opened his eyes and stared back at the large upside-down, wooden case with a lock on it. He sat up and stood looking at it right side up. He shifted his body to relieve a few aches in his back then walked over to the large case and unlocked it opening the lid (more of a door realy considering the size) and examined the contents then patting it he half closed the case and walked away seeing no need to bother re-locking it.

He put on his coat and grabbed one of the leather masks he used for when he was in public and headed out. Tonight, the mask was had an excuse to all the stares he had been getting before. He mad an unnoticed grin as he passed by the front gate to his brothers mansion where a ball was taking place in the main lobby. He couldn't enter the normal way, due to the ball being invitation only. He continued down the street after a guard shood him off. He cut right around the corner and glanced down the ally way and back before climbing the fence. He squatted on the top of the fence with perfect balance he learned from his ventures through the junk yard. Most of the guards were busy escorting guests into the mansion. There was only two on his side of the building that were actually on patrol. He tossed a small marble shaped object into the shadows of a nearby bush oposite of them and as soon as it landed it made a noise that drew their attention.

He jumped off the fence and dashed up on them before they had a chance to react, reaching around the slower ones neck and twisting hard as he squeezed, muffling the pop then quickly letting go and dive rolling around the other guard as he spun on his heals to see what just happend then standing up and slamming the handle of the Sphinx Riddle across the back of the second guards head, knocking him out. He looked around then took off his jacket and wrapped it around the barrel of his gun before setting against the back of the unconsious guards head and pulling the trigger. He kept his gaze up, making sure no witnesses were pressent then dragged the two guards into the bushes, replacing his clothes with one of theirs and putting on the guards mask, appearently unique to the mansion guards to distinguish them from the rest of the people there, then continued around to the front, nodding to one of the guards as he headed inside.

Most people planning to do what he did, most people who had just done what he did, would be in a panic. But he had nothing to fear, he was already dead for one, and secondly, no one would think there would be an assassin amongst them. Just like how it was on the day of his ceremony. No one expected anything like that to happen either. More of a reason why he knew he was safe and could remain calm as he glanced around before heading up stairs. His brother would get his but first there was someone else he needed to visit, his ex-fiance. He knocked on the door and coughed before speaking in an accent to fake out his voice. "Ma'am, wishes for me to come retrieve you. The guests are waiting." He knew she was in her room still, getting ready and taking her time in doing so. She always liked to be late so she could look the most beautiful of all the women at the parties, the one who made all the males in the room turn to look at her. Which was why, he figured, she never showed before the incident.

"Ugh, he is so pushy! Fine, fine, come in, I'll only be a minute." He entered and closed the door behind him then turning to watch as she fixed up her hair in front of a mirror. She glanced at him through the reflection and raised an eye brow when he stared too long. "Is there something you need?" Delandow coughed and looked away for a second then back at her, realizing she was still watching him, waiting for a better responce than that. "Uhm," he coughed again and sighed. He didn't know what to say. "Hello, my beloved, it's me, your ex fiance back from the dead." Didn't quite feel like the right thing to say. "Well?" She asked as he shifted again and made a gesture in his nervousness that he always made. She saw it and froze. Then stood and looked back at him, her eyes fixated on him. "Do I know you?" She asked as she slowly moved closer. He looked away. "I'm one of the mansion guards, I'm sure you've seen me around, ma'am." She shook her head. "No, no you're not. I recognize you from somewhere else, I know it." When he shifted in shock, realizing his cover was blown she noticed and clearly assumed him as a threat then inhaled, ready to scream for help. He moved faster than she could react and had her held to him, his palm over her motuh, muffling her whimpers as she glared at him.

Then the glare changed to something else and he realized what else she had noticed. The incident had left his face red and scared but his eyes never were harmed. They were still the same saphire blue and emerald green they had always been. He released her when she jerked away putting her hands over half her face as her eyes filled with tears of shock. "It can't be!" Delandow nodded. "It is." She shook her head. "No, No, No! You're dead! How can this be posible!?" He glanced back when he thought he heard a sound outside the room but it was just noise from downstairs so he looked back at her. She had turned and sat down on her bed, her back to him, sobbing. He took a step forward and she waved up a hand. "Don't come closer, please!" He let her collect herself and when she stood, wiping the tears away she faced him again. "Where have you been?" He shrugged. "Too many places to count, really. I've been having to hide because of my injuries. Listen, that's beside the point. I need to tell you something important. My brother he-" She put up a hand as she moved across the room and set it on the mouth of his mask, cutting him off. He breathed heavily as his heart shuttered. It had been so long since had last been so close to her, outside of what happend moments before. She stared at his eyes and shook her head. "Whatever it is, it can wait. Take off your mask."

He shook his head and stepped back. "I can't. The damage caused by the incident was too severe." She shook her head too. "I don't care, take it off." He sighed. "I warned you." He removed it and heard the instant gasp at the sight of his face, the sound stabbing at his heart, making him cringe. "How could your brother be so cruel to allow you to suffer like that?" He sighed and looked at her. "I don't know, I....." It clicked in that moment as his mind replayed her last words. "Wait, I didn't say it was my brother who did this, yet." He looked at her and her face showed that she had been caught. Her eyes went wide. He glared at her. "You knew!? How long?" She whimpered and looked away. "I...I don't recall when he told me. He's kept me held captive here, you see. I can't escape his men. Every time I try to leave they just find me and bring me back." He sighed, almost relieved. "I had to deal with that too. The hospital personel were also under his payroll and wouldn't let me escape either." She sat down, sighing with the knowledge he believed her. He sat down next to her and they were silent for a moment.

He closed his eyes before asking, "How long where we together? Before all of this happened? I don't quite recall, its been so long and I've been through so much." She paused, thinking about it then looked at him. "Five years." He smiled. "Five years...." He looked at her, their eyes locked and he leaned over, she leaning to him. Her breath inhaled as their lips came close then quickly release in surprise as the barrels of the Sphinx Riddle connected under her chin. Her eyes went wide as he pulled away. "Wrong answer." Then pulled the trigger. Her head made a quick jerk from the force of the shot, blood spurting from the top of her head and splattering whereever it landed. Her body fell back and flopped on the floor. He stood and stared down at her. It had been three years that they had been in love. Five years that they had known each other, introduced by his brother as an aquaintence. He didn't need ask her any more questions, his mind connected the dots of all his experiences in an instant. This was planned from the start. They weren't just aquaintances, they were lovers. The love she showed him was a ruse to keep his attention away from his brother, who carefully plotted against him for so long. His brother had been jealous of him, always had been. Quite a scheme he made, brilliant to the very end. But he was dealing with Delandow, not someone stupid enough to keep falling for the illusion.

He thought for a moment if this was right, but then again there had been some odd moments in their relationship that didn't have an explaination till now. He never thought of it before because his love had blinded him from it, his trust in her and her faithfulness keeping him from worrying over something so silly. Now so very serious. He heard his brother calling out her name from down the hall outside. He turned and strided across the room, standing on the hinge side of the door, his gun drawn. His heart begged for answers, understanding. Reasons why this all was happening, why it had to be after all that his brother had done for him. How could he so easily fake the love and caring he had shown Delandow all those years. How could he pull of faking the bond between them. The door knob turned. He shifted the gun to the door, listening to the steps as he shifted back to let the door open without any obsticle. He wanted to aim it and catch his brother, use the gun as a threat to keep him under control, aiming it at the back of his head as he asked the questions his heart longed the answers of. He wanted to, but something else inside him refused to give that son of a b***h the luxury.

He watched the door open and saw the shadow underneath it stop, the man he called brother inhaling a half gasp that was followed by the loud bang as wood shattered and the body fell to the floor, dead as his heart has become in that instant. He walked around the door and knelt down next to the body. The shot went right through the skull and out the other side. At that close a range it was to be expected. He was good at judging peoples hight without seeing them using various factors such as the weight of foot steps and shadows, to see the target without seeing them. But this was his brother, he didn't need these factors, he knew perfectly well how high his brothers head was and knew exactly the spot to aim for through the door.

By the time the guards could get up to the room, Delandow was already at the balcony of his now dead ex-fiance's room. He turned quckly and fired at the first guard, sending the man backwards. The two guards who were still unseen drew their guns and busted into the room firing at anything that stood. He grinned at their lack of aim and drew his gun on the guard to the left. His vision blurred as he fired, connecting with the mans arm isntead of his heart where he had intended. They hadn't missed completely. All he could do at that point was listen as they open fired, feeling the white hot pain flaming in his chest as the bullets zipped through him. He stumbled back and the railing gave way to his momentum and weight and he felt his gut jerk as he fell blindly backwards. Then all the feelings stopped with a sudden impact to the back.

The world had made advances in the realm of technology, so it was without saying that the media had made full use of these advances. They were simply seconds to arrive, just after the police, to the hot spot. That was the Pirate's goal became crowded with lead heads and gossip whores. It was an exhilarating nightmere-ish pursuit of guest and pirate. No one knew who was who, everyone ran from the coppers for fear of being accused of a pirate –wrongly or not- pirates mixed into the guests. No one wanted to be taken downtown for an endless questioning spree that would leave the questioned weary and listless for days. Marie’s ship was maneuvered high above the clouds the moment those sirens rang, so at first, no one noticed their presence. They all reported in whispers to her through radios. Each person placed there’s some place differently, but hers hung at her ear (much like the modern day Bluetooth) Then, one of her newbies slipped up on a pocket plucking. Puck was his name, the man that reported him asked to strangle poor Puck. The slip up was in hiding, and nervously pleaded his case. Marie shook her head and simply chuckled at the whole case.

After a little bit more verbal torture and threats, Marie told them to stop it and focus back on the job; things would be dealt with later. Failure was never an option and always punished, without digression. Ah, well, this should be fun. It was massive chaos and Marie alone seemed to find the twisted joy in it all. The havoc as guest being mistaken for pirate, they would race after the costumed person and nearly tackle them to the ground when they caught up. But the very fact that the police could catch the person meant that they were not of Marie’s pirates. Her pirates were trained. Angry police raced right past pirates, news casters interviewed anyone that fell to their icy grips; it was something of a thrill, a rush for Marie. Quick thinking, out witting, fast foot- working, it was all part of her game and what made life worth it, uncaptured and nearly undetectable. The most elaborate game of chess. "Time to give the press some fun." She mumbled and leapt off the side of the ship, rope in gloved hand as she slid to earth, far below. Her ears even popped.

Marie's landing was nothing short of in the middle of the attention. In the center of it all she stood planted, unafraid, proud and exhilerated. Cops swarmed her now, aiming guns, shouting orders. The press were wild, jostling eachother, the police... no one noticed that Marie's men all wre escaping with their trove, out the back, on ropes. The smirk never left her face, she never spoke, never complied to the orders of the police, each as nervous as the next at actually shooting the woman. Number one, the rumors of her fury were frightening and a far and much less important second... she was a woman afterall. It was this saving grace and thhe ignorance of the male race when it comes to the ability of women that let Marie escape. Undoubtably to the frustration to nearly everyone, for it was hard to find a person in all out support for the woman. Marie looked out for herself and her crew, their familes as well. But that was it. Marie's care was the most exclusive club ever, a job worh killing hundreds for in the underground world, the world of the not so clean. Jostling and jiving for a spot on her crew. Maybe all those legends of their secret lare kept their intrests peeked... Or maybe the fact that she wasn't supossidly human at all.

But a goddess from mythology (though, that tale could have been slightly embellished to scare little children into staying in their beds at night). Whatever the case, Marie Arabella Dreadington was a feared, household name. Footage or actual pictures of her were rare, her voice, even rarer. She was new, off-beat, different and odd in her pirating ways. Deaths and accidents, destruction had all been blamed on her, but the courts could find no evidence that pointed at her as the cause. Beside the people gapping and ending up in car wrecks and other such things as they see her ship float overhead -The Bronze Death- the only thing that was a smoking gun was theivery, tresspassing, breaking and entering, those types of crimes, like Catwoman. Using her rope, she leapt off the trellis and swung around back without much ado. Undoubtably the police would follow her at any moment, but she was here for treasure... a sort of glutton for gold. Straight for the closet -it was a woman's room afterall- where all the good stuff would be, she started to dig. The woman who lived here wasnt very intelligent, all the hiding places were easy to find, soon, she had her arms full of things she deemed of intrest.

Not all treasure to her was glittery gold... A few books in her arms were there as well. When she turned around, a Cuban cigaree and a gold fountain pen sticking out of her mouth. "Ah!" The items fell out and clancked to the ground. "Well met mate. I'd advise getting out of here soon. Leads Heads on the way." She jerked her head at the door. From behind it one could hear the coming of those lead-heads up the long stairs to the room. "Only way out." She said, squating to reclaim the cigaree and pen. Finding it difficult, but she managed. Hustling to the balcony, she dumped her stuff in a leather sack as the bottom of her rope before hopping on and extending a hand to the man. "Looks like adventure calls Harper."