Lenya’s day had been progressing phenomenally well. She had defeated Trickster 3-1 in the Round of Sixteen and had therefore proceeded onto the next round of eliminations. She had, metaphorically speaking, been floating on a cloud as she made her way back to her hotel. She couldn’t wait to celebrate the victory with Molly and Charlotte.

What she hadn’t been expecting was to be sidetracked by the hotel manager and informed that, while they were very sorry for the inconvenience, she would have to be relocated to a different hotel room. When, with a sinking feeling in her stomach, she asked why this was, she was informed- in a very apologetic voice- that the cleaning service had discovered humans in her room and they were setting out live-capture traps to hopefully contain them.

Lenya tamped down the boiling hot anger she felt. “What was the cleaning service doing in my room in the first place?! I’m certain that I set out the ‘no disturbance’ sign when I left this morning!”

“I’m sorry ma’am.” The manager told her in a conciliatory voice. “But you did not. My cleaner was only doing her job. I certainly hope those two humans who escaped were not pets?”

Lenya blinked. Her anger cooled as she realized she had no memory of actually hanging the sign on her door as she left that morning. She’d been in a hurry after all… it was entirely possible that…

“Er, well, yes… they were.” Lenya muttered, cursing her own stupidity. “And yes, I realize this hotel has a ‘no pets’ policy but…”

The manager smiled sympathetically. “I understand ma’am. I’ll be sure to notify the staff that if they find either of the humans, they are to be returned unharmed. Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to your new room. We’ve already taken the liberty of moving your things.”

“Thank you.” Lenya mumbled, on the verge of tears as she realized that Charlotte and Molly were out there, lost, and it was entirely her fault.

The day had started out so well…

After the manager had shown her to her new room, Lenya slumped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for several minutes, as her mind became lost in a dense fog of guilt and regret. Eventually, her pad began to beep. Lenya considered ignoring it, at first, but eventually roused herself enough to answer.

“Hello?” she mumbled, staring blearily at the screen, which was curiously blank.

“Good evening Dibilique.” A cheerful voice flowed through the speakers. “This is your media liason, I have a reporter on hold who would like to get a statement from you.”

Lenya nodded. Now the blank screen made sense. In order to preserve her identity, most requests from the media were routed through her sponsor and were audio only.

Lenya didn’t really relish the idea of speaking to a reporter, but it was part of the lifestyle.

“Okay. Put them through.” She muttered dully.

“Dibilique!” A voice that was too-cheerful blasted from her speakers. “This is Lom Tulso from the triple-eight network. First of all congratulations on making it into the Quarterfinals. I have to say I was very impressed at the way you bottle-necked Trickster in the sea round.”

“Thank you.” Lenya deadpanned.

“How does it feel to be back in the Quarters after falling short of them last year?” Lom asked, her voice tinged with enough enthusiasm to grate on Lenya’s nerves in her current mood.

“Oh it feels good.” Lenya mumbled.

“…Good?” Lenya could tell from the tone of Lom’s voice that she was hoping for a little more, a soundbite to work with, but at that moment Lenya really couldn’t be bothered.

“Yeah. Good.” Lenya repeated, suddenly irritated at the reporter. “It feels good to surpass the point I failed at in the last tournament. I’m glad to be doing so well.”

There was a long pause.

“Anything else you’d like to add?” The reporter prompted.

“Not really.” Lenya sighed, suddenly feeling somewhat adversarial.

“Oh… okay well, thanks for your time, Dibilique. Good luck in the next round!”

“Thank you.” Lenya mumbled before cutting the connection.

*.*.*.*

Vanser’s eyes narrowed in concentration as he stared at the image on the screen of his data pad. Dibilique’s smiling face looked out at him, as if to taunt him. Well, they would see who had the last laugh.

He was dimly aware of Rixie pacing the floor behind him, still clad in her Iron Maiden outfit, sans the helmet. Vanser paid her little mind, however. His focus was on the image.

It didn’t take much. Just a few keystrokes and digitally removed her mask. The image blurred as the computer program analyzed the surrounding image and worked to fill in the gaps, repairing her face and giving him a reasonable idea of what the real Dibilique looked like without it. It was fortunate for him that her disguise didn’t really cover much. Which, granted, was part of why he’d been suspicious of her in the first place.

In a few seconds, the image cleared again and Vanser got a good look at the face of the woman underneath the mask.

“Well…?” Rixie muttered, leaning over his shoulder to get a look at the screen. “Is that her?”

Vanser’s brow furrowed as he stared at the image. He clicked another command and the computer changed the woman’s hair color. Another command changed it again, then back to what it originally had been. His gut churned a little and, Vanser was perfectly honest with himself, he found he was just a little disappointed by the result.

“Yeah.” Vanser sighed. “It’s her.”

Rixie smiled. “Well, let’s go do something about it then!” She turned to leave the room, but paused when she realized Vanser was not following her.

“Van?” Rixie asked, turning back around. “Are you coming or what?”

“I… I um…” Vanser muttered, apparently no longer able to look Rixie in the eye.

“What?”

“Well, it’s just… you know, the middle of the Tribute and all… and I…uh…”

Rixie’s eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest. A knowing smile appeared on her face. “Bullshit.”

“What?”

“It means… um…” Rixie blinked. “You know there really isn’t a good translation. Basically what I mean is I’m calling your bluff.”

Vanser’s eyes slid away from Rixie’s “I… bluff? What-what do you mean?”

“You don’t care that much about the tournament.” Rixie explained as the small smirk on her face grew into a large grin. “If this were any other player, except possibly me… you wouldn’t hesitate to confront them. But, because it’s her, and you have an infatuation with her…”

“I do not!”

“You don’t want to blow the whistle on her!” Rixie finished, shaking her head in amusement. “I can see it on your stupid face!”

Vanser grumbled and pulled himself to his feet. “I’m not saying you’re right…”

“Well, not in so many words, no.” Rixie muttered, rolling her eyes in amused exasperation.

“…But you do have a point, I have to set my personal feelings-whatever they may be- aside and do my job.”

Rixie smiled sympathetically, and then her pad suddenly beeped.

“If it’s Zisko asking for a favor, tell me ‘no.’” Vanser muttered wearily. “It’s better in the long run.”

Rixie chuckled and shook her head. “Nah, just a news alert on my pad. Apparently Puppet Master just knocked The Pain out of the tournament, 3-1.”

“That’s too bad.” Vanser muttered. “He seemed like an okay guy.”

Rixie shrugged and slipped her pad back into her pocket. “That’s the game. Sometimes the decent guy loses and sometimes Daemon beats the Masticator and makes it into the quarterfinals.”

Vanser stretched his arms over his head. “Still haven’t forgiven him for last year?”

Rixie shook her head, causing her braids to softly rustle against her shoulders. “Not even a little bit. He’s a sore loser, and an asshole for trying to challenge my win. I’m sorry, but it’s not cheating to use the geography of the playing field to your own advantage.”

“You dropped a mountain on his army.” Vanser noted with a smirk.

“Which, granted, might have been overkill.” Rixie admitted with a shrug. “But it wasn’t cheating.”

Vanser chuckled. But then fell into a contemplative silence. Rixie watched her friend for a moment, feeling both amused and sympathetic to his moral dilemma. She had, of course, met Dibilique before, and she had seemed nice enough for the few brief conversations they’d had together. Rixie didn’t know who she really was though, and Dibilique didn’t know the Iron Maiden’s identity either.

Still, no matter how nice she seemed, if she wanted to harm humans then she was obviously no friend of Rixie Tam.

“Tell you what, how about if I buy you a drink?” Rixie finally said after the silence between them stretched on. “It’ll give you a chance to delay the inevitable confrontation.”

Vanser blinked. “What about Alex?”

“Oh he’s gotten over his jealousy.” Rixie admitted offhandedly. “I’m sure he’ll be fine with the idea.”

Vanser grinned. “No… I meant something more along the idea of ‘would he be joining us’?”

Rixie blushed. “Oh. Well. Uh… no. He’s in the middle of a sleep cycle right now… Um, I’d hate to wake him and all…”

“Right.” Vanser grabbed his pad. “I think that sounds like a fine idea, actually.”

“Great.” Rixie said, turning towards the door.

“So…” Vanser turned to face her with a sly smirk. “Alex was jealous of me, huh?”

Rixie sighed wearily, certain she was going to have to pay for that slip of the tongue sooner or later.

*.*.*.*

Charlotte wiped the dirt from her arms in what she was coming to realize was a futile gesture. She was camped out in the dusty environment in the vent that she’d fled to after Molly… after Molly had been taken by the two titan women.

She was tired, hungry and dirty, but she really didn’t know where else to go or what else to do. The only clean part of her face were the tears tracks below her eyes where she’d been crying all day.

Or days, rather. She knew that she hadn’t been in the tavern for an entire Archavian day yet, but to her body it felt like nearly a week. At least a few days, if how often she’d felt compelled to venture out in search for food was any indication.

Beyond that… she wasn’t sure. She knew that the longer she stayed in the Tavern, the more likely it was she’d be captured by one of the giant beings herself. But something forced her to stay put. Perhaps a futile hope that the women who had taken Molly would return.

Then again, the tavern was a better place than most. There was food and water available, once she’d gotten over her disgust at eating from the floor. In the back of her mind, she lamented what her life had become. She dimly recalled attending Hollywood parties and now she was living the life of a rodent. It was almost enough to drive her to despair.

But she wasn’t ready to give up yet.

Her stomach growled again and Charlotte bit back a groan of frustration. Outside of her hideout, the floorboards rumbled as skyscraper sized servers thudded past her on their way to serve customers. Charlotte could smell the food that they carried and it nearly drove her mad.

Realizing there was nothing else for it, Charlotte dragged herself back to her feet and cautiously approached the grating that shielded her from the outside world. She peered through the slats and tried to find a good target.

She had found that if she could find food before venturing out, it reduced her chances of being caught. There had been a couple close calls. Once it had seemed like a waitress had spotted her, but Charlotte had been able to hide fast enough that the giant woman merely wrote her brief glimpse of the tiny human as a mirage being brought on by overworking.

More than once Charlotte had found herself nearly in the shadow of a falling shoe. Her heart beat furiously as she recalled looking up at a sky full of rubber tread. At least the dancing lessons her mother had put her through as a child were paying off, granting her the agility to dodge out of the way.

Charlotte’s eyes fell on a small pile of crumbs under one of the tables. The setting had just been vacated and the servers hadn’t quite had a chance to clean up. Charlotte decided she’d lend them a hand.

Slowly, she poked her head out from behind the grating and looked around, feeling more and more rodent-like with each passing moment. As humiliating as that was, she knew that for the time being her survival hinged on her being able to be a few rungs lower on the food chain than where she’d been born.

She’d get over it.

Seeing no immediate threats, she quickly dashed from her hiding space and sprinted towards the small pile of food. Beneath her feet the ground shook with steady thudding beats that indicated that a titan was nearing. She put on a burst of speed and slid beneath the shadow of the tabletop.

In front of her, a pair of white comfortable looking shoes- each the size of large trucks- stood as the titan that was attached to them began to clear the plates on the tabletop above. Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief when it became apparent that she had not been spotted.

She could hear the clinking above her as the waitress stacked the used dishes and put them into a large tub. But Charlotte wasted no time, she fell to the small pile of crumbs and began loading as much as she could into the hem of her shirt, having no other way to carry it.

The waitress moved on after a few minutes and Charlotte knew she only had a few minutes to disappear before the waitress returned with the broom. So she dashed out from under shadowy cover of the bar table and ran for the safety of her hiding place as fast as she could while being careful not to spill her precious find.

The ground thudded again, this time it seemed someone with heavier footsteps than the waitress had was approaching, or possibly a group of people. Charlotte remained focused on her goal, and tried to ignore the tremors running through the ground underneath her.

A moment later, Charlotte squeezed behind the grate and hid in her little dusty corner. As she fought to regain her breath after the sprint, she peeked through the grating to see a group of titans, the ones who had obviously made so much racket on their way in.

At the front of the group was a server. It wasn’t the same one who had been cleaning off the table earlier, that one was currently sweeping the floor where Charlotte had been moments before. No, this was a different waitress, although she wore the same kind of shoes.

Behind the server came a pair of titans, a man and a woman, who were each wearing huge imposing boots that struck the ground with concussive thuds with each step they took. The woman was dressed all in black, and the man appeared to be wearing a uniform of some sort.

She almost missed it, as the man walked by, but Charlotte happened to catch a glimpse of his face as he passed over head. There was a tiny sense of familiarity about him, enough that Charlotte took a second glance.

And that’s when she saw it. Charlotte had no idea who the incredibly tall female patron was… but her companion?

Her companion was Vanser Nix. The man that Charlotte and Lenya had been trying to avoid for who knew how long now.

But he was also the man that Molly trusted, and that gave Charlotte a moment of pause. Fate, it seemed, had presented her with a bit of a dilemma. She had been placed into a rather abhorrent situation, forced as she was to scavenge crumbs from the Titans floor, and now the man she’d been told was an enemy had walked in… ostensibly giving her a way out.

But… Molly had trusted Vanser Nix. She’d vouched for him, insisted that he’d meant the young woman no harm. Had taken care of her, in fact. At least as good of care as Lenya had for Charlotte.

Charlotte looked about the dusty, disgusting and dingy little hovel she’d built for herself. It was suddenly no contest. She trusted Molly, and Molly had trusted Vanser. Whatever Vanser Nix was, he couldn’t possibly be worse than a continued existence here on the floor of a tavern.

Once again, Charlotte surveyed the scene. Nix and his companion were not quite on the other side of the tavern, but they were further than Charlotte would normally have ventured from her hiding spot. Of course, one way or the other, she doubted she’d be returning so it didn’t really matter.

She carefully made her way to where the two titans were casually having a drink. Dashing from table to table and carefully avoiding the heavy footfalls of the servers and other patrons. It was moments of blinding panic followed by what seemed like interminable waits in the shadow of barstools and tables as she waited for her path to clear. She could only hope Vanser and his friend were willing to sit for a spell.

Finally, after what seemed like ages of the insane game of hide and seek she was playing, she found herself ducking under Nix’s table. She stayed away from their imposing footwear while she decided what to do next.

Finally, she decided that now was not the time for subtlety. She stepped out from underneath the table and stood a safe distance away from the two titans.

“Hey!” She shouted as loud as she possibly could, hoping that her voice would carry about the din of the bar. “Hey! Vanser! Help me, I’m down here!”