Kenzo was in a luck streak. He’d come earlier that day back to the inn where he was staying. He finally reached Batra’s place just before the hour it got normally busy. As he crossed the door, the man knew today was going to be a special night. Dozens of beer barrels were being delivered to the place, people raced up and down helping with decorations and arranging the tables. Kenzo even saw what appeared to be a jazz band taking place in a corner of the main hall. As he walked to the counter, the man found the owner busy signing some orders. ”Yo, Batra. What’s all the fuzz?”

The bald owner looked around to see Kenzo standing waiting for an answer. He’d asked the young male for help with some requests a couple of times now, adding to the fact that he’d slept at the inn for almost a week and a half, so both of them were well acquainted. ”Hey, Kenzo! Welcome back. Today we’re having a big shot kid celebrating his birthday. He’s a royal, and a loaded one at that.” Batra flashed a smile at Kenzo, as he nodded towards the bag of jewels he held in his hand. Kenzo had just been paid for completing a job, he understood perfectly what the owner meant. With a cocky smile, he directed towards Batra. ”Guess we’ll make some money today then…”  

The party was full of people. Booze flowed freely and without a seeming end. The blue haired man blended right in. As the night progressed, Kenzo found himself sitting on a table with a couple of other men. As the booze flowed to his head, he noticed a male just a year or two younger than himself sit at an empty chair right in front of him. If the pair of gorillas next to him were a hint for anything, Kenzo guessed he was meeting the birthday boy in person. A he smiled at the man, Kenzo extended a deck of cards towards him. ”Poker?”

A couple of hours passed by, the tower of chips in front of Kenzo had started to pile up. Lord Mumbasa, as the gorillas called him, was visibly drunk and flustered as his flush of diamonds was beaten by Kenzo’s full house. Collecting the chips from the pot, the blue haired mercenary looked at the royal with a smirk. ”II’m sure itss just a baad luck streaak…”” Pissed off and drunk, Mumbasa stumbled as he tried to stand from his chair. Before losing himself in the crowd, he directed a drunken mumble at Kenzo. ”Juustt wait here… Il’ll come wrtiight fback tro get all the money youuve got.” As he directed himself to the restroom, Kenzo kept a vigilant eye to the corner of the bar. After all, he still had to cash all the chips he had taken from him by now.

However, he grew more impatient as the minutes passed with no sign of him. ”Did that bastard run away?” Just before he stood up and went to check the restroom himself, he noticed a large man carrying a passed out Mumbasa. His eyes grew wider as he noticed he tried to make his way out of the bar. He still carried his debtor on his shoulder. Making a signal at the gorillas, the whole table stood up in a flash as they tried to catch up with the kidnapper. No way in hell was Kenzo letting Mumbasa go until he got his money. As the stranger noticed he was being followed by the bodyguards and the blue haired man, he hurried the pace. The young mercenary was to say the least, impressed. As he tried to keep up at his maximum speed, the black-haired man grew smaller and smaller in the distance. ”What the fuck? Isn’t he also carrying a man in his shoulder?”

Kenzo left the bodyguards behind as well, but the distance between him and the large man just grew wider. For fifteen minutes, he trailed behind him from afar. Guessing at times the direction they went, Kenzo never took his eyes away from them. He was serious when it came to money after all. Finally, the male that carried Mumbasa stopped as he placed him on the ground. They were just outside a well-known clinic of the area. Getting just within hearing range, the blue haired man panted as he heard the older male asking for help. Reviving? Had he heard correctly? Hurrying again next to the man, he immediately understood after seeing him giving Mumbasa CPR, blood still fresh from his nose. Trying to still catch his breath, he directed himself to the stranger. ”Is.. Is it an overdose?”

Without waiting for an answer, Kenzo walked at the clinic’s entrance and smashed the window with his fist. ”Will epinephrine do? I’m not letting my jewels-“ *ahem* ”…that man, die yet” The drunkenness had now faded away from his face. Instead, he awaited for an answer before entering the place through the window and getting what he needed.

Finn had been making his way through the streets, walking in the general vicinity of the Batra's Inn but having no intentions of going there. He had come to Crocus with specific goals in mind, and going to a bar famous for its drunk patrons and drugged out customers was not on his to-do list. In fact, it was sheer coincidence that his late stroll had brought him in the area to begin with. He had been walking back into town from a day of seeing the nearby sites, and the gate he had reentered from had made this the quickest path to get back to his own hotel.

As he turned a corner, he froze and stared blankly at the scene before him. He tried, desperately, to make sense of the situation in the little amount of time he had to do so, but there was certainly a lot. A well dressed man receiving chest compression's from one of the local homeless, with another person standing in front of the smashed window of a clinic. The standing man seemed to be yelling at the other two, but the sound of people yelling and sprinting up from a distance drowned everything out.

Finn approached and crouched down next to the man on the ground who retained his consciousness, glancing up at the man in front of the window, and then back at the heavily armed individuals making their way over, before looking back at the man with the black hair who was now at eye level. "What the fuck is going on here?"

An alarm instantly fired up. Filling the air with a high-pitched ring was the least desirable thing the mercenary wanted for the night. He’d already had trouble with a Rune Knight a couple of nights ago due to a private property damage incident. Kenzo didn’t want any more unnecessary troubles. Still, he was definitely helping the royal that day, or at least until he got his money.

The abnormally big stranger had begun giving the noble chest compressions, quickly confirming Kenzo’s question. The man didn’t know who the hell he was, or where he came out from. But at least he seemed to know what he was doing, for a still drunk Kenzo, that was more than enough to follow his lead. He carefully slipped into the clinic through the broken window, trying to avoid the hundreds of shards scattered all over the place. In a rush, he scrambled around drawers and cabinets searching for what he needed. The alarm’s volume had grown so loud that he didn’t hear the third man approaching the scene and joining the duo. As he still opened cabinet after cabinet, the alarm was suddenly cut silent. ”Good grief. That’s an annoying sound.”

Finally finding what he was looking for, the man grabbed a large syringe with the label of Epi-Pen. He’d used one before, so he instantly recognized it. As he arrived at the reception hall of the clinic, Kenzo noticed for the first time the man that had now joined them. Mumbasa was now tumbled in the ground with his shirt open, two men standing next to him.

Kenzo barely scanned the newcomer as he stood with the pen in his hand, but before he could say anything, the older guy started giving instructions. The blue haired swordsman listened attentively to his description, nodding as every step he had to do was detailed. He didn’t stop to think why he wouldn’t do it himself. Clearly, he was the most knowledgeable of the three, but his state of mind wasn’t the sharpest at the moment. As the black haired man stepped back a little, Kenzo gathered his focus as he knelt next to the ODing man. ”Alright..” Trying to focus on the exact spot where the needle had to pierce, the blue haired man took a deep breath while he prepped the needle. Making sure the air bubbles were out, he directed the shot directly to the spot before suddenly stopping just before it penetrated skin.

”I’m too drunk for this shit.” Kenzo swiftly rose and handed the syringe to the new guy. Placing the pen in his palm, the mercenary grabbed the man by the shoulder as he spoke with a gaze full of determination. ”You’ll do great. I’ll hold him.” His jewels were now in the hands of this complete stranger.

Finn had grabbed the royals legs, helping lift him without given much information. It hadn't seemed like either of them were trying to harm the unconscious man. If they had poisoned him or something along those lines, they'd have had no reason to still be around him. The thought that they might be robbing the clinic and placing this man here so that he'd be considered an accomplice, thus making no one expect the two who had already been there, never crossed Finn's mine. Still, it would be genius if that was their plan.

Yet, luckily enough for the Warrior, it was not. He had helped move the man into the clinic, placing him on the ground well out of the way of any glass. The black haired man spoke of what needed to happen, going into pretty great detail of what needed to be done in order to save the smelly mans life. He introduced himself finally as Noel, and the still nameless blue haired eccentric handed Finn the needle, also speaking that he couldn't handle the situation right then.

Finn, not much of a man of medicine or in depth knowledge of such technology, had no idea what he was suppose to do. If there were any steps beyond what Kenzo had prepared for the needle, or if Noel had been lying, it was far too involved now for Finn to process. All he could do was analyze what was directly before him. The mans shallow breath, paling skin, and the fact that he steadily moved around less and less led the young man to believe that the two were telling the truth. Even if they weren't, Finn would make sure to at least avenge the poor mans death if he were being tricked.

Then, perhaps unexpectedly, Finn grabbed the Epi-Pen from Kenzo and stabbed it directly where Noel had indicated. "Finn, by the way." He spoke candidly, clearly not too thrown off by the situation nor what he had to do. "Is this going to be enough?"

The rest of the process went as smooth as silk. Kenzo backed up a couple of steps and sat on the ground to try to catch his breath. He was still winded from the marathon he had to run trying to catch up with Noel. At least for the moment, he was relieved that birthday boy seemed like he would make it. The royal was definitely disoriented, and it took a little while for him to calm down.

Before he could answer to the recovered guy’s first question, Noel took the initiative. His answer didn’t quite make sense, but what really caught his attention was the ability the man displayed. Using a fishing-like motion, the black-haired wizard opened a cabinet and reeled in a purple bottle from inside. All while sitting a couple of meters away.

”That’s a pretty neat ability you’ve got there.” The mercenary let out a small chuckle at the sight. He found amusing the thought of all its possible applications. His drunken mind divagated a while before letting out a small sigh as he finally recovered his cool from the run from before.  

While still lost in his thoughts, Noel inspected Mumbasa before suggesting them to go back to Batra’s Inn. He even offered on paying for a round of beer. The blue haired man simply placed both hands on his head before cheerfully answering. ”I’m game.” He was a guy that enjoyed beer perhaps a little bit more than he should. It was one of the few things he could consider himself to be invested in. A hobby of sorts, you could say.

For that reason, Kenzo was now in a good mood. Mumbasa hung on Noel as he slowly recovered from the cardiac arrest he almost suffered. The man had seen the effects of overdosing before. A couple of fellow mercenaries in the company he was part of had died to that before. He couldn’t blame them. Everybody had to find their own methods of coping with that sick way of life. Either way, it seemed that the young royal was definitely going to make it. He would wait to remind him of the money he lost though, at least until he was more stable.

As they made their way back to Batra’s Inn, everything seemed to be going great. However, the group hadn’t even made it a couple of steps away before a huge commotion filled the air around them. In a matter of seconds, a score two dozen armed men blocked each and every street surrounding the clinic.

”There they are, those are the men that kidnapped the lord!” One of Mumbasa’s guards signaled at them as he spoke to a well dressed man. The guy was pretty tall, a couple of centimeters more than Noel. He wore a a black suit and shirt, complimented by a grey tie. His long black hair flowed out of a fancy top hat. His eyebrows were odd shaped, giving him the impression of having an angry stare while his eccentric beard made it clear that he was not your average joe.

The stranger rose up a lacrima enhanced speaker and talked at the men with a conceited tone. ”Stop right where you are… You are surrounded. This is detective Lucci from the Rune Knights’ Aegis division. You are under arrest for the charges of kidnapping a royal and damage to royal private property. The sentence for this charges… is death by hanging.” Even from afar, Kenzo could notice the evil smirk on the man speaking.

”WAIT! I-it is a mistake! This people where just helpin-“ ”SILENCE! A royal should know his position in these matters…” Mumbasa immediately understood what the detective meant. If word got around that a royal had been saved by a bunch of nobodies from a case of overdose, it would definitely be a scandal in the papers by the next day. As the division in charge of attending matters concerning royals, Aegis had full executive powers that surpassed even the law.

”Everything said my Lord Mumbasa shall be reported as mind manipulation magic. Now, follow instructions and you shall have a quick death. At least we’ll make sure to bury your corpses instead of dumping them down a sewer” A short evil laugh followed the statement.

”Tch.” Kenzo looked around and saw the complexity of the situation. How the Rune Knights had gotten wind of the incident so quickly was out of his understanding. He had never heard about Aegis or such other divisions within the law enforcement organization. However, he knew that royals in Fiore were a bunch of bigshots. Still, for them to be able to react so quickly, Aegis must definitely be the real deal. The blue haired man was enraged. However, he knew that losing his cool would be a surefire way to get himself killed. He’d wait to see how the other two men would react first. For the moment, he was out of ideas.