It smells musty in here, and closed-in. Judd figures he's the only one who's been up here since the Great Thief himself rung up the curtain and joined the Choir Invisible.
Judd's a little saddened by this. Ah, he wanted to meet the guy. but - those notes were old, and the bugger was probably prolific back in the day; if he died here he did it peacefully. And cheerily full of Johnny Walker, judging by that bottle. Black label, too!
"Good taste," Judd says amiably to the skeleton in the bed, and crouches by the safes on the right side of Great Thief's final place of repose. "Hope you don't mind me checkin' out your spoils - I'll come by again, leave you a couple airline bottles of Walker? Don't haunt me too bad, Eva will mangle us both if she finds out I'm the reason you're chain draggin' by night."
That said, he puts his ear to the safe, just above the dial, and turns it slowly.
The dial is slightly sticky as it turns, but he can hear the tumblers clicking. There's a different click near 10.
There's a faded magazine under the bed. Judging from the bit of leg and red dress, it's probably either one of those books with square jawed detectives and a lot of beautiful women posing, or it's porn.
Somewhere downstairs, a door is creaking.
"These go to eleven!" Judd intones, and then spies the book. And snickers! "If you bring that over when you haunt me Eva'll really maul your ectoplasm," he murmurs.
The door creak makes him pause. Maybe it's some kids down there or urban spelunkers.
Oh well. Probably the undead poultry will prevent them from barging up here all HEY WHAT'CHA DOING. And even if they do get this far, Mr. Ex-Great Thief (rest in peace, thinks Judd) will probably freak them out. He used to crash old buildings as a punkling, and the sight of a very deceased raccoon in one was enough to send him and the others howling out into the night.
Ah, memories!
He tries for the next number.
The click seems to be near "2."
There's an almost unnoticeable rustle, and then a click.
Click?
Judd freezes, and puts his hands up, palms out. "Good evening, officer?" he tries, but he's got a bad feeling about this.
In the metal parts of the safe, he can see the blurred lines of the bed, the odd white blob of the ex-thief, and some large blue shape.
"Evening," says a cheerful man, and something heavy crashes down at his head.
Ow ow ow ow PAIN. Judd sees stars, and gongs his head on the safe, and sees more stars (iut;s a bloody fucking nebula!), then topples to the side, dizzy and very ill. Wrong blue for a cop and they don't - hit people with boulders. Or bulldozers.
He's not out cold but there's not much he can do about now but lie on the floor and will the room to stop spinning right now.
"Owwww fuck--ow," he says eloquently. He's going to kill this turkey when he can get up--
The bulldozer flinging ass nudges him with a toe to roll him over, and then grabs an arm. "Hi," he says with a grin that's noticeable even through the spinning. "Clumsy thief, aren't you?"
It looks like he'd been whacked with the hilt of a sword that's now leaning against the bed.
Judd sprawls! But hey, at least he's free. He draws his knife again and remains crouched.
Vicky - that's her name - has her own knife out. "Eva survived," she says softly. "She's in the hospital, you big bullying failure."
Judd stares. "What. Did. He. Do."
Kouichi's raising the ambient temperature. "He shot her. She's okay? Did that guy -"
Rinko's aiming her bow at Demok's hands.
"What kinda weirdo are you?" Demok asks to the room at large.
"He shot--" Judd sits down hard and hyperventilates a bit. "Gah. He's dead. I - I'm fine. I'm fucking pissed and he tried to paw me but I'm fine, Kouichi."
"She's all right," Vicky says. "Serious but stable." Then to Demok, "I think that's a bit rich a statement coming from you."
Demok kicks Judd toward them with a grin. "Let's play."
Rinko squeaks and automatically lowers her bow.
Judd yelps and sprawls. Vicky jumps over him and punts Demok in the knee, right above his shin guiards.
"Tag you're it."
Judd rolls onto his back and kicks himself upright. All right, then, be serious, ignore his yapping, kick his ass.
Demok draws his gun and shoots at Kouichi.
Kouichi acks and pulls Judd and himself down to the floor. The bullet sinks into the wall behind them.
Judd aaghs and rages at Demok. "OH NO YOU DID NOT YOU ENORMOUS TWUNT--"
Vicky attaches to Demok from behind like a koala with a very bad temper - and jerseys him with his cape!
Judd lets out a sharp guffaw. Okay, the little ones fight dirty... | 
