The manor of Black Dragon stood before them, tall and imposing. The dark bricks stood out like a sore thumb against the otherwise pristine backdrop of the city. There were three stories at least, with multiple balconies for the hero to take off and land quickly when he needed to. A tall spire completed the manor’s appearance, making it almost resemble a hodgepodge of medieval castle and modern mansion. As Black Dragon took flight from a balcony, heading into the city to fight crime, Huntress ducked behind the bush the group was using as cover.

“Alright. That should keep him busy for a while. Let’s move. No lingering beyond what we need to do.”

Not a single member of the Rogue Five questioned Huntress, moving forwards to reach the grand front door. Swipe’s tail flicked as she extended a claw.

“Heh. Let’s see if this works.”

Jamming her claw into the keyhole, Swipe jiggled her finger around for a bit, listening to the clasps and mechanisms of the lock as she picked it.

“C’mon… I can hear you giving way…”

Click. The door unlocked, allowing the Rogue Five to surge into Black Dragon’s manor. Blaze and Kraken led the charge, each quickly turning to the sides, fire and water ready to wreak havoc if need be. However, they found nothing needing to be destroyed yet.

“Clear.” Kraken reported, stepping out of the way to allow the rest of them in.

“Clear…” Blaze grumbled in response, having hoped to burn something today.

The foyer was huge, two sets of doors lining each of the side walls while a grand staircase lay before them, stretching into the unseen upper floors. A few bookcases and potted plants served as decoration in the room, cushioned benches taking up the space between them along the walls. It was too quiet. Too empty. However, this allowed a soft sound to reach Zap’s ears.

“Wait. Someone’s coming. Hide.”

The rogues were quick to duck behind a bookshelf, however, this left Blaze with nowhere to go. Blaze grimaced as he searched the foyer for somewhere to hide, his usual cocky and arrogant demeanor giving way to a slight panic.

“Uh… Aha!”

To the collective disappointment of the rest of the Rogue Five, Blaze ducked behind a potted plant. This did basically nothing to conceal him at all and the flames on his head could very clearly be seen above the foliage. Soon enough, the source of the group’s panic became clear. A young maid strolled into the foyer with a feather duster clutched between her wings. She was far from an ordinary maid, her mint green feathered wings matching her short bob cut hair. She had no arms. Only wings where they should have been. Her legs also seemed to be somewhat birdlike, complete with talons where her feet would normally be. Her brown eyes stayed closed most of the time as she danced to the cheesy pop tunes she was listening to with her earbuds. She wore a typical black maid outfit, and seemed to be completely oblivious to her surroundings while dusting off various pieces of furniture, humming along to her favorite tunes.

Huntress sighed in exasperation as she glanced at Kraken.

“Ditzy harpy. Haven’t seen any of them in a while. Wonder how Black Dragon managed to hire one as a maid…”

As the maid continued to perform her duties, cleaning everything in sight, she picked up the pot that Blaze was hiding behind, dusting it off and remaining oblivious to his presence. However, after she set the pot down, her eyes narrowed and she studied the flames dancing over the plant.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Huh? FIRE!!”

The poor girl quickly ran out of the room, allowing the Rogues a moment of reprieve. Blaze simply laughed at the harpy and turned to look at the rest of his team.

“Heh. You guys thought she was gonna see me, didn’t-”

Blaze was cut off by a fire extinguisher being used on him, the foam coating his entire head while the harpy girl yelled triumphantly.

“Take that, fire! Yeah! Boss is gonna be so proud of me!”

Once the foam ran out, Blaze wiped it from his eyes and groaned, the flames coming right back on his head as he slowly stood up.

“Not your typical fire, chicken nugget.”

Finally seeing Blaze, the harpy maid’s eyes widened in fear as she stumbled backwards, her wings flailing as she tried to catch herself. This failed and she fell over, stammering in utter terror.

“Ahh! V-Villains! Villains! Help!”

The harpy maid was soon silenced by Zap giving her a small shock and knocking her out cold. As her form slumped to the floor, Huntress smacked Zap in the back of the head.

“What the hell, Zap?”

Flinching slightly from the smack, the newest recruit turned to face his leader.

“She was screaming! I thought we were supposed to be doing a stealth mission!”

“You idiot, there’s no one else here.” Huntress scoffed, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

“Just heal her before we move on, okay? Maybe she can help us find what we’re looking for.”

Begrudgingly, Zap did kneel by the maid’s side to begin healing her. Swipe squatted next to him and poked the maid’s cheek, a smirk forming on her lips.

“Pretty little bird, ain’t she?”

“I’d call her more of an inconvenience.” Zap sighed, continuing to heal the harpy.

When she woke up, the harpy maid’s eyes fluttered and took a look around at each member of the Rogue Five.

“Ow… My head hurts. What happened?”

“You took a fall. Easy now.” Huntress answered in a softer voice than normal.

This seemed to bring the girl back to her senses and she realized that she was surrounded by villains. With a rather pitiful little yelp, she tried to get up, only for Huntress to catch her shoulder.

“P-Please don’t hurt me! I didn’t see anything, I swear! I won’t tell!” The harpy girl whimpered between her sobs.

Huntress sighed softly and shook her head. “Calm down. We’re not here to hurt you. We just need you to help us find something, okay?”

The rest of the Rogue Five watched tensely, ready to react if the harpy didn’t respond well. Kraken stood directly behind the girl with Blaze by his side. Zap was prepared to zap her again if she tried anything, and Swipe was ready to chase her down if she ran, even if she felt a little bad about it. Fortunately, the harpy nodded in agreement, allowing the tension to be dispelled. Swipe helped her up.

“Good choice! I would’ve hated having to chase ya.” Swipe joked while rubbing her thumb over the harpy’s feathers.

“Hey, these are nice. Real soft too.”

“Oh, um… thank you.” The harpy responded before looking to the rest of the group.

“What is it you need me to help you find?”

Kraken produced the certificates they had found and held them out for the harpy girl to see. The first of these was the father of the family, Don Finnegan. Tilting her head a bit at first to read it, the harpy’s face fell.

“What? What do you need to know about him?” Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as the harpy looked down and away.

“He’s dead anyways… you killed him.”

Kraken placed a hand on her shoulder, giving a soft pat.

“We found these somewhere they shouldn’t be. It seemed like someone was trying to hide them. I know the public believes we’re responsible, but we didn’t kill this man. Nor the rest of his family. We’re trying to figure out what happened to them and we figured your master might know something. Can you show us his lair?”

Reluctantly, the harpy agreed and led the Rogues to the manor’s staircase. Rather than going up the stairs, she pressed her wing into the third step, which beeped before the stairs slid into the wall, revealing a hidden flight of stairs going down. Blaze brightened the flame on his head, whistling sharply as he led the way into the dark.

“You know what? I take it back. This Black Dragon guy has some serious style points. How cool would it be to have one of these for ourselves, eh?”

While the rest of the Rogue Five followed Blaze, debating on the practicality of having a hidden staircase and where they would even put it, Swipe stayed back with the harpy, walking a little further behind the group.

“You okay? I’m guessing you knew Don, huh?” She questioned, her voice soft and understanding.

The harpy girl looked at Swipe, somewhat perplexed.

“Of course I knew him. He was my dad after all.”

This revelation stopped Swipe dead in her tracks, pulling the harpy to the side to whisper quietly.

“What? That’s not possible. He only had the one kid. Who are you?”

The harpy girl looked deeply into Swipe’s eyes, a hint of vulnerability shining through.

“My name’s Bella. Bella Finnegan.”