Hotel Selten

Turning Directions

After resting for the night, they decided to continue. “We should head north,” Thilda said as they search where north is. Ophelia was looking around. There is a nearby road so they could probably take some ride. The others go after her and they discovered the road. “Hmm…” Hibi looks around and moves forward to her right. “This seems the road where they dump us off, I guess north is there.” She pointed at their right. 

“Since you are in a vehicle that time, I guess it’ll be a long way… Unless…” They all look around, there were no vehicles passing by. “We need to find some cars or anything,” Thilda said as she keeps looking at her map. “Well, better if it’s a truck or even a delivery truck,” Ophelia suggested. “Wait, are those buildings?” Blaise said as they look where he was looking. Their faces enlighten. Miss Eve sighs, “I don’t want to cause havoc in a town.” Thilda looks at her, “We will not, miss, we will go there at night.” Adam sighs, “And we will waste another day.” He is right, it’s still early to wait for night to come. “Maybe I will go there and find some food, we are running out of stock,” Hugo said as he looks at the only servant that was left in the battle. “Maybe someone goes with Hugo and studies the place so the stealth mission later will be smooth?” Ophelia suggested.

“Great idea, Ophelia, you do it,” Thilda said as she looks at her. “What!?” She is smirking, “Yes.” Ophelia is still shocked, “Why me!?” Thilda holds her shoulder and looks at her, “You are the perfect one for this since you are the most normal-looking one.” The brunette girl just sighs, “Fine.” Hugo and Ophelia went their way to the town they discovered. Since they are just normal looking, people just ignore them just like strangers. Though, Hugo is having his flat emotionless face and his servant is acting normal, to not raise any suspicion. Ophelia was looking around for any vehicles they can borrow. They saw some schools and some facilities, but can’t find any stores. “Can you mark where we left? I bet we will get lost here.”

Ophelia nods as she picks up some stones and places them on the sidewalks, she even makes them wet so they could differentiate them from other rocks. “We need to be quick, these rocks will be dry soon.” Hugo nods as they continue finding a store and a truck to ride on. Their eyes was peeled in any store and trucks that could be stolen in an instance. They kept walking and walking. “This seems big for a town…” Ophelia commented as they walk and walk. "But, it just means that there are many opportunities. We will not be running out of streets to investigate on. 

Although, with the plenty of opportunities comes with difficulties to find it. It's been minutes since they were walking. They haven't have found anything in their trek from their starting point. Hugo looks around to take any chances that they have been missing. He sighs and approaches a lady, “Good morning, miss.” He greeted a lady walking in the streets. She looks at him with confusion in her face and raises her eyebrow. “Could I ask something?” She groaned, she’s a little bit nasty, “Go ahead.” Hugo forces a smile to make him more polite and charming. He hopes this will work against this grumpy-looking lady. She must have a bad day. A little Hugo charm must work to her, “Could you lead us, or if you are busy, point directions for a supermarket or any stores here?” He politely speaks, the lady was frozen. Ophelia giggles quietly. It worked, both of them were glad it did. The lady still wears her grumpy look though but she's willing to help them. “Sure, just go straight then go left.” She instructed as Hugo smiles charmingly at her, "Thank you for your kind assistance!" They went on with smug smiles in their faces.

They found the store, Hugo entered the shop as Ophelia was left outside. She looks around as she found some delivery trucks coming and unloading their goods. After a while, one of the trucks arrive and it seems that it belongs to the store. “Jackpot.” Ophelia quietly celebrates as she found something that could help them go to Strasbourg. She waited for Hugo to come out as she observes more of the place. Minutes later, Hugo comes out with a lot of bags of ready-to-eat canned goods and some biscuits, most importantly, some new sporks. “Let’s go.”

They traveled back to where the rest is, they were lost for a moment since one of the rocks was gone. They are glad when they are back on track. They arrived and some celebrated with the new foods Hugo bought. Thilda approached Ophelia, “So, how was it?” The latter looked at her, “Well, in the store where Hugo bought the supplies, there’s a truck there, I hope it will not be gone later at night.” Thilda nods, “Thanks.” She pats her shoulder as she left her. 

Later that night, the fighters went to the store with Hugo guiding them. He left them and wait in a corner. Thilda went in the fences along with Blaise, who said earlier that can drive. She slowly approached an unsuspecting security guard and pierced the needle of the syringe. The tranquilizer conquered his brain and he slowly falls asleep. Thilda slowly puts him down as Blaise picks the lock of the truck. He hopped in the vehicle and finds the ignition switch. He uses his lockpick again and started the engine. 

Thilda hops in the truck as she heard the engine after making two guards asleep. “Alright! Mission success!” She said as she closes the door on her side. Blaise starts making the truck move forward and exited on the open gates. He stopped and made the fighters went in the back of the truck and also Hugo. 

They returned to the rest of them and started preparing for the truck. They put some lights inside and cuts a hole through the driver’s seat so they could communicate. It was already dawn as they wake others and they load in the truck. The truck’s space was just enough for them, they are only 20 right now, 8 of them are missing. Before going on their little road trip, Hugo distributed some food and new sporks to the residents. They started eating as the sun rises on the horizon. After their breakfast, Blaise went in the driver’s seat and Thilda on his side to point him directions.

“Alright! Buckle up!” Blaise puts on his seatbelt as well Thilda. “We are going to Strasbourg!” He started the engine and steps on the gas. They started their journey to the lair of the crazy doctor.

Minutes later, Blaise was getting bored. He clicks some buttons and twists some control knobs on the radio. He started tuning in on different radio stations, finding some interesting ones. Suddenly, he stopped twisting the knob. “Breaking news!” A newscaster shouted with its bold and daring voice. “A store was been robbed a truck of its own, Regina on the spot.” Swish sound effects were been played and the voice of a woman conquers the sound. 

“Thank you, Alvin. There’s a shop in Gerstheim that was been robbed, what it was? A truck. Yes, it’s a truck everybody. Here’s an interview from the shop owner and some of its guards.” Blaise sweats as she looks at Thilda who raised her eyebrows at her. Another swishing sound for transition and the voice of a man spoke. “I am not sure why the robbers robbed the truck if they could’ve just robbed the products. Anyways, we reviewed some security footage and we saw some teenagers, one girl, and one boy. The girl made my guards asleep and I am thankful she did and did not kill them. Her hand was even a blad—ah… Nevermind that. Then the boy took the wheels and they took off.” He sighs as his interview cuts off.

In the faces of the two, they were shocked. All of the traits he said was matching with them. They kept listening, this time another man takes the interview, it sounds he was one of the guards. “I was just walking around until something pierced my neck then I fell asleep. My companion was too, the one who did this was so fast and stealthy even we have fast reflexes.” 

The woman reported takes the spotlight again, “According to the police, they can’t identify the robbers and they seem new here. They will try contacting other police departments here in France. They also have deductions that they came from a different place. Also, according to another footage on a street, they are not alone. Some weird-looking individuals were caught going into the back of the truck. The police want a favor for the citizens who can hear this, if you ever find the truck and who drives them, please report it immediately. That’s all for this news, back to you, Alvin.” 

Blaise turns off the radio, he was nervous. At the back, they can all hear that. Miss Eve just sighs, “What did I tell them…” The other fighters who accompanied them were nervous too. “Are we gonna be chased by the police?” One of them asked, no one answered. They were unsure, but there is a high possibility the police will try and catch them. Blaise decided to stop in a secluded place and talk to them at the back.

“I am sorry, okay? I forgot the security cameras…” He sighed, “I will fix this. I hope we can find some car repair here that can redesign the truck. Also… I am afraid to say this, we also need to steal another plate again.” Miss Eve looks at him, “And get caught again? I am not against you but… We are gonna get discovered. How about the ones who look monstrous to them? It’s like we just exposed ourselves to keep ourselves alive.” The lady sighs in frustration, “I just want it to be secret as possible.” 

“This is the last time miss, if we didn’t disguise, the higher the chance we will get caught and the thing you are saying.” Thilda was a bit embarrassed too, but she kept her poise and seems not affected. The lady sighs once more, “Fine, this is the last time we would do some illegal things. I want you not to slip, they are alert to us.” 

After that, they continued to travel, Blaise was finding a car repair utility or anything. He asked a resident of a town and thank the heavens, they finally found it after hours. He pulled Hugo, “Hey, I need your manipulation powers.” 

“What about it?” He looks at the owner at a distance, “I will distract him and you will get something that you could use to manipulate him. Then you will say he will get us to customize the truck free and forget that this happens, okay?” Hugo nods, “That’s easy.” 

Blaise approached the man in the shop, “Hey, how much to custom some cars here?” The latter looks at him, “Où est votre voiture?” The blonde boy raises his eyebrows, “What?” Hugo starts to go from his back. “Vous ne comprenez pas le français?” 

“Well, if you are saying that if I understand French… I don’t understand any…” The man smiles, “Oh, I understand… Where is ze car?” He was cut when he felt a pain in the back of his head. “Ca c'était qu-” Before he can even see Hugo, he was stopped. Hugo whispered on the strand of the hair, the man nods as he customizes the truck in the distance. 

After that, Hugo looks at the man. “Put all the things in their respective places before, once we are away here, you will forget everything.” The man nods as he takes all of his stuff, Blaise aboard the truck and also Hugo. They quickly drive away from the place as the man snapped back to reality. “Huh… Qu'est-il arrivé? Il est déjà cinq heures trente! Le temps passe vite…” 

Blaise found another truck and looks around. He sneakily went on it and unscrewed the plate. He exchanges the plate and after that, they went back on track. 

“We’re all set, now let’s go back where we left off,” Blaise said as he positioned himself. They went on their road trip. They tuned in to a music radio with French songs they couldn’t comprehend much, but they go with it. The night is already here as darkness covers the sky, the stars are appearing. They kept traveling as they reached the one and true destination. 

“We are finally here!”