Franklin took one good look around, his head ringing with dizziness as he stumbled into the lobby.
The last thing he remembered was that little lady, Camila, she stared into him, and then everything just went dark.
"Where ugh where is she?" He grumbled and looked to his goons, all of whom just shrugged before they spotted a frazzled man with dirty brown hair and a cloak around their body, homeless-looking, like some kind of street urchin.
That man was Simon, and he was currently trying to think of a way out of this. He needed to protect Helen and possibly even get Camila out as she could help decipher the documents while also being their prisoner whom he could wring information out of.
She also had too many connections in this world; too many things would possibly fall apart without her managing it.
If she was being unhelpful, he could just torture her to get her to help, or well leave that to Helen since he probably would be unable to do anything.
But Franklin would be hard to deal with, but since he seemed very dizzy, possibly from breaking free of the hypnosis, perhaps it was his chance to carefully deal with the situation.
Simon stepped forward and began to walk towards the crater where Helen and Camila were, making sure none of his movements were too quick or violent.
However, before he could even make it halfway through to the duo of girls, Franklin called out to him.
"Hey? You? What do you think you're doing? What's going on here?"
Franklin began to march his way over to Simon, who stood perfectly still, covered by his cloak.
"Ah ah? Me?" Simon changed his voice to become much more squeaky, like a nervous rat.
"Yes, you! Why am I here? What's going on?"
"A-ah I-I don't k-know sir. I'm just a scavenger, I saw this place and then went in. P-please, don't hurt me!" He pretended to cower in fear from the large man.
"Hah, ugh, if you're a scavenger, you must have something good on you?"
There was a problem in that. Simon would never willingly give up his treasures unless he knew there could have been something greater in return.
However, like always, he prepared for these types of things.
Simon threw down many scraps of broken clockwork onto the ground alongside the brass casings of bullets, all of them dropping with a clang on the metal floor.
"Hah! Is that really all? What do you have under your cloak!"
"Ahh n-no sir, don't take more; it's all I have!"
He pretended to cower and whimper again, even taking out a small bag of water and squirting it on the ground to pretend that he pissed himself out of fear.
Franklin and his goons all laughed at the supposed street urchin scavenger. "Alright, scram, you're stinking up the place. We're supposed to be here for that lady…"
Quickly, Simon scurried over to Camila and Helen's crater, covering them both with his cloak.
"Ah! I-I believe I overheard her say that she will be in the other place."
Simon actually had no idea what that was, but he knew that people like Camila would have multiple hideouts, and it would be best to find out where another one could be for more loot and information.
"Ugh, really? At the Clocktower? Fine, we're heading back, boys. Thanks for the show, gutter swiper."
Franklin laughed and tossed Simon a single nummum.
"O-oh bless your heart!"
"Yeah, yeah, it's blessed, alright." Franklin walked away with his lackeys, disappearing through one of the many other entrances to the lobby.
Once the coast was clear, Simon dragged both ladies to the emergency exit, locking both doors as he took a look at Helen.
"Wake up, we're going to have to leave now before anyone else finds out we're here."
Helen however, yawned and just flipped over in her sleep, muttering about world domination and how she will become the queen of all of existence.
"Alright then…" Desperate times called for desperate measures.
If she could share her own power by kissing, then that would mean he could do the exact same thing and share his own energy with her.
Simon leaned in, carefully lifted her head a,nd kissed Helen, holding her close for a little bit.
Suddenly, he felt a wave of lethargy wash over him, causing his whole body to turn lax as he nearly fell over.
Only to be caught by Helen, who was now wide awake, cheeks slowly going red.
"Ha-hah?"
"Good… morning…" Simon groaned aloud on Helen's shoulder as she patted his back.
"Uh I, think it's still night?"
"…It was an expression… now help carry us all… I brought a lot of stuff, and I don't think I can carry all of it, including the two of you."
Helen raised her eyebrows and looked at the sack that Simon was carrying. "Oh yey you actually looted the boss room! That's awesome! Did you get any of the main quest items?"
Simon still had zero idea what she was talking about but nodded along. "I grabbed a few documents off the shelves near her sleeping coffin… does that count?"
"Yes, they do, alright then. We have one vampire baroness and a bunch of loot. This has been an amazing mission! I hope I get a bunch of XP from this."
"…What?" Huh?"
Helen shushed him and carried him and Camila in a fireman's carry. "Don't worry about it at all! Leave it to me~."
She cackled and grabbed his cloak and other items, wrapping it around herself before she zoomed out of the lobby and into the darkness of the underground.