The Zoldyck Estate, Friday Noon

[that_oldsaying]

The bus wound through the mountain path, which was lush with greenery, until they approached the mountain. The tour guide spoke up again, once they'd all gotten off the bus. Tourists were taking pictures in front of the doors and laughing and talking amongst themselves.

"This is the front gate of the Zoldyck estate! Also known as the Door to Hades because no one who's entered has ever returned alive. To enter, you must pass through the door beside the security checkpoint. But the area beyond the gate is private property, so we can't proceed."





Ringo
Yeah. Well. Apparently it didn't much matter to the Fandomites whether it was private property or not. They were totally planning on proceeding. Ringo glanced back over her shoulder as the bus pulled away without them, the tour guide giving them all an odd look from the window until the bus was out of sight.

"So do we go and knock, or just kick the door down, or what?" Ringo asked, already walking toward the door that the tour guide had indicated. The one next to the security booth.



Jono
//... It's a family of assassins. Please don't kick the door down.//

Jono couldn't say or do anything to make these students go home, but so help him, they weren't going to get themselves killed on his watch.



Ringo
Hmm. That was actually pretty good advice.

So Ringo nodded. "Got a good idea, then?"



Anders
"Either we sneak in a back door, or someone who looks like they belong here knocks," Anders suggested. "And then, once the door is open, I fireball anything moving while the rest of you go for Alluka."

Well, not all his suggestions were terrible?



Kathy
"I can get over pretty much anywhere," Kathy said, leaning back to look at the gate as it went up and up and up. "But that puts me alone on the other side with not a real great idea of what's waiting there."

So far, Anders' idea was the best. Which was kind of terrifying.

"I can also do a fast reconnoiter to see if there are other entrances. Be back before anyone else."



Zebro
Or they could talk to the security guard.

Who was casually reading a paper inside the checkpoint and not really paying attention to them. He was a portly, middle-aged man with an expanding waistline and wearing something that looked very much like any security checkpoint uniform out there.

He idly flipped to another page and kept reading. He was aware of the people outside, but there was no point in going to them when they were just standing there.



Zebro
"Um." Ringo shot a glance at the guard booth. "This might be a dumb idea, but do you think we could ask the security guard if we can go in? I mean, as friends of the family?"

Sort of?

Yeah, that was probably a dumb idea.



Hannibal
It was also the idea least likely to get them killed on the spot.

Hannibal shook his head at all of them and walked up to the guard, smiling pleasantly. "Hello. Would it be possible for us to speak with somebody? We're looking for a friend of ours."



Zebro
Zebro looked up from his paper.

"Did you miss the bus back?" he asked, politely enough. He was a mild-mannered man. "There's a phone if you need to call back into the city, but another bus won't be back until tomorrow."



Hannibal
Hannibal shook his head, still smiling. "No, I'm sorry - we're looking for a friend who's one of the family." Did the people out here even know of Alluka? "She was returned home, and we've come to visit."



Zebro
"Oooh?" Now Zebro looked vaguely curious. "A friend of the family, is it?"

He smiled.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"



Hannibal
Hannibal chuckled. "If I'm not, and you let us in anyway, is it likely to matter?"

Somehow told him the entire family was overconfident even for their power. Call it the tourists. Or the ridiculous wall.



Zebro
"If you really are friends of the family," Zebro said, "then I'd hate for you to die. It's a sad house. The children could use friends."



Jono
//Well, there's something we have in common, then,// Jono replied. //We would hate to die. But we've all grown very fond of Alluka since we got to know her. We just... don't want her to be alone again.//

Was Jono gambling, saying her name? Yes, absolutely. But the guard seemed like either a reasonable sort, or a very good actor. The first would be excellent, and if it was the second...

Look, Jono wasn't above compromising his own moral code to make a man forget this conversation if it meant getting to Alluka more easily.



Zebro
How about a little from column a, a little from column b? He was sympathetic, but he was loyal to the family and their rules as well.

"Alluka-sama has returned home after being taken away from the family unwillingly," Zebro said. "The family is very happy to have her back. They will make the decision regarding whether you are friends or those who kidnapped her in the first place."

Zebro's smile faded into something that was almost regretful, but more resigned. "The family is not supposed to have friends." It was a warning. Killua-sama's friends had made it through but, even if these were Alluka-sama's friends who was to say they'd do the same. "Just in case you are though, I will tell you one thing. The doors the tour guide pointed out are the wrong ones."



Ringo
Ringo blinked, then glanced over at Kathy, thinking of her offer to just go over the wall.

"Um. Does that mean we should just climb the wall, then?"



Zebro
"That will also get you killed."

Zebro sighed, stood, and left his seat to step outside and look up at the doors.

"You are looking at the legitimate doors to the compound."

Yeah.

Those were doors.

"If you wish to enter, to live you have to go through those doors." Zebro laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Even employees have to be able to use those doors."



Anders
"I don't understand," Anders admitted, craning his neck to get a better look at the doors. "Is there some kind of pulley or rope or -- how do they open?"



Zebro
Zebro looked amused.

"They're not locked," he said. "You open them as you would any door--you push them."

Just... good luck with that one. The smallest of those doors weighed four tonnes to open.



Jono
Jono made his way over to the smallest door, and gave it an experimental push.

... His feet slid backwards against the ground. The door didn't so much as budge.

//And I suppose blowing the the thing down and causing a fair bit of property damage wouldn't earn us any brownie points, here.//

Because that was kind of all he had, here.



Hannibal
"And unless they're somehow sentient, I doubt I'll be able to convince them to open," Hannibal said. He eyed the students and raised an eyebrow. Unless one of them had a more useful skill, the trip might all end here.



Kathy
"So..." Kathy was chewing on her lower lip, trying to find the trick that she was sure was hiding here. "That's it? Just open the doors? It doesn't matter how, so long as we open and go through them?"

Not that Kathy was able to open four tons of door on her own on a good day, but she wanted to make sure there was nothing further amiss before she went out to discover how laughably unprepared she was for even the first door.

She glanced over to Anders. "You think your stone-fisty spell will do much good?"



Anders
Anders looked at the gate again and shook his head in dismay. "Too small," he said shortly. "It'd be like throwing pebbles at it. And even if it did some good, we're meant to open the doors, not break them."



Ringo
"Um." Ringo looked over at the security guard. "How, um, heavy are the doors? And, er, would it be okay to open just one side?"

They looked big and heavy, but maybe within the range of something she could force open.



Zebro
"The smallest is four tonnes," Zebro said, "and both sides must be opened at the same time. Otherwise they do not open at all."



Ringo
Ringo chewed her lower lip at that answer. "Um. How long will the doors stay open? I mean, um, do they have to be held open, or are there a couple of seconds before they swing closed again?"



Zebro
He had to think about that.

"A couple of seconds," he decided, already heading back inside the checkpoint, feeling like he'd talked enough. "But not much more than that."



Ringo
More lip chewing as Ringo did some calculations in her head. Then she looked around. "I think I can get the door open, then, but I won't be able to hold it so everyone would need to get through in those couple of seconds."



Jono
Somehow, Jono supposed, he shouldn't be surprised, here.

//Then I suppose we all get ready for a jog, hm? Will you be alright to get through after opening the door yourself, Ringo?//

Because... big door.

Little Ringo.

Jono had to check anyway.



Kathy
Kathy looked around the yard for something strong enough to use as a support. Even a few seconds would be enough for her to get to something and shove it in between the doors, giving everyone plenty of time to get through.

Sadly, the yard seemed devoid of anything strong enough to hold up to four tons of pressure.

"Who's the slowest?" she asked. "I can get them through in time." It would be awkward, running with an adult on her back or slung over her shoulder, but she could. "Possibly even more than one, depending on how many seconds we're talking about and how far we have to go."



Ringo
Ringo gave Jono a nod. "I can get through myself." Probably.

If she could manage the door at all. Which she thought she had an okay chance at?



Jono
//Well... then the rest of us should get ready to dash,// Jono replied, taking a step back to give Ringo some room to maneuver. //Whenever you're ready, Ringo. Let's get in there and get Alluka back.//

One step at a time, Jono.

... Though, granted, getting inside was a fairly big step on its own.



Ringo
Forcing open something the size of those doors wasn't really Ringo's forte. That was the sort of thing people rode the Rumble Road for. Her sister Mikan would be able to do it without any problem, but Ringo had to take a few breaths to psych herself up.

At least she'd spent a lifetime watching Mikan, and understood most of the theory behind Rumble's techniques. It was all about explosive transfers of force, but it was still mostly driven by technique. So as long as she got the moves down, she should be fine.

Ringo took deep breaths as she moved back from the door to give herself some space, intentionally beginning to hyperventilate. Because while she wasn't an expert on the Rumble Road, the Sonia Road had a lot to offer here, too. So she was going to combine the two.

Her eyes slid closed as she visualized the trick she was about to do. Once, twice, a third time through in her head, and then she nodded.

"Here we go." The words were as much for her as they were a warning to the others, and once she'd said them she was moving.

She surged toward the doors, spinning like a top as she approached, entire body blurring with the speed of her movements. She bent her knees, getting as low to the ground as possible in the hopes of getting the best leverage. And she managed to time things just right, coming out of her spin at the perfect distance from the gate, her right foot lashing out in a kick that landed precisely between the two doors about a foot off the ground, distributing force equally across both of them.

Ringo felt the force of the impact traveling through her body. Up from where her foot was planted against the ground, across her hips, down her extended leg through the knee, where she felt something beginning to give, before continuing down her leg and into the massive doors.

"Go, go, go!" she yelled as she felt them begin to move. She could tell that they'd open far enough from feel alone, but they all needed to get through before gravity swung them closed again because she could tell that with her knee she wouldn't be able to do this again.



Jono
So help him, Jono hadn't doubted that Ringo could get that door open, but he still needed to shake himself into reacting once she had. After all, he'd have plenty of time to gawp and be amazed when the door wasn't closing again.

//Not much time,// he shouted to the group at large. //Run for it!//

He wasn't going to wait before making a break for it, himself. Like hell he'd be caught on the outside of the gate. Especially since there wasn't a shadow's chance in hell that they'd get it open again today.



Anders
Anders was right behind Jono. He wasn't sure how Ringo had just gotten the doors open, and he wanted to ask her about it later -- but right at that moment, the most important thing was getting inside before anything else went wrong.



Hannibal
Hannibal took just long enough to nod to the guard in quick thanks before darting after them. Which conveniently put him in the middle of the pack, just in case anything waited for them on the other side.



Kathy
Kathy waited for everyone else to get through. She'd been a little worried that the doors would be thick and massive, taking far longer to pass than they'd anticipated, but apparently they were just incredibly heavy normal-sized doors.

Good, that made it easier.

With one last glance at Ringo to make sure she'd be okay, Kathy blurred across the distance, making it to the safety of the other side in fractions of a second.



Ringo
Ringo had been watching the others to make sure they got through, but she hadn't waited before rushing through herself. She subtly put some weight on her right leg. Stressed ligament, torn muscle, compressed joint cartilage. That's what it felt like. She gritted her teeth and kept her breathing fast. She could stay on the Sonia Road, absorb the pain and push past it, for as long as she needed to.

It would stress her endurance, but it was better than slowing down or worrying anyone. After all, this whole mountain felt dangerous, and she didn't want any of them to have to stay any longer than necessary.

The doors swung shut with a resounding crash, and she glanced over her shoulder. Well, they were in. But it didn't look like they were going to be leaving the same way.



Mike
The doors were shut, but the forest, which was lush and lovely, even this early in the year was rustling ominously around them.

As if something was coming towards them very quickly.

Thirty seconds after the doors closed, a dog stepped out of the woods and stared down at them, mouth open. It did not threaten them.

But then, given Mike's size, he did not need to...



Mabel
Ooh, what a pretty... bear?

... Dinosaur?

Excuse Mabel, everyone. She needed to take off from where she was perched (because of course she'd just hitched a ride through the gate on the most convenient shoulder) to fly up and get a better look at the--

She gave a little bit of a caw.

Puppy! What a good puppy! Hi, puppy!

... Mabel would be just as excited even if she wasn't currently a bird. Don't mind her.



Hannibal
Hannibal frowned. "He doesn't seem wild, but he doesn't seem terribly well-groomed, either."

Still, if he wasn't eating the little bird currently pestering him, he must have some manners.



Anders
Anders looked at the bird and at Dr. Lecter, and let his hand fall away from his staff.

"You're right," he said. "I still wouldn't trust it any further than I could throw it, but it seems to be a kind of pet."



Ringo
Ringo was definitely staring. Upward.

"Isn't it kind of big for a pet?" Or for anything for that matter?



Hannibal
"He seems rather on a scale with the rest, so far," Hannibal pointed out. He waved back behind them. "That was probably his door we came through."



Kathy
"Ummm..." Kathy was eyeing the dog a little more dubiously than the others. Perhaps they hadn't realized how goddamn huge it was? "Then do you wanna maybe throw a rock for it to fetch or something?" she suggested, taking a half-step backwards. "You know. Far away from us?"

She nodded towards the side of the path. At the bones. Not just bones, but bits of entire, intact skeletons. "I'm not really up for being a chewtoy today."



Hannibal
"So don't squeak," Hannibal quipped. "But do feel free to throw a rock, if you can lift one large enough to interest him." It might even work.



Jono
//... Pup has some very deft teeth,// Jono noted, eyeing the bones, and then looking up (and up, and up) at the dog. //Hey, mate. I don't suppose you'll let us slip by, will you? Preferably without eating us?//

He was inching forward experimentally. Out of the lot of them, he was the one most likely to at least cause a good deal of indigestion.



Mike
Mike gave the bird a look and shook his head. Then he laid down on the path that stretched out in front of them and just...

Kept watching.

They'd come through the door, so he wasn't going to eat them. But he was going to watch and memorize their scents and looks and tracks so that if they ever went through the wrong door... well...

They would be delicious.

His tail beat the ground happily at that thought.



Ringo
"Um." Ringo slid slowly to one side. "Do you think we can just, you know, go around?" Maybe it was coincidence that the giant, um, thing had laid down right in the middle of the path?



Kathy
"That's not usually the posture that indicates a dog's thinking of attacking, right?" Kathy asked, trying not to sound nervous. Dogs could smell fear, right? "Yeah, what if we just...sidled around and didn't make eye contact?"

Was it dogs who saw that as a challenge for dominance or was it monkeys?



Jono
//I don't think there's much choice, unless we want to stay here forever,// Jono mused, continuing to inch forward. //Feel free to follow my lead, if you're worried.//

A beat.

//Unless he eats me. Then you can stop following my lead. You have my permission.//

Slowly, carefully, he made his way around the giant dog.



Hannibal
"If he eats you, I promise not to follow suit. At least intentionally," Hannibal said.

The dog, while large, neither acted nor smelled like a threat, so he was just going to walk past.



Mike
Mike turned his head and followed their progress, but made no move to attack.

His tail kept wagging.



Anders
"Someone's boring in bed," Anders observed under his breath, and then hated himself just a little for thinking that about two teachers.

He watched until Dr. Lecter was gone, then raised a shield around himself and followed along. His shielding wasn't much, but it was enough to give him a moment just in case the dog went rabid at the scent of mage.



Kathy
And Kathy was torn between making a break for it and possibly inciting him to give chase and walking slowly past, just waiting for the dog to decide to do...whatever.

It was a very unsettling feeling.

"Let's go, kohai," she said, trying to sound more confident than she really was. "Let your senpai protect you from the giant puppy over here."



Ringo
"Mabel!" Ringo hissed, trying not to be loud enough to make the giant thing change it's mind about just watching them walk away. "Time to go."



Mabel
Mabel wasn't concerned at all! What a good puppy! Look at how happy he was!

She gave one more merry caw, and then swooped down to join Ringo.

Bye, puppy!

[NFI, NFB. Pre-played with the most excellent soniaroadsqueen, rhymeswithtable, spin_kick_snap, never_dull, furnaceface, and not_every_mage!]