"This is where you're 'holing up'?" Corvo asked, his voice tinged with no small amount of skepticism.
"The best place to hide is often where all the people are, so long as you know how not to be recognized," Cherry argued.
They were both tucked away in an alley across the street from Dunwall's most popular tavern, the Squeak Easy. The carved image of a rat chugging a mug of beer was beautifully painted above the front door.
The name came from a story in which the original owner, some two hundred years ago, claimed that a rat spotted by a patron was not a pest, but rather was another customer there for his famous beer. The rat was even caught up on his tab, apparently.
"And how do you go about 'not being recognized', then?" Corvo waved his hand towards the bar bustling with people. It seemed that the curfew only encouraged people to get their drinking done early, at least at this establishment. "Because I think there'll be at least one person in there who'll recognize my mug from the posters all over the city."
Cherry handed him a pair of sunglasses and a fake mustache. Corvo gave her an unimpressed look.
"Hey, if it doesn't work, then I'll distract everyone so you can get away," Cherry put on her own pair of sunglasses and mustache.
"I can't believe this," Corvo grumbled even as he complied.
…
"I can't believe this…" Corvo was well and truly flabbergasted.
Not a single person had so much as looked at him funny. It wasn't even that they passed through with haste either. Cherry had dragged him straight to the bar first, ordered a round of drinks for the two of them, and then paid off the tabs of everyone in the building!
There was much cheering and shoulder slapping, enough that Corvo was worried his sunglasses or mustache may come off and foil his disguise. It didn't, and nobody questioned them.
"What's not to believe?" Cherry asked. "Why would anyone think ill of the people who were so generous towards them? It's precisely because I acted so overtly that I seemed like I had nothing nefarious to hide."
"I think I'll stick to skulking in alleys and on rooftops, thank you," Corvo couldn't argue against the results, but it was a little too nerve wracking for his tastes.
"Suit yourself," Cherry stopped at one of the rooms and did an incredibly complicated knock password. Corvo wondered how she remembered the whole thing-
The door swung open mid-knock revealing a redheaded young woman. "Why are you knocking like that? Get in here."
Corvo felt a bit silly for making assumptions, now.
The two of them were shuffled quickly and quietly into the room, and the door was shut just as quickly and quietly.
"Is this the guy, Cherry? Or are you picking up strays?" the redhead asked.
Cherry looked at him. "Both?"
Corvo grunted and tore off his fake mustache. "I am Attano Corvo, if that is what you're asking. I presume that you are this one's boss?"
There was a snort from elsewhere in the room, and Corvo admonished himself for not checking for others. He was just too caught up with Cherry's nonsense and lost some of his usual tension. A mistake he was determined not to repeat.
The third person in the room was another woman, one who was far more flamboyant in appearance than the other two. She would stand out in the middle of a carnival, with her bright pink hair and fanciful clothes.
"Sorry, don't mind me," the pinkette waved them off with a suppressed smile.
"That is what I was asking, yes," the redhead moved on. "A friend of mine was the victim of a criminal conspiracy, just like your princess is, and she wasn't near as young at the time. We want to help, but we don't really know where to start."
The earnestness of the statement settled on Corvo's shoulders like an old coat. Jessamine had been that way, early in her rule; a strong desire to help and a willingness to seek aid from others to do so. That naivete had made things difficult for her, more often than not. The nobility had seen it as weakness and sought to exploit it. Jessamine had had steel too, though, and many came to regret taking her lightly.
Sadly, some snakes managed to strike at her. He would make sure they regretted it, this time.
"I do not know much, beyond some of the perpetrators' names. I do not know where Lady Emily is," Corvo admitted. "I was largely in the dark during my stay at Coldridge Prison. My… allies have been assisting me with the details."
"Allies, huh?" the pinkette caught on quickly.
"Mm, vultures, more like. They want to counter conspiracy the original conspirators, no doubt to ingratiate themselves to Lady Emily before she even takes the throne," Corvo said. He found their motivations to be disgraceful, but thus far their efforts have been reliable. Unfortunately, he could not do better.
"Well, let's have a looksee at what I found in the warden's safe, shall we? Maybe you'll learn something you didn't know before," the pinkette proffered a stack of files, the topmost of which bore his own name.
He swallowed his instinctive distaste for the casual admittance of prison breaking. He wasn't one who could talk, after all.
…
"Son of a bitch…" Corvo cursed, dropping the stack of letters to the table.
Havelock, one of his primary 'allies', had been paying the warden off to make sure that Corvo wasn't permanently maimed during the torture he endured. That may seem like a good thing, but Havelock had also been receiving updates on Corvo's mental state.
In other words, Havelock could have gotten him out much earlier, but wanted him to be on the verge of breaking first, so that Corvo would be more thankful and pliable on top of maximizing his hatred towards the original conspirators.
Havelock even promised greater rewards at a later date, things that would only be possible to give with significant authority.
It didn't take a genius to guess that Havelock was planning to be the puppet master behind Emily. Corvo hadn't trusted the man, but this was beyond what he ever expected of him. He'd known him before this mess began, and he'd never been anything more than a staunch professional. Clearly, that was wrong.
"That's rough, buddy," the pinkette, whose name he now knew was Reiju, patted him on the shoulder. Her stiff movements revealed that she was unused to such actions, but strangely he felt they were genuine.
"This changes little, in the end. Now that I know, I need only prepare for their betrayal," Corvo said. "First and foremost is Lady Emily's safety."
"Perhaps you can ask your counter conspirators. They're bound to be looking for her," Cherry stood from where she was lazily lying on a bed. "In the meantime, is there anything we can do for you?"
Corvo thought for a moment. Really, there wasn't much that he did want pirates poking their noses in, but there was one matter that was more personal vengeance than anything practical. It would also take a piece off the board.
"The man who killed the Queen is an assassin known as Daud. He is a dangerous man, a devil fruit user, and though I would like to deal with him myself, I'd rather he not be a problem at all," Corvo said.
Cherry smiled. "Now you're talkin'!"