"If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.? Emile Zola (French Novelist, Critic and Activist. 1840-1902) When he saw Kate standing there dressed in that schoolgirl outfit, he knew she was ready and they were really going to do this... The man sat in the solitude of the cool, dark office as morning turn to day and day turn to dusk. He sat in the office with maps and reports and images strewn across the desk...and watched. He watched the morning bring the offices to life. He watched employees and others, messengers and deliveries come and go as if it were any normal law offices. He watched the day bring a steady stream of messengers to and from the courts and other places. He watched the place the whole day and not once saw the partners come or go. He wasn't surprised by that. Snakes that they were, he expected them to slither in and out of the building through some rock by the trash by the back door or something. It was just as well he didn't see Howe. The very sight of the portly demon lawyer fueled a rage in the man. Day had turned to dusk when the knock came at the door. Then and only then did the man leave his 'post.' He walked away from the windows, away from his desk littered with maps and papers and opened the door. When he saw Kate standing there dressed in that schoolgirl outfit, he knew she was ready and they were really going to do this... ...they were going to blow up Howe's office.

When it came to jobs of a darker nature Kate never worried. She was cautious but not afraid, not because she was overconfident but because for all her reckless and insane outer trappings, she did her research and planned.

Howe's office had been a bit more difficult. She'd promised she wouldn't bring herself into his sphere of attention and even now that the restriction had loosened she hadn't gone looking for the man. So all her information about him, the office, the other partners came only from Lucien and his recon.

This should have worried her, the few times she'd relied on other's information and not double checked or done her own digging had been disasters. She wasn't worried though, somehow Lucien had gained enough of her trust that she simply accepted what he had to say about it all and planned accordingly.

She'd spent several nights getting the explosives just right, she'd poured over the office plans, trying to determine what mixture to use on what wall. They had both agreed to just hit Howe's office, nothing else in the building so she had to be precise. Heavier explosives could be used on outer walls but any of the interior's needed a special mix that wouldn't damage any offices that might butt up against Howe's. That wasn't to say a scorch mark or two might not accidentally appear on the interior wall of those offices but to Kate that was a minor thing.

For a few nights, anyone out near the large pink castle would hear what some would describe as explosions but others would swear was just thunder from a passing storm.

After she'd gotten the explosives right she started working on a few extra's, a calling card from Her and Lucien to the Horrible Howe. To the casual observer they looked like clear balls of liquid but they were much much more than that. They not only would trigger the explosives, they would destroy any paper left in the office and each one would leave a bouquet of Lily's of the Valley with a single white feather tied into it. After the explosion the entire place would smell of charred wood and flowers.

The hardest part of the whole plan was finding the right outfit. She finally settled on a cute little plaid kilt, a white button down shirt, white socks, and schoolgirl shoes. Some jobs called for leather and armour, this one called for blending in. So when she got dressed and made her way to Lucien's townhouse she looked like just another school girl on her way to study, pack pack slung over her back.

She was more than ready to do this.

Keep it light, keep it fun, keep the "what if's" under control in your head. She'd expected more or at least something. Howe was supposed to be this big, bad, all evil dude and not only was the lock on the outer door easy to pick, there wasn't even an alarm system when she pushed it open.

Something wasn't right, Lucien was keyed up and tense, they were all but walking into the inner sanctum of the resident bad guy in their lives, and it was....easy. Still she kept her relaxed attitude, "Don't doubt my abilities Bear, I do this a lot." She leaned up to give him a kiss then gestured toward the open door. "Shall we?"

As he passed her she could feel the tension, yet when she followed she skipped in behind him, if she was going to be taken down she was going to do it smiling. The slight shift in her eyes was more than likely missed in the darkness that surrounded them. She was keeping things light but she wasn't stupid.

He might not have been able to see her, but she could see him, he looked to his left and his right, his breathing had slowed and become slightly labored, she almost commented but he nodded to the right, "This way.?

"Ok, lets get this done before someone notices or some alarm goes off." Both of their voices had lowered but even the hushed tones seemed loud in the building. Who knew what defenses DCH had and what would trigger them.

He only nodded and lead her up the hall, each step she expected something, anything to alert someone to their presence but nothing happened. When Lucien stopped at a door and looked at her she knew they were finally at Howe's office.

As she knelt in front of the door and started on the lock she finally voiced her concern, "Somethings going on."

They were both on edge, waiting for the sword to fall on their heads, and the sound of Lucien falling and hitting the floor had her convinced that he'd been shot, tackled, caught in a trap, something.

Even though it was Lucien, her Bear, she was still a creature of habit and training. Her head tilted up so she could listen, she knew he was breathing and while it had changed a little it didn't sound like he was in distress or pain, beyond that she didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. She could hear the city sounds outside but nothing in the room had changed. Next her nose flared as she took in the smells of the room, no gun powder, nothing burning, no person other than the two of them. The temperature hadn't changed and when she looked around she didn't see anything or anyone who could harm them.

All signs pointed to a 'safe" room, as safe as one could be in the belly of the beast that was DCH and that was exactly why she quickly moved over to where the Barrister was on the ground, propped up by his elbows, "You ok" Is the whole place going to lock down now?"

He nodded in reply as she squatted down to make sure he was really ok. Seeing he was ok took some of the tension out of her but she was still watching him as he looked down at his feet and what had tripped him up.

"What the hell...?? His comment had her shifting her gaze to look at what in the floor had not only tripped him but now caught his attention.

Once she knew he was ok and he waved her off she focused on her part of the plan. Her pack was set on Howe's desk and she started removing the various tubes and containers that held the explosives. She'd been careful, testing the charges out on the land that surrounded the castle, working with the materials, the colors, the timing, until she felt comfortable putting both her and Lucky into harms way.

Even though she'd looked at the plans of the building she still took an initial walk around the edge of the room. Each wall was touched and knocked, at one point she even leaned into one and held her ear to it, listening.

Then she went back to the desk and picked up the container holding the blue clay. She set those on the outer walls, paying close attention to the windows and setting at least one, small, extra charge at each one, it wouldn't do a lot of damage to the walls but it would toss a nice fireball out the windows.

Once the blue charges were set she picked up the container that held the green clay. Those were less powerful and were for the interior walls.

When she was finished she slowly turned and looked at the charges, smiling a little. The interior ones might scorch the walls of the adjoining offices but she was confident there wouldn't be any damage done, well any damage that couldn't be fixed by a can of paint anyway.

The last container held a large mound of white clay, "Yay for good." her answer to his reply was muttered. She was distracted and concentrating on what she was doing.

Next she reached into her bag and pulled out cylinders filled with gelatin looking balls in blue, green, and red. Blue were placed around the blue clay, green were placed around the green clay, and red were set around the white.

She finished with a smile and turned to look at Lucien, "Ok, almost set. The blue are the stronger charges, the green are weaker so I put them on the interior, the white will take care of all the paper's in the office. Once we place the calling card orbs" We have 15 minutes to get out. Think we can do that?" her smile grew as she finished speaking, she was having fun, a lot of fun and since they hadn't gotten caught yet she was letting it show.

He drew a deep breath, pushing up from the chair and nodded in reply to Kate. He reached into the pack and pulled out a white feather then secured the pack, and the documents they'd found. "Yes." The tone of his reply left no doubt he wanted the demon to pay. Another assessing glance was swept over the office as he step out from behind the desk. "Where did you want to leave the calling cards?" he queried Kate, absently twirling the feather in between his fingers.

Her smile grew more wicked as she pulled out the tube of clear orbs, "I'll leave one in the middle of his desk, one by his door, and one at the front desk. I suggest you put yours at the front desk, unless you think it would survive the explosion?"

She watched him pick up a book off a shelf, one eyebrow raised but she didn't say anything to him, she just waited for his answer, "We'll leave it at the front desk then. Ready?"

And that was what she was waiting for, she turned and set two of the clear orbs on Howe's desk, one on either side of the white lump of clay. "Yep, lets blow this joint." Her joke had her s nickering as she left the room, dropping another orb just inside the doorway of the office.

She set the last two orbs on the front desk and smiled again. "All done. Shall we stroll on out of here?" She started moving toward him then frowned. "Damn, forgot my pack. Hold on." With one finger held up she walked back into Howe's office and to her pack on the desk.

In the early light of day the charred remains of Howe's Marketplace office were a stark and dreary sight. The heavy smell of smoke hung over the immediate area like a funeral pall. The gaping wound was a chaos of localized destruction and burnt wreckage; a rotting tooth on the second floor of the DCH building. At the root stood a bulky silhouette a dark smudge of a shadow at the apex of the decay framed by jagged edges and brittle blackness.

Surrounded by the ruins of his once grand office Mr. Howe clenched his fist around the fragile stem of the feather. The book that had protected it lay in shredded ruins on the floor. It had been the only thing that had survived the explosion relatively intact but it hadn't managed to survive Howe. What title it may have held, or contents it pontificated were lost and overlooked by the infuriated demon, his attention was focused only on the feather itself and the one who had left it for him to find. Beady eyes were narrowed and filled with a sick unearthly red glow. His fury was so intense he could practically taste it; an acrid, bitter bile layering his tongue.

"Lucien Mallorek!" Howe snarled through thin lips pressed so tight it reddened his pudgy cheeks. "Up to your old tricks I see" You are gonna wish you were never born when I get done with you!" Howe hissed at the feather.

"Hmmm?" Came the smooth voice of Mr. Cheatham from behind Howe. He stood pristine, handsome and fashionable in the doorway, the exact opposite of the chaos of the destroyed office. The irony wasn't lost on Howe. "I was thinking of redecorating my office too. I had thought Post-Modern not Post-Apocalyptic." He enjoyed a hearty, amused chuckle before sipping his high-brow coffee. After another moment of quiet gloating he turned and walked away with a rather jaunty air to his step.

Cheatham only pissed Howe off more. Howe was pretty sure Renna wouldn't turn the likes of the handsome Mr. Cheatham from her bed!!! He would have liked to slam his door on the ass" face, but his door was already closed" and shredded nearly as badly as the book. He hadn't stopped to consider the consequences of the damage as he'd fought to get into his office. At least he can relax now, the fire burned so hot it destroyed everything inside his private safe. That was his primary concern after all; keeping his secrets safe. Especially from Dewey! Well" Cheatham too as he'd turn the evidence over to Dewey in a human heartbeat!

Howe's hidey-hole had held far too much damning evidence of all his dastardly deeds of late. He knew better than to keep everything in one place however. A small saving grace since all the papers stored in that safe were now dust and ash! Not even a shred of the leather binding from either of the several ledgers secreted there had been spared. Only problem was they were his only copies. Howe was going to have to scramble to cover his ass! He knew better than to expect his "clients" to payout if he couldn't prove his due. And Howe was going to need it!!!

This was simply the worst timing for such a thing to happen! What with M breathing down his neck for a new body and Renna off doing Gods only knows what"! Now this!

It was a sizable setback to be sure! Howe growled low and feral at the thought. But it wasn't as bad as it could have been! It could have been much, much worse!

If Dewey had found out what Howe was up to' Hell would have rained down on him. His existence would royally suck until Dewey decided to end it.

Dewey's older than Cheatham and Howe put together. He could easily rip Howe's head off and sh*t down his neck! All of Howe's hard earned efforts were intended to give him an edge over Dewey" eventually. He's not even remotely ready yet; he didn't have the power to withstand an assault by the elder partner.

With sudden, renewed determination not to let this get the best of him, Howe tucked the feather in an outer pocket of his suit. Reaching inside an inner breast pocket he pulled out a shiny black, small, thin rectangular gadget. He pushed a few buttons and the gadget blinked on, revealing one side to be a LCD screen. He pressed on a few tiny images and then began tapping out a list on the softly glowing screen.

Contracts " muster up approximately 307 Black Ledger " use the new ones to retain consistency Accounting Book " averages will have to do, round up using transport stats LM Negotiations " request copies" Blood Props " reassess options

A few more images and buttons pushed then he'd snicked the gadget off. Putting it back inside his pocket beady eyes roamed anew over the ruin of his office. His art and sculptures" were all gone. His vast law library collected over many dimensions destroyed! His antique furniture was nothing more than burnt broken bones that would fit better in an animal graveyard than an upscale attorney's office! He couldn't resist reaching for the feather, wrapping it tight in his fist again. No care given to preserve the delicate shape this time. Lucien Mallorek was going to pay and Howe was going to enjoy serving it to him. This thought, and this thought alone brought a terrible smile to thin hard lips. It was the kind of smile that would feed nightmares, so full of hate and malice it could freeze the blood.

What Howe didn't know was that this was just the beginning of his own personal nightmare"

((Author's Note: Details of what was found in the safe will be posted on Evilplottersink.com no later than Wednesday 08-31-11. A post will be put up in the DCH Relevant Threads with the link as soon as it is posted! Thank you!))