Outrun - Chapter 464 - Maid Shiro (Patreon)

“You are to be seen, not heard! Master Sancho expects the best from you, just as he does in his mansion.” A butler paced in front of a line of maids just inside of the yacht’s central hall. I stood just at the end of the hall with my head lowered and a demure look on my face, the same as every other maid. “Now, your assignments will be sent to you shortly. Questions?”

”Head Butler Torvald?” A woman near the middle of the line raised her hand. Her dress was modified to be incredibly low cut. If she so much as twitched wrong, her chest looked like it’d spill out. “Are our normal… proclivities allowed?”

Head Butler Torvald’s nose curled slightly. “Indeed. Master Sancho has prepared several rooms. Remember to record anything said.” 

“Of course, of course.” The woman winked, and lowered her hand. She dropped it to her chest while wiggling happily. Even with all of the blatantly seductive mannerisms, her eyes had a cold look to them that made me a little uncomfortable.

For the first time since I snuck into the group of maids, I got the sneaking feeling that I also joined a group of high-class flatbackers without realizing it. No, that wasn’t quite right. More like most of the maids were honey traps for the execs invited to Mr. Sancho’s party.

“Our passes are tuned to the wards, right?” A peppy, red-headed maid asked. Her dress was also modified, though with a long thigh flap that exposed her legs. A badge, the same one that dangled from around my neck, was held loosely by two of her fingers like a playing card.

”Of course. I’ll check to make sure, though.” The butler pulled out a round dial covered in an intricate array of runes, and moved down the line checking the passes one by one. He stopped on me at the end of the line. Doubt flickered in his eyes for a moment before he backed away. “Ruby, don’t forget yours once you take it off again. If you cause another incident like last time—“

“I won’t, I won’t!” Ruby just smirked at him with eyes that promised she would. “Where’s the trust, old man?”

“Go get to work.” The elderly butler sighed heavily. Everyone started to break off one by one—“You, at the end of the line. Wait.”

I froze just before I could follow the older maids further into the yacht. “Sir?”

”I don’t recognize you.” Torvald approached with a small frown on his face, and stopped right in front of me. He adjusted his perfectly fitted suit jacket. “You are…”

”Suki Hashimi.” I bowed my head slightly, and didn’t meet his eyes. The identity was fully set up for me by the Hound, though Luna made some adjustments. Like the name. I looked much more like Suki than Victoria.

“Ah, right.” The butler’s lips twitched, and he adjusted his sleeve. “Madam’s new personal maid. I saw your file this morning.”

My backstory was being hired by Mr. Sancho’s wife to be her personal attendant. One of her many personal attendants. It was an easy enough position to get lost in the crowd with. 

I put on a dreamy look, and smiled softly. I had a feeling Honest Face was going to be quite valuable tonight. “That’s right, sir. Mistress Sancho has truly made my life worth living once more.”

The file said Lexi Sancho liked devoted maids. It was why she tended to hire maids from among the streetrats instead of the families of lower execs and employees like most higher-ups tended to do. I could do devoted without any issue.

At my use of Mistress instead of Madam, the man slowly nodded. It was such an obvious trap. How could I not see it? “Interesting… she didn’t seem to remember you when I asked this morning. It’s quite a peculiar situation, isn’t it, Suki?”

“She… she didn’t remember me?” I asked pitifully, and dropped the dreamy look to one of extreme pain. It wasn’t that hard. I just had to think back to when Mira was super suicidal after the lab. 

The butler watched me intently for a moment, and then sighed softly. “Well, Mistress Sancho has her peculiarities. Such a pretty face, though… honestly, I’m quite surprised as well.”

Peculiarities… right, that was one way to say she was one of the most notorious drug abusers this side of the city. It didn’t take much asking around the Jade Fang to find a long, long list of drugs she bought from them. Everything from designer stuff to off the street shit that would cook a normal person’s brain. 

“Sir…” I drooped, and totally lost the perfect posture that I drilled into every fiber of my being over the last couple days. 

“How old are you, girl?” The butler asked. His eyes traced the crosshair-like scar I’d made over my right eye. 

“Sixteen.” And eleven months! Though I felt way, way older thanks to all the time compression I went through with the interface. Even with some of those memories being dream-like unless I focused on them. 

“She has talked about wanting some fresh faces…” He frowned subtly. “I’m surprised she didn’t have your scar treated.”

”Mistress said it was part of my appeal?” I reached up a hand, and rubbed a finger down the synthetic scar tissue.

He seemed to come to a decision, and sharply nodded his head. “That does sound like her.”

“If she doesn’t remember me, then why was I ordered to join this party to get experience?” I frowned as if just realizing something was off. “Head Butler, m-maybe I should go back?”

The willingness to leave ‘cause something might be wrong sparked some level of trust in his eyes. He watched me for a moment longer before shaking his head. “Mistress is in the lounge at the moment. Why don’t you go see her personally? Ah… best be careful. She’s in one of her moods.”

My expression almost shattered, though I quickly covered it up by ducking my head. My black hair, carefully straightened by Mira just before I left, curtained my face. “Yes, sir. Of course.”

Torvald pulled out the control module for the yacht’s wards, and waved it over my pass. “There. You should be cleared.”

”Thank you, sir.” That was easy. I was really worried about the wards of the boat, to be honest. As expected of a Mystech exec, he didn’t just use tech security.

”If she doesn’t have anything for you, come find me.” Head Butler Torvald lifted his wrist, and checked his gold watch. “We have ten minutes till the guests arrive.”

”I will, sir.” I bowed my head one more time, and backed away from him. The lounge… I thought through my mental map, and worked my way back through the massive yacht.

”Nicely handled, Nightshade.” Luna spoke across the comms. “Is your position compromised?”

”Negative. This might work better, actually.” Being close to Mr. Sancho’s wife would give me some better access to the restricted parts of the ship. Assuming nothing horrific happened.

Ronin came across the comms. I winced at his loud voice, and adjusted the nearly invisible comm-link hidden in my ear. “I have stashed your equipment in roof. Bathroom D-33.”

“Roger, partner.” Tex’s smooth drawl came across the line next. “I don’t know about y’all, but I’m feeling all sorts of itchy without my big iron.”

“You didn’t keep anything on you?” I asked quietly. I had weapons stashed all over this maid outfit of mine. 

“No? Damn, was that an option?” Tex sighed tragically. He wasn’t on the ship yet. It was just me, Luna, and Ronin here at the moment.

It was just the four of us on comms. Levi and Lavender were both on a totally separate job, so they were off doing their own thing. They’d start to move once Luna sent them the signal, though.

”I have not seen you, Nightshade.” Ronin shifted his attention to me. “You are on board, yes?”

I approached a staircase, and paused as I recognized the dangerous red samurai standing guard just outside. Instead of answering, I approached the man blocking the way forward with my head bowed slightly. “E-excuse me.”

”Halt.” Ronin’s voice crackled dangerously. “No one is to access lounge.”

”I-I’m Mistress Sancho’s personal maid.” I flinched back like I was terrified, and bowed my head even further. “M-my mistress is up there, no?”

”Hmmm… One moment.” Ronin tapped his finger against the lacquered wood of his armor. The next time he spoke, it was across the comms. “Moonfall, I have maid here claiming to be Mrs. Sancho’s. She doesn’t appear in my list.”

”She’s clear.” Luna choked back a laugh. “I removed some logs to make you guys blend in better.”

”You may proceed.” Ronin stepped out of my way. Once I started moving up the staircase, he asked once more. “Apologies. Nightshade, you are boarded, correct?”

“Chek.” I called across the comms as I slid into a cocktail lounge overlooking the main party hall. A woman reclined on a couch looking totally unkempt. She drank wine straight from a bottle, and glared down at the attendants moving around the hall. A faux fox, with its eyes replaced by sparkling gemstones, wrapped elegantly around her shoulders. Or I hoped it was fake, anyway.

Despite her slovenly look, the moment I entered the room her eyes snapped to me with a subtle sharpness like a viper. Her voice had a languid drawl to it like she didn’t care about anything in the world. “I didn’t call for service.”

“Head Butler Torvald sent me to find you mistress.” I bowed my head lightly toward the woman. “I’m your new personal maid.”

”My new…” Her eyebrows twisted upward before settling. “Ah, yes. I remember. Jesse, right?”

”Suki, Mistress.” I curtsied to her, and pulled up the edges of my maid dress slightly. A chill passed across my fishnet clad legs. We were going to be out on the water. The least they could’ve done was let us pitiful maids wear something a little warmer.

“Suki, huh?” Mrs. Sancho downed the rest of her wine bottle, and set it on the table. It clattered, and then toppled to the side noisily. “Don’t call me mistress. It’s such a bore. Lexi. Call me Lexi.”

”I-is that okay?” Something felt off. I couldn’t quite place my finger on what it was, though. No way she’d just warm up to me this quickly, right?

”Am I not in charge? I dictate what’s right and wrong. What’s moral, and what’s immoral.” She haughtily laughed, and reached for another bottle of wine. She stopped just shy, and flopped back onto the couch instead. “My dear husband will probably throw a fit if I drink much more wine without eating anything."

Are you not in charge? I almost snarkily asked. Instead, I just lowered my head. “Shall I get you something to eat, Lexi?”

“I do so love pretty, smart maids…” Mrs. Sancho sighed softly, and moved for a private bar off to the side. She reached over the counter, and swiped an expensive looking bottle of whiskey. “Suki, be a dear and go fetch me some shrimp from the kitchen? Oh, and a basket of gingerbread.”

”Yes, mi—Lexi.” I curtsied one last time, and backed toward the door I came through. This wasn’t so bad. If I could get her absolutely sloshed, it’d be easy enough to sneak away once the time—

“Oh, Suki?” Lexi called after me before I could leave. I turned back to find her holding one of those control modules that the butler had. “Here. Can’t have my personal maid getting stopped by every security guard on the yacht.”

”Are you—“ I bit my lip when her expression changed, and quickly crossed the room to take it from her. “Thank you, Lexi.”

”Of course!” She reached out a hand reeking of wine, and ruffled my hair. The straightened and manicured look that’d taken hours to get right was promptly thrown everywhere. “Ah, just as I thought. Such soft hair. When you get back, you must tell me your hair-care routine. Now, off you go!”

“Yes, Lexi.” I curtsied one more time, and watched her carefully. The woman was strange in a way I couldn’t quite put my finger on. 

The control device felt particularly heavy in my hands. It was such a giant security risk to just hand something like this over to me that I couldn’t help but be suspicious about it. 

A tracker, maybe? No way the control unit wasn’t tracked. I’d have to be careful how I moved it around the ship. Why would she just hand this thing over to me, though? I could cause so much chaos with it… not that I even understood how it worked in the first place.

Was it just luck? My Title—? Wait, no. I changed Child of Fox to Shorty for this job. I didn’t have the luck boosting effect of a Title to back me up anymore. Authority figures being less interested in me, and me being seen as a non-threat was just too good to pass up for this one.

I shook my head, and stuffed the runed device into a pocket. Regardless, I got out of there before she could call for me again.