Lightning flashed in the stormy sky and the low rumble of thunder rolled its way through the narrow streets of evening Sayrn. Just as Corvo pushed the door of the pub disappearing inside, three figures appeared, perching at the edge of the nearby apartment block. The heavy leather gear, thick hoods and white insignias gave them away as the three marshals from earlier. 

 -  “By Matal, three hours? Really?” – One the man panted and spat. – “Why did we chase this sod for this long again?” 
 -  “Did he not seem fishy to ya, eh, Reggie?” – The other man replied with a smirk, tapping his quarterstaff on the floor impatiently. – “The bastard practically smelled of rebel scum.” 
 The leader of the trio raised his gauntleted hand, hushing the other two.
 -  “It doesn’t matter now. Cause this little birdie just led us to a real jackpot.” – He pointed at the pub. – “See anything familiar?” 
 The two underlings shared a slightly confused look then studied the bar intently.
 -  “The hell does that sign say? Win… chester?” – Reggie squinted at the neon sign before straightening out and clicking his tongue in satisfaction. –“Holy shit, you mean that’s [i]the[/i] Winchester bar? We’ve been looking for that watering hole for two bleeding years!” 
 The other man whirled his staff around and jumped up a few times in excitement. 
 -  “Hahaha! Damn, this is gonna be one hell of a pay day! Cap’n! Let’s set this shit dump ablaze then report it to the commander! We'll be bloody heroes!”
 The leader nodded with a smirk.
 -  “Aye, let’s have us some fun.” 
 With that short exchange over, all three men jumped off the ledge, landing down on the cobblestone street with a heavy thud, weapons at the ready, their sights set at the Winchester.

[hr] 

 Arbos listened in on the conversation with a smirk on his face. Even amongst the marshalcy no mortal could have expected to be within his control zone, while being that far out. A slight shadow of disappointment crossed the spectre’s face. If he had his body this little scuffle would have ended already, with all three nincompoops getting strangled with their own weapons right there on that roof… Alas that was not the case, not yet anyway. So what’s a respectable king of thieves to do in such a situation but use it for his own advantage? The rookies needed a bit of field testing anyway.

With a wave of his hand Arbos summoned a tiny gust of wind that rang the silver bell by the door. Within seconds hurried steps could be heard, making their way up the stairs from the bar. And immediately, with a polite knock, Klaus entered the crystal chambers. 

 -  “You rang m’lord?” the old man was as polite as always.
 -  “Ayup. Klausie-boy, we’re about to have some visitors… of the imperial disposition.” – Arbos grinned – “Three of them, to be precise. Have our boys stand down unless summoned okay? And wake the newbies – they’re about to have their proverbial mettles unproverbially tested.”
 The old bartender’s eyebrows shot up in faint surprise for a moment, before regaining his composure. 
 -  “A-Are you sure sir? I mean, are there any officers with them?”
 -  “Mmm yup, captain judging by equipment and them calling him, well, captain.” – Arbos replied with a slight chuckle in his voice.
 -  “A captain?!  I mean three line marshals would be borderline impossible for the newbies as it is, sir, but with a captain.. I mean they’re-“
 -  “They’re gonna get their asses kicked yes. And I look forward to it greatly.” – The spectre’s grin turned downright vicious, sending shivers down Klaus’s spine. – “Now go, get the others. I’ll get the one from across the wall myself. He he he…”
 As Arbos chuckled and floated up from his throne, disappearing into thin air, Klaus gave a short military bow of acknowledgement and quickly ran out the door to wake and gather up the others. 

[hr] 

 Thea was snoozing happily, laid out in the luxurious bathtub. The mixture of excitement, long trip, hot water and the empty bottle of mulled wine on the floor must’ve knocked the young lady out. Silently as ever Arbos phased through the wall, glowing yellow eyes running over the girl’s naked form with a smirk. 
“Damn, sometimes there really are good perks to being incorporeal. Almost a shame to wake her up, really.” Arbos muttered to himself, then took a deliberately long moment to gather up his breath and shouted out atop of his lungs. 

 -  “WAKEY-WAKEY PRINCESS!!!” 
The sudden shout made Thea jump up and fumble about in the water.
 -  “Huh?! What?!” – Half-awake and confused she clearly needed a moment to gather up her thoughts and process the situation. 
Arbos, in all his gentlemanliness, of course, wasn’t about to give her any. With an ever wide smirk the spectre continued.
 -  “Oh I see you’re awake? Good! There’s three imperial marshals attacking the bar downstairs in order to kill you all. Kill them back. Just…” – Arbos threw a meaningful glance over Thea’s body. – “…you might want to throw a towel on first.” 
 As the young lady squeaked at the realization and scurried frantically to cover herself up, growing a brighter shade of red by the moment, Arbos quietly chuckled to himself.
 “Damn, I DO love my job.”