This wasn't the kind of heat they needed right now.
Granted, they didn't need any heat, but the sinking of a marine warship on the very same morning as its arrival was very bad. In the worst case, they might even see a vice admiral show up and start sniffing around.
Havelock and the loyalist conspiracy maintained that they were on the right side of the law, but that fact could easily be swept aside if the Lord Regent somehow spun this disaster as their doing. The World Government wouldn't care who the rightful ruler of Gristol was if they think the loyalists attacked them.
What the hell was Corvo doing? He had better hurry up and hand over the bomber before this all got out of hand.
Teague burst into the pub, slamming the door behind him. He was wearing a large coat over his uniform, proving that he came here in a much bigger hurry than he usually did, if he was so afraid of being seen.
"We have a problem," Teague hissed.
Havelock rubbed his forehead to stave off the headache he knew was coming. "What now? If this is about the marine warship, I already know. You needn't have risked exposure."
"I figured you'd already know about that, but that isn't why I'm here," Teague refused to just get to the point. "Someone broke into the Overseer's headquarters, into my office specifically."
"You were found out?" Havelock growled. "And you came here?!"
"Not found out, no," Teague tried to reassure him, but he didn't feel very reassured. "I think it was Corvo. The job was done too cleanly to be anyone else."
Havelock frowned. "What about the bomber? They should have the skills to infiltrate your headquarters."
"Sure, but why would they do that? As far as most are concerned, I'm a mild mannered civil servant with only modest ambitions. Nobody outside of the loyalists should know any different," Teague insisted.
"Perhaps-" Havelock was interrupted once again as Treavor burst into the pub this time.
"We have a problem," Treavor unknowingly repeated Teague's words.
"Please don't tell me you've been made," Havelock hoped.
"What? No. I'm not an idiot," Treavor proclaimed as Teague quietly seethed to the side. "My brother showed up at my estate, seeking help."
Notably, he had only mentioned one brother, rather than two.
"Well, that's just fantastic," Havelock felt like this day couldn't get any worse.
"Oh, don't worry. Nobody recognized him, so I just put a bullet in his head. After I had a long overdue chat with him, of course. The problem is what he told me about his abductor," Treavor said, failing to get to the important details without rambling, just like Teague.
"And?" Havelock did his best to withhold his exasperation from his tone.
"Well, you probably don't know this, but I'm a bit of a pirate enthusiast," Treavor sniffed. "After Corvo mentioned the pirates he hired, I tried to put together what little I knew to find out who they were."
"And something your brother said led you to believe you found their identity," Teague surmised.
"Yes, I was getting to that," Treavor snapped at him. "The pirate is a woman. She was able to modify Morgan and Custis' facial structures without breaking the skin and let them try to kill each other without recognition, after sewing their mouths shut."
A shiver went down Havelock's spine. The Pendleton twins were monsters, and any fate they received was undoubtedly deserved, but Havelock would have just killed them. What kind of sick freak did Corvo hire?
"The immense cruelty on its own was a clue, but it was the modification of their faces that told me her identity," Treavor left a moment of silence to build the suspense, the drama queen. "It must be none other than 'Cheapshot' Cherry."
"That's impossible," Teague voiced his doubt instantly. Havelock couldn't help but agree with the assessment. "She's all the way in the New World. Even on the fastest ship in the world, traveling the fastest currents and without obstruction by the World Government, there's no way she could have gotten here so quickly. Corvo also said they were small-time, didn't he?"
"Corvo was still in prison during Kaido and Big Mom's defeat. He had no way to know," Treavor excused. "Besides, there's no one else that could do it! It's not well known, but Don Chinjao had his crumpled head reshaped by her before she gained her first bounty. Someone overheard him talking about it during that whole fiasco at Dressrosa."
"Maybe it was just someone with the ugly ugly fruit," Teague tried.
"No, the current user of that fruit got sent to Impel down two months ago," Treavor claimed.
Havelock studied Treavor's face as he argued with Teague. He seemed quite certain of his conclusion. Havelock did find it odd that he voiced this idea as a problem, but in actuality seemed excited by the prospect.
"You don't look all that concerned, Treavor. You said this was a problem," Havelock decided to voice his doubts aloud.
"What is there to be concerned about?" Treavor answered with a question of his own. "We cannot know her motives, but if she decides to stand against us, then there is frankly nothing we can do about it."
"Surely you're joking," Teague said. "No matter who she is, there is a limit to human strength."
"Hmph, you don't get it," Treavor sneered. "The upper echelons of this world might as well be gods compared to us. We can only hope that she has seen fit to leave us be. If we anger her, then no army will protect us from her."
Teague clearly didn't buy it, but something about the reverence in Treavor's expression told Havelock he should listen.
"I'll not go down quietly, no matter what you say, Lord Pendleton," Havelock decided instead. "I have worked too hard to set Gristol back onto the right path to give up now."
"Do as you wish. You shall still have my assistance, whatever good it will do you," Pendleton said. It was a relief to hear that he wasn't preemptively surrendering, at least.
"Good," Havelock grunted his approval. "Teague, we'll trust that Corvo is doing what's best for now. Do let me know if you find anything out."
"Right," Teague assented, giving Treavor a weirded out look.
…
Corvo slinked into the shadows of the rafter after his 'allies' finished with their impromptu meeting. It wasn't the best that they'd learned Cherry's identity, but they were sweating now, and that was good.
Corvo planned to let the so-called 'loyalists' feel the pressure for a bit longer before he turned on them. Ideally, he would wait until they thought their victory was assured before pulling the rug out from under them.
His revenge would be sweet. They really ought to thank him for doing this the way he was, too, since Cherry's methods were far less pleasant. At least he wouldn't rearrange their faces.
No, they would go to prison, once things had settled down after Emily took the throne. But first, just a taste of what could have been if they weren't such cold hearted bastards.
A day more, at the most. He could stay his hand and savor it for that long. He could be patient.