Ever since that government pig went and ruined Lucie’s moment a week ago, he’s been in a bad mood. He became the governor like he wanted, but he likes doing things on his terms and when things don’t go as planned, he gets angry. It doesn’t help when I think about what happened today.

Knock KnockKnockKnockKnock, Knock Knock

Someone knocked on the door to the governor’s mansion. But that doesn’t make any sense. If anyone wanted to step into the governor’s office the guards should’ve asked us for permission first. Regardless, I opened the door.

“Hello there, Beautiful. May I please come inside?”

He wore gloves, black slacks with a white buttoned shirt, and a red vest. Over all of it was a black trenchcoat. His voice was very welcoming, but his expression reminded me of a sly fox. Directly behind him was a man with circular glasses and short hair. He wore a standard CT uniform and had a very serious look on his face that contrasted with his buddy’s nonchalant attitude.

“Hell no!” I tried to slam the door shut, but the glasses CT wedged his foot between the door before it shut.

“We have a search warrant. It's a direct order from the commander of the BCT.” He pushed the door open with ease which made me realize just how strong he was. When he and his buddy stepped inside, he showed me the search warrant form. At a glance, it seems legit, but maybe they’re faking it. I always hear rumors of CTs faking warrants and even evidence to lock up people the government doesn’t like. Maybe I can get away with—

“It’s fine, Malta. They were scheduled to come here today.” I jumped out of fright and turned around to see Lucie standing there with an annoyed expression. I know what that face means. It’s his “I don’t like any of what’s happening right now, but my hands are tied” face.

“Well, let’s just properly introduce ourselves! I feel like we got off on the wrong foot…no pun intended!” The fox-faced CT introduced himself. “My name is Blake Thompson. Though the government has given me the title “The Trickster.” I’d like to think of myself as a detective nowadays with the line of work I’ve been doing!”

“Name’s Baldrick Pulyan. I work under the trickster.” The glasses CT said.

“I’m Lucien Shaw. Newly appointed governor of zone two. Malta is my assistant.”

Before I could even notice, the trickster was crouched by my waist. This made me jump backwards and turn my stemata into a sword.

“I haven’t seen that stemata in a while. Lucky for you, we’re not on orders to confiscate that, so we won’t.”

“Speaking of your orders. What are you here for? As far as I was told, you’re here to look around.” Lucie said.

“Well, you’re half right! We have intel that your predecessor had a plan to take over the country with a weapon of mass destruction after he won the battle. We’re here to confiscate it.” The Trickster said.

“Baxton planned that?” Lucie looked just as shocked as me. “I didn’t see a weapon like that here. Are you sure you got your info right? How would he even hide something like that in here?”

“Stematas don’t matter when it comes to size and destructive capability. A wristwatch could destroy a city with the right modifications.” Baldrick said.

“Now that the lame explanation is out of the way, It’s time to look around! Let’s goooooooooooooooo!” The Trickster went running through the halls like a kid at the amusement park.

As he did, Lucie and I made sure to follow every move this guy made. There was no way he was gonna do something without us noticing. Besides, I don’t even know why he’s bothering to look everywhere. Every nook and cranny he’s checked, we’ve checked five times over. We have nothing to hide—

“Howdy…” Don Gutter blew more smoke into the air as he laid on the couch of our third guestroom.

“You dumbass! You were supposed to leave hours ago! Why are you still here?!” I yelled at him but he was just waving me off. “The kitchen staff is amazing. The garlic bread these guys make is to die for.”

“Ya don’t say…” the trickster said as he scanned the room.

“Listen…” Lucie was about to explain, but the trickster stopped him in his tracks. “I’m fully aware that Don Gutter of the west triad helped destroy the very gang he was a part of. You don’t have to justify his being here.”

How much does he know? He marches in here under the grounds of finding some crazy weapon that even we don’t know about and then he states that he already knows the details of our plans for the coup? CTs with titles are scary…

“Well, onto the final room: the governor’s office! DunDunnnnnnnnnn!” He ran down the hallway and I chased right behind him! No one’s stepped foot into Lucie’s office! Not even me! I’ll be damned if I let some bozo get the honor before I do! Search warrant be damned!

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Hahahhahaahahaha!”

We both stepped into his oval office at the same time and looked around. It had a desk with papers stacked at unreasonable heights and bookshelves by the walls with books about zone two history, literature, and music. And at the top of the wall, a picture of each zone two governor wrapped around the room. It was an office befitting a leader. It was just right for Lucie.

“Yeah, I made sure to check every inch of this room as soon as we took over. Sorry to disappoint you—” Lucie was interrupted by Baldrick who entered the room.

“I finished my search, sir. You’re gonna want to see this.” We were so focused on watching the trickster, we didn’t even notice his subordinate making a thorough search through the rest of the mansion.

He led us to the first floor into the library and as soon as we stepped in. We noticed a large difference in the room. Where there is usually a third bookshelf built into the back of the room, it has now disappeared to reveal a spiral staircase that went down into the darkness. What the hell?! How were they able to find something like this in minutes?! I looked over to Lucie and he seemed just as shocked as me.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhohohohohohohhaaaaaaa!” The trickster started to chuckle in excitement as he rushed through the room and down the steps. Everyone followed with a little less enthusiasm. I didn’t believe their story until now, but how am I supposed to ignore all of this? The more we go down these steps, the more I think about it: we’re about to uncover a weapon that could’ve destroyed the country as we know it. As we reach these final steps, we’re gonna see what exactly Baxton was putting everything on the line for. We took our final step into a large, dark room. Baldrick felt around for a light and when he finally found it, he flicked the switch. As he did, light filled the room to reveal the secret of the zone two governor. It revealed…nothing…the room was empty.

“And the plot thickens…” The trickster walked around the room as we all stood in wonder. What the hell happened to it? Where could it have gone in that battle?

“It looks like based on the large circular imprint on the floor and the size of this room, it was a rather large weapon.” The trickster said.

“That makes it even more confusing! How was something like that sneaked out from right under our noses?!”

“I’ve had a rather wild theory, but this pretty much confirms it.” he started to pace back and forth as he thought. “Can you guys give me a synopsis of the battle at the governor’s square?”

When requested, I was about to break down the fight, but Lucie stepped up to do it instead. “We breached through the gates with the help of Malta’s stemata and once we were in, we were faced with three CTs. One of which had a warhammer stemata that took out our only stemata user. That’s when…the parasites came…” There was a bit of anger in his voice as he mentioned the parasites. This is why I wanted to mention it myself. Lucie hates parasites more than anything. So to be saved by one is one of our biggest embarrassments. Regardless of his embarrassment, he continued explaining.

“One of them fought the warhammer CT and when this parasite was on the brink of death…a man in a superhero costume came to heal his wounds and disappear.”

“I told you, Lucie! That was Holy Red! Holy Blue told me he took care of Don Matteo and his hideout!”

“I still have a hard time believing you, Malta.” Lucie brushed me off and concluded his story. “After that, the parasite defeated the warhammer CT and collapsed. That’s when you guys came and did your jobs for once.”

“Let’s zone in on this Holy Red. Based on witness testimonies on other rebels, they said that he was invincible. When Jeremy tried hitting him—”

“Jeremy?! Were all of your mothers on the bottle when they came up with your names?”

“Malta…”

“Sorry…”

“When the warhammer CT tried hitting Holy Red, the stemata passed through him and flower petals spilled out from where he was hit.”

“Yeah. My guess was that it was a stemata that changes the composition of his body into that weird flower.”

“It’s a blue brunnera flower. They’re the national flower of Haustorians.” the trickster said as he leaned against the wall.

…

…

…

“You have got to be kidding me.” I facepalmed.

“Sorry, but that man was probably either a Haustorian, or someone pretending to be one. And if you’re not liking that, you’re probably not gonna like what I’m about to mention next…”

No…don’t tell me…I understand why he was connecting all of these dots now…it’s because…

“The man that disguised himself as Holy Red stole the weapon that was here.”

I slammed my fist into the wall that was next to me.

“That doesn’t make sense! A stemata that can teleport him and other things? Wouldn’t conflicting stematas lead to instability and ultimately the death of the user?!”

“Yeah…it would, wouldn’t it? Regardless, our work here is done.” the trickster said as he walked past everyone and ascended the steps. I followed him, hoping that he would give me more information about this person disguised as holy red. But he didn’t. He just made his way to the exit with his buddy and as he was about to step off the premises, he turned around ever so slightly.

“By the way, you’ve been on quite the win streak. From a nobody to zone two’s governor in a year…these people are quite unruly and set in their ways so I’m surprised you could’ve reeled them in so quickly. So tell me…have you heard any bells lately?”

Bells? What do bells have to do with Lucie being governor? I swear, CTs are the weirdest people ever.

“No.” Lucie narrowed his eyes.

“Then that concludes my time here! Thank you for having me! I’ll send a house-warming gift through the mail!” He did a playful salute and as Baldrick walked past him, he elbowed his subordinate.

“Goodbye…thank you for your time.”

“There you go! I’m teaching him manners—” As soon as they were both out of the door, I shut it right on them.

“Good riddance.” I said as I wiped my hands of that interaction.

“I’m going back to my office. You can go home for today if you’d like.”

“It’s okay! I’ll wait for you out here.” Even though I want to stay with him in his office, I know he likes his personal space…

He sighed and gave me a warm smile “Fine. You can stay inside my office. No touching anything though.”

He turned around and began to walk off. As he did, I walked behind him and couldn’t shake what happened earlier. I’m sure Lucie is thinking about it too, He just doesn’t want to seem worried. Where did that country-threatening weapon go? And what was that last bit about bells? I know when to appreciate them when they help us, but something tells me this won’t be the last time counter-terrorists meddle in our business…