#even if it's only the Insurance and not Kengnatz or something

[alldenspa]

Voices From The Hedge - Chapter 18

From this point on, there’s no going back. We’re committed now.

Voices From The Hedge is an original novel by Alldenspa. If you’re unfamiliar with this project, I would be very happy if you checked out my information post about it HERE! It’s a story about magic and nerds, so if you’re into that, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!

Chapter 18 - The Statute Of Liberty

Eos didn’t know for how long he had been sleeping, and he couldn’t remember what he had dreamed about. The sound of the attic’s trapdoor echoed in his sore head. Within seconds, he was wide awake again, hastily sitting up in his bed just as a familiar green shock of hair appeared at the other end of the room. Seconds later, Ienge Alagdi had walked over, hurled his equipment aside and let himself fall into the sheets with a sigh of relief. “How was it?” asked Eos quickly, happy to see his friend return from the mission unscathed, “Did you find anything?” “Oh man, it was great actually,” replied Ienge with a look towards his sleepy colleague, but something in his voice made Eos hesitate with his response — There was a concerned tone mixed into the satisfied statement. “You… don’t sound too pleased, though,” he said, nervously glancing at Ienge and the equipment on his bed. “Well, it’s not all good news—” Ienge sat up and pushed his hair out of his face, looking over to Eos as he tried to find a good way of saying what worried him. Eos suddenly panicked — He jerked his head over to the trapdoor, hoping for Leit to appear, but Ienge sensed his thought. “Don’t worry, he’s fine,” he said quickly, and Eos visibly relaxed. “Honestly, you should have seen him. I knew he was some kind of prodigy but really, his skills are mad. Mad!” Eos turned back to Ienge, suppressing a yawn. “What happened?” “The good news is that Aria Tsuyoi, currently the leader of the Red Flag Rebels, agreed to the information exchange, which means that we will hopefully have detailed info on how Kengnatz raided all our hideouts very soon. The bad news—” He readjusted his seating position on the mattress, “—Is that we found not a single document hinting at the rebel cells being involved in that whole Oredchimegdi business.” He noticed Eos’ slightly irritated expression and explained: “It basically means that Liberty’s original theory, namely that rebels leaked information to H-E enabling them to raid Kengnatz and retake that scientist, might be wrong, at least there is no indication of it to be found where we thought it would be. Now generally speaking, this doesn’t pose any danger to the agency and us, but it still begs the question how H-E got that intelligence.” He paused a second, and then added with a serious glare: “If you ask me, there is another, so far unknown actor using the corps against each other for their own good. The whole thing is scary, honestly…” Eos thought about all this for a moment and was just opening his mouth to reply, but Ienge continued: “No, that’s not even all of it. There’s something else, far more alarming — We found it by accident, but it’s very, very concerning.” Eos turned to him, a worried expression on his face as he rubbed his eye sleepily. Ienge wanted to go on talking, but the sound of the trapdoor opening took the boys’ attention. It was Leit. “So, it’s true after all?” asked Ienge ominously. Leit nodded, his eyebrows furrowed with concern. “Crisis meeting. Come downstairs.”

The briefing room was gripped in a tense and uneasy atmosphere. It was obvious to see that after Timely Resurrection, nobody was in the mood for another important briefing at the expense of their sleep time. Around the long table, rumor was already playing its dark game of misinformation and worry, and none of the agents seemed to really know what had happened. Mugs were being emptied nervously and everybody was awaiting Central to make their appearance. A minute later, the sheets at the entrance were hurled aside, cold night air flooded in, and with it Liberty and Emerald. The room fell silent. “Thank you for sticking around,” said Liberty tiredly as they made their way around the table to take position at the far end, “Shichal, give us a briefing!” Next to Eos, Leit stood up nervously and looked around the table — All eyes were on him. He cleared his throat before starting to speak in a formal and very professional tone. “Agent Alagdi and I just returned as planned from attending the rebel gathering. As most of you already know, we were surprisingly not able to find any compromising material regarding the rebel cells’ involvement in H-E’s rescue of Oredchimegdi. This again poses the question how H-E acquired the necessary intelligence, that is to say: Who gave them the anonymous tip. But this is not the most concerning thing to spawn from our investigation.” He exchanged a quick nod with Liberty and produced a large piece of paper from his pocket, unfolding it carefully as he spoke. It didn’t look like anything special. “This is a message,” he continued, “Intended for Red Flag leader Aria Tsuyoi, sent to her just this afternoon and written by none other than information broker Ketten of Ilierka. The text reads as follows.” He cleared his throat again, this time more anxiously, and Eos was on the edge of his seat waiting for the content of the letter — Judging by the way everyone was acting, this was of prime importance. “To the honorable leader of our resistance, Aria Tsuyoi of the Red Mane. It pains me to say it, but I must speak my mind. I’m afraid Djoutunhaim has beaten me. His agents are everywhere, and I must fear for my life. It has been made clear that he intends to take me hostage for information, I will not be able to evade capture much longer. You, of all people, know best the essential nature of my person to the rebel cause, and I should not need to convince you that my capture and forced leaking of rebel intelligence to the Insurance will destroy what you have built all these years. I urge you to send a team of resistance fighters to the Social Insurance Headquarters to rescue me before it is too late — There is not any time to lose: By the time you read this message, I will already be in Djoutunhaim’s custody. With admiration, the humble information broker Ketten of Ilierka.” There was a pause. Agents exchanged concerned looks, and Eos knew why: Information traders were almost never caught — Too strong was their ability to evade the corporate grasp and blackmail their way out of almost any dangerous situation. The corporations had long realized that it wasn’t worth it to spend resources on a broker hunt if they could just negotiate with the man instead, buying the intelligence they wanted from him directly instead of going through a long and exhausting cat-and-mouse game before finally realizing that the only thing getting them closer to their goal was money going into the broker’s hand — officially. As a result, intelligence brokers were almost enjoying a fool’s freedom on the political scene, and if the very king of information, Ketten of Ilierka himself, had indeed been captured alive by the Social Insurance, then this was big, big news. “No proof of the letter’s authenticity was found,” continued Leit without any sign of emotional comittment after giving the other agents time to process, “But Heaven’s Hand has compared it to other documents and indeed, it is Ketten’s handwriting.” Concerned sighs went around the table. Liberty stood up again, giving a grateful nod to Leit, who returned down to his seat and took a deep breath, a tiny drop of sweat on his forehead. “We can assume,” said Liberty, whose lack of sleep was easily visible on his face, “That a number of similar letters were sent to other institutions, possibly including our agency, but seeing as we were uninformed of this, it is safe to say that Djoutunhaim must have anticipated Ketten’s calls for help and intercepted the respective letters. Apart from this one, of course.” At the other end of the room, the Professor raised his hand. “So what’s our plan, Sir?” Liberty shook his head. “Let’s not be too hasty,” he replied, “I would advise against taking immediate action on this.” He wanted to continue, but Igsher interrupted him: “What do you mean, ‘you would advise against’? I can’t imagine any reason preventing us from going in there right now!” “Except for sleep deprivation,” muttered Ienge on the seat next to Eos. Liberty gestured with his hands, struggling to find an opening for him to explain his position, but the storm had already started. “You know full well that this is Ketten we’re talking about,” said Igsher loudly. “Aye, we can’t afford to let the Insurance get this kind of advantage!” added the Professor decisively, although not in the same volume. “What about the intelligence he has about us? Do you want to risk that going the way of—” “Silence! All!” yelled Emerald from her wheelchair, the first thing that she had spoken during the whole meeting. There was instant silence. “When will you learn to act like professionals?” she said, more a statement than a real question. “Liberty, continue.” Liberty readjusted his collar with a timid look to the woman next to him, and turned his attention back to the agents gathered around the table. Igsher was visibly unsettled. “The Insurance has been cooperating with us to fantastic effect on the mission earlier tonight, they have saved four of our agents from Sibrodi’s assassination attempt,” His eyes rested on the four boys for a moment, “And I have an extensive and increasingly pleasant correspondence with Djoutunhaim. This is the first time in years that our agency is close to forming a stable alliance with another company. None of you can deny that this is an opportunity we cannot pass up — The advantages are simply too great.” Osrakey and the Professor scratched their respective chins, deep in thought, and across the table of Eos, Intergard leant back in her chair with a concerned expression. Without doubt, everyone was realizing that Liberty had a point — It was a great opportunity, one the like of which the agency had not had in a long time. “I disagree,” said Intergard decisively after a short pause of thinking, “If the Insurance succeeds in extracting any kind of information about us from Ketten, they won’t need this alliance any longer. You can chat with Djoutunhaim all you want, but the fact remains that in the end everyone looks first to their own.” The Professor nodded approvingly — Apparently he shared Intergard’s opinion, and he wasn’t the only one around the table. “No,” replied Liberty with unusual vigor in his voice, “Even if they are successful, a treaty would still be advantageous for both sides! The fact that Ketten is captured might be moderately concerning, but it isn’t a threat to our peace negotiations, and I will not let it become one because you can’t see what’s good of the agency in the long run!” “Liberty is right, Kwifeldis,” added Elettra with a look to Intergard, “Even if Ketten’s capture poses a danger, we can still try to release him covertly after the peace treaty is decided, or feed information about it to other corporations and let them do the job for us! Keep in mind that nobody knows we found this letter, so whatever kind of intel we leak about this, it won’t be traced to us.” Intergard didn’t respond — Although the truth in Elettra’s explanation was easy to see, she was obviously uncomfortable with leaving so much valuable knowledge in the hands of another party. Whether the Social Insurance, or Kengnatz, or any other corporation had control over Ketten didn’t make much of a difference to her, and neither did the fact that Central had worked together with Djoutunhaim to positively life-saving success only three hours ago. “I still disagree,” she said plainly, apparently refusing to argue over this any longer. From looking around the table, Eos could see that she was not alone with her opinion. Some of the other agents, especially the Professor and Igsher, were exchanging reinforcing looks with Intergard and each other, almost as if stealthily forming some sort of agreement without speaking at all. “Be that as it may,” said Liberty, trying to conclude the argument in a diplomatic way, “I will continue to negotiate with Djoutunhaim — If I am successful, we will have an official alliance treaty ready in two or three days. Until such a time—” His eyes rested on Intergard and the other members of the opposition for some seconds before he continued in a very serious voice, “—Nobody, I repeat, Nobody will take any action concerning Ketten’s capture. Do I make myself clear?” A round of sometimes confident, sometimes hesitant responses of “Yes, Sir” went around the table, and nobody dared to object openly. After all, even with the White Cave gone Liberty and Emerald still held the absolute authority within the agency.

The meeting concluded, and the boys went back to the attic. Eos was 100% ready for bed — All this had strained his physical as well as his emotional capacities more than enough. In the room below, he could hear Intergard pulling drawers in quick succession and the sound of her door opening multiple times as if she was going back and forth between the hallway and her desk, but Eos tried not to be too intrusive so he paid no attention. A minute later, all lights in the attic were out and the four boys laid motionless in their beds. Although the news was alarming, even Benx didn’t feel strong enough to continue chatter for long. The room below, however, was still as busy as before. Eos had no idea what Intergard was doing. He could even hear voices — Voices belonging to a number of agents, not just her. Was she giving a casual tea party down there? He tried not to listen in, but it was hard given the lack of anything else happening in the darkness of the night. “This is very serious,” said a male voice that Eos assumed to be Igsher’s, from what he could hear. “We need to act quickly, that much is certain,” replied the Professor, but a quick “Hush!” from Intergard made him lower his voice immediately. “This room isn’t soundproof,” she reminded him, her whisper almost inaudible on the attic above. “What, you’re concerned the kids upstairs will go tell daddy?” asked Igsher in a mocking voice, and Eos’ eyes flung open. What were they talking about? He sat up in his bed, very careful not to make any noise, and the dim light coming from between the wooden beams on the floor was enough for him to see that Benx was doing the same. Just what was going on? In the room below, Intergard continued whispering, her energetic voice now clearly understandable. “Listen, this is a lethally dangerous plan, I will not allow some kids to be dragged—” “They’re not kids!” said the Professor harshly. Intergard sighed. “We’ll need all the help we can get if we really want to do this; You know that, Kwifeldis,” added Igsher, “You know there’s no other option — Go get them down here.” Intergard let out a groan of resignation, and opened the door of her room. Her heavy steps echoed back from the roof as she climbed the ladder to the trapdoor. One moment later, a column of light illuminated the attic as she pushed it open. Ienge sleepily mumbled something, but it wasn’t convincing. Intergard eyed them with a look of frustration mixed with the knowledge that this was necessary. After a short silence of exchanged stares, she shrugged and just said: “You lot have probably heard everything anyways. Get dressed.” Eos suddenly realized that he was wide awake. Granted, he had mixed feelings about what Intergard and the other agents were planning downstairs, but the thrill of the forbidden seemed to have washed away any bit of exhaustion that had gripped him just a moment earlier. It didn’t even take a full minute for all four boys to hastily get into their clothes and quietly but quickly climb down the ladder to join whatever was going on. Intergard’s room was large and scarcely decorated. A wardrobe with a rattletrap desk on one side and a massive steel bedframe holding a thick mattress on the other were the only things she deemed necessary — The desk was filled with notes and small brass artefacts, giving a strange contrast to the otherwise empty room. A single but rather strong Fallos artefact hung from the center of the wooden ceiling and on the floor, a circular shape where the wood was lighter than elsewhere indicated that a carpet had been lying there for some time, but it had been removed. Within the room were four people: Intergard herself was leaning against the wall next to the desk, her arms crossed in front of her chest and with a concerned expression on her face. Sarb Igsher was sitting on the bed, his legs crossed and looking much less tense than her, although more tired — Next to him stood the Professor, scratching his nose absent-mindedly. And leant against the opposite wall, hands behind his back and eyeing the boys with a subtle smile as they entered, was Han Osrakey. “Welcome to the fellowship,” said Igsher with a cheerful grin. “What’s going on?” asked Leit, although Eos suspected that he already knew. The gathered agents exchanged a series of looks, and Intergard’s answer was plain: “We’re going rogue.”

Eos had to admit: From what they had overheard in the attic, he had figured that much — But still, he would never have expected people like Intergard and the Professor to willingly disobey their superiors, much less only half an hour after they had given the precise order to not. “With respect, Madam, but you want to go against Liberty’s direct command?” he asked with a face that told of his genuine confusion. “Not quite,” answered Intergard, “If leaving Ketten at the hands of Djoutunhaim was actually Central’s wish, I probably wouldn’t be here. But it isn’t.” Eos still didn’t quite understand. “Liberty wants us to stay away so that he can seal that alliance pact with the Insurance,” explained the Professor, “But everyone can see that it’s a mistake. The only reason he wants it to happen is because he’s friends with Djoutunhaim and he overestimates the importance of this treaty.” “Or to be more precise, he has become friends with him very recently,” added Igsher, whose frown revealed that he didn’t think too highly of Liberty’s point of view. “I’ve spoken to Emerald. She wants us to go,” said Intergard decisively and pushed herself off the wall, “That’s the only reason why I’m alright with this, though.” The Professor nodded — It was clear that he disagreed with her idea of obedience, but he knew very well that there was no point in, nor any need for discussion. “We appreciate it, Kwifeldis. Now, what’s our plan?” Osrakey raised a hand and gestured towards the four boys, still standing at the entrance of the room, all seriously impressed by what was going on. “Not so fast, we still need to make sure that these kids here actually want to do this. It’s not a pleasant joyride, after all.” “You bet we want to!” exclaimed Benx and turned to his friends, who all gave affirming nods. Eos couldn’t quite believe that the senior agents were planning an actual rogue mission, and much less that he was supposed to be a part of it now. All the sleepiness that had gripped him only minutes before was completely gone. Igsher shrugged with a grin. “Told you.” “Well, it helps upgrade our roster, that much is sure,” said Intergard with a sigh that showed how uncomfortable she was with the idea of exposing four rookie youngsters to the mortal danger of this kind of mission, “In that case, we will have three teams. Eos Keros will go with me, Igsher will team up with Leit Shichal, and Ienge Alagdi should go with the Professor.” She pointed at each of the other agents as she called out the line-up. “Operators will be Osrakey and Benx Kurdibt. Any concerns?” There was a short pause as everybody was trying to come up with any possible issues, but the constellation seemed solid. Intergard nodded and walked over to the wardrobe, opening it with one hand and pulling out a large sheet of rolled-up paper with the other. As she spread the blueprint on the floor for everyone to see, she continued talking. “The Insurance Headquarters has over a dozen floors plus basement, and we don’t know where Ketten is being held. Actually, we don’t know if he’s even in the building—” “But it does seem like the natural choice, doesn’t it?” interrupted Igsher, “Djoutunhaim will want to interrogate Ketten himself if he gets the chance. I don’t think and other location would make sense.” Intergard confirmed it with a nod. “We can assume he is there, I agree. But we will need to look for him, that’s why we go in small teams and split up. I’ll take the top floors, Igsher will go for the mid section, and the Professor takes the basement. Alright?” Another round of approving confirmations as Intergard pointed out various areas of interest on the blueprint. Eos tried his best to memorize as much of it as possible. “Objective: Find Ketten and secure his safety. Don’t compromise any Insurance assets, if possible. We don’t want to hamstring Liberty’s efforts for peace any more than necessary. Be as covert as is practical, ideally don’t give away our allegiance with the agency at all. If there is opposition, try not to be lethal. Understood?” “Yes, Madam!” was the general answer, even from Igsher and Osrakey. Without doubt, Intergard was respected highly even among the most talented operatives of the agency. That was probably the reason why she was leading this rogue squad in the first place, thought Eos with a smile of admiration. He was still as much of an Intergard fan as ever. “We shouldn’t waste any time,” said Igsher as he stood up from the bed, “I have an automobile stored some streets further down, we can use that to get into the city center.” “Alright,” replied Intergard and rolled up the blueprint, “Five minutes to get equipment, we’ll meet at the front door. Let’s move.”

[alldenspa]

Voices From The Hedge - Chapter 21

What will I do once I finished posting the chapters..? Will my online life still have a reason?

Voices From The Hedge is an original novel by Alldenspa. If you’re unfamiliar with this project, I would be very happy if you checked out my information post about it HERE! It’s a story about magic and nerds, so if you’re into that, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!

Chapter 21 - The Real Djoutunhaim

They found themselves within a huge room at the foot of a series of polished stairs leading up to the opposite wall, where elevated on a podium a large desk and armchair, surrounded by numerous drawers and cabinets, stood overlooking the nightly cityscape through a window that spanned the whole width of the office. To the sides, eerily illuminated abstract sculptures were on display within small aisles branching off from each of the levels of the stairway, forming a line of stone effigies pointing diagonally upward towards the top level of the room. The ceiling converged into a tip high above them, and below the roof a ring of connected balconies looked down to the agents like silent watchmen. Thick lengths of fabric in dark colors hanging from the balconies threw their shadows across the stairway from both sides, backlighted by the shimmer from behind the sculptures. The polished marble of the floor was filled with thin gold lines that could well have been a giant spell circle, and the creaking of the heavy wooden door after Intergard’s tackle echoed back from the ceiling and the platform at the other end of the office in a ghastly way. There was no attack. No bolts of lightning dashing down from the balconies, no ambushers jumping out from behind the sculptures. The whole office lay silently in front of them. Eos and Ienge, artefacts ready, exchanged a confused look. “Cover me while I get the documents,” said Intergard and took the first stair, but hesitated, and after a moment signaled the other agents to stop. Searching the dark balconies above for any sign of the two Insurance agents she had pursued earlier, she pulled back her sleeve and touched one of the spell circles on her rough skin. A faint white haze travelled across the whole length of the room, but revealed no invisible objects of any kind. Still suspicious, Intergard sent out Release and Cancel spells as well, convinced that there had to be some sort of defense mechanism in place. She was just about to turn to her colleagues with a confirming nod, when a sudden noise echoing down from the platform ahead made her stop dead in her tracks. She jerked back around and pulled out an artefact from her jacket, a faint spark of lightning already jumping from her fingertip and hitting the ground with a quiet fizzle. Above on the platform in front of the large window, the armchair started to turn. Slowly, the man sitting in it came into sight — A charming smile on his face and clothed in an elegant business jacket similar to what Eos had already seen on the airship, Djoutunhaim leant back with a sigh and wordlessly smiled down to the agents at the other end of the office. Intergard hissed, adjusting her stance while next to her the Professor took a step forward. Djoutunhaim opened his mouth to speak, but Intergard was quicker. With a large motion of her arm, she sent a powerful bolt up towards the handsome man, but to the agents’ shock the bolt bounced back in mid-air only a few steps in front of Intergard, dashing down again and hitting the polished floor at the very spot where she had stood just a moment earlier before dodging to the side with an alarmed expression. A faint shimmer travelled through the air from one side of the large hall to the other, like a reflection on an invisible surface dividing the room. Intergard hissed again. “Demonwall,” she whispered through her teeth as she searched the walls for any sign of a spell circle. But there wasn’t one, and without knowledge of where the circle was, a Demonwall was impossible to release from inside. “Oh, my dear Intergard,” came Djoutunhaim’s voice from above. Backlighted by the lights of the nightly city, it was hard to see his figure in the black armchair. “Always so intense, so powerful.” A sudden sound from the side made the agents jump up — To the left, somebody stepped out of the shadows between the heavy lengths of cloth, his blue hair quickly revealing him to be Chou. At the same moment to the right, a cloaked figure jumped down from the balcony and landed in front of one of the sculptures half-way to the top of the platform. The slim body indicated a woman, and she was carrying a polished sword on her back. That had to be Hatzat, the assassin that had worked with them on their earlier rescue mission, thought Eos. He stumbled back as the mysterious figure drew her weapon, but a strong arm caught him from behind. “Don’t panic, Keros,” said the Professor as Eos regained his balance, “As long as we’re in here, they can’t touch us any more than we can touch them.” Of course, Eos knew this — Still, being served on a polished platter (literally) to one of the most powerful men on the continent had an eerie touch. Although at present they seemed to be at the numbers advantage, once the Demonwall disappeared the agents really were sitting ducks for any attack. “The trick is up, Djoutunhaim!” yelled Intergard across the room, “We found Sarc, your little disguise game is at an end!” Djoutunhaim nodded slowly in the shadow of his armchair. “I understand,” he replied quietly, and Eos couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic. “In that case I’d like to introduce you — officially.” He gestured with his hand, and from behind one of the sculptures on the left side, a massive figure appeared. With large steps that echoed across the office, the unknown stranger crossed the hall and took position in front of the Demonwall directly opposed to Intergard. Only now Eos could see that the large silhouette was indeed that of Intergard herself, a virtually perfect copy of the woman standing right next to him. It was as if a mirror spanning the width of the room was reflecting her image back at them. “I see, I cannot fool your intellect, Madam,” continued Djoutunhaim, slowly rising from the armchair and walking down towards them, “Why don’t you elaborate a bit more on what you think I did to annoy you?” Intergard let out a dismissive huff. “We don’t need to explain ourselves to you, Djoutunhaim!” she yelled, rushing forward and slamming her fist against the shimmering Demonwall. The sound of it rattled the office, but the spell took no damage. “Indeed you don’t,” said Djoutunhaim gently after taking the last few steps down to where the invisible barrier divided the room. He was now standing right in front of Intergard, the thin layer of magic being the only thing keeping his face unharmed by her massive fist. The Professor stepped forward. “Why do this?” he asked calmly, “Why go through all this trouble to keep your mole? Just for information to sell away to the highest bidder?” Djoutunhaim raised his eyebrows as he turned to Ubtra. “No,” he said plainly, “Actually I just want to destroy you.” He said this as if it was the most reasonable thing, as if he was explaining the weather or talking to a child about something completely normal. “Well, not you as people, of course,” he added quickly, gesturing with his hands apologetically as a reaction to the agents’ startled faces, “Your company. I can’t stand it!” He turned to the shapeshifter next to him, who now looked exactly like Liberty, long coat included. “Naturally, inside intel is very profitable as well,” he continued as in front of him the image of Liberty transformed, shrinking, until to Eos shock the small figure of Emerald in her wheelchair appeared silently in front of them, looking up at Djoutunhaim with a frightened shiver. “So it’s just a personal vendetta?” barked Intergard. Djoutunhaim looked up, slightly confused as if he had been unexpectedly interrupted. “Well, yes,” he replied with a quick nod, “The people you call ‘Central’ haven’t done anything to me directly, but they are indeed evil and they’re blocking the way of my company, so I intend to kill them.” Intergard’s face contorted in a disgusted expression, moving even closer to the transparent shimmer that separated them. “Just you wait until we get through here, I will annihilate you,” she whispered through her gritted teeth, “Malice warrants retribution, but the deepest circle of hell is reserved for greed!” Djoutunhaim turned away with a snicker. “Shout all you want, Intergard, but the truth is that I have won.” He threw a quick glance onto his wristwatch. “In not more than ten minutes, my agent will sneak up on Emerald and Liberty to kill them in their sleep. Enster and Heaven’s Hand will be next, and since you’re all here, there is nothing you can do to stop it.” He turned back to the agents below with a menacing grin and gestured towards the door. “You can make your retreat right now, if you want — But we all know that you won’t be there in time.” Eos shuddered. Was this even possible? Could Djoutunhaim have anticipated all this in advance? No way. A moving shadow behind a sculpture to the right made the agents turn around, and one moment later a familiar figure in a long rough cloak stepped out of the shadows. It was Orlun Sibrodi. “I trust you already know each other?” said Djoutunhaim playfully as Sibrodi approached the group, exchanging tense stares with Eos and Ienge as he passed. “You defected again?” snapped the Professor, almost annoyed, but the old man on the other side of the Demonwall only let out a chuckle. “My allegiance was never with Kengnatz,” he replied with a nod to Djoutunhaim, “Why simply desert when you can double it and play both sides?” So that was the truth, though Eos. Kengnatz had never been behind any of the traitors, it had all been the Social Insurance pulling the strings from the very start. “Then I suppose it was you who sold our hideout plans to Lephon!” shouted Intergard, her voice so sharp it could have cut straight through Djoutunhaim’s perfectly ironed shirt. “That’s right,” replied the Insurance leader with a casual gesture of his hand, “All part of my grand design to put all the blame on greedy Kengnatz. You see, it’s rather easy if you have that many tools at your disposal.” “But hold on,” interrupted Ienge, who had just noticed something, “If Sibrodi was working for you all along, then why did Chou save us when we were attacked by him on the airship? Did you order to deflect your own attack?” Djoutunhaim, who had been slowly walking up the stairs to his armchair again, stopped and turned around, raising a finger with a smile. “In fact, yes,” he said, returning to the Demonwall, “Naturally I could have had you four killed, but then again you didn’t seem very important to the agency at the time. You still aren’t! So I took the opportunity to stage a fake rescue to get to know you better.” “…And by that convince us that you were a nice and honest man,” added Eos. Djoutunhaim nodded proudly, almost like a child. “Simply another piece in my scheme of Who-Would-Ever-Blame-Djoutunhaim. To be honest, I did the exact same thing for a second time when I sent my agents to assist you in your raid for Enster and had Fake-Sarc duel dear Mister Keros, just to be saved by a miraculous appearance of Chou, again? How you people did not think that was fishy is completely beyond me,” he said, giggling. Intergard spit on the floor. “Or remember that one time when I sent Oredchimegdi’s location to H-E through an anonymous tip to provoke them into rescuing him, just so that afterwards when you all came crawling to get Ankuro’s brother back, I could send Fake-Sarc over to play with Emerald’s mind? Wild times, but so funny! The thing with the Reflect spell was an unfortunate mistake, but I didn’t have to worry — After all, I was never in danger since you were so very convinced that Sarc was working for Kengnatz after he so blatantly deserted to them at the White Cave. Or, maybe I should say: After my infiltrator Glen deserted to them.” There was a shocked pause. Everything seemed to make sense all of a sudden. Djoutunhaim rushed up to the Demonwall with a snicker, his face now so close to Intergard’s that they could have felt each other’s breath if not for the magical barrier between them. “It was me, Intergard,” he whispered, his eyes sparkling with pride, “From the very start it was all me.” Intergard roared, but the Insurance leader moved no muscle at the sight. He stood in front of the Demonwall silently like a visitor at a zoo watching the lions roar. “But how did you know which flight we were on?” asked Eos, now finally posing a question that should have bothered him from the start. Djoutunhaim smiled silently as he turned to the boy. There was a short pause, and the Professor and Intergard exchanged a worried look that Eos had a hard time interpreting. “Now you’re finally onto something, young one,” said Djoutunhaim, “Funny how none of your legendary superiors thought of that earlier, wouldn’t you say?” A few seconds passed without anybody speaking. Intergard was looking over her shoulder to Eos, whose thoughts were dashing back and forth in his head as he tried to understand how anyone could have gotten hold of their flight time. Because after all, they hadn’t told anyone, and Osrakey had given them their tickets in private, had he not?

And then it hit him. Osrakey had not. Indeed, had there not been a certain someone passing through the narrow corridor in front of Eos’ room at the Erkom hideout just as Osrakey had handed him the ticket, squeezing through between the two of them to get to the stairway, all while playing pure-and-honest with a cheerful greeting on his lips while he secured that lethal piece of intel for Djoutunhaim in the shadows? No way… Eos couldn’t believe it. “That’s right,” said Djoutunhaim lovingly as he saw the startled expression on Eos’ face, almost proud of him. “The name of my friend at the agency is… Sarb Rekkar.”

For a moment, there was silence in the large office. Intergard’s eyes quickly went over to Eos, then Djoutunhaim, then Sibrodi, reflecting how her mind was processing the news. Ienge turned to his friend, but Eos just nodded. He should have known. Leit should have known — They had thought about it all so much, and with only a tiny bit more logical thinking from their side, all this could have been averted. The Professor opened his mouth to speak, but all of a sudden, a sharp yell from high above on one of the balconies echoed down to them, and Eos immediately knew whose voice it was. “Release!” A bright flash illuminated the ceiling of the hall, and Eos could spot two familiar faces leaning over a balcony to the right: The ‘heavily delayed’ Team Two, Agents Igsher and Shichal. The light flooding out of Leit’s hand quickly reached the group standing below on the polished floor, and with a sound of shattering glass the Demonwall exploded into glittering pieces that hovered in the air for a short moment before disintegrating into countless glowing particles that reflected in Djoutunhaim’s startled eyes. Intergard grinned. “And now, for payback!”