- Sudden Interest -
(or ‘How I ended up chit-chatting with my supposed enemy’)
Beta-Reader: Ant0nius
Days have gone by uneventfully ever since my safe return to home.
While some worry of being ambushed during my trips to get groceries still lingered from time to time, I was mostly calm with the idea that Luna would always keep watch over my path.
Stalking from roofs and openings in the various buildings without being caught by the people around, the female Kivouachian did a brilliant job in making sure that nothing wrong happened to me.
I was glad that we both accepted that the case wasn’t one that was caused by each other, but more the result of multiple issues that pushed us together in the flat.
She grew accustomed with the layout of her temporary home, even going as far as to establish some patterns whenever we were indoors.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner would be spent by the kitchen together. Luna lost any restraint over inquiring about the food and making her preferences very clear much to my intrigue.
She wasn’t high-maintenance, but it was a surprise that this situation took this curious turn.
If I was working by my room, she would be lying on the bed and reading some books. The kivouachian would quip in with some questions or affirmations from time to time, most of the queries coming from the literature she was reading.
While books were nice, she soon discovered that I had kept some old comics from a few years ago, when I still lived with my parents.
It was an interesting scene that saw Luna giving utmost devotion to this different kind of entertainment, and soon I discovered that she liked this kind of stuff.
Which is why, whenever I was shopping at a general store, I would check on the comics section to see if there was any new issue of a series the Kiv might like and buy it for her.
At first Luna was confused by this kind of gift, and some questions ensued towards my motivation.
“I don’t want to leave you bored,” I replied calmly. “I got work to do most of the time, and I know I can’t offer much of an active conversation.”
“So you are bringing me stuff to keep myself distracted with?” She rebuked with a confused tone. “I thought… why are you so nice?”
“What?”
“You’re friends with Lucy. I expected you to be… less than this.”
“I aim to surprise,” I rebuked and she snorted.
“And to spend your salary on this stupid stuff,” The kiv reminded dryly… before allowing a simple sigh. “But still, thank you for this.”
“You’re welcome.”
After that things grew a little easier at home considering the few limitations I still had to go through.
I wasn’t allowed to visit the Croft Estate anytime soon, considering the chances that Locket might still be keeping track of my moves. The fact that I could’ve become a damning piece in that crazy chessboard between the former Grand Voice and Ludwig was quite unnerving.
Lucy managed to ease the annoying aspect of this situation by offering some news whenever she visited. It wasn’t anything incredibly important, but I knew that the operations to find out where Locket and her clique was were going pretty well for both Titania and Mystique.
Fontaine and Wexle were the ones that were heading the operations, with the latter being employed mostly as the interrogator for their only prisoner.
The rogue kiv known as ‘Dorothy’ was being grilled left and right by the unpleasant combination created by Wexle’s and Lucy’s different brands of torture.
She was ‘talking’, but much of the stuff she knew about proved to be outdated by the time some of their former headquarters were found emptied and devoid of any living being. But there were a couple of human corpses found in the deepest corners of these buildings to prove that Locket had been there.
Despite how elusive the rogue group was being, they hadn’t managed to get the support of anyone out of the British Isles.
Titania was mostly to thank for this as she made sure to create devices meant to detect any attempt from Locket to try and make any appeal to rebellious elements under Ludwig’s rule.
As it was now, their days of freedom were numbered. It was only a matter of time for them to be defeated and for Locket to be sealed away once more.
And when I decided to inquire to Lucy why would Ludwig keep Locket sealed and not kill her, the answer I was given left me particularly perplexed.
“He can’t kill her. No Kivouachian can,” The critter mentioned with an irked tone, the cause of the irritation of the topic itself. “Mandus was the only one that managed to damage her to that degree and… nobody else can do much about it.”
Nobody can kill Locket. There is a reason why Ludwig wanted to capture her before she had the chance of restoring herself to her prime. The moment she did, then nobody was going to be able to stop her from reasserting her dominance… and try to impose the old rule on what remained of the Kivouack.
It would be disastrous, and it could easily lead to their species to be discovered by too many humans.
And when, not if, that happened… War was going to be the only course of action for both sides.
With that thought in mind to keep myself attentive for anyone trying to capture me and get the upper hand over Ludwig’s group, I accepted Luna’s offer to have her follow me at work when the time for me to return to the workplace came.
It was a little bit more complicated compared to the previous situations of me entering a shop with an invisible Luna in tow, especially with how crowded the place was.
The kivouachian was incredibly unimpressed when I decided to lift her off the ground while she was still invisible and then started to personally drag her around until I arrived at my office.
She displayed her annoyance by pushing herself off from me and on the single table in the small room, staring down at me with an angry look.
“What?”
A huff left her lips as she settled down to sit next to the large screen of my PC. “Next time you could’ve… brought this up instead of manhandling me.”
“I think talking to ‘nobody’ would’ve blown our cover,” I rebuked politely. “But I’m genuinely sorry for putting you through that.”
Luna sighed and gave a silent shrug before pulling out a rolled up comic she had brought with her off from her jacket.
I was the only one assigned to this office, and the boss would usually knock before entering inside, so she didn’t have a proper reason to keep invisible for the time being.
Wasting little time chatting, I started with my current job for today without further delays.
My current task was to check on some issues with the last week’s accounting processes. The one that has been called to replace me while I was recovering from my wound did a pathetic job in fixing the assignments given to them, and now I was forced to clean after their mistakes.
And much to my growing annoyance, the issues were far more severe than I was able to solve by my post. Some of the newly-printed documents that were currently stored in the archives to legitimize the accounting process were to be recovered and reprinted with the corrections applied.
“I need to check on the archive room,” I mused, glancing at Luna as she gave me a distracted look in return. “I will be back soon.”
She seemed tempted to offer to follow me, but considering how crowded the place was, I could see some reluctance to join up for the endeavor with the fact that Locket wouldn’t act in a place with so many people.
Standing up from my chair, I proceeded to make my way down the two hallways that connected my office to where my destination was.
Compared to other rooms in the building, the archive room was one of the biggest, and for good reasons.
Fifteen years worth of documentation was stored in the various boxes and sections available in that room.
I sighed as I entered inside, bracing for the overly joyous greeting of the old man that was stationed there. Mr. Todd was perhaps one of the few people in this workplace that managed to keep such a jovial outlook over his daily life.
He was old, his wife had passed away two years ago, and his children already gave him plenty of grandchildren that tended to frequently visit his lonely home.
I really didn’t mind his attitude, as I knew that it was the one any content men would be after reaching all achievements they have set in their lives.
Yet I was greeted by silence as I stepped inside. I turned to look at the counter and I saw a limb arching over it.
I took an unconscious step to check on the familiar elder, my mind filling with frightening sights before I had a clear one over Mr. Todd’s condition.
Eyes closed and dangling in that uncomfortable position with him still sitting by his wooden chair, I checked his pulse and felt relief as I noticed his heart was still beating.
A heart attack? The man lived a healthy life devoid of any problems that could cause this.
But what if the problem wasn’t from within… but it was external. What if it was a fight-induced situation?
An answer to my dreadful query came in the form of the door behind me suddenly closing. Glancing back, I found the smiling form of the Kivouachian keeping close to his old camera that I first saw with Locket.
“The Grand Voice wants to speak with you,” The being spoke, and I frowned.
Half of me wanted to rebuke that Ludwig wasn’t here, but the more sensible bit of my mind brought up a chilling issue.
Was Locket here? How didn’t Luna notice her?
Instead of losing myself to the musing, I decided to slightly comply and delve deeper in the room. I was soon regaled with an odd scene as I saw the doll-like Kivouachian that was Locket… reading some papers from the dossiers within one of the many boxes she had recovered from the nearby sections.
The quadruped Kiv by her side, the one missing one of its limbs, hissed at me and alerted the former leader of the Kivouack of my presence.
“Good morning,” She greeted in a mostly calm and distorted voice.
I blinked with a hint of perplexity over the simple greeting, but I offered a nod and returned her words with mine.
“Good morning.”
She gestured to me to take a seat in the chair on the other side of the table and, considering the odds I was subjected to, I decided to accept her ‘kindness’.
“Your name is Mason Byrne. You’re one of the recent acquisitions of this company to try and solve the disappointing predecessors in your area of competence,” The red-haired Kivouachian started to describe. “You were unfortunate enough to be noticed by Ludwig and… Lacemaker.”
“That I can kind of agree with,” I remarked, getting an amused snort from the leader of this small group of monsters.
“I’m glad that we can start this fruitful conversation so… amiably,” She commented with a pleased tone. “But I understand that you have some questions regarding your… current predicament.”
I blinked at that, surprised that this was being… far more civil than I expected it to go as.
“Aren’t you going to ask-”
“The Croft Estate. I know where Ludwig and his group is hiding,” Locket confessed without hesitation, ignoring the surprised look replacing my perplexed one. “Hayden brought this up when he first freed me and… I’m mostly curious to learn how he ended up getting a good headquarters as that one.”
“That, I don’t know.”
“I suppose you wouldn’t. Ludwig was always the secretive individual even with those loyal to him,” The former Grand Voice mused tiredly. “But right now, I’m more interested in… you, Mr. Byrne.”
“Me?”
“While you might consider yourself a lesser being, someone unimportant compared to other Kivouachians, I still believe you hold an opportunity within yourself for me to exploit,” She explained calmly. “One about knowledge and… understanding more about humanity.”
…
“What?”
Her lips twitched, her smile sounding as friendly as slightly creepy. “Think of this more as a… cultural exchange. But I’m the one asking and… you’re just answering.”
Sounds fair. Either that or death. What a kind lady for sure…
I gave a nod and she sighed.
“The first thing I wish to understand is… why throughout the history of this planet, humans have fought each other without ending up creating a lasting society,” Locket began with some fascination. “I would’ve expected for you to find common ground and build a greater civilization.”
She didn’t give a question, but her affirmations gave me an idea of what she was alluding. What she was really interested about.
“Different languages, distrust, and greed for more power among humans,” I listed up dryly. “While we might not seem similar to each other at first, and while Kivs are definitely superior compared to humans, it would be mistaken to believe that attitudes are that much different.”
“Your kind keeps away from violence in normal cases,” She pointed out. “And it’s rare to find hints of cruelty within your rulers.”
“Only because there is a sense of co-dependence between rulers and subjects,” I muttered in return. “Everyone is pretty much at the same level physical wise, so the concept of superiority is left to influence, and popularity.”
“Which then result in incompetent leadership and delayed improvement,” Locket added curtly.
…
“As expected, you possess a mind that will be helpful in enlightening me over some curious aspects of this ‘new’ world,” She praised with an unexpected degree of satisfaction. “But for now, I think this discussion is over. I don’t wish to alarm your ‘minder’ of our presence and… I saw fit to contact the proper medical authorities by using your voice.”
And that was enough to make me frown in confusion. She can do that and-
“Why?”
She didn’t reply, merely standing up and leading her two goons to an open window by the end of the room. They left without saying anything, but instead of me staying put to try and think about what just happened, I rushed back to Mr. Todd and helped him in a stabler position.
He was alive, but he remained unconscious even by the time the ambulance arrived to pick him up.
Work day was cut short on this occurrence as the boss was a close friend with the humble old worker. I might have gained some good points with the chief, but my confusion still lingered even when I reached back for my office.
Luna was annoyed that I took so long, but her irritation turned in panic when I explained to her what just happened.
Let’s just say that now I had something important for Lucy to relay back to Ludwig.
And I really wasn’t sure what was going on with the former Grand Voice to make her step away from brutality in order to… just understand what was around her.
-----------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d--------