73. SEARCH AND SEIZURE
“Mess it up,” Chuck said firmly. “Make it look close, but not complete. Leave nothing obvious.”
When the Gem awakens to call a Hero, the world is ill prepared...and its fate is placed in the hands of a 17 year old boy, named Wendell.
Some will say this is nothing but a tale of fiction.
Let them think as they may.
After all...I can't fix stupid.
Previously: Wendell, Dax and Alhannah are captured and hauled off by gnome Centurions. Höbin fights through the panic of crowds, only to be forced to take his unconscious daughter and flee.
Chapter 73
Sometimes it’s wise to hide and wait out an approaching storm. Think of it as a strategic retreat…with a dash of camouflage training thrown in.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The door gave way with a final crash, and all four of them spilled into the hallway in a tangle of coats, boxes, shoes, and flying knickknacks.
“Ow!” Deloris snapped, shoving a sweater off her face. “Would it hurt you to organize this place?”
“I warned you it was a mess,” Chuck shot back, untangling his beard from beneath his boots. “If you haven’t noticed, young lady, I have been rather busy attempting to save the world.”
“By leaving Wendell, Dax, and Alhannah behind?” Lili was already on her feet, hiking her dress to her knees so she could move. She froze mid-step, staring down the warehouse corridor. “How did we get back here?”
Morty grunted as he hauled himself upright and helped Deloris to her feet. “We’re… back at the warehouse!”
Chuck yanked the last of his beard free from its broken Kutollum-manly-braid and stood straight, surveying the familiar walls. He nodded once, sharply. “Yes. That’s right. The warehouse.”
Relief crossed his face too quickly to be missed.
Deloris plunged her head back into the closet they’d just fallen out of, knocking on the rear wall. “It’s gone! The tunnel’s gone. The wall’s solid again!” She turned, wide-eyed. “Chuck, there was a passage there just a moment ago.”
The dragon staff snapped into Chuck’s hand at the flick of his fingers.
“Moving on,” he said briskly, already striding away. “We’re following. One, two. Quickly now.”
Morty darted ahead of him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Chuck spun around without slowing, flung open the lab door and marched past the PROMIS machine straight into the smaller side room. No windows. Tight space. Walls lined with spare parts, tools, and half-forgotten inventions.
Perfect.
“Do you have everything you need in here?” Chuck demanded.
Morty followed, confused. “Need for what?”
“To finish this thinga-mah-jigger.”
“My PROMIS?”
“I don’t need your promise, Morty,” Chuck snapped. “I need to know if everything required to build it is in this room.”
“Well… no. My tools are in the other—”
“Show me,” Chuck cut in. He snapped his fingers at Lili and Deloris. “You two. Help.”
Carts rolled. Crates scraped. Benches shifted. Wrenches, cables, torches, and parts were dragged in and stacked without order.
“No, no,” Chuck complained, frowning. “This won’t do. It needs to look like you were just about to finish.”
“That is exactly what I was doing!” Morty hissed. The room was becoming a disaster, every moved item shredding the careful sequence in his mind. “You’re ruining my workflow!”
“Mess it up,” Chuck said firmly. “Make it look close, but not complete. Leave nothing obvious.”
“I do not understand you at all,” Morty snapped. “The more we move things, the longer it takes to fix!”
Chuck upended a can of oil onto the floor beside the PROMIS. It spread in a slick black puddle.
“Perfect,” Chuck said, grinning. “Now faster.”
Morty skidded to a stop and planted himself in the doorway. “Stop!”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Chuck barked. “Move. We don’t have time for this.”
Morty grabbed the doorframe with both hands. “Time for what, Morphiophelius? You’re not making sense!”
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Chuck’s expression hardened. He pointed towards the front of the warehouse. “Your company, Mortimur Thaddeus Teedlebaum. The government.”
Morty went pale. “What?”
“They’re here to take your invention,” Chuck said flatly. “What did you expect? You can’t harbor criminals, sympathize with outlanders, and sit on national secrets without consequences.”
He scratched his forehead. “Frankly, if I were the government, I’d arrest you too. You’re not what anyone would call an exemplary citizen.”
“Why, you—!”
“I’m just saying.”
Morty clenched his fists. “They need a warrant. I’ll get a lawyer.”
Chuck rolled his eyes. “They won’t have one. And they won’t care.”
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
The pounding shook the walls.
The storm had arrived.
Deloris grabbed Morty by the shoulders and spun him around, fear bleeding into every word. “We have to hide. Now!”
Chuck seized both gnomes by their collars and shoved them toward the secondary room. “That’s what this room’s for,” he muttered. “Get in.”
Morty dug in his heels, nose jutting through the narrowing gap. “But there’s no way out! They’ll come in and find us and drag us off and—”
Chuck stopped pushing. He opened the door just enough to look Morty in the eye.
“No,” he breathed. “They won’t. I promise.”
Morty froze.
“Just stay silent,” Chuck continued, unblinking. “No matter what you hear. Everything will be fine.”
A shaky nod. “Alright.”
Chuck shut the door and passed his hand over the metal surface. It blurred, softened, and faded. Within seconds, the doorway was nothing but uninterrupted brick.
“How do you know they won’t find them?” Lili demanded as she ran after him down the hall.
“I don’t,” Chuck panted. “But at least now he’ll stay quiet.”
The front door of the warehouse exploded inward just as Chuck and Lili slipped into the library. Chuck pressed his palm to the doorframe and whispered, “Silmä inakmään.”
The door vanished.
Boots thundered through the hallway. Voices barked orders. Metal scraped. Something shattered.
Lili backed away, breath held tight in her chest. She tied the hem of her dress into a knot and scanned the room before grabbing the fire poker.
Chuck leaned against the wall, ear pressed flat.
“CLEAR!” came the shouts. One room after another.
Minutes dragged by.
When the warehouse finally fell quiet, Chuck pointed to an empty glass resting on a plate of half-eaten cookies at his desk. The glass jumped through the air and into his hand. With nimble dexterity, Chuck spun it around silently and pressed it gently to the wall, then placed his ear against it.
“…wouldn’t know, sir.”
“Alright. If they’d been here, they’d be gone by now.”
“Orders?”
“Is the machine intact?”
“Yes, sir. We’ll have to disassemble it.”
“Get the engineers. Box everything.”
“And the notes?”
“Everything. Bolts, schematics, paper. Take it all.”
“Yes, sir.”
Chuck rested his forehead against the wall.
Of course, they would take it all.
Morty was too trusting. Too kind. A genius who believed improvement and goodwill were enough to protect him from systems built on fear.
Chuck’s mind raced through possibilities, branching outcomes unfolding faster than he could follow. It was the gift that had always cursed him…seeing futures others refused to acknowledge.
A hand touched his shoulder.
He spun.
Lili clamped a hand over his mouth before he could speak. “Shhh,” she whispered. She’d already changed back into her vest and trousers. “They’re still out there.”
Now he heard it…laughter, heavy objects dragged across the floor, glass breaking.
Chuck nodded. She released him.
“You didn’t move for a long time,” she said quietly. “They’re tearing everything apart.”
“They’re taking Morty’s work,” Chuck replied.
Lili’s jaw tightened. “There’s nothing we can do?”
“Not without being caught.”
He shook himself free of the haze, blinking until the present snapped back into focus. When he turned to her, his expression was steady, though his voice trembled. “This is not going well, Liliolevanumua. And I don’t yet know how to fix it.”
He guided her away from the wall and eased her into a chair by the fireplace. “I need your help.”
She frowned but stayed silent.
“I know you’re angry,” he said. “Dragging you into this. But you began something you don’t yet understand.” He fought to stay grounded, then took her hand firmly. “I didn’t do this to punish you, child. Taking you with us. I did it to protect you.”
“Protect me?” she asked. “From what?”
His eyes locked onto hers, steel-blue and unwavering. “From your father.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“I know you’re running,” he continued softly. “And I know why.”
Lili’s eyes flooded. She shut them tight, jaw clenched. It was a truth she had never spoken aloud.
“I know that you sought one of the shards to use as, shall we say, leverage? A way to negotiate your way out of a future obligation.” Chuck released her hand slowly. “If you help me,” he said, “I will help you escape.”
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Why?” Her voice wavered. “Why would you help me…after I brought this world closer to destruction?”
Chuck smiled at her…gentle, almost fond.
Then he snorted and clapped a hand over his mouth, glancing toward the wall as something massive scraped past on the other side. “Pshaw. Don’t flatter yourself, child. You don’t have that much influence on the world. Not yet, anyway.”
Lili blinked.
“No,” he continued in a whisper, “you’re simply a stuck-up, pompous, selfish girl who tried to steal something that didn’t belong to her.” He squinted at her. “Frankly, you ought to be bent over and smacked with a wooden spoon.”
Her mouth fell open.
Chuck plowed on, warming to the topic. “That’s the trouble with teenagers. No respect for their elders. Though I don’t blame them entirely. Children don’t invent themselves, you know.” He waved a hand irritably. “They learn what they’re shown. And parents…well. Parents are the real problem.”
He leaned closer, voice fierce but low. “Never met a parent who didn’t want the best for their child. But wanting and knowing how are two very different things. Too many chase importance instead of building it.”
Lili stared.
“What could be more important than raising decent people?” he demanded softly. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
He exhaled, some of the fire leaving him. Then he took her hands in his.
“But you,” he said, smiling again, “didn’t get what you should have gotten. Did you?”
Her shoulders folded inward. Her chin dipped.
“I remember your mother,” he said quietly. “That’s how I recognized you.” He lifted her chin gently. “You look just like her.”
A fragile smile slipped through her curls.
“That’s why,” he said, “if you help me now…I’ll help you run.”
Her head snapped up. “You’ll—?”
“Give you the means to start your own life. Far from your father.” His eyes twinkled. “I have friends in many lands. Good people. Provided you behave and don’t tarnish my flawless reputation.” He grinned. “And if you wish to stay with us, I won’t object.” He smiled. “Turns out you’re quite clever. If I had been blessed with a daughter, I would have liked her to be like you.”
Her breath caught.
Clockworks City, miserable as it had been, suddenly felt…worth it. Her prayers—half-formed, half-forgotten—had been answered. She would never have to go home again.
Chuck straightened and held out his hand. “Do we have a bargain?”
She reached for it.
He pulled his hand back.
“You must give me your word, Liliolevanumua,” he said firmly. “You will help me. Specifically, help me get the elf back so we can leave this island.”
His expression hardened. “It will not be easy. I’m offering you a life…for a life.”
Her stomach twisted.
Freedom. Real freedom. The kind that let her choose who she became, not who she was assigned to be.
It didn’t matter what the task was.
She took his hand and gripped it tight. “We have a bargain.”
Chuck chuckled softly and patted the back of her hand.
“You really knew my mother?” she asked.
He nodded. “A greater woman was never born.” He tapped her nose with a knuckle. “And a noble example for any young woman to follow.”
She smiled then.
Truly smiled.
For the first time since arriving.
Chuck sniffed.
His nose wrinkled.
He coughed.
“…Is it just me?” he muttered, “or do you smell smoke?”
