Finding the aid
Intervar moved slowly through the front door of his house, Donn protectively enveloped in his jacket as he walked through the kitchen, trying not to limp. On his walk in, he had ran into Katie.
Queen Sei had sent him a letter earlier, which Miss Katie claimed she had placed on his desk.
He approached the stairwell, but before he could ascend, a hand touched his shoulder, making him jump.
"Sorry for scaring you like that; just checking in to see how you're doing." Michael laughed a little, but there was worry beneath it.
"You were also upset last night, and I didn't have time to check on you."
Donn's head poked out, and she snarled at him, eager to go to bed.
"Don't be concerned; I'm okay." Intervar stopped him, "Look, Donn is exhausted, so I'll just carry her upstairs."
Before Michael could say anything more, Intervar had already gone upstairs and was walking down the corridor to his room. He hurriedly shut and locked the door, preventing anyone from entering.
He carried Donn to the bathroom and sat her near the tub, uncovering her and placing her on the jacket. She had a few cuts that needed stitching and bandaging, but Intervar was confident in his ability to do it.
He grabbed some thread and a needle and began cleaning Donn's wounds.
When he noticed that the wounds appeared to be worse than they were, he exhaled deeply.
When the needle punctured her flesh, Donn let out a terrible cry, but did nothing else; It pained him to do this, but she needed them done. He finished as quickly as he could and cleaned her skin off again.
He returned her to her room and laid her on the bed before returning to his work.
The note was placed on his desk unopened, as Miss Katie had stated.
He cautiously opened it and read it, trying to take everything in.
'To Intervar,
They have agreed to help us and wants to meet with you at Mount Blvd on Sydney street, around five-thirty P.M tomorrow. If you can't make that, come as soon as you can.
And bring Donn with you, they were very clear about that. I've already taken care of returning our end of the deal, so don't worry about that.'
The queen's signature, written in dark black ink at the bottom of the page.
He winced as his back slammed into the chair; all he had to do was show up there and leave, allowing this person to do their job before leaving.
That's perfect; now all he has to do is find out how to get inside Queen Mantis' army and gain a high enough position to gather information while remaining undetected.
That will be a difficult task, especially since he is now aware that someone is watching him. He also wanted to speak to Hyena again, he had hope in him that Hyena had been tricked and really wasn't trying to hurt him.
He didn't think Hyena deserved an apology, though, because the whole situation was suspicious.
He'll make a mental note to find him later and demand and explanation but he was far too tired and it was far too late into the evening to go find him.
His arm was still burning from where he'd been branded, but it was more of a tolerable feeling now. He should have seen it coming sooner or later. He carefully got out of his chair and walked over to his bed.
His parents were close to the guards, certainly closer than he was. He can ask to join his parents to work tomorrow. Hopefully, they'll agree, but even if they don't, he knows where the building is.
The next morning, Donn pawed at his face, already awake and eager to carry out the plan.
Intervar softly shoved her aside, her rough paw brushing against his hand.
"Thank you, girl; I would have slept all through Mother and Father leaving if it hadn't been for you."
He yawned and rubbed his eyes, attempting to fully wake up from his sleep.
He noticed Donn pulling out his clothes and her vest for the day, and he realized that his parents, as much as they fussed about Donn, weren't monsters.
They'd almost die if they saw her stitches, and they'd spend too much money on veterinarians, and the vest made her look almost respectable and clean.
He changed into his clothes and made sure his hair was clean before heading downstairs to find his parents.
He was still trying to wake up at nearly two-eighteen, unlike the rest of the house, but he was used to erratic time schedules anyway, so it didn't bother him.
"Go locate Mother and Father, Donn." He told his pet, who huffed, but did as she was ordered.
He followed her into the living room, where he observed both of his parents enjoying coffee and eating breakfast while conversing with two different persons on the phone.
Donn flew over to his mother and sat beneath her chair, curled up in a ball to avoid being kicked.
He waited for his parents to notice him, but it was evident after a minute that they didn't.
"Father, Mother Is it okay if I join you to work today?"
His mother took a few more minutes to finish her call before responding.
"Intervar, you've never expressed an interest in joining us before. Why do you think you'd like to go today?" She looked at her son out of the corner of her eye, suspicious.
"I had no certain reason to go today; I just felt like it. I didn't have much to do today, so I decided it'd be a wonderful learning opportunity."
Donn agreed with a loud huff. His mother rushed to bring her up, oblivious to her stitches.
"Well, in your pretty suit, don't you seem respectable?" She cooed at Donn, "If she keeps out of trouble, she will be able to come."
His father nodded silently in agreement, not really listening to what was being said.
"All good, I'm guessing we'll leave at four o'clock?"
"It's four-thirty." His father mumbled.
Intervar nodded, slightly embarrassed, seeing as though he had the times wrong. "Then I'll go get something to eat; I'll be in the kitchen."
Donn decided to stay with his parents and nodded before exiting the room.
He stepped in to see Miss Katie setting up dishes and the coffee machine after smelling cinnamon toast being pulled out of the oven.
"What are you doing up so early, Intervar?"
"Do you have another meeting?" she inquired as she moved closer.
Her eyes were clouded with worry.
"I have a meeting from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. with no one important. Today, though, I will accompany Mother and Father."
He noticed the maid's frown grow. "Not for anything major, just a change of scenery."
She murmured and handed him an egg and cinnamon toast plate.
"Will you just keep out of harm's way? Don't need your parents wondering where you've been off to again. And I'll have something arranged so you'll have food for you when you get home."
"Thank you; I'll go sit with them right now." He returned to the living room with the plate. Donn sat on the couch, waiting for something to fall.
When Intervar sat down, his arm still hurt, but he didn't show it; Donn, on the other hand, was visibly upset by her stitches. Before eating his eggs, he sneaked a bite of toast to her.
He ate calmly while his parents worked, and before he knew it, they were surrounded by hundreds of people in the office building.
A group of people were offering suggestions, with one person jotting them down.
His parents chose the ones they liked, and someone else sent the ideas forward to a team of writers and editors.
He found himself getting a headache from all the commotion and decided to use it as an excuse to step out with Donn, where security was unfortunately stationed.
The furry animal almost automatically spotted them and lazily floated towards them. For a second, he assumed they would be aggravated, but they seemed to enjoy the distraction.
Intervar grinned briefly before heading out to find a suitable room.
Since this building was used for event preparation, it should have a file listing who the queen's personal assistant was in case she ever came to visit.
It was most likely in a restricted area, and he was about to get himself into serious trouble.
The searing on his arm, on the other hand, reminded him that he didn't have a choice.
He quickly discovered a door labeled 'Room 48' with a massive lock on it, and he noticed a camera staring him down.
Someone had clearly seen him come down here, but based on the dark area and closed windows, he was either in the right spot or close to it.
Before Donn appeared with a ring of keys, none of which were labeled, but it was better than nothing.
He went through several keys and got in on the sixth try. When he opened the door, he noticed Donn had covered the camera, so no one saw him go in.
Donn flung herself in as he walked in, and he locked the door behind him.
There was no one else in the room, but the only thing that was there was the big screen that showed all the cameras.
On one of the top screens, he could see security approaching him; on another screen, his parents appear enraged while speaking with someone, possibly the chief of security.
He hurriedly exited and opened the filing cabinet, which contained far too many files for him to process.
Donn began to pick them up and search them as well, looking for any information on significant occurrences. Soon a loud banging came from the door.
"This is a restricted area! Boy, you'd better get out of there now!" Someone yelled from behind the door.
Finally, he discovered a folder containing huge events in the bottom drawer.
He skimmed through the folder quickly and noticed that the personal assistant was named Christoph Mern, although the article was from 1967.
For all anyone knew, he could be retired or dead, which wasn't good.
He hurriedly fixed everything and opened the door, which might as well have springs holding it open. The door nearly smacking him in the face, and he was yanked down the corridor by the back of his shirt.