Chapter 9

After successfully kidnapping the Mayor, Claudia and her team managed to escape and return to their base at Hialeah District using Arlong's invisibility. The first thing they did, was tie Beodulf firmly to a chair inside an isolated room, after which they headed to the main room to wait for Ambassador Jiang Liu, who had promised more doses of his ability dampener in exchange for information.

"We'll hold the interrogation when the Ambassador get here." Hendrick told everyone, then made himself comfortable. 

While they waited, Claudia tried to calm her nerves and prevent herself from pacing. She was thinking about what they had all just gone through. About how they'd nearly failed and if it wasn't for the unexpected aid from the Guardian's barrier, and whatever it was that Lady did, they might very well have. It bother her that no matter how much they had previously prepared, or how careful they had been during their plannings, or even how confident they were about the operation, failure had still been a strong possibility. The high ranking Royals were just too powerful to challenge. Too strong take down.

Yet still, Claudia was glad that the hardest part was over with. 

"Claudia, are you sure about Heimdal's ability?" Arlong asked her, taking her out of her contemplations before her doubts could sink deeper into her conscious. 

She looked over. Arlong was currently going over some files containing records of every known ability registered in New Miami. She nodded at him. "I'm about 99% sure of it." She had told everyone of what she suspected of the Royal Knight's ability, which was never been revealed to the public.

"How are we supposed to beat someone who can see into the future?" Jake said, turning away from the computer screen which played a live feed of Beodulf's cell room. Ever since being injected with the ability dampener, the Mayor had been grimacing and wincing in pain every so often. Claudia wondered why.

She brought her attention back to Jake, regarding what he said. "If he could see into the future he wouldn't have been caught in my Time Stasis." She shook her head, remembering Heimdal seizing Arlong's hand even though he was invisible. "No. It's more like he can predict incoming attacks."

"How did you do it then?" Narika asked. She was sitting by Hendrick's side. "How did he not see your attack?"

"Because-" Claudia considered Narika's question for a moment and made an educated guess, though it was still a just that, a guess. "My Time Stasis is not necessarily an attack. My intent on using that power is not to harm, only incapacitate. That is to say, I wasn't trying to hit Heimdal, only stall him."

"Wasn't Arlong kind of doing the same with the ability dampener." Jake said.

Claudia shrugged. "I don't know. I already told you I'm not exactly sure how his ability works works. I'm not even sure why he got caught in my Time Stasis. I just gave you my best guess."

"Why are we even talking about this anyway?" Maya interjected. As always, she stood by Jake's side. "When instead we should be discussing how you guys had your abilities amped up back there? Klaus, care to share information on your so called 'angel' and how they managed to do that?"

Klaus smiled from here he sat, flipping a pencil between his fingers which turned into a coin midway through. He had revealed his secret to everyone else after William's discovery. Everyone knew, though some were still convinced he was some sort of Royal spy, which truthfully he was. But as luck would have it, his interests aligned with Spectre's. At least for the moment. 

"I could," He said. "but I'll let our boss lady do it instead." He nodded at Claudia. "She knows who the angel is. She should be the one to tell you all."

Everyone turned their eyes to Claudia, and whatever doubt she had about whether Lady had indeed been the one to help them back there, had vanished. Klaus had all but confirmed it. Lady's allegiance to Spectre. That was great news, if there ever was one when Royals were involved.

Claudia nodded to her crew, looking at everyone in turn. Jake and Maya, Narika, Arlong, and Hendrick. "I will tell you everything once I meet her. Hopefully she'll introduce herself to us soon."

"She better be a big deal among the Royals." Jake said. "And trustworthy."

Maya nodded in agreement. "If she was willing to aid a rebel organization in public, I'm sure she will be."

Claudia agreed with them both.

Hendrick stood up, getting their attention. "He's here."

Ambassador Jiang Liu entered the room holding a briefcase. "I must admit, I didn't actually think you would succeed with your... operation. But you have surprised me indeed. And as promised." He placed the briefcase on the table in front of the crew, then opening it.

Inside the briefcase were two rows of small vials containing what looked like liquified gold. The ability dampening serum. 

Upon closer inspection, Claudia realised it looked like Aura. It had the same color at least. But she's never see Aura in such a form before.

Arlong reached for one of the vials and inspected it. "We never got to asking last time, Mr. Liu, but what is this serum made of anyway? It looks like liquified Aura."

The Ambassador picked up another vial and raised it for everyone to see. "That's because it is. Our scientist found a way to extract Aura and condense it into a liquified state. Fascinating isn't it."

Claudia had read scientific newspaper a couple of times and in them she read about the World Scientific Research. The W.S.R. community was well known for their ongoing research into understanding Aura and how it manifests abilities on people. Information on breakthroughs were always released to the media for everyone to see.This extraction of Aura, however, Claudia has yet to read about. It must be a recent discovery.

"As for how it work," Jiang added. "it's simply an ability."

Jake took the vial that Arlong held and gave it a closer look. "You telling us this serum contains an ability? Care to elaborate?"

"Certainly," Jiang nodded. "The patient we extracted this particular Aura from has the ability to send electric shock to anyone they touch. After learning about Aura Types and how they react when incontact with each other, we wondered what it would do if injected to a User. It turns out they recieve electric shock during Aura ignition."

A User was the worldwide term for Ability-Users.

Claudia glanced towards the computer screen, looking at the live feed from Beodulf's cell. That seems to explain why he kept wincing and grimacing every couple of minutes. He was trying to use his ability but the electric shocks was somehow preventing it. It looked painful.

"Their Aura is then disrupted." Jiang continued his explanation. "And without Aura control, you can not use your ability."

"One question." Klaus said, taking the vial from Jake's hand. "Since the serum interacts with Aura, what happens if you inject someone without it?"

Someone without ability meant their Aura was long gone from their bodies. Returned to Lunam for redistribution. 

The Ambassador was silent, and for a moment, Claudia thought she noticed a hint of sadness his eyes. "We... have tried that. It doesn't work. The electric shock kills any regular person." He looked up, implication clear in his face. "Our main objective is finding a method for giving abilities to others. The sharing of powers."

What the Ambassador wanted was theoretically an impossibility. Once your Aura is gone it cannot be altered or changed, least not through normal means. After Lunam's arrival every person born would awaken a unique ability after turning thirteen, gaining access to Aura and all its benefits. Problem was, that it was for a limited time of seven years. After turning twenty, their Aura would return to Lunam and the ability would be lost. Such was Lunam's Law. 

To do what the Ambassador claims to want is to break that law. A defiance of Lunam's will, if it had one. Even the the Lord Ruler, who had disrupted the law, was not able to completely break it. Leaving the dome meant losing your Aura, never to be recovered.

Jiang continued. "Your Lord Ruler has already made a major breakthrough in that regard by the creating the dome surrounding your city. My people just want to know how he did it."

It was well known that everyone wanted the Lord Ruler's secret. To know how he had create a space, however limited, where everyone would be able to keep their abilities. Rulers from other countries had offered aid in many forms; resources, manpower, influence, ect. But the Lord Ruler had refused all offers. The dome, in a way, has made him one of the most powerful people in the world, enough to make New Miami, a mere city, as powerful as a country. The rest of the world was powerless to do anything and had no choice to leave him alone. 

But as powerful as he was, the Lord Ruler was only able to exercise that power, which took the form of the Royal Hierarchy System, exclusively in New Miami for obvious reasons.

Claudia turned to look at the Ambassador. "You want to create another dome?"

"No. Its cons greatly outweighs its pros." Jiang shook his head. "We simply want to use his knowledge to create something better."

Though it was true that the dome allowed those with abilities to retain them after their twentieth birthday, it also prevents anyone born within it to awaken to an ability. To Claudia, and probably the vast majority of New Miami's citizens, that was a massive con indeed.

All the more reasons why the Lord Ruler needed to be dethroned and his dome destroyed. Something that could only be possible from within.

"Enough talk." Hendrick said, reaching to take the vial from Klaus's hand only to find that Klaus held a pencil instead. Hendrick frowned.

Klaus smiled. The pencil turned back into a vial and he handed it back. Hendrick was among those who didn't trust Klaus, but had admitted that Spectre needed him for the operation's success.

Hendrick took the vial and drained its liquid with a syringe. "Lets begin Beodulf's interrogation." He motioned to Claudia and the Ambassador. "You two follow me, the rest stay here and watch from cameras. Record everything."

***

They found Beodulf wincing when they walked inside the cell. "I don't know what you do did to me," He said. "but I can feel its effect ceasing." Was he trying to exhaust the serum's Aura by forcibly taking the shocks? 

"We're here to ask a few questions." Claudia said.

Beodulf grimaced again. He was indeed forcing the electric shocks. "Once im able to I'll burn this whole place down and-" 

Hendrick interrupted him by injecting him in the neck with another dose of the sirum. "You're going to be staying here for a long while yet, so you can stop torturing yourself." Hendrick placed the syringe inside the briefcase. "But if you answer some of our question we might consider making your stay more comfortable."

The Ambassador wasted no time in asking his question. "Tell us, how did your Lord Ruler create the dome? We want to know his method."

"And how to get rid of it." Claudia added.

Beodulf looked them both in the eyes, then burst out laughing like one would upon hearing an absurd notion. "If you think I'll reveal anything to you lowlives is ridiculously absurd to say the least. The only reason I'm here is because someone from High Tier, my guess a high ranking Royal, helped you back then. I suppose I should be thanking you."

"Thank us?" Hendrick said. "Why?"

Beodulf laughed again, followed by a wince. He WAS stubborn. "We've had our suspicion for some time now." He said, smiling. "About a traitor amongst the Royals. And your attack on Imperial Square has just solidified that suspicion. They gave themselves away when they decided to aid you. So yes, thank you. The Lord Ruler knew that whoever that traitor was would support anyone dumb enough to make a move on Imperium. And you just proved him right." He looked to Claudia, grinning. "Tell me, Time Witch, what do you think will happen next? The only reason my Lord didn't outright obliterate organizations such as Spectre was because he needed to identify the traitor. What do you think will happen once they're found?"

Claudia couldn't tell if Beodulf was bluffing. If he wasn't, then things might take a sour turn. Claudia hoped he was, but she also believed that if the Lord Ruler felt threatened by Spectre's attack, he would've shown himself to defend the Mayor.

Beodulf winced in pain again, this time not from the sirum's effect but from the Hendrick's punch to the gut. 

"Even if what you say is true," Hendrick told him. "the fact remains. You're here now, reduced to nothing more than a powerless prisoner and..." He pulled out a knife and pressed it to Beodulf's neck. "at our mercy. So tell me, Mayor. How much do you value your life?"

"Just tell us what we want to know." The Ambassador said. "Things don't need to turn ugly for any of us."

Claudia remained quite, deciding to just watch. Truth be told, it matter little whether Beodulf gives away information or not. They had Arlong's infiltration for that.

Beodulf's face showed little to no sign of concern from Hendrick's threat. Whether it was because he truly didn't care for his own life, or because he was calling Hendrick's bluff, Claudia couldn't tell. 

"Fool," His grin spread wider. "Spectre's days are numbered. Enjoy your publicity for however long it last. Soon, every rebel organization will know the wrath of our god."

Calling the Lord Ruler a god was common for his most loyal followers. An exaggeration. The Lord Ruler was just a man. A man who happened to create a dome that allowed him to gain power and influence over other human beings.

"You're bluffing!" Hendrick tsked, pulling the knife away. "But it doesn't matter. We have other methods of getting what we want." He turned to Claudia and the Ambassador, motioning for them to follow. "Let's go. It seems we won't be getting anything from him today. We'll try again tomorrow."

Beodulf laughed. A maniacal laugh that send chills down Claudia's spine. "That's right, run. Run little rabbit, for the wolf is coming." 

Claudia thought about what Beodulf had said earlier. About the traitor amongst the Royal. It had to be Lady. And if it was, was she away that the Lord Ruler was on to her? Claudia was going to find out soon enough. Her next order of business was contacting her and setting up a meeting.

"Should we be concern about his words?" The Ambassador asked Hendrick once they were outside the cell room, door locked behind them. 

Hendrick shook his head. "Beodulf's a mad dog under the Lord Ruler's leash, nothing more. Don't take everything he says seriously."

"I am referring to what he said, not how he said it."

"Ambassador Jiang," Hendrick looked the short man over. "If you want to run away there's no need to find an excuse. We don't need you, just your sirum. But to answer your question, no. Every one of the Lord Ruler's lap-dogs consider him a god. A being of unmatched power and intelligence. If that were truly the case, then think, how is it that a Royal plots against him in the shadows and he is unable to do anything about it? And if he could truly rid the city of every rebel organization such as ours, then why has he not done it yet. No. The Lord Ruler is not a god. He is a man. And his lap dog over there" He pointed back towards the call room. "is just a fanatic."

Though the Ambassador didn't seem fully convinced of Hendrick's assurance, he at least didn't back down from supporting the operation. Instead, he asked; "So what will you do now?" 

"Now we proceed to next phase of our operation." Hendrick said. "We get Arlong inside Imperium."

That was Claudia's queue to add; "I'll look for the Guardian. He helped us once, I'm sure he'll do it again."

Hendrick nodded at her. "We have less than a week. I'll looking a plan B just in case."

A plan B meant finding someone else to take the Guardian's place. Problem was, the Guardian's ability was the one best suited to getting Arlong inside Imperium. Claudia wasn't sure how she was going to arrange another meeting with the Guardian, but she had to find a way, because in less than a week the infiltration phase will happen.