Offer

"Why are we even listening to this geezer?" AJ asked his team. "He broke into our place and drank our coffee!"

"Which, by the way, is awful coffee." Robert said.

"Hey! I made that..." Roufail was offended.

"Enough about the coffee!" Leo yelled at the others. "Who even are you?"

"Sandstorm." Banner finally spoke.

"Sandstorm who?" Tom asked.

"Finally someone gets it! Sandstorm, leader of the old rebellion, yada yada yada... Look that's not the point."

"How did you know where our secret base was?" Leo went right back to interrogating the man.

"I asked your old pal Lucius for some information. He tells me you're the right men for the job I want to do." Robert explained.

"And what may that be?"

"We're starting a revolution."

The Six glanced at eachother.

"Everyone, group meeting." Leo announced and the six huddled.

"Can we trust him?" O'Lop asked his teammates.

"He IS Sandstorm." Banner said.

"That didn't stop him for working at the royal army for a while, though." Roufail countered.

"And he's old! Prob'ly demented." AJ added.

"What is it with you and old people? Whatever. He probably wouldn't go through all this effort just to double cross us. I doubt the king even knows who we are." Leo said.

"So we'll hear him out?" Tom asked.

"Unless anyone has any objections?"

Nobody spoke.

"Good. Now let's hear what he has to say."

They broke the huddle and faced Robert again.

"You do realise I could hear you this whole time, right?" Robert asked while taking a sip out his coffee.

"Okay 'Sandstorm'. If that's even your real name..." Leo ignored him. "What do you have planned?"

"Well, that Kane really riled up the masses, right? So maybe we could recruit like I dunno, 500 people or something and attack the king while he's in Sowei City."

"So you want us to throw a bunch of untrained farmers against the King's highly trained royal army that will guard him when he comes here, whose number is unknown to us?"

"Pretty much yeah." Robert said.

"That's a horrible plan, mate! What were ya even thinkin'?" AJ popped up from behind Leo, who shoved him away in an attempt to preserve his personal space.

"I was hoping you guys would help me with the planning part."

"And that is why the old rebellion failed." Roufail said, earning a glare from Robert. "My plan is-"

"To talk to him, yes we know Roufail, it won't work." Leo interrupted him.

"You never listen to anything I say!"

"That's because you always say the same stupid plan!" Leo scolded him. "He's a fucking hundred-year-old douchebag king with an army and alleged superpowers. If he wanted to stop being a phenomenal douchebag, he would have by now."

Roufail rolled his eyes.

"Now let's come up with an actual good plan."

___________________________________________

The next morning, in Pascal Estate, Lucius is sitting at the table with his wife Esther, his daughter Jessica and his butler/bodyguard, Nick.

"Jessica, where is your sister?" He asks his daughter.

"She's upstairs. I have no idea what she's doing. Probably still sleeping." She answers.

"Nicholas, go fetch her. I am going to the market and it's her turn to wash the dishes!" Esther orders Nick.

He lets out a big sigh. "Alright lady." He says, and tiredly get off his chair and starts climbing the stairs towards.the bedrooms.

"Why do we still feed and pay him, Lucius? He barely has the willpower to get off his chair!" Esther asks her husband.

"He is a very hard worker. It takes a lot of strength in character to stay up all night like he does."

"I just wish he wasn't as lazy during the day. He either sleeps or asks for a raise!"

Upstairs, Nick had finally reached the bedroom door. He knocks.

"Renée, stop snoozing already! Your mother wants you downstairs."

"Cram it, headband! If she wants something she can come here and tell me herself." Renée yells from inside the room.

"Hey! I'm not your babysitter! I'm a guardsman! So hurry up!"

"Scram!"

"I don't stay up all night to keep you safe from whatever bastard might break in, just to have to deal with your stupid attitude! Hurry it up!"

"Fine, I'll get up. Now leave."

Back downstairs, Esther is ready to leave.

"Are you sure you don't want anyone to come with you? It's dangerous out there." Lucius asks.

"Please, I'll be fine. I've done this a hundred times over. Nothing will go wrong this time. Unless we suddenly stopped paying our taxes and nobody informed me."

"Have a safe trip then."

As Esther left the house, Nick and Renée come downstairs.

"Where's mom?" Renée asked.

"She left for the market, sister. Maybe if you fixed your sleep schedule, you could have seen her off!" Jessica scolded her sister.

"Shut up Jesse. What did mom want, dad?"

"She wanted you to watch the dishes."

"Aw what? Nick you prick, I can't believe you woke me up for that."

__________________________________________

On her way to the store, while Esther passes by an alleyway, she hears someone yelling for help. She goes through the alley and finds a young woman being handcuffed in the floor by a cop.

"No paperwork huh? You must be one of these illegal immigrants." The cop told the woman on the floor.

"What's going on here?" Esther asked.

"Buzz off woman, this doesn't concern you." The cop then turns his attention back to the woman on the floor. "As for you, I can just let you off with a warning, if you make it worth my while..."

"You can't talk to her like that! I'll report you to police HQ!"

"Listen here lady! I have full authorisation by his royal majesty to use lethal force if necessary! So get lost, and don't tell me how to do my job!"

Esther then pulled the man by his sleeve to get him off the woman on the floor.

"Alright woman! That was the last straw!" Said the douchebag cop before he pulled out a pistol.

And he shot.