👥 Collaboration Collateral 👥

Chapter 21

“Alright, alright, I'll tell you where the prize money is.” As Erica said those words, Ruben II spun to face her, listening to what she has to say. “It's locked in a vault beneath the stadium.” That statement was true. “The bad news is that Warlin knows the combination.” That was a lie, the wizard was after something else, though she wouldn't put it past him that he would be capable of mastering the combination either by magical means or technological means. “If you catch him and bring him back here, we could extract the information out of him.”

“What does this Warlin fellow look like?” he asked.

“He's very thin and old with a long beard and walks around with a staff.”

“Sounds easy enough.” He stated.

“He's a lot smarter and he looks so I'd be careful if I were you.” Erica suggested.

“Woman, there isn't a man who can swindle Ruben the second and live long enough to brag about it.” Omitting the fact that the one who actually swindled him was a woman.

“So you'll do it?!” Erica asked, hoping that he would comply, so that he can hunt down Warlin himself while she searched for back up and ultimately catch both Warlin and this lummox who wants to steal the prize money.

“Not until I'm certain that this isn't some sort of trap. I'm not leaving this stadium empty handed.” The Cinnabarian demanded, he wasn't going to risk his neck for a woman. Specially for a girl he just met. He needed something concrete, an assurance that he wasn't going to be thrown under the bus like what happened when Punakas betrayed him and ruined his reputation back in Red Kingdom.

Erica saw Ruben II stretch his gloved hand and gave him something that was valuable to her.
She gave him her best friend and confidant—Clyde.

“Seriously,” Ruben II looked at the rubber duck incredulously, “you're giving me this old thing?!”

“He's sacred to me!” Erica blushed. Ruben II squeazed the rubber duck with his large stubby fingers as Clyde squeaked.

“This was not part of the plan!” Clyde quacked.
“This was your idea!” Erica talked back.
“This was not what I had in mind.” Ruben II confessed. “Tell ya what,” Ruben returns the rubber duck to Erica, “you can keep this thing as long as you don't rat me out. I'll find Warlin and you give me a sum of the prize money. I'll use Warlin as a scapegoat. If I do get caught and thrown out, you'll have to watch Ratu for me.”

Ratu? Oh yeah, the little boy who fought in the tournament and got knocked out during the match. Wait... he's the guy who signed the boy to fight. “You should be arrested for child exploitation! You sick freak!”

Ruben II shrugged at her accusation. “A guy's gotta make a living.”

“You heartless bastard!”

“Heartless orphan you mean.” The stereotypically soulless redhead didn't mind being called heartless, but a bastard. Nope. He was the only child his parents procreated, and within the bounds of marriage. If it wasn't for the siege that occured 15 years ago, he wouldn't have been in the care of his bitter aunt when his parents died. Heck, his parents wouldn't have been killed in the first place.

“That's no excuse!”

“I'm not gonna stand here and get lectured. You don't feed me nor pay for my expenses. If you're not gonna watch out for the runt than I will.” Ruben II barked before he took the cleaning cart to keep up with the façade.

Clyde stared at Erica as if saying, way to ruin the plan.

Six silver skinned teenagers were heading on their way to the stadium, but they had to meet up at the gas station first. They all made an agreement through text to regroup with their disguise as a keyword for shapeshifting.