Pokémon Mars

Chapter 61: Impersonator

The Cipher members with their prisoners were stuck outside Ironville in a tour bus. The railway tunnel was always full of workers. When there was only one person sneaking in or out, it was much easier to avoid them, but they had 31 prisoners to drag along. Almost five days passed before Courtney gave the signal that the tunnel was empty. Zeus already left and entered Ironville legitimately. He said he had urgent business to attend to. Thurstan knew he was an Admin now, but he still found it odd that none of their colleagues knew what that 'urgent business' could possibly be. Kenina was sure he was just abusing his new power to relieve his boredom.

A stream of vehicles passed their hiding place. Rovers carried scientists on expeditions. More Team Genesis Grunts arrived on an Ares bus. A tour bus departed. Epsilon, Firmino and some Grunts passed on their way to and from Delta Lab 2. Then a golden tour bus came careering down a slope towards the city. A headlight and brake light were smashed. Another bulb fell out when the bus juddered and stalled as it began to climb a rocky pile. Thurstan glanced at Kenina.

'Since when did Buckley drive tour buses?'

He was joking. They knew it wasn't Firmino. He just returned to Ironville. Who was driving that bus? Did Team Genesis hijack it? Kenina snatched some stargazing binoculars from the 'fun compartment.' She squinted through them at the airlock's windows. An Ares guard was about to enter the bus, to check on the passengers after he too noticed the erratic driving, when he was shoved aside by a Team Genesis Grunt. Thurstan accessed their communications. The driver said something in Seri. The Grunt hastily replied with the most respectful Seri wai, in which she bowed with palms on her chest and thumbs between her eyebrows.

'What the hell are they doing?'

Thurstan snatched the binoculars.

'It's a wai... the driver must be Seri... but... there are different kinds... I don't know if it means what I think it means...'

The doors to the cleaning chamber opened. The bus was waved in without any checks on its passengers. Kenina strode down the aisle of the Cipher bus until she reached a Seri scientist. She ripped her gag off.

'You. Explain the different types of wai and who they're used for.'

'Wh-what...?'

'Come on. We're letting you go soon. Explain.'

They eventually got their answer. In Team Genesis, it was unlikely that the most respectful wai was used to greet anyone but Wish.

'But Wish is in the Town Hall, isn't he...?'

Wish was indeed in the Town Hall. Thurstan and Kenina didn't care about him, but the impersonator was probably one of their own enemies. They reported it. Ironville PD received a report of a stolen box of blue hair dye and another of a stolen phone within the next hour. Then concerns were raised that a tour group never returned from Mt. Coronet. Wish ordered Grunts to search the village. They quickly found the tourists and their own prison guards in the cells; frightened, thirsty and hungry. Volo was gone.

Thurstan and Kenina were distracted. Courtney gave the signal. Thurstan immediately slammed the gas pedal. The bus barely fit in the tunnel. It whacked the roof and juddered over the incomplete rails. It was fortunate that Courtney knew the location of the control room where she could pressurise the tunnel, because a window smashed. It was pitch black. They didn't dare switch the headlights on, in case it activated some camera that Courtney didn't know about. Near the end, where the rails were complete, they lost a wheel. The bus slumped. There was barely room to get out.

Courtney sighed. Cipher were as useless as she expected. She didn't want to leave an entire bus in the tunnel. Workers would report it. She reluctantly sent Grunts in to shift it. Their Pokémon looked like they wanted the ground to swallow them up when they dragged the bus out. Once the prisoners were transferred to the garage, Courtney sent the bus to the junkyard, where it was squashed before anyone got the chance to notice a vehicle that appeared without passing through the gates.