Victors

Chapter 7

Glitch's POV

"It is time."

I stopped swinging my new spear at Choco and looked at Hood. Choco, who I was training with, took the opportunity to sweep my feet out from under me and point her staff at my throat.

I rolled my eyes. Choco grinned and held her hand out to me. I took it and she pulled me up.

"The Radish Festival is starting?" Naomi was asking as we walked over to the other three.

Hood nodded. "It begins in a few minutes in Victor Square. Now is your opportunity to sneak your way into the mansion and rescue Rebel."

"And Cook," Choco added.

"So, we just go?" Leo asked. "Just like that?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Let's go, guys," I said.

"Thank you for everything," Naomi said to Hood. "The place to stay, the upgrades, everything."

Hood didn't respond, but I like to imagine he was smiling under his hood.

Without another word, the four of us left Hood's room and began making our way to the mansion.

The streets were eerily quiet. Everyone was at the Radish Festival, which was on the other side of the city. It was a requirement to go, after all. I didn't know the consequences of not attending the festival, but it probably went something along the lines of death.

Even though the streets were absent of both people and bots, we kept to the shadows, silently running to the mansion. At one point, I accidentally stepped on an empty soda can, and the other three violently shushed me. I gestured to the emptiness around us, but they didn't seem to care.

As we kept making our way to the mansion, I got a terrible feeling in my stomach, like something was going to go horribly wrong. But I kept it to myself, because it's not like I have magical powers predicting the future or anything. I pushed through the feeling and kept up with the others.

We arrived at the gates to the Radish Mansion. There were no bots standing guard outside this time, which was odd.

"You'd think he'd leave at least some security behind," Choco muttered.

"What if this is a trap?" Leo asked. "What if Hood is working for Todd and was just trying to lure us back here so we can get caught?"

"That's possible," I agreed.

"Then why would he have given us these upgraded weapons?" Naomi asked. "And we know the Radish Festival is tonight. I saw signs on the way here."

"I dunno. I'm getting mixed feelings about this," Choco replied. "Maybe we shouldn't go in."

"Well, even if Todd is in there with an ambush, I'm sure we can defeat him with these new weapons," Leo said.

"Yeah. I say we go in," Naomi added.

Choco hesitated. "Okay. Let's do it."

They all looked at me.

"I don't know. It seems like a bad idea, but I don't think we have any other options at this point," I said slowly. "Let's go."

We cautiously made our way across the lawn of the mansion. It was dark, which was unusual. It was always lit, even at night.

We reached the golden doors. The four of us looked at each other again, nodded, then burst into the mansion.

It was completely dark inside. The only light came from the moon through the windows in the roof.