"What are all these shits for?" Sylve asked as she places a few more decoys inside the dark room. W-well, it's kinda awkward that it's just the two of us here, but no matter.
"I'm very intricate in my planning, we need to do this in order to succeed," I smirked. Although she wouldn't see me, I made it sound as if I'm very confident even though I am not.
Everything lies within your capability to gamble and guessing the right answer. Although I have thought about it thoroughly, I still don't have enough evidence to support it. My plan to lure the traitors here and bring the guards to catch them is just my guess. After all, I am guessing that Leon is one of those traitors, and Sylve could be one of his accomplices considering how close they were. But my instincts are telling me that she's not. However, if that were to happen, I already thought of a way to turn things against her.
"Vander, I'm sure you do know that in case you weren't-" Sylve was just about to finish her words when I suddenly hear loud multiple footsteps coming. I quickly grab Sylve with my arms and cover her mouth with my hands. It was too instant, but I managed to suppress her as the both of us hid beside a wardrobe.
The door slowly opened and a few manly voices can be heard.
Sylve slowly turned her head around as she slowly tried to see who's there behind the door. "See! I told you! It's Leon how co-"
"Shh, listen!"
"What? What the hell is this?" A man wearing a mask entered the room. He took off his mask and turned his head around. "Knox, what the hell is this place? I thought you said they are here?"
Knox then slowly appeared behind Leon. He wandered his eyes around and scratched off his head, "Sylve said they will go here. She clearly said that to me"
"Knox?" That was the man earlier. Did he really call for backups? Was I wrong? I was curious and took a peek to see who's there. "L-leon?" It really is him, or perhaps, I was wrong. Maybe Leon was just trying to test us.
Sylve whispered behind my ear. "I told you, it's Leon, there's no need to be worry," I felt her hand gently pushed me away, "L-let m-me g-go." Oh my, I didn't notice, we're in a pretty awkward situation back then. Her touch gave me goosebumps, it was an instant pleasu-. W-wait, what was I thinking right now? I am a 40-year-old man, this is clearly pedophilia.
Sylve immediately freed herself from me and ran in front of Leon, "Leon! You're here! Thanks for-" Leon pointed his gun as soon as he noticed Sylve coming, "S-sylve?" Leon said as he looked quite a bit surprised.
"Yeah it's me, I'm sorry, it was Vander's ide-"
"Where are they?"
"Oh, they are at the warehouse 023."
"I see. Anyway, thanks! I'll be back here."
"Can I come with you?" Sylve replied with a smile. She must be so eager to regroup with his original colleagues. I can't blame her though, Leon is more reliable than I am.
"Of course!" Leon replied with a smile.
I decided to just peek and hide from Leon since I wouldn't want to be punished by him for not trusting the officials. As Sylve was just about to step, Leon tried to shoot Sylve and kill her. Everything was in slow motion and I saw how the bullet slowly going towards Sylve. Unknowingly, my body moved on its own as I covered her body with mine to help her evade the bullets.
I closed my eyes thinking that I was the one wounded by the shot, but luckily, due to my interference, he missed. "Leon? What are you doing?" I shouted.
"V-vander? H-how d-did y-you?" Leon was trembling, he seems to be shocked by what happened. "Originally, I was planning to kill everyone. Research Guild has always been the foundation of Lumiere City, killing you all will be rewarding." He laughed in a wicked manner. "Tell me Vander,
"It's none of your business." I helped Sylve stand. She doesn't seem to be hurt but she looks so down, and I can understand why."
Leon recovered his composure. But this time he put back his gun to his holster and drew his sword from his back. Some dark red lines started to glow from his hands and sword. "I got to admit, you are indeed smart Vander, you almost got me there." His eyes turned red and his looks right now are far from the Leon I've met a few days ago. "Well, I am intrigued by who you are and what you can do Vander. I would love to see how you'll turn out but I'm sorry this is just my duty don't take it personally." He quickly rushed to attack us, "Please do me a favor of behaving as I mincemeat the two of you. Haha!"
I smirked, "What a dumbass." I pinched Sylve to let her know what she's supposed to do and thankfully, she got it. "I know" She replied.
Leon was about to reach us, so I closed my eyes waiting for my death. However, a few moments. I heard a loud gunshot near me. I checked on my body if I was the one who got shot. But, luckily I wasn't. The shot came from the guards when they shot Leon and his gang with a net.
"Miss Sylve!" One of the guards started rushing towards us.
"We're sorry, we hesitated to come, it was Leon, so we thought-" The guard saw Sylve's expression and realized what to do. "W-we'll be taking the traitors." The guard looked at me and waves his hand signaling that he was about to leave. He stared at me and waved his hand before leaving.
Sylve slowly lifted her head up, "Did you know? Did you know that Leon is a traitor?" She shouted in agony.
I was startled a bit, "No, I-I m-mean, I have my doubts from the beginning since he was the only person in our guild who wasn't there so I thought..." I scratched my head slightly, "Although it was just a guess, you know, stuffs like inside job always happens and we should never rule out that possibility."
She fixed her position and wiped her tears off. She flashed a gloomy smile, "Why did you trust me? I could be a traitor you know? Considering that Leon already is one."
"It was my guts telling me that you're not. Everything here was all my guts. It was my guts that saved us all. You should be happy." I smirked.
She slightly punched my shoulders. Well, at least she's somehow in a better mood now. "Dumbass, what if you're wrong, how would you take responsibility? You can be punished or banned from here."
"Well, gambles are part of life, I mean, a simple gamble like that is nothing compared to the lives I have saved, don't you think?"
"Y-yeah I guess you're right."
I started to walk and offered my hands to her, "Hey, it's not a great time for a diddle-dawdle, let's head out and check on the others. I'll find a way to help everyone."