Harry, now known as Kuro, boxed the final set of explosives. He cleaned his hands from dust and looked around. "Niklas will need to pay me for what I did. Without these explosives, there's no possible way for the storage room to get destroyed." He looked toward Ralphie, still knocked out on the ground. "Now to get out with these boxes. But how will I bring them outside with that battle still happening above the ground?" he didn't come up with an answer for a few seconds.
"I think I know how." He smiled and began removing the boxes. However, a black silhouette stepped behind him with a small orange flame visible
Outside of the city hall was still a battlefield, but most of the Niklas' troops were losing. One of the soldiers attacked Leandre, but he retaliated with his sword and sliced him until only a few left. "What is going on in there? The explosives should be set off already." Leandre looked toward the door, but nobody came outside. Then, finally, Leandre defeated the last few.
"What's going on?" somebody spoke. Leandre turned and looked at the man. He spotted Bruno while Nicole stood in the distance behind him.
Bruno and Leandre exchanged eyes. "Bruno. I suppose you've arrived at the perfect time, but you're too late. The explosives are going to be set to explode soon." Explained Leandre, but then noticed Bruno direct his eyes to face the city hall.
"Soon, huh? Who did you send in there?" Bruno wondered, standing still, his arms folded. "I don't think that's important, but if you must know, it's one of the pirates and a craftsman named Harry."
Bruno was unfazed. "Harry, huh? It looks like you weren't much observant." He claimed and still showed no fear. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"
Bruno closed his eyes for a moment. "Harry is an undercover agent who works or did work for WPDA, but he soon became a fraud who started working under Lord Niklas' orders. Basically, we've been trying to hide his identity by allowing him to work under us, protecting him from the WPDA, which he once betrayed. So, if the explosives didn't blow up by now, it means he was successful." His explanation instantly startled Leandre.
"You cannot be serious? Do you think I shall trust those words? It was clearly visible that Harry was Ralphie's friend. There is no possible way that he betrayed him at a time like this."
Bruno remained still. "You can forget about that. The city hall didn't explode yet, did it? And nobody exited it. Do you still think I'm lying?"
Leandre looked at the city hall, sweat dripping down his face. "You get it now, don't you? Harry lied to all of you. I'm pretty sure the moment you mentioned exploding the city hall he knew. Besides, tell me. Who told you about the explosives, huh?"
Leandre flinched. "Of course, it was Harry, and remember, but what did he do when he mentioned the explosives?" Leandre tried to think. "He put his hands in his pockets."
"Another point goes to you. He had a device inside his pockets that had the power to deliver a message to Lord Niklas. That's when we were alerted about the plan and the only reason why Niklas hasn't shown up. If Harry wasn't in on it, then Lord Niklas would have already been on the way here, and would probably have already stopped you. But, because he knew about Harry's identity, he trusted him to stop the explosives from blowing up."
Leandre thought back to what happened.
~ The group was at a loss for conversation starters until Harry struck one up. "Maybe if we create a distraction, we can get the troops' attention." Ayuka had thought right away. "That might be doable, but what should we use? We'd need something huge enough for everyone to see. Do you have anything you could construct as a diversion, Harry?" Harry reached into his pockets with his hands. "There is a huge stock of explosives kept in a basement behind the city hall. Although it would be challenging to notice in broad daylight, shooting them into the air would undoubtedly create a distraction." ~
Leandre finally accepted what happened. "You are correct. I did not anticipate this." Claimed Leandre. "Oh, and one more question. If nobody knew about the distraction at that time, then why would there be our troops waiting in front of the city hall before you arrived? That's right, they wouldn't be sent to defend this area, and if you noticed, they didn't attack Harry on purpose." Bruno's explanation pieced itself together.
"Do you still think that Harry's on your side? Right about now, he's probably been packing up the explosives before they could blow up. I must guess that he already dealt with Ralphie in one way or another. Now, give up, will you? I came here to talk, and we've made it clear that you lost. Lord Niklas specifically told me not to attack you unless it must be done. So, as long as you forfeit the fight, I'll let you go free, but you'll most likely end up behind bars for being disloyal to Lord Niklas."
Leandre was speechless and he looked at the ground. "It cannot be. How could we have fallen into such an obvious trap? What are we supposed to do now?" Leandre became helpless, and hopeless and didn't know what to do. "Like I told you, surrender. That way you won't need to get hurt."
Leandre reached and grabbed his forehead. "I suppose that is all we can do." But at that moment it happened. A massive explosion came spreading from the city hall, releasing a massive shockwave throughout the area.
It kicked up the wind and started a hurricane. Its orange hues shadowed the surroundings and knocked the pieces throughout the air. It started raining down pieces of bricks, glass, and even wood.
"What the hell?!" Bruno asked, astonished, trying to see what caused the explosion. The destroyed pieces scattered around the area and the explosion finally stopped.
Leandre, too, sweated. "What in the world?" he couldn't bring out the right words. Then in the next moment, when the final piece of city hall's wall landed between Bruno and Leandre, they spotted a silhouette standing in the middle of a destroyed building.
Ralphie seemed solemn. He was bloody from getting struck by a hammer, but on top of that, he held his foot pressed on top of Harry's face, half beaten. The cigarette inside his mouth burned. The lighter that he held, which was used to set off the explosions was caught as he stopped throwing it up and down, and, and that's when he looked at them.
"Ralphie." Claimed Nicole, watching from a safe distance. He looked around and kicked Kuro's body in front of Bruno. "There is your undercover agent or whatever the hell he's supposed to be. Just when you think you befriended somebody, they stab you in the back. It really pisses me off." Ralphie explained.
Bruno looked down at Kuro's body who was horribly beaten up. Bruno noticed that he was unconscious and didn't mind. "Ralphie. I owe you an apology." Exclaimed Leandre with a smile on his face. Ralphie put his lighter into his pocket. "Save it for later, old man. I've got a bone to pick up with those fools." He said, looking at Bruno.
Bruno shut his eyes and exhaled. "Niklas won't be happy about that. This is going to cause some trouble."
To be continued...