Chereads / Spectres of the Past: Prince of Spectres / Chapter 9 - Choc Celeste: part 1

Chapter 9 - Choc Celeste: part 1

In a small airplane, 10,000 feet above the Atlantic ocean, Prince is gazing out a window next to Wade

Prince

I spy with my little eye, something that is blue and rhymes with "pie"

Wade looks dazed out the window

Wade

Is it the sky?

Prince

Yup…

Wade

Sigh, I spy with my little eye, something that is white and rhymes with "loud"

Prince

The wing of the plane?

Wade looks disappointed as he turns towards Prince

Wade

Do any of those words rhyme with "loud"

Prince

I thought it was a trick question…

Alright then, I spy–

Ford

Can you two please stop whatever you're doing back there?!

Prince

C'mon, what else do you want us to do during this flight?

It's been hours

Ford

My point exactly.

Do you know how many hours I've had to sit here and listen to you two do that?

Far too many.

Didn't the two of you bring anything to keep yourselves entertained?

Prince

I tried to, but someone said I couldn't.

Wade

I'm sorry, if you had the option, you probably would have brought a sock puppet.

Prince

Wade

Say you're joking…

Prince

Uh…

You know how I told you I'm good at changing my voice?

Ford

I really hope the King isn't as dumb as him…

Wade

Trust me, he's not.

This thing is just an exception.

Prince

Hey, I can hear you, you know!

Ford

Whatever, we're nearing Paris.

Get ready for descent.

Prince

Finally!

The land of fine art, culture, and cheese: France!

This is my first time outside the country!

Ford

You guys met me in Canada, doesn't that count?

Prince

Of course not, Canada is basically America with maple syrup.

Ford

Ugh, I can't believe you're the same person from earlier…

Maybe I was too quick to accept you…

Wade

Join the club.

But, we've come this far.

Might as well just leave him be and get our mission done.

Ford

Smart thinking.

Prince frowns as Wade and Ford shake hands

Prince

So Ford, what's our new member like?

Ford

I wasn't given too many details other than we were meant to meet him at some fancy cafe in Paris.

He apparently is a tall, old guy with a distinct moustache.

Prince

They really were serious about trying to stop information from leaking.

But who would want to stop us?

Wade

A lot of people.

The biggest would be the KGB, the Soviet's secret service, but there are also a few extremists who would want to take us down to gain favour with the Soviets.

Prince

Revolutionaries?

Wade

Yeah, remember those two from the train?

According to an interrogation done by the Knightmares, they were communists who wanted to use the train to make a political statement in Washington.

They were apparently part of a larger organization, but they wouldn't give us any names.

Ford

I'd be willing to guess their friends know about how they were defeated and taken in by the feds by now.

They're definitely gonna be on edge.

Wade

That's right, which is why we need to be careful.

Another big problem is one of them had the ability to project things to people's vision, meaning its possible our faces were shown to the rest of the organization.

Prince

No way, how could his Manifesto have that wide a range?

Wade

That's the problem, because it's an enemy, we have no way of knowing the limits of the ability or even if we correctly guessed what his power was in the first place.

The first step of combat with Manifestos is determining the most likely ability of your opponent.

The second rule is to always be cautious in case you were wrong.

Never be too confident in your deduction ability.

Prince

I think I'm pretty good at figuring out Manifestos though…

Ford

Sure, sure.

Anyways, get off my plane.

Welcome to France.

The three step out of the airport as they're met with large roads packed with taxis and cars

Wade

Ford, what was the cafe we were meant to go to?

Ford

I don't remember, it's been a few weeks.

It was somewhere downtown.

Wade hails a taxi as the three get in

Taxi driver

Où est-ce que vous voulez aller?

Wade & Ford

Wade

You wouldn't happen to speak French, would you?

Ford

Nope, you?

Wade

Not at all, I'm pretty good at Spanish though…

Aren't you Canadian, shouldn't you know French?

Ford

No, I'm American, I was just waiting in Canada.

What should we do about this?

We can't even get a taxi–

Prince

Le meilleur café dans la ville que vous connaissez, s'il vous plaît.

Ford and Wade look at Prince in shock as the driver starts towards downtown

Prince

What?

Wade

Prince, how come you know French?

Prince

I had a lot of time when I was younger, and so I just listened to music from a bunch of different countries in different languages.

Ford

No, but, you sounded fluent?

Prince

I mean, speaking is just sounds, and once I learned the patterns, Devil's Trill does all the pronunciation for me.

Wade

I underestimated you…

Prince looks smug as he starts to laugh to himself

Prince

Hehe, don't worry about it.

Anyways, I hope one of you is paying cause I don't have a cent on me.

Ford

Ah, I have a few Francs left from my last time here.

After some time, the three exit the car outside a large outdoor cafe, with many tables situated on a large balcony, with a garden next to it

Prince

Are we sure this is the place?

Ford

They said a fancy cafe, so I guess that tracks…

Wade

Still, won't we be out of place in a place like this?

Ford

I-it should be fine, just let Prince do the talking…

The three meekly enter the cafe, Prince walks forward and awkwardly talks to the cashier

Prince

Cashier

Prince

Cashier

Prince

This way, he's just outside.

The three leave as the cashier sits confused

Cashier

(I could have sworn the man said he was only expecting two guests…)

(Oh well, his accent was so bad, I couldn't be sure)

Outside, the three look around and in the centre of the balcony is a man with a thin imperial moustache sits sipping on his coffee

Wade

Excuse me, are you our connection

The man stops and looks up at them, analyzing each of them

???

Considering you have an American accent, I'm fairly certain I am.

My name Is George, pleasure to meet you.

Wade

It's nice to meet you too.

I'm Wade, the man with the messy blonde hair is Ford, and the boy in the raincoat is Prince.

George

Prince…

You wouldn't happen to be Prince Spectre, would you?

Prince

Uh, yes…

George

It's so nice to meet the son of the king.

The man goes to shake the hands of the three, however, Prince hesitates before shaking his hand

As Wade and George talk, Prince taps Ford's soldier and whispers to him

Prince

Something's off with him…

Ford

What do you mean?

Is his heartbeat off, like a lie detector?

Prince

No, I'm not sure how to say it, I'm getting a bad vibe from him…

It's not as ominous as when I met the president, but something is telling me we shouldn't get involved with him…

Ford

Maybe it's because you're just nervous since we finally made it to Europe.

Don't worry, I'm sure it will be fine.

George

Would you boys like to take a seat before we leave?

I was just finishing my coffee, feel free to order something for yourselves as well.

Wade

Thank you very much, mr. George.

The three take a seat, with Prince sitting opposite George

Prince

So, mr. George, do you know where we could find the next member of our team?

George

…yes, but I'd rather not discuss it here where someone might overhear…

I'm sure you know about how those two captured revolutionaries were already confirmed to have been communists.

Wouldn't want one of their allies to attack us.

Prince

Right…

Mr. George, I'll be frank with you, I don't trust you.

Wade

?!

Prince?

What are you saying?

George

It's fine, we'll be risking our lives for each other, so it's better to make sure we feel comfortable around each other first.

So tell me, Prince, what can I do to make you trust me?

Prince

Show me your Manifesto.

You don't need to say what it does since you think there might be a spy around here.

So instead, just show it.

That way, we won't cause a fuss.

George pauses for a moment before nodding

George

Alright, this is my–

The man is cut off as a lightning bolt crashes on the table and the sky begins to rumble

Ford

What's that?!

Wade, you didn't activate your Manifesto, did you?

Wade

No, this isn't me!

Prince

!

Prince turns his head towards the sounds of electricity crackling from a large Manifesto crouching above the entrance to the balcony