"So it's true," Aloysius Minch muttered into his coffee mug as he stared at the photographs pinned up on the board. The images were too clear for any details to be mistaken. He had known the camera guy long enough to trust him not to doctor the pictures - he was too proud of his talent. Besides, he had somehow teleported onto an inaccessible mountain ledge to take the photographs, he wouldn't sabotage his own hard work after risking his life.
No, there wasn't anyone else stealing Phase Distorters from the Cave of the Past
"I'm afraid so," said Dr. Andonuts. The scientist's voice was uncharacteristically gentle. He had kept his mouth shut for almost the entire meeting, only trying to make tasteless jokes three times and show off volatile-looking prototype inventions twice, and one was a coffee machine that actually worked, so nobody minded. Caffeine was something they all appreciated. None of them had been given much opportunity to sleep over the last few days.
"It's official. My son is behind literally everything that's wrong with the world," he replied, "And he might even be trying to destroy it."
"Don't beat yourself up about it," said the scientist, "None of us are going to win Father of the Year any time soon."
"You still don't get to see much of your son, do you?" asked Brick Road. They held meetings in the top floor of the Dungeon Man these days. It didn't feel right to leave their old friend out just because he wasn't in a position to travel easily any more. Dr. Andonuts had offered to foot the bill so that he could phone in but it was impossible to get a decent signal in the dungeon.
"I try and get some useful inventions over to him every now and then. Escargo Express hate me, though. I think they're still sore about the accident that one time. That bicycle didn't explode in any of the testing stages, and I offered to let the delivery man use my latest improvement on the regeneration chamber, but..." Dr. Andonuts petered out with a sigh, looking down at his own coffee, "The point is, I know it'll never be enough. I can't compensate for never being there in person, for not even having the first clue how to normal dad things, no matter how much I spend on his education or how much time I put into these inventions. And I'm not the only one. We all have our excuses. You have a demanding job. Poo's family have to rule an entire nation. Paula doesn't actually want her father to get too involved in her quest. Ness' dad..."
Aloysius shook his head and sighed again. He wished he even knew who Ness' dad was, other than that he got paid virtually nothing, so little that the boy's mother was constantly borrowing money from the Minch family. He would have given up long ago and just assumed that the guy was in jail, except that everything else about the phone calls was genuine, including the apologies. Aloysius had been in big business long enough to spot when someone was faking emotion, had heard other men call their families and pretend to be held up in a meeting when they were secretly cheating on their wives, and the voice they kept intercepting was nothing like that.
"Are you sure you can keep on doing this? You fund all our projects too. I could try and talk to the Montague brothers again..." began Brick Road.
"Don't bother. They're never going to strike it rich. They're hard workers but they're way too idealistic, and there's just no place for old-wprld prospectors any more. Trust me, this kind of money is peanuts when you make what I do. Money is the only thing I'm really good for," said Aloysius, "And then, I can only give it to people my son will hate me for helping."
"It's going to help him in the long run if Ness gets over there as quickly as possible and forces him to come to his senses before he does something he really can't undo," said the Camera Guy.
"That should be my job."
"But you can't," said Dr. Andonuts, rather more sternly, "And neither can any of us. Because we're an old fool, a businessman who still hasn't gone on a diet like I told him to, a guy fused to a machine stuck in a swamp, and a guy with a camera and not much else. Which is why we just do what we can."
"I still shouldn't be doing this to Ness. Pretending it's his dad sending the money, I mean."
"Think of it as an extra security measure," said the Camera Guy, You don't really know who is monitoring our calls. Pokey won't notice you sending money by wire to some anonymous location every now and then, not if it really isn't all that much money and you have a reputation for shady deals..."
"I wish more of it were just reputation," said Aloysius.
"We've all had to do things we don't approve of in this quest. The children don't really want to hurt anyone but they have to protect themselves and others. They don't want to co-operate with criminals but you can't trust the law in Onett. If kids can't stay innocent, then we certainly can't afford to sit in ivory towers."
"When this all finishes, though, I'm so going to build my pacifist dungeon," said Brick Road.
Aloysius snorted, "Yeah, right! It'll get looted and trashed anyway, and they'll probably hunt down the monsters just to finish the job, wherever they hide."
"How much do you want to bet on that, eh? You've never seen a real master at work before."
"Don't try and play me, Dungeon Man, I'm warning you," Aloysius looked over at the Camera Guy, "Hey, I don't suppose..."
"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot. Yeah, your wife and your younger boy are safe at home."
"I need to visit them again, tell them what's happening," said Aloysius, "But, on the other hand, maybe it's best for them to stay out of this whole mess altogether. I really don't know."
"Getting too involved has its risks, but so does being uninformed about danger," agreed the Camera Guy, "But it isn't like they never make their own moves, you know."
"You're right," Aloysius sighed, "It's the same with our kids, isn't it?"
Dr. Andonuts nodded, "They're old enough to start deciding for themselves what to do with their lives, and there's only so much we can do, good or bad. Sometimes they won't even want our help at all. That's why it's not your fault if they don't turn out exactly how you wanted them to."
"Even if he's an omnicidal maniac?"
"Did you tell him to be an omnicidal maniac?" asked Brick Road.
"Well, no, I just wanted him to make lots of money, but..."
"It's probably fine, then. Now, about this bet..."