Chapter Five: Diversion Tactics
It seemed like everything stopped for Luther in that one moment; his eyes were locked onto the mysterious figure with such amazement that he must've looked mesmerized, his heart halted mid-beat and it was like time had come screeching to a pause. There was only one other reason he could think of as to why there was another "Astral" on the scene; someone was riding his coattail to try and score some big cash. He'd be the first to admit that his disguise wasn't the most creative; all one would need to replicate it was an adequately dark cloak and a random mask. It was meant to be a simple in and out job, so he didn't put much thought into it. Looks like it's coming back to bite him in the ass now….
A single glance was shared between him and his brother's mechanical outlet; they needed to put a stop to this and now. They could come up with a plan another time, but getting away from the police without causing a citywide manhunt was their first priority.
"Welp, I think that wraps things up quite nicely if I do say so myself!" Calvin blurted.
A snort from Luther. He could've been just a little bit more subtle…
"What are you blathering on about?" The chief asked.
"Uh, hello? Do you have a brain in that oddly brick-shaped head of yours?" Calvin responded.
The robot looked at Luther and back at the man contrasted against the blue sky hovering over all of them. "Astral's over there while Luther is standing right here in plain sight. Kinda hard to be here and significantly outrunning officers there, you hear what I'm saying?" As crude as he was in explaining the situation, the looks on the police officer's faces told him all they needed to know. It's kinda hard to accuse someone of being another person when said person is standing on top of a rooftop overlooking the city. Luther allowed his eyes to scan over the crowd of people before they rested on Sycamore….or rather the unnoticed smirk that was etched across his face. 'Oh dear. This isn't going to be good….' He thought to himself.
"Please let's not jump to any irrational conclusions." The man placed a hand on his chin before starting to circling around Luther. "True, it would be impossible for Luther to be both here and there at the same time, but who says he has to?"
"Ay oh? What's this now?" Chief Sheffield interjected.
"Sneaking into the museum, pilfering a precious piece of research while evading capture of both the security staff and the camera system. All of this seems to be a bit much for one person to handle."
"Just what are you getting at, Sissybore?" Calvin snarked.
A twitch of the eye from the professor and a facepalm from Luther.
"...It's Sycamore. And what I'm saying is that how do we know that you don't have an accomplice?"
"What?!" Calvin screamed.
"That'd be impossible!" For the first time today, Luther was ready to defend himself. He'd been in a bit of a stupor since first being brought in and hadn't really fully processed everything till just now…
"Suppose that I am, in a strictly hypothetical sense, Astral and that person is working with me. I didn't know I was even a suspect until you apprehended me just this morning, how would they know to help me without any prior knowledge whatsoever?"
A small smile spread over Sycamore's face as he listened to Luther's rebuttal. "Why, that's simple as can be. After all," another smirk wormed its way out of everyone else's vision and onto the man's face, "there's a floating transmitter standing right here in front of all of us." The hispanic man blanched at what he was saying; as difficult as it was to admit, Sycamore had a point, however false it may be. Who needs prior knowledge when you've got a radio transmitter following your partner everywhere he goes?
"No way!" Calvin denied.
"Oh? And just what do you have to put up as a defense against these accusations?" Sheffield spoke up.
Everyone could hear the sound of lips touching one another as the person behind the robot's controls struggled to find something to say to defend his brother's innocence, but he soon gave up with an irritated huff. Luther was on the verge of collapse from the amount of exhaustion overcoming him. God, he would've gotten more sleep last night if he knew this was what was waiting for him the next day… Not only was there an imposter running around, stealing precious commodities from the people and possibly the attractions, Descole was here and planning god-knows-what when he manages to track them both down and he was already under the risk of being exposed as Astral. Where was a steamy hot cup of joe when he needed it?
"Well, we won't be able to get to the bottom of this case until we apprehended that second thief. Men!" All of the present cops stood at attention. "We've got another culprit on the loose and this time, we're not letting him get away! After him!" The entirety of the police force went charging down the streets of Monte D'or, alarming many of the people that had beared witness to the thief in broad daylight. "Professor Sycamore, if you please?"
"Don't worry, I won't let him worm his way out of here."
"Why'd you use the word 'worm' like that?"
It was back to the conference room for all three of them. As soon as they entered, Sycamore dropped his act once more and the man's true personality peeked through once more.
"I'll admit, I didn't think you had it in you to pull off a scheme as devious as this." He stated.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Luther countered.
"Oh no? Trying to use someone else as bait to try and take the fall for you; such cowardice."
No response from either brother.
"But now that those blundering pigs have left, this is the perfect time for me to ask you something that has been nagging at me since our last encounter."
"You mean the time when you broke into Luther's apartment and scared the everloving shit out of the both of us?" Calvin asked.
"Quiet now, the adults are talking."
A sharp intake of breath was heard from the robot before Calvin let out a small snarl of anger. Little more than a sigh came from Luther; the both of them were acting like children in his opinion…
"What is your connection to those temples I was studying?" The man's eyes widened as he suppressed a small gasp. This was the response that Sycamore must've been waiting for from the raised eyebrow and curious smile on his face. "Ah, have I struck a nerve?" Both brothers growled lightly underneath their collective breaths. Luther knew that this was his fault. Working under Descole was the only thing he could do; somehow, the man had managed to find a temple before him and had begun doing research on them. The Pokemon that resided in each temple he found were able to avoid detection and told Luther about these events, prompting him to take the necessary action. But if he had just gotten it done sooner, this wouldn't be as much of a problem as it is right now…
"Is there some sort of treasure hidden in each temple?"
"..." Nothing from either sibling.
"Hmm. Perhaps those strange markings lead to some sort of weapon of infinite power?"
"..."
"No, I didn't think so. I could play this guessing game with you for however long we have, but you still wouldn't tell me, would you?"
"Hmph." Without warning, the good professor grabs the other by the collar and yanks him to look him in the eye so fast that Calvin didn't even have the chance to make a move to intercept him. "But mark my words, Jean Descole always gets the answers he wants," the grip tightens around Luther's collar and starts to choke him slightly. ",one way or another." He maliciously whispered. That said, they both separated after Luther was tossed back onto his chair.
The room was engulfed in silence once more.
It took Chief Sheffield and the police force about an hour and a half to return, but something was….different about the chief. Before he left, he had been almost smug, like he had been sure that they had captured the right man and would have him behind bars before he could even say "You got me." Now, however, it seems that ego he had had was deflated beyond repair. There was a steaming hot cup of tea in one hand and the other was rubbing one of his temples.
"Is there a problem, sir?" Sycamore chimed in.
"Quite a few, actually. Things have gotten that much more complicated in this case, Professor."
Calvin and Luther exchanged glances. What was he talking about?
"Upon finally cornering the suspect, my men and I were about to cuff him when suddenly another shrouded figure appeared on the rooftop. Followed by another….and another...until we were the ones that were outnumbered." Sheffield spoke in a hushed tone.
"Luther hasn't been here long enough to accumulate the number of people that we had seen,." Spoke one of the nameless officers.
A sound of surprise left the good professor as Luther managed to pull off a successful poker face. This was starting to become far too intricate; if people wanted to start a thieving syndicate of some sort, why wait until he stole the meteorite? True, they could just be hoping to make Astral out to be their head honcho and have the police focusing on him, but they could've easily done that with one of their own men and destroy that particular costume. That way, the police would be on a wild goose chase for a person that no longer existed while the rest of them were free to plunder as much as their heart's desired. No; whoever these people are, they were planning something and they wanted Astral to be the figurehead of it all.
'I need to get to the bottom of this,' Luther thought to himself, 'but how?' He wasn't exactly in the right position to go around investigating. Not only was he the prime suspect in this entire fiasco, but Sycamore had managed to stack up a formidable case against him that he hadn't even the foggiest clue as how to dismember it….
"Gentleman, gentleman, please. Let's all just collect our thoughts here and go over what we know." Sycamore's hand found its way to his chin once more before he began to speak again. "I think we're all forgetting one crucial piece to this puzzle; the fact that we are most likely broadcasting this entire conversation to this gang as we speak. Let us not look over the floating robot that has been here for the entirety of this interrogation." It was back to the robot, but Luther was prepared for him this time with a decent rebuttal.
"Now, this really is impossible." Everyone focused on him as he began to explain and, amazingly, he didn't feel any anxiety bubble up in his stomach. "The robot Calvin is using can only broadcast at full capacity on one radio frequency at a time, meaning that it can only relay conversations to one radio receiver at a time. Not only that, but there is only one such receiver that can broadcast at larger distances than twenty feet and Calvin has been using it this entire time to speak with us." A look of surprise befell everyone's face as Luther finished explaining, Sycamore's being more out of spite than anything. Before anyone could even start to speak, the sound of rapid footsteps making their way towards the room drew everyone's attention. A pair of guards that were stationed at the museum came bursting into the room and one of them was waving around something in his hands; it was another calling card from Astral.
"Blast it, he's making a mockery of us!" Sheffield growled. "What's he gone and made off with now?!"
"You misunderstand, sir. This isn't the sign of a robbery that's taken place, but….r-r-rather a m-m-missed invitation." The guard stuttered out.
"Oi! Explain yourselves, now!"
"W-well sir, we were doing a complete onceover of the entire museum to try and figure out how the thief got in and out so easily when one of our men knocked over the shipping container that was originally used to transport the meteorite from each scientist's laboratory. You can put together what fell out." Spoke one guard.
"Nobody ever bothered to check the crate because there were no signs of Astral three weeks ago."
"Not only that but the crate hasn't been used in over…" the chief crossed his arms and looked over at Luther, startling him slightly. "...in over three weeks. When Luther hadn't even been in Monte D'or." Another sound of surprise left Professor Sycamore at this news; it seems he hadn't bothered to gain a little intel on Luther's time here before coming to try and get him thrown in the slammer…
"Luther, it seems as though every accusation made against you has been disproven through irreputable fact. On behalf of the police of Monte D'or, I apologize for this impairment on your innocence."
"Oh, it's quite alright-"
"WHAT?!" Calvin screeched.
"-everybody makes mistakes. I just hope you end up finding the real culprits before anything else gets stolen."
"Have you not been here for the past three hours? Have you just be in la-la land?"
"We're leaving, Calvin."
An irritated groan came from the robot. Calvin couldn't believe it; he was just going to walk out, no screaming, no threats to sue?! True, he just wanted him to do it, so something interesting could happen that didn't mean more work for them. When he caught whoever it was running around impersonating Astral, ooooh! They were going to feel the wrath that is a scorned and pissed off Calvin! But first things first, of course. The both of them needed to deal with Sushimore over there; as of right now, there was nothing stopping him from changing into his primadonna costume and hunting the both of them down. Being on the outskirts of town in the desert wouldn't be doing them any favors, so there was only one thing they could do; force Descole to keep himself hidden long enough for the both of them to get the hell out of dodge…
"But before we do, let me ask a question." Calvin chimed in.
"Hmmm? Alright, what is it?"
"Do you remember the man named Jean Descole?"
A small gasp came from Luther as Sycamore threw a glare at the robot from behind everyone else's back.
"...Yes. He was the one that orchestrated the entire "Masked Gentleman" spectacle."
"A man that can manipulate people with ease, disguise himself to a tee and just so happens to wear a mask and cape. I think you see what I'm getting at here."
"Let me get this straight," Sycamore slid his glasses up, the lights in the room reflecting off the glass and covering his eyes. ", you believe this 'Descole' person and 'Astral' are one in the same, correct?"
"Descole is a world renowned thief that has stolen from countless museums and terrorized his fair share of communities. Being an archaeologist and scientist, the meteorite would've been a tantalizing target for him. His skills at disguising himself would aid him in avoiding detection of the security guards, not to mention give him easy access to the security room to delete any and all data of the room the meteorite was in."
Murmurs started to arise from the crowd of police officers as Sheffield seemed to be fully enveloped into what Calvin was saying. If there was one thing you could say about Calvin, it was that he could draw just about anyone's attention. Right now was one such situation. Though, Luther could see that dark cloud starting to form over Sycamore's head; only three people in this room knew the true intentions behind what Calvin was attempting, and succeeding, in doing. Give the police a false trail to sniff down through Descole to kill two birds with one stone…
"I'll give it to you, that sounds plausible, but that doesn't explain just who those other blokes were that showed up."
Calvin said nothing.
Instead, the robotic optic cut away to reveal various articles on the man in question. Some of the police officers started to clamber around the machine before Sheffield pushed them aside to get a good look at it himself. There was the incident with the town of Misthallery, what happened in Monte D'or, a few thefts from museums here and there, but one thing was emphasized on and started to take over the entirety of the screen.
"The mass kidnapping on the Crown Petone?" Sheffield questioned.
"Correct. Various eye witness reports of the people that were kidnapped recalled not just the masked man, but the fact that he had a number of cronies assisting him in the crime."
Various images depicted police sketch drawings of other masked men as well as the apprehension of several more into police cars. Sheffield let out a hum of interest as he took in all of the information that Calvin had given. Sycamore finally let go of his glasses and Luther felt a shiver run down his spine; there was a deep, dark, rage-filled glare behind those specs and it was directed at him behind everyone's back. That anxiety was starting bubble up again and Calvin could see hear it in his shallow breathing. "But that's just my suggestion. Now me and my brother need to be getting back home, it's starting to get late."
And they left. "...Someone get me the files to the Masked Gentleman case." Sheffield spoke as he and the rest of the officers began to file out of the room….a fuming and plotting Sycamore following after them all.