My eyes are pink again today, so I'm going to be releasing a slightly shorter chapter so I can rest them. Spent much too long yesterday in front of a screen. Lockdown hasn't been great for that, what with me doing 9-5 work at my screen and then going straight to fanfic.

Cover Art: Jack Wayne

Chapter 145

Argus went under lockdown within minutes. No travel out, with everyone entering documented and photographed. Already, Jaune could imagine the news reaching back to James and Atlas. The General would cover for him as much as he could but there were limits. This had to end soon, and preferably before Watts could follow through on his threat.

"No one matching his description has left the city," Harriet said. "I've passed it on to the garrison and they'll be keeping an eye out. If you want, we might be able to start a full manhunt. Someone must have seen him."

"No. That'll spook him. We don't want him desperate."

Jaune's scroll buzzed again. The two of them exchanged looks before he picked it up, noted the unknown caller and cursed. He killed the call before it could come through.

"I'm going to search for him," he said. "Stay here and keep me appraised of the situation."

"Yes sir."

Outside, Argus was quiet and unsuspecting. People moved about without realising the danger they were in, but then Watts' danger was so much subtler than what the people of Remnant were used to. No Grimm, no White Fang, no powerful criminals with semblances and aura.

His scroll buzzed again, but this time it clicked and answered without Jaune pushing any buttons. Worse still, the volume increased, and it switched to speaker mode.

"You're being a naughty boy, Ashari. I thought I told you to rescind your orders."

Jaune swore and ripped his scroll out, flicking it back to normal as pedestrians turned his way. He power-walked through, tapping the volume down but not hanging up. Not only had Watts shown he could work past that but hearing what was happening on the other side might give him a clue as to where the man was. Somewhere quiet. Indoors. If it'd been outside, he'd have heard traffic.

"I can't just cancel my orders; people will get suspicious. Don't worry, I'm not after you," he lied. "I'm just covering my bases. Put up with this for an hour and I'll claim to have found the perpetrator and I'll lift the lockdown."

"That easy, hm?"

"That easy. We're on the same side."

"Hmhmhm." Watts chuckled. "You must think me as simple as Tyrian or Hazel. You're not nearly as smart as you think you are, at least when compared to someone like me. Look up for a moment. See that streetlamp?"

It was a simple metal thing overlooking the path on the left side of the road. As he looked, it flickered on and off again, then repeated a few times to pulse light out like morse code.

"Argus is so wonderfully advanced, so well connected. Of course, that means it's vulnerable. Why don't we make a game of it?"

"Stop it, Watts! We're on the same side."

"If so, this will be little more than a fun game between allies. If not, well, we shall have to see. I'll make the first rule, shall I? You are to keep your scroll on you at all times and not turn it off. If you do, I'll cut the power to the Argus' hospital."

Jaune froze. His heart skipped a beat.

"Now I'm sure they'll have a secondary power source there, but how long will it last? So much of medicine is electronic nowadays. Respirators, medication systems, life support…" Watts trailed off. "I wonder if anyone working there even remembers how to do all that without technology. It would be an interesting experiment, no? See how many die when the power is lost…"

"I'll keep my scroll on!" Jaune snarled.

"Hmhm. I thought you might. As for the rest of the game, well, it's simple. You have… let's say one hour to find me. Do, and I shall accept my defeat and relinquish my hold on the city."

"And if I fail…?"

"Argus falls."

Jaune's teeth ground together.

"Of course, there's always the option to forfeit. Should you lift the blockade, and should I get out the city within the one hour time limit, the city will be safe. That will count as your loss. Naturally. I'll also be going straight to Salem with this, so you should expect her to demand her own `forfeits` from you. Perhaps it will be your lovely daughter. Salem does need more maiden hosts, after all."

"Touch Emerald and nothing will save you from me!"

"Ooh. Big words from the big man. That's the problem with you types, always so willing to throw their weight around like you think everyone will bow to your strength. An intellectual knows better."

Arrogant. Overconfident. Was there some way he could use that? An hour wasn't much time to conduct a manhunt. Not at all. He couldn't search Ansel from head to toe in an hour, and he certainly couldn't with a large settlement like this. It would take days – two or three at least – and that was assuming everyone co-operated.

"No hints?" Jaune asked desperately. "It doesn't seem like much of a game if you're stacking the deck this far in your favour."

"I'm no Tyrian. I am perfectly content stacking the deck, as you put it. Good luck, Ashari. You have fifty-nine minutes remaining."

/-/

Fifty-five minutes.

Jaune had set his watch the moment he could and continued to stare at it as his heart pounded in his chest. He hadn't moved from his position, and that was a measured decision – even if there wasn't much time to measure anything. That was what Watts wanted him to think. Or specifically, to not have time to think.

He'd never make it if he panicked and ran around trying to strike a miracle and find the man. Watts wanted to put the pressure on to force him into that, but he had to think. Think. Where would a man like Watts hide? Somewhere with good access to technology?

Jaune's eyes were drawn to the CCT again. It would be such poetic irony for Watts to be hiding in the very place Jaune had started. He was sure the man would love that, and also love having uncontested access to all the equipment there. Watts was originally here for that after all, so why not take advantage of the chance to do two things at once? The CCT was also the most connected structure and system in Argus, perhaps in Mistral at all.

It wasn't the only option, though. Watts could have visited and uploaded a virus earlier and might now be operating it from a safe distance. He was obviously still in the city, but not necessarily close. Still, it was worth checking the CCT since the fire was done with.

His eyes widened. Watts wasn't in the CCT. If he was, he'd have heard the ringing of the fire alarm over the first call, the one when they'd been outside gathered in the fire safety spot. It had been loud at the time and yet there hadn't been any background noise on Watts' end.

Fifty-one minutes.

I'm nearly a sixth of my way through this and I haven't even moved! The sweat ran down his forehead, but he swallowed and resisted the impulse. Movement without thought would ruin him. Watts had the advantage. Not every advantage, though. I'm working with Atlas here.

He dialled the number, patching into Mistral's extended CCT coverage to connect through to Atlas. The scroll rang and was answered on the other end. Jaune spoke before General Ironwood could.

"James, we have a problem!"

"Do we?" Watts' smarmy tone came through. "Oh my. Why don't you tell me all about it?"

"Watts!"

"Did you think I wouldn't interact in our little game? You're playing against me, Ashari, and I play to win. There won't be any outside interference here. Speaking of, you're still stood there, and ten minutes has passed. Are you rooted to the spot in fear?"

Jaune glanced up and around. There were windows everywhere and he couldn't see through any thanks to the reflection of light on the glass. It was a stupid gesture anyway. Watts could obviously track him through his scroll and didn't need to be within viewing distance.

Either way, Jaune started walking, more to clear his mind than because he had a direction. Watts wasn't in the CCT, which meant he had to be using remote access to get into its systems. He would be hidden away somewhere, most likely within a rented room or hotel. It would need to be that and not a construction site or abandoned building because he would want a good connection. Also, because Watts hadn't known he would be here, and wouldn't have bothered sneaking into Argus like a rat.

"Do I get to ask questions?" Jaune asked.

"Whatever for? Tick-tock-tick-tock, your time is running out."

"You style yourself as an intellectual but you're really not."

He heard a sharp inhale on the other side. "What was that?"

"A true genius wouldn't be afraid to play a game fairly. Does it really make you feel smart to rig something so far in your advantage there's no hope of defeat? That's not a sign of intelligence. Anyone can cheat."

"Trying to goad me into a bad decision, are we? I'm not nearly so irrational."

"You are," Jaune said, looking around the skyline desperately. "If you were pragmatic and rational then you wouldn't have struck at Winter. You didn't do that because it benefitted you in any way – in fact, it made Salem upset with you. The reason you did it was because you felt insecure about what I was bringing to the table."

"What nonsense are you spouting now, Ashari?"

"Vast wealth, resources, a plan and a whole research team dedicated to my subject. You must have been furious." Jaune's lips caressed the word, "Jealous."

"…"

"Did you think I was going to replace you? Upstage you? A genius wouldn't waste time with worrying when they could simply beat me at my own game. A genius wouldn't try and kill my fiancé to distract me. You're like a child sabotaging someone else's homework so your homeroom teacher won't praise anyone but you. Pathetic."

"You don't know anything!" Watts roared. "I am the best mind in Atlas-"

"You were the best mind in Atlas. Although even on that I'm sceptical. Now, you're nothing more than a criminal on the run, playing at being some big mastermind when you're a minion at best. An underling."

Watts shouted again and something made of glass shattered against a wall. It didn't sound like a window, but instead like a glass or bottle striking a hard surface. A bar? No, there would be people around Watts making noise. It must have been a hotel, with one of those small fridges with complimentary drinks.

There were quite a few hotels in Argus since it was a crossing point between Atlas and Mistral and so many people came the night before for ferries or flights. They were dotted all over the place, but if Watts had opted for the high-end ones then that narrowed down the options.

"I'll show you my power!" Watts raged. "When I'm done with you there will be no doubt in Salem's mind as to who is the most capable. And it won't be you!"

The call ended suddenly, though Watts was doubtless still tracking him. That was proven when Jaune crossed a street with the man set to green, only to be forced back as a horn blared. A car shot through, the man inside shouting obscenities out the window. Looking up, Jaune noticed that the light was green both for him and for the driver.

Paling, Jaune moved quickly away. The fear wasn't so much for him as for anyone else, and if he was close then Watts would be tempted to interfere again. He knew the man was following him, chasing him, because alarms went off in buildings he passed – security alarms, electronic fire alarms, whatever they were, if they were connected to any kind of system, Watts was able to set them off and mark his passing. He was also leaving a huge horde of confused people in his wake.

Forty-five minutes.

If he ever got close, Watts would know and move away. There'd been no promise he would stay still and Jaune wouldn't have believed such a promise. I'm at the disadvantage here. As long as I have my scroll, Watts can maintain distance. He knows that too, and it's why he threatened the hospital if I get rid of it. Technology was his biggest weakness right now, and Argus was the most hi-tech city in Mistral.

As he moved, messages came through on his scroll. Mocking, taunting, seeking to distract him.

"Getting colder."

"Nowhere close"

"You're running out of time."

"Maybe I'm in that depot you just walked by."

"I can see you. Wave for me."

Distractions, all of them. If he was close, then Watts would spend less time baiting and more time running away. Or using the nearby tech to intervene and push Jaune away. If every call was going to be intercepted, he couldn't ask Harriet for help either, or Raven. Even assuming Watts let the call through, he would be listening on every word said.

He might have to lift the blockade. He would if the timer got low. Argus was too important to sacrifice here, what with his sister and his nephew sure to suffer if anything happened. Hospitals, communication, military tech and the automated turrets defending the city; all could be turned off and lead the people to ruin.

That also means I can't go near the walls or those same turrets may well open fire on me! Did that mean Watts was near the walls? No, that was too big an area to check on in a little over half an hour. I need to narrow things down. I can't do that while I'm running around playing his game, though.

At a little over forty minutes remaining until the city was doomed, Jaune stopped at the Argus mall.

/-/

Twenty-five minutes.

Twenty-five minutes and Ashari's movements were still limited to the mall area of the city. Arthur Watts leaned back and frowned, rubbing his chin with one hand. Had he given up? Was this some desperation play? If Ashari thought being surrounded by so many other people would make it harder to track his scroll, he was heavily mistaken.

But what if he'd given it away?

Arthur pressed the button on the laptop again.

"Oh Ashari," he said mockingly. "Are you there? I'd hate to turn everything in the ICU off, but rules are rules…"

"I'm here, you sicko."

Arthur let out a quick breath and checked the screen again. The scroll was moving down a busy sidewalk and turning into a park by the central plaza. That wasn't actually too far from his location, but it wasn't anywhere close either.

There were hundreds of hours' worth of room-by-room searching between them, not to mention several flights of stairs or an elevator he could turn off or even send crashing to its doom at the push of a button.

"Sicko? Me? I'm offended. My work was always dedicated to the betterment of humanity. If only those fools in Atlas could have recognised that."

"I'm sure everyone else was the only thing on your mind…"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Obviously, yes, I did want to profit from my research. I'd hardly say that is wrong. Someone like you who has never had to suffer in their life can hardly understand what it means to work for something."

"Is that how you see me? I'd say I've suffered plenty…"

"Hmph. As if. You haven't experienced the nightmare of being ousted from your home, of having to leave everything behind, of having your life torn away from you in the blink of an eye."

"One of the biggest signs of narcissism is an inability to empathise with those around you. You think your loss is the only pain that matters. Everything is about you, isn't it?"

Arthur wished he could push a button and end Ashari's life then and there. It would have been so satisfying. He was no narcissist; he was a genius. That was an objective statement, as proven by his academics and qualifications. Arrogance was an accusation made by those beneath him who felt threatened by the truth. They sought to downplay the hard work and talent that had led him to such success by framing it as empty boasts.

"You can insult me all you wish," Arthur said. "It won't change the fact you are more than halfway through your time and not yet any closer to finding out my location."

He checked the feed again. There was no image – he'd made sure to mask that so Ashari couldn't see Arthur and the hotel wall behind him. While the odds were low that Ashari could recognise a room by one wall, there was no reason to make this any easier.

I won't underestimate him. That's how idiots fall…

"More than halfway through and still no news of a lifted blockage. Should I demonstrate my power again? What should I do, hmmm? The park you're in doesn't grant me many opportunities. Is that your plan? Yes, staying there will make it hard for me to attack you, but then that was never my goal. You're not going to find me like that."

"I will find you, Watts. Just you wait."

Not standing still in the park, he wouldn't. Ashari must have given up. Better still, he was hiding! How typical. People like him loved to talk a big game, but they were cowards at the end of the day. It didn't surprise him in the slightest that instead of challenging him, Ashari would hide in a safe place until the time ran out.

A low bang and a crackle sounded in the distance.

Arthur looked away from the screen momentarily. The curtains over the window were drawn but he reached over to open them for a moment, time enough to catch the sparkles in the distance drifting down on the air. That didn't look like a weapon fired. It sounded more like a firework going off. What was going on out there?

Nothing important. Arthur pulled the curtains shut again and sat down, quickly checking the map. Ashari's blip was still in the park, still standing in the place it had been before. That was a little too suspicious for Arthur's liking.

"Still there, Ashari?"

"I'm still here…"

Good. For a moment he'd thought Ashari might ignore his warning and ditch the scroll. Apparently not, he was just hiding away like the pathetic sack of brawn and muscles he was.

"What should I do, then? The hospital, the police station or the fire department? I can close down any of them right now. Did you know the police keep their prisoners behind electronic locking systems? I wonder how much chaos it would cause if the local prison released all its prisoners at once."

"You said you'd wait until the hour was done!"

"Hiding like a coward isn't very sporting. I'm just trying to liven things up."

"You gave me an hour. Don't tell me you're going to go back on your world already."

That insipid little prick! Arthur would have snarled if he didn't contain himself. He adjusted his collar, closed his eyes and huffed instead. "I will still give you your hour, Ashari. I simply expected you to play our little game. You're remarkably boring for a so-called man of action."

Another, louder, bang and a crackled sounded off outside. There was no such sound echoing on the call from Ashari.

"I'm taking part."

"You're stood in place." Arthur pointed out. "You have made no calls or texts outward, no efforts to reach help and you spend twenty minutes trying to lose my trace in a crowded mall. A plan which failed, need I remind you. Did you really think I wouldn't be able to track you? This is technology, you moron. You might lose a person following you in a crowd but that's-" Another firework went off. Arthur glanced at the window, annoyed, but continued speaking, "-not how this works. I cans see you wherever you go."

"You can see me, huh? What am I doing right now?"

He didn't know, obviously. The Argus park didn't have any security cameras to hack into, and he wasn't going to activate the camera and give away his position. That was probably what Ashari was trying to bait him into.

"What you're doing is wasting your precious time. But that's fine. You have all of twenty minutes remaining. I think I will cut the hospital's power first. Let's take a look first. Oh my."

Records flashed on the screen, but he kept the map open to trace Ashari's position.

"It turns out there's twelve people in the ICU right now. There was a Grimm attack on a dust convoy recently. There are also two elderly people on respirators, one coma patient on life support and two children born premature and relying on machinery to breathe for them."

"Do you take pleasure in this, Watts?"

Such a loaded question didn't deserve an answer, but Arthur considered it in his head all the same. Did he take pleasure in it? To a degree, he supposed that he did. That reflected poorly on him – not that he cared. These people had turned on him and it was only natural he turn on them. Besides, this wouldn't be happening if Ashari hadn't followed him all the way to Argus.

How did he know? Had someone leaked the information? If so, it could only be Tyrian, though Cinder had been uppity of late. They were all working against him, which made sense since none of them could match his brilliance alone. That idiot, Tyrian, would never best him in a battle of wits.

"Eighteen minutes. You realise you're cutting this awfully close. I gave you instructions that I would only consider a forfeit if I were outside the city by the time the hour is up. How long are you going to wait before signalling for the lockdown to end?"

"There's still time."

"Is there!?" Arthur raised his voice to be heard over the fireworks outside, but they didn't bother him now. They were as good as celebrating his victory. "Or is it that you don't care about these people at all? You're prepared to throw them all away to get revenge for your dear Winter. How disgusting. How ruthless. How wonderfully self-centred of you. And you call me the narcissist."

"Do the lives of the people of Argus mean so little to you?" Arthur mocked. "If your plan is to keep my here longer and let me get away with all this, I'll make sure everyone on Remnant knows who was responsible. I can have your face shown on every television in the Kingdom. I can have this conversation recorded and sent out across-" A loud bang echoed right outside the hotel, rattling the windows and making Arthur jump. "Argh! What in the blazes?"

"Is there a problem?" Ashari asked innocently.

Still in the park. Still accounted for. "Nothing," Arthur said, glancing once again to the window. "Nothing at all. You're down to fifteen minutes, however. I think I'll make a timer of it." He brought one up and set it to count down. "There, and once the timer hits zero, the code will automatically activate and cast Argus back two hundred years. Tick-tock, Ashari. If I were you, I'd start planning ways to get me out of the city in a hurry."

The light above Arthur's head snapped off suddenly, casting the room into darkness but for the light coming through the drawn curtains. The small red light on his personal terminal turned to red, showing it was operating off of battery power. Everything had gone off, from the fridge to the air conditioning and everything in between. And it hadn't been his doing.

"Is there a problem?" Ashari asked again.

This time, it didn't sound quite so innocent.

My season is over on the game I've been playing on the side, giving me more time to write. Kind of relieved about that and have decided to cut down on it next season. It's been fun but I've retired from a leadership position in it to just enjoy more of the game.

Not bad timing either if my eyes are playing up again. This time, my mother's are as well, so I'm thinking it might just be seasonal allergies with the changing weather. Hoping so as they itch like mad.

Next Chapter; 13th March

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur