Chapter Four: Brubles a Snake or Brubles a Not Snake

Scott glanced at the seven other people he'd managed to gather. They were all sitting at one of the cafeteria tables, ready to have a meeting on how to escape.

He looked between them all, taking them all in. Less than two hours ago, he had written off half these people as snakes. Now, he saw their true selves, not the paranoia encased theories of them.

Lace was compassionate, not a simp. Michael was hot, not a loser. Brubles was fun, not a snake. Nosepickerfart was logical, not a weird homeless child who'd lost its hair somewhere. Pelican was smart, not a birdcat. Kyle was meek, not a walking pity party. And Alexx was… well, fine, Alexx was still super whack, but that was okay. Could even be funny under the right circumstances.

"So," Scott said, effectively starting the meeting. "Has anybody seen a weak point?"

"Not really, no," Lace said, picking at the table.

"I haven't seen anything," Pelican said. "And trust me, I've been looking."

"I found something," Alexx said.

Scott raised his eyebrows. "You did?"

Alexx smirked and nodded. He pulled a piece of paper out of pocket. "This was in the supply closet."

He slid it across the table to Scott. Scott picked it up and read it aloud.

"The only way to escape is to play by the rules or find the mastermind."

Even though he'd suppressed his urge to call everything snake behavior, his snake sensors could not help but tingle at the word mastermind.

"Interesting…" Pelican mused. "I would presume it'd be one of us then? Because that'd be the only fair way we could find the mastermind— we'd have to know them."

"That is true," Scott admitted. "But I'm afraid I've spent far too long being suspicious of my classmates. You guys can go ahead and theorize, though."

Lace brushed her hair out of her face. "Well, logically, who is it most likely to be?"

"Me pls," Michael said.

"No Michael," Pelican said.

Michael frowned at her.

Alexx chuckled. "Probably me. Because I'm such an intellectual, it's not far-fetched for me to also be a mastermind. And my super smarts certainly lean into manipulation and street smarts, much less my charming demeanor and charisma. So it must totally be me."

Scott sighed, rubbing his temple.

"There's gotta be a more efficient way to find the mastermind," Pelican muttered, drumming her fingers on the table.

"Could we maybe get information from the Doge?" Lace asked. "It's a prop of the mastermind after all."

"That might be a good idea," Scott said.

So they all grabbed those little purple hammers and circled around the Doge.

Alexx kicked the Doge. "Tell us, Doge prop, who is the Mastermind?"

"Such no tell," the Doge said. "Very keep secrets."

Lace crossed her arms. "Could we get into its programming and figure it out?"

Brubles sighed. "Sorry, I'm only a cult leader, not a programmer."

"You're a cult leader??" Scott asked.

Brubles laughed. "You didn't know? I'm the Great DD!"

Scott smacked his forehead. "Of course you are."

"Ooh, are we spilling secrets?" Alexx smirked. "Then, well, Michael is lying about being the Ultimate Cutie Patootie. He's actually the Ultimate Flirt. Y'know, I don't get it. I'm such a nice guys but flirts like Michael always get the girls—"

Lace clicked her tongue. "Michael being the Ultimate Flirt makes a lot of sense, actually."

"He flirted with me before he knew I was the Ultimate Child." Nosepickerfart smirked. "It's probably because I'm irresistible."

"You're eleven," Pelican deadpanned.

He crossed his arms. "So?"

"Anyway," Kyle said. "I thought we were interrogating the Doge."

Brubles chuckled. "That sounds really weird to say."

"I guess it does, yeah…"

Pelican reared her hammer back. "Tell us who the Mastermind is now, Doge, or be destroyed."

"Ooh, hot woman!" Brubles said, fangirling for Bird.

The Doge panicked. "Okay! Okay! Such can't say it out loud. Very the only way to reveal the Mastermind is to solve a riddle!"

"What riddle?" Michael asked.

The Doge cleared its throat, sitting up straight and its voice deepening. "To find the Mastermind, take it back, to right before the cult had cracked."

Michael turned to Brubles. "You run a cult. Tell us the answer."

Brubles scoffed. "It's not a cult, it's the Ultimate Cult. The Ultimate Cult Leader can only run the Ultimate Cult. Duh."

Michael waved his hand dismissively. "Whatever. Just tell us."

"Why should I?" She grinned. "None of you ever gave me a reason to."

"Y'all this is her way of saying she doesn't know the answer," Lace said.

"No it isn't," Brubles argued. "It's just my way of saying I don't feel like helping."

"Brubles," Scott said. "We have to work together if we want to get out of here."

Brubles shrugged. "Maybe I don't want to get out of here. Maybe I'd like to see the game end naturally."

Scott's heart stopped. Slowly, as it began to beat again, he realized the truth right there in front of him.

"Everyone! To the class trial room!" He announced. "We need to have a very important conversation!"

He marched to the trial room. He could hear some of them groan behind him, but soon enough, everyone filed into the trial room.

Scott took a deep breath. "I know who the Mastermind is."

Michael rolled his eyes. "If you say Brubles—"

"It's Brubles!" Scott cried, pointing at the snakey Cult Leader.

Michael threw his hands up.

Scott glared at Brubles, seeing through her snakey ways. "In case you've all forgotten, DD's cult's symbol was a doge!"

Brubles laughed. "Maybe I am the mastermind! So what? It's not like you could stop me if I was!"

"Yes we can! If we band together, we can defeat you and win this game!"

Brubles laughed again, not even bothering to answer him this time.

"This is literally so dumb," Michael complained.

"I don't think Brubles is the mastermind," Kyle said. "That's way too obvious. Why would the Doge give it away like that?"

"Can we prove she is or isn't?" Lace asked.

Pelican nodded. "Probably somehow."

Brubles grinned. "Looking forward to seeing you all scramble around trying to find out the truth."

Lace paused, thinking. "The riddle said to go back to when the cult cracked… so I suppose there must be a period of time where the cult was falling apart?"

Kyle tapped his stand. "Or a time when the cult leader was falling apart."

Pelican nodded. "I bet Kyle is onto something there. So, when was a time when Brubles was falling apart?"

Scott had a lot of trouble picturing Brubles sad (her sociopathy kinda ruined the image), but he attempted to recall any sort of media coverage on that.

Michael had his head propped in his palm, looking very thoughtful. "I remember something specifically about her reputation being 'cracked'."

Alexx seemed to click into play. "I saw a magazine clip about that in the closet. Brubles tried to brush it away. See, with my ultra powerful intelligence, I was always aware of my surroundings. You guys all thought I was a dumb nice guy, never gave me a chance to prove my genius to you all."

"It's because you wouldn't shut up about being a dumb nice guy," Pelican said dryly.

"No, it's because your racist judgment got in the way of the truth."

"Alexx," Lace said. "What did the magazine clip say?"

Alexx put his fingers to his temples, as if calling to mind the image. "Ultimate Kawaii Fashion Influencer Brubles has been caught stealing money from her best friends.'"

"That is so dumb," Michael said.

Brubles smirked. "I know, right?"

"So you admit that was indeed a scandal, Brubles?" Scott asked.

Brubles shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. I mean, who believes anything Alexx says anyway?"

Alexx gasped dramatically, holding his heart.

"Wait, why'd the magazine clip call her Brubles and not DD?" Kyle inquired.

Pelican tapped her chin. "That's a good point. It also called her the Ultimate Kawaii Fashion Influencer, not the Ultimate Cult Leader…"

"So Brubles has two ultimates?" Lace asked. "That never happens."

Scott rapped his fingers on his stand. "Could it be possible she's not DD and she's just lying about it?"

Nosepickerfart gasped. "What if she's DD and she's lying about being Brubles!"

"That would make sense," Lace admitted.

Michael flipped his hair. "You guys don't get it. I remember now. I used to follow fashion tabloids like my life depended on it."

"Of course you did," Pelican remarked.

Kyle leaned forward, intrigued. "So? What do you remember?"

Michael studied his nails. "Why should I tell you?"

Scott groaned. "Not another Brubles!"

Brubles grinned.

"Because if you don't tell us," Pelican started. "We may never find the mastermind. Surely you don't want to be locked in here with us forever."

Michael sighed. "Fair. I do really hate you guys. Well, anyway, the tea is Brubles is a disgraced Ultimate."

Brubles pursed her lips.

"She was the Ultimate Kawaii Fashion Influencer," Michael continued. "Until her best friend outed her to the press as a thief and a liar. Brubles had thousands of people gang up against her, so she reinvented herself— DD, the Ultimate Cult Leader. Giant improvement, if you ask me."

Lace nodded. "Interesting… so that's when the cult leader cracked. When her reputation got smeared."

"I didn't do it, you know," Brubles piped up. "She just wanted attention or something, I don't know. But it was stupid."

Brubles basically just confirmed Michael's story… it must be true, then.

"How does that help us with who the mastermind is?" Pelican asked. "It continues to draw attention to Brubles, or DD, or whatever, but it doesn't give us a definitive answer."

"Maybe it does," Kyle said. "Maybe, the best friend is the mastermind."

Brubles frowned.

"That fits pretty perfectly," Lace said. "Do any of you know the best friend's name?"

Michael shrugged. "I can't remember now. It's been forever."

Alexx crossed his arms. "I never kept up with fashion ultimates."

Pelican sighed. "I don't know it, either. I'm Australian, after all."

"Nope!" Nosepickerfart pitched in.

"I don't know either," Kyle said, defeated.

Scott tilted his hat down, both ashamed of his lack of knowledge and sad. "I've got no clue."

Lace turned to Brubles. "You know, don't you?"

"I thought I made it clear I didn't want to help."

"Why not? You could save all of us!"

Brubles rolled her eyes. "Don't you know it's be or be killed in such a game? I'm not going to just hand over information for the greater good!"

Scott took a breath. He knew what he had to do. Something he'd never done before.

He kneeled in front of Brubles. "The Great and Genius DD, please, tell us who your snake of a best friend was."

Brubles stared at him, then sighed. She couldn't resist compliments, of course.

"Her name was Kayla, the Ultimate Traitor."