BEGINNING OF STORY

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"How do you tell if someone is following you and not just heading in the same direction?" Doug entered the apartment building with Bryce. It wasn't in the nicest part of town, but it wasn't in the worst part of town either. He had no idea how Bryce was able to obtain it while it currently belonged to the Proserpine military, but Doug did know that asking him about it would never bring about any answers. Anyway, other things worried him more. "I really don't think you should be tricking those two women into whatever your scheme is this time."

"Just trust me, Doug."

"Why?"

This gave Bryce pause. After a moment, he answered, "Because I saved your life today. You at least owe me a little trust for that."

Bryce had never played the "I saved your life" card before. Then again, all the other times Doug was rescued by Bryce, it was Bryce's fault he needed saving in the first place. "You promise you won't get them killed or something?"

Bryce took a second to answer that. "This is an important plan, Doug. It will mean no more pointless fights and pointless deaths for some whack-job who thinks he or she is a god. The more people I involve with this, the better."

This did make it sound more important than Bryce's usual scheme to earn a few dishonest credits. It certainly seemed he was building to something, as he had been gone more than a week before today's battle - the longest Doug had ever known Bryce to be out on his own. Doug was a little hurt to be that much out of the loop, but he always got the feeling that when Bryce didn't involve him with something, it was best he didn't know about it. Now Doug was actually curious what this was about, especially if it was going to free them from the Empress Proserpine's government as well as those of the other emperors. This was beginning to sound like it might be as important a task as he had dreamed about last night. "So are we going to finally fight the system?"

Bryce struck Doug in the back of his head. "No! Of course not, you idiot. Don't even joke about that. The system is big and was put in place by many powerful people who will kill all who would dare threaten it. You should never even contemplate taking on the system. You only game or play the system - never fight it." He headed up the stairwell. "Enough talk; let's get moving."

Bryce's apartment was on the fifth floor. They stopped in front of it as Bryce inspected the door - especially near the handle. Bryce pointed to one spot near the frame. "A sharp kick here should break the door in."

Doug stared a while at that spot until he noticed Bryce was staring at him. "What?"

"Are you going to kick it or knock it down with the power of your pea-sized brain?"

Doug furrowed his brow. "Don't you have a key?"

Bryce sighed. "I asked you to trust me, but you're still inundating me with dumb questions. Of course I have a key. Now kick the door in."

With one sharp kick, the door broke open. Bryce's apartment wasn't very large, but he had furnished it with a certain sense of style that made Bryce appear more opulent than he was. Or at least it did until Bryce started knocking over tables, smashing decorations, and ripping his paintings.

"Why are you breaking everything?"

Bryce broke a glass coffee table with a chair. "Again with the questions! Are you writing an exposé on me or something?"

"Sorry." Doug looked around. "Can I smash something at least?"

Bryce moved to the kitchen and started knocking plates and glasses out of his cabinets. "No; you might break something I need." Bryce stopped to look out his window. "Oh, and to answer an earlier question, the way you can tell someone is following you is that he will be trying to look like he's not following you."

"But everyone looks like they're not following me."

Bryce grabbed a briefcase near his bed and started filling it with some items from his filing cabinet. "Yes, but there's a difference between how someone looks when they're actually not following you and when they're trying to look like they're not following you.” He knocked over the filing cabinet. “Anyway, there is a pipe under the sink. Go get it."

Doug looked under the sink. "The only pipe I see is connected to the sink."

Bryce took a suitcase out of his closet and knocked over all his hanging clothes. "That's the one; pull it out."

With a little effort, Doug pulled out the pipe causing himself to be sprayed with water. "The water is still on!"

"That it is." Bryce walked to his door carrying his briefcase in one hand and the suitcase in another. "Let's get going to the meeting point. You lead the way."

Doug walked out into the hallway and tried to hand Bryce his pipe.

"No, you keep that; I'll carry the rest."

That was another first for Bryce: him carrying the heavy stuff. Doug didn't look a gift horse in the mouth and led the way back down the stairs. Before they got to the exit, Bryce said, "Hold on a sec." He put down his briefcase and suitcase. "Put the pipe up your sleeve."

Doug stuck the pipe up his right sleeve and curled his hand inwards to hold it in. "What am I doing?"

"Just a simple little errand. What I want you to do is walk out of the apartment, bash any goons you see in the head with that pipe, and then call me when the coast is clear."

"Wha?" was all Doug was able to utter before Bryce had shoved him out the door.

NEXT

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