Chapter 245: Night Raid on the Mayor's Estate
"So, let me get this straight. Zombozo only rolled into town yesterday." Kevin rubbed his chin, his brow furrowed in thought. "But that alien, Dika, went missing the day before yesterday."
"Which means he wasn't captured by Zombozo," Ben chimed in, catching on to the timeline discrepancy. He crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. "Then who could it be? Who would go out of their way to kidnap these guys for no reason?"
"Anyone with half a brain and a love for cash." Kevin confidently strolled over to the massive popcorn pool. Reaching into the buttery depths, his fingers brushed against something hard. He pulled out an irregularly shaped, gleaming yellow nugget and casually bit down on it to test its softness. "Pure gold. These little guys can literally produce solid gold. Just that fact alone is enough to make most people do whatever it takes to snatch them up."
Gwen nodded in agreement, her eyes scanning the lavish surroundings. "No wonder the residents of this town are all rolling in money."
Standing off to the side, Opu blinked his large eyes and offered a helpful explanation. "We really love to eat popcorn! And as long as we eat enough popcorn, we can excrete gold."
Kevin froze. The smug expression completely melted off his face. His jaw went slack, and the gold nugget slipped from his fingers, hitting the floor with a heavy, metallic clink.
Ben, who had silently materialized right behind Kevin's shoulder, leaned in with a wicked, mischievous grin. "Tastes like gold, huh?"
"Get lost, Tennyson!" Kevin shoved Ben away, aggressively wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, looking thoroughly disgusted.
Ignoring the two idiots bickering in the background, Klein turned his attention to Gwen, who was deep in thought. "Who do you think is the most likely culprit?"
Gwen frowned, brushing a strand of red hair behind her ear. "I honestly don't know. Every single resident in this town has some kind of issue or hidden agenda; it's impossible to get a clear read on any of them."
"That's true, but..." Klein shifted his gaze back to the little alien. "Opu, you mentioned earlier that the mayor told you Dika went back home on his own, ahead of schedule?"
"Huh? Oh, uh-huh. Yeah, he did."
"Was that his immediate answer the very first time you asked him about it?" Klein pressed, his tone calm but sharp.
"Uh... I think so. Yes."
"Your people shouldn't have a history of leaving early, right? After all, this is a rare opportunity that only comes around once every seventeen years."
"Never," Opu said firmly, shaking his head. "That's exactly why I told him Dika couldn't have possibly gone back on his own."
Listening to Klein expertly guide the conversation, Gwen's eyes widened in realization. "Cousin, are you suspecting that the mayor is the one who captured him?"
Klein nodded, his expression completely neutral. "Grandpa mentioned that the people in this town are incredibly exclusive and tight-knit. I can understand that; they obviously don't want outsiders swooping in to take a piece of their golden pie. But that's not the main issue. What matters is that for Wayne to become the mayor, he had to have grown up right here in Washington Town."
Klein gestured vaguely toward the window. "And judging by his receding hairline and age, he's definitely lived through several of these alien landings. There is absolutely no way he doesn't know that Opu's people never leave early."
He glanced back at the other little aliens, most of whom were currently passed out in a sugar coma from gorging themselves on treats. "Given all that, when he heard one of the aliens was missing, shouldn't his first logical reaction be that the guy got too excited and wandered off somewhere in town? Why would his immediate, knee-jerk response be to claim Dika went back to space early?"
"In other words..." Gwen started, looking genuinely surprised by the airtight deduction.
"In other words," Klein finished for her, slipping his hands into his pockets, "he had already captured Dika by the time Opu asked. Because it was his first time pulling a stunt like this, he panicked. In his nervous state, he just wanted to quickly distance himself—and the town—from the disappearance."
Klein offered a faint, dry smirk. "But because he was panicking, he didn't realize his excuse was full of glaring loopholes."
By this time, Ben and Kevin had finished their scuffle and walked back over to the group.
Ben scratched the back of his head, looking a bit troubled. "That makes sense, Cousin, but we don't actually have any hard evidence, do we?"
Kevin rolled his eyes, letting out a loud scoff. "Come on, Tennyson. You really are a massive goodie-two-shoes sometimes."
Ben shot him a harsh glare, crossing his arms defensively.
Before another fight could break out, Klein interjected. "Do any of you have a better suspect in mind?"
The group exchanged quiet glances, then unanimously shook their heads.
"Then it's settled," Klein said smoothly. "As for the evidence... we'll have all the evidence we need the second we find Dika."
Nobody argued with Klein's logic. After all, it was the most solid lead they had. They spent the next few hours huddled together, mapping out a detailed plan to break into the mayor's property that night.
It was worth noting that while the mayor owned a massive villa in the center of town, he rarely actually lived there. The "mayor's house" they were targeting was a separate, secluded property situated on the quiet outskirts of Washington Town.
During the planning phase, Kevin had eagerly suggested they just kick the front door off its hinges like the FBI. They were Plumbers, after all—they held official government legitimacy in America, which technically gave them way more authority than standard federal agents.
Ben and Gwen immediately vetoed the idea. Kicking the door down would alert the enemy, and if the mayor panicked, he might find a way to transfer Dika to a secondary location before they could secure the perimeter.
Klein, however, highly doubted that the mayor—whose negative emotions and rational fears had just been completely drained by Zombozo—possessed the mental capacity to execute a tactical transfer.
Opu eagerly joined the planning session as well. The little alien didn't care about the logistics; he just wanted his friend back and was willing to do whatever it took.
They waited until the evening shadows stretched long across the wet pavement.
At the perfect time, Kevin's sleek, black-and-green sports car rolled to a silent stop a short distance from the mayor's secluded mansion. The heavy rain that had been battering the town all afternoon had finally cleared up, leaving behind a thick, damp chill in the air.
Peering through the rain-streaked car windows, the group could see that the mayor's house was brightly lit from the inside. He was clearly home, likely avoiding the muddy aftermath of the storm.
This made Opu shift anxiously in his seat, but out of fear of ruining the mission, he forced himself to stay quiet and wait for the signal.
"Look over there," Gwen whispered from the backseat.
Following her pointed finger, the group spotted an old, wooden warehouse sitting quietly in the dark, a short distance away from the main mansion.
Ben's lips curled into a familiar, mischievous grin. "Oh yeah. Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?"
Gwen sighed, lightly smacking her cousin's shoulder to remind him to be a little more restrained. They were supposed to be professional Plumbers on a stealth mission, not teenagers pulling a prank.
Kevin, however, was fully on board. "Tennyson, you really are a sneaky little punk sometimes."
"You couldn't match my stealth if you tried, Kevin, you big jerk."
Watching the two instantly devolve into teasing each other, Klein let out a soft, amused chuckle. A second later, his expression smoothed out into serious focus. "Alright, let's go. We're breaking in to see what he's hiding in there."
They slipped out of the car and crept through the damp grass.
With a faint, barely audible snap, the heavy metal lock chain securing the warehouse door broke cleanly in Kevin's grip.
He slowly pulled the old wooden door open. Instantly, a thick, suffocating cloud of stale dust blew out into the humid night air.
"Cough! Cough, cough..." Kevin, who had been standing directly in the line of fire after picking the lock, waved his hands frantically to clear his face.
Klein and Gwen, who had wisely hung back, exchanged a puzzled look.
"That doesn't make sense," Gwen whispered, waving away a stray dust mote. "If the mayor just captured Dika the day before yesterday... this door shouldn't look and smell like it hasn't been opened in years."
Ben, carrying Opu in his arms, poked his head out from behind Klein's back. He squinted into the pitch-black interior. "I can't see a thing in there... Gwen, a little help?"
Looking back at Ben's goofy, expectant grin, Gwen didn't bother arguing. She raised her right hand, her eyes flashing briefly as she condensed her Mana. A soft, vibrant pink light bloomed from her palm, casting long, eerie shadows across the cluttered warehouse.
"There!"
Opu struggled wildly in Ben's arms, finally managing to jump down to the dirt floor. His little legs carried him as fast as they could toward a dark corner of the room. "Dika!"
Sitting in the shadows was a heavy, one-meter-high iron cage. Inside sat an alien completely identical to Opu. His back was turned to Klein and the others, his small body shifting rhythmically as if he was aggressively chewing on something.
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