Vernon did
his utmost to protect his precious plant from the sharp sun; he hated that he
had to transport it like this, and mentally kicked himself for working on this
side project at home, instead of at his lab.
He made his
way down the street, zigzagging to avoid various pedestrians, when he was hit
by a suddenly opened door, causing him to drop his plant.
The pot
shattered on the pavement, and the plant was exposed to the sun and the dirty
street! It was already starting to wilt and there was nothing Vernon could do.
“I’m so
sorry!” the cause for this transgression shouted. Vernon turned to the fiend;
it was a young man with brown hair, and big brown eyes. “Um, maybe I can find a
replacement? On the house?”
The man –
no boy, he did not deserve to be called a man – pointed to the building he had
just come out of. It appeared to be a rather small and shabby flower shop.
Vernon’s lip curled in disgust.
“This plant
is the product of months of biochemical experimentation and herbal breeding,”
he said, showing the boy the almost dead remains of his project. “A rose
bouquet is not enough to replace it.”
“Then maybe
I can save it?” the boy suggested. “I think I have the right thing, if you’ll
follow me!”
Vernon
shrugged; it wasn’t like the boy could make it worse.
He followed
the boy inside the shop, which was littered with various colorful, gaudy
flowers, each producing their sickly sweet scents. The boy took the plant into
a backroom, quickly shutting the door behind him. Vernon knew the boy was going
to fail, and judging from the secrecy, it seemed like the boy knew it too and
was only trying to stall for time.
About
fifteen minutes later, however, to Vernon’s surprise, the boy stepped out with
the plant; it had gotten a new pot and looked stronger and healthier than ever.
“H-how…?”
Vernon stuttered in disbelief, accepting his plant back.
“Oh, I, uh,
have really green thumbs,” the boy chuckled; his laughter sounded like the
sweetest bells to Vernon.
“I’ll say,”
Vernon smiled. “How can I ever repay you, Mr.…?”
“My name is
Mabus Pines, but my friends and family call me Dipper,” he stretched out his
hand for handshake. Vernon took it in his and kissed the back of it.
“What a
beautiful name; it suits you.” It really did; Vernon had obviously been completely
wrong about this young man! What he had thought to be a dimwitted amateur
turned out to be a lovely botanist prodigy.
“Thank
you,” Dipper blushed, not used to receive these types of compliments from
people other than Bill. “I’m glad I was able to help you-“
“Porcupine~
I’ve finished my deliveries~” Bill announced as strolled into the store. In a
few quick strides he had already gotten close enough to Dipper to give him the
usual kiss on the cheek. It was first then he noticed their guest. “Oh, hi!
Customer?”
“No,” the
guest frowned and let go of Dipper’s hand.
“This is my
boyfriend; Bill,” Dipper explained. “He is also the shop’s delivery boy.”
“It truly
pains me to be away from my dear, sweet Porcupine so long,” Bill teased as he
grabbed Dipper around the waist and lifted him up. “But we must all make
sacrifices.”
“Bill, no!”
Dipper laughed. “Not during business hours!”
The guest
let out a polite, but annoyed cough and Bill put Dipper down again.
“Thank you
for your assistance, Mabus,” the guest said, his previous frown melted away to
be replaced with a charming smile.
“No
problem,” Dipper smiled back in return. “Working on your plant was quite the experience;
I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I would
hope not; I’ve created it after all. If you are interested, I’ve worked on many
different projects these last years, and I’ve been waiting for the right person
to show them off to. You seem to have an interest in plants.”
“Well, you
know, when you work in a flower shop,” Dipper shrugged awkwardly; it would be
hard to explain why he was working with plants if he admitted he had no
interest in them.
“I wish to
invite you to my greenhouse, so that I can show you my latest project.”
“Uh, you,
um, still haven’t told me your name…”
“Ah, how
rude of me,” he shook his head slightly in embarrassment. “I go by Vernon
Jardine. I will sent you a message when I have time to show you my projects!”
and with that, he left the shop.
“Wow!” Bill
was grinning from ear to ear. “Wow!”
“What is it,
Bill?” Dipper asked deadpanned.
“That guy
totally has a crush on you,” Bill laughed.
“Is this
the part where you get jealous?” Dipper teased.
“Aw, no
way,” Bill shook his head. “I know I’m the only one you have eyes for~”
“I don’t
know,” Dipper pretended to ponder. “The guy didn’t look too bad~ I might take
him up on his offer.”
“Oh!” Bill
exclaimed dramatically and grabbed his chest like he had been shot in the
heart. “You wound me, my sweet! I gave you my heart, and you broke it to-“ Bill
interrupted himself by bursting into laughter, quickly followed by Dipper. It
took a while before the laughter subsided. “I’m sorry; I couldn’t hold it back
anymore!”
“It’s okay,
Bill,” Dipper managed to say through his gasps for breath. “But seriously, I
have no interest in that guy; he was kinda creepy.”
“No
kidding,” Bill agreed. “He kept staring at me like he was trying to burn me to
the ground. Let’s head upstairs and forget about that guy.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dipper had
been hoping that would have been the last he heard of Vernon, but he did end up
receiving a letter only three days later, inviting him to Vernon’s greenhouse.
Dipper kept the letter for a while, mulling over whether he should even respond
to it, but after thinking about for another three days, Vernon showed up in the
flower shop.
“Did you
receive my letter?!” was the first thing that came out of his mouth as he
arrived.
“I… Yes,”
Dipper responded, trying to hide how creeped out the guy made him feel; there
was just something very wrong with him. “I’m… sorry I haven’t responded; I’ve
just been busy, and haven’t really had the time to write back, let alone find a
day to visit.”
“Understandable,
I suppose,” Vernon shrugged. “But you must realize, a single leaf from one of
my plants carry more complex biological make-up than all these tacky things put
together.” He gestured to the various flowers in the store. Dipper couldn’t
help but feel slightly insulted; sure, he didn’t have a big interest in plants,
and he was sure Vernon’s plants were complex and ingenious, but the guy was
insulting Dipper’s work.
“I’m just
super busy,” Dipper explained away. “Maybe you should find someone else?
Someone who is more in your league, intelligence wise. I mean, I’m just a
florist after all.” He finished with a small laugh, and hoped that stroking the
guy’s ego would make him decide to leave on his own.
“Did your…
boyfriend tell you that?” he asked seriously.
“What? No!”
Dipper responded flabbergasted.
“No, I
understand; he probably belittles you for working in a flower shop of all
places.”
Dipper
couldn’t believe this guy; hadn’t he literally just done that exact thing?
“You
shouldn’t let your boyfriend treat you like that,” Vernon continued. “I would
treat you like royalty; that’s what you deserve.”
“Look, Bill
treats me really well; he doesn’t believe me, he respects me-“
“Not from
what I’ve seen; he kissed you and picked you up without asking for your
permission, like you were his property.”
Dipper
sighed; it seemed like Vernon had already decided what he thought of Bill.
“But let’s
not discuss this further; when will you be able to see my greenhouse?”
Dipper felt
like Vernon really wouldn’t take no for an answer. Maybe it would be better to
just go with him, and if he didn’t like it, Vernon would be probably be so
insulted that he would just leave Dipper alone.
“Alright,
how about tomorrow night?” Dipper suggested.
“Perfect!”
Vernon smiled. “I shall be here at eight pm sharp and escort you!”
He left
with no further objections, and Dipper wondered if not showing up would be
enough to make Vernon hate him, or if it would just make him more insistent.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dipper
explained what had happened, to Bill and Mabel, during dinner.
“I just
want this whole thing to finally be over,” he sighed, nudging his last
leftovers around the plate with his fork.
“It’s kinda
creepy, Dips,” Mabel responded with a scrunched up face.
“I mean, to
be fair, it’s slightly less creepy than what I did when I was courting you,”
Bill laughed.
“Well, at
least I knew the Illuminator and had a crush on him!” Dipper protested.
“Aw, you
had a crush on me?” Bill smiled.
“Besides,
Mabel knew the address and could come and save me if something went wrong… I
have no idea where this greenhouse is!”
“Ok, then
bring your phone and text us a picture of the greenhouse along with the
address,” Mabel suggested.
“Guess
that’s the best we can do,” Dipper shook his head slowly and shrugged. “If I
don’t respond within thirty minutes of sending the address, come and get me,
‘cause I don’t wanna stay there any longer if I have to. You know what? Call me
up, so I have an excuse to leave even!”
“That’s a
deal, Porcupine,” Bill laughed and snatched a bite of Dipper’s leftovers from
his plate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When it was
a couple of minutes past eight pm, Dipper left the house, making sure he had
his phone in his pocket, and walked from the home entrance in the alley, to the
shop entrance in front of the street. Vernon was already standing there,
looking at his wristwatch and stomping his foot irritatingly.
“Oh, there
you are!” he exclaimed, his sour expression quickly replaced with a bright
smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You kept me waiting, you know!”
“It’s only
three minutes past eight,” Dipper pointed out.
“Might as
well be thirty,” Vernon said and led Dipper to a car; it was black with opaque
windows, and it looked almost brand new, and very expensive. “When I say ‘eight
pm sharp’, I want you to be there eight pm sharp, and not a minute later.”
He opened
the car door, and Dipper reluctantly entered the passenger’s seat. When Vernon
started the car and the doors auto locked, Dipper wished he had taken out his
phone and snapped a picture of the car’s license plate and sent it to Mabel and
Bill.
The car
drove outside of town, into a wooded area. It drove down a bumpy dirt road that
barely was broad enough for the car.
“I’m
surprised your car is so shiny, handling this type of road,” Dipper quipped,
trying to fill the awkward silence.
“Oh, I
don’t usually use this car, but this is a special occasion,” Vernon responded
with a grin. “My work pays rather well.”
Dipper
replied only with a hum before turning to his phone. He wrote a quick message
to Mabel about the wooded area and the dirt road, since he was starting to
doubt the greenhouse had an actual address.
“We’re
here!” Vernon exclaimed with excitement. Dipper looked up and saw a huge, glass
dome, also constructed with opaque glass like the car windows. He snapped a
quick picture and sent it to Mabel. “What was that?!” Vernon said, jerking his
head towards Dipper.
“I was just
taking a picture,” Dipper shrugged. “It looks… so impressive.”
“You don’t
need a picture!” Vernon snarled. “Erase that, NOW.”
“O-ok,”
Dipper stammered and erased the picture. It didn’t matter; Mabel had already
received and saved it to her phone.
They exited
the car and Vernon led Dipper to the front door of the greenhouse; it was
locked with a card scanner. Vernon took out a card and swiped it across the
scanner. A light on the door flashed green and there was a small beep.
Vernon
opened the door and gestured for Dipper to walk in first. Dipper obliged and
stepped inside; the room didn’t look like he had imagined; he’d thought that
with this being the place Vernon worked with plants, it would more like a
laboratory, but it looked more like an old laboratory that had been abandoned
centuries ago and nature had come to claim. Everything was covered in plant
life; there was no floor, just dirt for the plants to grow freely from, and the
foliage was so dense that Dipper was starting to wonder if the glass perhaps
wasn’t opaque; the plants were covering the windows so densely that there was
barely a scrap of glass visible.
“Isn’t it
wonderful!?” Vernon exclaimed with pure, almost child-like joy. He walked over
to a small plant; it looked identical to a venus flytrap. He used a finger to
pet the tiny thing, and the flytrap seemed to lift its head to meet the finger.
“It’s…”
Dipper paused and took another look around. “… intimidating…”
“Aww, it’s
okay that your skills aren’t at my level yet,” Vernon said as he turned to
Dipper. “You just still have a long way to go, but I’ll help you.”
“Um, this
has been interesting, but I don’t think we care about plants in the same way,”
Dipper tried to explain, before Vernon grabbed him by the arm and harshly
pulled Dipper towards him. Dipper heard the sound of his phone flying out of
his pocket by the sudden pull and hit the ground.
“Don’t you
see?!” Vernon grinned like a maniac. “Haven’t you noticed!?”
“What is
it?” Dipper asked. Fear was beginning to enter his voice, but Vernon didn’t
seem to notice it.
“The
plants… they’re alive.”
“Well,
yeah, all plants are al-“
“No!”
Vernon shouted, interrupting Dipper. “I’m not talking about that, if you can
even call what ordinary plants are ‘alive’! I’m talking about actual thinking,
feeling life forms.”
“What?”
Dipper looked at him in confusion, which Vernon seemed to mistake for
curiosity.
“Through my
studies, I began to branch off into researching a way to grant plants real
life. I began by studying lower, simple life forms, like jellyfish. I worked
through how they, through evolution, achieved their current form of life, and
attempted to replicate the process through selectively breeding my plants. It…
didn’t work. But my attempts drew the attention of some rather generous
sponsors who, in exchange for doing a few side projects for them, gave me the
resources I needed to achieve success! After successfully creating plants with
the jellyfish-like life, I moved on to more complicated life forms. Currently I
am on insects, with the ones I marked my research on the most being bees and
ants!”
Dipper just
stared at Vernon during his monologue, and felt more and more unsafe the longer
he listened.
“Come
here!” Vernon pulled him again, this time leading him towards the only other door
in the greenhouse, aside from the front door.
“I- I think
it’d be best if I left!” Dipper said, trying to pull away from Vernon.
“No, no!”
Vernon wagged his finger at Dipper like he was a disobedient child. “I need to
show you my pride and joy first!”
Dipper
reluctantly followed Vernon through the door, which led them to a huge room,
which in turn was almost completely filled by a huge pitcher plant. It seemed
to move and shake around when Vernon approached it, as if greeting him.
“Hi darling!”
Vernon greeted the plant, stepping over and pressing a kiss to one of its
leaves.
“So, uh,
you mentioned how the plants have sentience similar to ants and bees,” Dipper
interjected, slowly stepping closer to Vernon and the plant. “Does that mean…
this plant’s the queen?”
“Hmm,”
Vernon hummed in thought. “I supposed yes, technically, but it is not the boss,
if that’s what you’re thinking. I am.” He turned his attention back to the
plant and started gushing to it like it was an excited puppy. “Did you miss
daddy? Don’t worry, everything’s going fine! We just need to do one tiny favor
more, and then everything will be fine. Daddy even brought you guys a new
mommy!”
“What?”
Dipper started stepping backwards toward the door, but vines had covered it,
preventing it from being opened.
“That’s why
you’re here!” Vernon explained as he turned to Dipper. “You and I, we share the
same appreciation for plants! Doesn’t it make your soar thinking about all
these angels as your children?”
Dipper
swallowed. His phone was on the other side of the door, so he couldn’t call for
help. However, if he toughed it out, Mabel and Bill would show up and save him.
At the moment, it would be best to play along.
“Yes,”
Dipper responded. He wasn’t a very convincing actor, but it seemed like Vernon
didn’t pick up on those sorts of things, as long as he was hearing what he
wanted. “But, um, what was those other things you talked about?”
“Oh, you
see, I get my funding from the IMP,” Vernon explained eagerly. “In exchange,
they have full access to my research, and I do a couple of favors for them once
in a while. This time, they’ve asked me to get a hold of The Illuminator and
bring him to them.”
“You… but
The Illuminator has pyrokinesis, right?”
“That would
have been an obstacle, if I hadn’t already created fire proof plants, thanks to
a sample of vines I found in the city!”
Dipper’s
eyes widened as he realized those must have been his vines, from the Somna
incident.
“In fact,
the plant you helped me save was carrying that very genome!”
“What are
you going to do?” Dipper asked hesitantly.
“Cause a
bit of chaos, pretend I’m a super villain with plant powers, catch The
Illuminator, probably kill that Pine Tree hero,” Vernon listed off.
“You’re
gonna kill someone?!”
“That Pine
Tree is an insult to all plant life! Thinking he can control plants! Well, he
can’t control mine! Not when they have a mind of their own!”
Dipper was
just silent; he didn’t dare to say anything.
“I had to
get you out of the city first, however, so that you wouldn’t get yourself hurt,”
Vernon said, moving towards the door as the vines parted letting him through. “You
stay here with Regina; she’ll keep you safe while I’m out,” he blew Dipper a
kiss before shutting the door and the vines covered it once again.
Dipper
immediately transformed and attempted to move the vines, but it didn’t work.
The pitcher plant, Regina, also started looming over Dipper after he
transformed. Somehow, a growling-like noise was emitting from it.
He
detransformed and the plant stopped. It seemed like it could distinguish
between Dipper and Pine Tree, and didn’t like the latter much. It also seemed
like Vernon was right; Dipper couldn’t control the sentient plants, which left
him with no other hope than Mabel and Bill.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vernon was
humming to himself as he did the last few preparations before leaving for his
mission; including a gaudy costume that the IMP had provided for him. At least
it would help convince the moronic public that he was some kind of super villain.
He was
pulled from his thoughts when he heard a bothersome ringing, and found his
Mabus’ phone lying on the ground. He picked it up, the caller id saying Dork
with three separate heart emojis. He pressed the button to accept the call,
already having an idea who it was.
“Hello,
this is Mabus’ phone, Vernon speaking,” he greeted the caller with a smug
smirk, even if the caller couldn’t see it.
“Hi, this
is Bill,” the caller responded. “Can you hand Dipper the phone? I’ve got
something urgent to tell him.”
“He doesn’t
care; he and I are busy appreciating the beauty of my work. He most likely won’t
be coming home tonight; he said he wanted to visit my place. I also think he
said something about breaking up with you. Although, that couldn’t possibly
come as a surprise to you.”
With that,
Vernon hung up the phone and made himself ready to invade the city.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Okay,
something weird is definitely going on,” Bill told Mabel. The call had been on
speaker, and Mabel had heard everything.
“No kidding;
this guy has definitely done something to Dipper,” Mabel nodded in agreement.
“I’m
heading out there on my bike, NOW,” Bill said, already putting on the leather
jacket he rode in. “If he manages to get Dipper to wherever he lives…” Bill
paused and began to look sick. “I can’t believe I just joked around about this;
I should have taken it more seriously.”
“Bill, just
hurry out there as fast as you can!” Mabel urged him. “I’ll patrol the city
while you’re gone, and see if I maybe spot anything.” She knew the chances of
spotting Vernon, when she didn’t even know what car he drove in, were slim, but
it was all she could do to ease her worries in some way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill drove
as fast as he could, probably violating several traffic laws, but he didn’t
care. Dipper’s instructions on the road to the greenhouse were flimsy, but Bill
still managed to find his way there. When he realized the door was locked, he
immediately transformed and blasted his way through. A small alarm sounded, but
he ignored it.
“Dipper!”
Bill called out as he stepped inside the greenhouse. The place was covered in
plant life; it looked like no one had been there for years.
His foot
hit something, causing it to slide away. Bill picked it up and realized it was
Dipper’s phone. That meant that Dipper had been there, but where was he and
Vernon now? He tried to hold back all the fears that surfaced in his mind, and
decided to look around for clues. Or at least he would, if he hadn’t seen a
bunch of vines slithering across the floor like snakes.
“Dipper?”
Bill called out. “Are you doing this?” Bill stepped away from the vines towards
the walls, where he was grabbed by a cactus-like plant that sunk its needles
into his arms. Bill ripped away from it and tried blasting it with a fireball,
but the cactus merely shrugged it off.
Realizing
there wasn’t much he could do, Bill spotted a door which he ran towards as fast
as he could. It was stuck, so he rammed it open using his shoulder, ran inside
and shut it, before finally letting out a breath of relief.
“Illuminator?”
Bill perked up when he heard the familiar voice and turned around to see
Dipper, unharmed.
“Dipper!”
Bill shouted with joy as he ran towards him, only for a giant pitcher plant in
the middle of the room to bend down and swipe up Dipper into its pitcher. “Dipper!
Are you okay?!”
“Yes!”
Dipper responded, his voice faint and echoey from inside the plant. “Vernon’s
plants are sentient! I can’t control them! They’re also fireproof! He works for
the IMP, and he’s launching an attack on the city right now to capture you!”
“Shit!”
Bill swore just as the pitcher plant began to attack him; it uprooted some of
its own roots and used them to lash out him.
“What’s going
on!?” Dipper shouted.
“It’s
attacking me!” Bill yelled back. “I don’t know how to stop it!”
Dipper
racked his brain for any kind of idea that might work, when a thought struck
him. It was an insane idea, but based on how Vernon interacted with his plants,
and how he described them, it just might work.
“Regina!”
Dipper said, trying his best to adopt the tone of a scolding parent. “You leave
that man alone this instance!”
There was a
short pause where no sound was heard before Bill responded: “I don’t know what
you did, but it worked!”
Dipper
grinned and continued: “Thank you, Regina. Now could you be a sweetheart and
let mommy out? I need to have a talk with your father.”
The plant’s
pitcher opened and tipped forward, letting Dipper slide out.
“’Mommy’?”
Bill looked at him with a small smirk.
“Just
detransform and take me back to the city; it seems like playing along works on
both Vernon and his plants.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they
hurried into the city, they found it covered in plant-life, just like Vernon’s
greenhouse. The few people who were out and about were cowering in alleyways,
while the majority of people had locked themselves inside their home.
It didn’t
take them long to find Vernon, battling from atop a giant, crooked tree against
Mabel. The tree’s branches were brushing off her every shot and shielded
Vernon, while the various other plant life attempted to grab Mabel out of the
air.
“Hey
Vernon!” Dipper shouted.
Vernon
turned his head in surprise. “Mabus! I told you to stay with Regina!”
“Well, you
better get down from there this instant!” Dipper continued shouting. “And get all
of the kids back home, now!”
“You don’t
get to make that decision!” Vernon snarled. The plants stopped trying to battle
Mabel and seemed to shake slightly now that “mom and dad” were fighting, which
gave Mabel the chance she needed to swoop in and grab Vernon, bringing him up
into the air where the plants couldn’t reach them.
“Alright
kids, daddy is going to be away for a while; he did bad getting you to destroy
the city, and it’s time for you guys to learn to live on your own. Go back home
and stay in the forest where there’s room, dirt and water for you guys to live
on.”
The plants
seemed to listen to Dipper and took his words to heart, as they all began to
carefully trek back through the city to the forest, this time being careful not
to destroy anything.
“NOOOOO!!!!”
Vernon roared as Mabel lowered him once the plants were gone. “My creations! My
children! How could you!?!”
“How could I!?”
Dipper said through gritted teeth. “How could you kidnap me and attempt to
destroy the city!? I’m not the one in the wrong here!”
“I gave you
everything!” Vernon yelled. “I treated you like royalty!”
“I am so
fucking done with this,” Dipper massaged his forehead. “Shooting Star, just…
deliver him to the police station and let them sort this out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colonel
Wendy Corduroy had been surprised when one of the cities so-called Melior
heroes had shown up, just to dump off what looked like a super villain, but the
guy wasn’t even Melior!
The guy, identified
as Vernon Jardine, hadn’t even attempted to deny that he was the one who had
caused the plant-based chaos that night, and not Pine Tree as the police had
first suspected. Instead he kept rambling about how he had given his heart to
an “ungrateful ditz” who didn’t deserve all that he had given him.
He seemed
fairly delirious, so they decided to keep him over night and see if his story
changed. Wendy was staying overnight and was, as usual, the last officer to
leave before the morning staff took over. She yawned and realized that maybe
she should lock up earlier. There were usually not any emergencies after a big
disaster like the one tonight, so the chances of anything happening between the
one hour before the morning staff came was slim. So she was fairly surprised
when she heard the station’s phone ring.
“Hello, am
I speaking with Colonel Corduroy?” a pleasant female voice asked from the other
end.
“Yes,”
Wendy responded. “What is the reason for your call?”
“Oh, good!
My name is Theresa Abate, and I work for the Institute of Melior Psychology,”
the voice explained with a small laugh. “We were just informed that you have
incarcerated one of our workers. We would like to take him of your hands, as
per our little deal.”
“Look,”
Wendy sighed. “I let you guys do that with the others because our station isn’t
equipped to detain Meliors, and because the law requires Meliors to be overseen
by organizations like yours, since you can’t really just throw them in jail,
but… This guy isn’t a Melior; he’s a normal human, and he’s going to be facing
a judge, and get a sentence that fits his crimes, if he’s committed any.”
“Oh,” the
tone in the woman’s voice was suddenly very sad, and it had some kind of effect
on Wendy. “You mean, you aren’t even sure that he’s the perpetrator?”
“No,” Wendy
clutched her head; she was starting to feel weird. She began to wonder how the
IMP had even learned about Vernon Jardine’s arrest to quickly, but then the
thought slipped her mind as Theresa continued to talk.
“We just
want to have a quick talk with him at our headquarters, and figure out this
little mess. He’s probably not the guilty party, right?”
“We… did
originally believe the culprit was Pine Tree; a Melior with plant-based powers,”
Wendy said. She was feeling really weird, but she couldn’t focus on anything;
she just spoke whatever came to her mind.
“And I bet
poor Mr. Jardine is just… out of his mind about this, right?”
“Yes, he
seems… delirious,” Wendy nodded along. “One of Pine Tree’s associates has
certain mind altering powers… he must have used them to make Vernon Jardine
confess to crimes he hasn’t committed.”
“Oh, that’s
what I feared,” Theresa expressed with a heavy sigh. “Don’t worry, dear, we’ll
take care of everything. Now, why don’t you go home and relax with a nice cup
of coco, and get some well deserved rest?”
“Yes,”
Wendy nodded and ended the phone call. She left the station without even making
sure to lock the doors.
Mathee's Blog 