YTSK II: Chapter XVIII
In Universe Date: 20 April 2021
"In time the birds will cease to sing. In time even the wind will obey its new queen.
In time flowers will shrink as they are erased, in time the moon will not dare show its face.
In time the sky will fade into eternal night, in time the sea will freeze with fright.
This is Yan Xishan, ready to show her might."
Yan was humming inside the vat of regenerative fluid.
"You know, Juq waited ten-thousand years to launch that attack... and he failed. It's tragic really. And with 'tragic', I mean 'absolutely hilarious'."
"Still though, it's a shame I had to let Tenax and his gang get away. Who knows what shenanigans he'll try to pull now."
Tenax, Zed, DRM and DH were driving to Zed's farm.
"Alright boys, have y'all turned your phones off?", Zed said. "We don't want the government to keep tracking us."
"Yes", said everyone else.
"Just to rehearse: We're going to my farm again in order to inspect Koopinator's clothes. Hopefully there's something useful that could help us."
Eventually, the squad arrives at Zed's farm. For 45 minutes, they scour Zed's farm for Koopinator's body or clothes, but they come up empty-handed.
Tenax speaks up. "Koopinator's clothes and items were probably taken away by the police after we escaped from Zed's farm during the raid. It's likely that they have been deemed valuable and been taken to the Videomapistani Parliament building." Zed was surprised. "How do you know this?" "Because I was the fucking president. How have you forgotten this? It's not even been a week, сука блядь."
"Oop. Yeah, you're right."
Afterwards, the squad drives to Atlas city. When they walk through the city, they see a poster of Tenax, with a caption offering a 9001 dollar bounty. "Good thing we decided wait for the night, and wear covid masks. Makes it all much harder for peeps to catch your face."
Eventually, the squad reaches the parliament. Zed tries to open the door, but it's locked. Tenax interjects. "Yeah, I figured this would be the case. The door is locked at night, this is how things have always worked."
Zed is worried. "So, is the game up?" Tenax responds: "Not at all! There's a secret entrance that only elites like me know about. Follow me."
The squad follows Tenax towards a nearby phone booth. "The last remaining phone booth in Videomapistan. There was a reason we kept this."
The four of them barely fit inside the booth. Tenax plugs an NES controller into the phone's USB port. "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start." Suddenly, the floor below them descends downwards, revealing an underground door. "See, that's why it was necessary to take an NES controller alongside me."
The Squad made their way through the secret door, which led to a dark and narrow staircase. "This way," Tenax said, as he led the way down the staircase.
With flashlights in hand, they made their way through the dark hallways of the building. Suddenly, they were confronted by a CherepashkaShusha, a security guard who challenged them. "Who goes there?" the guard demanded.
"Shit, we've been compromised", Tenax said. "Wait, president Tenax, is that you?" "Yes." "What are you doing here? You know it's dangerous here, right?" "Yeah, we'd hoped we could avoid security guards." "Well, you're not in trouble from me. Tell me, is this all part of some plot to take back the presidency from Yan?" "Well, yes." "That's good to hear. I loathe working for that beast. I liked him-" "Her", DRM interrupts. Tenax puts his hands on DRM's mouth. "Continue." "Ahem. I liked him back when he initiated the genocide against AFOE mappers, but since then, he's legalized gay 'marriage', legal 'sex re-assignment' surgery, and legal 'gender change', undermining the values of the Eastern Orthodox Church upon which this nation was founded."
"That's understandable", Tenax says. Shusha continues: "It's no longer feasible for government employees to message you via whatsapp.". Shusha writes down his phone number on a note, which he gives to Tenax. "Get a new phone, and then download Signal and add me when this operation of yours is complete. Now, good luck."
"Wait", Tenax says. "Do you happen to know where Koopinator's clothes and items are stored?" "Well, yes. As for the clothes, they were thrown away. As for the items inside, they are stored in the vault inside of the president's office. That's where we put all the most confidential material."
The squad continues on, navigating through the building until they reach Yan's office. Yan is sleeping tight. Her hair is wet. Tenax presumes she had showered a few hours ago. Tenax also notices that the potraits of his family have been drawn over with transgender flags.
Yan can be heard mumbling in her sleep. "Snore kill all bad videomappers... Snore kill all men... Snore dinosaurs..."
Tenax slowly sneaks past Yan. He enters the code into the vault. 2-8-4-5. He is relieved that it still works. He wades through various items before finally finding an item labelled "Koopinator's notebook". Then, a breeze of wind passes through a nearby window, and as Tenax closes the vault door, it accidentally shuts too loudly.
Yan is awakened by the sound.
*To be continued...*