Using vocabulary words for school, I have written out a great story. This is the long-delayed continuation of it. If you wish to read the beginning, you can find it here.
Suddenly there came a crash and the footsteps stopped. The tunnel was suddenly serene and silent.
“I am now forever an optimist,” cried His Eminence.
“Certainly a unique set of defenses,” Jack said with a grin.
“I analyzed the whole system years ago, but I can see that improvements have been made since then.”
“What incredible solitude we are in, for being so close to the enemy of enemies!” Jack remarked as the two turned into a side tunnel.
“Even so, we must not let him become self-possessed. As terrible as his rage is, it is nothing compared to products of his calm thought.”
“His perception is so great it makes me tremble.”
“I have appointed you my successor,” said the baronet solemnly.
“What does it matter, if we are both caught?”
“I am of no use to him, and would therefore be killed. You, however, are of extreme importance. And you are more fleet of foot than I.”
“He would certainly be ecstatic about your death.”
“Much more so at your capture. He has many luminous ideas.”
“My expertise in commerce would certainly be valuable to him.”
“Your speech is permeated with jokes!”
Suppressing a smile, Jack stopped and pressed a button on the wall. A ladder telescoped out of the ceiling, and this they climbed.
“I could be at home right now, luxuriating in a tub!” said His Eminence with a groan.
“I implore you to keep your mind on what is at hand!”
Jack and His Eminence found themselves in a large, futuristic-looking room. In the center was a large table. Jack strode over to this and pressed another button, causing a hologram of a group of people to appear in the middle of the table. To augment the visual, speakers in the corners turned on for audio.
“Well done. You have made a surgical incision into a stronghold of our enemies, and have come out alive. Have you succeeded in hindering his plan?”
“I am not sure, but I believe we did indeed impede his progress,” Jack told them.
“Their actions are now unpredictable. We must do what we can,” stated His Eminence.
“You must not remain there, as you are in violation of the law and may be prosecuted.”
“Fortunately we are not languid at the present,” quipped His Eminence.
“They have automatic weapons that do not shoot lead,” said one of the hologram women gravely. “You must be careful.”
Jack was about to reply when he suddenly saw, across the room in a charging port, a strange-looking rifle with a very wide muzzle.
With a yelp of excitement he rushed over to it and pulled it out, marveling at its design. “If only this were not isolated!” he cried. “However, one shall be sufficient for our purposes. You may take my railgun, sir.”
He pulled his pistol out of his pocket, made sure it was turned off, then tossed the weapon toward His Eminence. Fortunately the latter was vigilant and caught it.
“It is lucky that the pistol was turned off!” barked His Eminence. “Otherwise I might be an imperceptible pile of ashes!”
“Oh, hardly that,” chuckled Jack. “But you might need assistance in returning to your habitation.”
“His plan is still obscure, but we are expecting a breakthrough any day now,” said the shortest hologram man.
“Good! I will shake off my lethargy! It feels so good to be at work again!” said the baronet with a smile.
“Do not be haphazard. He is very clever, and you may stumble into a trap.”
“Anent the issue of the cloning attempts,” said His Eminence as he and Jack boarded a plane bound for France, “Thomas filled me in. He has not yet succeeded, but the last test is believed to have had fairly positive results—negative, of course, for us.”
Embedded APC agents had passed their various devices and appurtenances, so they were fully prepared for what they might very well face on the Continent.
The transaction was consummated with the passing of the money.
“When you do this kind of work, if you commit defalcation, the enemy gets you,” remarked His Eminence.
“Even with these weapons, we should be fearfully under armed had security divested us at the airport,” Jack said.
“I know I’m known for hauteur, but I’m clearly not prideful to the point of uselessness. I agree.”
“This is going to sound like the most inane plan I’ve ever proposed to you, but please listen anyway,” the younger man whispered.
“Just as I am often accused of arrogance, so too am I said to be soaked in insularity. However, in this case, your plan really is the most stupid idea I’ve heard in a long while.”
A group of young French jackanapes had stolen someone’s phone, and the ensuing miniature riot blocked the pair’s path.
“I find my agricultural expertise almost onerous at times,” Jack joked.
“Your plebeianism is itself onerous to me.”
The older man had grown more rubicund over the last two days, and more energetic.
“You are the scion of Arther himself! This is not a jesting matter!”
“It is not,” replied Jack sententiously.
“From before the days of the tumbril to the current age of Tumblr, his presence has been a threat. Now that threat has grown monstrously.”
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