A Nuke From Moreland
The kids find a nuke in the basement of an abandoned house. The Ministry of State Security gets involved. So begins a tug-of-war over the ownership of the nuke.
- Main Cast
- Time period
- 2031 summer break
- Complete
- Tags
- Bauhinia, Coastline, Fic, MSS, Sparky and her friends
Contents
Part 1: the nuke,
The discovery
The kids gained a little fame around the place as pet detectives after they recovered Qibli's cat, Sandstorm. So one of Qibli's neighbors came to her for help when their cat went missing.
Firecrackers pointed out a house nearby, abandoned during its construction stage and forever a pile of cement, and told his friends to look there.
They found no cat, but they did find a nuke.
Sky found it first. It looked new since it was the only thing in the basement not caked in dust, and it had a Moreland flag on it. He came up from the basement screaming. They all burst into the basement, leaving dirty fingerprints all over the casing. Sparky wanted to keep the nuke for herself — she meant THEMselves, obviously. Qibli magicked Sparky's phone from her hands (since she didn't have one) and called the police.
The police were like "what the" and called the MSS. Out from an inconspicuous car came Paperweight ("He's going to be hard to deal with," thought Firecrackers), Goose ("She's going to kill me," thought Qibli), Halcyon ("He looks delicious," thought Sparky), and Pumpkin ("I like him," thought Sky).
They looked at the nuke for a bit, collected the kids' information, and took them to the nearest police station to do some routine questioning. It was getting late, so they called Peacock to come pick them up.
The kids figured out that they left the nuke in the basement to get picked up tomorrow. So they started plotting: they would steal the nuke tonight.
Why didn't the MSS send people over to collect the nuke ASAP?
Because they knew Sparky was Peacock's daughter, and they already suspect Starcorp. They let Sparky attempt to steal it, so she could get involved.
The theft
They arrived near the abandoned house at midnight. Sparky brought a cart. She and Firecrackers went down to get the nuke out, while Sky and Qibli stood watch outside.
Though it was August, the night was still chilly, and Sky was in his pajamas. Qibli tried casting a warmth spell on him, but it didn't work.
Eventually Sparky and Firecrackers came back up with the nuke. It was then when they noticed they didn't know where to actually put the nuke now that they stole it.
Their problem got solved pretty quickly as a blinding bright flashlight shone on them, and they heard Paperweight's infectious voice: "Hands up. Don't move. You're under arrest."
They got shoved in the back of a car and hauled off to an interrogation room at the MSS office in Coastline. They were cuffed together to a heater, which is a funny picture I may or may not draw one day[1].
Also Paperweight got extremely pissed off at Qibli, because her warmth spells had been working, but they got cast on a stalking Paperweight instead of Sky. He almost got a heat stroke.
The challenge
So Paperweight had the kids cuffed to the heater and on more than one occasion zapped them through knocking the radiator with a stun baton. Pumpkin burst in, pleading to Paperweight to treat the kids better. Classic good-cop-bad-cop, but they fell for it.
Pumpkin begged for a compromise. Paperweight told the kids that if they could find out exactly how the nuke ended up there, they could have it.
Pumpkin, with orders from Halcyon but ultimately Paperweight, dragged Sky off to the side and asked him to come to the MSS each night to report progress. Essentially, to spy on his friends. The manipulation was simple against a kid, and he agreed.
Why did they choose Sky?
He already showed signs of being annoyed by Sparky's "claim to fame." Plus signs of an ego. Motivation.
Why let him into the MSS then, if he has such an ego?
He attended Spy School and had special recommendation from Goose.
The kids needed something to do during the summer. They've got it! Find out how the nuke got there, and win the nuke itself! Now where would they start?
They wandered around the abandoned house — catching the tabby and returning it to Qibli's neighbor on the way — and they hadn't got a single clue. At this point they realized the MSS might've just been toying with them. They don't have any resources, any experience — no nothing.
They talked about the nuke, the MSS, debated loudly, all in vain. They went home unhappy, making a deal to come back tomorrow.
Pumpkin was waiting for Sky at the bottom of his apartment building. Sky reported no progress. Pumpkin pretended to treat him to some kebabs. During the meal, he gave Sky a little hint.
"We'd consider the people who want a nuke."
"Sparky," Sky said.
"And rich enough to buy one."
"Sparky," Sky said again. "Her dad is stupidly rich."
With that, Sky had a new direction. Was Starcorp involved in buying the nuke?
Keep an eye on your dad, he told Sparky the next day. And I'll keep an eye on you.
Sure enough, the MSS were just using Sparky's Peacock connection since they suspected it was Starcorp. And Gecko, the smuggler who stashed the nuke in the house, contacted Peacock as soon as she found out the nuke had been found.
Sparky overheard their phone conversation and noted down the time and place for the meeting. Starlight Café. Tomorrow afternoon.
She informed her friends, of course. Who could make it? Ah, Qibli wasn't coming. Firecrackers could. Sky? Depends. He would let you know in the morning. Good.
Sky went to the MSS to tattle like he was told. Starlight Café, tomorrow afternoon. This is great, keep it up. Would you like a lollipop? Have an ice cream. Oh, can you go? We'd recommend against it.
The end
The next day, Sparky bought some melatonin in the morning and drugged Peacock at lunch. She tucked him into bed, took his phone and briefcase, hailed a taxi, picked up Firecrackers from his dad's grocery store, and got to Starlight Café.
Gecko and Peacock had a signal agreed: a man, with a briefcase placed by his feet and his jacket slung on the back of the seat. Sparky stole both of them from her home, and Firecrackers sat in the place Peacock was supposed to sit. Sparky sat where Gecko would've had her back to her.
The MSS was there even before they arrived, sitting in corners.
Gecko arrived, looked around the place, and headed for Firecrackers, probably thinking he was a bit too young for his voice. Before Sparky could walk towards her, before Gecko even sat down, the MSS plainclothes pounced on her and took her away. Sparky tried to stop them, but she was heavily outnumbered. Gecko was taken into custody by the MSS. Now they could get a lead out of her, and the kids had fulfilled their purpose and failed the challenge.
Sparky was fuming. That literally wasn't fair! They set us up to be used! They never wanted us to win in the first place!
But Sky was in his own room, contemplating. If he had never tattled to the MSS, had he kept the meeting a secret, maybe Gecko wouldn't have been caught?
Part 2: all that came after,
Sky was waiting for Pumpkin at the kebab restaurant. I need to talk, he said. I had been visiting here every day for the past week for you to show.
You sure do know where to catch me, Pumpkin said. What is that you want to talk about? Remember I'm off-duty right now.
I feel terrible for what I did! I went behind my friends' backs! I never told them Gecko got caught because of me!
What do you plan to do? Pumpkin asked.
I don't know! That's why I came looking for you! You made me do this!
And you did as I told, which is good. As an MSS officer, I would advise you to keep this in your heart forever. But since I'm off-duty right now, as a friend, I will tell you to do what you think is right.
I think I want to tell them.
Then tell them, Pumpkin said. And come here again in a week to tell me how it went.
The confession
Sparky was livid, but Qibli and Firecrackers were actually sensible human beings.
You followed orders, Qibli said. You had to. Otherwise they'd probably punish you.
We had no hope of succeeding anyways, Firecrackers said. Sparky can go fuck herself. Or just ask her dad to buy her a new one.
Damn right I will! Sparky screamed. I'll make him buy me an orbital cannon!
Having gotten that off his chest, Sky returned to Pumpkin at the kebab shop. But before he could say anything, Pumpkin led him into his MSS car. Fewer listeners, he explained as he drove in circles in random streets.
Sky told him about the confession and how it made him feel like he could face his friends properly again, yada yada.
Pumpkin said, well, if you could do it, I suppose you've given me the courage to do the same.
Sky didn't know what he meant, and Pumpkin refused to explain.
Pumpkin didn't know our dear Halcyon bugged the car and overheard their entire conversation.
After Pumpkin dropped Sky off at his place, he drove the MSS car back to the lot, and hopped on his bike to ride home.
He never got home.
In the same alleyway he rode through every single day, where he fed stray cats and said hello to people through their windows, Halcyon was waiting for him, hidden behind a sensor-blocking cloak, with a noose for his neck.
He strangled him, shoved him into the trunk of a car without a license plate, and drove the car into a landfill.
Tofu that's a terrible murder; the police would find him in no time
I have no idea how to murder someone and leave no evidence in our modern world okay (even without the cameras everywhere I probably wouldn't have any idea either). If I did know then you should probably be worried.
Note
Maybe there was no camera in or near the alley. Wouldn't that be convenient.
The investigation
A couple days later, the police were knocking on Sky's door. He was the last person seen with Pumpkin at the kebab restaurant, so they wanted some questions answered.
Apparently, Pumpkin's boyfriend called the police after not seeing Pumpkin return home two nights ago, and not being able to find him for an entire day. The police found footage of Pumpkin and Sky leaving the kebab restaurant and entering the MSS car, but on the cameras, Pumpkin just disappeared after exiting the car and getting on his bike. The bike was still in the alleyway, lying on the ground when the police went there.
At the police station, the MSS came to get Sky. They obtained an alibi from his parents that he did get home and stay there right after Pumpkin dropped him off. They asked him whether Pumpkin was acting weird during the ride. Sky was so nervous he couldn't think straight. He didn't tell them about the weird conversation; just said that they were having dinner and Pumpkin gave him a ride home. (Even though his home was close enough to not warrant a ride.)
So Sky told his friends about it.