L:   24 hours? Iremacht stared at the phone in his hand, now silent with an end to the conversation that he hadn't been planning on. Too much could happen in the next day for him to wait for Poldara to make a decision. He considered simply stealing it since he was already based close by.

 "No, that wouldn't help my case later," Iremacht murmured. "I'll have to use just the data TU retrieved for now then. But ..."

He gave the order to his agents to begin infiltration. He simply wanted to know where the information was being kept. He had no intent to steal it yet. It also sounded like the Mandarians had swept up the facilities within their country so, in the meantime, he would stop by Poland. There was at least one location there that he decided would be nice to burn down.

-------------

TU brought a stack of books on native animals of Africa and a few supplementary books on animals from other continents too. He noticed Prudoria had taken a book about mythical creatures.

 "Ah, into fantasy, are you?" TU said, sitting down across from Prudoria. "This makes me feel like I'm popping a kid's balloon, but those critters don't actually exist in the real world."

M:   "Oh," Prudoria said, disappointed, "that's a shame, there are some really cool ones in here, like griffins and manticores, there are a lot of creatures that have lion parts in them."

The entity stood with his books and went to sit down next to TU, "so what other 'critters' are there, I think I'm really liking these big cats, are there big dogs too?"

———

Suddenly, the screens in Iremacht's base flickered on and a familiar rouge country's face appeared on it.

"Typical cousin, always been careful about things, don't feel bad Machty, he made me wait for a whole week," she said tauntingly, "however, I think I can help out your little dilemma. I have a feeling you know the location of our 'T-rex', perhaps I can help you out, for a price that is."

L:   "Er, well I'm not too familiar with magical animals," TU admitted. "I've heard of something called a direwolf, which I guess is a giant fantastical version of wolves in real life. There's also the werewolf, which is a man who can turn into a wolf beast thing." He flipped through one of the books and pointed to a picture of a pack of wolves as he talked. "I'm sure there's a bunch of other lore but there's no way in hell I'd ever sift through all that text. Way too much reading."

He flipped through the books some more, got bored of them, and groaned. "If Schwitzy hadn't essentially locked off her section of the estate, I would've taken you to see her collection of animals. She's got a room full of reptiles, little rodents, and fishies. She literally brings a new addition every time she comes home from abroad. I wish she'd bring back a German Shepherd one of these days though."

--------------

Iremacht's eyes widened a fraction at the initial surprise of seeing Zalia's digital face. He regained a cool expression and looked to the screens through hooded eyes.

"Zalia." A tight smile tugged at his lips. "I have no interest in working with you. I don't know how you leaked yourself into my systems but you will be booted shortly. Besides, I was about to leave anyway. As for the T-rex ... he is no longer a Mandarian concern."

Iremacht turned and started for the door. He had a long day tomorrow and intended to go to bed. He said one final warning over his shoulder, "Stay out of my way, Zalia. You're just a country-level criminal. You belong within your borders."

M:   At this, Zalia laughed, "you wish I was country-level, I don't think you appreciate how many plants I have in all the world's organizations, including yours. Allow me to show you; brothers of the Smoke Wolves, make your presence known."

There were five people in the room with Iremacht, three of them stood to attention and rolled up one of their sleeves, revealing Zalia's emblem tattooed on their skin.

"Nothing is safe from me Iremacht, I know everything, like how I know of a Russian facility who is really missing their USB drive," she taunted, "I also know of a certain cousin and father who would find that drive very interesting. Lucky for you I'm not that petty, I actually have some information of my own that could help you out with ... Prudoria, was it? You don't realize how powerful he is, how powerful Mandoria was, but, if you change your mind, you know how to find me."

With that, she snapped her fingers and all the lights in the room turned off, ten seconds later, the three Smoke Wolves assassins disappeared without a trace, and the screens turned to static too as the communication cut out.

L:   Iremacht swore under his breath and immediately growled at his two remaining agents, "Find those three bastards. Get more men on the search. When you catch them, kill them."

He swept out of the room, dialing Schwitzy's number. It rang several agonizing times before she picked up.

"I'm in the middle of a leg workout," she huffed into the phone. "What the fuck do you want."

"Secure the headquarters. The Smoke Wolves have infiltrated the base. I need you to capture that double agent. Alive, please, but you can play with them until I get back. Tell TU to stay with Prudoria at all times."

"A double agent?" Schwitzy hummed. "Fun, fun." Iremacht could hear the slight excitement in her voice. It was in dire moments like these that she showed an emotion different from her resting bitch face. "Will do. Don't piss more people off."

-----------

TU was in the middle of explaining the different breeds of dogs to Prudoria when his phone rang. He winced when he saw it was Schwitzy. His grimace turned into a serious frown when she relayed Iremacht's orders to him.

They should be relatively safe in the library, he thought. Best not take Prudoria out in the hallways while the hunt goes on. Damn, he wished he could join.

M:   Unfortunately for Iremacht and Schwitzy, Zalia's agents were masters at remaining undetected, only the best of the best were allowed into the field, and the champions of the best were sent to spy on her "rival". Her clan was made mostly of Japanese martial artists, and it was a requirement for them all to master the 18 disciplines of ninjutsu before they could become full-fledged members, any other forms of martial arts were welcomed too, so it would be next to impossible for her plants to be found.

Zalia herself was rather smug as she watched the chaos from the hacked security cameras, it never ceased to please her when the big bad guys start panicking like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. All she had to do now was sit back and enjoy the show until Iremacht took her up on her offer, she even had someone bring her some popcorn.

-----

Prudoria didn't suspect anything was going on, he was more focused on another book he found, it was a fictional book about wizards, and he thought that there may be some spells in it that he could learn.

"Why do spells have to be so hard to read," he asked, squinting at the page, " I couldn't say half these words, how am I supposed to learn to use magic if I can't even read it?"

L:   For the next couple of hours, Schwitzy's search came up blank. She asked her most trusted staff for their latest suspicions, as well as questioned a few members she'd already had on her list. The estate regularly replaced its lower staff, and, after Schwitzy came up blank, she decided on an early staff rotation. It didn't matter if they were guilty or innocent, everyone was scheduled to leave by the afternoon tomorrow. They would be stationed at a different base while a new staff rotated in. Only the small set of loyal staff was allowed to remain.

When she informed Iremacht of her decision, the criminal entity sighed in annoyance. "Clearly, Zalia is trying to leave me with no other options." He licked his bottom lip in thought as he paced the bedroom of his bunker. He didn't want to sleep until he had a foolproof plan for tomorrow. "Thanks, Schwitzy. We'll be fine for the time being. I just want to warn you, before you yell at me later, that I'm going to have a chat with Belarus and I'm planning on visiting Poland."

"Poland? Belarus? Machty, why are you involving more countries?"

"It's an international problem, isn't it?" Iremacht stretched out on the bed like a cat. "I love international problems. Don't worry. Keep the boys in check, okay?" He hung up, thought about his plans for tomorrow a little more, and finally went to sleep.

M:   Since Prudoria slept for most of the day, he just stayed in the library and read as many books as he could so he could learn as much as he could about the world, from animals and the wilderness to human history and technology. He found warfare to be his favorite subject aside from lions, he was especially fascinated by swordsmanship and made a mental note to ask TU if they kept any.

Eventually, he ended up dozing off on the couch, still clutching his lion book, a soft smile on his face as he dreamed about all the wonderful things he had learned.

L:   TU chuckled watching Prudoria make sense of the senseless world of magic. When he finally fell asleep, TU quietly slipped out of the library to poke his head outside. Most of the staff had gone to bed. He'd gotten a text from Schwitzy alerting him about the early staff rotation because they couldn't find the mole. TU checked his watch. It was nearly midnight.

He returned to where Prudoria was sleeping and debated on how to get him to a proper bed. Should he just let him sleep here? His wings looked comfy enough. TU grabbed a pillow and tucked it under Prudoria's head, careful not to wake him. He then texted Schwitzy that they'd be camping in the library for the night and asked for updates on the search.

Still nothing, she texted, but Machty might go pull some strings elsewhere.

And he's not bringing me??  TU texted back. How dare he leave me behind >:( I wanna kick butt.

Pulling POLITICAL strings, Schwitzy clarified. Ur not much help there. Hows Pru?

Learning to be a wizard. GN.

M:   Prudoria slept soundly the rest of the night, he did snore at some points and talked in his sleep at others, but all and all rested well.

When he woke up it was actually before the sun rose, he was happy about that, he has never seen a sunrise before and was really excited. He shook TU awake, saying, "TU, wake up, wake up, the sun is going to rise soon, I want to see it."

When he got no response he just left the entity alone and went to watch it himself, going out to the balcony on the third floor and waiting eagerly. Slowly but surely, the sun crept up into the sky and cast a glorious painting of pinks, yellows, and oranges. Prudoria was in absolute euphoria, he had never witnessed anything so beautiful in his entire life, he felt a warm sensation deep in his chest, he couldn't tell what it was; happiness, excitement, amazement, perhaps it was everything at once. Whatever the case, as he felt the sun's warm rays gently kiss his skin, he knew then that he had his very first taste of being alive.

L:   TU was sound asleep on the library couch. If there wasn't an alarm to wake him, he could sleep past anything. He did set an alarm on his phone for 8 AM though and that was when he woke up. He peered around through groggy eyes.

"Prudoria?" TU sat up. "Where the hell ..." He yawned, stretched, and started searching through the shelves, yelling Prudoria's name. Usually, the librarians would've started their shifts by now but because of the staff rotation, none of the new ones had arrived yet. TU would have to look around on his own.

--------------

In the morning, Iremacht set out for Belarus first. He decided he wanted to wait until he got a response from Poldara before raiding any facilities in Poland. In the meantime, he needed a word with Belarus, the mother of the current thorn in his side.

It would have been much easier to go to Mandara Army for concerns about Zalia. But as Zalia was seemingly staying at the Mandarian estate, Iremacht would only risk running into her again if he tried contacting MA. Belarus was a much easier target, and a messenger was sent right to her doorstep with a recorded message asking to meet at a local cafe - ALONE, no guards, or else - within hours.

M:   Belarus was sitting in her living room eating breakfast when the messenger came, when he relayed the missive she was both confused and concerned about it, she tried to press for details but the man wouldn't explain, only saying that it was very important she attended.

Not knowing what to do, and afraid of what would happen if she ignored the message, she told the man to tell his boss she would be there in 30 minutes, then went to get ready. She packed her pepper spray for self-defense and wore a necklace that her son made her that had an s.o.s button on it for emergencies, she wasn't about to take any chances when someone says to come alone or else.

On the way to the cafe, she was talking with Johann to make sure he was up to date, he sent over two security guards to watch her from an unmarked car, just in case. Belarus was wondering if she was being too paranoid, but with all the trouble her son gets with people trying to steal his inventions, it was normal for her to take every precaution in unknown situations.

Eventually, she made it to the cafe and got a table near the window, that way her guards could watch her without being noticed. She ordered a chamomile tea to calm her nerves and waited for whoever was going to show up.

L:   TU snooped around the library for Prudoria. He checked every single aisle on every level, which was a lot. He hadn't even thought to check the balconies until he caught a glimpse of black wings and found Prudoria staring out at the sunrise.

"Oh yeah," he chuckled. "First sunrise, eh? Come on, let's get you into some more nature. Schwitzy should be up so we can check out her animal collection."

--------------

Iremacht waited in his own car by the cafe until a familiar country showed up. He watched her go inside, then scanned the neighborhood for anything suspicious. Obviously, despite his request that Belarus did not bring any guards, he wasn't about to arrive without any backup. He had told his men to lay low in the area and not start any fights.

Iremacht walked calmly up to the cafe, not bothering to hide his presence from the civilians nearby. The few who recognized him from what they read in the news froze in shock as he entered the building and found Belarus.

 "I have a feeling someone's going to call the cops on me," he laughed, sliding into the seat across from her. "I hope you can help do some explaining if they arrive. I'm not here to cause trouble. I just want to talk about your daughter Zalia."