219 THE HEADS AT THE GATES
Lander strode toward Queen Erythos with his team, completely ignoring Dan and his companions.
"He's ignoring us…" Liorea fud.
Dan held up a hand. "Wait. See what he's up to first."
Lander's voice rang out clearly. "Queen Erythos, I am Lander Strong, sent as a diplomatic envoy from Governor Lawrene of Silver City."
"And what does Silver City want?" Erythos asked, her tone was polite but sharp.
"To expand trade with your city," Lander continued smoothly. "Increase train shipnts, improve comrce… it's unwise for one company to monopolize all trade between our cities."
Liorea's fists clenched at his words. "He's trying to take business from us."
Dan rely smiled.
"Why are you smiling?" Eryn asked, uneasy. "He's here to steal your business."
"I'm not worried about the business," Dan replied. "Sienna wouldn't allow the old families to return to Liberty City. And I'm not smiling for that reason."
"Then why are you smiling?" Liorea pressed.
Dan's eyes narrowed. "It's Lander… or whoever is pretending to be him."
"What do you an… Lander is a pretender? How is that possible?" Eryn asked, shocked.
Liorea shot her a sharp look. "You of all people shouldn't be asking that. He's a face-changer."
Eryn quickly kept quiet.
Suddenly, Argent's expression shifted. Sienna caught it and shot him a questioning look. "What is it, Argent?"
He stood smoothly. "Just so pests causing trouble. I'll handle them."
Without another word, Argent left the room.
Lander's eyes followed him, but Argent never glanced back. Still, a small, knowing smile crossed Lander's face…he had found the person he was truly after.
"Your Majesty, I will leave the matter to your deliberation. I shall visit again soon," Lander said with a bow, requesting permission to depart.
He exited the palace promptly.
Dan wasted no ti asking for his leave as well. Sienna did not stop him this ti; she had more pressing matters to attend.
-----
Dan and his friends stayed in the GenSyn Building instead of booking a hotel. The property had been returned to Dan after his arrangent with Queen Erythos.
Back at their secret base, Eryn broke the silence. "What was that all about in the palace?"
"That fake Lander didn't co for business. It was a test…to see if Argent recognized him," Dan explained.
Since the real Lander reported about the presence of a Quantum Mind in Queen Erythos's court to the Atheris family, this visit was their verification mission- to find out if Ethan Lace was hiding here in Liberty city's palace.
"He failed," Liorea said. "Argent didn't even bat an eye."
"Exactly. But there's a second test," Dan continued with his speculation. "The palace experienced a security breach that only a Quantum Mind could handle. That required Argent's attention."
Liorea frowned. "So, when Argent left to handle the breach, Lander confird his identity as a Quantum Mind? That seems… far-fetched. Argent could have had any other reason…like going to the bathroom."
"You underestimate the team Lander brought," Dan said.
Dan's eyes already scanned the palace visitors as they arrived. He knew instantly that Lander was a fake, and his companions were top-tier psychics.
Na: XXX Psychic: Rank A
Description: Psychic ability to read emotions.
Na: XXX Psychic: Rank A
Description: Psychic ability to detect lies
Na: XXX Psychic: Rank A
Description: Psychic ability to detect powers of ta…including Quantum Mind.
"They were all Rank A psychics. They could imdiately detect if Argent was feeling anxious when he saw Lander's face and whether Argent was using his powers to counter the security breach," he elaborated.
"So… that boy's in trouble now?" Eryn asked, with concern in her voice.
"He's not any boy," Dan said, his voice low. "He's as ruthless as anyone here could be. The fake Lander and his psychics might be in for serious trouble themselves."
-----
The next day, they went back to the Palace of Revolution to secure their final permit for the shipnt to Fortress Myrone…but what greeted them at the gates stopped them cold.
"What the hell… is that?" Liorea whispered, her eyes wide.
Eryn closed hers, unable to speak.
Dan stared at the sight in silence. Horror filled his face….but not surprise.
This was Sienna's work.
Hung from the palace gates were five corpses, their bodies marked by torture.
Dan recognized them imdiately.
Among them was the fake Lander—the face-changer who had impersonated Lander to draw out information about Ethan Lace from the Queen and her advisors.
"I didn't expect Sienna to move this fast," Dan muttered. "Those are all Rank A psychics. They were all killed while we were resting at GenSyn."
Liorea frowned. "A Rank A psychic is powerful, but not invincible. Once their psychic field collapses or they're neutralized, they're just… people."
Eryn's voice trembled. "But why would the Queen kill them? They're ambassadors from Silver City. Isn't that basically a declaration of war?"
Dan considered it for a mont. "They must have crossed a line. Sienna wouldn't risk that kind of outrage unless she wanted to make a statent. This is her challengeto Silver City, and anyone watching."
The people entering the palace that morning were quiet, their faces drawn. The bodies on the gate were a warning—this administration had no tolerance for missteps.
When Dan and his group finally entered the grand hall, Argent was already there, seated casually beside Sienna. Whatever had happened to the psychics, it didn't seem to trouble them.
Sienna greeted them with a pleasant smile. "Ah, Dan. Unfortunate we didn't get to talk much yesterday…there were so pests we had to dispose of."
"You an those five bodies hanging at your gate?" Dan asked evenly.
Sienna's smile didn't waver. "Yes. You're perceptive."
Eryn stepped forward. "You shouldn't have killed them. They were ambassadors. There will be consequences."
Queen Erythos interjected, "We wouldn't have killed them if we had a choice…"
Sienna's gaze drifted from Eryn to Dan. "So, this is the reason you won't stay here with us."
Dan replied sharply, "Don't twist it. I just don't want to live in a place where my head might end up decorating the gate at any ti."
Her tone cooled. "It's unfortunate. But those five crossed a line—sending a face-changer here to extract information about the missing Quantum Mind and then trying to breach our servers to test out their theory…"
"It is a violation of diplomatic immunity to attack our palace servers while their envoys were here," Queen Erythos said coldly. "That alone justifies execution without triggering a diplomatic incident."
Dan's eyes narrowed. "Why would Silver City send spies to us?"
Sienna watched him with an even, patient gaze. "Nephew…are you certain you had no hand in this?"
"No." Dan denied it at once. "Those idiots were trying to poach business from us. Would I send people like that to sabotage my own interests? I'm planning to kill them myself if you didn't"
Sienna inclined her head. "Reasonable. You have no reason to cut off your own feet."
Dan let the thought sit. "Silver City isn't weak. If they retaliate and invade, everything you've built in the last year and a half could be wiped out."
Sienna's smile was steady. "Thanks for the concern. But we wouldn't have started this revolution if we were afraid to fight…you see… our city is protected by the strongest force fields…not even Silver City is as well defended as our city."
Dan smirked at her boast.
"Isn't it risky to leave your entire defense on just the force fields… what if it got hacked?" Dan mused.
Dan's words irked Argent. "Hacked!!! With around nothing can pass through my firewall."
Dan was about to take his leave when Sienna's tone shifted. "Be careful on the trip to Fortress Myrone."
Alarm flared in him. "What's wrong with the fortress?"
Sienna smiled again — the friendly mask never quite reached her eyes. "I have reports the ta Gods of Anu are stirring. The decades-long status quo might fracture soon. War is coming."
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