Plotting A Change
They got the call at some god-forsaken hour of the night. Frank, in his usual stoic manner, informed them the Piece of Resistance had been found. The bots on monitor duty had spotted some strange activity at a construction site and reported it- but Frank wasn't sure how to proceed. The young man who had found it seemed to be trapped in some sort of seizure, the Piece itself firmly stuck to his back. Bad Cop sighed to himself and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to think quickly.
“Knock him out with the stun setting. Bring him in. Have the others started looking into who this guy is yet?”
“Yes-sir. They've-already-started-to-pin-down-his-routine-so-you-can-investigate.”
Bad Cop couldn't help the swell of pride that bubbled up. They had been wary of working with robots when they first started, but the bots had learned well and proven eager to impress. “Excellent work. Have that ready for us when we get in at seven.”
“Yes-Chief.”
The Special was still out cold when they arrived. It was likely he would stay that way for a while yet. The robots had been very thorough in their job; the printout they were handed showed very little variation in the young man’s routine. “Should make this easy.” Good Cop murmured. Something niggled at the back of their mind, though. No Master Builder would be able to stick to such a rigid routine for so long. Or carry the instruction manual that was found near the young man.
As they continued their investigation, more and more they were convinced this Emmet Brickowski was no Master Builder. His cover was perfect- too perfect to be just a cover. This genuinely was how he lived his life, day in and day out. No Master Builder could ever follow Business’ instructions so perfectly.
“We can't do this to him.” Good Cop said. “He's innocent, Liam. Stumbling across the Piece was purely chance. I don't even know if I could do this to a Master Builder.”
“I know.” Bad Cop murmured back. “But what choice do we have? Business has cameras all over this building. He'll get suspicious if we just turn them off.”
“I think… We're going to be screwed no matter what we do. But this is wrong! I can't go through with it. I WON'T.”
“All right. Give me a few minutes to think.” He walked to the monitor room. How did this hapless construction worker manage to stumble upon the Piece of Resistance? He went back through the recordings to the spot the robots had timestamped for them.
There. They knew that Master Builder. She changed her name and style of dress on a monthly basis, but there was no mistaking her. She had been the one there looking for it… And she would likely be back to claim the Piece and the Special. A plan started to form in his mind.
“I think we've just been handed the perfect opportunity to fix everything…”
