Foreseen Adversities

Everyone in the crowd tensed up, as they were about to witness The Ghost's identity.

"Unmask him right now!", the other guard said to the guard checking Miles.

"You are caught! Remove the mask right now!", the guard commanded as he grabbed Mile's hands.

"Me?", Miles replied in a loud, but calm voice.

Everyone stared at Miles as he removed his mask, seeing a smiling face.

Gary comes out from the crowd, and tells the guard, "Sir! It seems like you misunderstood something!", Dale and Lucian followed Gary, coming out of the crowd.

The guard became a little confused, "And who are you?", the other guard asked.

As Gary removed his mask, so did Dale and Lucian.

A lot of the visitors, including the guards, were shocked to see Gary and Lucian.

"Mr.Loxley and Mr.Cole? You guys visit here as well?", one of the visitors asked, watching their artistic idols.

"Yeah, we do. But the problem is, you guys misunderstood something! My friend, Miles Gray, is not the thief!", Gary said, being in the middle of the crowd.

"B-But sir, then what about this painting?", The guard asked quickly, carefully holding the painting.

"That is drawn by us!", Dale spoke up just as Gary was about to speak.

"Yes!", Lucian expressed agreement.

"What?", the guard seemed confused.

15th July,2023

Noon,

"Yeah, our work is basically done here, they will make the suits and arrange them. By the way, are you interested in a friendly competition?", Lucian smirked.

"Oh sure, why not, what will this be about then?", Gary smirked back.

"The idea is, we'll be trying to replicate the paintings from the Eclipse Museum. I have the 12th and 16th piece in mind. The competition will be about who can copy the painting including the frame in the museum more accurately. Is that alright?", Lucian asked.

"Damn brother, you're really creative. But who's this 'we'?", Gary asked.

"We? Maybe invite Dale and Miles too? Then we'll be comparing our paintings in the museum itself when we visit it on 20th July. How's that?", Lucian expressed.

"Alright! I know I'm gonna be the winner, but let's give you guys a chance, right?", Gary smirked.

"Yeah yeah, we'll see about that."

20th July, 2023

4:53 pm,

As the line around Lucian was on its way to the exit, he remembered something.

"Hey! I was thinking, we could exchange our paintings now, remember the competition?", Lucian expressed.

"Why right now? Let us exit first, then we'll do it!", Gary said.

"I get it, you are afraid that my painting will beat yours, isn't it?", Dale smirked, looking back at Gary.

"What level of stupidity are you on?", Gary said.

"Leave Gary, show me your painting, Lucian! I was particularly excited for yours!", Miles said pointing to Lucian, while Dale and Gary were talking.

"Oh, here it is! Give me yours then, I don't know how good this will be compared to the others", Lucian giggles.

4:56 pm (Current time)

"You see, we were doing a friendly competition among us to decide who can replicate these paintings better. So the one you are holding is made by...umm..yeah! Lucian!", Dale explained.

Gary nodded his head in agreement.

"So, you're telling me, this is not the actual painting?", The guard seemed confused and suspicious at the same time.

"Yes, Sir. Look at our bags! All 4 of us have made painting replicas from here. They all look pretty real, not just mine!", Lucian took some steps towards the guards.

Seeing this, the crowd was giving different opinions, some even disappointed.

"Wait, Lucian. How can they believe our words, right?", Gary interrupted.

"You can check all the paintings by your own hands.", Gary said in a calm voice, suggesting the guards himself.

"Right", the other guard said while taking the bags of those four.

As the guards looked at the bags, they found a single painting from each bag, excluding Lucian's, which had 4 paintings.

"Hey! Check the trademark on all of them! Then we'll know if they are just a replica or not", one of the staff suggested.

The guard quickly went through all the paintings looking for something, a trademark to be specific.

Just as he reached the first painting in Miles' bag, he found a button under it.

He quickly pressed it and a wooden bar came out of it sliding. And it had no trademarks.

Both the guards were confused about it.

"So...Should we leave now? We have our work to do.", Gary said to the guards.

"We apologize Sir. We definitely made some mistakes.", the guards said in unison.

"No it's okay. There's no need to apologize! You had to check everyone anyways.", Miles said, packing his bag, along with the others.

The Ghost left the museum infront of everyone's eyes, once again. The number of visitors lessened as time passed. Even after the return of the electricity, the museum was still looming with darkness, until Lucian and his friends left it.

"We are gonna lose our jobs, Aden!", one of the guards said.

"We'll make up some excuse, it's not completely our fault either!", the other one replied.

The painting made its way through the museum, through the roads of the city, to Lucian's house.

"Hello?", Lucian picked up his phone, and called Elias.

"Is the painting with you?", Elias asked rapidly.

"Yeah, I got it!", Lucian said.

"Thank God, I thought you lost the painting or something.", Elias said with relief.

"You know about the Eclipse Case?", Lucian asked.

"I do. The theft case is literally on the television! But now the point is, you'll have to analyze that painting you have!", Elias said, with determination.

"First tell me, what is this even about? Like, why would the location of your enemy be in this? And how did you get to know this either?", Lucian asked curiously.

The history of Elias's life was still unknown to Lucian, though he made some guesses.

"Well, you know what, when my wife was killed by them, I heard them accidently, and got to know about their secret of having their location hidden in here.", Elias said, with multiple pauses in between.

"That's all. Well then, I'll try decoding what this painting is about then.", Lucian said with a sigh.

"I expect you to. Aria Volkov is fine here, she also told me to make sure you don't come to this place.", Elias said, with a soft voice.

"She did? Well, I believe you. I'll be updating you as soon as I figure out anything.", Lucian cut the call.

What was that? Did she really say that? Or is it just another lie to manipulate me? Whatever it is, I'll find a way to secretly contact her.

And also...how would Elias have this much information about his enemy's location...just by accident? Something just doesn't seem right....