Minutes Later

(y/n) finished hiding the video camera in a potted plant that was sitting on the atrium floor. It was against the wall at the top of the stairs.

"Planting a bug in a plant! I'm a genius!"

"Yes, the Mark Twain Prize For American Humorshould be yours" Nathaniel said sarcastically.

"It should!" (y/n) agreed.

Nathaniel rolled his eyes.

"Is the camera on?"

"Almost" (y/n) said, as she fumbled with the buttons.

"Now, which one of these buttons starts a new recording?"

She started to press several of them at random, accidentally going to the video library.

(y/n) sniggered.

"Wait a sec, have you actually recorded stuff on this thing?"

Nathaniel's eyes widened as he suddenly rushed forward.

"No, wait! Stop!"

But (y/n) had already pressed the play button, and an old recording of Nathaniel singing was shown on the screen. He was even dancing a bit along with the song:

"Cause if you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it, if you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it

Don't be mad once you see that she want it, if you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh-oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh--"

Nathaniel deleted the video, his cheeks flushed with red.

(y/n) smirked.

"Forget about me getting the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, you should get a Grammy for that stunning performance!"

"Shut up!"

"No, seriously, that performance had me in tears... of pity!"

(y/n) laughed boisterously at her own joke.

Nathaniel groaned in annoyance.

"Ha ha. Laugh it up now, (y/n). You'll forget about it eventually."

(y/n) laughed and put an arm around her grumpy friend.

"Nat, I have a photographic memory. I will literally never forget! Ahahahahaha!"

Without warning, the lights started to flicker.

(y/n) and Nathaniel looked at each other silently, and nodded.

As she ran up the stairs and into the darkness, he ran down the stairs to the center of the room.

Just as he reached his destination, the lights suddenly went out completely, engulfing the opulent atrium with darkness for about three seconds before turning back on again.

Standing at the top of the stairs where they had just been was none other than their masked friend, who had his hands behind his back in a confident manner.

"Ah, I see you've finally reached your senses, boy" he said with a low voice. "Do you have the rest of my money?"

Nathaniel stood up straight, looking up at the imposter.

"Yes."

"Then come here so that I can retrieve it."

Nathaniel glared at him.

"Where's my uncle?"

"The money, first."

Reluctantly, Nathaniel started to climb up the stairs, each step that he took somehow heavier than the last.

When he finally reached the top, the imposter calmly held out his hand.

Nathaniel reached into his pocket, and brought out a neat, folded piece of paper.

He held it out, and the imposter snatched it from him, before unfolding the ransom and reading it aloud.

"I, Nathaniel Aristides Northwest V, hereby grant this man the rights to... surrender like the dimwit he is?! Look out behind you?!"

He turned around, only for (y/n) to drop from the ceiling and land right on top of him.

The imposter veered wildly from one direction to the next, trying to get (y/n) off of him.

Meanwhile, she was struggling to pull the mask off.

"What the heck?! Did you bolt this to your face or something?" she exclaimed.

Deciding to resort to other measures, (y/n) pulled out the plasma blaster and started firing it up, the end emitting a warm blue glow.

"No! Don't kill him!" Nathaniel screamed, sprinting forward. "If you do, we'll never find my uncle!"

Underneath her, the imposter smirked.

"He's right, you know. I've left Mr. Northwest in a rather... precarioussituation" he said, as he stopped struggling. "If I die, then he'll die with me!"

Before either of them could react, he suddenly snatched the plasma blaster out of (y/n)'s hands, and fired it right at her.

Boom!

(y/n) was blasted upwards, her body hitting the Northwest portrait above the fireplace before falling back to the ground again.

Thump!

However, the force of the collision caused one cylindrical device to roll from her toolbelt, right to the feet of the imposter.

He smirked as he bent down and picked up the slow motion/fast motion device.

Realizing what he was about to do, (y/n) forced herself off the ground and started sprinting towards him, trying to snatch the invention away from him before he could use it.

But unfortunately, she was too late.

Zap!

The imposter fired the beam directly at her, and in a flash of red light, (y/n) was running towards him in slow motion.

"(y/n)!" Nathaniel cried.

"(y/n). Is that your name?" the imposter drawled, stroking the side of her face. "Such a worthy opponent. It's almost a shame how easy it is to kill you now!"

He raised the plasma blaster, and aimed the glowing blue end at her.

His finger started to squeeze the trigger.

"Wait!" Nathaniel cried, reaching into his jacket pocket.

He was holding the real ransom in his hand.

"I will give this to you, but only if you do not harm her."

Keeping the plasma blaster trained on (y/n), the imposter walked up to him, examined the ransom, and snatched it out of his hands.

"You've got yourself a deal, boy" he said, dropping the weapon on the floor. "You might wanna start packing your bags though. Won't be long before your family is kicked out of their own home."

And with that, he threw a smoke bomb onto the ground at his feet.

Poof!

In a blast of pale purple smoke, he was gone.

As if on cue, the slow motion ray finally wore off, and (y/n) collapsed to the ground.

Nathaniel hurried by her side, and started helping her up.

"(y/n)? Are you okay?"

In response to that, she punched him in the shoulder. Hard.

"Are you kidding me?" she shouted furiously. "How could you just hand it over to him? What an idiotic move!"

"Like you wouldn't have done the same" Nathaniel said, rubbing his shoulder as he stood back up. "Besides, it's going to be okay. We've still got the footage."

He gestured towards the camera, still hidden in its place in the shrubbery.

(y/n) hurried over, pulled out the camera, and started to look for the recording.

But it was gone.

And in its place was a very different one.

(y/n) pressed play, and the imposter appeared on the screen, holding the original memory chip.

"Looking for this?" he said in the recording, setting it down. "If you're watching this, it means your little 'trap' failed. I am on the loose, and now have both halves of the Northwest family fortune.

But because of your little barrier, I am unable to leave. And it's programmed to only deactivate by the voice of the Northwest member who activated it.

You have ten minutes to lower the barrier, or I treat myself to a violent rampage right here in the mansion! Who knows who will still be alive by the end of it?

So tick-tock, Nathaniel V! I suggest that you turn off the barrier. Because I will deactivate it, and I can either part on friendly terms, or I can leave a few bodies behind."

And with that, the recording ended.

(y/n) turned towards Nathaniel.

"So we both agree that we're not going to lower the barrier, right?"

"Definitely, but we're going to have to find him before he has the chance to carry out his threat" Nathaniel said.

(y/n) nodded.

"Let's replay the recording. Maybe there's some clues in the background that will tell us where he's hiding."

She pressed the replay button, and the recording started over from the beginning, with the imposter looking at the camera with what was probably an arrogant expression behind his mask.

The background had been covered with a tan sheet, leaving only soft wrinkles.

"Looking for this? If you're watching this, it means your little 'trap' failed"

"His voice is echoing a bit, which means that he's in a large room" (y/n) stated. "Well, that really narrows it down in a mansion."

"Shh" Nathaniel hushed.

"I am on the loose, and now have both halves of the Northwest family fortune. But because of your little barrier, I am unable to leave. And it's prog--"

"Stop" Nathaniel said, and (y/n) paused it.

"Look at that" he said, pointing at a rather faint line a couple inches from the bottom, where there were several tiny wrinkles poking out all along it. "The background isn't completely covered with a sheet. That's where the sheet meets the floor, which means that the room has a tan floor."

"Okay okay, that narrows it down a bit more. Anything else?" (y/n) asked.

Nathaniel looked a little closer, particularly at the memory chip that the imposter had put down.

"That chip is leaving a very peculiar shadow. It's not very large at all, and it's on two opposing sides. That only happens when there are two light sources facing each other from opposite directions, which means that the room has windows on opposite sides. There aren't very many of those.

So, we're looking for a large room with tan floors and windows on either side that's not the atrium..."

Nathaniel suddenly gasped in realization.

"The Dining Room."

(y/n) observed him with a fascinated expression.

"Impressive" she said. "But, how did you get all of that from this dingy short recording?"

"I draw in my free time. I know how shadows and wrinkles look" Nathaniel responded. "Now, hurry!"

Minutes Later

They were in the dining room, which was completely empty except for the furniture. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Well, what do you know, you really are crazy" (y/n) said. "There's no one here."

Nathaniel was starting to look a little distressed.

"No, but he was here" he said agitatedly, as he started searching the entire room. "Everything in that video points to him being here."

"Nathaniel, he recorded that video before he got the ransom. He could be anywhere now" (y/n) tried reasoning with him, as Nathaniel was on his hands and feet. "Heck, I'm not even entirely convinced that he recorded the video here."

Nathaniel's eyes widened as he spotted something underneath the table.

"I wouldn't be so sure" he said softly, reaching under and pulling out the small object.

It was the memory chip.

"He was here" Nathaniel murmured.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The two gasped in alarm as they turned towards the closet, where the banging was coming from.

"And I'm not sure if he really left" Nathaniel murmured.

(y/n) inhaled deeply, and took out a baseball bat.

"Okay, you open the door, I nail him on the head" she whispered. "There's no way in heck that I'm gonna let him use one of my inventions against me again."

Nathaniel looked at her with concern.

"Do you always keep a baseball bat on you?"

"Don't you?" (y/n) responded.

The two of them turned their attention back towards the banging door, and slowly crept towards it.

Once they finally reached it, they each took to opposite sides, (y/n) raising the bat in the air as Nathaniel slowly reached out and turned the knob.

The door swung open, and

Thump!

Out fell a man who had ropes wrapped around his entire body and a gag over his mouth.

His ebony hair was a little disheveled, but he had an eyepatch and a single emerald eye that was pouring with dismay.

"Gavin Clavis" Nathaniel breathed, as (y/n) bent down and ripped off the gag.

Clavis immediately gasped for breath, panting wildly as she started untying the rest of his body.

"I swear, I didn't see nothing!" he exclaimed agitatedly.

"Didn't see what?" (y/n) questioned.

"Th-the intruder!" Clavis stuttered terrifiedly. "I was just w-walking down the hall, o-on my way to pick up Lady Priscilla and Pacifica Northwest, when I h-heard a ruckus from Master P-Preston's room!

I o-only took a peak, I swear!"

(y/n) grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him hard.

"What did you see?!" she yelled.

Nathaniel pushed her aside.

"(y/n)!" he exclaimed, before turning back towards the clearly shaken up Clavis.

"It's alright, Gavin, you're safe now. No one is going to hurt you anymore, I'll make sure of it" he said gently, putting a sympathetic hand on his trembling shoulder. "Please, continue."

Clavis took in a few breaths, each one less shaky than the last, and Nathaniel could feel his body trembling less.

"I saw Master Preston, writing his own blackmail note."

Nathaniel's jaw dropped.

"That's impossible" he said.

(y/n)'s eyes widened with realization.

She pulled out Clavis's file, and took out Preston's handwritten notes during Clavis's job interview.

She held up the notes to the blackmail letter, ignoring what was written on the pages and instead focusing on the actual writing itself: the curved g's and y's, the right slanting, the narrow spacing between the words.

"The handwriting matches" she confirmed breathlessly. "This blackmail note was written by Preston."

"Wait, but that doesn't make any sense!" Nathaniel exclaimed. "If my uncle wrote his own blackmail note, then what does this imposter have to do with it?"

"There was someone else there too" Clavis said gravely. "He attacked Master Preston, who managed to knock him back briefly. While the imposter was down, he ripped out a piece of paper from a nearby book and started writing a blackmail note.

But the imposter wasn't down for long, and this time Master Preston wasn't so lucky. Before I could comprehend what was happening, Master Preston was on the ground, out cold, and the imposter was standing over him.

He then turned and saw me standing there. I tried to fight back, but I must have lost because the next thing I know, I'm tied up in that closet over there."

Clavis rubbed his head rather painfully.

"He must have hit my head, because it really hurts, and I can't seem to remember the fight very well."

(y/n)'s face brightened.

"Wait, so you saw his face?" she exclaimed eagerly.

Clavis reluctantly shook his head, in a rather ashamed manner.

"Simon Waller."

Nathaniel seemed to be taken aback by that statement.

"Are you sure it was him?" he asked gently.

"I saw it with my own one eye!" Clavis insisted. "I may not remember much, but I remember his eyes boring straight into mine, like I had seen something I wasn't supposed to see."

"What's the big hoot about Simon Waller?" (y/n) asked. "Is he some sort of saint?"

"Comparing him to them is a compliment to the saints" Nathaniel said. "Simon has been serving my family for the past sixty years.

One time, my uncle actually offered to raise his salary, and he turned it down and told my uncle that he should use the extra money to buy himself the latest luxury private yacht instead."

"Well, the man clearly had his priorities straight" (y/n) said sarcastically. "But maybe it was all a hoax to gain Preston's trust so he could stab him in the back now! I've seen it happen before. I'vedone it myself before!"

Nathaniel looked at her, not even surprised at the new information.

"You really need to stop telling me these things" he said.

"But something still doesn't add up" (y/n) pointed out. "If he's been a servant for your family for sixty years, then he's an old man. So how did he manage to beat a twenty six year old former soldier who fought in the war?"

Nathaniel shrugged.

"Element of surprise?"

"But Clavis clearly saw him coming towards him" (y/n) said, staring down at Preston's interview note and his blackmail letter.

"Somehow, this Simon guy has made Preston write his own blackmail note, defeated a young war veteran, and got rid of his memories of the fight. There's something missing here about Simon..."

She then turned vigorously towards Clavis.

"Clavis, are you sure you don't remember anything else about Simon?"

Clavis shamefully shook his head.

"I was in the dark most of the time, figuratively and literally.

While I was in the closet, there was only one time when Simon was actually here. I think he was on a phone or something because it sounded like he was threatening you, Master Nathaniel, only you weren't actually in the room with him."

(y/n) and Nathaniel looked at each other.

"The recording" they said simultaneously.

Clavis continued.

"Once he finished the threat, he hung up. He started walking around the room saying, 'Everything is going according to plan. I wish that Preston was here to witness his nephew willingly giving away his fortune to me, but I guess that dying at the hands of a timed death trap in a secret room in his own bedroom that he didn't even know about is more poetic.'

He paused briefly, I think to look down at his watch, before saying,

'Huh. Enjoy your last twenty minutes of life, Preston. I'll be back for you until then."

Nathaniel's expression fell to one of urgency.

"How long ago did he say this?" he asked crucially.

Clavis gulped.

"Fifteen minutes ago."

(y/n)'s eyes widened in realization.

"And it's been five minutes since we received Simon's threat, so we also have five minutes to find him before he kills more people!"

Nathaniel turned urgently towards (y/n).

"Then we split up. I rescue my uncle, and you find Simon. His quarters are on the lowest floor, fifth door to your right. It's made of polished mahogany, you can't miss it" he said, standing up and starting to head towards the door.

"The only problem remaining is how I'm going to get into the secret room."

"With this" (y/n) said, handing him the piece of graph paper that Simon had dropped earlier. "I thought it was weird that our little friend wrote his name on the bottom, but now we know the imposter's not Clavis.

So what if 'clavis' isn't a name? In Latin,'clavis'translates as 'key'."

Nathaniel looked back at her.

"So, this is somehow the key to the secret room in my uncle's bedroom?" he said. "It's just a piece of graph paper with random boxes colored in. How am I supposed to unlock the hidden room with this?"

"You'll figure it out because you'll have to, otherwise your egotistical, stuck up dolt of an uncle dies" (y/n) said. "Now with that being said, it's totally okay if you don't save him in time."

Nathaniel looked back at her.

"You suck at motivational speeches, you know."

(y/n) snorted.

"I'm just trying to lighten the pressure" she said. "Besides, I never thought I'd