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"You're kidding me..." Delilah said. "How can he be? It was Ms. Deeds and apparently she was too stupid to protect her property..."

"It was the Conman", Julius persisted. "Ms. Deeds described his figure, it was him!"

"It could as well have been Santa Klaus!" Delilah retorted.

"Why don't you believe me?"

"Why don't you give me some convincing arguments?" Delilah said. When Julius was silent for a few seconds she added: "I want to believe you, and strictly speaking, I do ... but I want to be sure, can't you understand?"

"Okay, let me see... whom else do we know who is smart enough to blackmail two of our notorious villains? Dismay may not be stupid but he isn't as cunning as Conman is. Nobody knows who he is and if even Ms. Deeds can't find it out ..."

They went upstairs to their rooms to pack, not knowing where they would go, but with an Academy contaminated with GIB there was no reason staying there.

"Humm... that's right, it's quite what he would do ... he likes to manipulate people.... remember Happy Times Island? Ah no, of course not ... cornflakes not Nam Noc."

"Nam Noc...?" Julius looked thoughtful. "That's Conman backwards ... like "Sdeed! And it was the cloned Prosper who told us about it when the name was reflected in a window!"

"Why was he blackmailing Ms. Deeds at all?" Delilah asked.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you: he wanted her bullet-proof silk that also protects against viruses! Mr. Thomas' bullets work with viruses and then he was kidnapped with this 109-countdown. Ms. Deeds wasn't after Al's list, it was her own idea to steal the cloning machine, so the only one left is -"

"The Conman ... you got me convinced, Julius!" And this time she hugged him with all her heart. "I'm so proud of you ... what a smart lad you are!" She grinned and ruffled his hair.

"That's what Ms. Deeds said as well..." Julius smiled in an attempt to make her jealous.

She pinched his cheek. "No further word about this person you kissed!" She winked. "But what are we going to do now? We don't know what he's going to do next ... or when!"

"Probably he's more in cloning now as he didn't get the silk - " They arrived at their rooms.

"Crap!" Delilah called out.

"What's up?"

"The silk factory! We left it when it was standing wide open! And now he got Ms. Deeds to show him the details! We need to go to Greece, now! I'm packing!" She ran into her room and left Julius standing on the corridor. Before he even got used to her idea of flying to Greece (again!) he heard her scream.

"Julius!"

It came from the bathroom. On the mirror was written with pink lipstick:


You're smarter than I thought ... but there are still many secrets to be discovered.
With kind regards
NOC


"I hate it when he does that", Delilah said. "But at least we're sure now, that it's him. And this is Wednesday's lipstick, so he must have seen her."

Julius scratched his head. "I'll never know how women distinguish all those colours ... red coral ... rosewood brown ... I only wonder where the bug is, there must be one how else should he have found out? ... you haven't seen the dentist lately?" he asked.

"No, I've only been in hospital and they had my body and brain cut open."

Julius looked at the floor. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ... I just ..."

She laid a hand on her shoulder. She couldn't tell him so she simply wouldn't. "Hey, it's okay. It was a stupid thing for me to say. I must admit that I'm glad you won't pull out another tooth of mines. You're a dreadful dentist", she grinned.

He looked up at her, smiled, and kissed her. "You're always so nice to me. So now we're going to Greece, yes? So let's pack ... and watch out for bugs!" he said, when he closed the door behind him.
Ursula was waiting outside for him. "Hey", she greeted him. "what are you going to do now?"

"We're flying to Greece ... I doubt Emmet told you? Well, it's the Conman. We suppose he's taking over the silk factory at the moment - he's using it against viruses like in Mr. Thomas' bullets."

Ursula needed a moment to think about it. Then, slowly, following him into his room she said: "I don't suppose Delilah will stay at home..."

"Of course not", Julius said opening his wardrobe. "We're only good if we work as a team - look at the mess last time - if we hadn't been separated this Prosper-stuff wouldn't have happened... Nah, it's best if we go together."

"I see..." Ursula said. Delilah had told her she'd surely tell Julius so why the hell was Julius endangering Delilah's health?
She'd never understand them ... men... "Then Emmet and I will observe Mr. Thomas and his factory - Conman may know a lot about the project but might return."

"Hm...", Julius said opening a suitcase. "And take Sorin with you ... and the kids. They shouldn't stay at the Academy." He looked up at her. "I know you don't like the three of them a lot, especially Prosper, but it would be a great help to Delilah and me if she's in a safer place."

Ursula nodded. She could understand. "Is Nosey not coming with you?"

"I think he'll be leaving now, he wanted to anyway after his marriage."

Clonk.

*
Delilah's blackberry beeped. "Yes, Julius? I've nearly finished, no need to -"

"No, could you come? Ursula's fainted; apparently she couldn't believe Nosey'd be marrying before she did or something ..."

"Yes, that's the way she is", grinned Delilah. "I'm coming."

The sunset outside was beautiful, it filled Julius' room with orange-gold light. "Tonight" ... this reminded Delilah of something but she pushed it to the back of her mind. There were more important things to do - saving the world from an unknown man for example.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
so this was more of an explanatory chapter, sorry 'bout that but I didn't want the solution to be a "deus ex machina" or something. I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless.

and even more important: updates! I love them, give me more! ;D