The show unfolded very slowly. The audience does not know why there is so much waiting, this has to do with the real time aspect of the show. The unknown factor that it's a real event that is unfolding and not a scripted show. Now at times like Valmont would hire local actors actors to improvise events. That is not possible here because Valmont does not want to put any more lives in danger then he has to. His team understands the dangers as do the police and Wayte's security officers. Even the House staff he is not worried about, they all signed a safety agreement and if they are killed their next of kin would be well off.
With each person knowing Sharp's secret the more likely it will longer be a secret. Besides Valmont has enough to worry about with Victor Randal. He does not expect Victor to respect the none disclosure when this show is over but he already has Nashton on the Randal mess.
There is no way to speed the show, no way to bring Thanatos out of hiding. For the first forty eight hours really happened. While the Sharp Monster Network had non stop coverage at first because nothing was happening after twelve hours the coverage was replaced with the normal Sharp Network broadcast schedule. Once the novelty of the show taking place in the Sharp manor wore off the lack of things happening became more apparent.
Now there is still constant coverage of the show going on at SMN and if something interesting happened the camera feed to the manor would kick in and the channel would shift over to the excitement. The first exciting thing to happen was when a tabloid reporter decided the best way to get the inside in this Sharp show and the organization was to break into the manor. The man's idea was to expose the whole thing and get rich and famous by discovering how Sharp makes his magic.
On December Tenth at six am the proximity alarms at Sharp Manor went off as there were signs of an intruder or intruders breaking into the property of the manor. There seemed to be around five or six people seemingly moving in formation. What was unknown at the time was this was a distraction. From what the camera's could pick up they seemed to be werewolves. They turned out to be teenagers in masks, poor quality masks at that, but there was a uniformity to them that hinted this was not just a prank.
Because Wayte's security team and the police were expecting some reporters or Sharp fans breaking into the manor at some point they had none lethal ordinates at their disposal. The six 'werewolves' did not seem to be a threat so just stopping them was necessary, and that was not hard.
The six teenagers were stopped in about ten minutes. They were paid to be a distraction to let someone else sneak into the manor undetected. Now the general audience did not know if this was just some gag of if this was part of the show. To people who think the show is faked (just about everyone) they think everything is part of the show and the unpredictability is what makes it so good. Even the dull shows are unpredictable but not because of good writing.
Now the six teenage in wolf masks were caught quickly and one of them blabbed on camera, “Some older man paid us to do this. That America would thank us in doing our part for uncovering the truth. To be honest I just did it to be on TV.”
Most of the Teens did not have anything more to add. They basicly yelled hello to their parents and girlfriends, boyfriend in one case as one was a girl. All six of them asked if Valmont Sharp could come out and sign autographs. This got a chuckle out of Wayte's men but Randal's men were just irritated. Calling the cop's Randal's men is not really fair. Sure they follow his orders but most of them are not as insufferable as Victor Randal himself.
Now one of the Teenagers did seem to know more then the others. He seemed to be a bit smarter and actually had a decent idea about what was going on. “He was a reporter for some newspaper. One of those rags that talks about how Jesus is coming back and that Elvis never died he just returned home. My mom reads them. I forgot which one he said he was from, the Inquiring Planet or something like that. What was his name? Wilhelm I believe.”
There was a search for this reporter, who unlike the kids was not drawing attention to himself. He seemed to know the layout if the Sharp manor, he probably had a blue print for the manor which would not be impossible to find he he had the right sources. The man made it into the manor though an entry hatch that lead to the basement of the main house.
“Okay okay it should be over here.” The reporter whose name is Jerome Willis, a young reporter of south American decent, his family came to this country from Brazil. He is a reporter for the Inquiring Planet (yeah the kid got that fact right but got his name wrong.) He is a believer that Sharp's show is the real deal. He is searching for the rumored true museum which should hold all the proof he needs. He believes there is a hidden area underneath the main house of the manor. “There should be a door right around here with all the proof I need.”
Jerome turns the corner and sees what appears to be a dead end. At first Jerome shakes his head as there should be a door here but realizes it should not be that easy, “That's right there should be a hidden door and pass code computer. If my sources were right.” Looking around the nearly empty passageway he sees a fire extinguisher hooked up to a the wall, “Could that be it?” Jerome takes a piece of paper out of his bag and nods in satisfaction. He then walks over to the fire extinguisher and removes is. Behind where the extinguisher was is a small compartment that he opens up. There is a computer system with a thumb print analyzer. “This could be a problem.”
While all this was happening the main attention was focused on the teenagers who were running around outside. That and no one was expecting a break in though the casement, Thanatos was not that smart so security and motion detectors were scarce in that area. Scarce but there are a few. Jerome knew where they were and avoided them but did not realize that while he was trying to break into the basement of the main manor he set off a silent alarm and security was aware of his presence. Valmont Sharp who was bored and in security the security office when this happened. He walks over to the intercom and calls out to the closest security team. “Team Beta five this is Valmont, cancel the security search of the basement.”
“But sir we have an intruder.”
“I am aware of that. I'm looking at him, have Randal and Wayte meet me at the west side staircase to the basement now.” Valmont smiles tips his hat to one side and snaps his fingers, this will be fun and that snooping reporter will get more then he bargained for.
“Yes Sir.”
Valmont then turns on his cell and dials Nash, “Hey Wayte I know you listen to all my security feeds. So you know what to do. Get Randal while your at it.”
“I'm on it sir.”
Valmont is almost jumping for joy, he knows he has to deal with this reporter quickly because Thanatos can strike at any time. There were times where he almost broke the lock down of the manor and allowed for reporters, fans, and the normal carnival of games and shops that come with every Sharp show to park in the manor's yard. He knows he can't do that, it's too dangerous.. So right now he is taking what he can get. As he walks out of the room almost skipping in excitement he remembers that he has forgotten something. He turns on his phone again and calls Alfred, “Hey Al I need a camera man with me at the manor's west side stair case.”
“Want me there too?”
“Not necessary for you or Jocasta, we are dealing with a nosy reporter looking for the story of his life.” Valmont's smile never fades for a second.
“Understood.” This is not the first time a reporter has tried to figure out the 'truth' of the Sharp Monster experience. Not the first time they broke into the manor ether but this is the furthest someone has gotten.
Valmont leaves the security room and since he is on the west side of the manor already it takes him only a couple of minutes to reach the staircase. Randal and Wayte are already at the stairs there talking to each other. “So what does Valmont have in store now? He canceled a security detail and called for just the two of us to meet him. What's going on?”
“It's a minor break in, some ambitious reporter.” Wa
yte says as if he knows more then he should. Valmont smiles because that's what he expects from Wayte.
“How do you know that?” Randal very calmly, like the calm before the storm.
“I know everything that goes on here. I am paid to know everything. I do my job well.”
Valmont decides to let his presence known, “I'm glad your both here.”
Randal looks at Valmont and shakes his head, “You're all dressed up.” He mumbles under his breath. This is what the chief of police was worried about. “Why?” He shakes his head. “Why?” Randal says a little louder. “Someone broke into your house and you cancel the security detail to handle this yourself?. What if it's Thanatos?”
“It's not Thanatos. If it was someone would be dead already and he would be coming for me not for something in the basement.” That's true and if Randal believed anything Valmont told him he would know that. “Also Thanatos has no accomplices.” That was a lie as Valmont is pretty sure Gabriel Tarque is working with Thanatos and possibly pulling the strings.
“Whatever. So we should stop this guy huh?”
“Yes just wait a second our camera man is not here yet.” Valmont winks at Randal.
Randal takes the bait despite knowing what Valmont was doing, “I hate you. I knew you were going to turn this into your show. Have you no shame?” Wayte just smiles and nods.
“Shame?” Valmont says like that is some foreign concept he never heard of before. The Camera man shows up a few minutes later, “Are you on?”
“No sir?” The Camera man says. His Camera has a direct feed to the Sharp Monster Network and once it turns on the channel will switch to that feed.
“Lets do this.” He then counts down with his fingers and when he hits zero the Camera feed goes live, “Hello this is the great, the magnificent and the shameless Valmont Sharp here.” He gives Randal a 'see that' glance has he said that last part. “I realize the show has been boring up to this point. I apologize for that. This waiting game is boring me too. I wish Thanatos would strike already.” He is being completely honest.
“However as you might already know if you follow the minute by minute updates something is going down. Someone has broken into the manor. We had six teenagers in wolf masks run around my yard and I had nothing to do with it. They were paid to do so by some nefarious fiend.” Valmont is just pushing for Drama right now and he knows it. “You know Nashton Wayte and Victor Randal. They will be coming with me in case I run into trouble.”
Valmont leads the way with Randal and Wayte following behind him. “I want to just knock out the smug bastard.” Randal says to himself. Wayte just keeps a close eye on the chief of police in case Randal tries to act on his threat.
Jerome Willis finds his way into the sub basement of the main house and finds his way into a storage area for the equipment of old Sharp shows. He finds a near by light switch and flips it, “Okay lets see what we got here.” The lights turn on relieving rows and rows of old props from the past Sharp shows, “I've struck gold.”
Jerome loses track of time as he walks the aisles looking at all the old props and items for past shows. Most of it is stuff for the older shows. People like Jerome believe even those shows were real. He takes pictures of everything, “This stuff is for my private collection.” he says to himself. In addition to being a reporter for that rag the Inquiring Planet he runs the “The True Sharp Experience” web site and and these exclusive images will make his site huge. His digital Camera is top of the line and with each photo he takes a remote up link transfers it to a secured folder in his computer. “This is great and all but this is not what I'm looking for.”
He finds a collection of suits, he sees sea monsters, zombies, vampires, demons, a scared inbred mutant with physic powers, “Nemon the Scariar” He mutters quietly under his breath. Jerome steps closer to that particular costume, “It looks like the real deal.” The Scariar story took place before Shape's shows started being actual reality so that is the real deal. “Meh I need more.”
Something catches his eye, it is a figure obscured in shadows. “Is that?” He walks over to it and the large monstrous form shows itself. It is Vargas Thanatos in a half human half werewolf transformation. It is an animatronic duplicate of Thanatos that was never used in the show itself. “No.” He walks closer to it, snapping pictures. “This can't be.” He walks over to it and shakes his head.
The animatronic Vargas suddenly moves, it's head snaps forward and it moves it's jaws in an almost realistic fashion, it then howls in a realistic recorded howl of the real Thanatos. The bone chilling howl makes Jerome jump back. He snaps a picture almost instantly, “What the?”
“Turn around Jerome.” Jerome quickly turns around and sees Valmont standing there in full uniform with a remote in his hand and his fingers on the controls. He presses another button and the Thanatos Robot returns to it's normal position. Standing next to Valmont is Nashton Wayte and Victor Randal, also there is a camera man behind him. “How's that for gold. That shot will make your website popular. Too bad you don't have exclusive footage.”
Jerome falls to his knees, he is still shocked by what just happened, his heart is racing and he is at a loss for words, “Wow.” Is all the reporter managed to say.
“Also an exclusive like this would have made your career as a reporter.” When Valmont said that Randal gives him a rude look and wants to say something. “Too bad the story will be meaningless. Just like those photos you took.”
“My, my photos?” Jerome tries to get back on his feet, he is shaking and at wits end. He does not fully understand what's going on here.
“Wait?” Randal steps in. “Sharp are you letting him keep the photos? Do you know this man Sharp?”
“Give me a sec will you.” Valmont says pretty much avoiding Randal's question. He turns around and faces the Cameras, “This my friends was just a little extra treat. This reporter here, Jerome Willis, who you might know as the founder of the 'The True Sharp Experience' website, decided to use the distraction of the Vargas Thanatos conflict to sneak into my house to find out the truth.” Valmont gives a hardy laugh. “Like I have anything to hide? He stumbled into a prop room which I'm sure did not satisfy his curiosity. The sad thing is by the time he can post the photos online they will be old news. Now I realize this was not what you were hoping for but hope that it was a fun distraction.” Valmont then motions toward the camera man to cut the feed.
Valmont then turns his attention to Randal who is almost fuming with anger due to being ignored like that, “Sorry about that I just had to finish the show first. I want to drop the act.”
Randal who completely believes the arrogant persona Sharp puts on is the real sharp is not boiling with anger. “Could you answer my questions?”
“Well I answered how I know the man. He has tried to interview for his own web site but and for the Inquiring Planet tabloid. I'm sure they won't be too happy with this failure.” Valmont says calmly.
Jerome who is finally getting a hold of himself shakes his head, “That was my final chance, I'm probably fired now.”
Valmont ignores him since Jerome is not important anymore. “Why not let him keep the photos? They won't do him any good. Now I am not pressing any charges.”
“Goody.” The chief says he actually would have liked to take this reporter down to the police station. “So kick the reporter out and hope he never returns?” Randal grabs Jerome by the arms and leads him out of the room with the camera man following closely behind. “I'm taking him to the station anyway. I need to get away from you for a couple hours.”
Chapter Twenty Six
Valmont Sharp: Monster Hunter Page 28