Regicide It Is Then

"...I'm not going to help you until you explain yourself." You state to the Beedrill.

He twitches an antenna and emits that buzz of annoyance you've come to understand from him. He clicks his mouth and just leers tighter, "I was hoping the threat of your companions' demise would rush you into sensibility, if not an impulse of profit-"

"You said you don't want people's time wasted, right?" You interrupt to cut to the chase. "I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me exactly what it is you want. You can waste both our time doing otherwise, or I can just call the guards outside in here since we're both screwed just standing here like this, huh?"

The Beedrill tightens his gaze surprisingly. It was unclear if he was impatiently annoyed with you still, or reconsidering his offer. But he adjusts his posture less aggressively to remark, "...No, you are correct. I won't waste our time. Currently, you are in the complex of the Golden Hive. It is a multi-floored, multi-faceted structure housing for bug-Pokemon and the like. Your two companions simply get prepped before dinner, so I suppose I can sacrifice a moment. If that is your only condition for aiding me, then I won't slap the hand offered to me. My goal is to dethrone my Queen, if not stop her completely from ever ruling again."

You perk an ear at that. Quite the pivot from serving someone so unconditionally. "...And that requires me?"

"It requires someone, and I would not like to attempt it completely alone." Razz iterates. "I cannot rely on anyone else in the Golden Hive, not when one word could mean the end of me and anyone I plan the mutiny with. Instead, I want to rely on someone who is a guaranteed enemy of my Queen. Someone who has their family or friends currently on the chopping block to join her belly. You handled the Aurorus that had been ambushing our scouts and villagers here. That infernal dinosaur has been the perpetrator of many disappearances and attacks our people here have suffered, and I do not see it as a fluke that you and the two other individuals managed to defeat her so head-on."

"And you put your stake on me then, and not the Typhlosion that did most of the work with his fire?" You inquire. You knew that everyone pitched in that fight, but Jackal was easily the factor that turned it from a stalemate or even assured defeat into a victory.

"The idiot, you mean?" Razz bluntly puts it. "He is a rage addict on top of being careless. He was, at least, alert enough to heed your advice and directions. You're the leader of that troop, and you, him, and the horny duck would all be added with all of the hive citizens she claimed were it not for you to call the shots. So that's who I want. Not someone with brawn. Someone with brains. Because what I need from you is to be careful and calculated."

That did track. Even if you preferred to be humble about it. "I appreciate the compliment. But why go against your queen still then? Sounded to me like you and her have a long and loyal history together. If you're her marshal, she clearly trusts you enough. Do you want the throne for yourself?"

The Beedrill sighs, now looking ****, but the clock was still ticking. You can tell it was an irritation to spend the time to simply even confess his intentions, or perhaps it was that he didn't like his intentions to begin with. "I...no, I do not want the throne. If anything, I would love for Queen Vexna to retain it for as long as she lives. But..." He shifts a bit. There was oddly a vulnerability to him now that you had yet to see since he was often so stern or professional in his stature, let alone his expression. "...I need to leave. I cannot stand living in this husk of what this colony once was any longer. Vexna--" He pauses, then corrects himself. "Queen Vexna...changed over time, when the infection began plaguing the land. It was well-minded enough for her that she wanted to fortify the colony's defenses and seclude us within this structure, the Hive, from the dangers outside. But in that isolation, in the time of having the world become ravenous...so too did our queen for some reason. She demanded if she was to remain strong, as strong as the ferals, she would need to eat as well. To eat like them. Naturally, those close to her advised against it, but she took a tyrannical turn. Nay-sayers were labeled with treason and punished according to the very thing they refuted her. That, well, is what also awaits your two companions unless we stop dawdling in here."

"But you stood by her in these actions?" You inquire. You wanted to ensure he weighed the responsibility of blame partly on himself.

"I wish I could say it was purely for survival." Razz admits surprisingly. "...But she...was truly someone I devoted my entire being to. I was hesitant, surely, but I never wanted to deny my Queen the strength she needed to protect our colony. She still had our best interest at heart. If that meant picking off any stragglers...'trespassers' as we came to label them as to lessen the blow, then yes...I served my queen to the best of my ability."

The Beedrill loosens his stature and looks to the clay door again, clearly never having to say any of this aloud before. But he was on a roll, and perhaps it was even needed for him to move on from it. Razz concludes, "...I am tired though. Tired of this injustice, tired of being cooped up in the confines I once felt were needed just to be safe. I do not want safety at this cost. I want to be free without the guilt of serving a tyrant that is long gone. Vexna lost her mind, so she has lost the will of her people in a way. I'm certain there are others that feel the same way I do, but as to whom specifically is too dangerous to decide right now. There are those still loyal and even encouraging to the Queen, as you've seen with the warden here, Talia."

"She has a number out for you from what it sounds like." You state, thinking about her threats and constant ass-kissing towards this queen you now had a name for. Razz even called Vexna by just her name again, but you decided against correcting him. It was clear this was personal to him, if not that she was personal to him in general. Having someone you cared for or devoted to completely change over time is easily awful to consider. You can only make you wonder just how much you or anyone you know will change over time.

Razz answers your notion though. "Indeed, she does. She has been envious of my position for quite a while, but it is not truly all without merit. Talia is one of the strongest warriors here in the Hive, that is assured, and she has taken notice of my moments when I do not retain my typical convincing shell of loyalty. I hesitate on some orders. I have found excuses to take less scouting trips to find our Queen food. My demeanor falters some when I am pressed by her. My guilt is ammunition for her, and she knows that eventually, I'll crack with enough pressure. It is why I have been doing my best to seem as efficient and loyal as possible. Queen Vexna trusts me still, even if Talia does not. I want to keep it that way, even until the very end...who replaces her, it does not matter to me, but it cannot be worse than living in the strict and cruel system we have now. The people here should decide the Hive's fate, even if it runs it into the ground. Our people are better than submitting to a leader that is just as cruel as the dangers we hide from."

Dethroning a queen was no easy task, but considering you would be working with the leader's right-hand man that could likely get you into any royal chamber of this Hive; it would be a chance you'd have to take. You offer your hand to Razz and do your best to give an assuring smile. Your adventure to find the infection was also to aid whoever you could after all. If you could make the world a better place, cure or not, then that would still be something. "...Then let's go get my friends and get you out of here."

Razz's normally leering eyes do widen a bit, but his hand eventually meets yours and keeps palms gripped to make the deal. "...I better be correct in assuming you are as keen-minded as you need to be."

"Me too." You answer. You did have your careless moments of following your impulses. "What do we need to do?"

The Beedrill looks to a wall and releases your hand, going over to the surface before working off a panel of a honeycomb section. The hexagon pries off to reveal a hole. "This is a crawlspace I managed to make for such an occasion over the past few months. It will lead you into a lobby area of sorts that accesses several different rooms where the guards stay." He gives you a look during the explanation. "Before you get concerned, they usually stay in their rooms unless needed for their shifts. It is still daytime and most are fulfilling their duties. The night shift guards should be asleep. All you need to be concerned about is one guard that usually is left to watch that lobby room, but that's usually left to the most incompetent of guards. I trust you will deal or get by that one well enough."

He then squats, using a clawed finger to carve into the clay portion of the wall, making a map to show you that you approach to remember, "...Proceed down this hall, it'll be the only one available. The third door on the left is where you want to go next. Do not take the other doors unless you wish to be caught or backed into a dead-end. The only issue with this door is that Valentina works in there, but she does so during the late evenings."

"...Who's Valentina?" You ask.

"An Ariados woman you do not want to trifle with. She makes many of the traps for trespassers; the ones our scouting parties do not get." Razz explains when drawing a Lucario head symbol with two x-shaped eyes. "Get caught in her webs, you are as good as gone."

"Comforting..." You mutter. His lack of optimism wasn't helping. "You're not coming with me at all during this?"

He shakes his head; the Beedrill then drawing the outside of your cell with some stairs to a new floor. "I cannot be seen with you out of your restraints, they will suspect something, and Talia will take advantage of it. I must take my exit out of this cell naturally and proceed upstairs like all is normal. The two guards at the door should not open the door unless instructed to by Talia, who will be busy fetching Queen Vexna's attention for now. That gives you time to meet back with me on the next floor, assuming you get past Valentina's workshop." Razz draws your head icon with a bee head icon for himself. Then draws an arrow that goes through a few more halls into a more spacious square of a room that he adds. "This is the throne room that I have access to get to. The Queen tends to enjoy being fed right at her throne, but only by a servant. Royal guards are ordered outside as to not interrupt the Queen during her meal. She has a bell to ring them back in afterwards, so we need to get in and dispose of her before that bell is rung."

"And before she eats Jackal and Gold, right?" You reiterate, wanting to save them as your main motivator, not this queen business.

Razz looks as though he forgot that detail and simply nods, "...Er, yes, of course. All the more reason to make haste." The Beedrill taps the arrow he had drawn to note, "This is the only other entrance to the throne room that I as a marshal and those high in rank can escort the Queen. The front doors are a **** sentence which is why we must meander like this. But with her gone, and the lot of you making your escape, having presumably done the deed yourselves-"

"You want us to be the scapegoat?" You flash a look to him. The motives were becoming more clear now. "...We're not going to stick around, and I don't want to be hunted. What's to stop us from cutting and running?"

Razz oddly enough taps a finger at your nose, like a boop. "Because I'm the only one that can tell you how to exit the Hive. Otherwise, feel free to run around this labyrinth while the Hive goes under martial lockdown when it is discovered that our Highness is gone or attacked. I am, however, happy to also just lead you of where to go the quickest-"

"...When we help you first. Fine. I got it." You mutter begrudgingly agree, seeing how the Beedrill was going to make you rely upon him. "You promise to follow through on your end?"

"Indeed. I do not want today to be my last day. I hope the same for you, Lucario." He answers when rising back up to a full stand.

"It's Lace." You state, never having exchanged names before, despite the number of times you've heard him be called by his name or title. "If you want us to be quick 'friends', you're gonna have to call me by name, Marshal Razz."

He twitches an antenna at that, turning away from you even. "Simply and only Razz will do, thank you. It is not as though I will be the marshal for a queen any longer after today..." He approaches the door to take his exit as he looks back at you from over his shoulder. "...I will meet you upstairs...hopefully. Good luck then, Lace. Do not disappoint."

The door opens and closes when Razz takes his leave. Muffledly you can hear him state to the two guards who can't be seen, "...He has endured enough. I will be taking my leave now, but ensure that no one else comes for him until I or Warden Talia comes back. Again, he's crafty, and wasn't alone when captured."

Another muffled and resounding, "Yes sir, Marshal Razz!" echo through the muffled walls, before silence. You are now left alone in the prison chamber, with time hopefully to make your exit and save Jackal and Gold. Glancing to the map carved into the wall, you burn it into memory before smearing your hand at the clay to mess it up to avoid any evidence of your escape route. It was all up to you now to go through the crawlspace and make it to Razz, even if he had you go through multiple dangers just to meet him in a rather roundabout way.

Though...relying on him or his word was still faulty. You recall the steps it took to actually reach the throne room and where the staircase that brought you down here was. Not once were you bagged or blinded, and it wasn't that far than with how many steps and places Razz wanted you to go through already. The sleep powder the Butterfree had **** you with was completely gone. If anything, you felt well-rested. Full of energy. And recalling the 'guards' outside, you felt more than capable of dealing with them if needed, and there was no lock on the door seeing that this is just a temporary holding cell, Razz didn't need a key to go in or out, and they likely relied on the cocoons to do their work to keep captives just held in place until their turn was needed. You could very much walk out and get the jump on those two female guards.

But it could cause an alert for the Golden Hive to bear down on you. You would have to decide on how to follow Razz's plan, or to just rely on your own instincts and prowess. The latter would save you a lot of time, and perhaps be the deciding factor on your companions' lives or not. Razz didn't seem to care too much about them, they were just a motivator for you to help him.

1. Go through the crawlspace, follow the plan.

2. Go through the cell door, make your own path.