Ambushed Ambusher — March’s Loyalties Confirmed
Part one of five now, right here.
The chapter picks up right where the last left off. Except, were now with Lauren at her hideout. She’s just learned the March is a double-agent, supposedly to the Phantom Scythe for the APD, but because of all the lies he’s been spouting the last few chapters, her suspicions, like mine, are raised.
A ship has been sighted, but something’s wrong. There are no people, not on the boat, or on the docks. Just like the Devil’s Den, they’ve been warned in advance. They’ve cleared out.
It’s not only a decoy, but an ambush.
At Lauren’s direction, Kym asks March if the Phantom Scythe knew they were coming.
First, he answers vaguely, “When have they not anticipated our actions?” But Lauren makes them ask so he can’t give them a vague answer.
I mean, we already suspected his loyalties weren’t entirely with the APD, but now we know.
“No. I’ve told everything I know to the APD!” All lies.
He knew about the decoy, the ambush, all of it. Yet he didn’t tell his supposed friends. And though I know it doesn’t prove much, in the last chapter, he asked where Lauren was.
I still think no matter how big or bad of a Leader he might be, he doesn’t really want anything to happen to her.
And as I’ve said before, there are two things that needed to happen for me to completely believe he’s the Leader. 1 — This mission needed to turn out to be a decoy. Check. And 2 — Have it be him on the “He’s dead” panel. (Mostly, but not entirely, for the fact that I really don’t want it to be Kieran.)
This is a shorter one, but I’m just following along with everyone else at this point. Might do another reread later to drag for any clues I might have missed.
Also, I want to get my full theory out there before anything gets revealed, so here it is. (so far)
March was canonically close to Lauren’s parents. They worked together and they were friends. I say, he was in Snapdragon with them and his wife, among others. I think he and his wife joined after they lost their daughter. Maybe their lower-class hospital didn’t have the resources to save her and they just want to peacefully help other children not have the same fate as her. But the government attacked. He survived Orion & Sons. Annabelle did not. She was killed by order of the royals at the betrayal of one of their own. In his anger and pain, he created the Phantom Scythe with the thirteen other survivors. As their debut, they bombed Allendale Train Station while the king and several hundred others were inside.
After Allendale, Alexander and Rachel (Lauren’s parents), were getting cold feet. Blinded by fear of betrayal, he had them killed. For the last ten years, he’s done monstrous things, becoming a monster himself in order to do what he thinks needs to be done.
Yet after all this time, he does not want Lauren dead. She reminds him too much of his own daughter who would have been her age and of course he’d have dreamed that she’d enter the police force and become a detective just like him. He was a detective long before he was the Leader. In all actuality, he probably sees Lauren as something like his own daughter.
The reveal of the Leader won’t be like Hans in Frozen, “Bwahahaha I had you fooled all this time. I’m the bad guy now! Have fun punching me.” It will be sad. March lost his family. He’s killed his best friends. He doesn’t want to do any of this. But in his eyes, it still needs to be done.
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Here goes part six.
