The Web of Sleaze

The following takes place following: The Sarah Platt Swallowgate Scandal

The camera lingers on an empty ashtray before slowly panning to a window framed by a dark, moonlit sky.

Time accelerates rapidly — night fades into dawn as sunlight streams through the window.

Panning back, the ashtray is now overflowing with cigar and cigarette butts, the room thick with haze. The floor is strewn with scattered papers.

The camera glides upward to reveal a wall covered with notes, receipts, documents, and photographs of various women arranged around a large map of Widdlington — an evidence board tracking potential scandals.

An exhausted Master Devlin shakes his head in disbelief as he studies the sprawling web of sleaze on the wall.

Master Devlin: Good Lord, Travers… 😵‍💫

Travers glances around, unsure whether to feel embarrassed or proud.

Master Devlin: I just don’t understand you, Travers. What the hell am I looking at here? You’re a member of several swinger clubs, caught at masquerade orgies and bukaki parties. Your face is plastered on the walls of adult entertainment venues. You’ve sexually harassed nurses at the sexual health clinic — and that’s just the start. What are you? Some kind of sicko?

Travers: You did ask for an exhaustive list...

Master Devlin: Drunken tirades, racist rants, assaults, affairs — you’ve been involved in every scandalous mess imaginable. Am I missing anything?

Travers: Well, um... this just covers the last year or so. There’s quite a bit more.

Mr. Konrad and Mr. Boothe enter, each pushing a wheelbarrow stacked high with document boxes.

Travers: It is, as you say... I’m an addict. I have a problem. But admitting it — that’s the hardest part. So I’d thank you to be a little less judgmental and a little more supportive. Don’t forget: I’m the victim here!

The Master is speechless.

Travers: And really, when you think about it, it wasn’t even me! It was Past Travers who did all those things, right? Present Travers? Innocent. Future Travers? Even more innocent. You could spin that! There’s legal precedent, under Waldonian law... I think.

Master Devlin: NO, TRAVERS! We have been through this before. It is not written into law. It is just your sleazy way of justifying your actions — and several Waldoverse judges have rejected it in court, only for you to respond with, “You are speaking out of turn,” before having yourself held in contempt! So stop with that nonsense!

Master Devlin opens the nearest file box, pulls out a document, reads briefly — then recoils.

Master Devlin: OH MY GOD, TRAVERS!

He slams the file shut, horrified.

Travers: 😏

Master Devlin: Don’t you dare smirk, Travers. This is not amusing. You are fucking disgusting.

Mr. Konrad hurries back into the office, visibly agitated.

Mr. Konrad: Excuse me, Mr. Mayor… Master Devlin… but I think you’ll want to see this.

He rushes over and switches on the large wall-mounted TV. The screen flickers to life, revealing a live news broadcast.

Travers: Oh dear...

Season 6 continues in Outbreak