//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - Looking for Answers // Story: The Equestrian Odyssey - A Tale of Two Worlds // by Kamahido //------------------------------// A short time later they arrive at the hill overlooking the Shard base. Parking at the bottom of it Arc and company walk the rest of the way and scout the perimeter. Ember looks around. “Well, security doesn’t appear to have changed.” Hugh nods. “That’s a break.” Xenos chuckles. “Yeah! I thought this would be hard!” Sereb growls. “Pride comes before a fall.” Arc turns to them. “Sereb’s right. Let’s not get overconfident now. You have that box, Xenos?” “Right here, sir.” “Good.” Arc points at the southwest corner of the compound. “Xenos, you and Hugh cloak and get set up over there. You both understand the plan, right?” “Yes sir.” “Simple as pie, sir!” Ember frowns. “I don’t like this plan, Arc. It just seems too… I don’t know… easy?” “Simple plans are the best ones, Ember.” Rose nods. “Right. Less to go wrong.” Ember sighs. “I wish I shared your optimism, Rose. Arc, Ember and Rose wait as Xenos and Hugh cloak and walk toward the base as instructed. Ember turns to Arc. “This is crazy! They’re completely exposed out there!” Rose looks confused. “No, they’re invisible.” “I mean they don’t have any cover!” Arc turns to her. “And we will once we get inside?” “Kinda. I mean… all we have is the element of surprise.” Arc watches Xenos and Hugh walk through the opening in the fence through his helmet. “And a very powerful element that is.” Ember folds her arms over her chest. “If it was anyone else saying that…” A short time later Arc’s earring chirps. “In position, sir.” “We’ll wait to hear from you.” Arc nods. “Good. Our team will try to be fast. Arc out.” He touches his earring, severing the connection. Arc then pulls out three magic cloaks from his ring and hands them to Ember and Rose. “Let’s get this mission started.” Ember dons the robe. “Yes, lets.” Rose looks to him as she puts on her own robe. “Aren’t you going to put on the rest of your armor Arc?” “I could. But I thought it would make me less stealthy.” Ember frowns. “We probably should, Arc. This really is dangerous.” “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. But what about Rose?” “Mother built me with dermal plating. I’ll be okay.” “Are you sure?” “Yes, Arc.” Arc sighs. “Fine. Just be careful, okay? I’ll have Steel Hammer make some armor for you one of these days, Rose.” Cloaking and Blinking them through the fence Arc leads Ember, Rose and Sereb around to the truck docks on the west side of the building. Ember looks around. “It doesn’t look any different.” Sereb sniffs the air. “Changes can be subtle.” Arc nods. “Sereb’s right. Look up in the corners of the building.” They do so. Ember squints as something. “Little boxes?” Arc nods. “Security cameras. And they look new.” Sereb growls. “I certainly did not see them on our previous trip.” Ember gasps. “Can they see us?” Rose shakes her head. “Unless they have thermal scanning we should be fine.” Arc looks toward the dock. “Agreed. Let’s get inside now.” Max calls out to Arc over his earring. “Be careful, sir.” Viktor looks over his screen. “We’ll monitor your progress like we did last time.” “Thanks. Let me know if the signal starts to get weak though.” Max tunes the receiver. “Yes sir.” Arc Blinks them inside the building. As expected the docks are empty. Ember breathes a sigh of relief. “This is a lucky break.” Arc nods. “That it is. You smell anything, Sereb?” “This place was quite busy not that long ago.” “Well it is a dock, big guy.” Ember looks to Arc. “What do you think they were unloading?” “Let’s look around and find out, shall we?” They split up and look around the docks before reconvening a few minutes later. “So what did you two find?” Ember points to a nearby wall. “They’ve got a bunch of wood under that tarp over there.” “Wood?” Ember shrugs. “Maybe they want to fix this place up?” Arc looks around. “Maybe. I mean, it could certainly use it. But I doubt they have anyone here who has experience doing legitimate construction work. Rose?” Rose looks to some crates in a corner. “I found some hard hats, gloves, hammers, shovels and other work tools.” Viktor calls out over Arc’s earring. “I saw a news article about a nearby hardware store being robbed in the night, sir.” Sereb turns to Arc. “The building theory is looking more plausible.” “Hmmm… maybe. I found a bunch of tarps and temporary lighting. This just doesn’t make sense though. This building is big enough. Why build something else?” Rose frowns. “Maybe they’re building storehouses elsewhere?” “Possible, but unlikely. They would have to guard them. Here they can keep a close eye on everything that goes on.” Ember sighs. “Makes sense. But they’re definitely doing SOMETHING!” Arc nods. “Let’s carry on. Maybe we can pick up some more clues on the way.” Rose turns to Arc. “I hope so. Where to next?” “This way.” Ember follows him down the corridor with the others. “Sure but… where?” “You’ll see.” He leads them deeper into the base. Soon they stop at a corner. Arc peeks around it to see two burly guards standing on either side of a door. “I figured as much.” Ember calls forth her spear. “We can take those two!” Rose shakes her head. “But they could call for help.” Arc nods. “Right. We need to get past them without them raising the alarm.” Ember sighs. “Got a plan?” “Yes. But I need Sereb’s help.” “Very well.” A few minutes later Sereb walks around the corner and over to the guards. He tugs on one of their pantlegs before walking a short distance and looking back. Shrugging, the two guards follow him around the corner. They take a few steps before vanishing from sight. Rose smiles. “That worked?” Arc nods as he removes the sigil from the floor and stands up. “That it did.” Ember turns to Arc. “Uh… where exactly did you send them?” “The old archives room in the public library.” Rose looks confused. “Won’t they just call their friends?!” Arc shakes his head as they walk toward the now unguarded door. “I doubt it. They’ll probably stand around confused for a few minutes before walking back here.” “Walking?” “Yeah. They can’t really tell the others why they were there. Everyone would just think they’re crazy. That and I doubt they want Stingray hearing they left their post.” Sereb chuckles. “Clever.” He jumps in Ember’s arms as she and Rose stand very close to Arc in front of the door. Concentrating, he Blinks them inside. Ember looks around. “Where… are we?” Arc turns on the lights as he and the others decloak. “Frank’s room.” Sereb raises an eyebrow. “The leader of the Shard’s… room?” Rose’s eyes grow wide. “What?! But… but I thought you said he was a bad man, Arc!” “…y-yeah.” Ember narrows her eyes as she looks at Arc. “How exactly did you know where that was?!” Arc walks over to a dresser. “I… look, we’ll talk about it later.” Ember frowns. “I’m holding you to that!” “Fine. Just look around for clues.” They search the room carefully. Ember looks over a table. “Frank sure is organized.” Arc nods. “He’s always been like that.” Ember shrugs. “To run an organization like this I guess you’d have to be.” “Mother told me hard work pays off. Is that not the case?” Arc sighs. “That’s true. But he’s working toward a rather shady goal.” Ember calls out to the others. “Hey! There’s some strange looking device over here, Arc!” “That’s a laptop, Ember.” “A what?” “It’s like the computer I have at my house, but portable.” Rose looks confused. “Why would he have one?” “They do quite a few different things. Frank probably has one so he can do his work from this room as well.” “So what do we do with it?” “I’ll take it. Maybe there’s something on here we can use.” Ember gives Arc the laptop. He puts it in his magic ring as Rose looks under the bed. “This is strange.” Ember walks over. “What is?” Rose pulls out a shoebox. “There’s some pictures in a box over here.” Arc joins her. “Really? Let me see.” He looks over the pictures for a few moments before quickly putting the box in his ring. Ember turns to him. “Anything interesting, Arc?” “M-maybe. We’ll see later.” Rose raises an eyebrow. “Is something wrong, Arc? Your heart rate is increasing.” “It’s nothing! Let’s keep searching.” They continue looking around. Arc opens a small drawer in the nightstand. “Hello…” Rose looks over. “What is it?” “I think this is Frank’s journal. Maybe he wrote something in here.” Ember grins. “Let’s have a look then.” Arc opens the journal. “Let’s see here…” He reads over the last few entries. “Not much out of the ordinary here. Something about Stingray running a new plan by him later.” Ember raises and eyebrow. “Isn’t that suspicious?” Rose tilts her head, confused. “How so?” “Stingray has a plan and then Frank suddenly goes missing?!” Arc looks up from the journal as he stores it in his ring. “Maybe. Sadly it doesn’t give any details into what said plan was. Maybe we should look into what’s in Stingray’s room. I can read over this in depth later.” Ember frowns. “But she’s probably in there sleeping right now!” Arc thinks for a moment. “Yeah… hmmm… well, if she’s anything like Frank she might still be up working. Rose nods. “It’s possible. But how would we know which room was hers?” “This is the most intact part of the building. It stands to reason her quarters would be near Frank’s.” Sereb nods. “Makes sense.” Arc touches his earring. “Max, you read?” “Yes sir.” “Any signal issues like last time?” Viktor looks over the instruments. “No sir. The signal is strong at the moment.” “Good. Let me know if that changes. Arc out.” He touches his earring and turns to the others. “Let’s cloak up and take a walk.” They nod. Turning off the lights and cloaking as Arc Blinks them back out into the hallway. “Let’s check a couple of these doors.” Sereb looks around. “I can help with that.” “How?” “I have her scent from our last encounter.” Arc grins. “Good. I really don’t want this to get ugly.” They walk slowly down the hallway. Sereb looks over at a nearby door. “This is her room.” Ember looks at the door. “Are you sure?” “Her scent is heavy here.” Arc frowns. “Is she in there?” Sereb pricks up his ears. “No. I do not hear anything inside.” Rose turns to Arc. “Are we going in?” “Yeah.” They move in close as Arc Blinks them inside and decloaks. Rose whispers to Arc. “Is it safe to turn on the lights?” “Probably not. But if we don’t we can’t properly search the room. It’s a calculated risk.” He flicks the switch and they look around. The room is rather spartan in its contents. Ember chuckles. “Huh… I thought that banshee would have a nicer room.” “I guess there’s more to her than meets the eye. In any case, start looking.” They search the room in moments but find nothing of interest. Arc sighs. “Well… it was worth a shot.” Rose looks around the room before pointing to the nightstand. “There is something strange behind that little table.” Ember looks down. “I don’t see anything.” Rose walks over and picks an object up. “What is this, Arc?” Arc takes the small, cylindrical item from her and frowns. “Viktor, do you see this?” “Yes sir.” “Take a screenshot of it and see if you can figure out exactly what it is.” “Right away, sir.” He puts the item in his ring before turning to the others. “Let’s go.” Ember nods. “Where to this time?” Arc cloaks and turns off the lights. “I’m not really sure. Rose, how powerful are your scanners?” “I can probably scan anywhere in the base. What are you looking for?” “Anything… volatile. Gasoline, gunpowder… anything that goes boom. Start scanning the inside of the building.” “Very well.” She closes her eyes and concentrates. “Nothing.” Arc thinks for a moment. “Okay, scan outside now.” Rose does so. “There are two spots with explosives. One small, one large.” Arc frowns. “Disregard the smaller of the two. Tell me about the larger one.” “A small shed is filled with crates of something volatile. Sadly, I can’t identify what it is exactly, as the substance is not found in my data banks.” Ember frowns. “Then how do you know what it is?” “From its chemical properties.” Sereb growls. “So the Shards have explosives. This does not bode well.” Arc frowns. “Agreed.” Ember grins wickedly. “Should we take it away from them?” “Probably should. I can’t see them doing anything beneficial with it. What side of the building are the explosives, Rose?” “The northeast corner of the compound.” “Let’s go check it out.” Arc Blinks them through the door. They walk down corridor after corridor until they come to a large dimly lit room. Suddenly they decloak. Ember looks around. “Hey! What the…?!” A female voice rings out somewhere nearby. ”My, my, my… it looks like I’ve found the rats that have been sniffing at our cheese.” They look across the room to see a young woman with long green hair and a small pair of spectacles perched on her nose. She is flanked by two dozen armed Shard members. “Hero of Light, I presume?” Arc removes his cloak and stashes it in his ring. “I see my reputation precedes me, miss…” The woman smiles slyly and pushes her glasses up with her index finger. “Lieutenant Mio.” Ember glares at the woman. “What do you want?!” Mio giggles. “I suppose I could ask you three the same thing. Sneaking in here like this isn’t very heroic after all.” “We’re just sightseeing. Now if you’ll excuse us…” Arc turns with the others toward the open double doors behind them. They suddenly slam shut. Arc and company turn back to see Mio holding out a hand toward the doors and shaking her head. A smile across her face. Ember’s eyes grow wide. “How did you…?!” Mio shakes a finger at them. “Tut, tut. But you only just arrived. Please… stay awhile.” Cherry speaks to Arc telepathically. “This mare is trouble, Arc! Be careful!” Ember calls forth her spear. Mio turns to one of her guards across the room as he holds out a staff. Reaching forward she pulls it to herself and takes up a battle ready position. Arc frowns. “Interesting. So where did you learn to do that?” Mio shakes her head. “You forget, I am the one asking the questions here. That and I could ask you the same thing.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Oh, I think you do. How else could you and your friend here have escaped that burning building?” Arc shrugs. “Um… just lucky I guess.” Mio shakes her head. “Really now? Let’s see…” She looks around. Resting her gaze on a crate nearby Mio focuses and throws it at Rose. Arc whirls around and pushes it out of the way with his magic. Mio smiles and nods. “I knew you had it too! I KNEW you had magic!” “Fine! What of it?!” She takes a few steps toward him. “You and I… we’re the same. Join our family and you can be with others who share the gift of magic.” Arc shakes his head. “Thanks for the offer, but I already have a family.” Mio takes up a battle-ready stance again. “It was not a request. Join us!” “I will not.” Mio motions for her troops to get ready. “Well then… perhaps Stingray will have better luck convincing you when she returns. In the meantime, you’re not going anywhere.” She steps forward with her troops slowly. Mio raises her hands. They glow as she casts a strange spell on Arc and his friends. Arc reaches for his ring. “Okay. Looks like playtime is over!” He attempts to call forth his spear, but cannot. “Great… this again?” Mio smiles at him, still casting. “Yes, well… there is no shame in admitting defeat by a superior opponent. Right now I can use magic, and you cannot. Please surrender peacefully now. You and I have much to discuss.” Arc takes a step back with the others. “Like what?” Mio continues forward with her troops. “An individual with your talents belongs with us.” “Not really interested in…” “Come now! Become a part of something larger than yourself. Join our little… organization.” Arc stops. “I already have one of those.” “Well… right now you don’t have much of a choice. There are three of you and dozens of us.” Ember turns to Arc. “This… doesn’t look good.” Cherry speaks to him, nearly frantic. “Arc, if you have a plan, now’s the time!” Rose looks to Arc. “Any ideas?” Arc nods. “Guys, I think it’s time we left. BOYS! LIGHT IT UP!” A few moments later an ear shattering explosion can be heard outside. The Shard members drop fearfully to the floor as Mio looks around confused. “What the…?!” Seeing her concentration momentarily broken, Arc pushes the others toward the door. “GO!!!” The group runs toward the closed doors behind them. Arc puts his arms around Rose and Ember’s shoulders as Sereb jumps onto his back. Blinking through the doors Arc turns just long enough to use his magic to push over the crates on either side of the doorway, effectively blocking their pursuers. Ember fumes at him. “Great plan!” “Don’t thank me yet!” “THANK you?!” Max calls out over the earring. “They’re breaking though! Hurry!” Viktor shakes his head. “No, sir! Not that way!” “It leads to a dead end, sir! Arc nods. “I know! But it’s right where we need to be!” He focuses his magic as they run toward the end of the corridor. Putting his arms around Ember and Rose yet again he Blinks them through the wall. They drop down several feet to the ground below and land on their faces. Arc helps Ember and Rose up as an alarm goes off. “Keep running! Hurry!” Rose turns to Arc as they run. “Xenos and Hugh are just ahead.” Arc nods. “I see them!” Stopping to meet up with the others Arc quickly open a portal. “Everyone in!” They rush through and find themselves on the hill overlooking the Shard hideout. Xenos and Hugh decloak and turn to Arc. “What happened in there sir?!” Arc sighs. “Things didn’t quite go according to plan.” He turns and beckons them to follow him. “Let’s get back to the Jeep and get out of here. We have work to do.” “Yes sir!” Meanwhile back at the Shard hideout, Mio looks out the window at the courtyard. Having watched them make their escape, Stingray walks over to her. “So, what did you learn, Mio? Mio sighs as she continues to look out the window. “He does indeed have the gift of magic.” “Are you completely certain?!” “Yes. I saw him use it with my own eyes. A second time when he and his friends escaped.” Stingray stands next to Mio as they continue to watch the grounds bustling with activity. “This is… troubling.” “How so?” “You know as well as I do that only a select few were given the gift.” Mio nods. “Yes. It is quite… regulated and documented.” “I’ll have a talk with our handler. See if they can turn up something on him. He HAS to have some kind of connection to us if he could…” Mio shakes her head. “Magic is so… complicated and simple at the same time. Is it really so hard to believe that someone could just be naturally gifted?” “It is! No one has EVER had that kind of power without being artificially imbued!” “So… you believe him to be talented then?” Stingray frowns. “Well he DID survive meeting both of us.” Mio giggles. “Hammer will want to introduce herself to this one. Sooner rather than later I would think.” Stingray nods. “Yes. She is… impatient.” “I do pity that poor fool. Hammer will not go easy on him.” Stingray turns around and scoffs as she walks away. “Yeah? Neither will I when next he and I meet!”