All Along the Watchtower

Prologue

"It still sounds like magic to me."

"I assure you, it is not."

"You're a wizard, Atrus."

"I am no such thing."

"Alright, alright." Six threw up her hands in surrender, "No need to get offended." She turned her attention back to the pip-boy, and flipped a page in the diary she was taking careful pictures of. "Why didn't you give me this earlier if you wanted me to read it? I mean, just thrusting it on me mere minutes before you send me off into enemy territory is mildly inconvenient."

"I apologize, my friend." His eyes fell on the red and blue books sitting innocuously on the corner of the desk where Six had just placed them. She had been their guardian for the four months she had been on the island, but now it was time to trust that Atrus wasn't going to burn them given the first opportunity. "I haven't been thinking clearly," He said eventually.

"That comes with the little amount of sleep you've been getting since this started," Six said, glancing up at him. "Seriously, when I leave, you should get some rest before you suffer a psychotic break. Three days and the hallucinations start." She happened to know that he had been up for about two.

"I will try," He managed a half-hearted smile. "Do not worry."

"So what's the plan? Or is that solely my department?" Six asked. She closed the journal, that task complete, and gave the man her undivided attention.

"For reasons you'll discover, I can't send you to Riven with a way out, but I can give you this." Atrus picked up one of the many books scattered across his desk and placed it beside the small journal she had been working with. "It appears to be a Linking Book back here to D'ni, but it's actually a one man prison."

"Another trap book?" She picked it up and gestured to the other two that had been previously like it.

"Yes. To capture Gehn. Once you've found Catherine, signal me, and I'll come with a Linking Book to bring us back." Atrus opened the book in front of him, and spun it around so it faced her. On the little screen was a distorted picture flashing different images she couldn't quite make out. "There's also a chance, if this all goes well, that I might be able to get you back to the place you came from."

"That'll have to do, I suppose." She bagged the trap book, and removed the Sonic Emitter to check that everything still checked out on it. "If things go wrong, you know I might have to just shoot Gehn if he isn't going to cooperate."

He stared towards the gigantic pile of rubble off to his left. He heaved a great sigh before nodding, his eyes shut.

"If it makes you feel any better, this thing takes a lot more than a single shot to kill most organics unless I get a really lucky hit in. At most, it'll just temporarily paralyze him." Six said, putting the Sonic Emitter in the holster at her side. Shame she didn't have a Plasma Defender.

Atrus said nothing in reply. He just watched as she hid Chance's knife in her boot and one of Sirrus' in the inside breast pocket of her duster. She would say Atrus looked distinctly unsettled, but not enough to speak his grievances. Six whistled for Roxie's attention.

"Wait about five minutes before letting Roxie come through. If I'm ambushed, she'll surprise the hell out of anyone trying to get the drop on me."

"Very well. Just, do keep in mind that she might frighten some of the villagers. They may even think she is some kind of demon," Atrus warned.

"That could actually work in my favor if they're all under Gehn's thumb like you suspect." Six stood up. "Alright, I best get to rescuing the fair damsel. Anything else before I go?" She asked.

"Good luck, my friend."

"Hang in there, Mr. Wizard. We'll be back before you know it." Six touched the Linking Panel and was gone.

Prologue End

"There must be some kind of way out of here," Said the Joker to the Thief.

"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.

Businessmen drink my wine.

Plowmen dig my earth.

None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"No reason to get excited," The Thief kindly spoke.

"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.

But you and I, we've been through that.

That is not our fate.

Let us not speak falsely now.

The hour's getting late."