Chapter Nine: Repaying Favors

The echoing roar of a carbine sounded from the side; I very nearly saw the heavy iron slug slam through my line of sight, marked by the trails of liquid darkmatter and fragmented metal as it bisected three Frights, in one side, out the other, and into the distance hardly slowed by the impact. Two more shots followed it, punctuated briefly by the quick snap-snap of the reloader, each a precise front-and-back multikill, until only the largest Fright remained. The creature swung its sword at me, but I raised my rifle and lanced it with a laserblast, finishing it off.

Silver Crescent's iron-soled boots crunched softly as he stepped over a blasted hedge. "I figured you might be around here," he said, resting his carbine on his shoulder. "You seem to have a knack for being the center of the action."

"Where were you about two minutes ago?" I asked quizzically.

"Oh, I was exactly where I said I would be, investigating the spawn point," the admiral replied stiffly. "Which, as you may have figured out for yourself, is right around here. Where's that tweedy little jester you've been hanging around with gone off to?"

"NiGHTS…" I swallowed hard. "That big armored thing grabbed her and…" My voice trailed off; I found it difficult to speak.

Silver Crescent followed my line of sight, towards the still-smoldering building where the jester had been so neatly disposed of. His expression became bleak. "Ah, so it would seem, such untimely fate…"

The admiral closed his eyes, outstretching an arm; the faint aura of Power glowered around his hand as he began doing something… searching, perhaps? His eyes snapped back open, and they were razing with flames.

"What's wrong, SC?" I asked cautiously.

Silver Crescent harrumphed, hefting his carbine in his grasp; he stepped over towards me. There was an abrasive tone to his voice, near to a growl. "Let's take a little field trip, shall we?"

Before I could react, he grabbed me by the front of my hoodie, black glistening in his hands. The ground fell out from beneath me; I yelped and grabbed tightly onto his outstretched arm as reality buckled, sliding out like a rock ledge into a ravine. I was falling from the sky, to the abyss beneath…

The ground reemerged beneath me as I was ejected from the rift, dumped rather unceremoniously several feet onto my feet. The ferocity of the maneuver spoke volumes of Silver Crescent's current moodset, as he could quite as easily place one precisely enough on one's feet so that one doubted having moved at all, but if he was pressed for energy (or very cranky) he might not bother wasting the Power required to execute the maneuver. Of course, I'd scripted enough of these scenes to be completely unsurprised to find a severe change in the panorama—we were back in the city, although in a slightly different part of it. Here was the waterfront, it seemed, which I had not realized might be around. The buildings here had verandas and hanging structures stretching out over the water, as though trying to hide the join between earth and sea. In the distance I could narrowly pick out a cluster of tall, narrow masts marking the marina, mostly obscured by a number of large buildings from this angle. The constant splash of water was soothing, but the confrontation that was erupting from in front of me all but droned it out.

"Having fun, NiGHTS?" Silver Crescent snapped, casting his scathing glare upwards. Clamped firmly into the wood of the boardwalk I was standing on with heavy iron talons was a great spherical cage, chained in place like a zeppelin of black iron and gleaming red darkmatter shielding, the likes of which the Dark One swathed his spaceships of war in when the Dread Fleets took to war from his ill harbors beyond the Terrene. Through the glow of energy I could make out the familiar form of NiGHTS, looking rather pitiful encased within the prison of near-impenetrable energy fields. Had she been captured?

The jester laughed nervously. "Oh, how nice of you guys to drop by… do you think you could give me a hand here?"

The admiral crossed his arms, tapping his carbine impatiently against his side. "You got yourself into this mess, you witless cretin, and you can get yourself out of it."

NiGHTS kicked the side of the cage; she only succeeded in bouncing off of it, slamming herself against the other side (although wounding perhaps only her pride). "This thing is built too well for me! I can't!"

Silver Crescent smiled dryly, shaking his head. "Personally, I like you better in there. You can't lead Narrator into harm's way, nor create a distraction for myself, and although I can usually find uses for additional persons, I quite simply have no position that I'd consider you competent to fill…"

I nudged Silver Crescent's shoulder. "Come on, we're strapped for people as it stands, we've gotta give her a hand…"

The admiral whirled to face me, his penetrating scowl drilling into the front of my head. "I do not remember stating that your opinions are of any consequence," he snapped. "I have an idea of what I'm doing. Do you?"

I leaned backwards slightly, and hoped my response was not as cagey as my voice was. "Aren't you being a little too technical? I mean, just using the people you want seems a bit untypical of you to me, you're usually more into giving people second chances than just using them when they're helpful to you…"

Silver Crescent's expression flattened. "I do implement that policy, but as you may have forgotten, I did give NiGHTS a second chance. She failed nearly as miserably as the first, and I'm not sure a third time is worth the gamble."

"Then forgive seventy times seven!" I came back, not skipping a beat. "The reason why the Armada beats the Dark Powers all the time is because you make every man count, rather than wasting them like the Dark One does! Besides, do you really want to give the guy a new minion? NiGHTS would make a really strong Fright for you to fight if you left her to the Dark One…"

"All right, all right, you've convinced me," Silver Crescent said, rolling his eyes. "I suppose I can account NiGHTS as 'improving', since she didn't get you killed this time."

NiGHTS whistled from the cage. "Hey, Narrator! Do you think you could break this thing?"

I turned and eyed the cage warily. "I'm not sure I could, it looks pretty well-built… hey, SC, do you think you could break the cage?"

"Let me see…" The admiral scrutinized the cage, his well-trained eyes probing its components. "It seems fairly primitive in design, I don't think it has anything electronic I could hack. The shielding suggests it has some kind of darkmatter generator in it, but judging by the aura it's giving off, it won't be easy to overload it…"

"Do you think you could do it, though?" I asked.

Silver Crescent sighed. "I could, but it would drain a lot of Power from me, and knowing the ferocity of this place's Frights I'd prefer a more efficient solution."

"It has a lock on it," NiGHTS suggested, motioning to the housing of the shield cowling; sure enough, there was a keyhole in the black iron. "Could you try breaking that?"

"A chunk of Blackiron that size would be tough for me to cut with my plasma axe," Silver Crescent said with disdain. "If Goldeye was here I'd let him try, he's into those sorts of gimmicks, but in his absence I would not consider it something warranting attempt. It probably has some sort of protective seal over it anyways, and I'd rather not test for that either."

"If there's a keyhole, there's got to be a key somewhere," I suggested. "A rather big key, in this case, but a key nonetheless…"

"I think there's three keys that lock together," NiGHTS commented. "The guards might have them."

"Guards?" I asked. Silver Crescent bristled from beside me, bringing his carbine up from his side. We both cast a suspicious gaze about the city around us. "You couldn't've said that sooner, huh…"

"I see one," Silver Crescent commented, pointing towards a high building nearby. I followed his line of sight and squinted; I could make out a large, dark form camped out on the top. "There's a second, right over there…" He motioned to a short building some distance away, where a similar vague form resided.

"Number three, right over here," I said, motioning to the building nearest to us. This one was better illuminated with fluorescents and a spotlight, and I could clearly make out the creature perched on top of it. It looked like a large, brightly-colored bird, menacing in stature, with a squat little demon seated comfortably in a saddle on its back, keeping far worse watch than he could possibly have realized.

"I say we take them out, grab the keys and spring NiGHTS out," I commented.

Silver Crescent brought his carbine to his shoulder, training its sights on the three, one after the other, slowly cycling back to the closest one. "Short, sweet and simple… there's just one problem. I can't shoot three ways at once, and if I nail one the other two will gang up on us."

I considered for a moment, thinking. I looked down at my feet, and suddenly remembered my sniper rifle, laid neatly beside my shoes where I had dropped it. I knelt and grabbed it, centering its crosshair over the guard atop the high building. "I can drop this one. That'll only leave the last one for us to take down."

"We'll fire the first shots at once, and I'll engage the second after," Silver Crescent muttered. "You ready?"

"As much as ever. On three: one, two, thr—"

The sharp, startling bark of Silver Crescent's carbine cut off the last part of my countoff. I heard the close guard shriek, and the familiar poof of its darkmatter reservoir fading to dust in midair. My shot lanced right through the shoulder of my target, knocking him clear out of the saddle, the burst of red and black marking his downfall. The third guard arose from his post, his steed leaping into the air, but to no avail; both Silver Crescent and I blasted him at the exact same time, the refire of the admiral's shot taking out the bird as well.

"Not bad marksmanship," Silver Crescent commented, knocking the now-empty clip from his carbine and fitting in a new one from his belt.

"They didn't even see it coming," I said cheerfully. "Wow, these Nightmaren aren't very bright at all…"

"Neither Frights nor Maren are not especially bright by anyone's standards," Silver Crescent said calmly. "I'll get the keys for us." He raised his hand in the air, summoning the objects towards him. Sure enough, three distinctly-colored keys (each one the size of a broadsword) shot out from the tops of the buildings. They clattered to the ground at his feet, spinning lazily in place from the momentum.

I knelt and scooped up all of the keys. "Okay, so which one goes in first?"

"The one labeled "One", I would presume," Silver Crescent said with a chuckle.

"They're labeled?" I checked, and sure enough, each key was elaborately embellished with a number on the handle. "Well, that's… intriguing…"

"It's awfully cramped in here," NiGHTS called in a slightly irritated tone. "Can't you open the cage up yet?"

"That cage has an eight-foot radius," Silver Crescent growled. "It's the biggest cage I've ever seen the Dark One use, most of them can't accommodate a human my size standing!"

I walked over to the foot of the cage, and looked at the fifteen-foot span of cable that led to the lock, high above my head. "Oh, great. Are there any ladders around here?"

Silver Crescent outstretched his hand; gingerly, he pulled the cage downwards to my level. "Try to be quick, I'm burning Power here," he warned.

I placed each key in the slot, giving them a quick quarter-twist; each one vanished right after it was used. Within a few moments I fitted the last one. The cage split open sideways, the barrier-shield vanishing; Silver Crescent relaxed his arm, and it fell over sideways with a dull thud. I had a sudden feeling something awkward was about to happen-- maybe it was the way NiGHTS was watching me?