Jack rolled to help cover the rest of the distance between him and the blade, and then dove for it, feeling his heel being slapped around by the golem's fist as he did so. Tumbling through the air just above the ground, the splicer scrabbled on foes and fingers, avoiding the golems as best he could, before reaching out for the ancient blade. The sword slipped into his grip, almost as if leaping off the floor to meet his clawing hands.
Considering that it was talking to him, that wasn't altogether that surprising, actually.
And suddenly the world became different.
Everything slowed. The falling orbs, the etched jewels, the tattered books and yellowing scrolls. All of it slowed as Jack's shoulder graced across the ground. He could read the title of a book the length of the room away, though the curiously alphabet-like words were foreign to him. He could feel each pebble as it was crushed between his tonic-armored shoulder and the ground, hear the crackle and crunch as the golems pounded across the floor. The smell of worn leather wrapped around the handle of the blade. His breathing, raspy and harsh. And through this all, the thudding heartbeat of the thief, his prey.
Jack rolled. The world returned to normal.
The splicer jinked to one side as a golem bodyslammed the ground where he had been, cratering the stone underneath. Wreathed in Winter, the left hand of Jack slapped down and froze the golem into place. He jumped back as another used its fallen fellow construct as a springboard, propelling itself at the man with the sword, the spiked arm drawing back as it prepared to jab him in the stomach with a two-foot spike. Jack slapped the spike out of the way, then simply punched through the dirt-y head, freezing it in place with a pair of Winter Blasts.
"Aww, c'mon, partner! I didn't tell you to pick me up for no reason! You got a sword in your hand, so start using it!"
Twisting his arm around, Jack understood. Instinctively. The way to grip his sword, the way to swing the blade. Loosen the pinkies. Brace legs, but don't tense. Push with left arm, pull with right, swing with the shoulders and waist. Cut with the last foot of the blade, take advantage of the length. Exhale, now move. He drew his sword in a left-to-right motion, neatly bisecting the man-like construct with a perfectly executed horizontal slice.
His new blade laughed and laughed and laughed as it tore through earth and stone, steel humming as it bit into stone and earth.
"Yeeehaw! I love this new guy!"
Subtly, Jack saw that that more than just the golem was being cut by the blade; the dirt was actually crumbling before it actually hit its cutting edge; the sword, whatever it was, was drinking deeply from the earthy brown magic that held the golem together, tearing its internal support structure apart as it sliced through its stone.
Interesting.
Jack, having completed that first swing, then immediately made a fast upwards swipe, slashing a line from groin to forehead, again with the same crumbling effect as before. There was a feeling, he realized, that the sword was getting heavier and heavier in his hands. And it was starting to hum, ever so slightly.
The quartered construct fell to the ground, even the stone that had once made it up now disintegrating to dry dust. Jack stepped back as it clawed at him, the stone still obeying whatever magics had programmed it to attack him, even as it crumbled to dust. The blade in his hand sang, literally, as it began to emit a soft glow.
"This little light of mine..."
Turning his attention to the thief, he found her gone, and the other golem standing there, barring his way. Great. Okay, so she was here to steal the artifacts, not engage him. This was a delaying tactic. He wasn't sure if he should have been insulted at his dismissal or relived that she wasn't sending any more golems in his direction. The clatter of valuable baubles being thrown onto a waiting artificial hand drew his attention.
"That's it. This is far beyond what I bargained for. I'm outta here."
Heavy sounds, such as that of a large chest being thrown aboard a waiting stone hand, echoed through the Vault. This was closely followed by the sound of a golem pulling itself free of the Vault.
"Hey, partner, you heard that too, right?" Queried the sword.
Jack tightened his grip on the blade, eliciting a small chuckle from the bastard sword as the man turned to face the golems now barring his way, the cobblestone constructs glowing orange from the light of the fire plasmid in his arm as it ignited.
"Yep."
= Outside =
Louise clambered over fallen debris and tumbled sections of wall, and pulled the red wrench from where it had landed. She gripped the cold steel, and held the hunk of metal awkwardly in her hands.
"This is meant to be a weapon?" She groused, hefting the heavy pipe wrench. Louise did not dare let her magic flow through it, lest she blow up her familiar's precious weapon, but instead gripped it tightly as best she could. The pinkette looked up, trying to figure out what was happening with the battle inside of the vault; the larger golem was stationary, its arm elbow-deep in the bowels of the tower, and... Louise strained her ears. Yes. There were sounds of fighting inside. The feel in the air shifted again, the tension in the ground rippling as magic was drawn inwards, like Cattleya's tiger drawing breath before a loud roar.
Five rapid movements caught her attention, just before one of the Vault's walls burst outwards in a spray of cobblestone and shattered shelving. A golem landed in pieces some fifty feet from the base of the tower, where it broke into limbs and pieces, scattering across the lawn.
Idly, the pinkette wondered how many toes would be stubbed by unwary passers bybefore the stones were cleared away after this incident.
Louise's train of thought was jerked back as a square of light appeared on the wall, and was sucked inwards. There was another crash. She whirled around as footsteps approached her, hefting the wrench awkwardly in her hands, ready to... ready to... what? As if answering an unspoken question, Kirche arched and eyebrow, and pushed the unresisting wrench away.
"Valliere? Just what is happening here?"
"Its that thief, Foquet!" The pinkette growled, indicating towards the tower. "That stupid familiar of mine went and picked a fight with the thief and... and..." The girl fell silent, and then pointed accusingly at the readhead. "And what are you doing here!"
A finger pointed at the tower-sized golem. "As you can see, that is anything but subtle. And believe me, I know what subtlety looks like." The Zerbst licked her lips. "Right about now, half the school is up and wondering what is happening at the moment. Duck."
The readhead followed her own advice, ducking her head and crouching down as the slab of stone passed over their heads. However, the pinkette did not. Louise, still standing straight, rubbed the top of her head, patting the disturbed hair back into place with wide eyes. She trembled slightly as she picked stone chips from her scalp.
Kirche allowed a nervous laugh. "Oooh, never mind. You're too short to have to worry about that. Work on your reflexes, though. One hair lower and that would have taken off the top of your head, shorty."
The pinkette's cheeks flushed a bright red. "Just who are you calling sh-"
"Step back, shorty."
"Will you stop calling me sh-"
Zerbst jumped away from Louise, letting a stone the size of her head pass between them. However, this time the youngest Valliere did jump back. The pinkette murmured something indecipherable, and then turned her head to the source of the hypervelocity stone; the new holes in the tower.
Kirche cocked her head to one side, then pointed off to the nearby gatehouse.
"Lets head that way, shall we?"
Both girls nodded, and in the first cooperation between Valliere and Zerbst in almost seventy four years, took up a brisk walk away from the fight that sent large chunks of stone flying off in various directions, often at sufficient velocities to punch a hole in three-foot stone walls. More students were starting to gather, albeit from a (great) distance. Whispers of a rematch were quickly put down as Guiche arrived.
Eyes wide, the blond boy goggled at the destruction wrought upon the academy grounds.
"Just what is happening here?" He bellowed dramatically, brandishing the rose wand. "A shame upon any Earth mage! To use our noble craft for such ignoble purposes!" With his hand sweeping up to cup his oh so precious head, the blond fop shook his head from side to side, before raising his earthen golems with a flick of a rose petal.
Louise, with Kirche in tow, hurried past him, ignoring the presence of the two steel-and-earth Valkyries that now stood on either side of the General's youngest son. "Its Foquet, you brick-for-brains! Just look at that golem! Now get away before you get hurt! Everybody, move away from the tower! Go away already, before you get hurt by the debris! NOW!"
Students recoiled at the sudden concern shown by the scion of Valliere, and retreated back a pace. Their thoughts, however, were interrupted as the golem groaned as it wrenched itself free from the Artifact Vault. It seemed... well, almost frantic in its detachment from the tower. Three figures were standing atop its headless torso; Foquet and two of her golems, now bearing large, flat shields the size of a door. The two shield golems locked their two plates together as a lance of flame shot out from inside, striking the leftmost golem. It penetrated, spearing one, then a flick of a wrist bisected the golem.
Jack launched himself out of the hole, a sword now in his hand, and landed heavily on the golem's shoulder.
= ii
Was this for real? He bounced from craggy joint to craggy joint, his body moving fluidly, springing away from blows and returning them with unnatural proficiency. Jack didn't know how to use a sword. He used clubs, almost exclusively. And yet the splicer was wielding the sword with the ease of a lifetime's worth of training. Something was off. He should not be able to do this...
"You gotta attack its weak point, partner!" The sword clacked, interrupting his thoughts. "Only real way to bring it down is through massive damage! Golems this big always have a magic-saturated catalytic core to help run the whole thing! Its like the heart, or a lung, actually. Maybe a kidney? Dunno about squishy bits, you people have such complicated names for them. But anyway: you take out the core, and you can bring down the entire golem! Maybe. I don't know for sure, actually."
"Really." Jack eyed the sword quizzically.
"If it has one. Usually a sphere of some kind. Mostly stones with runes on them, squiggly little things like the one on the back of your hand. Some of the time. I think. Saw a few that had just a smiley face and a name on them. One of them just had a rude word on it! But anyway, find the core, partner! You might need to do some searching, though, since sometimes there are more than one core," It rambled on unhelpfully. "sometimes there aren't even any! Most fun of all, some of them blow up! But one thing's for sure; the best thing is to go for the core, partner! "
Huh.
Jack gripped the golem's skin tightly as he hauled himself upright, then staggered across to its shoulder. Foquet launched a rock at him, then brought up a thick stone wall made of the golem's torso as Jack retaliated with a blast of winter ice. Damn, too little EVE for anything fancy. Just blasts from now on.
"Core. Where?" He asked the blade.
"I dunno. Find it yourself! I can stab it, though, once you do find it."
"..."
"Hey, I don't really have eyes, partner, so you're on your own, two-eyes."
Jack slapped the golem with the blade, the sword making a loud clang as it bounced off the solid stone.
"Ow! Hey! I dent easily, partner... I don't think that's quite helping with the whole 'killing the golem' idea we're on."
"Better one?"
"I dunno... start slicing larger chunks off of it?"
"... sure."
Jack raised the sword with one hand, holding the ancient blade above his head, point at his cheek and angling downwards towards the stone skin and earthen flesh underneath. The blade hummed in his hands as Jack searched for a kink. Pushing hard, the sword sunk into the stone cracks.
The golem shuddered as a muffled sword spoke. "Yep, think that works better."
"Core?"
"Uh... I can sense it. Kinda. Off to your left, partner. Feeling real tingly over that way."
Casually, the splicer began to poke the golem's neck, punching small, fist-sized holes into its stone skin using stab-twist combinations. This went on for a little while.
"... y'know, I think we should be doing more productive things, partner."
Jack held up the sword, ignoring the lurching golem as he steadied himself. The splicer was about to plunge the sword deep into the golem when another hunk of rock shot past his head. The third one would have hit him in the face had he not simply punched it out of the air with the pommel of the blade.
"'ey! That hurt, dammit!"
"Blocked it."
"I know, but that still hurt!"
"Steel hurts?"
"No, but brass does! And that's what my pommel is made out of! To think that my partner was so cruel and inconsiderate to me! Oh woe is me!"
"..."
Foquet stared, arms limply by her sides, as the silent man and the talktative sword rambled along to each other.
"You... I've heard about you." She squeaked, pointing a finger at the blade. "Should have realised it sooner. Talking blade, absorbs magic like crazy... you're Derflinger, aren't you? The Left-Hand's sword. Mage-killer, army breaker. You're... oh Founder... you're priceless..."
"Hah. Good girl. Right on all counts, except for the bit about me being a sword."
"Hu-"
Jack's sweep almost took off her head. Instead, the tip of the sword tore through the front of the thief's hood. She staggered, the cowl almost slipping from her head, but a quick pull down masked her face in the shadows. Huffing as adrenaline shook her, Foquet stumbled back, raising her iron wand in a self-defensive gesture. "That was a cheap trick from a supposedly noble sword."
"Heh. Almost got ya. And you're fast! So fast! You too, partner, seeing that chance, but still the girl was faster!" "Y'know what, I kinda like you, except for the whole trying to kill my new partner thing."
Jack leaped forward again, sword thrusting forward, plunging through the thief's coat.
A golem clapped its hand on Jack's shoulder, while a second wrapped its arms around his sword arm.
"Get. Off. My. Golem."
The two golems leaped.
"Dangerous." Tabitha commented, stepping into the shadow of a pillar as stones rained down from above. There was a rippling explosion in the background, and Guiche squared off against the pinkette. She glanced nervously at the golem, then suddenly began to backpedal.
"Uh... move!"
"What do you mean, Valliere?"
A second series of explosions, this time without warning, shattered windows or simply made new ones. Stone rained down from above, seeding fist-sized chunks of masonry into the lawn around the stunned Gramont. The dismembered head of a golem bounced off the pavement a few feet away.
"That."
Jack of Rapture landed much closer to the lawn, grappling with a golem that had hurled the two of them off of the colossus. Instead of breaking, however, his tonic-reinforced legs were gouging the turf as the golem landed just after him, grinding its stone club – its partner's arm, in fact - against the flat of the splicer's newfound sword even as its other hand fought to pin the splicer down.
The man braced, heaved, and hurled the golem to the ground before leaping after it to almost-straddle the construct. He drew back his blade, and plunged it into the golem's chest. The sword hummed again, this time gaining more mass, as it sucked the magic out of the construct.
"That felt good." Murmured the blade. "Been a long time since I had last done this magic-sucking thing. Swear I could have forgotten about it if I wasn't treated right."
Two more golems pounded into the ground where Jack had been standing, had he not suddenly sprang back. They raised giant stone swords, each easily as long as they were, and stepped forward, barring his way. Louise stepped forward, raising her wand.
"Fireball!"
A sudden pressure sucked at his ears, and the lead golem vaporized as a fire-less explosion ripped through it, tearing off its arm and sending it sprawling to the ground. Jack followed through with a stomp, crushing its chest as his sword whipped around to behead it.
"Not so much of a Zero now, am I, Zerbst?" Louise coldly declared, her wand visibly shaking as she shifted her aim to the next one.
"Oh pooh, Louise, you will always be a Zero. One way or another. Like, you know, your accuracy."
"I hit it!"
"Barely; you clipped its shoulder."
"I still took it down!"
"Your familiar did."
Guiche drew up short, gawking as Jack straightened, the talking sword in his head yammering on about his surroundings, how new they were, and how long it had been since he had gotten outside.
The blonde fop pointed at the sword.
"Talking sword?"
Wrenching itself around in Jack's grip, the sword pointed itself at the da Gramont scion. "Yep, kiddo. Talking sword."
"B-b-but..."
"Heh. Always with the doubt. Yes, this is a talking sword. Get over it, boy."
"T-t... talking sword."
"Yes yes, I talk we get it, big shock boo hoo."
Jack, instead of paying any attention to the sword and the earth mage gawking at it, was turning his focus towards the larger construct – dubbed 'the colossus' in his mind - and the three figures atop it. The colossus itself had emptied out its chest, creating its own, miniature vault full of treasures, it arms scooping up caskets like spilled marbles and placing it into its chest. Two smaller golems, one Foquet. The man-sized constructs were loaded up with a pair of caskets/chests each, while Foquet was already chanting to make new golems with her iron wand. The colossus began to turn, shambling away from the splicer. Jack charged.
"That man was just ejected from that golem, and now he's running back at it? Impressive." Kirche murmured in awe as the golem drew back, almost in fright, while the Familiar of Zero leaped up to try and catch up with the massive construct. It tried to bat him out of the air, torso twisting to shield its maker, and was stabbed in the shoulder for its troubles.
But the thief herself was not about to sit about being helpless; she waved her wand to and fro, summoning more golems from the earth, having them scamper up the colossus to try and pull the intruder down. Stones began to leap up from where they had landed, soaring up into the air and then raining down onto the golem, adding to the mass as Jack shifted around with the sword in his hands, trying to avoid the stones as they climbed aboard the colossal golem.
"Founder damn you! You're like some disease, some pest! Go away already!"
Suddenly, the arm detached itself, jettisoning the splicer as well as a good two tons of rock and earth. Jack scrambled top the 'top' of the falling limb, even as it disintegrated around him, and then leaped off at the last moment, tumbling to the ground. Minimal injury, at least. He stood, the implacable man drawing back the sword and charging forward yet again.
"Just what does it take to get rid of you, Jack of Rapture!" Screamed Foquet. Weaving through her golems, Jack sliced through them in a blur of steel, cutting through the resistance as his target tried to flee. More barred his way, and a blast of incinerating flames burned them to the ground. Foquet watched as the burning arm simply slagged her golems with gouts of flame. This needed to end, fast.
"I was hoping that I wouldn't need this..."
A small bar of metal was produced from within her robes, and cast at the advancing splicer. The iron wand flicked, shredding the bar with an unseen force, silver ribbons scattering into the air around the splicer. Jack
"Don't!"
Foquet smiled as she directed the harmless chunks of light metal, wrapping them around the flames surrounding the splicer's arms. As they did, the strips disintegrated into tiny chunks. The powdered magnesium ignited, the cloud of particulate metal burning all around the splicer.
A bright light enveloped the courtyard.
Louise lowered her arm, her vision swimming with bright dots, outlines of the scene before her still flash-burned into her sight. She rubbed her eyes, and tried to seek out her familiar. Students were scrambling away, some still half-blind by the flare as the pinkette mageling picked her way through half-seen figures. The courtyard around her was a scene of devastation typical of a high-level mage-battle; once magically reinforced stone now lay shattered as the Artifact Vault smoked, its gutted contents twinkling in the light of the magic lamps being lit all around them.
"Jack! JACK! Where are you!" The girl shouted, screamed. Rubble shifted, tripped her at times. She stumbled, but didn't fall. Around her, the cries grew louder.
"Founder... what was that!"
"Hey! That big golem's getting away!"
Pushing past the last of the students, Louise reached Jack. He was on his knees and hands, eyes squeezed firmly shut as if in pain. The sword lay at his side, muttering on and on about how bright and painful that must have been for the splicer. He was also trying to direct the man towards picking him up, mainly because the grass was tickling him. Louise picked up the sword, causing it to begin praising her, but then yelp as she drove it into the soggy earth.
"Oi. That's... uhm... that's rude!"
"Shut up." Louise growled, and knelt down beside her familiar. "Oh you stupid, stupid..."
"Louise?"
"Stupid familiar... you're going to have to call me master now. As punishment!" The pinkette sniffed, easing the man back into a seated position. "You go running off like that, fighting that mage! Foquet's on another level altogether from Guiche, you stupid, stupid familiar!"
"Urgh. Would have won."
"Oh?"
"Bright light..."
"M-magnesium powder. Pure magnesium, like that... " Murmured Guiche. "She must have transmuted it earlier; that's a triangle class spell at least. Broke it up into a powder... then, when your familiar's flames ignited it... well, you saw what happened."
Jack turned towards the source of the voice, and frowned.
"Guiche?"
Louise blinked. "Wait..."
She waved her hand in front of the familiar's distant eyes. Tried to draw his attention silently... but nothing.
Blind. He was blind?
"Jack... can you see me?"
= Sinclair Solutions Lab #3=
"Are you ready, Mister Jenkins?"
"R-ready... you sure this is gonna work, Michaels?"
Bang.
"Lets find out. Okay, Jenkins is dead! Turn on the chamber before he cools off already!"
The splicer's head hit the floor, dead from the single gunshot to the back of his head, delivered by a revolver. His body shimmered for a second as the Vita-Chamber hummed to life. The splicer disappeared, and was then unceremoniously spat out of the glass tube of sparkling blue energies, this time unharmed. He stumbled, tripped, then fell down the steel stairs. Following behind the sound of crashing man and breaking bones, and then the snap of a neck, the brass-framed Vita Chamber pulsed again, this time delivering one splicer sans broken neck into the waiting arms of a pair of scientists.
"I'd say yes, Jenkins. Vita-Chamber works just fine."
"Fuck. You."
Robert tapped the control console, keying the lab speakers. "Okay. That's our baseline. Functions as normal when subject is dead."
The recently dead splicer was lowered into a seat, and given something to drink.
"Phase two, subject living... you finished with your drink there, Jenkins?"
A nod.
"Okay, testing..."
A switch was thrown. The Vita-Chamber hummed, pulsed... and nothing happened.
"Try it again, Rob!"
Again, the switch was thrown. The Vita-Chamber sparked, flared... and again, nothing.
"So it ain't working?" Murmured Sinclair. He stood on the observation deck, a glass of water in one hand as he observed the experiments. Sipping thoughtfully, he swept his gaze over the banks of electronics. "What's wrong?"
"Okay, going with plan b."
Bang.
"So it works?"
"You motherf-"
"Yeah, looks like it works only when he's dead. Just as programmed."
"Quantum filters check out, boss. Thing is, this means that we have some good news: wherever he is, Jack Ryan ain't dead."
"So he's still alive?"
"Since, like I said, he ain't dead, I'll just say yessir. We've gene-locked this Vita-Chamber to Leeroy there, and we're gonna test if we can send something through to him, rather than try to bring him to us when he's dead." The man cupped his hands over his mouth, shouting out to some technicians above. "Hey, Baines! Are we ready for the third test!"
"I'd say so!"
"Good enough!" Turning back to Sinclair, the scientist stepped over to a control console. "Better not touch anything, sir, we're going to start it off now."
"And what are we doing?"
"Sending something to him."
"Right, mate, we've crossed the photonic streams, and the flux capacitor's gone and packed up again... dammit, switch over to the second one! So, sweetie, lets get to the music..."
The lights dimmed.
"Don't worry about that, just re-routing the power..."
Something in the main room shattered, sending a shower of orange sparks across the lab floor.
"Just some arcing, nothing to fret about..."
Motes of light started appearing all around the Vita-Chamber, some twisting around in complex patterns.
"I say, that looks rather pretty..."
The blue light of the Vita-Chamber shifted to a deeper red.
"Red-shifting... looks about right. Pearson, throw it."
"Throwing it..."
The audio diary was hurled at the glass contraption, quickly swallowed up by the red light and disappearing into the ether.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Well?"
= Tristain Academy, Outside of the Headmater's Office =
The school's surgeon sighed as he eased the blinded splicer into the seat.
"Can you see any better now, Mister Jack?"
Jack blinked a few more times. "Yes."
"Good. I suppose its just a case of flash-blindness, then. I feared that it would be something more severe, but it seems that you'll do just fine if you rest and recuperate." The man – Jonathan - said. "Take care of yourself, Mister Jack. I shall see to finding some reagents for your other wounds... you have cracked ribs, at least one burn on your body and a score of smaller wounds that I swear were there a few minutes ago... well, I'll have my work cut out for me. I'll see you in a moment."
Jack turned to a distant figure.
"The thief?"
Colbert made a small 'ah' sound as he was spotted. "We're hunting her down as we speak; the local township has been informed and are sending some watchmen and the rangers out to comb the forests near the Academy... but... there is another issue that is more... immediate."
Interested, Jack leaned closer. "Yes?" He queried.
Crossing his arms, the professor sighed in resignation. "I must mention that I have to re-catalogue the Artifact Vault and see what is missing. And, as you know, you took that sword from the Vault. I'm afraid that you'll have to let me take back Derflinger. He's a valuable part of the collection in the Artifact Vault, so... I do hope you understand, Mister Jack."
Frowning, Jack nodded. He understood.
"Derf?"
"I can tell what you're thinking, partner. And its a no. I don't want to go back in there."
"But..." Colbert began, but Jack shook his head. "See reason, Jack of Rapture! You've taken something from the Artifact Vault. You should be returning it!"
Jack's frown got bumped up into a scowl. He didn't like the idea of... imprisoning Deflinger. Again. But... the blade did belong in Colbert's care. There had to besomethingthat he could do... The sword pulled itself a half-inch out of the scabbard, and began to speak.
"Y'know what, baldy? I just figured... uh, rememberedsomething! Now that I got myself a swordsman, we can finalize that... pact... covenant... what was that word? Contract! That contract got sealed up with me! Y-yeah... sounds about right."
Colbert blinked. "Uh... contract?"
"Something that my last user had. If I choose someone to bear me, then the Academy is to release me from the Vault to their care. From then on, I'm theirs. More or less."
"Well... I... certainly wasn't expecting that... and where is this contract?"
"Its probably in my sword-case, but I doubt it'll still be around with all the fire magic that they were throwing around inside there. Y'know that, right?"
A gleam entered the old man's eyes. "Ah, so unfortunate." He smiled. "I'll just have to take the word of a legendary blade, then. Seeing as you've got a reputation and history, I doubt few people will try to call you out on it. Jack of Rapture, do you hereby accept the Founder's Blade, Derflinger?"
"We ain't getting married, baldy."
"Just say yes. Please? Formality's sake."
Jack cocked his head to one side. He didn't like this 'formality' thing. "... yes?"
"Good. Take care of him... it... Derflinger, I mean."
"It sounds good to me!"
"It is a valuable treasure to our country, Jack of Rapture. Please, treat it well. I'll have to ask you to sign a sheet later, for formality's sake, and will have to ask you that you leave him in Miss Valliere's room while you are here at the Academy, as we do not allow the public carrying of weapons on campus."
"... sure."
"Excellent. I suppose you three should be going now. I'm fairly certain that Old Man Osmond would be holding a meeting to discuss what course of action we shall take with the issue of Foquet. Now run along now, I've got a... ugh... a lot of cataloguing to do..."
Jack gave the man a sympathetic nod, and followed Louise.
= Lab #3 =
Smack.
Tumble, tumble, fall. Snap.
The vita-chamber crackled to life.
Jenkins stepped out of it, furious.
Robert walked over to it, curious.
"Looks like the test item." He said.
The audio diary began to play.
He smiled. "... ah. It works."
"So there's a time delay?"
