A dispirited group returned to Neudaiz and were summoned right away to the meeting room. Inside, they were surprised to meet Lou and Fulyen Curtz, who had been present on Neudaiz to help keep watch on the security in the city with the AMF.
"Curtz," Scarlet said without much enthusiasm. "I didn't know you were here on the job today."
"Yes, I volunteered my squadron to help out with things here," he nodded. "Seems like you guys were going to need the help. Sorry about the festival and all."
Six jaws dropped as he finished his sentence.
"What snuck into your shell and took over you?" Scarlet said in disbelief. "You're normally such a jackass."
"Tactful as always," Curtz shrugged, though not without a hint of amusement. "Still, your honesty has never changed, Scarlet. It's a quality you should always keep – I've always admired that in you."
Scarlet was unable to find anything else to say, and for once in her life didn't respond to him. She merely arched her eyebrow and looked at him curiously before turning to Lou.
"I've asked you to come straight here because there's something I would like you to investigate. Apparently the terrorists have made a makeshift lair, if you will, in an abandoned temple in Shikon. I need you lot to go over there and investigate," she looked at each guardian in turn before continuing. "Also – there is this…' she drew the blinds on the small window in the meeting room and beckoned for them to go and look.
At first, Scarlet and Zaler frowned and the others stared blankly out onto the main street – it was still busy with people leaving, and the waterways were lined with small boats containing Communion guards, but things otherwise looked normal. It wasn't until Elbereth cried out and said; 'Ohtoku Mountain is gone!' that anybody noticed. The huge, daunting presence of the mountain of water was indeed gone.
"How has that even happened?" Leo spluttered in complete surprise.
"We don't know. We're looking into that right now, but they're being particularly difficult. The Communion guards don't want any outsiders going in to help try to restore the mountain," Lou said.
"I've had nightmares about this," Elbereth said in a weak, reedy voice. "I knew it was going to happen."
"Well you are related to the Light Master," Scarlet shrugged. "Maybe you, like the Maiden, can experience visions of the future. It could be worth looking into. If you could perform divinations too, it could prove to be a real help to us."
"I… I don't know. I've never had anything like this before really. Even my uncle said I was pretty useless as a Communion Sister," Elbereth replied.
"He would say that," Zaler growled.
"Perhaps Mirei's father, the Photon Master, was doing something to you?" suggested Louise. "He's already been caught once using forbidden photon seals on members of his own family – what's to stop him doing that to you too?"
"What would he gain by that?" shrugged Laia.
"Silly," chided Louise, "if El turned out to have better psychic ability then it's entirely possible she could have been selected to be the Divine Maiden. If that had happened, Doghi Mikuna wouldn't have been on such a cushy number anymore. Plus, he has his family name to uphold – I hear there's been a few powerful Mikunas in the history of the Communion."
"That's right. Well we can always try looking into that at some point," Scarlet said. "IF – and that's if, El is comfortable with that. El?"
Elbereth shrugged and said "I'll think it over."
Scarlet granted her a quick smile. "In any case, we need to focus on the situation at hand. If there's terrorists in that old temple, as intelligence suggests, then we should damn well get over there and flush them out before they do any more damage!"
"There is also a chance you may encounter Ethan Waber in there," Lou responded.
"I see," Scarlet said. "What would you have us do?"
"Beat him down and bring him in!" Laia yelled.
"Shh!" Scarlet said, giving her an annoyed glare.
"You're to watch him, speak to him if possible and report on anything he says or does when you return from your mission," Lou continued.
"Why aren't we going out to arrest him! He tried to kill the president! He's a criminal!" Laia continued in agitation.
"Just calm down, Laia," Leo scolded. "I don't believe for one minute he did that on purpose. I think there's more to that situation than meets the eye."
Scarlet was inclined to agree with him, but she refrained from giving her opinion. Dallgun had been far too calm when she had rushed to his office just after the alleged assassination attempt, even for a man like him, well known for his wonderfully calm exterior. Instead, she said; 'I understand. We'll do that.'
With that, the party flew out to Shikon, there to investigate the old temple. The g-flyer had had to be landed a small ways away from the temple due to the amount of wild tengohgs know to live in the area, and the rest of the way they travelled on foot. The journey was peppered with small battles and skirmishes with some of the tengohgs, but was easier for Elbereth than the previous mission. When they arrived at the temple, all seemed quiet and calm. Scarlet listened for any signs of waiting ambushes, but was met with only silence.
"All right," she said when she had decided the coast was clear. Let's get this over with."
"Agreed," said Louise, readying a double agito.
"I'm surprised there's nobody guarding the place," Zaler said.
"I think if they placed guards out here, it would make their hideout more obvious," Scarlet replied.
"Oh I see," Zaler shrugged. "That makes sense, I guess."
"Shhh!" Elbereth interrupted them. "I hear something!"
They listened for a moment in silence until Leo spoke.
"She's right," he nodded. "Sounds like animals or something. Headed this way."
"SEED!" exclaimed Louise as a crowd of crazed and altered ollaka came charging from one of the passages off the large temple entrance.
Quickly, these were dealt with, only to be followed by machine guards.
"How can these be here, working for a terrorist group?" Laia said. "These are CoG machine guards!"
"I don't know, but we've got to deal with them. Elbereth! Some razonde over here, if you don't mind, please," Scarlet pointed with her rifle and then opened fire on the oncoming wall of metal.
Elbereth cast her magic and her friends each began battling with their weapons of choice. Twice, she ensured she cast resta so they would be safe. Then the machines were taken down. Elbereth swelled with pride in herself and her team mates for doing such a good job.
"Quickly now," Scarlet said, breaking her out of her reverie, "let's get moving - everyone keep your eyes and ears sharp! There's probably more of those things around here."
Scarlet had been right. The temple seethed with CoG battle machines, all intent on destroying the intruding guardians. The temple also contained some intriguing evidence; there was machinery and research tools in a lot of the small rooms, and throughout the whole building, pipes, leads and other things that seemed to connect to one large machine or instrument of some sort.
"This just reminds me a little of that confinement system," Louise said finally. "I couldn't put my finger on it before, but it's just come to me now."
"You're right!" Scarlet said, slapping the side of her head. "It does look a little like that. How could I not have noticed?"
"Have you noticed the only thing here seems to be machines?" Leo pointed out. "Maybe this was a ruse?"
"Even so, we might still come across something useful," Scarlet said.
"Looks like trouble," Louise interjected as two Communion guards came running from behind a huge screen at the far corner of a vast room.
"About time they showed up," Scarlet snarled, not bothering to hide her annoyance or contempt.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" one of the guards demanded of them when they had stopped in front of them.
"We're with the guardians. We're chasing down the terrorists." Laia said.
"We don't need any help – it's all being handled," said the other one.
"Is that so? Is that why you have murderous battle machines running amok?" Zaler said.
"Please leave – we're taking care of it," the first one insisted again.
"This is ridiculous. You contacted Neudaiz HQ and requested the help!" Louise shook her head.
The second guard answered a comm. unit, almost immediately as it began to beep. "What? The machines? Okay, we'll be right there…"
"Let us help you," Scarlet tried one more time.
"No, please leave – we're asking you politely," the first guard said stubbornly.
"That's it – I've had it. Get out of the way!" Scarlet said, shoving one guard down and bowling the other over. She set off, running to the small passage leading off the main room from where they had come in. The others followed. Laia was whooping and yelling 'all RIGHT!'
"These Communion guys sure are fickle," Leo shrugged. "One moment they're asking for our help and the next they're trying to kick us out!"
"Chances are, a bunch of the guards contacted the Guardians but the rest of them didn't know," Elbereth guessed.
"It doesn't matter about that now," Scarlet said, "let's just keep going and see if we can get to the bottom of this before we get caught."
"I concur," Louise huffed.
"Look! It's Ethan!" Zaler suddenly yelled.
Sure enough, Ethan Waber stood just yards ahead of them by one of the doors. As they approached, he turned and watched for a moment, almost as if he were waiting for them.
"Ethan! Criminal – stay right where you are!" Laia shouted.
Then Ethan turned, ran through the door which, when shut behind him, locked – the lights along the door panel glowing its message of red denial.
"You could have just kept quiet," Scarlet rebuked her colleague. "Now we'll have to chase him all over this damn place."
"Sorry," Laia replied, not sounding as though she meant it at all.
"Heads up – more battle machines!" Leo grunted. Sure enough, a party of eight of them poured in through the door they had come from, which was subsequently locked – probably by the machines themselves.
Almost without thinking, Elbereth launched a fizzing, spitting ball of noszonde at the group. It flew speedily over to them and she shook the psycho wand once to detonate the ball. At once it exploded among them and shorted five of them out momentarily, and they all fell to the ground from the force of the electric charge, halting their progress towards the party immediately.
"Good work!" Scarlet praised her as she let loose a barrage of shotgun bullets. Louise was hammering them with a twin pistol and Leo, Zaler and Laia were charging them with spears. Elbereth then cast a surging bolt of zonde – much improved now and looking as fearsome and imposing as the rest of her magic, and it flew past the three fighters and crashed into the group of recovering machines. Then, when the spears hit them, they were finished and brought down with sparks and buzzes of protest.
Once down, the machines remained still, and the doors, after a second or two of delay, unlocked themselves.
"Quickly – after Ethan!" called Laia zealously.
Scarlet and Leo sighed, but followed her through the doors with the rest of the group hot on their heels. The way was not unbarred however, and they had to fight more groups of machine soldiers before finally catching another glimpse of their fugitive. They tracked him to a large chamber on one of the uppermost floors of the old temple and only then did they lose the trail – Ethan had disappeared.
"We lost him!" Laia growled. "Failed again!"
"Laia, stop yelling!" Scarlet said, screwing up her face as the beast woman vented her temper.
"What…. is this room?" Zaler said in wonderment.
"I don't know. Looks like a huge machine of some sort, with capsules big enough to fit- oh!" Louise began a sentence, but stopped mid speech in surprise.
"What is it?" Scarlet asked, making her way over to where she was standing.
"Look – there's people in here. They look like they're all unconscious as well," Louise said. Inside the pod she was looking at, sure enough, there was a Communion sister.
"These machines are all monitoring their vital signs," Leo observed. "Seems to me like they're in a pretty deep sleep."
"There's more over here too," Zaler said solemnly. "You know what this is El?"
Elbereth shook her head earnestly. "Not really. I've never seen this kind of thing before."
"How very strange," Scarlet remarked. "I wonder what it's supposed to do?"
"Do you think…. do you think Ethan wanted us to see this room?" Louise mused. "It seems strange that he disappears now in this particular place, rather than just losing us straight away. I don't know about you guys, but it seemed to me like he was waiting for us to follow him sometimes."
"I got that impression myself, but I thought it was just my imagination," agreed Laia.
The group didn't get the chance to look into the matter any further, for at that point several dozen Communion guards filed into the chamber.
"Oh shit," Scarlet cursed. "We were careless."
One of the commanding armed servants stepped forward. "Thank you for all your help in driving Ethan Waber from the temple," she began. The others exchanged surprised glances and she continued. "The Light Master would like to thank you all personally." At this Elbereth blanched. Scarlet looked over to her and mouthed 'don't worry about it' before consenting to be escorted to see Rutsu.
Despite Scarlet's reassurance, Elbereth's legs were like jelly. What if he decided to use all these armed servants to force the others to hand her over? If keeping his secrets was this important, so important that even when terrorists were attacking him close to home he would refuse outside help, then surely she was too dangerous, too much of a loose cannon to be allowed to simply run free. Suddenly a hand gripped her forearm. She glanced up and watched as Zaler linked it into his free arm and smiled. She smiled weakly back, heart still pounding.
They were taken to the alter room, which was empty. Elbereth slipped her arm out of Zaler's and stood next to him. Scarlet and Louise stood protectively in front of them both and exchanged brief and obviously meaningful glances at one another. Then Rutsu and his entourage filed into the large, echoing room.
He had lost none of his intimidating appearance in all the time Elbereth had last seen him in person, however, since that time she herself had grown – had more courage and spirit than before. "I'll fight," she thought to herself with a growing determination, "If he tries to make me come home now I'll burn his hair and eyebrows off with my fire technics!"
The very idea made her want to giggle, but she bit her lip until she tasted blood so as not to even smile.
He stood before them – eyes carefully inspecting each one in turn. He recognized Laia – and Scarlet. He greeted both of them. When his eyes passed over Zaler, the flicker of recognition didn't re-appear.
"So – he still doesn't know it was Zaler who was involved in the GRM incident," thought Scarlet with relief.
When his eyes reached Elbereth, he gazed at her with an unreadable expression, and then began speaking.
"Thank you for your help today – I am most grateful," his eyes never left his niece.
"Light Master – I have a question," Laia began. Rutsu finally took his gaze off her, reluctantly, and turned his attention to Laia.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's about those girls you have hooked up to that machine. What's going on with that?" Laia said bluntly.
"The Holy Sisters are simply in a deep sleep – a meditation," Rutsu answered smoothly.
"They looked unconscious to me – not sleeping," Leo frowned.
"They are would-be Divine Maidens. The line of hopefuls, if you will," he continued. "And the training can be so rigorous that quite often the Sisters are exhausted. Regrettably they must undergo this sort of harsh training if they hope to be as good. Is that not right, Elbereth?"
She whipped her head up the moment her name was called. Until then, she had been staring at her feet and hoping they could leave soon. Now she answered her uncle as truthfully as she dared.
"I've never seen those machines before, but yes, the training is really hard. I remember, I did pass out quite a few times from it," she fidgeted with her sleeve.
"This is a relatively new thing – put in place to help the Sisters along during their trials," he nodded.
None of the others made any attempt to reply until Scarlet said; 'let's get going then.'
"But..." Laia began.
"Yes, let's go," Zaler agreed quickly cutting her protest short.
"I'll send my thanks on to President Dallgun, then," Rutsu said. "And again thank you." As they turned to leave, he added; "stay in touch, won't you, Elbereth?'
Elbereth said nothing. They bowed and were ushered out of the room by two armed servants. Elbereth glanced back and was disconcerted to see her uncle was still staring at her – deep in thought. She quickly looked away and hurried her pace to be in the middle of her fellow guardians where he could no longer see her.
Once they were outside, and the servants had disappeared into the temple once more, Scarlet broke the silence.
"I don't think I liked what I saw in there. Not at all," she said.
"Me either," Leo agreed.
"We should have stayed and got an answer out of that little weasel!" Laia slapped her fist into her other hand angrily.
"Can we go home now?" Elbereth said in a small voice.
"Oh, Elbereth! Of course we can. I'm sorry, you must be tired. Yes let's get going," Scarlet said.
They walked back to the g-flyer and returned to Neudaiz. Elbereth hoped the de-briefing wouldn't last long – she wanted to get off Neudaiz as soon as possible. Scarlet, as though mindful of that fact, hurried Lou along with it and they were home within a few hours. Scarlet wanted to ask Elbereth a few questions, but she seemed so harried over the face to face contact with her uncle that the CAST hadn't the heart to press her just yet, so she dismissed both her new recruits for the day and told them to rest.
"What do you make of it all, Louise?" Scarlet asked her when they were alone.
"I don't know. To be honest I think El knows more than she's letting on. I could be wrong, but it's just this feeling I have."
"If I asked her – you think she might tell me anything?" Scarlet shrugged.
"You saw her today," Louise shook her head. "She was positively terrified. "I don't know what kind of power that bastard has over her, but it works even when she's out of his reach. I don't like it."
"I agree with you there," Scarlet said. "Might have to bust a few heads and fuck some shit up." She allowed a small grin to cross her face.
"I love it when you go postal," Louise laughed. "Gives me some fabulous anecdotes."
