Chapter Fifteen: Find Your Path In The Stars

Flea nudged his way into the study with a hot cup of tea, wholly unsurprised to find the captain still at her desk with the former President's tablet, poring over the notes it contained. "Brought your tea, Cap'," he announced, and she glanced up, green eyes bright. "Good reading, I take it?"

"I always said he was a cunning businessman and politician, but I never would have guessed him to be such a brilliant archeologist as well." She reached for the tea as he held it out and gestured for him to take a seat. He sat and waited as she sipped the tea. "His methods kind of remind me of someone… Anyway. It's amazing, how much of this he's been able to decipher with so little to go on. There's snippets of translations into other languages, some of them decades old, others centuries, but they still only provide for so many words. But the translations he's made on his own- he's practically doubled the lexicon."

"Like a kid in a candy store," Flea teased. "No wonder you haven't put that thing down."

"Oh, hush you."

"So what's it say?"

"There's a lot of history in here, mostly detailing the downfall of Atlantis, but I've also caught some references to Master Builders. There's a lot of cultural context there, I think, so I can't really make heads or tails of what they're trying to say… Some stuff about the temples being erected as... gateways, I think that says? Placed so that only those who have proved themselves worthy may pass to the next. Something about sentinels, and the temples being the keepers of Atlantean history… Makes sense, with all this stuff they put on the walls. And it looks like some hints on the next temple."

Flea snickered. "Think they'll have any luck getting through it without their notes?"

Airheart steepled her fingers together, looking thoughtful. "Actually… I think they just might. I've done a bit of research on that crew, you see. I thought I recognized them when we confronted them in the desert- those are the same Master Builders that helped The Special stop Lord Business, and not a one of them could be considered a pushover. Metalbeard is a very experienced captain, he's been sailing the seas since he was only four years old. The girl in black was at least formerly known as Wyldstyle, Vitruvius' last, and best, student. Unikitty's no sheltered princess, she kept Cloud Cuckooland hidden from the Super Secret Police for years, and somehow managed to keep the place from falling apart despite being populated only by Master Builders. I think the short man in blue might be the astronaut Benjamin Blue, who was already a very skilled engineer before he was discovered to be a Master Builder- the damage he did to our engines is evidence enough of that. And maybe they're missing the world's best detective, but Bad Cop is a very close second, and tenacious to boot, and with Lord Business having proven himself to be quite the intellectual…"

"And The Special himself?"

The sky captain smirked. "Let's just say I haven't had competition this exciting in ages."

It turned out their next destination was about a week's trek inland, in the middle of a rainforest. By the time they reached the next temple, Unikitty had the worst case of fleas she'd ever experienced, and the others weren't much better off. Everyone else was covered in mosquito bites and, in one memorable experience for Emmet, leeches. Bad Cop could sympathize, and when he stopped laughing, he helped to get them off.

"Mind your step," the officer teased.

"I hate nature," Emmet complained in response. "Nature is most definitely not awesome."

"Come on, city boy, buck up. A few days in the woods isn't going to kill you. Besides, we're almost there."

"How are you so sure?" Bad Cop simply pointed ahead in answer. "I don't see anything…"

"That's cause it be overgrown, lad. Look closer."

Emmet frowned, squinting and tilting his head this way and that. "…Ohh! I see now!"

Benny was the first to wander inside, trying to see in the dim light of leaf-filtered sun- the place had no real roof, just a tangle of overgrowth that mimicked one- and a single burning torch. He tilted his head as a second lit upon Bad Cop's entry, more lighting up as the others trickled inside. It was like a light bulb lit, but before he could voice his observation, he was interrupted.

"Oh my," Unikitty gasped as she came in, bringing up the rear.

"What is it?" Lucy asked.

"I can feel…" Her eyes went wide. "Oh my goodness, there's so much energy here! It's like it's alive!"

"Can you tap into it?" Emmet suggested.

"I'm gonna try, but it will take me a while to figure out how." She sat in the middle of the room and closed her eyes. "I'll give a shout when I figure it out."

As the others spread out to explore the adjacent rooms, Benny sat by Unikitty. "I think I might have found out the significance of the torches," he said, and she turned to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"They lit up on their own as we all came in."

She looked around. "But there's only six torches. There's seven of us."

Benny thought for a moment. "Six of us are Master Builders, though."

Unikitty frowned at him in confusion. "Five of us."

"No, six. Bad Cop."

Her eyes went wide, first shocked, then outraged. "He was one of us all along-?!"

"Shhh!" Benny hissed as her fur flashed scarlet, trying to calm her. "Keep your voice down, I don't think the others have realized it yet!" Her ears flattened against her skull, but she fell silent as requested. "Yeah I was mad too, when I first found out. Like, really mad. But I don't think he really considers himself one, just- recognizes that he has the potential, I guess? He said they never had any actual training though."

"If you're right about the torches, Benny, the magic here recognizes him as one of us," she protested. "I don't think I can forgive-"

"I know," Benny soothed, stroking her fur. "He did a lot of bad things for Busy. I don't know his motivation, I haven't asked. It's still kind of a sore subject for everyone. But consider this- he never actually hurt any Master Builders, just captured us, and he did help us in the end. And hey, come on, we've all been getting along fine since, right?"

Unikitty sighed, fur fading back to bubblegum pink as her anger ebbed. "Yeah, you're right. In the end, knowing this doesn't really change things. He's still Bad Cop, Master Builder or not." Benny nodded. She smirked. "I guess that explains how he was so good at hunting us down, he could think like us because he is one of us. I wonder if Busy knows?"

"I don't know. We probably shouldn't bring it up around him, though, in case he doesn't. Bad Cop should be the one to tell him that." He got back to his feet. "I'll let you get to work now, I'm gonna go pester B."

Unikitty grinned. "So when are you gonna tell him?"

Benny paused and turned back to her. "Tell who what?"

"Bad Cop, that you like him." Her grin turned positively wicked as Benny blushed.

"When he's ready to hear it," the astronaut mumbled before hurrying away, Unikitty's giggles following him.

Bad Cop had wandered after Emmet and Lucy, only half listening to their chatter as the couple explored the room they'd found themselves in. The other half of his attention was turned inward.

Since the discovery of Keelan, he'd been helping his newfound brother get the hang of piggybacking on his consciousness, getting used to the world outside, to sensations he'd never before had the chance to experience, even if it was only second-hand. They'd been working up to a proper switch, not wanting Keelan to be completely overwhelmed on his first time in control. Bad Cop nodded to himself as he reached a decision. This temple was as safe a place as any for Keelan's first switch, as insulated from the rest of the world as it was.

Are you ready?

I thInk so, came the answer, Keelan's nervousness and excitement bubbling to the surface.

Just relax. Nothing here will hurt you.

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was two months out of practice now, but it still came naturally to switch out. He took it slowly, letting Keelan feel how it was done. The scribbled-on face slid to the front, drawn-on eyes widening as the youngest brother looked on the world with his own eyes for the first time. Bad Cop remained an active presence, relaxed and encouraging but also alert. The young couple didn't even seem to take notice of them as Keelan touched the leaves of some ivy clinging to a wall, feeling their smooth texture, feeling the roughness of the hewn stone of the wall itself, kneeling down to feel the grittiness of the dirt under their feet. He breathed in deeply, drawing in the smell of the place, and failed to notice the presence watching him curiously.

Benny remained silent, not wanting to startle Keelan. The youngest triplet seemed to finally notice him and looked over, and Benny waved in greeting. "Hey kiddo, how's the world?" Keelan simply grinned in response and went back to his explorations. Benny chuckled.

Emmet looked over upon hearing Benny's voice, and watched who he thought was Bad Cop going around touching everything. "Uh. What's he doing…?" he finally asked after several minutes.

Lucy glanced over at his question and, having put two and two together fairly quickly, gave his hand a squeeze. "That's Keelan," she said softly.

"Oh!"

She smiled, stopping him as he stepped toward them. He looked back at her curiously. "Let's let him explore on his own for a bit first, you can introduce yourself later."

"Oh. Alright then."

Metalbeard ambled after Business as he eagerly devoured the knowledge that the murals offered, fingers trailing along some of the details of the paintings, rambling his thoughts out loud to his audience of one. "It's remarkable, the condition these paintings are in. Centuries of being left unprotected in this atmosphere should have had them flaking away." He paused every once in a while to take a picture.

"What are they saying?"

"I think-"

There was suddenly a shriek from the main chamber where they'd left Unikitty, and without even sparing a glance at each other they sprinted out of the room of murals to go find her. Business glanced over as the other four came careening out of another room, each as wide eyed as himself with surprise and worry. Unikitty was nowhere to be found. "Unikitty!" Benny called out for her, tone bordering on desperate. There was no answer, but there was another path that she had managed to open in their absence.

"Down here!" they finally heard, and Benny was the first to investigate the path she took. It looked like a giant horsetail plant, with a sort of 'fin' spiraling down its length. The moment he set foot on it, it began to undulate, and with a yelp he found himself dropping down to the next level. Unikitty giggled as it dumped him on the ground face first. "You okay?"

"What a ride!" he laughed, and looked back up. "Come on down guys, it's okay!" He turned back to his friend. "I thought you were working on figuring out this temple's magic?"

"I was!" Unikitty protested. "I felt something coming from further down, though, and decided to investigate. And boy am I glad I did, isn't it beautiful down here?"

Benny looked around, finally noticing the lichens that grew along the walls. They looked almost like clam shells, and their insides glowed in bright blue and purple. "Whoa." The horsetail plant began to wriggle again, bringing the others down, each of them landing as gracelessly as he had. He snickered.

"Woooooow," Emmet gasped. "It's so pretty!"

"I had a suspicion there had to be more to this place than just a bunch of pictures," Metalbeard muttered. "The actual trial must be down here."

"So what are we looking for this time?" Business fished out his notes, reading through them.

"…I actually don't know. I can't make sense of it, it says to… lend a helping hand to open the door?"

"I guess we just walk and see what we run into then," Lucy sighed, and marched ahead, following the glowing lichens through the tunnel. It eventually opened into what looked like a massive cleft in the ground. Lucy froze with a gasp, and Emmet nearly ran into her back. "Oh my…"

"Oh, wow!"

The walls of the cleft were too high and too smooth for them to climb out, not that they were even thinking about it; their attention was on the multiple levels spread out before them, crisscrossed with fallen logs and tangled vines, plants quite literally everywhere. Their presence startled a flock of birds that fluttered out of the ravine, flashes of iridescent blue and purple. Further down they could see more glowing plants, more than just the lichens on the tunnel walls, but leaves and flowers that emitted light as well.

Business gaped at the sight before them. "Why do I get the feeling we just walked into the Garden of Eden?"