—
It took some time, but Fita was able to pull through. Or, more specifically, pull her wrists through the ropes holding them. Then it took her more time to get the rest of herself free. Far too long, in Loqi's opinion, though that could hardly be helped. He was just dearly hoping she'd be able to get the rest of them out before Cortez and his merry band of morons returned.
"Ha!" she cheered in success as she finally hopped out of her chair, shaking her leg to loose the last of the ropes clinging to her. "Yes!"
"Get Loqi next," Cor ordered. "Get him into the vents."
How generous. Loqi sighed. Well, at least he could lord this over someone next time any potshots about his height or build were made.
"On it!" Fita circled around, giving Loqi a grin before she started untying him. Thankfully, it didn't take nearly as long for him to be freed as it had take her to wriggle free on her own.
He clapped her on shoulder. "Good work, Fita. Mind getting the Marshal next while I check out that vent?"
"Right." She nodded.
"Oi, what am I, chopped liver?" Petra protested.
"What you are is not able to summon a weapon," Loqi retorted heading over to the vent he'd seen from his chair. Fortunately, Cortez's idiots had left the table even though they'd taken their communications machine. "Last I checked, the Marshal still had that ability, and we'll definitely be needing that more than your natural charm."
"I'll have you know my natural charm is worth more than any weapon!"
Fita snorted as she started to pick at one of the knots keeping Cor in his chair. "Yeah, that sounds right. Forget the Ring of the Lucii – Petra's charm can kill the Accursed and bring back the light."
"And yet he hasn't done it yet." Loqi pushed the table over to the wall, lifting when he could to minimize the noise. "For shame."
"Just waitin' for the right time," Petra said haughtily.
"Uh-huh. Seems legit."
Loqi grinned at the vent before him, undoing his belt and pulling it free so he could use the buckle to get the screws holding the vent. "This may actually work…"
"Yeah, let's hope so, because we don't have a lot of other options here and, wow, they really wanted to make sure you were secure," Fita said.
Loqi glanced over his shoulder to see Fita still picking at only the first knots. Ooooof course. The Immortal. Their obnoxious little Tenebrae friends had made his restraints more secure.
Loqi rolled his eyes. At this rate, he was going to have the vent undone before Cor was even freed.
…He'd meant that sarcastically, but it actually turned out to be true a few minutes later when he finally pulled off the vent and Cor still wasn't free.
"Are you struggling?" he asked Fita.
"Obviously–"
The door squeaked.
"…Shit," Fita hissed, eyes wide. "Loqi, go!"
Loqi lunged for the vent, hoisting himself into it as best he could with the limited space within. It was a good thing he was used to small spaces given the magitek armors he used to pilot.
He couldn't help them by going back. Not in a two against six fight with the larger party being the ones armed. They were already pissed off and going back wasn't going to help with that. Loqi and Fita would just end up battered or dead and then they probably wouldn't get another chance like this to escape.
Looked like it was going to be up to him to evade getting caught and get word out to the cities somehow before their captors decided keeping the others alive wasn't worth the trouble.
No pressure.
Even with the loudness of his movements against the metal around him, Loqi could hear something else.
Someone was trying to follow him.
Oh, no. Absolutely not. He was the fast dwarf. That was his title, and he'd been damned if he'd lose it now that it had finally come in handy.
This was a race he would be winning.
"You do realize just how large an area this still is to cover?" Ardyn had is eyebrow raised in amusement as he leaned on the meeting table.
Ravus curled his lip. "I believe we all have the eyes to see that, thank you."
Ardyn looked so damned casual that it kept throwing him off. While his dress sense was still… old, he'd shed his coat and was standing alongside Lunafreya in that loose fitting coffee filter of a shirt.
He held his hands up in a peace gesture. "I'm merely pointing out the facts! I seem to have given you lot the impression that my abilities have a far larger range than they actually do."
"You always managed to be everywhere inconvenient for us…" Prompto mumbled.
Ardyn scoffed. "Finding you lot was far less difficult. You caused chaos everywhere you went. And I knew where you were heading most times with the tombs sitting about. This, however…" He made a flourishing gesture at the maps. "This you'd have better luck setting your messenger dogs upon."
"Hey, now that's a question." Aranea crossed her arms. "Any chance you can ask your icy gal pal, Princess?"
Lunafreya shook her head. "She is not at my beck and call. Where the Astrals choose to intervene is… particular."
Aranea snorted. "That's a word for it, I guess."
Lunafreya shot her a look. "…They have greater knowledge than us, Aranea. Trust that they will be there when we truly need them."
Ardyn barked out a laugh so sudden that Lunafreya actually jumped at the sound. "Yes, do keep telling yourself that, dear."
Aranea just rolled her eyes.
Again, guilt gnawed at Ravus' core. He knew exactly what Aranea was thinking about right now. Or who, rather. He suspected she still thought of him often. And yet, Ravus' lips would have to remain sealed.
It was utterly infuriating. Scientia was having to live on scraps without a home in the cold and silence of the world outside the cities, and yet Ardyn was parading around and getting friendly with Lunafreya.
The asinine, garbage excuse for a human being. It was so horrifically unfair.
But Lunafreya was right about the Astrals usually staying quiet for reasons the rest of them couldn't see… They always had some cause for doing what they did.
"The last time Gentiana stopped speaking to me, matters ended up with you curing me," Lunafreya reminded. "My faith is not as shaken as yours."
"…Lunafreya, darling, I would consider mine a fair deal more than shaken."
"Can we focus please?" Gladio asked gruffly, projecting his irritation. "Our people could be dying while we're chatting."
"Again – I still need more to go on than this." Ardyn gestured to the area circled on the map.
"So, how can we narrow it down?" Aranea asked. "Do we have any clues? Anything at all to go on?"
Silence.
Prompto hesitantly raised his hand.
Everyone zeroed in on him, waiting.
Prompto licked his lips, seeming nervous. Ravus wished he would spit something out. Something useful, preferably. They were all grasping a straws here.
"Yessss?" Ardyn all but sang after a few more moments passed. "Have a bright idea?"
"Well. Um." Prompto bit his lip, dropping his hand back into his lap. "Not that I have any proof, but… If they're all about Tenebrae… Maybe they would have gone that direction?"
Another pause.
Ravus stared at the map. "It's possible… But that's relying on much speculation. And still too much ground to cover."
Ardyn sighed. "Do stick to murdering things, dear boy. You're much better at it than thinking."
"Ardyn!" Lunafreya scolded.
"Merely speaking the truth!" Ardyn dismissed, not seeming to notice that he suddenly had many death glares on him.
Except Prompto… just rolled his eyes. He didn't seem to take Ardyn's words to heart at all.
Surprising, but welcome. The boy's self esteem had improved much in the last few years.
"Fleuret!"
Ravus shoved out of his chair, maneuvering his way to the door so that he was blocking anyone who entered from immediately seeing was fairly certain that was Monica, but she didn't know about this, and he didn't care to explain it at the moment.
Granted, Ardyn could appear as someone else, but that didn't mean he would.
He snagged the doorknob, only opening the door the barest minimum in order to see out. "Yes?"
It was Monica. A slightly out of breath and harried Monica.
"It's Loqi. He's found a way to contact us, but he doesn't know how long he'll have before–"
Ravus yanked the door open wide enough to tear out of the room. "You have the contact at your usual station, I presume?"
"Yessir."
There was ruckus behind him, but Ravus didn't stop to see who was following. Time was of the essence even more now. Hopefully Ardyn had the sense to disguise himself if he ran onto the streets.
So, Loqi had freed himself somehow.
Clever Imperial bastard. Of course he'd managed to be the one to escape.
—
