Disclaimer: Don't own Huntik: Secrets & Seekers, it's characters or any part of it, including the theme song. The new spells/Titans here are purely made-up for this fanfiction.
Rating: T (some suggestive hints of M)
Warning: if you haven't read my previous Book "Huntik: Secrets and Seekers - The Spirit World", and optimally the post Book-Three "Aftermath" fics, then you're gonna be out-of-it reading this. That being said, start reading already, just like before hehe
In the shadows of the night/When you face the darkness/Call the power of the light/Let your heart be fearless
Never give it up never give it up, if you're strong enough, get the power!
Huntik, keep the faith and you'll survive/Huntik, is the seeker you're inside
Shout it out and make it loud, Everybody huntik go!
There's a secret lost in time/There's an ancient story/One for all and all for one/Fighting for the glory
Never give it up never give it up, if you're strong enough, get the power!
Huntik, keep the faith and you'll survive/Huntik, is the seeker you're inside
Shout it out and make it loud, Everybody huntik go!
Ohh Yeahhhh... Everybody
Huntik!
Just as things have appeared to settle peacefully, a mysterious message arrives, warning of the continued presence of the Red Comet, and the Professor in the Spirit World. Determining the sender to be Eathon Lambert, the Huntik team set out to find a means to enter The Spirit World itself. They are harassed by the Blood Spirals at every turn, yet they manage to succeed, reuniting Lok and Cathy with their father, but they cannot afford to celebrate for long. Their enemies are powerful, and continue to aim for a return of the Nullifiers... the battles were hard-fought, but more are yet-to-come.
"Beginnings"
Episode 79
Casterwill Townhouse
Venice, Italy
"Phoenixthrust!"
Lok made a sound, keeping his heavy mitts up and blocking every punch Sophie threw at him... both of which kept steaming by the way.
"Sophie, haven't you practiced this enough?" he asked, slightly louder over the sounds of steaming, grunts, and 'hissing'. "It's a great spell, and you've put in a lot of effort already."
Sophie herself kept up the attack. "Do you honestly expect that'll stop me?" she challenged during her blows, but with a gleam in her eyes. "This spell was given to me by Phoenix, and I'm gonna give it due attention."
Hehe, well he kinda figured; just thought he'd give it a go anyway.
As expected, she hit pretty hard, treating his heavy mitts like they were the faces of Blood Spirals- and due to how rapid she was chaining her punches/kicks together, was starting to feel a little bleed-through heat. Still, Lok did his best to move, defend, and otherwise pretend he was at least trying in this mock exercise... until her spell's energy gave out about thirty seconds later.
"Please tell me that's enough" he breathed, glancing behind himself, seeing he's almost backed up to the wall... but when he looked forward again, he suddenly found Sophie much closer. This startled him enough that he moved against the wall - un-surprised by this, she took another step toward him, leaning a hand against the wall beside him, keeping herself close.
"Looks like it is; you have no more space to back up against, Lok" she teased, smirking.
Slowly chuckling, Lok managed a smile as her gaze softened a bit. "Even when you're in a good mood, you still show no mercy" he breathed back, slightly teasing himself, carefully discarding his heavy mitts now. "It's awesome, and scary sometimes."
Sophie gave him a small hum, her free hand brushing against his fingers. "I always aim to show what I'm made of, Lok" she said, fairly mild.
"Yeah, but you don't need to overdo proving yourself, Sophie" he answered, before tilting his head. "Not to this team, or especially me. I know how amazing you are already."
After a moment, she leaned even closer. "Is that an invitation, Lok?" she whispered.
A little smile. "No, but clearly your's is" he whispered back, before he took her up on it- the kiss lasted only a few seconds, but that was enough for both of them. Afterward, Sophie stepped back a bit, allowing him to move away from the wall (and get rid of the rest of his protective gear); "If we were someplace more private, that might've escalated" she noted, one hand upon her hip.
"Maybe" he agreed, folding up some of it. "After all-"
"Guys!"
Both of them turned; Cherit, hovering at the top of the stairs.
"We got ourselves a mission call" he said cheerfully, gesturing upstairs. "Zhalia and Den are already waiting, slowpokes!"
They looked at each other, laughing at Cherit's tease before they hurried up.
...
"Having fun down there?" Den asked, a bit teasing as Lok and Sophie came up-
-the latter of which gave him a slight look. "I'd have expected that kind of snark from Zhalia, Den."
"Well, guess I was late" Zhalia herself noted, simply shrugging. "It happens."
He shared a look with Lok, who was trying not to crack up, but of course they're still ready even as Lok turned on the monitor- "Guggenheim?" Lok wondered. "Is Dante busy?"
"At the moment, yes, but he's expected to return from Huntik soon" the older man agreed. "In the meantime, I'm giving you your next mission. Remember your trip to Iceland, retrieving the Hammer of Thor?"
Everyone save himself gave little admissions to this - Den felt strange, knowing this was probably another mission before his time here. It did seem familiar though, so which story was... wait... yeah, he thought they'd mentioned it; Montehue had been there with them (after a time), acquired the Titan Fenris despite it's wild state, and then he and Dante used the artifact to one-shot a Titan plus a nearby wall... he thought it also said that it'd made a crater too, after having done that.
He wanted to believe it's an exaggeration, but Seeker artifacts tended to be the real deal, so yeah.
"What about that trip?" Cherit asked.
"Well according to details from the Organization, the Guardians of Thor there have stepped up security, including a small measure of magical detection devices" Guggenheim explained. "We've discussed it at length, and believe they wouldn't do so for no reason; another artifact or Titan may be in there, heavily under guard. Whether long-unknown or freshly unearthed is up to you to find out."
Zhalia tilted her head. "And while the Organization has maintained ties with them, the Guardians are still as intransigent about protecting their artifacts" she mused, shrugging. "Thus they won't share anything even with them. If the Organization effected a raid - even if it was just recon - they'd permanently lose all contact if they got caught."
"But if the Foundation does the same thing, they might do that anyway" Sophie pointed out. "After all, we're rivals now; they could accuse the Organization of having given their information directly to us."
"That's true, Sophie, but it's a risk either way" Guggenheim answered, looking across them. "At least with the Foundation, it would just be an accusation, and Grier would stand his ground that he knew nothing about this. Which is technically true after all."
Lok started to grin a little. "That's Grier for you" he said easily. "If he didn't see or hear about it directly, he knows nothing, because otherwise he'd have to confess."
The older man chuckled. "Still, I don't need to tell you that we'd all prefer it if you didn't get caught at all" he said, the team nodding-
"But isn't this sorta wrong, sir?"
A bit startled, all eyes turned to him - Den fidgeted a little.
"I mean, from what I've heard thus far, they're just a bunch of guys trying to protect their artifacts" he pointed out, if awkward. "Sure, it's a little wrong that they won't share them, but how is taking from them right? What's the justification here?"
For a moment, no one seemed sure what to say: Lok and Sophie looked between each other, as if his reaction hadn't occurred to them before; Cherit looked a bit worried for him, moving over to Zhalia's seat; Zhalia herself was looking at him, entirely un-surprised yet with little flickers in her expression.
"I mean, I'm not defying the mission or anything, but I just had to say that" Den quickly added.
"No I understand, Den" Guggenheim answered. "It's been noted you have stronger morals than most, and for good reason."
"He does" Zhalia breathed, almost too faint to hear.
"And normally, we'd probably leave them alone" he continued. "But the fact is some of the Blood Spirals are still out there, with the Guardians uncaring about anything besides themselves - if we don't get to these artifacts/Titans first, assuming they have such, they might fall into the wrong hands."
Den slowly sighed. "Preemptive defense, or that kind of thing" he said, hands behind him.
"Den, are you against this mission?" came from Cherit. "You say you're not, but are you sure?
Den opened his mouth to answer, but stopped when Lok put a hand on his shoulder.
"If it really bugs you that much, you could stay, Den" he offered, sincere. "We could handle ourselves without you."
He jolted. "You'd really allow that, Lok?" Den asked, surprised; Lok nodded. "Then... well... if I may, permission to travel to New York?"
Really surprised, Lok blinked; similar reactions played upon the other's faces, save Guggenheim, who seemed more curiously interested.
"What for?"
Den made a sound. "I want to go see Harrison" he stated. "I believe there's some advice he can give me, regarding controlling Medusa. I've been meaning to ask this for awhile, but I never found the right time. Now seems like it might be okay - I'll still do the mission though if you order me, Lok; it wouldn't be impossible. It'll leave a bad taste in my mouth, but I'd be okay."
Lok glanced at the screen. "Guggenheim?"
"It is supposed to be a stealth mission" the older man said. "Fewer members would make it easier to sneak in, and if progress can be made on Medusa, opting-out of this mission wouldn't be a major problem in my book. Your call, Lok."
Lok nodded, before slowly looking back with a little smile. "Then permission granted, Den" he stated, Den nodding. "Do your best to make it worthwhile."
"Sure thing, Lok."
"Mind if I tag along with him?"
They all looked again, seeing Zhalia rising from her seat. "Not that Den needs a babysitter" she added. "More because if he's going to New York, there's also business I can take of myself there... that doesn't include Dante, before anyone says anything."
Sophie stepped over. "And what is that, Zhalia?" she asked, curious. "What's so important?"
She didn't answer for a bit, slowly glancing away. "My foster father... I said I'd think about visiting. And uh, I think I've put it off long enough."
The immediate reaction from the room (and monitor) was that of understanding, along with worry. For Den's part, he knew she must be talking about Klaus, a man he'd heard was comparable to a mad scientist... but despite that, did care for Zhalia as his own daughter and had taken her off the street, raising her with everything she'd known in the Organization.
So even not by blood, he's family to her.
"Yeah" Lok breathed, understanding. "Go with him, Zhalia. That'll leave me and Sophie to handle the Iceland mission, and Cherit will have to decide which of our groups to accompany. Sound like a plan?"
"Quite" Cherit agreed; everyone else nodded.
"Since you're in agreement, the mission data will be faxed to your Holotome now, Lok" Guggenheim then said, Lok's Holotome starting to act up. "Good luck to all of you."
"Thank you, sir."
"Mission: Infiltrate Guardians of Thor" the Holotome spoke, a card appearing. "Find hidden secrets under stealth, and report back to the Foundation."
"Seekers, we have our missions" Lok announced with a little smile. "This time though, we'll have to rent our own pilots for the Huntik jets; LeBlanche and Santiago are still away for today. And also, Guggenheim, assuming the Guardians of Thor don't have any artifacts or Titans, or do but they're Guardian of Thor-made artifacts, I assume we just get out of there."
"By all means. And even if you do find anything, just the data will suffice, for now."
Destination: Iceland
Several hours later
"I swear, filing flight plans is always a lot like work..."
"Well what did you expect it to be?" Sophie asked with a raised eyebrow - in her hands, her Cypherdex showed an image of the Guardian's building aesthetics. "You've been the team leader for awhile now, and you still feel the need to complain about these kinds of things."
Beside her, Lok slowly shrugged with a little smile. "It's actually more to pass the time, since we still got some time" he said, a bit light. "And since it's the truth, why not say it?"
Of course he'd say that; Lok still preferred his puzzles and adventures to filing out the tedious details. Sophie just started laughing, thinking it's so silly of him, but somehow he made it work- she took his hand during this, which he did like despite his reaction to the laughter.
"Indeed we do have time" Sophie said, before she put her Cypherdex away. "Perhaps it's finally time we resume that invitation moment I started earlier."
Startled, Lok's cheeks turned a little red - smirking a little, she lifted a hand, brushing her fingers across his cheeks.
"What's the matter?" she breathed. "Has my charm become too much for you?"
He blinked, before pretty much cracking himself. "Okay, that's a little much, Sophie" Lok breathed, moving his own hand over her fingers. "I get that it's an ice-breaker, but still."
"Yes yes, now get over here, Lok."
A little 'heh', but Lok obliged, leaning closer from his seat- she kissed him easily. That one kiss soon turned into many, while their hands soon went to each other's 'common areas': his moving over her back/spine in little motions, while hers went to the back of his neck, among other places.
"I've really missed you, Lok" Sophie whispered, somewhere along the line.
A little pause, but she saw his smile. "I've known that since I got back from home" Lok breathed, holding her closer. "And now that I'm back, I can help with your troubles again."
Deep down, she knew that primarily meant her issue with The Betrayer, who'd abruptly left- he could've killed her, or it looked like it. Even now, that image of his psychotic grin - using Kiel's face - as he disappeared to who-knew-where tried to eat away at her pride... but even still, things didn't add up. Quite simply, if he could've killed her at all, he would've tried to do so on the spot, no exceptions- the fact that he hadn't at all must mean something had happened. Out of energy, troubles arising with Kiel or even forced away (by what though? the Nullifiers?), he must've been physically unable to attack them at that moment... he must've...
Sophie brushed her fingers over his cheek. "It's not gonna go away so easily" she admitted, but leaning her forehead against him. "But Lok, I'm glad to have your help."
"Anytime."
"But more than that, I'm glad you're here now" she continued, kissing him. "After all incidents aside, I've also enjoyed our- our intimacy" she continued, if a bit more shy - in fact, her cheeks seemed set to match his now. "It know it's obvious, yet still."
Lok needed a moment, but managed to nod. "Well if you didn't enjoy it, I'd be worried" he whispered sincerely, kissing her cheek. "But Sophie, when you said you shouldn't have more incidents, what does that mean for us? I mean, I know you said we'd continue once I got back, but uh... how fast? Or slow? I need to know that stuff again."
She smirked a little, glad to see he remembered their 'talk things out beforehand' plan. "Regarding what we've already done, that continues as normal of course" Sophie answered, leaning against him, toying a bit with ends of his blonde hair. "Anything new? On occasion, sure, but I'd rather wait a little before we try... since I'm still gathering some nerve for that."
For a moment, a ghost sensation of Lok's hand under her shirt came to mind.
"So for now, just the usual" Lok whispered, slowly nodding. "I get you, Sophie."
"Good to hear" she acknowledged, leaning in for a longer-than-normal kiss. "Now, I think it's time to start doing a little more."
Lok couldn't misinterpret that statement, seeing as her hand was currently moving over his chest, if slow and gentle about it. He looked at her a moment, then kissed her again, which she barely minded- though she was thoroughly surprised when his tongue became involved so quickly.
The surprise didn't last long though.
/
Destination: New York
Around the same time
"Tell me something, Den" Zhalia breathed, seated on the opposite side. "This advice from Harrison; couldn't you have just asked him over Holotome?"
Den looked over, Cherit adjusting on his lap. "I could've, no doubt" he admitted, before his brow darkened a little. "But honestly, I'd still need to do some practical application to make sure it works on Medusa. If it didn't work, it'd be even more of a hassle, while in person we can adjust on the spot, and allow us to catch up at the same time- two birds with one stone that way."
Not a bad answer. "And it was an easy way out of that mission" she added, observing. "Though you could've handled it."
To that, Den didn't answer; he'd said it himself that it only left a bad taste in his mouth, but Zhalia knew the base reasoning went deeper. For herself, she still remembered some months ago how they'd been around a Nexus together, and in order to stop the Professor from getting back to Earth...
"Lok understood though; it was a valid observation Den put forth" Cherit said, Den himself slowly nodding. "Plus there's nothing wrong with stating opinions, particularly when they give new outlooks on things."
Den shrugged a bit. "And it's not like I was gonna disobey orders or anything" he added. "Just had to speak my mind, and it worked out. Speaking of which, Zhalia... are you gonna be okay?"
She slowly looked forward. "I'm on this plane, aren't I?"
"Yeah, but..."
Zhalia slowly sighed. "Den, I'm sure you've guessed at things" she chose to reply, glancing at him - during this motion, Cherit moved over to her seat, probably to provide support. "What Klaus was to me, you were to Harrison... except moreso in my case, because he showed me the way when I didn't have one."
Den slowly looked off into space.
"And it wasn't easy, choosing between him and the others" he said, quiet. "In fact, it must've messed you up..."
Even right away, Zhalia knew Den's having issues with that perceived situation, the idea that you'd have to choose between friends and family - it might seem like a near-repeat of what he went through Harrison. She didn't blame him for feeling as he did, understanding it well... but at least he'd had help to get his brother back; she'd had to wrestle with this on her own. On the seat slightly above, Cherit's ears went down a bit as did his wings- he'd been there during her near-betrayal, and recalling it clearly made him sad. After a moment Zhalia slowly touched her hand to Cherit's back... he nodded, showing that he understood.
Then Den shook his head. "But you chose your own way when it mattered most" he continued, drawing their attention. "Me though... I mean, I became a Seeker so I could get stronger, get my brother back; what else was I supposed to do?"
"Nothing" she assured, a little gentle. "Your only other choice was joining the Blood Spirals, a gang of bullies who want everything reduced to rubble. We both know that given your history, that was never gonna happen."
"Indeed" Cherit added, utterly certain. "And when all was said and done, you never gave up; you got Harrison back and chose to remain a Seeker. That says a lot about you, I think, particularly since you've never expressed any dislike about it. Maybe you felt you didn't have much choice at first, but you're long since past that point now."
"Yeah..." Den said, mostly inwardly-thoughtful. "Yeah, being a Seeker's a fairly good job and all that."
Zhalia shrugged with a little lip curve, as in 'maybe' - Den let out a breath as if not surprised, but otherwise still inwardly-directed. Even as Cherit flew back over to Den, saying that Harrison has also found his place with the Huntik Foundation, she figured that maybe he must another reason for staying on this team in the first place. His whole life, he'd done his best to guide Harrison and himself, because he's the big brother and he's gotta protect him- been used to that for a long time as all he's ever known in fact, but they'd wanted a taste of life outside that orphanage. Remembering the small mentions of his (minor) jealousy regarding Lok and Sophie, and perhaps herself and Dante, Zhalia thought that while he'd wanted Harrison back at all costs, part of him jumped at the chance at another life (particularly where he could follow, rather than lead), which helped him adjust overall.
"And had the unintended side-effect of wanting to copy Lok" she mused, thoughtful. "Though he's getting over it and everything."
She wondered though, if Den thought becoming a Seeker meant he'd found his place in life, or if he'd even figured that out yet...
/
Destination: Iceland
Shortly before landing
Oh yes, she truly missed these kinds of sensation, particularly how warm they could be...
Needing air, Sophie pulled back with a gasp (mirrored by Lok), but other than that refused to move away. For a moment, she was free to enjoy the feeling of sitting on his lap, facing each other on their seats, at least before she started getting a hold of herself.
"Hey, Sophie?" he breathed, a little dazed but okay.
"Mmh?"
"Us talking about doing newer things... that includes other hints, right?" Lok continued, his breath a little hot. "Like when I- I touched your... uh, your tailbone?"
Her cheeks heated up at the mention of that, but she nodded. "Certainly" Sophie managed, hearing/feeling Lok slump a little, but in relief (he even said "Good"); for her part, it's a good reminder that Lok didn't want to push things between them... and so she kissed his neck again.
"Mmh" Lok breathed, before he slowly sighed. "Well, I want to right now, but knowing our luck though... this is the part where we get interrupted by the overhead announcement again."
True enough- despite herself, she pulled away from Lok, enough that she look outside the window. For a moment all she could see was a dense cloud cover, but then it cleared to show an obvious fact: the ground slowly getting closer and closer to them. Seeing that they're starting to dive, and therefore landing would be something like fifteen minutes away, she motioned her head toward the window- Lok looked over himself and then raised his shoulders in a 'see?' motion. Feeling the same, she nonetheless gently/playfully traced a finger down his cheek, which got a shared smile out of them before they carefully untangled themselves without another word.
"We are descending now, and expect arrival within ten minutes. Thank you for flying with us today."
Sophie raised a hand herself, grinning a little. "Well, at least this time we anticipated it" she drew out, leaving Lok to laugh, herself joining in afterward - they still had preparations to make though, such as Lok digging through his suitcase for extra layers, while she moved to the bathroom to change herself. Not too much later, they were both sitting together in their heavy winter gear, lightly doing finger motions with each other's hands but nothing else. Due to the plane's internal systems, they were starting to get uncomfortably warm in all these layers, but given the environment they're about to step into, they'd be needed soon enough.
Landing went well, though Sophie had to work extra hard to 'pop' her left ear- amusingly, Lok had trouble doing that in his right ear.
"Gah, why won't it go away?" he breathed, opening his jaw again - she just smirked, shaking her head.
"When you're done working, we still have to get off this plane" Sophie called after him, walking ahead a little; his little sound at this was gravy.
Getting outside, the weather hit almost immediately, already cooling off the uncomfortably warm feeling. Even despite being used to the cold overall, thanks to the season being winter, Iceland truly brought it up to eleven.
Running up to the Iceland airfield though was a heavy-coated figure, which upon closer inspection was probably a Suit... their Organization contact, or otherwise here to lead them to said contact. Sophie was just about to call for Lok when he appeared next to her.
"I'm good now" he assured, to her little eyebrow raise; he just shrugged.
New York, USA
Ahh... man, he wished touching down didn't make his ears fuzzy...
"Here" Zhalia said, tossing him something, which he caught and quickly saw was a small pack of bubblegum. "It helps with ear-popping after a flight."
Den slowly chuckled, hoping that's true as he started to dig in; it's a little irritating to deal with - as this happened, his pack moved slightly, Cherit popping out just enough for his head to appear, with ears down. "It appears Titans are immune to his effect" he noted, a little cheery. "A shame though, as I'd like to chew bubblegum, and perhaps try and make a bubble!"
"Well when we're in private, I'll probably give you one" Den assured, to the Titan's delight- Zhalia's only reaction was some amusement.
"But for right now, we still have to get to where we're going" she noted, donning their winter-wear, or at least parts of it in preparation for going outside.
"Yeah, and I think we should-" Den started, before he trailed off-
-because surprisingly, Dante was coming outside another terminal nearby - and then of course, just 'happened' to see them. An eyebrow rose, before he just smiled and came over toward them.
"Well, this is a surprise" he said mildly, fittingly enough.
Zhalia crossed her arms, trying to look unimpressed, but there was a gleam in her eyes. "Despite you trying to sound like you're surprised, it sounds practiced instead" she snarked. "What, did Guggenheim tell you we were coming?"
"Alright, you got me, Zhalia" Dante breathed, raising his hands, but chuckling. "He did, since my return trip brought me back to New York; a short distance, compared to yours anyway."
Why isn't he surprised? Despite that, Den shook his head with a knowing smile, letting the two have their moment - unlike with Lok and Sophie, there was little chance they'd do affections in public, and the ensuing awkwardness on his part.
"I knew it" Zhalia answered, a little smug; Dante just shrugged.
"But regardless of it having been spoiled, of course I'm glad to see you guys" Dante continued lightly. "I only wish we could catch up more."
"Likewise, Dante" Den said, with a little smile. "But for right now, I'm here to see Harrison, and Zhalia has her own business. Just please tell me my brother isn't 'spoiled' too."
He shrugged a bit. "He knows a surprise visitor is coming, though I didn't say who" Dante answered, before nodding, getting a little more serious. "But yes, arrangements are being made. I plan to meet up with Grier, since he's available and expressed an interest in what Zhalia plans to do (Zhalia shifted a bit, and Dante briefly touched her shoulder), so we'll be going together. As for you Den, there's a bright-blue car outside that'll take you to Harrison."
"Got it" he said easily, before looking at his bag. "And unless there's any objections, Cherit, I'd like it if you came with me."
"I'd like that, Den" came Cherit's voice. "It'll be good to see Harrison again."
Heh, he seconds that.
...
A little afterward, they were walking throughout the airport, appropriately covered for cold weather exposure.
"I get the feeling the question's been posed already, but-" Dante started.
"'Am I going to be okay?'" Zhalia finished, making a sound. "Yeah, Den's already beaten you there."
"Oh really?"
"Yup" Den answered, a bit serious. "Essentially, that her being here, that's Zhalia's answer."
Dante slowly glanced at her for a moment, then nodded. "I can understand that" he said, opening the door to outside, where the three of them soon exited the airport. Following Dante's gaze, Zhalia could already see Grier coming toward them, alone she noticed, while Den briefly scanned the cars- then obviously found the one he's looking for, since it's bright-blue color stood out like a sore thumb, and the model 'helped' in that regard.
"Guess that's me" Den said, before holding up his bag. "If you have second thoughts, Cherit, now's the time."
"As the kids say, 'Nope!'"
There was some shared amusement, but Dante held up his fist. "Keep in touch, Den."-
-Den bro-fisted him back. "You got it" he said easily, before glancing at the two of them, turning with a little smirk.
So Den ran off, leaving them alone... except for Grier coming up, though still some thirty feet away. Dante looked at her, an eyebrow arched as he crossed his arms. "Is it just me, or is Den always smirking whenever he leaves the two of us alone?" he asked mildly.
Hmm, a topic involving them, but also able to be talked about in front of Grier- just like Dante.
"It's not just you" Zhalia snarked, amused. "Though in this case, it's probably more of an attempt to keep things light."
He nodded, uncrossing his arms. "Well, we can say it worked" Dante answered, before: "Grier, nice of you to drop by."
"I had to" the other man said, but it was light. "Today's the day when we divide up tasks, see which of our groups get to handle what; keeps up the rivalry. But disregarding that, I wanted to make sure Klaus doesn't try anything."
"He won't, Grier" Zhalia said with utter certainty; it showed despite the flickers in her voice. "If there's anyone he cares about in this world, it's me."
Dante put a hand on her shoulder; she didn't look, but it was appreciated.
"And in either case, the sooner Zhalia sees him, the better for all of us" Dante added.
Grier seemed to look at her for a moment, but it also seemed inward- as if remembering to loved ones himself. "I understand" he said, sincere, before he gestured. "If you'd like I can take you myself, as guests of the Organization."
"'Just' guests?"
"You know what I mean, Dante."
For her part, Zhalia appreciated their trying to keep things light, particularly Dante's snark with Grier. As for the latter, if she'd heard the details correctly, Grier had lost his father on Sutos Island, and thus he knew what it's like to want to do anything for a loved one... so why did this uneasy feeling remain?
Slowly, she realized it isn't her uneasiness at seeing her foster father again; it's another instinct entirely. Carefully, discreetly, she glanced all around them... no obvious signs, but she didn't have the luxury for a more thorough search right now...
Unknown to her though, high, high in the sky, she was being watched by a flying 'scarab'- who's one big eye was fixated upon her.
Iceland
"I'm not sure about this."
Lok made a sound, touching Sophie's shoulder. "Sophie, if nothing else, Grier's vouched for him; isn't that good enough?"
Luckily, Hoffman didn't seem surprised at all; he just continued working his Teknonomicon, which looked almost exactly like the Foundation's version, but with different colors. Then again, it had been reverse-engineered from Huntik Foundation Holotomes, which were in turn copied from the Casterwill family's Cypherdex version- one wonders what the Blood Spiral version was invented/stolen from.
"You don't have to trust me at all" the older man said. "My orders are simply to help get you inside that temple, and I intend to follow them. You being former enemies doesn't change that, however odd it is."
Judging from Sophie's expression, she still had a small issue with that, ie that his reaction isn't 'enough' to be normal- Lok just shook his head, and she slowly put it aside. "Well anyway, Hoffman, what have you got?" he asked, trying to keep down memories himself.
In response, the Teknonomicon produced an image of the Guardian's second temple, which then zoomed inside to an overhead ceiling view. It looked roughly the same size, if structured differently, but there were also overlapping areas of some sort of device's influence.
"At some point recently, the Guardians have created a sort of magic detector prototype" Hoffman briefed, the tome's image changing as necessary to what he said. "They can detect the usage of unauthorized Seeker spells, and even Titans, but strangely not scanning beams from our tomes. Perhaps this is because they're prototypes, but their range is also limited, and how 'well' they work varies - some can detect any unauthorized usage, period, while others would only detect the magic if it was used within their field."
"You mean for some of these detectors, I could use a Boltflare outside it's range, walk into said range with that spell, and it wouldn't detect it?" Sophie asked, an eyebrow raised. "Talk about a serious glitch in the programming."
Lok couldn't help but agree. "But if it's a bug they have to iron out, we can take advantage of it" he added, his girlfriend smirking. "Now, where is the artifact?"
At Hoffman's direction, two locations were highlighted in the temple, one very near the main entrance and another deeper in. "Thanks in part to their reclusive-ness, we haven't been able to scan either location, as they've become less trusting since your last visit."
Mmm- well, nothing they could do about that.
"So then, what's the plan?" Sophie asked. "What do the Guardians' expect from your visit?"
The older man moved over a bit, working some large cases. "They expect me to showcase two newer Suits around for a brief tour" he explained, before revealing a number of their folded-up gliders, including two tailored suits. "I figured the easiest way would be disguising you two as them."
Lok slowly thought this through. "Yeah, that could work" he said, and when Sophie gave him a look, explained: "You and I dress up as Suits, enough to make it convincing. Then once we're close enough, you can use Thoughtspectre and sneak us in, while Hoffman gives our illusion selves the tour and leaves with them. No one would ever know the difference!"
"That'd demand a lot of concentration on my part, just to sustain the illusion" she mused, before smirking at him. "And even still, Thoughtspectre isn't my forte. But if nothing else, it's better than wasting time with a history lesson, particularly for yourself, Lok."
Sheepish, he rubbed his head at her playful tone; she never stopped teasing about his school troubles, even if the context's a fake Organization version. "Well, either way, we have to be prepared" he said after a moment. "One of these rooms might be a decoy, a trap, or similar. We've got to make several plans about what could happen, if nothing else."
"Already on it" Sophie continued, holding up her hands. "Cyphercall."
Nodding, Lok looked at Hoffman. "We'll need to scan your results as well."
"Knock yourself out."
Okay, so Hoffman's not exactly the most diplomatic person, but he's working with them due to orders- that's a good thing. Still, he doubted their infiltration of the Guardians would go as easily as planned, so it's bes to go in prepared... at worst, he imagined having to blast out with the power of Pendragon, or perhaps Quetzalcoatl...
Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
To be continued...
First off, I'm sorry that quite some time has passed since, with no word of any update; a lot's happened. Yet regardless, again, it's FINALLY done - update days will every Monday and Friday.
Similar to the previous Book, this is essentially a start-off point, but it only builds from here. Which includes the general season progression: Season Two ended on/after the longest day of the year, ie the summer solstice in July; my Book/Season Three started a few months after that in Fall seasonal months, generally; and now sometime after 'Aftermath', my Book/Season Four is in the Winter seasonal months.
Shout-out wise, I give credit to user V01dsw0rd, for he created and/or inspired a number of ideas for this fourth Book in PMs. In fact, a few of said ideas even gave me the idea for this book's initial plot, and it only snowballed from there- so thanks to him for his support.
And on a different note, there's something I just want to get out there. One Guest review for my Book Three had said that, due to how well I'd done writing it, he/she believed I had to have worked on the show itself - whether that was merely hyperbole or not, I was honored to get such high praise. But in reality, I've just got a thng for getting into characters' heads and going from there :P
Stay tuned.