What ought have been catastrophic when Noctis arrived and mistook Regis' company as imprisonment, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. So Ravus had a plan beyond gathering stray Magitek soldiers one by one, after all. It would have been nice to have known in the first place, but they were walking a very fine line between 'mutual allies' and 'sworn enemies'.
They left the precarious company of Magitek soldiers behind in a blaze of fire as Noctis sent the Regalia flying down the street in the direction indicated by Ravus. And Regis found himself once more in the back of his old automobile companion. Noctis' driving wasn't near as terrifying as Reina would have had him believe. Admittedly, he was too relieved to be sitting down to notice much outside of the car, but thus far they had not crashed into anything.
Meanwhile, inside the car, Noct's friend Prompto was sitting as close to Gladiolus on his other side as was possible and looking straight ahead with his hands clenched in his lap.
Regis held his cane between his knees and stared ahead. "Mr Argentum, I feel I must remind you that I do not, nor have I ever, caused bodily harm to one of my son's friends."
"Wha—oh! Uh. Sorry, sir—Your Majesty, sir."
By all that was holy, he hoped whatever they were looking for was not very far away.
Regis leaned back in his seat, biting back a groan and resisting the urge to run his hands over his knee. Noctis was right. If any of them got out of this alive, Reina was going to skin one or both of them. At the moment, however, he had more considerable worries than the state of his damn knee—and everything attached to it.
The civilians had fled this region, or at least had the good sense to keep out of sight. Imperial soldiers marched unchecked through the streets, and in every shadow and each darkened alleyway, daemons prowled. Niflheim wasn't interested in causing structural damage. Yet. They seemed only to be subduing the people to take control of the capital.
"Stop," Ravus commanded without warning.
Noctis complied with equivalent abruptness. Regis managed to catch himself and not smash face-first into the back of Noct's seat. He winced at the impact. He was too old for all this excitement.
"There." Ravus pointed down the street to their right.
A squad of Magitek soldiers patrolled the area. They appeared much the same as every other group they had passed, thus far. Nevertheless, Noctis turned the Regalia and sent her coasting down the street. As they drew closer it did seem as if one among them was shaped a little differently and armed with a rifle instead of a blade.
Ravus opened the door before the Regalia had stopped and set his feet on the ground near as soon. He kept one hand on the hilt of his blade as he approached. Regis rose, taking support from the driver's seat. Much as he didn't care for Ravus as a person, for the moment they were united in purpose. Regis would protect him, if need be.
In spite of his caution, the empty soldiers saluted and stepped aside for Ravus. He strode straight to the rifle-bearing soldier and appeared, so far as Regis could tell in the flickering streetlights, to hold some manner of conversation. The MT produced what appeared to be a radio, which Ravus took. In few moments he had rejoined them at the Regalia.
"It would appear the plan is not entirely ruined," Ravus said. "For whatever reason, our collusion has gone unnoticed by the powers that be. I now have command of all the MTs in this sector; I may be able to override a larger group… if we can reach a command ship."
"Aren't you gonna make these ones go boom-boom, too?" Prompto asked.
Ravus glared at him and dropped into the front passenger side seat. "How old are you, Prince Noctis?"
"Twenty. Why?"
"And yet, you still hold the company of five year olds. How suitable."
"Hey!" Prompto said.
"Commander." Regis, too, sat back down. "May I request that you instruct them to move away from any and all humans before they self-destruct?"
"What about the daemons?" Gladio asked. "If you've got the MTs, might as well put them to use against the daemons."
"I do not believe the daemons are a concern, anymore, Gladiolus," Regis said.
Outside every circle of light thrown by every street lamp, they hovered. On the drive, the Regalia had passed by dozens of them, and yet not a single one had made aggressive overtures.
"I believe it is safe to assume, at this point, that Reina holds their leash." Precisely what that meant, he was still uncertain. But it did seem to mean they were not hostile toward Lucians.
They drove again. All around them, the streets echoed with explosions as every MT in the sector self-destructed.