Note: Most persons
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The air cruiser landed down on the
touch pad, the whole cabin shook for a second and then a voice came over the
intercom. "Thank you for flying,
Gaurdia air, the official and only air service in the world. Those who are exiting at this point
please..." Dekan ignored the rest of the message over the intercom. Instead he looked at Phantine and Naxos and
said. "Let's go. The fate of the world may be counting on
us." Phantine almost laughed at his
over dramatization though she did realize that that very well could be
true.
The three of them exited the plane,
picked up their luggage, and walked down to a small inn near the entrance of town. After they had purchased their room they
visited the small bar inside of the inn. Naxos thought it would be a good idea if they could get any information
from the inhabitants of this city. See
if any of them actually knew anything about the Mountains, or the reactor
itself. So Dekan, Phantine, and Naxos
went into the inn's bar and began talking with those who inhabited it.
Dekan approached one weary man with
furrowed black hair and a goatee witch was made more from a five o'clock shadow
then actual care and grooming. He also
had a look of depression on his face. "How's it going?" Dekan said.
"Ohh man. Let me tell you it couldn't possible be any worse." The man said with breath that was obviously
filled with alcohol.
"Well go ahead and tell me." Dekan said remembering what Kain had told
him earlier, [Kain, Dekan and Phantine were sitting around a table in their
room at the inn; Dekan looked at Kain and said. "Well how do you expect us to find these people while you're
gone. Just go up to any Tom, Dick or
Harry in a bar and ask them 'say do you know anything about resistance
movements here in Giott City."'
"No" Kain replied. "Though you are on the right track, yes I
would visit a few taverns if I were you. You see all you do is just go up to any drunk in there and ask them what
their problems are. Then lead the
conversation towards where you want it to go. Sure nine times out of ten you won't get anywhere, but that tenth time,
you're going to have quite the advantage because that man or woman won't
remember what they told you or why or even when. So you leave no traces, and what's more, they will be much more
honest with you and even when they don't tell you anything you want to hear at
least just watching them is very amusing." Kain said with a grin and a slight laugh.]
"Well buddy, there's this girl that,
well she is just, yeah you get the idea. Well she really likes this guy. I don't know who he is, but... I know he exists and luckily I'm pretty
sure he is a guy, so at least that don't throw a curve at me if you know what I
mean." Dekan chuckled lightly though
not really thinking he was being all that funny at all.
"Let me ask you something," Dekan
said. "How do you know her?"
"Ohh, we work together."
"Where."
"The grocery store. I'm the manager there you know. She's ah, she's a one of those people that
takes your money and gives you a receipt. I don't know what they're called, but you get the idea." At that point Dekan realized that it was
going to be a long night.
* * *
Naxos looked at Dekan talking with
that drunk, obviously getting nowhere. The man was a fool to think that he could get anything from him. Naxos looked around the bar though he made
sure that no one noticed him doing it.
Suddenly one woman sitting alone
caught his eye, not because of her physical appearance, but because she had an
aura of self-importance yet at the same time she looked lonely and in
need. She was the exact type of person
that would be working as a scientist over there at the generators. And as such, Naxos decided to pay her a
visit.
"Hi there, the name's Naxos."
She looked up at him with dreamy yet
commanding eyes. "Go ahead and sit if
you want to." Naxos sat down and
looked at her with intent eyes. "Ohh
yeah, my name's Marion. That's an
interesting name you have there you know, haven't heard anything like it
before."
"Well my parents are from...the
underdark, so maybe there is a bit of dwarven influence, or something like that
I guess."
"Oh, I've never met any dwarves."
"They're very nice you know; though
don't back one into a corner or you'll end up with a bloody lip." With that Marion gave a short laugh. "So if you don't mind me asking what are you
doing in a place like this. Trying to
drown away your sorrows."
"I guess you could say that I'm
doing that. All right I'll tell you,
you see my boyfriend just dumped me, and I haven't been able to get any respect
where I work and..."
"Where do you work?"
"I work at the reactor facility down
in the mountains to the south don't usually get to come here much but luckily I
have the whole week off so I'm spending part of it here in town. Anyway though I just don't think that anyone
really likes me. Except maybe you. Do you like me?" Naxos was shocked though within a second he realized that he
shouldn't have been. Where else would
single men and women go to meet new people?
"I guess so." Naxos said very slowly.
"Of course he does!" Someone blurted out behind Naxos. He spun around to see just whom it was only
to find Dekan standing behind him. "So
aren't you going to introduce me to your lady-friend here." Naxos almost blushed at Dekan's foolish
remark.
"Dekan, this is Marion. Marion, this is Dekan." Naxos said with as much formality as he
could muster, while still saying it at lightning speed. "Now Dekan Marion was just telling me about
where she works." Dekan gave Naxos a
questioning look and raised his right eyebrow. "She works in the reactor facility in the mountains to the south." With that Dekans'' eyes lit up. "She was just explaining about what it looks
like in the inside, because I was so interested in it."
"I was?" Marion said.
"Oh yes don't you remember." She gave them both a dazed look. "Well go ahead and tell him too. I'm sure he's interested as well."
"Ummm, well where did I leave
off." With that both Dekan's and Naxos'
lips both began to curl slightly.
Suddenly Phantine entered the room
and began looking around, noticing her two companions she wandered over toward
their table where the three of them were sitting. She looked down at Dekan and said, "Hey you guys, I was
just...oh, hello. I'm sorry I can be
kind of unobservant." She said to
Marion. "What, ugh, who, what's your name."
"Marion." She answered proudly. Obviously stopping her though process on no one liking her.
"Hi Marion, I'm Phantine. And this is my Dekan." Phantine said sub consciencly marking her
territory. "I'm sure you've already
met. Now what were you guys talking about."
"The reactor facility to the south." Naxos said. "Marion works there and she was telling us all about the insides of
it." Naxos said in an almost cheery
voice, if it was possible for Naxos to sound cheery.
"Oh well in the inside well first
there is a great big old door. It's
made out of titani, titani, oh something like that. Now there are a whole lot of guards on both sides. But, it's kind of funny because that's the
only place where they ever are. Now..."
With that Naxos began to ignore her informative ramblings. This was because he could her Phantine
whispering something to Dekan.
Naxos kept his eyes on Marion to
make sure she didn't notice, but he was really paying attention to what he was
hearing from the other side of the table. "I was able to enter into the computer system just fine." Phantine whispered. "The passwords at that point were so
easy. I got to the place where the
blueprints were kept and I downloaded them. Although there is only about half of the prints there." Phantine paused for a second then
continued. "Let's hope she knows
something about those areas."
* * *
Kain saw Dawne's awe as they walked
outside of the Barionian aero facility. Baron was a mighty site to behold; Kain noticed it for the first time
now. It was breathtaking, towers and
skyscrapers as far as the eye could see in the center of town. Though the further your eyes went to the
edge of the city, the smaller the buildings became. Just like almost ever other city he had seen or been to in this
age.
"Where do we go first Kain?" Dawne asked him.
"Well we have two options at our
feet right now. We could either go
directly to the Guardian's Tower right now. Find and grab the crystal and pray to the light that the entire military
of the Guardian doesn't notice. Or, we
could go get some information, make a plan, and then secretly and silently grab
the crystal. And notably, both plans
end with you teleporting us back to the tower of Babil to wait for the other
party." Dawne nodded her head. "So which one do you choose?"
"Neither." She said to Kain's dismay. "Or rather a combination of the two. I need rest so let's take a day off and do a small amount of research
and then go to the Tower." With that
Kain and Dawne both looked toward the exact center of town. There they saw the largest of all the
towers. It was dead black, not painted
that way, but became black because of years of pollution that had sooted the
building's exterior. At the very top Kain
could make out a large statue of a man holding a sword above his head.
"All right, let's do that. Go to an inn in the third district, one
called the Best Choice, or something like that. I'll meet you there in the dining room. Though if you decide to turn in for the night before I arrive,
tell the man at the desk that your name is...Rydia, yes Rydia. Make sure they know that I will be looking
for you and that they should show me to our room. That reminds me, how much money do we have left."
Dawne took out her wallet from the
small almost box-like purse that was hanging from her shoulder. "We have about 25 coin left Kain. Well, do you think that will be enough;
sounds like the place you picked out is pretty schnazy."
With that Kain gave a small
laugh. "You obviously don't know the
third district very well, although I do suppose it's the nicest place to rent
your rest in that district. So I think
twenty should be enough for one night."
"You know you don't have to laugh at
me just because I don't know everything about the city. I mean you didn't even..."
"Dawne, I laughed because of the
irony of you calling anything in that district 'schnazy' that's all. Now if you want to get rest, go. I still have work to do if we want to find
out anything about what goes on in there." Kain said pointing directly at the Black Tower.
Dawne looked him in the eye and
nodded, and then said. "All right, but
if you don't come back by morning I'll assume that your dead and go on without
you." Kain laughed.
* * *
"So then we go in through the park
district just like Marion said. Then
when we reach the exit we wait until someone actually exits and we sneak by
them while the gate is closing. From
that point we make our way through to the cleaning rooms and see if we can't
'borrow' some uniforms in there. Then
we split up and scout out the area and return back to the exit after, let's say
six hours. And at that point we can
discuss any other options, got it." Naxos said almost sounding like a commanding officer briefing his troops
before a delicate combat mission.
"Well that all sounds well and good
Naxos." Dekan said. "But, unfortunately there probably are
security features there. You know
things like security cameras and checkpoints and lasers."
"I can bypass those Dekan, can't
you?"
"Probably, but what about the ones
that we don't see, hmmm."
"I don't miss things like that
Dekan."
"Oh come on. That's just plain ridiculous, there are
going to be security cameras. Especially in the main garage exit."
"We can bypass those."
"How Naxos, how."
"Both of you stop!" Phantine yelled out. "You both sound like a couple of second
graders discussing your fake mission to go into your neighbors back yard. Now look these cameras that Dekan was
talking about. Naxos you can take them
out from a distance with your magic. And I can disable any kind of password security procedure, and so can
Dekan, Naxos. And the rest we will have
to handle when we get there, all right." Dekan and Naxos nodded their heads in shame. "Good, so it seems to me
that sense we will need to depend on each other; splitting up would be a
useless venture. So we will need to
stick together even when we are scouting out. So that when we do finally find the crystal we don't have to go back and
find anyone else. OK!" Again Dekan and Naxos nodded their heads in shame. "Good."
With that silence filled the room
that was before filled only with shouting. Each of the three looked at each other, they all know knew the
plan. They all knew that they had to
succeed. They all knew what had to be
done. Suddenly though something
occurred to Naxos.
"What do you two think we should do
if we can't succeed?" He asked in a
mysterious tone.
"What do you mean Naxos?" Phantine asked.
"What I mean is, what do we do if
the crystal of fire cannot be removed from it's setting. Or if Dawne doesn't come before the guards
do, what then?" Naxos asked them the
same way that a kindergarten teacher asks her class what comes after 99.
Silence resumed in the room. No one knew.
* * *
Inside of the Guardian's recruiting
center Kain watched as many men entered minute after minute hour after
hour. While so few left, suddenly
though one man finally caught Kain's eye. A large man who had an equally large feeling about himself. His jacket that he wore displayed his pride
in himself in full detail. Showing
golden eagles, silver stars, and bronze swords. Kain followed that man through the winding streets of Baron. Thinking how odd it was that this man did
not possess other means of transportation, if he looked so high-ranking an
officer. Suddenly the man turned around
and spotted Kain in his tan colored trench coat. Kain kept walking though as the man stopped and then said to him. "Why you following me, boy?"
"I'm not."
"Yes you are, I've seen you in the
corner of my eye sense I left the offices." Kain maintained his straight, almost dead face. "Now look I ain't goin' to let you lie to me
again. So speak up boy."
"I have nothing to say to you other
than I was not following you."
Furry filled the man's face. Suddenly his fist came to crush Kain's own
face, but stopped dead in its tracts. A
gloved hand was now almost crushing it. Surprise was now the thing that filled the man's face. "Who, who are you. Are you a Paladin in disguise? I swear I'm loyal, I swear it please you've got to believe me."
Kain found the blubbering of the man
disgusting and released his grip, a thought rushed through Kain's mind at that
moment. "Hmm, I think I may have to
test your loyalty."
"Please I'll do anything just say
that I'm loyal, let them know. The only
reason I was sneaking out early was because of my kid. He wants me to help him with some math
homework, or something I swear it. I
swear it."
"I believe you." Kain said in an almost dead voice, copying
the one that the gray man had used in the 'encounter' that Kain had with him in
Phantine's and Dekan's hide-away. "Only
that's not the kind of evidence I need, I want you to tell me everything you
know."
"Everything?"
"Everything that you know about the
Guardian himself, I could be wrong but I think you might know him a bit more
intimately then most others."
"Not really. I've been to his Tower many times but I've
never really spoken to him. I guess I
kind of spoke through one of his lieutenant's before. Is that what your talking about."
Kain nodded his head and thought to
himself. "If the Guardian can use fear
to his advantage so can I."
"Those who write
reviews shall be Karmicly rewarded."
-Kain DeLuman