The title for this chapter does not make much sense anymore, but I'd long decided to keep the chapter names, so let's call it an ironic naming. Never been good at naming chapters anyways.
The remaining trip to where Antoine is has been incredibly boring and exciting, for different reasons, of course.
The flight itself was boring, hard to stay entertained as they flew towards the new country, and Dell ran out of blueprint paper on the second day. The boredom made him tweak the Wrangler and even fiddle with the Gunslinger, so Dell was kinda relieved when Lawrence told him they would soon have to travel by water as they approached the coordinates Antoine gave them. That's the cause for the tense excitement; the knowledge of explaining to Antoine what happened back in Boston and then coming up with a plan how to get the Alethiomist to accompany them without threatening their life. Hopefully, Antoine got some ideas on how to make the truth reader help them track down Nathan.
At sundown, Lawrence starts turning off the Helium gas, making the airship slowly descent, and right as darkness starts engulfing these parts, Dell can see the water below them. He admittedly gets a bit nervous when Lawrence starts musing to himself, "Steady, steady." but the man lands the ship into the water without any issue. "Help me with the balloon." Dell nods and is more than happy to do something, even if it's something small as packing down the balloon. With it safely stored into its storage, Dell heads over to the railing and leans over it to watch this new area. It's quite damp but not the same way as Boston; it's hotter than the Inlet of New France. Warm weather is something he combines with dry air, like what he grew up with in Texas, so this warm and damp place, it's a strange combination for him.
Lawrence guides the ship into a large river, and soon Dell cannot see much of it thanks to the darkness. About to leave his spot, Dell hears splashing, followed by a very strange voice, and Naira voices his thoughts, "What in tarnation is that?"
"[[strangers in our river. Do you hurt, do you hate?]]" the strange voice sing-songs through the darkness. Lawrence quickly turns on a light and aims it towards the water. There, Dell sees several huge fish-like creatures, pinkish with a long snout, swimming around the ship. One of them sticks its head up from the water, and to Dell's big surprise, "[[I see no hate, see confusion. We feel the same. You are strangers to our rivers, but we welcome those that do not hate.]]"
It speaks in a singing voice to them before diving back into the river, though he can still hear them do this strange song.
The language they used sounds familiar, but Dell cannot understand them. "Are they speaking French?" Dell asks for it sounds very much like Antoine when he shifts to his father's language.
Lawrence shakes his head; in the light of the lamp, Dell can see his eyes are narrowed but doubts it's because the hunter feels threatened by these creatures. "No, I don't understand them." Figures the man has picked up some French from all the years he has spent with Antoine. "I have heard of these animals before; the locals call them Boto. They are dolphins, smart like us."
"Dolphins?" Dell repeats, he has heard that word before but never seen the shape of this creature. Eyeing the Botos, most of them are swimming around the boat. Every one of them speaks to one another through this song of theirs. "Are they some sort of fish?"
A chuckle from the hunter. "Nah, they need air like us." Lawrence replies, and he speeds down, probably to avoid hurting these curious creatures. And Lawrence is clearly very fascinated by them; he keeps looking down at the river, and Laraine is flying around in the light zone. "Beautiful creatures."
One of the Boto surfaces, looking up to the hovering Laraine. "[[A soul of freedom, a soul of a hunter. I feel no fear. You do not seek to hunt us.]]" It sing-songs and allows Laraine to briefly land on its head before diving and joining the others under the water. Laraine flies back up to her human and lands on the railing beside him.
Naira is not as interested in these dolphins as the kestrel is; she's warier of them. "I'm just happy these Boto are friendly." She points out before going back to where Dell got his toolbox, his daemon would much rather rummage through it than watch these big water creatures. Turning to Lawrence, Dell can't help but wonder, "When do you think we will reach the town Antoine spoke about?"
"If we're lucky, early tomorrow." Lawrence replies, not once removing his gaze from the Boto swimming below them, "If we hit that time, we can pretend to have come with wares to sell. If not, well, then we need to wait until darkness fall."
Not going to question why; Lawrence has been in this fight for a long time, so Dell knows the man knows what he's talking about. "Alrighty then, so I can sleep for a few hours?"
"Go right ahead."
Dell heads downstairs and into one of the two rooms he built. Both bedrooms have simple but comfortable beds; each of these rooms has two beds each. It's not much, but this ship wasn't built to carry a bunch of people, less so a whole team. He made it for four people as Antoine and Lawrence did at times join with others for their missions. Now he's one of these people. Changing to his nightwear, Dell drops onto the bed, resting both hands on his stomach and watching the ceiling. Even after being on his first mission and traveling for almost a whole week already, everything still feels quite surreal. "It still feels like a strange dream, doesn't it?" Naira voices beside the bed.
"Yeah." He replies quietly, and not sure if he wants to wake up from this dream or not. Everything is so different now, but he's with friends and perhaps will be helping a lot more now he's out in the field. One thing is for sure, though. "When we find Nathan, I have to figure out if I want to be a Nomad; stick with these two or," he lifts his right hand, watching the metal fingers move by his command. "find a team that would like the son of a Church loyalist."
It looks like a lot more people know about him than Dell realized. The Scout from the team in Mexico proved that much, and it most likely won't be the last time someone puts a gun to his face.
The sound of the Boto's strange song and the boat's faint swaying makes him uneasy. He does not feel comfortable with this lack of hard surface, but Dell says he's handling it reasonably well, considering this is the first time sailing on the water.
Sleep didn't come easy, so many thoughts and worries about how the upcoming extraction mission will be. How Antoine will react when he realizes that Nathan got taken by the Magisterium and finding the kidnapped children is their only hope to find that young man. Worse still, none of them knows if Nathan is still alive.
"Hey," A light shake makes Dell open his eyes; it's hard to see in the darkness, but thankfully Lawrence is easy to recognize with that slouch hat of his. "We're at the port. Dress to look like a cargo worker." Right, Dell sits up, needing a moment to get the sleep out from his eyes. He turns on the small light and grabs the clothing he came with after the attack on his zeppelin factory. The clothing is torn and got some faint bloodstains he couldn't wash out, but hopefully, the darkness will keep people from noticing. Dell grabs his hardhat, puts it on along with both of his working gloves. And to look like a worker, he also takes his class belt.
Before joining Lawrence back on deck, Dell quickly throws a bit of water on his face so he's appropriately awake. It's strange to see the wildlife hunter without the hat on, it's such a big part of him that it's funny. The moment Lawrence notices him, he picks up a middle-sized box, "Here." and throws it over, sign there's nothing inside. Dell catches it, but a creek from the right side reminds him to be mindful of how much force he puts into the Gunslinger's fingers.
Lawrence jumps off where he will dock the ship. Dell notices that a single guard is roaming around, and he does not like how this person is looking at them.
Someone approaches, darkness makes it hard to see the face, but when he notices the white wolf daemon, Dell relaxes and smiles, knowing Antoine has been nearby all this time. "About time you came." Antoine complains rather loudly and pulls out a clipboard from his satchel. "I have been waiting on these spices for a week!"
"Sorry, boss." Lawrence replies without missing the beat, a clear sign those two have been doing this sort of dance for years. "Met a few rough patches—"
"I don't care what you went through; all I want is my wares." Antoine interrupts like an annoyed customer, and he hands Lawrence the clipboard. "You better have everything, I didn't pay you for half the stock." The sharpshooter pretends to be writing the number down, but Dell can see the man is simply doing scribbles from his spot. Lawrence returns the clipboard, and after a moment of staring, Antoine snorts, "At least you can do that part correct." He then spins around and leaves, snapping his fingers at them. "Hurry up, I don't have all night."
Lawrence eyes him, and Dell grabs the empty box and follows Antoine. From the corner of his eye, Dell notices the guard is ignoring them. 'Ah, that must be why they did this whole act' They leave the docks, and at a building that looks to be a shop, Antoine is standing, waiting for them.
"Next time, drop the finger snap," Lawrence tells Antoine, annoyed by that part of the act. "I'm no bloody dog."
Antoine snorts, now out from amusement, "And yet you did the act quite well— for a rugged bushman." Said bushman makes a quick waving motion towards him, and Antoine turns to Dell. "I am curious as to why the toymaker decided to join the fight."
Lifting his left hand, Dell counts his fingers. "The Church does not take no for an answer. They stole my entire stash and collapsed a zeppelin down on my right hand." Which he pulls the right glove down just enough for Antoine to see that this hand is no longer out of flesh. It's hard to know what reaction the man has about this, more so when it's so dark, but Dell figures this does surprise his friend. "So perhaps it's a good thing I know how to make new toys."
"Indeed." Antoine muses, his smile gone and tone now serious, "I see there's a lot of information exchanging among us. This way." and he guides them to wherever the spy has been hiding while being in this area.
Antoine brings them to a summerhouse area, and much to Dell's bemusement, the Frenchman heads over to one of them, where he opens the backdoor. "Something tells me you didn't get permission from the owners." Naira remarks.
"Do I ever?" The man smirks. Inside, Antoine walks around and turns on the lights; he does stop for a moment. Eyes on Lawrence, who is out in the kitchen. "If you're going to use the coffee machine, be sure to wash it afterward."
"Right." The sharpshooter replies and starts brewing some coffee.
Naria begins to shift on her spot, reacting to how anxious Dell is starting to feel about the news he has to give Antoine. The father of Nathan notices it and stops making this summer house more inviting. Dell looks over to Lawrence. The man meets his gaze, abandons the brewing coffee, and walks over to his old traveling companion. "The Magisterium has your boy." Dell, at times, wishes he could be as straightforward as Lawrence is, there's no beating around the bush with this Aussie.
"What?" Antoine asks hard, a deep scowl on his face. He turns back to him, and Dell gets a bit scared from the look in the man's eyes. Antoine looks ready to use that knife of his. "This is why I didn't want you to hire him…!" He sneers, his wolf daemon towers over Naira, the fur around the neck bristled.
But the golden beaver does not cower from the much bigger daemon; instead, she bares her teeth at the white wolf. "Dell's wounds have nothing to do with Nathan's kidnapping. He wasn't there when it happened." She retorts. Dell nods but wishes it was the case. "I was attacked due to my continual decline to work for the Magisterium."
"Nathan was taken because of his daemon." Lawrence says and walks over to his shocked friend. Though this shock is quite subdued, Antoine has always been good at keeping his emotions under a tight lock. Which often makes him look like an uncaring person, but he usually does not know how to properly express himself. That's what Dell figures after being friends with this man for several years and witnessing Antoine show his gratitude through several subtle actions.
The infiltrator of the three walks over to the nearby table, leaning against it and hiding his face partly with the hand. "Mon Dieu… he's like me?"
"Yeah." Lawrence replies.
And Dell adds, "More so perhaps, Nalini changes form all the time." compared to Sabrina, who only changes her form when Antoine either needs to disguise himself or when he's feeling strong emotions.
The Frenchman sighs, as if this is horrible news. It confuses Dell a bit. "I knew I never should've sired him…." He blinks at those words but can see that father and son share the same doubting thoughts when it comes to their daemon. Pity, as their rare ability sure can be useful at times. Antoine straightens up; his daemon takes the shape of a European adder. "I take this is why you told me not to harm the alethiomist."
Lawrence nods, and the Aussie pours himself some coffee, acting so calm about the whole situation, unlike Antoine, who seems to have trouble showing his emotions. Lawrence has a sort of zen energy around him, and Dell has no idea what made that man this poised, only that it helps keep himself somewhat calm. "Speaking of which, did you find the person."
"I did." For some reason, Antoine hesitates, looking strangely uncomfortable about the mention of their target.
This troubles him; not much can get under the Frenchman's skin. "What's wrong?" Dell asks, worried if this truth reader might be more challenging than expected to get on their side. "Is he too much of a loyalist?"
"No, quite the contrary." The spy of the three replies. He pulls out his cigarette case but uses matches to light his smoke instead of a lighter. "She knows about our plans and is willing to work with us."
"So what's the issue?" Lawrence asks from his spot, drinking his coffee like it's a simple workday at the office.
Antoine takes a long drag of his cigarette before he answers, "Let's say she got an unhealthy obsession towards fire and an unhinged personality from the torture she has endured."
This catches Dell by surprise, and it's quite a lot to take in; not only is the alethiomist a woman, but apparently quite a pyromania and unhinged enough for Antoine to be worried. "But we can trust her, right?" He asks the man.
"People like her can't be trusted." Antoine replies in a simple matter of fact. Another drag of his cigarette, "The moment our shared goal end or if we happen to set her off, she will turn against us. People like her;" His reddish eyes go to the window, but Dell doubts he's watching the small garden outside this vacation home. "They are unpredictable and incredibly dangerous."
"But we're still going to need her." Lawrence points out. "When she's done putting us on the right path, we'll set her loose." With his daemon adding, "Or put a bullet through her head."
He didn't like that last point, but Dell can sort of understand why Laraine said it. If this woman got Antoine rattled, there is a reason to fear this alethiomist reader. "What about we first figure out how to get her out?" He suggests. Lawrence nods and gestures over to the table with a cup in hand.
Antoine grabs a large piece of paper and a pen and begins drawing a rough sketch of the building's layout. Their friend from France got one hell of a sharp memory, close to photographic, which comes in handy when they need to infiltrate a building. Neither he nor Lawrence speaks; none wish to break their friend's focus. It took a while, but after about a half-hour, "This is what I know so far" Antoine speaks up, and Dell leaves the small bookshelf this place got. Returning back to the table, he can see that this place is rather big, but by the looks of it, Antoine hadn't investigated the whole site.
Antoine begins to point at different locations of this rough layout sketch. "The whole place is surrounded by cloak disrupters, and there are cameras here, here, and one there." He points at the spots and points at an area between two of the cameras, "However, I noticed a blind spot between these two cameras. It leads to the barracks, and that is quite lucky."
"How so?" Dell asks, unsure why the backdoor that leads right into where the enemy sleeps is a good thing.
Antoine smirks over to him, an almost mischievous glint in his reddish eyes. "Thanks to a certain visit of the Crow, several new soldiers have been stationed, and it happened so fast that the higher officer yet had time to count them. I can disguise myself as one of the guards, blending in among them, and no one would notice." Ah, now Dell can see what Sleek meant. However, it should only be a matter of time before they get all their soldiers counted.
"Has to make this extraction quick then." Lawrence speaks up. "Wouldn't be long before they know their new numbers." Seems like the Aussie noticed the same issue that they are under a time limit for this mission, and Dell is not sure what to think about it.
Antoine nods in agreement, returns to the map layout, and points at a hallway filled with small rooms with pen in hand. "There are prisoners at this location. Unfortunately, saving them is out of the option. Those I saw…." He puts down the pen and a familiar gleam of doom in his eyes. "The experiment we witness in Dustbowl, they have refined it here."
He gasps at what the man said; the memories about that horrible place flash through his mind, and Naira exclaims out his feelings about what Antoine had just said: "How can they do such a thing?! What they did was unforgivable!" Antoine gives him a look that he fully agrees but with a dark cloud over him, and Dell realizes that there's nothing they can do other than repeat what they did in the other place. Fisting his hand in anger and disgust, "Did you figure out why they're doing this?"
"Loyal soldiers, unwavering and without fear." Antoine darkly replies, Lawrence eyes him, having a faint scowl over his weather-worn face, but what the hunter of the three is thinking, Dell has no idea. "These soldiers do not seem aware that they have lost their daemon, there was no life in their eyes, yet they are still breathing and moving about."
"That a bloody way to be." Lawrence voices and Dell fully agrees with the man. He would rather die than live without his daemon. "Where is our target?" Dell asks the infiltrator of this small group.
Antoine points at a room at the end of a long hallway. "She's here, locked behind a door I won't be able to pick. The doctor used some kind of keycard." He looks up and turns to Lawrence. "I should be able to get this card without much issue."
"How? Didn't you say there's cloak disruptors all over the place?" Lawrence asks.
"After the threat the alethiomist made, this particular doctor started to have bodyguards in the form of soldiers."
Ah, now Dell can see where Antoine is going with this, "So if you replace yourself with one of these guards, getting the keycard won't be a problem." The spy nods, now, to something about the person they are doing this for. "How much does she know?"
After trashing his smoke, Antoine's gaze is back on the map, but his mind seems to be somewhere else. "She knows working with us will grant her freedom. So getting her out won't be an issue— unless she decides to go on a murdering spree."
"We can't risk that," Lawrence says while he pours himself a new cup of coffee. Dell presumes it's because the woman might get herself shot and killed if she goes on the attack. But if what Antoine said is true, then Dell can't really blame her for wanting to hurt those who tormented her.
Antoine nods in agreement. "That's why we need to get her out as quickly as possible. And she gave us the perfect ticket for it." He points at a room with a drawing of what looks like some sort of machine, "The building's generator is located here. I can sabotage it, and when they call for repair, you two can enter."
"Sounds like a plan." Dell muses. It would wake as little suspicion as possible. Though there are several things they have to prepare before their plan works. "We have to remove the current engineer, can't have they fix the machine."
"According to the alethiomist, none of the people there can fix this machine."
This takes Dell by surprise. Why doesn't this facility have someone who can work on the very lifeblood of the building? Unless… "Got any pictures of this machine?" Antoine nods and takes out a small glass sphere held by fine metal from his photo-taker, from his bag a hand-sized projector. He and Lawrence turn off the lights, which gives the best view of what the photogram shows them. The small light show reveals a machine looking much like a large tank with several containers that, at first glance, would look to contain lightning. This machine is one Dell recognizes. "Now I see why, this is an Anbaricity generator." And a powerful one at that, but why would a machine that is more than enough to power an entire city be inside this building? "But why such a big one? What requires that much power?"
"Perhaps Intercession." Antoine replies, Dell gives him a confused look, and the man elaborates, "That's what they call the removing of someone's daemon." Oh good… now they have a name for this devil's work.
"Maybe," Dell muses, not that it matters. All that does is sabotage the lifeblood of this facility. It starts with Antoine messing enough with it so the people there will call for maintenance. "All right, Sleek, pay close attention," he tells the infiltrator, with Naira adding, for once serious. "one mistake and the whole place will blow."
That made Antoine's daemon jerk back, and the man's eyes widened ever so slightly. Lawrence almost spits out the coffee from his shock at how powerful and dangerous this Anbaricity generator is. Dell ignores their reaction, focusing entirely on showing Antoine how to sabotage this machine properly. "Between these two containers should be several cogs, past them a pipe. Carefully remove the pipe, and try not to get anything stuck between the cogs. They are what keeps the cooling system going."
"What tool should I use for this pipe?" The spy of the three asks, his daemon staring at the photogram, unblinking.
Dell checks the image created from the light and is happy that Antoine made sure to photocopy the whole machine. "A socket wrench should do it. I got one in my toolbox, but I can't say what size, so you have to carry the whole box." Antoine simply nods. "Now, after you have removed the pipe. It will start making some noise." He walks over to the other side of the generator projection and quickly spots the second part of the sabotage. "See this panel?" Antoine follows over so he can see it. "You should be able to remove it with that knife of yours, behind there will be four wires here;" he gestures where "take the lowest wire— it will make the machine act up, so don't try and jump. We can't have you remove the other wires." Lawrence chuckles in the background. Antoine's face stays neutral. "Replace it with the second highest, it will make it quiet down but give the generator wrong signals, and lights would start going on and off." He eyes the man beside him. "Delicate work, so be careful."
"Or you might lose that pretty face of yours." Antoine shoots Lawrence a quick glare. The spy might be hard to get a reaction from, but Lawrence has mastered the art to get under Antoine's skin, so one of the few who can break the neutral face Antoine often wears. The hunter lets out a short laugh, a sib of the coffee, and with the cup on the table. "Before we start messing with the generator, let's find a proper alias for Truckie."
"Can't have people find out who he really is," Antoine voices in agreement, a sudden glint in his reddish eyes. "and we can't forget about his assistance."
Lawrence blinks. Dell does too, not sure what Nathan's father meant, but does get an idea when Lawrence groans loudly, closely followed by: "Bloody hell Spook, you know I hate that."
"That or sit and pick your toes." Naira chuckles at that remark from the spy. Lawrence isn't as amused but through a lot of grumbling. He agrees with Antoine's plan.
**Next day**
While Antoine is out to sabotage the generator, Dell spends the time preparing his toolbox for the soon-to-be strike. Not many tools in there, only enough to hide the two guns and the extra box of bullets. The toolbox won't be used for repairing work this time, only pretend long enough for Antoine to get over to the alethiomist.
Antoine would then give them a quick signal through the walkie-talkie in which Dell would shut off all of the light, giving the spy and woman some sort of cover as they would leave. Antoine said they only needed five minutes, so Dell would turn on the lights and repair the machine after that time. They can't sabotage it as that would warn the Magisterium they got the alethiomist and thus put a bigger target on their heads.
Dell does not like it one bit; he would much rather destroy the machine and delay these people from continuing their unforgivable act against people. But as long he's this green, Dell knows he has to follow Lawrence and Antoine's lead.
A sound of metal rubbing against one another, and Dell turns to where Lawrence is sitting, sharpening his kukri. His face shows no sign of what's going through the man's mind; it's calm and focused on this small job. Laraine is calm, too, perching on a nearby chair, watching Lawrence with her unwavering sharp eyes.
'I figure this is yet another mission for him.' Dell thinks and is sort of relieved he will do this extraction mission with two veterans. He picks up one of the pistols and does a quick checkup, can't have it jams if they get into a fight. 'I wish there was time and place for some quick shooting practice, but they got a point'
They cannot risk warning the local Magisterium soldiers about them through practice shooting. Dell does not like entering another fight this green but knows he has to. They can't risk waiting for too long.
The sound of someone approaching from the backdoor made everyone turn to said spot, Lawrence reaches for the gun near him but is quick to remove his hand from it after someone makes a unique whistling, and moments later, Antoine walks inside. Though, for some reason, he seems annoyed. "I've prepared the generator, but we got a problem." He speaks up, and everything that can go wrong springs to Dell's mind. "The doctor who had the keycard has fled the area. I don't know who has it now."
The doctor fled? Why? "Know the reason to why?" Dell asks.
"The alethiomist bloodlust was mainly pointed at him." Antoine replies, having a deep scowl across his face, "And after she gave them a heads-up about our plan, he must've realized that if we succeed; she will kill him."
"Bloody annoying, but I don't judge him from bugger off like that." Lawrence remarks, and right after he has sheathed his overgrown knife. "Is there any other way to reach the Sheila?" Antoine shrugs in response.
Good thing he got an idea. It will be risky, but Dell does not see any other option, "There is a way." the two men turn to him, and he explains. "I can short circus the Anbaricity generator so all the powered doors will unlock. It should set her free, but also everyone in the prison."
"Which means we might get flooded by a bunch of soul-less hooligans." Dell nods that the hunter indeed got it correct. Lawrence turns to the still frowning Antoine. "It will be chaos, so you better show us the quickest way out."
"You've never been much of a threat in close quarters." Antoine remarks.
Lawrence snorts loudly, "Say that to your right arm." This made the current exotic cat of Antoine winch back, ears down in clear annoyance at this reminder. Dell has a few times seen that scar but hasn't been aware that it was Lawrence that gave it to him.
'I wonder when that happened?' He muses to himself, unsure if either Lawrence or Antoine will tell him that story. They are stringent when it comes to their past.
Antoine grumbles but does show them several routes they can take, and since Dell does not have an adhesive brain like a certain Frenchman, he sketches up a small map with lines to each route from the generator.
After that, Antoine gleefully starts preparing both him and Lawrence for the repairman disguise. Dell mostly only got new clothing he's certain Antoine stole from somewhere, while the Aussie got a whole makeover. Lawrence didn't say anything, but it's hard to mistake that scowl for anything other than great annoyance. He dealt with the makeover, though just barely, and Antoine certainly had fun dyeing the man's hair and powdering his skin to a paler tone. But the moment Antoine came with a shaver, "Don't you bloody dare." the hunter reached his limit.
"It's hair. It will grow out." Antoine brushes him off but doesn't approach further. The death-glare from Lawrence seems to hold some message Antoine understood, and it reminds Dell that these two have evolved an unspoken language between one another. Figures hanging up one another for years does that. After a moment of this stare-down, Antoine breaks eye contact with a huff. "Stubborn bushman."
"Pompous spook." Lawrence throws back and leaves to grab his "uniform" for the role he soon has to play. When he's in clothing that resembles what an engineer would be in— which looks so strange on the man, "Let's get this over with." Lawrence grumbles, definitely still annoyed by the makeover he had to endure.
Learning up against a nearby wall, Antoine remarks to him. "He looks ridiculous. The bush in him is too strong, even for me." Dell can't help but laugh at that small jag to their sharpshooter friend. It is true; Lawrence has and never will be a city person.
"It's a wonder you haven't tried to kill one another-" Naira replies.
"Oh, we'd tried." And the spy leaves the house as well, leaving a quite bemused Dell alone. He does not know their whole story, only that Antoine once worked for the Church but later joined the Resistance. Dell figures that's when he met Lawrence, and the two have been grinding each other gear since. He grabs the toolbox and leaves the summerhouse as well, following the still disgruntled Lawrence to the facility.
Approaching the area, Dell is starting to get nervous. What if the people didn't fall for their disguises and instantly suspect them as intruders? Would they have to fight their way in? What if one of these people recognized him like Scout did? What if this alethiomist reader refused to accompany them, or she proves too much of a threat?
what would happen if—
"Breath, Truckie." Lawrence leveled voice breaks the train wreck that is his thoughts. "We will be fine."
Easy for him to say… he and Antoine have been doing this for years. "You won't know that. So much can go wrong."
Lawrence puts a hand on his shoulder, their eyes briefly meet. "Yeah, it can. But this job is aimed at your strong suit; treat it like any other maintenance job." Not sure if that helps or not, only that he can't let his friends down— can't let Nathan down.
Naira looks up to him and assures him that he can do this through their link. Taking a deep breath, Engineer straightens himself up, prepared to tackle whatever might come at them. Even if he has to kill to get one step closer saving someone he has come to care deeply about. They approach the gate for the facility, and the guards stop him, Lawrence hands them some forged papers Antoine gave them, and the two men let them through. Over at the very door into the facility, another guard, he too, wants to see the papers.
"Looks legit." He returns the papers. "I'm surprised you came this quickly. The machine has only acted up for a day."
Naira leans up against his leg, reminding him he got it, and Engineer takes her encouragement to heart. "Yeah, well, it's part of the job description to get a move on when an Anbaricity generator starts acting up. Now," He corrects his hard hat, his game face on, "mind letting us through before it starts throwing sparks? I would like my nightly travel ends with our departure and not my behind going sky high."
The guard's face goes white, and the bull-terrier lets out a small whimper. The man quickly steps aside, "O-Of course, go on inside." Engineer nods, and Naira passes the other daemon with her head held high.
They go through a bit more security, checking for concealed guns, but fortunately, they are too much in a hurry to let them through, so they don't bother checking the toolbox.
Away from the guards, Lawrence muses quietly to him. "Nice touch."
Engineer smiles weakly back to him, surprised he managed to keep his cool. "Thanks." He wasn't lying per say; more embellished the truth. None of the guards tries to stop them, barely paying them any attention.
A single guard did offer to guide them over to the generator, and Engineer decides to accept as he is a bit worried about walking the wrong way. Lawrence does not say anything, if his accent would identify him as an intruder or if the sniper simply let him have this one. Engineer can't say but figures the man got his reasons.
They reach the prison area, a doctor has called one of the soul-less out, and as they pass this person, Engineer notices that the person's eyes are dull, which looks so wrong on that blissful face. He almost trips over Naira, but he can't blame her for clinging to him out of fear that that person does not have a daemon.
Their guide, too, looks uncomfortable, but he pretends not to notice the soul-less. He seems happy to be away from the area, though, and stopping at a door where a faint screeching of a machine can be heard, a clear sign Antoine has done his work correctly. "Do you need any further assistance?" The man asks.
"We got it." Engineer assures the guard, making sure to sound as polite as possible. It's strange to know that this helpful person is an enemy but, to be honest. Sometimes one has to kill a man even though there's no personal hate between them. It's sad, but that war, Dell guesses.
The soldier leaves, and the moment he's gone, Naira scuttles closer to him, still freaked out at what they saw at the prison cells. "He didn't have a daemon. There's no life in him," She says with a trembling voice, afraid of this fact. Engineer kneels down and puts a hand on her shaking body, but he's not sure what to say to make himself feel better. What the Church is doing to these people, it's horrible, unforgivable, and it enrages him knowing they have continued doing this for all these years.
Antoine said they did this to gain loyal soldiers, but they already got that without having to cut away their daemon, so why? Why do they do this? What is their true agenda? Engineer doubt he will get an answer here or anywhere any time soon. For now, he has to focus on the mission at hand. His hand goes over to the toolbox and out from it, the two guns. One of them gets handed to Lawrence, "I reckon they will flood this place when I'm done with this machine."
Lawrence checks the gun's ammunition quickly. "When you shoot, hold the gun with both hands; it will give you better accuracy." Engineer nods, and with his own gun holstered, he grabs a wrench and walks over to cause some serious damage to this machine.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
'click,' and a small flame, then close the lit and end the fire. After that, the circle repeats. She's been doing this ever since the man gave her the lighter, her only entertainment other than her own mind. Her mind, it's a dark place, even when she tries to make it colorful and happy. She knows past the rainbows, playing angels, and all the candy she could eat… it's all fake. A façade made an attempt to block her true emotions. 'Click,' and the fire is out again.
She stares into the small flame, the beautiful, warm flame, her friend among the dolls with the plastered happy faces.
"Let's play a game." She says, in the same manner, her mother used when speaking those words. Her mind goes back to when she was surrounded by extravagant walls and expensive junk. Like this place, it was a prison. It has been years, but the memories keep clinging to her mind. She can see her mother clearly, slender, in a very colorful dress, and way too much jewelry. "it's your favorite; it's pretend." Mother spoke with a happy-go voice. At first, she thought mother got her best intentions, but even a child will sooner or later sense the ice that surrounded that woman. This ice mainly was just cold, shown by her mother brushing her dependant thoughts aside like an annoying fly. But this ice could hurt too, if she ever stepped over the small line, didn't act exactly as they wanted. Mother would remove everything she liked, her words "It's for your own good. Deep down, you know I do this out of love." Maybe she did, but it didn't stop Dahanain from seething at how much these punishments hurt her.
One day, the tirade of punishments got too much, when it proved that she couldn't even choose her own friends. It just boiled over, and that's when they made their own game. "It's going to be fun." Dahanain speaks from his spot underneath the chair.
Right that moment, the light inside the room goes out. The only source of light is the lighter's flame. She continues to stare into the fire, not moving from her spot. She may be crazy, but she's not stupid. Even if the lights are out, the door is still locked. At least until she hears the faint sound of the hinge creaking and lights from the outside shines into the room. The amber eyes leave the flame and land on the open door. The faint glow of the flame is just enough to reveal a devilish smirk on her lips. But it's not like there's anyone to see it, not yet at least.
She closes the lighter's lid and leaves her prison, going straight to her new favorite toy.
Dahanain is still in the darkness of the room; all that can be seen are his glowing eyes. He does move when she breaks the protective glass and retrieves the fireax. With a dark chuckle, "Very fun indeed." he steps outside, but instead of a shape of an Amazonian otter, he's in the twisted form of what her parents wanted him to be. He was once the one who had reminded her to stay obedient towards mother and father. So many times had to go against his very nature— against her nature. She had obeyed, but it is only for so long someone can deal with such treatment… it drove her insane!
All of those negative thoughts from her, Dahanain took them all. He carried the weight, and in time, it changed him, made him more and more aggressive against everyone who wanted to take away the life she wanted to live.
He has taken the shape of a dog, but his legs are much more muscular, unlike the Labrador he took back when she was young. As he walks, his long, sharp claws scrape against the floor, leaving a mark behind. Once his fur was black and soft, but the fire within his human now burns inside of him. Black scales cover his muscular body like hardened teardrops; underneath glows a fire that burns from the many prisons they were thrown in. He steps onto the hallway. Like the rest of his body, the canine face is covered in scales. But unlike a friendly Labrador, his jaws can get off their hinges, and the maw is filled with countless large, sharp teeth. His fire-colored eyes do not change, but the pupils become slit as he prepares himself for the game of their making.
She, too, is set on playing this game of theirs, and it will definitely not be fun for others, but she long has stopped pretending she actually cares what others think of her. She shifts the ax onto a resting position in both her palm, then sets on a run. She can hear the sounds of a strange thunder, but she ignores it. She has an appointment with her old man. Dahanain quickly gets the scent, and she follows him to where dear old dad is hiding. They can't play this game without him.
But when reaching the room where the scent led, he is not there. Only some doctor, but a face she recognizes as one of her tormenters. That soft face, behind it is something as ruined as when the fire has burned something thoroughly.
She wanted to burn that mask into ash every time he had cut open her skin with those tiny knives of his or wanted his version of fun when removing his clothing.
Now, it's her time to have some fun.
"Wh-What are you doing in here?" the man asks, going over to the radio. "Get back to your cell!" He commands, as if his words should scare her. Surely he should've realized that the humiliation and many scars he left on her: only fueled the fire that resides inside of her.
It's not father she found, however, "Eh, good enough." she shrugs, better than nothing, and that's all her daemon needed. He charges, breaks the table the man's daemon is standing on, and sends the rat flying into the air. He jumps up after it and clams his jaws around the rat.
The man screams in pain, and she smiles, it's a beautiful sound. Mother made the same sound when the fire licked up her body, and it was glorious watching her skin boil and transform the body into mother's true shape. Though, mother didn't move much after that.
She walks over to the collapsed man; he's trying to crawl away. "No, no… please, don't do this…." He whimpers. It's pathetic, and she loves it, so empowering to know he is at her utter mercy. She walks around Dahanain, who is playing with the rat daemon. Stepping over to the doctor, one who has given her many scars. Some of them are on her body, others in her mind, and neither will heal. If she had the patience, she would have prolonged his suffering too. "I beg you… I was only following orders…."
"Ohh boo huh," she whimpers mockingly at the cowering doctor. "you think begging for your life will save you?" She giggles at the irony; he always said no help would come for her when he would force his body against hers. It was a time when she was much weaker, but that is no longer the case. This kind of anger is a surprisingly good motivation for countless pushups. She shifts the ax's position, weighting her weapon for a moment, and this move made the scars on her bulky arms light up when the lamps above hit them right. As she shifts the ax playfully around, a funny thought of it being a giant popsicle makes her for a moment wonder if such a thing existed— if that's the case; she wants one. Then, she swings it onto the doctor's leg.
It cleaves deep into the flesh, and he howls in pain. Blood flooding out, more so when she removes the ax from the leg.
Again he tries to crawl away, leaving a small river of blood. She draws her foot through it, painting a Boto swimming through this red river. Does turns her attention on her former tormentor and finds it so funny to see this arrogant man now crawl like a weird snail. She giggles, letting him do this silly pretend of being a snail before turning him over and lifting the ax above her head. His eyes are wide, so many emotions, much more compared to mother. "No! Please don't—" but his words hold very little meaning to her. His past actions spoke louder. She slams the ax right into his chest, he cries, then gurgles from all the blood coming out from his mouth. His arms tremble towards the ax in his chest before dropping them. The emotions in his eyes freeze into the final one he felt before she put the ax into him. She finds this frozen state very intriguing, like he showed his true self at this very moment. He thought he was above someone like her, but when it came to it, he was a sniveling snail that liked to throw the blame on anyone but himself.
Dahanain huffs, annoyed, whoops, forgot he was still playing with the other daemon.
"We will find you a new one." She tells him and retrieves the ax. He makes a toothy grin and follows her in search of more to play with. Someone in the hallway appears, dressed like those that loved to beat her. Her smile widens, "Found one." and Dahanain is quick to get over and dig his teeth on the white doggo's neck. She runs to the man, swinging her ax, but misses. He got away in the last second. No matter. She waits, and right when Dahanain starts his own game, making the man winch, she goes at him again.
Their eyes meet, and she is thrown back to her room.
A lighter gliding over the floor. The guard looking at her, the red eyes, cold, distrustful, yet knew he needed her.
Sharp pain over her neck, the doctor's room returns, and she finds herself on the floor. Confused about how she got down here, she lies there, staring up at the man with those same eyes.
Dahanain did not like that. He growls loudly, leaves his current playmate, and jumps at this man. Clamping his teeth into the man's hand and forcing him away from her. She barely reacts to the sense of feeling another through her daemon, kinda got used to the sense from the many times the people here have manhandled him. She is still trying to figure out if this is the same man that gave her the lighter. If that's the case, killing him would be a bad idea. He is her way out, after all.
The man's white doggo jumps at her spirit partner, tearing him away from the man's hand. "We're not your enemy!" She snarls.
He snarls back, fire under his scales flares, and Dahanain is too caught up in the game that he won't hear anything. She jumps up and grabs him around the neck. "Not this one." He calms down, but not enough to shift back to his original form, still too caught up in the game. She eyes the man, giving him a small smile before turning to his soul partner. "Oh, such a pretty doggo."
The daemon backs away from her and walks a broad curve around Dahanain, who follows her sharply with his gaze. The man watches her, and she is curious as she can't see if he's scared or not. Maybe he's just good at pretending? "We're getting out from here." He states out and moves down the hallway he came from. His spirit partner does keep staring at them.
Oh yeah, almost forgot what this man and two others will do. "Yay!" She jumps on her feet, arms in the air, "Freedom awaits!" and quickly trots after him. On the way to freedom, she lights whatever that's flammable, leaving a trail of fire behind them.
The man pulls out some sort of device. "Don't go the western path; unless you wouldn't mind going through a hallway on fire." A whistle and she looks behind, so does the man, at the end of the now on fire hallway are two people. One thin and tall, having a bird on the shoulder. The other short and muscular, he got a similar spirit partner as her first friend, but this one is much prettier with that golden fur. The man at her side groans, "Fantastic…" he then eyes her. "You'd trapped my co-workers on the other side."
"Whoops," She giggles, and if it makes him feel better. "I can get them for you." Fire is her friend, after all. She trots back through the flaming hallway, able to see a path, see what the fire has claimed and where she's allowed to walk. The heat is nice, though it makes it hard to breathe. At least the smoke isn't around. It makes her cough and dizzy; smoke is kinda an asshole. She reaches the two others and gives them a smile. "Follow me, and mind the fire. It's kinda greedy."
"No bloody kidding…." The tall man muses.
She turns, about to lead them back, but a 'bang!' and something speeds past her. "They are over there!" Someone shouts. Leaning over, she spots a man dressed like the one who gave her the lighter— like those who likes to hit her until it bleeds. Dahanain wants to play, but they can't; the smoke is coming, and fire has already eaten so much. So only a short game. She grabs a burning chair and throws it at the man, it makes the fire start eating the clothing, and the man begins screaming.
She giggles at how funny he sounds, then turns to the two men, both looking funnily at her. Again she giggles. "You got some funny faces." Then waves them over, "Let's go!" and notices the fire is removing parts of the path. "Run, run, run! Or fire will eat us up too!" She laughs while running through the extreme heat. A tongue of the fire did lick her arm, but the pain meant little, and when out from the hallway, she claps several times on the spot, making them go away.
"Thanks, we really owe ya." The short man says, and something about his voice... it's different from when mother uses her soft voice. "Good thing you know how to walk through fire."
"Fire, she started." The man who gave her the lighter says. He used a tone she easily recognizes; disapproval. Better not take her lighter like father would've. If so, then she may throw a chair at him too.
But for now, she will ignore him, much more interested in this other man. "You sound different compared to the others." She decides to like this new tone of voice; it makes her feel good. So with a smile, "I think I like you!"
"Eh, no problem." The man replies. He sounds a bit confused, not sure why though. His smile does drop as he turns to mister good pretender. "Um, where is the alethiometer?"
"I got it." The lighterman says. Oh, that's good. That is the reason they want her. The man then turns, "Let's get out from here. Only a matter of time before they realize we're here."
"They already do." The tall man says, checking his shirt and by the looks of it. The fire got him a bit. "Engineer and I had to shoot our way out." That's a funny name, she observes.
"So, in some ways, the fire proved a nice obstacle." The short man remarks. She thinks she's going to like this one.
They get outside and encounter some men, but the lighterman makes them drop with his weird object. Turns out it is one of those making the thunder sound. She follows them back to town, over to the river, and into a boat. Here the man points at the cabin, "You will stay down there, and don't set anything on fire."
Seems like she replaced one prison with another, should've known freedom do not come that easy. She heads downstairs and will admit that this prison looks and smells better than the one she's been in most of her life. Still, she knows things probably won't be better. After all, people only want her because of her ability to see what the truth device is saying.
She takes a seat on the couch, where she resumes watching the tiny flame from the lighter. The only difference is the chair is soft, and the sound of the motor in the background breaks the eerie silence.
"I wonder how long it will take before they start beating me?" She voices out loud to Dahanain. He responds by gearing up to where the faint voices of the three men can be heard.
Does perk up when a loud 'BOOM!' rings through the area.
"What the hell was that?!" The lighterman exclaims.
Followed by the short man's laugh, "I may have sabotaged the generator a tad too much."
"Cricky, did you blow up the whole building?"
"Yep!" The man sounds so proud. She can't help but smile on his behalf. Yeah, she thinks she will like this man very much so, he does remind her about her first friend.
Rewriting this chapter was kinda hard. I spent a lot of time pondering who's perspective I should write in the first part. The second part was pretty fun. I love how to get a better look into the scarred woman's background story.
TF2 fans probably already know who she's going to be, and that's okay. I am writing as if neither know the characters, sure challenges me since I can't say; "it's (insert name) and they will be doing this." and expect everyone to know how they look like. This is a good way to challenge myself in my writing.