Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror

Chapter 18 of my Broken Sword story, enjoy.

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Boris Yeltsin: Thanks, yes, indeed, ominous.
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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Broken Sword or its characters.


The Lost Station

NICO POV

I stumbled down dark stairwells for what seemed like forever, until, suddenly, I found myself…

'Wow!'

...In an abandoned London Underground Station. This place must have been closed down decades ago, it was dilapidated and dimly lit. Honestly I was surprised it was lit at all. Looking around I noted a tunnel to the far left with tracks and everything, it looked like while trains no longer really stopped here, they still drove past here. There was a large light secured on the edge of the platform, the lit light was green and there was one unlit one above it. Along the left wall, from the edge of the platform up to the stairs where I stood was a small ground level cupboard of sorts, a large red weighing machine from way back when, an old underground map and a few torn and dirty posters. On my right were two machines, an old ticket machine and a chocolate bar vending machine. The rest of the platform was blocked off by old discarded railway sleepers.

'Okay, I got out of the museum and got down here.' I thought to myself. 'But how do I get out of here and get after Oubier.'

I needed some sort of plan, there was only one way out I soon realized, the question was, how to stop a train so I could get on it and get out of here.

I decided to check the objects around to see if they could help me out. The cupboard was locked up tight and the map and posters would be useless. I looked at the weight machine but didn't understand the units being displayed properly. That was when I got my idea, I looked back at the cupboard, recalling how I got out of the museum. I reached in and pulled out the dagger again, I moved back to the cupboard and squatted down, using the dagger in between the wooden frame and door. The door gave slight but then held firm.

"Dammit." I growled.

There was now a crack through which I could see the latch holding the cupboard shut. But the dagger would have no further effect, so I pocketed it. I needed something else and looked around. That's when I saw the weight machine actually gave out cards, that might be useful but I would need a coin to operate it. I checked the two machines but the ticket machine was empty. The chocolate machine however had something notable. There was something stuck in the coin slot. Biting my lip and taking the risk I pulled out my hair clip from my bag and used it to push the object into the slot. It went in and fell through to the coin reject cup. I reached in and pulled out an old English penny, just the kind I needed.

I made my way over to the weight machine, stepped on it, put the penny in and waited. The needle twitched rustily then the machine spat out a firm sturdy card. I picked up the card, stepping down from the machine. I looked at the card, the weight was in imperial units which meant nothing to me. But there was something else on the card, something that looked like a fortune.

'A family quarrel will turn out to your advantage.' I read. 'Hmmm, that's ominous.'

I held the card in my hand as I made my way back to the cupboard. I knew now that my plan would indeed hopefully work, two trains had already passed through this tunnel since I had arrived, so I knew there was a chance for this. Using the card in the crack and levered the latch up. The cupboard swung open as I slipped the card back into my pocket. Inside was only one thing, a big red ever so tempting button. I pressed it and, as hoped, the green light turned off and a red light turned on. Just in time as I heard brakes screeching and soon I stood up to see the train stopping, opening its doors.

'Excellent, my way out.' I thought in relief. 'I can worry about not having a ticket when I get to the docks...just play the dumb tourist like George taught me.'

Smiling and hopeful, I entered the train and waited until the doors closed and the train took off again, I had already checked the more up to date map and knew the exact stop I needed to get off at, now I knew I had my way to get to the docks, find Oubier and hopefully, get my hands on the Jaguar Stone.


End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.