(A/N: Yue just had her change of heart, and everyone gave her their support for her changed attitude after capturing Katie. Read on!)
7: "Rise and shine, people to find." Rae exclaimed when she barged into Evanna and Tali's room the next day.
"Where… coffee?" Evanna asked sleepily.
Rae rolled her eyes. "Priorities, hm? You can have coffee if you both get dressed and come out to the kitchen for our debriefing and pep talk."
"Pep talk?" Tali questioned, sounding a little livelier than Evanna.
Rae shrugged. "Maybe. Really though, I made that up just now. See you soon!" Rae then exited. However, she left the curtain open.
There was a silence, and then Tali said, "Someday, I'll get her back for all this."
Evanna fell out of her bed and mumbled, "Coffee first. Revenge later."
A few minutes later, everyone was sitting around the table.
The Rangers, including Carter were there, looking much more awake with coffee mugs in all of their hands.
The three swords masters, Rae, Yue, and Altair were there as well.
Rae looking cheerful and wide awake, as usual.
Yue looked the happiest she had ever looked in years.
Altair meanwhile was looking sluggish. He told Rae and Yue when they walked in, "I don't do mornings."
During breakfast they had pleasant conversation about recent things in Kagari, as the Rangers, Rae, Yue, and Altair had been traveling around and ambushing people, they didn't really know what was going on.
After though, Carter started the real meeting.
"Alright. It's great to see you all still alive, by the way. But we should discuss your next target. And Altair, here are your weapons for capturing Katie."
Altair gladly took his short blade from Carter and put it away.
Then Rae started. "Our next target is So, her real name is Sara. Her base is located on the coast, in one of those port cities. The base is a mansion."
"What city?" Tali questioned.
"The city is called Inganno." Rae replied.
"Do we know anything about this mansion? Like, how many guards? Anything important?" Eric asked Rae.
"Not really. I know its location; I know it's a stronghold too. It's the fall back base if every base is compromised. More like a safe house for Ti, Elena, I should say, than anything else. I guess from that we can assume it's pretty well protected." Rae explained.
"It also happens to be a front for money. As it is located in a port city, the city is very goods and money friendly, filled with merchants and manors. That's why the base isn't unusual. It looks like it's just the house of a rich and wealthy family." Rae added.
"So, has anyone ever attacked a manor?" Peter asked the group.
Rae and Yue shrugged. Eric and Tali shook their heads. Evanna snorted and muttered, "Easy. Break the door down, yell 'Give us your evil leader or you get an arrow through the eye,' and see what happens."
Altair said, "I kind of have."
Peter raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"
Altair shrugged. "Well, see, there was this time with this guy-"
Evanna cut him off exclaiming, "We don't care about the guy! How did you attack it?"
"Oh, that?" Altair asked. "It wasn't hard. I'll explain when we get there."
Rae shrugged at the Rangers.
Yue stood up and announced, "So, time to leave, then."
"Wow." Tali breathed.
Tali pretty accurately described Inganno with just that one word.
Inganno was a beautiful city, with the smell of seawater constantly in the air. Waves washed up gently onto a nearby beach, a sound that was soothing and could be heard throughout the city. Inganno was a more modern city, with tall buildings and busy people both foreign and native scurrying about. No one seemed to be amazed or scared by the appearance of the rather odd group of Rangers and swords masters. Clearly, this was a city that attracted all sorts. A wealthy city that brought in a lot of trade. The buildings and streets were reminiscent of an Italian city, only grander, with buildings painted gorgeous colors of gold and red, and blue.
"How will we find Sara?" Evanna fretted.
Rae laughed, "Remember me? I know where it is. Of course, I haven't been here in a long time, so if I get us lost, bear with me."
Peter said, "Oh, I'm sure you won't get us lost."
"Lead on!" added Eric, grinning.
Rae smiled back. "Thanks. I'll do my best!"
After that, they were all mostly quiet, taking in the sights. The city around them however, was not quiet. The market place was busy that day, and stalls were set up. Vendors called to the crowd, proclaiming their products or services to be the best and of highest quality. A group of children were playing an intriguing game off to the side in some grass. It involved running around and kicking a ball. Eric almost went over to ask them about the game, but Tali dragged him away saying firmly, "Mission first. Fun and games later."
No amount of Eric's complaining ("But they'll be gone soon!") would deter Tali.
Finally, Rae led the group down another street. At the end of this street, was one of those huge manors. It was painted gold, like many of the other manors in town.
"So Altair, what's the plan?" Peter asked.
Altair frowned. "Looks different… Never mind, I'm sure we'll work it out."
"So, how did you get in?" Eric questioned.
"Me? I climbed up." Altair said calmly studying the building's layout.
When he turned to look at his friends, their mouths were all hanging open.
"Climbed?" Rae gasped.
"How do we get in? We can't climb up that." Yue told Altair.
Altair shrugged. "I don't know."
But Tali was grinning again, and it was a mischievous grin. Looking at Altair, she said, "Time to give me a crash course in bombs."
"Do you think this will work?" Altair asked the red headed Ranger nervously.
"No." Tali replied cheerfully. "But either way, it'll make today very interesting."
Tali and Altair walked to where the others stood, waiting with worried expressions.
"How much explosives?" Rae asked Tali again.
"Hopefully, just enough to get through the door. Lucky we found it, actually."
The door was a back door. Rae had carefully guided everyone around to the back of the mansion, where Tali had guessed there might be a back door. And, there was. Granted, it was made metal about an inch and a half thick, but Tali was hoping the explosives she had attached would break the door. If they were really lucky, the door would be broken and the whole house wouldn't come crashing down in flames.
"So when will it explode?" Eric asked Tali.
"In a moment." Tali responded.
A few seconds later they heard a faint popping explosion.
"Sounds like the house is still standing." Rae observed.
"And hopefully, the door isn't." Tali said.
As luck would have it, the door had been blown off its hinges. Quietly the Rangers went in to spy on the building. The mansion had three stories. So, Tali, the quietest, went to the very top, and Evanna went to the second floor, and Peter and Eric divided the first floor and investigated their section.
After a few minutes, they all met at the second floor to discuss something strange that every floor had in common.
"Dead guards. Dead bodies everywhere." Evanna said.
The others nodded and agreed that they had seen the same thing.
"Who could have killed all the guards?" Tali asked.
"I'm wondering if whoever it, or they, is, they are still here so we can find out." Eric said.
"Hey, did anyone check the roof?" Peter suddenly asked.
Tali opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, the group heard a scream from the roof. Barely glancing at each other, they all ran up to the roof. Altair, Rae, and Yue had followed them when they heard the scream, so they came to the roof together.
Coming off the ladder, the Rangers and swords masters saw So, otherwise known as Sara, standing with her guards dead around her, screaming. The reason for her screaming was revealed when the group saw a figure approaching Sara. This figure was wearing a hood and a long robe. Most importantly, whoever it was, they were holding a knife.
"That's bad." Altair muttered. Then he took off running, and tackled the figure. This resulted in a fist fight between the two. Sara was still screaming, though. Yue punched her so she would be quiet then said, "Evanna, give me some rope so I can tie her up." Evanna handed some rope over to Yue, and then knelt down to help her tie up the leader.
Tali told the others, "I'm going to check over the base again, see if this guy has any friends hiding in the house." Then she vanished down the ladder.
Eric and Peter seemed at a loss. Obviously, they wanted to help Altair, but with the flailing limbs, that didn't seem very safe. Peter ended up shrugging, saying to Eric "Either way, we die eventually," and leaping into the fray. Eric sighed, then he too jumped in.
Meanwhile, Tali had found Sara's office. She saw a folder lying on top of Sara's very messy desk labeled Money Interactions-Kagari.
Tali opened the folder. At the top she saw documents talking about gold and goods being shipped, and what ship they were on and where they were headed. Clipped to one of these documents was a note that said, "Fast horse dispatch- Agra, Kagari." Sara had added something beneath that, which said, "Here's the shipment. Weapons already sent. La sending extra soldiers too. – So."
Intrigued, Tali pocketed the folder. She investigated the other floors quickly, and, finding no one, she went back up to the roof.
She found Peter and Eric watching Altair and his opponent, and the opponent said, "I am your brother."
(A/N: So I just figured out a problem with FanFiction… I found out that when I post a story on FanFiction it gets rid of the dashes I've been using to help distinguish when I skip forward in time. And I wish I had spotted it sooner, but oh well. I'm trying to fix it.
Wish me luck!
Oh, and, sorry for not updating in a while. I've been freaking out about my Solo and Ensemble performance, and I have a huge test in history that I should be studying for right now… So. Yeah. Sorry!
See you later!)