The skies
As said, the five were in the airplane, on their way to the Cube. Not much was being said, but they all felt the same. Especially since Thirteen himself mentioned that they were here with or against their or even Thirteen's wishes. None of them truly knew how they should feel about this, therefor they didn't have much to say.
At best, Max thought it'd be usefull if she looked through the Cube's schematics, so to have a better understanding of what they were up against. But since her abilities allow her not only to memorize everything she reads, it also allows her to read faster. So once she was finished reading about the Cube, she looked through some of the books that were left in the plane. Apparently, her whining about the magazines were heard, as somebody left some more interesting books there to read. Among those books was one novel called "The XIII Mystery", which apparently revolved around their own... recruit, for a lack of better terms. Reading it, got her to know a few details about Thirteen, which altogether, even without the graphic novel called "The Kelly Brian Story" was more than she, or anyone else with her, would like to know.
Snake thought it necessary to go through their arsenal. He made sure their fire-arms were clean and loaded, as that would be something even a trained soldier would neglect. But among the arsenal, he found something very peculiar. There was a box with pills, that was labelled "Orofar". Why would anyone send them pills? Expect them to get some kind of disease? He looked at a note that was with it.
"Take these pills and nothing can detect you." it read, "Whether it be motion-, heat- or sound-detectors, they won't see you."
Snake grinned, but said nothing. He didn't believe it would work, but he took one pill, as a joke. He was sure that it wouldn't be a tranquilizer, because if that were the case, it would make the group useless if they took it. But if it is, all the more reason that he should be the only one taking one, so the rest is warned.
Meanwhile, Al was just looking outside the window. He knew that he could fly all by himself, therefor he didn't need this plane to transport himself. Given his situation, being stuck with these people, he felt a little like a prisoner. Even more so as this plane is airtight, which was a thought that didn't make him much, if any happier.
Jason, being who and/or what he is, which nobody really knows, including himself, never slept. But he knew that other people do need to sleep. Though Jason has little to no knowledge or understanding about how the world spins (literally), he doesn't know how he could possibly move from a place where the sun shines, to a place where it doesn't, and back again. In any case, he did realize that a lot of time has passed since he left his home, which was enough to make Ginger tired. So he understood why she was asleep, but couldn't quite understand why no one else was. That was always his problem with people, he never really did understand them. A mutual feeling, one might say, as that is even why he's wearing his hockey mask. It is that which made Ginger so different from everyone else, as she didn't behave as he's seen other people behave. She, in her own way, was different from everyone, just as he is. Because of it, he hesitated to kill her the first time he saw her, and after some time, he decided to never kill her, or in any shape or form allow anything to harm her. She understood that, so she vowed to do the same for him. Bearing all this in mind, seeing her asleep made Jason realize just how vulnerable she was at the time, which made him all the more jumpy when somebody at last decided to talk.
"This is really interesting." Max said out loud, which got everyone's attention, "This book here talks about our friend Thirteen. Looks like he's had quite a history with two American presidents. Not to mention that there's been this whole ordeal with the Conspiracy of the XX, of which he pretended to be the number XIII."
Snake grinned: "Does it also say his real name?"
"Alan Smith, Jake Shelton, Jason Fly, Jason Mac Lane, Kelly Brian,..." Max recited, "Take your pick."
"Never mind." Snake replied, "I'll just stick with 'Thirteen'."
"How does that help us?" Al asked her, "If somebody left this here, then it would mean that Thirteen is not afraid of us finding out about him."
"Or somebody put this here without Thirteen knowing it." Max reasoned, "In any case, I haven't found anything which we can use against him yet, but I'm sure something will come up."
"At least, it's fair now." Snake hissed, "He knows so much about us, now we know so much about him."
"For now, I can live with that." Al replied.
"Wrong, you don't know anything." Max corrected them.
"But enough for all five of us together." Snake reasoned.
"Careful, don't start arguing." Al warned everyone, while pointing to Jason, who was about ready to get angry.
Remembering what he did last time there was an argument, who knows what'll happen if he gets angry while in a flying plane. A thought which nobody would like to think of.
"So..." Al decided to start about something a bit more important at the moment, "... how do we go about this Cube?"
"Well..." Max answered, "... as it looks, there are 17,577 rooms. But not all of them are booby-trapped."
"And you know which ones they are?" Snake asked.
"Yes. And no." Max replied, "The Cube keeps shifting every so often. These schematics only show where the rooms are in their original position, but I have no way of knowing where they are now."
"This is helpful." Al sighed.
"So we'd best cut off the power before going in." Snake suggested.
"We can't." Max told him, "If we do that, we'd warn our man of our arrival, and he'd try to escape. And even if it takes him days to get out of the Cube, the chances of us finding him before that happens are next to non-existent."
"So we keep the power running and keep him at his advantage." Al sighed, "This is great."
"Will you guys keep it down..." Ginger mumbled, "... I'm trying to sleep here."
