Once Kira had sent the call in to Eddy, he had ships blasting off to the darklands within the following hour. Of course, Kira and company (and Trevelyan) were on one of these ships, bound for what was known as Dinosaur pass.
Whatever the darklands were before wasn't forgotten per say, it was simply deemed irrelevant. Whatever the darklands were before, they could never be again. Fusion matter had so thoroughly soaked and polluted the soil that barely anything grew there anymore that wasn't made by fusions. Not even the benefit of being several miles in the air in a scamper could hide from Kira just how ugly and alien the land was.
It took three rounds of bombing runs on their destination before it was deemed safe to land. Immediately, soldiers started setting up a perimeter around the site to keep away any other fusions that might've been drawn to their location. Once the heavier excavation equipment had been transported, the work began.
After the first day of digging had concluded, Kira decided that it was now time to call up the boss. So she returned to her scamper to use the on board computer to call him. However, she got Double d instead. Double d had long since traded his plain red shirt for a lab coat and goggles, but kept his signature sock hat. "Hey, when you find a look that works" is what he'd say if you were to bring it up to him. "Hey Double d," Kira said. "Where's Eddy?"
"Conducting a meeting," Double d replied. "I'll relay your message to him. So, how're things progressing?"
"Well, it's only the first day, so it's not like I expected to find anything right out of the gate. But according to our scanners, there's literally nothing out here for miles around or even underground. We'll probably stick around for a few more days, but I don't want to stay here longer than I have to."
"Probably the wisest course of action. Trevelyan will pay us one way or another, and if this wild goose chase of his gets too many of our men killed, Eddy plans to take everything the a-hole has. I do hope he realizes this."
"Oh trust me, I let him know."
"Good, now get some sleep, for god's sake. Your bags have bags. Double d out." The computer went black, allowing Kira to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
"No, no time for sleep," she said to herself. There would be time for sleep when the job was finished. She forced herself to her feet and walked out of the scamper to check on the progress.
She found Ed sitting on a rock, watching the machines digging into the ground while enjoying a cup of coffee. Kira sat down next to him, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "Hey," she said.
"Hey Kira," Ed said with a smile. He then handed Kira his coffee, having gotten a good look at her face. "Here, you need this more than I do."
"Thanks," she said, accepting the coffee and taking a long sip of the liquid.
"Personally, I'd recommend sleep. But I think I know where that talk would go."
"Fuse doesn't sleep. I will when one of us is dead. Preferably him."
"Fuse doesn't need to sleep. You do."
"And here I thought you knew where this talk would go. Look, we need to get back to work." Kira finished her coffee and carelessly threw it behind her. After all, there's no way she can screw over the environment any more than it has already.
"Hey," said Ed, standing up behind her. "You think we can talk, later? It's been a few years, we haven't talked in…" Ed counted in his head for a second before looking back at her again. "We haven't talked."
Kira looked at him and smiled. "Sure. I'd love to. Now c'mon, I'm sure Jack is just bored to tears without us." With a chuckle, Ed followed behind her.
Meanwhile…
With a sharp battle cry, Jack pummeled the punching bag in front of him. He was the only one currently in the makeshift gym built to keep the workers and soldiers preoccupied. He didn't mind, as he preferred training on his own. He landed several more punches at lightning speeds on the punching bag, about to continue when a familiar sharpness in his chest arose. He grabbed the chain holding up the bag for support as he doubled over, his other hand gripping his chest. He reached into his robe and pulled out a small pillbox. He swallowed three of the pills from the pillbox before quickly hiding the box in his robe again, lest someone see it. He breathed for a moment or two, waiting for the medicine to ease the pain in his chest. He swiftly composed himself when he heard someone approaching. It was Ed and Kira. Jack turned to meet them with a smile. "I trust all is well back at the cul-de-sac?" asked Jack.
"As well as it normally is," Kira replied with a shrug. "So where's Trevelyan?"
"He said something about wanting to inspect the construction site," Jack replied. "I told him it was too dangerous, and he said he'd go speak with you about it." It took Jack repeating the events back out loud for him to realize he'd been played. One firm facepalm later, all three ran out of the gym to find Trevelyan.
"What do you mean you haven't found anything?" asked Trevelyan.
The foreman rubbed his temples with one hand, while the other handed Trevelyan a clipboard. "Just what I said. We haven't found crap since we got here."
"I've given you the exact location, and in just one day, you've turned this place topsy turvy. You must at least have a reading of some kind."
The foreman groaned and put his face in his hand. The sun was starting to go down by now, and he hoped that this guy would get bored and leave instead of talking his ears off all night. "And we ain't found nothin. The only reason we're still here is because we have picked up signs of an underground cave that may hold some answers. But if our bad luck continues down there, you're gonna be lookin at a hefty fee, bud."
Trevelyan put down the clipboard and was about to chastise the foreman for his tone, when Kira burst into the room. "There you are!" she said. Kira reached over and grabbed Trevelyan's ear, pulling him out of the foreman's office.
"Ow, ow ow, okay I'm going," said Trevelyan.
'We are so so sorry about that," said Ed, bowing repeatedly.
"It's fine Ed," said the foreman. "Just keep a better eye on him next time."
"Of course sir," Ed said with a smile as he and Jack followed Kira out of the room.
Once outside, Kira released Trevelyan's ear. Although her face made it obvious to Ed and Jack that little would've highlighted her day more than ripping the rich prick's ear off of his head. "Okay, lunchbox-," said Kira, earning a confused look from Trevelyan and Jack mouthing "lunchbox?" to a shrugging Ed. "-just what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I was simply checking up on the status of the excavation," said Trevelyan with a pout.
"We've only been here for one day, if we find anything, trust me, you'll be the first to know."
"I don't see what is so offensive about me just going to talk to the foreman."
"Talking to the foreman is fine. Harassing the foreman is where problems start cropping up."
"I have been waiting for this day for most of my life, and I-" Before he could finish, Kira grabbed Trevelyan by the tie and pulled him down to her eye level.
"And now that we're on the precipice of meeting the goal, you will wait however long I say you will wait, capiche?"
Trevelyan gulped before muttering out a "Capiche." Kira him go, allowing Trevelyan to stand upright and arch his back to work out the kink that had formed from having to bend down to the petite young lady's level.
Kira huffed and dusted off her hands. "Good to hear," she said. "Now, you're going to-" Just then, an alarm sounded throughout the camp, similar to a tornado alarm, but much higher pitched in order to emphasize that you should really start panicking when it came on. Kira's head had shot around to look out to the camp below. She then turned back to Trevelyan to finish her sentence. "-You're going to get to the escape choppers and get the hell out of here. Now." Trevelyan shakily nodded before running to join a nearby crowd of fleeing researchers, along with the foreman.
Kira pulled out and unfolded her bow, Ed threw off his windbreaker, and Jack unsheathed his sword. Without a single moment's hesitation, the three leapt over the railing and sped down the hill. Ed caught up to Kira, his eyes narrowed with focus, but momentarily laced with concern. "Does this mean what I think it means?" he asked. A part of him already knew for a fact, but he needed to be sure in case this was just another bad dream.
"Yeah, it does," Kira said. "It's a Fusion General…"