A Shady and Dangerous Job

Nate and Sully each take a seat, as does their possible new employer. "Mister Sullivan, is it?"

"Yes." Sully confirms.

"So," Garian turns his head slightly to the left. "You must be Nathan Drake."

"That's right." Nate makes sure to act formal about the situation, but also watches how Garian looks and talks to him. Nate knows why Sully had said this guy is odd. Something about him seemed unusual. Nate already suspects him to be shady, since he is conducting formal business in an empty warehouse, on the outskirts of the Bronx. However, Nate's instincts are telling him that this guy is different from any other person he has dealt with before.

Sully keeps his poker face on, which is a face that he has perfected from all of his years of playing the game. He still feels that Garian is hiding a different motive.

With a snap of his fingers, one of Garian's men hands a tablet, made of ordinary rock, into his hands. He gently hands it over to Nate, who also takes it gently into his hands and begins to study the markings carved into it. His eyes dart across the tablet's smooth surface, mesmerized by the markings. He doesn't recognize them. In fact, the etchings don't look remotely close to anything he know about, let alone studied to the point of interpreting old writings. "Huh..."

"Allow me to give you all of the information I have on that artifact." Garian begins to inform Drake, while he continues to study the tablet. "That piece is merely one of the many artifacts that has been found by my crew of men I've hired. It was unearthed on a huge plot of land that I owe in Belarus and none of my men have knowledge in ancient scripts and dating artifacts."

"That's where we come in." Sully states calmly.

"Yes." Garian glances at Nate, who still has his eyes glued to the tablet. "I need someone who can, not only discover what all of my findings are and who made him, but also someone who can find this." He snaps his fingers yet again, which one of his men quickly hands him piece of paper, folded several times over.

That little folded paper is enough for Nate to peel his eyes off of the tablet and set it down on the table. Garian hands the paper over to Nate, who immediately unfolds it, revealing a drawing of a double-edged sword, pointed downward in a pedestal.

"From all of the information I could gather on my own, I found a couple of rumors that, more or less, tell of a sword that was crafted from the rarest of metals, a metal that takes years to sharpen and even more so to dull. Along with its immense durability, rumors also claim that this sword holds great knowledge that has been forgotten by man."

"So what you're saying is that finding the sword might help translate artifacts you're finding on your property." Sully simplifies Garian's words, making sure he fully understands the information Garian is supplying them with.

"Precisely. That's where you two come in. You two, with your experience and skills, will be able to gather more information and hopefully find this rumored sword, should you both accept the job. And, rest assured, you will be paid handsomely for the results you may find."

Both Nate and Sully look at each other before Nate speaks up. "We'll take the job."

"Excellent."

After giving Sully and Nathan directions to his land in Belarus, setting the final amount of pay that Nate and Sully will receive for them working the job, and providing a small cash sum for their expenses for the trip to his site, Garian and his men leave the warehouse. The sound of their vehicles fade away, leaving Nate and Sully to openly discuss what had just transpired.

"You were definitely right, Sully. That Garian guy is odd, but I don't know why."

"It might have something to do with this whole situation." Sully suggests confidently.

"Oh, most definitely. That son of bitch is hiding something from us, I just know it."

"Yeah but-" Sully takes out a pre-cut cigar from his shirt pocket and pats the rest of his pockets trying to find his lighter. Nate takes out the lighter he has on him and ignites it so that Sully can burn the end of his cigar. "Thanks. What I was saying is that he may be hiding some serious information. The kind of information that could make or break us."

"You're right, Sully. I would have turned down his offer on this job."

"But?" Sully pries, knowing that Nate will tell him anyways.

Nate reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his journal. Turning to a blank page and grabbing the pencil he had inside of it, he quickly, but precisely, draws the sword and the notes that he had seen on the paper Garian had let him look at. "Out of all the information he gave us, one thing told us I know is real. Well, the myth is, at least."

Sully takes in a deep puff of his cigar. "So the myth is about a sword, crafted from an unknown metal that has immense durability, that can reveal knowledge that has been lost over time?"

"That's the myth. As to whether there is more to this myth, I have no idea. Our best bet is to head to the capital of Belarus and go their national library to get any more information on this sword."

Sully raises an eyebrow at Nate, handing him back his journal. "Without telling Garian about our own private research?"

"Yep." He says with his usual smartass smirk.

Sully returns a smirk. "I like the way you think, kid."

The two decide to make their way out of the warehouse and back into the city, so that they can pack their "tools of the trade" and catch a plane to Minsk, Belarus.

"Of course you do. If you didn't, you would have left my ass on the streets when I was still fifteen."

"Nah. You have a couple of other qualities that I like as well, like your ability to read through old manuscripts that would bore me into a coma."

Nate quickly puts two and two together. "Oh, I see. You're going to let me do all of the research in the library. What exactly will you be doing then?"

Sully takes another puff of his cigar, smoking rolling off of the lit end. "I'm going to be gathering some information about our shady employer. If Garian really does own the plot of land that he discovered that stone tablet he showed us, you can bet that there will be information on both that land and him, whether in a government archive or people that live in Belarus. Someone who dresses and acts as rich as he does cannot hide their presence in a country like Belarus. I'll be able to get some information on him."

Nate naturally is uneasy about Sully's plan. "If Garian is as rich as we think he is, then odds are he has eyes and ears all over. That could make gathering information on him more difficult."

"And more dangerous, if he is hiding something worth killing over." The cigar had been used up by the time the two of them had exited the warehouse and made it to the edge of the road. Sully flicks the cigar from his hand, causing it to roll into damp gutter on the edge of the street. The two continue to walk side by side as they make their way to a main street, so that they can catch a cab back into the city. "That just means we both have to be more cautious about how we get the information we want. That means you have to think about every move you make and every word you say, Nate."

"Wait...why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're usually the one who gets into tight situations from making a wrong move or exploring something out of curiosity. Do I need to remind you of the time you accepted a job by Dante because he wanted you to look at a dig site?"

Nate smirks to himself as he remembers discovering the Temple of the Serpents...with Chase. He certainly didn't expect to be partners with her, but together, they were able to discover the Temple, that had gold that was radioactive. They had to leave it and stop both Dante and Guerro, the leader of a "revolutionary" army in Panama, from taking any of that gold out of that abyss and selling it on the black market. Both he and Chase wouldn't have made it out of the collapsing caves in time if it hadn't been for Sully.

"And do I even need to mention the time you took a job and managed, not only to barely escape death, but also lose the treasure, you were seeking, to Eddy Raja's sister?"

Nate's smirk disappears instantly upon remembering the events that led up to him losing the Eye of Indra to his rival's own sister, who he had briefly had a "connection" with. The whole situation spiraled out of his control, until his plan of "getting caught" allowed him, Eddy, and Rika to escape with their lives and the Eye of Indra, one of the three treasure from Indra. Nate would split the treasure with Rika and Eddy. Rika had been one step ahead. She took the Eye of Indra for herself, leaving Eddy and Nate the same way they were before the incident: empty handed.

"She double-crossed me and had a gun pointed at me, Sully. She may have gotten the Eye of Indra, but I did tell her I will find her one day and I intend to do so."

"Don't worry, Sully. I will be extra cautious with this job. I'll think through every move I make before doing it and take the safest option possible."

"I'm glad to hear that." Sully and Nate finally reach a main street, calling a cab to stop right next to them. "Let's head back to our places and gather our stuff together. I'm assuming you have more to pack so I'll have my cab pick you up."

"Sounds like a plan."

SECOND CHAPTER DONE! YEA! So, I would like some reviews of how you all are enjoying it so far. I like it so far. Some of you might be wondering, "WHERE THE STAR WARS AT?!" Don't worry. Soon, some Star Wars elements will start slipping into the story! In fact, there was some in this chapter, just vaguely there. THANKS AND I HOPE TO HAVE THE NEXT CHAPTER UP SOON (college is slowing it down)

~TheJediAvenger~