Chapter 3: Road to Lagunita
As the sun set on the horizon with its light fade away from mortal plain, consequently, the jungle fell back under a veil of shadow, the cultists occupying the fort of the Conquistadors would henceforth, sent out their usual collections of motorized patrols around the jungle to keep tap on the security of the region. One jeep in the lot exited the fort like the others before it, drove off into the Sacbe leading up to Lagunita, the alleged city of gold. The vehicle's occupant drove their 4x4 patrol vehicle on the Sacbe with headlights switched on to full power. The driver was a stoat, the crew commander, an otter, who sat on his right hand was keeping an eye on the road with his eyes peeled.
The sacbe they were patrolling runs along the nearby water source of the Conquistadors Fort, the stag gunner was swinging the turret in the direction of the stream, when suddenly he found something moving in the bushes in a windless night. "I saw something in the bushes!" The stag called out to his fellow occupants as the vehicle came to a halt at his words.
"You're sure? Let me check it out." the otter said, hopping off of his seat and walking to the bushes with a flashlight in paws to inspect the fauna. With the high power flashlight in hand, he shone its light into the dark bushes and shrubs, his nose sniffs the air for the odor of possible intruders. Nevertheless, he couldn't find anything inside the bushes and shrubs. Despite its powerful assistance, the flashlight proved itself to be useless in detecting intruders. Or there wasn't any intruders at all and it was just his gunner's paranoia that got to him?
"I got nothing here you stupid stick head, maybe you should have your eyes checked the next time you walk on the road." He conversely turned around and pace back to his vehicle. However, the moment he took one step away from the bush, is the last moment of his life, as a pair of invisible hands came out from behind the bushes and grab onto his mouth and neck, pulling him back inside for the decisive blow, a thud can be heard, which knocked him unconscious.
"Hey, what happened in there? You're alright?" The stag called out into the bushes, his driver felt the urge to hop off of the jeep, pistol in paws before walking into the bushes to find the commander. "Cover me alright, I think he is just messing around with us. Damned slackers." As the stoat came closer to the shrubs in front of him with the stag watching his back with the aid of NVG equipment, little did they know that another assailant was slowly rising up behind the stag and was holding him at gunpoint.
"Don't you dare making a move. Go for the trigger and I'll waste your brain faster than your grazing speed." Said Angie, now much more confident with her guns than before as she kept the stag hostage at point-blank range, she pointed its cold metal muzzle at the back of the stag's neck, consequently, he froze in fear and gritted his teeth. His hooves were off the triggers, thus leaving his partner vulnerable to Logan's ambush.
The robotic Timber wolf gave the stoat a sudden punch in the face, right across his left cheek just as the stoat was coming around one of the tree. With his last teammate down on the ground, unconscious, the stag panted with his chest heaves up and down in fear and absolute terror, he feared for the worst that might happen to him here and now. "Please don't kill me, I'm just a freelancer... In fact, I was planning to retire even!" He shivers, "Oh I am shuddering with mercy and hesitation." Angie sarcastically said while keeping a firm grip on her pistol at her captive prey. "You are?" He sheepishly asked, the coy child. "I'm surprised that you've made it this far in the cult mass murderers and grave robbers." Logan tsk-tsk at the desperate captive as he tied up the two occupants and threw them into the bushes, one-by-one before doing the same thing to the stag.
With the lone patrol now cleared and their vehicle was still in perfect condition, the wolf couple had an opportunity to head straight to Lagunita faster than sneaking through the jungle.
Angie climbed onto the jeep's driver seat and Logan on the turret, lock and loaded, he swiveled the turret around to check if it's working up to par and thankfully enough, the patrol maintained their weapons and equipment well. "Sweet! It's like christmas only we're fighting against demons and mercenaries. And instead of toys that are safe we get weapons and other unsafe toys!" Logan shouted with excitement. "Give me a bandana and watch how fast this thing turns into a Rambo film." Logan exclaimed.
The young arctic wolf fired up the 4x4 engine before continuing on their journey to Lagunita, she mounted the GPS display on the jeep's handler and set the coordinates on the screen. With the GPS waypoints shown, Angie drove along the road, carefully navigating the ancient piece of infrastructure, unbeknownst to both her and Logan, they were coming up on a checkpoint of the Cultists.
The headlights were switched on to assist Angie's navigation in low light conditions and to disguise the vehicle's presence as another patrol from aerial observations, nonetheless, a close up inspection on the ground would blow their cover at an instance. "Logan we're coming up on a checkpoint, what do we do now? We can't evade them without slowing ourselves down." She said, slowing the jeep down with the brakes but she knew that the guards there would be quick on the trigger once he had a glimpse of their faces.
"Just punch right through them! We can't slow down now!" Logan shouted just as he locked and loaded his turret. He then swiveled his turret towards the checkpoint and open fire a hail of bullets at the CP's guards. Consequently, Angie hit the gas and accelerates her jeep towards the CP. The vehicle sped up and gain momentum towards the checkpoint, and the guards there in turn, quickly turn their weapons at the driver's seat and the gunner on the rear of the vehicle. They began to open fire on the jeep to stop it with a desperate resolve as if they were afraid, hesitation took hold as they are unable to get a straight shot on them.
With bullets shattering glasses of parked vehicles, dropping roaming guards and detonating drums of oil, Logan threw the CP into total disarray as the patrolling guards dived for cover to protect themselves. Angie came speeding through the checkpoint and knocked the wooden barrier down and left them dazed by her sudden assault, surviving garrison troops opened fire on the fleeing jeep while the communication officer radioed their fellow patrols for assistance. Soon enough, other assets of the Cultists were zeroing in on Angie's jeep at full speed and even one helicopter swooping in low to keep a bird eye view on the stolen vehicle.
"Here they come Logan, you might want to check our ammo." Angie said, taking a peek into the rear view mirror on her jeep, her boyfriend would then swing the turret around and aim it to the rear of the jeep. As the cultists came in close to them, Logan opened fire and direct the hail of bullets into the engine block of the other jeeps. The bullets penetrated the engine block, causing the pursuing vehicles to sputter and smoke column began to rise from the vehicle's engine, the driver knew that any more pushes for his jeep to go after the two would mean his demise. He pulled over to the road and shut off the engine, thus, effectively throwing him off of the chase. "Yeah get some! Woo! This is nuts, and I'm actually having a terrifyingly good time with it!" Logan howled in excitement feeling as sense of adrenaline push through him.
The remaining jeeps and helicopter pushed on, with Logan continuing to fire his turret at the helo first, aiming directly for the engine block of the sleek black helicopter, then its spotlight before finally going for the cockpit with his bullets killing the pilot and co pilot. The now pilot less vehicle began to crash down into the jungle and exploded into a huge fireball. Logan seeing the explosion winced, but looked down at Angie who was still diving. "Did you see that! That was like a million dollar helicopter! These guys have money,and I just wasted a bit of it!" Logan shouted still in an excited way.
With the pursuers down to a quarter of their strength, hopes are high as Angie could see fewer vehicles behind them. But soon, her hope was diminished almost instantly when she saw that the cultists pulled over their vehicle and in front of her was a bridge, blown off by controlled demolition. "Uhh Logan, you're seeing this?" She asked, anxiously still having her foot on the gas and she felt herself petrified by the sight of impending death. "What?" He turned around and saw the gaping cliff in front of him and his mouth dropped in awe. He was going to die, he thought, until he saw a ramp, created by the explosion, an idea sprung into his head.
"Aim for the ram on your right! Hit the gas and don't stop!" He instructed her, "Are you crazy?" she yelled back at him. "Just trust me! This works in the movies!" He returned. Angie reluctantly punched the gas to the limit and accelerate the vehicle, the speeding vehicle came up to the ramp and soon was launched up into the sky, passing over the blown up mid section of the wooden bridge and landed on the dirt road on the other side, leaving them to reach Lagunita without further resistance on the road.
Logan after feeling the impact of the landing grunted while the massive vibration of the full landing caused his body to feel a violent sense of shock. His teeth grit and his closed his eyes tightly. The adrenaline built up in him gave him a shaking feeling. "Holy- we just- you- Did? I FREAKING LOVE YOU ANGIE!" Logan shouted as he howled in an uncoordinated feeling more excitement knowing they accomplished a near impossible feat.
Angie howled along with him as she drove along the road, her heart pounded hard and fast as her excitement seems to know no bounds with what just happened to them. They made a jump and survived it! A Howllywood moment that only the celluloid world can conceive has been done in real life for them. "Hell yeah! We ain't stopping now, let's head down to Lagunita!" Said Angie as she continues down the road, however, as they were driving, they heard the rumbling sound of rotor blades above them. A helicopter was chasing after them and this one was laden with rocket pods, machine guns and heavy turrets. It has a bulbous front cockpit with a bubble like nose section protrude outward where the pilot's feet were. The fuselage was long and large enough to store around 50 passengers but this helicopter has two stub wings on both sides, each one sporting a rocket pod, a missile rack full of Hellfire ATGMs and a pair of 30mm autocannon.
Logan's excitement soon went away after seeing the massive new helicopter now chasing them. His entire body slumped over and he groaned. "Oh crap… Come on with this!" Logan shouted as he pointed his now seemingly much smaller turret at the massive aircraft. "We just did what all the action heroes would do! Why do you need to spoil the fun!" Logan shouted as his finger slammed on the trigger of the turret. Bullets from the turret streaked through the air and smacked into the helicopter. "Serpentine! Serpentine!" Logan shouted telling Angie how to maneuver the jeep.
The gunship's hide was especially thick as Logan's ammo doesn't seem to make a significant dent to it let alone malfunctioning its system. "Overwatch-4 this is Command, terminate that Jeep with extreme prejudice, you got me?" The commander ordered over the radio of the helicopter, the two stag pilots likewise heeded the order without questions as they switched on their ATGMs. "Affirmative command, we'll smoke 'em before we graze 'em. Out." Said the co-pilot as he aim his Hellfire missile at the two, his finger was on the trigger, ready to pull when suddenly, a strong wind blew over the aircraft, interfering with its instruments. "Ah shit, something's wrong here, I can't control the bird!" The wind blew over them quite fiercely, rumbling trees and blowing leaves down the road in an almost hurricane like manner. Soon, Logan and Angie saw for a brief moment, a silhouette flying over the chopper with wind blasting out of its mouth shattering the airframe to pieces and leaving the chopper crashing to the ground.
Logan for a brief moment felt some of the air leave his lungs, and had to gasp for air. The images though were clear in his mind to the point he felt a very clear and real shudder chill down his cybernetic spine. He looked back to the helicopters feeling thankful he didn't have to be tailed by a massive aircraft such as that, but somewhat unlevered by the slithering dark figure that flew in the sky. "Uh… I think we just got saved by something. It was long and slightering…." Logan said with a shudder. "Please no snakes… Angie did you see or feel that?" Logan asked frantically.
"I felt it too. Saw it as well, no doubt that was definitely Kukulkan, he is guarding this area of the land to prevent further incursions. Let's hope the badge is still a good informant for him to hold his fire on us." Angie said with great apprehension in her voice, the jeep was reaching a narrow pathway where the Sacbe was cut off, there was no pave road beyond this point for them and they will have to continue on foot from this point onward, deep into the jungle of the Yucatan Peninsula. "Looks like this is as far as we can go on a jeep, let's cross that bridge, hopefully it's still strong enough for us especially the middle." She sighed out before taking a careful tentative step on a wooden plank of the suspension bridge. The plank was old, rotting away under sun and rain with moss now covering its surface and Angie's paw pad could feel the wet, cold moss on her feet.
Logan waited for Angie to crawl first, but had to grind his now robotic teeth back and forth seeing the trip make one treacherous turn after the other. Now Angie's life was hanging by a thin rope. The almost literal irony only made Logan's heart race more. "Okay this thing won't hold the two of us. I'll just stand back here while you continue walking. And I'll uh…" Logan pondered on how he could help with this situation. He grabs the two sides of the ropes and held onto them tightly hoping he could support the bridge a little more for Angie. "Hurry up! You're sexy, but I don't think the bridge appreciates you!" Logan shouted.
"Haha, very funny. Hang on tight Logan, it could come apart any moment now." Angie replies as she walks up to the middle of the bridge, the creaking sound of old wood has become louder and more noticeable as they travel further. Soon, one of Angie's foot snapped and the wooden planks underneath her fell off, she fell down into the river stream below but survive the fall. "Logan! Logan!" She shouted and struggle to swim against the current of the violent river. "Get to the otherside! I'll meet you there! Somehow…" She shouted to him one last time with an instruction in mind, but the current was washing her away from his sight, now all she can do is go with the tide and survive.
Logan in a panicked state seeing her flow downstream made a mad bolt through the forest to try and rescue her. In his panicked and frantic dash though the jungle he hadn't paid attention to the fact he could vault over rock and obstacles with relative ease, and he could simply smash into trees to shatter them into tiny fragments of wood chips. It seemed his mind was focused on rescue mission now. "HANG ON! NOT AGAIN! NOT LOSING YOU AGAIN DAMMIT! PUSH AGAINST THE FLOW!" Logan shouted while he passed her using his robotic legs and his agility to keep at a staggering pace unprecedented. Of course he didn't realize just how fast he was running until he found he couldn't keep up. "Shit! Not good!" Logan looked out the other side of the cliff face and growled. In one leap forwards he managed to jump across the river and land on the other side of the cliff feeling the hard dirt vibrate his body after the land. "Hang on! I'm coming! Other side of the river! I can't forget! Donacdum!" Logan shouted to himself as he dashed through the forest some more to get to the other side of the river.
Angie struggles against the river tide, the stream itself was powerful enough to render her resistance meaningless but she wasn't giving up anytime soon. She swam with all her might towards the shore, the rocky vertical cliffside offers only the most slippery of options to hang on to. Soon enough, Angie realize what was at the end of the stream, a waterfall and presumably, a fatal fall. Her mind races through various options to save herself, she eventually grabbed onto a rope and a grappling hook. She tied the rope to the hook and tossed it up to a vine that was sticking out and use it as a point to hang on to. "Logan! Hang on to me! I'll pull us up!" She squirmed in place as the force of the river was trying to dislodge her from her safety point.
Logan looked at the hook and nodded. He stood his ground and tied it quickly around himself. "Yeah i don't trust a flimsy vine with your life! Watch this!" Logan shouted. He quickly wrapped the rope and grappling hook around his waist and tied it in a firm knot. He then placed his hands onto the rope while also keeping a firm grip in the ground with his feet. He then groaned and growled using his hands to pull Angie out of the river, and back to dry land where he was. His hands moved down the rope and pulled towards to himself tugging Agnie out of the water's rapid motion.
Angie grunted as she pulled herself out of the water with Logan's help, eventually reaching the safety of dry land once again. She gasped and coughed out from the motion of the current and how dizzy it was for her to be dragged around. She fell to the ground and rolled on her back looking at the sky trying to recover her focus from the movement. "What a trip...suddenly I feel like we have crossed into the realm of fantasies and pulp fictions. We have to keep moving though, they'll be here with heliborne forces to sweep the area." She got up to her feet slowly and began to fashion a torch with a tree branch and a piece of cloth that she torn out of her shirt, she wrapped it on the top of the branch and light it up with her lighter.
Logan panted out more and helped Angie up. He couldn't help, but smirk somewhat seeing her clothing torn up. "Uh. you know that was exciting and all, but you know after all of that adrenaline you're looking slightly hotter in torn clothes… Also I really hope we have a change of clothes somewhere. Pretty sure the others these mercs use is all cursed by now…" Logan said as he got his breath back. He cracked his joints and followed Angie through the forest now trying to plot on what other traps will be set next.
As they journey through the jungle with only the cracking sound of the torch keep them companies and the fiery crimson flower that flutters on the top of the branch their greatest aid in the darkness of Ah Puch. However, a discovery was made when they stumbled upon the gruesome remains of what appeared to be a Conquistadors Expedition, killed on their way towards Lagunita. Angie gasped as she moved her torch around to get a good look at the corpses of the Conquistadors. Their armor and uniforms were bloodied with stains of their own blood and of the natives while cold metal now rusted and broken lies on the ground in a cascade of what can best be described as a battle site. "They were ambushed by the looks of it. The Mayans came in the dead of night, slaughtering the Conquistadors while they were sleeping." Said Angie as she knelt down inspecting the remains of what appeared to be a honey badger skeleton with a bludgeoned skull. She reaches her right hand into his robe and found a medallion on his neck, this one appears to be of the Apep's cult with a serpent's face inscribed on its surface. "Requiescat in Pace." She muttered.
Even in Latin Logan could guess just what that had meant. "Rest in peace? Wouldn't have thought Apep cared for his own men. That or I'm wrong again Angie, and this is all still very messed up. I guess the Mayans were tired of these guys. Rest forever I guess…" Logan muttered moving along the bodies trying not to crush any of the worn away bones.
They found a carnage of unspeakable bloodbath, the camp was obviously overrun at night but the size and amount of men the Spaniards lost were especially small to say the least. "This was a Vanguard force, sent to die and test the Mayan's strength, no cannons or muskets were found here." Angie deduced by looking into the armory tenth where the supplies of Conquistadors tools of destruction were. There was no gunpowder or muskets, not even arquebusier. She went out and snoop around the tent that was marked for captains of the Vanguard element. Inside she found a journal half finished, apparently the captain was killed writing judging by the arrow to his neck.
"May 27th, 1556. We have pushed deep into the jungle of the Peninsula, rooting out the Heathens from their savage hideouts and forts. They raised unholy resistance against us with their primitive weapons and numbers. But the cold steel and words of God prevails over them, pushing them deeper into the valley and perhaps deeper into desperation. Our army expects that by the time we reach their city, El Dorado, they will see the light of God and his holy gospel shall bring them to their knees and throw down their weapons as we wanted."
"Self righteousness, no wonder why their empire collapsed sooner than everyone else." Angie commented as she went out of the camp and follow the trail of Mayan warriors deeper into the jungle and eventually, to her and Logan's luck, an aqueduct was found, aqueducts can only mean one thing, settlements. "This aqueduct provides running water for the Mayan cities, all we need is to follow it and we'll find Lagunita." She assessed the aqueduct's direction and its structural integrity. It would seems that the stone structure can still stand the test of time even after centuries of decay.
Logan himself seemed to look at the fresher waters of the aqueduct with some kind of thirst after all of the exhaustion he faced before. He however followed Angie closely, and huffed out. To him this may have been the more beautiful part of the trip, and yet he thought back to the past where these mammals had died. "Jeez. You know when you think about it this Apep snake guy. He doesn't toy around man. I mean he sent his army here just to die! How many does he have even!?" Logan asked losing his grip.
"Maybe millions, perhaps more, he doesn't toy around when he has an objective by the looks of things. But he sure does like to take his time with starting wars and let things snowball from there." She mused as they came closer to Lagunita. Following the aqueduct proved to be a right decision as they soon stumble across the gates to Lagunita, an arch way over the Sacbe and before their eyes, a city tugged away into the jungle with blocky step pyramids towering over the tree lines.
Logan slowly stepped up behind Angie and patted her shoulder. Despite seeing how crazy and unpredictable the world really was he seemed in awe while gazing at the majesty of the lost city. He didn't yet step in since he thought there was still yet another trap waiting for him past the arch. For a stray bust he picked up a simple twig and threw it at the gap in the arch just to check for another trap. "Angie I have learned you can not be too safe with this stuff anymore!" Logan shouted.
She shuddered upon hearing his shouting so close to her but sighed out anyway and proceeds to walk into the city with Logan. "There's no gold here, no pyramids made of gold or expensive jewelry whatsoever. Someone made a rumor and blew it too far." Angie commented on the rather mundane design of the city as they travel into the streets of town, they first arrived at an abandoned market with baskets and blankets left behind in a hurry, rotten fruits and other goods that Mayans usually sold. The commodities all seem to have a lack of Gold in them this shows that perhaps the myth may have gone too far. "Wait a minute...Logan do you see the plaza square over there?" She pointed Logan to the plaza in the middle of the city where a giant pyramid was seen staggering before others.
Logan's eyes raised to sit level with the giant pyramid she was pointing to. His head seemed to tilt though confused to what made this one so special besides it being larger. Everything here was a mystery to him, and the fact he was exploring a lost city city granted him a blinding sense of wonder that blocked out what the issue was about the single pyramid. "Yeah what about it though? Its big. Much bigger than the rest." Logan said.
"No, look at the square Logan, the Plaza Square isn't just a place to convene, there are cracks on it look." She then proceeds to move some dirt over a crack on the square and to Logan's amazement, her observation was spot on with the dirt and grimes falling down a slit, dropping into the ground below, echoing to the surface. "There is a chamber beneath, and we need to open it up." She concluded before using a club to knock on the stone doors, finding that the doors were in the tens of meters thick and it took an ungodly amount of time to construct this. "No way of blasting through it. We need to find a way to unlock it like how the Mayans did." She sighed out in defeat at this revelation.
Logan shook his head out and tapped his foot on the cracked ground. "Huh. Make a bigger pyramid so they could find this thing better. I bet whatever's down there hasn't been touched yet." Logan said as he moved around the town. He allowed his eyes to display a cyan blue square grid pattern to scan. "Call it a hunch Angie, but I'm going to scan for a little puzzle here. Well not so little since we are changing history. You mainly I just do the action stuff." Logan muttered while he slowly moved around the square searching for the puzzle they needed.
Angie looked around trying to figure out the first hint of the puzzle before she wanders into the home of a priest, this one is educated in astrology judging by the the tools he has, a staff for formal ceremonies and next to it was a wooden tool made for astronomical observation. It was Mayan Calendar, but not one to predict Doomsday that is. "Hold on. There's something here, of course, this priest was using the stars at night like a password to open the gates." She gasped out in amazement as she reads the inscriptions of the Hieroglyphs on the wall of the priest's villa before running up to the top of the pyramid that was used for the measurement of the stars and constellation. "This must be how they send out their signal." Said Angie as she observes the mirrors that were set up on the pyramid's top, they were obviously made to reflect the star light concentrated on them to form a pattern, an image of sort.
Logan followed Angie up to the top of the pyramid and did the natural action by looking up at the night sky. He of course tried to figure out what the riddle was, but he found he was always unwise when trying to solve a simple riddle. "Okay so magnifying glasses powered by starlight? A bit different than frying ants in the sun on a hot day, but whatever." Logan positioned himself at one of the massive lenses and looked to the ground where the beam of light had concentrated into a small circle. "Sheesh. Of all the things not to get rotten by age. This is pretty focused, and powerful as well. Now where do I pointed this mess?" Logan asked squinting to the cracks again.
"Alright let's see." She took a look at the mural depiction on the ground, it would seem the glasses were positioned in a constellation like positions, zig-zagging around and they have to align the starlight somewhere. "Oh my God, it's Kukulkan's constellation in the night sky. No wonder why it is done at night only." She commented and began to align the glasses with Logan, first, she rotates one of the glass around, aligning the starlight it captured with Logan's own before going to the other. Eventually, they created the patterns of Kukulkan's constellation with the beam shining on a large stone structure to the right of the plaza, the structure was looking Eastward, towards the new sun of a new day.
Logan's ears perked up in a surprised manner, and as such he chuckled amused, and pleasantly surprised for once by the turn of a surprising event. Looking at the wall where the lights alleged he watched closely to see what could happen next. "Huh. Neat. Didn't' even realize the lights were focus on the wall until the shape formed. You know of a snake..." Logan said with a shudder. It seems the Ewegytian trip had scarred him due to the snakes.
"Good thing that this serpent is friendlier than the one we found in the sands." Said Angie as she went with Logan towards the highlighted structure, climbing down the pyramid was fast and easy, but when Logan and Angie had to climb up the steps of a stone structure, it was especially painful and gruelling to say the least. "Gosh, we better get used to these running and climbing." Said Angie as she got to the entrance of the structure. Inside they found what appears to be a diorama with the craftsmanship of Bisontine Empire decorating the gold and sapphire of the diorama, it was apparently a map of the Earth, with Constantinople being highlighted by the golden domes of Hagia Sophia. The ocean was painted sapphire blue with the landmass of the Known World highlighted with either green for the Ewerope continent, tannish gold for the desert of North Africa and the Levant or brown for Asia Minor. "An entire story of their travel, condensed into one diorama. Show don't tell obviously." She said, still amazed by the craftsmanship on display. As she went to the end of the room she saw a canal connecting the water flow from the aqueduct into the diorama canal that highlight the dromon's journey.
Logan himself seemed to be perplexed by the craftsman work, but the engineering involved to make this artwork. It seemed almost like a living piece of work to his eyes, and yet he couldn't explain how it worked. "I change my mind this is much better change than drowning, and getting shot at. Or snakes…" Logan muttered. He followed closely behind Angie and looked into the canal, and then back up at the ceiling where the watery refraction danced on the ceiling in a blue hue. He then saw a scale model of the dromon that had been displayed. "Oh neat. It's a tiny, and very detailed, ship. This doesn't look like slave labour these guys were treated as heroes…" Logan said.
"Not quite sure if heroes was the right word. But...I think this must be how they operate the opening and closing mechanism." Said Angie as she went to check a stone crank nearby. She heard the sound of running water still flowing in one of the aqueducts.
Her instincts told her to pull the crank and see what the result was going to be. For some reasons, her judgement happens to align with her instincts like the stars as she saw a mechanism under the crank leading to the floodgate control of the aqueduct.
Not only was there a floodgate preventing the waterflow from running into the canal and kept the waterflow running into the general population. "They do know how to build exceptional works of architect." She chuckled out as she pulled the crank down.
This caused the floodgate to flip down and let the water to flow into both the general population and the canal of the diorama. The flooding water then filled up the portions that were seas and oceans, then the Dromon in the diorama began to move in a rail built for it towards the strait of Gibraltar, then it was caught in a whirlpool and spun around aimlessly, apparently it was stuck on purpose to prevent the puzzle to be too easy for thieves.
Logan shook his head out, and bit his lip. "Nope. Not going to work. Looks like we have to operate this one like a board game. I guess we have to use something to steer this thing into the right direction." Logan looked around the room and hummed in thought as to what could be used here.
Angie crouched down on the table of the diorama inspecting its various details and intricate design, she found that the table was elaborately decorated with images of Cha'ac the rain god, Kukulkan, the Plumed Serpent of the Nine Winds. There was a hole on the table itself, stone in design and appearance. It appears there were gears and a porthole to insert a key into it. The mechanism alone speaks of Bisontine's attention to details and craftsmanship, not to mention their adept mechanical skill for the time before their stagnation. "Logan look! I think we need to find a key for this, look around for a key or anything that seems out of place on the ground." Said Angie as she scrambles around the room to locate a tool or whatever that might be useful.
"Okay i got it babe. Key… Need to find a key…" Logan said while in his on thoughts. Of course he was thinking of a stereotypical antique key with a shiny brass color. Something that seems cartoonish perhaps to others due to the typical design. Though his mind also pondered on the appearances of normal house keys just so he could have something more to work with in his mind. Of course he never let his thoughts think outside of the box to what else a key could look like.
Logan then activated the scanners in his eyes to glance around the room. The cyan blue color square grid pattern projected from both rental optics, but a small key shape was placed in the center of the grid pattern. His head panned around the floors of the area. Soon he began making a slow walk as he scanned the room so he could be thorough enough not to miss any space on the ground.
As Angie and Logan searches the room for the key, it would seem that they were looking for a needle in a haystack as there wasn't any hints for them to pursue. In fact, Angie doesn't know if she was right to search the chamber alone. "There's got to be something to follow through here." She mumbled as they went about looking for a key of sort. That was until her fingers found something, a round, cylindrical object on the ground. She looked down at where her hand was gripping, and found that there was indeed a prod in the style of a Bisontine's metal prod or special mechanism manipulator tool. Locked inside a stone structure to prevent removal, the prod was a challenge for her as she tries to remove it as the stone case wasn't designed to be opened easily. "Logan! I found something here! I need your help to remove it though, the stone case isn't giving me an easy time with it." Said Angie.
Logan perked his head up and looked to Angie's direction. The projected grid pattern flickered off. "Oh what? Hagn on." Logan said as he began to run over to Angie. Once he got to where she was Logan saw the object sticking out of the structure, but the structure itself he could not identify. To him it looked like a regular rock. He extended one of his laser claws out of the top of his wrist and touched the surface of the stone. "You might want to stand back hun." Logan said s a recommendation. It seemed the stone at the torch of the red laser quickly turned and molten hot orange from the heat.
Angie hung back a bit and covered her eyes from the laser claws cutting into the rock and the debris that were flying out at their faces. Once the rock has been cut, she gently picked up the prod and inserted it into the hole of the table and rotated it. She saw that it makes the Dromon ship on the diorama moving out of the storm section of its journey, eventually moving on the water powered rail again till finally reaching its destination on the Yucatan Peninsula map. "That's it, it should work." Said Angie. They heard the sound of rock creaking and moving against one another as the water pouring in hard and fast, filling the canal under the city and out of sight mechanism. The plaza square began to rumble, splitting open into four equal stone hatches like a hangar before their eyes as a massive entrance was revealed with stone carved staircase leading down the tunnel.
Logan's optics seemed to have made a more shocked expression as he looked to the tunnel. "No idea how this ancient stone temple stuff works. I'm not going to ask though." Logan as he looked into the tunnel. Ash he did so he made a more nervous hum. All of which he had experienced made him very well sure the darkness could lead to anywhere. "Stick with me. I'll used the night vision. I think I can see farther than a chemical light can." Logan said as his optics flickered to green. He held Angie's hand as he began to walk down into abyss.
"Right, just be careful with where you step, since it's very old and it might fall apart. If the water running is anything to go by." Said Angie as they descend the staircase. She looked around and saw the water glittering from the light on his body and her chemical light. The water current apparently have eroded the stone structure and underground infrastructure of what can best be described as a Vault of sort. "When water runs, rock erodes." She commented, the sight itself was rather concerning as the steps can either be slippery at best and crumbling at worst. In fact, some of the steps below them have already broken down, creating gaps for them to jump over.
Logan due to this felt himself slip up a couple of times while walking. He grunted trying to keep his balance while his feet and legs made uncoordinated motions either wiggling too much or too fast. "J-j-jeez! You weren't kidding about this place being slippery!" Logan said with a grunt. As he continued down the stairs he tried to make his robotic paws fit on the steps of the stairs. However one moss and algae covered spot, and bad placement of his right foot made him slip in a near cartoonish manner with his back behind thrown backwards, and finally with Logan smacking his back against the hard ground after he had landed. He of course yelled in pain and made a tired sounding groan.
Angie however wasn't biomechanically augmented like Logan and so she has to rely on her own instincts and cerebral judgement. She took a step back, hopping one or two steps back from the ledge before making a running start towards the ledge and jumped up into the air, using the momentum to her advantage to propel her forward, she landed on the solid ground at the bottom with Logan gracefully. "Gotta thank Anubis for the reorganized warehouse of the museum, he turned it into an obstacle course just for us." Said Angie as she stood up and observe the area around them. The place apparently has canals and water running around inside it to power the mechanisms. From leverages to cranks and stone boulders, there are all sorts of strange and incredibly advanced Mayan mechanism that would by all means, suitable for their time but never before seen or recorded by historians and archaeologists. The corridor before them seems to go deeper still into the underground, there were mosses and vines as well as tree roots going down into the stone walls and torn apart some others. "Look at that...this place has been falling apart due to over grow. At this rate, we won't be able to record much left."
Logan groaned again, and slowly stood himself up. "Yep… And I have this to thank for a sore back the morning…" Logan said with a groan. He arched himself forwards, and placed two hands on his back to snap it back into place making a loud popping sound. Logan then hunched himself dowards, but turned around to see his fall had made a body shaped indent in the ground. He shook his head out and continued walking towards more of the overgrowth inside of the cavern. "Huh. You know this would be a great place for spelunking. Tourist wise. Just warn about the dangers of falling on your ass, and they should get the memo." Logan said as a joke. Although his back still hurt.
As they took some steps forward towards the end of the corridor, Angie's foot got on a flimsy tile on the floor and it crumbles away, she immediately hopped back from where she was standing on back to the solid ground she knew to be safe. The stone tile fell down into a hole that turns out to be a punji spike pit. "Booby traps, should have seen this one coming. I guess my years in the University aren't helping me out at all." She grumbles when looking at the punji spikes, she had let her guard slipped for a moment and it nearly cost her life. She must not let it happens again. "Let's see how many pits there are in this corridor." Said Angie as she tossed a pebble on the floor to see if there were any booby traps, the pebble bounce on the floor and its impact began to test the tile's integrity to its limit and some of the hollow area caved in instantly.
"Wow! Shit! This place is a lethal weapon!" Logan shouted in shock. He cringed knowing this is where they were going to have to cross in order to reach the other side of the corridor. Logan pondered of what to do knowing just how many traps are over on the other side. He however looked up and saw the plant overgrowth again on the ceiling, and devised a crazy idea in his head. "Angie. You think we can use those vines to use like a jungle gym? I mean like use both hand to climb forwards without touching the floor?" Logan asked curious.
"Yeah maybe we could do that. But be careful, I don't know how old they are and how tough they are right now." Said Angie as she jumped up to grab one of the vine and tugged at it to see if the vine was durable enough to use as a jungle gym. "Okay this one is good enough let's do this." She then began to traverse the corridor to avoid the dangerous booby traps on the floor below them, she glanced down and saw just how dangerous the place was with all the booby traps and punji pits. As they traverse forward, they saw a massive hole on the ground filled with an assortment of deadly spikes ready to impale anyone who falls into it. But with the design being this obvious, perhaps it was more as psychological warfare tool than an actual physical instrument. "Well well well...it seems like they intend to fight to the death in this city, until plagues and lack of population forced them to displace." She commented as she jumped to the solid ground that was safe enough.
Logan as he climbed however felt a sense of nausea take over a bit after he looked down at the death pits below him on his climb. All of them filled with assorted sharp spears waiting for impalement. He swallowed his nausea away, and sighed out. "Shouldn't have looked down." Logan mumbled. He swing one arm forwards and grabbed the next vine loop with his hand followed by repeating the process with the other hand next. After he had finished his climb he jumped down next to Angie, and made a shaken sigh. "Not doing that again… I really hope this place has an exit somewhere. An ancient backdoor…" Logan grumbled.
"Well...considering the place's design, it's very likely that they have designed it. Hopefully." Said Angie as she held her chemical light up to see what was at the end of the hall, before her eyes, there was a massive wooden gate with two barricade bars holding it in place. "Great, another puzzle for us...whoever invented these really have a knack for taking his sweet ass time." She mumbled as the floor below her seems to have hieroglyphic depictions of Kukulkan fighting another serpent of enormous size, one spits venom out of its fangs, the other summons the wind and blew the venom back. "What the? This is strange, beside Kukulkan I don't seem to recall the Mayans have any other serpent figures in their pantheons." Said Angie in surprised as she knelt down and took a closer look at the depiction. "These characters said…'He who rotates the Earth...who spits life and death from his mouth...ending life to recreate another.' That's Jörmungandr." She concluded in morbid surprise as she took notice of what could be stylized Mayan depiction of the ocean.
Logan made a disgusted look looking at the depiction and hieroglyphics. He shuddered visibly making a very noticeable cringe. "Oh good… More snakes, and this one spit venom…" Logan said in a less than pleased manner. Of course he was also confused on what Angie had said. Mainly on how she knew the Mayans only had one snake like deity while the depictions on the ground clearly depicts two snake deities. Logan seemed to have learned much about Kukulkan, but Jormungandr was a mystery to him still. "Wait. This one's name doesn't sound right. Jormungandr… Doesn't sound Mayan. I mean Kul- Ku- Kuku- The bird one. He sounds like he belongs here, but Jorgy doesn't." Logan stated making a raised brow. Something was peaking bot his casution and his interests.
Angie shook her head out at the name, now knowing exactly what she has just discovered. "No it isn't. It's Nordic name. Jormungandr...that's Loki's son and the Midgard Serpent who keeps the world moving." Said Angie as she set her chemical light on the ground and took some steps back and took a photo of the depiction. "Anubis needs to see this. Maybe he can make better sense of it than we do." Said Angie as she took one last photo of the hieroglyphs of the chamber. "It looks like a well over here. Where the water pour into." Said Angie as she examines the round pit in the middle where the various canals concentrate into.
Logan looked into the well and chuckled. "Call Lassie. Someone fell into the well again." Logan peered deep into the well however and made a humming thought to himself. To test just how deep the well was he spat into it. He then listened for how long it would take for the liquid nanite mix to land. "Right, I forgot that's also been nanited… Shit it still hasn't landed." Logan stated shocked.
"That's gross Logan." She huffed out in disgust as they stood there watching, something soon happens however, Angie and Logan saw the water from the canals congregate into the well but it wasn't pure and glistening like before anymore. This time, the water has become icy blue and it emits an odor of rotting corpse that fiercely assault their noses. The liquid dropped into the well and it began to highlight Norse runes that Logan and Angie thought would be out of place in the Mayan world, in fact, they saw a massive Nordic sun symbol highlighted in almost neon light blue color. "For some reason I don't think the survivors were simply Growlleek Bisontines. I think they were Nordic Bisontines." Said Angie judging by the sight of the Nordic sun symbol.
Logan looked back at the runes as well and nodded to her. "Well I'm not an expert on this, but it looks different to everything else here. Were these vikings looking for Valhalla, or a nice tropical vacation away from the cold?" Logan asked, but even he saw the differences in the style between each of the civilizations. "This is getting crazy though. Vikings now? Norse? How did they even get here?" Logan asked with a confused tone.
Confused and speechless, Angie simply sat and watch as the rune was completely filled and a massive creaking sound was heard, she looked up at the gates and the saw the statues and barricades were being removed to make way with the statues being much more reanimated now, the coyote statues had glowing blue runes on their torso and limbs with their stone paws holding the barricade, sliding them out of the way and the eyes glew bright showing them that the Vault may not have meant to be accessed by anyone. "Okay...I'm starting to think that divine intervention may have had a hand in this." Said Angie, she gulped as the gates opened, reveal a room with four causeways over a pit full of the same blue substance that bring life to the statues. She glanced down at the substance and realize what it was. "The Eitr...the substance of life in Norse mythology, the Frost Giant Ymir was born from this substance before other life forms." She commented and walked into the chamber, before their eyes, sitting on a pedestal was the golden paw of Midas, a golden lion paw in fact with a wooden handler at the bottom for ease of usage.
Logan in a very visible state of shock felt his jaw drop down to its lowest level, and possibly discontent from whatever socket joint it had been connected into making it feel limp. His optics were wider now seeing everything before him. The Eitr seems to catch his eyes, but it had also reflected off of his shiny red body. However his eyes slowly motioned anc tracked onto the golden shin object in the room the golden paw. He shook his head out, and had to speak through his audio transmitter to speak due to the limp jaw. "Hey when you get the chance, could you fix my mouth please? I think I might have been too shocked. Also I know that you want to touch the paw. Don't. I've seen the movie, and I heard the stories. There has to be something bad about touching that thing. Either it turns everything into gold, or lifting it from wreck it stands will do something worse to the place around us." Logan said though his audio transmitters.
"No venture. No discover." She protested but in a cautious tone as she reaches for the wooden handle of the golden paws. As her hand was reaching towards it, the ground shook and the echo of voices and footsteps from above come banging on them. "Damn it they're coming in!" She cursed under her breath as she felt the eruption of explosive detonations deteriorate the cavern's structural integrity. She swiped at the wooden handle and grabbed the golden paw off of its pedestal. "Got it, whoever made the wooden bar ought to be commended for his work." She held up the paw inspecting it, it was like a popsicle ice cream. But of course, their exit may not be as easy as Angie and Logan heard the unearthly moaning sound of the dead calling to them. From the Eitr's thick glowing surface, they saw corpses of coyote and jaguar warriors leaping into the air, standing at 6 to 7 feet tall. Each one opens its mouth and show that its interior and eye sockets were glowing with Eitr substance.
Logan's jaw couldn't drop down any further due to it already malfunctioning off of his jaw hinge. Logan made a masculine scared scream out, and backed up from the terrifying sights. He instantly looked at the exit and pushed Angie forwards. "Go! Now! I think I can take these boneheads. Pretty sure laser can melt metal." Logan said as his laser claws extended. He made a slow fearful turn around and glared at the zombie like warriors while his tough appearance was nullified by his loose jaw.
"I'm not leaving without you!" She protested, a coyote warrior charged at her with a Mayan war club in paws, the zombified warrior leaped up at her causing her to flinch and held the golden paw in the air to defend herself, upon contact, the club was turned into gold along with the zombified warrior, a golden inanimate statue. Dead again at best. "Okay that should even up the odds." She said, somewhat taken aback by the weapon she has in her paws at this point. She then put the paw into her backpack, wrapped in cloth to cover it and prevent the backpack and herself by extension from turning into gold. "Follow me, let's head to the West gate of the room." She grabbed her pistols from their holsters and began to fire at the nearest jaguar zombie in its chest. She then made a jump into the air and stomp its head right on its temple to kill it and send its remain back down the Eitr. "Let's go!" She screamed out.
Logan himself had cut down some of the warriors with swipes of his claws. He kicked one of the coyote warriors away and then made backwards sliding dash back to Angie. "Right! Not in the mood for zombification, or getting bit!" Logan shouted. He turned around making his loose jaw shake and wiggle while he looked back to Angie. "And I told you that thing still had gold magic in it! Be careful while we run the hell outta here!" Logan shouted as he pulled his own pistol out. He fired it at any of the remaining gourad spraying blue liquid out from their bodies with each bullet penetration into them.
Angie and Logan would then began to sprint towards the Western gate of the chamber, disregarding the zombified warriors that were jumping up from the Eitr pit. "Guess we know what happened to the dead of Lagunita now." She exclaims, her astonishment and the discovery was rather mind blowing to say the least as they ran into a cavernous exit where the various zombified Mayan warriors came out to intercept them. The warriors were walking a stiff almost wooden like manner with their arms barely able to hold on to their weapons while their bodies were falling apart. At first they stood in on both sides of the cavernous pathway, propping up against the wall like statues but when the Eitr reaches their decomposing bodies, they came to life and exit where they were standing with clubs, spears and axe in hands. "Great more of them." She grumbles and fired her pistol akimbo at them, she aimed for their legs knees and elbows to make stun and flinch them before landing a roundhouse kick that send them flying into one another or the walls.
Logan fired his pistol nearly blindly into the crowd of undead ghouls. As he was a movie buff he did the logical to him of firing into each of the zombies heads. "Shoot the heads! The brain is in control! Destroy the brain the whole thing dies!" Logan shouted as he fired his gun into the heads of each of the zombies. Each shot cracked the zombies' skulls penetrating brain matter, and causing more of the blue ooze to spray around the cavern.
Angie quickly follow the movie's trope and fired a headshot up close at one of the jaguar warrior that was about to strike at her, the jaguar staggered back but to their horror, the zombie remains undaunted by the headshot, it was as if the brain wasn't there anymore to bother the jaguar. "Well that works. Not." She sarcastically remarked and proceed to kick it falling into the wall and continue running down the less prestigious cavern with Logan, but as they were running, an explosion on the floors above ruptured the place, causing a cave in. The cavern began to fall apart, with the Vault now so hollow and compromised, its structural integrity was all but lost and it began to fall down on anyone who's still inside. "Run!" She screamed out and pick up her pace running down towards an underground water source. Angie dived into the stream with Logan, finding that they were being dragged out of the cave by the powerful stream.
Logan didn't have much time to make a comedic remark before diving into the water. He was both too terrified by the situation at hand and the fact this was the next issue to fight for survival in these awful environments. Logan however made sure to grab onto Angie, and hold her close while they were both being dragged away under the stream of the water. Angie felt Logan's arms wrap around her tightly, but Logan himself felt like he was being dragged away by an unrelenting force.
Angie and Logan could only swam left and right, dodging obstacles as they began to see daylight again before their eyes at the end of the tunnel, they found that there was a slope that brought them down faster towards a wetland area that was close to the coast. She tumbles and rolled around on the ground as she felt the momentum and power of the water flow weaken. She coughed out and struggle to get up to her feet from the experience. "You okay Logan?" She wrapped her arm around his waist and pull him in close to her and helped him ashore. She then picked up the radio from her belt and tapped on its button to rotate through frequency before finding a familiar one to call. "Uncle Earl, come in, are you there? I need you to warm up the PBY's engines now we got what we came for."
The Earl in question was Logan's uncle Earl Lupis. Unlike Logan he appeared to be the polar opposite in appearance. He had dark grey fur around his body, but unlike Logan's neat and tidy fur his was more messy which stuck up at random places and at random directions. An almost beard like pattern on his snout/muzzle that had a grey and white coloration was shown on him, and was also very messy. Thankfully his beard was very short however his messy fur distinguished him a lot from his nephew. He was a more medium build, and lot less muscular than Logan, but instead of Logan's commitment to sharp clothing Earl wore a casual red hawaiian floral pattern shirt with loose fitting khaki pants in a tan color. He appeared to be smoking a cigar as well.
He picked up the radio and answered it immediately however. "Uh, yeah Angie. Wait you got somthin'? Well alright! Show me when you get aboard the plane. I'm hanging by a nice tropical cove. I see a lot of birds. All sorts of colors." Earl said as he sat in the grey colored interior of his plane. At the pilot's seat he appeared to have a clear view of cyan blue water. "Yeah and the water here is crazy beautiful. Reminds me of a date I had that got real crazy, and- ech. You don't need to hear that. You can probably hear the engines firing up where you at." Earl said as he started the plane up.
"Affirmative Earl we're heading there now keep it spool up." She then picked up Logan and began to hobble out of the jungle towards the coastline where Earl was. But as they were making their way towards the Black Cat, Angie saw silhouettes of the mercenaries moving about in the forest, possibly searching for them and Earl's plane as well. "Shit...we need to get to Earl fast without getting shot." Said Angie as she make her way through the jungle towards the coast.
"Lacer 2-2 come in over, do you have eyes on the targets over?" One of them asked their teammates via their radio chatter. "Negative, we ain't found shit."
Logan finally readjusted and re-hinged his jaw to speak normally, but he made continuous watch of the mercenaries in the jungle. He made a deadly glare at them. "No, we have to get to Uncle Earl's plane FIRST without being shot. They can hear that thing a mile away. I guarantee that's where they are going now…" Logan said in a serious tone. He re-cloaked himself after a rapid transition from silver chrome to jungle coloration.
Before Angie could speak a word more, they felt a sudden breeze blowing over them, blowing their fur around gracefully. The mercenaries too felt the wind blowing over them but they felt something much more sinister was coming towards them, "Ssssssserpent Ssssssswiftnessss…" Said a melodious and frankly, seductive voice. They saw in the sky a massive plumed serpent gliding in the wind with its wings flapping around, the serpent's body has sparks with wind blowing out of it as its speed increases. It lunges at the first and slapped its tail at the other mercenaries on its left, throwing them flying into the trees. It then summons a mini tornado that began to toss the others on his left flying. "Ssssssslow down." He said.
"That's him...Kukulkan." She realized just by the look of his emerald green scale, the long serpentine body with feather for aerodynamic maneuvers and sapphire eyes. "Let's go now while they're busy, I think Kukulkan isn't in any mood to talk today." She lowers herself and began to crouch run from one tree stump to another. Keeping herself low while her pistols in hand to react to anyone who might come across them.
Logan this time kept up right close to Angie for some odd reason, and seemed to be in a more frantic state to flee from the current scene happening. "Oh I don't think so! I think just by the voice he has a lot to talk about! Just give him a phone and he'll be on a ramble for hours. Just don't let it talk to me!" Logan shouted going in a more frantic dash through the forest once he was clear of Kukulkan's general eyesight. It would appear Logan had something to fear though.
Kukulkan arched his head back up upon hearing Logan's shout and turned his head at where Angie and Logan was taking. The serpent immediately flew up in the air and flew over their head, following them towards Earl's seaplane. "Earl, we're here now let's get going quick!" Said Angie as she boarded the aircraft with Logan next to her. She closes the door on the starboard side of the plane and locked the hinges before strapping herself into the plane's seats. Above the aircraft, Kukulkan was fluttering above, looking down at them with judging eyes, apparently the deity seems to sense something coming from within the airframe.
Earl of course didn't ask any questions after he saw both Angie and Logan's frantic faces. He was talented enough to read fear and unnatural body language to tell they were both terrified beyond their mind by something. Logan and Angie saw Earl flicking a series of various switches over him and on the plane's dashboard. The plane then afterwards slowly moved forwards through the water. The plane slowly began to make a decent acceleration through the water. Logan got himself buckled in at the back of the plane. Earl looked back and still managed to chuckle. "This is your captain speaking. We are currently on the run from something I don't know about still with a possible treasure two of our passengers have and they want. Please keep yourselves seated and buckled while we make a very rough take off. Fine wine and whiskey can be found in the back in the fridge compartment. Enjoy Earl Airlines." Earl said as the plane throttled upwards taking off from the surface of the water.
As the plane was taking off and flying away from the Yucatan Peninsula, Kukulkan gives chase after Earl, the serpent began to catch up with the airplane with his speed alone. His control of the wind causes Earl's PBY to slow down somewhat until the cockpit was flying side by side with Kukulkan's face. The serpent turned his head over to see Earl's cockpit before his gaze was fixed on the window where Angie was sitting, she glanced out of the cockpit and immediately, she grabbed the badge of the Jackal Guards from in her pocket and flashed it on the window. The badge caught Kukulkan's eyes and he flew behind them, letting them accelerate their speed and flew away. "I have made a sssssseriousssssss misssssstake." He said with his voice carried by the wind into Earl's plane.
Earl in a massive fit of confusion let the cigar he was smoking fall out of his mouth and hit his lap. His eyes blinked twice so he could make sure what he saw was real, and not his 45 year old eyes messing up. He slowly looked to Angie, and tilted his head all while frowning showing just the amount of confusion that was toiling with his head. However, as a good pilot his arms were enacted firmly while his hands were on the plane control wheel. Finally he cleared his throat out and tried to think up of some words. "So… we were slowed down by a winged snake… One who sounds like he has plenty of sexy time… and yet somehow the snake was flying next to the plane? What the hell was all that goddamn mess, and all you needed to do was flick a badge?" Earl asked while looking into the back at Logan who seems to be in a fetal position. "Need I say Logan has a fear of snakes?" Earl asked again.
"No...but what you saw back there is asking for rewrites in history books." Angie said as she put the badge away into her her shirt's pocket as she sat down and sighed out exhaustively. "That was Kukulkan...Spirit of the Nine Winds and the prime God of the Mayan Pantheon." She explained to Earl before opening her backpack again to see the Golden Paw of Midas. She found that the piece of cloth she wrapped around it has been turned into golden silk. The moment she untie it around the paw, she saw shiny, glistening object blinding hers and Logan's eyes.
Logan groaned a bit upon being blding by the bright shine of the artifact. He had to cover one of his eyes, but he found he could look to the object again after a moment. "Damn. It was so shiny you could say it glows…" Logan said. He however gulped on the chaotic possibilities the artifact could have. "Okay Angie. Do not touch it. You'll turn to a gold statue. You're already shining in my eyes so you don't need it shine anymore. And do not drop it or this whole plane turns into a solid gold piece and then we all fall out of the sky…" Logan warned.
Earl kept his vision straight ahead at the sky he was flying through now. "That's the real deal? The Paw of Midas? God damn! Well it's too dangerous to sell, or even make a profit on. You realize you have to put that away where the mammals and black spooks put shit away." Earl shook his head and got his cigar out of his lap before it could burn him. "Jeez. No wonder why you two were gone all night. I had to sleep out here on the water. Not the first time, but it sure aint comfy." Earl said.
"Well at least we're here now. I know a friend who can take care of this but I think it's best that you meet him as well Earl. Since he's pretty much a very hush-hush figure to say the least." Said Angie as she wrapped the fabric around the paw again and put it away inside the backpack for safety. By now they were flying far from the Yucatan Peninsula into the open sea. Soon, they will be back in Zootopia and with luck, some answers for their questions.