They arrived at a refugee camp of sorts nestled within the few intact buildings. There were boxes stacked everywhere—most of them empty or holding personal belongings of the refugees scattered about. The way here was surprisingly simple; considering that this building connected to the keep. That, and Soma appeared to navigate through the place with exercised familiarity and a keycard clearance of the highest level.
"This camp is just the three floors of a building, connected to a blockaded portion of the subway." Soma introduced, guiding them through the camp. "The first, as you can see, is a mess. There are 20 rooms on the first floor, with 5 beds each. ...It's not enough, but we make do. This used to be disguised as a hospital for treating patients infected with the scourge. We try to keep the second floor more tidy, mainly for the injured. The third is for storage, but there are a few rooms there you can use. The subways are a bit of a free for all, with hunters using that section as the base."
"Are you a hunter?" Gladio asked, eyeing her attire.
"I suppose?" Soma replied. "I do fight daemons, but it's more like I manage this facility. I keep track of supplies and tend to the wounded. My experience as a nurse in Lucis certainly came in handy for all this."
She giggled in an attempt to make light of the situation. A habit a certain someone else had. "Before I knew it, people began to rely on me."
There was lots of shuffling and hushed voices. One building definitely wasn't enough to shelter what was left of a metropolitan city. Some men and woman sat with defeated eyes, and everyone seemed to understand too well that these people needed their time alone to process whatever horrors they've seen. Some children in tattered clothes ran about, unaware of the crisis they were in, while others cried endlessly for their families. The only sign of joy radiated from the subway, no doubt from drunk hunters.
"A nurse from Lucis…" Ignis mused. His walking stick wasn't very useful in the mess of people, and Gladio often had to pull him to the right direction with his free hand. "I'd assume you mean one from the crown city, correct? How does a Insomnian nurse end up fighting daemons in Niflheim?"
"That's… a long story." She replied carefully. "It's something I would have to explain to my son as well."
They climbed up a broken escalator, careful not to knock down the clothes that were hung on the rails to dry. Gladio could feel Prompto shift on his shoulder, but still showed no signs of waking.
"Y'know, I was starting to believe you and your husband didn't exist at all." Gladio said.
"Is that so? I'm glad to hear it. Prompto always seemed like the type of boy that's bad at lying." Soma smiled. A normal mother wouldn't say such things. "But it would be a little silly to expect a child to take care of the mortgage, electricity bills and taxes. Especially a foreign one. The currency in Insomnia is different from the rest of the world, and the dollar to gil conversion isn't exactly the easiest to sort out."
"Heh. No arguments there." Gladio replied, thinking back to the money issue they had when they first set out on the journey. Noct's credit card didn't work (there goes the royal treasury) and Prompto had even asked 'what's a gil?' when they first arrived at Hammerhead.
"Speaking of which, may I ask where your husband might be?" Ignis asked. "I believe he was spotted by the hangar."
"To answer that, I would need to answer your first question." Soma replied evasively.
"That's not sketchy at all." Gladio mumbled to himself. He hesitantly put down Prompto onto a stretcher when he was asked to, and watched him get wheeled away into a different room. They already lost one member of their party. Losing track of another set Gladio on edge.
This whole second floor smelled of antiseptic. All except the room where they stepped into where the overpowering scent of tomato soup filled the area. There wasn't much on the table. A pot full of soup, a loaf of bread for appetizer, a small chicken drumstick and a portion of what were undeniably canned peaches for dessert waited for them.
"I didn't mean for it to be that way," The woman apologized. "Just that my… husband… or well, let's just call him Cadaley."
She cleared her throat and helped Ignis to a seat before taking her own.
"Cadaley and I aren't on the best of terms." Soma finally ended. "But we're not here to discuss my private life, are we?"
She said so with a smile, but the two felt as though they were back in the briefing rooms of the Citadel. A serious discussion served with a casual meal. Chewing often served as a good excuse for stalling for a few more seconds to think, and the mood seemed to hint that this was going to be a that kind of discussion. Which would mean that she wanted something from the Crownsguard. Considering that they needed Soma's help more desperately than she needed theirs, and that she had one of their members in her hands, she was certainly in the position to make demands. As expected of the woman who managed to take control of what was left of the empire's capital; a friendly face isn't all what it seems.
"No, we're not." Gladio chose the chicken to start off with and bit into the drumstick as though he were in a common pub at wing night.
"I'll be frank," Ignis was more reserved and reached for the cutlery. "We would like your help in escaping Niflheim and returning to Lucis with the Crystal."
"You have an idea of where to store something so important?" Soma asked. The only thing you could see in her eyes was pure curiosity. Now that Gladio thought about it, she did resemble Prompto a little. Her hair was closer to a dark blonde in better light. There was nothing he could describe as a calculating gaze from her, and he'd be crazy to imagine something like that from Prompto.
"Anything would be better than the enemy stronghold." Ignis simply replied.
"Hm, I think so too. In that case, I would be more than happy to help." Somalia replied, brushing a strand of her out of the way to sip at her soup. "But I must ask a favor…"
Here it is. Ignis thought. The relationship between her and Prompto is still mostly unknown, but I can assume they aren't close on the account that both she and this Cadaley have been missing for at least five years. Would she use her son as a bargaining chip?
"Please help us stop the MT production of Zegnautus Keep." Is that it?
"Pardon my saying so, but wouldn't that be treasonous for the people under your care?" Ignis remarked. "MTs are the primary source of military power of this nation."
"I'm well aware that they protect this nation." Soma stated. "But I'm afraid that their research has done much more harm than good. The people here are all victims. Surely you've read in Zegnautus' records that the keep was responsible for the outbreak of the Scourge that destroyed this city? This request is also to your advantage."
Indeed, they had no reason to say no. Especially not with a safe escape route as a reward.
"Very well." Ignis said. "If that is your request, we shall provide as much assistance as we can."
"Thank you."
"One more thing. Why point a gun at us at our first meeting, knowing that your own son was in your line of fire? It's suspicious enough that you arrived exactly when we needed you."
"Because of this." She got up from her seat and fiddled around with a computer in the corner of the room. With the whirr of old engines the screen slowly descended to a halt. This room was likely meant to be a presentation room back when the hospital was still functioning, but with the computer set up as it is, Ignis could imagine that the room was now used for strategic meetings.
"She's about to show us a video." Ignis concluded. "What is it about?"
"It's… Prompto." Gladio explained. "Before we rescued him. Tied up the exact same way."
Ignis had the feeling that wasn't the only thing on the screen.
"He's with Ardyn."