Leaving Torigoth undetected turned out to be far simpler than they had anticipated.
While there were still regular patrols out through the city keeping an eye out for both them and the Core Crystal thieves, after two full days of searching, their frequency had dropped. Whether that was because of fatigue among the soldiers, or to keep the citizens from panicking, was up in the air.
Additionally, the patrols were focused entirely at the street level, and while that was probably sufficient for most situations that the local garrison was used to dealing with, when your entire party possesses superhuman physical capabilities one way or another, traversing the city by roof was a simple affair.
Once they were out of the city, they encountered no resistance. While the plains were home to various predatory monsters, most of the species were diurnal, and those that weren't were either unwilling to accost a group or inhabited the reaches further from Torigoth, where they were less likely to be culled as a nuisance.
There was little discussion as they walked; the party being too focused on keeping an eye out for trouble. Even with Poppi's ability to detect nearby heat signatures, there were still environmental hazards that the mechanical girl was unable to adequately identify while they were keeping a low profile.
Among the greatest of the hazards was the fact that, this close to Gormott's coast, there were voids in the ground that would drop an incautious traveler directly into the Cloud Sea some several hundred feet below. Unable to use lights on account of the current situation, they were instead forced to rely on Dromarch's night vision to avoid falling to their deaths.
Needless to say, it made for slow going.
Eventually, slightly under an hour after they left Torigoth, Poppi came to an abrupt halt, her head tilting slightly to line herself up with something only she could see. "Masterpon detected at extreme range of sensor." She announced, drawing the attention of the rest of the group.
Nia, the most familiar with the terrain, perked up at the comment. "Where?" She asked, looking out in the same direction as the artificial Blade.
"Masterpon is currently one-point-three-seven Titanpeds in front of us, and twenty-two peds lower than our current elevation." She replied, pointing out across a small bay.
"That's Lascham Cove." Nia informed them, taking a look over the area. "There's a port town a few Titanpeds up the coast; I'm surprised they're set up so close." She indicated around the curve of the shoreline, where the lights of a town could just barely be seen over the crest of a hill.
Azurda scratched his chin as he peaked his head out of Rex's bag. "Perhaps that is also to their benefit." The Titan said. "If there's a nearby port, it gives the thieves easy access to ships departing the Titan. That could be how they transport their stolen goods."
"Alternatively, it is possible that they operate their own vessels and use the traffic of the nearby port to conceal their comings and goings." Dromarch offered.
"Does any of that really matter right now?" Rex asked, scanning the shore of the cove. "What's more important is finding a way into their hideout."
The Titan rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Of course it matters, my boy!" He chastised, giving his ward a look of disappointment. "If the thieves are smuggling their goods out through the port, then they'll need to have an entrance close by for ease of access. But if Dromarch is correct and they are running their own ships from their hideout…" Azurda left the thought hanging, leaving it to the boy to fill in the rest.
"…Then they'll need to have an entrance big enough to fit a ship!" He caught on, scanning the coast again.
"It won't be that easy." Nia rebutted. "Lascham's a pretty busy area, as far as Gormott goes. If they have a hidden dock, my bet would be that it's on the underside of the layer, inaccessible by foot. Otherwise, there'd be too much risk that someone would stumble into it."
Dromarch looked up at his Driver. "And you anticipate that locating a foot-accessible entrance that has gone undetected in this region will be less difficult?" He inquired, an eyebrow raised.
She opened her mouth to answer, only to pause as she considered it. After a brief moment, her shoulders sagged as a resigned look fell on her face. "Ok, you have a point." She admitted a little sheepishly. "But, how exactly would we go about finding a hidden dock on the underside of the ground layer?"
"Poppi can find!" The little robot girl chirped, raising an arm in the air as she bounced on her mechanical toes. "Poppi have short-duration flight capabilities! Can search the underside of Titan plate!"
Without further warning, a rumbling sound echoed from her legs as a plume of fire burst from her feet. The artificial Blade shot a dozen peds up before cutting the thrusters, allowing her momentum to carry her over the edge of Gormott's back, before she dropped out of sight.
"Titan's foot!" Rex spat, readying his anchor shot as he raced to the edge of the cliff. Why had her jets cut out? If he was lucky, Poppi would still be high enough that he could catch up to her before they were too far from Gormott's flank to anchor them to the Titan's side. It would be tight, but he didn't…!
He stumbled backward, nearly falling on his rear, as Poppi flew back up, briefly hovering in place just a few peds off the edge of the Titan. "Friend Rex stay back." She stated. "Ground under plate by edge very thin! Poppi not think hold weight!"
As suddenly as she appeared, the mechanical girl dropped back below the lip of the cliff, leaving the rest of the group bewildered.
Well, the rest of the group except for Azurda, who was merely amused by Poppi's antics. "I must say," he chortled, "Tora sure knows how to program them!"
"Jeeze, she nearly gave me a heart attack!" Nia said, looking out over the cove. In the distance, the faint orange light of Poppi's thrusters could be seen flitting around beneath the shelf. "What was she thinking, just flinging herself off the cliff like that!?"
"I don't think she was taking your opinion into account, Nia." Azurda replied.
They watched as the light denoting Poppi flew back over the edge of Gormott, winking out over Lascham Island. "Do you think she found something?" Rex asked, looking around for a sign of the artificial Blade.
"She did claim to only possess 'short-duration' flight capabilities, master Rex." Dromarch noted. "I suspect that she is allowing her reserves to replenish before proceeding."
Indeed, only a few moments later, the glow of her thrusters could be seen once again as she resumed her search. The party watched with baited breath as she repeated her pattern for several more minutes, scouting around the bottom of the shelf, before flying up to the island to recharge, and then returning.
Eventually, they noticed the light go still, close to the deepest area of the cove. She seemed to hang there for several seconds, before breaking off and flying under the near lip of the coast and out of view.
"Do you think she found it?" Rex asked, leaning as close to the edge as he was willing to go.
"I suspect so." Azurda confirmed. "At the very least, it seems she discovered something of interest."
The whine of approaching jet engines spoke in favor of this outcome, as Poppi reappeared over the lip of the cliff just moments later. As before, she cut her thrusters mid-air, allowing her momentum to carry her the remaining distance, but this time she added a slight pirouette as she came for a landing.
"Poppi locate hidden dock!" The artificial Blade reported, looking straight between the assembled party in front of her. "Dock located in cave underneath hill on far edge of cove. Is vertical entrance one hundred and twenty-four peds from edge of shelf."
"Well that's real helpful." Nia snarked, looking out toward the hill. "How exactly are we supposed to get into something like that? You can fly, and Rex might be able to do some crazy swing in on his grappling hook-"
"Not from that distance." The boy replied apologetically. "The cable isn't long enough."
She rolled her eyes, but continued. "-But how are the rest of us getting in? Unless you plan on carrying the three of us, it doesn't look like this is going to work."
The artificial Blade turned to face her, the stilted mechanical motion more than a little disconcerting to the Gormotti girl. "Poppi can carry friends." She stated. "Will require friends to relocate closer to entrance; additional weight reduce Poppi flight time, especially friend Dromarch."
"I see." The tiger Blade said, seemingly unbothered by the unintended dig at his weight. "How certain are you that you have identified the correct cave? It would be quite unfortunate for you to ferry us inside, only for it to not be the location we are seeking."
"Poppi see ship docked inside." She replied. "Design suggest ship is submersible-type Titan vessel, designed for sneaky-sneaky movement."
Azurda nodded his head. "That would make sense. A submersible Titan ship would allow them to slip in and out of their hideout undetected during high tide. They'd even be able to slip out with the current security measures the empire had enacted."
Beside Rex, Nia's eyes glimmered as a thought came to her. The boy noticed her suddenly perk up, but when she shook her head to seemingly disabuse herself of whatever thought she had, he took the opportunity to prod the group forward. "Let's get moving, then." He said. "They'll probably start heading for the meeting soon."
"Right." Nia agreed, the thought still drifting around in her head. "No sense wasting time." Looking over at Poppi, she added, "Do you have a place for us to launch from already picked out?"
"Poppi does!" The artificial Blade replied. "Friends follow Poppi!"
The group followed off after the excitable robot girl, not noticing the figure that had been following them from a carefully calculated distance break off toward another hill near the cove.
"All clear." Azurda said as he landed on Rex's shoulder. "Those two Blades have been moving equipment onto the ship, but we should have a few minutes before they're back."
It had taken a good twenty minutes for the party to reach what Poppi considered to be the best launch site, a small rocky outcropping fairly close to the entrance to the hidden dock.
She had been preparing to take off with Rex and Nia in tow when Azurda stopped her with a single question: Did you scout inside the dock?
As it turned out, the artificial Blade had not. While she had observed from the outside, the steep angle of the cave entrance meant that she couldn't see anything besides the ship inside and the gangplank connecting it to the ground.
In fairness, it had probably been a wise move; her thrusters were not exactly quiet, so if there had been anyone inside the dock itself, she would have been detected immediately. Unfortunately, that still meant that they would have to be inserted into the dock piecemeal without any knowledge of the layout, or if there was anyone on guard.
At least, that would have been the case had it not been for Azurda. The tiny Titan had quickly volunteered to scout the dock out, noting that his size would allow him to sneak around unnoticed in the event anyone was there.
The party had spent several minutes nervously waiting for him to return, particularly Rex who was still not keen on his Gramps taking risks after the events of their arrival on Gormott. The worry had only increased as the minutes dragged on, from one, to five, to ten.
Fifteen minutes after he had left, Rex had been just about ready to ask Poppi to bring him to the docks, scouting be damned, when the tiny Titan finally returned with his report.
"Moving equipment? Are they planning on leaving?" Nia asked, confused. "I mean, I guess a Titanship would get them to the meeting pretty fast, but flying over the top of Gormott would draw far too much attention."
"Who can say?" The Titan replied with a shrug. "While they were talking, all that I was able to catch that water Blade–Praxis, I think it was?–Complaining about another member of their team."
As they spoke, Poppi walked up and grabbed both Rex and Nia by the hands. "Friends not dally." She said, a rumble emanating from her legs as her thrusters warmed up. "Poppi think best hold on. Not want drop friends during trip."
Nia's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen. "Wait a minute, Poppi, I need a moment to-!" She began, only for her protestations to be cut off by the roar of the artificial Blade's jets as she shot into the air.
She let out a short, sharp scream of panic, which she quickly reigned in, as Poppi dragged them through the air. The mechanical girl vectored them down, swooped under the ledge of the coast, and carried them along beneath the ground.
Before long, they could see the opening of the hidden dock, a jagged cave entrance that could have easily fit Azurda at his full size. The moment it came into sight, Poppi threw her legs forward, bringing them to an abrupt halt. Rex winced as his shoulder was violently jolted by the shock, incredibly grateful that his new status as a Blade Eater came with the same enhanced durability that a Driver was afforded.
"Going up!" The artificial Blade announced, suddenly shooting straight into the dock, dragging her passengers behind her like ragdolls. To her credit, Poppi did ensure that they didn't collide with each other mid-flight, but the roughness of the trip was rather grating.
Poppi soared over the side of the Titan ship, cutting her thrusters as she passed the level of the deck. As she passed the apex of her arc, she flared her thrusters briefly, just enough to allow for a relatively gentle landing on the deck.
'Relatively' meaning that both of her passengers, jolted by the sudden change in their already unexpected descent rate, flubbed their landings and ended up sprawled on the deck.
"Ouch." Rex hissed, rubbing his sore chin. "What is it about Gormott and my chin taking hits?" He muttered.
"Poppi apologize." The artificial Blade stated, bowing. "Not take into account physical strain on friends."
Nia, who was gingerly massaging her shoulder, gave the girl a half-hearted wave. "D-don't worry, we're fine." She said, the fact that her ears were still flat against her head contradicting her words. "We're Drivers. We can handle this sort of abuse."
The mechanical girl looked between Nia and Rex for a moment, before tilting her body to the side. "Poppi not see Blade of friend Rex. Does this fall under 'Thing not comfortable about talking' too?"
"Ah, sort of?" Rex scratched his head. "It's also a bit of a longer story than we have time for right now."
She nodded in understanding. "Poppi file question for later date." She stated, turning back to the edge of the ship. "Poppi will retrieve friend Dromarch. Request friends hide in case enemy Blades return."
With that, she leapt off the deck of the Titan ship, dropping down toward the Cloud Sea. As she dropped, Rex could faintly hear the sounds of her thrusters firing up, the whine fading rapidly as she departed for the surface.
"You know, we're probably going to have to make sure she doesn't spill our secrets to Tora at some point soon." Nia commented, watching as she left. "I wonder what kind of bribes an artificial Blade takes?"
"Who knows." He muttered. That was its own can of worms that he'd rather put off for the moment. Maybe once the robot girl had a chance to solidify her personality more, they'd be able to find a good bribe for her.
Looking over at his companion, the boy frowned. "So, are you alright?" Rex asked. "You look a little shook up."
The girl was still a bit disheveled. Her ears were only just starting to lift back up, their fur still standing on end, and she was a little pale. "Yeah, I…" she muttered, her face coloring slightly, "I'm not exactly the best with heights. I was kind of hoping for a minute to ground myself before we took off, you know?"
He nodded in response. "I can understand that." Rex admitted. After a brief pause, a mischievous grin crossed his face. "So I guess even the great Driver Nia has a her weaknesses." He teased.
"Oi, what's that supposed to mean?" She snapped back at him, her ears shooting straight up. "You got a problem with that?"
"'Course not!" He waved off, laughing a little. "Sorry, I thought you could use the distraction."
Nia grumbled, crossing her arms as she turned away from him. "Jerk." She muttered, with no real heat behind the words. Not that she would admit it, but his teasing had managed to take her mind off of it.
While she pouted, Rex began examining the deck of the ship. There wasn't much at first glance, seeing as it was merely a narrow platform connecting the gangplank to the hatch of the submersible vessel. Yet, looking over the side, he saw that there was a solid door, wedge-shaped to allow the pressure of the Cloud Sea itself to keep it closed, open on the side of the vessel.
He hopped down from the deck of the ship to the ground, poking his head inside the door. It was a cargo hold, filled with equipment, but with plenty of space for more. "Come check this out!" He called up to Nia, waving her in his direction.
Curious, the girl ceased pretending to be mad and followed him over to the entrance to the hold. As she did, he crept inside, taking a look around. Close to the entrance, there was exactly what Rex would normally expect to find on a ship like this: Crates of supplies, stacked neatly and strapped down to avoid shifting during transport.
Further toward the back, however, was less standard fare. Piles of furniture, also tied down, surrounded by rolled-up sheets of canvas and boards that looked like temporary partitions. There was even what he thought was a door peeking out from between two panels.
"Are they… disassembling their base?" He asked, looking around the area.
"Probably." Nia confirmed, opening up one of the crates. It was filled with packs of rations, standard military fare, half of which were missing. "But, if they are planning on leaving soon, it makes sense to take as much with them as they can. The less they leave behind, the less evidence there is to track them."
Rex didn't disagree, well aware that the girl was far more experienced in that regard than he was. He hadn't asked her about her time as a member of Torna, but he assumed it gave her a degree of insight into how criminal organizations operated.
In the corner of his eye, he saw the girl suddenly still, her ears actuating towards what he presumed to be a sound he couldn't hear. "What is it?" He asked.
"Footsteps." The girl replied, narrowing her eyes as she looked toward the entrance to the hold. "They're approaching the dock. We need to find cover!"
He didn't need further prompting. The cargo hold, although not filled anywhere near capacity, had plenty of objects to hide behind, so he was easily able to duck between a pair of canvas partitions and stay comfortably concealed from view.
No sooner had he taken his position did the sounds become audible to him as well. As Nia had said, it was footsteps–a pair of them. They were heavy, as if the people approaching were carrying something.
A pair of familiar figures entered the cargo hold–the two criminal Blades that had attacked them when they entered Torigoth. They were carrying a large crate between the two of them, although considering the size, it was likely due to the cumbersome dimensions of the crate rather than weight that made it necessary.
"That's just about the last one, isn't it?" Praxis asked as they settled the crate in a corner of the hold.
"Other than the remaining partitions and the cell for the Nopon." Theory confirmed, grabbing a strap to secure the crate to the floor of the hold. "But I don't believe the Boss wants us to take those apart until after the meeting."
Praxis huffed in annoyance. "I don't see why. We'll be leaving within the hour, so why bother keeping the Nopon in a cage? It's not like we'll be using it for the brat; just tie the little bastard up and pack everything else away! That way, we don't even need to come back here after the meeting!"
"I believe he doesn't wish the Nopon to see the ship." The ice Blade replied, ratcheting the strap tight. "If our travel method is known, the authorities will be more alert to our movements."
"Ugh. Keeping him alive is such a pain." Her sister Blade complained, leaning against the door to the hold. "I know why the Boss doesn't want us killing if we can avoid it, but surely we can make an exception here? He's already a witness to the job; surely one dead Nopon won't ruin our reputation!"
Theory stood up, turning toward the entrance to the hold. "I agree that it makes things difficult at times." She acknowledged, walking up to the other Blade. "But you must admit that not having to fight every mark does have its advantages too."
Her sister Blade leaned back to her feet. "Yeah, yeah." She grumbled, following Theory out of the cargo hold. "I get it. But you have to admit, it's a lot more fun when they put up a fight!"
Rex couldn't hear what the ice Blade had to say in response, the pair leaving his hearing range just as she began speaking. He waited a few heartbeats, looking over to the pile of crates that Nia had hidden behind, before cautiously slipping out of his hiding spot.
Without a word, the two slipped out of the cargo hold themselves, taking a moment to make sure the enemy Blades had vacated the dock before they proceeded. It wasn't a very large area; there was just enough space on the ledge of the cliff to stash a few crates, which, from the dust on the ground, had probably been the case until recently.
Behind them, the whine of jets alerted the pair that Poppi was returning, presumably with Dromarch in tow. Rex turned around just in time to see the artificial Blade pass the deck of the Titanship, her arms wrapped around the chest of a very uncomfortable-looking tiger.
Unlike how she had landed with them, Poppi was more gentle when touching down with Dromarch. She didn't cut her thrusters and slow down with a sudden flare, but instead carefully lowered the output of the thrust as she touched down on the deck, before releasing the tiger from her grasp.
Not that he seemed particularly keen on the landing. Even as he slinked away from the artificial Blade, Dromarch's fur was still noticeably standing on end just as his Driver's had been.
"My Lady, might I request that we exit via the footpath when we depart?" He asked, trying his best to keep his voice level despite a noticeable tremor in it as he spoke. "I'm afraid that I found our method of entry most disagreeable."
The Gormotti girl smirked at his disheveled appearance. "I can see that," she said, giving the tiger a scratch on the head, "But don't worry, I don't have any more interest in leaving that way than you either." Looking over at Poppi, she added, "No offense."
"Friend Nia not worry," the artificial Blade responded, leaping down to the cave floor. "Poppi not think carry friends out good plan either."
Poppi walked past Rex and Nia, her head tracking sharply off to the side. "Masterpon detected seventy-four peds from current position." She announced, pointing toward one of the walls. "Poppi will update friends of direction as get closer."
"Sounds like a plan." Rex replied, poking his head into the tunnel. It only proceeded in one direction, but curved sharply around a corner. "Let's go."
The Special Inquisitor frowned as she looked over the map that Brighid had provided her. "This is the most recent they had available?" She asked, looking at the date scrawled on the legend—4021, thirty-seven years ago, more than a decade before she had been born.
"I'm afraid so, Lady Morag." Her Blade apologized. "The Imperial Survey Corps were scheduled to run a re-examination of Gormott's right flank a decade ago, but they were withdrawn back to the homeland due to the ongoing conflict with Uraya at the time. The examination should have been rescheduled after the conclusion of the war, but I was unable to locate any records that it had occurred with the limited time provided."
"Do not apologize, Brighid." Morag replied, tracing her finger over the map. "You've done admirably, considering the constraints you were operating under."
She looked down at the map again, her eyes tracking over the various features. "Now then, you said the Signal Corps traced the transmission to the area around Lascham Cove?" She asked.
Brighid gave a nod of acknowledgment. "Yes. Triangulation places the origin of the signal approximately one-point-two Titanpeds headward of the port, somewhere among the hills above the bay itself." She circled the area in question with her finger.
The Special Inquisitor cast a skeptical eye over the map. The area was marked as littered with caverns, an accompanying supplemental page providing a rough map of how they had been arranged nearly forty years ago. "How accurate do you think this layout is?" She asked the fire Blade as she memorized the chart.
"It is impossible to say." Brighid admitted. "That area of the upper levels has changed more than almost any other; the plate segment there has been expanding at a far faster rate than the supporting structure beneath it, causing fracturing that produces those caverns."
For emphasis, she pointed at the label that designated what was currently known as Lascham Island and a Peninsula, one that was almost a quarter-Titanped further spineward than in the modern day. "Between the growth, fracturing, and collapsing, it is entirely possible that the caverns beneath the surface bear as little similarity to this survey as the modern coastline does."
Morag's frown deepened. "That is certainly not ideal." She stated. "If they're using the caves, it will take far too long to locate an entrance." The Special Inquisitor paused as she thought the issue over. "Surely there is some record we can draw upon… there is enough traffic through the area that somebody must have…"
She turned to look at her Blade. "The local monster control teams–do they keep records of potential den locations?"
"I believe so." Brighid confirmed. "Particularly around Lascham, the terrain is rough enough that keeping their own records would be critical to locating potential caves that monsters could be hiding in."
"Good." Morag replied, handing the map over to the fire Blade. "Have the analyst team cross-reference those records with the subsurface maps; with luck, we should be able to locate a current entrance to the cave networks."
Brighid frowned as he grabbed the map from her Driver. "And if we cannot locate an entrance?"
The Special Inquisitor's lip quirked upward. "Then I suppose we will have to make our own." She commented, looking over a series of personnel dossiers laid out on the table. "One of the Driver squads among the marine detachment is rather heavy on earth-element Blades."
"You mean Lieutenant Eimhir's team?" She asked, looking at her Driver for confirmation. "Her Blade does possess exceptional elemental control for a common Blade…" Brighid mused. "Still, are you sure that is a wise idea? The plate is unstable enough that forcing an entrance could destabilize the entire area."
Her Driver pursed her lips. "We may not have another option. We don't know the specifics of how the thieves plan on capturing that boy, but they would not have made contact with the Consul if they weren't confident in their ability to succeed. If we don't capture them now, we may lose our chance to locate both them and the Aegis."
"Then we must hope that the analyst team can find an entrance." Brighid responded. She paused for a moment, a frown building on her face as she watched her Driver look over what little information they had on the members of the Core Crystal thieves.
Although they had little actual information on the human members of the group, they preferred to send Blades to perform their heists, that wasn't the same as no information; every Blade has a Driver somewhere, and especially in the early days of their operations, Drivers had been spotted with the known Blades.
The man who had contacted the Consul was among those identified as likely members, a Gormotti ex-mercenary by the name of Ifor that had largely vanished from the industry after the war with Uraya a decade ago. He had rarely been identified in public since then, but considering that long before turning to crime he had been registered as the Driver of the water Blade Praxis, the Blade that had led many of the group's heists, there had been little doubt regarding his current affiliation.
Unfortunately, there was little beyond that in the file. The mercenary group he had been a member of at the time no longer existed, having been wiped out in the closing months of the war when they attempted to raid an Ardainian merchant ship that, unbeknownst to them, had been covertly transporting a Carraig special operations team, and his background before joining was unknown.
Obviously, he had switched from privateering to piracy once the war had ended and had eventually gotten into the Core Crystal trade. Even during his call with the Consul, he had made it clear that he was mostly interested in Cores, but…
"I wonder…" She muttered, drawing Morag's attention. "Why was he so interested in that Core Crystal of Dughall's? What about a broken Core could make it as valuable to a man like him as the Aegis?"
Morag remained silent, merely giving her Blade a hesitant look. It struck Brighid as odd; normally, her Driver was more than willing to allow the fire Blade to bounce ideas off of her. In fact, the only times she wasn't was when…
"You know something." Brighid stated, eyes narrowing. "You were surprised when I mentioned Dughall's mysterious Core Crystal, but not about the fact that it was broken." She stared down her Driver, challenging the other woman to deny her line of reasoning.
After a moment of silence, the Special Inquisitor relented. "I suspect something." She corrected, averting her gaze. "I cannot say for sure without laying eyes on the Core Crystal myself, but…"
She paused for a moment, giving a furtive glance around the office. "This isn't the place to discuss details," she said, her voice softening, "but if I am correct, that Crystal is not broken at all—if anything, it is more… complete than any other in Gormott."
Brighid gave her Driver a searching look, but even as she did, the wording that the other woman had used tickled the back of her mind, reminding her of something she had read recently. A secret that a version of her five hundred years gone had become privy to, only days before her death.
"That…" She muttered, her eyes widening in realization. "Are you suggesting that the Core Crystal is…?"
The Special Inquisitor held up her hand to prevent Brighid from saying anything else. "As I said, I cannot be sure without seeing the Core directly, but if it is, then you can understand why he would be willing to trade even the Aegis for it."
Brighid nodded slowly. "If you are correct, then it is worth more than all the money in Alrest." She stated, her mind reeling at the implications. Suddenly, a number of irregularities with the call made far more sense. However, it did beg one question."
"Dughall… he can't possibly know, can he?" She asked, brow furrowing. "As little respect as I have for him, even he would be unwilling to part with it if he knew."
"Most countries keep it a secret to only the highest ranks of government." Morag confirmed. "We do have teams dedicated to seeking such Cores out, but for the last few centuries, the Praetorium has been far more effective at gathering 'aberrant' Cores than we have, ostensibly for the purpose of clensing."
She shook her head. "It's a matter for another time, however." The Special Inquisitor stated, turning back to her maps. "Once this is done, I will inspect the Core myself, and we can settle the issue."
"I understand, Lady Morag." The fire Blade relented. Her Driver was correct; this was neither the time nor place to be discussing such a sensitive topic. "Do you wish for me to assemble the Lieutenant's squad?"
Morag gave a nod of confirmation. "That would be for the best." She said, grabbing another file from the pile that had been rapidly growing over the past few days. "We will be departing within the hour, regardless of wheather an entrance to the caves have been located. Please have any preparations you need to make complete by then."
"I will, Lady Morag." She said before turning out of the room, leaving her Driver to complete her own preparations for the mission.
The interior of the thieves base was a winding mess of narrow tunnels, not entirely surprising considering they had set up in a natural cave formation. Admittedly, most of the paths were far too small to fit a human through them, but once they had cleared the branch immediately connected to the dock, they were presented with several passages.
Following Poppi's directions helped to an extent, but it wasn't long before they reached a fork in the cave where neither branch seemed to point in the direction they needed to go. Unlike earlier, they could not rely on Azurda to scout, as the tunnels were lacking in cover to allow him to sneak around.
Fortunately, Dromarch's keen eyes were more than able to pick up the signs that one of the passages had been blocked off until recently, while the other had seen recent foot traffic. Taking advantage of such clues, they were quickly able to reach what was obviously the central chamber of the base.
"Poppi, which way now?" Rex asked, peering around the corner into the chamber. It was obvious that there had once been a fair amount of equipment in the room, but most of it had been taken away. For the most part, it was now empty, with the exception of a partitioned-off area on the far side of the chamber that had yet to be dismantled.
There were also voices echoing from it, which answered any question he may have had about where the thieves were currently located.
"Masterpon is located in that direction." The artificial Blade pointed at a tunnel branching off of the chamber, not quite on the far side, but certainly closer to the remaining room than to them.
"Right." Nia frowned, looking over the room. The chamber wasn't particularly large, maybe half-again the size of Tora's house, discounting the hidden passage, and without any cover should someone step out of the room. "How quietly can you move, Poppi?"
The artificial Blade looked down at her feet contemplatively. "Poppi not built for stealth." She admitted. "Friend Nia think is problem?"
"It is if we want to get to Tora unnoticed." She replied. "It'll be much easier to get him free if we're not fighting the thieves off at the same time."
Poppi looked at Nia, then back to her feet, then at Nia again. "Poppi not built for stealth," she reiterated, an intense look in her eyes, "but will try best to be sneaky-sneaky for Masterpon's sake!"
Nia nodded. "Then follow me." She replied, moving over to the entrance to the chamber. Rex stepped aside, allowing the girl with more stealth experience to take the lead.
Careful of her footing, Nia entered the room, sneaking alongside the wall as closely as she could. The other three watched where she was putting her feet, gently avoiding the few loose pieces of debris on the path, and followed behind her.
Despite their careful progression, the chamber was quite small, so it only took a minute or two to actually reach the next tunnel. It had felt like much longer, the voices of the thieves echoing from the remaining room dangling the threat of detection above them. The worst part was that, despite being clearly audible even to Rex, they hadn't been saying anything useful, just discussing plans for the meeting that was no longer going to happen.
As they entered the tunnel, they kept on their guard, mindful that the thieves were still in very close proximity to them. They had hoped that the tunnel would be long enough to put some distance between them before breaking Tora out, but they quickly found that to not be the case; they had only made it around the first corner of the tunnel when they encountered the prisoner cells.
There were only four of them, arranged in a short row along the wall of the tunnel, right where it turned again and abruptly terminated. Three were empty, although they showed signs of recent use, but the second-closest cell was occupied by a familiar Nopon.
"Masterpon!" Poppi cried, muted just enough to not echo into the main chamber. She dashed up to the cell that Tora was held in.
"P-Poppi?" He asked, seeming to not believe his eyes. "I-is that really Poppi? Poppi came to rescue Tora?"
"Not alone she didn't." Rex spoke up, drawing Tora's attention over to the others present.
The Nopon's eyes lit up even more as he saw the assembled group. "F-friends… friends came for Tora…?" He said, tone wavering as tears built in his eyes.
"Of course we did!" Rex said, walking up to the cell. "'Always help those who help you', that's the second rule of the Salvager's code!" He said earnestly, inspecting the lock. "As if we'd leave you in here!"
Nia snorted at his statement. "Dorkiness aside, he's right." She stated, ignoring a half-hearted cry of indignation from Rex. "We're not the type to bail on you after the help you've given us, especially since we're the reason you were taken."
Looking at Rex, she added, "How does the lock look? Can you get it open?"
"Maybe?" He offered, poking the offending device inquisitively. "Normally when I'm opening things like this, I use a crowbar—the locks on crates don't tend to be very cooperative after they've been at the bottom of the Cloud Sea for who knows how long."
"Poppi can open door." The mechanical girl offered, waving a hand in the air. "Masterpon designed with strength to move even Gonzales! Iron bars no obstacle for Poppi!"
Rex shook his head. "We should probably find a way to do it quietly." He replied. "We're close enough to where the thieves are that they'll probably hear us if we force the door. We might not make it out of here undetected, but we're so close now that-!"
A commotion in the main chamber drew their attention. Azurda immediately took off from Rex's shoulder, poking his head around the corner to see what was going on.
"I'm afraid that our anonymity may be at an end." The Titan stated, turning his head back to the group. "They appear to be rather agitated about something, and it sounds like it has something to do with us."
Taking that as permission, Poppi gripped the bars of the cell door with both hands. "Friend Rex, please stand back." She warned, waiting for the boy to get out of her way.
"Poppi, wait-!" He said, stepping aside regardless.
She didn't wait. With a loud squeal of rending metal, the artificial Blade ripped the door off of its hinges before tossing it aside. The rest of the group, Tora included, winced at the sound as the door clattered against the wall of the cave, but Poppi merely rushed in and grabbed the Nopon in a hug.
"Masterpon…" The robotic girl said, her voice muffled by Tora's fur. "When friends said Masterpon was kidnapped, Poppi… Poppi was afraid would never get to meet you."
"Poppi…" Tora replied, wrapping his wings around her in turn. "Tora was afraid of same thing–that thieves would kill Tora before get to meet Poppi… just like grampypon…"
The rest of the group watched as Tora and Poppi truly met for the first time, giving the two the space they needed. Even considering the present situation, no one present felt comfortable intruding on the moment.
After a brief hug, the artificial Blade separated from her creator, a bright smile on her face. "Masterpon," she began, pulling her Drill Shield off of her back and handing it to the Nopon, "Poppi suggest quickly depart from hideout."
"I concur." Dromarch commented, glancing over his shoulder toward the main chamber. "It will not be long before the thieves are upon us."
"You're probably right." Nia cursed, pulling out her weapons as she hurried over to the Nopon. "Are you in any condition to fight?"
Tora hesitantly accepted the Drill Shield from his Blade, seemingly comfortable with the weight of the weapon. "Tora scratched up and bruised from fight with meanie Blades, but otherwise fine." He insisted. "Nopon tough for size; it take much-much damage to hurt!"
"Still," the Gormotti girl replied, "there's no sense in leaving you banged up." She twirled her Rings, releasing a shimmering pulse of water ether into the air. Instantly, the scratches on Tora's face closed up, leaving only the blood-matted fur around them as proof he had ever been injured.
Tora let out an awed noise as he inspected his face. "Meh meh… As expected, Nia-Nia is amazing healer!"
"It's not that big a deal." The girl insisted, waving off the compliment. "And 'Nia-Nia'? I know you double up Rex's name, but why mine now?"
"Nia-Nia is cool Driver friend too!" Tora replied, waving his free wing in excitement. "Besides, come save Tora alongside Rex-Rex! If not make Nia-Nia deserve double name, what would?"
She prepared to make a snide comment about why Rex didn't need to prove himself for such a name, when Azurda spoke up. "My apologies for cutting your discussion short, but I believe our hosts are aware of our location." He noted, not bothering to turn around.
Rex looked over at him, one hand on the hilt of the Aegis Sword. "Are they coming?" He asked, readying himself for a fight.
"No, they're just waiting in the middle of the chamber." The Titan said. "No doubt they're well aware that there is only one way out of here, and they are more than happy to wait for us to come to them."
"Great." The boy groaned in annoyance. "At least we managed to rescue Tora first."
Nia walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder. "It was bound to happen eventually." She consoled, looking over at Azurda. "How many are out there, anyway?" She asked.
"I see four." Azurda replied. "The two Blades we're familiar with, a third with an Ether cannon hanging around in the back, and a Gormotti man, probably their Driver."
"Seriously?" Nia replied, surprised. "Just the four? There's gotta be another Driver or two out of view! There's no way we're that lucky!"
"There's only one way to find out, I guess." Rex cut in, pulling the Aegis Sword free. Looking back over his shoulder, he asked Tora and Poppi, "Are you guys ready?"
Poppi stood behind her creator, activating an Affinity Link. "Poppi prepared to enter combat mode!" The artificial Blade replied. "All systems functioning!"
"Tora ready as well!" The Nopon replied, adjusting the controls for his weapon. "Tora glad took time to practice with prototype! Not expect to fight quite to soon after Poppi wake up, but ready regardless!"
Giving a glance at Nia, he received a nod of confirmation that she and Dromarch were ready as well. He sighed, releasing any tension at the idea of them fighting their way out of the hideout, and walked around the corner into the central chamber.
As Azurda had stated, the thieves were waiting for them. In the middle of the room, staring him down, was an unfamiliar Gormotti man. He was tall–nearly as tall as Malos, with a build to match. He was wearing some sort of armor, although it was hard to tell exactly how much due to the patterned tunic he wore over it, that had a similar matte finish to that worn by the Ardainian soldiers.
Flanking him were Praxis and Theory, weapons held at the ready. They were making no movement toward the group, but were positioned to prevent anyone from sneaking around them. Behind the Driver was a third Blade, a lithe blonde with large drill-shaped curls and an aquatic tail holding an Ether Cannon shaped like a stylized Crabble shell. She seemed more relaxed than the others, but there was an undeniable hungry look in her eyes that was, mercifully, not directed toward him.
"Well now, this is a surprise!" The Gormotti man called genially, crossing his arms. "I'm impressed! I figured you would try to ambush us at the Deadbole, but I didn't think you would manage to track us all the way here!"
"You almost got away with it too!" Praxis added, leaning on her Megalance. "Too bad you didn't catch New Girl over there railing you!" She said, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the blonde Blade.
Poppi's face fell at the comment. "Poppi apologize, friends." She said, somewhat downcast. "Poppi too focused on tracking Masterpon to search area for Blades."
Theory raised an eyebrow at the sight of the artificial Blade. "Interesting… what exactly are you?" She pondered out loud.
Standing up proudly, Poppi replied. "Poppi is artificial Blade!" She declared, standing firmly behind Tora. "Poppi and Masterpon will show meanie thieves error of way!"
Sheba's eyes lit up as she looked over at the mechanical girl. "How precious!" She exclaimed. "We were expecting the Aegis' peon of a Driver to bring us the hidden flower, but to think that he brought us a bud just waiting to be molded as well!" She looked at her Driver. "Perhaps we should be gracious and grant the poor wretch a quick death for his wondrous gift?"
Her Driver scoffed at her comment. "And lose our means to find the Aegis? I understand your desire, Sheba, but please consider the bigger picture; such short-sightedness does not become you."
She scoffed, averting her gaze from the man. "We suppose we will relent," She allowed, "but only if we are to challenge the newest object of our desire." Her eyes fell on Nia, a lascivious grin crossing her face.
In his peripheral vision, Rex could see the girl cringe back, ears flat against her skull. A flash of anger crossed the boy's mind as he realized that the blonde's lustful gaze was directed at one of his friends, and was clearly making her uncomfortable. That wasn't behavior he would have tolerated from one of his fellow salvagers back in Goldmouth, much less a criminal like this! He gripped the Aegis Sword as he began pondering the best way to engage the Blade, when he heard a voice speak up beside him.
"Dromarch, get ready." The Gormotti girl growled, gripping her weapons every bit as tightly as Rex was his own. "We're taking that one down."
The enemy Driver chuckled in response. "Glad to see you're so eager." He replied. Reaching over his shoulder, he accepted the Ether Cannon from Sheba. "Theory, like we planned, Praxis, take the Nopon and his imitation Blade."
All three of them fell into ready stances, quickly mirrored by their opponents. "Clean them up quickly! The more time we have to chase down the Aegis, the better!" He cried, charging a shot with Sheba's cannon.
Beside him, the two other Blades shot toward their respective targets, and the battle was joined.
Author's Notes
Fun fact! According to one of the affinity nodes on her Blade chart, Nia is actually afraid of heights. You can probably guess what the requirement to fill out that node is.
In canon, it made sense that Tora only used a special term for Rex ('Aniki' [The most informal version of 'Big Brother'] in Japanese, 'Rex-Rex' in the English dub), since he was the first Driver of the group that canon Tora met. Here, since he met Nia at the same time, he also uses a special term with her, even if it took him slightly longer to than with Rex.