Chapter 77: Plans
The dark suit spreads further, covering all of Charlotte and ejecting the sword from the body. The sword sticks itself to the bottom of the mouth of the beast as fast as possible, not falling into the abyss.
The darkness then spreads, attaches, and engulfs Charlotte in a cocoon-like thing which is attached to the inner walls of the beast's mouth.
. . .
Zap!
The creature following and spying on Aayn and the man starts to spazz out momentarily before continuing its mission as normal.
Their footsteps echo as they walk down the stairs, neatly lit up paths around them.
"You like the decoration?" starts the man.
"You like the decoration?" starts the man.
". . . why didn't you just teleport us straight to the location?" questions Aayn.
"Well, you wouldn't like looking upside down at us. You need to cross the barrier if you wish to avoid that. Also, there is someone I have to—" he pauses, noticing a figure waiting by the wall.
He looks like a young man, but closer to a teen.
"Give me a moment, this is important," says Sheehan, walking towards the boy.
The pair walks further ahead, speaking in hushed voices.
"Well?! How did things go, Sheehan?" asks the boy in anticipation.
"Did you see the shape Zahtan was in when he got back?" questions Sheehan.
"Yes, I was surprised! It was very bad, and for some reason he was not regenerating!"
"That's because things went quite well! Daki won the game and wished for what is planned! The major power source was taken right?"
"Yes! We were notified about that in the facility, and I saw that it wasn't there,"
Sheehan nods, "Great! Anyways, I had the chance to meet him in private for a little bit and updated him about our position and situation. And when I mentioned you . . . "
The boy looks at Sheehan, on edge and prepared for anything, as he reaches into his pocket and takes out a note.
The boy gulps as Sheehan hands over the letter.
As he opens it, he recognizes it to be Daki's distinct handwriting as he reads it . . . it has been almost forever since he received a letter at all.
. . .
Had it not been that he is on a mission, and someone is behind him, the boy would have jumped in joy. The full-filling sensation of being useful and acknowledged fills him as he grins.
"You are doing great, Vision. When the mission is over, I am sure he will look very favorably upon you and your earnest effort will earn his forgiveness for that mistake,"
"Thank you—" Vision says, on the verge of breaking down from happiness, he can barely contain himself!
"Without you, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do this. Thank you for including me on this mission and giving me another chance!"
Sheehan places his hand on Vision's shoulder, "Be sure to thank number 13 and * instead. They are the ones that vouched for your potential to get you in on this mission with us!"
Vision nods his head, affirming that he will.
"We got this. Now, you remember what to do with him right?" Sheehan subtly gestures towards Aayn with his head.
"Yes!" confirms Vision, ready to continue as they reach a flat surface again.
A pool of what looks like a colorless, somewhat thick liquid lies in front of them.
"We will recover this world back from darkness!" continues Vision, his voice filled with hope.
Sheehan smiles at him, "You go on ahead, 12. We will be right behind you!"
"Yes sir!" he says, jumping head-first into the liquid and going right through.
Aayn reaches the place, looking around at the almost cosmic-like area from its lighting.
"You remember what's next, correct?"
Aayn nods in approval as he approaches the pond.
"Great," Sheehan takes the watch out of his pocket again and looks at it, "Make sure you jump a bit high, headfirst and keep going forward. Try to keep yourself at a 90 degrees angle as much as you can and your body will adjust once you are on the other side,"
Aayn quietly adjusts and tightens his weapons to himself and does as he is told.
He easily goes through the liquid, now being on the other side . . . he feels solid ground beneath himself as he balances himself from the landing.
Did I just land upside down? On ground? Where is the liquid?
Sheehan appears a moment later through the floor and stands still.
"Yes, we are upside down. You just can't tell the difference, don't worry about it,"
Shifting his focus, he looks around, seeing the large base of operations with people going about their work and working with technology he doesn't comprehend.
"Don't worry, the whole place is invisible and in a well-covered spot. No pilots will ever find us here,"
Aayn recalls Charlotte's capsule and the equipment he got from Zahtan before exiting the game.
"This way please, Mr. Aayn," says Vision.
Aayn glances at Sheehan.
"Follow him, he will help you with your preparations. I will come check on you guys after a while, I have some stuff to do,"
Aayn looks at Vision, "Lead the way,"
. . .
"Time to return you to him," mutters Sheehan, playing with the watch as he walks.
He moves in the opposite direction, heading to an office. On his way, people greet and talk to him as if they are friends.
He walks by large machinery along with big weapons and an area that is being prepared for a ritual of some sorts.
He reaches a closed door and opens it.
"Yikes, still in bad shape? Your charisma has dropped greatly. Your acting is still on point though, I am actually surprised you can walk at all,"
Sheehan throws the watch towards Zahtan, who is covered with bandages all over his injuries and is using underarm crutches to walk.
"I am lucky I made it out at all. Also, you know that injuries from Authorities do not recover in existential rules of a world and require special treatment! Even your attempted innovations to heal them produce slow results! At this rate, it will take very long to heal using your methods!"
"Well, it is a title to hold though, to be the only person so far to survive One's Authority. It was one of the weaker Authorities, though. I guess they saw that's all you are worth," chuckles Sheehan, walking to a small refrigerator.
". . . what a troublesome entity indeed. All these years of study and we can only devise methods to not get wiped out by their weak Authorities . . ."
"Well, not like they ever had to use the strong ones, and I have only ever seen one medium level in all of my existence," comments Sheehan, picking up a soft drink from the fridge.
"Haha, well, I guess no matter how much we prepare, things like this can still happen," says Zahtan, struggling to laugh.
"Yes, even the miscalculation that it wasn't Kayn the compass was sending you to,"
"Had I just known or thought that it would have been Daki from the start, I would have approached things far more differently! It never came to mind that he would attack with the king piece like that! But no matter . . . I adjusted quickly and we still got the desired results . . . though not under the best conditions . . ."
"True, resorting to exposing Aayn to his existence all at once might cause trouble,"
"With our current stage of the plan, there was no time to do it the other way. I had to use whatever card I found and who knows? His chaotic madness might have its uses," says Zahtan.
Sheehan pops the can open, "Madness? That's an understatement, but I get what you mean,"
"I mean, all of this wouldn't have been necessary if we could have gotten our hands on the shield instead,"
Sheehan chuckles, shaking his head, "That is because there is no way we are getting our hands on that shield. Ever. It took us an eternity of planning along with the help of that watch just to get a chance to catch the cat. Chad's shield is out of the question, impossible for us,"
He sips the drink, feeling the fizz in his throat, "Ahhh, heavenly after a long day!"
He then looks at the screens, "A.I Salena, how is the core doing?"
"Operating on 100% capacity with the backup energy supplying it. Danger approaching identified: Kayn,"
"He still has the coat on, right?" he asks as he watches the screens.
"Yes," responds Salena.
"Nice, we should have enough time, then. The view from Orbit's cameras is brilliant. Good job hacking into them," says Sheehan as they look at a screen of the third floor with someone cutting down and destroying an entire army of the most dangerous machines.
. . .
"Have you ever thought of setting yourself on fire?" asks Zahtan.
Sheehan raises an eyebrow, "Um, no?"
"Well, let's think about it, there are pros and cons," continues Zahtan, "Cons, probably hurts a lot . . . but that's really it. I can think of many pros though,"
"Such as?" asks Sheehan.
"It would be interesting and funny to watch,"
"I will give it a shot–"
Sheehan pauses as chills run down both their spines.
Zahtan looks at the compass, "The other servant isn't here yet for whatever reason!"
"Well, great that we always have backup plans!"
"It's time, boys. Make your final preparations," announces Sheehan as he starts to walk towards the area with Vision and Aayn, while Zahtan slowly walks towards the ritual area.