Buddy Up

"What happened?" Roland asked as he placed down a beef bowl in front of Roswell and sat down across from him, "Where was the last time you saw Melia?"

"We were in the shopping district." Roswell said, "Just a day ago. She sent me to buy some cream puffs and when I came back she was gone."

"So no hints there huh?" Roland sighed.

"Also, I'm a vegetarian."

"Oh snap, really? ...All mine then." Roland smiled as he grabbed the beef bowl from Roswell.

"Did you see any suspicious individuals around?" Roko asked.

"No. There weren't any people in robes if that's what you're looking for."

"That figures." Roko sighed, "Can't be too easy."

"Is there really no lead to go on?" Roland asked as he quickly consumed the beef bowl.

"I haven't been able to find anything so I've just been walking around looking for her." Roswell shook his head worriedly, "I thought about those cultists as well but I didn't want to fear the worst. Do you really think they're behind this?"

"We can't be sure for sure with this little info." Roko answered, "But if there's no ransom..."

…

"No ransom?" Roswell tilted his head, "Then what?"

"Nothing. I'm just having some flashbacks."

"Oh? What's that like?"

"Concerning."

The door to the room burst open and a serious Helena strode in.

"Alright. I talked to the chief." Helena sighed, "They're speeding up the investigation into the cult but I can't say they'll be particularly quick about it. So I got in contact with everybody in my father's network."

"His information network?" Roko raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, everyone?" Roland said as he stuffed another spoonful of beef bowl in his mouth, "You mean actually everyone?"

"Wasn't that beef bowl meant for Roswell?"

"He's a vegetarian."

"Huh. Who knew? Anyway, yes, I did call everyone. Even the heavy hitters."

"Whoa."

"Wait, what's so special about that?" Roko frowned.

"I'm confused too, can someone explain?" Roswell raised his hand.

"That's not important." Helena shook her head, "What matters is that with any luck we'll have tracked down this cult's main base by next morning."

"Wait, seriously?" Roko cried, "Royal information networks are insane!"

"I pulled a lot of strings." Helena nodded, "Hopefully one of them comes back with something. That said there is a drawback."

"What's that?"

"We can't tell the police."

"Wait what?!" Roland choked on his beef bowl, "Why not?!"

"I figured." Roko nodded.

"And what did you figure, Mr. Alien?! Care to share with the class?!"

"If we inform the police, they will mobilize teams to secure the location. That will take too long. At best the cult could escape and at worst the cult could burn up all incriminating evidence. Even a more subtle operation would take a while to set up. They're just too slow and informing them will just have them get in our way."

"Not a lot of confidence in our officers do you?"

"You saw how slow they were to get help to us in the giant monster incident." Helena scoffed, "And that was on the faster side of their response times. Or do you want to get stepped on again?"

"Alright fine, we're doing this ourselves again?" Roland growled, "Just the three of us going in to take down an entire cult?"

"I'm coming too." Roswell stood up, "I can't ask you all to rescue my lady while I do nothing."

"I knew you'd say something like that." Helena smiled, "That makes four of us then."

"No, I was counting Roswell when I said that." Roland said as he finally polished off the rest of his beef bowl, "Who I was leaving out was you, Helena."

"What?! Why me?!"

"Are you kidding me? You want to charge into a cult known for doing unspeakable things to women? You, the crown princess of this entire nation?"

"Well I can't just sit by and do nothing!"

"No actually that's exactly what you're supposed to do. Remember, the kings are the ones in charge of military affairs and charging into wars. You're just supposed to handle the magical stuff."

"I got to say, while your logic is sound..." Roswell spoke up, "This is a pretty magical cult."

"Roswell, shut up. You're the one who let your not-a-princess get kidnapped in the first place."

"Don't you kick Roswell while he's down." Helena frowned.

"Oh so now you care about other people's feelings?"

"Since when did I not?"

"You want to get into this now?"

"Fine. We'll ask Roko then."

"Don't ask Roko! He's just going to say yes!"

"Well then who should I ask then, oh wise and smart leader?! The police chief?!"

"That'll be a start."

"I'm going to cut into your old married couple skit." Roko said.

"Who's an old married couple?!" The two of them shouted.

"But I'm going to meet everyone's expectations and say we should bring Helena along."

"I goddamn knew it!" Roland cried as Helena did a small celebration.

"If nothing other than the fact that she would sneak along if we didn't anyway."

"So that makes it okay for her to come along?!"

"No but it's better to be able to give her orders should the need arise." Roko shrugged, "Plus she's the one who's getting us the information to begin with."

"Oh I could just kiss you right now, Roko!"

"Save it for never."

"If that's been decided." Roswell laughed, "I suppose we should start making preparations."

"That has not been decided!" Roland cried.

"So we should bring along weapons right?" Helena nodded, "Roswell, do you need anything?"

"I have a sword but for something like this, I should probably get a shield."

"Okay, I'll see what I can grab from the armory."

"Hey!" Roland shouted, "Don't ignore me!"

"Roko, what about you? Maybe we should get you some armor?"

"Armor would definitely help but without proper training, I feel like it might feel awkward and get in my way more than it'll help."

"Same with me." Helena nodded, "But we should still bring along something. A dagger maybe?"

"Anything small should help."

"Hey!"

"Hmm. Should I bring along some food?" Helena mused, "I don't know how long it will take so we might need food. But then again, food for four people is a lot to bring along."

"Well then why don't we bring along some ligma then?!"

"Roland, shut up if you're not going to help."

The group spent the rest of the day making arrangements for the rescue they were planning on doing. The anticipation hung in the air like a guillotine as they said good bye to each other for the night, as Roko laid in bed, anxiety gnawing at the corner of his mind and as he woke up to meet back up with everyone after breakfast.

"Morning." Roko greeted his friends as he spotted them gathered around a table in the garden.

"Morning." Roswell returned the greeting, "Sleep well last night?"

"For the most part I suppose." Roko yawned, "How about you?"

"Roland complained quite a bit about sharing his room with me but we got along well enough afterward."

"Who'd get along with you?" Roland growled, "You smug so and so."

"Come on now, we're going to be working together for the time being. Don't be so grumpy."

"Roland's not grumpy." Roko scoffed, "That implies he's ever in a good mood."

"My good mood is not pointing out your stupidity." Roland scowled.

"I stand corrected. You must always be in a good mood then. Cause I don't think that's ever happened."

"Shhh!" Helena gave a short glare at the men before returning to looking at her phone. She stared at it intensely, waiting anxiously.

"What's she waiting on?" Roko asked.

"She employed a lot of different informants so she's waiting for any type of contact from any of them." Roland sighed, "She's been like this all morning. I don't know what she's expe-"

Helena stood up abruptly as he phone suddenly rang. She swiftly accepted and began to speak intensely with whoever was on the other end.

"That must be it." Roko said.

"Ooo." Roswell shivered, "I'm a tad nervous."

"Buck up soldier. This is what we were born to do." Roland nodded.

"Got it. Thanks for your help." Helena ended the call and turned to the three of them.

"Well?" Roland asked.

"Nikodym District. There's an inn. Underneath it is where they keep some prisoners."

"Let's stop wasting time here then." Roland nodded as he placed one hand on his sword, "Let's go."

"What happened to leaving everything to the cops?"

"Shut up, Roko."

The cart rattled to a stop in front of an innocuous seeming inn. The three men studied the hotel as Helena paid the cart driver.

"What do we think?" Roland asked.

"Pretty middle of the road inn." Roswell shrugged, "Nothing fancy but it's not falling apart either. I think there's a kitchen but there doesn't seem to be any food our nor any place for anybody to eat anything at. So either it's all room service or the kitchen is actually there for the staff and not the customers."

"I meant about the cultists."

"Can't see any cultists here. Can you see through walls, Roland? Can you see where the cultists are hiding in the basement?"

"No, Roland just has the power to read minds now." Roko snarked, "He can read their minds and find out which one is secretly a cultist now."

"Who knew one man could be so capable of so many impossible talents." Roswell nodded, "Anything you can add to this, Lady Helena?"

"There's a backdoor to the basement around the rear of the inn." Helena said, "We'll pretend to rent a room for the night and use the opportunity to snoop around."

"Sounds like a plan." Roko replied.

"Good." Helena said as she brought out a wide brim hat and quickly tied her long hair up to hide underneath the headwear, "Then I'll leave the reservation to you. Can't go giving me away at this point."

"I'm not really a people person." Roko said.

"I could get recognized too." Roland said.

"You two..." Helena sighed, "Roswell, can you handle it?"

"Leave it to me, milady." Roswell laughed, "I'll be discreet about it."

"Thanks." Helena said as they began to follow Roswell into the inn, "Good thing you're here."

"I'm glad you feel that way but we have hardly started." Roswell replied as he rang the bell on the inn's counter.

"You faced a demon, how are you afraid of talking to strangers?" Roland frowned as he glared at Roko.

"When you have to do something, there's no point in having fear, only focus." Roko replied, "I couldn't do something like that comfortably while there were other options on the table. Besides, what makes you think you're so important that you could get recognized?"

"I'm the knight to the crown princess of this entire city."

"That's like saying you're the understudy of the secretary to the president. You might only be a few steps down but nobody know who the hell you are."

"Hey, I am more important than that! Besides, if you can stand here and snark at me like this, you can make a room reservation!"

"Because the two tasks are totally comparable."

"What's the difference?"

"It takes much less brain cells to roast you alive."

"Whatever you say, coward. Why don't you actually do something useful and try looking for some of the people we're looking for?"

"I'm not the one who can see through walls and read minds."

"Pipe down, the two of you." Helena rebuked the two of them as inconspicuously as possible, "Besides, Roland can't see through walls or read minds."

"Thank you."

"He's clearly just from the future. That's why he knows exactly who's a cultist and where they are."

"Now I get it."

"Not you too." Roland grumbled.