Chapter 24:

Every so often they would go searching for more of those abandoned outposts, but usually it was of no luck. Every so often they would find the remnants of an outpost, but usually they had caved in or were entirely taken out by explosives or something similar, leaving nothing for them to be able to do about it. While Alex simply wandered around with the others searching for them, Mike was more annoyed by the fact that they weren't finding anything wanting to find this end goal of their journey, while Pat joked to him that it was more of the journey than the destination.

Even then on that search they can't find anything, or the next, or the next, or many of the other searches they were doing. It was beginning a repetition that they weren't too big on, and even on some of them when they ask Cassian to help them search, they still were coming up short on those ones too. Though, on a few occasions, Cassian suggested asking Gris because maybe she knew someone who had ventured out there. They were hesitant on the first number of them, but they did eventually cave in and do what he suggested.

Cassian messaged Gris to see if she knew anybody who could've been out there and knew of some of these places, but even she didn't think she knew anybody who had them in memory. Though, she does mention that she could probably ask some people she knows if they're willing to go out and check around to help them. All they'd need to do is act as a defense against demons since they likely could defend against demons better than some of the ones she was thinking of.

They decide to do just that, not only still searching, but also killing numerous demons in the process of doing so. Allowing the very few people that Gris had asked to look around, maybe being able to find things, though there wasn't much luck there. That didn't stop them, however. For they continued to do so at times when they could, and Gris was usually asking the ones she had asked to look around not only there, but just about anywhere. Whether it be across the world, or just walking around the town they were in, she was having fun with this. While there weren't many, they still searched.

So they continued to search, and search they did, most of the time they didn't find anything. But on a few occasions someone did find something, leading the main trio to go over and search with them, but not really finding anything of note. This was when Gris decided to have an idea on what they could do, and that was to perhaps have a spy go into the Union to see if they were hiding anything.

That was an automatic 'no' from anyone that had some semblance of sanity, realizing that that would result in a whole lot of stuff that was not needed. There was just one problem: Gris didn't really have any sanity. Maybe she did, but she still just thought it was a funny idea to put into action, which she proved that she did when she eventually revealed to them that she had someone sneak through the place to become friends with people there, maybe being able to get information out of them.

And they did get some information, learning about where some outposts had used to be, allowing them to search them, but they didn't have anything of note in them, which wasn't the greatest result. But it was still a result, so it was a start. They continue onward to look around wherever the one had told Gris' insider, and they wondered why there aren't as many as they thought there would be, and Cassian told them the most logical solution to that problem.

"Because if they were around, they'd likely have been scavenged, destroyed, or buried in whatever sand, dirt, whatever it was that they were near. Usually wandering mercenaries and the sort do that. Or maybe someone doesn't want anything to be found. Who knows anymore in this day and age?" Very simple reason as to why they weren't finding too much, even with the help of the one.

Though there was one that they were told of that they did find, and it was a lot different compared to other ones, and that was because of the fact that it was a lot bigger. Compared to looking like an outpost, it looked more like a bunker. The trio, alongside Cassian, entered it. They were hoping for something big, something grand, something that'd amaze them, only to find nothing. It was nothing more than another abandoned building that had seen better days with how it was.

Anything that was likely there, was definitely not there anymore. At least, that is what they thought before Cassian let the others continue on while he stayed behind to continue searching it. He wanted to search every last bit of the place, even the numerous floors down below the main part of it. They left him to do whatever he needed while they took a break from doing any of that.

Cassian's venture did not last for after going down some levels, the passageway was blocked. Initially he was considering just blowing it up to bring the rubble down so that he could get through, but he didn't feel like risking a full collapse on top of himself if he decided to do something like that. But he would instead go do whatever else to remove the rubble from the spot that blocked his path.

That would include having to manually pick up and remove each larger piece of rubble one by one. A part of him wasn't really wanting to, but Gris mentioned that she'd pay him to do it, and so he decides to go along with it, not really caring much about how long it would take since he had nothing else to do. But mainly because he wanted to get the quick buck.