“This is why I need you three,” said Bob, sounding official. “One of you is going to have to go with a volunteer to sneak into the prison in the Mushroom Islands and free Stan and the others. The other two are going to have to infiltrate Nocturia and liberate those lower-level players.”
The three players around the table were quiet as they thought about what they had just been asked. The idea of sneaking into Nocturia and the Specialty Base, the Noctem Alliance’s two most heavily fortified strongholds… it wasn’t going to be easy.
Kat in particular found herself quite surprised. She had been expecting Bob to ask them to lead a crazy head-on assault with the Elementia Army to drive the Noctem forces back into the Ender Desert. She wasn’t anticipating the request to partake in a stealth mission. Nonetheless, she was eager to participate.
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” she said, a wicked grin crossing her face.
“Yeah,” agreed Jayden, nodding with a subdued smile.
“I agree with you guys,” said G proudly. “That’s definitely a job for experienced players like us.”
The Mechanist gave a tired yet genuine smile at the enthusiasm of these young, spirited players. “All right then,” he said. “Let’s start planning. First of all, let’s determine who’s doing what. Who wants to get Stan and the others out of Nocturia?”
“I do!” came two shouts as both Kat’s and G’s hands shot up into the air. The two turned to look each other in the eye, and instantly they both looked away awkwardly. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Bob spoke.
“So… um… do you two really want to…?”
“No,” Kat said firmly, looking back up at G, this time with a hint of contempt.
“Aw, come on, Kat,” said G, sounding mildly irritated. “You don’t think that just this once—”
“G, I am not working with you,” Kat repeated. The Mechanist gave a sigh, while both Jayden and Bob threw their heads back in exasperation.
“Kat, come on, we have to think about the well-being of Elementia…”
“I am thinking of the well-being of Elementia,” Kat replied coolly. “If I’m going to sneak into a secret base to try to break Stan, Charlie and DZ out of jail, I need to be in top form. And I guarantee that if you’re with me, it’ll be that much harder for both of us.”
“Oh, grow up, Kat,” cried G in irritation. “Can’t we please just be mature about this, bury the hatchet, and…”
“I said, No, G!” Kat bellowed through gritted teeth. She glared across the table, staring daggers at G, who was recoiling in intimidation.
“Enough, you two!” bellowed Jayden. He grabbed G by the shoulders and spun him around so the two were facing each other. G looked shocked.
“G, you know as well as she does, and as well as the rest of us do, that it’s a bad idea for you two to team up. How about you team up with me, and the two of us go and free the hostages in Nocturia?”
G opened his mouth, then closed it again. His expression was outraged as he looked at Kat, then Jayden, then Kat again, then the Mechanist, and then back at Kat one more time before finally turning to Jayden and sighing.
“Fine,” he mumbled. “We can do that.”
“Well, that’s settled then,” said Bob. Crisis averted, he thought to himself in relief.
“In that case,” the Mechanist said, “Kat, are you willing to team up with a volunteer to go and free the officials trapped in the Mushroom Islands?”
“Definitely,” Kat said almost robotically, deliberately staring directly at the Mechanist and avoiding any eye contact with G.
“OK,” Bob said, sighing, glad that was over. “We have to get going. The sooner that these hostages are out, the better. Jayden and G, you come with me. We’ll go down to the police station, and you’ll get your briefing. After that, you’re off. Kat, you just wait until we’ve found a volunteer to go with you, and then you’ll do the same thing.”
“So,” the Mechanist said as the three council members nodded respectfully to Bob. “If that’s all, then I officially adjourn this council meeting. Everybody, go do what you need to do.”
And with that, Kat, G and Jayden stood up. Bob walked out of the council room towards the corridor, tailed closely by Jayden and G, while Kat took the passage that led to her room. On the way out, G and Kat nearly bumped into each other, but as G was about to open his mouth to say something, Kat turned her back to him and continued walking. G looked crestfallen as he followed Jayden out of the room.
The Mechanist now sat alone in the room. The occasional boom, chatter and whizz of warfare still droned on outside. The barrage was constant; although the wall was holding up well, the Noctem Armies never relented in their assault on the walls. The Noctem Alliance was definitely planning something. The Mechanist knew it. Although the constant assault on the outside walls was easily repelled, it certainly did keep the Elementia Army busy. And perhaps that distraction was all the Noctem Alliance needed to set their grand plan into motion.
The Mechanist knew that, whoever Lord Tenebris was, he was incredibly cunning. Because of this, the Mechanist was well aware that nothing the Noctem Alliance did was arbitrary. Everything was planned, everything was deliberate, and everything had a point. Element City’s defences may have been holding up splendidly, but the Mechanist knew that it was only a matter of time before the Alliance managed to find some way around them. And until that time inevitably came, the population of Element City was desperate and furious, no longer able to obtain any resources from the outside. They were simply left to try to survive while trapped within the walls.
And now he bore the entire weight of the situation on his own shoulders, and his shoulders alone.
The Mechanist was already feeling overwhelmed, leading the council in these dark times. He had had to put up with G and Kat’s bickering, as well as the constant news that all their efforts had barely put a scratch in the Noctem Alliance’s offensive. He was well aware of how important it was that the hostages be rescued, but the Mechanist was at the point of having a nervous breakdown when he realized that the fate of this country, which was already teetering on the brink of destruction, was now in his own hands.
He felt so stressed, so anxious, and so panicked. The world was crumbling around him, and he alone was responsible for holding it together. He was doing all he could, yet it was hardly helping in the least. As the gravity of the situation spiralled around the Mechanist, he wished with all his might that somehow, somewhere, there was some way that he might be able to escape from it, just for a little while…
Kat sat in the waiting room of the police station. In front of her, a window stretched from floor to ceiling, revealing a landscape view of the lower-level district of Element City. In the far distance, the grey stone-brick wall of the city stood proud and tall. About twice a minute, there would be a flash of white light at some point along the wall, accompanied a second later by a muffled boom.
Kat gritted her teeth and tried to keep herself together. It tore her apart inside that her people were being forced to suffer within the city, with food and supplies being rationed during the siege. It killed her even more that, because of the persistence of the Noctem Alliance, the Elementia Army was being forced to work day and night to combat the attackers, with more and more innocent civilians being drafted from their homes every day to keep up with the demanding costs of fighting this war. Life in Element City was miserable, and there was nothing she could do about it!
Kat forced herself to take a deep breath, and then let it go. No, there is something you can do about it, Kat thought to herself, trying to keep a calm mind. Just focus on getting Stan