Second Chances

Chapter 4

The Return of Quaid

"Almost finished packing so we can get out of here," Eugene sighed before glancing over at Varian, who was sitting on a log nearby. "Are you going to help?"

"Nope," Varian replied, inspecting the object he held. "I've already packed my one bag, so why should I help you?"

"I find you seriously annoying, kid," Eugene groaned. "You need to show some respect, we're just trying to help you get out of your villain mindset."

"And I hate you with every fibre of my being," Varian laughed. "So just being around you isn't helping me get out of this mindset."

Eugene rolled his eyes and got back to work on packing to leave Vardaros. Varian, given the fact that he didn't want to be there and hated absolutely everyone, had thought it would be funny to annoy everyone and give them attitude twenty-four hours of the day. Of course, this led to everyone else ignoring him and blocking out his voice whenever the alchemist opened his mouth.

Cass walked over to help Eugene when she noticed Varian sitting nearby, fiddling with something.

"Where on Earth did you get a hammer and.... whatever that is?!" Cass put her hands on her hips as she watched the alchemist fiddle around with the objects in his hand.

"None of you business," He muttered not taking his eyes off the objects. "But if you must know, I found a large chunk of Palladium and some other metals like Tungsten and Antimony. I was thinking of using them to make-"

"NO," Cass said sternly. "You're not making anything because knowing you, you'll make some machine to try to kill us all."

Varian gave her a sullen glare before rolling his eyes.

"If I could do that, I would've done it already," He scoffed. "These materials aren't meant for being used in big things, more like shielding or whatever."

He rapped his knuckles on the piece of metal. "Or to dumb it down to your level, they're extremely hard to break, but they can weld and hammer well."

"Nerd,"

Cass walked off to find the others, while Varian stood up with a groan and ran ahead of her. Not looking where he was going, he ran straight into Anthony the Weasel. He looked at the man with a glare but Weasel pushed him to the side.

"Watch where you're running, kid." Weasel snarled.

"Who are you calling kid?!" Varian glowered and stormed forward but Cass grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

"Don't go around looking for trouble when you're already neck-deep in it!"

"Ladies and gentlemen of Vardaros! You may have noticed that the sudden departure of our beloved Baron has left a conspicuous vacancy in this city's management." Weasel bellowed. "Well, good news... the position has been filled!"

"Anthony the Weasel," Cass growled before turning to glare at Varian.

"What?! It wasn't my fault this time," He held his hands up. "Why are you looking at me? I have nothing to do with it."

Cass ignored him and turned her attention back to Weasel.

"I got plans for my city. In a word: Expansion."

The crowd gasped as they continued listening to the man's speech.

"Any neighbouring field, forest or fjord now belongs to me. And, people, growth like that requires capital. So, I've come to collect."