Accession || Ongoing ||

Twenty-Eight: I Bet You Don't Even Know Who I Am

"Granted, I always thought I would see you inside a body bag, but something's better than nothing," The man shrugged, and a chill ran down Alyxia's spine at his terrifying honesty. "But where are my manners?" He suddenly exclaimed, sharply clapping his hands once more. He surged forward and took Alyxia's hands in his. "My name's Stigler. Trebuchet Stigler. My parents were big military history fans. But you can call me Treb. Or Stigler, that's what most people call me anyways."

Alyxia gently extricated her hands from his grasp, reeling from the bombardment of information which she had just received. "It's nice to finally meet you, Stigler. I've heard a lot about you." She gulped down the obvious half-truth like a spoonful of bitter medicine, remembering how Burt had ranted about the unpleasantness of Stigler's company.

"You have? Splendid!" Stigler beamed, the bits of food stuck in his teeth on full display. "You know, I honestly wasn't expecting to find you here, but I'm glad I did. I was just having the most wonderful talk with your friend Reils."

Oh no, he's calling her Reils as well. She is going to be livid. "Is that so?" Alyxia replied, pretending to sound interested. In reality, Alyxia wanted to return to that conversation she was having with Rowan to figure out what exactly his deal was. "You must be the weapons master that Reiley had mentioned wanting to meet, then. You must be so busy, I'd rather not take up your precious time."

"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Stigler gushed, placing a hand on her shoulder. Alyxia quickly shot a look of thinly veiled panic at Rowan  who simply crossed their arms, looking at the conversation with mild amusement. "I suppose if I have to brief Reils, I have to brief you as well."

Alyxia's eyes widened despite herself. This was precisely why Reiley as the one to manage information about this kind of stuff; Alyxia simply could not make head or tail of the intricacies of weapons. "Oh, I don't want to to bother you, you must be so tired from all of your hard work in the weapons department!"

"Nonsense!" Stigler dismissed. "You must come with me. If you're worried about wasting my time, we can do the briefing now and get it over with. Killing two birds with one stone, so to speak." He giggled at his own metaphor. "Not that I'd kill you of course, but I do find it interesting that exactly a year ago, we were developing weapons in a bid to besiege the palace and murder your father and yourself."

Alyxia nearly froze. "But desperate times call for desperate measures, right?" She choked out, giving Stigler a nervous smile. Stigler nodded emphatically in reply, and Alyxia had to restrain herself from physically shuddering. "Anyways, I'm glad that we're on the same side." Mainly because if you were the enemy, you'd probably kill me in a heartbeat while grinning like you've won a lottery.

"As am I, princess," He replied, with a small bow. "Now, we really must be on our way. There's so much that I must tell you!" Suddenly, his eyes fell on Rowan and his eyebrows shot up. "Ah, Governor Everglade, didn't notice you there! Would you like to join as well? You could learn more about our offensive capabilities before you join us."

Rowan waved their hand in dismissal. "No thank you, Stigler. I was just on my way back to Kadé; it seems like I have a big day of decision-making in front of me." Their green eyes met Alyxia's brown ones. "It was nice talking to you, princess. Maybe when we converse next time, it would be under better circumstances." Without another word, Rowan slipped soundlessly out of the File Room, leaving Alyxia stunned.

"Decision-making?" Alyxia wondered aloud as she started at the door out of which Rowan had just exited. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"The governor's in about the same position as you are," Stigler explained as he gestured for Alyxia to move forward, probably to the briefing room where Reiley would likely be. "Their father, ex-Governor Pine Everglade used to be one of Ignis' staunch allies until he struck a deal with your father to give Kadé autonomy under his monarchy."

"But I'm guessing with the rise of Ash, that autonomy is being threatened," Alyxia ventured as they strolled through the trademark grey hallways of the Ignis base. "So it would be in Rowan- I mean, Governor Everglade's best interest to join forces with Ignis to overthrow Ash and regain autonomy."

"That's what the Alpha says," Stigler replied, shrugging his shoulders. "But it doesn't seem like Governor Everglade is very eager to enter into an alliance, considering the independence movement that's been gaining steam in Kadé. So the Alpha recommended that they should observe one of our facilities for a day while they make a decision."

"Sound logic," Alyxia admitted as Stigler opened a nondescript grey door and gestured for her to enter. As soon as she got inside, she was left flabbergasted at the sheer amount of holograms and models of weaponry which decorated the poorly lit room. It was a weapon enthusiast's paradise, alright; it was clear to see that this was Stigler's home base.

She brushed her fingers over the diagram of something which was apparently a ballista, and peered at a life-size hologram of a bazooka of some sort. "I don't understand any of this but it all looks so cool," Alyxia breathed in awe.

"It gets cooler if you understand it," Reiley's voice echoed from some dark corner of the room. The young lieutenant stepped forward into the light, as did Farron who was examining some handheld weapon. A crossbow, Alyxia realised, marvelling at how naturally he seemed to handle it.

"This is what I call my Playground," Stigler announced as he did a 360-degree twirl. "Since I think best at night, I made this place dark on purpose. Directors Millette and Flint didn't like it much, but they agreed anyway."

"Why are there two directors anyway?" Reiley demanded as she grabbed a holo-rifle and tested it. Alyxia promptly moved out of the way, not wanting to risk getting shot by a holographic rifle.

"Politics," Stigler sighed. "For the sake of appeasing for the farming and mining communities, we decided that one Modean director and one Kollaer director would be the best solution to get things done. The directors have done a wonderful job of running this place, and keeping the peace in Modea-Kol, but the tension between the communities really gets to me, ya know? And with the current situation in Regis, things have gotten worse here."

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any better," Farron remarked as he shot a crossbow bolt into a target on the other side, an inch short of hitting the bull's-eye. Handy with a crossbow too, Alyxia registered in her mind.

A high-pitched, tinny sound suddenly rang out through the darkness, and Stigler jumped up in surprise. "A holo-call!" Stigler squealed. "I never get a holo-call! This is exciting!"

Alyxia and Reiley had just enough time to exchange concerned looks before the forms of Directors Millette and Flint emerged from the handheld holo-device. "Stigler, optimise the cloaking technology to cover the whole base. We're in a tight situation," Director Millette ordered, fidgeting with his hay-blond braid in what seemed to be muted worry.

"Is anything the matter?" Alyxia queried, her curiosity overtaking her sense of propriety. "Director Flint, are we in danger?"

"Not at the current moment," Director Flint answered, her mouth a thin red line. "But something has come up which could either be a cause for danger or an opportunity. The whole of Modea-Kol's in panic, and we need to get preparations under way."

"What's going on then?" Reiley demanded. "Has Ash issued some ill-prepared and ill-advised proclamation as she usually does?"

"Something like that," Director Millette admitted. "You see...she's planning on hosting a parade and rally in Modea-Kol four days from now."

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