Fortuna Verto

18-Whistle Blowing

While the two girls made their final preparations for the long night, there were others who were also diligently preparing for the inevitable, having long predicted it. The time had arrived at last, and everything would be riding upon their success.

Mheridz carefully walked the halls of the Starlight Citadel itself, desperate to get in some last moment advantages before things abruptly happened. She knew everything counted on her more than anything, this was mostly her responsibility. What made things aggravating then was that she still had no idea where she was looking for what she needed, the stupid place was the worst maze imaginable. She could remember walking the halls of the place as a young child with her mother, but never were they able to figure out a path to where some of the most important places were hidden. Such things were always left to the scape of intent, like the very citadel itself had guardians that looked over its hidden treasures. That really might not be inaccurate either, and everything was coming into place for the doors to open at last. She needed to ensure that, once the doors opened, she was the first one through, that she could personally secure the treasure before it fell into the wrong hands.

"Ma'am, we've intercepted a bus travelling from the academy, as you had predicted. However, there was no one on board that fit the description you provided for us." "Of course not, she wouldn't be that stupid. She would be determined, not stupid." "Uh, who ma'am?" "Nevermind. Was that everything then?" "No, ma'am. What we did catch was that there was a slight distortion detected during the bus's approach. The occupants claim that it was caused by an instrument failure, which seems to match up with most of what had occurred, but void readings of the area had actually spiked for a moment. That wouldn't be explained by equipment failure." "Oh my, a cover-up, how genius. Yes, that is almost certainly a signal that the time is fast upon us. Ignore the passengers of the bus, they are most likely full of innocents. She wouldn't have wanted to get them involved, not with such a great cover-up. Instead, I need more security up here, right now. Our thieves are going to arrive in the depth of the night. I need this place as tight as the fortress it had used to be. Just a reminder, no one is allowed to use lethal force, we need them taken in as healthy of a condition as possible. They are thieves, not assassins, just make sure that they are detained without access to any possessions. That will however not be enough to keep them detained, I need constant updates to provide in depth information for dealing with our skilled thieves. Keeping them unconscious is the only absolute certainty if I don't have any further information." "Ma'am." The warden's acceptance was enough for Mheridz to disconnect the call. This whole operation was complicated, far more than anyone else would understand. The thieves were perfectly capable of slipping out of her grip, but only in key locations. The most effective tactic would then be surprise attacks, ambushes and traps that they would not be able to react to. She just had to be careful, actually making them panic could result in a bit of void backlash, and having casualties would make things really messy.

Mheridz walked into the surveillance room, the entire architecture still as archaic and ancient as always. She bopped one of the displays, hoping it would offer her anything useful, but it remained blank and still. Nothing here would respond to her, the whole citadel simply continued to wait. She at least had her own eyes posted everywhere, the halls flooded with wardens on patrol. Even so, the place really was huge, and detection equipment outright failed through the halls. The very place itself was trying to work against them in everything, a fact that continued to leave her feeling very nervous. She was even fully aware that the citadel could outright turn it's red glare upon them too, which is when things would get really difficult. That was an eventuality she was finding far more difficult to deal with, she had to make sure the thieves were stopped before then. Even so, she still had a long line of contingencies, countlessly layered. This was just the beginning, after all, she wouldn't stop even in the face of failure, not until she finally succeeded. However, against the full temporal might of her enemies, that would lead to growing problems that would only get worse. The coming void had to be stopped here.