Light had come over the horizon, breaking through the atmosphere and poking its head through the empty mass of buildings. Touching his curtain, it descended onto him, tracing the edge of his jaw, reaching his eyes.
He pressed his eyelids together, before opening them in a squint and sitting up. Aches bloomed through his back and ankle. A sigh as he stretched around, hearing cracks and clicks, before standing up and rubbing his lower back. "Certainly not the worst place I've slept... but it's not much of an improvement." He frowned. "Hey, Hermes... What's the time?"
A voice came from the strange pen that had changed from a black box the previous night on command, "Nine-fifteen."
Richard shot up straight, panic flickering across his face as he moved over to his clothes, pulling them on in a hurry. "Great Scott! You've got to be kidding me! How come you didn't wake me?!"
The voice reentered. "You turned all alarms off a week ago."
Sliding his shirt over his head and pushing his arms through, Richard grimaced, mumbling. "Right, forgot about that..." His mind turned back to his list of commands he'd given Hermes before heading out to avoid any unpleasant mishaps. "Any messages?"
Whirring came, then, "One. Hephaestus sent: six days, ten-fifteen."
Richard nodded. "Good, the cameras outside?"
"Following the set pattern. No reported difficulties or suspicion."
Richard sighed, "Except for Laura... and Pea..." He groaned, placing his head in his hands and sitting on the bed. Red heat drew up his face as he flopped back on the bed, muttering to himself. "How on earth am I supposed to keep doing this? If I stop, it'll be the end; if I keep going, it will be just as bad... and they said picking the happy medium was supposed to be easy... It's not like I can just-"
"One person approaching."
He jolted upright, rising swiftly to his feet. "Cameras back online; stay hidden!"
A few subtle clicks from the contraption and all went silent. Hearing confirmation, Richard slid his hand under the device, disposing it in his pocket and sitting back down on the bed.
Three knocks echoed through from outside.
"Just a minute!" He stood, walking calmly to the door and flicking back the locks before opening it. "Yes?"
Devin smiled back at him. "Took you long enough! We'll be leaving in about fifteen minutes, so shove everything back into the bags and get ready to head out."
He frowned. "What happened? I thought we didn't know our heading yet...?"
Sticking his hands in his pockets, Devin sauntered past Richard, dumping himself on the bed. "We didn't... But this morning, whilst you were fast asleep, we all went through the village getting information and we found the direction the vigilante was headed." A bright grin leeched onto his face. "Guess what?! We found quite some juicy pieces of information! Turns out Miss Fortbec's suspicions were correct: it is a singular vigilante. And, even juicier, apparently whoever they were must have come with Jeremy's team of soldiers two weeks ago because the villagers said they saw a soldier wearing the State uniform going to the field directly before its reported disappearance. Then, they took an Aerocraft and headed west."
A light brightened Richard's eyes. West. That was in the direction of the Fourth Ghost City! He calculations had been correct - travelling from this village and especially via the aerocrafts, the most convenient direction was West. Not only that, but anyone attempting to escape the State would have to begin treading somewhere close to the Sovereign's border. That meant...
Devin's incessant talking trailed back into his ears. "...to help us get on a similar transport, preferably another Aerocraft - if they have any remaining good ones - and head towards the West. That's where you'll come in. We're going to need you to observe all transportation routes in the last two weeks to help us see whereabouts the transport would be heading. Of course, all of this is coming from Miss Fortbec, not me; I'm just the messenger." He smiled, leaning in closer and winking. "Of course, if you want me to deliver anything else to Pea...?"
Richard sighed. "Devin..."
"Just let me know. I'm free for any sort of kissy drama and I'm all there for you Richie!"
"Please..."
"But if you think I'm going to steal your girl, don't worry! I'm not interested in her in any sort of romantic way and, if she begins to show romantic interest my way, I'll be sure to direct her to you."
"Devin..."
"And if you need me to organise a date spot for you, I'll see what I can do. I mean, it might be a little difficult but I'm sure-"
"Stop!"
Devin closed his mouth. "Sorry."
Richard frowned, moving his lips to the side. "Did anyone see what the vigilante looked like? That would make it a hundred times more helpful to find them and track them down..."
Shaking his head, Devin shrugged. "No, apparently they were wearing a hoody-thing and speaking in a low voice. The villagers could barely hear them let alone see their face."
"Convenient."
"Maybe so, but you've got to admit it's pretty interesting!"
Concerned, Richard's face twisted into confusion at Devin's delighted expression. "What is?"
Devin grinned. "That Jeremy might know who they are! Jeremy might know the vigilante! How cool is that?! It means that if we need to convince them, we might have a leg up!"
"No...?" Richard's brow creased. "No, do you know how many people are in each unit of soldiers? There is no way Jeremy would have known all of them... I doubt he even knew one of them. Honestly, you've lived here your whole life, you should know that no-one knows who anyone is here. No-one speaks to anyone and gets to know them, commanders barely know their first general's name."
Devin looked at him, his grin dropping to a soft smile as he scratched his head. "I communicate with others... and they seem like they want to talk back..."
Richard frowned. "Yeah, well, you're just... odd. No-one else does the 'communicating thing', generally speaking, so Jeremy will most likely have no clue about who the vigilante would be. I doubt he even kept tabs on where all his soldiers were."
Shrugging, Devin stood up and walked back out the door. "You're probably right." A smile. "So get ready and come on - we need to hurry if we want to leave on time."
***
"May I just say, I have no idea how you convinced the villagers to let us have this, but thank you so much, Devin!"
They stood tall, staring up with wide eyes at the behemoth before them. The vehicle towered high, reaching some venture of height that was well above their physical forms, perhaps twice the length of their previous vehicle and a hundred times more sturdy. Its bottom curved around in brilliant slopes as it flowed up, forming small circles in the side where great, spinning fans created large gaps in its wings. Powerful, large, it screamed of strength.
Devin only laughed. "I barely exerted myself - it was like they were trying to get rid of it!"
Rolling her eyes, Charlotte strode for the door. "Are we going in or what?"
Pea followed, indicating for the others to follow. "We have a small window of opportunity to find the vigilante's position, so we need to make the most of it." She paused. "Jeremy, can you help with the bags?"
He nodded, picking up the pile of bags, slinging them over his shoulder, and walking steadily to the Aerocraft.
Laura picked up the pace beside him, making short conversation that quickly began turning one-sided. "What do you think of the bigger vehicle?"
"It works."
"But, do you think it's better? It would be about the size of your usual carriers, correct? So, do you think it'll be better for transportation or worse?"
He grunted.
"I for one am going to enjoy all the extra space..." She tilted her head. "Do you want to find a room later?"
He grunted.
Running up behind them, Devin raised a hand, a brilliant grin fixated on his face. "Hey, wait up! I need to talk to you about the..."
Alone. Outside. Richard stared at the Aerocraft. He sighed. "Well, at least it doesn't look like I'm going to have to blow up another vehicle... maybe I'll get a bit of privacy this time..." He chuckled. "That'd be great." Following him, the words seemed to echo a warning as he traversed to the vehicle, whispering ominous indecision into his ears.
Walking through the opening, he was met with a face shoved into his, caramel, severely annoyed. Laura dumped a computer into his hands, clicking her tongue, "Go be useful and look up the headings of the Aerocrafts travelling from this area in the past two weeks." She stalked away, probably heading towards Jeremy's position.
Again, Richard sighed. He trod upstairs, through separating doorways into the front of the vehicle and stopped. Pea brushed passed him, refusing to meet his eyes, stoic, focused, steady on her path. Thoughts wracked around inside his head, each one drawing back to Pea, her mechanical expressions, her upright movements, her unwillingness to open up to him, her anger most certainly directed his way.
The engines started up and he sat down, opening the computer and staring at the screen for a second. Its dark shadows ate him up, swarming the edges of his vision. He swallowed. How...? Why...? When...? His thoughts trailed by the edges of his screen, reaching only a singular word before becoming nonsense, nothing.
Feeling Hermes pressed against his side, still inside his pocket, he breathed deeply, awaiting his mechanisms to take over, awaiting the beginning of his cohesive thoughts, the thoughts that didn't dwell on past circumstances, but instead the present.
The pressing of a button.
The simple action lit a spark in his mind.
His mind filtered through thoughts in an instant, disposing of the unhelpful ones, casting the useful to the front.
A second.
His fingers started up, running over the keyboard in fluid motions as he searched through the records. Eyes flickering, his heart began racing, speeding the pace of his brain, bringing his thoughts together to form a singular, secular question: Which transport would the vigilante be on? Of which led to the conclusive question they all wished to know: Where would the vigilante be?
And the search began.