Eos City. The largest city and Capital of Arx. The beating heart of the Dark Brotherhood. The city was a wide expanse of urban sprawl, though it was heavily managed. Cameras on every street corner were supposedly there for the citizens’ safety and comfort. And it was. Despite the events of the last war, with many having memories of horrors and battles occuring through these streets in a mirrored version of the city, there was still a known stability to the one that stood standing in the actualy Galaxy.
It just also meant that moving through the city with a Notable Object was going to be annoying as kark. Espeically in the midst of rain.
Zuza stood at the port, not getting time to register who exactly was handing the torch to her before they were gone again already. The supposed Sith artefact was not to leave the hands of the dedicated teams and well.. they were the last one.
Sanguinius Entar, Dek and Jade Yden had been enjoying the chatter of Arcona’s consul since the team was assigned. Her Cythraul, Frond, nudged his head against her knee, a warm reminder of home. He was a deep red toned beast, golden eyes ever watchful of those around. He wasn’t a fan of the wider world, people were nice and Frond was friendly enough like his master, but she had been hurt by this same outside. Zuza brushed her fingers through his fur, not minding the red dusting of shedded fur already coating the lower parts of her green syndicate jacket.
All they had to do was just get it from Eos City’s port, to the square in the entertainment district. While getting soaked.
“Well, this should be easy.” Zuza offered the other a three a bright smile, “Does anyone else want to carry this thing or…?”
The dropoff had happened much like it would with any package passed from one hand to the next. It was not carefully handled, nor subtly given, nor even treated with the faintest hint of ceremony. The noise of the bustling metropolitan port hadn’t changed once the torch was in new hands. No one seemed to have taken notice at all. Not yet, at least. But now, it was if something in the air had changed.
Jade was no stranger to being on guard in a place like this, though the circumstances, he thought, were wildly different than he was used to. Rather than watching for armed men heading his way or noting the best escape routes, his scan of the area was instead focused on possibly identifying someone like himself. Someone trying to look like part of just another piece of the crowd. Someone with a plan who wouldn’t want to tip their hand just yet.
But it was futile and he knew it. He had never been on this side; looking for the troublemakers rather than being one, and he wasn’t entirely sure what said troublemakers would look like anyway.
Jade smiled at Zuza’s words, glancing at the torch that was reportedly so special to warrant all this.
“Nonsense,” he replied. “If they expected this to be easy, I wouldn’t be here.”
He took a couple steps forward before reaching his right arm behind his back and into the arm cannon stored there. With the press of a button it latched itself onto his forearm. Bringing his arm that now had the weapon attached to it back around, he held it up where it could clearly be seen.
“If it’s all the same to you,” he then replied in response to the question posed, “I believe I’ll leave that in the hands of those with… more available hands.”
“I don’t mind, just didn’t want to hog the oh so special torch.”
Zuza tucked it under her arm, looking over the city scape ahead of them.
“Now then. I looked at a map, we’ve gotta go through the central market to get to the entertainment district from here. We.. could walk through the residential area which will take ages, but, y'know, might be safer. Orrrr…” The brown-haired Human peered around and pointed to a sign, “We can take intra-city travel. Faster, but we’ll be stuck on a tube with whoever’s with us until… well. For like twenty minutes or so?”
“Civilians won’t shield us from anyone who’d be willing to strike within the capital city of Arx of all places to get that torch.”
Jade was entirely unfamiliar with Eos City, so he paused a moment before continuing.
“If anything, it gives them leverage to make demands. If those are the only two paths, these hypothetical thieves are going to blow the rails if we take that route, and have an ambush prepared in the residential district. We’ll need to make our own third way through.”
“We could do both.” Zuza suggested, considering it for a moment. “They won’t blow a line on a maybe, and if they split forces to try and ambush both groups then we should have a better chance to kick ass. The city is pretty.. locked down normally though. Unless you wanna jetpack over the city or hitch a ride on a private ship headin’ to the command centre, both of which still put us at some risk of other issues, splitting their forces might be better.”
“A decoy?” Sanguinius interrupted. The Adept smiled at the thought of what kind of devious shenanigans Jade could come up with.
“I’m hoping it isn’t the explosive type of decoy, my good fellow.” He winked at Jade “after all, as you say, we don’t want that line coming down.”
The Sadowan gestured towards the tube entrance. “Perhaps I should take the public transport, though I worry what kind of decoy you would like to be undertaken.”
“I think he meant somethin’ to carry so it looks like you have the real deal.” Zuza answered, “We.. just need to make whatever the something is. It just needs to look like this torch, can’t be that hard. It’s just a long black pyramindy thing.”
“Oh…” Sanguinius looked crestfallen. It wasn’t the first time he’d made that mistake in his life, but it was a little embarrassing to have made it.
He looked around him and shrugged, “Anyone see something that we can use?”
Jade smiled and his eyes lit up as he raised his eyebrows and simply gestures towards Dek.
“Unless I have taken stock in wildly exaggerated claims, I do believe our large arboreous friend over there is precisely what you are looking for.”
The trio watched in some level of amazement as Enzo Dek indeed managed to recreate a.. reasonable copy of the torch. It was far from perfect once you got close, but from afar it was the correct “pyradmidy” shape that Zuza had described.
If a bit more flammable.
“Perfect.”
A twinkle entered Jade’s eyes as he smiled and took a look around the port. He took a moment to get a good look at his team members, then turned his gaze back to Zuza. He flashed her a self satisfied smile before speaking again.
“This city is so stuffy. I think it would look better from the sky, don’t you agree?”
He turned his gaze to the Neti standing quietly next to him.
“But, really, it would be a shame to miss out on experiencing the public transportation on offer. Perhaps then we should try both and discuss our experiences afterwards.”
He nodded his head and dropped the smile before continuing in a more serious tone.
“It would seem a decoy is in order.”
Perfect was about right, as far as Jade was concerned. Anyone looking to ambush them here of all places would be far too focused on not causing too much alarm to even consider something like this. He stowed his weapon back onto the small of his back and reached out to pick up the Neti now disguised as the torch. He nodded with satisfaction before turning back to Zuza and Sang to speak.
“Alright then, if you two would like to escort the real torch to its destination, as incognito as you can of course, Dek and I will pull any heat there might be from you. And who knows, perhaps we’re being paranoid and this will all go swimmingly. I guess we’ll find out.”
He turned back to have a look around the port once more before finishing.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe I have a train to catch.”
Zuza bowed low, a grin fit for a jester on her face.
“Why of course. You don’t want to be late or anythin’.”
She tucked the torch under her arm and with a nod to <@95865591268663296>, slipped off toward the star-port. There should be ships there and it wouldn’t be that hard to bluff her way onto one. They just had to keep their cool..
The port was bustling today, filled with people of all walks of life tending to their daily business with nary a thought to what was happening next to them; and though he didn’t return Zuza’s large smile, Jade found himself a tad excited to find out what fate had in store for the rest of his day.
Looking down at the disguised Neti in his hand, he began to move towards the exit of the port and quietly spoke without drawing any attention to himself.
“Dek, do you think you could shift just enough to wrap yourself around my wrist? I’d like to both be sure I can’t drop you, and to have use of my hand.”
Dek quietly obliged, forming a snug but comfortable band around Jade’s wrist. Jade nodded contentedly and moved with a practiced gait designed to appear as innocent as could be. As this was an official Brotherhood mandated task, the iron legion had been briefed in advance and would provide no trouble for the team bearing the torch, but there had been whispers of the city’s shadows growing deeper as this moment drew closer; and mere rumor or fact, Jade wasn’t taking any chances.
He was used to this kind of behavior while moving through city streets, though usually his motivations were much different, and he nearly always wore some form of civilian outfit rather than his full armor set, but this was a unique occasion. He’d never actually been to Eos City before, but Zuza had gone over the map extensively with him and he was confident in the route, barring any mishaps that could turn him around.
Exiting the port into the city proper, he took notice of the security cameras prominently displayed nearby, as well as the checkpoints set up by the Legion. This was a city that prided itself in security, or perhaps control. It could go either way, he told himself.
The city proper was much quieter than the port had been, though quiet was perhaps a matter of perspective. Large and dark rolling clouds covered the sky, offering the illusion of dusk across the urban streets. This effect was intensified by the rain falling from those same dark clouds that covered everything beneath them. There was an almost melancholic nature to this place, Jade noted, caused by an area so full of life that now saw mostly quiet folk bustling through the streets while not stopping to look at anyone or anything.
This caused the situation to be different than it would be with the larger crowds a nice day brings, but Jade wasn’t yet sure if this would work to his benefit or detriment. Regardless, this was unlikely to be where he met any trouble, so he too adopted the brisk pace of the city’s residents as he moved further into the city and towards the tram that would take him to the entertainment district.
This leg of the journey was, as expected, uneventful. Jade found himself ushered quietly but quickly through the checkpoints without so much as a raised eyebrow. That was good, he thought to himself. That meant that the Legion were indeed expecting to see someone beating the torch coming through, and that he wouldn’t need to worry about any hassle with them.
Once arriving at the public transit station, the rain soaked streets gave way to a scene not unlike that of the port, though with a more crowded interior. There were too many people for Jade’s untrained eye to assess for suspicious behavior, so he simply watched for immediate threats as he pushed through the throng of rain soaked passengers. The security cameras were clearly visible here, too, and acquiring a ticket was a simple matter even if his armor and torch he carried die garner a bit of attention. As he boarded the tram and took a seat, the freedom fighter couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps this would be an easy journey after all.
Strangely enough, it was. Other than raised eyebrows, strange glances and the odd child pointing it out to a tired or amused (or both) parent, Jade had a peaceful journey.
Sang and Zuza had a more tulmutous time, creeping into a cargo hold and sitting in the dark for long enough that despite being under cover, Sanguinius got a series of rambles engaging on topics from birds to how some people even of the same species can see more colours than others.
It took longer for the group to reunite at Arx’s city center than it did to get there.
Zuza spoke, as the group passed into the finishing building with both Dek and the Torch in hand…
“Yknow it makes sense, Arx is super secure, cameras everywhere. Basically a death trap for anyone not here with permission.”
“The torch please.” Zuza turned, spotting the Human was waiting to receive the Torch to slot it back in place on the podium.
His eyes flicked between her and Jade, eyeing Dek for a long few moments before, upon Zuza offering it, taking the correct one.
He smiled, bowed to Arcona’s Shadow Lady and carefully slotted the artifact back unto place, a low thrum filling the room.
Mission successful. For once.