Chapter Fourteen
Part Two: The Groundwork
The 6 children, accompanied by Crest and Soleria, found themselves on a rising elevator inside the Beacon. Their patience was running thin. Dart stood pensively with her arm crossed. Her face of course looked as if she was extremely ticked, however it wasn’t the case, she was just in her own mind. To think that just a few days ago she was doing schematics work in a dark room, living such a mundane and miserable life within the Frontline Enclosure. Now all of the sudden she was a part of something much bigger, and Dart wasn’t sure if she should be happy, or dread it.
“Psst. Dart, Hey.” Whispered someone in her ear which broke her reverie. Dart looked over her shoulder at who was speaking to her, it was Vanity.
Quietly, Vanity put her finger to her mouth and spoke softly to ensure no one else in the elevator could hear her, except for Dart.
“I overheard the Observer and Captain Crest talking…” she began. Dart lifted an eyebrow, it clicked in her head that this was most likely why Vanity gave her that knowing look, back in the Seminar room.
“Captain 732-C, I can’t make an order, because I don’t know what the right decision is to make.” Began Vanity, repeating exactly what she heard Soleria say moments before. Dart was quite surprised she was able to hear that, as they were most definitely out of listening range.
“What do you think that means? Does she really not know what to do or was she talking about something else?” Asked Vanity under her breath. She was concerned about what she eavesdropped on, the Intrinsic are viewed as flawless beings, yet Soleria didn’t sound the least bit self assured. She lived her entire life in the enclosures assuming those with golden hair were all faultless. Dart paused briefly.
“…It wouldn’t make sense for someone that we’re trusting with our lives to not know what they’re doing… I take it that it’s the stress talking.”
“At least I hope so.” Ended Dart as she glared at the back of Soleria’s head. Her poofy golden hair rolled down her back all the way to her waist. Was she also someone who was thrown into a situation that was greater than herself?
Crest meanwhile, was impatiently tapping his foot as the elevator ascended. Soleria stood under the Captain while looking down at the ground; she wasn’t carrying herself with confidence in the slightest. Mostly because she wasn’t. She’d pin the responsibility of leading her team on someone else almost immediately; Soleria buckled under the weight as soon as things started to look bleak.
“Observer Illow, are you sure there will be vehicles to use?” Asked Below curiously. “…and if so, do you know where they are stored?”
She wasn’t actually positive herself, it was more of a hope. If not, they wouldn’t be able to stop the Abyssiti due to circumstance and her negligence. Soleria dreaded the mere thought.
“Of course! After all, I helped arrange this whole program for you all!” Zero could tell Soleria was lying through her teeth. “I’m sure there are a few laying around!”
Soleria smiled but then started to look worried again. The elevator beeped as it arrived at its destination, and the Intrinsic escorted the group out into the main Lobby. Without a moment to waste, Soleria led Crest and the 6 children to the Hangar connected to the outside of the Beacon. The giant metal garage of the hangar slowly opened, Soleria had her fingers crossed hoping she was correct with her assumption. It slowly creaked, filling the hangar with the morning light. It revealed an open parking lot; it’s polished surface reflected the shine. There, in the middle of the garage, laid a six wheeled vehicle. Three evenly spaced tires were on each side of the Armoured transport and plastered on the side was the symbol of the Evangelist. In addition, there were 6 motorbikes lined up beside the Military truck.
Soleria huffed out a sigh of relief. “Ahhh!!! There is some transportation here at the Beacon! That truck looks like it could carry all of you to the destination!”
Fives and Below marveled at the car. It’s unique configuration is largely due to the fact it’s a heavy-duty military vehicle used in logging and equipment hauling both on- and off-road. Crest wasn’t impressed; he hardly acknowledged the truck, but instead all of his attention was on the two wheeled vehicles beside it. They were motorbikes with metallic pincers on the front, the cycles were designed that way so they would be efficient at piercing whatever they ram into.
“I’ve done maintenance on cars before back in the Frontline Enclosures, but I’ve never seen one with more than four wheels!” Exclaimed Fives as he waltzed over to the truck’s hood. He eagerly reached over the grate at the front of the vehicle and opened the hood revealing its inner mechanics. His deep Orange eyes twinkled with enthusiasm.
“It has double- no, triple the Plasma valves! This thing must be able to go crazy fast if you wanted it too! Captain! Captain! You could catch up to that Abyssiti in no time!”
“I bet if you gave me like a week I could add like 16 more valves to this thing! I could- eh?” Fives froze as he felt someone grab his uniform jacket collar. He turned to see Crest, he grabbed him and dragged the boy away from prodding at the transport any further, and closed the hood of the truck.
“Woah. Slow down there, pip squeak.” Grumbled Crest.
“Speed is the least of my concern if the I-120 Trucker doesn’t have fuel. If it’s empty it’s not going anywhere no matter how many plasma canisters it has…”
Crest grabbed the door handle of the Trucker and tugged. To his surprise the vehicle doors were completely unlocked; it popped right open with ease and in the driver's seat a pair of ignition keys laid.
“…unless you think you all could push it to the Abyssiti, in that case be my guest.” He murmured as the Unit jumped into the I-120 and put the key into the ignition. The vehicle engines purred to life with a heated roar.
His blank face briefly softened up. Crest was almost surprised. “Oh… it has fuel.” He Mumbled to himself. His eyes drifted over to the motorbikes.
“They all have fuel, it looks…” claimed Below while looking at the meter on the motorcycles.
“It’s like someone knew we’d need them! And we didn’t even know we had them!” Exclaimed Quill.
The way these 7 vehicles were displayed and fully prepared for use, seemed far too organized to be a coincidence. Soleria knew it well. “And when you fail, you’ll know that you were given every opportunity! There will be no one else to blame but yourself!”
Millue Constance would make sure that she would have no excuse to fail… and if she didn’t succeed it was due to her own incompetence. This was a reminder, more than anything. Before Soleria fell deeper into her thoughts Razor came running into the hangar with Patch, Idol, Trauma and Glitch trailing behind him.
“Captain Crest sir! I brought them all here as quickly as I could!” Razor said while completely out of breath.
“I heard the situation was urgent. What do you need us to do?” Asked Patch as soon as she was on the scene. Glitch noticed Crest sitting in the driver seat of a 6 wheeled Armoured car.
“Yikes- it must be serious if we’re pulling out the I-120 Trucker!” She shouted while pushing up her glasses. Glitch eagerly turned to Captain Trauma, her pony tail whipped in the air, luckily her plus sign hair clip kept it tied up.
“Hey Trauma-”
“Absolutely not.” He responded briskly.
Glitch’s large smile instantly faded upon hearing his cold response. “I didn’t even get to say or ask anything!”
