Episode 89

Deep dense forests border both sides of the long highway, the humvee rolling along at a steady pace. Sitting in the front passenger's seat, Sotalia glances over to the side out her window and squints at a passing road sign. "Only a few hundred kilometers till we reach Phis."

Bach blinks the early morning drowsiness from his eyes and stretches out his neck and shoulders against his seat, fighting against a yawn. "Are we actually going to try to make that in one day?"

Flicking her furry ear back from the comment, Cideeda flutters emerald green eyes and grumbles with a frown. "As much as I'd like to... I don't think so. These roads are getting rougher, and I really don't want to push it too hard."

She furrows her light brown brow and glances off side briefly, patting her steering wheel. "I just got everything running nice. Really don't want to knock the alignment out by hitting a pothole too fast."

Dretphi gazes up from studying a road atlas and ponders out loud. "We should travel past the halfway point today. Then, a comfortable trip tomorrow to Phis."

Tapping through a number of messages on her tablet, Aristespha sighs and sorts through the junk mail, playing with her silvery blue hair between her fingers. "Depending on how far we manage today, I have a few possible places we can stay. Thankfully, since this is a main highway, there are actually decent, passable motels to stay at. I figure we should take our time in Phis and relax. Enjoy the stay."

An eager smirk appears on Dretphi's tan face, and a shiver of excitement wiggles up her body. "The barbecue. Hard to choose which place."

Sotalia cracks a sly grin, peeks around her seat towards Dretphi, and shows her phone screen. "I know! We'll have at least lunch and dinner to choose a place to eat. Maybe after breakfast the next day, we can get some fresh to-go for lunch later on."

Picking up her aetherphone next to her, Dretphi leans forward on the far back seat, tapping to an aethersite, and stretches her arm out, showing Sotalia her phone display. "Have you seen this one?"

Quickly reading a bit of text from the screen, Sotalia returns her attention to her phone and navigates through to a different menu. "No... I'll have to check that one out."

With a smirk, Cideeda shakes her head of short multicolored hair, gradually adjusts the steering wheel, and stares off into her mind. "I hope we get a good view of the big Train Depot there from the hotel. It's amazing how they run that whole operation and keep those land trains running."

An entrepreneurial, toothy grin graces her, and she narrows her emerald stare with a quiet chuckle. "And the deals that can be made..."

The humvee cruises down the wide highway, gracefully navigating around rougher patches of road, and follows the gradual curves in the path. Minutes later, the vehicle slows down into a short line of traffic condensing behind a number of Chrome Crusader trucks. Narrowing her glare forward, Cideeda groans out her irritation. "Gods... What's going on HERE that Chrome Crusaders would be out for?"

Aristespha blinks her violet eyes, twisting her mouth, and squints down at her tablet. "I do not remember anything about this... Sebastian? Do you remember if we read anything about this?"

From the sword resting between Bach and Aristespha, Sebastian's voice resonates out with a puzzled tone. "Uh, no, dear. I don't remember hearing or seeing any bulletins about this. Maybe some weather advisories. But, that's not for another day or so. This is new to me."

Studying the flow ahead, Cideeda rocks her head side to side and shrugs her shoulders, commenting calmly. "Well, it seems to be moving, at least. Looks like they're just taking turns sending all the traffic down one lane."

The humvee rolls up to an uniformed Chrome Crusader with a stop sign. Cideeda rolls down her window, waiting. A young man steps close to the window, tips his hat respectfully, and points down the way. "Sorry for the hold up, everyone. But, after this next batch of cars, we'll get you through. It's only a few kilometers, and then you'll be free and in the clear."

Nodding appreciatively, Cideeda lifts an intrigued brow and motions over towards the number of armored up Chrome Crusaders in the distant tall grass of on the right side of the road. "Thank you. So... Is there anything we should be careful of? Maybe, keep an eye out for?"

The young man glances over in the direction of the soldiers, awkwardly smiles, and stumbles into a reassuring tone. "Oh, um... Nothing too bad. We're just here as a standard precautionary measure. Probably nothing will be happening around here. A whole lot of boring, I assure you."

Nodding to the man, Cideeda smiles with a cheery tone. "Well, thank you for keeping us safe."

The young man bows slightly and walks down the forming line of traffic behind the humvee. Cideeda rolls up the window. Wrestling a grimace, she pivots her head around towards the team and frowns slightly with a suspecting color to her cadence. "Yeah... Something is going on somewhere nearby."

She points a claw tipped finger at a large metal figure hunching low in the brush, grumbling. "I don't think they'd have that anti-armor mech at the ready, hiding over there, if they didn't expect something to happen."

The rest of the team peers out through the windows. Within the dense thicket of shrubs, the war machine gradually sweeps the aim of a large caliber arm cannon towards the forest, each team member quickly spotting the humanoid robot. Bach quirks his surprised brow and glances over his shoulder at Cideeda. "Uh, if the models of yours I've seen are accurate, that's a thirty millimeter autocannon."

Dretphi slowly nods at the information, her recognition growing. "Yes. Not a weapon to have ready for no reason."

Shifting her attention towards a group of uniformed Chrome Crusaders, Sotalia hums in thought and searches the scene. "Maybe we can pester one of them to tell us what's going on..."

She squints and scans the line ups of officials. "Now... Who here... Looks to be the one in charge-"

Her golden eyes widen, and an evil grin graces her light tan face, touching the dark gray edges. She rolls down her window, rests her elbow up on the door, and props her head upon her hand. Drawing a long, deep breath, her gaze falls upon a middle aged man with short graying hair, and she shouts out. "OH, QUINCY!"

The man freezes in place, tensing up his shoulders, and slowly pivots towards the source. Searching around the vicinity, he settles his stare upon the waving Sotalia. Blinking a few times, he musters up an awkward smile, waves back to Sotalia, and slowly walks his way over. Sotalia twists her mouth at the corner and chuckles darkly, the man reluctantly navigating the road block. Directing her voice with her hand, she lets out a strained quack. The man startles wide-eyed, sprints up into a run, and slides to a stop right next to Sotalia's door. "OH, for fuck's sake, Sotalia! Keep it down!"

He leans closer and lowers his voice. "I'll have you know, that duck is STILL alive and well."

Easing back into her seat with a blatant grin of impish satisfaction, Sotalia giggles and sighs with a smile. "OH. What's the point of having a little blackmail if I can't use it occasionally. So... What's new with you, Quincy?"

Quincy briefly grumbles, draws in a breath, and snorts out a laugh. "The usual. Trying to keep recruits from embarrassing themselves and making sure the convoy doesn't accidentally leave any behind. Or..."

He glances off to the side with a humored smirk. "On purpose... Despite how TEMPTING it is."

Peering into the vehicle, he politely waves to the rest of the team. "Hello, everyone. Um, so, if you don't mind me asking, where are all of you going THIS TIME?"

Sotalia perks her eyebrow, tossing her fiery orange, wavy hair back, and grins. "Perimeter."

Quincy blinks a few times and nods impressed. "DAMN... Now, that's a run and half. Hope the trip is easy going for you. That route isn't nice even during a good week. I think we honestly stopped taking contracts going that way simply because we got tired of pulling trucks out of the muck the roads can turn into."

Pointing out to the forest, Sotalia narrows a prying stare at Quincy and curiously inquires. "What's going out here? You all usually don't have that much firepower out just waiting for nothing to happen."

Glancing around briefly, Quincy studies the surrounding personnel and leans upon the humvee, whispering to the team. "Well... I don't know all the details, yet. Still waiting to talk to the front line guys. BUT... My guess is something stirred up a place with a bunch of autonomous robots. Weirdest fucking thing really."

He stands back up, listening to radio chatter in his ear piece, and directs the team towards a woman with signal flags. "Wish I could talk more, but your group is up."

Pausing a moment in thought, he smiles at Sotalia and nods. "Send me a message tonight, and I'll see if I got any more info by then."

He lingers a moment and lowers his voice towards Sotalia. "Is Sebastian still... In a sword?"

Sebastian's ethereal voice resonates loudly from the blade on the floor of the cab. "Yes, Quincy."

Quincy blinks, surprised in the moment, and slowly shakes his head. "Gods. That's so fucked up, man. Really hope they get you out of it soon."

Sebastian appreciatively sounds out from the sword. "You and me both. Let us know if anything weird happens around here."

---

Stretching out his back, Bach steps along the sidewalk, flexing out his tension, and stands in the afternoon sun. A gust of wind blows the scent of distant sea spray across the hotel parking lot and sways the canopies of deciduous, coniferous, and palm trees in the area. Aristespha, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia stream out from the front automatic glass doors of the nearby building, and the team gathers around. Comparing the aethersite on her phone with the site upon Dretphi's phone display, Sotalia furrows her brow. "So, is your choice or mine closer? Because, I really don't feel like sitting in a car right now."

Dretphi scrolls down the list information, reviews a small map, and glances over at Sotalia. "Yours. Mine is seaside."

Sotalia nods in agreement, taps the route finding button, and points in a direction. "Yeah. Okay. This is just a walk down the main road on this side of the bay."

The team travels down the street, and Cideeda perks a curious eyebrow over at Aristespha. "Not a bad place you found. A little cheaper than a hotel along the Azure Sea?"

Nodding, Aristespha relaxes with the wind blowing back her long, silvery blue hair. "Oh. Yes. Same features, but just over a kilometer away from the main beach made all the difference. If we were here for the beach, I would have certainly gone with another choice."

She rolls her violet eyes, briefly grimacing. "I also figured, since it would be the last good place to overnight, we would try to enjoy it fully. All the reviews mentioned that bay side hotels were significantly more peaceful and quiet. But, close enough to walk to everything."

From the sword at Aristespha's side, Sebastian comments to the group. "Yeah, not going to lie, we're going to be roughing it for the next few days."

Resting her hands on her hips, Sotalia grins eagerly and struts down the sidewalk. "Now THAT sounds like justification for a little indulgence to me. I wonder what their drink specials are like."

Bach furrows his brow, the wind tossing the white streak in his brown hair. He searches his mind with his blue eyes and glances between the other members of the team. "Don't know. I've only heard of Phis for their barbecue, music, and trade. Don't remember anything unique in the way of alcohol. Maybe some local breweries?"

With a shrug of her shoulders, Cideeda snorts with a toothy grin, gazing up to Bach. "You don't need to have your own around here, when you can easily get your hands on all the different liquors out there. Big trade hub, hence a big selection."

The team continues down the main road, passing by different shops, bars, clubs, and other local establishments. The group admires the sights, and a long convoy of large multi-axle trucks roar on pass, plowing through the air. Stirring wind pushes past the crew, and Cideeda's furry ears flick off strands of her shorter multi-colored hair. She watches the heavy haulers roll fast onto a massive bridge and traverse over the bay towards the other side. Seconds later, another series of large trucks run down the main street and follow the same route as the previous. An excited smile appears on Cideeda's light brown face, and she recognizes the logos and color-coded flags. Noticing Cideeda's interest, Bach glances down curiosity. "So... What were those?"

Cideeda shifts her focus up to Bach, smirking amused. "Oh. Those were Train local haulers. I'm guessing that those were the biggest vehicles they have that can fit through these streets. I think they are heading to the Train Depot on the other side of the bay."

Bach nods, following Cideeda's pointing finger towards distant industrial structures on the other side of the bay and a large chain of buildings in the background. The team follows Sotalia's aetherphone guidance towards a shoreline, open air restaurant. Their eagerness swells with each aroma packed wave of cooking smoke the coastline gust guides over to them. The host seats them at a large table with a clear view of the bay, and the crew scours over the menus at the table. A minute later, an emin waiter addresses the team with a bright smile and cheery tone. "Thank y'all for coming down to Bay Side Ribs. My name is Erdin, and I'll be taking care of y'all tonight. You got any questions before I get your drinks?"

Sotalia grins towards Aristespha's smirk and inquires eagerly. "Any drink specials going on?"

Erdin grants a quick nod, deftly whips out a pamphlet from his apron pocket, and places it between Aristespha and Sotalia. "Oh. Plenty. We also have a few menu items for just this week, since it's a special occasion here in Phis."

Furrowing his brow, Bach turns his head, puzzling at Erdin. "Huh. So, what's the occasion? I mean, we just got into town."

With a delightedly slick smile, Erdin motions with a wave of his hand across the bay, explaining eagerly. "Well, y'all are just lucky then. Land Train Number Five just arrived last night and is slowly doing its loop through the depot. And, of course, Bay Side Ribs is happy to offer the freshest cuts of meat from the west, smoked to perfection. For just this week, we have menu items you won't get to taste for another few months if y'all are lucky to visit us again any time soon."

The group's attention wanders across the bay, squinting and searching. A grin appears on Erdin's face, and he points out, hinting the team in a direction. "Keep your eye on the big stuff in the background... And watch carefully. What you see isn't what you think it is."

The scrutinizing stares of Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia at the table join the hidden visage of Sebastian under the deck peering out. The team concentrates and carefully observes, surprise sparking upon each of their faces. They watch the long series of buildings in the background behind the industrial structures gradually, constantly shift over time. From the side of one of the moving masses, a large robotic arm drops out of sight from a resting position at the top. Seconds later, the heavy crane hoists up a large local Train hauler and brings through opening bay doors near the top of a massive land train segment.

---

Gazing off into the darkening skies west, Bach narrows his eyes, reflexively blinking at the flashes of lightning arcing between the clouds. He turns his head towards Cideeda with an uneasy smile and taps his finger upon his window. "Looks like a storm is coming off the sea."

Easing her foot off the accelerator, Cideeda deftly turns the wheel, carefully steering the humvee around a large dip in the cracked and worn road. She grumbles to herself, drooping her furry ears briefly, and sighs. "Yeah. And, these roads have taken a beating lately. Gods. No one has been out to repair these in MONTHS."

Angling the steering wheel in the other direction, she wrestles with an uneasy grimace. "We'll be at a crawl if we have to drive these in the dark AND a storm."

Aristespha squints her violet eyes, peering out ahead through the front windshield, and checks the passing road signs. "We should be close to the place I found for the night. The town is called..."

With Aristespha searching her tablet for the exact information, Sotalia furrows her brow and focuses her stare ahead at a rusted, damaged sign, smirking out a sarcastic tone. "Wino?"

Blinking back to attention, Aristespha notices the partial lettering and rolls her eyes. "That is PART of the name."

Turning his head track to the broken signage, Bach snorts out a chuckle, shaking his head. "Yeah, probably more fitting, if they don't even bother to fix the town sign at least once every few years."

Cideeda navigates the humvee down a highway offramp and slows to a stop at a desolate intersection. "Okay. So... Where is this place, again?"

Peering out the side windows, Dretphi leans from one to another, squinting her steely gray eyes, and frowns at the darkening clouds choking out the late afternoon sun. "Not much around."

Aristespha checks the digital map on her tablet, orientates herself, quickly inspecting the landmarks, and spots the distant glow of artificial light down the road eastwards. "There. Make a left here, it should be up ahead."

The humvee rolls through the turn and speeds down the rough, almost gravel roadway. Minutes later, the vehicle pulls under a large, aged stained metal awning in front of a run down, long motel building. The team settles their attention upon the dark, quiet structure, waiting. Over the idle seconds, expressions slowly sour and apprehension fills the cab. Concentrating his scrutinizing stare into the still, dim glass of the lobby, Bach lifts a reluctant eyebrow and twists his mouth hesitantly. "Um... I'm not getting the feeling that this place is... Well. Open."

Sotalia's golden eyes dart around between the dark, empty windows, and she curls her upper lip into a sneer. "Yeah. None of the main lights are even on. Is this place supposed to be open?"

Focusing her frustration upon the tablet, Aristespha grumbles out her building irritation. "Everything I read up SAID it would be OPEN... I even called ahead..."

Sebastian's ethereal visage materializes in the middle aisle just behind Aristespha's seat, and he winces at the chain of evuukian curses muttering out from Aristespha. "Well. We could just knock on the front door and see if anyone is in there."

Everyone momentarily glances over towards the eerily still, rundown motel building. Each watches the gloomy, blackened storm clouds drift overhead and eastwards behind the structure. Distant bright flashes of lightning from the west cast unnerving shadows into empty rooms. Gusts of wind stir up dust, sand, and debris around the cracked brick walls. Weak thunder rolls over, softly vibrating the cab of the humvee. Attention gradually pivots back upon Sebastian's ghostly form, and he releases an unamused sigh with a long roll of his eyes. "OR... I GUESS, I can just phase in there and check..."

He narrows his stare at the haunted ambiance forming. "And really complete this whole theme we've got going on..."

An appreciative smile graces Aristespha, and she nods with an assuring tone. "Thank you, Sebastian. I will see if I can call anyone."

Phasing up through the humvee roof, Sebastian flies up to the building, landing at the front, and walks through the door. He cautiously inspects the empty, unlit lobby, the flickering display of a lone snack machine, and the vacant front desk area. A harsh chime of an old phone rings out. Sebastian's eyes dart around to a few wooden doors. A long chain of rings later, silence returns to the dated motif, and Sebastian slowly shakes his head. Quickly sinking his head through the few doors, he rolls his translucent blue eyes and fades away. Reappearing in the aisle of the humvee cab, he hovers down into a seat on the floor and crosses his arms with a frown. "Nothing. The phone rang, but I didn't hear or see any signs of life. I bet someone ditched work early."

The all encompassing roar of rain surrounds the humvee, and waves of water spray underneath the overhead awning onto the gravel lot. Cideeda shifts the vehicle in a park, shuts down the powerplant, and groans. "Well... We can hang out here for a bit and let the storm pass over..."

A sly, toothy grin appears on her face, and she gazes her emerald green eyes across the team in the cab, tapping her claws tips together. "OR, I can... Gain access to a few of the rooms for the night?"

Aristespha lifts a judging brow, Sebastian mulls over the concept, Dretphi weighs the option, Bach grimaces uncertainly, and an evil grin grows upon Sotalia. Cideeda gauges the reactions and smiles pleasantly, shrugging her shoulders. "Of course, I'll make sure the owner is compensated at market rate..."

She mumbles under her breath, lowering her furry ears, and averts her eyes, flexing her claw tipped fingers. "After a significant discount for lack of service..."

Sebastian dons an amused smirk and sighs. "Yeah. Probably not the best idea."

Aristespha grumbles to herself and settles back into her seat. "It is also very troublesome to itemize expenses predicated upon multiple counts of breaking and entering."

Tapping upon her phone screen, Dretphi studies an animation loop of weather radar data, contorting her face in thought, and cocks her head to the side. "This is a small storm cell. A break after this passes. Other storms afterwards."

Moments later, a bright flash overhead illuminates the world below, a wave of thunder vibrates the humvee, and the droning rain falls in obscuring sheets across the area. Sebastian briefly watches gusts of wind send sprays of water against the sides of the vehicle and shrugs his shoulders. "Well. I say we wait an hour or so. Then, figure out what to do after that."

The team settles into their distractions. Dretphi quickly adjusts the pillows on the back bench and opens up a graphic novel to a bookmark. Aristespha eases back into her seat, noticing Sebastian watching her tablet over her shoulder, and adjusts the aim for him with a loving smile. Cideeda retrieves a small piece of golem crystal from a pack under her seat and concentrates upon it in the palm of her hand. The small chunk of magical mineral gradually, shakily moves, faint flows brushing against it. Glances up from his aetherphone, Bach smirks at the progress and comments at Cideeda. "That's pretty good. You want to try something a little challenging?"

Cideeda's furry ears perk up, and she cranes her head around the front driver's seat eagerly. "Sure!"

Bach points to the crystal curiously. "You have any more of those with you?"

Quickly reaching down under seat, Cideeda retrieves a few similar chunks of magically reactive rocks and gives one to Bach. Her emerald eyes blink. Bach positions the crystal in the palm of his hand. Cideeda watches expectantly. With a faint blue glow in his eyes, the small, cylindrical chunk rights itself upwards upon a point. Bach smiles and gradually tilts his hand, the golem crystal maintains the angle relative to his palm. "A lot harder than it looks and really great practice."

An appreciative smile grows upon Cideeda, and she quickly pores her full focus upon keeping the righted crystal in her hand, Bach occasionally catching the mineral when it escapes. Half an hour later, Sotalia blinks her golden eyes, twisting her mouth, and rolls her shoulders. Over the minutes, she sits back up in her seat, squirming uncomfortably around, and crosses her legs with a straining wince. Cringing briefly, she glances back towards Aristespha and awkwardly questions. "So... Does this place have, like, any other numbers you can try calling? Maybe another location the owner might be at? Um... Anything?"

Aristespha slides her eyes up from the show playing on her tablet and cocks her head to the side, puzzling. Slowly shaking her head, she frowns slightly and sighs. "No. I did not find any other means of contact..."

A blatant wave of unease colors Sotalia's pleading frown, and she carefully breathes out her discomfort. Aristespha lifts up an intrigued brow, studies Sotalia's body language, and notices an empty, extra large drink cup in the holder on Sotalia's side of the center control. Rolling her violet eyes, she pulls an amused smirk across her mouth, chuckling softly. "Really, if you need to use the bathroom, just say so. I will accompany you if you feel that uncomfortable."

Sotalia blinks hard, glances briefly over at the eerie gloom looming around the empty motel, and reveals her objection to Aristespha. "Thank you, but... Where? I hope you're NOT suggesting outside, around HERE?"

Aristespha dismissively shakes her head and motions towards the dark motel. "There's obviously no one here, it's not that-"

A bright flash from the storm above brilliantly contrasts stark shadows along surfaces and into the rooms of the long, empty motel. Fighting against her own failing courage, Aristespha grits her teeth and mumbles. "... Scary..."

Bach scans over property and glances over the team, frowning uneasily. "Yeah... Um,I mean, I have not been adventuring that long. But, I know I have been to far more welcoming ruins than this place right now. At those places you have certain expectations. This place?"

He swallows his unease and lowers his voice. "I'm getting body in the ice maker vibes."

Narrowing an investigative stare out the front windshield, Cideeda rocks her head side to side in deliberation and shrugs her shoulders. "I think it has cleared up enough. I'm up for leaving this creepy place."

N

She starts up the humvee's powerplant and aims her voice back. "Is there a rest area close, down the highway?"

A few moments of sorting through aetherphone, tablet, and map later, Dretphi locates a point of interest with Aristespha's help. "Yes. Twenty kilometers."

Nodding with the humvee's console status lights flickering through a nominal pattern, Cideeda puts the vehicle into gear and secures herself in the seat. "I can manage that much. Buckle up!"

Aristespha grumbles and glares over at the motel. "Try my best to arrange everything, AND, STILL, these things happen."

Sebastian smiles comfortingly at Aristespha, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't worry, dear. If they're this bad at staffing the place, I'd hate to think how bad they are at cleaning the rooms."

Blinking blankly a few times, Aristespha shudders off the thought, squirming in her seat. "Um, yes. Good point, Sebastian."

---

Groggily rolling his head away from the beams of mid morning sun shining into the humvee, Bach fights against the persistent draw of snoozing off in the quiet cab. He flutters his eyes back to consciousness and searches the space for the source of a snore. Glancing to the front and back seats, he settles his attention over to his side and watches Aristespha slumber with growing volume. Under an uncombed, messy cover of long, silvery blue hair, Aristespha unconsciously balances her head upon a hand propped against the humvee window. At the apex of a long, loud snore, she snorts, squirming in place, and exhales lazily. Sebastian's ethereal visage forms in the humvee aisle, and he narrows a humored gaze upon the sleeping Aristespha. Leaning close to Bach, he whispers with an amused smirk. "She'll never admit this, but when she sleeps like this... She sometimes drools. Bad."

Bach squelches a snort, shaking his head at this brother. "Oh. Yeah... I bet she'd never admit it."

Sebastian glances over to Bach, rolling his eyes with a smile, and widens a gap between his thumb and forefinger. "Seriously, bro. I've caught her with spit stains this big on her shoulder, and she'll flat out deny it."

Pondering with a smirk, Bach lifts an intrigued brow and motions to his aetherphone. "Have you tried recording it?"

Gritting his teeth, Sebastian averts his eyes and contemplates the repercussions between the rocks of his head side to side. "Yeah... I've thought about that. But... I didn't think it was worth the war of calling out our bad habits that might start."

He settles a loving gaze upon Aristespha and sighs quietly with a longing tinge. Muffled conversations from familiar voices surround the vehicle. The front doors open up. Cideeda hops into the driver's seat. Sotalia slides up in the passenger's seat, balancing a tray of different rest stop beverages in her lap, and sorts through the labels. "Okay. I did my best to mix up your orders from what they had available. Let's hope my misspent teenage years at a coffee shop pay off."

Drawing a long sip from her cup, Cideeda licks her lips and shrugs her shoulders, placing the beverage in her side's cup holder. "It was a surprisingly good selection in there."

Sotalia pulls up one drink, reads it off, and extends her arm out back towards Aristespha. "One black tea and coffee for the sleepy girl."

Sebastian and Bach glance over, noticing the alert and awake Aristespha rigidly sitting up. Calmly accepting the beverage, Aristespha dismissively rolls her violet eyes and slowly sniffs in the aroma of the drink in the insulated cup. "Sleepy? I was well awake before you this morning."

With a tightening smile, Sebastian catches Aristespha's attention, motions to his face, and traces a path out from the corner of his mouth and down his chin. Aristespha furrows her brow, blinks blankly, and springs her eyes wide, a flush of embarrassment overwhelming the blue and gray hints on her face. She awkwardly sneaks a wipe of her hand and dries off a patch of spittle off her mouth. Confirming with a nod, Sebastian playfully weathers the faux glare from Aristespha.

Bach opens his door, hops out, and slides his seat up. He holds a large, full paper sack for Dretphi, and she slips through into the humvee. Passes back the bag inside, Bach sniffs the lingering aroma, moving his seat back in place. "That... That actually smells really good."

With Bach settling in his seat, Sotalia presents Bach's beverage and dons a guilty grin. "The finest rest stop food we could find. We MAY have gone a little overboard..."

She shrugs her shoulders. "But, they totally had EVERYTHING you could think of there."

Cideeda leans over her seat and points to the paper sack in front of Dretphi, grinning excitedly. "You can tell we're near a port, because you never find this stuff inland."

Unpacking the huge bag, Dretphi arranges the different packaged snacks into the view of everyone. She hands off a few items to those showing interest. Quickly securing a bundle of treats with grath lettering on the wrappers, she hides the treasure off to her side. The team distributes the variety of snacks and drinks, and Sebastian gazes between the group. "So. A bit of a late start today, but I think it's workable."

Dretphi finishes a bite into a partially unwrapped pastry, savoring the moment, and joins the topic. "We are not far. We could arrive at Perimeter today. Late night. Possible."

Aristespha breathes in the moist vapors off her hot tea and coffee, blinking back to awareness. She glances down at her tablet. "Oh. Yes. The place I made reservations at in Perimeter is reasonably flexible. Especially since I paid a modest deposit to secure the reservation. And, I think we are THANKFULLY out of the lodging dead zone now. There are a number of small local inns and motels that will work depending on our progress."

Fighting off a yawn, Bach contorts his face, stretching his body in the seat, and shrugs. "I'm up for a long drive. Honestly, the storms last night kept me up so much that I'll probably just doze off on the ride. Just really hope the roads aren't completely awful."

Pressing the sequence of buttons upon the control console, Cideeda starts up the humvee's power plant and grimaces along with her growing suspicions. "Yeah... I've been reading a lot of reports about a lot of road debris, flooded areas, and washed out sections. So, we might be in for a slow roll through some parts."

Sebastian crosses his arms, nodding at the information around him. "Well, we're not going to find out anything here, so..."

He dons a bold grin. "Let's hit the road!"

The team secures themselves in their seats with treat and drink aplenty, and the humvee rolls out of the parking space towards the highway onramp.

---

The humvee's headlamps illuminate the rough pavement ahead in contrast to the fading evening light. Cideeda blinks her emerald green eyes hard, wincing a worn frown, and groans, steering the vehicle. Sotalia sighs long into a yawn and shudders through her fatigue, shaking her head towards the road ahead. Aristespha idles her stare upon a movie playing on her tablet, Sebastian's ghostly figure hovering nearby watching. A gentle snore sounds out from Dretphi, and she stirs lightly. With a slight roll upon the back bench seat, loose pastry wrappers slide off her chest onto the floor of the humvee cab. Bach gazes out to the distant setting sun, the remaining specs of direct light disappearing below the horizon.

The humvee crests over a small rise and banks around a turn between thick forest into another straight stretch of road. Cideeda's eyes flutter to attention, and she squints into the distance. Her furry ears flicking in thought, an annoyed grimace appears and frustration tinges her mood. "Oh gods... What now? Don't tell me yet another section of the highway is washed out."

Swinging her attention ahead, Sotalia pulls back her fiery orange hair over her swept back horns and groans. "I REALLY don't want to have to move another fallen tree out of the way."

Cocking her head, uncertainty dwells on Cideeda's face, and she raps her claw tips upon the steering wheel. "No... It looks like they're redirecting traffic this time and... Have it blocked off."

Aristespha pauses her movie, taps back to the main screen, and navigates to an aethersite. "I will see if there is anything posted, somewhere."

The humvee slows down into the barely moving line of traffic and joins the staggered jam of occasional progress. Minutes later, the vehicle arrives at the front of the queue. A number of Perimeter Defense Force vehicles block off the highway leading to a massive bridge, uniformed officers patrol the perimeter, and scattered groups of armored personnel cautiously sweep the area. Scanning the scene, Sebastian ducks down behind Aristespha and fades into the sword at her side. His voice sounds out from the blade within the scabbard. "Try to find out what's going on here. Seems like they are doing some serious work out here."

Cideeda's furry ear flicks forward, and she rolls down the window. Leaning slightly out, she concentrates her stare upon one of the officers and waves to her. The woman approaches the vehicle, greeting Cideeda with a nod. "Sorry about the trouble. But, the five five route is closed until cleanup crews secure the bridges."

Lifting a puzzled eyebrow, Cideeda aims her inquisitive tone at the officer. "What kind of clean up are we talking about?"

Drawing in a long, weary breath, the dark haired woman sighs tired. "Maelstrom. Short lived, but it dropped A LOT upon the five five's bridges."

Wrestling the irritation away from her tone, Cideeda presents a hopeful smile and motions towards the highway past the blockade leading to the large bridge. "So, what time frame are we looking at for the cleanup?"

The woman officer grimaces, standing up straight, and pivots her gaze at a distant pair of armored personnel in hazardous environment suits. One glances down at a device in hand, glances up, and points to a spot on the roadway a dozen meters ahead. The other nods, rolling his shoulder, and readies his arm. With a grip upon a large metal bolt in hand, he winds up a pitch and flings the piece of steel accurately towards the questionable patch. The projectile flies within proximity of the spot. The fabric tail tied to the bolt ignites into flames. Bright orange-yellow light radiates out in stark contrast to the surrounding night, a towering pillar of flame blasting meters up into the air. The spouts of fire swirl in place into a flaming vortex, and a loud roar echoes out in the vicinity, drawing in the attention of all nearby. Seconds later, the flame wanes back down into a charred, blackened spot on the highway. The two suited personnel exchange stares. One picks up a three meter pole with a large piece of chalk at the end. Carefully approaching the spot, the armored person cautiously extends the pole out and marks warning arrows in bright neon orange chalk from a safe distance.

Cideeda, Sotalia, Bach, Aristespha, Sebastian, and Dretphi gawk in sheer, dumbfounded silence. Blank expressions failing to conceal emotion, flits of shock, surprise, astonishment, and fright twitch through the thin exteriors. The sound of boots slowly twisting upon rough pavement snaps Sebastian out of his daze, and he promptly disappears out of sight. With a strained smile, the officer turns around fully towards Cideeda and groans out lingering frustrations. "Yeah... It might take a while. I assume you are heading to Perimeter."

Cideeda nods a wide-eyed confirmation. The officer draws in a long breath. "There's no easy routes from here. But..."

She points towards the nearby off-ramp, explaining. "Your best bet right now is to head to Yazoo. It's a town on the coast, but they should have lodging. They're at the start of route four nine, which runs directly into Perimeter, too. It didn't get hit that badly. So, it should open up tomorrow if all goes well."

Blinking back to awareness, Cideeda smirks at the officer sympathetically. "Uh. Yeah. That's probably the best plan we got then. Um, thank you. We'll do that. Good luck."

The officer nods understandingly, directs them along with a hand wave, and awaits the next vehicle in the line. The team stares out to the pair of long, large bridges, the humvee rolling down the off-ramp onto another highway. The vehicle speeding away, strange flickers of light flash out distantly around the crossings, and odd, unnatural noises crest above the background night ambiance.

---

A short order cook works the grill, balancing his efforts between different orders of eggs, hash browns, bacon, and hamburger. A waitress in a Pancake Shed outfit, slips behind the main counter to a row of coffee machines, and changes out the glass carafes. With scattered customers in the larger dining area, Aristespha, Bach, Sotalia, Dretphi, and Cideeda occupy a large booth in the corner of two window walls with a view of the beach. Aristespha pours back the remaining quarter cup of coffee and hungrily reaches out to the metal carafe at the center of the table. Dretphi slowly works on a cheese steak omelet. Cideeda rubs the sleep out of her eyes and leans back in the booth seat, soaking up the near noon sun radiating in. Groggily watching the waves roll in upon the white sand beaches, Bach observes the coastal traffic near the long docks stretching into the sea. Sotalia fights back a yawn and examines her plate of food, secretly eying the bacon on Bach's platter next to hers.

She glances over at Bach briefly. Her fork drifts over into the airspace above Bach's dish and slowly eases down upon the target. With the tines of the utensil hovering over the bacon, Bach casually grips the edges of his plate and smoothly rotates the dish. Sotalia withdraws her fork quickly away from the moving target and returns her attention back to her food with an amused smirk. Bach hides a satisfied grin behind his hand, propping his head up.

A fvalian waitress with green hair walks up to the team's table and smiles brightly, the sun reflecting the embossed "Lucida" in her name tag. "Well, I hope everything has been good. Is there anything more I can get y'all at the moment?"

Bach's attention wanders off to a thought, and he turns to gaze at the woman with a worn smile. "Um, could I get a glass of milk? Need something to balance out all this coffee."

Narrowing his blue eyes at Sotalia, Bach snorts quietly, smirking. "And another order of bacon. Just feel like I might need more of that."

A sly smile sneaks out the corner of Sotalia's mouth, and her expression warms. Lucida nods at the request, writing it down with a wag of her green, short haired tail. Cracking a humored grin, she perks a humored eyebrow at Bach. "Would you like chocolate in that milk?"

Rolling his eyes at himself, Bach chuckles lightly and eases out a bit of childish embarrassment. "Oh, why not. Thank you."

Lucida giggles and surveys the rest of the group. "Anything else for anyone?"

Aristespha slides the empty metal carafe across the clear middle lane of the table and taps the lid. "More of this flavor. Please."

Lucida's furry, rounded tip ears flick up under her green hair, and she blinks in surprise. "Of course. If y'all don't mind me prying... But, I get the feeling last night was not that kind to y'all?"

A collective agreement rises out from the fatigued team around the table. Fluttering her eyes to attention, Cideeda straightens up from the sun spot. "Yeah. We were planning on going straight to Perimeter using route five five. But, it's closed off right now."

Dretphi sighs and rocks head, guiding back her platinum blonde braids. "Rerouted here. Nice town. Pleasant. Just not our original goal."

Nodding understandingly, Lucida rests a hand upon her apron covered hip and shrugs her shoulders. "Not going to lie, it happens more than anyone likes, really. But, I'm not one to complain when it brings in business for us. You all are welcomed additions to all the shipping crews."

She furrows her brow and tightens her smile. "That aren't always the happiest to be here."

Bach thinks a moment and glances out the window wall towards the dozens of ships moored at the long docks. "I mean, it seems like you do a lot of shipping here."

Twisting her mouth, Lucida crosses her tan arms and sighs. "Well, not as much as we'd like around here. We're just a convenient stop before Perimeter for smaller shipping companies waiting to get clearance into Perimeter. Not much actual shipping as much as waiting. Though, I totally believe we could easily handle it. I mean, route four nine starts with us."

With a roll of her eyes, she sighs with a small shake of her head. "But... They certainly don't ask my opinion around here."

Bach narrows his stare and points out to a huge barge docked along a long concrete wharf in the distance. "I mean, it looks like you can handle big ships like that easy enough."

Lucida steps to the side, cranes her yellow eyed gaze to the right angle, and frowns slightly. "Yeah. Still don't know about THAT ship. They've been there for a week. A little strange, if you ask me."

Lifting a curious eyebrow, Sotalia grins conspiratorially at Lucida. "So, what's your take?"

With a sly, gossipy smirk, Lucida giggles quietly and whispers to the team. "Oh. You see, I think they got spooked by customs and are trying to offload... through OTHER channels... Probably trying to find a new buyer for something they can't get into Perimeter. But..."

She rolls her eyes dismissively and sighs. "That's just my fun theory. Probably just paperwork hold ups."

Standing upon the large barge docked along the long concrete wharf, a tall muscular man in a loose, long sleeve jacket scans the vicinity. A few passes later, a hint of satisfaction appears on his stern, scarred face. Checking immediately around him, he walks over to the end of the boat and enters the wheelhouse. He kneels down slowly, man lifts up a floor hatch, revealing a ladder, and slips down below. Stepping through a narrow passage, he reaches a bulkhead door, knocks a timed sequence upon the frame, and waits. The metal door handle rotates. The locks release. And, the large door swings in. Walking inside, the man's heavy boot steps clang against the metal floor of a large hollow chamber within the core of the boat. He quickly strips off the jacket and tosses it to the side. A soft, echoing chorus of hydraulics, servos, and metal contact fill the background drone of the hidden space. A dozen men and women with bulky, intimidating cybernetic limbs, implants, and enhancements idle and prepare. Racks of weaponry line the walls of the makeshift barracks, and people inspect a few small, light assault vehicles. A gigantic man stands up straight with a hydraulic hum, hoists up an industrial lifting arm, rotates the modified claw, and clamps it through a solid bar of steel. A woman with a cybernetic eye and head rig slowly cleans the barrel of a bolt-action rifle and smiles, a scheming satisfaction tinging her battle worn face.

A sinister grin emerges out of the dark expression on the muscular man, and he laughs to himself with a grim confidence. From his pants covered legs, faint sounds of hydraulics and servos resonate out, and he stretches out of his arms and upper body. Breathing in the looming mood, he wipes the sweat off his arms. He eyes the Red Gear symbol tattoo on his shoulder and gazes out to the similar logos upon weapons, vehicles, and people in the secret hold.