Wait no this is the chance I have been waiting for. Aton pulled closer to Orsons shotline if he didn’t know what happened to Orson to make him want to shoot his own squad, but if he could take that shot instead he could very easily fake his death. And Orson did shoot his randomly found harpoon towards him, exactly what he wanted. He let it pierce the very far side of his side to make it look more believable; it had a surprising amount of power. Aton made some fake noises that sounded really believable like he really was dying right there and then and started a decent downward right as he wanted. Even if they had suspected him they should forget about him now thinking he died. Or if they only knew someone and had no idea they would blindly keep an eye out for him.
He would continue to observe the fight from down here he still hadn’t gotten any information on who planned the attack against him but getting information on the powers of Orson the second hand of the Van Dresels and Oscar the second hand of Welsh would still make the trip worthwhile. They continued fighting, but Orson seemed much different than he did a bit earlier first the harpoon and shooting at an ally but his appearance had changed, the atmosphere around him had changed, and even his fighting style had changed. With some consideration, it could be a skill that changes him into a different person with different powers. Or something like that. Still though if that was the case he chose the wrong choice his new form wouldn’t fare well from the looks of it.
The short second part of the fight was nearing its end as Oscar infused lightning to the tip of his weapon. So he had been holding out his trump card this whole time? I must’ve underestimated Oscar. To be able to use lightning I know I wouldn’t want to fight him any time soon. Though at the last moment he stopped his lightning, why? Aton couldn’t help but wonder, as Oscar made his way to the launched Orson who barely blocked the attack. Will he kill him now? Should I try to save him? If Welsh becomes my enemy by extension so would Oscar and this would be a perfect time to take him by surprise. Aton had readied his attack, waited for when Oscar went for the kill as that was when he would be most preoccupied, but instead, they exchanged a few words and Oscar left, giving the dumbfounded Aton no chance to even attack. He then swam to Orson with the idea to help him out. Might as well he could be an ally and he would gain his favor. Orson barely opened his eye,
“Vinson is that you is that you, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to shoot you, it was my skill I swear. Have you come to haunt me for what I have done?” He asked not even knowing if he was alive or dead. Aton looked down on him, he could use this to get some information out, and then save him, even if Orson found him out since he will save him he will be obligated to forgive him at the bare minimum.
“It's me, I don’t know how much time I have left, why did we have to come down here? Why Orson? Why?” Aton acted out.
“Vinson we are down here for something noble, at least die knowing that you were doing something great.” He tried to reason with his friend, his side-effect had been going this whole time making the whole situation a delusional mess making it terribly difficult for him to know Aton was not Vinson.
“Can you tell me one last time, before I die, how what we are doing is noble?” Aton pleaded with Orson, but of course, Aton acted it all out.
“We are down here to save the entire sea my friend, our sacred mission to stop the heart, what's more, noble than that?” Does that ease your burden, friend?” Orson asked with desperation as he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stay conscious.
“That's plenty.” Aton coldly said unlike his acting self from earlier. He put his hands around Orson's face, and without hesitation or mercy activated his skill, burning Orsons face-off, killing him without remorse. Something Orson had said changed Aton’s mind from saving him to killing him without a second thought. And he did it without any regret. He looked up to see the ongoing battles, he could almost make out Welsh and Krey fighting from here but he couldn’t risk getting closer so he decided to wait out the rest of the time here. Aton's eyes gleamed with burning rage.
As Aton had entered through the portal Jasper had made his way, along with Joshens who didn’t do much to stop him, to the Restoration faction to see what the fuss was about. He had previously told Joshens that Aton has been acting weird and Joshens agreed. So they both decided to slightly act on their own this time, but Aton’s mercenaries were still with them watching them. If they had gotten a direct order to make sure they stayed in that spot the mercenaries probably would have stopped them or at least attempted to. Jasper got close enough to hear the Restoration man speaking.
“Woah that was a rude exit we were talking, you know? Anyway as I was saying, if you have trouble with us then you will have trouble with every one of our employers, yes, Welsh is not the only one to have spent some crystal on us, during this expedition so if you don’t want enemies out of a multitude of powerful people then stay out of my way!” His faction cheered at his words. Kell looked at him with frustration, another variable he needed to worry about he didn’t think the Restoration faction would be this crazy.
“Oi, what if I paid you to leave me the hell alone would you do that,” Kell asked him.
“Why of course my friend, well unless someone outbids you to do something contradicting and of course, I would keep both parties money.” He responded with a big smile across his face. Kell pulled out a large bag of crystals and made sure everyone could see.
“Then here let’s see if anyone can beat my price!” He handed over the bag, and the Restoration man took it. Everyone looked shocked the bag looked to have multiple lifetimes' worth of money in it, more money than many of the people here would ever make. And then Kell grabbed another bag even bigger than the last. “The last bag was to stay out of my way, and this bag is to kill yourself right now!” Kell yelled for everyone to hear and started to hand the bag over to the man, “If I can buy anything I wish to buy your death!”
“I am sorry sir but I can’t accept that, I don’t do trades that will directly harm me or my faction in any way. Do you have another request for the money I would very much like to have it?” He said calmly, looking unfazed. Kell had a face of victory.
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“You damn scam so much for buying anything. Fine there is something I want actually, in fact, I want you to turncoats against Welsh and work for me,” Kell said with a confident smile, his bag of crystals still in hand, probably enough to buy an entire city.
“Tempting offer, that is a lot of money, but unfortunately Welsh has offered me something worth much more than normal money, it's not something that can simply be bought. At least not with that feeble amount.” The Restoration man responded with amusement.
“Grrr fine then I do have one more thing in mind, for these crystals give me your true name and occupation.” He said with a gleam in his eyes.
“Interesting, very interesting, that's a lot of money for a name and occupation. What guarantees I won’t lie about it, to begin with?” He asked with curiosity.
“That's simple really, if you got found out to be a liar your little operation here would fail real quick you still have a lot of time to bleed us dry you're not going to risk all of that for something so simple this early into the expedition,” Kell responded with a smirk.
“Well if you're so confident, hand over the bag and we have a deal,” he extended his hand, and Kell did the same, allowing the man to grab onto the bag of crystals and take it for himself. As expected, he opened it up to find a bag full of dark black crystals and passed it onto one of his subordinates. “Very well the names Spence, and you are?”
“Kell.”
“Kell… Kell… it's nice and curt. I like it! I am actually not the leader of the Restoration faction as I said previously I am merely a faction elder but I am the leader of a subfaction within my faction we tend to get along but there are some differences in beliefs.”
“I knew it you lied to Aton you're not the leader, your just some know it all who thinks you're special because you have some followers and power. I don't like you, I hope you know that Spence,” He said as he pointed at his head and then walked off into the distance to get away from Spence and the Restoration faction.
“Well it was really nice to meet you too Kell I think we have a brewing friendship! Anyway…” his tone got much more cold and serious creating a tense atmosphere, “the shows over unless you want to make a trade I suggest you get the hell out of my sight.” With that most everyone cleared off except for a few. Harper and her group, a man named Brent a powerful mercenary, along with a few other lower squads perhaps looking to make a trade, but most interestingly Jasper also stayed with a determined look in his eye. Spence looked around at the small crowd still around him.
“My my what a blessing this many people wanting to make a deal with little ol me.” Spence said cheerfully. “You,” he pointed at Harper, “What do you want?”
“Immunity, like Kell, and something else too. I want you to be my information lackey, tell me everything you know that I don’t we can discuss more later.”
“I could do those things, with the first being only until someone out pays you, speaking of which, how much are you willing to pay for these services? I am not cheap.” Spence announced, Harper pondered a moment.
“Immunity I will double Kells, for number two, I think the vendor should set the price.” She said with emphasis. “I don’t want to spend more than I need to.”
“Right you are Miss, how about fifteen standardised pure black crystals? I think that's more than a generous offer.” Fifteen pure black crystals would be enough to buy a house, so it was a lot less than the bags of crystals before considering the quantity but it would still be a lot of money.
“I thought I said I don’t like to overpay like that idiot Kell, I won’t give you any more than 10 and I am being generous. Very. Generous.” She said only offering two-thirds of what the original offer had been. She didn’t mind paying fifteen really it wasn’t a lot of money for her, but regardless she wanted to press Spence as far as she could while also avoiding overpaying for something she didn’t need to.
“Eh, no can do friend. I don’t deal with the broke.” He said mockingly, trying to provoke her. Harper didn’t let it get to her though, she has dealt with his kind before meager attempts at her pride wouldn’t work. And to communicate that to him she still didn’t offer the original 15 pure black crystals.
“Are you all knowing Spence?”
“I wouldn’t say so, no. Why do you ask.”
“I don’t want to pay 15 crystals and you don’t want to accept 10. So how about a compromise? I buy your information with my information.” She said with confidence.
“Hmmm Nooo.” He said with a condescending tone not even considering it with his hum.
“What why, I can guarantee I have information that you don’t.”
“Simple. Trust, how could I possibility guarantee your informat—”
“Then how could I guarantee your information?” Harper said with some annoyance but still maintained her calm.
“You can’t. You're such a precious little creature.”
“What!?”
“I am a business you see I must guarantee the validity of my products, not to mention you asked if you could buy my information. I didn’t offer it as payment like you. We are playing in two different seas. If I accepted your offer, I would put myself in a disadvantageous position, not to mention we will probably end up having an information war full of lying and backstabbing. If I am here to make a profit why would I accept an offer that would increase the odds of my failure? Hmmm?” Spence had made a point that Harper really couldn’t refuse, she asked to buy his information he had the right to deny whatever put him at a disadvantage, maybe even an obligation to if one considered his subordinates that followed him.
“Fine, I concede I will pay for the 15 pure black crystals…”
“Fifteen, that's an odd number I clearly remember that being the price before prices changed?” Spence said acting ignorant to what he was doing.
“Then what's the new price?”
“What are you offering?” Spence had completely flipped this around, back to the beginning where his customer was handing him cash in droves like Kell had. Harper had been fooled, but she still wasn’t going to completely stomp all over her.
“Twenty. That's my final price. I swear upon Septem” Harper wasn't lying she wanted the information badly but this wasn’t a pride thing, letting Spence completely win this wouldn’t be good. It would give him, even more, say in future deals not only with her but with others putting him and his faction in a really powerful position. It would make him an even stronger enemy, if she could reel him back a little maybe this could still be salvaged.
“Well if that's your best—”
“I will pay fifty.” From the crowd, someone had outbidded Harper.