“… and that’s how I got here!” Myra ended her explanation, running up the stairs alongside Qilby and Verena. A strong wind pressed against their back as far behind them one of the tower’s windows had not just been shattered but basically disintegrated back into sand thanks to Verena’s Arc.
By now the the portals had started to erratically pop up in greater numbers, both within and around the Dampf Tower. Though they were in far fewer numbers here than to the overwhelming mass that seemed to open up up around the city proper.
“Well, that explains the immediate stop of the Lebensfest. I was wondering why the went for the nuclear option right from the start.” Qilby chuckled, motioning for them to duck into the side hall before a group Guards came running down in panic at this unprecedented chaos. Then his eyes narrowed lightly. “But these portals… Prisma…?”
“Prisma? You know what that wraith thing was…?” Myra asked with wide eyes.
“That would interest me as well.” Verena spoke out loud with a curious glance. “Or is it only on a need to know basis?”
“Nah, nothing of the sort. Just something the dear Director mentioned once or twice.” Qilby waved away her concerns easily. “Prisma’s something about weak dimensional walls which allows for spatial distortions more easily. If you know what to look for, Prisma’s pretty easy to find. Well, relatively easy, hoho.”
He chuckled to himself as if there was some joke to his words.
“I’ve got no idea how that wraith thing’s involved with all of this but it probably got formed by this chaos somehow. And for all the wrenches its throwing at us, they’re also a perfect distraction we can use!”
He grinned widely as he pulled out a rather simple looking communicator. Only a single, red button locked away beneath a dome of thick, solid glass. Various strange symbols surrounded its side. With complicated twists and turns that Qilby swiftly moved through, he unlocked the button and waited not a moment before pressing it.
“To all Operators. We’re starting Operation Ore Extraction. Time to leave Dampfstadt a bit earlier than planned but we can’t let a perfect opportunity like this escape us.” Qilby called out cheerfully, keeping the button pressed. He had been waiting to use this invention from Babylon’s finest for months now!
“D-damnit, Qilby! You didn’t tell me that you had my…!” Graam’s crackling voice echoed out of the communicator for a second before the frog quickly unpressed the button and whistled innocently. Both Myra and Verena gave him a deadpan, sweatdropping stare.
“So, we’re already leaving Dampfstadt behind?” Verena asked after a moment of silence, the trio slowly sneaking along the hallway to go up the last few floors until their goal.
“Yep, all foreign operators will be moved out of Ebenerz. I believe that I will be seeing you and the twins at the Babylon HQ…?” Qilby smiled back, receiving a an amused snort and a nod as reply. To the side, Myra felt very awkward. What was it and her being the third wheel every time?
“And will you be joining us as well, Myra? I’m sure your grandpa would be joining us there in a few weeks.” Qilby turned towards the bunny cat. “He would probably be very relieved to see you save and sound. Though just hearing as much would probably also be more than enough for that old coot.”
“Hehe~! Well, if that’s the case then I’m doubly on board!” Myra grinned widely, giving him a cheerful thumbs up.
“Wonderful!” Qilby laughed and clapped loudly into his hands.
The trio continued on their way up the tower. By now most of Guards had stopped flitting around in chaotic reaction to the portal mayhem, likely also commanded to return to their posts. A few had moved to new spots but there were also quite a number of more open locations now since this phenomenon needed more people out in the city itself rather than within the tower. Authorised by the Chief Deputy Commander himself, they overheard. Myra vaguely recalled that he was like Rehn’s father or something.
“Phew… finally we can take the lift again.” Qilby breathed out in relief, giving voice to the thoughts also playing through Verena’s mind.
The lift from here on out was theoretically connected to the remaining floors above, but only the correct authorisation could unlock them and for all the skill both Qilby and Verena brought with them, bypassing those expanded security measures didn’t fall under their purview.
That said, Myra had decided to also poke her nose into the life issue after they had informed her about their goal.
“…hm, I think I can bypass the security around the upper floors if you want me to.” She offered with a thoughtful look, rubbing her chin as she scanned the Amber Matrix connected to the lift using her own tech. An actual, holographic display was projected from her glove.
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Qilby whistled appreciatively while Verena blinked stunned.
“Heh, we won’t say no to that! If you’re even just half as talented as Holomew himself then we’re grand hands!” Qilby chuckled and gave her a nod to try.
“A-are you sure…?” Verena asked slightly startled, a bit more dubious about the teenager’s skills regarding Amber tech. At least in regards to actual delicate procedures such as bypassing high security features within an important locale such as the Dampf Tower.
“We’re close enough. And I do want to see this young lady in action…” Qilby waved her off, a strange glimmer in his eyes as he watched Myra go to work.
“If you say so.” Verena accepted reluctantly, fingers clenching in anticipation of the alarm.
Five minutes later the lift arrived at their target floor, no alarm to hear, and the floor itself was completely quiet. Purple and blues decorated the halls around here, contrasting with the red, gold and greens that had been so prominent throughout the rest of the tower. Metal gates barred nearly every door here and the ceiling laid far lower than within every other floor as well.
Qilby nodded seriously towards Verena and Myra and silently flitted ahead. Their goal was already in their reach.
———
Grant had a headache. And it wasn’t just because of Jenny and Mina pestering him with question of where Jak and the rest had gone to. Though that certainly didn’t help. The whole city was falling into chaos with all these portals fluttering open and close everywhere and making their way back to the hideout was becoming a royal pain in the ass.
Initially, most portals had shown glimpses of a dark cavern, the heart of Dampfstadt no doubt, but since then their spread had become much wider and it was much more common for them to lead to practically any other part throughout all of of Dampfstadt.
“Damnit… what is going…?” Grant cursed quietly under his breath, doing his best not to let the kids notice. Something major had to have gone wrong during their dual operation but he had no idea what. Never mind the how or why.
“How long are we going to run still…?” Jenny complained with a whiny pout, crossing her ams with loud huff.
“Until we’re back, sorry it’s taking so long.” Grant apologised sheepishly. “But how about you tell the most interesting things you can see inside the portals while we continue? The one who sees the coolest or cutest thing gets to order whatever sweets they want!”
He grinned wide, proud of his idea as Jenny’s eyes sparkled brightly while even Mina looked excited. Though the small parrot girl’s eyes told him she was reading his distraction as exactly that. A pang of guilt and sadness pierced Grant’s hard, she shouldn’t be so jaded already. He honestly felt like he had failed her in some way.
“Hehe! I will find the most amazing and awesome portal, just you wait and see!” Jenny puffed out her chest with a smug smirk.
“Nope, I will~” Mina simply said with absolute certainty, a small smile on her lips. At least she was able to smile again.
Breathing out a silent breath of relief, Grant continued to lead them through the maze of pathways that stretched across the Vent Slums. The air was even more steamy than normal as portals opened also inside the Steam Ways themselves, leading to unexpected openings that blasted out hot steam right into the streets or even buildings around the city. Luckily these portals were far and few in between.
“Abyss take me…” Grant groaned internally as he took another random turn. He had gotten completely lost. Normally Saia or someone else took over navigation! He wasn’t good at memorising or even reading maps, damnit! He was a guy of habit, not exploration!
The sudden alarm ringing from his pockets nearly gave him an heart attack and he scrambled to pull out the small communicator as if it was a hot potato. Moments after the alarm ended, Qilby’s voice echoed out of it.
“To all Operators. We’re starting Operation Ore Extraction. Time to leave Dampfstadt a bit earlier than planned but we can’t let a perfect opportunity like this escape us.”
Grant was already sweating hard but he still sweatdropped when Graam’s voice echoed through the call a moment later before the call cut off and the simple recording replayed instead.
“W-wha…?! Leave Dampfstadt?! No way, we’re staying here!” Jenny’s indignant outcry startled him out of his worried thoughts. “We can’t just leave our friends behind!”
Mina didn’t even give voice to anything, looking petrified at the announcement.
Grant could lie and say that their declaration had blown away any of his indecisions, but the truth was that he had always thought that he would be at the hideout when Operation Ore Extraction where to start. A few other exit points around the city immediately came to his mind, but the only one he knew for certain were the docks and sadly he knew that the last shipment was currently already moving out. Damnit, and the TelePad network was also still down!
Not that he even knew how to get to anywhere fast enough seeing as he had gotten himself totally lost.
“Of course we’re staying. That operation is just for outside agents, and you’re not from outside Dampfstadt, are you?” He was quick to answer instead, giving them a playfully dubious look that tuned into a small grin and wink.
“Of course not!” Jenny puffed out her chest, her large ears standing wide and proud. Mina nodded sharply in agreement.
“Haha, great! Then let’s find a good place to stay at and keep an eye out for the others. I’m sure the teens will be back with you soon enough.” Grant chuckled, feeling like a mountain had fallen from his chest as his somewhat frantic search for the way back to the hideout turned more languid, now just looking for a free apartment or similar for them to claim in this chaos.
Haa, when was the last time he had actually entrenched himself in another country or city? Finally a bit of nostalgic fun after all these years again. An excited smile flitted over his lips at the challenge that laid ahead. Maybe he could hit up James for a job or something down the line, the bobcat deserved some help after everything he had done for Babylon over the last few years.
He was creature of habit. And for all its faults, he had gotten used to Dampfstadt. And it was probably for the best that there was someone left to keep an eye out on what came after this chaos.
Moving obliviously away from the hideout just a single turn away, Grant, Jenny and Mina had no idea that they wouldn’t see Jak and the others again for many more years to come. Though their own lives wouldn’t be missing of excitement.