With Claire’s help, the concrete obstruction on the second floor was a piece of cake. Meanwhile, Two Gun busied himself with bringing in their meager luggage. Whatever she couldn’t send up the stairs she broke down and passed to Kaleb. Between the two of them they had a nice rhythm going.
On one trip Kaleb asked. “You doing okay, Claire?”
“Just fine, dear. This is actually good exercise.” Claire said with a smile. “Do you think you could place a bar between the bigger pieces? I thought I could use them as dumbbells.”
“Uh, yeah, it should be easy. Just pick out two pieces that you like.” Kaleb said taking a smaller chunk of concrete back up the stairs.
His agreement seemed to delight Claire, and she stepped up her speed. Moving larger pieces of rubble up to the surface. Kaleb just shook his head and the tall green amazon. Maybe it will count as gym equipment in the Terminal. Kaleb thought as he took a short break at the top of the stairs. Two Gun, finished his trips to and from the car moving to talk to Kaleb.
“So what’s next?” Asked Two Gun removing his hat and wiping his forehead.
“Well, let me ask you this: Do you guys have access to your money without the HLO?” Kaleb asked back.
Two Gun gave a half-nod. “Yeah. Well, we kept all the credit sticks from the Loot drops. But anything HLO sanctioned went right to our account.”
“Well, get on the Terminal in the office and unlink your HLO account from your bank account. If we are lucky, they used the same bank. Austin United. Login should be the same as your HLO account.” Kaleb explained.
Two Gun nodded but remained still, scratching his temple. “Darn it, I always forget my passwords.”
“It’s the date we started gaming together, love.” Claire said as she rushed passed carrying two large chunks of concrete.
“Ah, that’s it. Thanks, sugar.” Two Gun said as he turned to head toward the office.
Claire just waved him off as she held the chunks of concrete out to Kaleb. “Can you make a dumbbell out of something this size?”
Kaleb scanned the beach ball sized chunks of lumpy gray concrete. That weren’t exactly perfectly round nor were they an exact match with each other. But Kaleb figured he could get the job done. He would need and thicker steel beam though. Seeing Kaleb wobble his head side to side in thought, Claire shook the large pieces of rubble to get his attention.
“Oh, yeah. I mean, I think so. It shouldn’t be a big problem. Just need to find a beam strong enough to support them. Set them over by the Mechanics Room.” Kaleb said.
Claire nodded and walked off. Kaleb moved down the stairs to get a better idea of how much more they had to move. As he arrived at the bottom of the stairs, he saw that the original pile of rubble was a lot smaller. In fact Kaleb bet he could squeeze through into the second floor if he shifted some pieces. Kaleb did just that as Claire returned and took the bigger chunks away again.
Unfortunately, Kaleb had to vacate the staircase as Claire pulverized the bigger pieces of concrete again. Deciding to go see how Daivor was doing, Kaleb let Claire know what he was doing and moved to join his Gnome companion. On the way there Two Gun passed him walking back from the office.
“Got that all settled.” Two Gun said. “We are now financially free of the HLO. But know that going up against a large bureaucratic entity like the HLO will have to be done through paperwork not through back-alley fighting.”
“We aren’t taking them on. We are just trying to do our work without them. We need room to work without all the backroom deals and red tape.” Kaleb said.
“So we are removing government oversight from a bunch of heavily empowered people.” Two Gun said sounding dubious.
“They aren’t the government. They just pay enough to be ignored by the government. But if we can prove we work. Not just to the city leaders, but to the population of Austin then we may get some breathing room.”
“Mighty big maybe.” Two Gun said putting a hand on Kaleb’s shoulder. “But, we are with ya, son. Years of gaming experience tells me that you will make this game mighty interesting.”
Kaleb shrugged. “If not, then we will sure have fun trying.”
Two Gun barked a laugh as he walked off toward Claire. Kaleb joined him in chuckling as he moved to the Mechanics Room. Daivor was telekinetically collecting the Ifrit shavings from the lathe into a large tin can. The Gnome now had multiple cans of the stuff. Kaleb got closer while Daivor placed another piece of Ifirt bone into the lathe.
“Why do you collect the shavings? I tried adding them to the metal while smelting, I just got bone chips in the metal.” Kaleb asked.
“It’s for when we get an actual smelter and not this homemade P.O.S.” Daivor said moving away from the lathe to talk. “Once you can get a good heat going in a proper forge, then the bones will meld better with the metal. For now though, even the dust can enhance the making of a blade.”
Kaleb scratched his chin. “So shouldn’t we just crush the tinier pieces into a powder and add it to the metal?”
“We could do that with some of it but really, boss. I think we should leave it till we get the proper equipment.” Daivor said.
Kaleb took his Gnome friend's advice and let the matter drop. He figured they had enough to worry about for now. Moving to the workbench Kaleb looked over the spear heads Daivor had been making. They ranged from standard flat pointy version to the more ridiculous looking corkscrew design. Holding up the corkscrew spear tip Kaleb looked at Daivor.
“What?! I got bored making the same tip. Besides it’s Ifirt bone, the stuff will do just fine in a fight.” Daivor said defensively.
Kaleb was about to give his own opinion about the odd spear heads when a beep sounded from the office. At the same time, Claire stuck her head out from the second floor landing.
“We are into the second floor!” She yelled excitedly.
Kaleb set down the spear tip and moved back to the stairs followed by a floating Daivor. Two Gun and Claire made sounds of amusement as Daivor floated down in his metal chariot. Kaleb ignored them and moved into the hallway. The second floor was one long gray stone hallway. Moving to the first door on the left-hand side, Kaleb looked inside.
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All there was an empty gray stone room. Around 10 feet wide by 12 feet across. Not too cramped but not exactly roomy either. Kaleb checked the other room right across from it finding another similar room. Turning to tell the others, he found both Claire and Two Gun were still enamored with Daivor’s floating conveyance.
“You got any more of this floating disks, Professor? I always wanted a hover board.” asked the old cowboy poking Daivor’s chariot with his finger.
“It seems like a wonderful way to get around.” Added the cowboy’s wife inspecting the chariot from below.
Daivor gave Kaleb a look that seemed to say “Stop them or I’ll make them stop.” Moving quickly, Kaleb grabbed Two Gun’s hand saying.
“Daivor collected a couple more from a K-Tech dump site. But we have nowhere near enough to get a human off the ground. They power distribution on some of them seem to be a little wonky. Daivor had to work with that one for a bit till he got it working right.” Kaleb explained.
Two Gun and Claire seemed to realize that they were poking and prodding the poor Gnome. Blushing and coughing awkwardly the two moved away from the floating Gnome. Kaleb smiled at the pair and pointed down the hallway. He showed the three several of the rooms, all of them mirror images of each other.
“Not a lot of space, is it?” Claire said disappointed.
Kaleb agreed. “Yeah, But we can increase the size of the room at the terminal for money. At least I think so. The floor plan for this floor is bigger than what these rooms take up. So I figured it was for expansion.”
“Probably.” Two Gun said. “But that reminds me. I dropped a few thousands credits into the terminal for renovations.”
Kaleb turned to stare at the old cowboy. “You can do that?”
Two Gun chuckled loudly. “Of course we can. I figured it was for when large groups wanted to pull resources to enhance the Lair. I couldn’t use them though. Guess that’s a privilege saved for you.”
Kaleb wondered why he didn’t think to check for that. A communal fund would help expand the hangar a lot. The group moved to the end of the hallway and a second set of stairs. As they got closer Kaleb heard an odd buzzing sound. Looking at the others it was plain that they heard it too.
Two Gun drew both of his revolvers and Claire moved to the head of the line as the walked down the stairs. As they moved downward, Kaleb made an observation about Two Gun’s guns.
“Are those the same ones you had at the start of the game?!” Kaleb asked, surprised.
Two Gun looked a little sheepish. “Yeah, I just hadn’t got around to buying new ones. Really, though. When your dancing partner can hurl a small car with the same speed and accuracy as a bullet. The guns are pointless. Think you can give me an upgrade, Professor?”
Kaleb grunted in acknowledge meant as they arrived at the bottom of the stairs. They could see a wide floor to ceiling metal gate a few steps into the third floor. On the brown metal gate was a large yellow sign that read ‘Power Room.’ Unfortunately, on the other side of the metal gate was more rubble and large fallen I-beams blocking the way. Even more disconcerting was the loud buzzing noise that sounded eerily like insect wings.
Kaleb peered into the darkness beyond the metal gate trying to see what was making the sound. He crept closer, with Two Gun, Claire, and Daivor. When the blue glow from Daivor’s repulsor powered chariot got close to the gate something crashed into it. A fat foot long insect that looked like a large fly squeezed its way through the gate and flew straight a Daivor.
*BANG*
There was a loud gunshot and the smell of gunpowder as Two Gun’s quick reflexes made easy work of the insect. The insect exploded into a cloud of green viscera and red electricity. The electricity sparked into the gate showering the room with an eerie red glow. As Kaleb looked into the Power Room, he saw dozens more of the flying insects flying around the machinery.
Two Gun’s shot seemed to wake the rest of the insects as a wave of the things slammed into the gate. Two Gun fired off a few more shots sending green blood and red sparks flying around the room. But the wave of insects just kept coming. Kaleb decided it was time for a tactical retreat.
“Quick, back upstairs.”
“What?” Complained Two Gun. “We got this. They are just a bunch of bugs.”
Two Gun fired another shot at a particular close bug. This time the red electricity jumped toward Two Gun’s metal guns, shocking the old man’s hands and making him drop his weapons. Kaleb gave the old man a look before Two Gun growled and ran for the stairs. Daivor, for some reason, flew his chariot into Kaleb’s chest and killed the repulsor. Kaleb caught the vehicle before it crashed to the floor.
The all charged up to the second floor the sound of buzzing echoing loud behind them. As they got to the second floor the stopped and waited until the buzzing continued to grow louder. By silent agreement, all four of them raced toward the surface. Once there, Daivor reengaged his repulsor chariot and floated off a way from the entrance. Being the only one armed with ranged weapons at the moment, Kaleb drew his guns and held them steady on the opening in the ground.
They all waited in silence, listening closely for the sounds of approaching bugs. Seconds drifted into minutes as they all breathed a little easier. It didn’t look like the bugs would follow them above ground. As Kaleb put his guns away a shuffling noise echoed around the hangar.
“Hey, everyone. What’s going on?” said a deep male voice.
Kaleb spun around aiming his Cybar on the source of the noise.
“Whoa! Easy, Professor. You invited us, remember?” Said Jar-lock as he made some kind of sign with his hands. Vivienne stood nearby with a hand on her wand at her hip.
Kaleb sighed, and he heard the others do the same. Putting away his guns he said. “Sorry. This Lair came with some uninvited guests. They just gave us a good scare.”
“Gee, I wonder what that is like.” Jar-lock said sarcastically.
Kaleb just smiled as Two Gun stood nearby cradling his hands. The sparks from the dying bugs seemed to be more powerful than standard electricity. Kaleb could see that they had scorched his hands badly. When Claire saw them she darted toward her husband worriedly followed closely by Vivienne.
“I can help. Looks like a bad burn.” Vivienne said as she drew her wand and murmured a spell.
“Yeah, damn bugs got me good. Made me drop my guns.” Two Gun hissed through the pain in his hands.
Kaleb moved over to Jar-lock as Vivienne healed Two-Gun. “No Varlin?”
“Nope. He wanted to see how things went with both me and Vivi before he made a move. Varlin is worried that it will change his standing with the Sorcerers.” Jar-lock explained, shaking his head.
Filing the ‘Vivi.’ nickname away for later teasing, Kaleb said. “I guess that makes sense. Although I don’t see how. The HLO is an entirely different organization.”
Jar-lock ran a hand over his sweaty face as he nodded. “That’s what we think. But he doesn’t want to take any chances.”
“Shrewd.” Kaleb said looking between Jar-lock and Vivienne. Both were sweating hard. “Did you two walk here?”
“We took a taxi. But we got out at the guard shack. We didn’t think we would have to walk an entire runway to get here.” Jar-lock complained.
Kaleb snorted as he waved Jar-lock toward his car. “Come on, I brought some bottled water from home. Did you two not bring anything?”
Jar-lock smiled knowingly as he made a few gestures and his tattoos glowed white. Suddenly a large book fell out of nothing in front of Jar-lock. The big man caught the book and waved it in front of Kaleb. Jar-lock was obviously pleased with himself.
“Dimensional Pocket. First thing I studied when I changed to Jack-Mage. It’s a pain in the ass, but man is it useful.”
Kaleb smiled and patted Jar-lock on the back. “HA! Welcome to the club. Maybe once things settle down, we can both go through the finer details of the class.”
Jar-lock nodded as the passed in front of the Mechanics Room. Kaleb glanced over to see Daivor hard and work. After getting Jar-lock a couple bottles of water, Kaleb joined his small friend. The gnome had pulled one of the repulsors from the bins and was rewiring the insides. Kaleb studied the wiring for a few seconds before he noticed what the Gnome was doing. He had down the same thing back at the K-Tech junkyard.
“Why are you trying to overload that repulsor?” Kaleb asked.
“To deal with the Joranek.” Daivor said.
Kaleb waited for further explanation when none came he prompted. “What are the Joranek?”
“The damn bugs that are leeching the power from your generators. They feed on and are attracted by all kinds of energy. But they can’t stand bright lights.” Daivor held up the repulsor. “That’s where this little baby comes in. It’s a source of power so it will attract them, but then it will get brighter and brighter until it explodes, knocking them out.”
“Then we move in and slaughter the confused bugs.” Kaleb finished nodding at the plan. But Daivor was shaking his head. Confused, Kaleb tilted his head curiously.
“The Joranek compact energy. The store it up, save it in a hard organ in their abdomens. All that compressed power, it would be a shame to waste it.” Daivor said smiling evilly.
“We can use them as a power source?” Kaleb asked.
Daivor nodded. “We have to kill them carefully. Rupture the organ and that energy is gonna explode and attract more of the things. One quick strike to the head with a knife should do the job. Then Bam! We have a decent supply of organic power cells.”
Kaleb picked up one of the knives he had been working on and glanced around the room. Two Gun seemed back on his feet and Jar-lock had passed on a water bottle to Vivienne. Claire had stationed herself at the entrance to the second floor, listening for bugs. Kaleb spun the knife in his hand as he looked back down at the Gnome who was still working away.
“Daivor?” Kaleb said grinning. “You are the best thing that’s every happened to me.”