As Tommy walked down the stairs from the upper room where the meeting was being held, he found that the three corners of the factory's front yard were occupied by three different factions, each in its own corner.
The first and the most numerous were his sister's classmates from BIT, the students who organized themselves as the militia of this survivor camp. The second was the lone figure of Alfari Samara, guard of Envoy Kahori, on their second visit to the camp. The third was the group of militant humans that somehow came from another world.
Aside from them, there were the refugees who gathered around the place to inquire about the situation, looking at the two alien groups with both suspicion and wonder, pointing fingers, hiding behind the camps, whispering and chattering, even though it was the dead of night.
But among those aliens was Kave, arguably the person Tommy was most familiar with in this whole scene, so he instinctively walked to him.
"Hey, kid." Kave, who was having a conversation with Candice and another student, immediately excused himself and turned to face Tommy, "How are things up there?"
Tommy shook his head in frustration.
"Understandable. But don't worry, we'll go after Megan whether we get help or not," Kave said, hitting Tommy on the shoulder.
"Why?" Tommy asked with visible frustration, "Why would the aliens risk it for us?"
"It's not an easy thing to answer, but the short version of the story is that Adam is quite important to them, and since he wants to rescue Megan, they'll do it for him," Kave replied with a shrug, revealing only enough to pique the others' interest.
"Can I come with you?" Tommy asked.
"Sure. I don't think Adam would agree to it, but you can sneak up behind the van," Kave said with a double thumbs-up.
"Hey, don't encourage him." Candice quickly intervened in the conversation before turning to Tommy, "I'm sorry, Thomas, but your sister would be pissed if we let you go."
"I don't care. I'll still go." With the rebelliousness of a teenager, Tommy angrily averted his eyes.
"Don't fret about it," Kave scoffed at Candice with a relaxed expression, "We have alien-human soldiers on our side."
His words were said with a grin, but they caused only frowns and doubtful looks.
"How on Earth did you encounter those people?" Candice asked, glancing with worry over Kave's shoulder at the Wartopians.
"Don't ask me, ask Adam. He was the one who joined them first and rescued me," Kave replied with a shrug before asking, "What about your aliens?"
"They came for us 48 hours ago, saying they were from a place beyond the Rift and sought to trade," Candice said.
"Trade what?" Kave asked.
"Not gonna say. You should answer some questions yourself. Tit for tat." Candice refused to give information for free.
"I'm not gonna show you my tat!" Jokingly, Kave averted his body, covering it in shame.
"You're lucky you cute." Candice dismissed his behavior and asked, pointing at the Wartopians, "You believe those guys are aliens?"
"I do. Haven't you seen Sergeant Elena's arm and that cool weapon-pulling thingy?" Kave replied casually.
"I'm sure some high-tech items were classified by the government. Also, there are Runes and fantasy items now, so it's all hard to figure out what's alien and what's not," Candice argued, pointing out that those humans didn't look alien at all.
"They got laser guns," Kave added.
"You should've started with that." Candice's eyes widened as the nerd inside her awakened, "They got other weapons too? Neon Blades?"
"I've heard, but the stuff they brought here is limited…" Kave said before insinuating with a wink, "For now."
"I like the sound of that!" Candice said with a smile, "Make sure you show me one of these."
"And what will you show me in return?" Kave asked, echoing Candice's earlier materialism.
"I don't know." Candice shrugged as she backed away, "Maybe a tit."
Kave was stunned for a second, exchanging looks with Tommy, who heard the whole thing from nearby. Tommy rolled his eyes as Kave approached him.
"Wait until your dad hears about this!" Kave said jokingly.
"Not before yours kills you first." Tommy replied, knowing how hard both their dads can be on Kave.
Kave's smile hung for a while before he looked away.
"Well, mine is dead." He said, shrugging, and remained silent.
Tommy's smile hung as well, nodding twice before replying:
"Sorry to hear. I'm not sure if my dad is alive or dead. At least you don't live on false hopes." Tommy said, but before he could say more, Kave immediately slapped him on the head.
"Hey!"
"I'd take false hope." Kave seemed upset about what Tommy said and walked away, "Stupid brat!"
Kave returned to join the Wartopians while Tommy kept flipping the bird behind his back. Kave accidentally glanced back and caught him, causing the latter to flee the scene as Kave took his turn to flip the bird as well.
Watching them, Samara, the Alfari, imitated the same hand gesture, trying to comprehend its meaning, but only ended up pointing it at her face before dismissing it and giving up on figuring out its mystery.
A minute later, Raj rushed down from upstairs, followed by Kahori of Alfar, Sergeant Elena, and finally, Professor Hendrick and Adam, who were engaged in a deep conversation together.
Raj gathered four other students, including Candice, and they discussed something with serious expressions. Raj informed them of the agreement made with Adam, and they all became rather agitated, discussing something among themselves, before finally, one of them stepped towards the Wartopians just as Adam joined his team.
He was a tall, blonde man with strong, blue, piercing eyes. He greeted the group in a friendly manner, introduced himself as Ivan, a leader of an eight-man team specializing in clashing with monsters.
In return, Adam introduced himself and every member of his team to Ivan, and even revealed that both he and Kave were Awakened.
"It doesn't matter if you're Awakened. What matters are your items. You have a Runic item, right?" Ivan asked.
Adam and Kave looked at each other. Apparently, this group of survivors had time to explore the Runes and the System long before Adam and Kave had. It would be advantageous for Adam and Kave to know what these people knew, but it would be disadvantageous to appear ignorant. Without even looking at each other, the dynamic duo decided to gather information.
"Sure." Adam answered while watching Ivan's reaction, "One wouldn't awaken without a rune, am I right?"
"Naturally." Ivan nodded, "So, if you don't mind, may I know the abilities you have before heading out together?"
"I have a cape with a Chameleon Rune, dropped from a Gobzkin Skulker," Kave said, revealing the cape he was wearing.
"Like Candice, that's useful if you're a Thief Class." Ivan nodded and looked at Adam, "What about you?"
"You go first. Kave told you about his item; you tell us yours, too." Adam said with narrowed eyes.
"Ah, excuse me." Ivan smiled and cleared his voice, "I have a shield rune on this arm bracer."
Adam and Kave saw Ivan show the armor piece under his left sleeve, which looked similar to the crude craftsmanship of the Gobzkin.
"From the sound of it, it offers protection, right?" Adam asked.
"Yes, but only for me. Now, your turn." Ivan turned to Adam, urging him to reveal his rune.
Adam looked around before taking something out of his pocket, which his hands completely concealed. He urged Ivan to come closer and opened his palm.
It looked like a crude doll made of wires and food can pieces, given a non-conventional anatomy of six limbs, two of which looked like wings.
Ivan looked at Adam with a frown, but as soon as he looked back at the doll in Adam's hand, he found it standing up on its own and getting a bit larger.
"Cool trick!" Ivan said while shrugging, visibly unimpressed as he asked, "Is there anything useful to it?"
"It can get bigger," Adam replied.
"How big?" Ivan asked.
"Pretty big. It can provide cover, push heavy things, and attack," Adam replied.
"Alright, that's a new one. Pretty cool, actually." Ivan nodded in acknowledgment, impressed by the ability, then asked, "What about the item?"
"Small enough to be concealed," Adam replied with a wink.
"Fair enough." Ivan felt that Adam preferred secrecy about the item, which was something he didn't mind.
"You said that's a new one. How many have you seen before?" Kave, however, started throwing blunt questions.
"So far, I've seen about 8 items with 6 different abilities, including Adam's. However, those aliens over there say there are up to 24 different runes," Ivan replied, pointing at Envoy Kahori and Samara.
"24? A very specific number, I might say." Adam pointed.
"Professor Hendrick is the one doing most of the research on these runes, so you can ask him yourselves." Ivan replied with a shrug before revealing his intention to move out, "Either way, we should get going. My team is preparing a car, and I gather you have your van."
"We do," Adam replied.
"Alright, let's meet south of here in five minutes. Bring your van and get ready. I'll get going."
Ivan moved off by himself as he called out for the rest of his team and collected his own rifle. Meanwhile, Adam and Kave watched him from behind while discussing things between themselves.
"You heard that, right?" Adam asked.
"Yes." Kave nodded with a frown, "Apparently, all Runes come with items."
"My Rune is stuck to me directly, though. What does this mean?" Adam asked with worry.
"I don't get it, but it's best to keep it a secret for now." Kave nodded as the two of them realized that Adam's Puppeteer rune was no ordinary rune.
An unknown variable was at play, but there was no time to ponder as time was running out for Megan. The two headed out with their team of Men-at-Arms, all of whom were ready to jump into the fray for the sake of the task.
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