My heart is still pounding and the world is still a blur as Antonio leads me through town the next day. We slept in the truck last night after returning to Desx and the first thing we did in the morning was look for a temporary place to stay. It wasn't as hard as we thought it would be, Antonio found a housing area where you essentially pay a fee and they set up a tent for you in an area that will also fit your vehicle. Apparently he went through a similar process for a mission before so he understood what to do, with the only real issue was when they'd speak to me but I would struggle to understand their language.
Antonio wants to check out the shops, practically pulling me as he holds my hand, scanning through the various signs. I'd rather go to bed, or at least try to, this place is as hot as Duthious and the interior of the tent feels like an oven.
Perhaps sweating to death wouldn't be so bad.
"Quit dragging your feet and come on, we're almost there," Antonio yanks me closer to him, forcing me to fall in step, making us look like a couple.
Except we are a couple.
But they don't need to know that.
"How do you know we'll even have enough money to feed ourselves?" I ask, scanning the area tiredly, my neck sore as I strain to move it.
"Money? No, nothing is ever purchased here unless you want to put a target on your back." He shakes his head and leads me into a busier part of town, about two streets over from the bar. "Granted, either way you exist and you'll be hunted down, but the main focus is to target those weaker than you, that way they may not see a point and let you get away without issue."
He speaks as though all of this is second nature to him, which I guess wouldn't be too far off. I'm sure that in Ulnac has the same logic and reasoning, target those weaker than yourself, only the strongest shall survive.
It's a similar mindset as the night school.
Except at least we can be brought in to protect the weak.
"And here we are," Antonio announces, keeping me close to him as we scan through the various stalls of food. I immediately find an issue with the prices here and understand why stealing is so commonplace.
A small bag of dried cactus, ten hungins. Imported carrots, thirty hungins each. Water bottles, one hundred dunars for two hundred milliliters. Any fruit, at least fifty hungins each, even if it's a blueberry.
"The trick is to target those with good hearts, they'll have cheaper prices to make food more accessible and sometimes will let people get away when stealing 'because they may need it.'" Antonio whispers as we march through the market. Occasionally people stare at us, but at this point they're mainly just minding their own business. Likely due to us now appearing more like them with our clothes covered in thick layers of dust and sweat. We started blending in pretty quickly, with only our behaviours and voices causing us to stick out, and I'm sure that after today, after this 'shopping trip,' only our voices will be of concern.
Antonio pulls me to the right, harshly cutting me off as he makes a beeline for a small stall off to the side, an elderly lady running the stand, she kind of reminds me of someone back in Sareanin, the one who had a massive crush on Jeffrey. But no, she'd never be able to make it all the way out here, she's far too fragile and dead set in where she lives.
"Jackpot," Antonio muffles, and I scan through the prices; a sack of carrots, ten hungins each. A stalk of celery, five hungins each. Berries, fifteen hungins for a small pack. Bread, five hungins each.
Compared to the other prices in this market, even if you were to pay this stall is still practically a steal. Granted, still nowhere near Sareanin with its dirt cheap costs, but still better than other areas in this nation.
"Are you two hungry?" Her voice comes out dry and elderly, even sounding similar to the lady back in Sareanin.
"We could eat," Antonio responds casually, eyeing and picking up the various greens and produce. Not too far from us, a man begins shouting as an individual barrels towards us, arms full of dried meats and preserved goods. I prepare to step out of the way, like the locals, but Antonio cuts him off without hesitation.
The young man rams directly into him, dropping the various goods as his body tumbles to the hard Earth. The male shopkeep, an absolute tank of a man, standing at seven feet tall and what I can only assume to be nearly three hundred pounds, rushes over, towering above both the thief and us as he glares down, kicking the young man in the head before thank back his items and giving us a shallow nod, returning to his stall which has since been robbed by three more people, all of which have gotten away. I see, so that's also likely another reason as to why the keepers tend to not leave their shops, turning their back for even a moment will risk them getting ransacked.
Antonio risked turning the locals against us by stopping that one man, but ended up helping feed four more people. Did he seriously calculate and plan that or was it all just a random procedure of events.
"That was incredibly admirable of you," The lady speaks kindly, gazing up to Antonio with wide eyes that pierce past even her mask. "I tell you what-" She begins bagging up some items, older, smaller, not as likely able to sell for full price, and passes them over to Antonio. It's not much but should be enough food to last us about three days if we pace ourselves. "Take these, I know, I know, they're not as pretty as the others, but the nutrients within them are just as valuable." We take the bag and she starts shooing us away softly, "Now go on, we don't take the word 'no' very kindly around here. I'm sure you two would like to get yourselves to the bars before the sun reaches its peak anyway."
We don't waste any time to start heading back to our tent, food now in hand. No need to spend money, no need to steal and run away. Was Antonio planning this outcome? And if so, at what point did he realise that this was a possibility? I don't speak the language here, but if we're going to be stuck here for a maximum of three months, then I might as well start learning the basics.
The walk back to our tent was filled with silence and occasional stares from the locals, likely due to us now possessing food. It's only once we reach a less populated area that I start to speak.
"Were you planning that?" I ask softly, watching as a young boy with a soccer ball stops playing and stares at us deeply, like we just became his heroes solely by existing. Antonio doesn't seem to take notice of this, however, and instead continues marching forward, scanning our surroundings whilst keeping his head straight.
He sighs, "You're getting rusty and it's taking everything in my power to not get pissed off." When I don't say anything, instead keeping my head down, he continues. "You can see which stalls are high targets by the amount of people piled around them as well as the quick glances people make, the longer, the more likely they are to pounce. There weren't very many people by his stall due to the outrageous prices. Something that I trust you failed to notice. Yet, pretty much everyone was eyeing him and his preserved meats. They were bound to steal from him sooner or later, the distraction caused just helped more people eat."
"And the lady, did you know she would give us this for free?" I gesture towards the small plastic bag in his hand, colourful with the vegetables and few fruits.
"You really need to learn the languages of the nations you travel to," He glances at me sidelong, and I'm confident he's glaring harshly at me. "Her sign said she's from Sareanin and that she just wants to help others however she can and to please not hurt her." All of that was written on her sign, but it was only like three words! "And I need that a little old lady from an impoverished farming nation would want to help those who have demonstrated good deeds, so, when I saw that one guy about to pounce on the meat stand, I knew that all I had to hope for was that he would run in our direction, since we were closer to the back exit of the market, the possibility was practically guaranteed."
He deduced all that just by paying attention to his surroundings?
I really have gotten rusty.
We return to our tent and climb inside, our truck has been left untouched, as was promised to us by the people who own this area, though half heartedly. It's dry and boiling in here, our beds, two piles of clothes, are hot to the touch and uncomfortable. It just barely fits the both of us with our stuff, but this mission will only be three months, so we'll just have to adapt to it. Adaptability, that is a vital part of my job and livelihood.
Antonio tosses the bag of food next to his 'pillow' and turns to me, slowly removing his mask, his scar and my eyes meet first. I have to keep going, I owe it to him. "Alright, shit back there was pretty rough, but we've been through worse." We have, but I'm not so sure I want to go through any of this any longer. "Which means it will be no problem for us to go back there, now, I'm thinking we go there, dead of night or early morning, sneak into their warehouse, and take away their abilities to travel. It shouldn't be so hard, just take a few wires from their engines so they don't start. We'll take but not leave anything behind." My heart rate picks up as he speaks calmly, unbothered. What if they pull all nighters? That's a possibility, especially after someone goes running their mouth and then immediately returns to the base of operations.
They'll find us. They'll torture us. They'll kill us.
"Now, taking away their ability to travel isn't our mission, but I sincerely doubt they're just leaving their stash of drugs, wherever it may be, completely unguarded. But we do know for a fact that they are our target, so they've gotta be somewhere. Meaning, along with the wires, we'll also take some of the equipment needed for their vehicles as well, nothing custom that can lead them back to us, but pieces that are still important enough that they'll need to buy new ones as soon as possible, think their engines, batteries, gas canisters. Then, we'll set up a shop, they likely won't reach us by the next day since all their cars will be out of commission, so we'll have time to get everything in order. They'll pretty much be forced to buy the items back from us, and I've looked around, we'd be one of the few stalls selling car materials, so we'll go dirt cheap, but not so cheap that we'll arouse suspicion. Think like the lady today, nobody was going to bother her. Then-"
"Then what? They rob us and get away without issue? Or kill us where we stand?" He pauses at my outburst, staring at me with furrowed brows continuing slowly and with judgement.
"Then that will give us the opportunity to interact with them, we got a view of their perspectives and values, so we just need them to view us as like minded individuals and it'll be the first step into getting in with their clique." He finally catches his breath, sweating harshly within this sauna that we are temporarily calling 'home.' The nights can get cold, yes, but not nearly cold enough to be mere inches from another person who is practically a built in heater.
It's perfectly logical, his perspective. Inception can be pretty reliable, especially in areas such as this where you pretty much just need to prove your dedication. But why would I want to go back there after what I had just seen? After what we had just been through? I know we've seen worse, I know I've been through worse. But are we unable to just get it over with? Get in there, roam around, find the drugs and destroy them? Sure, we'll be lacking excess information to send back, but at least their drug supply will be gone, then, we can pick them off silently from the shadows and-
No, we were given three months for a reason. It's clear that just forcing our way in and silently picking them off is not our mode of operation this time around. Antonio is right, inception is the only way.