Dominion

[in_extremis]

WHO: Tony, Jon, Cal!
WHERE: The Palace! (Green 20)
WHAT: A bit of exploration that can't possibly go wrong.
WHEN: Mid-June
WARNINGS: I'll let you know if this gets weird.


The tower was still there, looming and somehow smug in its persistent darkness, quickly falling into shadow without the blinking light atop it to draw the eye as the sun sank behind the treeline. With that ground covered, such as it was, it was supposed to be a logical next step to spread their investigation to the nearest, free standing building and work methodically from there, but the reminder of what little understanding they came away with was demoralizing to Tony as he stood in the dusty road frowning up at the stubborn structure. They could just keep finding things and never be able to fit them together.

They had more people to work on it, though, or at least someone else who seemed approach a problem in the same way, and even if they didn't find anything tonight, maybe Ikora would be able to see it at a different angle back at the library. And even in the low light, Tony could see the alien glass of what he knew intimately by now were fractured datapoints to collect and put to use, scattered through the tall grass around the expansive building of what he could only assume was some kind of castle. Compared to the rest of the architecture in the city, this one was ornate and sat apart from the humble suburbs or tight towers clustered around the city centre. It sprawled, not like the imposing library, but with luxury. This was a seat of power.

Jon was greeted with a new lantern that Tony hung around his neck, which was clearly salvaged from the glove that should have matched the one that Tony wore and that glowed faintly from the palm even when Tony wasn't consulting it for atmospheric data. It didn't look much like the one he had worn on previous ventures, stripped and much lighter with the protective armor still twisted and waiting to be refired. Cal, Tony suspected, had salvaged or contrived any number of light sources for himself, so it was BD-1 that Tony grinned at and crouched before as they met at the door of Cal's workshop, presenting a tiny chip with a flourish. "Connect directly with the network," he had explained. "Send us pictures of what you're seeing."

There was no good way to otherwise prepare for what they could potentially find behind those doors as they approached the abandoned building. There had been massive beetles in a sinkhole, and an enchanting mouth at the bottom of the lake. So far, what Tony had learned was to pack light. Most likely, they were going to have to be able to run.

Comments

[in_extremis]

Of course Cal wasn't intimidated at all by making it back up to that window, and for a moment Tony was about to start apologizing himself for largely only being a distraction to his own team right to the end. But while he might have been lamely human struggling along behind them, he could at least think efficiently now that he wasn't chasing shadows. As they made their way down the stairs, he pointed away from the window, toward the door, and suggested, "Why don't you just lock up behind us?"

Slipping away from Jon, he jogged toward the door to start searching the seams for a series of heavy locks that thunked open with echoes across the stone hall, but he called back, "What do you mean, what happened to not apologizing? If you didn't do that, Cal'd be trying to unwrap us like Christmas presents by now. You took charge of the situation and yelled at that thing until it went away, listen, I don't know why I was surprised. Did you know he was in a band, hot rod? It was a lot like that, with a goofier outfit. You'd love it."

[beholding_archivist]

Cal's offer is met with a small shrug from Jon's end as Tony already works on opening up the large front door. There may not be anything left to be locked up inside anymore, but he won't argue against locking the building in general. At least until they could have taken a closer look around inside in case something else dwells in another room.

"Let's just focus on getting out and these pollen off of us." Jon counters Tony and steps closer to the door, fully intending to not talk any further about any apologies and how appropriate they were. "Curious that this door has been locked from the inside..."

[out_of_order]

"I guess if you want to do it the easy way," Cal said, smiling crookedly after Tony. He shrugged, but he wasn't going to argue that. They may have weeded the place but that didn't necessarily mean it was safe. Better to make sure before they opened the place up.

He gestured for Jon to go on after Tony through the doors, stepping after them to take care of the locks once they were through, but he was just as eager to be out of the place, even though Jon did raise some good questions.

"Catch you on the other side," Cal said.