Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Snike]

Of course the three who he yelled at would yell back. Blake decided to address them one by one, starting with the shaman.

"You're the driving force behind returning to a vasilus who wasn't exactly friendly towards you," Blake said, to Shadrak. "If you anger her, or if she takes her distaste towards you out on the others out of spite, which you can't say for certain won't happen, blame will be falling on you. So while I think the others should and will be warned, you'd best think carefully about who will accompany you."

He was about to move on to Gar, but the knife wielder quickly made an exit after responding to Shadrak one last time. That left Bert, who was apparently over the incident anyways. Alright then, back to business.

"So much for a quiet day... With regards to the Winged Cleric, where's Valter? He was with Joanna last night, so I'd imagine he'd know where to track her down," the swordsman began, returning to the events of the day. "I'll assume that Raquel was the one to detect the piece near the archive, which is why you were there, but who prompted Nyx to mention Sardis? Where is he? And who's with him?"

He didn't really have time to be polite, as it sounded like they were heading for a clash.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika had very little idea of what to do with Nyx by this point, if she had nefarious designs for their group Veronika couldn't do anything about it anyway and people were set on going despite the danger. Blake was focusing on Sardis, which reminded Veronika of what their mission here was.

"Sardis is in a complex in the southern part of Europa- we don't know many details about what he has but Weyland sent a scouting force that should return shortly. He is accompanied by Jethro, Raquel's...copy, and the man who blew up the Dauntless back at the fortress. I believe locating Sardis was Jericho's idea," she explained, gesturing towards Jericho for Blake's convenience, "as Sardis apparently has his brother Hayato captive." She avoided the question about Valter as she did not know the answer. He appeared to be alive last night from what I remember- it is difficult to keep track of everyone in a group of this size...

[Mercakete]

"Oh, Valter?" Norbert realized he was probably the last to see him, but besides that, they were looking for Joanna, from the sound of things. He'd be the last to see her, too, probably. To the woman cook, he informed, "I'll help in a second. I have something I should probably say, first."

Then, he simply answered those wondering where the two were at the same time, "I saw Joanna and Valter this morning at the grand cathedral. Valter said he would be back here this afternoon, I think. They were going to have breakfast, so I'm not sure if they're still there, but I don't see why they wouldn't be." Where else do clerics go? "And you could probably meet Valter on his way back if you don't find him there, if you're in that much of a rush."

[Phoenix]

Scout's Return

Gabbie flew right over the gates on her way back, though the guards recognized her, not just by her appearance but by her tendency to do what she had just done and fly right over onto estate grounds without any fear of being shot down. Sure enough, the snipers knew it was her too and went back to watching the horizon and Europa from the sheltered areas on the roof.

Next, she landed right at the main building's entrance, hopped down from Tacito, and led the wyvern right up to the side of the door where he would be out of the rain for a little while. "I'll be back," she gloomily told her wyvern before heading inside, her cloak and clothes dripping wet.

People were obviously up and about, as she saw two people from Raquel's group heading her way, Tia, Eva, and Eli. She wasn't really in the mood to talk and so, figuring Raquel at least was in the dining hall, she began heading that way, passing the two on her way.

Setting the Stage ... and the Tables

"Oh thank you all so much," Erica said, looking incredibly relieved. She couldn't expect them to know exactly what to do besides 'bring out the food', though, so she quickly took on the final duty she had for the time being. "Just follow me, we're going to be setting it all out along with the bread, fruits and vegetables. A buffet, basically." Only without much substance, heheh.

Even Bert's helping? Well now I'd feel awkward if I didn't ... Suzume thought to herself. Gar had left which meant her chances of finding out more about his scars weren't looking too good. "I'll be back," she quietly told Norbert before standing up with her own flowers and hurrying after Gar. Erica had plenty of volunteers anyway, she figured.

"Tch, anyone who would bow down to another human being is an idiot, pure and simple," Shadrak muttered after Gar left. "Not that serving anyone is a good idea, but it takes a 'special' kind of logic to ." Shifting toward Blake irritably, Shadrak said, "I can't stop them from coming. Even if I suddenly decided to stay here, I'm sure Eva would still be going, so if you're going to hold me responsible for their choices, you're as crazy as Gar is. I'm getting the hell out of here before you people decide to blame all this rain on me, too."

Gar had gone off somewhere, now Shadrak was on his way out, though Raquel was surprised to see him go back to his table first to grab his lunch. He'd remembered to eat apparently, but it would be food to go since he wasn't planning on sticking around here. "Shadrak, wait a second," Raquel pleaded, hoping to at least calm the druid down before he and the others went to see Nyx. It wouldn't matter how well he 'knew her' if he was too upset to think clearly. Shadrak shook his head at the pleading but was otherwise ignoring her as he passed on by. "... darn it." I've had some pretty bad days since all of this started, but this one's about to be crowned the worst.

Anyway ... "Anyway, I need to practice a specific technique to make the plan work easier. Gar mentioned it earlier; I just need to pull off a warp and leave something you're carrying behind while taking us both somewhere else," she explained to Jericho. "We'll need a prop, something that would normally get warped along with us, but nothing too small. It needs to be at least as big as a weapon. A tome maybe ..."

When Blake mentioned Valter and Joanna, Raquel realized that, somehow, they'd actually been in contact with the winged cleric they were looking for already, just last night, even. "You mean that Joanna? You mean that same girl who keeps showing up in Europa and Ursentius?" It was true, Joanna was there during their foray into Dolan's facility in Ursentius, the aftermath of the battle with the wrathites in that same city, and last night, during the fallen attack, she had shown up with Valter. Norbert's mention that they had been at the cathedral earlier meant that Shadrak was more likely to find them than she was. Sighing, she said, "Never mind; we'll worry about that later."

Amon was listening in along with Malik. The latter leaned closer to Amon and asked, <"You know this Joanna? If she's the one we're looking for, then that means we have her name now. We should head back to the church and find her.">

Putting away the insignia Nyx had given him, Amon said, <"We don't want to keep running around on an empty stomach. After lunch, we should go check on Haythem. If the storm clears before nightfall, we'll go looking for her. By then, she should definitely be back at the cathedral. You don't see clergy wandering around much at night, at least."> He thought about something else and then his gaze fell to the table. <"I hope Fizza is alright.">

Meanwhile, Greta made her way over to Erica, who promptly headed back into the kitchen, expecting the trio of volunteers to follow. Inside, several mountains of carefully stacked sandwiches stood there, each atop its own serving cart. That would certainly make things easier for the volunteers. If she only had a fourth, she wouldn't have to roll out the soup too. Alas.

"Found some help, I see," Johnny commented from further back in the kitchen.

"I sure did," Erica smiled back. No one was under any obligation to help them right now, not without Ernesta around to force them, so she was glad that Weyland's guests, as well as one of the new recruits, was so generous.

Clothing

"Hmm ... alright, then," Tamara nodded. The guest wings didn't bother putting in random formal clothing and simply offered simple clothing that was easy to make and replace. That meant guests had to put in a request for something specific if they needed it, but there were more than enough servants to handle things like that, even in mass. If Mushirah wanted something simple to wear, Tamara suspected she could probably find it in the guest room's wardrobe. "Let's be on our way, then. Do you know the way back to your room?"

Heading Back

Charles didn't try to end Valter or Glen's lives, but he'd come quite close and things would have come to blows in earnest if not for his subordinate's words and actions. Still, Joanna was eventually restrained, her hands cuffed, her wings gently tied, and placed onto a horse alongside another wrathite. A few of the wrathites stayed behind momentarily to make sure neither Valter nor Glen would try anything else, and once their allies were well out of sight, they left too, hoping to rejoin the group and get out of the rain.

Glen was furious, but with no outlet for his anger--his house was already in shambles with the door kicked in and ashes all over the place--he simply sat on the floor in the main hallway, trying to think of a way to make things right. Eventually, after a bit of discussion with Valter, the two decided to go to the Weyland Estate. It would be quite a trip, especially in the middle of a mild thunderstorm, but Weyland was the only person of status either of the two knew. If he couldn't do something, Glen was planning on using more surreptitious methods to help free Joanna.

Edited May 14, 2014 by Phoenix

[Toogee]

Eli simply smiled and nodded at Eva as she spoke to him. He wasn't sure if he had ever met her. He would have been rather embarrassed if he asked her name and offended her by forgetting a previous encounter. So he didn't.

"Um...yeah...what she said," Eli said to Tia. Whatever he was going to say, Eva beat him to it. As Eva zoomed off, Eli issued a final warning.

"FYI, if she tries to recruit you or something, say no. I know it sounds like common sense, but you'd be surprised how many people jumped on such an offer."

They followed Eva to the stables to prepare for departure.

[Snike]

Blake frowned as Shadrak stormed out, but didn't bother getting in the last word. It would've only made things worse, from what he saw. Instead, he continued on with the other conversations.

"There's no rush for now, but it's always good to know for the future. Thanks Bert," Blake said, with a faint smile, before turning to Raquel. "Yes. 'Winged Cleric' is her unofficial title, as she's one of the more iconic members of the Church of Mercy. Around this region, anyways. I'm surprised you hadn't heard of her, before meeting her proper."

Now, back to Sardis. Not only was Jethro there with him, but so were Samael and the clone... And all this was prompted by Jericho, the red-haired man who was speaking to Raquel. Incidentally, he was the brother of Hayato, Sardis' right hand man and apparent... hostage? That didn't make much sense, but then again, neither did Jethro's behavior at the fortress.

"... Hayato didn't act like a captive at the fortress, though I suppose he could be like Jethro," Blake said, frowning. "Do we know if he's at the complex as well? And what do we have planned for them? I can't imagine us being able to take Sardis and the Raquel look alike in a straight fight, let alone with Samael as well."

[-Cynthia-]

"The plan is to use Raquel's emblem powers to quickly move into the compound, grab Jethro and Hayato, and bring them to us. Then we set explosives and detonate them on their entire force here. Plans may change based on whatever information we receive however," she explained to Blake quickly. That didn't sound too ridiculous, so maybe this is a decent plan.

[Ether]

The other thing that appeared to come to light in all of this was that a supposed Winged Cleric... from the sounds of it doubtlessly an Avian, had an Emblem piece in her possession... Angelica would have tracked it down herself had she not folded to whims past and brought on the damn strain... oh well, some things just weren't meant to be...

Still, with combat preparations and manual labour being the two camps of choice, the adept found herself rather lacking in things to do, given her current predicament... she might have opted to drag Eva off into a secluded corner and curb her own boredom but the rider seemed dead set on flying off into battle... another opportunity down the drain. Not that this day wasn't seeming full of those, already.

***

And just like that, it was over... Faatina had missed her chance to take action, though at this point she still wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad. It seemed that the course was set already... so this was how it was to be then. It just felt so... off. It was one thing to stand across a man and give him a fair duel, even were one to perish it would be a valiant end, but this? She supposed the notion of these explosives did seem quite... Gar. But to go along with something so needlessly destructive, was it really necessary?

As Veronika told the plan to Blake, yet more confirmation that it was at this point, pretty well set in stone. The paladin couldn't help but grind her teeth and clench her fist until her knuckles grew white as the redheaded swordswoman spoke.

[Mercakete]

Apparently, Suzume planned on being back. She went after Gar, from the looks of things. Again, he felt a little mystified at what that woman saw in Gar, but at least she was loyal, it seemed. Regardless, he had a job to do, and so gave Blake a nod at the thanks before following Erica inside and receiving his instructions. "So, specifically, what did you want us to do? Roll these out?" If that's all, this is just pathetically easy... At least it'll be over soon if that's the case.

[Snike]

"... Raquel can control her abilities now? Congratulations, I suppose," Blake said to Raquel, uncertain if that truly was a good thing. But enough about that. "Anyways, that sounds simple enough, but I have to wonder, will they be able to see us coming? Not to mention, will they be able to do anything about Raquel escaping with those two? If something happens, we've just unintentionally handed her over to the Organization, and it'll be all over."

[Nanami Touko]

With all the arguing and excitement of going back to this mysterious Goddess, Eva had forgotten it was raining. Sure hope that Shadrak and Mushirah have coats... Eva wasn't entirely bothered by getting soaked, as she definitely would be when they got there, but she couldn't speak for her passengers. "Oh well! Someone else must've remembered it was raining; we can't have all forgotten," she exclaimed, to whoever was around. She'd been speeding off, so she didn't know if Tia and Eli were still behind her. She ran herself through the rain straight to the stables, without looking. Upon glancing around, she was quite alarmed to find that Sasha wasn't where she'd left him. "What the...? Oh. Great." With a quick glance around, she found her silly lizard relaxing in the rain, with what could be considered a grin on its scaly face.

With a quick whistle, Sasha quickly sat up from his relaxing, and bounded on over. Pressing his soaked face up against her. "Noooo, no no, stupid lizard, you're-- ah, there's no use now, I'll get soaked anyway..." With a bit of a smile, she patted his head, and started messing with the straps on his saddle. There was a part of it that folded out from underneath for other passengers, so she started getting that set up whilst Sasha shook the rest of the water off of his wings and tail.

Edited May 14, 2014 by I have opinions

[ReformBlade]

"My tome it is." Grabbing it and simply glancing at it, Jericho idly held onto it for the conversation at hand. "And... to be truthful, I wouldn't expect my brother to act as a captive, but I'd rather be burned alive than admit that he was sound of mind to go along with them this long." Truth.

Finding Hannah where she left her, Aneda started getting Hannah ready for a ride that the poor Pegasus didn't really want. "Aw come on girl, for me?" Neigh. "I think someone's getting spoiled, you need to listen to me more often you jerk! After all the things I've done for ya, too!" She scoffed but Hannah wasn't very sure Aneda had actually done anything spectacularly for her any time recently, but then again she's a Pegasus so who knows.

"I do know my way back, yes." Mushirah nodded, "If you could help me balance there, that'd be fantastic as well. I'm not... used to this.. arm thing." she wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed about the lack of an arm or confused at how potentially short lived this could be, but ultimately she decided to not be so optimistic about this excursion and resigned herself to feeling like it'd be gone forever. That way if it comes back, boom, supreme happiness.

[Sakusa]

Gwyn followed Erica without complaint, not exactly happy to help, but she refused to let it show on her face. Such menial labor was usually beneath her, since she didn't really want to appear as a scullery maid, after all, but the situation called for drastic measures. "Eh, it's quite alright, no need for thanks," she replied airly, shrugging a bit. The indigo-haired man asked the more important question, so the virtuoso decided to ask about the details. "So where exactly did you want these sandwiches placed? Between the bread and produce?" she inquired, crossing her arms and eyeing the sandwich mountains warily. "Is there some sort of trick we should be aware of so that we don't accidentally topple your hard work?" Her fingers found their way to her hair again, twisting the curls listlessly. "This shouldn't be too hard, I've handled tasks of dexterity far more difficult than balancing sandwiches. If we just need to leave the carts next to the tables, then it'll be even better, but I doubt it'll be the case."

[Phoenix]

Place of Making Food

"It should be simple enough," Erica replied with a reassuring smile, "the top of the serving carts are exactly the same height as the dining tables, so just flip this right here ..." she reached over and flipped a tiny lever on the cheese sandwich serving cart, and the guard on the same side as the lever came loose and fell, stopping to swing a few times on its own hinges. "With that down, just roll it up to the tables and carefully slide the plate of sandwiches onto the table. And yes, between the bread and that painstakingly gathered produce."

"So, how do you want to handle the soup, Erica?" Johnny chimed in, "We can serve that ourselves once I'm done with this or I can get some bowls ready and people can just serve themselves. You look tired, by the way."

"Bowls, please," Erica weakly replied before waddling over to a chair and collapsing onto it. "I'm going to rest now ... the rest is up to you, Johnnyyy ..."

Johnny frowned, a bit amused but also a little embarrassed. "I hate it when she gets like that. Everything's gotta be just right and look how she ends up for it. What a pain, I tell ya."

Dining Hall Stuff

"I've heard the title before today, but I didn't know that was her," Raquel clarified. "But ... yeah, I know it's a bit extreme in a place like this, but blowing the place up is a lot safer for us than fighting them head on like usual. I'm not sure if they would know I'm coming in advance ... I don't have an em--" she stopped herself, realizing it wasn't quite that simple. She didn't have an emblem piece, but she did have emblem energy. She didn't remember for certain if her doppelganger could sense it, but she herself could sense nearby emblem pieces which meant it was definitely possible for another emblem wielder to sense her coming. "Okay, they might see us coming, but I think by the time I'm close enough to sense that girl's emblem piece, I can move in and get our targets before they can react." The rest of the plan, could be tricky, though ...

"Never ... again," Gabbie greeted. She stood in the middle of the entryway to the dining hall, still soaked and dripping, and looking like she was going to throttle the first thing she could get her hands on.

"Uh ... Gabbie?" Raquel could only recognize her due to her accent and what she could see beneath the lancer's cloak, her legs, which wore very distinct greaves. "You're ... wet."

"I'm also absolutely livid roight now," she shot back as she snatched her cloak from her body and threw it onto the seat of a nearby chair, "so do me a favor and shut up so I can tell you what we found. "There's fifty-six enemies total, including the important ones. The building they're using looks like some old company building. It's even surrounded by storehouses and a lot of old junk. There weren't any civilians around but they've got that place guarded insoide and outsoide. You take more than a handful of people and you're asking for a showdown. Lastly, Anna's still over there. I'm sorry if you've got plans but Anna does things her own way. If she gets a shot at Sardis or the aureola spewing prick, she's taking them out."

Raquel had mixed feelings about Anna shooting Sardis, but not Samael. That evil man couldn't die soon enough as far as she was concerned, but Sardis ... that was something of a personal issue for her. She wanted to be there when his career in violence came to an end, one way or another. "Hmm ..."

Some Hallway

"Very well, let's take it nice and easy," Tamara replied, keeping close enough to Mushirah to save her from any missteps as they headed back to the latter's room. If she was hoping that Mushirah would gradually get used to her new center of gravity without needing too much hands on help, but until she really needed it, she would just remain really close by.

Gabbie passed them on her way to the dining hall without a word. "Ugh, I can't believe she's tracking water through the halls like that," Tamara winced, "someone could slip." Someone very close to her even ....

Some Other Hallway

"Hey Gar, wait up," Suzume called out once she caught sight of the man's back. He'd gotten one hell of a head start thanks to her hesitation, it seemed. "I-uh ... wanted to ask you about something." She wasn't sure why she used the word 'something' instead of being specific, but if he wanted to know, he could just ask himself or wait for her to.

[-Cynthia-]

"Fifty-six is too many for us to fight," Veronika said decisively. They had about thirty with the additions from Greta's group, but Sardis was worth at least ten of them, and the Dauntless destroyer was at least ten more. "Lack of civilians means we shouldn't damage unintended targets- if Gar can get to the key structural points without much incident, this plan might work if we time it well. " I don't know the specifics of explosives, but Gar seemed rather confident. He has a lot of bravado, but based on his combat skills it's not entirely unfounded. I'd rather fight them head on, but the wisest plan is often not the most honorable one.

[Snike]

"Thanks for the information. Do you know if Hayato, Sardis's henchman, is present as well?" Blake asked Gabriella, since no one else had confirmed it. He was pretty sure the swordmaster would be there, but there was no harm in verifying.

While he waited for an answer there, he directed his attention to the plan. "The timing of the explosives would have to be perfect, to not catch Raquel in the blast and to prevent retaliation. We'd have to set them up and beforehand, as well, which, not even considering that it forces us to ensure the explosives aren't detected in time, is no easy feat considering the place is heavily guarded. Not to mention there's no telling what Samael might do to Jethro if we're detected ahead of time, and we can't bring many people... I think that the rescue alone is risky, let alone destroying the hideout. It might just well be better to try and grab Jethro and Hayato, and get out of the area as fast as possible. Shame we don't have a way of contacting the two of them, though."

[-Cynthia-]

"If we simply grab Jethro and Hayato and leave, we will have done nothing to prevent retaliation. They will strike swiftly against us or Weyland or both and I do not think we will be able to avoid a confrontation forever. One of our sides must die and we must seize any element of surprise while we still have the opportunity," Veronika argued.

[Mercakete]

Norbert smiled a little at Erica's exhausted state. It was a little amusing, but thinking about it, he had her and Johnny to thank for the food he was going to eat, not to mention that everyone else was going to eat. Weyland's people sure seem dedicated. The soup sounded like it was going to be taken care of by Johnny, so Norbert just grabbed one of the carts and began wheeling it out to the table.

It was a simple enough task at first glance, but then it came time to unload the stack of sandwiches. That was when he realized he wasn't entirely sure how to slide the platter over onto the table. He tried reaching over it one way, but pulled back, then another, and pulled away again, quickly becoming frustrated. This resulted in his glaring at the sandwich stack. I can't go about this recklessly; they worked very hard on this and we all need our food if we're going to be able to do anything well. Blast it... I don't want to touch the sandwiches. I'm not the only one who's going to be eating them, after all... This was a lot trickier than he thought.

Finally, he just carefully slipped his fingers around the guard and to the rim of the platter closest to him. As he began to carefully push it forward off of the tray and onto the table in a spot that seemed as described, he carefully kept his focus on his hands. If a muscle twitched too early, he could accidentally touch a sandwich with the palm of his glove, and he didn't want to contaminate the food with anything for anyone else. His hands were still kind of dirty from his sweat and whatever else had been on the ground during his training, too, so just removing the gloves weren't an option either. No, this was probably the best option. It just took concentration...and Norbert gave it all the focus he could muster, concentrating so hard that he began to sweat a bit again.

And then, the tray was in place, all sandwiches accounted for and untouched. Norbert straightened up from it and admired his work proudly. He may not have had much skill at anything else besides fighting, but he succeeded in this task without giving cause for complaint. He really hadn't wanted to be the cause for those hard-working cooks to have to redo anything, especially having already exhausted themselves. Though this wasn't a normal battle, he still stood in the gap for them and had achieved his goal. So, he wheeled the cart back into the kitchen and asked, "Where do I put this?"

[spoiler=OoC]I probably overdramatized the narration because I am tired.

[Snike]

"We lose the element of surprise the moment Raquel gets in range to warp in, at the latest," Blake responded. "Sure, dropping the building on the Organization might delay retaliation, but I doubt it's going to kill the big players. Not while they possess the emblem pieces. It might even agitate them into launching an attack. And again, if we mistime the explosives, or something goes wrong with the teleportation, it's all over. The latter is a big enough risk in my eyes, so I can't agree with going with the explosives. But as for retaliation... We could tip off the Wrathites, to keep the organization on the backfoot."

[ReformBlade]

She normally would have just kept the knowledge of a wet floor on a back-burner in her mind, but now it could pose a lot more than just a mere inconvenience, but thankfully she didn't have to pass over it at the moment and she'd cross that bridge somewhat soon. Right now, Mushirah was just going to worry about what to wear and bringing her tome and backpack just in case. In case of what, she didn't know, nor did she care, it was comfort in a place and time where comfort was needed. So... there is that. "I'll be careful." she replied. Though it was seemingly a lot farther away on her way to the dining hall, her room was a much shorter journey now that she was somewhat used to her new balance, for all of maybe a few moments.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Suzzy Q caught up to his deliberately sluggish self. He stopped when she asked, looking back at her, waiting. She had a question? Well of the hundred things he just spewed, guess it was natural to be curious about a few. "Yeah, go ahead, ask."

[Sakusa]

Gwyn quickly looked over the cart's mechanism in order to internalize Erica's instructions, which were most definitely easy. The only major problem she could discern was the delicate situation of carting over a sandwich mountain with enough finesse to not accidentally jostle any one of them out of place.

After Johnny's comment, Gwyn could sympathize with Erica's predicament. There was nothing wrong with striving for perfection, especially when you have to earn your keep. "No, I can completely understand where she's coming from. A spread should not only be pleasing to the eye, but it must also be nutritious as well. A good meal relies not only on a proper balance of ingredients but is also to the pleasing the senses, as people draw energy from a multitude of sources. I'm sure you wouldn't like it much if your spread ended up looking like a pile of slop and the guests launched a series of complaints because of how poorly presented their meal was. Remember who your employer is and how his reputation hangs in the balance of your personal actions."

She then carefully wheeled the cart into the dining hall, not particularly wanting to hear the cook's response. People like him had no appreciation for aesthetics, and she didn't want to bother wasting more breath on him than needed. Bert's cart was in front of hers, and it looked like he was having quite a bit of trouble with his load. Her lips curled into a little smirk; his plight was amusing. Just when she was about to offer advice, however, he seemed to have collected himself and was satisfied with his results. Gwyn unloaded her own cart after he left, pushing one end of the massive plate and pulling on the other to preserve the orientation of the plate. She then pushed the cart back into the kitchen and awaited further instruction.

[-Cynthia-]

"The Wrathites have been concerned with the emblem in the past, but with Schwartz and the Fallen attack and everything else I have to wonder if they would make this any sort of priority," Veronika said with some doubt. It was a better idea than simply leaving them be at least.

[Snike]

"Collecting fragments of the fire emblem is their number one priority,so I would doubt they'd knowingly overlook one in their home city," Blake said, frowning despite his words. "And besides, they along with the army need to restore the confidence of the public. Capturing the perpetrators of the Sergio Port incident would be an excellent first step towards that."

[Ether]

"Do you really think that they might survive, Blake?" Faatina asked... finally, someone was vouching against this crazy plan... and it was a good point to make, they did have an Emblem piece, after all,

"And if Sardis and the other higher ups manage to pull out of this, it really would negate any point of it... you'd be sacrificing everyone there for a slim shot."