Festo checked his GPS and looked at the blip on the screen. "You think they're in this building?" he asked, glancing over at the Jester. The marker was a crude icon of the Jester's face, designed by Casey.
*Casey cries tears inside the thought bubble while making a victory sign with her fingers*
Nakisa scanned the area. The facility was eerily quiet and devoid of any signs of life, including the guards stationed at the entrance. "This is suspicious. There should be plenty of guards swarming this place and yet..." he trailed off, her brow furrowed with concern.
Just then, Jarvis came running towards them, his breaths coming in short gasps.
Jarvis arrived breathless, "Are we supposed to be at the meeting point?"
"We were at the meeting point as planned, but you guys never showed up except for Festo and me," Nakisa replied with a hint of annoyance. Waiting wasn't his favorite thing to do.
"I had to resort to tracking Nat's beeper (the button sized device), since she was lost off the GPS," Nakisa explained, his expression showing a hint of concern.
"Oh, hey, there's Ranald!", Festo pointed at Ranald whose face looked as if he was trying to escape certain death, running towards the three.
"Nakisa was about to address Ranald when he abruptly interrupted her, his voice tense with urgency. "We don't have time for this, something has happened to Nat and Jay is with her at this very moment."
"What's going on?" Jarvis asked, his expression reflecting confusion.
Ranald then recounted the events that had transpired, explaining how Jay had reached out to him for assistance, how he had located Nat and needed help, and how Ranald had guided him to her as quickly as possible. He revealed that Jay had abruptly cut off the transmission once he found Nat, and they had not heard from him since. Everyone listened to his account intently, their attention fully captured by the dire situation at hand.
Jarvis asked, "So, Nat's inside the facility?"
Ranald nodded, "She probably is. I can track Jay's location inside as well."
Nakisa chimed in, "Do you think we should check it out?"
"We didn't bring anything with us, did we?" asked Festo.
"I brought something that passed the detector at the entrance," replied Ranald as he handed out the guns he made at the camp for situations like this.
"How did you even...?" Jarvis asked, visibly surprised.
"Don't ask. Take positions, we'll need to find Jay and Nat," Ranald replied, as he started walking.
As the group hurried towards the facility's entrance, their progress was abruptly halted by the sudden appearance of the Jester. He landed on the ground near them, causing the earth to crack slightly, having leapt down from the top floor where he had created a hole in the wall during his 'sneaky' entrance.
The group was startled as the Jester suddenly appeared, accompanied by Nat and Aiden. He carried Aiden on one shoulder and supported Nat on the other. Everyone watched in awe as they realized that the facility was too high for anyone to jump without caution. It dawned on them that the Jester had likely broken through a wall to enter the building. As they looked at Nat's bruised and battered face, and the blood-soaked Jester, a collective question hung in their minds: What had happened to them?
*******
20 minutes earlier.
The guard offered his armor to Jester, saying 'Here, please take this'," as Jester smiled and accepted the armour, making his way over to Nat's side. Meanwhile, the guard quickly looked around to see if 'that guy' had left, grabbing his gun and running away down the red-tinted corridor, not caring about what happened to Aiden as he rushed past him..
"Hey, Nat," the Jester smiled, holding up the armour, "I got it."
"What happened to you?" Nat asked, confused by all the commotion outside the room and the blood on the Jester's face. She had been waiting inside and didn't know what was going on.
"Ah, nothing much. This man is probably unconscious now. I took care of him well," he replied, dropping Aiden on the floor he had been carrying.
The Jester blushed at Nat's command and quickly turned away to face the opposite wall.
"Okay, I'm done.", Nat said. The armour was healing her fast. This was the power of the grade A type armour. Whatever the damage that was done to Nat, it healed fast.
"Now, what do we do with him?" The Jester asked, referring to Aiden who was lying on the ground.
"I have plenty of questions to ask," Nat said, eyeing Aiden lying on the floor with bruises all over his body. "We're taking him with us."
"Are you feeling better, Nat?" asked the Jester, his voice filled with concern.
"Never better," Nat replied with a smile. "We need to regroup fast."
The Jester then lifted Aiden onto his shoulder.
"I'll ki...ii..ll y...oo....uuu", Aiden muttered unconsciously.
The Jester walked towards the opening on the wall and turned to Nat. "Hold me tight, Nat," he said.
"What are you gonna do?" Nat asked, concerned.
"Just hold me tight," The Jester replied with a determined look on his face.
Nat held onto the Jester's shoulder as he took a leap outside the facility. With a smirk, he landed on the ground without any signs of injury or discomfort. Such a jump usually sent a shock through the body, but none of them seemed to have felt anything.
*******
"Nat? Jay?" Jarvis called out their names.
Nat quickly stepped away from the Jester, "I was just about to suggest we regroup and here you are. You guys must really love me."
"You have no idea how worried we were," Jarvis cried out. "You're always so reckless."
"I apologize for causing you all to worry, but I had no choice," Nat said, gesturing towards the man on the Jester's shoulder.
"Who's that?" Nakisa asked.
"He's the one we were after," Nat replied.
The Jester dropped Aiden to the floor with a thud, his face swollen from the punches he had received earlier. It was hard to recognize him now. Jarvis stepped forward to take a closer look, examining the goatee and the little tie at the back of his hair, but he still couldn't place him.
"But why is he in this condition?" Festo asked, concerned.
"Things happened, and things happened to him," Nat replied cryptically. "Have you gathered what was required?"
"We gathered provisions for the camp," Nakisa reported to the group, referring to himself and Festo.
Curious, Nat turned to Jarvis and asked, "What about you? What did you do?
"Ha," Jarvis reminisced about the times when he used to flirt with women on the streets and get chased by their partners until he received the call from Nakisa.
"Idiot, get back to the car," Nat ordered firmly. "We're leaving."
Jarvis looked at the trembling guard and asked, "Are we taking this guy too?"
"Yes, we're taking him with us," The Jester answered on behalf of Nat as she had instructed him to carry Aiden.
"Festo, Nakisa, let's head back to the car quickly," Nat ordered, urging them to move quickly.
Both nodded quietly and carried the big bag on their back as they began walking towards the exit of the Capital. Nat noticed that Ranald was deep in thought, and she figured he must be thinking about what had happened.
"I'll tell you later, you and Jarvis," Nat said to both of them. They nodded their heads and continued to move.
"How are you going to take this man in this state? The guards will notice something is off," Jarvis asked.
"Leave it to me," the Jester smiled in response. He knew what he would do next.
As they started walking, they heard a noise.
"HEEEEELP!!" cried the guard whom the Jester hadn't killed earlier, running past them. "HEEEEELP ME!! THERE'S A MONSTER INSIDE THE FACILITY!!"
The guard didn't notice he just ran past the Jester. He just wanted to be saved. He ran inside a narrow alley, and more guards would soon learn about what had unfurled inside.
""Nat!" Jarvis cried urgently, "We need to leave quickly."
Nat felt a sense of panic rise within her. She could hear the sound of marching guards approaching from a distance, their footsteps loud and numerous.
"We can't stay here," she said, her voice tense. "We need to move, now."
As the sound of marching guards grew louder, time began to feel like it was slipping away. Lives were at stake and Nat knew they needed to act quickly. The group looked around frantically, searching for a way out before it was too late.