Kain didn't immediately head to the Colosseum. He noticed that his quarry was not heading towards there, but to another location towards the northern edge of the pink dome. As he continued following behind, he quickly noticed other large radiation footprints heading in a similar direction.
Finally, Kain reached the northern edge and walked through again to the other side. It became much quieter again. He noticed that the radiation footprints were congregating towards some kind of packing facility. There were guards at the entrance and Kain saw a large muscular man with a wicked looking axe on his back. The man stood still while a white light scanned his figure. The light eventually turned green and the man continued on past the checkpoint.
The large muscular man was the last of the radiation footprints to arrive. The others seemed to have already settled in within the basement of the facility. Kain knew he had to hurry if he wanted to listen in on the meeting.
Kain activated his concealment and edged closer to dark spots along the fence. He phased through the fence and dashed quietly from shadow to shadow, making it to the wall of the facility without being detected. Once again, Kain phased through the wall and entered the facility. Just as he was about to make it through the wall, his hand got stuck. It seemed like his phasing ability needed time to replenish. He counted down about 30 seconds before he was able to phase again and free his hand. Looked like he had to practice phasing more to get more proficient.
Kain quickly got his bearings and noticed he was not far from the room where the meeting was taking place. He attempted to focus his hearing on the location where the meeting was happening, but realized it was still too far. He only heard muffled voices. Kain proceeded to step closer and eventually he finally heard clear voices. He hid in a shadowy area and listened in.
"It looks like we cannot wait any longer. Lavaris is no longer holding back and we cannot show any weakness. It isn't just them either. Dominius has made their move as well. Lady Tessa has confirmed that one of her girls saw Darius being held in an apartment tower owned by them. The video recording was brief, but Darius was interrupted by a shadowy figure. Voice recognition analysis identified the voice as Gerris. He has possibly sided with Dominius."
"Damn! If Darius is forced to work for Dominius, their forces will have a potentially unlimited supply of enhance pills. We should have known that neutrality is a pipe dream when it comes to the Council. Does this mean that Lord Tyrin is unaware of his disciple's betrayal?"
"No, Lord Tyrin is aware of Gerris' ambitions. He has set in motion safeguards and notified a few of us regarding his disciple's affiliation with Dominius. The Taria faction has sent out its scouts to monitor several known enemy locations. They will provide a distraction and attack those facilities once we make a move."
"Dantos, unfortunately you will have to wait to recover your assets. Our focus has to be on freeing Darius from Dominius' control. If Breitgaard falls to their side, the balance of power will be completely broken in their favor. The mission parameters must be changed and we will no longer target the War Consortium this night."
"That's fine, just let Darius know he owes me one when you free him. Those bastards can hold on to my assets a little bit longer."
"Are you sure Gerris didn't reveal himself on purpose? Maybe this is a trap and their forces are waiting for us to free Darius."
"No, we have all interacted with Gerris before. He is not one for scheming and most likely made a huge blunder."
"Well, I for one, am glad we are no longer targeting the War Consortium. Their Velyon battle suits are a pain in the ass to fight against. A head on fight against them would lead to significant losses."
"We know our priorities this night. Everyone must move quickly or their spies will get wind of our plans. The meeting is adjourned. Move out!"
Kain stood up and retreated back to his entry point. This time he dived headlong into the wall while activating his phasing ability. He felt himself clear the wall and completed a forward roll on the ground outside. Once he made sure no one noticed him, he backtracked and made it out on the other side of the fence.
As Kain made his way towards the War Consortium, he analyzed all the new information he gleaned from the meeting. It looks like things were really going to heat up tonight. Unfortunately, he couldn't ride on the coattails of others in the invasion of the War Consortium. One thing that worried Kain was the comment regarding significant losses against those Velyon battle suits. What the heck were those? If those big shots at the meeting were worried, it would be prudent to take precautions.
Kain decided not to haphazardly invade without any preparation. He would spend the credits he had on him to purchase things he might need. Kain headed back towards the pink dome to look for a store. He needed to buy enhance pills with the credits on him. He already knew he was on the cusp of getting into the guardian-tier once again. Every bit of strength he could muster would be extra insurance against anything going wrong.
---
Kayla was bored. She was working her shift at the Credit Emporium, the biggest retail goods store in all of Bastion. Her cherry blonde hair framed a beautiful face with blue eyes. She was leaning against the counter waiting for a whale to come in so that she can make more off the commissions.
She sighed in disgust at her unflattering uniform that did little to highlight her womanly curves. If she didn't have to wear the stupid thing, she might have attracted even more customers. She had already made quite a bit off the commissions for her part time position. It was equivalent to a full-time worker who had worked a full week. However, she was not satisfied.
Why would she be? She was top 100 in Taria Academy's list of rising stars. In the Sanctuary of Will, she even placed top 10, which meant that her talent would guarantee a place among the true elite someday. Unfortunately for her, she had the talent, but not the connections.
Her friend and rival Ariel, was also top 100 at the Academy. However, she was talented AND she had connections. She was able to get a posh job at the War Consortium as a host for the VIP lounge. Most likely she was raking credits in with the tips from the true whales.
Credits would determine how fast their growth would be on their path towards Genji-tier. Otherwise, she wouldn't even be out here slaving away. She had considered an even more lucrative position before settling for this one. On her job hunt, her beauty didn't just turn heads on the street, it led to a headhunter from the Penta girls to offer her an opportunity.
Of course, she refused that position because she had her standards, but it would be a lie to say she wasn't tempted by the pay. Maybe she can try the next best thing, which was to go on a date with the next whale. No kissing or sex, but holding hands and hugging should be okay. Was she a bit naive? Maybe, but can't a girl dream? Where was her prince charming?
Suddenly, she noticed a dark-haired young man walking towards her counter. Her face brightened because she had to admit he was quite handsome, with his roguish good looks and vivid green eyes. Please let him be loaded as well, because then he would be perfect.
Of course, the man was Kain wandering into the store.
"Hi, can you help me to take a look at your enhance pills?" asked Kain.
Kayla smiled as she waved Kain over to a secured counter protected by gradius glass. She pointed down to the enhance pills inside.
"Are you looking for the purple enhance pill?" queried Kayla.
"Yes, I am but how much is it?" asked Kain.
Kayla's smile lessened a bit because a whale wouldn't even ask about price.
"It is 100,000 credits for one. If you purchase in bulk, you can get a 10% discount, but have to buy at least 5." replied Kayla.
Kain grimaced and said, "Err, how much are the red pills then?"
Kayla was losing hope for her dream as her smile left her face. Guess he was all looks, and no substance. Unless, he was pretty strong?
She took out a circular disk and said, "Do you want to test your strength? This device does not measure according to your ability. It only measures your raw strength. The colors would be similar to the crystal ball that also measures abilities. This can help me to recommend which pill would be optimal to purchase."
Of course, offering to measure Kain's power was a ploy to see if he was worth her time, not about giving recommendations.
"Ok, I'll test my strength." said Kain as he put forth his hand.
Kayla placed the disk on Kain's hand and the disk emitted a red light along with a number. Seeing the light, she lost all hope. How can a chevalier-tier hope to keep up with her, who was near the top of the guardian-tier?
Her demeanor changed as annoyance and disappointment imprinted across her face.
"You are chevalier tier at 95x strength. How much do you have?" asked Kayla in a much colder voice.
Kain noticed her change, but still answered, "Around 50,000."
"You can buy the red pill for 40,000 credits. That is the most you can afford." said an indifferent Kayla.
Kain thought for a bit, before an idea hit him.
"How much for the blue pills?" asked Kain.
"You want the blue pills? Don't forget they are only temporary, not permanent. Due to this, they are only 3,000 each." said Kayla.
"I also want the disk. How much for that?" asked Kain.
"It is 20,000 for one." responded Kayla.
"Ok, give me 9 of the blue pills and one disk. I will give you 3,000 as your tip for helping me." said Kain.
"Forget it, I'm not cheap enough to take from someone as poor as you. I'll give you 10 blue pills and the disk." Kayla already packed the 10 pills and the disk and threw it towards Kain before he could say anything. She then made a shooing motion to Kain.
Kain was finally angry at her actions. It was bad enough that she totally disregarded his goodwill, but she belittled him on top of that. He was about to give her a piece of his mind, but then decided against it. He had bigger fish to fry tonight and would most likely never see her again. Besides, he got exactly what he needed with the funds he had.
To him, those blue pills were worth 30x permanent increase in strength with his absorption power. He would easily get back into the guardian-tier with them. Also, he would no longer have to pester Mexxle each time to figure out what his strength was at. He placed the disk and the pills into his pocket dimension and left the store.
Kayla watched as Kain left the store and felt a bit of remorse for her actions. She felt like she acted a bit crueler than normal. Maybe it was because she was tired and he disappointed her so much. In any case, she would probably never interact with him in the future. She did her best to smile again as another customer came up to her counter.