When Maitho stepped out of the car, he knew that he wasn't in Cray's neighborhood. In fact, he believed that he wasn't even within five blocks of the mansion where his first encounter with the old man had begun. Stars dotted the night sky like tiny specks of white paint on a black canvas. He watched two figures step out of the front of the car. Their mysterious driver and passenger. The man and the woman were dressed in sharp suits that were too tight for their built frame, but that was probably an intentional effect. Maitho wondered about whether Raiden needed security, seeing as how he was a one man army himself. Epona walked up to stand beside him and leaned against the car, her face drawn up to look at the starry vista above. Raiden was speaking loudly into the phone, perhaps intentionally to reveal what his conversation was about, in case someone might suspect his intentions.
"Ye're still decidin arenae ye?" said Epona in a low voice that was only meant for Maitho's ears.
"About Raiden's plan to kill the Guardians?" said Maitho as a way of inquiry. When he received a nod from her, he continued. "I thought it would be an easy answer. Stop the person trying to kill us all, right? But now." He searched his mind for the right words, afraid that anything he said would undermine how he was feeling at that moment. "Now I'm not sure."
A few breaths of silence passed. Behind them, Raiden was talking into his phone about something that had to do with making an investigation. It seemed like an odd topic to have a discussion about, so when Maitho turned around to check, he saw Raiden look away. A little too quickly. He then realized that the conversation over the phone wasn't taking place because there was much to talk about. It was so that he could finish his conversation with Epona.
"Ah dinnae want tae die," said Epona. Maitho looked at her and for the first time, he saw her face morph into deep sadness. "Ah once tried that path. Ah truly wantit tae find a way tae end awthing. But ah survivit. Ah guess ah have tae thank the Devas for that, e'en thogh they kynd o made awthing happen." She looked at him. "Ah got a second chance. And ah want tae keep it."
Maitho understood her. It was probably because he was at a point as well where he was standing at the edge of his life, looking over into the abyss. It was at that point that a strange man named Charon had visited him in his hospital room and had given him something to look forward to. A second chance. He wanted to say something encouraging, but his mind drew a blank. Instead, he took a deep sigh and turned to face Raiden to give the other man a quick nod.
Raiden ended the call with a "I'll get back to you later" and walked over to them. "The Triple Alliance of Mesoamerica." He beamed, as though he had just made the most fantastical revelation to ever grace the day.
Maitho chose not to speak. He noticed Epona do the same. Perhaps they were both aware that he was going to speak more, and there was no point in trying to ask him questions about it.
As they had guessed, he continued. "Three cities of Mesoamerica who formed an alliance. A powerful one at that. They even went on to battle in the Tepanec War." He raised one finger. "But guess what was their greatest accomplishment? At least, according to me."
This time, Epona spoke. At first, Maitho thought that she was impatient. But from the tone of her voice, he noticed that she was curious as well. "Whit?"
"They formed the Aztec Empire. And so here we are. The three of us, about to form our own little empire. Now in the grand scheme of things, people remember the bigger empires. Roman. Egyptian. The Qing Dynasty. But the Aztecs were truly important too. Just like how we are going to be important, even though there are bigger groups out there. My team. The Celtic gang. Cray's personal army that could rival the forces of most countries. But it's never about the size. It's about ambition. So what say we go out there and make a bang? Show them what we are capable of."
Maitho shook his head. "This isn't about fame."
"Yes but like it or not, we are going to be quite famous after this. I mean, we're talking about breaking a Guardian out of prison." He shrugged. "How many have attempted that?"
Maitho shrugged. He decided to change the topic. "I guess we come up with ideas now."
"Before that," said Raiden. He reached forward and hovered his hand over the car's doorhandle. "May I?" Maitho and Epona parted to give more space. Raiden opened the door and disappeared into the car for less than a few breaths before exiting out again. In his hand, he held a tablet. He powered it on, kicking back at the door to close it shut. "Right, right, right. Where was it?" He tapped and swiped on the screen in a frenzy, as though the device was hiding something from him and he wasn't about to let it get away with it. "There you go." He showed the screen to Maitho and Epona.
On it was a white screen with a complex arrangement of lines, curves, and measurements. It was a blueprint. Maitho recognized it even before he noticed the title above the diagram, which confirmed his thoughts. It was a prison. More specifically, it was the prison.
The entire diagram was in the shape of a disfigured nonagon. Some walls were pushed in while others bent at right angles. Clusters of rectangles were placed inside the structure along its borders, which made Maitho believe that they were different cell blocks. Rooms and hallways collided with walls and doors. Circles were scattered around the perimeter of the map, which were probably the guard towers. There was a hexagon in the center of the prison, which had two opposite sides longer than the others. That had to be the large recreational yeard for the prison inmates.
Maitho looked up at Raiden, unable to to believe that he had gotten this map in such a short period of time. But then it occurred to him that it was probably the work of Cray, who could easily find details such as the layout of the prison in such short notice.
"Here," said Raiden, pointing to a small square set within one of the rectangles. "That's where she is being held. You have," he pointed at a rectangle adjacent to the square, "this guard station," then he indicated a room shaped like an inverted L, "and this armory to deal with."
"No tae mention the prison cells, hallways, an ivery other damn obstacle along the way. Then thare are the automatic doors." Epona crossed her arms, her eyebrows frowning in concentration.
"Well," said Raiden. "We could ask Cray to lend us a helicopter, then we could land here." He pointed at the hexagon shape. "That's probably the recreation yard. It's pretty big, but enough for our purpose."
"An then whit?"
Raiden made a face like the answer was obvious. "Then we blast our way to our destination." He looked at Maitho. "Without killing anyone, of course. I don't harm humans." He swiped the screen. This time, words superimposed themselves on various sections of the diagram. Maitho noticed 'Yard', 'Cellblock 1', and other names vying for his attention. The square box where Morrigan was presumably held was highlighted in bright red.
Maitho shook his head. "I don't want to attract too much attention from the beginning. I also prefer if it was just the three of us on this plan. I understand that you hire professionals, but one stray bullet from the prison guards or from your men might just kill someone." He pointed at a wall that was close to the cellblock that held their target cell. "We can enter through here." He noticed that no one had responded to him. When he looked up, two pairs of eyes were locked on him with expectations. He cleared his throat, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. "We head for the armory first. Raiden can probably bring it down."
"I can definitely bring it down," he said. "Taking out the armory will prevent the guards from arming themselves. Then we are just one guard room away from our target."
"Ay but we still have tae get in. An ye forgot the guard towers," said Epona.
"We'll have to avoid direct confrontation with the towers as much as possible. Maybe we can have Raiden distract them after we are inside." Even as Maitho uttered the words, he knew that his voice wasn't confident. In fact, he didn't feel confident. "No, that's not going to work."
"Then how about we darken the place a little?" said Raiden.
Maitho looked up, a look of surprise plastered on his face. "That's a great idea. How do you want to do that?"
"The prison gets its power from underground cables. They are connected to generators, right about here." He pointed to another section of the map marked 'Generator Room'. "All I need to do is supply a bit of my powers and overload them."
Maitho spotted the problem instantly. "It's on the other side of the prison."
"Then we attack from two different sides. I break through, turn off the power and just cause harmless chaos. You two can reach Morrigan. Although you will have about thirty seconds or so before the backup generator kicks in."
"Then thare'll be na one tae tak care o the armory," said Epona.
Raiden shrugged. "A sacrifice. But if the area is dark, then it gives you an opportunity."
"Let's not forget that we have to get out of there," said Maitho.
A silence pressed down on them. Maitho realized that they were walking into a situation they had barely any control over. They would not only be going in partially blind, but they will have to keep their attention peeled for any challenge that might arise along the way.
"So let me get this straight," said Raiden. "We have to break in, either choose to destroy the armory or not, either switch off power or not, head over to Morrigan's cell, and take her out of there? Let's not forget that Yshe is there because she wants to be there."
"Whatever her reasons are, we need her outside," said Maitho.
"And if she turns against us?"
There was no real answer to that question. All Maitho hoped was that they would be able to convince her long enough for her to consider helping them. He needed her strength, just like he was slowly realizing that he might need Raiden's strength as well. "I'll figure something out."
"There's also the matter of how we can get there. If you are planning to avoid sounds, then we can't use vehicles."
"But maybe we can use horses," said Epona.
"Someone might still hear the sounds of galloping," said Raiden. "But it's better than any other option we have." He placed one finger on his lips as he contemplated something. "Remember that Morrigan can transform into nearly any beast in existence. That includes a dragon. And maybe a unicorn. But you get the point. Just something I thought you should know."
Maitho nodded. "Can't worry about that right now. Once we rescue her, we call the others."
"You want to gather everyone so soon?" said Raiden.
"I don't want to give Morrigan too much time to reconsider. I don't know how she is going to react, but I need to do this as quickly as possible."
"Then I suppose it's my job to arrange a little soiree for everyone," said Raiden. He stuffed his hands in his pocked and looked up. "So, is everyone ready to use a plan that was barely well thought-out to break into a prison we haven't seen before to break out a Guardian who does not want to leave said prison?"
Maitho saw the hesitation on Epona's face. He himself didn't know what to expect. He wasn't ready. They didn't have a proper plan. What they had was a bunch of solutions to a few problems strung together to form an inkling of a plan. Despite reason telling him to reconsider, he knew he had to go ahead. There just wasn't enough time to craft a strategy. He wondered if, even after breaking Morrigan out of prison and revealing the truth to everyone, anyone would be able to change anything. He wasn't certain, but he had to hope that his actions were enough. "Let's do it."
A few hours later, with just a little hope and faith in their abilities, Maitho found himself a few miles from the prison. Raiden was on a call with someone, which was something he had done a few times during their journey. Epona was sitting in a crouched position, her eyes on the arrangement of lights in the distance that indicated the prison. Close to her feet was the only bag that they were able to save from their attempt to break into the Celtic base. There was a fairly big haul inside. Bulletproof vests, balaclavas, spray paints, boots, batons, tasers, and even a couple of stun grenades. The bag also included a single helmet, one shotgun, and rubber rounds.
Once Raiden was finished with the call, he looked at the others. "Are you both ready?"
Maitho wasn't certain. He knew that there was no time to hesitate. "Guess it's time to break into a prison."