Draco was currently herding his scientists through the door of the residence.
The soldiers were quick to gather their things and wait outside of the building.
They loaded up the many vehicles in front of the residence with equipment and the excess weapons and waited idly.
Meanwhile, the scientists took their sweet time getting ready.
They all wanted to suddenly shower and bask in the luxuries of civilization while they still had the chance.
After over an hour passed Draco had gotten fed up and dragged them out of the residence.
Eventually, after everyone was outside Draco commanded them to load into the vehicles.
Draco got into a car with Addo, Snow, and Amber. He made sure to keep all of his valuables and money close at hand.
He also had each car driven by a soldier, to ensure no funny business happened.
His team of scientists were put together in one car, and the prisoners were grouped together in a different vehicle.
The remaining two soldiers were told to drive behind them.
This composition meant one of the vehicles would have to be left behind. Draco decided to leave behind the car he had been ambushed in by the robbers.
It had dozens of bullet holes in its armored frame, and the hood was so dented that the engine was having problems.
All of the vehicles had bullet holes in them, but they were all armored with the exception of Yougo's vehicle Draco had commandeered.
The bullets left unsightly marks, but their armor would still hold up just fine.
However, the vehicle with the damaged engine was too much of a liability to bring into the desert. The last thing they needed was a broken down vehicle in the middle of nowhere.
With this rationale Draco had his convoy form up, and they began to drive out of the palace courtyard.
As they were leaving Draco asked one of the gate guards where they could buy supplies.
The man directed him to a supply depot in the middle of the city, so Draco's convoy headed there first.
The large group of armored vehicles drew attention from the locals, but aside from interested eyes they encountered no trouble on the way to the supply depot.
Once they arrived Draco saw that the place was surrounded by Saalim's soldiers.
It was a large warehouse-style building with a tall chain link fence around it.
The convoy was stopped at the gate to ask what they needed, but once Draco was identified as a friend of The Emir they were promptly let through.
Draco was met by a serious looking soldier in the area in front of the depot.
He spoke decent English, so Draco told him what he required.
Draco had to pay the man 4,000 dinars for what he needed, but he did ask for quite a bit of things.
He asked for two week's worth of supplies, and this included food and water, gasoline, and camping equipment.
This wasn't even mentioning the most expensive thing.
Draco had purchased some armor piercing rounds for the heavy machine guns atop his vehicles, and extra ammunition for his soldiers.
Draco also acquired a map of Libya, and it showed the route towards Benghazi.
He saw that they would have to travel North through the Sahara desert for almost 800 miles, so he knew it was best to be prepared for anything.
After Draco's convoy was loaded up with supplies they left the supply depot and headed back down the main road.
In only a few minutes they reached the city gates.
Draco's convoy was given a half-assed inspection and waved through, and then the convoy was off for the desert.
Looking at his map, Draco intended to follow the main routes illustrated in red.
There were a number of routes leading to different cities, but they were all along the coast of Libya next to Benghazi.
Sabha was actually one of the most isolated cities in the country, standing hundreds of miles away from any other places of importance.
'We're still another hundred miles or so away from the Sahara Desert, I wonder if there's anything interesting there.' Draco thought.
Draco's convoy headed North while the sun blazed overhead.
The journey was mind numbing and boring, and all he had to stave off boredom was Snow and Amber for company.
The three laughed and told stories while they drove, and discussed random topics.
Draco also asked Amber about the research she was doing.
Apparently, there were remains of ancient progenitors all throughout Africa. The ones in Libya were merely the first fossils her team had found.
Draco thought with amusement that it was quite unfortunate Amber had been kidnapped after only her first success.
Amber had also told Draco that these remains could be used to synthesize long lost strains of progenitor serum.
Her team had intended on bringing the remains to a lab in Europe. They would've been paid heavily to provide the main ingredient for a new pro-serum.
They wouldn't have been developing the serum themselves, and Draco was disappointed to find out that her team lacked experience in that field.
However, even a little bit of knowledge on the topic was more than Draco had to work with.
He figured he could find a more experienced specialist for the job, then have them train his new staff.
While Draco was passing the time, two hours had already passed.
The convoy had now reached the boundary of the Sahara Desert. Draco knew they had reached it because the sand had turned into a light orange color.
There were also small rocks spread sporadically throughout the desert.
This was all in contrast to the empty white dunes of the desert around Sabha.
Draco saw that there was an oasis marked on his map somewhere in the next 50 or so miles, so he intended to have the convoy stop there for a 'pit' stop.
He used a compass to orientate himself, and told Addo which direction to head towards.
Not more than an hour later Draco spotted a large body of water up ahead.
It was still a couple miles away, but Draco's enhanced eyesight could easily pick it up in the distance.
The oasis was shimmering with blue sheen under the sunlight, and a small field of green surrounded it.
Lush shrubbery and trees had cropped around the oasis, and the stark contrast between barren desert and oasis was jarring.
Something else caught Draco's attention around the oasis though.
Draco spotted a number of tents and vehicles parked on one side of the oasis.
At first he thought that he was looking at a camp of sorts, but his eyes quickly picked up additional details.
There were many figures within the camp moving erratically, giving Draco the impression something was happening.
This was not to mention the smoke that was coming from some of the tents.
Draco wasn't completely sure but it looked like some of them were on fire!
Draco told Addo to lead the convoy towards the commotion on the other side of the oasis.
As they approached, what was happening became clear.
There seemed to be two groups within the camp, and one of them was currently engaged in massacring the other.
Draco saw dead bodies strewn across the camp, and men wearing sand colored robes were cutting down the camp's inhabitants with swords.
The camp was unable to fight back, and it looked to Draco like the majority of them were unarmed.
As he watched the movements of the aggressors, it also became clear that they were all powered!
Draco hadn't expected to find bandits so soon in the desert, let alone powered ones.
'I've never seen such a large force of powered since I left the Khalid Dynasty!' Draco thought in shock.
The deserts of Libya were home to many powered individuals, and Draco was just starting to realize how truly dangerous these lands were.
Draco commanded his convoy to stop a few hundred meters away.
The bandits had finished slaughtering the camp's inhabitants, and they had clearly seen Draco's convoy approaching.
Draco realized he had made a severe miscalculation.
Draco made a quick decision and got out of his vehicle, intending on meeting with these bandits.
Snow and Amber began to protest when they saw Draco exiting the safety of the vehicle.
"They had likely spotted us long before we arrived here. There's also no way our vehicles could outrun powered individuals in this desert terrain." He told them.
"But, there's no telling what they'll do to you!" Snow shouted, not convinced.
Draco shook his head, "I can try to negotiate for our passage. If not, I'll take a few of them down with me."
He turned to address Addo,"If it comes to that, lead the convoy away from here while I buy time." he said.
After receiving Addo's acknowledgment Draco promptly exited the vehicle.
He headed towards the now destroyed camp and saw that four of the bandits were also coming towards him.
They were evidently not expecting a single person to approach them.
When the bandits got closer Draco sucked in a deep breath, realizing that they were more powerful than he first thought.
The bandits approaching Draco radiated an aura that was comparable to the average Hamin.
Draco felt confident taking on one or two Hamin, but four?
This wasn't even mentioning the other bandits who were currently still ransacking the camp.