A Frightening Quandary

"Correct. Host body currently contains slight modifications matching Co-Transfer data from prior to Transfer. The reason is unknown, the eventual result of the modification is also unknown. Will require a more thorough scanning device for future evaluations."

Deus stood up as he contemplated for a while, not knowing what any of this meant for himself in the long run. The fact that he was still the primary controller of his body was probably the only good point out of all of this. What he did know, though, was that he needed to look into this more to make sure he wouldn't run into an issue in the future.

"Archive, how about the scan results for my third question about how I should keep you charged? You said you found a solution to that?"

"Affirmative. According to all known information regarding location known as Midnight, the best source of power would be either one of two things. Option one; Experiment X-Z-001 takes power from below the city of Direfell, as there is one large operational room below the ground, the current function has been calculated as being smelting and forging. Option two; Experiment X-Z-001 takes advantage of current priority mission, labeled 'Heist' to gather electric energy from what has been filed as 'Electrical Storm', which is capable of creating a massive amount of reusable energy, similar to the energy generated upon capsule's arrival."

"Hah, so either I break into one of this city's most secure places to steal power from one of the most guarded machines in Midnight… or… I have to harness lightning from a literal electrical storm. Hah. Hah hah!" Deus coughed out in laughter, his head shook back and forth in frustration as he pondered the two options laid out before him. "Lightning storm… or underground factory…"

"Ahhh!" Deus screamed out as he clenched his forehead, "Fine! Since I'm already heading for the electric storm, I might as well go get myself electrocuted."

"Deus, what's wrong?" Droh asked as he slowly walked over, "You regretting everything now?"

"Regretting the job? Not really. Heh, my problem is something different… you know how I need to find a way to charge this damn thing?" Deus showed the Archive to Droh, "According to the scans, either I have to break into Direfell's factories or I have to find a way to harness literal lightning to keep the damn thing charged."

"Lightning?" Droh questioned, "You mean the storms? That's a horrible idea… even Roland would avoid getting too close to the storms when they were happening… he'd take a huge detour and everything. From what I've heard, only the military captain has ever survived being struck by it."

"Wait, that captain Roch fellow has been hit by the lightning… and he survived? I figured the electricity was dangerous but to think only someone like him could survive… Ah hell, I'm in a bad spot. What do you think I should do?"

The two of them sat in silence for some time as they wondered what they would do. Droh had Roland to worry over, but Deus had not only Elias to watch out for, but he also had to steer clear of Direfell's most dangerous man, Roch.

Deus spoke up, "We'll figure something out though, no doubt. In the meantime how about we try and think up a plan just in case that Elias guy backstabs us, you know since he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd just give up after everything."

Droh nodded his head in agreement, "So far Elias hasn't told Roland about me but that's probably only because he wouldn't be able to benefit from doing so… however, once this job is over there's nothing really stopping him from telling Roland and watching what happens next."

"Right. I don't really know what sort of drama you have with this Roland guy… but it's clearly not good. We need to plot ahead for him, too. Question is, how? Roland is in charge of a major clan, right? Besides the military itself, who has enough power to hold him off?"

"In Direfell? Nobody. He runs probably the biggest clan around here, not even the trading groups dare to offend him. As you said, the only ones who can truly hold him at bay would be the City Lord's army, but that's a dead end."

'A dead end? Is it?' Deus thought to himself, 'I don't know why but that military captain, Roch, seems to be interested in me for some reason or another… maybe he knows I've killed someone… whatever the case, maybe I can use this to catch Elias off guard…'

"Hey, Archive!" Deus called out, "Would it be possible to deliver a message to someone? Hell, a broadcast even?"

"Broadcast?" Droh repeated in confusion.

Beep.

"Affirmative. System battery charge will be disabled upon broadcast, however, a single message can be sent." The computer Archive beeped in confirmation, to the pleasure of Deus.

"Hah, that's great news! Droh, we may actually have a way out of this." Deus proclaimed, "Hey Droh, you don't mind what happens to Elias and Roland when this is all over with, right?"

"Huh? Elias and Roland? I can see how you could mess with Elias… but Roland seems untouchable. What are you planning to do with a simple message?"

Deus smirked, "Well normally it would be impossible to do anything to both of them… especially that Roland fellow. However, I've thought of something rather nasty. There are quite a few people in this city that I can rely on, not because I'll benefit from it, but because they'll benefit from it."

"I'm still not following…" Droh scratched his forehead in confusion.

"It's simple my little Faun friend. We just have to announce to the city that Elias is planning to rob the military. I imagine even Roland won't want to let his second in command come to conflict with the army… especially since Elias has been talking nonstop about the military captain Roch like he's the damn devil himself."

"Wait, won't that simply get us into trouble? After all, we're the ones involved in the job, to begin with… I'm not sure you've thought this all through." Droh grumbled out in concern.

"Nonsense. That military captain will intervene, I just know it… he's too interesting not to. Hell, he's already gotten himself involved with me according to that asshole Elias, so it's not a longshot to have him take action." Deus tried to reason.

"Interesting? Is that really all you're betting this on? From what I've heard, Direfell's captain is the sort of man who could watch a thousand people die without even blinking… why do you think he'd do anything to help us?"

Droh clearly wasn't convinced on the plan, and for good reason, too. He didn't know what Deus knew, and in fact, from Droh's perspective, everything that had been happening seemed almost all a bit too coincidental.

Pondering to himself, Deus thought about his connection to Roch, Direfell's captain, and what it meant for his future. 'From what I can tell, captain Roch will want me alive. Hell, he probably knows something about me that even I'm not aware of… there's no other reason for him to draw attention to me as he did before. The main issue is if he simply was caught off guard by me… or if he did what he did intentionally. I'm betting my life on this… I can't afford to just randomly wing it.'

"How about this, Droh." Deus reasoned, "I'll send out my broadcast, but I won't rely completely on it. Instead, the two of us should spend some time thinking up a plan, just in case. We can't just keep dancing in other people's hands."

With a smile, Droh nodded in approval. "I can do that."