After a chat with the newborn sheep, we came to a fairly simple conclusion: the captain's father got mixed up with bad people and ended up with a heavy debt. Despite being a parts trafficker, similar to Duck, instead of creating things with those parts or modifying bodies, he only dedicated himself to finding parts on commission or on his own and reselling them to the highest bidder. During one of his logging trips, she recounts, he arrived agitated and covered in an abnormal amount of sweat for his work.
To which she tried to console him and see what he was carrying to cause such sweating; however, her husband never showed a hint of wanting to share whatever it was he had found this time. Instead, he seemed reluctant and even ran away from home. Of course, as a good wife, she thought he had cheated on her with another man, so she followed him as soon as he left without warning... naturally, leaving their son in the care of a friend.
From what she says, she only arrived a few days ago and her son had disappeared because she couldn't find him with his friend. She was unaware of his disappearance until her friend told her about his whereabouts. The thing is, during the time she was tracking him before losing the trail, he was frequenting several bars, including Los Caminantes Caídos and others where they basically sell all kinds of things that could be considered illegal, if it weren't for the fact that it's basically a desert and the concept of legality and illegality depends on who's looking at it. Besides, where you are...
So, according to what he said and Nibal replied, basically selling body parts of newborns, making insertions and enhancements, as well as modifications that can alter the physical appearance of something, are illegal and carry a direct death penalty for the perpetrators, but his little wolf was looking for something else
To which I mention a merchant who was somewhat unfriendly to foreigners, since those evil thoughts were not only limited to the awakened, but also to any being outside the local law or who at least was not present during the third generation and the exodus that followed to give way to the generation of the clans... of course... I understood everything in a moment
So it was that, after speaking with this merchant and his description, I suppose he's referring to the person they were torturing the day after he was captured, but out of nowhere, both of them disappeared. He says they went to a kind of baby fair, where after a couple of stalls, she lost sight of them. That was a few weeks ago, and a few days later she had managed to return after that incident.
Therefore, the timing coincides between the person's interrogation and their presumed subsequent death, what they are saying, and their son's apparent ignorance of the world, basically considering himself a self-styled captain... who for some reason has power over me.
Nibal: "Very well, thank you for the price for your husband, don't worry, we'll bring him back alive."
"One last thing, I need to speak with your son."
Born a rabbit: "He's sleeping, you'd better come back tomorrow if you want to talk to him, I'll also have a chat with him soon-..."
After those last words, I think both Nibal and I felt a similar and quite familiar chill run down our spines. I even think Nibal stopped looking at the paper with the number for a moment to turn towards where Wolfy had disappeared, looking with a glimpse of what I can only describe as mutual sorrow and feeling. We really felt bad for him and whatever might happen next, but the search for myself can't wait! At least I know my name now... although it still feels strange, that's me.
After leaving the sheep house, we headed towards the mechanic, who for some strange reason still hadn't opened the door. Once inside the car, we set off for one of the places that, according to the sheep girl, was most frequented by her husband—a place where slaves and other items are sold that would be illegal if they were within Jeffrey's territory. But the sounds of the mechanic's door welcoming a new day. Finally, he deigned to open it, but what I don't believe is that they're here—the group of hunters with the vehicle loaded with more weapons than I've ever seen in one place, and I bet it has many more inside itself.
Born Crocodile: "Well gentlemen, we have to leave, we already have our coordinates, we're going straight to them, we have everything ready"
Born avian: "According to Juan, he'll be with us soon; he's just a quarter gallop away from catching up."
Then a few short speeches come out between them; it feels like they were... complaining? Wasn't Juan supposed to be the most important part of their team, like the face of the team and the reason they had so many people with them?
Well, I guess even celebrities need to save money and go to the first hardware store they see because a portable one would be very expensive.
'Am I jealous of them?.... yes.... I want a lot of guns in my car'
At which point they come out of the garage, revealing that the mechanic was there all this time. Nibal, without wasting much time, goes into what I assume is a store for a discount on travel supplies for having waited so long, while literally next to me is the car with more weapons than I've ever seen.
After I got off, the born crocodile turned to me
Born Crocodile: "Hey, look Ramona, if he's not our mission buddy, what brings you here?"
'Act calm, don't say much'
From the back of the war chariot emerges a newborn rabbit, beautiful and lovely, she is simply perfect
My girlfriend... I mean... Ramona: "Her mind is confused about whether to say it or not, Robert"
Robert: "Well, that's convenient, but I respect that you got here without falling into any traps, we on the other hand" - he says, pointing to some rivets that, unlike the rest of the structure, look completely different, like a color other than what they are supposed to look like, lighter, unlike the others that are directly green, similar to the colors of the base where we find Captain Wolfy.
"I imagine they had a difficult day arriving."
Robert: "No, mate, we've been here a couple of days now. We basically had to rent the place from our friend..."
Born avian: "Jose, he's a pretty good guy, hey Ramona, I need a couple of helping hands around here, but make sure you don't put it to sleep this time, the engine has already been through a lot in those dunes"
You can see Ramona's pout from a mile away at the avian's request, but she has no choice; they're a team, and that kind of comment is common. But having your partner kidnap people and be involved with crocodiles and elephants to abduct a human who does body modifications... I don't think that's the best deal.
"Well, we were luckier. We rested a couple of times, and it wasn't until we reached the fallen hikers that we realized how lucky we had been."
Born avian: "Oh, you were there? That was our original destination until we stepped on some second-generation mines along the way. We had to go past them and get here as fast as we could for a mechanic."
Nibal: "Yes, yes, yes, gentlemen, don't tell me the story of your lives."
We all turned to see Nibal leaving the store, apparently leaving the owner crying and half the store gone, now being carried by Nibal as he put him in the car
Jose: "Be careful, gentlemen! He'll leave you penniless for a ridiculous but fair price!" - said the mechanic, crying, powerless because of what I suppose was the best rant Nibal could have given to confuse him to the point where he had to choose between accepting or selling his shop.
Nibal: "Novices" - he muttered to himself, met with disbelief from the group of hunters. Even the crocodile chuckled a bit at the event, probably due to damage from the mines. The repairs couldn't have been cheap, especially considering it took several days for a complete stranger to come along and literally ransack someone else's place.
'I owe you respect, my friend. I really underestimated you, but at least I don't owe you the internet anymore, and we're even.'
Nibal now had not 1, but 3 nets that would easily compensate for everything that had happened
Robert: "I suppose someone here knows how to handle money, let's do something, we'll give you some." He makes a gesture, and despite the bird-born's expression, it changes automatically after a second glance. From the other side of the car comes the rabbit with a similar chest, no...
'It's the same chest Juan used, he must surely be with them!'
Robert: "Since we have such a merchant before us, we can..."
Nibal: "Let's get to the point, I do it quite often, what do you want?"
Robert: "Don't get in our way, change direction and don't appear in our sight"
Nibal turns to me with a pleading look. Is he really considering accepting it? Well, it's not like we know where they're going, but knowing him, he won't be very happy if we run into each other.
"We're accepting..." Nibal grabs my chest and looks me in the eyes again, as if I'd made the worst mistake of our lives. "Of course not, friends. I'd need at least two of those to lose a favor from Mr. Jeffrey, so, disappear."
Robert didn't seem happy before, when I was about to say the words before Nibal interrupted me. He was happy, but after that last statement, basically everything changed. Now it's up to him to decide what to do, but judging by the way Ramona walks away with the chest, it's sealed.
Robert: "Until our next meeting, my friend, may your business dealings be as fruitful as with your previous partner. We hope this one is worth more than the last." With that, he completely changed direction towards his war chariot, starting it and disappearing instantly to get away from the scene as quickly as possible. Basically, he didn't say "fuck you."
"What does 'worth more than your last colleague' mean?"
Nibal: "I don't think I want to take on another storm like in the Fallen Walkers, the last thing I want is another delay, and with you here..." - He just remained silent and went inside to start the car. - "Don't expect a refund, you get in or I'm leaving."
Well, if you don't want to talk about it, I suppose I can postpone it for later. It's not like I want to know what happened with your last colleague, who apparently wasn't very useful from what you told me, but as Robert said... 'sell him'
That doesn't seem like the kind of thing a colleague should be doing.
Nibal: "Look, he's coming." The sounds of galloping horses echoed through the village, then joined with the roar of the hunters' engine. I suppose Juan must have arrived by now. "Do you think Duck is with them?"
It's strange that he asks me about Duck; it's not that he's particularly interested in my situation, he just wants the mission, period.
"Well, if I'm that late, I'll probably take it, and considering our target was also a parts dealer, it wouldn't be surprising if they were connected."
Nibal: "Well, as long as his wife pays me, I'm interested in saving him... you know? I've been thinking, if they're both related, why does Juan want Duck? I mean, he's not the best. I have friends with crazier designs than the ones we saw, but they're all legal, and the ones I remember that weren't, they didn't reach that level of quality."
"Cheap perhaps?"
Then we embark on the journey once more, after leaving the city and the ruins, nothingness again, more dunes, more statues, and after another hour, I still can't get the alarm clock out of my head
'What did he mean when he said, "It's good that you don't remember"? Did he have to remember something to be like that...?' The mere memory makes my stomach churn. How is it possible that one moment he can be something close to human and the next a brainless creature that attacks without hesitation?
Nibal: "Look, I have a friend who has a friend who could help us with what we're looking for, but first we have to get there so I can contact him, and of course, it's not cheap, so I need some cash, not as a loan, it's so you can see it."
So I take out some of my bottle caps, some I stole from Duck and others I found on the ground. The weird thing is, there weren't any bottle caps at the base... so the first generation didn't use them? But it's quite versatile!
Nibal: "With such a depressing amount, all you can do is look him in the eyes, so consider the rest a loan from me until he's not so broken."
'It's a good thing Jeffrey pays for that house, because otherwise he simply wouldn't have anywhere to go back to.'
What have I done? It's been about two more days since we arrived, we're basically halfway through the week and we still haven't found him. Luckily, we're not running out of time, otherwise we'd be dead.
More time passes, and well, we start arriving at some rather strange ruins. A kind of machine rises above the clouds; literally, it looks like a giant drill! The surroundings where we are are basically a bit of the same, but in miniature. Of course, saying miniature is like talking about the size of the towers of the Awakened base where we were attacked before, I mean, a while back.
Nibal: "Well, this is a metal mine. Although the most valuable bottle caps are the old ones, these kinds of places started appearing a while ago. Here you can exchange them for lower-value bottle caps. They're basically made, and not many places accept them, so be careful."
According to the sheep, getting in was easy; we just had to go to the right where there was a gap in the fence. The main entrance was heavily guarded; the only way to enter 'legally' was by being part of an exclusive club or by paying. The slave trader had a strange card, so they both got in without any problem, but she had to enter illegally, so...
"Wait, wait, what are you doing? We have to go to the right!"
Nibal: "Relax," he said, leading us toward the main entrance. "There's a universal language everyone speaks," he said, walking straight in without another word, tossing down a bag of bottle caps. "Everyone wants a piece of this."
I close the door, turn around to watch the guards take the bag and continue with their duties as if nothing happened... with that kind of security, I'd really rather not have it, because if they go to the top poster, I'd lose money trying to protect myself!
After that, we arrived at a parking lot and began the exploration phase, basically a market full of shops, some normal and flying buildings, people flying....
"So... can those born fly?"
Nibal: "It's part of one of Jeffrey's rules; the Born are pretty much limited to doing what ordinary humans do, but here in the desert it's the law of survival, so anything goes."
Continuing on a little further, I saw more stalls, some even with cages, where animals and people alike were being sold. The strange thing about all this was that nobody even glanced at these places, and those inside were showing off some of their skills, presumably to be sold to different bidders.
Vendors: "Ladies and gentlemen, come closer, these newborns are more than willing to be your companions. Don't let the cages fool you, they're to prevent them from being harmed, a form of protection," shouted one of the vendors near them, the owner of the stall with newborns for sale.
Nibal: "Even in illegality, some things never change and people still don't accept them; instead of being partners, they prefer to hire each other out. Even being a bounty hunter is easier than this."
More stalls, rather strange objects, and even machines are starting to appear for sale; some more Taurus figures in costumes; I'm even starting to think that the Taurus figures are actually fake.
After a while, we stopped at a kind of building
Nibal: "Okay, wait here, I'm going to my contact and after I pay him, I'll be back. Stay here." It's not like I have anything else to do, basically.
But looking beyond that, you're supposed to find everything here, and since the bottle caps are basically given away, and the ones I have are probably rare anyway... getting something shouldn't be too difficult then...
I go out to look for something that catches my attention, maybe a weapon or a book that gives me more information about what happened during the second and third generations that caused the different births to appear, not to mention whatever might have happened during the first generation.
Passing by one of the stalls, I went in looking for a weapon that caught my eye
Vendor: "Well sir, we don't give handouts here, so you'll have to pay the price or leave if you can't afford it..." He comes out from behind some blinds and stops when he sees me, but quickly continues. "Well, I can make some exceptions, if a friend who's awake is the customer."
"How do you know I'm an awakened one?"
Vendor: "It's a good merchant's duty to know their customer base. Not everyone wears a suit like that, much less resembles dragons or has a form that makes sense. What do you want? Weapons? Mounts? Companions? You usually ask for it."
"But, you called me a partner...?"
Salesman: "Are you here to buy or not?"
Without a word, I bought a couple of regeneration kits and a new weapon, one that even when I drop it, tracks me and sticks to me, a plasma pistol, but it was also the most expensive, apparently because it comes from the second generation
Upon returning, I see Nibal with an annoyed expression, but also with what could be described as relief at seeing me return with a new team.
Nibal: "You cost me a fortune, but it's ready now, let's go in."
Okay, let's get to the point.