Chapter 37:

Game Plan - Part 2

Gloudhaus


“First we find somewhere suspicious and then both of ya go there make trouble.” Anna continued in a tone that was both loud and controlled at the same time. "I'll sneak and try to find something we can use to justify blowin' the place up."

“Now that’s what I like to hear.” And Col got into the same mood right away. “Do I need to keep the things around intact?”

“Wait, wait, wait! Didn’t we agree that head-on assault was just a last case resort? We should be investigating a traitor and not blowing things up here!”

“Yer right, but we ain't lookin’ fer anything ‘ere, y’see? That fox is clean.”

“You already said this much earlier. I don’t agree fully still, but that’s fine for now...” Karim cut in before Annabeth could start explaining her theory again. “It doesn’t explain why you would want to blow up things until we finish the assignment she gave us.”

“Time, shorty, it’s all ‘bout time,” Anna explained while moving her hands as if pointing to a wristwatch she didn’t have. “Someone is gettin’ the people huntin’ the artifacts. We saw this much at the infirmary…”

“The other patients there, right?”

“So that’s why that place was so silent!” Colette exclaimed, getting some bothered gazes from the other two girls. “I was a little too focused on the tea leaves to pay attention to it. Leave me alone.”

“Anyway, they were affected by the same hex, shorty, or at least had contact with the same evil eye. That much I could feel...” The red-haired inquisitor continued now pointing to her own abnormal eye. “But even with that many attacks, I’m very sure the maidens could clean every single piece of whatever was hidden in this island, and very soon too, which means…”

She then moved her hands towards Karim in a ‘your turn’ motion and the short girl stopped to think for a moment before reaching the answer. Answer that came with a realization, as it should be noted.

“They’ll lose all pieces if the shrine maidens stay in the picture. The only options are either take them all down or cause enough trouble that they’ll be needed somewhere else.”

“Exactly! It would be a wrong assumption if they didn’t even need all of those gears, but the problem would be ‘why bother attackin’ the maidens if ya don’t need ‘em?’, so we can scratch that…”

“We need to call auntie then! An army that’ll attack soon can put the whole city at risk. In fact, why Ms. Chiron didn’t call her right away?!” Karim started to say in a slightly panicked tone that hit a deadpanned face and a suddenly smug one.

“I know this one!” Col raised one of her hands and answered while grinning. “We can’t find the place if the cops know we’re looking for it since we’re unsure of who’s on our side. Calling the army or the sea guys would be even worse, and that kitsune should know that.”

Karim bit her mouth as she heard the reasoning for their dilemma and then conceded to the inquisitor’s points. Their mission would make no sense if they were wrong, to begin with.

“She can also be leadin’ us, but, as I said before, I don’t think that fox can do somethin' of the kind,” Anna added as a lifeline to the petite blondie, but it didn’t help much. “Either way, it’ll be too dangerous to call the cops, so we’ll go by ourselves…”

“We three against an army?” Karim asked slightly disheartened. “Is it a doable situation even?”

“Sounds fun to me. No holding back is much better than trying to keep your surroundings intact… Or above the ground, at least.”

The two polar reactions to the coming plan only made Anna smile though and she had a, debatably, better plan to use. She wasn’t sure if Karim would even accept going with this plan though, so she was taking her time to gauge her current state before saying anything.

“Goin’ head-on is the plan fer sure, but we don’t need to be alone, y’see?” She started, leaving both of her companions with expressions of confusion on their faces. “As long as we don’t tell what’s the plan, we can call backup from yer auntie, shorty. They’ll appear fer sure if they hear ‘bout some inquisitors going berserk somewhere…”

“And it only gets better.”

"The only problem is that we'll need a justification fer real then. No idea what'll happen if we blow things up and then all we find is buncha dolls and some thugs..." Annabeth pointed out to the already bothered enough cop. "It's a crime fer ya and they may cut our supplies from home..."

“Now that’s a problem…” Col deflated as even she could see the risk right now.

"We'll also be showin' out hand either way."

As she had said before, Anna could feel the spiritual energy and, now that she knew an evil eye was the source, she could also track it. But in a way, showing this much also meant assuring her foes that she was also in possession of an eye. It was either that or risking an organized assault though.

They would assault a place that was, probably, a civilian facility in name since only those would be in the right position and had the right size. If they couldn't find proof there, both Annabeth's reliability and Karim's position would be in check.

It could also end up getting Karim arrested or Anna in trouble if a formal complaint was sent while she still had nothing to show off.

“We need a demon, an evil eye, or some very incriminatin’ props, so the plan is the same as before.” She continued, ignoring the reactions of her companions. “They havin’ proper guns would already be somethin’, but I ain't sure they worth that much. The dolls from earlier were usin’ pipes anyway…”

Colette and Karim were now looking very unsure of how well Anna’s mental capabilities were, but that was fine. They seemed to kind of see her point though, so there weren’t any instant complaints at least, but that was it.

“Let me get this clear...” Karim started what Anna was expecting to be a lengthy dissertation on how this plan was stupid. “We’ll call the cops by fighting as loudly as possible and, when they arrive, will use the first thing we can get to not be arrested?”

“Pretty much it, yeah.”

“Any other ideas?”

“I’m open fer ‘em.”

“Sigh... I don’t like it, but I can’t think of a better plan. I see why you were complaining about this team’s composition earlier...” Karim resigned herself while thinking that her aunt could take her out of prison if need be. “Just try to not blow the city, okay?”

“This much I can do!”

“Question!” Colette asked second as if it was her turn. “Can we be arrested to begin with?”

“Well, they can cancel our immunity from back home, but it’ll only happen if we cause too much trouble and show nothin’ in return. Big hat may cut all supplies after this though…”

“Fuck. I was right… No more questions though.”

“Good. Y'know the plan, ‘aight?”

“Call attention and let you sneak behind to find the target.”

“Punch things and make noise, so you can hit the boss.”

“That’s exactly it. Cause the brunt of the chaos and I get us some passes out of prison.” Anna nodded with a smirk of her own at the two equal but different answers. “Y’ready fer this, gals?”

And with varying levels of determination in their eyes, the two other girls acknowledged the situation.

Their next stop: the closest of the civilian-owned ley spots.
Vforest
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Elukard
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