Crossover Escape: Gotta be more than Lucky to survive

1.21 The competition sight

Luca settled into the van that was set to take them to the contest sight dubiously. Every time he’d hopped into a WIC car it had ended badly. The nondescript van didn’t look sturdy enough or secure enough to handle the beating he expected it to get. Still he could hardly say he wanted to walk or take a sturdier vehicle, though from the looks of Zeno’s team, who would be sharing the vehicle with them, they had the same thoughts. Lady moved carefully as she entered the van while Jade and Zeno quickly settled on either side of her.

Luca’s team settled on the other side of the van seats with Holly and Tails bracketing Ghost. Though it seemed more of a guilt thing for Holly and a set up for Tails. Rӓv had checked Ghost out and the added layers of protection everyone had taken to wearing had proven their worth. The worst Ghost suffered was an uncomfortable bruise.

“Uh, thanks Luca for you know, yesterday. No one else would have been fast enough.” Luca looked away from the window he’d been staring at as the van drove to give Lady a puzzled smile.

“No problem. It's not like we’re mortal enemies, we’re just competitors naturally if I can help, I’ll help particularly with how things have been going recently.” Luca shook his head faintly as his eyes drifted back towards the window.

“Still, not everyone would have acted as instantly as you did,” Lady said softly. Luca turned back to her and shrugged.

“Guess I have good reflexes then. You can invite me for a meal once the contest is over as repayment. After all, we’re still competing after this.” Lady blinked a few times before she laughed and even Zeno chuckled.

“ You're so easy going about everything, its like nothing phases you.” Zeno shook his head as he spoke, and Luca shrugged.

“If whining about something would make a difference, I’d never shut up. Since it doesn’t better to focus on what I can change, not what I can’t.” a contemplative silence fell in the van after Luca finished speaking.

[Rӓv: We’re approaching the source of those weird energy reading’s I found.] Luca twitched his hand at the sudden bit of information he’d almost forgotten about that out of place piece of information. Not really surprising, since at the moment he had a puzzle with more pieces than pictures.

[Tails: You said the signal came from near the mountain?]

[Rӓv: Pretty sure it’s on the mountain.]

[Ghost: Nyet.]

[Rӓv: Excuse you?]

[Ghost: Not on mountain. In.] Luca froze at that piece of information before he twisted in his seat to look over Ghost's shoulder and out the front. He was just in time to see a high-density blast door roll up to reveal a tunnel going into the centre of the mountain.

[Lucky: Rӓv is this going to affect the signal for the coms?]

[Rӓv: Nope, they ping off each other. We could go to another planet, and it would be fine.]

[Lucky: Good to know.]

“I did not expect this. Inside a mountain is a whole new level of secure,” Zeno commented.

“Yeah, normally only mine mazes happen in mountains. In which case you start outside.” Luca agreed their van was one of the last ones in the procession, so Luca had the dubious pleasure of watching the blast door close behind them. He found it interesting that the WIC group had settled this matter as a day trip, thin when it was a good hours drive from the compound to the mountain. It made Luca wonder if there was something that happened after hours that they didn’t want them finding.

When the van stopped it was in a large open ‘,cavern’ though that term only applied because Luca knew they were in a mountain. If he hadn’t, he’d have called it a warehouse though it resembled the media depictions of a space port complete with what looked like doors in the ceiling.

[Rӓv: This place is giving me the creeps and, unlike Tails, I normally like tunnels.] Luca agreed but focused his attention on keeping track of everyone around them and the paths that they took. He really wanted to use the mapper, but it would look a bit conspicuous. Luca walked with Rӓv at the back while Ghost and Holly walked in the middle with Tails in the front, just before Zeno’s team.

Ghost grunted and clutched at his shoulder. Holly immediately hovered over him, asking if he was alright. At the same time, the map on the glasses display updated. Luca put the pieces together quickly but still not as fast as Rӓv, who moved up to the Ghosts' other side and ‘supported’ him. All the while she chided, about not taking enough care. Macho men mentality and whatever else seemed to come to mind. In the meantime, Luca moved close to his back and monitored the way the map branched off in various directions as they were leading deeper into the mountain.

They were taken to a large theatre room. Not what Luca had expected but it seemed they would be getting a video introduction. The room went dark and then an adventure soundtrack started. The screen darkened and then lit up with a gloomy shadowed pyramid. The brick seemed black enough that the light couldn’t breach it. Then the camera switched and it showed the entrance to a path into the pyramid. Lights flickered over the walls as the camera moved in. Then the view shifted to a different tunnel leading into a bigger room with glyphs on the walls.

The camera continued to cut to different rooms giving glimpses of puzzles and such, until it reached a wide-open cave with five pedestals arranged at different heights in the centre. The film zoomed in on the crystals as they began to glow light, tracing down vanes on the pedestals and radiating out into the large room before the video abruptly cut off.

Once again Mr Important Suit took centre stage. Luca concentrated, thinking he should remember his name if he was going to keep showing up only to realise that there’d never been a self-introduction. Luca had no idea what his name was. Not to mention, he didn’t recall seeing his face in the personal records Luca had snooped through. Admittedly, he hadn’t looked that hard at personal records because they hadn’t seemed terribly relevant, but he should have recognised a face of someone he’d ‘met’.

Just one more thing that he didn’t like to add to the growing pile. He could also add the abrupt editing, poor camera quality and average lighting for the video to the list.

“The contest is simple enough; go through the challenges of the pyramid and bring back the central crystals. The team that brings the crystals back to the main compound will be the winners. Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to examine the site so you can plan your approaches, though no sneaking inside I’m afraid.” The last point was said with a chiding voice, but the faint undertone had Luca dismissing even a sneaky attempt.

[Lucky: Rӓv, can you find the unedited footage for that video?]

[Rӓv: I certainly intend to try. Though I’ll need a distraction to gain access.]

[Lucky: I’ll see what I can do.]