Chapter 437: More Focus on Nipples (2/2)

“A contingency if Asano didn’t do what North wanted,” Gerling surmised.

“Exactly,” Barbou said. “I only learned any of this because North was flustered when he returned after Asano claimed the item. Told me things I don’t think he otherwise would. Asano somehow absorbed the item, permanently claiming its power for himself. That disturbed Mr North. I’ve never seen him shaken like that, before or since.”

“So, the item is gone?” Gerling asked.

“Yes,” Barbou said.

“Convenient,” Gerling said. “Your boss just happened to have a slip-up and reveal the exact right information to dissuade me from doing the exact thing you just told me I shouldn't do?”

“The fact that I knew that is why I said it,” Barbou told him. “If you want to argue yourself in circles to do what you want, regardless of the truth, you don’t need me for that.”

“Very true,” Gerling said and punched Barbou again.

“Madam?” Farrah asked as she shrugged on what looked like an oversized and overstuffed hiker’s pack. The pack was extremely rugged, due to the hundreds of kilograms it was holding up. It was designed such that only superhuman strength could carry it as a backpack.

“Medium Atomic Demolition Munition,” Travis explained. “M.A.D.M. We call it the madam. Well, I do. The base commander called it ‘stop fannying about and get back to work, Travis.’ Or he used to, I guess.”

“I don’t think he was talking about the bomb,” Farrah said.

“No, I’m pretty sure he was,” Travis said. “Those were his exact words when I asked him about it.”

“He literally said your name,” Farrah said.

“I did think that was odd,” Travis admitted.

Farrah ran both hands over her face.

“I know this feeling,” she complained.

“What feeling?” Travis asked.

“Never mind. Let’s just get out of here.”

“Okay,” Travis said as they walked out of the vault. Farrah moved carefully as while the pack might have been easy to lift with her strength, the weight distribution threatened to topple her over. Jason was keeping an eye on Ingrid in the control room of the underground bunker that contained the vault.

“You can lock it up,” Travis called out and Ingrid pressed the button that set the ponderous door to slowly shut. She looked at the two access keys in the control console but didn't take them.

“Go ahead,” Jason said. “Give them to whoever ends up in charge of this place.”

Ingrid hesitated a moment before taking the keys and hanging their chains around her neck. She ignored the blood as she slipped them under her tactical vest. All four people went up the stairs from the underground bunker, back into the main warehouse. Ingrid’s security team looked unhappy but none were foolish enough to make a move.

“I’m sorry it worked out this way,” Jason said to Ingrid. “Not enough that I won’t do it, but still.”

“Individuals shouldn’t have the kind of unfettered power that you have,” Ingrid told him.

“You're right,” Jason said. “But institutions inevitably focus more on perpetuating their influence instead of whatever their original ideologies may have been. People and rules. The answer is somewhere in the middle but it’s always in flux and never quite right. People need rules or we turn into monsters, but if we choose rules over people, people get ground up in the machine. In the end, we do the best we can with what we have.”

“Do we,” Ingrid said.

“I hope we do,” Jason said. “I'll mess it up, you can trust that.”

He glanced at Farrah.

“Find people you trust to keep yourself in check, Ingrid. Otherwise, you'll find yourself pointing a gun at the nice boy who has a crush on you.”

“What?” Travis asked as he and Farrah stepped into the control room. “I mean, who? What? I have no idea what you’re…”

He sighed.

“...oh dear.”

“You need to work on that aura control, Travis,” Jason said with a chuckle. “Your emotions are a little too on your sleeve.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Farrah said to Travis. “Is there anything you need to take?”

“Wait,” Ingrid said. “Travis, you’re going with them?”

“Ingrid,” Travis said. “After all this, the work I came here to do isn’t going to resume anytime soon. I could sit around playing stockpile administrator while whoever ends up in charge sorts out the mess, but every single person in my department would be better at that than me. Instead of counting crates, I’d rather use what I’m good at to make a difference.”

“You just want to go off and play hero with your new celebrity friend,” Ingrid accused.

“Yeah, probably,” Travis admitted. “But look around, Ingrid. The world could use a few more heroes.”

“Oh, nice,” Jason said. “We could call you Gun Man, but he’s a villain.”

“From Tongan Ninja?” Travis asked.

“You’ve seen Tongan Ninja?” Jason asked.

“Only about twelve times.”

“We should watch it on the plane,” Jason said. “You need to grab anything on the way out?”

“My research notes. Oh, and my sandwich from the break room. It’s hard to find good food, these days and I put a lot of effort into getting the ingredients.”

“Oh, nice,” Jason said as the pair headed off. “You know where a guy can get some flour around here? I’m going to make a strudel.”

“That makes sense,” Travis said as they walked away. “We are in Germany. Do you have apples?”

“Magic apples.”

“Oh, wow. Wait, aren’t magic apples usually evil?”

“These are the good ones,” Jason said.

“That’s exactly what you’d tell someone if you wanted them to eat an evil magic apple.”

Farrah shook her head and followed after them.

“Great,” she muttered. “There’s two of them now.”

“The runway is probably damaged and there’ll be ghouls everywhere, alive or dead,” Travis said. “Taking off might be hard. Maybe your familiar should turn into a helicopter instead of a plane. He can do that, right?”

“He isn’t a runway kind of guy,” Jason said.

Darkness stormed out of Jason’s shadow and took the form of a plane hovering in the air.

“Your familiar turns into a VTOL private plane?” Travis exclaimed. “It looks like a spaceship designed by a ninja. Are you Batman?”

“Batman doesn’t have powers,” Jason said.

“And Jason doesn’t have ice skate boots,” Farrah added. Jason and Travis turned to look at her.

“Since when do you know anything about Batman?” Jason asked her. “And why is that the first thing that comes to mind about him?”

“People kept talking about Batman,” she said. “I looked him up. There was more of a focus on nipples than I expected.”