makingthisupasigo | And the Road not Taken

And the Road not Taken - for Jacob Stone

Ezekiel Jones is a loyal member of the Serpent Brotherhood but sometimes he wonders if there is supposed to be more to life than this.

Bringing magic back to the world had felt less satisfying than everybody always made it out to be; seriously, with the amount of ecstatic victory speeches that were going around these days you'd think they found an eternal well of pizza. Then again, Ezekiel had never been particularly interested in the whole "bringing magic back" aspect. Reawakened or not, his task is still to retrieve artifacts and get the others into fortified places; that is his purpose, not to be questioned and nothing really changes for him.

Still, he's annoyed. Ezekiel prefers to act from the shadows, so the whole decision to make a grand dramatic entrance and reveal the Brotherhood to the Library seemed so petty and unnecessary. Besides, there was this one thing he always really, really wanted, and that was breaking into the Library – the most secure place in the world, the ultimate challenge. He hopes he still gets a chance of doing that but now that the Library knows the Brotherhood is active again it kind of takes some of the surprise factor and fun out of it.

He had made a cautious remark if it wouldn't be better to reveal themselves to the Library after they brought Magic back but that had ended... rather painfully. After all, what did he know? He's just the thief. The tool. The asset. Know your place.

So much for magic improving everybody's life.

Today's mission is almost mind-numbingly boring. He traverses the ancient temple, sometimes doesn't even bother to deactivate the traps but dance through them instead so he at least has some kind of challenge and approaches the altar with a yawn.

Sometimes he wonders if there's supposed to be more to life than this.

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Jake immediately retreats behind the column, his heart pounding, fully expecting to be shot at, or at the very least, have a couple knives thrown at him. He wasn't exactly expecting, well. This.

Confused, he peeks out slightly, trying to see where this latest representative of Serpent Brotherhood went.

"You're actually judging me on my choice of attack? Who does that?!"

He looks around to see if there's something, anything he can use. If worse comes to worse, he's got his fists, but there might be a better way out.

Gotta keep him talking.

"I actually do think I'm gettin' a second shot at this, thanks."

"Well, if you don't want to be judged by your choice of attack maybe you should make it a good one. Thought you Librarians were supposed to be smart or something!"

Speaking of smart. His eyes dart back to the magic lock. Maybe he can crack it, grab the artifact and be out of here before the guy gets too close because he has heard stories about what the Librarian can do in close combat. He'd rather avoid that if he could, to be honest.

"Oh yeah, what's it gonna be next time?" Ezekiel starts pressing the tiles, paying close attention to how their weight and resistance feel under his fingers. "Spitball attack?"

"Uh, it was a good one, maybe that's exactly where I meant to hit you! And we are smart, waaaaaaaay smarter than you! I mean, honestly? You Serpent Brotherhood minions aren't the best and the brightest, y'know? Bringing magic back into the world? That's a fool's errand."

He peers out again, and sees him working at that magic lock. No, he can't let him get anywhere near that thing--

--well. Old ways were best, sometimes. He picks up another piece of rubble and tries to chuck it at the guy once more.

"That can be arranged!"

"You're just mad you didn't manage to stop us in time! Must feel really bad to be the best and the brightest and then be outwitted by us mere minions. Bet they cut your pay big time that day!"

But he pulls a face when his concentration is interrupted by the flying stone. He quickly pulls his hands back but hurries to go back into it before the tiles register the long pause as a mistake or failed attempt.

"Will you cut that out!? I'm working here!"

"For one thing, I don't even get paid very much at all!" Jake picks up another piece of rubble and flings it at the guy.

"No! You're not getting that artifact!"

"I am so not surprised!"

This time Ezekiel doesn't duck but takes the hit just so his hands won't slip on the tiles. It leaves a scratch above his brow and he grits his teeth with a pained grunt. Stop throwing things at him, Librarian!

"I already started working on the lock! And you really don't want me interrupting the sequence! I mean, not unless you want this entire structure come crashing down on us!"

"...what!?"

Jake's halfway out from behind the column and he's holding a piece of rubble in his hands.

"What did you do?!"

He drops the rubble and runs over, furious. If he ends up causing this place to come crashing down, the archaeological and historical loss would be--would be unfathomable--

"Get away from that thing, you don't know what you're doing!"

"Oh yes, clearly I have no idea what I'm doing! That's why I got here before you!"

But Ezekiel is not moving away from the lock even as Jake approaches – which might point to the credibility of his story. His eyes are focused on the different tiles, not using the riddle in form of actual symbols on top of them to crack it but the way the mechanism itself speaks to him.

"Don't touch me if you want to live! I can't stop now. It's a pressure sensitive three-phase lock and I'm only halfway through phase one."

"You just got lucky!"

Unfortunately, this guy's insistence is in fact, working in his favor and Jake watches what he's doing intently. Okay, so this was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good that the guy maybe actually did know what he was doing, bad because who knew the actual level of his knowledge and maybe he would end up killing them both.

He raises his hands, keeping his distance. Like it or not, he had to temporarily work with him now.

"Okay, okay, fine. Do--do your thing."

He's just going to take the artifact when you're done. No biggie.

"Thank you."

About time. He shifts some more tiles around until they draw in with a soft click and the first panel slides to the side, revealing the second puzzle underneath. "Alright. One down, two to go."

It looks almost identical to the first part but this time there are tiny holes in the middle of the tiles. Ezekiel stares at the mechanism for a moment but he already knows it's no use. The little holes probably have retractable needles that will strike as soon as he touches the wrong one. He might be able to figure out the lock combination if he knew the symbols but he won't be able to just feel his way past this puzzle.

God dammit. He curses softly under his breath, closes his eyes, working his jaw.

"... Can you read that?"

Whatever. Despite his salt, Jacob watches intently, absolutely sure this guy was gonna make a mistake. They get past the first hurdle and maybe--maybe there was a chance this--

--never mind.

He carefully walks closer, so he can get a good look.

"Those are Cretan hieroglyphs."

A pause.

"Nobody can read that, man! They're undeciphered!"

Edited 2018-05-15 05:45 (UTC)

"It's gotta be a seven digit combination. ... Symbol combination? Whatever."

He's staring at the panel, leaning to the side from time to time, examining the mechanism.

"An informed guess then! I just need the first one."

"Y'know, if I had a decent amount of time I bet I could crack the entire hieroglyphic code," Jake grumbles, but it's not like he actually had any amount of time for the moment. He studies the panel and then points to one of the symbols.

"That's the first one. Right there."

...he's sure of it.

Maybe.

"That one?"

He points, too, but very consciously avoids touching it. "You absolutely sure? In case that's a trick and you're trying to get rid of me, once I press the wrong one you're not getting at the artifact either. It's gonna seal tight."

"I'm absolutely sure."

He points towards it again.

"Believe me, I wanna see that thing just as bad as you do. And there'd be no point in me tricking you now, I could just beat you up and take it afterwards. If that helps reassure you in any way." A tight smile.

"You absolutely could not but thanks for playing."

Taking a deep breath he finally decides to trust this guy for now and presses the tile. It moves easily and no needle shoots out to dig into his finger. What's even better, he can hear and feel the mechanism work again.

"... Well, I'm not dead, so I guess you were right." And now he can actually get to work on the combination.

"I absolutely could. That's what I do, man."

Stone's watching intently, holding his breath for a second when the other guy presses the tile. He's sure he's right, but still--there really could be something he missed--but yes. It's working, and he lets out a sigh of relief.

"You guess? You guess? I'm the Librarian, of course I'm right!"

Please. "That would be SO much more convincing if you hadn't just blown all your apprehension down my neck."

Ezekiel studies the last part of the puzzle and after a moment his face falls. "I need a third hand for this."

Yeah, well-- "Shut up!" It's not the most intellegent of retorts, but he's annoyed enough as it is.

There's a frown, and he takes a few tentative steps forward, until he's close enough to reach.

"If this is a trick..."

"Look, I trusted you, now you trust me, then we're even and things won't be awkward because all bets are off again. Sound fair?"

Without looking up he points to one of the symbols, exhaling.

"I need you to press this exactly when I tell you to."

"Okay, okay, fine!" There's an exasperated sigh, but Jake stands closer, raising his hand above where indicated, ready to press.

"If this kills us both, I'm gonna be pissed."

"You and me both, mate. Alright on my mark... now."

While Jacob holds down the tile he moves to circumvent the last lock, nimbly slipping his fingers into the small interstices. There is a soft, gravely click and then the altar's doors swing open, uncovering the relic behind. "That's more like it!"

Okay, so the guy is good, he'll give him that. Jacob's intently focused on what's happening, fascinated by the mechanics and trying to piece together exactly how it was made, who made it--was it the priests, or--

--and there it was.

"You did it! We did it!"

There's a smile, a genuine one, because that was a surprising amount of teamwork that actually, well, worked.

And Jake takes a swing at the guy's face with as much power as he can muster in his punch, hoping to knock him out and take the artifact for himself.

There's not a lot of teamwork going around in the Brotherhood; especially not for Ezekiel because there's hardly anyone who can keep up. There's also not a lot of praise happening so when it comes he doesn't know what to do with it. The guy sounds so enthusiastic and happy about it and despite himself Ezekiel can feel the corner of his mouth lift, too. It's... nice and the Librarian is right, they actually did a pretty good--

It comes at him with the speed of an activating laser and Ezekiel doesn't even think, just lets himself fall back to avoid the blow. What a cheap shot. He's impressed!

There's also a pang of almost disappointment there when play time is over and it's him against the world again. It was nice to pretend for a while.

He manages to evade the worst of it but the punch still knocks the back of his head into the altar and stars explode behind his eyes.

"Seriously?! I thought you're supposed to be the reputable one!"

"The reputable one who's going to keep this artifact safe from the likes of the Serpent Brotherhood!"

He launches forward to try and swing at Ezekiel again, he needs to knock him out completely before grabbing the artifact, not knowing if he has any kind of ranged weaponry or not. Really wouldn't do to get shot in the back while running away.

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