"You know, we could have run over together and had a nice conversation along the way instead of bolting the second you got the chance," Slowing my sprint to a slow walk as I approached the farthest reaches of the mountain, I walked up beside Erik, and his posse of 15 returners, Fredrick included.
"Come now, Nexus, you know I meant nothing by it. I figured you would have done the same, but it seems you truly are a hero, and although you were trying to act tough, when you saw how many people got hurt upon landing, you stayed back for a minute or two until Piniki got to work." Erik stated aloud, but he did not turn and look back at me. Instead, he raised his hand so that the members of StillWater wouldn’t attack me due to my sudden appearance.
"It seems you think too highly of me, anyway. Are you going to call into your spyplane and figure out where the entrance to the Tower is on your own, or are you planning on following me to see if I hid information from you guys during the meeting?" Smirking and placing my hands behind my back, I cast a sidelong glance at the uneasy Operators and walked over to Fredrick, who seemed more than happy to see me there.
Meeting me halfway, the guy even clasped my shoulder before leaning forward and whispering in my ear.
"I tried to stop him, but Dad is hell-bent on proving you are a fraud for some reason,"
"It’s fine, Fredrick; I don’t mind either way, considering your father and StillWater are Zero threat to me," patting his shoulder, I walked past him and walked up beside Erik.
"Which is it going to be? Follow me or find it on your own because either way, we’ve got to hike up the mountain regardless of the outcome."
"Feel free to lead the way; my SR-71 is still several hundred miles away due to the storm. It had to turn back and won’t return for another hour."
"*Whistles* Wowww, a blackbird, fancccyy, didn’t think the private sector could get their hands on one," I stated while stepping forward onto the first signs of a sloping incline.
"Well, I could have opted for a U-2, but since the Returner who was our Primary Pilot wasn’t familiar with them, I worked a deal behind the scenes to get one into my fleet." Keeping pace beside me, Erik explained, as if it were common knowledge and totally not sketchy to get his hands on a formerly top-secret Military Plane.
"Hm, I suppose that’s fair; regardless, it’s a pretty massive downgrade from the SR-72, which came out before the Descent; that thing was a work of art."
"Oh? You got to see one of the most top secret planes the US Airforce ever got their hands on; that’s quite a surprise." With a hint of actual shock that I had seen one, I could sense the underlying suspicion in Erik’s voice.
"Seen, hardly, I’ve actually flown one before; mind you, it was after the world went to shit, and it was a life and death scenario, so there were no better options." With a shrug, I casually dropped something that almost caused Erik to stumble.
"So you’re a pilot, one who had ties with the Military…was it maybe on one of your research explorations?"
The conversation went back and forth, with me giving the man small bits of my adventures. Of course, all of it was true, only I excluded certain parts here and there, primarily the fact that they were actually Xipher’s adventures and not those of Nexus, but since I needed to form a plausible backstory for my new alias, I had to give some info up.
It took us roughly 3 hours to hike our way to where I presumed the entrance to be, and after several dozen miles of upward hiking and a bit of climbing, our group stood before a not-unfamiliar sight.
"Interesting, it’s the same color as the Inscription…" Erik mused while examining the 100-foot tall by 80-foot wide Metallic Gate.
"Is it, though? I mean, the basis of the Tower was an instance, to begin with, so it really isn’t that out of place; by the way, who wants to be the first to try and prove me wrong?" Crossing my arms and looking around at my surroundings, I took notice of the fact that we were on a large platform formed of the same material as the Instance Gates, only this one was quite large, about the size of an American football field, and completely baren of any foreign object apart from us.
’Since this is in the approximate center of the mountain and about a thousand feet up…in consideration that Colorado is approximately 380 miles across and 280 miles long, the Tower has a footprint of around 300 by 200 miles.’
"Bradley, you will try to enter the Gate. If anything happens, I will ensure that your family is well looked after." Decisive and authoritatively, Erik chose one of his operators, who gave a salute and marched forward toward the Gate of swirling Redish-Green Energy.
I already knew what would happen since it was in the runes, but I acted as though I didn’t and watched the operator walk into the Gate as if it were made of solid steel instead of Particle energy.
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Then he did the obvious thing you’d expect someone to do in that event. First, he knocked, then he punched, and finally, after trying everything in the book to break into the Gate, all to no avail, Erik finally called him back.
"Oh, do I get to be the guy who says I Told you so now? By the way, check the Instance Imporium; the Entrance and Return Tokens are available for the exact prices I had previously stated." My words clearly irked Erik because I saw his eye twitch before zoning out, the typical sign that someone was looking at their System interface, and soon enough, he released a tired sigh.
"I apologize for doubting you, Nexus; it seems everything you’ve told us up until now hasn’t been false. We will be taking our leave. Do stay in touch if you need anything from us in the future." Without saying anything more, Erik and his group left, with only Fredrick waving goodbye. After a few minutes, it was just me and the swirling mass of energy…alone, or at least that’s how it seemed to the naked eye.