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[PSL] The Return to King Solomon's Mines Ultimate Fix It (for ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
slapthelibrarian)
"Yeah, you know what, I really don't think we should cross that."
It's a moot point, of course, and Flynn doesn't mean it because there is no way he's turning back now. Part of him wonders if he should tell Nicole about his conversation with Judson and mention that Judson had explicitly instructed him to stay away from this place. But this isn't an ordinary mission and Flynn isn't in his ordinary state of mind. And who knew, maybe Judson had contacted Nicole already and she is just humoring Flynn. If she is, nothing in her face gives it away and he loves her just a little for that.
It's been... difficult to focus with all the questions raging in his head.
Had his father ever been affiliated with the Library? It doesn't seem likely; but if he hadn't, how did Judson know about the Book of Solomon? And did it mean that if Flynn hadn't become the Librarian, he would have become one of the Masons? Were the Masons linked to the Library? Did his mother know? Because honestly, finding his drawings in his bag right when he needed them had just been a tiny little bit suspicious, is all.
And that bridge really shouldn't work.
There are no support beams, it's just that, a stony path over a pit of lava (the biggest pit of lava he has ever seen, actually, and he has seen... four so far) and, no. This isn't rotten wood territory, this is challenging the actual laws of physics. It's just not how bridges work.
"That is just not how bridges work."
It's a moot point, of course, and Flynn doesn't mean it because there is no way he's turning back now. Part of him wonders if he should tell Nicole about his conversation with Judson and mention that Judson had explicitly instructed him to stay away from this place. But this isn't an ordinary mission and Flynn isn't in his ordinary state of mind. And who knew, maybe Judson had contacted Nicole already and she is just humoring Flynn. If she is, nothing in her face gives it away and he loves her just a little for that.
It's been... difficult to focus with all the questions raging in his head.
Had his father ever been affiliated with the Library? It doesn't seem likely; but if he hadn't, how did Judson know about the Book of Solomon? And did it mean that if Flynn hadn't become the Librarian, he would have become one of the Masons? Were the Masons linked to the Library? Did his mother know? Because honestly, finding his drawings in his bag right when he needed them had just been a tiny little bit suspicious, is all.
And that bridge really shouldn't work.
There are no support beams, it's just that, a stony path over a pit of lava (the biggest pit of lava he has ever seen, actually, and he has seen... four so far) and, no. This isn't rotten wood territory, this is challenging the actual laws of physics. It's just not how bridges work.
"That is just not how bridges work."
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She sighs quietly and begins crossing the bridge as well, being sure not to follow too closely, but still close enough in case anything goes wrong. The heat only intensifies the further they go, but Nicole is trying not to think about that. Turning back isn't an option, especially since this whole escapade is important to Flynn, so she just focuses on putting one foot in front of the other.
While Flynn is wondering why people 3,000 years ago couldn't invest in railings, she's just marveling at the fact that this bridge exists at all. Either it's a natural formation, or they found a way to cut it out from the rock. The latter is more likely than the former, of course, but again, it's a distraction from the intensity of the heat.
"Whatever gets you across this bridge safely. If that's what you want to do, then go right ahead." She means that, too; she prefers him whole and not burnt to a crisp.
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It's not that he wants to do it. Yes, there is agonizing molten death but there is also a shred of dignity that keeps him from crawling over this bridge in front of Nicole like a maladjusted cat. "I'm good. Just theorizing."
Flynn blinks the sweat out of his eyes, trying to clear his vision as he presses on. Relief fills him when he can feel the ground arch down slightly, indicating that they have passed midway. He is just about to point it out when a smaller eruption under them gushes up hot air, startling him and he stumbles. He quickly makes himself drop down on one knee, clinging to the edge of the bridge with one hand, the other outstretched to balance himself.
"Oooookay. That was fun?" Shaking his head, he slowly pushes himself up again – again, dignity, there's still dignity! – but keeps in a slightly more hunched position as if trying to anchor his weight into the stone underneath his feet.
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She does realize that dignity is rather important to him, so she decides not to press the issue further. What she is going to do, however, is stick as close to him as she can, in the event of him losing his balance or experiencing some other dangerous thing that might accidentally send him over the edge.
... Something rather like the small eruption of hot air that clearly takes both of them by surprise. "Flynn!" The exclamation bursts out before she can stop it. Those Guardian tendencies of hers are just too strong to be kept at bay by something like a wish to preserve someone else's dignity. If the bridge weren't so narrow, she'd insist on walking next to him and not beside him for added protection, but there isn't enough room for that.
"Fun?" She arches an eyebrow. Somehow, she doesn't equate nearly getting singed or steamed to death with fun. "Well, I'm glad you're managing to stay positive. The right outlook is very important." And she's never known him to not be positive, or at least irrepressible.
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Clearing his throat he starts walking again, eyes desperately fixed on the end of the bridge. It seems like an eternity until the tiny slope finally broadens and they reach the other side. He allows himself to tilt his head back in relief, drawing in a couple of deep breaths. "Hey, how about we look for... alternative routes on our way out?"
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As they continue moving on to the other side, she pauses for a moment, intending to give them both a second to catch their breath. Or at least, to let Flynn catch his, as he seems to have experienced the bulk of the excitement (or danger) thus far. Nicole turns to face him, a slightly inquisitive expression on her face as she does. "Which bridge would you say was worse: the one we just crossed or that rather rickety one we encountered during our search for the spear?"
Of course she'll go along with whatever he wants, including looking for an alternate route. They may not find one, of course, but she'll humor him just this once.
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Flynn pauses there, wiping at his forehead, then glancing over at Nicole. "You know, if we start categorizing all the horrible ways to go."
He smirks, briefly, then glances over at the doorway, excitement rushing back into him. "That's gotta be it."
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She would rather not experience a slow, drawn out death. "We could write a book on that."
A rather morbid book, but a book nonetheless. "Well, lead on, then, Flynn." This is his quest, after all. She's only coming along as backup and support should things go wrong. Which they shouldn't, as long as she remains at the top of her game.
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And then they're there.
Despite himself, he needs to stop, just taking it all in for a moment. "Will you look at that." His voice is quiet, barely above a whisper as he glances around the treasure chamber.
"We made it!"
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She stops next to Flynn, pausing so that she can take in the sight as well. "It's- Well, it's incredible!" Her tone echoes his, quiet and hushed, because that's what feels right for this exact moment.
"Yes, we did, stony bridge and fiery chasm and all." And though she hasn't said it, she's very proud of him right now.
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"Let's get that book."
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Of course, that lingering thought is still there, that the Guardian ought not to fall in love with the Librarian, but it's a bit too late for that now. But more importantly, she learned her lesson with Wilde, and she's determined not watch out for Flynn at all costs. Even if Wilde's death turned out to be staged, she can't bear to even think about letting that happen to Flynn.
"Come on, then. It's already practically ours." Of course, she realizes the danger of being too cocky, but it's just within their reach.
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Wandering further into the chamber his eyes finally fall on the prize, the reason why they came all the way. "There it is. The Book of Solomon."
He approaches with careful, respectful steps and checks for all sorts of boobytraps before picking it up, turning it in his hands. "You know what I don't understand? Why no Librarian ever came to pick it up. I mean, Judson clearly knows about the book, wouldn't the Library be a much safer place? Why hide it out here and inconvenience people to play secret guardian for it? I wonder if the Masons even know about the Library."
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She follows behind Flynn until they're both standing in front of the fabled book. "It's incredible." Her gaze follows Flynn's as he picks up the book and looks it over. "This is only a guess, but perhaps no Librarian came looking for it because they were afraid of its power. I certainly would be if it were me. The legends about this book leave very little to the imagination, and as I'm sure you've heard, power corrupts."
Of course, Nicole is only hypothesizing. "It's possible that Judson thought that it was best to leave the book as it was, guarded by secrecy, not necessarily by a person." Other than the Masons, of course. It's not perfect logic, but speculation never is.
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His voice trails off when the words he is reading seem to move, swim before his vision. "... quite..."
The words he reads seem to resound in his head, droning out any sound and Flynn stares at the writing, too focused on the text before him to notice the sounds and movement coming from the chamber entrance.
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She looks over at him, eyes widening in confusion. "Are you all right?" He doesn't appear to be even hearing her, judging from the way he's staring at the text on the page in front of him. "Did you find something interesting about the book?"
She refuses to let panic rise up in her, continuing to attempt to rouse Flynn from the sudden stupor he seems to be in. "Flynn Carsen, answer me," she demands, snapping her fingers in front of his face. Suddenly, her attention is drawn away from Flynn and focuses on the loud rumbling noise coming from the entrance. "Flynn, now is not the time for you to zone out on me!"
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The answer comes promptly in form of Samir and his men, one by one moving into the chamber, weapons drawn, because of course. "Someone is indeed! Someone who'd like to express their gratitude for finding King Solomon's book for us."
Flynn grinds his teeth. "Well, you better not waste your breath, because you will never get the--" His voice stops. "Wait, how did you even find us?"
"You are not as subtle as you think." Samir waves impatiently. "The book, please."
"No, no, we literally trekked the Savannah for two days. We went on a honeymoon bus! It was awful? She nearly stabbed me in the throat." He points back at Nicole. "There's no way you just 'followed our trail'. Seriously, I am so sick of you guys just being everywhere!"
Clearly he has strong priorities here. But his rant isn't just a rant; he is also using the distraction to slip the book in his messenger bag in case they need to make a break for it. Well, and possibly for Nicole to move in and break some faces. Whichever comes first.
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Tensing quickly in response to the sudden threat, Nicole side-steps slightly until she's standing in front of Flynn. It's almost habit now, but the Librarian needs protecting at any cost. And, well, the Book of Solomon should not fall into the hands of brigands.
If she can protect both Flynn and the Book, then she'll consider this a job well done. Nicole's glares turn into full-blown glowers as Samir and Flynn exchange barbs. "Flynn, I don't think it matters how they found us. What matters is having them leave the way they came."
She shoots him a look in response to his comment about her stabbing him in the throat. As if she would ever purposefully hurt him. Speaking of people she would purposefully hurt, she drops into a defensive stance, taking the chance Flynn is trying to give her to take out the men and allow them the time to escape.
Moving forward slowly, doing her best to not draw attention to herself, she draws level with one of Samir's men and elbows him squarely in the face before he can even react. To her pleasure, he drops like a rock, but there's still eight men still standing. It's not the most insurmountable of odds, but she'd prefer it if there were less of them and more of her and Flynn.
Still, if she can just fight them off, or incapacitate enough of them, then their chances of escape increase by quite a bit.
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Flynn in turn uses Nicole's sudden advance and the distraction that causes for one of his balanced throws, knocking out another goon with a piece of treasure that he hurls at his forehead. Another down, seven to go.
"Get them!" Samir snarls at his men, causing them to advance. "We don't want to keep him waiting."
That catches Flynn's attention. "Him? What, your boss? Should have known you're just a little middleman." The cocky provocation doesn't miss its mark, causing Samir to draw a gun from his belt.
"Enough of this!"
Well, that's not good. Now that Flynn thinks about it, maybe he should have waited for Nicole to knock them all out while they were still in their sabre stage.
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As soon as she spots the gun being drawn from Samir's belt, she steps in front of Flynn, giving him a little shove, as if saying without words that he needs to get behind her and stay there. She can talk her way out of this; he just needs to stay out of harms' way.
"Now, I very much don't recommend that you do that. If you shoot me, he'll never cooperate with you, and if you shoot him, well, there goes your only chance of getting what you want. Either way, it'll go badly for you. Think about it: is that what you want?"
It's a big bluff, and a huge risk, but as long as Flynn stays behind her, she's prepared to go through with it. He needs to come out of this alive; she doesn't, not necessarily. It's not that she has a death wish. In fact, she's rather fond of life. But there will always be other qualified Guardians. The same doesn't need to be true for the Librarian.
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"Appreciate it, but we need to have a serious discussion about who steps in front of whom, because I am really sure it was my turn this time and you totally took that away from--"
When Samir raises his weapon in their direction he flinches back, raising his hands a little higher. "Of course we can totally whisper private stuff to each other another time, no problem!"
There is a long tense moment in which nobody moves or speaks; then Samir grunts, jerking his chin towards the hallway impatiently. "Let's go. He'll be waiting."
"Must be some real important guy," Flynn mutters under his breath as he joins Nicole's side, hands still risen. "Hope you got a machete ready... somewhere on there." His eyes move distinctly down her body for a second.
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She glares back at Samir, inwardly cursing their luck. This really does seem to happen to them a lot, and Nicole would prefer it if just once, a mission could go smoothly without any death threats from anyone. "Don't do anything rash, Flynn." He's a great Librarian, but a skilled fighter, he's not.
Arching an eyebrow upon realizing he's looking her over again, she rolls her eyes. "Who do you think I am? Come on, let's just keep moving. Do what they say, and we might get out of here alive." Actually, there's no "might" about it in Nicole's mind. They will get out of here. She just has to watch for the opportune moment and leap into action.
For now, though, her plan is to keep Samir talking and to perhaps distract him. "So, Samir." She puts on her best seductive voice, talking as they start moving. "Who is this 'he' you're talking about?" An elbow may or may not be getting jabbed into Flynn's side as she speaks. She's got a plan, and she doesn't want Flynn jabbering on about something unrelated while she works it out.
Samir grunts again, crossing his arms in front of him and frowning. "That's none of your business."
"Oh, he must be your boss. Having never met the man, I can't be sure, but I'll bet he's one of those pushy, in your face types, who never gives you any credit for anything." Nicole's still speaking in that almost seductive tone, while she does her best to schmooze the man, as some people would say. She keeps level with Flynn as they make their way towards the hallway, but she's very slowly and carefully edging ahead of him, getting closer to Samir a little bit at a time.
Every once in awhile, she spares a look for Flynn, trying to communicate without words that if her plan doesn't work, he needs to run for the exit as fast as he can. With luck, she'll be right behind him.
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It really doesn't help that Samir seems to be falling for it, his voice losing some of that rough edge, as he glances over at Nicole. "You would be surprised."
You would be surprised, Flynn soundlessly mimics in a childlike manner, his face hidden from view by Nicole's back. You would be surpriiised.
"He might even appreciate a fighter like you. Your talents wouldn't be wasted on a fool like this guy."
"Oh give me a break," Flynn mutters under his breath, scowling petulantly ahead.
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Her smile widens when Samir looks over at her. "Would I?" Luckily for Flynn, he's behind her so Nicole misses him mimicking Samir. That would get Flynn a swift kick, because she has a plan, and would very much appreciate it not being blown by his not-at-all jealous reactions.
"Oh, him?" Nicole shoots a glance behind her before quickly turning back to face Samir. "Do you know how much work it is to keep him safe? He tries to help, of course, but it's rather tiresome." She gives Flynn another look, this time with more of a warning concealed in it. This is all an act; she doesn't mean a word she's saying.
"I'm sure he must be quite the formidable man, but if you don't mind me saying so, he can't be anything compared to you." She's well aware that she's laying it on a bit thick, but Samir has to be sufficiently distracted for this to work. "It can't be easy chasing down people for him."
It's almost imperceptible, but Samir visibly relaxes once Nicole's focus shifts to complimenting him instead of his mysterious boss. Without being completely sure of the schematics of this place, Nicole's taking a chance in deciding to act before they've gotten too far down the hall. If she and Flynn can take out Samir and his men now, then that lessens the odds against them a bit. But even then, there's no telling how many other guards might still be lingering around.
A commotion might also draw their attention, which is just as bad. Still, Nicole's focus is on the situation at hand, and while she's buttering up Samir, she slips a small knife into her hand that was concealed up her jacket sleeve. It's lucky for them that Samir's men didn't search them, or it would surely have been found.
This scene would go a lot better if she could ensure that Flynn would not be in the crosshairs when she finally makes her move, but that's just a risk she's going to have to take. He's got decent reflexes, at least, so she hopes he'll duck or hide once the action starts.
"It's not easy, no-" Samir starts to speak, but his words die off in a rush, as Nicole's knife has just been pressed up against his throat. He signals his men with a twitch of his finger, and they jump from their relaxed positions to attention in a second.
"None of you had better move, or my hand might just slip and your leader will be dead before you can even say 'no'." Nicole warns them, a steely look in her eyes. "Flynn?" He'd better be ready to run, or to fight, depending on which direction this standoff takes.
Of course, Nicole wasn't factoring in the possibility of one of the men going ahead into the next chamber and alerting the others there. Suddenly, the room has twice as many men in it, and now she and Flynn aren't just outnumbered, they're surrounded. Nicole mutters an angry sounding curse under her breath. Of course she couldn't have planned for this, but it hardly makes her happy.
"Now, what was that you were saying about your hand slipping?" Samir taunts her, still cautious of the knife blade against his throat. "You do that, and you'll be a pincushion in seconds." Of course every man in the room is armed, and all of them have either arrows or spears trained on her.
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"Ready when you are," he answers when Nicole calls him to attention and he is. Only then things go horribly wrong and suddenly they find themselves at gun-, knife-, spear-, and probably some more point.
Flynn turns in a circle, watching the men tensely, his mind racing. This is not good. They need a solution and quick. "I don't think we're supposed to be pincushions," he says. "You're bringing us to your boss. That means he wants us alive."
Samir glances over at Flynn; only with his eyes of course, because the knife doesn't waver, but it's still a murderous glare that is cast in his direction. "We don't need you alive."
Flynn just carries on as if he didn't hear him. "And I can only assume he wants us alive because... you are not sure yet if you can read the book. Which you probably can't."
"Interesting deduction," Samir sneers at him. "And what exactly stops us from poking some holes into that one?" His hand gestures back at Nicole.
This time Flynn acknowledges him, if briefly. "Simple. Because you want to use her as leverage."
The moment he says it it makes him stop and wonder. It's an unusual move. Usually the goons see Nicole as a bodyguard, someone who gives them grief and someone that has to be dealt with; not as someone Flynn cares about.
Who could possibly know that he cares about her so much they could use her against him?
He pushes the thought away, trying to focus back on the here and now. "So until you actually verify if you can read the book, you can't do anything to us."
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When they set out on this adventure, of course they had contingencies in case everything went south, but now that they're in this moment, Nicole's still working on figuring out which of the contingency plans best fits this snag. She doesn't have time to keep sorting it out, as she's suddenly and abruptly shoved forward. "Do you mind not doing that? I can walk without you shoving me!" She snaps before she's really aware of what's leaving her mouth.
"Oh, we've got ourselves a mouthy one!" Samir's gaze is on her, and he's leering at her suggestively. There's no doubt in Nicole's mind that he's imagining doing some very despicable things to her, but she doesn't particularly care about his lewd fantasies.
"That's right, I am a mouthy one, and if your men keep pushing me, you'll find out that I can kill you just as easily as I can talk to you!" Upon hearing that, the man closest to her grabs Nicole by the arms in order to restrain her and shoves her again in the direction of the boss's chamber.
If looks could kill, all of the men surrounding them would be dead already, but Nicole's also mentally kicking herself for letting her temper get the better of her. As she passes Flynn, she shoots him a look, warning him without words not to do something as stupid as what she just did. They have to get out of this alive, and mouthing off at their captors isn't the way to do that.
It's a hairy situation, to be sure, but all they need is an opening, or a moment during which Samir's men lower their guard, and everything will be fine. Assuming such a moment presents itself, of course.
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