"But yeah, Ratt," Neo said. He started talking again, at that point. "You talkin' 'bout a plan, man. Ya' come up wit' one yet?"<br/><br/>"Neo, there's a very good reason why I have opted to make a decision to carry more tactical equipment with us." Rattus replied.<br/><br/>"Ya' mean, tha' fuckin' drone, man?!" Neo was annoyed. "Aw c'mon, assho'! E'eryon' kno's 'ere awready wha' happened w'en a crow familia' got sent to scout dat damn place. It got shot down with lasers 'n' shit."<br/><br/>"It's simply an examination of another area of speculation we should verify, and that is regarding the range of said laser weapons. Perhaps any concerns about it will be solved if we are able to observe the area of interest from a higher altitude." Rattus explained to everyone.<br/><br/>"But what if it isn't a matter of how high, but if it can be seen?" Heather shot the question at him.<br/><br/>"Then let the unmanned aerial vehicle be shot down. By that, we have known the capabilities of this weaponry." Rattus said.<br/><br/>"But unless it was really built to look for things from such a distance, I do not think that kind of laser beam will be able to shoot it down." Yukina interjected.<br/><br/>Another person from the crowd asked them a question, "So now, you're telling us that drones fly higher than a crow?"<br/><br/>"Yes." The person who owned the crow familiars said. "Crows don't fly higher than the trees where they nest in, and they don't place their nests far from the ground."<br/><br/>"But we still have to make sure that we will know where Kate and Robert went," said Clarence. "Because, by how this whole thing looks, they're most likely dead and didn't make it out of there."<br/><br/>"Damn it, Clar," said Heather to him. "I swear to God that if Robert's dead, I..." The calculating and calm expression she had when she got caught with all the talks of planning started to crack. She was almost of the point of tears, and covered her mouth out of anxiety as she turned away from the rest of the people in the Temple. And they all looked at her with worry at their own ways, except for Rattus who looked at her with his default stoical expression.<br/><br/>"Hiza-san, please do not worry." Yukina said, with the tone that said she sympathized with what she felt. She had called her a name derived from how she would pronounce hers in her own native language. But that didn't detract from the fact that Yukina's voice was also cracking out of deep sadness. "I am sure there is hope, everything is going to be fine."<br/><br/>Clarence rubbed her back as she finally cried. He told her, "I'm sorry, Heather. I... I shouldn't have bought it up."<br/><br/>"Neo. Get back to the hotel room and retrieve the unmanned aerial vehicle." Rattus ordered him. "We have the cover of the night, and we can assemble, launch and do a surveillance of the Abandoned Facility even within this night."<br/><br/>"Dude, why me?" Neo complained to him. "I kno' I work fo' you, but they all need me here. Go fuckin' get it yo'self, man!"<br/><br/>"I still have a lot of things to ask from the people here in the Temple, and it is imperative that I will be the one to ask them, since this is concerning about their capabilities in magic." Rattus answered. "Perhaps you could bring someone with you to accompany you to the hotel room, so that they will know where we are currently staying right now within this locale and establish a second meeting center."<br/><br/>"Fine, fuck you man." Neo conceded. "An'one wanna go wit' me? I'mma go bring ya' to the penthouse, yo!"<br/><br/>"Me!" Andy, the woman who informed the Temple of Kate's disappearance earlier, said. "I'm going with you. I haven't eaten dinner yet!"<br/><br/>"C'mon gurl!" Neo signalled to her, as he began to leave the ruined tower. "Let's go get sum' fine hotel chow! 'S'all on mah boss's!"<br/><br/>"Great!" Andy exclaimed excitedly as she joined him.<br/><br/>One person in the Temple looked at Neo and Andy as they walked away. He commented, "Oh boy, Neo's at it again."<br/><br/>"Yeah. Andy's gonna get laid." The person beside him commented. He was the one who owned the crows. "Good for her, I guess. She just broke up with her boyfriend yesterday. Still sorta bummed out from that fuck-boy."<br/><br/>"But Neo's a fuck-boy too, didn't you know?" The other person commented.<br/><br/>"Yeah," The crow person acknowledged. "But at least he isn't intending to pretend he's in love with her or something. Maybe that's what Andy needs right now, but I dunno."<br/><br/>Rattus turned his attention to what he intended to do, which is to ask the various people in the crumbling Temple about their magic, as well as their organization in general. He happened to first talk to the people who commented on Neo's nature. "With all due respect, but I request that you give me some of your time to answer my inquiries. Would you mind that?" He asked them.<br/><br/>"No, not at all." The other person replied. "Go on."<br/><br/>"Can you tell me more about this organization, the Temple?" Rattus asked them. "It is not often anyone can find an enclave of such individuals like you have, especially here in North American territories and nationstates."<br/><br/>"Man, um," The other person began to think, not knowing what to answer.<br/><br/>The crow person began to answer for him instead, "The Mages' Temple of Winnfield is exactly as it is, a group of mages in an old temple. Well, the place we are in right now was an abandoned little Christian temple that people never really bothered with anymore, until we decided to just use this as a meeting place. I mean, if no one's using it, why not us?"<br/><br/>"The appearance of this church ruin seems out of place, if my observations are right." Rattus commented. "The church resembled more tower-like but smaller in height, as if it was intended as a bell tower by itself for a smaller church."<br/><br/>"Well, they say that they built it to save space and to have a bell-tower too, so why not make the bell-tower the church itself without any separate church from it?" The other person explained. "But that's what the old people here said about it."<br/><br/>"I see now." Rattus nodded once as an acknowledgement. "I presume Miss Heather holds the leading position on Temple?"<br/><br/>"Sorta." The crow man replied. "There really isn't a leader here. Heather, Bobby and Clarence only happened to be the more experienced mages in the Temple. We don't have any formal organization of that kind."<br/><br/>"Speaking of mages," Rattus said. "You have mentioned that you have crow familiars earlier in the strategic discussion. I am Rattus von Engels, pleased to meet you." He offered a handshake to him.<br/><br/>"Yeah," he replied, taking up the handshake. "I'm Luke Williams. Pleased to meet you too, Mister von Engels." He had a long brown hair and a goatee, and wore a fur-lined heavy coat, cargo pants, heavy winter boots and a plain black turtleneck.<br/><br/>"Have you seen enough clear detail through your familiars about the facility before it got shot down by the laser weapon it presumably houses?" Rattus asked him.<br/><br/>"Yeah, I saw..." Luke thought about his answers for a second. "...People in radiation suits?"<br/><br/>"That was disturbing, man." The other person commented.<br/><br/>"Can you tell me how many of them you saw?" Rattus threw another question.<br/><br/>"A couple." He said. "They were walking around with some sort of device they're carrying, I dunno how to describe it. But Eddie here is right: it's disturbing. That place has been abandoned for a year now."<br/><br/>"Yeah, and we told Heather about it already." Eddie, the person beside him, affirmed what Luke said. He also had a long brown hair like Luke, but he was clean shaven and older than him. He wore parka, baggy pants and the same winter boots as Luke. "By the way, I'm Eddie Williams. Luke and I are brothers. Nice meeting you, sir." He offered a handshake to Rattus, which was taken immediately.<br/><br/>"Pleased to meet you too, Mister Williams." Rattus said. "So, did Miss Heather offer any course of action after what you saw?"<br/><br/>"She simply told Clar to call for Neo. But that was after she asked Bobby to investigate the place, then went missing." Eddie answered. "With what happened to one of the crows, we figured out that something dangerous might be there. As well as the guys wearing radiation suits."<br/><br/>"I see now." Rattus sighed deeply but silently. "Your answers have provided a sufficient contribution. Is there anything else of note I should know?"<br/><br/>"Well, you can ask Clar, Heather or the other guys here." Luke said.<br/><br/>"Oh, I almost forgot," Eddie interjected. "Maybe you can ask Beth about what happened to Jennifer, one of our mages here. Maybe she can provide more details about the whole thing."<br/><br/>"I see now. Thank you for your time." Rattus said to them, tipping his glasses back.