♫ Peace is Nice. Peace is Nice. Peace is Better Than Chicken and Rice. ♫

Finding the bomb's location became very easy after their encounter with the lion rebel. Follow the quaking ground, heat, and all of the noise. It was almost too easy. Samira had forgotten how easy jobs could be when allies were split up. Goals and missions could be done in parts and, if she had to guess, Kite and Victoria were the ones responsible for all of the commotion. Well, they and whatever was in their way of the bomb. More often than not any allies she had on missions relied on her to do the work as a powerhouse or take on the role as some sort of leader that she had no interest in being. The goddess was in a state of nostalgia now as she recalled similarities to when she was a novice mage. It was nice to not be entirely depended on for the success of a mission or crisis avoidance.

"We might be done with our part here," Bastet commented, she too hearing the noise and sensing the familiar auras of the other two mages in action. Unlike many of Samira's summons, Bastet considered others as fairly competent until proven otherwise. She had very little doubt that Kite and Victoria required significant aid in handling the matter. Janus' error might have been a good thing for them where their development as confident mages was concerned.

"I suppose so. We should still find them and make sure it has all been handled." After all, they just knew there was a use of magic and combat. That did not necessarily mean the bomb had been taken care of just yet. "We will continue going the long way to ensure the tunnels are clear." Not that there was much of a long way left to go, but when compared to just having Janus make another portal that led to them it was quite the lengthy route.

"This was oddly too easy for a group of rebel terrorists. I don't think they fully realized what they were getting themselves into." Bastet seemed almost disappointed by that fact. As much as she disliked most Joyans she still thought that they were much more capable than what was displayed that day. Without factoring in the power levels of some of the mages present to completely wipe their little group out with ease, what was the group planning on doing next if their bomb was a success? They'd only be wiped out afterward once they gained that kind of infamous attention. They should have waited a few more years for better organization and more powerful and competent members.

"Who knows what they were truly thinking when concocting this plan?" Samira added on to the conversation with a small sigh. There was a little information given by the armored lion for Samira to connect some of the dots to make an accurate theory, but that was not her job or place. Their actions and plan were reprehensible and she could not agree with any of it regardless of their reasoning, however understandable it could be when looking through the mental flowchart of cause and effect. "I assume the knights and other authorities will get to the bottom of that in due time." And that was the end of their small conversation. Mostly because they were where they needed to be. Sort of. A tunnel wall separated Samira from the other two Sabertooth members.

Samira stopped and put her hand on the wall. There was heat coming through it. More sounds too. The wall must have been thin, magically created perhaps in an effort to hide the bomb's location. Seeing as nothing exploded through the wall she took a guess that the heat wasn't necessarily just from the bomb. If it was then it was either a dud of a bomb or a different sort than they had all guessed it was. That was a slim possibility though and so the mage preferred the estimated guess that the bomb had been dealt with mid-explosion. To find out she did what any person capable of rational thought would do; blindly go through the wall and see for herself. Her body became transparent, partially existing in between two different realms and looking much like some representations of ghosts. The result of that magic was her being able to go right through simple walls and obstacles. While Bastet stayed on the other side to continue going through the tunnels, Samira walked through the wall, entering the area where she immediately noticed Kite and Victoria after a quick look around.

"I see things are taken care of here," Samira stated the obvious, noticing the melted puddle of bomb components by Kite and an unconscious Joyan woman at Victoria's feet and grip. "Good job to you both. That is one crisis that was averted today." If only that was the only one. Samira had truly hoped that would be it and the rest of the Ishgar Symposium could go on smoothly, but the future had a different plan that all three of them would soon be aware of. "The rest of the tunnels are also clear for the most part," she added on so the two didn't get the notion that she did nothing at all the entire time they were split up. "If anyone else allied with this group remains they will be taken care of shortly. I suggest we get back to the ship and deliver the woman there to the knights."

Samira looked at Victoria again and took notice of the wounds. They didn't look overly serious but they needed attention regardless before infection set in. "And to get those wounds of yours treated as well. I could help you with that if you like, but first, a change of scenery is in order." With that said a portal opened up behind Samira. Its familiarity in appearance should have given it away that it was another one conjured up by Janus. It'd lead directly to the ship without any sort of error. After all, he was right at that same destination point himself. "You can choose to go the long way as well, of course, though I do not know where the exit is down here. It is up to you." Samira shrugged and left them to decide. She backed up into the portal and disappeared. The swirling vortex remained open for Kite and Victoria to take if they so chose.

Regardless of how the two other Sabertooth members chose to get back to the ship the scene, they would witness would remain the same. The authorities were still present and dealing with the captured Chorda rebel members. They were just waiting for Victoria to hand over their leader. More than that though would be the sight of Samira's summons. The ones that had been scattered around the city had grouped up there and a few more that were absent until then had also come out to see what the Symposium thing was all about. Strangely, they were all dressed in cleaning crew uniforms and scrubbing down Kite's ship to remove all of that webbing. Why? Because they were bored and Amaterasu had put a stop to the tea party before all of it was gone. Except for Anhur. He remained where he was standing even before the Sabertooth mages had left to take care of the bomb.

(Word Count: 1231
Samira Total: 10,859)

Kite knew what he had to do and it was easy to say… stop the bomb. Ideally he wanted to put a stop to the bomb as fast as he could so he could assist Vic with the tiger lady. It wasn’t necessarily him doubting her combat abilities, he had a rough idea that she could definitely handle herself but he didn’t want to underestimate the rebel leader either. However dealing with the bomb would give him no time to assist in the combat against the tiger lady. It was a fight he would have certainly enjoyed taking part in. As he turned to face Vic after the bomb and it’s components were reduced to liquid to catch the tail end of the fight resulting in a stiff kick to the downed feline woman resulting in a KO. He would instantly notice that Vic was covered in numerous scratches and cuts that were flesh wounds at best. He’d hear her remark that she was glad her duel with the cat was over. “Yeah, ditto.” He respond nodding to the destroyed bomb behind him. “When we get back to the ship I’ll take you to the med bay to get those cuts taken care of.” He would say but then add upon realizing that they didn’t have a portal to return to the ship with. “We still gotta head back to the ship. Not sure where we are or how far these tunnels go and how many of her lackies are left.” He would start to say but their guild mate Samira would phase through the wall like an apparition. “Well now, don’t see that every day.” He’d comment on her choice of entry but considering how she teleported the one time to his location and landed on her butt I’m sure this was preferable.

He would listen to her compliment the pair of them for a job well done after surveying the room seeing the aftermath of this specific encounter. “Honestly we got really lucky. She started the detonation with the console and I wasn’t able to disarm it. The heat from my spell was able to put enough pressure to overwhelm the bomb.” He would break contact with Samira to look at Vic still holding the tiger woman, “I wouldn’t have been able to do that if Vic didn’t have my back.” He’d say nodding in thanks.

He’d listen as Samira explained that the tunnels up ahead were cleared of any enemies aside from maybe some stragglers hiding deeper into the tunnel system. After the summoner also made mention of getting Victoria cleaned up from her battle as well as suggesting we take the inquisitor back to the ship for an official arrest. By the knights a large portal opened. It was identical to the one that had allowed them to enter this very room. He said “I definitely agree with that.” He would walk through the portal after Samira backed into it. Once he was on the other side and would greet Samira with a smile and nod,“this definitely beats walking the long way. Thank you.”

It didn’t take long to see that there were knights present with the bombers who attacked them earlier shackled and arrested. Kite’s attention however was at the sight that consisted of Samira’s many summons all hard at work cleaning the web like gunk off of Tailspin while wearing cleaning uniforms. Except Anhur of course. He would walk up to Amaterasu, “Wasn’t expecting to see this. Who’s idea was this?” He’d ask the tea loving summon. After having a short conversation with her he’d walk up to the ship and look up at the hard at work cleaning crew, “hey! Best she’s looked in years! Awesome job!” This was the first time since his return that the ship got any sort of washing. “When you guys are done up there lunch is on me.”

Looking back once again at Victoria and her wounds he would use his head to gesture towards the ship’s ramp, “Wanna get those scratches cleaned up?”

Once Cat Chick had been subdued in a battle that was fairly close for a bit before Victoria gained the upper hand the brunette was looking like she had endured a few rounds of hand-to-hand combat against a honey badger. She was feeling like it too. At least the rebel group's plan to ruin everyone's day had been foiled thanks to the bravery and ingenuity of Kite, who had contained the blast of the explosive device with one of his spells so that no one got hurt when it had went off during the brawl between Victoria and the evil cat lady.

"Yeah, I don't want these cuts to get infected. Who knows what kinda germs are floating around down here." Victoria said to Kite. She was eager to get out of this nasty place and get back to somewhere that was relatively clean... or at least clean enough that she would not get an infection just from standing around the place with open wounds. She also wanted to hand over Cat Chick to the authorities so that the feline menace could face justice for what she and her pals had tried to do. But before the Sabertooth duo could deliver the evil cat person to the authorities, there was one not-so-small problem that they had to overcome.

How were she and Kite going to get out of here without getting lost?

"Dude, how are we gonna get outta here?" Victoria asked Kite. Suddenly Samira emerged from a wall and Victoria yelped.

Had someone managed to kill the Great And Mighty Samira and turn her into Ghost Samira?

As it turned out, Samira was very much alive. She had just been thinking with portals and had dropped in to give Kite and Victoria some good news, namely that the tunnels were mostly free of danger. Once the good news had been passed on she left a handy shortcut open for the pair to take so that they would not need to meander through the filthy subterranean labyrinth and hope they found the right way out. Victoria did not want to get lost in this nasty place and come down with something from all the germs floating around.

"Another portal for a shortcut? Hell yeah!" Victoria exclaimed enthusiastically, going through the portal after Kite went ahead of her and making sure to keep a tight grip on Cat Chick so that she did not lose the evil cat person and have to look for her wherever people who got lost due to portal magic shenanigans went. Victoria did not know how to work with portals and did not want to have anything weird happen like lose a limb to the magic portal realm or spawn an alternate universe version of herself that went around causing mischief.

-On the other side of the portal-

Victoria emerged on the other side of the portal to find that the area around Kite's airship had become a center of activity. The bomb-throwing enemies had been arrested by some Rune Knights and were being hauled off to face justice for their part in the sinister plot. Some of Samira's summons were busy cleaning the exterior of Kite's Kiteplane after the excitement had died down... except for Gold Guy. He was busy standing around and being a silent Gold Guy who was mysterious and silent. Victoria turned away from him and faced Samira and Kite.

"Yeah, it's long past time to get these scratches treated. But there's something we need to take care of first." Victoria said to Kite and Samira.

"We need to hand over Cat Chick here to the authorities before we do anything else." Victoria stated to her guildmates that there was one last duty they needed to complete before they could truly claim victory over this batch of rebels. The brunette wanted to make absolutely certain the authorities got their hands on the menacing feline before the Sabertooth mage went to get her wounds treated. Victoria turned away from her guildmates and walked towards the gathering of Rune Knights.

Victoria walked over to two of the nearby Rune Knights and lifted Cat Chick up to a sort-of standing position, then handed them the evil feline Inquisitor. She watched the Rune Knights put shackles around her wrists before taking over the responsibility of hauling the Inquisitor off to wherever it was she was destined to go. She was going to be in for an unpleasant surprise once she regained consciousness.

After completing the delivery Victoria turned back and walked over to Kite and Samira. She had only one question for the pair.

"Aside from treating my wounds, what do we do from here?" Victoria asked Kite and Samira.

[Post Word Count: 784]
[Victoria's New Word Count: 3,728]