Words: 1652
"Johanna Mahler," Jack said as he faced the German baroness.
"Guten tag, Herr Canyon," Johanna said with a wicked smile.
"I knew it was a matter of time before you unlocked this
city's mysteries."
"So, tell me, dein Freifrau, what can I do for you?" Jack
asked, giving in to her demands.
"I want you to find where the superweapon is kept," she
ordered him as she moved closer. "I heard you say these
crystals contain information upon them."
"But there are so many," Jack replied as he stood firmly in
her presence.
"I do not care how long it takes you to locate it, but if you
do no find it or refuse to help, I will have my men kill your
mother, Frau Sawyer, and Herr Tangaroa," Johanna threatened
him.
"Okay," Jack agreed with a deep sadness in his heart. "I'll
do it."
"Don't, Jack," Katelyn spoke as he turned to the central
console and removed the crystal.
"Bring me some crystals," Jack told her.
Johanna nodded and turned to her small troop of soldiers.
"Jung, Hahn, Keller, und Richter, help him. Wagner and Braun,
cover those three." Johanna stood back as everyone began to
work.
Jack placed a crystal into the machine and it displayed a
layout of the area.
"This is a map!" Johanna exclaimed as she moved closer to
him.
"Relax, it's a geographical map," Jack said, stopping her in
her tracks. "This entire place is powered by thermal energy.
The inhabitants were brilliant to even use such power to
create light and mechanics within the city."
"I do not care about the workings of this place, Jack,"
Johanna warned him with a fierce tone in her voice.
"Alright, alright," Jack said in haste. "Give me another
crystal!"
Garrik Hahn handed him a crystal, which Jack placed into the
console. It displayed the royal line of Atlantis and bust
pictures of each.
"It seems Atlantis flourished for more than five thousand
years before it was destroyed," he spoke, educating the people
on what he read. "The last few generations denote that a king
and queen ruled here, and only had one daughter, Maxine. Her
father was the last king of Atlantis, named Maximus. Her
mother was Amandine." Jack smiled to himself, which caught
Johanna's attention.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Nothing, just their names," Jack said. "Maxine is literally
little Maximus, while Maximus means the greatest. Amandine is
she who must be loved."
"You're wasting time," Johanna said.
"Don't you wanna know the history of this city?" Jack asked
her.
"No, just locations!"
"Fine, another crystal," Jack demanded as he held out his
hand. Kolt Keller, a mildly tall blonde man, handed Jack the
crystal he had. Placing it into the console, Jack began to
read the information. "Just a list of areas. Next."
Garen Richter gave Jack his crystal, which Jack put into the
console.
"It's a 3-D representation of the city," Jack told the
Germans. "Everything is labeled. The royal tombs are in the
spire, three floors up."
"Talus's laboratory! NOW!" Johanna yelled.
"I'm working on it," Jack said. "Interesting."
"What?" Johanna asked.
"Nothing. Moving on," he said as he tracked down Talus's lab.
Suddenly, Jack pulled the crystal free from the console.
Johanna stood stunned for a moment, and speechless. "Well?"
"Well," Jack said as he tossed the crystal toward Altman Jung.
"Catch!" He didn't wait to see Jung catch or miss it.
Instead, he punched Keller in the nose and spun to take down
Hahn. He only remembered two things. One was the fact that
Jung missed the crystal and it shattered on the floor. The
other was the fact that Gabrielle Wagner shoved the butt of
her gun into his face with such a force, it knocked him down
and out.
Johanna watched as Jack went down hard. She enjoyed giving
the man pain a little too much. She was smiling. "He will
never learn. Tie them up!"
When Jack woke, he was still a little disoriented. He shook
his head violently to clear his mind of the fuzz. He glanced
up at Wagner who was smiling at him. "That was quite the
hit."
"Danke," she said in return.
"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome," Jack replied as he looked around
at his friends, who were tied up as well. Then he spotted
Johanna. "Sorry about the crystal. It must've slipped."
Johanna punched Jack hard, forcing him to groan. "I told you
what would happen if you did not cooperated with me!"
Hahn jerked Katelyn Canyon out of the circle of
archaeologists. Everyone had been tied up and placed back to
back in a small circle. He pulled his pistol from the holster
on his belt and held it to Kate's head.
"She dies!" Johanna cried.
"No! Wait!" Jack demanded. "I know where the lab is. I saw
it before destroying the crystal."
"Clever man," Johanna said as she waved to Hahn, who moved
Kate back to the group. "Now, take me to it!"
"Only if my mother goes with us," Jack negotiated. "You can
leave the other two here as a ransom."
Johanna nodded and motioned for Hahn to bring Kate along with
them. "Braun, Keller, stay here with those two. I will
return shortly with the Canyons. Richter, Jung, Hahn, and
Wagner, with me!" She spun on her heels and marched outside,
leading the team and their prisoners out to the elevator.
Once they reached the exterior of the spire, Johanna turned to
Jack and his memory for locating Talus's lab. "Lead the way,
Herr Canyon."
"Follow me," he said as he moved to the left of the central
spire and made his way down the well organized streets of
Atlantis. He noted the shapes of several buildings,
remembering them from the map. "We're close. It wasn't far
from our location."
Johanna followed behind Jack with Kate heavily guarded by
Hahn, Richter, Jung, and Hahn. She was careful to stay a few
paces behind the American archaeologist, since he was known to
attempt escapes. Her plan was to stop that at all costs.
"Here," Jack pointed out as he spotted the building he
remembered to be the lab. "It's the right shape and
dimension." He pushed open the entrance door and entered a
chamber lined with tables that held several containers of
chemicals. Some tables housed equipment.
Johanna watched Jack like a hawk as he moved closer to the
tables.
Jack leaned and looked into a small machine. "This is a
microscope." He stood back and moved on, fearing Johanna's
wrath. He entered another chamber, which was off the entrance
chamber, to find more inventions created by Talus. "Simple,
small mechanics." He picked up certain items and set them
back down, one by one. "Clocks."
"I do not see any weapons," Kate pointed out the obvious.
Jack picked up a small cylinder that glowed a bright red,
almost orange. "What is this?" He set it down and moved into
a larger area, which looked like a warehouse. He stood in awe
as thermal energy filled the room, illuminating it.
Kate, Johanna, and all her soldiers stood in awe as well.
Jack examined four human-shaped machines, which had bubbly
features, as if someone could fit inside them. He spotted
cylinders next to them.
"What is it?" Johanna asked. "Is it the superweapon?"
"No," Jack said as he picked up the cylinder. He noticed a
small hole on the back the cylinder could fit into. Slipping
the cylinder into the port, the machine hummed to life. Jack
was startled and jumped back, but began to laugh. "It's like
a loading machine. Those cylinders are batteries, though
these are filled with a volcanic lava, as opposed to the acid
our modern ones use."
Johanna scanned the room and spotted something in the middle
draped with a large cloth. It was shaped like a large writing
pen with a large ball on the end that was closest to the
ground. She moved closer to it and jerked the cloth off. She
gasped as she scanned it up and down.
It was like a large cannon with a large ball on the end, all
on a stand.
"How does it work?" Johanna asked.
"I don't know," Jack replied softly.
Johanna pointed a gun at Kate and cocked the hammer back.
"Figure it out!"
"No need for that," Jack told her as he began to investigate
the weapon's mechanics. He was able to pull the side panel,
which was shaped like a long cylinder, to examine the inner
workings of the device.
"Well?" The German baroness asked.
"There are various mirrors and crystals inside," Jack explained. "I think they may magnify whatever energy this thing emits." He jumped down off the ladder that was attached to the side of the machine. He moved around to the large round end to see what it did.
Kate stood back with German guards on both sides of her. She wished she could be part of the bigger investigation of this magnificent place.
"Interesting," Jack said to himself as he examined the large ball on the rear of the weapon. He opened the hatch on the back and pulled out a larger cylinder. "It must contain high pressure lava or something close to it. I'm assuming there is a valve that releases it in a high pressure blast with the mirrors and diamonds magnifying its power. I'd liken it to the Death Star's superweapon."
"Wonderful!" Johanna said. "Then I can lay waste to any who oppose my demands and threaten Germany." She felt a great sense of pride and power overwhelm her. Then she turned to her soldiers. "Power up the machines. Two can handle the superweapon while the other two can handle the crates of the superweapon's ammunition. I will take these two back to the spire." She looked back at the superweapon again. "The world shall be mine!"
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