Quoted By:
“Hiding in plain sight,” the Equalist scoffs, “figures the Komodos would be too stupid to see the Avatar was already in their hands.” That’s right, you’re still wearing the jumpsuit they gave you. You’re starting to miss your pajamas. “Who are you two?” He addresses the other members of your little group.
Itiqqa starts to answer, but the Union City native steps up to field the question for her, “her friends, theoretically. We were just about to join up with the Komodos, but she bolted when she heard about the bounty out on the Avatar.”
“I guess all of you were too smart for the Komodos then.” He scratches his head, “I’m not sure how they’ll split up the bounty, or if that one will get any, but there’s only one way to find out. Come with me.”
The Equalist hideout is, unsurprisingly, accessed through the same steam tunnels that you used to find the gang members. The base itself, which you quickly surmise isn’t their headquarters, based on how dingy and poorly-branded it is. Seriously, there are only a couple of banners and some scattered crates, not even any furniture. The stage on the warehouse’s far wall is even propped up by five large crates and looks crudely nailed together.
You’re shepherded in by the first Equalist you met jamming his nightstick between your shoulder blades, Noyon and Itiqqa following closely behind you. A group of Equalists emerges from another entrance, surely also from underground, though these ones are in proper, military-style uniforms, drab gray with high socks and quarter-smocks kept around their waists with double belts, knee-high boots, and masks that fully cover their faces, complete with smoked glass goggles. The sole exception is the apparent leader, who has an uncovered lower face.
Said leader has a thin, detached mustache, and a confident swagger about him. There’s also a woman wearing everything <span class="mu-i">but</span> the goggles next to him, who you only really take note of when she leans in and says something to him.
“You,” his voice is deeper than you suspected it would be based on his angular features, and the violence with which he pokes his baton at you makes you flinch. “Are not the Avatar.”
>(2/3)
