Silver Umbrellas

Twenty-Five-- Maelstrom

It would have been all too useful to have Alice with the two of them as they slipped between dilapidated school buildings made of dissolving brick and stone. The young state would have known her way around one of her best campuses, right? If that was the case, then their mission would be over and done with a lot sooner than Tino and Lili were predicting.

"Hey, Tino?" Lili spoke up softly, all the while shooting glances in every direction. "I think ve need to go that vay." She gestured minutely to their right with an extended index finger and made sure she didn't reach farther than the extent of the umbrella's canopy.

"Why do you say that?" he inquired curiously. "Not that I don't trust your judgment."

That made her lips pull up in a soft smile before answering. "Vell, I can't really explain it, but I'm getting a feeling that the science buildings are somevhere that vay."

Finland shrugged his shoulders, though the movement was small thanks to the dome he was busy holding up over his head. "Sure, we can go that way. But be on the lookout for anyone."

Liechtenstein nodded intently and led the way, unaware that the silver umbrella was leaning forward a few degrees in the same direction she had felt they should go. They saw a mostly glass structure up ahead and hurried to hide before anyone might see them; glass houses probably meant there were people inside. Crouched down behind a brick wall that looked like it had been hit by a cartoon heat ray, Lili peeked out into the street and used her keen eyes to scan their surroundings critically.

"Is it clear?" Tino asked, balancing the dome on his head so he could use both hands and double check his prepped pistol.

"... Ja, I think it is," she responded just loud enough to be heard over the incessant rain. "But I can't see that building very vell from here. There are probably people inside of it."

"Yes, you're probably right about that," he concurred. "Let's try a different route."

Her answer to that was a frown. "No... I really do think this is the vay ve need to go."

One of Tino's eyebrows rose, and an inkling of a suggestion wormed its way into his brain. "Lili... Will you switch with me for just a second?"

"Vhat for?" she asked casually, but was already moving to stand under the dome beside him and lower the umbrella so he could take the handle. A quick shift later, Tino was holding the umbrella over his head and she was bracing the dome over her head with both arms. "Okay, vhat vas that all about?"

"Hold on... I was right," he stated quietly, gazing up at the underside of the umbrella's canopy. "It's the umbrella telling us where to go."

"It is?" Lili gasped, looking rapidly between her companion and the object held firmly in his hand. "How can you tell?"

"I suddenly feel the urge to go the same way you were suggesting," Tino explained. "You probably don't feel that anymore, right?"

"... You're right," she realized with wide green eyes. "That's amazing! Her umbrella truly is magical."

"If it belonged to anyone else I wouldn't trust it, but now that I know what's going on I think we'll be alright to go that way," Tino said with a nod out to the street.

The brick sidewalk was in broken and melted shambles, leaving only the actual roadway to be walked on. If they had to duck into an alleyway for whatever reason, they would have farther to run and a smaller chance of making it without injury. To prepare themselves for the worst, Liechtenstein and Finland were entirely expecting the humans to have working guns and ammunition available. Tanglers would still be a problem here, after all, and the two nations were holding aloft a priceless item the humans' leader wanted dearly.