The Six Guns

Chapter Eleven: Signs of a World War

  A couple weeks pass as the group; Siran, Alex, Zia, and Finn made their way to Cairo. The voyage over the ocean was long and very boring for those who couldn't sit still, namely Finn. After they arrived at Africa, they spent about a day looking for a way to board the bullet train that will carry them east to the other side of Africa. This bullet train had plenty of space for passengers but most of the train was reserved to hold goods meant to be traded. Eventually, the train stopped just north of Cairo's city limits and they had to go through an immigration checkpoint to enter the city. The immigration system was just meant to check people going into the city for affiliation with any military and/or weapons. All of them were cleared to go through, although Alex had a little bit of a problem. They discovered that he is an Ex Ly'Lum, but after finding out that he no longer is affiliated with them, they let him pass. It was clear to them that the people here did not like The Ly'Lum at all. Eventually, they made their way near the center of the city.

  "What should we do from here?" Alex asks.
  "We'll likely need to find a way to make money while we're here" Finn says. "I still have plenty of money for now that I was able to exchange for this country's currency, but if we plan on being here for a long time, then we'll need a way to make more unless you want to live on the streets in Egypt"
  "Before we get into that" Siran says, "I think we deserve to enjoy ourselves at least a little. We can go sight seeing for a while to clear our minds of our journey so far"
  "I agree" Zia says.
  "You always agree with Siran" Finn says. "Besides, you just wanna go see the Pyramids don't ya?"
  "That'd be a great place to start" Siran says. "I want to see them too!"
  Zia almost jumps for joy as she turns around and begins walking and says "Then let's go!"
  "Do you even know which way to go?" Alex asks.
  "A few giant pyramids will be hard to miss" Siran says.
  "The Great Pyramid of Giza?" An unknown voice says from behind them.
  They turn around and find a short person leaning against a wall, wearing wraps around their body. They looked like boy trying to dress up as a ninja, but sounded like a female adult.
  "I can show you the way, but I'd suggest not getting involved there" she says.
  "Why not?" Siran asks.
  "It's no longer just a sight attraction like it once was" she explains, "It's a home for rebels"
  "Rebels?" Siran asks, "rebels against what?"
  "Glad you asked" she says, "against The Ly'Lum's recent involvement with this country. We rebels don't approve of them being here. Recently they've been getting too involved with every country that's been flourishing and we think they only have bad intentions"
  "... we?" Siran asks. "So you're a rebel?"
  "I uh" she begins to make excuses, "I never said that. You must've misheard"
  "No, we definitely heard what you said" Finn says in a disappointed tone.
  "You're not very incognito either" Alex says. "You stand out like a sore thumb"
  "And you're a bad liar" Zia says.
  "Who are you anyways?" Siran says.
  "Worry about that later" she begins to explain. "We need to worry about getting somewhere safe. You never know who could be working for them here"
  "At least give us your name" Siran says.
  "I got an idea" she begins to say, while completely ignoring Siran. "You said you wanna go to the Pyramids, then we can go there and I can explain where it's safe"
  "And that's the rebels hideout now?" Siran asks.
  "You catch on fast" she says. "How'd you already figure that out?"
  Siran, Alex, Zia and Finn just look at each other in amazement of how dumb this person was. The group follow this girl to the pyramids. They make it outside of the city of Cairo and the climate seems to change drastically, because the city had a flourishing green environment, but immediately changes to a sandy desert as they approach the site of the pyramids. When they arrive, the girl shows them to a passage that leads under ground. When they enter, there's just a single large room lit up by several lamps, and sandstone pillars to support the roof from collapsing. She then takes off the wraps around her face, exposing bright and long pink hair.
  "My name is Rose Atiyeh" she says, "and this is our hideout"
  "Where's everyone else?" Alex asks. "You said rebels, so I assumed there would be more"
  "There's just me here" Rose explains, "everyone else is too scared to fight back. So I'm here to protect them"
  "Okay" Siran says, "I can see where this is going. It's almost pitiable, but basically there is no rebel group"
  "There was!" Rose interjects, "... I'm all that's left though". Her head begins to hang low in depression.
  "I'm sorry" Zia says. There was a short pause of silence before Zia proposes "are you guys hiring then?"
  Rose looks up in surprise and says "what?".
  "Well" Zia explains, "we're not friends of The Ly'Lum either, and we'll be here in Cairo for a while so might as well help"
  Rose's eyes light up with almost a fiery passion as she says "Not just anyone can do it though! You'll be an outlaw here, forced to live off of very little. Stealing whatever provisions you can, and living in secrecy"
  "Been there, done that" Finn says.
  "Well" Rose begins to say, "you'll also have to fight if the time ever comes, surviving purely on your own abilities"
  "Yep" Zia says.
  "Well..." Rose begins to say, running out of excuses to try and intimidate the group, "you won't be living in luxury no matter how hard you try, so if you wanted to live comfortably-"
  Siran interrupts with "I kind of assume that position, are you going to let us help out or not?"
  "When did this become a job?" Alex asks.
  "When we found a job" Siran replies.
  "So who are you anyways, Rose?" Finn asks.
  "I'm the sole survivor of the rebels in Cairo" Rose says with pride, "I'm a ninja!"
  "Aren't you a little too young to be a ninja?" Alex asks.
  "I'm 19 dammit!" Rose shouts as she begins to pout.
  "You're barely younger than I am" Finn says. "I think that makes you the youngest one out of all of us"
  "How old are all of you?" Rose asks.
  "26 years old" Zia says.
  "21" Finn replies.
  "30" Alex says.
  "Yeah, you're the youngest here" Siran says.
  "But you never told me how old you-"
  "Anyways, I've got a better idea" Siran interrupts. "Instead of us joining your rebel group, why don't you join our rebel group?"
  "You guys are rebels too?" Rose asks.
  "Is that what you'd call us?" Alex asks.
  "Yeah" Siran replies.
  "What's your rebel group name?" Rose asks.
  "We... don't have a name for it" Siran says. "Do rebel groups always have a name? What's your rebel group's name?"
  "Rebels of Cairo, duh" Rose says.
  ".... the amount of stupidity in this one room is so highly concentrated, I might just suffocate" Alex says.
  "Where are you guys from anyways?" Rose asks.
  "Omnia" Alex responds. "Except for Siran. He's from America apparently"
  "You're rebels from Omnia!?" Rose asks. "What's it like there? Is it terrible?". Rose's eyes were almost shining in interest suddenly.
  "... anyways" Siran begins to say. "What's going on with The Ly'Lum here? Why are they in Egypt?"
  "Oh... right" Rose responds. "They came a couple years ago, at first promising protection but later they essentially took over our economy and our streets. They kill whoever they want and do whatever they want. Their involvement only stirs up violent activity to this once peaceful city. It's almost like they intend to take over the world or something".
  "Taking over the world sounds preposterous" Alex says. "I don't think that's their intention, but nonetheless, what they're doing here is unjust. I guess we might as well do something here"
  "Really!? You'll help!?" Rose asks.
  "Sure" Siran says. "Wanna join us? Once we leave this place, you can come with us too".
  Rose pauses for a moment and thinks to herself. "I'm not sure if I can do that"
  "That's fair" Siran says, "I'll let you decide that on your own"
  "Lately" Rose begins to say, "more and more people keep standing up against The Ly'Lum's involvement with Egypt but none of them ever return home alive. It's beginning to feel like a war is about to break out here soon".
  "Then it's settled" Siran says, "guys, we've got a war to prevent"

  Later, during the night of that same day, the group heads out with Rose to the city. They remain in the shadows of alleyways, hiding on rooftops, and staying out of sight listening for the first sign of a Ly'Lum soldier. What they came across wasn't what they expected at all. Rather than coming across some Ly'Lum soldiers, they came across a group of people plotting an attack on some outposts in the city that housed some of the soldiers from The Ly'Lum. There were three outposts that they planned to attack, and Siran and the rest discovered where these outposts were thanks to the rebels discussion.
  "Seems like stopping the war won't be an option anymore" Siran says.
  "This is certainly something" Finn says.
  "We should help them, shouldn't we?" Rose asks.
  "Well, there's three places to attack at the same time, how are we going to help with all three at once?" Alex asks.
  "We'll have to split up" Siran says. "Rose, you'll go with Finn. He's great with illusion magic, and every ninja needs a good way to stay hidden. Zia will have to go with Alex. Alex is capable of fighting well, but he's still learning his magic capabilities, so you'll have to cover him"
  "Got it" Zia says.
  "I'll take one of them alone with the other rebels and try to keep casualties to a minimum. If this attack is going to happen, we'll want as little casualties as possible. If we don't want this to turn into an all out war, then we'll want to send them a message and not a declaration of war. So the less dead bodies, the better"
  "Roger that" Finn says.
  "Head out immediately and wait for the rebels to arrive" Siran says. "I trust you guys to know what to do from there. When you're done, meet back up at the hideout". All five members of the group then put their hands together and say "break" as they split into different directions. All of them hide in different positions close to the outposts, waiting and watching.
  Some of the rebels close in on the outpost that Siran is hiding at. At the sight of the rebels, the soldiers pull out magic weapons and shoot at the rebels immediately. Siran jumps in front of all of the fire with his hand out and blocks all the fire with a digital shield, deflecting the fire. Most of the soldiers were then knocked off of their feet with a gust of wind, then put at gun point by the rebels.
  At the outpost that Rose and Finn are hiding at, the soldiers prepare their weapons as well, only to be disarmed by Finn as Rose swiftly knocks several soldiers unconscious.
  At the outpost that Zia and Alex are at, the soldiers prepare to counter fire, only for their line of sight to be blocked by a stone wall suddenly popping out of the ground from Zia's magic. From behind, Alex beats most of the soldiers there senseless with his bare hands and a little buff magic.
  After all the scuffle that was made into short work by the group, they all head out separately towards the hideout at the Pyramids. The group eventually gets back together to discuss what happened.
  "I tried to keep anyone from dying" Alex says, but I can't promise that no one died".
  "I only knocked them out" Rose says, "so all good on my end".
  "I kept the Rebels from killing any of the soldiers" Siran says, "they instead kept them as hostages to interrogate. So they're probably facing a fate worse than death".
  "Mission accomplished?" Finn asks.
  "For now at least" Siran says. "We have no idea what'll happen next"
  "For now, we can only assume supportive roles" Zia says, "we can't have a high profile right now, since we came here to drop off the radar"
  "Right" Alex says, "as long as they don't know who supported the rebels, we should be fine"
  "All good for now then" Siran says.
  "Question" Finn says, "what are we gonna do about sleep for now?"
  "Answer" Rose says as she lays down on the hard floor, "just pick a spot and sleep"
  By the time Finn begins to complain, the rest of the group has already began laying on the floor and closing their eyes.
  "Ah, never mind" Finn says.
  The group eventually falls asleep, hoping that what little support they can offer will lead to the desired outcome. The night grew quiet as the fighting ended so shortly in the city. For now, at least, there was no war.