From behind the excavator 5 different individuals wearing Kabuki Masks that glowed with an enhancing electric blue color, pointing their lances right to the expedition group.

"Holy cats! Who are these guys?" Rourke was the first to respond, his surprise was present on his tone and his face, reaching first thing for his gun. And almost immediately Griffin and Helga reached for their weapons, the three of them were the most aclimitated to violence, so it was normal for them to show no hesitation.

"They gotta be Atlanteans..." Milo was the only one to actually appreciate the situation, not falling to the fact that they are in front of unknown individuals with possible hostile intentions.

"Try to think about the situation at hand, Milo..." Griffin whispered to his brother as his vision was still glued to the possible enemy in front of him. For someone like Griffin, everyone is an enemy until proven otherwise.

"What? That's impossible!" Helga turned to look at the brothers, it was not possible for the Atlanteans to still be alive, not after all these years and not in circumstances like this one.

"I saw this back in Dakota. They can smell fear just by looking at ya. So keep quiet." Cookie was having his own existential crisis with this moment.

The leader of the Atlanteans, who appeared to be the voice of a woman, started to speak. The language was something that none of the group could actually understand. But she didn't sound as if she was inviting them for a tea party.

"I think it's talking to you." Mole got a hold of Milo's arm. It was Milo's moment to shine, all those years being a linguist, studying the Journal more than anyone, he was the only one to possibly understand.

"Milo... Be careful..." Once Milo took a few steps forward. Griffin tried to reach for his brother, but he was out of reach. His Brother didn't believe that Milo still didn't grasp the danger of the situation.

Milo started to speak in their same language, although with some clear difficulties. Difficulties that seemed to fade as he got the hang of it. Surprised by the fact that one of these intruders actually understood their language, the woman took off her Kabuki Mask, showing that it was the same woman that had healed Milo's wounds a few moments ago. As they started to have a conversation in her native tongue.

"Ita, sum amice viator." Milo seemed a lot more confident as he continued to speak.

"Dices linguam romae." The Atlantean spook still intrigued by this outsider.

"Parlez-vous francais?" Milo asked, just to know if they have some common ground with more modern languages.

"Oui monsieur!" The Atlantean responded.

"They speak my language! Pardon, mademoiselle?" Mole lost his fright for these people. And tried to call the attention of the woman. She knelt to his height, as he started to whisper something in her ear.

Although it went south in a few seconds,whatever Mole told her really made her upset. So upset that the next thing that Mole received was a punch right on the face.

"Ohh, I like her." Sweet started to applaud.

"Hmm! 'bout time someone hit him. I'm sorry it wasn't me." Audrey wanted to hit him for so long, and said someone stole her thunder.

"Buenos Días..."

"Guten Tag!"

All the other Atlanteans assuming that these outsiders were no threat, removed their mask, speaking many salutes in different languages. Showing that they dominated a variety of tongues. Once you got into their good side, language was not going to be a big barrier for communication.

"How do they know all these languages?" Audrey was confused by such mastery of linguistics.

"Their language must be based on a root dialect. It's just like the tower of Babel." Milo clarifies, these being a reference to one of the most iconic moments of the bible.

"Well, maybe English is in there somewhere. Rourke patted Milo on the shoulder

"We are explorers from the surface world. We come in peace." Griffin follow Rourke path of thought. If these were real atlantean, the least he wanted is to engage into a violent standoff with them. They were living relics...

"Welcome to the City of Atlantis." The Atlantean woman gave her best wishes, and received these people not as strangers, more like honor guests. "Come. You must speak with my father now." Everyone started to follow the woman to the rope bridge to the entrance of Atlantis.

"Squad "B", head back to the shaft... and salvage what you can in 24 hours." Rourke mobilized a great part of their units to bring all the things that were not lost during the fire. While the rest of the team follow the Atlanteans.

"I'm so excited. Really amazing is that if you deconstructed Latin, you overlaid it with a little Sumerian, throw in a dash of Thessalonian you'd be getting close to their basic grammatical structure. Or at least you'd be in the same ballpark." Milo was sharing the car with Rourke and Helga. Doodling in his notebook, going through his remarks about the logic behind their language.

"Someone is having a good time." Helga smiled at the childish antics of Milo...

"Like a kid at Christmas..." He rested his head on the side of her hand as the other hand was busy taking the wheel of the car.

"Commander, there were not supposed to be people down here. This changes everything..." Helga lost her smile, she pondered on what it meant finding actual living people down here. Their only mission was to recover if possible the Heart of Atlantis off the ruins, but they never took into consideration the fact that the Atlanteans will still be alive..

"This changes nothing." Rourke had his mind focused only on the prize, nothing, not even the native people of Atlantis was going to stand in his way.

Helga's concern didn't go away. As her vision took a turn to the car that was passing by just beside them. Griffin was seated on the driver's seat of the other cart that survived the fire. As she turns to look down at her hands, pressing one against the other. The moment that the mission would show its true colors was approaching, and she was conflicted on what to do. And especially in how the Older Thatch would take the news, perhaps if she was lucky, he would accept their proposal when that time came. If not, well she didn't want to really think about it...

The crew made their way through the heart of the city, until making it into the Real Palace at the center. Witnessing what would one assume to be the throne room of the palace. Contemplating the very King of Atlantis resting on his throne, an elderly bald man with a white beard so long that it reached his abdomen.

The whole room seemed to be in ruins and overflowing with water, the only way to walk across it's the different stepping stones that were located strategically on the floor, designing patterns on spirals that seemed to be a common symbol of this culture.

The Atlantean woman greeted the King, speaking on behalf of the visitors. But the King just by the tone of his voice could infer that the presence of our heroes here was everything but welcomed.

As that discussion took place, the four leaders of the expedition were waiting to see the result. Rourke, Helga, and Griffin were standing up, while Milo got on his knees performing a sort of reverence to the King.

"Milo, what are you doing?" Griffin asked curiously. During this whole adventure it has been his duty to keep his little brother in line, he wanted to make sure that he were not to do something imprudent.

"Just follow my lead, okay... Trust me..." Milo said. Griffin just looked at his brother, before slowly following his example kneeling before the King of Atlantis.

Helga turned to Griffin kneeling down, mimicking his little brother and she gave him a little playful smirk. Griffin noticed this and couldn't stop himself from showing a visible smile, before returning his vision to the King. Milo took out his notebook and started to take notes on the conversation of the King and the Atlantean, as the King seemed to have enough about this topic, he looked upset.

"On behalf of the crew may I say it is an honor to be welcomed to your city." Rourke was oblivious to the pressure on the room assumed the best, maybe because of the warm welcome they received at the beginning of this exchange from the first group of Atlanteans.

"Ahem. Uh, excuse me? Commander?" Milo was still kneeling down, he tried to refrain the commander from commiting an imprudence.

"You presume much to think you are welcome here." The King needed to sugarcoded to the outsider to finally read their intentions.

"Oh, sir, we have come a long way looking for..." Rourke tried to reason with him.

"I know what you seek and you will not find it here. Your journey has been in vain."

"But we are peaceful explorers, men of science."

"Heh heh heh. and yet you bring weapons." The King laughed while pointing to the gun that Rourke had on his holster.

"Our weapons allow us to remove obstacles we may encounter." He tried to reason with the King, but the Atlantean was no fool, the severities of war and disaster tainted his hands. The excuse was no surprise...

"Some obstacles cannot be removed with mere show of force. Return to your people. You must leave at once." The King got up from his seat, as he had enough of these visitors.

"Oh, Your Majesty, be reasonable." Rourke tried to keep pushing in order to appeal to any sort of comprehension from the old ruler.

"Sir." Milo raised, now it was his turn to try to make the commander see the light. They couldn't afford to make the King upset.

"Not now, son." Rourke responded

"Trust me on this. We better do as he says." Milo had to be the voice of reason, the last thing that they needed was for things to elevate into a confrontation.

"Rourke, it's their city, we must respect their wishes..." Griffin finally intervenes, sharing Milo's view. The older Thatch's authority seemed to finally appeal to the commander's reason.

"May I respectfully request that we stay one night, sir? That would give us time to rest, resupply and be ready to travel by morning." It was his last attempt to stay a little longer, and tried to discover everything about this society. They were not opposed to leaving, it was not just immediately. They have sacrificed a lot and spent even more, they couldn't take no for an answer.

"Hmm. Very well. One night. That is all." After the other request, that was not something he was looking for to be part of, this one seemed to be the most reasonable.

"Well, thank you, Your Majesty." The crew started to make their way out of the Throne Room. They had everything they needed... at least for the moment.

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"So, how'd it go?" The group asked curious to the ones descending. There was not much good news about the situation.

"Well, the King and his daughter don't exactly see eye to eye. She seems to like us, ok but the King..." Milo didn't quite get why would the King and the Princess would have such opposing view about the situation. One would see these as an opportunity to learn more about their dying culture while the other saw it for it to be finally crushed if not careful enough.

"I don't know, I think he's hiding something..." Helga confessed her thoughts out loud.The war has made her sensitive to lies, it was easy for her to fish out secrets, like a hound looking for a bone.

Griffin was silent; he was merely observing the situations unfold. He discarded the idea as soon as it came, but something about the whole atmosphere with the crew had changed. It felt not so friendly anymore. And boy he was going to learn this the hard way...

"Well, if he's hiding something, I want to know what it is. Someone needs to talk to the girl." Rourke concluded, the girl seemed the only source of reliable information for the moment, if they wanted to succeed they needed to collect as much information as possible.

"I will go!" Mole was getting weird ideas, it was no secret that he had some strange interaction with the female gender.

"Someone with good people skills."

"I will do it!" Mole although had the spirit, it was obvious that sending him was a death sentence. One just needs to remember the first impression that Kira had on him.

"Someone who won't scare her away." Yeah, they weren't talking to Mole at all.

"I volunteer!"

"Someone who can speak the language."

"For the good of the mission, I will go!"

"Good man, Thatch. Thanks for volunteering."

"Go get em tiger. "

"Wait..." Milo called everyone , especially his brother, who was also taking his leave. "Shouldn't you do it? You are better at these things than me..."

"Sorry, they ruled me out after "Speak the language" part..." Griffin told his brother. AS he got a hold of his shoulders and then gave him a slap on the back to get him back into motion. "Just remember... don't take no for an answer..." Griffin started to walk away.

After that ordeal, Milo was spying on Kira,as she was walking out the Throne Room. He was waiting for her behind a pillar. Mentally preparing for his assignment.

"Ok, Milo, don't take no for an answer." He repeated the words of his brother, in this sort of situation this was the best course of action.

As Milo was getting to his assignment, all the other soldiers were occupied with the details of the mission. And everyone else from the main crew was starting to explore to settle later on in the night.

The brain of the operation started to address the role that his right hand was going to take in this new phase. Stopping her from going anywhere else, Rourke called the attention of Helga.

"Sinclair..." Rourke mentions grabbing her by her arm with a little too much force. Helga's looks could kill, he was her commander but there was no reason to become this forceful. "While Milo tries to handle his catch, I need you to deal with an even bigger catch..." Rourke turns to look at Griffin's whereabouts.

Helga realized to whom he was referring, it was vague, but her conviction seemed to flick for a second.

"A negative from Milo is something we can afford, but not from him..." Rourke was unsure of the response from the Older Thatch when he was offered the proposition. If they were lucky, war could have wash away the idealistic philosophy of their grandfather, and join their hunt for the heart of Atlantis.

"..." Sinclair didn't respond. Her vision was completely glued to Griffin. She knew Rourke, you could reason with him, but that reasoning resolved around the condition that he got what he wanted.

"I need you to try to bring him on board..." Rourke finally turns to look at his lieutenant, feeling the doubt written on her features. "If not..." He used his hand to forcefully take a hold of her chin to make her pay attention to him while he got a hold of the other hand. "Do...what...you...must..." His eyes were wide open and directly upon Sinclair as he passed her a loaded gun.

As he let go of her face, Helga turned to look at the armament that had been given. Gripping the piece of metal, feeling the weight and the features of a weapon that could easily take a life. Something that she was not amateur to, but she never was forced to point it to someone that was on good terms with her.

"Can you do that? Or can you?" Rourke asked through gritted teeth, he was not playing around. And the least that he needed is for Helga to lose her conviction for a mere sentiment over a not more virtuous man than her. And ruined the expedition after all this time and effort.

"Yes..." She affirms her compromise with him. Although, one only needed to look at her face to see the conflict in her eyes. Accepting only because she had too. She is already in too deep to back down with no consequences upon her.

"Good..." He didn't seem as convinced with her response, but it was the best he got for the moment. He put his tooth pic back into his mouth. "Now, go. Chop Chop..." He gave Sinclair a last look before he turned tail and walked away to keep working on the last details of the operation.

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Meanwhile, Milo and Kira were progressing on their relationship, for the most part. After the introductions and discussing certain aspects about their cultures. It was time for them to engage in leisure.

Through the coast at the limit of the perimeter of Atlantis there were many Atlanteans, fishing with big nets. The Atlantean delivered a strong impression of community and kindness towards one another. As if receiving a bunch of strangers from the outside world with open arms was not good enough, the same atlanteans shared their loot with the princess. They took out of the recent capture net, a bunch of creatures that could be described as giant obscure shrimps. Those things were the size of a ten year old.

Milo caught the creature out of a fight against the intellectual. Kira, who was not impressed, took the shrimp and bit him by its neck. It must been a nerve that she bites into as the creature stopped moving. Kira tried to continue with the conversation, placing the creature inside Milo's exploration bag.

"Tell me more about your companions. Your physician, he is called Cookie?" Kira asked curious about the rather strange individuals of this expedition.

The two explored the coast of the city, passing through all kinds of boats that were aligned and connected with one another by a few wooden tables. While the other Atlanteans were busy with their everyday chores.

"No, that's Sweet." Milo responded as he wanted to be careful when crossing the little wooden bridge.

"What is?" She stopped.

"The Doctor. He 's Sweet." Milo clarified.

"Oh, he is kind." Kira was having a hard time keeping up differentiating the words used as adjectives and when they are used to refer to someone.

"No, no, no, that... that's his name..." He once again clarified.

"His name is Kindly?" Kira question.

"No, Sweat. Well, I mean, he's kind, too." Milo clarified

"So all of your doctors are sweet and kind?" Kira question.

They continued walking and they abandoned the shore, and now their next stop was one would assume to be the local market of Atlantis. There were stores of many kinds. Some had mascots or animals for which to prepare dinner to artisans and tattoo designs.

"No. Well, I-I'm sure some are. Ours is, but that's not a requirement. You're missing the point." Milo wanted to get over these hardships before he got himself confused.

"You are confusing me." She wasn't the brightest banana in the bunch.

"Wow. Look at all those tattoos." Audrey and Cookie that were close by the market, saw how one of the atlantean was getting one of those iconic electric blue tattoos.

"Shoot. That ain't nothin'. Look here what I got. All the 38 United States. Watch me make Rhode Island dance. Go on baby. Dance. Dance." Cookie lifted his shirt to show that he had a multicolor tattoo of the current territory of the United States. As he slapped his stomach to show Audrey a rather perturbing belly dance.

Poor Audrey was having a hard time watching this demonstration.

Two kids were playing around nearby where Kira and Milo were exploring, passing by the couple, having fun. And during the fun started to carry one of the boys in his shoulders while they were saluted by a couple of atlanteans. They seemed to be the parents of the boys, and apparently this place in particular was a dinner done by the community. As our heroes, the princess, and many other atlanteans decided to come together to share the food of the tribe.

"Cookies are sweet, but yours is not. Sweet is kind but that is not his name. Audrey is sweet but is not your doctor. And the little digging animal called Mole... He is your pet?" Kira was revolving in her own thoughts. For someone that is part of the most advanced and important civilizations in all human history, the atlantean princess could be easily fooled.

"Close enough..." Milo confessed after having a big sip from his plate of food.

"Oh, don't forget to eat the head. That's where all the nutrients are..." Cookie caused everyone to puked as he ate all the parts of what would many consider as an oversize insect. The man was no stranger to this sort of thing.

"I wanted to ask, who is the muscular brunette who looks almost exactly like you?" Kira pointed to the elephant in the room.

On the other side of the room, Griffin seemed to be occupied with his plate of food. Meanwhile he was being surrounded by several atlantean women, some seem to be his age while just a few appear to be older than him by a few years, some were trying to keep talking to him,  others were offering food from their plates, while the boldest would start to touch him by giving him a massage on his back.

It was clear that these women were trying to be on his good side.

At one moment when he wanted to add a little more flavor to his food, he tried to reach for a few spices. And all the women there extended their hands to pass him some of their own. Griffin had an awkward smile as he took out of courtesy the spice that was the closest to him.

"Who? Him? He is my Brother. His name is Griffin but I call him Flint..." Milo said, cleaning his mouth.

"Ha... He definitely won the genetic lottery, didn't he?" She laughed at the clear physical difference between the two brothers.

"What?! I am almost like him, put some imagination to the mix!" He asked completely undignified by such rude comment. Posing like Hercules to try to emphasize the poor excuse for muscle that he had.

"Aha..." Kira rolled her eyes, she left it to someone else to break his delusion.

"Well, it is a good thing that you guys are leaving tomorrow. Those atlantean women had been centuries ready to take a mate. For them, your Brother is the Holy Grail... Just saying." As Kira explained everything. Helga Sinclair, not too far from the soldier, was throwing deathly glares to all those women as the spoon that was on her hand had suddenly snapped in half.

Audrey, who was sitting beside her, was having her fun by watching everything unfold.

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