The bartender returned with the mug in his hand and placed it in front of Crazy Terry. As he did so, he slipped a piece of glossy paper underneath it. Crazy Terry raised the jug towards the barman in an appreciative gesture before taking a large chug of the drink. Professor Terry reached out for the paper and his face puckered in disgust as he tasted the drink. He began to cough, spitting the drink to the ground.
"Woah, that is strong," commented Professor Terry.
The barman turned around and laughed at Crazy Terry, who had gone red. "Slow it down there, I thought you could handle your stuff."
Crazy Terry glared at Professor Terry who shrugged. "You're such a lightweight, you know that?"
Crazy Terry put down the mug and they turned their attention to the picture in their hand. Professor Terry's eyes went wide.
The photo they held was a clear shot of the top of the palace during its construction phase. A few meters above stood the Time Turner, levitating in the air.
"Is that what you wanted?" asked Liam.
"This is fantastic, Liam," it was Professor Terry who talked this time. "This has to be the clearest shot I've seen."
The bartender beamed. "My contacts never let me down."
"Where did you get it?" he asked.
"I'm afraid I can't… oh what the hell, I'll make an exception for you. My contact is from the Lodge media team, and they were taking drone shots of the palace's construction. The guy says he didn't even see the figure when he was taking the shots, but he found it one of the frames. The difference between this frame, and the ones before and after it had less than half a second gap between them and they don't have the figure.
"Wow, and why hasn't this been posted anywhere?"
The barman shrugged. "Doesn't look like that big of a deal. The guy thinks it was probably just a glitch or something."
"A glitch?" Professor Terry cocked his eyebrow. "Do you not see how clear that-"
"Thank you for the help," said Crazy Terry laughing awkwardly as he cut of Professor Terry's rant. He pulled out a small pouch of gold from his coat pocket and handed it to the bartender.
The bartender peeked inside the pouch and his eyes went wide at the sight of it. He looked around to make sure no one had seen it and then pocketed it. Gold was very precious in the city, especially in the side of the city they were in.
"Pleasure doing business with you," nodded the bartender. "I see you added a bit more than I asked for. Very generous of you."
"Better it goes in your pockets, than in the giant's."
"Well said."
"I was wondering, is there anything you can tell me about the Iron Hearts?" asked Crazy Terry, as casually as he could. I hear they're very popular around here."
"Not only here. They are one of the top mercenary recruitment groups for the Lodge, ranking 7th in the worldwide leaderboards. They are the pride of Riesenstadt, even if they technically aren't part of it."
"What do you mean they aren't part of it?"
"Well, their base is in the industrial area and it was never renovated, because of the extreme damage that the Giant had caused on it, so it's not a part of Riesenstadt. Apparently, a small militia, led by the Iron Hearts leader Pete, before they became the famous agency you know today, had ambushed the Giant there and in his rage, he had reduced everything to rubble."
"Interesting, it still perplexes me why the Iron Hearts never moved from there."
"Them not moving from there was perhaps one of the best decisions they made, although they could surely not have predicted it," said the bartender. "The destroyed city of Portland is such a fan favorite arena and they've made so much money, just for hosting fights there. This year, however, the event will be held at the Golden Colloseum, as you've clearly seem."
"Yes, please. I've seen so much of those shining posters that the text has become etched into our… I mean my brain."
"It also helps that the Iron Hearts can avoid any form of taxes from the Nazis, or any form of intervention from them, meaning that they don't have to worry about what races their mercenaries are from."
"I always thought Riesenstadt was a much more tolerant city."
"No, it's just a ruse. The tolerance is just a façade they put up to attract wealthy tourists. The ghetto police hunts down the Jews in secret and they constantly harass the poorer minorities just like the Neo-Nazis in America used to, especially the American police."
"I see," nodded Crazy Terry.
"I hope the 'business' that you mentioned you have in the city does not have anything to do with them. I must inform you that the industrial area is heavily guarded by snipers, who would shoot you down before you even climbed over the fence."
"Oh, of course not. Why would a simple man like me have any business with them?" laughed Crazy Terry. "But on the off chance I did want to sneak there, what would you recommend?"
The bartender laughed and pretended to think. "Well, hypothetically, I would recommend taking the sewers if you want to keep hidden from them."
Told you so, said Professor Terry.
"…but the outer sewers are death traps, they're constantly collapsing. It would be highly dangerous," continued Liam.
"Well, it's a good thing I'm not going there then."
"Of course."
"Well, Liam. I think I'll have to get going," said Crazy Terry finishing the beer. He waves the photograph at the bartender. "I appreciate this so much, you have no idea."
"That's it? Just one beer. Come on."
"I'd love to drink some more but I have a lot to do," said Crazy Terry. "But don't worry, I will be here to treat myself after I'm done with my work."
"I wish you good luck with your 'work'," nodded the bartender.
Crazy Terry was heading towards the door when he remembered.
He turned around. "One last thing, Liam. Do you know anything about the man that was sitting out on the stairs. The one with the torn clothes and the platinum arm."
"Ah, you mean Buck? Of course, who doesn't? The man has been raving around about how he somehow got into the Giant's gold forges. You should hear it sometime, it's a real laugh. The guy has a very creative imagination."
"Interesting, do you know where I can find him?"
"Of course, you'll find him at the docks. That's where he usually is, if he's not here. It's the docks right in front of the new doner kebab shop. You really must try it, it reminds me of home."
"I've been wanting to, I guess there are no excuses now. Maybe I'll go pay this Buck a visit too."
"Of course, tell him I said hi."
"Will do," said Crazy Terry as he left the bar.
"So, what do you think?" asked Crazy Terry as he brought the picture in front of them.
Professor Terry looked up at the towering tower of the Giant's palace and then looked down at the picture.
"This picture is very recent. A few days old at most, judging by how efficiently the work is being done on it."
"I guess it's safe to say something is definitely going down in the palace."
"Probably."