'The Pit: Hell Frozen Over' - Arc 3, Chapter 3: 'The One Truth' (Closed, Started)

[NinjaDeathSlap]

The Talon rested her metal arm, still slick with gore on Riley's shoulder, and nodded.

"Very well, lead the way."

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"I don't know if I can take much more of this. I-I-I, need to get this vest off."

Nikolai tore off the vest easily enough. The straps that fastened the armour in place underneath the arm not withstanding the strength of his arms for more than a second. Inspecting the damage, he saw that while the bullet had managed to punch all the way through the Kevlar, it hadn't gone much deeper than that. The bullet wound itself was cosmetic. He'd seen men survive a dozen wounds like this all at once. However, he also knew enough to know that the bullet wasn't the end of the danger. A broken rib, of which Kusanagi likely had at least a couple, could collapse a lung or worse lacerate an artery if handled without care, and the shock of the impact itself would be enough to set off internal bleeding.

Kusanagi did not need to know any of this though, so instead of mentioning it Nikolai grabbed her face, and forced her to look directly into his eyes.

"You will be fine." he told her firmly. "This is a flesh wound, nothing more. Now we just have to get you safe..."

"Nikolai!"

Nikolai had rarely been so glad to see Acolyte's face.

"We can get her out through there. Riley's songbirds are past that gate, as well."

"Keep them off me." Nikolai ordered above the noise of encroaching gunfire. The Venture garrison had well and truly rallied in such a short space of time. They couldn't have picked a better moment to retreat, Nikolai thought, as he scooped up Kusanagi in his arms, and jogged as carefully as he could in the direction of the fall back point.

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"Daddy! I dreamed monsters were coming to get me!"

"Hush now little one. No monsters will ever hurt my Princess. Not while her Daddy has anything to say about it."

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Selina woke to devastation. Or at least she thought that's what it must have looked like, in truth it was hard to tell through the thick soup of dust that hung in the air. Retching, as the stuff coated her lungs, she pushed herself unsteadily to her feet, upon discovering that she could feel both her legs. She was aware of silhouettes moving through the gloom, but for a time Selina could neither make out features, or hear though the ringing in her ears.

"Report?" she heard Lee say eventually. At some point he had also found his feet, and kept them much more easily than Selina. His ear was bleeding, and his uniform torn, soot-stained and smoking all down one side, and yet despite what injuries might be lurking underneath, the man still mad his steely composure.

"Nine dead, Major Mbutu among them." Montoya wheezed, somewhat less composed. "Fifteen more wounded, as far as I can tell."

"Round up any personnel still inside and still on their own two feet, and rally them back here."

"Colonel!" Montoya exclaimed desperately "Enemy infantry will be crawling all over us in minutes, and this building is too badly damaged to be def-"

"I have no intention of staying here, Commander!" Lee snapped, harried, "However, if we're going to move out we need to do so in force. Now go!"

As Montoya pulled a shaky salute, Selina heard Lee mutter aloud "If nothing else, I'm not leaving them to die alone if I can help it."

"Colonel..." Selina began, her wits returning to her slowly. "We have to sound as SOS if we still can. If not, then it's time to evacuate."

"No and no." Lee replied firmly before she could extend her argument any further. "If I call for help, I start World War God Knows What Number, and if I flee I lose any hope of containing the situation."

'World War... what is he talking about?!'

"We're hopelessly out-gunned!" she pleaded.

"Above ground, we are." he replied.

It took a few moments still for the cogs in Selina's head to turn. She was still fighting shock, and Lee's ideas weren't helping.

"Are you telling me you mean to take us down into The Pit?" she asked, hoarse.

"Their air support cannot touch us that far down, even just on the Upper-Levels." Lee replied steadfastly "What's more, The Pit is a hundred thousand bottlenecks. Ten good men can hold fifty at every corner. Their numbers will mean nothing to them."

"And what happens if we find ourselves caught in another riot?" Selina retorted.

"We do whatever we have to to keep control." Lee said bluntly, plainly not happy with his own answer. "Either way, we can't make a stand here, and I'm not falling on my sword just yet."

Breaking off the discussion, Lee strode over to the shattered doorway and pulled up another battered figure into a standing position.

"On your feet, Dr. Lu. You're not done yet."

 

[Fappy]

Kusanagi hissed through her teeth, pain wracking her body as Nikolai ripped the vest off and inspected the damage. She refused to cry out, she didn't want to appear any weaker than she already had. She shivered violently as Nikolai grabbed her face, forcing her eyes onto his.

"You will be fine.

I will be fine...

"This is a flesh wound, nothing more. Now we just have to get you safe..."

Kusanagi's eyes followed Nikolai's gaze. It was Acolyte! She quietly listened to their brief exchange. Before Nikolai took her away she whispered, "S-s-stay with us. P-please, Acolyte." Her arm outstretched, she weakly groped at his shoulder as Nikolai lifted her up. As she bounced up and down in his arms she squirmed in pain. Nikolai's stoic expression eclipsed the light shining through the forest canopy. Her vision was hazy, but she could tell he was concerned. Who knew how many Freemen had lost their lives in this battle... and the thought of losing her as well?

She felt guilty for what she had done back at the songbirds base. She had hurt him in a way he likely wasn't used to and now, like he had so many times, he was risking his life to save her own. How long until he had had enough? How long would his debt to Orphan last? Wasn't he still looking after her for that?

Studying his expression further set all her doubts at ease. Whatever his reason, he was concerned for her safety. She wasn't sure if he had known the reason for her injury. She could have left him out in the open to die. She could have easily sunk away. There was a time she'd have done it too. There was a time she'd have been happy to see him cut down by machine gun fire. Not anymore, however.

She'd seen his pain down in the darkest depths of the Pit that night. She wanted to help him. She wanted to save him. He still carried that innocent boy who died deep inside. She saw glimpses of him. She knew he was still there.

As she gentle rocked in his arms she fought to stay awake. Fading now was the worst thing she could do. In order to keep conscious she decided to speak, "Thank you, Nikolai." She grasped a tuft of his shirt. "I-I'm sorry I failed you..."

 

[The Funslinger]

"S-s-stay with us. P-please, Acolyte."

"I'll try," he said. In the long run, it was the truth. The long run kept him from saying 'I will'. He jogged with Nikolai, casting around with his rifle. Occasionally, enemy soldiers popped into view. He didn't stop and aim, but just sprayed to ward them off. They were nearly halfway back to the gate when a group of four appeared. "Don't stop, I've got this," Acolyte shouted. Reaching at his belt, he plucked a grenade he'd taken when he'd borrowed the suit of Behemoth armour. Pulling the pin with his teeth, he threw it, hard and true. It hit one of the soldiers between the eyes, and he went down, dazed. His squad mates were still trying to drag him clear when the explosion dismembered them. Suppressing a wince, Acolyte kept going. "The gate's up this slope!"

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"Very well, lead the way."

"By your command, so I obey, O Taloned One," replied Riley theatrically. Whether it was jest, even he wasn't sure. Turning to his men, he shouted, "alright lads, let's do one!"

With most of the soldiers behind them, the return trip was relatively uneventful. When they got to the gate, Riley glanced at the broken rifle on the ground, and up at the empty guard's post.

"I thought the Monk might go looking for his friends. He'll be back, though."

As if to prove his point, Acolyte's voice was heard: "The gate's up this slope!"

"Well, that's everything in a nice, neat bow, isn't it? Our lovely new friends will be here in a tick, and my boys are looking after every canister this base had stored." With that, he clambered up the ladder to the lookout so he could open the gate. When it was open, he ran ahead of the main group for some way. Then he came to a stop, and put his hands to his mouth and howled. It didn't sound like a man imitating beast. It was the sound of a bona fide wolf. Deafening up close, it carried. There was a brief pause, and then a return howl. Odin was on his way.

 

[ProtoChimp]

Clementina kept her guard up as she was lead down into the pit, no longer safe in the atrium. The enemy were soon to be swarming them, they were not far behind. Some we beginning to rappel down, being covered by their allies and preventing 3rd from shooting them as they lowered themselves. These men were far better trained than those who had thrown away their lives earlier; and the scary part was that this was only a small portion of the force that was soon to come. Running down in as orderly a fashion as they could 3rd battalion attempted to hold off enemy troops as they came, but clearly this was no an easy task.

The Captain was getting restless. The choke points of the pit were not enough to hold the onslaught that was soon to approach them, even if they could hold it for now they wouldn't hold forever. "Men, watch the corners, everybody get in view of all possible entrances. Eyes on targets. They have one way in and no way out. We hold them as long as we can and retreat, hold and retreat, hold and retreat. We can do this and you all know we can!" His battalion made a resounding roar of approval, despite not everyone truly believing in it. Would they receive re-enforcements? Would their fellow battalions assist them? Would they come from below to help hold the line or from above to flank-as unlikely as it seemed.

Then it became apparent to the lieutenant that these were in fact her thoughts, her concerns, and her fears. Fears. Fear was an emotion that Clementina was not comfortable feeling and did not want any further association with this particular emotion. Yet, as sweat slipped down her back in the ice cold prison she could not deny the power of the fear that was slowly beginning to grip her.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

It took them a couple of minutes, but they managed to reach the Mess Hall unharmed. Despite being quite a few floors down from the fighting above, the sounds of explosions could still be heard; the odd tremor managing to unsettle some dust here and there. Inside the Mess Hall, the group had come across a few others who had made their way down here.

'Looks like these guys had the same bright idea we had. With any luck, given our location, if the attackers do get down this far; they might pass us by, emphasis on the might.' Abigail said to herself with a slight nervousness in her head.

"Alright, final stop for now guys; all we can do now is wait, hope, and pray that we make it through this." She announced to everyone in the room. Looking around at everyone present, Abigail could see looks of despair in a few faces, she just hoped what she said was true. People started to sit down at the tables and began to talk amongst themselves.

Whilst they occupied themselves, Abigail was busy looking for the door to the Panic Room that Lee mentioned earlier; he said that the room was below the Mess Hall, so the door should be nearby, if not in the same room. Eventually, she came across a black metal door which looked out of place amongst the white façade of the Mess Hall. It was roughly as tall as Abigail was, and it had a simple sign in block capitals that read; "EMERGENCY!"

'Huh, wonder if this is it then.' Abigail mused to herself as she took a hold of the door handle, and gave it a firm pull. The other side was very dark, but not pitch black, dark enough that Abigail needed to use a flashlight to see what lurked there. She made out a small set of steps that lead into a corridor.

"Lewis, come and have a look at this; think I might have found the entrance to the Panic Room."

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

They made their way down corridors of blasted plaster and and flickering lights in single file. They numbered 15, Executives and Wardens, officers and otherwise. Weapons drawn and watching all angles, they crept through dust and rubble and corpses.

"Colonel." Selina whispered "We're not going in the direction of the exit."

"Indeed we aren't." he whispered back "We wouldn't stand a chance moving across open ground. Fortunately, there is another option."

The basement floor had resisted the worst of the bombardment, although the power was completely out, and their hastily formed platoon had to use flashlights to find their way around. Thanks to the tremors of the earlier impacts, the sign above the bar now read '-he Ga--s of P-nde--nium'. As the Warden on point pushed open the double doors, slowly, another blast came from above, followed by several trampling footsteps.

"Oh God, they're inside!" one of Selina's colleagues stated the obvious, panicking.

"Quiet!" hissed Lee, before turning back to his own man on point. "Move out, quickly."

They continued through the now empty, silent space, into the storage room at the back of the bar. Selina followed, and watched in astonishment as Lee punched in a code on a keypad by a door, to instead open a trapdoor under one of the concrete slabs. This place was full of secrets indeed. Now however, was not the time to question them. Selina could hear the footsteps of a splinter group of the invaders making their way downstairs.

"Down the shaft, now." Lee ordered, and no-one needed telling twice.

Once they were in, and the trapdoor sealed back up, Lee escorted them down the tunnel. They had made it by a whisker. Right now, Selina knew, the enemy soldiers would be combing over where they had been standing not 20 seconds ago. It remained to be seen, however, whether they hadn't traded one grisly fate for another. It didn't take a genius to deduce where this tunnel led. What remained to be seen, was exactly where inside The Pit they would re-emerge.

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When they reach the fall back point, Nikolai set Kusanagi down, and bellowed for someone to come to their aid. Two Songbird medics took charge of her immediately, sticking a needle in her thigh and sprinkling some kind of white powder over the wound, before setting to work extracting the bullet and bandaging her up. Within a minute, Natalia emerged from the trees where she had been sniping, and the rest of the Free Men followed soon after. Looking round the familiar faces, Nikolai noted 6 absences, and the expressions all around him told him clearly that there was no-one left to wait for.

Almost 50 men had boarded that plane in that frozen waste forever ago. 12 now remained.

The Talon, with the lion's share of her forces, was the last to arrive. Nikolai saw a reverent hunger pass across her eyes for the briefest moment as she gazed upon the stockpile of Phantom that was laid out before her. It didn't look like too impressive a cache, if truth be told. There was barely enough there to fill two trucks. Between them, the men congregated in this clearing could have carried all the cases between them on foot if necessary. However, Nikolai recalled a conversation he had overheard discussing the potency of the finished product. There was enough here to arm over 30 warheads, each one with an effective lethal radius the size of a small town. Enough to, if used for maximum casualties, kill over 10 million people around the world in the space of an hour.

"You all fought valiantly today..." The Talon told them, beaming. "but our work is not yet done. Everyone, mount up, we must keep moving."

 

[ProtoChimp]

Travis had finally made it clear from the rioting, taking a breather between to buildings. He took out his knife and twirled it in his hands, sniffing it, stopping himself from licking it. That feeling, that wonderful feeling of ripping out someone's life was something he hadn't felt in so long. His mind was telling him that he had to wait, wait for the reaper as he would 'punish' him...

But The Dragon just couldn't hold it anymore. He needed to find another victim, and down here he was sure there would be someone who'd put up a fight. He preferred it when they didn't but damn he couldn't deny the entertainment value of someone thinking they could match his strength. First though he needed some new clothes as his were stained with blood. 'Maybe I can use it, nah that wouldn't work. Plus this low no one would buy it, maybe some of the higher ups but down here fuckers would laugh if I pretended to be stabbed, or try and jump me... wait thats it! This could work!'

Thus Travis made his way out of his hiding spot, wandering along holding his gut where the majority of blood had been. He could hide his knife well beneath his clothes despite its size, and he put his hands over it as well pretending it was a wound. "Help, god fuck someone help." he pleaded to know one in particular, hoping some sick bastard would come along to take advantage, not knowing just how sick of a bastard their pray would turn out to be.

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Lu was pulled up and by Lee himself but he could barely hear what the man had said although he could tell by the sentiment that now was a good time to leave. He followed the detail all the down to the basement of the base, passing by the ruins of the upper levels followed by the eerie calmness of the basement. The basement level was barely touched and Lu's hearing gradually came to him. He could now hear the calm thuds of the explosions above coupled with the tense breathing of the group. Whoever had survived, survived. Lee made it clear that helping the wounded was beyond the question for his rush downstairs. Whoever attacked the base was now apparently inside of it as well so the group had to be quiet. Then they descended into a door leading into total darkness. Lu's guess was as good as anyone as to where they would end up next but as they sealed the door behind them, Lu only wished they had some sort of light.

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Lewis tore himself away from Aggie and her unconscious state. He was reassured by the doctor that she was fine and that he would look after her as Abigail called for him. He still could hear the thuds of the explosions outside but what concerned him was that the multitude of booms was dying. There were less and less explosions meaning either one side was winning or one side was losing.

Lewis followed her voice and ended found Abigail pointing down a dark corridor.

"Lewis, come and have a look at this; think I might have found the entrance to the Panic Room."

"Well how do we open it?"

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Well how do we open it?" Lewis asked as he arrived, taking a moment to look down at the corridor.

"I have no idea Lewis, Lee never did specify on how to open it, just that it was here. Let me go down there and have a look, I shan't be a minute." Abigail remarked with a retort as she started to walk down the stairs, using the flashlight to help guide her and examine her surroundings for any clues. She literally walked into the door as she reached the end and dropped her flashlight.

Whilst fumbling about in the dark, Abigail's left arm caught hold of something, pulling on it, she was almost blinded by the sudden burst of light as several lights along the ceiling all come on at once. Reclaiming her flashlight, Abigail turned it off, and placed it back in her trouser pocket.

"Well, at least I found the light switch." Abigail said, sounding a little bit triumphant. She was then met with the sight of the large metal door that served as the entrance to the Panic Room. It looked to be made of quiet thick metal, a couple of inches if she had to guess; kind of like the door to a bank vault, albeit smaller to accommodate the size of the area of the room it was in. Either side of the door were two wheels.

"Lewis, can you come and give me a hand please; think I may have figured out how to open the door. There is two wheel shaped handles down here, think we might have to turn them both at the same time."

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Lewis approached the door and went to one of the handles just like Abigail instructed.

"Alright... ready?" Lewis asked. Then both of them began to turn the door handles. He could barely turn it all at first. It took a few moments before he heard something finally move.

"I think we got something!" Lewis said before giving one last push in order to get the door open.

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"Get in! Get in!"

Aggie rushed in with the snowflakes chasing her into the burned down building. The concrete walls were dark with ash and soot but it was the only shelter around for miles. They closed the metal door behind them as the winds began to roar and whip at them. The roof was collapsed causing the wind's sharp whistling to be heard inside the abandoned bunker.

"Everyone here?" Someone asked, rubbing his hands as he looked to the three other people inside who began to shake off the snow that had stuck to them. Aggie patted down her clothes before cupping her hands together and breathing into them. Her breath only yielded temporary solace. She shot a quick glance out of a firing port to see nothing but whites and grays outside.

"Lynch?"

"Yeah..."

"Holly?"

"Frozen but here."

"Standler?"

"Here."

"Rook?" No one said a word as they glance around each other, looking for the missing man. Then they realized the sad reality that someone didn't make their exodus from their convoy.

"Rook?!" Aggie shouted as she looked around in the small bunker but Standler took her by the shoulder.

"There's nothing you could have done..." He said but she just shoved his hand out of the way. She made her way back to the firing port, hoping that their missing man was only just a few minutes behind them. The storm had let up some distance but there was only wreckage of their failed invasion. Vehicles were strewn for miles on end. A reminder of their ill-fated attack.

"What are we going to do now?" A voice asked, finally cutting the silence. "Does anyone have a radio?"

"I had to drop it once they saw us. Not only that but I don't even think that we'd get much with the snow storm."

"Jesus...think anyone else survived?"

"It doesn't matter." Lynch cut in. "We have to survive now. We gotta make it back to the FOB."

"If that hasn't froze over either." Aggie said. She looked over at the little group. Four soldiers out of an entire company. "Let's start a fire or something..."

Before they could do that the noise of a tracked could be heard outside. Aggie looked back out to see tracked vehicles chugging through the snow and whipping winds. On the vehicle was the markings of the Baltic Alliance. Aggie cursed beneath her breath and crouched. She made a motion to the others and they followed suit. The vehicles lurched in the snow banks before stopping. Its door opened and two squads of soldiers climbed out. They fanned out and began to investigate the wrecks of the vehicles.

The group checked their ammunition but the look on their faces shared the same realization.

"This is it..." Holly said regardless of whether or not the soldiers would hear her. "We have to give up."

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Give up..

"No!" Aggie shouted, frightening the doctor and the other members of the group that awaited Abigail and Lewis. She looked around to see the group and one of the doctors that had helped her before she went unconscious.

"Where am I?" Aggie asked, still groggy from the morphine and being asleep for some time. The doctor recovered from his recoil from a screaming Aggie.

"We're in the Mess Hall... very far down from the surface. The facility came under siege and we had to be evacuated. Anyone who couldn't fight, like us, was evacuated. Are you okay? I swore you were nearly dead."

"I'm fine... for now. Where's Lewis?" She asked, trying to stand up but the doctor urged her down.

"Take it easy, Aggie." The doctor said in a calm voice. "Your brother went with Abigail to some door, I think its to some sort of panic room." Regardless of the doctor's caution, Aggie got up from her wheelchair.

"Why would anyone want this hellhole?"

 

[The Funslinger]

Korovitch's men finally arrived in the Atrium. They had had no more casualties, but Hayes was walking with a limp, and Bjorn's left eye was just a bloody socket. Korovitch didn't need his radio to hear the Captain encouraging his men. Turning his head, he spat a globule of bloody saliva. Even having fallen back, the battalions were spread across a wide surface area. Iron Squad were all the reinforcements these people would be getting.

 

[ProtoChimp]

They were upon them. Vicious and quick like vindictive wolves pouncing down from their elevated positions. However the choke point had the advantage of allowing the defenders to hold the attackers despite five to one numbers. However, it was not five to one, it was much much more than that, no one just wanted to admit it. Clementina was up on an elevated position, deciding that she was sober (whether it was 100% true or not) and that she would be more effective with a sniper rifle. Even in her just under tipsy condition she was able to pop off gunshots to the faces and chests of her enemies. 'Focus on the blood. Watch them bleed, watch them be scared.'

But they showed no fear. In the few seconds in which she saw their faces they showed conviction, victory printed on their faces like a sports team. They were streaming down a stairwell which led into a somewhat enclosed area, although they did have decent cover. Clementina spent a good amount of time holding them down with bullets from above, managing to both draw the fire of, and take advantage of the position the enemy was shooting from. The wardens had made plans to slowly retreat into the pit, plotting out checkpoints in order slow down their opponents as much as possible. The truth of this fight however was one no one could avoid. From the order that came from Lee to retreat along with the bombing run and the seemingly endless amount of troops, each and every Warden had doubt in their mind of victory. Some were feeling it worse than others. Despite this, these men and women were trained to be elite for the Colonel, to enforce his will and be a damn near personal army to protect the facility. "Fuck this was what he meant... the higher game at hand." Clementina spoke aloud, remembering what Lee had said to her.

And suddenly her mood became rather immature. 'The fuck didn't he tell me? The fuck didn't he tell us? Filho da puta poderia ter nos dado algum deus aviso mínima para isso!' The young lieutenant was losing her cool temper. Fire fights in the Favela was one thing. A war? Fuck that!

She had to stop herself from yelling 'Pop pop pop watch mother fuckers drop', as a bloodlust she was always in total control of was finally let loose as she laid off shot after shot after shot on her enemies; who's corpses were by this point mounting at the foot of the stairwell.
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Felix could hear an echo coming down from all sides, the rumble of angry prisoners surrounding him. The guards were starting to panic.

"They must have gone apeshit cos of the lockdown. Fuck Fuck Fuck its gonna be like three months ago all over again!" A guard was freaking out as he spoke, Felix was just beginning to bring himself to his feet.

"Where the fuck are you?!" Came a voice from one of the warden's handheld speakers. "They're killing each other over here and we don't have enough men. Fucking get here now or we'll be next!"

"God dammnit," the guard who was taking care of Felix spat. "Are you gonna be okay alone?"

"Okay seriously?" Spoke another warden, "he's in here for a reason forget about him we need to go!"

"He's not like the oth-" began Felix's defender, but Felix cut him off.

"I will be fine sir, go and do your duty I will find somewhere I can hide." Felix weakly stood up as the guard looked him over before grunting and realising it was finally time to leave. Felix slowly began walking in no particular direction, holding onto the wall for support. His vision was clear but his head was still in a lot of pain. 'Why did I agree to come here? This was the worst idea I could have had. Oh I miss you Marisa. I'd give anything to be with you in our warm home rather than this cold sickening hell. This was all a mistake, if we had all our men we could have accomplished something!'

As his thoughts became more angry and frustrated, Felix dropped to his knees and vomited out his frustration, suddenly feeling much better though a lot colder. He looked up into the air as he panted as he noticed an air vent on the ceiling. It looked weak, off its hinges, probably used before. He would need to be careful in case someone else was hiding in there, if he had to defend himself he was in no position to fight.

Bringing up all the strength in his body he grabbed a pipe in order to balance himself. Standing up he wondered how the hell he would be able to reach the vent. He leaned against the icy wall and took off his shoe, throwing it repeatedly at the grate, feeling sick every time he had to bend over to pick it up. Eventually the blasted thing had come lose. Now was the hard part. Putting his shoe back on he crouched down, mustering all of the strength in his body, and jumping up to grasp the vent!

Only to immediately fall back down and land on his back as his fingers failed to grasp. He nearly fainted from the pain of falling multiple times until finally, with one last valiant effort, and the fear of angry prisoners soon approaching, he leapt up and grabbed the edges of the vent, pulling himself up before he could fall. He panted in victory as he was finally somewhere safe, though perhaps others had the same idea. He remained cautious as he slowly and weakly crawled through the vent.

 

[Fappy]

Kusanagi fought with everything she had to keep from screaming as the medics went to work on her wound. She didn't want to appear weak, but it was simply too much. She wasn't used to pain. Not like this, anyway. Her eyes welled up, but she refused to cry anymore.

Blood tickled down her lip as she bit down between screams. Eventually, one of the medics took notice and rubbed her shoulder, "It's okay, let it out. Tensing up will only create more stress. That's the last thing your body needs right now." Kusanagi nodded and her panicked breathing slowed. She was all too familiar with this pep-talk, though until now, she'd never been on the receiving end of it. Just as she thought she was calming down an indescribable pain wracked her body causing her to contort her back and shriek in agony.

"We're clear. Patch her up." A dull pain persisted, but she managed to focus her eyes just long enough to see what he'd been referring to. A small, bloody hunk of metal lay in the man's hand. She locked eyes with the medic but for a moment as pain shot through her ribs once more, forcing her eyes shut. The man took her hand and placed the bullet in her palm, closing her fingers over it. She peered at him in the corner of her blurred vision. "Everyone remembers there first time. Consider yourself lucky you lived to see it done."

One medic stayed behind to comfort her and stave off shock while the others gathered around the Talon.

"You all fought valiantly today... but our work is not yet done. Everyone, mount up, we must keep moving."

Kusanagi glanced over at Nikolai, a pained expression painted on his face. He had been concerned for Kusanagi, sure, but the danger seemed to have passed. No, he was gathered around his men... or what remained of them.

I told you this was a mistake, Nikolai...

Though Talon was currently holding his attention she looked over at him with a glum frown. The pain from her injury now in the back of her mind, she thought only of Nikolai's.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Alright... ready?" Lewis asked as he approached the other door handle. Abigail simply nodded before the pair of them begin to turn the wheels. It looked as though this place hadn't been used in a while, as the wheels were hard to turn at first, only moving in small increments. A minute or two had past before they were making any headway in the matter.

"I think we got something!" Lewis said triumphantly as he began pulling at the wheel with gusto.

"Your right in that respect Lewis. I don't think we've got long to go before this door opens up." Abigail said in agreement as they gave it one final push before the wheels suddenly stopped turning. That was followed by a series of hisses sounded off, as the smaller wheel on the front of the door began turning by itself, which led to the door being pulled back.

"Well hot damn! I think we did it. Nice job Lewis, couldn't of done it without you." Abigail remarked with delight, as she suddenly gave Lewis a quick hug. Realizing what she'd just done, she stepped back a bit.

"Sorry about that, just got a little over excited. I guess with all the mayhem above, I got carried away by the prospect of a success." Abigail said with a hint of embarrassment in her voice, her right cheek blushing a little bit.

 

[The Funslinger]

Acolyte heard Talon's congratulations to the group, but didn't respond. He was entirely too focused on Lucia, being borne away by medics. If he had been there, he could have protected her. If they hadn't been split up...

====================================================

Riley saluted Talon. "Yes, ma'am. I suppose all that remains is to regroup with our vehicles."

He wasn't sure if he heard anything or not, but he certainly sensed something to make him turn around. Odin was stood before him, watching him. The wolf's muzzle was caked in blood. Riley had set him to the task of running down as many retreating Venture soldiers as he could. A task at which he'd succeeded. Odin stood and tolerated Riley as he cleaned the wolf's muzzle with a rag from his pocket. Odin then closed his eyes and nuzzled in affection as Riley knelt and buried his face in the wolf's scruff for a moment before standing.

"Alright, you heard the lady. Let's move out!"

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

After trundling through thick forest, along narrow, heavily rutted tracks for what was probably not such a long time as it seemed, their convoy made it out of the rough foothills and into the mountains proper, passing a roughly hewn cave entrance in the side of a cliff face hidden under the rich canopy. As the vehicles rolled through the darkness in single file, Nikolai could see them being greeted by more and more Songbirds. It would seem that the ones they had associated themselves with so far were only a small cell, a fraction of The Talon's true resources, despite being led by the Supreme Leader herself.

"There is a honeycomb of tunnels stretching all throughout these mountains." announced a Songbird Soldier who was chaperoning them inside the Free Men's truck. "With any luck, it will be hours before Venture figures out what we took and calls for aid. In that time, we can hide under thousands of tonnes of rock, where no surveillance can find us. When we leave, we can split a dozen different directions, and all emerge hundreds of miles away. They have no chance of tracking us. We're safe now."

Nikolai heard, but did not reply at first. The whole journey he had sat in silence, not wanting to look at the stretcher that Lucia occupied, silently wincing every time their truck had gone over a particularly sharp bump. Most of the Free Men had been seen to by medics on the way here. Nikolai himself was hunched forward, a creamy salve applied across his bare back where the blast from his own explosive had burned him (strange, he had not noticed). So many who had followed him were dead, and for what? He had offered them a chance to live the rest of their lives with sky above their heads, and now they were heading back underground again. At the very least, those men had truly understood the fragility of life, and chosen to risk theirs. What of Lucia? She had made the choice to come to, and would get angry if you treated her like a child, so Nikolai had relaxed his grip on her, silently offered her the chance to prove herself.

This was his fault.

"What happens now?" he asked eventually.

"We have room in these tunnels for you to stay and recuperate, with more advanced medical supplies than we can take with us into the field." was his reply. "You and your men are welcome to stay as long as you wish to recover your strength. Once that's done, The Talon has decreed that your debt is paid. We can spare a few guides to aid you on your journey South, through the Disputed Arabia and across the sea to Madagascar. The island shelters a pirate port, where those who do not wish to be found by any authorities can seek safe passage. We already use it to smuggle supplies to our operatives all around the world. We will take you that far. Once their, you can go wherever you please."

The soldier sounded congratulatory, but Nikolai felt full of doubts. The hard truth was that escaping The Pit in the midst of all that fire had been the easy part. In the outside world, he had no idea where they could go where they might be safe. It had been Vladimir and Dmitri who were they travelled ones, and now they were dead. Nikolai could rely on their counsel no more. What sort of leader can a lost man be? He only hoped that what they had done today, would one day rid the world of Venture Horizon and the others that followed in their wake. Then, they might finally stop running.

=========================================================================================================================

A makeshift command centre had been set up in the Industrial Complex since contact had been lost, and then men who manned it looked at Lee Like they were seeing as ghost when he walked in, as if nothing was out of the ordinary, and asked for a report.

"The enemy have advanced most of the way through the Upper Levels." a slightly shell-shocked officer replied after a delayed salute. "We're bleeding them hard, tactically retreating so as not to lose more men than we can afford, but they just keep coming, and with contact to the surface lost we have no idea how long they can keep this up for."

"Much longer than we can." Lee replied gravely "How many men do we still have?"

"Third Battalion is still at over 70% strength. First lost about 40% of their men defending the perimeter and in falling back to 3rd's position. Once that was done though most of them made it underground with us. Second... when second flanked the first wave advancing on the Atrium, they swept the enemy clean off the board, but when the barrage fell they were caught in the open. 10% made it back here, the rest are either dead or being taken prisoner."

"Is this everybody who made it back from the Ops Centre?" another asked.

"Yes." Lee replied. "There are many more still inside, made up of wounded and non-combat personnel. I sent them as deep inside the complex as they can go. With any luck, by the time the enemy reaches them they'll have realised anyone still inside is no threat."

"And what about us?"

"I'm not sure what exactly it is our enemy wants with this facility," Lee lied "but what I do know is that there are thousands of people inside this complex who, no matter what they might be in here for, are our responsibility. I don't intend to hand over that responsibility to an unknown entity with unknown motives. As long as there's a man of us who can still fight, then we fight."

3 months ago, such a declaration might have sparked a mutiny within the Wardens. As it stood, all the men inside the room nodded, looking slightly more resolute than they had before.

'I'm afraid I'm out of options Neil. Time for Plan B.

=========================================================================================================================

Over in the ruins of the Ops Centre, soldiers moved slowly through the wrecked corridors, watchful for any booby traps laid down in their path by Venture Wardens. An advance team heard the hubbub coming from the mess hall ahead of them, and radio'd in for further orders.

"Wait for backup." came the reply "We don't know who's in their. Do not assume personnel are hostile. We may need some of these Venture employees in the coming weeks. Of course, if anyone tries to fight back, kill them."

 

[The Funslinger]

"Once there, you can go wherever you please."

Acolyte was sat with Lucia, squeezing her hand but he watched Nikolai as this was said. The man seemed troubled. Gently breaking away from Lucia, he sat by the huge man. "Do you even have any idea where you want to go?" he asked softly.

 

[Fappy]

Heavily medicated, Kusanagi had been drifting in and out consciousness since the convey began it's journey. Acolyte remained by her side, holding her hand for comfort and speaking to her in words she could not make out. She wanted to talk to him. She had so much to say! So much on her mind! But she couldn't, no, everything was a blur.

"We have room in these tunnels for you to stay and..... as long as you wish to recover your strength. Once that's done, The Talon has decreed that your debt is paid. We can spare... to smuggle supplies to our operatives all around the world. We will take you that far. Once their, you can go wherever you please."

Kusanagi could hardly make out what was being said as a dull hum drowned their words every few seconds, but whatever it was, Nikolai didn't appear pleased.

"Do you even have any idea where you want to go?"

Struggling against the drugs in her system, Kusanagi lifted herself up onto one elbow, "F-Far away from h-here..." She muttered.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Neil watched helplessly as the Pit tore itself asunder. It was just like it had been three months ago. So much blood. So much chaos. As the crowd thinned and the corpses piled up, Neil could no longer spot any living wardens. What of the battle above? If they were pushed back into the Pit by an opposing force they'd be met with an army of deranged criminals on their flank.

"Hey." Caught off-guard, Neil spun on his heel and leveled his pistol. It was Connors. "Whoa there, kid! It's me."

Neil lowered his weapon and looked below once more, "Where have you been during all of... this?"

Connors shrugged and stood by Neil's side. The two remained silent for a time as they looked upon the chaos below, "I just came back from above... Neil, they've lost. The complex won't be under Venture's control for much longer... I'm sure you knew some good men that died today, but hey, let's celebrate, yeah? Venture had it coming."

Neil shook his head, staring down at the ski mask in his hand, "No. No, Connors... this isn't good."

"What did the Colonel say to you?"

"If I told you... I'd have to kill you."

Connors cocked an eyebrow. Neil was a blunt man, yes, but to say it in such a cold tone... "Look, the game's going to be changing soon, Neil. The wardens are out. There'll be someone new calling the shots. Things won't be like they used to and we can use all the allies we can get. You sure you want to cut me out of this?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't have a choice." Neil said plainly. "Listen, you need to stay away from me. In fact, you need to find and silence anyone that knows we're connected. People are going to come after me, Connors, and they will find out about you."

Connors laughed, "And what's stopping me from killing you to cover my ass?"

Neil grunted in amusement, "You can try. I certainly would appreciate the chance to escape all this."

Again, the two remained silent as they watched the riot die down. Connors pointed to the mask in his hand, "What about the reaper?"

"He's dead. He has no place in this world anymore." Neil sighed. "You don't have much time Connors... you need to either find a way out of this complex or you need to..."

Connors nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I got it. Look kid, you take it easy, okay? And no hard feelings if I end up needing to put you down."

Neil nodded, not taking his eyes off the ski mask in his hands, "Let's hope it doesn't come to that." And with that Connors had left. Their alliance, expunged. With his thumb, Neil fingered the eye hole of the mask and grimaced.

"You're no longer needed." He muttered as he tossed the mask off the side of the cliff and into the center of the riot. Trampled under the feet of deranged, violent men, the Grim Reaper was no more.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

After the moment of embarrassment had passed, Abigail had regained her composure, and and looked directly at Lewis with a calm and determined look on her face.

"We best start bringing everyone down here, the sooner the better. It's far too quiet up there, which means we could be in for a real maelstrom soon." Abigail said as she began walking towards the stairs, all the while she could hear the sounds of someone shouting, and another trying to calm the first down; she heard her's and Lewis's name mentioned. When she reached the top of the stairs, Abigail could see that it was Lewis's sister doing all the shouting.

"Why would anyone want this hellhole?" Asked the woman as she got out of her wheelchair.

"Beats me, maybe they just want to take control of the prison and utilize the facilities here for their own ends. Good to see your finally up and running, I know someone is going to be pleased." Abigail remarked as she stood just outside the entrance with her arms crossed. She then turned her head slightly so her voice would be projected down the tunnel.

"Hey! Lewis! I think you should come up here, someone has finally decided to wake up." Shouted Abigail, hoping that Lewis would hear her; after that she turned her attention to the rest of the assembled people.

"As for the rest of you, take what you can, and get downstairs, be prepared to wait a while, things might be getting worse than they already are." As Abigail spoke some people looked more nervous than they already were, but eventually got up from their seats and started making their way down.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Do you even have any idea where you want to go?"

Acolyte's tone suggested that he was trying to help... he thought. Nikolai still wasn't very sure with these things. Regardless, the question was no help at all. All around him were expectant faces. Loyal faces, but tired. What good did it do anyone to show up that their leader was just as lost as they were; that their leader couldn't so much as direct them to the nearest village, let alone to some sheltered place where they might find safety if such a place existed in the world? Perhaps, if this Madagascar sheltered those who did not wish to be found, they should stay there. If not, then it occurred to Nikolai that he might as well stay with the Songbirds. He was still ignorant to much of their cause, and he was not blind to the instability in their leader, but perhaps none of that mattered. He was a fighter, a killer, and so were they. Even if he was not a believer, at least he could spend the rest of his days paying Venture back in kind for his decades in the darkness. Nikolai had seen The Talon's strength and skill on the battlefield today. She was the first person Nikolai had met who could beat him, he just knew it. If he was truly weary of leading, then The Talon might just be the only person in the world worthy of Nikolai to follow.

"F-Far away from h-here..."

That choice, if he made it at all, would be his alone though. He would not inflict Te Talon's war on the others, on her. If that was the path he chose, the others would be free to go their own way... and Nikolai would be free of his promise.

"Where would you go?" he asked, looking up at Acolyte.

=========================================================================================================================

When the first soldiers forced their way into the mess hall, they were greeted by emptiness.

"Clear!" one announced.

"Bullshit. I heard voices." said the other.

"Lock it down, both of you!" interrupted a third, who's voice spoke authority. "Everyone fan out. I want every inch of this place searched, and we've got plenty of time.