Unforseen Consequences (Chapter 19)
“Come on, move over this way…” Vickers motioned for Ed and Cass to follow, moving around the bend of the wall. As they slinked along, they saw an SAO smoothly drift above them. Keeping its nose pointed at the complex’s central tower, it fended off pot-shots by the resident Lobar, while laying down suppressive fire of it’s own into the openings. Chips of concrete fell onto the three as they rounded the wall underneath it. “Typical…” Vickers remarked, more to himself than either of his compatriots; the pilots tended to play fast and loose with their attacks, seeming to forget those down below. The SAO soon came to the spot facing the IR beacon set on the wall, and with a few Lobar stragglers taking pot-shots at it, it fired an explosive round. Concrete and dry earth erupted from the base of the wall, sending a cloud of smoke and debris into the air, which inevitably rained back down onto the three.
“Fucking shit!’ Ed yelled, getting pelted by a hail of said debris. Cass and Vickers shielded themselves with their arms in suit, waiting until the rain of rock subsided. Looking up, they saw the SAO drifting away, standing by for the next order of destruction.
“Come on, lets move.” Cass commanded, standing and leading Ed and Vickers back along the length of the wall. As the approached the newly created breach, the dust in the air became thicker and harder to see thought, and the rubble became harder to move quickly over. Ed took point in their stack as they came to the edge of the breach, peering around the corner with his rifle as he did his best to sweep the area with his gaze.
“We’re dealing with a whole lot of ‘can’t see shit’…” he said, unable to make out but the vaguest of shapes through the cloud of beige. The SAO attack most definitely attracted attention to the wall, it was just a matter of whether the Lobar where going to prioritize the wall or the assault, which Ed could unfortunately hear petering off in the distance.
“Ed, clear?” Cass asked from behind him.
“I can’t tell, but we’re running out of time. We’re going in.” he responded, under normal circumstances going into unknown territory without a clear confirmation was next to suicide but now was no time for hesitation. He led the three around the corner of the breach into the dust cloud, they fanned out slightly, letting their rifles point outwards to quickly react to any movement. After a few careful steps down from the pile of rubble, the only thing that met them was the settling of dust on their goggles and the distant sounds of the last shots being fired from their assault. Just their luck, as the Lobar will most likely had just enough time to send extra guards farther into the complex to intercept whatever they assume cause the breach in the back of the wall.
“Visibility is clearing up…” Cass pointed out as they approached the edge of the cloud, coming out along the edge of the tower base, or what would have been the tower base, had it not descended into the ground several hundred meters. Peering down, the three saw the tower set as the center of a deep shaft; a multitude of walkways and bridges connecting the tower with the inner walls.
“Those must be the cells.” Vickers pointed down along the walls of the shaft, where even rows of doors lined it from top to bottom. Cass suddenly stopped, holding her hand to her ear. After a few moments, she let out a “Copy that” and looked back up at Ed and Vickers.
“That was Mil, the assault has ceased and is being recalled.” Ed and Vickers nodded in response. With the assault over, that could only mean they where in for one hell of a response from the Lobar.
“Come on, let’s bust open this wasp nest.” Vickers quipped. And the three hurried across the bridge over the deep chasm, coming to the door at the end. Cass and Vickers took a stacked position on one side, and Ed on the other. Cass struggled for a moment to ger her hand around the oddly shaped door handle, and with a couple of pushes and tugs found it to be locked. Not surprised at all, she took to aiming her shotgun directly at where she assumed the locking mechanism was, Vickers and Ed prepared for the breach. Cass fired off one, two, and three shots in sequence against the heavy metal door, blasting a rough hole through it and pushing to open slightly.
“Ready?” Cass asked both Ed and Vickers. They both gave a “Yes”, and Cass kicked the door open, shotgun pointed forward ready to blow the head off anything that moved. Ed and Vickers followed close by, sweeping the room and all its corners.
“Clear.” Announced Ed, and the three relaxed slightly. Now inside and with a calm moment, they attempted to get their bearings. They had found themselves in a round concrete room or hallway, sparse conduits and wires spread across the walls leading to places unknown. A series of colored lines upon the floors and walls was assumed by them to offer directions, but without a way to translate the heavily dotted lobar text, they had no way of knowing where to.
“Well, looks like we’re going that way…” Ed pointed at the sole egress from the room; an oval opening leading to a long hallway basked in harsh yellow light.
“I’ll take point.” Cass announced, Readying her shotgun. Ed and Vickers once again stacked behind her, and with their respective rifles held pointed up, they slowly made their way though into the hallway. They had hoped that, with any luck, they would come across something that looked like a control room, database, or any kind of record keeping office. But as they meandered through the increasingly maze-like series of halls, the only thing they where met with was the occasional closet or room, often lined with an amalgamation of pipes and wires.
“This is bullshit…” Cass whispered, picking up her pace. Ed and Vickers continued to follow, silently sharing in her frustration.
“It’s probably built this way on purpose.” Ed eventually added. “The guards probably have the layout memorized so that intruders like us get trapped.”
“Well, the, I guess we need to find one of the guards.” Vickers added as well. Cass and Ed agreed, if reluctantly. Admittedly, not one of his greatest ideas, but a plan’s a plan. Now came the part of finding a guard in this maze without getting their heads blown off…
<Previous | Next>
(Authors note: Boy oh boy, it's beem a bit. How's everyone doing? I first off want to appologize for the long hiatus I took from uploading chapters, lots of stuff has been going down in my personal life that I had to prioritize. But, now that's I've gotten all that taken care of, I bring to you this newest chapter. I hope you all enjoy, and I will see you next week!)