Chapter 2: The Tunnels

We rounded the corner gingerly. I lifted my guns and ducked behind cover. There were more ships, they had landed on every flat surface available. Dozens of villains and their henchmen poured out of each one and into a vast hole in the centre of the street. I frowned 'what is that?' Raven squinted to try and get a better look.

"We need to get in closer" she said. I nodded thoughtfully

"Do it". Raven took a few steps back and her armour melted and re-formed to resemble that of the closest group of henchmen. She gave a mock salute and casually walked in amongst the ships. Dakota and I slipped silently inside a building on the opposite side of the street. We watched as Raven greeted a large spiky villain who cuffed her around the side of the head and pointed to the hole. I turned away

"Shepard?"

"Sir?"

"Do you have our position?"

"Yes sir"

"What can you see?". There was a pause and I could hear the clicking of Shepard adjusting the zoom on her sniper rifle

"They're pulling large crates out of that hole, they're distributing them amongst the gathered villains". I did a double take

"Who? Who's here?"

"Corroder, Splitface, Tembler. A fair few of our old enemies. Should I take a shot?"

"Not yet. Raven's in there. We need to know what's going on in there" I looked at Dakota. She had her crossbow primed and was tracing a red clad henchmen. I put a hand on the barrel and pushed it down. She looked at me and I shook my head and mouthed the words 'not yet' . I looked around the ground floor of the building. In the corner was a sealed fire escape. Graffiti covered its surface. But next to it was a staircase. I grabbed Dakota and we walked over to it. There was a faint red glow from the top. I put a finger to my lips and began to climb to the next floor up. I peeked out and set eyes upon Jetbug and Nitroblast. Firelord was involved now. The situation was not improving. I ducked down and Dakota took a look. She gaped before crouching down next to me.

"What the hell's going on here?" she hissed. The two villains were engaged in deep conversation so couldn't hear us talking.

"Not sure. But Zib wanted this checked out and we're going to do it." I cautiously peered back round the corner, satisfied I redirected my attention to Dakota. "Look something big is going down. We need to find out what it is and put a stop to it. Now follow me" I crept out onto the first floor and behind the two oblivious villains. I holstered my guns and lifted my hands. With one swift motion I slammed their heads together, knocking them out cold. Once they were out I searched for the radio receivers in their helmets and tore them out.

"What do we do with them now?"

"You got any cuffs?"

"No… we don't carry them remember". I cursed and pulled a metal bar off the edge of a chair and bent it around their wrists

"We'll be back for you two later" I murmured. We made for the next staircase.

Seven floors up and the view was much better. The ships were all arranged so that the access to the cargo bay was close to the hole. More of those large silver cubes were being carried into the enemy ships. About every major villain group had a representative there, Witchdoctor, Firelord, Von Nebula, Black Phantom, Atrax, Crimson Dagger. They were all working together on something. And of course the Villain Factory was there. They were running the show by the looks of things, ordering the lesser villains about. Their anti-quaza cores attracting a lot of attention. I saw a henchman make a grab for one and had his chest blasted open within 3 seconds of moving. The Villain shouted something and jammed the gun barrel under the chin od another henchmen eyeing up his core. They scattered and averted their gaze. I could make out Raven climbing out of the hole. She had one of those silver cubes tucked under her arm, a smaller one of course. Those around her had much larger burdens to bear. Dakota crouched by the window and pulled out her crossbow. I activated my radio

"Shepard target the Villain's guarding the hole. We need to clear a path"

"Got it". Dakota turned to me

"What's the plan?" I shrugged

"Bit of improvisation" I punched out a few windows and the glass was sent tumbling down into the street below. She grabbed me and tugged me down to the floor

"Are you crazy, they'll see us" she scorned, she punched my arm hard and rolled over. She peered down everyone was looking up at our floor. Shielding their eyes from the sun but leaving themselves unguarded. Three henchmen exploded simultaneously. The Villains guarding the hole turned and a shot blasted through the core of each of them. I stood up and took Dakota's arm

"Shall we?" I jumped through the broken glass and dropped downwards towards the gaping hole in the street. I pulled out my guns and fired into the fuel tanks of the ships; two ignited and exploded throwing the enemy forces into disarray. Seeing that her disguise was no longer needed Raven transformed back into herself and leapt into the hole with the silver cube in tow. E landed on target, I rolled on impact and hurled a grenade upwards. It went off and buried us.

I coughed and picked myself up off the ground. The front of my armour was scorched, it was pitch black in the tunnel, the explosion must have knocked out any power supply keeping lights on. Raven pushed a few large rocks off of herself and climbed to her feet. She walked over and slapped me across the back of the head

"YOU COULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING!" she shouted "WE COULD HAVE DIED". Dakota brushed some soot off of her armour.

"We're not dead though, so that's a positive" I offered. Raven took it reluctantly. She kept the cube tucked under her arm. I went to take a look and she jerked it away from my hands

"Don't touch it" she muttered "For the commander's eyes only" she started walking off down the tunnel "There was a junction a few hundred metres down the tunnel… coming?" she continued to walk. Dakota followed her. I took one last look at the huge pile of rubble I had brought down on top of us and shrugged.

As Raven had said there was a junction, but finding it wasn't an easy task. The only light we had to go by was that of our hero-cores. Though the new design features a crystalline Quaza outer shell it doesn't put out that much light. Dakota activated her holo-shield and illuminated the passages

"Which way?" she asked. Raven squinted slightly before pointing to the left

"There it leads deep under the city, the villains probably built an escape tunnel along the way". She adjusted her grip on the cube and set off once more. Dakota hung back for a second. Once Raven was out of earshot she spoke up

"How are you holding up?" I groaned and started moving

"Honestly I'm fine. Why is everyone making such a big deal of this?"

"You know why and it is a big deal"

"Can we just finish the mission and get back to playing parent when we're home?" Dakota deactivated her shield and jogged after me

"you'll have to face the music sooner or later Bolt"

"I know" I sighed and searched the darkness before me for the form of Raven. She had gone a bit too far ahead "Raven" I hissed "Raven"

"Where is she?" Dakota sighed. She activated her holo-shield. She held it over her head and illuminated the entire tunnel around us. There was still no sign of Raven. I started to worry. I activated my radio

"Raven?" there was only static. I thought to try again but then a voice cut through the white noise like a knife

"You guys need to get down here fast". We broke out into a run "First left". We turned and sprinted down the dank tunnel. There was a faint light at the end of the tunnel. There were sounds too. Clanks and whirrs of heavy machinery. We reached the end and Raven was crouched behind a large rock

"Get down" she ordered. We ducked behind the same rock and I peered out gingerly. There were huge conveyor belts pulling more of those silver cubes out from a hole in the left wall. The henchmen were pulling them off and carrying them towards our hiding place. In the far corner two larger villains were arguing rather loudly

"The heroes are outside"

"Relax they collapsed the tunnel on top of themselves, they're dead for sure" I smirked to myself. Raven shapeshifted to imitate another of the henchmen.

"Just go along with whatever I say" she hissed. She grabbed my wrist tightly and did the same to Dakota. Without warning she yanked us out into the open. Dozens of henchmen turned in shock to face us. They lifted up their weapons and took aim. Raven snarled

"They're not yours. These belong to the boss" she tugged us violently across the cavern. The eyes of the numerous henchmen and villains were locked firmly on us. If looks could kill, I would consider these feeble henchmen more dangerous than they actually were. We were finally shoved down before the feet of the villains we assumed were in charge. We looked up at the spiked face of Raptix, the notorious smuggler himself. He ran a tongue over his serrated metal teeth.

"Good work" he chuckled and grabbed Dakota's helmet and jerked her head back. He leaned closer and licked her faceplate. He drew back and smiled. Dakota groaned in disgust. Raptix only seemed to find this more amusing and laughed out loud. I resisted the urge to get up and punch him. Raven had something planned though and I didn't want to jeopardise whatever the hell she had planned. Raptix sauntered over to me and punched me across the face

"Get your hands off me" I snarled

"I knew I recognised you from somewhere" he pushed me backwards and put his foot on my chest "Remember me Jack?"

"Don't know, I know quite a few ugly reptiles" I spat. He pressed his foot down harder

"Always so rude. Can't we have a civil conversation?" Raven swung her katana stopping just shy of Raptix's neck. His expression changed. Raven smirked and pointed her gun at the henchmen in the cavern below us.

"No sudden moves"

"Bravo squad" Raptix growled. I got to my feet and drew my guns. I pushed one into Raptix's stomach. He grunted

"The name's Bolter". Dakota climbed to her feet and wiped the slime off of her helmet

"Someone needs to talk to you about hygiene" she groaned. She pulled the crossbow off her back and pointed it to the conveyor belt "Stop it". The henchmen did as commanded and shut off the machinery. Raven leaned in close to Raptix

"What are you smuggling in to the city"

"You'll get nothing from me" he smirked. Raven smiled sweetly, then punched him in the stomach. He stumbled back and she stepped into the movement and twisted his arm behind his back. All the while keeping the sword pressed against his throat.

"I will only ask nicely, so many times. What are you smuggling?" she twisted his arm and he yelped. I lifted my gun and pointed it at one of the larger silver cubed on the conveyor band

"Well if it's nothing important maybe I should just pull the trigger"

"You wouldn't" he gasped. I loaded my gun

"Really?" The fear in Raptix's eyes started to grow. I gave him my oven steely glare. He caved in

"Antiquaza"

"Antiquaza?"

"YES NOW PUT THE GUN DOWN!" I lowered my weapon.

"Why are you shipping Antiquaza into the city?"

"I can't…" he started. Raven twisted his arm again and he cried out

"Why?" she pushed

"Because…" his head exploded in a shower of scrap. I spun around searching for the shot. The other henchbots opened fire. We had lost our bargaining chip. Dakota dropped down into the caver and started to fend off the villain re-enforcements that were now forcing their way into the tunnel. Our only escape was through the hole in the wall. I unleashed a flurry of shots into the invaders and Raven opened fire.

"We need to get onto the conveyor belt" I said. Raven nodded and drew a Katana. She took aim and hurled it into the control box operating the belt. It started spinning in the other direction sending the crates of Antiquaza back into the wall. I leaped over the heads of the enraged henchmen and landed on it. Dakota dispatched her attackers and joined me. Raven twirled and sliced through the chests of half a dozen more henchmen.

"RAVEN COME ON!" Dakota fired again. They were climbing up onto the conveyor belt. I kicked one off and fired into the next ripping armour from frame. Reluctantly Raven joined us. But not before hurling us the box she had been hanging on to for so long. She landed behind us. We flew into the hole and Raven managed to snatch her Katana from the control box before we escaped. I jumped free of the belt and flung another grenade into the underneath. Dakota dived free and Raven booted the box off before doing the same. The conveyor band exploded and sealed the hole in the wall. We dusted ourselves down. Raven retrieved her charge and walked over

"What is it with you and blowing stuff up?"