I really, really need to tell all of them that I'm not from here and that I can help. (Yeah, maybe my plan to keep it to myself isn't the best.) I know about Maxis, and I know about the fuckery he's pulling. He is not the good guy like everyone makes him out to be. I just need to paint that picture for them. Maybe not blatantly tell them, because Samantha would know and do whatever she could to get me killed. Actually, that's probably why I've been having so many close calls. Well shit, I have to be even more careful.

"Hey, Aoife." Dempsey calls for me to look at him. I probably seemed out of it. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I wave his concern off. "Just thinking about stuff."

He nods, but his uncertainty is still obvious. I'll just ignore it. We need to focus on finding Takeo. Maybe he went to The Crazy Place by accident. Which elemental staff would he want- oh. He wants the fire staff. After all, it is his favorite in the game.

"Hey guys, wanna split up to find him? Richtofen and Nikolai, you two can look together while Dempsey and I do the same." I bring up, mostly to Richtofen since he's seems to be the one in charge around here. Not really since I've been here, but I can still see some of it.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Richtofen asks me, his hesitation evident. Maybe for a good reason too. "Last time a lot of inconveniences happened. I'm not sure we need anymore." Yep, good reason.

"Yeah, I'm sure. We'll be in pairs this time." I shove his concern off. I'm trying REALLY hard to get him to trust me on this. "Trust me on this. Please."

He stares at my face for the longest time, an unreadable expression resting on his features. He finally breaks, making me grin. "Fine. Nikolai, come on." They walk the opposite way of us, heading towards Generator 6. Suckers.

I grin wider while turning towards Dempsey. He looks at me a little creeped out. "What are we doing now?" He sighs, realizing my look was because I had something planned for us.

"I think I might know where Takeo is. Follow me." I tell him before sprinting towards Generator 1. If we were to go where Generator 1 is, you can see a tunnel next to the door. That is where the fire staff's tunnel is. Now, I don't think Tak realizes you need the Fire Staff's record to even get the gateway open, but whatever. I just need to stop him before he gets too caught up and traps himself down there.

I had made it to the drop off/shortcut way before Dempsey, but I didn't care/wait for him. I need to get Takeo out of here. "TAKEO!" I yell while running towards the tunnel.

"Aoife! WAIT UP!" Dempsey yells for me.

I ignore him and keep going when I suddenly see a revive sign down the Fire Staff tunnel. "FUCK!" I bellow. You wanna know why?

The ground is rumbling, legitimately feeling like an earthquake- I've never felt one before, so I wouldn't really know, but this is what I imagine it would be like. Anyways, this means that the Panzer-douche is back. When I stand at the entrance of the tunnel, I wait for the Panzer-ass to realize I'm near. When I can feel the ground rumble harder as he gets closer, I realize he has and he's not strolling along; he's full on sprinting.

"DEMPSEY, REVIVE TAKEO! I'M GOING TO DISTRACT THIS ASSHOLE!" I shout, hoping he was finally close enough to hear me. I sprint into the spawn building, trying to go faster than the Panzer-Ass, but he's got a solid four feet on me, meaning he's got better legs than me, to go out the other door leading towards Gen 2. My plan is if I run far enough ahead, I can get something from the Mystery Box and help myself. If I'm not far enough ahead, I'm going to keep running until I'm in No Man's Land and I'll scream for Ricky-tofen and Nikki. I don't know how I managed to come up with this plan in a short amount of time with panicked thoughts filling my mind, but hey, I'm not complaining.

I am not far enough ahead, sadly enough, so I keep sprinting to Generator 4.

Boom. Boom. BOOM. His stomping gets closer to me, his longer legs helping him, making me panic; how hard he rattles the floor with his stomping is almost making me fall over. Bitch, if I fall, I'm done for.

You know when you think there's a ghost or some shit behind you when you're running to your room at night? That's the kind of thing I was feeling. Except something is chasing me and it has a FUCKING FLAMETHROWER AND GRAPPLE! My heart is thumping so hard in my chest (almost matching the Panzer-ass' pace), I'm not sure if I'm having a heart attack or not.

Oh, fuck.

In the midst of panicking, I somehow trapped myself in a corner, so I turn around shooting at the asshole- not like it would do much- until my shotgun runs out of ammo. Shit, I think as I toss the gun aside. The panic rises in my chest, spreading across my entire body like a wildfire as I back up into the wall, suddenly bumping into it. I feel the terrified tears build up in my eyes as the seriousness of the situation dawns on me. I could fucking die right now. Quick, shrill breaths escape me as he keeps stomping towards me, getting closer and closer.

I take a quick, deep breath, practically unhinging my jaw as I let out a bone chilling scream, immediately feeling the inside of my throat ripping to shreds. My crows feet becomes more defined (squeezing the petrified tears out of my eyes), along with the root of my nose as my tongue pops out of my mouth a little bit (opening my throat), my cry for help increasingly becoming more horrific to anything listening; the tearing at my throat climbing higher. I taste every single one of my fears I have in this moment: petrified, panic-stricken, and affright, but that isn't even the half of it. I don't even know how to explain half of them.

My hands hurt from how tightly I'm clenching them at my sides, my palms could even be bleeding from my fingernails digging into my flesh. All of the muscles in my upper body clench from how much I am exerting into the scream; They're clenched so hard that I'm shaking.

If you were on the listening end of this, you would be haunted from my keen. If pure terror could be classified as one sound and one sound only, this would be the sound; the overtone of the shriek capturing most of the terror. You'd think it was a Banshee wailing warning you of your death. But this scream wouldn't warn others about their death, it would be a warning of my own.

It sounds like each of my emotions are screaming at one time, creating a choir of horrifying harmony. But it's only coming out of one persons mouth: mine. I feel it deep within my chest to the very top of my head (giving me a major headache), but it all meets in the middle to put power behind it. I feel my vocal chords officially become raw from my keening, creating a burning sensation, like I have invented the fourth degree burn, but I push through. I need the other four to hear me. They probably do. Scratch that, they definitely do.

My wail echoes throughout the map, the open area letting my terror carry out until it can't travel anymore. But trust me, it will be traveling VERY far. It will travel all the way to Generator 6 with Richtofen and Nikolai, and it will travel all the way to Generator 1 with Dempsey and Takeo.

They will hear me. I'm sure of it, I think to myself.

I end it with an accidental squeak as tears free flow out of my now tightly closed eyes and down my cheeks. I gasp harshly for air; however, it feels like I can't quench my thirst of it. My throat feels like it's on fire. I can't stop shaking as I stand frozen against the wall in the corner, fearing for my life, wanting to comfortingly wrap my arms around myself. I'm too afraid to move though, so I don't.

But.. speaking of life, why am I not dying?

I bravely open my eyes just in time to see the Panzersoldat fall to the floor: dead.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" I hear Dempsey shout as he and Takeo run towards generator 4 (where I am), the way he shouted made it obvious he was out of breath from his journey. When I'm finally is in his eyesight, he sprints over here, concern etched on his face. He stops abruptly in front of me, keeping his distance, obviously hesitant on how to approach me. "Are you.. okay?" He cautiously asks me, obviously wanting to help me but not sure how to. I appreciate the effort.

I take in a shaky breath, going to reassure him I am, but my emotions decide that that's no fun when I burst into a new set of tears.

He sighs, coming to sit next to my petite figure. I have myself sat up against the wall, my knees to my chest and my arms around them trying to make myself feel less vulnerable. He puts an arm around my shoulders to bring me into his chest, so I can feel comforted. I do. I lean my head onto him, my gaze off into the distance as I think about stuff.

God motherfucking dammit! Why can't I man the fuck up?! Why am I being a pussy? My mother fucking scream killed a mother fucking machine! So why am I sitting here crying for myself when I'm completely fine? No one else knows how the fuck to defeat this besides me, so I need to compose myself and fucking help them. So listen here, Aoife. You're going to get the fuck up, and you are going to help these mother fuckers-who happen to be your HEROES! Stop crying over something that could have happened, and start fighting for something that is happening.

With that being said- or thought, I push myself off of Dempsey while violently wiping my tears away, earning a look of concern from him. I ignore it. I am going to help the original four, because what Samantha and her father's dumbasses are doing is not okay. I'm going to be Karma up in this bitch.

I get off of the ground and wipe my clothes off, while angry thoughts race in my mind. Angry at Maxis. Angry at Samantha. But most of all, angry at myself.

Fuck that though. I don't have enough time to be angry or feel sorry for myself. I only have time to help the four boys defeat those fuckers.

I look down at Dempsey, since he's still on the ground, just as Richtofen and Nickolai meet us here. "Thanks for your help." I smile quickly - halfhearted, not even close to reaching my eyes - before turning stoic and look at Ricky and Nikki. Haha that rhymes. Shut up, Aoife.

All of the boys walk over to me after Dempsey gets up and immediately start spewing questions out at me, their concern obvious with the slight scolding tone in said questions.

I raise my hand up without a single word, my actions telling them to stop. "I am okay now. I'm alive, right? Exactly." When they stop asking questions, I move on, a deep breath to start off my speech, "now, yes. That was me screaming at the top of my lungs, and yes, it was for you guys to hear me and help me. Thank you guys for sprinting over here, but I.. somehow fixed the situation. Now we need to do some shit that only I know how to do, okay? Before you three question how the hell I know, I know, because I am not from here and this is all a video game- that I have mastered- to me." Might as well bluntly tell them. I don't think there is a soft way to tell someone this. I wouldn't know; I've never had to do it before. "Now that that is said out loud, Samantha is going to be cautious of me and try to hurt me. But fuck her. I know what to do, so if she wants out of here so badly, she'll let me help you guys." I tell them with an authoritative tone, demanding respect. Which I earn. Okay.. maybe it was a little more of a "I'm sick and tired of this bullshit" tone but whatever. They still listened and the job is done. "Now what is our new plan of action- which we will ALL be doing TOGETHER. Ricky-tofen was right, when we split up is when shit goes down." I look towards him to see a smug grin on his face, "don't look too happy. I know shit about you." His grin dropped in 0.2 seconds flat. Little bitch (I'm just kidding. Maybe). "Anyways," I roll my eyes, "are you guys gonna let me help you or are we going to do this the hard way?" I look to each of their faces finding nothing but compliance. "Good! Now. Richtofen, what are we going to do?"

Everyone looks to him expectantly, thinking he's going to know exactly what to do, but instead he looks at me. "Well, you're the one who knows everything, right?" He smiles at me, shocking me, "so I think you should decide, Leader." He didn't say it sarcastically. He said it with pride and belief. Like he knew that I was going to help instead of ruining their plans. Maybe.. maybe he was the one who sent me here? I know that seems like a long shot but hear me out. Maybe insane version of him knew that this was all going to happen, or it was happening when he sent me here, and sent me to help them, so they wouldn't lose. Insane Richtofen was about to die or something along the lines and knew that Maxis had to be stopped, so he sent me here, because I know everything about this map. To help them. To help him. Maybe...

I grin at him when they all turn towards me. "Alright, team. Listen up, because we've got work to do."