Hey people, I am so sorry for the lateness of my update, (Over a whole YEAR! Shame on me!) Forgive me! You must have thought I was dead! Won't go into the boring explanations, just get on with the story! I know you hate me, but I really hope you still enjoy this despite the wait you had to face! There is no decent excuse. Anyway, enough of my blabbing! Oh, due to the weary issue that replying to reviews may be an offence, I hope everyone got their reply through the response system, if not, let me know. I couldn't do the Anonmyous ones, but if you give me your email, I will reply to your review!

Oh, please do request to read my one-shot song fics, "Love Games" (Ray/Mariah) "ColourBlind" (Kai/Macha Maresia Eternas OC)"Hallelujah" (Tala/Coral) or my Christmas one "Santa Can you Hear me?" (Lee/Daisy just being finished off) which I'll send via email!

Back to the story! The chapter might be a bit short in length, but wanted to get it out as quick as possible, so divided the original chapter planned. Sorry again if this sucks!

Tormented Souls

Chapter 10: For the Sake of Another

"Would you please just help me with this before I hurt you!" a voice screeched in an annoyed tone that echoed down the long tunnel passageway.

"Why do I have to do everything here? Why can't you just pull your own weight?" another person yelled back.

"You do everything? Ha, don't make me laugh! You're so lazy you make a sloth look lively!"

"Is that so Miss Perfect? Well, how about I show you who the dumb animal is when I…"

"Okay, enough already, break it up you two!"

A struggle ensued as Ozuma and Robert did their best to restrain Tyson from pouncing on Hilary like a wild beast. It took their combined efforts to settle him back down, along with making sure he wouldn't attempt to strike again once they let him go. Meanwhile some of the girls had to give Hilary a drink of water to calm her. Not only was her voice hoarse from her shouting at Tyson, but also it was also to put out any flame ignited from the argument, since steam had been practically shooting out her ears.

Everyone else working could only turn around to glance at the commotion while working, but only for a few seconds before going back to his or her jobs. Seeing those two fight was a common day occurrence, hardly anything to fuss over after seeing it for close to five years. Everyone was perfectly aware how much they cared for each other, since the bickering that went on justified how concerned they were for the others welfare. The only ones who apparently didn't know this were Tyson and Hilary themselves.

Of course, it was normal behaviour for them, so everyone merely turned back to work when the argument was settled…for the time being at least.

The underground cavern was centred right below the prisoner's ground of the camp. It stretched all through their territory, but hopefully it would reach further than that sooner or later. The idea of doing 'The Great Escape' means of getting out the camp was not obviously going to hold out, since they would not be able to get everyone out on tight security through the tunnels. Also some the ground was far too tough to dig through and if they did, the foundation would probably collapse and trap them all in the burrow. Still, it made a good place to plot and plan other methods to get out of Voltaire's clutches undetected.

The main idea would be to build or form a sort of base in the tunnels, somehow run cables through to intercept and bug the mansion base. If they knew what was going on with Biovolt they would certainly have an upper hand in the matter. Not only that, but the prisoners were hoping to gain connection with BBA units in Russian territory, even other resistance groups in the country or cities who would help them. Thank to Skyla, they already had some people working in the towns to their advantage, so hopefully, it would only be a matter of time before they could put plans in motion.

"How's it going over there? Any luck with getting through the static?" Zeo asked, leaving the others to tend to Tyson as he walked over to the commanding electrical system where Chief sat, wearing a mike and headphones to try and hear anyone trying to contact the rebellious group of prisoners.

"There's still not enough coherent voicing on the frequency. I don't think we'll be able to reach anyone." Kenny sighed, adjusting the dials on the makeshift control centre made from pieces of scrap metal everyone had gathered from shell craters. "We have to strengthen the intake if we want to draw a decent frequency."

"Can't you just rewire what we've already got here?" the boy asked, only to see his shorter friend shake his head.

"It's not enough. This is just junk we managed to scavenge, it's never going to cover enough distance to reach anyone who can help us. I'd need a proper processor and communication line in order to contact the BBA, or even some of the rebel underground organisations."

"Too bad we can't get anything close to that." Jessie mumbled as she walked over to the two boys. "We were lucky to find the stuff we have now. And a real processor is not something we're going to find in a muddy shell hole, or lying in the Biovolt dump outside camp."

The group just sighed, knowing it was no use wasting time hoping what they needed would magically appear in front of them. It had always been like that, and after nearly five years at this business of escape, experience had taught them that lesson the hard way.

Meanwhile, as the rest of the teens continued their various jobs, they did not see the figures standing near the cavern entrance. One was leaning against the way, looking stoic as ever, while the other, was facing inner turmoil at how her friends would react to their new teammate in escape.

Sighing, Skyla glanced back at the Russian male, whose eyes were closed, a stern expression written on his face. Well, she did seem to have the harder task at the moment: convincing her friends to trust the enemy.

"I may not be social, but it doesn't mean I want to spend the whole evening in the doorway." Kai commented, bringing the young woman out of her daze. He really didn't know what he was getting himself into.

"Still…the minute you go in there you might wish you never set foot…" she tried to explain to him, but was cut off by the cold, calm stare of the Russian officer as he strutted past her heading from the entrance. Before he went through however, the girl grabbed his wrist. As he spun around, he noted how serious her gaze was, but at the same time…concerned.

"They'll eat you alive, you know that." she told him, to which Kai just ignored. Skyla couldn't define if he was being brave or stupid. "Let me soften them up first." the rebel compelled, and not seeing any sign of rejection of the idea, she let him go and proceeded to talk to her friends, and introduce their new ally.

---

Meanwhile, deep in a dark chamber below the surface of the camp, a bundled form slept peacefully on an old worn mattress. Yawning, she pulled the blanket further over her body in an attempt to keep warm in the draft from the cold. Shadows moved around her and morphed in various frightening forms, but she took no notice. She was safe, all thanks to the most unlikely source of strength.

Her greatest flaws, what made her imperfect in society, he inability to see or hear, were protecting her from the fears others in the situation would have from looking at the terrifying shadows, or hearing the shrill and fearful cries echoing along the lonely empty stone corridors.

Her escape from reality, in her own world of dreams was shattered when she felt a shaking touch on her shoulder. Rubbing her blind rosebud orbs, she was once again met with a world of dark silence. However, someone was squeezing her hand, and pressing fingers into her palm. It's was signing out a message into her skin…

T-a-l-a

"Tala, why you here so late?" she whispered, or at least she thought she did, being unable to hear her own voice. It couldn't be morning already…

L-e-a-v-i-n-g

"Where are you going? I don't understand." she replied, her grip tightening in concern. In that moment, she was pulled her feet, and steadied by a pair of firm arms. She started to balance as another message was scribed onto her skin.

Y-o-u C-o-m-e T-o-o

With that, Coral found herself being pulled gently along, shivering slightly due to the coldness of the damp caverns under the fortress. The officer must have noticed, as she felt her hand being squeezed in reassurance.

She wasn't sure how long they had been walking, and couldn't really judge what was going on. The only thing that stuck out in her mind was that they were going higher up from where they were before, as Tala always stopped and picked her up when there were stairs to climb, in fear she's trip over. He had been doing that several times within the small period of time they had been wandering about.

Eventually, they seemed to stop all together, or as best the girl could assume so. There was time to question as she was tugged few steps forward, before feeling a light breeze drift by her; a door closing.

Stretching out her arms, she bravely attempted to explore on her own, as right away she could feel something was different from the chambers she had been in so far. For one, it was much warmer and she smiled to herself, rubbing her arms in gratitude to the heat. Feeling more confident, she stretched out her hands, looking for something to touch, a guide so she wouldn't bump into anything.

With small steps she moved cautiously along, taking in the feel of the objects near her. There was a lot of wood, but not the rough cut stuff used for the bench in the cell that always gave you splinters in your fingers. This was well crafted, sanded, perfectly smoothed and varnished. Sometimes there was even grooves, carved patterns in the objects.

'It must be furniture.' she thought to herself.

She continued walking, following the surface underneath her hands until it ended and she looked for another piece. She was tracing a long wooden pole of sorts, when her hand sank lower, landing with a gentle thump on something completely different.

Unlike the wooden surfaces, it wasn't firm or hard, but so light and soft her hand seemed to sink into it the more weight she added. She could also grab it between her fingers, feeling comfort in how warm and smooth it felt against her skin. It was in her curiosity, Coral leaned a bit too forward and toppled face first. She expected a painful landing, but instead, she bounced a little, feeling the object creak underneath her before it stilled entirely.

Cautiously, she rolled over; finding herself cocooned in the soft warmth. It had been the safest she had felt in a long time among the unpredictable events recently. She curled up into a tight ball, arms wrapped around her legs that were bent and pulled up against her chest. With a gentle sigh, she relaxed and found herself once again drifting off to sleep, the last thing she felt being a hand on her face, stroking her cheek.

If she had been able to see, she would have noticed Tala watching her the whole time she was exploring the room; his room. He had decided that day to move her up here, having been told that Boris was going to be using the old chambers below for more storage and weaponry experiments. If he had left her there that night, she would have been found in the dawn, and wouldn't have lived long enough for the sun to rise.

It was getting even harder to hide her, as by now Boris and Voltaire were calling headquarters, saying the extra prisoner hadn't arrived, while the staff there know that the delivery was made. It wouldn't be long until his commander would remember he was the one who was supposed to unload the last truck that came into the compound. Still, he knew the girl would safe in his room for a while, but he had to come up with a way to get her away from the camp all together…

But…would that mean he would never see her again?

Forcing a glare to form on his face, he looked down at the sleeping creature on the canopy bed. He knew he couldn't get emotional. He knew he couldn't get involved too much. He knew right now military charges against him that could get him killed if anyone found out…

There was small smile on her face, finally escaping to a world where she didn't have to be afraid. If only it was that easy for him. However, that innocent look was able to make him forget every consequence that would come of his recent actions.

And he found himself smiling, just a bit, as well.

---

The snow seemed dust over the torn battleground, covering and healing the wounds from the previous onslaughts. Of course, there were things that could not be resolved so easily.

Inside a technical base in the mountains, despite late hours of the night, everyone was awake and working full steam. These were the BBA forces, dividing up a new way to counter the latest weaponry developments made by the Biovolt army. There had to a different strategy that would end the war once and for all.

It was this possible solution that was the concern of the debating going on in the office of Commander and General Dickinson. He was sitting with his top officers, surprisingly teenagers. It was the commitment of the youths to the purity and fun of the sport that had the BBA support, not wanting Biovolt to turn their wondrous game into a destructive means for combat.

"So, we have all agreed on the evasive action to be taken." the elderly man spoke, receiving nods of agreement. With that, he called for someone to enter the conference room, who had been waiting outside since the start of the meeting hours before.

A young field agent stepped through the door, standing at attention, and saluting in respect. It was a girl who couldn't be more than sixteen, her long sandy blonde hair tied back, glittering garnet red eyes staring at the superiors.

"Do you understand what you must do, Lieutenant Calzaghe?" the General asked firmly, yet in a kind and understanding tone. It was a very dangerous job, sending a soldier right into the lion's den, but it had to be done.

"Yes sir." the girl nodded

"Very well," he replied, handing over a rucksack of the equipment and clothing she would need in order for the plan to work. He old man gave her a faint smile, for being so brave as to offer to take such a risky mission. "Good luck…Himi."

"Thank you sir, I will do my best." she replied, smiling back. With a salute, she walked out to prepare for the task at hand before the long journey to the sector, inside enemy territory.

She had to; it was their last chance for victory.

---

Note: Just so you know, Himi (OC) belongs to Deep Zero. Until next time, which will NOT be so long away everyone, R and R! Hope it wasn't that bad.