Undyne led Asriel down a separate passage and into a small parking bay, the gunshots still audible in the distance. She waved down an armoured car which skidded to a stop in front of them. A soldier opened the door, calling to Asriel.
"Get in your highness, hurry!" Undyne pushed through a door which led to another point of fighting within the castle though. As Asriel was climbing in, he suddenly saw a very familiar human run down the hallway. As the car peeled away, Chara shouted into the radio, with Cole coming up right behind her with two other soldiers.
"The target's on the run, get after him! He can't be allowed to get far!" She quickly found a second car in the parking bay, and Cole followed her into it with the two soldiers getting in the back seat. Chara managed to hotwire the car in only seconds, and she took off after Asriel. A second car full of soldiers from the Republic joined them on the main road. It didn't take long for them to spot Asriel's car and give chase.
Inside, Asriel glanced through the back window, and nudged the soldier in the backseat with him.
"They're behind us!" The soldier glanced over his shoulder, and pushed Asriel down.
"Stay below the windows your highness!" He rolled his own window down and leaned out, shooting back at the two cars following them. Cole watched as the bullets struck the car beside them, and suddenly the driver went limp. The car spun out of control, and slid into a ditch. As the car slid off, it bounced up, and a piece of metal shot from the car, and Chara ducked slightly as it pounded the door of the car. A soldier in the backseat of Chara's car returned fire, leaning out of the window.
Chara shouted into the radio. "Oscar, talk to me, do we have any other aircraft in the air?!"
Oscar responded a couple second later. "The palace's defenses shot most of them down, I've got one badly damaged one, I was about to fly it back. Why?"
Chara glared with determination at the fleeing car. "Use it to try and slow that car down. He can't be allowed to escape or all this will have been for nothing!"
The car turned onto a highway leading away from the palace. With the fleeing car being faster though, they would be able to escape. Cole glanced up as he heard the scream of a plane bearing down on them, and suddenly the plane appeared mere feet above them. Chara had to struggle with the wheel to avoid crashing from the turbulent air the plane kicked up. Asriel's jaw dropped in shock as he saw the plane fly overhead, and promptly smash into the road ahead of them, erupting in a ball of flames. The driver hit the brakes, and Asriel lurched forward in his seat as the driver swerved onto an off-ramp to avoid the burning wreckage.
The human soldier leaned back out of the window, choosing a new target on Asriel's car. He looked down the sights of the assault rifle, and shot at the tires. Asriel ducked down again as he heard the bullets strike the van, but the self-repairing bulletproof tires held, and the car kept driving with no drop in performance.
Suddenly from Chara's vehicle, they both heard the soldier's gun start clicking, and the gunman cursed as he started to move back in. Just before he could get his head in though, the monster soldier still shooting at them managed to find his mark, and the gunman slumped over, blood trickling from the corpse.
"What now?" Cole asked to Chara. As the off-ramp led them onto a bridge going over the busy city streets below, Chara accelerated.
"We'll do it the old-fashioned way."
Asriel watched as the pursuing car pulled up beside them on the left, then suddenly turned sharply to the right. There was another jerk as the two cars struck each other. The driver cranked the wheel hard, trying to recover, but it was far too late.
The car slammed into a concrete divider, and lifted up into the air. Time seemed to slow as Asriel felt weightless in the airborne car. Thinking fast, he tucked his arms in as he braced. The car slammed back down to earth with the roof first, and started to tumble. The screeching crunch of metal hurt Asriel's ears as the car rolled over, and over. Finally it came to a stop upside down. Asriel glanced around, seeing the driver unconscious, along with dust and broken window glass scattered about the car. The other soldier was missing. He quickly crawled out of one of the of the mangled doors, running to the edge of the bridge. He could see Chara get out of the car behind him, and point a gun at him.
"Freeze!" He looked over at the street below. It wasn't too far of a drop. Taking a deep breath, he leapt over the railing, and shouted in pain as he hit the ground, stumbling and falling. Groaning, he managed to push himself back to his feet. Chara and Cole both ran to the railing, looking over and down. Asriel glanced up, then turned and fled down an alley.
He turned down several of the tight alleyways, trying to spot an easy way out. There wasn't any. He did manage to spy a fire escape ladder from the ground, a floor above him on the side of an apartment complex. He clambered onto a dumpster beside the building, and jumped to the ladder, scrambling to the metal grate stairs at the second floor.
He refused to look behind himself as he clambered up the stairs. He found himself running faster as he heard the metal clank again a few floors below him, a symbol that he was still being pursued. He finally made it to the roof of the building, running across to the opposite ledge. Here he jumped on top of the small ledge, and looked down. It was a long drop, and there was nowhere to go. He spotted the second building in the complex immediately across from him. The jump wasn't that big. Before he had time to think further though, Chara shouted from behind him.
"There's nowhere to go Asriel! Just give up!" He turned around, slowly putting his hands in the air as he stared her down. He slowly stepped down from the ledge, then searched her gaze. Despite having a gun trained at him, he knew she wouldn't take the shot. He was too valuable to her. He took a few steps towards her and Cole, then immediately turned around and ran back to the ledge, not stopping to think as he pushed himself off with his feet.
He sailed through the air, but ended up falling short. He grunted as he tried to grab onto the other roof, and he barely stopped himself from falling. He looked down, and saw that there was a balcony a few feet below him; seeing that he could get down he let go and landed. He looked up across at Chara, who had ran to the ledge and was staring at him, surprise in her eyes.
Figuring she would never be crazy enough to try to make the leap, he took advantage of the precious seconds. He vaulted over the side of the balcony, and snagged the railing of the one right below. As he hung off the side, he pushed off to another one off to the right, slowly traversing his way down the building.
He glanced down at the ground when he found himself perched on the lowest balcony. He let go and dropped the final story, making sure his knees were bent as he hit the ground, having to take a few steps forward from the momentum. Not stopping to think he tried to run back to the sidewalk where he could find a better way to escape.
Suddenly though, another human ran around the corner, and raised his gun. Before Asriel could do anything, the soldier fired a shot. The bullet struck Asriel and he stumbled back, collapsing on his back.
A few seconds later, Chara's radio crackled. "Sorry General, I may have just shot your target; I didn't look to see who it was. He hasn't dusted yet though, so I don't think he's dead; the prince is knocked out cold though."
Cole looked at Chara and shrugged, while Chara responded to the radio. "It's fine, it shows you've got good reflexes at least. We're on the roof of a building right now; look about 30 degrees right. Cole here is waving. We'll be down in a moment to check on him."
The soldier looked up to the roof, waving back at Cole before the two disappeared over the side. Chara led the way as they moved back down the fire escape, down to the street below.
Once at ground level, Chara quickly knelt by Asriel, and Cole looked over her shoulder. Asriel as it turned out had gotten extremely lucky. The bullet had struck a heart-shaped locket beneath his shirt which had stopped the brunt of the bullet. Though there was some blood from bullet fragments, it wasn't a fatal injury. The locket had been nearly completely destroyed. Chara sighed with relief.
"He'll live. Restrain him and get him in the car. We need to get him out of here before reinforcements arrive. We'll patch him up in Kester." She got on a long range radio, and called out.
"This is Lieutenant Chara, calling for a report from all other Torin Republic forces, check in at once please."
She heard Cassidy speak first. "Commander King calling in, we have taken the city hall with the mayor and a delegate as prisoner, and the Landow Overpass checkpoint is firmly in human control. The monsters almost tried a counter attack, but when we informed them about the hostages they retreated. We're continuing to fortify the area, in case they try an extraction mission. From what I last heard, my people on the overpass are setting up heavy defenses in case monsters try to retake it. No movement otherwise."
Lawrence called next. "Commander Callahan, the police station is in our control, and we've secured more than enough arms to hold our own if they retaliate. So far all we've seen is monsters setting up a command post about four blocks west, but it looks to be a standoff because they can't get closer without being shredded. Apart from that, we haven't seen any action being taken by the monsters. We've got hostages here as well, and have barricaded the other entry points so the only way in or out will be through the front."
Finally, came Sebastian's call. "Captain Russell, we've pulled back from the palace. Our spotters said he saw heavy reinforcements en route to the palace, and we had retreat or we would have been swarmed. Didn't manage to find the war room in time unfortunately. Did you at least get the prince?"
Chara responded. "Yes, we got him. I'm going to transport him back to Kester. Good job everyone. King and Callahan, stay at your captured buildings, and whatever you do don't let monsters reclaim them. Captain Russell, your outpost has no doubt been compromised with this attack. Remember the plan though. Split your troops up and start transporting them to Agolens and Landow to help with reinforcement. I'll be sending about twenty of the troops with me along with you; the rest will be escorting the prince."
With this, Chara turned the radio off. As the soldiers helped get Asriel's unconscious body up, Cole spotted something on the ground. Stooping down, he picked up a small picture that must have fallen out of the locket. His blood ran cold when he saw what was on it.
The picture showed Asriel and Chara, both looking significantly younger, and smiling joyfully together. Cole glanced up at Chara who hadn't noticed, then pocketed the picture. The new development troubled him as he slowly walked back to the waiting car, climbing in. As it set off, he pondered over what to do with the discovery. He eventually decided not to tell Chara about it, figuring she wouldn't be very happy about it. But, perhaps Asriel would be more forthcoming.
