Chapter Thirteen: Full Swing

DeFoe couldn't feel his legs. He was apparently standing on them, but they shook so much and they were numb from fear. Dante had been helping him out of his cell. They were escaping. But now they were standing and talking with those kids! Clearly they didn't understand how important time was.

DeFoe pushed away from Dante and started up the hallway by himself.

"Whoa, wait, where are you going?" Dante jogged to catch up to DeFoe.

"I'm getting out of here," said DeFoe spitefully. "Please, do keep chatting. But I'm not going to be locked up again."

"Aw come on, DeFoe," said Lok. "We just got here. And we're deciding how to destroy the laboratory so the Professor can't rebuild."

"It doesn't matter anymore," said DeFoe. "You came for me. Let's go."

"We came for all the prisoners."

"And they're out."

"But there will be more if we don't stop this," insisted Dante.

DeFoe turned fully to face Dante. His back spasmed and he leaned against the wall. "Then you can come back."

"No. We're already here."

"I have… to get out of here." DeFoe swallowed, trying to turn his frown into a scowl. "Dante."

Dante sighed. "Look. We're not leaving without doing this. Stick close and you'll be fine."

"I will not be fine," DeFoe insisted. "and the longer we stay here talking like this, the less likely it is that I will ever see daylight again."

In the end, Dante won, though it wasn't like he had actually won the argument. As usual, Dante just ignored DeFoe and went with his own plan. And because DeFoe knew he wasn't in any shape to be fighting alone, he ended up tagging along. But the entire time, he made it very clear that what they were doing was a bad idea.

Bad idea or not, it worked pretty well. By this time, it seems most of the suits and doctors on the lower levels had been on thin ice with the Professor already, and having a hostile takeover by Huntik was exactly the chance to defect they had been waiting for.

DeFoe stuck close to Austin. Walking wasn't something DeFoe could do well yet, so he sat in a chair by the wall, with Austin standing guard. Austin had changed somewhat, in just the few days that this fiasco had been going on. DeFoe didn't know how he had changed, but his hair seemed more vibrant, and his face seemed more distinguished. As if the label "suit" was being scrubbed away to reveal thoughts and personality that could only be classified as "Austin." He had become his own person, DeFoe supposed was a better way of putting it. And in the meantime, DeFoe had lost something of himself, had gone a little grayer, a little sloppier, a little more generic.

DeFoe looked up when he heard footsteps and almost had a heart attack when he saw who stood before him. It was the man with long blonde hair. From his nightmares.

DeFoe backed his chair further into the wall, but the man was talking with Austin and hadn't seemed to notice DeFoe yet. Austin and the man shook hands and Austin smiled. Austin smiled? What was going on?

"Pierre, this is DeFoe," said Austin. The blonde man, Pierre apparently, turned to DeFoe, stunned at first, but then he smiled a smile much too bright for their situation.

"I am honored to finally meet you, sir," said Pierre, excited. He put out his hand to shake. DeFoe took it, still very confused. When they touched, DeFoe felt a rush of pain and fear. He yanked his hand away.

"What…" DeFoe didn't even know what to ask.

"I felt it too," said Pierre, putting his hand to his head. "You have a lot of power inside you." He frowned and looked at Austin. "I thought Dr. Reese took the titans out?"

DeFoe felt like crying, but he took deep breaths and forced himself not to. "The Professor put them back in."

Say what you want about Pierre, but he at least had the right reaction. Pierre was stunned for a moment, then he exhaled as if he had been punched in the stomach. "I am so sorry," he said. "You are holding up well."

"So I'm told," DeFoe muttered. Then he lifted his head. "Dante! Are we ready to leave yet?"

"Put a cork in it, DeFoe!" growled Dante. "And it would go faster if more people were helping."

"Oh, sorry," said Pierre quickly. He looked at DeFoe before leaving. "I'd like to talk later, if that's alright with you, sir."

DeFoe glanced at Austin for an explanation, but Austin just shrugged. Sandra did say DeFoe had inspired the prisoners somehow. "Fine by me," he replied.

Pierre smiled and nodded, and then left to help Dante with some incineration spells. Austin stayed with DeFoe.

"He seems nice," said DeFoe as they watched the laboratory explode into flames.

"He's been leading the revolution with his dreams," said Austin.

"His dreams for the Organization?"

"Well that too, but I was talking about the visions he can put into people's heads."

"Oh." DeFoe watched Zhalia overturn a refrigerator full of chemicals and cast poison fang, melting them into the floor. "You seem a little too okay with all of this."

"How else am I supposed to act?" asked Austin. "You wanted this too, didn't you?"

"I wanted the Professor to stop hunting me, sure, but this…" Grier entered with his titan and Dante and Zhalia attacked him, shouting instructions to the prisoners to continue to destroy the resources. "I didn't exactly want this."

"It's kind of sad, I guess," said Austin. He summoned his titan and instructed it to fight Grier. Breaker disintegrated and was reabsorbed.

"Yeah. I feel like I always knew it would come to this, though," said DeFoe. "That eventually, one of us would destroy the other."

"Get down!" Austin pushed DeFoe over, which made DeFoe sick with pain. Just as he fell to the floor, a blast hit the wall where he had been sitting.

Austin stood between DeFoe and Rassimov.

"Step aside," crooned Rassimov. "And I will let you live."

Austin stood his ground. He pulled out his amulet and called forth his titan, not a strong one in the larger scheme of things, but still fairly strong.

DeFoe looked around for Rassimov's titans. He saw the one with tentacles fighting a group of suits.

Austin's titan attacked, a splay of arms and legs and spikes. Rassimov dodged them effortlessly, but there's a lot to be said for persistence, and Austin's titan was persistent. The titan continued to push Rassimov back, even as Rassimov dodged all its blows. Before long, Rassimov had reached the hallway, where Dante caught sight of him.

Austin looked frantically between DeFoe and Rassimov. Keeping the concentration to materialize a titan was difficult enough without having to think of so many things. DeFoe supposed he should have let Austin choose one over the other, let him go fight alongside his titan. He even opened his mouth a couple times, meaning to say those very words, but he couldn't do it.

Instead he said, "Please don't leave me." Pitiful, but DeFoe was well beyond pride at this point.

Austin didn't answer right away, which caught DeFoe off guard. He expected him to say "I won't," but he didn't. Instead he looked around.

"What—what are you doing?" asked DeFoe, afraid Austin would leave him exposed.

"I'm looking for Rosa," Austin explained. "I need to help take down the Organization, but it's clear to me that it's too dangerous for you here."

DeFoe scanned the crowd from his position on the floor. It was hard to tell who was who beyond ten feet. Plus, because of the many explosions, a haze of dust and smoke hung in the air, making it impossible.

"I see her," Austin said, calculating the best way to get to her.

"What? Where? I don't—"

Austin quickly inched along the wall. DeFoe pressed himself against the wall, wishing he were invisible. Why did he have to be tied up in this mess again?

Austin returned quickly with Rosa. "I need you to get DeFoe out of here," he explained quickly.

"But the fight—"

"Exactly," said Austin. "I need to fight, but DeFoe can't be left alone. He's a hindrance."

"That's a little harsh," DeFoe muttered.

"But it's true," insisted Austin, not meaning to offend anyone. "You can't fight and you need protection. You are a target, a casualty waiting to happen."

"I can always count on you to brighten my day," said DeFoe. Austin ignored him.

"Please, Rosa."

Rosa groaned and took DeFoe's arm. "Alright." She had offered this service before, but now that the fight was in full swing, it was clear she wanted to stay and help. "I'll get us as far as I can."

Austin smiled. "Thank you."

"Just…please win," said Rosa. Then they were gone.

A/N: So many characters all of a sudden!

This scene wasn't supposed to be very long, but then I couldn't justify leaving out all the fighting. And a showdown with the Professor in the next chapter; I'm looking forward to that. :D