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Chapter 21: A Shadow in the Light
All of the Suspended City was raged with war. Sleg airships and combat jets flew through the air unhindered above the skyscrapers and they proceeded to drop bombs and teleporters wherever they thought would cause the most damage.
On the street near the capitol building, Siômo and Reptantis were making their way over the skyscraper across the street, the same place that was attached to the capitol building via the sky bridge. They were both carrying their guns as they approached the metal door that would lead them inside the skyscraper.
When they got close enough to the door, Reptantis pressed the button on the keypad to the door's right and the metal door slid open with a mechanical humming sound. They both walked into the building and they heard the door slide shut behind them.
The room the two men were now in resembled a waiting room from a hospital or doctor's office. There were lights on the ceiling that kept the room well lit and paintings of various landscapes could be seen on the wall. The floors were covered in white tiles and the walls were made out of light gray metal.
Siômo flinched when his radio started to vibrate and he quickly took it out of one of his leather pouches. He then held it up to his ear while his Sleg friend checked the room for enemies.
"Hello, Aria. Have you made it to the chief of security's office?" the Skrӕling greeted as he walked over to a nearby chair and sat down.
"Hey, Siômo. Yes, I'm at the office and I was able to hack the systems. I can even see you guys on one of the monitors." he heard her voice on the other end and it sounded fairly cheerful.
"Really? That is good." Siômo replied with a small smile and he waved at the camera in the room.
Reptantis noticed the native waving at the camera, so he decided to do the same. He figured that Aria was successful in hacking the security cameras.
"Hahaha! You two are obnoxious!" the gunsmith laughed on the other end of the radio, causing the native's smile to widen in amusement.
"What is this building used for? Also, what's the status of this place?" the Sleg questioned as he walked close enough to Siômo so he could be heard through the radio.
"Well, this is the Chasm Hospital. It's the main medical center in the city and it's where most soldiers and politicians are taken when they are hurt or sick." Aria answered as faint typing could be heard on the other end of the radio. "As for status… I see a bunch of Chasm Army soldiers on the upper floors, but the first few floors are completely deserted." she added after a few moments.
"Alright; thank you for informing us." the bearded Skrӕling said gratefully as he slowly stood up from the chair he had been sitting on.
"No problem. I'll be in touch." Aria replied cheerfully before the line was cut off.
Siômo then stuffed his portable radio into one of his leather pouches and looked over at his Sleg friend, who raised an eyebrow, silently asking what she said.
"Aria has just informed me that this place is a hospital and that there are no enemies in the building. Not now at least. All of the Chasm soldiers are on the upper floors." the Skræling explained.
"Hm... they're probably guarding the patients then. At any case, we should be careful. Those soldiers might've placed a few mines here and there." Reptantis commented as he rubbed his chin in thought.
"What is a hospital, anyway?" the bearded native questioned curiously, having no prior experience with such buildings.
"Oh, right. I forgot that you are from another world. A hospital is a place where people go to get better when they are sick or hurt." the Sleg explained as simply as he could think of.
"So... the healers and medicine men operate here. Alright, that makes sense." Siômo replied with a slight nod at the end.
"Good. Now let's find the elevator. Be watchful of mines, like I said." the Sleg replied before he began to slowly walk towards a nearby door that was already open.
The Skræling quickly checked his plasma cannon for ammo before he followed his friend. They both immediately stopped when they reached the open door because there was a thin wire going across the doorway at about knee height.
"Tripwire." Reptantis stated with a frown. "We'd best not touch it. Any number of things could happen if we do." he added.
"I am familiar with tripwires. Me and the rest of my tribe have used them for hunting. I'll go first." the bearded native replied as he cautiously stepped forward.
He looked down at the tripwire with his dark brown eyes before he lifted his booted foot and stepped over the wire. He did the same with his other foot before stepping away from the doorframe. He then noticed that the wire connected with a pair of grenades hanging right over the doorway.
"Don't tell me what the tripwire's attached to." the Sleg said sharply, realizing that whatever the wire was connected to was bad.
With a light exhale to calm himself, Reptantis raised his bare foot and brought it gently down on the other side of the tripwire. He took another deep breath before he very slowly did the same with his other foot without triggering the lethal trap.
"Good work, Reptantis. That was not so hard, was it?" Siômo commented with a small smile.
"No, it wasn't. Nothing, but a little fear of sudden death to calm your nerves." the Sleg replied sarcastically as he rolled his reptilian eyes.
The two men looked down the hallway they were in and studied the details. The floors were covered with white porcelain tiles while the walls were made out of light gray metal. Lights hooked up to the ceiling kept the hallway lit, which allowed the two companions to see the various turns they could make going down the hall. There also didn't seem to be any traps in the hall either.
"So... which way do we go?" Siômo questioned curiously as he looked at the turns they could take.
As if on cue, Reptantis' radio began to vibrate. He quickly took it out of his pouch and held it up to his earhole.
"Aria." he greeted simply with his usual guttural voice.
"Hey, I've been looking for the elevators and I think I know where they are. You guys need to go straight ahead and take the second turn on your right. The elevators should be right there." the gunsmith explained with a cheerful sounding voice on the other end.
"Okay, we'll check it out. Are there any traps we should worry about?" the Sleg questioned as he glanced at a nearby camera hanging from the ceiling.
"Hm... Not that I can see... Oh! There's two that I see. There's a landmine behind the door to the stairwell, but you two don't have to worry about that one. The other one is another tripwire. It's right in front of the elevator, so be careful as you walk into it." Aria warned them.
"Don't worry, we'll be careful." Reptantis assured as he smiled at the camara.
"Good, because if anything bad happens to you two, I'm gonna kick your scaly ass." Aria stated sternly, but he heard her chuckle at the last second.
The Sleg simply shook his head before he stuffed his radio into his pouch. He then began to walk down the hall with Siômo by his side.
"The elevator is at the second turn on our right. There are two booby traps around there, so stay close to me until we actually get into the elevator." Reptantis told his friend as they walked.
"Alright..." the bearded native replied with a slight nod.
With that said and in mind, the two companions made their way down the hallway. They ignored the first turn, but they stopped at the second turn. They looked down the new hall to see it wasn't nearly as long as the main one. There was a metal door at the end of the hall that had the image of a stick figure walking up stairs. There was also a set of double doors close by on the left side of the hall.
"That must be the elevator." the Skræling commented as they looked at the light gray double doors.
"Yeah. Aria said there's a tripwire right in front of it though. It shouldn't pose a problem until the doors open though." Reptantis replied as they cautiously made their way in front of the elevator.
They both noticed a button on a metal panel to the elevator's right and Siômo took it upon himself to press it. They could faintly hear the elevator descending to their level and the double doors opened with a mechanical humming noise.
"Don't forget the tripwire." the Sleg reminded as he carefully stepped over the thin wire and into the elevator.
Nodding in response, the Skræling slowly did the same and the elevator doors slid closed, safely blocking them from the tripwire.
"It is a good thing we were told about that in advance. That could have gone horribly." Siômo commented as Reptantis took out his radio again.
"Agreed." the Sleg replied before he held the radio up to his earhole again. "Hey Aria, which floor should we go to?" he questioned as his finger hovered over the keypad next to the double doors.
"Let me see... The sky bridge is on sixty third floor." the gunsmith answered and he could hear her typing on a computer.
"Thanks." Reptantis said gratefully before he put his radio away and pressed the button marked with "63" in white lettering.
The two men felt the elevator began to move upwards and they watched the floor counter above the metal doors. They could easily hear the heavy combat outside and it made them very nervous. At any moment, a stray missile or rocket could smash into the building they were in.
After a long moment of silence with only the sounds of war to comfort them, the elevator stopped moving. The double doors hummed as they slid open, but Reptantis and Siômo froze as two dozen human soldiers had their guns trained on them.
"Hold your fire! They're friendlies!" One of the armored soldiers shouted immediately after the doors opened.
The rest of the soldiers slowly lowered their various guns without question when they heard their current leader say that. The soldier who spoke then stepped forward as the two companions exited the elevator.
"Wasn't expecting you two to show up. My name is Captain Townsend. I'm in charge here." the soldier greeted with a nod.
This soldier's uniform didn't look much different from the others, but a red stripe could be seen going vertically down the right side of his armor's breastplates. He was also carrying a plasma cannon, just like Siômo's.
"It is good to meet you. I am-" the native began to introduce himself.
"We already know who you two are. We've been briefed." the military captain interrupted as he held his hand up to eye level. "What I want to know is why you two are up here. I thought you were fighting on the streets." he added while he lowered his gloved hand.
"We were fighting down below, but we ran into a few complications." Reptantis spoke up as he held his flechette gun with one hand while he pointed it at the floor.
"Oh? And what complications would that be?" Captain Townsend questioned curiously.
"The anti-aircraft guns are offline and we are trying to discover what's wrong with them. We are hoping to cross the skybridge to get into the capital building." the Skræling explained with a light frown.
"Hm, I was informed about the explosion that blocked off the capital building's main entrance. If you want, I could escort you two to the sky bridge." the Chasm soldier offered.
"That'd be appreciated." Reptantis replied as he held his gun with both hands again.
Captain Townsend nodded and looked over at three of his men. Two of them were carrying laser rifles while the third held a pistol grip semi-automatic rifle.
"You three are with me. Everyone else, make sure no one comes in through the elevator or stairs." the captain ordered sternly before he walked over to one of the doors to his left.
Siômo, Reptantis, and the three soldiers followed Captain Townsend and the metal door slid open automatically when they got close enough. They entered the next area, which was another hallway. As they walked down the hall, doors with small windows on the upper half of them could be seen.
The two companions looked through the small windows to see injured soldiers and civilians being treated by doctors and nurses within the closed rooms. Some of the patients were even screaming in utter agony. They both frowned at this, but did their best to ignore all the injured people as they followed the captain.
After a few minutes of silent walking, Captain Townsend stopped in from of a dark gray door made out of metal. A keypad with a single red button could be seen next to it on the right.
"This door will lead you to the sky bridge. Be very cautious though, you won't find much cover there and you'll be easy targets for snipers. You'll know what I mean. My three men will escort you across." the captain told them as he pressed the red button on the keypad.
"Very well then. Thank you for your assistance." Siômo said gratefully with a respectful nod.
"No problem. Do what you have to do. Maybe we'll see each other again." Captain Townsend replied as he nodded back.
Before leaving, the experienced soldier shook both of their hands and walking back down the hallway they came from, most likely to help guard the elevator. Once he was gone, the group of five looked down the inside of the sky bridge.
Like the captain said, there was little to no cover and the walls were almost all glass. The floor was made out of dark gray metal, as was the ceiling.
"Let's just hurry up and get across. I don't like being out in the open." the soldier with the rifle commented, sounding female.
"Yeah, I agree." Reltantis replied with a simple nod of agreement.
They each walked through the open doorway and they heard the door slide shut behind them. They all started walking , but they immediately stopped after the first few steps when something strange happened.
A black mist appeared at the other end of the sky bridge and the mist slowly took the shape of a humanoid man. The creature wore a black hooded robe and it's face was completely covered in shadows. It's hands were also completely black and two red eyes could be seen under it's hood. It was also carrying two ethereal swords that glowed violet in color. The blades themselves were jagged and slightly curved.
"What is that thing?" Siômo questioned as they each stared at the shadow creature with their guns pointed at it.
"Track them..." Xea spoke with a voice that sounded eerily similar to Persephone's voice, but none of them recognized it.
"What the fuck...?" Reptantis blurted out with a very confused expression.
Immediately after he said that however, the shadow creature faded away in shadows and reappeared in front of one of the two soldiers with a laser rifle. The soldier gasped in surprise and began to lift his weapon to shoot, but the hooded creature did something drastic.
Everyone watched in horror as Xea stabbed the man through the stomach with both of it's blades, causing blood to gush out and stain the floor. The man gurgled loudly and dropped his gun as he grabbed the sides of the blades in an attempt to pull them out.
Xea slowly lifted up the blades with them still pierced through the defenseless man and he kicked his legs in the air in a vain attempt to escape. The creature then flung him towards the wall, causing that window to shatter and the soldier was flung off the sky bridge to the streets below.
"You son of a bitch!" the armored woman with the rifle screamed as she shot the hooded shadow a few times.
The others broke out of their trance and commenced to open fire as well. The female soldier and Reptantis didn't seem to do any damage to Xea, but the other soldier and Siômo's laser and plasma shots seemed to at least do something.
The humanoid shadow flinched when the energy bolts hit it and it slowly backed away. The soldier with the laser rifle had to quickly reload after awhile as everyone else kept shooting.
With a little less damage being taken, Xea quickly leapt forward and swung both it's swords in a horizontal motion across the man's neck. The soldier's head was easily flung off his shoulders with a spray of crimson red blood and his body slumped to the floor with a thud.
Before the others could even comprehend what just happened, the hooded shadow fazed away in a cloud of pure darkness and reappeared behind the armored woman. It then stabbed her through the stomach with both of it's swords. She cried out in pain as she dropped her rifle and shakily rested her gloved hands near the wound.
"Oh Gods..." she managed to say before the creature pulled the blades out at a sadistically slow pace, allowing the blood to freely flow out of the open injury.
"Oh Gods." Xea mimicked her voice with a distorted voice before it roughly kicked her out of the sky bridge through one of the untouched windows, causing the glass to break into thousands of shards.
Siômo and Reptantis watched this whole scene with wide, horrified eyes. Neither of them have ever seen anything like this creature before. They didn't even now how to fight this shadow monster.
Xea slowly looked up at the two men and began to walk towards them at a slow pace. Acting on instinct, the Sleg shot it a few times with his flechette gun, but the creature didn't even flinch when the flechettes hit it. The Skræling then shot it a few times with his plasma cannon while it was on the primary fire setting.
When the blue plasma bolts hit Xea, it reacted by flinching and backing away. This surprised the two companions and they glanced at one another. They didn't exchange words, but they knew that plasma and laser weapons were much more affective than bullets or flechettes.
With that in mind, Siômo quickly set his plasma cannon to it's fully automatic secondary setting and took aim. He squeezed the weapon's trigger and bolt after bolt of plasma energy was shot out of the metal barrel. Each of the blue bolts slights redirected themselves as they flew through the air and each of them hit the hooded shadow.
Xea raised it's arms in a vain attempt to protect itself as it stepped further and further away from them. All of a sudden, the creature began to emit a cloud of black smoke that quickly filled the whole sky bridge with darkness.
As quickly as it came, the black mist dissipated and both companions frantically looked around for their enemy. They were shocked to see that Xea wasn't anywhere in sight at all.
"Where is that thing...? Where did it go?" Reptantis questioned as his reptilian yellow eyes darted around the area.
"I do not know, but we must keep moving. The longer we delay, the more people will suffer. Besides, I doubt we have seen the last if that... thing." the bearded Skræling replied as he reloaded his plasma cannon.
The Sleg didn't like simply leaving, but he knew Siômo was right. It was very dangerous to stay at one place for too long on the sky bridge. He released a heavy sigh and nodded before they both began to walk across the sky bridge, unsure of what Xea was planning for them.