The Tenth Class
Chapter 25: The Real Challenge
"Okay, think….I need to stay behind cover, but I need to move fast," Rose said to herself. "And by the looks of it, the only way up to that area is up those tracks…..but that can't be right."
Rose thought for a moment, and tried to remember any cover she could immediately run to so she could get a better view of the area. Unfortunately the only thing she remembered was the line of rocks that was just past the first set of tracks, but she wasn't sure of Sniper's line of sight. The only thing she could do was take a leap of faith, and she began to back away from her cover to prepare herself for a mad dash to the rock formation.
"Okay….here goes nothing," Rose huffed and immediately broke out into a sprint.
The moment she was past the entryway and about two steps from safety she heard the gunshot of a sniper rifle, followed by the whizzing sound of a bullet that had just missed her backside by mere centimeters. Rose flinched slightly at the sound of the bullet whizzing past, but was relieved when she heard a ricochet off to her right. Without hesitation she quickly ducked down next to the rock formation, waiting for another shot to sound off. After a few seconds, she figured that she was out of line of fire of Sniper and looked over to the general area where she heard the ricochet of the previous bullet.
She looked around the ground and scanned the area until her eyes landed on what appeared to be a graze spot where the bullet had hit earlier. If Rose was looking at the angle the right way, she closed her eyes and pictured where the bullet could have come from; she envisioned what she had seen before she had to duck into cover, which were the two railroad tracks that led up to a third level. On each side of the tracks there were rooms off to the sides that had windows looking out around the area. 'There, she thought, opening her eyes wide. 'He has to be up on the right side from me, or else he would have had a clean shot while I was standing here.'
Rose looked around to see if there was anything she could use as cover and noticed a ramp next to the entryway she just ran from that led to a platform but it had no covering along the edges. "Hm, nope," she whispered to herself. She continued to look as she made sure not to poke her head up too far, in case Sniper were to see her. She saw that right as the tracks made their way upwards, there was a dry basin area underneath the tracks that allowed for decent cover, then led up to another flat area that was just a few feet higher than the basin area. Rose's gaze continues upward as she formulated a plan of action. She also noticed a doorway that was in the center of the two tracks, but remembering this was only a simulation, the area past the doorway seemed fuzzy, as if to be off limits.
"Damn….if only I could see a little further to the right, I could see what else is there," she said as she began to slowly move her head to gain a better view. However, as soon as she peered around the edge of the rock formation, a glimmer of a red light streaked across her eyes and she immediately pulled her head back, her heart skipping a bit.
Rose thought for a moment, and figured the best way to see what was out there without getting shot was to take a leap of faith. Rose calmed herself, cleared her head and pictured one goal in mind; to get underneath the right most track. Without a second thought she bolted from the safety of her rocks and made a mad dash for the right tracks, only to be immediately spotted by Sniper. He took his aim at where she was supposedly headed, which he assumed to be the only other form of cover, the tracks, and waited the short moment for when she was to pass by. As she approached, he drew in his breath and fired with and exhale, the sniper being at enough power to deal one massive critical hit on her torso. Much to his surprise, however, immediately after he fired the shot, Rose took a dive to the right, letting her get that much closer to the tracks. Sniper was sure he had landed a shot on her, and took a moment to take aim once more, but it was too late; she had already positioned herself under the tracks leading up to the room he was currently occupying.
Rose tried steadying her breathing, her adrenaline was rushing after hearing that shot fire. She paused for a moment, calming her heart rate, and then realized there was a sharp, stinging pain coming from her left calf. She looked down and her eyes widened as she saw a blot of blood on her pants come out of the bullet wound she had just received. "Damn!" Rose cursed under her breath. From the looks of it, the bullet had actually made a clean shot through her leg, and as the adrenalin began to die down, pain began to scream through her whole body.
Rose looked around to see if she could find any rags that she could use to tie up the wound, but found none. "Freakin' Sniper's gonna owe me a new shirt after this," she huffed, then paused, "And new pants..." as she pulled out one of her blades and cut into the bottom of her shirt. As she began to tear off a piece of fabric to tie up her new wound with, Sniper was patiently waiting to see what she was going to do next, unaware that he had made a shot on her. He kept scanning the area of the floor below and didn't see any sign of movement, but remained steady and patient none the less.
After bandaging up her wound, Rose flexed her leg and flinched at the pain, She had to keep going though. Carefully she stood up and began to analyze the area for her next move now that she was safe in cover again. She looked above her and saw support beams that lead up and were right against the wall leading to the next floor. Rose paused for a second to think and remember what she had seen, then began to climb the beams, knowing that she could still hide under the tracks and ignored the pain shooting up through her leg. If she could get just under him, he wouldn't be able to have a shot at her, and she could use her blades to help climb the rest of the way to the room where Sniper was at.
Once she was right under the tracks, Rose gave herself a moment to gain her strength back and pulled herself as quickly as she could under the railing next to the tracks. As she pulled herself up, she was relieved to see Sniper not looking directly downward, but off to his right, scanning near the other tracks for her poised and ready for another shot. As quietly as she could she pulled herself all the way up, but as she gave a final heave upward, the railing she was clinging to made a loud creaking noise and her heart skipped a beat. Immediately Sniper followed the sound, but before he could get a beat on her, Rose dove under the tracks once more. Sniper growled out of frustration since she was getting so close and he hadn't been able to get a good shot off of her.
Rose propped herself up against a single wooden beam that protruded itself in between the tracks and the concrete ground. She gave a sigh and looked at her leg; it was bleeding much more with all of her moving around, but she couldn't stop just yet, not when she was so close. She looked around and a sense of nervousness came over her. There wasn't any way up, aside from the tracks themselves. 'Crap...' she thought to herself. She looked at the wall that was directly underneath the window where Sniper was positioned. She shook her head, thinking that she could climb up the concrete wall, but her blades weren't that sharp.
Rose looked up at the window and saw the barrel of his sniper poking out through it, and if she was guessing the angle right, he had his sights on the tracks. 'He knows that's the only way up, too,' Rose told herself. She looked back at the tracks; she wasn't sure she would be fast enough to race up the tracks before he got a shot off, but maybe, just maybe, she could trick him into firing off a shot, which would buy her time to climb up the tracks and into the room he was in. She took a deep breath and slowly made her way to the very bottom of the tracks, making sure she was still out of line of fire. Positioning herself on the side of the track, she knew what she had to do and poked her head above the track wall. Within seconds, a red flash of light came across her vision and she quickly ducked back into cover. To her relief, he fired his shot and the bullet went right through the wood, and she grabbed the wall of the tracks and used all of her strength to pull-volt over the side. Once she had her footing she pushed herself into a dead sprint up the tracks, using her good leg to get her momentum going, and ignoring the pain in her left leg as she rushed up the tracks.
"Piss!" she heard the Australian curse as he tried readying himself for another shot. But she was already out of the line of fire, turning around at the end of the tracks and bolting through the doorway that lead straight into his room.
Rose continued her charge and before he could ready his gun, she dove right for him, grabbing his chest and pulling him down to the ground with her. The two mercs landed with a thud, the wind getting knocked out of Sniper a bit as his back hit the ground and Rose landed almost on top of him. As they laid on the ground, the area around them began to shift and change, and after a few short minutes they were back in the VR room. Rose rolled away from Sniper to allow him to catch his breath and to allow some resting time for her leg.
After a few seconds, Miss Pauling and Engineer came up the them and looked down, almost with concerned looks. "What?" Rose asked, "Do I have something on my face?"
Engineer chuckled, "Heh, no, we just thought you weren't gonna make it to the top is all," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well, in all honesty," Rose sat up, "If Sniper hadn't of hit my leg, I would have gotten up there sooner." She rolled her left leg to show the red cloth around the mid section on her calf that was a darker shade of red than when she had put it on.
"So I did hit ya, ya little jack rabbit!" Sniper huffed as he too sat up. He adjusted his sunglasses and gave Rose a weak smile. "For a moment there, I was afraid I didn't do my job quite right."
"Well, you did miss me at the end," she teased. "I thought you were supposed to be the most patient of the group?"
"Don't push ya luck, sheila," Sniper grunted as he got up. "Next time you won't be so lucky." He held out his hand to her. Rose took it and he helped her up to her feet.
"I actually hope not," she smiled. "Oh, and until then, you owe me new clothes." He looked down at her shirt, seeing a piece crudely torn off from the bottom, then looked at her leg, the area around the wound now soaked with blood.
"Um, you have, ah, a bit of a spot there on yer pants, lass," Sniper snickered.
"Oh really? I must have been distracted from all of the pain going through my body. I'll get that pesky spot taken care of right away," she responded. The two smiled at each other.
"Ahem." The group looked towards the door of the room to see Medic standing there, arms behind his back. "Looks like I missed all of zhe fun!"
His eyes landed on Rose and he gave her a smile, one she returned with enthusiasm. His smile quickly faded, however, as his eyes landed on the wound on her leg. He gave a small sigh, and smiled again, "Honestly, Rose, you can't seem to go anywhere vithout getting yourself hurt," he said, making his way over.
"What can I say," Rose shrugged. "Guess I'm just accident prone."
"Heh, I suppose," Medic sighed, and held out his hand. Rose took hold and allowed him to be her crutch as they made their way back to the medical bay.
Medic was nearly done healing up Rose's leg wound when they heard a knock on the doors. Both turned to see Sniper standing in the doorway.
"Oh, hey Sniper," Rose greeted first. Medic gave a wave and went back to tending the wound.
"Heya Rose. Just, ah, wanted to come in, and well, check up on you and-"
"You want a rematch, huh?" Rose said plainly. Sniper looked a bit surprised, like he wasn't expecting that answer, then a small smile came across his thin face.
"Heh, was never good at lyin'," he said. "It's unprofessional."
Rose smiled. "Sure, we'll have a rematch. I'm thinking of actually going to a place and having us all do a training session, though," she explained.
"Oh really? Vhere did you have in mind, Rose?" Medic asked as he walked over to his mounted medi-gun.
"Haven't decided yet, I'll have to talk to Pauling and see if we are allowed to use any of the facilities as a training ground for a time," Rose said.
Medic turned on his device and Rose felt the healing effects flow through her body. The pain began to lift and she started to feel the wound on her leg heal up. Sniper stood looking at them; he had seen this happen too many times over so seeing it this time was no different, except that it wasn't one of the men he's fought along side for so long. "Hm," he grunted.
Rose looked up at him, a slight confused look on her face. "What's up, Sniper?" she asked.
"Ah it's nuthin', really," he waved off the question.
Rose tilted her head, "No, what's up? If there's something wrong I'd like to know," she continued.
"Heh, it's just...I've seen all of us healed and patched up by the doc 'ere, it's almost nice to see that it ain't one of us on this table," he said. He paused, realizing what he said. "Uh, not that seein' you 'ere is any better, what I meant was..um."
"Ha, I got ya Sniper," Rose said, "It's nice to have someone new here, right?"
"Yeah, hehe, that's what I meant," Sniper rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"I take it you were never goo with your words, eh Sniper?" Wheatley asked.
"Nah, talkin' takes up too much time and energy," he explained. "Time and energy that I can put to much better use." Sniper brought up his hand, pretending like it was a gun, and closed one eye as he pretended to shoot off an enemy's head.
"Eeehh, I both agree and disagree with that statement," Rose said, standing up. Medic had shut off his medi-gun and gave her a thumbs up to let her know she was all better. Sniper looked at her with a slight bit of confusion on his face. "I believe communication on the battlefield is incredibly important, especially with a team like us, but it is important to keep it short and to the point, so as to not be distracted with what we are saying as opposed to what we should be doing."
"Huh, I never really thought of it that way," the Australian said.
"Yeah, I like to be able to communicate with people, on and off the battlefield," Rose said. "By the way, anyone got the time? My watch is in the room."
Sniper looked down a his wrist, "Eh, it's about 3:00 PM. Whya' askin'?"
"Because I'm hungry," Rose shrugged. The other two mercs snickered. "What? it's been like, three or four hours since I ate last!"
"It's not even dinner yet, Rose," Medic stated.
"And? There's nothing against having a mid-afternoon snack," Rose responded. She began to make her way to the double-doors out of the medical bay. "And if I remember correctly, there are two slices of cold pepperoni pizza with my name on them!"
She left the room and Medic and Sniper looked at one another, smiled and shook their heads.
Rose had decided to take a moment for some peace and quiet since Heavy and Soldier were having an arm wrestling contest in the recreation room, so she went out past the fences of the compound to eat her food in peace. She was enjoying the serenity of the forest that surrounded them; there were talk pine trees that reached high into the cloudy sky above, and she sat on top of a large rock that had dried off from the rain that had visited them earlier. The musky smell of rain still hung in the air and there were sounds of small woodland creatures every now and then that came to see the creature sitting atop a rock.
Even Wheatley came out to sit next to her and enjoy the scenery as she ate quietly. Rose kept looking up at the sky, hoping that it would at least start sprinkling again so she could feel the refreshing cold drops of rain hit her face. As she took the last bite of her pizza, Wheatley turned his attention to her.
"Y'know," he started, "Despite the fact that we got pulled into a war we had no business being in, I'm actually happy that we did."
"Hmm? Why do you say that?" Rose asked.
"Well, I know how you feel about it, and I agree. We might finally have a place to belong," he said. Rose looked at him, then smiled.
"Yeah, I suppose we do," she said.
The two sat in silence for a few moments. The birds were chirping, and the flowers were blooming; it was a beautiful day. Suddenly, there was a few branches that cracked behind them. Rose noticed that the sound was too loud for a smaller animal so she decided to turn to see if it was something bigger. To her surprise, there was nothing there, and a worrying sensation came over her.
"Wheatley?" she said, not taking her eyes off of the area.
"Hm?"
"Is there anyone else here aside from us?"
"Uh, I don't think so, but I'll check. Give me a moment," he said, then disappeared from sight. After a few seconds, he spoke to her in hushed tones. "Rose, don't freak out or anything, but there are currently three enemies in the immediate vicinity."
Rose's eyes widened and her heart began to race. "Wait, seriously?" she whispered.
"Yes. We currently have one in the direction of the noise you heard, then one to our left and right," he explained. "What should we do?"
Rose thought for a moment; they didn't have any weapons and no ear piece to contact the others. "Wait, can you still get a hold of Scout?" she asked. Rose kept looking around to see if she could see their intruders.
"Um, I'm not sure, let me try," the AI said. He went quiet for a second then came back, "I'm trying to hail him, but I'm getting no response...Rose?"
"Keep trying. What are we dealing with?" she asked, her body ready to make a mad dash out of the area.
"Well, I can't tell exactly, but they don't show signs of organic life. They're Gray's bots..."
"What kind of bots?" Rose asked sternly.
"Um….Spy-bots."
"Crap. Okay, let me know when they get real close and I'll bolt, but keep trying to hail Scout," Rose instructed.
"Got it."
Rose waited a few more moments, listening carefully to the movements the bots made. She closed her eyes, and envisioned the sound they were making; the cracking of branches, the moving gears, the joints creeking slightly. 'I can't believe he's trying this again,' Rose thought to herself. But before she could continue her thought, she was interrupted by Wheatley.
"Rose, you need to move. Now. NOW!" he said frantically.
Rose opened her eyes and immediately saw a Spy-bot come out from it's cloak and was making it's way up the rock. She didn't hesitate and instantly jumped off the rock to her right and began to make her way through the woods back to the compound. As she ran, Rose could hear the metal clanking of robotic feet pounding the ground behind her.
"Wheatley, any luck?!" she huffed as she continued her sprint.
"No! I have no idea what he could be doing! And I can't get Pauling on the line either!" he said.
"Damn!" Rose cursed. She made a sharp turn around a rather large pine tree and continued to sprint towards the outer fence to get to the compound.
She didn't dare turn around, for fear that she might lose focus on her goal, but she couldn't help but feel that the three bots were right on top of her. Rose kept running and running, and she was almost to the outer fence, near the entrance. If she could just get past the entrance, once the bots would step inside the alarm would go off and the rest of her team would be alerted to the danger. As she approached the gate, she felt something grab hold of her right ankle and she fell to the ground hard and fast.
Upon landing, she scrapped the palms of her hands and almost hit her chin on the ground. She quickly turned over to see one of the Spy-bots had caught up with her and had grabbed her leg to knock her down. As the bot tried to climb up to detain her, she brought back her right leg and kicked the bot square in the face, causing it to reel back as its head spun. Rose took this moment to regain herself and picked herself up to continue her escape.
She scrambled to make it to the gate as the other two Spy-bots came up close enough to grab her shirt, but she was able to pick up enough speed to narrowly escape their grasps.
She made it to the gate and ran straight through to the garage from the roadway leading away from the gate. Within seconds, the compound was flooded with sirens, indicating that there were intruders and Rose was hoping someone was going to make it outside. But before she could get to the hill that led down to the garage, a metallic figure appeared right int front of her, causing her to come to a halt.
It was another Spy-bot blocking her path, holding a butterfly knife in its hand. Rose froze, trying to calm her breathing and focus. She could hear faint footsteps of the other three Spy-bots closing on behind her, so she decided to take action to try and get a step up until backup arrived. She charged for the bot directly in front of her, balling up her hands into fists and gearing up for close-quarters. The Spy-bot readied itself in a fighting stance, holding the knife out in front with its left hand and spreading its legs shoulder width apart, left foot front, right foot back. Rose closed the gap rather quickly and brought her right hand back for what looked like a simple jab.
Although, as she expected, the bot brought the knife back and was about to take a jab as well but Rose made a quick jump to her right, planted her right foot in the ground and shot out her left leg with a kick so hard to the bot's abdomen that it completely threw it off balance. The bot sputtered and twitched and took a few steps back from the unforeseen kick, and when it looked back up to Rose, she was already on top of it with a leg sweep. The Spy-bot fell to the ground hard, and the butterfly knife was knocked out of its hand. Rose took the moment to make a quick dive for the knife and once she had it, she plunged it directly into the bots head, causing it to spazz for a moment, and then go limp.
"Rose, left!" Wheatley warned. Rose looked up to see one of the other Spy-bots right next to her and try to make a jab with it's own butterfly knife.
Instinctively, Rose blocked with her left hand, pushing the oncoming blade out of the way and she yanked the knife she had out of the other bots head just to stab the attacking one right in its side. Apparently she hit something vital because the bot then began to spazz out as well as it stepped back and grabbed its side, as if it was actually hurt. The other two bots ran right past their dying look-a-like and charged straight for Rose. She readied herself, preparing herself mentally to take on two opponents at once, but out of no where a bullet tore right through the head of one of the bots as machine gun fire ripped apart the other one. Rose brought up her arms to protect herself from the oncoming barrage of bullets, oil, and shrapnel.
Once the bullets ceased, Rose looked in front of her to see the two charging Spy-bots laying on the ground, one in shreds and the other missing a head. She also looked at the one she had stabbed in the side and it too was down. She looked further down and saw Heavy and Sniper standing down the gravel path that lead past the garage entrance, both relieved to see that she was okay.
"Um...hi guys!" Rose said, waving at the two mercs. Heavy and Sniper looked at one another, confused at first, and then both chuckled.
Rose made her way over to them, "Nice to see you guys finally made it to the party," she said, still gripping the butterfly knife.
"We heard the sirens go off," Heavy started, "Heavy grabbed Sasha and ran out here as soon as he could."
"Same 'ere, lass," Sniper chimed in. "I was back in my snipin' point when I saw you run through the gate. Too bad your new friends went around the building too quickly, or else I would'a already dropped 'em."
"Sorry to interrupt the reunion everyone," the AI spoke up, "But Rose, Miss Pauling wants to know if the situation has been handled out here."
Rose looked around to see if any other bots had decided to show up, but much to her relief she didn't see any. However, that didn't mean she wasn't a bit paranoid. "For now. Tell her to do a scan with the surveillance cameras and go ahead and try and do an area wide scan for any electronic signature that don't belong to us. In the mean time, I think I need to go brush up on my hand-to-hand combat skills. I feel a little rusty after all that."
"Right-o, ma'am!" Wheatly said with gusto.
As soon as he went quiet, Scout ran around the corner, followed by the others. "We heard the sirens!" he said as he came to a halt in front of the three mercs. "What's going...ooon?"
Scout looked past the three and saw the four destroyed Spy-bots laying on the ground a few yards behind them. The others came up and saw what all of the commotion had been about.
"Well zhen," Spy said as he put his revolver back in his coat and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. "Looks like Gray really wants to talk to you Rose."
"Hmph," Rose scoffed, "He's gonna have to try a lot harder than that."
"He sure is a persistent old geezer, ain't he," Demo said as he crouched near one of the closer Spy-bots.
"Seems like it," Spy said, walking over to examine the wreckage. Engineer decided to walk on over to see if there were any parts to scavenge.
"Rose?" Rose turned her head to see Medic standing next to her. "Please do not tell me you need more healing."
Rose paused for a moment, then remembered the conversation they had earlier and she laughed. "Oh, hahaha, nah I'm good. Scrapped my hands while running away, but aside from that, I'm fine."
"Sehr gut!" he said with a smile.
Everyone was standing around the mess of robotic parts and shrapnel, Rose and Engineer talking about ways they could use the intact parts for various projects they were working on, and Scout picked up the head of the Spy-bot that Sniper shot and proceeded to taunt Spy, making fun of him. However, the second bot Rose destroyed was still partially running, but only so much so that the head was still transmitting a video source back to its origin.
"Yes," Gray Mann said, as he leaned back in his chair, facing the rather large computer screen. "Yes, I would very much like to have a few words with you, Rose." He pulled a manilla folder on the table next to him closer, as he glanced to words sitting on top of it; APERTURE SCIENCE.
Hey guys! I'm super sorry for the long update, I've been having some issues with my tablet with what I write my stories on. Anyways, I will try and make sure that the next update won't take nearly as long! As always, hope you enjoy, and reviews are always appreciated!