Riyo kept her grip on Myra's wrist steady as the next bout of shaking nearly sent them all to their knees.
The halls of the Senate were pure chaos as sentiments of all kinds rushed to evacuate. The five Pantorans had managed thus far by sticking to the walls to stay out of the path of those either rushing in the same direction as them, or back to retrieve items from locations deeper within the complex.
Alida had taken point for now, something Riyo was immensely grateful for, and she was guiding them towards one of the stairwells at the end of the wing. It seemed that they weren't the only ones with this idea, which gave Riyo a sense of relief that more people would be safe. At the same time, though, it was another stressor, especially when she heard Myra gasp out as someone rammed into her in their rush to escape. The girl nearly stumbled to the floor, if it wasn't for Riyo's quick reaction to help stabilize her.
"Come on, Myra," Riyo encouraged, maneuvering them so Myra was in front of Riyo and thus had her back protected. At least if something happened to Riyo, there would be consequences due to her position.
They caught up to Alida waiting for them at the top of the stairs. She shot Riyo a chastising stare— they both knew Riyo was supposed to be the one protected in case of a catastrophe, not the one risking herself in their stead.
There was no time to dwell on it. They were all swept up in the rush as if it were a river flowing downhill, hoping to reach a cliff side that would let them spill free into a roaring waterfall. That explosion of sound was still there as worried chattering echoed off the narrow walls and only grew in fervor as the building began to shake under their feet, causing people to scream in fear as they tried to grab onto the railing or each other to keep from falling.
Riyo's heart was pounding so loudly in her ears that it took her several moments for her to realize that Alida was calling her name over the din. She stared blankly as her friend's lips moved, but nothing registered until Myra shook her shoulders.
"—we need to keep going, Riyo!" She finally heard Myra say as she snapped out of it. "You're back with us?"
Riyo nodded unsteadily. "This can't be a Sepratist attack," she muttered.
"Whatever it is, we need to go, and fast," Alida said. "Being crushed in this stampede is the first of our cornerback."
Riyo nodded blankly and followed after her as she lead the rest of the way down until they reached the ground floor. There wasn't even a moment's worth of hesitation before Alida pulled them out of the way of the stairwell's exit and back further into the building, heading in the same direction as a few other staggered groups. They all seemed to avoid the majority of the population's notice, something that was rather good as there were only a quartet of guards along with a pair of troopers stationed outside of the otherwise nondescript entrance to the emergency bunker stairs.
"Identify yourselves," one of the Senate guards snapped. Chichi had never liked them much; while some did their jobs well, others seemed just as superfluous as some of her fellow senators. She's even seen troopers on shifts with them more often, especially after the bounty hunters' infiltration.
"I am Senator Riyo Chuchi of Pantora," she said somewhat imperiously to get through their thick helmets, "and these are members of my delegation." She stared directly at the nearest guard's visor until he gave a curt nod.
"Alright, head in quickly," the guard allowed. Alida took the front, always wanting to be the first into a room to scope it out. Riyo coaxed Myra in after her, and then glanced behind— oh, there was Farai, but where...
"Where's Iri?" Riyo asked.
It almost felt as if the chaos around her slowed in molasses. The people were sharped in focus than before: out of the corner of her eye, she even saw the trooper on the far right shift impatiently before she turned her full attention onto Farai. Her eyes were red and her face flushed, and by her look of terror, Riyo already knew what she was going to say.
"She was with me, she was with me when we were coming down!" Farai gasped, clutching at Riyo's hands. "She was right behind me and then the next thing I knew, she was gone!"
Riyo felt panic rising within her and had to fight the urge to break down. She didn't have that luxury, not because she was a senator, but because this was her friend. She couldn't add to Farsi's anguish.
"Farai, I need you to go join the others. Alida brought them into the bunker: wait for me there."
Riyo was already guiding her towards the entrance when Farai's eyes widened in understanding. "What? No, Riyo, you can't go alone! Riyo!"
Another large shake hit the building and nearly sent Riyo sprawling, while Farai stumbled into one of the troopers, who caught her shoulders. There was no time.
"Troopers." Riyo looked at them pleadingly despite her official tone. "Keep her here please. Your brother Gunner would want her safe." It was a low blow, but it was far from the cruelest thing she'd done as a politician. She just hoped it would work.
The way the trooper's grip tightened on Farai through the next bout of tremors was a good sign.
"Copy that, Senator," the one at his side responded.
That was good enough for her. Riyo smiled at them gratefully, turned on her heel, and ran back the way they'd come.
While bureaucracy was slow as kriff, Fox had to admit: the Senatewas at least fast at real evacuations.
He'd personally ensured the Chancellor made it to his private emergency chambers before running overall coordination as he ran a final sweep. Most of the upper floors had been empty, so he'd only had to run down the corridors with his HUD heat sensor on.
It was a fairly easy task, if not tedious. But it was important: the creature's trajectory kept changing, but it did routinely head towards the Senate's location. Fox wasn't about to let any Senate casualties be on his head if things went south.
And yet, he couldn't help the guilt that flooded his system. It was one thing for Fox to shoulder the burden of not fighting on the front lines with his vode. For him to leave his commanders-in-arms with that thing while he covered their shebs politically made him boil.
The lower levels were more of a mess than the upper ones. Datapads and flimsi paper, cardigans and headpieces and even shoes littered some of the halls. It reminded him of the riot aftermaths he often dealt with.
Fox grit his teeth as another rumble shook the building around him, the strained voice of one of his captains reporting MIA on an entire squad. The sooner he finished here, the sooner he could help his men.
The universe must've had something out for him, because of course that was when he picked up a pair of heat signatures in the East stairwell. A growl was already forming on his lips as he headed towards them, ready to threaten them into compliance if need be.
He stormed into the stairwell, ready to forcefully handle the situation, and then the small figure holding up a dark haired woman about her size turned to look at him.
"Chuchi?" Fox's ears were ringing in the silence that followed his statement. "Chuchi, what are you doing here, you need to go!"
"Iri was pushed in the crowd and she hit her head!" Chuchi told him, her voice high in her panicked state. She swayed dangerously on her feet as she tried to keep her aide upright. "I couldn't leave her behind."
Fox descended the two steps to reach her and eased Iri out of her arms and into his, just in time for another quake to hit. He'd made it there just in time– Chuchi wouldn't have been able to support Iri and herself through it, seeing as she grabbed the railing with both hands to remain upright.
"I need you to run ahead," Fox ordered firmly. "You need to get out of here, Chuchi, now. I'll be right behind you."
Chuchi's breath hitched and Fox wondered if it was because she was scared. In the spire of the moment, he bent down to tap his helmet to her forehead before nudging her down the stairs.
"Go!" He shouted, and she raced down the steps two at a time. Fox had to go a bit slower, seeing as he didn't want Iri's head to smack on his armor and worsen her injury.
"Vod, what the kriff just happened?" That was Thire's rough voice over the comms, laced with amusement despite their grave situation.
Fox nearly closed his eyes in despair as he realized his comms had still been activated. "Not one karking word," he groaned.
"What if 'kark' is the word?" Thorn sounded out of breath and nearly drowned out by blasterfire, and yet still managed to respond with a quip.
"That's still on word, di'kut." Stone too.
Fox wondered how many of his officers had heard. Knowing the Guard, the whole battalion would know about it within the hour anyways.
"My sweep was nearly finished. I'll be leading the reserve unit your way shortly," Fox said, no-nonsense.
"Got it, sir!"
Fox wanted to sigh when he finally exited onto the ground floor, but he actually did do so when he caught sight of Chuchi waiting for him outside the Senate bunker with a pair of his Corries. There were other senators and delegations filing in now as the Senate guard cleared each group, so Fox skirted the crowd to reach his men.
"Either of you have basic medic training?" He got to the point abruptly. They were from Aces' squad, he was fairly certain.
"Yessir, I've got her," one of them answered, stepping forward to take Iri from Fox. He handed her over carefully before rounding on Chuchi, hoping she could feel his glare through his helmet.
"I'm not leaving until I see you step into that bunker," he hissed lowly. It wouldn't do for anyone to hear the commander of the guard say that to a Senator.
Chuchi sent him a tired smile. "I'm going, Commander Fox. No need to worry." She paused briefly, murmured "thank you," and then followed his trooper into the bunker.
Fox pointed at the remaining Corrie on guard. "Make sure she doesn't leave until we've given the all clear," he ordered. The trooper saluted him crisply, and then Fox was making his way back through the crowd, off to lead the rest of his men in protecting Coruscant.
[Group- Support Squad] Welcome, [CC-4477]
[CC-4477] "Thire": you're not going to believe this
"Thire": but
"Thire": the entire corrie guard just heard Fox'ika keldabe Chuchi
[CT-7567] "Rex": uh sir
"Rex": aren't you dealing with a rampaging zillo beast right now
[CC-2224] "Cody": excuse me
"Thire": priorities, rex!
[CC-6454] "Ponds": huh and I thought the 501 was kriffing insane
"Rex": :(
[CC-5052] "Bly": what do you MEAN he keldabe kissed the Senator?!
"Bly": :O
[CC-3636] "Wolffe": lmao looks like maybe Fox is the contagious one
"Wolffe": gotta step up your game, Bly
"Cody": you better bly'ika, I got 50 credits riding on you
"Bly": the worst batchmates, all of you
