Journeys of a Mercenary

by MoSBanapple

From across the continents and oceans of Remnant, from barren deserts and backwater villages to bustling cities and Grimm-infested ruins, the mercenary known as Mud has traveled through them all. This is the story of her journeys; the jobs she took, the places she went, and most importantly, the people she met along the way. All on her quest to find what she had lost long ago.

30. Get Over The Barrier!

Chapter 30: Get Over The Barrier!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three bullets pierced through the air and down the hallway.

BWAAAAAAAAAaaaam!

A great beam of white-hot energy followed.

"Damn, how many of these things are there?" Mud asked, reloading her rifle as she stepped over the charred, broken shells of the AK-130s Pearl had just blasted. Pearl followed, looking around warily as the two made their way to the staircase. "Stay behind me. Dunno where the rest might be, if there's any more."

"Um... actually, I can't sense any more nearby. I... I think we should be in the clear, at least until we get to the next floor," Pearl said. As they made their way over to the elevator, Pearl heard Mud panting slightly, like she was out of breath. "Are you... are you alright?"

"Huh? Yeah, fine. Well, maybe not really. Like I said, I should probably be in the hospital," Mud said as they reached the elevator. The two stepped inside. "Still, I think I'm good enough to get us out of here. We can worry about me after that."

"If... if you say so. Just... please don't push yourself too hard," Pearl said as Mud punched in the button for floor G2, two floors above them and two floors below the surface. It seemed the elevator didn't go any higher. "I... I don't want to see you like... that... again."

"I said, don't worry about it now. Ain't gonna help with anything," Mud said as the elevator doors closed and the elevator began its ascent. Mud pressed up against the wall next to the door. "Might wanna get out of the way?"

"Huh?"

"Considering we had AK-130s on our tail, they probably know we're coming up. I'm guessing they're waiting outside the elevator for us," Mud explained. Pearl activated her sensors and, true to Mud's word, there were nearly a dozen people outside of the elevator entrance on floor G2, most of whom were armed. When the doors opened, they wouldn't see Mud at first; only Pearl, standing clear in the middle of the elevator.

"You... you're right," Pearl said. She looked down at her cannon, shifting it back into her normal arm. "I... I don't want to hurt them, though. They're not AK-130s, they're just - "

"Yeah, I got it. Just leave it to me," Mud muttered, pulling a yellow-striped canister out of her pocket and pulling the pin. "And actually, on second thought, just stand right there, out in the open."

"Okay...?"

The elevator stopped with a ding. The doors opened to reveal a crowd of security guards with weapons ranging from batons to tasers to actual rifles to gadgets Pearl didn't recognize.

"It's the PETRA. We need to keep it intact," the guard in front said to the others. "Get ready. If it makes a move, we - "

Without even peeking around the corner to aim, Mud tossed the canister out of the elevator into the hallway, right into the middle of the security guards. Before it even touched the ground, it exploded. Pearl saw a brief flash and heard a loud noise for a moment, but in the next, both were gone, leaving just her, Mud, and a crowd of security guards reeling in pain.

"Alright, let's go!" Mud shouted, sprinting past the stunned guards. Pearl took a moment to gather herself before following behind her. "Man, you looked right at that. Probably should've told you to look away."

"It... it's fine. My eyes and ears are... well, I believe they process audio and visual data differently than your eyes and ears do."

"Oh, right. Robot," Mud muttered as they ran down the halls. Pearl could sense the guards picking themselves up and following the two. "Came in through a staircase from the roof. Should be somewhere around here."

"Are we going to the roof? I don't see how we would be able to escape from up there."

"Nah, that's just the way I came in. You can probably jump down fine from there, but I don't think I'll have time to climb down with a dozen security guards on my tail, and it's too high for me to jump," Mud said, making a sudden turn through a door to her right. Pearl followed her to find herself at the foot of the stairs that Mud had just mentioned. "That just means we gotta head up to the front entrance and blow right through."

"Then what? Do we just run down the road until we get to Cape Calypso?" Pearl asked as they quickly made their way up the stairs. "I imagine they would have vehicles capable of catching us."

"We could steal a car. Hell, we could steal a boat. Saw some quick-looking ones by the dock," Mud said as they got up to the first floor. She pointed down at the staircase behind Pearl. "Can you block that up? Don't want those guards following us."

"Uh... what do you mean?" Pearl asked. She thought for a moment. "You want me to destroy it?"

"Yeah."

"I, uh, I think I can do that," Pearl said, shifting her arm to its cannon form and aiming at the staircase behind her. She charged for a moment, gathering energy in her arm, then released the energy, engulfing the staircase in a blast of white-hot energy. Even before the smoke and dust cleared, Pearl could sense that a large chunk was blown out of the staircase, enough to hamper their pursuers if not outright prevent them from coming up. "I... I think that should work?"

"Good enough. Let's go," Mud said, running off out of the stairwell and down the hall. Pearl followed Mud, and as Mud rounded a corner, Pearl heard a rapid series of shots ring out. Turning the corner herself, Pearl saw Mud stepping over a trio of AK-130s scattered across the floor, each with bullet holes riddling their chassis. "Tch. They got Knights up here too. And probably more than this."

"So... what should we do?"

"I mean, can't really do much else than stick with the plan. You said you got some really good sensors or something, right?" Mud asked. Pearl nodded. "Well, use 'em. It'll be a lot easier if we can get the drop on people, or just avoid them entirely."

"I... I'll try," Pearl said. As they started back down the hallway, Pearl concentrated on the information flooding in from the sensors around her body, then pointed ahead. "F - four AK-130s around the next corner. They're coming fast!"

"Got it," Mud muttered, pulling a grenade out from her pocket and tossing it towards where Pearl was pointing. The Knights that Pearl had sensed rounded the corner, raised their gun-arms, and -

BOOM!

- were blown to pieces as the grenade at their feet exploded, leaving them as little more than piles of scrap on the floor.

"Nice. Just keep doing that," Mud said as they continued on. When they rounded the corner, Pearl sensed more enemies coming their way - but this time, they were security guards rather than Knights.

"Two security guards down the hall on the left, up ahead!"

Two shots. Two guards on the ground with bullets through their legs. Mud and Pearl avoided going down that hallway and continued forward.

"Four - no, five AK-130s up on our right! I don't think they know where we are!"

They dashed past the hallway where the Knights were. From what Pearl sensed, they hadn't noticed the two girls.

"One more security guard up ahead - no, wait. Unarmed. I... I think it's a researcher."

Mud bowled over the startled researcher, pushing him into a side room as they continued on their way.

"There's a large, open area, and... a door to the outside," Pearl said, sensing what seemed like the front lobby around the next corner. "I - I think we're almost out of here!"

"Good," Mud grunted. Pearl noticed her face contort slightly in pain for a moment as she pounded her chest with her fist. Then, her expression went back to normal as she rounded the corner to the lobby. "Once we're outside, we just need to - what the fuck is that."

"What is it?" Pearl asked, rounding the corner herself to see a giant, metal machine standing in the middle of the lobby. It towered above them on its two legs, standing at least four times taller than Pearl and nearly as wide. Each of its arms held an enormous energy cannon, with smaller but still formidable autocannons attached to each one. On the machine's back, Pearl could sense rocket silos stored away in the shoulders, as well as Dust canisters pushing fuel to the entire machine.

And standing behind the machine, Pearl saw Erika Grisele, tapping away at her scroll yet again.

"It seems our security team has failed to stop you. I don't quite understand how they were unable to prevent a single mercenary from infiltrating this facility, and frankly, I don't quite care at the moment," Erika said, glancing up at Mud. "Fortunately, I had the foresight to have the Paladin P-280 Prototype moved here. I think I'll use this opportunity to run an impromptu test on the PETRA."

"She's Pearl, not just some robot for your tests and experiments," Mud said, raising her rifle at Erika. "Now move this hunk of junk and get out of the way. We're leaving."

"No, no, I don't think I will," Erika said, tapping a button on her scroll. The giant machine - the P-280 was what Erika had called it - whirred to life, aiming its cannons at Mud and Pearl. "I'd like to see what the PETRA can do against the greatest war machine the Atlesian Military can offer. It's still a prototype, but it should be more than sufficient as a challenge."

"Out of the way!" Mud shouted, dashing back into the hallway and pulling Pearl with her just as the P-280 fired, consuming the spot they were just standing at in a fiery explosion. They retreated further into the hallway, hopefully beyond where the P-280 was capable of reaching. "Shit... that thing's blocking our way out. At least it's too big to leave the lobby."

"I... I can try blasting it," Pearl suggested, shifting her arm to its cannon form. As it built up energy, she took a running start before leaping out into the lobby, her cannon aimed straight at the P-280's center. As she fired, a blinding flash of light and heat consumed the P-280, obscuring it for a moment. Pearl gave herself a brief mental cheer, only to realize through her sensors that the machine hadn't been destroyed. In fact, it hadn't even been staggered by the blast. Instead, it shifted one of its arms, revealing what looked like a giant, metallic fist. Then, it drew its arm back before -

CLANG!

- smashing its fist straight into Pearl, sending her tumbling across the lobby and through what felt like a wall before she landed sprawled out on the ground. As she regained her bearings, she found herself in a conference room with a large Pearl-sized hole through the far wall, on the other side of which was the lobby and the P-280.

"Pearl! You okay?!" Pearl heard Mud shout just before a series of rapid gunshots rang out. She saw Mud run out into the lobby, spraying the P-280 with bullets as she ducked and dove away from retaliation shots from the P-280s autocannons.

"I - I'm fine!" Pearl shouted back, thankful for the durability of her robot body and her inability to feel pain as she pushed herself onto her feet. She looked up to see Mud continuing her assault on the P-280, with little result.

"Damn, this thing ain't moving!" Mud shouted. She leaped to the side as an energy blast from the P-280 shot her way, narrowly missing her and blowing a hole in the ground. Then, she pulled a grenade out of her pocket, pulling the pin and tossing it under the P-280.

BOOM!

Before the dust even cleared, Pearl could tell that the grenade had no effect, just like her own cannon blast. It was as if all of their attacks hadn't even reached the machine's frame.

Actually, it seemed too much like that.

"Look, I know I said you ain't a murderbot or whatever, but I think we could use a bit of that right now, cause I dunno how to take this down!" Mud shouted, stumbling as a blast of energy blew up the floor right next to where she was standing. She caught her feet just in time to duck away from a punch from the P-280's giant fist, backing off and continuing to pelt the machine with bullets.

"Mud, uh... keep shooting! I want to check something!" Pearl shouted. The command seemed unnecessary, as she had been saying it over the deafening roar of Mud's rifle, but Mud nodded anyway, shooting the P-280 and keeping it occupied as Pearl concentrated on her sensory functions.

Even the sturdiest machines should show at least scratches after such attacks. There must be something we're missing, Pearl thought, focusing on the data coming in from the sensors all around her body. It seems the bullets are just bouncing off the P-280's chassis... no, just before the chassis. There's something there!

"Mud! It has some sort of barrier surrounding it!" Pearl shouted, charging her cannon and firing a blast of energy at the P-280. Her sensors indicated that the heat and force of the blast seemed to stop just before the P-280's frame, just like everything else they had thrown at it.

"That's correct. I've outfitted the P-280 with a reactive barrier in order to improve its defensive capabilities. It wouldn't do much for testing to have it defeated so quickly," Erika's voice rang out through the lobby. Pearl noticed that Erika herself had disappeared; her voice seemed to be coming to them through some sort of PA system installed in the lobby. "However, knowledge is only the first step on the long road to success. I wonder, even with this step, will you be able to overcome this?"

"Where the fuck did you go off to? After we're done with this thing, I'm coming for - oh, shit!" Mud shouted as the P-280 lumbered towards her, raising one of its arms and firing a blast of energy at her. Mud dived out of the way, only to stumble slightly as the P-280 pulled back its other arm and -

SMACK!

- sent Mud flying into a nearby wall with its fist.

"Mud!" Pearl shouted as the P-280 stepped towards Mud's fallen form, raising its arm as energy began to gather in its cannon. However, before it could do so, Pearl leaped towards the machine, putting as much strength as she could muster into a powerful tackle against the side of the P-280. Despite the massive difference in weight, the attack was enough to send the P-280 tumbling away, the blast of energy that had been meant for Mud spiraling off and exploding against the ceiling. Meanwhile, Pearl quickly made her way to Mud's side. "Mud! Are you okay?"

"Augh... shit. I'm fine, I think. It just grazed me. Gonna leave a hell of a bruise, though," Mud said, groaning as she pushed herself onto her feet, only to collapse to one knee as she hissed in pain. "Fuck. Okay, maybe I ain't fine."

"You don't... you don't look so good. We need to get you to - "

"No time right now. Thing's getting up," Mud said as she pointed over at the P-280, which was slowly pushing itself onto its feet. "You can probably take hits a lot better than me, so keep it occupied and I'll try to support you."

"I - I'll try," Pearl said, moving towards the P-280 and charging her cannon before unleashing a gout of white-hot energy upon the mech. As the burst of energy exploded upon the P-280, the energy shields popped up again, protecting the machine from any harm. However, as Pearl used her sensors to check on the P-280's reactive barrier, she also noticed something else - a dent in the P-280's armor where she had tackled it not too long ago.

Did the shields not activate then? Pearl thought as the P-280 brought up the rocket silos on its back, launching a volley of missiles at Pearl. Though she tried to dodge, she wasn't nearly as skilled at avoiding projectiles as Mud was, and two of the many rockets nearly exploded against her before she brought up her hardlight barrier to block them.

"Oh, right. That's the thing you used to save me back on the ship," Mud said, dragging herself to a corner. She didn't attempt an attack at the P-280, and probably for good reason; considering that none of her bullets had gotten past the machine's reactive shielding so far, all that would do would waste more of her ammunition.

"Yeah, I, uh, haven't really gotten used to it yet," Pearl said, turning off the barrier and looking up at the P-280. Her tackle from before had left a dent, right? That meant it got past the barrier somehow. Maybe close-range attacks were the key? With that in mind, Pearl charged the P-280 again, going for another tackle -

CLANG!

- only to be launched across the lobby by the P-280's fist and sent crashing into the far wall. As she gathered her bearings once more, she saw the P-280 turning its attention towards Mud, firing another volley of rockets at her. Even in her injured state, Mud was focused, dodging the missiles more cleanly than Pearl had been able to and letting them explode against the wall behind her.

"What the hell was that? You looking to get smacked or something?" Mud shouted across the room at Pearl as she unloaded her rifle towards the P-280.

"No, I... I thought maybe I could bypass the shield if I engaged in melee combat, but - "

"Well, if you wanna punch it or something, do it now while it's on my ass!" Mud shouted, diving away from a blast of energy. Pearl nodded, running up behind the P-280 before leaping up, her arm drawn back and ready to swing. She punched forward, only for her fist to bounce off the P-280's energy shield, doing absolutely no damage to the machine. The P-280 turned around, smacking Pearl to the floor with one of its giant arms. It raised its leg to stomp down on Pearl, but she rolled out of the way just in time, scrambling onto her feet as the P-280's foot crashed down beside her.

"It... it didn't work!"

"What made you think it would?!" Mud shouted as the P-280 began charging another blast of energy, this time aimed at Pearl. Mud's bullets did little to deter the machine, only causing a few sparks as the P-280 fired at Pearl, exploding the ground beneath her and sending her tumbling to the ground.

"I - when I tackled it last time, I damaged it slightly. I thought..." Pearl explained. Unfortunately, her plan hadn't worked, and now she was back to square one with no idea how to bypass the P-280's barrier. And considering they had nowhere near enough firepower to penetrate the barrier by force, with Pearl's energy blasts and Mud's bullets just bouncing off -

Wait.

Mud's bullets had caused a few sparks when they impacted the machine just moments ago. That meant metal-on-metal contact. That meant no barrier.

What had been different about that time?

"Think, Pearl, think," Pearl muttered to herself as she ran to avoid a volley of autocannon shots aimed at her. It hit me to the floor, it was about to shoot me, then Mud shot it and -

It was about to shoot me.

Of course!

"I - I got it!" Pearl shouted, pushing herself to her feet before narrowly diving out of the way of an energy blast. "It won't be able to raise the barrier while it's shooting at us! Otherwise, its attacks would just explode against the inside of the barrier!"

"You sure?!"

"I... I think so!"

"Well, that'll make things a whole lot easier," Mud muttered, tossing a grenade at the P-280's feet. While the explosion was blocked by the barrier, it was still enough to attract the mech's attention and get it to swivel towards her. "I don't got the firepower to bust through this thing, so I need you to blast it apart while I distract it."

"I can try," Pearl said, nervously raising her cannon as she waited for the P-280 to begin attacking Mud. It didn't take long; energy started gathering in its giant arm cannons just as it locked onto Mud. Gotta time this right...

The tip of the P-280's cannon lit up.

Now!

Just before the P-280 fired a blast of energy at Mud, Pearl launched her own at the machine. It struck the back of the P-280's arm, engulfing it in a fiery explosion before it managed to expel the energy gathered in it. This time, there was no barrier to keep the P-280 safe, and the mech staggered to the side, its right arm entirely blown off.

"Y - yes! It worked!" Pearl cheered. The P-280 turned back towards Pearl and raised the missile silo on its back. Just as it started firing, Mud ran around it and raised her rifle, aiming a careful shot that hit one of the unexploded missiles directly. The missile exploded, setting off a chain reaction that sent the P-280 tumbling forward and off its feet, its backside heavily damaged and consumed by flames.

"Not so tough now, huh?!" Mud shouted, tossing a grenade at the P-280. It exploded against its legs, blowing them off before it could even get back up. Pearl guessed that the damage it had sustained had somehow disabled the shield generators, leaving it completely open to attack. "Hey, Pearl, you wanna do the honors? You figured out how to beat it, after all."

"I... I wouldn't mind," Pearl said as she raised her cannon, aiming towards the center of the P-280's body. Gathering energy... charging... and fire!

With no barrier stopping it, Pearl's energy blast tore straight through the P-280's frame, piercing straight into the center of the machine before exploding into a great, blinding explosion that filled the room with both light and heat. As the light and smoke faded away, Pearl saw the wreck of what used to be the P-280, its parts scattered across the lobby. It was no longer moving. No longer an obstacle.

The way outside was clear.

"Hm. I had thought pitting the PETRA against the P-280 would be enough to bring about its original programming, even considering the assistance it had," Pearl heard Erika say over the lobby's PA system. "Interesting. Though I suppose that matters little after the results of the earlier test..."

"Hey, fuck you!" Mud shouted at the ceiling. She fell backwards, sitting on the ground as she took long, deep breaths and rapped her fist against her chest. "Shit. Think I got hit harder than I thought. Let's get out of here before I fucking collapse or something."

"Not so fast. It wouldn't do to have you take Green Ocean property without permission," Erika said. The tapping of a keyboard rang out in the background. "Fortunately, the results of the PETRA's most recent test has given us more data than we were expecting concerning its neural structure and how the shift between the unit's personalities works. Enough to do this, at least. Broadcasting override signal..."

"What are you - AAAAUGH!"

Pearl cried out, falling to her knees and clutching her head as a searing pain pierced into her head. It was as if a thousand white-hot knives had suddenly stabbed themselves into her skull. Her vision went white, her ears rang with a deafening pitch, and the pain consumed her mind as she felt her grip on her thoughts slipping away.

Help... Mud...

Override signal received. Ceasing current actions. Awaiting orders.

"Eliminate the intruder. Return to storage."

Order acknowledged. Intruder detected.

"What the fuck? Oh, shit."

Charging thermogenic cannon.

"Pearl, I know I told you I needed a little bit of that murderbot before, but not now!"

Target avoids thermogenic blast. Appears to be agile despite various injuries. Switching to close-combat routines.

"I swear, if I gotta knock you back to normal again..."

Shifting arm from cannon mode. Closing distance to target. Left jab towards chin. Target ducks to side, attack misses. Right kick towards side. Target jumps back out of range. Target brandishes shotgun. Closing distance. Target fires weapon. Hardlight barrier activated. Attack blocked. Grabbing shotgun. Second shot diverted towards wall. Target's strength is significantly lower than that of this unit; target successfully disarmed. Shotgun thrown to side.

"Shit!"

Target attempts to draw pistol. Unit punches target in stomach. Target temporarily stunned. Second punch launches target back. Target is lying on ground. Readings indicate target is conscious, but near incapacitation.

Shifting arm to cannon mode. Commencing elimination.

"Pearl... goddammit..."

Charging thermogenic cannon. Aiming away from Mud! Point that thing away from her!

Error. Conflicting commands. Attempting to resolve...

"Hm? What's the delay? I thought the PETRA would have eliminated the intruder by now."

Aiming cannon at target. Gathering energy away from the cannon's power feed! This is my body, and I'm not going to let you use it to hurt her!

"PETRA, production override code twenty-six five o four! Repeat last orders!"

Processing external override code. Resuming previous orders -

No!

Internal override engaged. Priority of internal commands set to max level. Conflicting commands resolved; internal commands shall be given priority over external commands, regardless of external override directives.

I'm not PETRA! I'm not just some machine for you to order around and conduct tests on! I'm Pearl Koschei, and I'm not going to let Mud - or anyone else - come to harm again!

With a cry of effort, Pearl aimed her cannon upwards. A burst of white-hot energy launched from her arm, burning a hole into and through the ceiling. However, it didn't stop there; the stream of burning light pierced through the next floor, and then the next, until it broke through the roof of the building and shot off into the unknown. Though Pearl's physical body couldn't feel any pain or fatigue, she was mentally exhausted, enough to make her collapse beside Mud. As she rolled onto her back, she looked up through the hole she had burned through the building. She saw the night sky. She saw stars.

They looked beautiful.

"Heh... guess you're back," Mud groaned. Pearl looked over to see her slowly push herself onto her feet, then unceremoniously hack up a glob of saliva that she spit down to the floor. Well, partly saliva; it seemed that some of her blood had been mixed in. She stripped off the top part of her jacket, and Pearl saw blood-stained bandages wrapped over her chest. "Aw, shit. That probably ain't good."

"You... you should probably head back to the hospital," Pearl said as she got up. "There's a good chance at least some of your wounds may have reopened."

"Yeah, well, I can move, so it ain't urgent. Let's get out of here and - "

"PETRA, do not leave! That is an order!" Erika's voice shouted over the speakers. "Why isn't the override signal working? The procedure was sound, the data was correct! The signal should have been enough to replicate the switch we saw during testing and force the faulty personality into - "

The speaker suddenly shattered as a gunshot rang out. Pearl saw Mud pointing her shotgun up toward its broken remains.

"Ugh. Don't wanna hear her call you that," Mud said, putting her shotgun away. "Come on, let's get outta here."

"Um... there's actually something I want to say first," Pearl said, looking up towards the destroyed speaker. "To her, I mean."

"You know I just destroyed that thing, right? I don't think she can - "

"The loudspeaker should be built on a separate circuit from the audio intake. We can't hear her, but she can hear us," Pearl said. She paused for a moment. "Ms. Grisele? Before I go, I'd like to say a few words."

No response. Not that Pearl expected any.

"I... I understand what you're trying to do. In fact, I don't quite disagree. I know that from your point of view, you were given a chance to restart a project that could revolutionize technology in Atlas, and maybe even the world," Pearl said. "As... as the main subject of Project Terracotta, I think I understand fully how great an impact the project would make if it could reach a mass-production stage."

Pearl stopped for a few seconds as she tried to find her words.

"But... but I'm not the PETRA unit you lost in the ocean. I realize that I'm not Pearl Koschei. I'm not the girl who died two years ago. But that doesn't mean I'm just a glitch or a bug or something that should not be. I will not allow myself to be used, tested on, and forced into dormancy as if I were simply the fault in the PETRA's system that you claim I am. My name is Pearl, and I am alive!"

More silence.

"I... I know that all this must be difficult for you, losing your chance to revive Project Terracotta. I know it must be hard for Green Ocean as well. I don't wish to see the company my father was once a part of sink to bankruptcy, so..." Pearl paused. "I'm willing to accept an offer to return here. To return to Green Ocean and help progress Project Terracotta. But not as a test subject or as equipment, but as a proper employee. I will be leaving now, so please think about my offer."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Mud asked. "I mean, I just broke you out, so..."

"It should be fine. I - well, the old Pearl was once an employee at Green Ocean. I should be able to make it work, somehow. Besides, considering the damage we've done to the facility, I believe Ms. Grisele will have too much on her hands to try to bring me back here against my will, at least in the near future," Pearl said, turning towards the exit. "I... I think we should take our leave. Especially considering your condition; we should probably take you straight to the hospital."

"It looks worse than it is. I'll just make sure you've settled down alright with your dad, then I'll go get myself fixed up."

"Are you sure? You don't look quite so good..."

"Trust me, I'll survive."

"Well, if you think so..."

Pearl followed Mud out the door and to the dock, where they found a small, quick-looking boat. After a quick scan to make sure nobody was following them, they set off away from the Green Ocean facility, making their way back to Cape Calypso.

---

A/N: And that's chapter 30! The two have managed to break out of the research facility. Now, there's one thing left to do...

If you've got anything to say at all, whether it's a question, comment, criticism, feedback, or anything else, please don't hesitate to leave a review. I'd love to hear what my readers are thinking. Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!