Jacinto's Military Base of Operations
Seven Years After E-day
I got to admit, It's tough to keep going. Everyone I loved is dead. Some call them the lucky ones... the ones that died on E-day, they never lived to see how much we've lost and how many principles we've compromised. But whenever I doubt what we're fighting for I just look to my squad. I mean, maybe it's a good thing we lost everything. It's like a clean slate. We can make the world we always wanted to. Without repeating the same mistakes. I look at guys like Jace and Dom and realize we'll inherit this world. We're the ones who will make Sera beautiful again. That's a world worth fighting for.
— Excerpt from the journal of Sgt. Marcus Fenix, found in Tollen.
The long, dimly lit corridor watched silently as Ace paced back and forth down the tiled lane. His footsteps echoed around him as he listened furtively for any other sound. The girl he had rescued was behind the thick, heavy door that he passed over time and time again. He had forced her into a trip to the clinic as soon as they arrived at the base. By then, she had finished the last of the bread on the trip, and was looking like she had second thoughts about trusting him. Her wide brown eyes had stared at him accusingly as the doctor led her away. He still felt guilt churning in the pit of his stomach, even though he reasoned that it was for the best.
Finally, finally, the heavy door opened slowly. No light spilled out, as the examining room behind it was kept dim. The female doctor came out, boots making soft thunks on the tile. Her white coat gleamed softly in the darkness, billowing slightly like a cape as she strode purposefully out of the room. She looked like an avenging angel, as the dim light reflected off her coat and blond hair, backlighting her as the door softly shut behind her. She sighed, and the angel fell. Ace saw her exhaustion in her eyes, and he had a pang of sympathy for her. She had a hard life, stitching up gears and civilians after battles, just to watch them die weeks later.
"How is she?" he asked her, trying hard to mask the twinge of anxiety in his voice. He already felt responsible for this young girl, although she would probably split the first chance she got.
The doctor gave a tired sigh, strapping her stethoscope around her neck in a familiar gesture. "Not good," she said, her voice strained. "She's been through hell the past few days, and probably longer than that. I have no idea who did that to her, but he better pray I never get my hands on him."
"What's wrong?" he asked, worriedly. As they were walking in, he noticed the myriad of discolored bruises that decorated the girl's arms and the side of her face. She had a number of scars along her body, but when he asked about them, she gave him an icy look and told him to mind his own business.
"Nothing I haven't seen before," the doctor said, motioning down the hallway for him to follow. She went to the supply cabinet, Ace hot on her heels, and began straightening the precious cache of medical supplies. "Severe malnourishment to begin with. Slight musle atrophy. Her fair share of burns - the worst of which I treated. Evidence of long term abuse, a few minor fractures along her cheekbone and collarbone." She paused, slowing in her efforts as she restacked piles of gauze. "And bruises. God, I've seen gears come back from combat with less scars and bruises."
Ace felt a chill go down his spine. "Anything permanent?"
"She'll probably carry the scars forever, but hopefully not anything else. Her growth has been impeded by years of malnutrition, and she's on the low end of the growth scale, but there's still time to reverse that. She's not finished growing, so with good food and nutrients, she'll hopefully have a few growth spurts." She turned suddenly on her heels. "That's not her worst problem, though." She glared at him through angry eyes, and straightened her back as if to intimidate him.
He mentally backpedaled, wondering if he did anything wrong to offend her. "What?" he asked ungracefully, eyes wide.
"I want to talk to you about something," she said, then looked around the hallway for anyone who might overhear. "She can't stay in the clinic forever. We simply don't have to room, nor the supplies. What are you planning to do with her when she's discharged?"
He hadn't thought that far ahead, and he informed her of such. She didn't look surprised at his admission, nodding slowly. "Well, think about it now," she quipped, her efficient nature evident in her brash voice. "Will you send her to the orphanage?"
He reared backwards, disgusted by the thought. "Only if I wanted her to be miserable the rest of her life," he snapped, anger in his voice. The 'orphanage' was a run down facility on the opposite side of town. It was understaffed, under-managed, and the kids there underfed. It was a resting place for the young displaced civilians until the COG could get their hands on them and groom them for soldiers or breeding stock.
She looked as if she expected that answer. "Alright then, you are not going to return her to where she came from, wherever the hell that is. I'd neuter you if you tried." He flinched slightly, evidently imagining life without his two closest friends. "So what then?" she continued. "Return her to the streets?"
"Not if I can help it," he said, his voice simmering with anger at the unfairness of the situation. The doctor was watching him pityingly now, as if she realized the task he had saddled himself with. No matter how he tried to spin this, he was too young, the girl too old, the doctor too busy, the system too corrupt. If he left to watch her, the COG would abandon him. If he stayed in the COG to take care of her needs, she'd probably leave the first chance she got. If he abandoned her, he'd kill himself with guilt.
If he fought, he couldn't win.
He promised the doctor he'd think about it; hopefully a solution would drop out of the sky soon enough. "I'll check back in a few days," she half promised, half threatened. She whirled down the hallway, her strides quick and purposeful. Ace watched her go before turning and heading back towards Bri's room. He opened the heavy door slowly, watching to see if the girl was awake yet. Bri had panicked when the doctor tried to x-ray her, so she had very deftly slipped her a sedative.
Bri was still sleeping peacefully, and Ace listened quietly to the sound of her labored breathing. The white bandages stood in stark contrast to her tanned skin. What really sickened him was that he knew if he hadn't brought her in, she'd have gone longer without medical treatment. Her injuries weren't life-threatening, but they had to be painful. He wondered idly who did this to her, and why she let it continue, and what he'd do if he ever met the sorry excuse who had beat her.
The scratchy hospital cot the girl lay upon groaned as she turned over in her sleep. The used and reused hospital gown she was dressed in - one that had probably been used and reused many times - engulfed her skinny body, as if she was awash in a sea of fabric. Her clothes that she had been wearing when she came to the clinic were so degraded, torn, and filthy that the doctor had immediately ordered them thrown away. The pack she had protected from him lay on the ground next to her cot, so that her scant belongings would be the first thing she saw when she woke. Ace knew from experience that waking up in an unfamiliar place could be jarring, and people tended to overreact when frightened.
He sighed, pulling up an old milk carton to sit on. He'd sit with her until she woke, and hopefully she wouldn't attack him upon regaining consciousness. He placed his boots on the table next to the cot, crossing his legs. Something fell to the ground as the table rocked with his movement, creating a small tinkling sound when it hit the ground. He bent to pick it up.
It was a small, silver locket. The chain was fastened, and child-sized. The locket was broken, with half of it missing. He rubbed his hand over the stenciled decorations on the front before flipping it over in his hands. The picture inside was faded, but he could still clearly see the smiling face of a young woman who closely resembled the girl sleeping in front of him. Her dark hair was tied in a high ponytail, quick and easy. In her arms she held a young boy, about six or seven. He smiled at the camera man, his black, carefully-combed hair expertly parted in the middle. His clothes matched seamlessly, but Ace smiled when he noticed that the boy's shoes were untied and on the wrong feet.
Ace thumbed the broken hinge on the side of the locket. It looked like it had been stepped on, as the cheap metal was bent and oxidized from an injury long ago. He spun the locket on the chain, wondering if it was the girl's, or if she had stolen it. He surmised that it was the former, judging by the resemblance.
A flurry of activity directed his attention off the locket and back to the cot. Bri was sitting upright, having snatched her pack off the ground and was now holding it possessively in front of her. She watched him silently, the way a gazelle would watch a lion, wondering if it was hungry enough or determined enough to take them down. He let his boots fall to the ground and he smiled reassuringly at her. "You're awake," he observed.
Bri's eyebrow twitched, as if she wanted to hike it up, but wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Gazelles didn't tease lions. Her far hand blindly felt the thin hospital gown in confusion. "The doc took your clothes. We'll get you some new ones soon. For now, you'll have to stay here," he explained to her, hoping for some reaction. She eyed him once more, before slumping against the wall, her pack still pressed tight to her. She played with one of the bandages on her arm, her eyes never straying from him for very long. She didn't say a word, instead deciding to wait for him to leave so she could gather her things and slip out of sight.
Ace stood, looking tall and hulking in the small, dim room. She watched him from the corner of her eyes, body instinctively tensing to run if need be. He held out the locket invitingly, his hand held face up so she wouldn't have to touch him to take it. "Is this yours?"
She didn't answer; didn't react at all. Her dark eyes traveled over the small locket once, then went back to studying the faded print in the gown she now wore. Ace almost flipped it back to the table, until he saw her hand reaching for it. She didn't look to see where her hand was going. It didn't seem to be a conscious effort at all. It was as if somebody else was controlling her, forcing her to hold her hand out, palm up, expectantly, for the locket. He was pretty sure that if somebody had reached between them and plucked the locket from their hands, she wouldn't have minded at all; wouldn't have even noticed. Befuddled, Ace dropped the broken, child-sized locket into her small, grimy hands.
She tucked the locket into her pack nonchalantly, as if it meant nothing to her.
"Who are they?" he asked, referring to the pictures in the locket.
"Dead," she answered simply. "They're all dead." Her voice unveiled no hidden emotion, almost as if she was stating the weather.
Ace cocked an eyebrow, curious about the locket. It didn't appear to be something she cared much about. However, for some reason she didn't discard it. Even broken as it was, it probably could have been traded for a bit of food or medicine. Or, at the very least, melted down into scrap silver. Ace wondered why someone on the street, who was literally starving, held on to a meaningless locket. Unless...the locket actually meant something to her, and she was just reluctant to show it.
"Is she your mother?" he asked her, motioning vaguely to the locket now stowed away in her pack.
"Was," she corrected sharply, shifting her piercing gaze to meet his. "She was my mother."
Ace didn't back down, yearning for any information the girl could give him to unravel the mystery of her past. "You look a lot alike. Especially in the eyes."
She stared at him coldly, warning him to drop the subject. "Not really. I was always told I had my father's eyes." She muttered the last part under her breath, "Not that I'd know…"
"Your father?" he questioned her, remembering the one figure absent from the locket's picture. "Do you know where he is? Is he the one who did this to you?"
"I said they're dead!" She yelled at him, eyes blazing as she bounded to her feet. "Dead! Don't you get that? You know, 'no longer with us'? 'Taking a dirt nap'? 'Resting in peace'? Now, just drop it, okay?"
Ace held his hands out comfortingly, taking a step back. Obviously he had touched a nerve. She was standing defensively, arms slightly raised as if preparing for a fight. Her stance was all wrong, however, and Ace could have easily knocked her over if it did turn into a brawl. "Easy," he murmured, taking another step back just in case. If she attacked, he wasn't worried about her hurting him, more how she would hurt herself. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm sticking my nose where it doesn't belong-"
"It doesn't," she outlined, interrupting him.
"But I'm just curious," he continued, giving her a look. Just because he was trying to go slow with her didn't mean he was going to tolerate outright insubordination. Around the military base, she'd get in a lot of trouble fast if she didn't keep her attitude in check. "Just tell me if I'm getting too personal, and I'll back off."
She was still fuming, her eyes bright. She gave him one last glower before quickly shifting her eyes down to the hospital gown that draped around her small frame.
He slowly lowered his hands. "Here, I'll go get you some clothes, and then we can go down to the cafeteria and get something more to eat."
She looked troubled by this. "I thought you said I was just going to work off my debt and leave?"
"Doc's orders," he said, winking at her. He opened the door to the exam room and found a black hoodie and nondescript gray pants laying on the exam tray outside the room. He tossed both articles to her, standing outside while she changed. She dressed quickly, then joined him in the hallway, crossing her arms over her chest protectively. Her dirty satchel was wrapped around her shoulders. Everything about her was nondescript; there was nothing special about her. If she disappeared off the face of Sera overnight, there wouldn't be a soul alive to miss her, and her actions belied that she was well aware of that fact.
She scanned the hallway quickly, eyes settling for a second on the exit and a tray of surgical supplies. Ace watched her, trying to guess what she would do next as he led her down to the cafeteria. She followed along behind him; a little far back, but not overtly separated from him. She kept her head down, not making eye contact with the few nurses and walking-wounded passing by them. Ace could take her surly silence no longer. "Aw…cheer up, would you?" he said jovially, forming a loose fist and lightly tapping her on the shoulder.
She stumbled back a step in surprise, narrowing her eyes at him. "And how is punching me in the arm supposed to cheer me up?" she snapped, placing her hands on her hips.
Ace hadn't thought about that. He blinked at her, taken aback. "I…I dunno," he stumbled. "Always works with the gears."
"Well, they're thick, aren't they?" she groused, giving him another glare.
His jaw tightened. "I'm a gear," he said curtly.
"Point proven," she snipped briskly, looking away from him as if the matter was closed. Ace narrowed his eyes and gently punched her again, but this time with more force. She stumbled back a step, earning him another glower from her. He grinned innocently at her, his boyish looks making her heart thump unevenly. "I hate you…" she growled under her breath.
"Hate ya' too, there, Bri," he said after her, leading them off to the cafeteria. Before he got out of range, she stuck her foot out, catching him in the ankle and making him stumble. "Why you-" he gasped, catching to wall to regain his balance. He looked up just in time to see her take off down the hallway.
As she ran, she looked over her shoulder so she could watch him try to stand back up. "Catch me if you can!" she goaded him, adding more strength to each stretch of her lithe legs.
"You're gonna regret that!" he yelled after her, tearing off like a race horse out of the blocks. He stumbled once more when he heard the delicate peals of her laughter echoing back to him through the hallway. She laughed…he thought, dumbfounded. In the short while he had known her, she had always been guarded with him, watching him through suspicious eyes. His lips twisted when he realized that was finally beginning to change, that she was just beginning to relax around him.
He didn't stop to ponder this new revelation long, though. After all, he did have a race to win.
The small wooden boat bumped against the dock, snapping me out of my daydream. We were one step closer to Nexus. Marcus climbed onto the wooden deck easily, doing a quick scan of the surrounding area. "Come on," he growled, taking off. His metal boots made odd, hollow thunks along the deck.
Dom passed me as we followed Marcus, slapping me on the shoulder as he went by. I rolled my eyes as I patted my hip for Sam to follow me. She did so happily, nudging my side to get me going faster. I adjusted my longshot on my back before falling in with Marcus' light jog.
The road to Nexus was dim and dirty, with scattered, archaic architecture holding up the earthen roof. The huge tunnels were oppressing and stifling, despite their huge size. It was a feeling that came from just being underground, in a place that so obviously screamed 'danger'.
Our path was lit by metal torches. Odd fixtures and designs adorned the light fixtures; almost as if they were conveying sacred messages. No two torches were the same. Suddenly realizing where my train of thought was going, I forced my eyes from them angrily. Nothing the Locust did - or were - was to be admired.
It was a long hike through abandoned tunnels before Marcus finally held his hand up to stop us. I was strangely relieved;the emptiness to be oddly off putting. Talk of this mission had been heavy on the danger, and now that we were here, it seemed almost too easy. The ease with which we had gotten here did nothing to offset my fears, however, and I kept my eyes watchful as Marcus spoke.
"Look there," he gestured. Dom pulled out a pair of beaten binoculars and followed Marcus' hand with his gaze. He cursed quietly before handing the pair to me. I put the dirty lenses to my face, searching for a minute before finding what Marcus had been pointing out. There, off in the distance, was an envoy of Locust. Every time of grub imaginable; from boomers and wretches, to bloodmounts and brumacks. There had to be hundreds of them, all traveling in one direction, to where I could only assume their main city - Nexus - was. Despite the distance between me and the traveling convoy, my stomach still gave a little wobble of fear, and my palms dampened on the binoculars. Seeing that many nightmares in one place was enough to give anyone the shakes.
"Think they're heading to Nexus?" I asked, passing the binoculars back to Dom while trying to stop my hands from trembling.
Marcus nodded, looking at them from his own pair of binoculars. Dom tucked his pair back into his LBD. "With that many troops on the move, that's got to be the highway."
"Well…I figure I can take about fifty of 'em, what about you guys?" I quipped. Marcus didn't even acknowledge the sarcasm.
"Then let's follow them to where the action is," Marcus said, starting to move as if that declaration was final.
I looked to Dom. The old man's directions had been to break off at the highway, and follow another path to the torture camps. "Wait, Marcus," Dom said, halting him in his tracks. "The old man said we had to branch off the highway at the dam."
Marcus hung his head for a second and sighed thinly. "Look," he said in a tone that revealed he didn't want to say this. "We need to stick to the mission. We have no idea if Maria's down here, and every-"
Dom interrupted him. "I need to know!" he exploded. "Look, you don't have to go with me, all right?"
I watched to see what Marcus would do. He wouldn't really take this chance away from Dom, would he? I understood the importance of finding Nexus, but some things came before the mission. I'd learned that the hard way.
Marcus shook his head, aggravated. "Damnit, that's just gonna get us both killed! We need to get into the stronghold, and activate the beacon!" he motioned with his lancer toward the direction the grubs were going. "This is it, Dom," he said emphatically. "This is everything we've been fighting for."
"Yeah? Well, Maria's everything I've been fighting for!" Dom got in Marcus' face, his eyes narrowing. "She's my fuckin' wife, all right?"
"So you're going to turn your back on your whole world, then?" Marcus growled at him. Dom turned around and shook his head, aggravated. "The other gears we've fought with, all the people who've died…?"
I stared between them, not willing to get between the two monstrous gears. I could see where both of them were coming from, but I emphasized with Dom. Sometimes, the mission had to take a back seat. Dom might never get a chance like this again. Still, I got the feeling that it might not be smart to piss off Marcus at the moment, especially when there were so many convenient holes to throw my body into.
"I'm sorry, Marcus," Dom said quietly. He'd already made up his mind to go after Maria, and nothing Marcus was going to say was going to change his mind. "After what you did for your father, I thought you'd understand." He gave Marcus one disappointed look before adjusting his lancer and taking off in the direction for the side road.
I watched him walk away slowly before turning to Marcus. "Hey," I said softly, getting his attention. The gear exhaled sharply, giving me a cutting look with his piercing eyes. "This mission to Nexus is important, I'll give you that. But - and this comes from experience - it's not knowing someone you love is dead, it's the not knowing that's torture." He gave me a more serious look, showing me I had his attention. "You can't always play by the rules. Sometimes, you just gotta listen to your heart and do what you know is right."
He sighed, finally looking away. "Last time I did that, I killed an entire city," he said quietly. I realized he was thinking about the attack on Ephyra, and how he had left the battle with the Hammer of Dawn targeting system, allowing the locust to gain control of the city and causing countless deaths. Not exactly on par with what I did, but I still felt the same level of guilt.
I spared the highway a worried look before switching my gaze back to him. "Well…maybe that wasn't the best argument," I muttered. "Maybe you can make up a little bit for that. Come on, how many chances do you get to reunite a family? They'll never be able to thank you enough."
He gave an odd little growl, flicking his blue eyes towards Nexus and then back to me. "Aww…hell," he growled. He lifted his hand to his comm link and depressed the button. "Dom," he called. "Wait up."
Dom paused, giving Marcus a look that hinted he knew all along that his brother-in-arms would never abandon him. I gave him a wan smile as we caught up to him. "Let's go get this Maria of yours, shall we?"
The tunnels were dimly lit and abandoned as we made our way down the trail towards the prison camps. The smell of fecal matter and unwashed bodies hung in the air, catching in the back of my throat and making me gag occasionally. The stench just added to my growing fear that if we did find Maria, she would have already been 'processed', or worse. Much worse. I mentally flinched when I imagined how Dom would react if we found his wife a 'mindless slave', as the old man so eloquently put it. Dom didn't deserve that, I had decided. I admired his unwavering faith that he would find his wife. After ten years of fruitless searching, the man deserved a break. Maybe if my family had given a thought to searching for me, they would have found me before-
I stopped that thought dead in its tracks. My family was dead, and that was all there was to that. In fact, it had been years since I'd even spared them so much as a thought. I chalked up the odd bout of nostalgia to Marcus' unyielding questions about my heritage. Still...questions or no, thinking about my family was just plain strange to me. I was grateful for the distraction when Dom held his hand up to stop us, motioning ahead with one finger.
"Looks like the old man's intel was solid," Marcus grumbled in a low voice. They were looking out over a balcony, and I moved forward to see what they were staring at, eyes cold and somber.
It was a prisoner work camp. The soft clunks of pickaxes could be heard pounding as human slaves labored away, presumably making new tunnels for the Locust to burrow through. The prisoners were starved thin; their emaciated appearance evident even at this great distance. Their clothes were filthy and torn; scarred flesh visible through vertical gaps in their shirts. I could only assume that such markings were the result of whippings. Even now I could see grub guards holding long, leather whips with metal hooks on them. I watched, horrified, as one prisoner tripped and fell. The guard nearest him started forward, uncoiling his whip as he went. The male prisoner hastily hurried to his knees, and I could see his hands come together pleadingly, but it was too late. The whip made a crack! as it whistled through the air. The screams of the prisoner echoed around us as the grub continued his assault. I closed my eyes, wincing as I heard the whip make contact again and again.
Finally, long after the agonized screams of the prisoner had subsided, the whistling of the whip stopped. I forced my eyes to open, and they rested on the gruesome sight of the prisoner lying deathly still in a puddle of his own blood. The locust guard was recoiling his whip, the ends stained dark with red. The surrounding prisoners didn't even hesitate, didn't spare a glance for the cruel act placed before them. It was if they were so used to the murderous act that they failed to see why my heart was suddenly pounding harder, and why my fists were locked in a white-knuckled grip on the handrails.
"We have to help them," I whispered blankly through numb lips, getting ready to leap onto the hand-rail. I wasn't sure what I was going to do - jump off the balcony and rush the guards head on, maybe, but Dom's firm grip on my arm stopped me.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, sounding both amazed and somewhat condescending.
My eyes flicked up to him, and then back down to the camp as another guard lashed his whip at a group of prisoners threateningly. "We can't just leave them there!" I exclaimed, my eyes automatically going to the prisoner who lay so still in his own blood. My memory jumped to another scene, one where I had also stood by helplessly while the man I loved lay mortally wounded, with no way to help him.
Dom's voice was cold when he answered. "I don't like it either, but there's nothing we can do. Even if we tried-"
"So you're just going to slink away like a bunch of cowards?" I tried to yell, but the words were strangled around the lump in my throat and came out as a hard whisper. I yanked my arm away from him. "What if it was Maria down there? What would you do then?"
Dom's expression shifted, and he looked like I had just struck him. His mouth opened, but it was Marcus who spoke. "Bri," he said, waiting until I met his gaze to continue. "There's too many of them. We need to stay focused on the mission. If there was any other way to rescue them, we would. I'm the last person to leave a man to die."
My eyes drifted downwards as he spoke, raking over the squalid conditions they were working in. It seemed so wrong, somehow, to know that we were right here, and yet unable to do a thing to help them. "You told me to listen to my heart," Marcus said quietly, his deep voice the softest I had ever heard. I turned back to him, and his ice-blue eyes pierced mine, urging me to be rational. "I'm asking you to listen to reason."
I broke eye contact then, staring unseeingly at the miles upon miles of prisoners, slaving away under the cruel dictatorship of the locust. Even as every fiber in my being was calling upon me to rescue them, to save them in some way, Marcus' words cut straight through those desires, reminding me that there was no capable way of doing that. "You're right…" I whispered. "There's nothing we can do."
Sam whined softly, as if she could sense my unease. "I'm sorry, Bri," Dom said, but I just nodded, signaling that I had heard. It felt like it would kill me to do so, but I forced myself away from the horrendous scene taking place just below me; following Dom and Marcus farther and farther towards Nexus... and to Maria. Every step was excruciating, and just before we left the scene forever, I spared one final glance to the man I had never known - the man I would never know - lying almost forgotten in a puddle of drying blood.
"You've got to be kidding me," I deadpanned, staring at the small square foot of space reserved for me in the tiny lift. Marcus stood by the elevator controls with a slightly exasperated look on his face.
Dom looked at me, surprised. "What?" he said, oh-so-eloquently. Sam wagged her tail slightly, the movement causing it to brush against my leg in an irritating rhythm. She stood with two paws in the lift, two paws out, waiting for me to make up my mind.
I hesitated just outside, staring into the dark, confined space, made all the smaller by the two huge, hulking gears dominating the tiny room. The walls were made out of darkened stone that pulled any and all light away, making the elevator shaft seem more ominous than it was. "There is no way I'm getting on that lift," I say, lifting my chin as if that would make it more sincere.
Marcus gave a tiny sight. "Don't tell me you're claustrophobic," he says.
I blinked once, and then narrowed my eyes at him in a confused glare. "Claster- what?"
"It's a fear of small spaces," Dom informed me. He looked edgy, like he was anxious to get going.
I raised my chin, taking one hand off my lancer and petulantly placing it on my hip. "I'm not afraid of nothing."
"Oh, no, of course not," Dom muttered under his breath. "Just the typical plummeting-to-your-death kind of nothing."
I rolled my eyes. "Correction," I snappeed at him, jabbing one finger his way. "I'm not afraid of you plummeting to your death; so much as I am me plummeting to my death. Clear?"
Marcus gave another little sigh, but before he could say anything, Dom started yelling again. "Look!" he exploded, taking a step in my direction. "We're wasting time that we don't have! Either get on the damn lift, or stay here until we find Maria, and we'll come back and retrieve you."
"No!" Marcus and I said at the same time, and then exchanged glances awkwardly. Pushing away any nagging thoughts about why Marcus would care if I was left behind, I glanced behind me to the balcony, down at the floor - anywhere but at Dom. Tracing the path of the balcony from the light of the torhes placed along the route, I got an idea. "How about this," I proposed, swinging my gaze back to Dom and Marcus. "You guys head down on the lift. I'll follow your path along the balcony.
"No," Marcus said sternly before I could turn around. "We stay together." His tone implied that this wasn't up for debate, but he was forgetting one thing. I didn't have to take commands from Marcus.
I tapped the comm that Cole had given me earlier, drawing their attention to it. "If you need me, just call. After all, backup is kinda my thing." I pulled my sniper from off my shoulders, patting the stock reassuringly.
Marcus gave a grunt of exasperation. "You do that, and you're just gonna get yourself killed. You can take on grubs, but you ain't gonna step onto an elevator?"
I shrugged indifferently. "Guess so. But, when you're crushed under the weight of this 'elevator' as it's plunging you to your death, I'll still be alive to laugh at you." Before he could stop me, I lunged forward, punching the controls to send the lift down. I hastily stepped back as the floor began to move beneath them. I waved innocently as they descended into darkness, pointedly ignoring the murderous glare Marcus was giving me. I waited until I could no longer hear the clanking of gears churning before pressing my finger to the transmit button.
"Dom," I called. "Can you hear me?"
It was a second before he answered. I flinched as his voice came through, louder than I expected. "Loud and clear," he said. "Keep on your toes."
"Roger that," I replied into the comm. I could still hear Marcus and Dom through the radio. It took me a second to figure out where they were as I started stalking them from above. From my high vantage point, it was hard to pinpoint them in the labyrinth that was Nexus, but they were counting on me to be their eyes. Giving Sam a quick pat on the head, I started off in the direction they were heading, keeping my sniper at the ready.
Darting from shadow to shadow, I kept a wary eye out for any grubs heading our way. Occasionally, we would run into a few patrols, but with my preemptive warnings, avoiding them was a simple matter of telling the boys where to detour off at. It was pretty uneventful until I heard a faint snarling sound beneath me; something that sounded all too familiar…
I froze in place, listening intently to what could have been making the noise. It repeated, louder this time, and I cursed before raising Marcus on the comm-link. "Hey, Marcus? You hear that?"
It was a while before he answered, although I could hear his quiet breathing. "Yeah…" he said quietly. "Better not be what I think it is…"
"Yeah…" I said, half to myself, frantically searching the darkness. "We couldn't get that lucky…
Suddenly, a strangled snarl ripped through the quiet, and I instantly grabbed my lancer in a flash of instinct. "Wretches!" Dom yelled, and the quiet world descended into a fit of gunfire and snarling.
Wretches were a type of locust that traveled in mindless packs and attacked indiscriminately. They were only about three feet tall because they ran on their feet and claws, but that just made them all the harder to kill. Their claws and teeth were razor sharp, and could remove limbs with a single bite. They didn't attack with the efficiency that other locust used; using cover and precise military measures. Instead, they swarmed at you in great numbers, leaving you absolutely screwed if you couldn't spit bullets at them fast enough.
I aimed my lancer over the edge of the balcony and searched for a shot. Marcus and Dom were in my arc of fire, and I couldn't risk nicking them. Friendly fire – really isn't all that friendly. Instead, I searched for an escape route for them to their retreat to. "Marcus!" I yelled into my comm. "To your left! There's another tunnel there; see if you can get there without letting them flank you!"
I heard him grunt an affirmative before sending another spread of fire to the wretches. I ran along the balcony, taking the left I had directed Marcus to.
"Ohh…shit!" I gasped, not believing what I had just done. Right around the corner, there had been another patrol that had been drawn in by the gunfire. They were scrambling for position, waiting for the gears to fall right into their trap. "Damnit, don't go down the tunnel! Marcus, Dom, do not go down the tunnel!"
When the grubs started firing at the mouth of the tunnel, I knew my warning was too late. I had just sent Dom and Marcus straight into the fire of thirty-some grubs. Now, they still had wretches behind them, but no retreat option from the grubs in front of them. I hefted my lancer over the side of the balcony, firing at anything in range that moved. I spotted a grub heading for a turret that was right beneath me. "Oh, no you don't!" I shouted, hefting myself up and over the handrail.
My feet had just left the balcony when I realized what a stupid decision I'd made.
I had just jumped off a balcony suspended twenty meters in the air, and was now heading toward the ground at a breakneck speek. Not only was I going to die, I was going to do so while surrounded by a clusterfuck of locust.
Some instinct made me aim for the grub operating the turret. He looked up for a split second – probably wondering what that obnoxious screaming was – before I slammed into his backs. I landed on my knees, not wasting a second as I drew my sidearm. I pressed the barrel to his temple and squeezed the trigger; a spray of blood, brains, and bone hitting me full in the face as the round left his skull. He was dead before the bullet casing left the gun.
I heard snarling and scrapping to my left; the source of the noise coming at me at full speed. Unable to turn because of the locust between my knees, I threw my gun into the air and caught it with my left hand. The wretch was still running towards me as I emptied the gun into its' worthless hide. The wretch's corpse skidded towards me in a rush of blood, stopping about two meters away.
I tucked my empty sidearm into the waistband at the small of my back before sprinting for cover. That scene had been mildly badass, I had to admit, but a middle of a firefight was no time to get cocky. Overestimate yourself one too many times, and you were bound to end up dead. I skidded behind a small stone statue, letting my lancer rest against the top of it as I fired upon any grub in sight. Fortunately for me, they were focusing their fire on Dom and Marcus, not appearing to notice me at all until their buddy next to them dropped dead. I uttered a low curse when the gun ran empty.
I reached into my pack with one hand to grab one of the extra mags Cole had equipped me with before I left Jacinto. While searching in my pack, I blindly felt for the mag release with my other hand. Mistake. I accidentally pressed the wrong button, and activated the chainsaw. It bit down into the statue, embedding itself about two inches into the stone, leaving me completely and totally fucked.
"Oh, come on!" I growled, yanking on the lancer. It wouldn't come loose, so I braced my boot on the statue beside it and pulled with all of my strength. It came flying out of the self-made hollow, with just a tad more velocity than I expected. Barely keeping my grip on it, it spun me around, finally landing chainsaw-down on the shoulder of a locust attempting to sneak up behind me.
The blade was nestled neatly at the collar of his neck, and it took my instincts a split second to find the 'mag release' and activate the chainsaw. It ripped through the grub's thick skin, and he roared wordlessly in my face, trying to push me away. It had to hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, but it wasn't getting the job done. I knew I didn't have the height, nor the strength, necessary to cut through the armor, muscle, and bone to efficiently take the grub out like I had seen so many gears do. There was just no physical way for me to cut through the chest cavity. Instead, I let the saw ride through his throat, spraying me with blood as it serrated the jugular. He was batting at me, fighting to get me off. I felt the saw catch once, shredding through his spine, and the grub stopped struggling. The saw finished its' job, cleanly beheading him before gravity took over and dragged him down, making a solid thunk as he hit the ground at my feet.
I stood stock still, covered in blood, taken aback by the brutal intimacy of using the saw, compared to the cruel neutrality of using a sniper. My mind flashed back to a similiar scene; one where the brutal act had been commited to one of my own, by the locust. It looked like the tables had finally turned. That ones for you, Ace. A bullet whipped past my left ear, startling me back into the fight. I slipped into cover, fumbling my reload while my eyes kept getting dragged back to the grub's bloody, decapitated head laying a few yards to the left of his body.
Holy hell, I thought darkly, thinking back to the beheading. That almost looked like it was on purpose…
"Bri!" Dom yelled over the commlink, interrupting my cynical thoughts. "Where the hell are you? We're getting slaughtered out here!"
"On my way," I said to him. I pressed the button Cole had showed me beforehand, hearing a little click. Dom's voice fell silent over the radio, and I figured I must have hit the volume or something. I waited for a lull in the fire before jumping over the rock I was hiding behind. I sprinted to where I had last saw Dom and Marcus, changing course slightly when I saw a COG issued lancer pop up from behind a slab of rock. Dom took aim, so I skidded in behind a rock to cover myself from his fire. He shot to the right, and I waited until he reloaded to fire. That way, there would be a continuous barrage of bullets hitting the grubs where it hurt.
Dom brought his lancer back towards him to reload, ignoring Marcus' steady stream of fire to his left. Dom gave me a look, but before I could get into firing position, his gaze flickered over my shoulder and grew wide. I saw him reach for his comm-link and say something, but I couldn't make it out over the sharp retort of bullets.
I cocked my head to the side, giving him a questioning look. He looked panicked, and he appeared to be frantically mouthing something to me. Finally, when Marcus' magazine ran dry, I could hear his raspy shout.
"RUN!"
Just then, I heard a throaty chuckle right behind me say, "Boom!"
I didn't even have time to turn around before my cover exploded into a million shards around me, leaving me exposed and defenseless before a huge, angry Boomer.
My cover blown, I had no choice but to run. Letting instinct take over, I took half a second to look over my shoulder and locate the Boomer. That action probably saved my life. He was closer than I expected, standing right on the opposite side of my cover's remnants.
Boomers were huge beasts, and this one must have been taking steroids. The only saving grace was that they were as stupid as they were big. He was taking a minute to reload his boomshot, not realizing that he probably could have just beaten me to death with the stupid gun and saved himself the rocket. I wasn't about to give him the chance to figure that out, however.
I was moving as soon as his rocket slid home. I swung my boot around in a roundhouse kick as he brought his boomshot up. Grunting with the effort, I kicked his gun away as his thick finger squeezed the trigger, forcing the shot to go wide. I heard the shot crash into something to my right, but didn't dare look. The boomer roared wordlessly, raising his boomshot as if it was a club. Adrenaline overriding common sense, I stayed put, grabbing my sniper and jamming it under his chin. The retort rang in my ears as the bullet exited his huge skull out the top of his head, taking with it a geyser of blood.
For a split-heartbeat, I thought that it hadn't been enough; that the boomer was still alive. His black eyes were still focused on mine, his gun raised high above his head. My breath caught in my throat. It was too late to run, too late to do anything to save myself. I was going to die in some pissing contest with a grub. I screwed my eyes shut, my heart pounding in my ears so loud I was sure the Boomer could hear it. I'm so sorry, Ace…
There was a loud, wet slap as something heavy collapsed to the ground in front of me. Braced down as I was, it took me a second to realize that everything had fallen completely and totally silent. The fight was over. I peeked out of one eye and saw the Boomer lying dead at my feet. My knees felt weak, and I almost fell upon them, but managed to stay upright. I let out a relieved breath I hadn't been aware of holding, feeling the adrenaline slowly ebb away. I was alive. At that moment, it seemed that I would never take that fact for granted ever again.
"Bri!" I heard someone shout behind me, then the sound of someone running up on my six. I turned slowly, catching sight of Dom right before he grabbed hold of both my shoulders and did a quick scan to make sure I wasn't bleeding profusely. "Are you okay? Did he get you?"
I actually had to look down to make sure I was all there. "Two arms, ten fingers…I'll check the rest later." It was just fear on the way out, transforming itself into black humor that nobody laughed at. Dom was gripping my shoulders so tight it was almost painful, so I stepped out of his grasp. He sighed deeply through his nose, letting his eyes sink shut.
"If anything had happened to you…I never would have forgiven myself…" he said slowly, allowing his arms to fall back to his sides.
"Yeah…" I said awkwardly, using my sniper as a distraction as I reloaded it and slipped it back over my shoulders. "Where's Marcus?"
He took my question as the distraction it was, and turned to look. We spotted him at the same time; he was over by the far wall of the tunnel, looking up. Apparently, when I had kicked the Boomer's gun as he was firing, the rocket had hit the balcony. Part of it had collapsed, creating a make-shift ramp that Sam was now making her way down. Marcus stood at the bottom of the ramp, watching her descent. She ignored him, choosing instead to trot over to me and give my hand a tiny lick. I smiled slightly, scratching her behind her ears. "Yeah, I'm glad I'm alive too, girl…"
I heard the ground crunch beneath Marcus' boots as he approached our group. "You alive?" he rumbled at me. If Baird had said it, it would have sounded bitchy and cynical. As it was, it sounded like that was the greatest degree to which Marcus would allow himself to show that he actually cared.
"Nothing that a quick change of pants won't fix," I quipped. Now that Dom was assured we were all okay, he appeared eager to get on our way.
He shifted his weight from one heavily armored boot to the next, anxiously scanning the tunnel. "Come on," he said, starting off down the tunnel. "We still have to find Maria."
I fell in beside him, still enjoying the adrenaline high. "What?" I asked him lightly. "You didn't enjoy our friendly little firefight?"
Dom shot me a disbelieving look, kicking the grub's disembodied head from earlier. "If you consider this friendly, I don't ever wanna be on your bad side."
I laughed once at that, rolling my eyes. I glanced back to Marcus to see what he thought, but he seemed even surlier than usual. His eyes were dark, as if Dom's comment had greatly disturbed him…
We continued on for a while, although time had ceased to mean much. We saw a few more patrols; most we managed to avoid or hide from until they passed. With each step, our search seemed even more and more fruitless; an utter waste of time. The lancer was growing heavy in my hands, and even Sam's prancing steps grew sluggish and labored. Dom never lost faith, however. He somehow found the energy to check each nook and cranny, urging us forward with "Just around this corner," or "She's down this tunnel. I'm sure of it."
Finally Marcus stopped, sighing deeply. "Dom," he called. Dom stopped walking, but didn't turn around.
"We have to keep going," he said, still not looking at either one of us. "She's down here. I can…I can feel it!"
"Dom," Marcus repeated, his voice soft – or, at least as soft as gravel could be. "We've spent enough time down here. We could search for months and not find her. We have to get to Nexus."
Dom hung his head, letting his lancer drop from his shoulder. Finally, he turned around, looking utterly defeated. My heart gave a painful clench when I saw the disappointment and anguish etched onto the lines of his face. When he spoke, his voice was strained and quiet. "I can't just leave her here, Marcus," he pleaded softly. "If…if this is my only chance to find her…" he trailed off, not making eye contact.
I dropped my gaze, deciding he didn't need an audience to his suffering. There was nothing I could say. Marcus was right; this was an utter waste of time. Time we could have been using to find Nexus and plant the beacon for the COG.
"I'm sorry, Dom," Marcus said. We all fell quiet after that. This was the worst part; admitting defeat, surrendering and retreating. Dom shook his head slowly, but it was an empty gesture. He wasn't disagreeing with Marcus, but rather fighting the truth that was staring us right in the face. Maria simply wasn't down here.
It was a minute or two before Dom spoke. "You're right," he said hoarsely, staring at his boots. "We need to find Nexus."
Sam left my side then, nudging Dom's gloved hand with her muzzle. She whined deep in her throat, offering him comfort. He stroked her soft head once, but she ducked out of arm's reach. She barked loudly, looking off in the distance. It was as if she was telling us to not give up, to keep fighting.
"Sam!" I snapped at her, scolding her for being loud. The last thing we needed right now was a troop of grubs bearing down on our position. "Quiet!"
She growled, but it wasn't directed at me. She jumped on Dom's chest, planting her front paws on his chest plates as she whined. Before he could grab her, however, she jumped down and barked again. She stared off in the same direction for a second, before spinning around. She then headed over to me and grabbed hold of my pack with her teeth, tugging me forward.
"The hell's got into her?" Marcus asked, eyebrows knitting together ever so slightly. I shrugged, brushing her teeth off of my pack.
"Sam, no," I said, reaching for her. She pranced out of reach, placing a paw on Dom's thigh and whining.
Dom was the first to figure it out. "She's trying to show us something!" he exclaimed, his face once again lit up with excitement and determination. "What is it? Is it Maria? Go find her! Go get her, girl!"
If dogs could roll their eyes, Sam would have. Finally, she seemed to say, before she gave one last bark, turning and jogging down the tunnel. We all chased after her, watching as she took a sharp left down a smaller tunnel we had somehow missed before. We followed her for about a quarter-mile, my boots sometimes skidding across bits of fallen rock.
There were little tubes of metal lining the sides of the tunnel, but we didn't stop to examine them. There was no telling what they were, and besides, they weren't important right now. Finding Maria was. The section of tunnels appeared less patrolled and inhabited. It seemed as if there was one place Maria would be, this was it.
Sam finally came to a stop before a small tower of rock with intricate designs etched onto the side. She scratched at the base, her sharp claws not affecting the strong rock. I didn't understand her movements until we got closer to the tower.
The tower was actually a computer console that had an old and degraded screen installed into the side of the rock. She sniffed the base of it, only moving aside when we reached it.
"Jack," Dom called out, messing with the console. "See if you can find a visual match on Maria."
Dom stepped away from the console. I didn't understand, until I saw the robot Baird had been messing with appear out of thin air. "Whoa…" I said quietly, watching as 'Jack' floated to the computer screen and began plugging in calculations.
"Cloaking device," Marcus said, answering my unasked questions. I nodded mutely, watching the screen flip through various phases as Jack messed with it. Jack floated backwards, giving us a full view. The screen changed pictures quickly, cycling through the different faces of prisoners; all with expressions of terror and sadness imprinted upon them.
Dom took a half step forward, not taking his eyes off the screen. "So many people…" he whispered sadly. I had to look away; the memory of the broken man lying in a puddle of blood whispering through my mind. I knew if I watched the screen, every face that showed would be imprinted upon my mind for all eternity.
"I-I think he found her," Dom said, amazed. I turned around just in time to see the screen change to an ambiguous marking.
Marcus pointed at the screen. "What does that symbol mean?" he asked Dom, as if he had an answer. The symbol looked like a fancy number seven, with what looked like an arrow striking its' way through it.
"Could be where they're keeping her!" Dom said excitedly. "Let's look around."
Drawn in by Dom's excitement, I immediately started scanning the tunnel around me for a replica of the symbol on the screen. At the top of all the metal tubes, there were similar markings, but none exactly alike. I stopped in front of one, examining what looked to be a curved line intersecting a sharp 'V'. "Are these…" I trailed off slowly, too horrified to voice my curiosities.
"They're prisons," Marcus said behind me, examining another row of metal tubes. "Maria will be in one of these."
"My God…" I whispered, backing away. I looked up and down the tunnels. The rows of tubes extended for miles in both ways, holding a countless number of prisoners. I could hear Dom's frantic searching alongside the tunnel, and that was the only thing that snapped my attention away. It was the prisoner camp all over again; there was nothing I could do. At the very least, we could find Maria. "How long have they been taking people like this?" I asked.
"I don't know," Dom answered, and I could hear his frantic search slow a bit, "but we have to keep moving. If Maria's in one of these things, we have to find her quick."
We each took a row of tubes, gradually increasing in speed until we were all almost running down the tunnels. Dom's anxiety was contagious, and I found my need to locate Maria to be almost as acute as his. Hundreds of symbols flashed through my mind, and I tried not to imagine the prisoners waiting inside. I knew it had to be so much worse for Dom and Marcus, who had watched the pictures of prisoners flash by on the screen.
"Over here!" Marcus' sharp bark rang out to Dom and me. I froze in place for a second, trying to imagine what would happen when we found her. Dom had been searching for this woman for ten years. Whoever she was, she had to be special. I didn't even know what she looked like, which struck me as odd only now. Every time Dom had tried to show me a picture of her, I'd always push it back on him. Although, it didn't matter now. Now, I'd get to meet her in real life.
Dom sprinted over to Marcus, me arriving a split-second behind him. "Jack, open it up!" he called out before he even came to a stop. Jack floated forward; the only one not affected by the note of anxiety in Dom's voice. "I can't believe it, Marcus!" he exclaimed, his voice full of happiness and faith. "We finally found her!"
His face had hope etched onto every crevice, and for a moment, I glimpsed a part of the man he must have been years ago. Dom deserved to have his family back, and I found myself grinning along with him. In that moment, the old man's prophecy of 'processing' and 'mindless slaves' was far from my mind. This was a time of celebrations; of happiness and overcoming destiny.
Sam stuck her head into my hand, and I gave her a vigorous rubdown while Jack worked on opening the prison. "Good girl," I said. If it hadn't been for Sam, we would have abandoned the search hours ago. It really was because of her that we found Maria. We found Maria! I thought again with exuberance. Despite all the odds, all the nay-sayers – and I counted myself among them – we had actually done it.
Finally, I heard the locks tumble inside the heavy metal door. I snapped my head up, watching as Jack backed away. My heartbeat pounded in my ears as we all watched, wide-eyed, waiting for the door to open.
The door slowly swung open, creaking ominously as it inched forward. I quickly glanced at Dom, registering his elated expression. His brown eyes were trained on the door, sparkling with happy bliss. He had to have been dreaming of this moment for years, and it was finally coming true. I guess life and love did go on, even now. Even past the end of the world.
The door banged open against the stone wall of the tunnel, revealing a dark figure waiting inside. A hand reached out, gripping the side wall of the prison. Dom took an unconscious step forward, interrupting my view. When he spoke, his voice was choked and rough, as if he was barely containing tears. His harsh whisper echoed around me, as he said one word. One word was all he needed to express his happiness, and exhilaration, and... and amazement at finally, finally, finding his long-lost wife.
"Maria!"
Author's note - *Runs screaming from pack of frantic fans demanding the next chapter* Ahh...I'm going to be killed for ending this chapter here, I just know it. I'm really sorry guys, but this had to end sometime! It felt like it was going on forever!
Again, I'm sorry for such a long wait since I last updated, but...well...life happens. *shrugs* That, and this is The LONGEST chapter I have EVER written for ANYTHING! :D Don't I deserve some kind of reward? You know, maybe a medal, or trophy, or a cookie? *Readers glare at me* Okay, fine...no cookie...
Huge, huge, HUGE thanks go out to rockforthecross74 for betaing this monster of a chapter! That chick is seriously underpaid and overworked for this gig, so head over to her profile and give her stories some loving!
Also (and yes, this authors note is almost as long as the chapter...) if you're in the mood for some more Gear loving, head on over to my profile and check out my Christmas special, 'The Last Christmas'. It's a bit of utter fluff about the very last Christmas Dominic Santiago spends with his family before E-day. Guest stars include Marcus Fenix and the Cole Train! :D
Again, I'm really sorry for ending it here (okay...maybe not! :D) but hopefully the next chapter will be out soon! And remember, if you kill me over this horrid cliffhanger, I can't write the next chapter from the grave! *Brandishes frying pan protectively*
