Well you got your reasons...
We're off.
Running through the hallways. Imp wants to scout but he's sluggish so that gets ixnayed. Lobo's got point and I'm bringing up the rear. A long time ago the sounds of the overhead alarms have stopped. I don't know of the bad guys turned them off or if The Max did that much damage. The silence is noticeable only because the explosions have stopped as well. I hope nothing happened to Bart's ship-- after all it's our only way back. Just when everything looks darkest-- the lights go off!
"It can't get much worse," Secret says.
"Don't even be joking about that!" Lobo scolds.
Some generator somewhere kicks in and faint lights come on. They're set to the perfect dimmer setting for romance-- but that thought doesn't even breakthrough my battered skull. Imp stops short, he'd edged in front most likely without even realizing it. Lobo moves deftly to one side to avoid running into him. Cass flies right over them before stopping. Anita skids to stop from slamming into Lobo.
"What's wrong?"
"I think... we're lost." Bart looks around, bewildered.
Splitting up is not an option. We were fighting as a team before and look where it got us. So while Bart and Secret would be ideal scouts-- we're not gonna risk it. Simple as that. So we do the next stupidest thing-- split up into groups.
Lobo, Emp, and Suzie will go thataway. Cass, Bart, and I'll go thisaway. The teams are lopsided, but so long as Anita and Bart are on different sides they can meet up back here without a problem. What should be changed is that Emp and Cass should switch places. That way each team has two victims, one scout, one flyer, and one rescuer. Lobo'd kill me for objecting. Anita probably would too, not that I'm planning to or anything.
When last we came in was from some underground bunkers by the front door. Rob had a map, well an electronic display pretending to be a map. He planned it out and we actually did pretty damn good before we realized we walked into a trap. From that moment on, all the info we had was thrown away and we were running blind.
What we could have used then and still could now is a big flashing neon sign that says EXIT, what we get is just one dark corridor after another. As we plow through people and machines and cameras, I gotta wonder if us being the good guys charging in was the best way to ever go. We had a good reason-- we always have a good reason. The best intentions with the worst planning, that's the YJ media nightmare.
This one actually sounded simple, Anita found a file liberated from her dad and by the time Suze was up in arms about experiments, Robbie had already gotten his brain hardwired into the net. Since we weren't due at the community construction problem for a month, our social calendar was more than open.
Lucky us. It gets us battered, bruised, lost all without nothing to show.
We're paused at an intersection. Bart's zipping down the corridors trying to scout. Cassie's smashing the overheard cameras and I have no doubt that it makes her feel very, very good. I'm reading the carefully stenciled signs. Cafeteria to the left of us. Research labs behind us. Ground level to the right. Control Center dead ahead.
We've come this far, might as well go for all or nothing. Yeah, it's pushing our luck in a major way, but I don't wanna come back a third time.
"Imp, go get the others. We'll meet up with you here. Cass and I are gonna take a look around." and I gesture straight ahead.
Bart frowns. "That's not the way out."
"We're taking a little detour. Cass doesn't mind, do you Cass?"
"Not a bit," and she fixes that determined look on her face and flies off ahead.
I take off after her and join her before she reaches the main doors. Shoulder to shoulder, baby, right by her side.