Chapter 7: The Infiltration
Meanwhile at the Castle…
The Specters and Talons moved into the castle with, surprisingly, no resistance.
"It's quiet…" Brett muttered.
"Too quiet…" Brittni chimed in. A hushed giggle went around the squad. Dragstor turned towards everyone. Even though he wore a mask, they could tell he was not impressed. Everyone quieted their laughter. Dragstor then looked around the room they were in. The room was dimly lit, but he could see that it was a very elegant and luxurious building. In front of them was a staircase that lead to several rooms. To the left and right were end tables, couches, and even a fireplace in the corner. Below their feet lay diaspro red tile that was covered by several rugs made from safavid silk. Dragstor knelt down and felt it.
"This is some of the most expensive material in all of Etheria." He muttered. He stood up and walked forward continuing, "and they lay it here as if it costed them pocket change." He inspected the other features in the room: There were granite walls, stained glass windows, rosewood tables, and marble counters. The most ostentatious object was the golden chandelier that hung above the staircase. For some reason, all of these pretentious objects made Dragstor angry. He spoke a little louder, saying,
"They just have to have the best. The most expensive…" He picked up a nearby vase and studied it. He looked at the rest of the squad. They were completely bewildered by what Dragstor was saying. The more he looked at his surroundings, the more he was filled with a vindictive rage.
"And they forget about the common people." His voice was almost shouting at this point, "They don't care about our struggles; our plight!" He was pressing the vase together, slowly cracking it, when Viktor went up to him,
"Captain Dragstor!" He attempted to stifle his own yelling but let some of the harsh tone come out. Dragstor looked at him, and Viktor's face turned more morose. Dragstor's muscles started relaxing and the vase stopped cracking. Viktor put his hand on Dragstor's shoulder and said,
"Sir, are you okay? I don't mean to circumvent your authority, but you almost gave off any stealth advantage we had." Dragstor put the vase back on the pedestal and sighed.
"Forgive me, squad. I'm letting my personal feelings get in the way of the mission. No more of that." He looked at the rest of the soldiers and they all nodded their heads. He continued, "At any rate, I have a trackerpad that is tracking all heat signatures within a fifty foot radius. I can see three clustered signatures, so we'll divide up into teams of three. I'll take Rogers and Scarlett and head upstairs to the East door. Viktor, you take Levi and Ethel and head up through the middle door. Brittni, Brett, and Nico, you three have the upper west room. The rest of you, stay here and guard the door. Stay in radio contact. Everyone understand?" Everyone said in unison,
"Understood, sir." Dragstor nodded and said,
"Good, now move out!"
The three teams moved to their designated areas. And began their sojourns to find the mayor. Starting with the Twins' team, they entered the upper west room and found themselves in a long hallway. According to Dragstor's trackerpad, the heat signatures were at the end of the hallway. The hallway was rather wide. On the right side were a few doors that lead to restrooms and closets, nothing particularly interesting. On the left were end tables that had busts of different people that the Twins' didn't recognize.
"Kind of a creepy place this is…" Brett muttered as they walked. Nico nodded, but Brittni seemed mentally distant. Brett noticed and asked, "Brittni? You okay?" She snapped out of her thousand yard stare and said,
"I just…" She sighed and continued, "That rebel soldier that was underneath the wardrobe…"
"What about him?" Brett asked.
"He told me that the Horde had killed his family… His friends. He said the Horde burned down his village 'just for existing.'"
"Brittni, he's a rebel, he'd say anything to get you to sympathize with him. He wanted you to let your guard down." Brett insisted. Brittni scoffed and said,
"Brett, he wasn't lying. I could tell by his vocal frequencies. They rang with conviction."
"Maybe he's a fantastic liar." Brett suggested, almost skeptically.
"Well, it sounds like you want to believe he's evil." Brett stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Brittni.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Brett demanded.
"You seemed pretty okay with him being tortured. And when I was trying to heal him, the only thoughts running through your head was restraining him. Hurting people is a lot easier if you believe they're evil." Brittni snapped.
"The rebels are evil, and of course I wanted him restrained!" Brett snapped back, "I didn't want him trying anything. He could have attacked you!"
"Attacked me?!" Brittni challenged, "he couldn't even move, let alone attack me!" Brett took off his helmet and began rubbing his forehead with his free hand. He sighed then looked at Nico, who just stood there, completely dumbfounded. Brett then said to him,
"Nico, go check out the room over there for a moment."
"Uh.. yeah, right away, sir, uh, Brett." Nico said as he opened the door and walked into the room. Brett then looked to Brittni,
"Are you really trying to have this conversation right now? Seriously? I'm not sure if you noticed, but we're in the middle of a battle." Brett sneered. Brittni stood there for a moment, saying nothing. She then took off her helmet revealing tears strewing down her face. Brett choked on a gasp, and then gave a loud sigh. He started scratching the back of his neck. He then walked over and wrapped his free arm around Brittni. She dropped her helmet, letting it clatter a few times on the wood floor, and fully embraced Brett, silently crying.
"I'm sorry…" Brittni said, somberly. Brett started quietly shushing her.
"No, I'm sorry, I get it, there's a lot of bloodshed you've seen today, and-" Brett's consolation was interrupted by clattering and grunting noises coming from the room Nico was in. The Twins exchanged glances. Brittni quickly pulled away from Brett's embrace and unholstered her laser pistol. Brett did the same, and they both slowly crept towards the door. Brittni stood to the left of the door, while Brett moved right in front of the door to open it. Being cautious, his hand slowly reached for the handle. The moment his hand made contact with the doorknob, he heard a low scream slowly building up to a loud scream. Before Brett had time to react, Nico crashed through the door, breaking it off its hinges and completely splintering it. Nico and the door flew into Brett, knocking him to the ground, making him go unconscious. Brittni stared in shock and horror at what had just happened. After a couple of moments, she regained her composure and knelt down next to Brett and Nico. She was about to feel for a pulse until she heard a familiar, yet dreadful, noise. It was that electronic wind chime sounding noise. Brittni's heart sank as she realized that that sound could only mean one thing. She turned her head towards where the door used to be and saw the princess. The princess held a sparkly purple aura around her fists, and an enraged countenance on her face. She started slowly walking towards Brittni. Brittni's lip quivered, her fear slowly enveloping her. The princess then smiled devilishly and said,
"It's rude to walk into a room without knocking…"
Meanwhile on Team Dragstor's front…
Dragstor and his team moved into the East room to find themselves in a big and spacious library. Rows and columns of bookshelves towering at least twelve feet were spread out before them. Fascinated with history, Dragstor moved quickly towards the closest bookcase and pulled out a book entitled, 'Etheria: Past & Present. Vol. 1.' He was definitely going to have a field day when they took over Elberon. Upon noticing Dragstor's deviation, Scarlett spoke up,
"Uh, Captain, so, where are the heat signatures?" Dragstor put the book back, pulled out his trackerpad, and began studying it. The clustered heat signatures lay just behind the door to the north of them. Something was different, however. There was a single signature that was coming…
...From within the library. Dragstor turned towards his teammates and said,
"We're not alone. Lock 'n load." Scarlett and Rogers brandished their rifles and looked around the room. Dragstor continued to study the trackerpad. The heat signature was moving around the trackerpad at a rapid pace. Soon, however the trackerpad started making static noises and the screen started to blur.
"What the…" Dragstor muttered as he started tapping on the screen and pressing any free buttons. Eventually the trackerpad faded to static. Dragstor sighed, turned off the pad, and said to his team,
"We're gonna be blind for now. Stay frosty, and head to the north door." The team started moving towards the door, staying alert for any noise they heard. In the middle of the room there was a circular railing that showed the downstairs. The team heard a noise coming from below the rail. They all slowly crept towards the rail. Rogers got close to the rail and peered down, not seeing anything. The moment that he started moving away from the rails, both of his wrists were grabbed by a pair of purple, talon like hands. He gasped and grunted. The hands that grabbed him soon had a head and torso to match. Those bonelike wings, that beaklike nose, those glowing red eyes.
"...Vultak!" Rogers shouted, trying to pull away. The vulture-human hybrid let out a cackle, and using the strength of his arms and wings, he pulled Rogers out from the second floor, right behind his wings, causing him to fly down towards the first floor.
"Aughhh!" Rogers screamed as he was thrown from the balcony all the way to the first floor. To Dragstor and Scarletts perspective, Rogers seemed to fall in slow motion. He crashed into a bookcase, causing it to topple over onto another bookcase that seemed to have a domino effect with a few others. If Rogers wasn't dead, he was surely out cold. Scarlett's hands started shaking like a tremor, and Dragstor's mouth was wide open underneath his mask. Vultak then pulled himself up onto the railing and perched himself like a gargoyle. He had a sinister smile and said with a cackled laugh,
"Scarlett, Dragstor, so lovely to see you two again…"
Meanwhile on Team Viktor's front...
Viktor, Levi, and Ethel entered the middle room. The room looked just like a typical living room. Of course, being from the Fright Zone, Viktor and company had no idea what that looked like. Inside was a couch, a fireplace, some chairs, and a coffee table. In front of the couch and coffee table was a monitor of some sort. Levi and Ethel gave simultaneous verbal acclamation at the room. Levi went over and lounged on the couch and said,
"Wow, the Fright Zone doesn't have couches like this." Ethel nodded as she went over to the monitor and said,
"Yeah, no kidding. Why can't we have nice rooms like this?" She then started tapping on the monitor trying to turn it on. Viktor held his forehead, started shaking it, and groaned.
"Ugh, Levi, Ethel, this isn't the time for relaxing, we-" Viktor started, but then was interrupted by his radio going off. He pulled up his radio and said, "This is Vik, gimme status."
"Hello? Lieutenant Viktor?!" The static and pitch irritated Viktors ears and he pulled the radio away. Through the static, Viktor could hear the sounds of laser fire.
"Ergh... yeah, it's Viktor, what's going on?" He demanded. The Horde soldier talking on the radio was breathing heavily, and was breaking off between words. Levi and Ethel went up to the radio to hear more clearly.
"We're being attacked at the front entrance, the rebels- Augh!" An explosion went off, and the radio turned to static.
"Hello?! Soldier, can you hear me?!" Viktor growled and said to Ethel and Levi, "Let's get back to the entrance, now!" They all ran back towards the door that lead back to the front room of the castle. Viktor grabbed the doorknob but couldn't turn it. It somehow locked behind them when they entered the room.
"What in the…" Viktor started, until he saw a glowing ambiance in the room. He and the other two looked back to see the monitor turn on. Viktor cocked his eyebrow, and they all slowly crept towards the monitor. At first, the monitor only showed static, but slowly a picture came into frame. It was the face of the mayor. Levi and Ethel gasped.
"Is that the…?" Levi began.
"Mayor." Ethel finished. The mayor, a gluttonous looking man with a long brown ponytail and large sideburns, spoke in a deep, nasally voice, as though he had some kind of clog in his throat. He began laughing wickedly, his hoarse voice getting more high pitched as it went on. Viktor growled and said,
"I'm not sure what you're trying to do, 'your majesty', but you'd better surrender yourself now before we make you and everyone else we capture suffer." The mayor's toothy grin was unsettling towards Levi and Ethel, but made Viktor angry.
"You Horde monsters will never take Elberon, much less, this castle. You're trapped in that room, and my guards are getting to the castle as I speak." The mayor said, saliva flying onto the camera as he spoke. Viktor cringed at the mayor and said, impatiently,
"First of all, you're disgusting. Second of all, you really think a locked door is going to stop us? We don't have time for this." Viktor turned around and started heading back to the door, jiggling the lock again. Still no luck.
"Okay," Viktor started, "I guess we do this the hard way…" Viktor then took a step back, and with his right foot squared with his left, he lifted his leg and forced the bottom of his foot at the knob, completely tearing the door off its hinges, letting it fly off into…
...Some kind of abyss. Viktor shuddered and gasped lightly. He went over to the door and looked down and up. It was filled with complete darkness. Viktor's eyes got considerably wide. He then heard the disturbing laugh from the mayor. That insufferable giggle threw Viktor into a rage. He stormed over to the monitor, Ethel and Levi getting out of his way, immediately. Using the adrenaline from his rage, he picked up the monitor.
"What did you do?!" Viktor demanded. The mayor let out an uproar of laughter.
"If you think that's bad, wait 'til you see what happens next." The monitor went black. Viktor, in a blind rage, threw the monitor as hard as he could at the wall, the glass shattering and the plastic splintering. Viktor started breathing heavily, and let his head and fists fall onto a wall. Levi and Ethel looked at him, petrified. Viktor took a deep breath, then started rubbing his eyes.
"The door there leads to nothing. It's just darkness." Viktor said, trying to stay calm.
"The other door is the same…" Ethel said, glumly.
"Well, we need to find a way out of-" Levi started before he was interrupted by a sudden tremor in the room. Suddenly, the walls started moving...
...Towards each other.
Meanwhile, back at The Twins' front...
The princess continued to march slowly towards Brittni and then spoke,
"I don't want to have to hurt you, too. Give up, now. We're a lot more merciful than the Horde." Brittni stared at the princess in horror. She switched glances between her unconscious brother and her enemy, the princess. Each glance, Brittni's countenance grew more angry. Finally, the princess was within five feet away, and Brittni spoke up,
"I didn't know that throwing somebody through a door was considered, 'merciful.' I'll go ahead and stick with the Horde." Brittni then stood up and squared up her body in a battle stance. The princess glared and the aura around her hands tensed up. She ran at Brittni full force, about to punch her. Brittni dodged to the left, but heard the wind chime noise.
"Oh, no…" Brittni thought to herself. The princess teleported from the front of Brittni to the left of her, causing Brittni's head to smack right into her fist. Without her helmet, Brittni was able to feel the blunt force of the princess' attack. Brittni screamed out in pain, but that wasn't all. The princess teleported behind Brittni and kicked her in the back, then quickly teleported to the right of Brittni and swept her legs, causing her to fall forward.
"Oof! Aughh…" Brittni yelled and groaned in pain. Even though she had her armour, the princess hit really hard. Brittni looked up and the Princess teleported in front of her with her arms crossed.
"Had enough?" The princess sneared. Brittni coughed a little bit.
"Yes…" Brittni said, sounding defeated. The princess smirked until Brittni added, "Because, you're not going to hit me again." The princess glared and growled at Brittni and and went to punch her in the face. Brittni rolled to the right, and anticipating the princess' teleportation, she held up her legs, kicking the princess as she teleported to Brittni's right. The princess flew back a few feet, rolling backwards on the ground.
"Augh! Ergh…" The princess moaned in pain and rubbed her head. At the same time, Brittni was running towards her, fist cocked back ready to punch. The princess teleported behind Brittni, only to once again get kicked by Brittni. Right before Brittni faked the princess out with that punch, she raised her legs and calculated when the princess would teleport behind her. The princess fell backwards again from the force of the kick. Brittni looked back at the Princess,
"How about you? Have you had enough?" The princess growled and slowly stood back up, raising her purple aura'd fists. She ran at Brittni about to throw a punch, then she teleported. Brittni thought that it would be to her left, that time, but the princess wasn't there. She looked around the room, but the princess was nowhere to be found. Finally, the princess teleported right above Brittni and jumped on her shoulders, causing her to fall forward. Right before Brittni fell, she grabbed the princess' ankles and threw her against the wall, head first. The princess' cracked the wall, and screamed at the pain. The princess moaned as she lay with her stomach against the wall, slowly seeping down the wall until her knees reached the ground. The princess groaned quietly until she fell unconscious. Brittni was breathing profusely. She was on her knees with her hands on the floor. To be in a real fight with the adrenaline pumping was not something Brittni was used to. She looked over at the princess, and she was out cold. She then looked over at Brett and Nico. To her delight, she saw Brett lifting himself up in a seated position, holding his head, groaning.
"Brett!" Brittni exclaimed as she heard the sound of her brother waking up. She ran over to him and nearly tackled him to the floor as she wrapped her arms around him. Brett groaned and chuckled simultaneously as he felt the embrace of his sister.
"Ugh, what happened?" Brett asked, confused.
"Well, let's see. Nico got thrown through a door at you, causing you both to get knocked out. The one that threw him was that princess over there." Brittni held up a thumbs up pointing behind her and continued, "I totally beat her, by the way." Brittni winked. Brett blinked a couple of times and switched glances between the princess and Brittni.
"Wow, sis. You really are tough." Brett said, starting to chuckle. Brittni joked around and said,
"That'll teach you never to mess with me." And she stuck out her tongue. Brett chuckled even more until he heard the princess starting to groan. His demeanor became serious, and his eyes locked on her. Brittni unwrapped her arms around Brett and stood up. The princess began picking herself up. Brett looked around and found his laser rifle. He dove for it and aimed it at the princess. The princess took notice, gasped and started to teleport away. Before she could complete the teleportation, Brett fired the rifle. The laser flew fast enough to just graze the left side of her left leg. The princess cried out in pain and finally teleported away. Brett took a few deep breaths. Brittni ran over and held out her hand to pull him up. Once he stood up he said,
"Thanks. Alright, most likely she's teleported away to get medical attention. We're gonna need to stay frosty. She's most likely going to come back. Either that or protect the mayor." Brittni nodded in agreement. She went over to check on Nico and felt for his pulse.
"He's alive but his heart rate is really low. I don't think he's waking up for a while." Brett nodded and said,
"Alright, well, I hate to do this but we're going to have to leave him here for now. Prop him up in that room, and keep him hidden." Brittni nodded. She picked up Nico, and dropped him with his back against the wall. She then went back out of the room into the hallway.
"Okay, so what's our next move?" She inquired.
"We need to keep going towards those heat signatures, let's go." Brett said, already in motion towards the North door. Brittni nodded, and they both went to the end of the hallway and opened the door, entering the next room.
Meanwhile, back at Team Dragstor's front…
Scarlett was slowly backing away while facing Vultak. She was angry with him, of course, but she was even more afraid. Dragstor stood his ground. He simply said to Vultak,
"It's a pleasure to see you, Vultak. Now I can kill you, myself!" He growled, then fired his crossbow. The bolt flew towards Vultak's heart. Vultak, in quick succession grabbed the bolt right before it hit his heart, and simultaneously spun around and threw the bolt towards Dragstor. Dragstor dove to the left and rolled into a bookcase, grunting as books toppled over him. Meanwhile, the bolt that Vultak threw ended up hitting Scarlett in her left leg, just barely missing her armor. She screamed out in pain, as the bolt plunged deep into her leg. She immediately dropped to the floor, holding her leg, moaning. She raised her laser rifle and fired a few shots at Vultak. Just before the lasers made it to Vultak, he took flight up to the rather altitudinous ceiling, and started fluttering around the room. Scarlett fired a few more shots to no avail. Vultak then swooped down, his talons lowered to grab her. She gasped, and tried to crawl backwards, away from Vultak. Unfortunately for her, Vultak's talons gripped her by the shoulders. Just as soon as he grabbed her, he used the momentum of flight to throw her across the room. Scarlett slammed into a wall and became completely incapacitated. She lay there, back against the wall, completely unconscious. Vultak was floating above Scarlett and let out another cackled laugh.
"Too easy…" Vultak muttered, "now to finish off- YAGH!" Vultak was interrupted by a bolt that went through his right wing. The pain caused him to drop out of the air, slamming into the floor, chalking up dust. Vultak started coughing excessively, then looked over at the source of his wing's trouble: Dragstor. Dragstor reloaded his crossbow and fired another bolt at Vultak. Vultak quickly used his left wing to push his body out of the way, just missing Dragstor's bolt. Vultak growled and started flapping his wings, taking to the air again. Dragstor had reloaded another bolt and fired it, only for Vultak to aerial barrel roll out of the way. Vultak flew right above Dragstor, then did a nose dive towards him, his talons facing Dragstor. Dragstor tried to move out of the way, but was too late. Vultak's talons pummeled Dragstor into the ground, causing Dragstor to growl in pain. Vultak then grabbed both of Dragstor's wrists and crowed at him.
"You're finally getting what you deserve. You and the rest of the Horde scum!" Vultak declared, enraged. Dragstor groaned but managed to say,
"Why'd you do it, Vultak?! We were comrades! Battle brothers! What did the Rebellion offer you?!"
"Freedom!" Vultak, declared, " Hordak destroyed my home when I was barely hatching from my egg. I learned my history, and learned that I had been made to be a slave! The Horde took my life from me!" Dragstor grunted and looked around for any kind of advantage he could have. He noticed a chandelier directly above him and got an idea.
"You think the Rebellion is so perfect?!" Dragstor challenged. He then headbutt Vultak, the hard part of his mask hurting Vultak's beak. Vultak shrieked and loosened his grip on Dragstor's wrist. With his freed left hand, Dragstor punched the side of Vultak's head, then kicked him off. Dragstor sprawled out on the floor and raised his leg, launching it downwards onto Vultak's neck. Vultak choked out a shriek and dropped back onto the floor on his stomach. Dragstor then raised his crossbow and fired a bolt at Vultak's right palm, pinning his talon-hand to the floorboard. Vultak shrieked in pain, and went to pull out the bolt with his beak. Dragstor aimed at Vultak's left palm and fired another bolt, pinning that talon-hand to the floor. Vultak let out another deafening shriek, this one sounding more angry than afraid. Dragstor exhaled, heavily, then started walking around towards the front of Vultak. He knelt down and lifted Vultak's head up. He then simply asked,
"Vultak… How could you betray us like this?" Vultak spit in Dragstor's mask and yelled,
"The Horde destroyed my species! They took my village! My family! They took my life!" Dragstor started a low growl that slowly built up into an almost inhuman roar. He took a few deep breaths, then said, calmly into Vultak's face,
"No, Vultak, I am the one that is going to take your life." Dragstor then took a few steps back and fired his crossbow at the chandelier above Vultak. The bolt cut the chain, causing the chandelier to plummet right on top of Vultak, crushing him. The moment the chain cut, Dragstor felt immediate dysphoria for what he had to do. Dragstor stood there, motionless. He dropped his crossbow and shuddered at what had just happened. Emotions ran through his heart: Indignation, Confusion, Anguish. As angry as Dragstor was about betrayal, he could not help but feel sorrow for what he had to do. He knelt down and put his hand on Vultak's wrists. No pulse. He was really gone. Dragstor let his head down and said simply,
"Goodbye, old friend…"
Meanwhile, back in the colliding room with Viktor, Levi, and Ethel…
"What do we do?!" Ethel shouted in fear as the walls began colliding towards each other. Levi and Ethel were panicking, pushing the couch in a vertical position to try and stop the walls from colliding. The wall started slowing down a bit. They both gasped, optimistically, only to start groaning in dismay as the couch's arms began to splinter, and the couch starting to squish. Viktor in the meantime was looking for something, anything in the room that would shut down the walls. He flipped paintings off the wall, lifted up and threw around furniture, but found nothing. Viktor started quickly glancing at different parts of the room, all he could see was broken furniture, the walls caving in, Levi in a fetal position, freaking out, Ethel trying to push one of the walls, and the door he had kicked open.
"The door…" Viktor muttered. He then said, aloud, "Ethel! Levi! Get up, we're going through the door! Ethel and Levi looked over. Ethel tried to protest, saying
"But.. I thought you said-"
"You got a better idea?!" Viktor demanded. She let out a slight shudder and nodded. Levi picked himself up, and all three ran to the door that had been kicked open. The walls were getting closer and closer to closing in on the group. Viktor quickly shouted instructions,
"Alright! Levi, hold the right side of the door, Ethel, you hold the left! I'm gonna hold the bottom part of it. Go!"
The two soldiers nodded and obeyed, running out the door and gripping each side as hard as they could. Levi almost lost his grip, but Ethel held onto his back to prevent him from falling. The walls were within just a couple feet. Viktor had to shimmy through the rest of the wall collision.
"C'mon, Lieutenant!" Ethel shouted, anxiously towards him. His body finally made it with his back to the frame, but the walls were within less than a foot. Viktor pulled his remaining arm and leg out only to begin losing balance.
"Whoa-Whoa-AGH!" Viktor said as he began descending to the abysmal darkness. Before he completely fell, however. Ethel and Levi grabbed his wrists, preventing him from falling. Viktor let out a frightened, hearty laugh.
"Thank you, team, thank you!" He continued to laugh, while the two holding him started grunting, excessively. They pulled him up, and he managed to stand in the doorway, putting his hands on the top frame to keep himself up. He switched glances between Levi and Ethel. Levi spoke up,
"Uh… So what do we do now, Lieutenant?" Viktor thought for a moment and tried to look around. It was mostly darkness but there did happen to be a couple of tiny round lights that edged the walls that slightly illuminated them.
"Well, we're going to need to see." Viktor said. With his left hand, he pulled out his shock baton and ignited it, the green sparks, brightening the area, further. With the help of the green light, Viktor looked up and could see there was an edge. Viktor gasped. The other two looked up and saw what he gasped at.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm gonna need a boost up. I'm gonna get my feet on top of the frame and then pull myself up on that ledge, then I'll pull you two up. Levi and Ethel nodded and held out their free hands. Viktor stepped on each and they grunted as they both slowly elevated him up. He put away his baton and pulled out his knife. He stabbed the wall above the door frame as his feet got closer to the top of the frame in order to keep balance. Finally he got one foot on top of the frame, and then the other. Holding onto the knife with his right hand, he pulled out the baton with his left hand and ignited it, illuminating the edge. He was within reach. He put the baton on top of the edge and gripped said edge. He started pulling himself up, grabbing the other edge. A few grunts later, he managed to pull himself up to the top. He grabbed his baton and shined the area. Before him were a bunch of cables that ran vertically. Viktor illuminated the ground and saw wires and circuit boxes lining the floor.
"Hey! Viktor! What do you see up there?!" Levi asked,
"Come help us up!" Ethel added. Viktor bent down and grabbed the knife and plunged it into the floor near him to keep balance. He then laid on his stomach and leaned forward to pull his teammates up. He first pulled up Ethel who easily climbed up. Once she was up, she held onto Viktor's legs, and he reached out to pull Levi up. Levi grabbed Viktor's hand, but it started slipping.
"Oh, no, no!" Levi shouted as the grip loosened and he started to fall. Viktor quickly moved a little more forward and grabbed Levi's wrist. Levi let out a gasp of relief. Viktor and Ethel then pulled Levi up. Once everyone was on the platform, they stared in awe at what was before them.
"Is this…?" Ethel began.
"An elevator…" Viktor finished. We're going to have to climb these.
"Ugh, more climbing…" Levi muttered.
"Be grateful you're alive, dummy!" Ethel said as she punched his shoulder.
"Ow! Okay. Sorry, jeez." Levi said as he rubbed his shoulder. After all that, they all gripped the cables and started ascending. Once they got near the platform, Viktor held up his baton and illuminated the bottom of the platform. He found a hatch and twisted the circular handle, then pulled it open. A bright light radiated the team's eyes but also rejuvenated their resolve. They all climbed in, one at a time and found themselves in a concrete room.
"This place gets weirder and weirder…" Levi muttered.
They looked around and saw an open door. As they walked towards it they heard laser fire. Unholstering their weapons, the team ran through the door and realized that they were back in the front room of the castle. They saw the few remaining Horde soldiers had barricaded the door with bookcases and other furniture, also using them as cover as they fired through the windows. An energy blast hit a window where a Horde soldier was taking cover behind, and shattered the window. The soldier bent down, and turned his head. Viktor had run up to the window where the soldier was ducked under and fired blindly out the window, pinning the rebel that was firing at them. He then took cover behind the wall and looked down at the Horde soldier. Levi and Ethel also took positions at different windows and started firing at the rebels engaging the castle.
"What's the situation, soldier?" Volt demanded.
"Glad to see you, Lieutenant. We're holding the rebels off as best as we can, but they've taken out more than half my men. We're looking at a couple dozen and counting. I radioed Octavia and she said she was on her way."
"Hopefully she meant soon." Viktor muttered. He then said, aloud "alright, troops, let's push 'em back!"
Meanwhile back at Dragstor's front…
Dragstor went over to Scarlett to feel her pulse, luckily, she was alive. Dragstor ripped a piece of her pants off, then carefully pulled the crossbow bolt out of her leg. Once the bolt was out, he wrapped the cloth tightly around her leg. Dragstor then hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her. Dragstor went over to the circular railing and looked at Rogers. He was on his back, his legs situated on the bookcase he crashed into. Dragstor then shouted at Rogers.
"Rogers! Are you still with me?!" A groan was heard in reply. Dragstor sighed and said, "Rogers, you're alive! Can you stand?" Rogers groaned a bit more and tried to lift himself up.
"I… I can't feel my leg, Captain. I think it's broken!" Rogers said, with trepidation in his voice. Dragstor scanned the room for a staircase and found one. He quickly rushed down the stairs to Rogers' location. He then set Scarlett down. Dragstor looked at Rogers' leg and said,
"I'm no medical professional, but you'll definitely need surgery. I can do one thing, though- Oh my goodness, Rogers, what's that!?" Dragstor said while pointing. Rogers looked to where Dragstor was pointing, and while he was distracted, Dragstor gripped Rogers' leg and twisted it, resetting the leg. A vociferous cry of pain left Rogers' lungs as his leg was reset. He began moaning and whimpering in pain.
"You'll thank me later. Watch after Scarlett, I need to go grab the mayor." Dragstor said, ardently. Although he was whimpering in pain, Rogers managed to hold a thumbs up. Dragstor then climbed up the stairs. He went to the door at the end of the library where his trackerpad originally showed the heat signatures. Dragstor took a deep breath, then kicked open the door, brandishing his crossbow. He thought he would find the mayor in there. Instead he found a darkened room. He scanned around but could only see darkness. That is, until he heard that familiar wind chime noise, and saw two glowing purple auras in the middle of the room…
"Sorry, the Mayor can't see you right now, but I'll be happy to take care of you…"
Hi! Thank you so much for reading this. I wanted to make a disclaimer that I kinda realized that I haven't been showing many of the 2018 She-Ra characters a lot of love, and I've been focusing a lot on my own characters. I just want everyone to know that I will have a major focus on more canon characters in the next many chapters. Don't worry, we're still in a prequel phase that starts right before the first episode of She-Ra. Soon enough, we'll have all the characters you know and love in the story. Thanks for your patience! :)
