2 good things are happening: people are reading this, and people want to read more of this!

Hopefully, you will notice my attempts to make these chapters longer, and more engaging in general. I also hope that this will forgive the relatively long periods in between chapters, as I spend a considerable amount of time writing and revising these.

I also chose to increase the rating to M. This is more of a precaution than anything, as this chapter only has some moderate (but brief) gore and one exchange with some language.

EDIT: As of 7/16/17, this chapter has been revised.

"How the hell did you do that?" Paszek was enamored with her rather remarkable display of gun slinging. Taking out multiple RAPS units without even bothering to look for them was something he'd consider impossible to do intentionally if he hadn't just seen it.

"Well, one of the quirks of the targeting is that the processor exerts itself more the closer it gets to a hostile subject. The sound frequency it emits changes with respect to its position." She spoke with her usual briskness, but with a somewhat unusual amount of…confidence? Paszek couldn't put his finger on what exactly was different.

He was slowly shaking his head up and down and squinting; beginning to make sense of her explanation, but clearly something got lost in translation.

Kane's head darted upwards, her eyes following suit. She let out a barley-discernable sigh, forgetting to censor her technical jargon. Normally she would've called it "dumbing it down", but Paszek was by no means dumb. His level of intellect was something of an anomaly to her. He was clearly very quick, very adaptive, and very skilled. But Paszek also fell victim to a certain level of uninformed-ness that all soldiers shared; they were always taught just enough to understand, but never enough to see the whole picture. If they really wanted to enlighten their subordinates, all of the mission reports would be quintuple the length. A certain level of sadness resided in the fact that the only people who knew the purpose of their objectives were all sitting behind desks and around command tables, while the brave men on the front lines charged into battle unaware of their true impact on the world.

"Basically, I can judge where a RAPS unit is just by listening closely."

Paszek widened his eyes a bit and gave a smirk.

"Nice set of ears you've got, I guess." Ouch. Paszek knew that was painfully awkward the moment he finished it. Set of ears? Who said that?

"Just the ears, Paszek?" Kane gave a sly smile. Paszek was surprised by that response. Her calling him by his name, her playful tone, and the uncharacteristically roguish grin on her face were all rare occurrences on their own, and the fact that they were happening in conjunction with one another…

Was she…flirting with him? Most of their conversations involved Paszek needing answers about something…and Kane was the person for finding answers. Many times their talks consisted of Kane performing some skillful information digging and Paszek trying his best to interpret it. But with the exception of last night…and the night in Singapore, they shared few intimate moments. Actually, no intimate moments. Sure, they had talked privately with each other…dozens of times, in fact. However, nothing about their chats would indicate anything other than a strictly congenial relationship; at the very least, not to the two of them. That's not to say Paszek didn't feel anything more. He certainly did. Confiding in Kane and being around her in general…Paszek couldn't help but grow attached to her. He had partially spilled the beans on his feelings for her last night, and Kane was nothing but supportive, but he had a suspicion that she didn't fully realize the extent of his attractions. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted her to.

All circumstances accounted for, though, Kane's coquettish quip was still quite a change of pace for her. Kane and Paszek were, above all, coworkers, and she showed very few signs of wanting that to turn amorous, much less…sexual. But Paszek knew the past week had affected her to a great extent, perhaps as negatively influenced as himself. Paszek had scars, both physical and mental, to speak for the events that had occurred. Kane had none such, but he was sure that a piece of her emotions was in shambles. She had watched as Taylor, who she once loved, went psychopathic and murdered countless innocents. And not a few days later does she see her newfound friend start going through the same process…the same deterioration. That had to be jarring, to say the least. Paszek assumed that maybe Kane's flirtatious attitude was just a way to distract from the somberness of the situation. He couldn't blame her for a moment. And if a bit of light-heartedness was meant to take their minds off of the bleakness to come, then it had worked.

Paszek chuckled out loud. He wasn't sure he had an appropriate response (or rather, an inappropriate response) to Kane. She seemed humored by what she likely deemed a puzzled but happy face on him, letting a small laugh of her own slip.

Their brief but sweet moment was interrupted by the reality of the battlefield around them, as some Egyptian Army airships began firing at a nearby NRC unit that was advancing towards. The pair took that as their cue to return to their transport.

The utter chaos that continued to take place on the top deck of aquifer prompted Kane and Paszek to holster their weapons and make a full-on sprint for the VTOLS, with Paszek dishing out a few violently devastating cybernetic shoulder checks to the foolish NRC soldiers who were unfortunate enough to wander within arm's length of Kane.

It didn't take too terribly long for them to reach the landing pad. Paszek continued running towards the edge, where his plane sat (a visually precarious position, but stable nonetheless). He remotely popped open the hatch and had begun stepping into the cockpit when…

"Paszek!" In a flash, he turned around and reached for his KN-44, expecting to be shot at. Instead he saw Kane, who was only pointing at the front end of her VTOL.

Her pilot was dead. Two rounds to the chest. Paszek panned his head around, trying to search for the culprit, but saw nothing.

Paszek tapped his ear to open up communications.

"Khalil, you got a spare pilot?"

"Affirmative. En route to your position."

Kane glanced again at the corpse. "Don't you…care what happened here?"

"Do you?"

No response.

Before long, an Egyptian chopper dropped off one of their pilots to take the VTOL.

Kane now sat in the backseat of Paszek's VTOL, which lifted off to aquifer and began its course to the next access console.

She had been surprised earlier by viewing Paszek's combat feed, but being up in the air with him was something else entirely. The speed, the finesse, the…spectacle of his piloting was quite a sight. The deliberate efficiency with which Paszek took out his targets...it was impressive, certainly, but equally questionable. She was well-accustomed to combat; that didn't mean, however, that death was something she felt completely comfortable with. Watching her friend mow down people would never be one hundred percent okay in her book.

He destroyed a pod of three anti-air cannons with two well-placed missiles. Then a swarm of small drones with but one short burst of his turret. And not an instant afterwards, he flipped around on a dime and pursued a rouge NRC jet, and grounded it in eight seconds flat.

Paszek again broke his personal record; Kane made a mental note of it.

Within a few minutes, they landed on the opposite side of the aquifer, at the nearest safe docking site for the second access panel. They saw considerably fewer enemies than the first time. Only a handful of straggling soldiers remained in sight. Kane humorously reasoned that Paszek must have taken out the rest of the NRC on the top deck all on his own.

The pair made their way to the elevated platform where the panel would be found, dropping a few enemy soldiers along the path.

Wasting no time, Kane immediately took out her tools and opened the panel. She poked her head around to address Paszek.

"You know the drill."

Paszek nodded his head and doubled back to obtain a better position for defending her.

Attach the micro-drive here, clip a wire there, re-route those power sources over there…configuring these panels was second nature to her. Did she think this would be the application of her electrical engineering degree? Absolutely not. She expected to be a civilian, maybe an advisor for some hotshot tech company. She'd do work with malfunction diagnostics, analytics, statistics…all the numbers and computers a girl could ask for.

But would she trade life in the CIA for any of that? Sure, there were charms to living quietly and peacefully. A career in both the government and occasionally the military was nothing if not exciting. The sense of urgency and importance she felt was likely unmatched by anything else she could be doing. In Kane's eyes, that was probably why most military people stayed.

In the midst of her electronic fidgeting, she briefly turned her head around to check on Paszek. He watched over the open space in front of the platform like a hawk, firing quick bursts of deadly precision at any who crossed his visual path. Kane found his guarding practices to be equally attributable to a dog: loyal, territorial, and above all, caring. Of course that last one was particularly dicey when it came to Paszek; she had no doubts that he cared for her. But what exactly ran through Paszek's head during the rush of combat was intriguingly impossible to know.

Kane assumed that his perfectly orderly behavior during battle was a facet of his darker side, the unfeeling side. While she didn't think that he derived any pleasure from the brutality of fighting, she did imagine that he was nothing but indifferent towards the ruthlessness of it all. Maybe sometimes, that was not the case. Paszek explained that his scamper into the burning building was entirely emotion-fueled, existing as an undying need to protect her. But the way his mental state was degrading, she knew that every decision and every thought he made would become less and less of his own inhibition.

Her drifting thoughts did little to distract her from the task at hand, though. After just a few more wire cuts and re-attachments, the job was done. She now had unfettered access to the aquifer's security systems: a major tactical advantage.

Kane stored away her tools and turned around to see Paszek being his dutifully focused self. Without saying anything, she ran past him, turned the sharp corner down the stairs, and started off towards their VTOL. Paszek followed suit shortly after.

Thankfully, their second return trip to their aircraft was less eventful: no deceased pilots this time. As soon as they were back in the sky, she pulled out her tablet and opened up a live feed of all the security cameras on the upper decks.

"Any sign of Taylor or Maretti?" asked Paszek, who had resumed his sweeping of NRC forces.

"Facial recognition has nothing yet. I'm positive that they aren't on the top 3 floors."

"Then let's move lower." responded Paszek plainly.

And so he did; hovering the VTOL down about twenty feet, so that their line of sight was now on the middle decks of the aquifer.

"It looks like Hendricks has his team ready on level four; I'll mark his position on your HUD."

The Heads-Up-Display that was activated by the DNI was very much a dual-edged sword. It was very helpful in pointing towards the objective, and the ammo count was also comforting to have in the corner of his eyes. Paszek could not shake the feeling, though, that it disillusioned his sense of reality. It cheapened the surreal-ness of…well…reality. It made all his battles seem like simulations, and trying to take away the cold truth of combat seemed like censorship rather than protection.

Hendricks and a group of four other WA troops were pinned behind cover by a considerably larger NRC force. Enter Paszek and Kane.

Paszek lobbed a smoke grenade, then immediately switched on his night-vision in order to see through it; pacifying three enemies soldiers in the process. Hendricks, now seeing an opening, pushed forward, icing two more with his Pharo SMG. The other friendlies cleaned up the rest with no issues.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Hendricks, entirely serious when he should've been joking. He'd been stuck on the outskirts of the middle decks for quite some time now.

"Airport layovers."

This was not what Paszek needed right now. Anything but this.

He stared down the flooded area below the grate under his feet. Kane needed to get to the server room so access any intel in case Taylor and Maretti weren't captured.

But did it have to be submerged in six feet of water? A monstrous lump formed in his throat.

"All the security sensors show that the server room is about level with where we are now, so it should be relatively dry. Shouldn't be much more than a twenty second swim." said Kane.

Paszek stood there, trying only to stop his legs from quaking. Kane noticed.

"I'll be right behind you the whole time."

Paszek nodded his head, took what was likely the deepest breath of his life, and dove in.

So far, so good, he thought. Granted, he had only been in the water for a few seconds, but he was confident he could make it through. The splash of Kane entering the flooded aquifer behind him only reassured him.

Hey. He could see the surface of the water. There was a white light. He headed towards it.

A small black bird flew by.

Wait, what? A bird? Underwater?

Two more passed by. Where those ravens? Crows? He coughed.

No. No. Something was wrong.

The light flashed brighter. A flock of birds cawed as they whizzed past him. He coughed again.

What was happening? Where was he going?

Pure whiteness filled his vision, and he could only hear the incessant calls of the birds.

Then black. Absolute black and nothingness.

He awakened. A tundra-like forest stood around him in every direction. Paszek would have been in awe at the beauty of it if he was not as confused and disoriented as he was.

A dark splotch appeared in thin air in front of him, and out of it stepped Sarah Hall. Why was she here? Wearing her military uniform, her pupils were a bleary orange. She moved her mouth, as if to speak, but Paszek heard nothing. Paszek tried to scream, to move, to do something. But it was futile. He didn't know where he was, why he was here, or how he got there. All he knew was that he had to get out.

Hall started speaking faster, but Paszek remained temporarily deafened. What was the point of this? Was he supposed to learn something? Gain something? Realize something? He couldn't even begin to rationalize a bit of what was happening.

Something roared in the horizon. It was water. The distinct sound of rushing water.

A tidal wave that stretched taller than any of the trees in sight loomed behind Hall. As it grew closer, it increased in both speed and volume. Again Paszek tried to turn around and run, but he was rooted in place. Oh God. It was going to hit them. This was it. This was where he died.

The wave crashed into him, and total darkness filled his eyes one again.

"Breathe, come on! Breathe!"

As his eyes slowly opened, he violently vomited up a sizable amount of water. His vision was very blurry; all he could see was a slim figure crouched above him and a dark ceiling even further above. More violent coughs erupted from him, with even more briny water as a byproduct. He placed his hands on his chest to steady himself, and avoid himself from lifting up and crashing back down onto the cold steel floor.

Another pair of hands met his. They pushed down, compressing his chest to let out the remaining water and a short puff of air. They were warm. Comforting.

He blinked a few more times, and his eyesight focused more with each successive one. The first clear image he could make out was Kane's worried face hovering over him.

"Christ, Paszek! Are you alright? I nearly lost you there!" She was freaking out. How the hell did Paszek drown during what should have been less than a half minute underwater?

"I…I…where am I?! What's going on?!" He quickly darted to an upright position and turned his head rapidly, unadjusted to his new surroundings.

"Hey, hey, calm down," Kane moved her hands to his shoulders. "Sit still, I don't want you moving until we're sure you're ok."

"Did you see it?" asked Paszek hurriedly.

"See…what?"

"The forest. Did you see the forest?"

"I…don't know what you're talking about…are you…"

"I was there!" he screamed. "The fucking Frozen Forest! I was there!"

"We're just outside the server room, Paszek…and also in the middle of desert Egypt…" she paused for a second, not wanting to offend him with what he was about to say.

"I think you were hallucinating." she said plainly. Paszek's face immediately flushed with despair and denial.

"No! It was real! I was there! Sarah…Hall was there! There was a giant wave of water…" he placed a hand over his eyes. How could it not be real!? He saw it. He heard it. He felt it.

"Paszek, you didn't go anywhere. You started thrashing in the water, and you went limp. I dragged you out and tried to get you breathing again. You didn't go anywhere."

Oh God. He was losing his mind. Losing his mind faster than he ever could have expected. But he couldn't afford to crack right now. He remembered why he was here. He had to find Taylor. He had to end this soon.

"We…we need to get you help. This virus…it's going too fast. I have friends, I can get us places…places outside the CIA, outside of the WA…wherever we need to go."

"Kane…if we find Taylor-"

"Taylor…we don't need him right now. We need you. I need you still here. That's what's important here."

He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Whatever happens…I'm still me, you know? I'm still me…"

"I…I want to believe that. I really do."

She grabbed his hand that was already on her and pulled it to stand him up.

"We need to keep moving. This…we'll talk about this later…"

The pair crept their way through a few more desolate hallways, all devoid of any presence, enemy or friendly.

Without spending too much time, they reached the server room. Flooding in the area meant that they were wading in knee-deep water. The only source of light in the room being the dimmed glow of computers did not help.

Kane, who was leading the way, took out her tablet and approached the first row of computers, holding it up to initiate a data interface. A small red "x" appeared on her screen and a soft buzzer sound emitted from it. No dice.

"Either the data on these computers is heavily corrupted…or someone is locking me out…"

"Does it matter which one?"

"As of now, no. I won't be getting any intel from these consoles. I think there's more in the next room, though; we might have more luck there." said Kane plainly.

They trudged back around the computers over to the other end of the server room, noting the increased depth of the water along the way. Kane stopped at an electronically locked door, presumably leading to another room. Knowing that the same thing that kept her out of the database would likely keep her from opening the door remotely, she approached the keypad of the door.

She pressed the numbers 3-3-2-3, and finally a confirmation button at the bottom. The light on the keypad flashed a affirmative green.

"You knew their code?" asked an again surprised Paszek.

"When reviewing their security specs, I noticed that almost every access code in the whole facility had been set to the same four digit number: 3323. Must have left it just like the workers here had it."

The door opened. Kane's mouth opened agape in shock.

Maybe there had been a room behind the door, but there certainly wasn't now. Various debris stood up diagonally, leaning against the wall because they were too massive to stand horizontally. The sheer density of it all eliminated any chance of traversing through it. And to it all off, a bright set of sparks shot out from what was presumably electronic scrap.

"I don't understand…the security schematics pinpointed that the server room was still active…" Kane was confused.

Until it hit her.

"Paszek, we have to get out of here." Kane's voice was calm, but solemn and serious nonetheless.

Paszek was about to speak when he was cut off.

"This was a trap; and I led us right into it." She was still somewhat calm, but her voice wavered as she neared the ends of her sentence.

The ominous electronic humming noise that became audible made Paszek shudder. He flipped a 180 to see three robotic grunts rise out of the water. He took out his KN-44 and fired with the least prejudice he ever had in his life up to point. Paszek wasted an entire clip of the assault rifle, but the robots laid un-operational on the ground.

Kane looked to her right and saw a handful of grunts herself, but knew that the tight quarters of the room did not play to their tactical advantage.

"We don't stand a chance in here! Go back the way we came!" she shouted.

Paszek ran without hesitation back towards the flooded area, and Kane followed right behind him. But he absolutely dreaded climbing back in the water again. He was fresh off a hydro-activated hallucination that almost killed him, and the fact that the robot grunts (his other DNI mind trigger) only made it worse. But the determination he felt outweighed fear just enough for him to thrust himself into the water.

The first thing he noticed was the squadron of grunts swimming right towards him, guns brandished. He swiftly pulled out his side arm, a newly acquired Annihilator pistol (he could thank the 54i database for the schematics to that one), and let two shots rips. One of them missed, but the other tore through four robots that found themselves lined up behind one another.

He swam a bit further forward, and saw nothing of note in the distance.

A metallic claw clamped onto his left wrist. He swiveled his head to see the deathly red eyes of grunt staring him in the face. A soulless machine peered deep into a man who losing his own. Could it feel pity or remorse? Paszek knew not. But it didn't matter. He started to swing his right arm to knock the grunt off, but a second robot wrapped its hand around that arm.

They yanked on his arms with the most of force and the least of precision. Paszek felt an absolutely shearing pain as his muscles and joints were stretched to their limit. He heard a pop, and then a jolt of pain. Another pop. More pain. Now only the most rigid of his ligaments remained attached. The robots continued to pull relentlessly. Water around him was dyed a sultry red as both of his arms were torn off. Paszek screamed in pain, but his cries were muffled by the water.

Before he could notice, both of the robots were gone. He simply floated in place, still reeling with the pinnacle of human pain. His lungs were desperate for air, but the intense pain of his arms occupied all the sensation in his body.

The water around him seemed to fade away in favor of a bright yellowish light. Paszek found himself drawn to it. He would be okay if he just made it to the source. An unknown force pushed him there, even though he remained motionless. Ever so slowly the light drifted closer and closer.

Then blackness.

The roaring of the VTOL's engines woke him up. Paszek did not feel the need to spring up upon returning to consciousness, mostly because whatever he was laying on was far too soft and comfortable to make him want to move.

The first thing he noticed was that both of his arms were, in fact, still attached to his torso.

He cursed to himself. Two hallucinations in just as many trips into the water? And the severity of them was more than concerning. Another episode like that could kill him.

Scratch that. It would kill him. The extent to which his hallucinations engaged his senses…was both puzzling and horrifying. He felt real pain. Almost exactly the same pain as when they were torn off for real. But why? Why would that be designed in the DNI? Was it intentional? A mistake? Which one would be worse?

This kind of thinking could not be considered healthy, Paszek thought. But here he was, doing it anyway.

The door to the cockpit swooped open and out stepped Kane, interrupting Paszek's (mostly detrimental) train of thought.

Kane knew that he had to be flustered by the whole ordeal. He likely was blaming himself for having hallucinations, while not at all factual, would become nothing less than the truth his head. She decided to take a lighter approach.

"I think we should make a mental note…no more deep-sea diving for you."

Paszek continued looking straight up towards the ceiling, saying nothing. Kane was about to speak again when she was stopped.

"Was it you again? That got me out of there?" he sat up to face her.

She nodded her head, and saw Paszek faintly smile for a moment.

"How did the mission go?"

"We have Taylor and Maretti trapped in one of the hangars. A strike team is preparing to head in as we speak. As for us, you and I are going back to Al-Arish; we have an expert from Coalescence who's going to see if there's a way to fix your DNI."

Paszek heard all of what she said, but focused on her summary of the mission.

"A strike team led by whom?"

"…Hendricks."

Paszek did not hesitate for a moment. "Turn this thing around. I need to go back to the aquifer."

Kane shot him a flabbergasted look. "Are you serious? You are not in a condition, mental or physical, to go back into combat."

"Hendricks is in deeper than me; if he is one who runs into Taylor, something bad will happen."

"And you would be any better?"

"A little bit better. And that's all that matters."

"I'm not sending you back into a war zone in the mental state that you're in!"

"Do you trust me more than him? More than Hendricks?"

She frowned.

Kane immediately walked back into the cockpit, and Paszek could see her tap the pilot on the shoulder before the door shut again.

It was a strange sight, seeing the aquifer just forty-five minutes after their initial assault on it. WA planes still circled the platform, but there was no gunfire whatsoever. Was it serene? Not at all. But it was normal. Also normal for the battlefield was the piles and piles of debris strewn around, along with the bodies of fallen soldiers (mostly NRC). Anybody could tell you that the WA had clearly won the battle.

Paszek, of course, knew better than that.

After being dropped off at a landing pad and following a diagram that Kane gave him, Paszek went down a few flights of stairs and ended up in a long hallway with a single door at its end. Expecting to see a small group of CIA operatives, Paszek instead found just one person in the hall.

Hendricks.

He had his back against the wall, looking like he was preparing to breach the door. He noticed Paszek walking towards him and was simultaneously confused and a bit angry.

"Hendricks! Where's the rest of your strike team?" Paszek knew exactly what was up. Hendricks ditched his team to try and take out Taylor and Maretti on his own.

"You know why I have to do this myself…" he said. "They're our friends, man. You can't seriously tell me you think putting them down is the right thing to do!"

"Taylor's squad…they stopped being themselves when the virus hit. And right now I don't think you're yourself either." replied Paszek, sounding stern but calm.

"What are you talking about? I'm trying to do what's best for them!"

Then Hendricks turned cold. The same cold that Paszek felt inside. But it was out. Out in the open for both of them to feel.

"Oh, let me guess, Kane gave you this idea? She's been against us the whole time, Paszek! She knows way more than she's telling us. But you're too blind to see it."

Paszek narrowed his eyes.

His onslaught did not stop.

"I know what's really happening. You've gone soft. Found a sweet spot for your tech support. Kane's feeding you bullshit, plain and simple, and your fucking puppy dog eyes ignore all of that."

"If you seriously believe that-"

"Don't you fucking try to deny it! I heard you say it, yourself! What was it…'passion and love' that got in the way? It was fucking stupid…and people died because of that! Your feelings got innocent people killed! What are you going to next? Find a nice home in the country, start a life with her? Don't kid yourself. Fucking pathetic."

Paszek balled up his fist, and took a few aggressive steps towards Hendricks

"Maybe instead of dropping Taylor and Maretti, I should find Kane and put a bullet in her head!"

Paszek punched Hendricks on the right side of his jaw. And again on the left. And again on the right. He shoved him against the adjacent wall.

Paszek delivered his ultimatum with the most fire and rage he had ever spoken with.

"You listen to me, Hendricks, and you better fucking listen good! You and I, we're both losing our goddamned minds. Taylor and Maretti, they already lost theirs, you hear! They are not who they used to be. But besides that, you crossed the fucking line, man! Spying on me during my private conversations! Thinking that the person that has stood by my side, stood by our side all this time was betraying us! And threatening her! You're the one who's fucking pathetic."

He paused for a brief moment.

"I'm taking command of this operation from now on. If I hear another fucking word about Kane, I'll deal with you myself. And that wouldn't be too good, now would it? Right now, you're my best gun, and my only gun. Not to mention my friend."

Paszek released his grip, and Hendricks fell to the floor. Paszek immediately reached out a hand.

"Now get up. We have some fugitives to catch." Hendricks grabbed Paszek's hand, and he lifted him up onto his feet.

Paszek opened the door at the end of the hallway, and behind stood (surprise, surprise) another long corridor. However, this one was considerably wider and had a much higher ceiling. About 50 yards in front there was what looked like a command center. A set of stairs of led up the compartment, which was filled with computers and protected by glass panels (presumably bullet and shock proof). A familiar face stood behind it.

Peter Maretti.

The moment Paszek noticed it was him, Maretti reached over and pressed a button on a console right next to him.

Paszek dived into a nearby out-cove just as the turrets down the hall fired a flurry of bullets at their position.

Hendricks, still standing behind the doorway of the last room, waited for the gunfire to cease and took that as his opportunity to move in. Using his KN-44 (the rifle had become a favorite of his), he took aim at the turrets and fired rapidly, using his DNI-enhanced arm to steady the kick of the weapon. Before his clip was empty, all 4 of the machine turrets were flaming and disoperational.

"All clear?" shouted Hendricks.

Maretti, his automated defenses now in shambles, picked up a sniper rifle he stashed in the command room. Its laser sight was visible to both of his targets.

"Not quite!" shouted back Paszek.

"He can't hit both of us!" replied Hendricks.

Paszek nodded, and Hendricks gave his own gesture of confirmation. They both sprinted forwards but diagonally, zigzagging past each other in a diamond weave pattern. Maretti took multiple frustrated shots, but found himself unable to land any of them, even as the pair neared his position. Recognizing his current stratagem as ineffective, he turned to his Plan B.

He lobbed a pack of C4 out of the window, its detonator taped to the bottom to allow for explosion on impact.

"Get down!" yelled Paszek, who rolled to the left, with Hendricks following suit in the opposite direction. Although they both managed to escape the blast radius, the explosion rocked the entire room, with the high ceiling of the room partially collapsing. A large piece of metal debris, crashed down into the room just outside the command center, sticking up like a flagpole.

Paszek got up as quickly as he could, and made haste towards the stairs, climbing them before Maretti had a chance to recover from the C4 blast. He opened the door to come face to face with an unarmed Maretti. He pointed his Annihilator at the fugitive.

"Give it up, Maretti. There's nowhere for you to run."

He spoke with upmost calmness.

"You don't understand. We're not trying to run. We're trying to change the world."

"Where's Taylor!?"

"Gone. Probably already in downtown Cairo."

"You're coming with us."

"I'm afraid that's not the case. I'm going to the Frozen Forest."

"Where is the Frozen Forest? What is it?"

"You do not understand…yet. You cannot find the Frozen Forest. It finds you."

Paszek paused his rapid-fire questioning, as Maretti's last answer left him very confused. Before he could ponder the response any longer, Maretti started to speak. But this was not the calm and collected Maretti. This was a much more panicked and frightened one.

"Paszek!" he shouted.

"Kill. Me."

Paszek only stared at him.

"Please."

He had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Maretti pulled out a knife, and Paszek cocked the axel of his Annihilator. Maretti started to advance. His other voice returned.

"Imagine somewhere calm." he took a step.

"Imagine somewhere safe." another foot forward.

"Imagine yourself in a frozen forest." he lifted the knife.

As Maretti slashed downwards with his knife, Paszek was forced to fire his Annihilator. The buckshot of the weapon pierced through Maretti and tossed him back, breaking the glass behind it. He continued to fall until he was stopped…by the spiked metal debris protruding from the floor, impaling him.

Paszek ran down the stairs to check what had happened, but he already knew Maretti would be dead three times over. Hendricks stood just a few feet from the base of the debris, horrified.

"The right thing, Paszek?" he said, clearly passive aggressively.

Paszek gave no answer. He didn't know. He simply walked out of the room and retraced his path to Kane's VTOL. Hendricks followed him about a minute later.

The worst part of it, Paszek thought? He didn't even feel a little bit sorry.

There it is. Chapter 3. This one took up 18 pages in Microsoft Word, and more than doubled the length of my story, so I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Until next time,

HopelesslyLonelyWriter