Natsuki and Chelsea traveled through and empty hallway, but neither said anything to one another. The silence between them was deafening. Natsuki peaked around the corner and saw nobody.
"I guess it's pretty obvious nothing is worth guarding over here." Natsuki commented, "Which probably means Tridon isn't here."
"Oh gee. Ya' think?" Chelsea responded sarcastically.
"Look, I don't want that sarcastic bs from you. This is my friend we're talking about. You know. The same guy who saved you when he could've, and should've, left you for dead."
"You know, none of this would've never happened if you had just stayed a loner."
"And let you continue to bully me? Not gonna happen. Tridon was there to make sure I wasn't a loner. He was there to make sure I had someone to turn to and seek help from your torment. Something you should've done as my best friend. Oh wait. Ex-best friend."
"I had no choice. You know how brutal high school can be with social groups. I was just caught up in mine and-."
"You left behind your best friend since elementary school!" Natsuki roared, "You left me behind just because you were on the volleyball team. A team that doesn't even hold traction for our school. You could've broke out and changed everything, but you chose to look after yourself. As a result, you let your best friend suffer. Suffer at your hands."
"Natsuki..."
"I thought my best friend could stick up for me. Before I knew it, I had already lost her to the high school hierarchy."
Chelsea fell silent to Natsuki's ranting. She knew saying 'Sorry' wouldn't do a thing. All she could do was be the ear Natsuki had needed for so long. Something she should've done a long time ago.
"It's why I looked to Tridon. He might be an idiot, but he's the best idiot someone could ask for. It's why I want to save him."
"I know." Chelsea walked up to Natsuki and said, "Let's go save this idiot boyfriend of yours," Chelsea held out her fist and added, "best friend."
"Yeah." The two fist bumped and smiled at one another after seemingly letting bygones be bygones.
Monika had jammed the end of her SMG into the back of a soldier's head, knocking them out. She whistled to Yuri who joined her.
"The guards are light around here." Yuri commented, "Whatever they're guarding-."
"Isn't Tridon." Monika finished, "Still. We could find something useful for ourselves."
"But Monika. Our main priority is saving Tridon. We can't derail from our current objective."
"I know, but what if we find something that could maybe help with Tridon and his power. You know. So that he doesn't use so much energy after each use."
"I mean..."
"Come on." Monika ordered, "let's keep looking. I think I heard those guards say that an armory was nearby."
"Monika!" Yuri called out, "We barely know how to use guns as is. What makes you think we can use other guns or anything else of that matter."
Sayori hugged Tridon who hugged her back, "I was so worried Tridon."
"Nah you didn't have to be. I was going to get out either way."
"You really fight well." Lola commented while looking at the bodies surrounding them, "Like really well."
"Tridon," Sayori interrupted, "Tiff kinda told that she's been training you to be an agent."
"I expected her to spill the beans. I mean, what else would explain my combat expertise. No normal person could take out a platoon of highly training soldiers alone and outgunned."
"But to do this with only months of training is impossible." Lola commented, "No matter how athletically gifted you are."
"Yeah there's more to my training than you think, but right now, we have to focus on getting out of here. Where are the others?"
"They're sweeping the facility looking for you."
"Well, radio them in or something. It won't be long before the alarm goes off."
"I'll do it." Lola said as she walked off.
"Do you even have a way out? Once those alarms go off, Doctor Voltrov is gonna lock this place down."
"Doctor what?"
"Doctor Voltrov. He's the guy that..." Tridon stopped himself and said, "Look, I'll explain when we're out of here. Erica gave me something that could lead towards me finally having a normal life."
"Where is Erica?"
"No clue and I'd rather not find out."
"Alright." Lola came back saying, "we have our extraction. Jen is meeting us in the heart of the facility with everyone else."
"The heart?" Tridon thought to himself, "I read through the facility's data logs and found out that the heart of this facility is like a huge landing pad for helicopters and such. Yeah. Let's go."
Monika and Yuri eventually arrived at the armory, but it was locked tight. Monika looked around and groaned.
"Well, unless we had some grenades, we could blow this door open."
"And probably set off whatever is inside." Yuri added, "Monika, we need to focus on getting Tridon before they find out we're here."
"This facility is massive. Who knows how long it'll be before they figure out we're here."
"You know," Natsuki started, "I heard some commotion nearby. You'd think that would set off an alarm."
"Not to mention that we drove up in a humvee. There's no way we just waltzed right in without tripping an alarm."
"Weird."
Meanwhile nearby, Robert stood in a a transport helicopter, accompanied by several more helicopters, smirked as they flew the air.
"That girl finally made herself useful." He muttered, "Step on it! We have to get that boy. I'll let Epsilon handle anyone that gets in our way."
Tridon looked around and said, "Alarm going off in 3,2,1." Tridon pointed in front of them just as the alarms blasted and groups of soldiers appeared, "You girls stay back. I'll handle this." Tridon cracked his knuckles and walked forward while Sayori and Lola ducked for cover.
"Man," Sayori started, "to think that this all started with a bunch of high school students chilling in a literature club. Now we're doing this."
"Things tend to change don't they?"
"Yeah, but to this degree?" Sayori laughed and put her gun down, "Killing people. Saving people. We've mostly been saving Tridon, but I never expected this."
"Maybe you should have since you're friends with someone with a power. An enigma. You yourself are an enigma Sayori. Maybe at some point you did expect this?"
"Maybe. Maybe it was when I met Tiff. Maybe it was when Tridon began to become reclusive towards the end of last semester. Maybe it was when I first met Tridon."
"Do you think that maybe you've just always knew something like this would happen?"
"That's a probability, but a very outlandish probability."
"Ah man." The girls peaked out to see Tridon being overwhelmed by the sheer number of soldiers charging at him, "I know I'm asking for a lot, but I could really use some help!" Tridon threw a soldier, who lunged at him, over his head, but he was forced to dodge some bullets, causing him to be jumped by soldiers, "Help!"
"Already here!" Monika shouted as she drove a small dune buggy with Yuri in the gunner seat. Monika spun out, taking out groups of soldiers in the process before stopping abruptly. Yuri grabbed the gunner railing and exhaled deeply, "Sorry about that Yuri. You okay?"
"Just a little bit of whiplash." She answered while stumbling out of the buggy.
"Way to make an entrance girls." Tridon commented as he a guy behind him, "But maybe it's best if you step out of that buggy."
"Tridon!" Natsuki shouted as both her and Chelsea joined back up with them, "You're safe!"
"Well, I am safe. Don't know much about these guys." Tridon looked at the soldiers on the ground either dead or unconscious, "So where's our extract? In fact, Sayori and Lola said Jen was with you girls. Where's she?"
"If you're referring to Agent Jenna Stone," Doctor Voltrov interrupted, "then she is in good hands."
"That..." Tridon stopped himself and said, "Screw the T-Rating! Where are you asshole!"
"Oh me? I'm far from there. Erica, although she did give you delicate information and let you go free, she was able to capture Agent Stone. To make up for her mistake, I am willing to trade for that usb drive she gave you for Agent Jennifer."
"What is he talking about?" Sayori asked while they joined up with the group.
Tridon dug into his pocket and took out the usb drive Erica slid to him earlier. He squeezed it in his hands and said, "If you're really up for this trade, then we'll do it."
"Wonderful! Once I have that usb drive back, I can go through with your operation."
"Operation?" Natsuki questioned, "What is he talking about?"
"Name a time and place and I'll go there." Tridon didn't bother answering her as he said, "Alone. I'll be alone and I expect you to be alone."
"Will do Mr. Pierce."
"Tridon," Monika started, "what are you doing?"
"This usb drive holds the way to get this power out of me. Out of Sayori. Out of Lola. We can finally live as normal people, but now this holds the safety of Jen. However, I don't trust that doctor to get this power out of us. So I have a plan."
"What is-." Sayori started, but was immediately interrupted when the roof of where they were exploded to reveal Robert and his army, "It's Robert!"
"Get Tiff on your radios and get our evac!" Tridon ordered, "Tridon ran off and shouted, "I'll cover you girls! Just focus on not getting shot!"
"So he leaves us alone." Chelsea mumbled.
"I heard that!" Tridon shouted back.
"It's so great to see all of you again." Robert called out, "I'm sure you would love to just have me take you all to safety, but you see, my target is Tridon."
"Not a chance Mr. Arias." Doctor Voltrov interrupted, "I have important business with Mr. Pierce."
"Okay who is this weird Albanian-accented guy?" Robert questioned, "Man. I missed a lot..."
"I won't let you take Mr. Pierce so easily."
"Oh bring it old man."
While the girls ran for cover, Robert's soldiers dropped and started fighting with Voltrov's men. The girls peaked out to see them focused on each other rather than them.
"Girls," Tridon radioed in, "Tiff won't know exactly where we are. She prepared for this. So one of you should have a flare in your vest."
"I have it." Sayori answered.
"When you have an opening, fire it through that hole. I'll try and clear the area from where I am."
"Where are you exactly?" Yuri asked.
"Turn around."
The group slowly turned around to see Tridon very far away waving at them. He aimed his shotgun towards the group of soldiers fighting one another and pointed ahead.
"Keep your heads forward. I don't have much ammo, so I can only clear so much. When I say go, you go."
"But..."
"Trust me Sayori. Have I ever lied to you?"
"Do you really want me to answer."
"I prefer you not to."
"Alright. I'll see what I can do."
"All of you go."
"What?"
"When I say go, all of you go with Sayori." Tridon cocked his shotgun and said, "I'll be pinpoint accurate with this gun."
"You better be."
Tiffany watched from a nearby billboard with her team and said, "Prepare to move when they give the signal." She loaded her rifle and added, "We have to be quick. Nobody gets left behind."
"Roger that." Her men responded.
Tridon fired endlessly, but failed to make an opening. He stopped and looked around. He stood up and sighed.
"Can't keep wasting ammo. I only 2 shells left. Which means I got 20 shots left. There's obviously more than 20 of them, so why not try and disperse them." Tridon looked at the girls and asked, "You girls don't happen to have any grenades do you?"
"Do you really think Tiff would give a bunch of untrained high schoolers with explosives."
"Good point." Tridon looked at the buggy and said, "Well, keep your head down, cover your ears, and be ready to move on my go." Tridon aimed at the fuel tank of the buggy and fired. The slug penetrated the fuel tank, igniting it and exploding, "Go! Fire the flare and I'll meet up with you girls."
"Let's go!" Sayori ordered as she ran off to the destroyed buggy while both Robert's and Voltrov's men tried to regain their bearings.
"Gah..." Robert growled, "I think it's time I send out my new weapon." Robert looked over to the same hooded figure that was seen when Tridon was shot stood next to him, "Go Epsilon."
"Yes sir." It responded in a deep voice, "I will handle the problem." The person, Epsilon, jumped down from the helicopter and landed in front of the girls.
"Whoa." Sayori stumbled back and said, "Hooded dude."
Monika caught her and stared at them, "What in the world?"
Epsilon took out two handguns and pointed it at the girls, "Targets must be destroyed."
"What?!" The girls shout in unison.
Before Epsilon could fire, Tridon shoulder charged him, making him stumble, but quickly regain his footing.
"Don't mess with my friends. I know you want me Mr. Assassin's Creed. So let's do it." Tridon threw a punch, but Epsilon ducked under it and grabbed his arm.
Epsilon tried to hit back, but Tridon continued back up before jerking his arm back and flipping away. Tridon slid under Epsilon and tried to roundhouse kick him, but Epsilon ducked under. However, Tridon sole kicked Epsilon back while the two glared at one another.
"Whatever you girls are gonna do," Tridon started, "do it now!" Tridon took out his shotgun and fired multiple shots at Epsilon who ducked, slid, and flipped over all his slugs. Tridon tried to load his shotgun back up, but Epsilon grabbed it and jammed it in Tridon's sternum.
"Gah..." Tridon groaned, "My wound..." Blood slowly started to trickle from Tridon's wound, "Damn it..."
Sayori stood up and ran to the hole. She loaded the flare up and fired it into the air. It flew high into the air and high enough for Tiffany to see it.
"Let's move." Tiffany ordered, "Quickly." Tiffany stared at Robert's helicopters and sighed, "We gotta move fast. In and out. Drop those SPIE cables when you get to that hole!" Tiffany and her crew loaded into multiple Little Birds and accompanied by Apache helicopters, "We have the government paid off. We can go as we like to do this as quickly and efficiently."
"Yes Captain!" Her soldiers respond.
"What now?" Monika asked while watching Tridon fight Epsilon, "Should we help him?"
"I think we would just get in his way." Chelsea commented, "We should probably wait for Tiff to get here."
"Let's get back into cover and just let Tridon handle it." Yuri added, "If we try to help, we would just get in his way."
Everyone else except Sayori ran back to cover as she kept watching Tridon losing his ground against Epsilon. Sayori gripped her SMG and wanted to walk forward, but remembered what Tiffany told her earlier that day.
"He's trained enough in combat, but he's still raw in terms of power. So he spends time alone putting himself in scenarios where he can build on that rawness."
"I trust you best friend." Sayori smiled, "Kick his ass!" Sayori cheered before running off to her friends.
"Will do best bud!" Tridon attacked Epsilon with a flurry of attacks, but Epsilon dodged each strike with fluidity and skill. Tridon backed up and shook his head, "You're pretty good."
"I've trained enough to complete the orders given to me. Enough to stop any tricks you have up your sleeves."
"Really?" Tridon scoffed and asked, "I thought Robert had nothing but incompetent soldiers, but I see you'll actually be fun to fight. However," Tridon paused just as Robert's helicopters were being blown out of the air, "you probably don't account for everything."
"On the contrary Pierce!" Robert shouted, "Lola," Robert started, "you know what to do."
Lola, although hesitantly, stood up and tossed a handful of flashbangs into the air. Everyone covered there eyes, but the explosions from them deafened them for a short moment.
"I'll finish this later." Epsilon mumbled.
"Oh no you won't!" Tridon lunged at Epsilon, but Epsilon waved his arm and he disappeared, "What?" Tridon looked around before smirking, "So you're an enigma too." Tridon turned around to see Lola gone from their group, "And you show your true colors, but how true are they."
Tiffany and her soldiers fired at both sides from their little bird along with the little bird firing as well. Tiffany looked down and gave the thumbs up at Tridon.
"Alright." Tridon shouted to his friends just as a SPIE rig dropped in front of them, "Let's move!" Tridon put the rig on and turned to the remaining girls who did the same, "You might feel some very bad whiplash, so prepare yourselves!" Tridon looked up and whirled his arms in the air.
A few seconds pass and they are pulled into the air and out of the facility. Tridon looked at Robert's main helicopter where Lola looked at him. Tridon scrunched his face and shook his head.
"Don't worry about her or Epsilon." Tridon muttered to himself, "Focus on getting Jen away from Doctor Voltrov."
However, deep down inside him, Tridon wanted to get Lola away from Robert. But now that Robert has a new powerful enigma named Epsilon at his side, he knows that Doctor Voltrov and Jen in his grasp would be the least of his problems now.
"What did I get my friends into...?"
A/N: Whoo yeah! A rating change to M-Rating (for language) or maybe I should keep it to T and warn people of harsh language. I don't know. I leave that to all of you. Well, there has been a lot of killing these last few chapters. Like Tridon snapping a dudes neck and all that. Bah. I'll just let you guys and gals say if I should go back to a T rating or if I should keep it at an M. It could open a world of possibilities. Anyway, interesting huh? A new enemy who can fight better than Tridon, is an enigma, and has a name like Epsilon! Yeah, kinda derived that name from Red Vs Blue. Been binge watching that ever since they announced RvB: Zero, so I just decided to use Epsilon. He won't be like Epsilon/Church from RvB. Probably more like Locus. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this as I'm going to work on the last serious chapter which will revolve around the trade for Jen and Tridon's plan for the trade. So I hope to see all of you then.
Also, back to back uploads. Haven't done this in a while. Also, also, Tridon is used to killing people since he's been training endlessly ever since their spec ops scenario from the last story. So he's practically used to it. I'm also adding more explanation in the future behinds Tridon's carefree nature when it comes to brutally killing enemy soldiers. As for the others, well, I can't answer ya' there. Uh, continuity?
Oh yeah! Lola finally revealed her "true colors". Are they really her true colors? Maybe. Maybe not. I'll leave that to fester in your minds until the next chapter. See y'all in the next chapter!
