11 August 2024

1:50 P.M MDT

Glowgen Armory Denver, Denver, United States

Subfloor 03 Hallway

Jaraslav and Zelislav

As soon as the lights came down, Jaraslav's head immediately got to work. Things weren't going to get easier at this point. Glowgen's gotten smarter, as shown through the logical move to separate the comrades even by accident.

Flicking on an emergency flare he always kept in his pocket, he said to Zelislav. "We're on our own for now, Zeli. Our tools have been blown up, only having a few metres of rope left. Draho and Dvina might be considered captured at this point."

Zelislav nods, tugging his hand at the side of the rope, begin to unwrap it from his arm. Handing it over to him.

Jaraslav immediately notices a reflection and a few sharp edges around the glass to an emergency tool. Making a move to it hastily with Zelislav following behind. Once he reaches there, only an L-turn past the T section, now made two-way from the blast door.

"Enemies won't see us from here?" Zelislav questioned while he looked around.

"Considering this place is heading into lockdown and lights down, they would have serious trouble with visual detection unless they're using strong internal sensors." Jaraslav quickly responds.

He then turns quiet. Continuing on his work while he pulls out a glass shard. Slowly breaking individual fibers of the strand into two.

While he got into the rhythm, he began to comment about it. "Who thought it would be a good idea to not temper the glass to stuff like this?"

Zelislav tilts his head at the comment. However, watched while his BFF continued to prepare something out of the few things they still have. Nothing occurring, which placed him in a state of complacency, and begins to pull out a shard.

His fellow comrade turns while halting his own work, "If you're looking to create a shank out of it, be sure to make some kind of handle."

"I know,"

Zelislav sits on the ground while using the piece of glass to rip a cloth patch off his tank top. Doing a few smaller rough cuts afterward to get the best kind of quality for a handle component. Then wrap it around the base and in a tight tie.

"What're you planning on doing for a DIY we-Nunchuks?"

Jaraslav got back up, holding up two ends of a rope with a thinner rope strang binding both blunt edges together. Nodding while he smiled a bit.

"Yup. But I'm gonna need some kind of comfort. Actually!"

Zelislav tils his head.

"Nevermind what I said, we just need to get ahead..."

Suddenly, near the blast door's position, a part of it soon became lit in dim orange light.

"We got to get moving. Before the fire hits, if Draho did that…" Jaraslav said, his tone from light making to stern.

"Going together or apart?"

"Apart. I don't want to take chances that we could be flanked."

"What if we're in the middle of a trap and set it off?"

"Hamilton and Roosevelt not being here had a purpose in this."

"Huh?"

"Hamilton and Roosevelt have contact with me on my phone. I had planned that we couldn't make it out free. And a made a message accordingly to be sent out."

"I see…"

"Good luck," Jaraslav said before shaking his hair. "Head through the one we're at. I'll take the longer path."

Zelislav nods as he began to follow the L turn they were at. Watching as Jaraslav began to make a jog with his makeshift weapon across almost the full length of the section of the corridor.

Twelve meters later, Jaraslav yells out, "And hurry!"

Soon, the blast door slowly expanding in heat finally reached the frame. Beginning to leak purple and white flames in overwhelming heat. Although at that point, only vents of it.

1:54 P.M MDT

Glowgen Armory Denver, Denver, United States

Subfloor 03 Hallway

Zelislav

Following what Jara-ji said, and reassured our capture wasn't the end of the war. I didn't look back at what was happening. Only moving forward at paced speed, fiddling the shank in my right. While my heartbeat several times over slowly made my breath turn shallow. The closed hallway section had yet another L-turn. The heat approached my skin fast.

When I reached the second turn of the hall, my hand got moist, almost causing the shank to slip. Thankfully, friction saved my ass from having a giant laceration on my hand. How was I going to use my FLIC's commands then?

The second straight section was like everywhere else when we started. Bland, gray, dark, barely any light besides the lamp to a room. Not that it made a difference at that point, my mind was already set to get to that light and figure what was out there beyond the only source of illumination.

I jogged with pace to cover the seventy metre corridor. Until I began to realise a second source coming from behind me. At that instance, I entered into a sprint. Gritting my teeth while I restrained myself from making any sort of cry. Showing any of my weaknesses of any kind would open us up to exploitation.

1:55 P.M MDT

Glowgen Armory Denver, Denver, United States

Subfloor 03 Hallway

Jaraslav

From what little of the hallway Zeli would've been trekking as I got to mine, this wouldn't be too much of a difficulty. Despite the easily confirmable assumption, Draho was using the full extent of his FLIC to hold off growing waves of Glowgen personnel for me, Zeli, and Dvina. On my way towards what was at the end of this part, I didn't want to imagine whether he succeeded or not, slain, or taken prisoner as a consequence.

The path ahead further threw my larger perspective thinking about this situation away, as there were a few obstacles ahead of me. I still carried the nunchaku I made in my hands. Pain coming from the hand I used to use my Electra Fist attack on Uugu. Letting go of that while having to halt and fix how I held it.

I didn't have enough time to get both ends of my weapon to just one. The fire was quickly overwhelming the lower sections of the hall that Zelislav and me started in. However, a chair got in my way, I tripped on my shoe. The nunchuck pounds my stomach, causing me to vomit. Just seconds before I was about to die in an inferno…

1:56 P.M MDT

Glowgen Armory Denver, Denver, United States

Weapons Room, Subfloor 03

"Jara! Jara!" Zelislav shouts while he got past a fire door.

His vision turned blurry, getting up from sliding across the floor while holding his back against the wall. Coughing as a result of the stench of a dead body. Balling his fists while sweat passed his head.

"Shit… JARA!"

He shouts again, taking a moment to catch his breath while the heat persists. Trembling from his arms while he tried to control his breathing. Yet, the reality of what's happening wouldn't help. Rising from the ground, Zelislav heads to one of the shelves and rips the HK416 out of the shelf. Swiftly bringing it in the proper holding position and disabling the safety.

An individual, clad in a tight-fitting sci-fi similar outfit emerges, a female. However, without any weapons, with long black hair and well-formed legs, which the nature of the suit revealed.

Noticing the person while she raised her hands, he hesitates to fire the trigger. Instead, walking towards her, tears slowly beginning to come out of his eyes. Without an immediate threat to hold them back with.

She said to him in a calm, exhausted, but hard voice, "What's going on?"

"My friend, Jaraslav… He's dead-"

Suddenly, a male individual in a similar suit. Not revealing much, and could be easily mistaken for a Gundam or Evangelion mech pilot. But had black hair, shaven past the sides, and a tan. Carrying a Jaraslav with a bunch of his hair burnt off, leaving him with a shorter cut than before, past the fire doors.

"He's alive," he said, having a noticeable Japanese accent to him.

"JARA!" Zelislav shouts while he approached him.

The man's hand extends with the signal to stay away. "He's vulnerable right now. It's best not to push it."

"J-Jara…"

"It's his name?" the female asked, kneeling next to the man while asking Zelislav.

"Yes, it's his name. Full's name's Jaraslav."

"What about yours?" the man again requests.

"Zelislav…"

In relief, Zelislav's weight fell off his shoulders as he finally got the opportunity to breathe without worry. As such, turning quiet while he looked at the ceiling and prayed. Dropping the 416.

After some moments, as he relieved his mind, he asked more calmly, "What are your names?"

"Asami." the woman responded.

"Shu." the man replies.

"What happened?" Zelislav asked again, getting on his feet to look around.

"A massive torrent of fire almost engulfed him in flames. Much of his hair didn't make it, but Jaraslav's still alive," replied Asami.

"I didn't imagine we'd see something on the level from four years ago until now."

Zelislav had no idea about what Shu talked about, so he tilts his head.

Meanwhile, Asami began CPR on Jaraslav's body. Shoulders parallel to his body, right hand over her left, and pressing on his chest.

Shu, meanwhile, moved Zelislav away from Asami and Jaraslav's location. Giving a chance to discuss things with him in a more private setting than usual.

"What's going on?" he asked, calmer in tone.

Zelislav coughed, "We were trying to look for the weapon Fulgur. But Jara…"

"What is it?" Shu asked again, putting his hands on Zelislav's shoulders.

"A weapon that someone contracts us to obtain and destroy. I don't know much. However, it's important to Gabriel."

"Why is it?"

"I don't know... Something about souls."

He backs away after noticing nothing useful was from Zelislav, sighing, "It's not safe to be here."

"I know the risks."

"Even then, why are you in a restricted area?"

"We were pushed here when the facility entered into lockdown," he replied, Zelislav's Polish accent leeching. "We're here in the first place due to needing to destroy Fulgur. But our entire group appears to have fallen into a trap."

"Who's in your group?"

"Me, Jaraslav, Dvinaslav, and Drahoslav. We have a fifth person, Stanislav. But he isn't here for reasons Jara has."

Shu snaps his finger to Asami, "Asami! Kare wa daijōbu?"

"Hai," she gives a thumbs up and moves away from Jaraslav.

Jaraslav deeply breathes, raising his body to sit. Most of his hair cut or burned off, the remains having charred remnants or alterations in color, staring towards the two he thought were AST agents.

"Where am I. Also, AST members?!"

Shu diverts from Zelislav despite the latter making a run for it. Genuinely surprised someone like him would know what it is.

Zelislav slows when he reaches Jaralsav, who was in star-eyed mode. Beginning a tight embrace while he slowly starts to cry in happiness.

"I'm grateful you're alive..!" Zelislav said while smiling a great bit.

Refocusing on the thing that happened, Jaraslav hugged back and smiled, "It's alright. But, are those two members of the AST?!"

Asami coughs finished figuring how she was going to word it to the two. "Shu and I were apart of the AST."

"You two shouldn't-"

"An anomaly last year ended us here." Shu jumped in, kneeling near the two and looking at Jaraslav in the eyes. "You know a lot. Can you tell us about the situation?"

"If you two are AST members. I guess you can be trusted with this information about our squad's operation to take Fulgur." Jaraslav pauses for a moment, breathing deeply in.

Several times, he did. Calming his nerves about the fault he might be having to deal with a much more complex situation than he initially imagined in his head.

"I believe, in my own opinion, as I've planned this operation, the three weapons that Lincoln tasked us with bringing. Ignis, Fulgur, and Aura. Ignis, and Fulgur, I believe, are fakes. Aura, after a pre-operation investigation, was revealed to be an Angel that arrived here presumably around the time we did."

"An Angel… A Spirit?" Asami inquired.

"Yes… I know Spirits actually exist. Saw one with my own two eyes in the world tangibly. Technically, two."

"Really?"

He nods.

"Its true name is unknown. However, we use the codename Aurus to describe it. Is Glowgen looking for a Spirit?"

"The CTO called Glowgen's elite out to the armories, ourselves included after he was personally attacked, by what's easily assumed to be Phantom."

Zelislav looked towards them. Oblivious to what they were talking about in the full picture.

"Can I ask a question?" he said.

"What is it, Zeli?" Jaraslav asked.

"What about your job at RECT?"

"I turned it down. Don't worry."

Asami and Shu looked towards the two while looking around for additional clues or cues they'd have to consider going forward, now Jaraslav's capable of talking on their level. A few minutes pass, then they say their next thing.

"Your group must be quite intelligent. What do you wish to do?"