So the previous chapter was more of a filler chapter to get the team to this point in the story.
KJay99: Please could you tell me how you thought the characters were out of character? I need to know so that I can fix it so it's not a problem for future chapters – this is still my first fic remember ;)
As soon as they emerged with their guns at hand, the workmen moved like north magnets towards them.
"Intruders!" They all simultaneously shouted like robots as they abandoned their machines and charged.
The four of them split up, Pete ran towards the workers as a group came at him head on. This was Pete's chance to let out some of his suppressed anger at what had happened to Claudia. He screamed. They screamed. Pete raised his weapon as he jumped over a large pipe on the ground and fired his Tesla, taking out four of them straight away. 4 down he thought. He still had a good twenty or so others left to plough through.
Two ran forward together at him, each carrying a short, heavy looking metal pole above their head, ready to bring them down hard. Pete bent double and dropped his weapon on the floor, as he did so, he forward rolled underneath them and kicked them both hard in the back, making the two fall to the floor. Pete was back on his feet in seconds and instantly ducked a right hook thrown from another worker, as he ducked, he picked up his Tesla and rammed the butt into his new attacker's face as he stood once more.
He took three strides forward and fired his Tesla again, removing five of the men from his eye line.
Steve was in a similar situation. He had the upper hand on them and had pulled off several well aimed kicks and fired his Tesla at every chance he got. Thank god Claudia rigged these he thought as he fired yet another blast as three workers came running at him all screaming "We will die for our leader!"
They all dropped like flies on top of each other as they landed hard on the cold concrete. Steve ducked as a particularly large work man attempted to jump on him. Steve kicked him hard in the butt and he face planted the floor. Like Pete, he used the end of his Tesla to knock out yet another on coming employee. As he did so, a young worker wacked Steve's shin with a crow bar; it was like a shock to his system and for a moment little stars popped around in his vision, he blinked it out and quickly Tesla'd the guy into unconsciousness.
The workers were not very skilled at fighting; only a few knew some basic manoeuvres. It was just fighting a large quantity at the same time that made it difficult.
Steve looked up and saw Myka had found herself a vantage point on top of a large piece of machinery. Any workers that climbed up towards her she simply kicked off again and fired at will at the many men attempting to catch her from two meters below. Steve was still pretty swamped and Myka had nearly finished all of her section off.
"Myka!" he shouted as he dodged a heavy looking metal ball that was thrown forcefully in his direction.
"Steve?" Myka replied as she was having a one to one combat moment on her vantage point with her last remaining opponent. She quickly showed the guy who was boss after she had picked up her Tesla and shot him clean in the face. She turned around and jumped down from the machines.
"A little help?" Steve managed as he side stepped another right hook. Myka ran forward to help, quickly wiping a small amount of blood from her nose as she did so and fired her Tesla at a sneaky work man who was about to smash a glass bottle onto Steve's head.
Artie was using a number of different artefacts from his seemingly bottomless black bag to help fight his miniature battle. He was just as speedy as Myka, clearing out half of his opponents using Hammer Lane's knuckle strap to give him the strength to beat the many workers off. The work men were shocked at what Artie was able to do with the artefact he had; this panicked them all slightly for a brief moment however nothing seemed to stop them completely from attacking – the artefact influence on them was clearly very strong. Only a few remained of Artie's batch and they were easily rid of within a couple of minutes.
While the fighting was at its peak, the factory floor had been very loud with noises of shouting and screaming but as more and more employees became subdued, the room got quieter and quieter. Now, it was silent.
The four agents came together in the centre of the room to catch their breath. They each looked around; panting and observed the four sections of unconscious bodies they'd left in their wake.
"Are we all okay?" Myka asked the guys as she flicked back her rather dishevelled hair away from her face.
"I'm Dandy" Pete said, while brushing some dirt off his jeans. He looked up and pointed at Myka's face. "Myka, you've got...a little..." He trailed off as he gently wiped away some fresh blood slowly snaking its way out of her nose again.
"It's fine Pete. I'm fine" Myka fussed and Pete took away his hand.
"Are we ready?" Artie asked.
"Sure Artie. I'm with you aren't I?" Steve asked Artie.
"Yeah, we'll take the east wing stairs. Pete, Myka, you take the west. We meet in the middle on the upper floor – got it?"
"Got it" Pete and Myka both replied.
"We keep in touch by Farnsworth on the stairs so we can time the movement" Artie added as they split up and each headed to the stairs.
Artie angled his head upwards to see how many flights of stairs there were, more than he thought there would be but not so many that it would leave him breathless by the time he reached the top. There were no lights on the stairs, so Artie and Steve started moving in the near darkness. Steve checked over his Tesla to see if it was still functioning properly, Is it possible for these things to jam? He thought as he gave it a small shake while following behind Artie up the stairs. Let's hope we don't find out.
They reached the top and peeked through the thin pane of class in the door way. Inside, there were fewer men than on the first floor, as Claudia had said however Artie noticed something about these work men. Steve had noticed it too and pointed it out "Artie, are they carrying hand guns?"
"It looks like it" He said as he squinted his eyes to see the black weapons strapped to their hips more clearly.
"I guess it's a no go for contact combat then?" Steve asked.
"We're gonna have to shoot at them when they least expect it and all at the same time to get rid of the majority quickly then we'll figure something out to deal with the ones that are left" Artie replied, in deep thought "This means...we need to each find a space in the room where we can each be undetected by anyone and yet still get a clear shot at the same time..." he finished and fished out his Farnsworth.
Myka's face appeared on the circular screen.
"Artie, what's the plan? Have you seen, they're armed?" She asked him.
"Yes, they are armed so we need to get into the room and move between machinery as quickly as possible so we can fire simultaneously" He paused "Call me back when you and Pete are in position and we'll stay on the Farnsworth's while we fire, to keep co-ordination" He finished.
"Alright Artie, call you in five" Myka shut the Farnsworth and turned to Pete, who was crouched next to her peering through the door, just like Artie had.
"Hey Myks, there is a row of un-manned machinery near the back wall, the conveyor belt, see?" He pointed and Myka followed his finger with her eyes. The conveyor stretched the entire length of the back wall and rattled along, carrying hundreds of identical trainers.
"Do you think we can get behind that thing?" Myka questioned.
"Sure we can" Pete replied, in a mildly convincing tone. Myka raised a questioning eye brow at him as if to say 'Really?' Pete sighed and said "Alright, it's either the conveyor belt or I think I can see a lovely pile of ancient, smelly and probably mouldy, trainers in the opposite corner over-"
"Okay, okay conveyor belt it is!" Myka interrupted him, hearing enough about the smelly shoes.
"Alright. So...do we just run for it and hope they don't see us?" Pete asked her.
"I guess so"
"Any ideas when we accelerate?"
"I don't know...do you have a vibe about when is the best timing?"
"Not really, I say we wing it"
"Oh, how professional" Myka mocked and earned a hard flick in the arm. She pushed open the door merely an inch to see inside. The room was just as big as the first floor however there seemed to be less space available, this floor had much more machinery and was therefore much louder and they rattled and hummed. A small flight of stairs was located in the middle of the room, which led to the top floor. The work men were busying themselves with whatever it they did all day long, like slaves under Max's control. They all looked engrossed in what they were doing and Myka had a feeling that this was a better time than any to get inside. "On three..." she whispered, and Pete nodded. "One"
"Two" Pete said.
"Three" Myka finished and they pushed open the door quickly together and ran, or rather sprinted as fast as they could while bent double. Thank god the door isn't a squeaky one Pete thought to himself as he followed Myka behind the conveyor. They made it without detection as it was only a five or six meter long gap between the door and their hiding place but Pete sighed with relief all the same.
Myka took out her Farnsworth and Artie's bearded face appeared once more.
"Hey Artie, what's your position?" She whispered.
He didn't look happy about something, which was clarified when he said "I'm in this pile of repulsive rotten shoes! They stink, I wouldn't be surprised if they're infested and I don't have time for another infection!"
Pete and Myka had to stifle a laugh to themselves. "We're crouched behind the conveyor belt" Pete informed him.
"I can see it; it runs all the way down. Pete, you go to one end, Myka you go to the other and wait for my signal"
"Where's Jinksy?" Pete asked.
"He's behind some huge machine. I can see him from my position. Pete when you're in your place, I will signal Steve and he will call you on your Farnsworth and that way we can all co-ordinate and shoot at the same time"
"Got it" Myka said and Pete moved down the conveyor belt a good twenty meters before reaching the end. She saw him answere his Farnsworth and talk to Steve. Artie's face was staring around the room on Myka's Farnsworth, waiting for the right moment to fire. She looked down the little gap at Pete, who mouthed 'Don't miss' with a cheeky smile and a wink on his face. Myka rolled her eyes at him and looked down at Artie again.
"Alright, it looks like we're ready, I'll count from five" He said quietly to Myka and he nodded at Steve, who had lip-read Artie's 'I'll count from five' and told Pete. Artie had his smaller Tesla in his hand, knowing he would not be able to take out as many as the others. He began to count to Myka. "Five"
Steve saw him start the countdown and counted to Pete. "Four"
Myka placed the Farnsworth on the floor and got a firm grip on her Tesla. "Three" she whispered.
"Two" Pete said, doing the same as Myka.
"One" They all breathed.
TBC
Ok so I wrote this when I was really tired, tell me what you think in a review maybe?
;)