Argon is barely guarded when she slowly arrives, unlike last time when soldiers hounded her before she even drew close. Her breath hitches in reminder of those easier times, and she hurries to control it as she stands upright. One last deep breath before she begins forward, eyeing the posts. They remain still...perhaps they are empty.
Definitely. It'll be that much easier for Dyson to enter the city.
After she passes underneath, she hurries into the city. Hopefully Beck's office is in the same place as before…..
She slows at the sight of the guards in front of the steps, rifles resting on a shoulder. One glances to the side, and stops when they see her. They don't recognize her….have I been away that long? And did they keep my 'betrayal' quiet?
"Who are you?" They stop her when she grows close. "What do you want?"
"I need to talk to the Renegade." She glances around them to see that for once the blinds are open, and inside, Beck and Mara are bent over something in discussion. "It's important."
"He's not seeing anyone right now. Come back later."
I can't come back later! Dyson's army will be arriving any time now!
"But it's important!"
"Well this 'important matter' will have to wait!"
"I'm serious! Please…" She pleads. "Just let me talk to him."
"You need to leave." Their expression doesn't change.
"But_" The guards takes her by the arm and begins to pull her along. She digs in her fight, and the other guard has to leave his post to help. "Stop! I need to talk to Beck! Wait_!"
"What's going on out here?"
All three stop and turn to Beck, who is standing at the top of the steps, still in the suit of white (from her distance, Paige can see the faint bloodstains that wouldn't come out of the white because of her). They all pause, before Paige pushes out of their grip, starting to the steps. "I need to talk to you_"
One of the guards grabs her arm and pulls her back. "I'm sorry, sir. I was escorting her away right_"
"No, let her come." Beck's expression barely shifts, and he merely stares at her with the same piercing gaze from the first time they met. The guard lets go of her as Beck closes the door behind him and starts down the steps. Taking her by the shoulder, he leads her away from the guards, until they are alone.
"What are you doing herre?" He hisses as he lets go fo her. "I told you never to come back."
"I know." She sighs. "But I saw something out there...something you'll want to know about."
He crosses his arms, gaze burning into her. "Go ahead."
"Clu's Army is on their way. I saw them marching through the Outlands."
"Not possible." Beck dismisses. "General Tesler is dead." He takes that as the end of the discussion and begins to walk off.
"It's not Tesler!" She calls after him, and he stops. After a pause, he turns back to her.
"Who then?"
"Dyson."
Beck's guarded expression falters, and she can see his eyes widen.
"You know who he is. Clu's second in command is heading to Argon, to here, with troops!"
"That's not possible."
"I'm not lying!"
"How do I know that?" He snaps back.
"Because I'm your friend_"
"No!" He stalks to her, and points towards the horizon. "You work for them!"
She opens her mouth to argue, but his snappish exhale through his nose makes her stop.
"I told you once before not to come back. Leave, and if you ever come back, I'll be forced to carry out your original sentence. Do you really want to die?"
She closes her mouth, gaze burning. "Fine." She adjusts her hold on her bag, and stalks away from him.
Maybe...She shakes her head. Maybe he'll listen in time, and they'll be ready.
She exits the city without incident, and is climbing up the hill, when she hears the first explosion. She turns back to see forces running into the city, and the screams catch her from here.
Their citizens are still among them! The innocents!
Forgetting about Beck's order and the threat of execution, snow kicks up as she takes off down the hill.
Quickly, snow transforms to concrete underneath her feet, and she's reaching for her weapons when she stops at the burning roof of a house. She can hear the screaming, young and piercing. With a gasp, she kicks aside debris before nearly knocking the door off its hinges to get in. There! The two children back away until she closes in and picks them both up.
"It's okay, I'm here to help!" She ducks herself below the smoke as much as she can, and runs out of the house just before the roof collapses inward. She sets both down.
"Where are your parents?"
Neither answer, for one is sobbing and the other coughing. She remembers the tunnels underneath the city. Mara had showed them to her once...virtually indestructible….
"Get to the tunnels!" She told them. "You'll be safe there."
The two nod, and the elder takes the youngest by the hand and they take off around the corner. She follows for a moment to see them to safety, before taking off again, pulling off her weapon. Clu's soldiers fall at her strikes in the sporadic intervals, but the fight bottlenecks at the area where Beck's office is. At the top of the steps, the man himself slashes a soldier to the side, before running down the steps into the chaos.
"Get to the tunnels, pass it on!" She yells to a couple running past her. They don't stop but yell an acknowledgement as she takes off to join the fight.
Everything blurs together as she lunges at the orange-trimmed figures. The crowd begins to thin as people from both sides either flee or fall, and now she can clearly see Beck. His scream of rage flies above the crowd as he charges at the masked soldier with the sword. The soldier blocks, and punches Beck across the jaw, and he stumbles.
No!
She can't move before something weighted catches her in the legs and she falls. Stupid...They had come on her left side and now a soldier stands above her, face impassive as they directly kick her in the nose. Blood spurts out but before she can do anything to stop the blows or the blood, the second kick comes and everything disappears.