By the time she got to the docks, the torrential downpour had dissolved to a drizzle. Keira forced the vehicle into neutral and slowly creaked over the puddles to the landing pads. She parked next to the FL freighter. "Oh man." Keira pulled herself out of the car and rubbed her behind. "Ow, ow." Steam rose from the hood, where the drizzle sizzled on the hot engine. Keira wrung her hair and twisted the cloak, shaking droplets from her hands. The fish stink was magnified and oils ran from the city streets into the dock water.
Keira entered a sequence of numbers on the cargo door's punch pad and it slid open. She tossed her cloak to the floor and shivered. Since she didn't have the ignition code, she couldn't start the freighter and turn the heat on. Keira sat for a few minutes, thinking and rubbing her arms.
"I should probably do something, move around," she said to the dark terminals and screens. "That will warm me up." She pulled a few tools from her belt. "You know, those command ports in the steering wheel are a nifty feature." She hefted a hammer in her hand, then stomped back outside.
Keira nodded to the east, where Haven lay. "This is for everybody at home!" She unfastened the steering wheel and squinted. She followed wires into the dashboard and then took it apart. Keira dismembered the vehicle, taking her time, her chilliness replaced by the warming joy of discovering a new mechanism. "Oh, neat! I wonder who did this." She held a bundle of eco-wiring up to the dark sky. "That's a new way to twist 'em!" She tossed it into the freighter. "I'll study you more when I get home."
When she was finally done stripping the vehicle of everything valuable, she put it into neutral and pushed it into the water. It bobbed for a few seconds, huge bubbles churning around the frame. Then it sank, its headlights long since extinguished. Keira waved cheerfully.
"And that's for trying to kill me."
"We're in Rayn's HQ, now. We have less than ten minutes to find the room we're looking for." Ashelin fiddled with the little boxes at her belt. "Do you smell anything? Anything at all?"
Tess put her hands against the wall and stood on her toes. She took in the layered smells of her surroundings- the resin-burgundy stink of the walls, the musty carpet with innumerable dirt-scented, oily footsteps. The overhead lights even hummed with a strange almond pitch. "No. Nothing… nothing odd."
Ashelin made an unamused noise. "Daxter, you promised me you got everything done…."
"Wait." Tess tilted her head. "There's something above… there's a smell, like, over the walls." She climbed up Ashelin's arm and stood on her shoulder. "Yes! It's like, really thin dark eco. Mixed with…" she sniffed, "um, electricity?"
"Bingo." Ashelin squinted at the ceiling. A few, hair-thin silver spots shone between the ceiling lights. The threads were invisible unless one saw them at the right angle. "Daxter must've strung them up, literally." Ashelin pulled her pistol out and reloaded it. "Pretty good idea."
"That's my Daxxie poo!"
Ashelin rolled her eyes. "Keep your nose sharp. We're following these 'til we get to the room."
"Okay." Tess pointed. "This way."
While Tess directed, Ashelin scanned the hallways. She continuously checked her little electronic boxes. "Tell me you have all the money hidden away," she said softly.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing." Ashelin stopped at another stairwell. "We go through here?"
"Yeah." Tess frowned. "The… thread thingies. They go up and down and kind of everywhere."
"Good."
"Uh." Tess blinked. She had been expecting an explanation. "Well, I guess we go up."
Ashelin nodded. She opened the door without a sound. The stairwell was well-lit and clean. Ashelin placed a remote bomb on the back of the door they had just come through.
"Wha-"
Ashelin cut Tess off with a glare. She put a finger to her lips, then pointed to one of the boxes at her hip. Tess nodded. Pressing her hands against the wall, Ashelin ascended slowly, straining her ears. She set a bomb on the door above their target floor.
"When backup tries to get through this stairway," whispered Ashelin, "well, they won't." She squatted at the door with the faintest of silver lines disappearing through the top. "You go out onto this level. Follow the smell to the room where the thread ends. Put this," she pushed a box into Tess's hands, "on that door. Back up. Electronic bomb. Door will open, no dust, no mess. Find the Bullet X."
"Will the alarm go off?" Tess turned the bomb in her fingers.
"Yes. As Rayn's people come through, I'll take care of them. When done, head for opposite stairwell." Ashelin patted her pistol. "Jak shot eco-based weaponry before opening the door. We distinguish ourselves with forethought. Go."
"Eep."
Ashelin cracked the door open and Tess crept out. The hallway seemed long, much longer than any other had been. It was the same obnoxious color as the rest of Rayn's HQ, but it smelled different. This floor had more dark eco in it.
There were also ten guys standing outside the room Tess presumed she was to enter. She flattened herself against the wall, wide-eyed.
"What the hell is that?"
"I dunno. Shoot it!"
"Aaaaahh!" Tess screamed and ran down the hall, against all sense of self preservation, towards the men shooting haphazardly at her.
"Tess, stay down." The door behind her swung open just long enough for Ashelin to fire twice. Three guys fell.
"AAAAAHHH!" Tess zig zagged down the hallway. A hailstorm of shots – metal and eco – riddled the floor with holes. Shrapnel glanced off her hazmat clothing. A huge burst of fear and excitement powered her legs. She jumped, pushed herself off the wall, and jumped again.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
Door creak, pistol shots. Tess climbed up the body of a man as he fell, scrabbling for his stained and threadbare clothing. She jumped on the shoulders of his companions until she was close enough to slap the bomb on the door. She launched herself in every direction, avoiding fists and gun barrels.
Pow pow pow the men were down. Tess hyperventilated, glancing all around. She had just enough time to realize she was still alive when an electric sizzle popped the door open. An alarm went off, screeching against her eardrums. She winced.
More men poured in from the opposite stairwell. Red strobe lights flashed, turning the hallway a sinister clash of burgundy and blood.
"Get in there!" screamed Ashelin.
"Ahh, ahh!" Tess was too scared for words, moving too fast to think. She dove into the room and whipped her head around. Bullet X Bullet X Bullet X!
Two explosions rocked the place. Tess tumbled as the floor shook. Ashelin swore. More pistol shots.
Tess forced herself to focus. She squinted into the flashing red alert lights. A huge metal tank stood along one wall, smelling of dark eco. There was a table with a generator on it, humming quietly. A line ran from the generator to the wall; a hose ran to the tank.
"Bullet X?" she squeaked. Tess wrung her hands. "Where are you?"
She glanced around the room. There was nothing else in there. She hopped onto the table.
The generator was modified with a dark eco intake. Eco was being pumped into the machine. Tess picked up the hose. It shuddered under her fingers and she dropped it. "Ugh!" Moving dark eco creeped her out more than anything. It even smelled like it was expectant, waiting for her to fall in…
"Tess! Tess!"
Ashelin's unhappy voice was buried in a cacophony of gunshots.
"Argh!" Tess grit her teeth. "Where are you! You have to be somewhere!"
The generator ceased humming. Its diodes dimmed. Tess's fur stood on end. "It's… going backwards!" She could feel the electricity circulating inside of it, around the dark eco, and out again.
The opposite of what it had been doing when she entered.
"This is seriously freaking me out!" Tess kicked the generator. It glinted evilly in the strobe lighting. "Stop that!"
It didn't stop, but Tess noticed that the top of it was much shinier than the bottom. She studied it for a few seconds. It was newer, a piece that had been added to the main body.
It had a handle.
"Gotcha!" Tess jumped up and wrenched it. It came easily, a metal box with a circular base and a squared off top. "Wahoo!" Dark eco bubbled up and out of the generator. It glistened. Tess turned and ran for the door.
"Where are- oof!" She banged right into Ashelin, who wasted no time scooping her up and heading for the opposite hallway.
"Good work!" shouted Ashelin over the alarms. She aimed and shot. More guys fell. Ashelin kicked the door open and flew down the stairs. "Got to get to the lobby!"