A moment later KC, Whisperer, Lathain and I presume a once again invisible Wizbit were close behind. I asked about the General, KC simply shrugged and told me he'd taken a very short notice break to catch up on sleep, meaning she'd knocked him out.
"I need to vent off" I told Lathain, he raised his eyebrow at me, I sighed "The electricity" the reaction was instant, he was five paces behind in a moment.
"You're not venting on me" he growled
"Vent?" KC asked
"I'm electrically charged, if I don't vent then it builds beyond what I can control then boom, bye, bye Ghost" I explained "I meant Lathain, is there a cable network I can fry, or somewhere safe to do it? I don't want to melt the walls, particularly since we're underground" Lathain shook his head.
I took a left turn and hit the stairs two at a time, at the bottom taking the right, followed by the next left, turning the next right I nearly bumped into two young guys smoking and leaning lazily against the wall chatting.
"Oh hey, sorry Ma'am" One said, Whisperer caught up
"How do you know where you're going?" he asked then turned to face the two in front of me "Ah actually you two, I think I might need your help, you still got that plastic?" the two lads eyes brightened, taking a curious glance at Lathain and KC following behind
"Yeah" the dark haired of the two said
"Enough for a few remodeling projects" the blonde smirked, Whisperer introduced the dark and blonde boys in turn
"Ghost this is Nate and Dean, they're going to give us a hand with a few things, they're the best demolitions team we have" if he said so, they looked barely out of their teens, but then I wasn't that much older looking than the two "Guys, grab your gear and meet us on sub level nine"
"Sub level nine?" Dean said
"Hey man we ain't got the clearance for that area" Nate finished
"Well now you do" KC tore off her insignia and slapped it in their hands "That's an order, and be quick about it" the two snapped to attention then raced off, KC shouldered her way in front, I narrowly avoided touching her, even so I could feel the bend and pull of the electricity trying to snake it's way away from me.
KC took the lead down more steps, metal walls gave way to wooden panels and bare rock, I tested the rock gingerly, but not enough conductivity in the mineral to earth my charge. We hit the lowest level, the floor now a type of grating, K.C prepped her weapon, one of them a mean looking assault rifle, Whisperer cocked his pistols.
"Stay close, the war zone starts here" he murmured
"Lathain, what about Convoy?" I asked
"He's taking the refugees out of here, when they're safe he'll come back for extraction, ETA one hour" he said. He too prepped a pistol, I daren't touch mine for fear of the electricity setting the bullets off, so kept it holstered, my left side began to heat and in the dim light the scars visible above my neckline started to glow.
"Err Ghost?" KC asked, eyeing the glowing lightning scars
"It's normal" I said "But I need to find a venting area quickly" I told her, she nodded turning the next corner, the sound of a gun shot and KC's form flew backwards hitting the wall, a barrage of shots followed, Lathain and Whisperer moving forward to give KC the cover fire she needed to crawl back to the safety of cover. Guess I'd be able to vent a different way then.
I stepped round the corner and clicked my fingers, a snake of lightning lashed out, taking out the temporary wood walls scorching a hot burn across it in a bright finger pattern and hitting the three guys at the end of the short corridor in the chest. Hopefully by deflecting it off the walls they wouldn't be killed by it, but they were now certainly out for the count, still not enough, the charge was still high, I moved quickly down the corridor, Lathain and Whisperer close behind, Lathain supporting KC whilst she got her breath back, the bullet had dented her armour but not gone through.
"I'm getting a lot of chatter up ahead" Whisperer said "Looks like an all out fight is going on"
"We don't need to get involved, we just need to get through" I said, spinning on my heels to blast a troop of guys trying to sneak in behind us. "Where are the stairs to the lowest level?" I asked
"No idea" came the answer, even KC shook her head
"I know to sub nine, that's it" she said
"Then we should split to look for them, in ten minutes time we meet up back here, push comes to shove I'll take the vents again" I said, I stepped over the prone form of one of the men I had fried, he was alive, but unconscious. I had no idea which side he was on, if there was even a right side to chose from.
"But then you'll be on your own" Whisperer said, he looked concerned, I shot him my don't give a shit look "Fine, but we split into groups" he compromised
"I'm with the elf" KC piped up, I gave her a smart look, she shrugged, not caring, "I know the facility, so does Whisperer, you guys don't"
"Fine" she had a point "I'll take the left" I moved off with Whisperer close behind, I swear I heard him mumbling something about trying to keep up, I didn't need his guidance, I had a perfect map in my head of the facility from the screen upstairs, though to get to the lowest levels the info was sketchy, clearly they didn't hand out this information to just anyone, I took corners confidently, the sound of gunfire and the smell of sulphur was growing as we moved "Great" I muttered moving to the next location where stairs would normally be found, did these guys follow any kind of architectural clichés?
The sound of gunfire now was too loud, sure enough the next corner opened up to a large area, guns and machinery turning, we were in the central reservation of the building, going up three floors above us, shots came from all around and we scattered to find cover, finding myself alone in the middle of a battlefield. Just great.
I blasted what I could, trying to take out the bigger guns on all sides, parts of the floor had been pulled up to give a measure of cover and I made use of these. I shocked some troops unconscious and raced across the arena, I collided with Lathain in the middle
"We're getting out" he said "Approach it from the outside, Wizbit said he found a way externally, he's making his way there now"
"Good idea" we dived to the side from more gunfire "Where's your chaperone?" I asked, Lathain nodded to a large machine gun. KC behind the screen firing away, she too was taking out the larger guns
"Yours?" he asked; I shrugged, no idea, Lathain's focus went beyond me for a moment "Errr, Ghost" I turned to look where he now pointed, there was a child hurrying between a corridor opening, a moment later a second child and a woman
"More refugees" I breathed damn. "O.K you get to the train, I'll get the refugees out of here" I said, Lathain nodded, his eyes now the hard gleam of battle, the Lathain I knew from the forest, from Tibet, he was back. I gave him thumbs up and darted towards the opening where I had seen the children. I dodged a few shots, pain erupting from my leg; I had no choice but to make for cover to assess the damage.
My back slammed hard against a barrier of torn flooring and upturned drums, hissing in pain at the blood pouring from my leg, I could hear Lathain yelling orders over the racket to KC and Wizbit; and KC's snappy reply. Damn, that had hurt, I was not having the best day, I pulled my jeans leg up to survey the damage, just a flesh wound but it was pouring, at first the blood had made me think I'd clipped an artery, not good though I'd have to stop it.
I pulled hard on my sleeve top, it tore at the seam, I tied it hastily around the gash, gritting my teeth, letting a hiss escape again, I wiped my bloody hands on my jeans as I pulled the legs down again. Metal thudded beside me I flinched glancing across to where Whisperer had landed next to me, sliding a new clip into his pistol, whilst firing his second over his shoulder without looking, a scream of a dying man was his reward.
First pistol reloaded he took a breath then spun rising from cover to unload both clips into the fray, the smell of gunpowder was heavy on the air. When empty he sat back down again and reloaded single handed for each. As if seeing me for the first time he flinched back, gun up to my face, before a second's pause and he lowered it again eyes cast over my pale face and down to the mess of my leg
"You're hurt"
"No shit Sherlock" I said, he raised a brow
"Not that bad then" he said turning to unload his guns again, this time on sitting down he removed his coat to get at the clips attached to a harness beneath, I fired a bolt of lightning at a guy who came too close, great timing, I was needing to discharge "Nice shooting" he said pulling a clip and jamming it into his gun
"I would say the say the same to you" I said loosing another bolt at the glint of a sniper rifle
"Would?" he teased but I didn't get chance to answer, ahead I saw the creep of a guy that KC had knocked out, he was heading in the same direction the woman and children had run. Without thinking I stood and took off after him, muttering an invisibility spell as I went, not strong but it would do.
The General raced after the escaping family, and I raced after him, I caught up with him, knocking his legs out from beneath him and pinning him, only temporary though, he got loose and thrashed out hitting me hard, I dropped my spell on reaction and he grabbed me, trying to throttle the breath from me.
"Stupid Bitch" he hissed I scratched at his arms, tried to reach his eyes but he held me too strong "You can't stop it, you and your kind will be wiped out, you stupid fuckin . . ." an eruption of blood from his face splattered over me and he crumpled, his weight pinning me and taking me down too, I blinked the blood from my eyes to look into his contorted face, blood pouring from a hole in his forehead. Strong warm hands pulled me from beneath the General's body; I turned to thank Lathain, finding Whisperer in place instead
"You OK?" he asked, checking me over
"I'll be fine" I murmured trying to move away, he was tall and close and I was uncomfortable, even though I knew he was trying to help. In my discomfort the scars on my arms lit up bright as the charge skyrocketed.
"Sir!" I heard Nate calling and saw the two lads run over carrying a large pack, Whisperer backed off to greet them giving me the air I needed, already the charge was building to a point of pain, and Dean took one look at me and whistled. I couldn't care to think how I looked to him, covered in blood, limping and bruised, and now lit up like a Christmas tree. "Sir we got what you asked for, some crazed elf said he was with you and took half of what we had, KC was with him, is there anything else?"
"Yeah we're looking to remove some civilians from the area" Whisperer said, he caught my look "Lathain just comm'd me to tell me the exit and that I was to help you herd them out" he explained "Dean, Nate I need you to prep some of that plastic for me on your way out, I'll gather the kids then I want you to take them to this location" he tapped on his comm. and I heard the beep of transfer.
"What about you Ma'am?" Nate asked, I shook my head
"If you guys are taking people out then I'll stay and help Lathain out" Whisperer gave me a look that said he thought I should be getting out, but held his tongue, it was not his place to say.
We followed the corridors, Nate and Dean chattering away behind us, a movement to my left gave away the family, two in fact, four children and two women, they looked scared, I put up my hands, but let Whisperer do the talking, my current condition I would more likely scare the kids than anything. Nate and Dean each took a child in their arms, the mothers taking one each also, they would travel faster that way, Whisperer gave them a new route to take, one he hoped would avoid the fighting, but still be effective to use up the explosives the guys would set as they went.
"Once you're outside you're on your own" he warned as we rounded a corridor far enough from the fighting to be safe "The others have long gone in the truck and are safe now, stick to the wall, use the caves when you can for cover and for gods sake tell me when you get out" The boys nodded and set off at speed, the mothers in toe. Whisperer turned to me, taking a second to take in the blood and bruising "We need to get you cleaned up" he said shoving his glasses up his swollen nose. I put a hand to his face and muttered a spell, the wound healing, the bone resetting. He clasped his hand over mine so I couldn't let go for a moment, my breath hitched in my throat, and I felt that undeniable pull once again, I resisted the urge to close the distance further, my scars now bright enough to light the corridor.
"Your turn" he whispered pulling my hand away, I shook my head.
"I can't heal myself very well" I explained "Something to do with the electrical charge I carry, healing has to be done by someone more powerful than me to get past it, that or I need a quiet meditative state" I stepped back, breaking contact "We need to go, has Lathain found a way down?"
"Nope, he's going through the floor, suggests we do the same" great, more vents
"Best place?" I asked
"Anywhere near the wall" he said, I took off at a run, ignoring the pain in my leg that the charge had built, damn it, this was stupid; did it mean that high exertion exasperated the problem? This was stupid and could be dangerous around others
"Here" I said, pulling up a floor grate to expose a chute of some kind, just wide enough for a man of Whisperer's size to squeeze through. The sides were tinged brown and my stomach twisted as I realised what I was looking at, it was a collection tube for blood. "Careful" I said, I slid in head first so i could see where I was going, it seemed roomy enough, the smell of copper was strong and made my stomach twist.
The drop was only three foot, opening into a large room, below me a large bracket sat in place; it had obviously held a vat of some kind before, the vat now gone. The drop to the floor was about ten foot, I twisted and slid out the vent, holding the sides carefully so I could drop feet first. The landing was a little hard and I hit my ass, Whisperer landing lightly beside me, he gave me a hand up, hissing as the electricity bit at his skin. I could tell he was dying to ask about the glow which showed now even through the heavy denim of my jeans, I desperately needed to vent, I was a target glowing like this.
I looked around, noting the huge brackets, a few empty large drums and a strong chemical smell, the smell of blood was strong too, the floor had a light coating in places, spillage from the drums perhaps, I shuddered; to fill one drum would take a lot of blood, but then they'd been working on this for five years if the rumours were to be believed. I noted a torn cable near where a vat had once sat, it seemed to lead down further into the ground, it might just do to vent a little, I steadied my mind enough to send some energy down the wiring, the glow faltered and died as the lights flickered, some of the bulbs bursting as the grid took up my charge.
"Ghost, Whisperer!" I heard KC calling, she stood by one of the walls waving us over, we hurried across. "We found the train" She pushed open a door in the wall to show a huge cut out of the cavern, natural light streamed in from the outside, cracks from above filtering the light down, beside me Whisperer blinked, and for a moment held out an arm letting the rays touch his skin, like he was savouring the sunlight, how long had he been down here?
"Oh no" KC whispered, I turned to look where she was staring, the cavern was filled with a huge engine, a super carrier, capable of hauling hundreds of tonnes of carriages. On this train strung out were over a dozen drums, turned on their sides, hooked up with various tubes and wires, there were some carriages between, some were flat bed, empty, others held port-a-cabin style structures, however they all had one thing in common . . .
They were moving!