Link froze simply because he didn't know what else to do in that moment. Keep climbing? Jump down and fight them?
The voices continued to shout. "Give me that, you idiot."
There was a scuffle. The sound of weapons being exchanged and forcefully taken from other hands. Link hurried up the rest of the ladder and pulled himself up onto the ledge. The catwalk moved down the wall like a tunnel, completely enclosed except for a few windows along the way. He took advantage of the cover, ducking low to keep away from the windows and hurried along the walk until he was above the clustering of soldiers. He listened to them bicker for a moment until their voices fell eerily silent. Footsteps echoed off the walls as someone new entered the room.
"Master Kohga," one of the voices said. There was some more shuffling, but Link didn't dare try to see what was going on. He could easily infer that the leader of the Yiga Clan had entered the room, and that was all he needed.
The footsteps continued, seemingly endlessly, until they finally stopped and the room was silent again. It was a long moment before Kohga spoke.
"We will be adding an extra stop," he said, his voice monotone and steady. "I want Dorian dead. He is useless to us now."
"Of course, Master," the voice said.
Kohga said nothing more on the matter. "We leave in one hour. Prepare yourselves. The helicopters will be around back waiting. Do not fail." The footsteps continued, fading away down one of the corridors off the room.
"You heard him," the voice said. "Let's get ready to move out."
Link dared a peek through the window at that moment. The foot soldiers scattered throughout the room, their commanders, the blade masters, barking orders at them. A few of them moved between rooms, up and down the corridors, leaving Link very little room to maneuver around to plant his bombs. He would have to take advantage of the catwalks.
He ducked back down and prepared two more bombs, deciding to put them atop two of the pillars, diagonal from one another. He wasn't sure how big the hideout was and how much further he had to go, but he didn't want to chance leaving any room without a bomb. He was blowing this joint up and taking down everyone inside with it.
With the two bombs ready, he made his way to the end of the enclosed catwalk. It turned around the corner where it opened up half way down, and it split, continuing down the wall, or cutting out into the room and to one of the pillars. Stop number one. It was risky being out in the open, but he was high enough up that they shouldn't notice him, especially as busy as they were.
He moved quickly to the opening, pausing at the split for a moment. He sucked in a breath, kept as low as he could, and hurried across the catwalk and onto the pillar. He placed the bomb carefully, than scouted out the path to his next target. He moved across the catwalk to the next pillar, then around the corner and over the walk to the pillar at the far corner. So far, so good. The Yiga Clan soldiers were none the wiser to his presence. He placed the second bomb, then scanned the room quickly, orienting himself. Just back by the second pillar, against the wall, was another doorway that lead into a room he hadn't been to yet.
Target acquired.
He moved swiftly back across the catwalk and onto the pillar. The area near the doorway was clear for the moment, and there was another ladder against the wall beside the door. Link moved to the catwalk against the outer edge of the room, checking the area around the ladder once more. He threw himself over and slid down quickly, landing lightly on his feet. Without wasting a second, he hurried into the next corridor, pressing against the wall as he neared another corner and peered around.
This next room was considerably smaller than the others he had been in and seemed to act as a sort of storage room. This room was dimly lit and empty. No soldiers, no weapons, and empty crates strewn across the room.
He heard voices getting louder and he quickly rounded the corner, taking in his surroundings. There was another doorway across the way, but instead of leading to another corridor, it opened up into another room. From where he stood, Link could tell it was likely a place where the soldiers would sleep on their down time, as a few beds lined the walls.
He moved into the room, setting another bomb in one of the empty, overturned crates, then moved to the other room which proved to also be empty. Of course no one would be sleeping at that moment when they were all preparing for battle. Link dropped another bomb beneath one of the beds. When he saw there were no additional doorways, he back tracked into the storage room and looked around quickly. There seemed to be no where else to go, leaving him only one option: to continue to back track through their hideout. It wasn't exactly what he wanted to do. He had hoped there would be some other exit out of the hideout, but of course that would be too easy.
But something else caught his attention; a strange kind of sound. It sounded distant; muffled. Yet heavy. Whump-whump-whump. There was something familiar about it. The sound seemed to move closer, moving overhead and getting louder.
Helicopters.
The two pilots Link had first seen were likely flying overhead to wait for the soldiers to board. But where were they going? The entrance to the hideout was on the other side.
The sound, though still muffled, grew louder and louder still as they seemed to land just outside the wall of the storage room. Link followed the sound until he was pressed against the wall. He could feel the vibrations of the helicopters against the wall. He moved slowly down the length of the wall until it gave way and he stumbled through. A false wall.
And it was bright. Brighter than the rest of the hideout. Link winced, blinking quickly in an attempt to let his eyes adjust. He shaded his eyes with his hand and peered out into the room. But it wasn't a room. He was back outside in the valley. But it wasn't a part of the valley he recognized. Though he could see the moon high in the sky, the high ledges that circled and enclosed told him that they were still very low in the ground and likely hidden from any curious onlookers.
The two helicopters had landed, their engines still rumbling as they waited for the Yiga soldiers to board. Except for a few lights in the center that marked a makeshift helipad, the area was still dark, even from the early signs of the rising sun. It was likely Link was not seen, and he wasn't about to wait around to find out if he was.
"Impressive, is it not?"
Link spun on his heels, pulling his gun out of his holster as he did so, and pointed the barrel towards Master Kohga. His lips pulled up into a wicked smile beneath his mask.
"I commend you for finding our little hideout, and getting through undetected, Link."
"Kohga," Link snarled. His finger twitched against the trigger. Even with the silencer, Link wasn't ready to shoot if he could avoid it. If he wanted to take out the Yiga Clan, the easiest way would be to blow them up with the rest of the hideout, which meant he couldn't afford for Kohga to call for back up and send them chasing after Link. All his efforts would have been for nothing.
"Tell me," Kohga said. "What did you think you would accomplish here?"
Link considered setting off the bombs, but it was likely that he was too close himself. The blast would destroy everything and would likely result in a rock slide. Even if he could escape the blast, the open room around them would surely collapse from the stress of the explosion, and he would be crushed.
Maybe he wouldn't walk away from this. But he sure as hell wasn't going to let the Yiga Clan get away scratch-free.
"I was hoping to kill you myself," Link said.
Kohga's smile widened. His eyes turned to the weapon in Link's hand. "Surely you don't think you'll do that with that gun of yours, do you?" He laughed. "Perhaps I overestimated you. I thought very highly of you, you know. But it seems you're unaware of the true power of the Sheikah."
"You're not a Sheikah," Link hissed.
Kohga waved a hand at Link, dismissing him. "I'm not here to argue semantics with you, Champion. I'm here to end you."
Link returned his gun to its holster. He shoved his hand in his pocket and fingered his cellphone.
"Surrendering, then?" Kohga said with a raised brow.
"Hardly," Link said. He pulled out his phone, met Kohga's gaze, and smiled. His finger tapped against the screen, sending out a signal to his bombs. "Just thought I'd start things off with a bang."
The bombs on the far end went off first, but there was only a split second delay between the first and the following bombs placed. Their explosions shook the ground forcefully, and just as Link had expected, it weakened the structure of the high walls around them. It was only a matter of seconds before their hideout caved in on itself, crushing the Yiga soldiers that were inside. The high walls around them trembled and cracked violently as they started to give way under the stress.
"You haven't seen the last of the Yiga Clan!" Kohga shouted over the explosive tremors.
Link looked up at the wall behind Kohga started to collapse, and in one last effort to save his own ass, he turned and ran. The ledge behind him came down forcefully, dust and debris erupting as it fell. The force of it sent shockwaves across the outer ledges, already weakened, and they started to fall apart. The ledges came down to the left and to the right in a domino effect as Link sprinted past the helicopters and to the ledge that was still standing on the other side. Behind him, the collapsing ledges neared violently, burying the two helicopters and moving into Link's peripheral vision. He was racing against the collapsing ledges, racing against time, and despite his efforts, it didn't look like he was getting out alive.