They continued on, and just when Mike was beginning to wonder why operation parachute seemed to consist more of wandering through passages then actual descent, the neo-path they were on suddenly ended in a curious door.
The door's only feature was a submarine-esque porthole. Richie strained on it with his considerable girth, but it was no use. It was locked.
Emmanuel stepped towards it, cracking his knuckles. "Chill out guys, I got this," he breezed. "I didn't grow up in New York, and learn nothin'. I can break into or out of anything.
Luke slumped against a wall, and then sprang back with a yelp as there was a hiss. With a wheeze of hydraulics, a second door slammed down behind them, entombing them in the claustrophobic hallway.
"Oh no!" Luke cried, eating through his thumbnail. "I forgot to mention the door was booby-trapped."
"Don't forget important details," Winnie yelled, looking around frantically. The walls came alive with a ring of glittering red lights.
"Everyone get down!" Hannah yelled. They obediently dropped to the floor, just as they heard a hum run along the walls of the small room.
"What was that?" Mike asked.
In response, Hannah threw an item into the air. The smoke grenade detonated, filling the room with a thick layer of suffocating smog. Coughing, they got to their feet, and noticed the glittering red line illuminated in the gas, twinkling at them from the far end of the room.
"Laser cutter," Harry identified tensely. "One touch of that, and you get sliced through like butter."
"Thanks for that imagery, friend."
"Hey Emmanuel, how's it going with that door?" Winnie muttered. "If you don't -It's going around for another round!" As they watched, the laser line slid down, to around knee height. Then, as swift as a snake, it started forward.
"Everybody jump!" Winnie called. They leapt into the air, and the energy blade swept directly under them.
Mike squinted at the laser, trying to discern it through the smog.
His jaw dropped in frustration. Another laser had appeared, the two shifting to form a giant X, stretching across the entire room.
"Oh sweet potatoes..." he muttered.
"Every man for himself!" Winnie called, as the laser zoomed through them. Some flew right. Others tumbled left. Richie, unfortunately, was a bit too large to do either.
"SSSSCHHHLIZE"
"Door's open!" Emmanuel called. As one mob, they tumbled out of the room and into the roughly hewn rock tunnel beyond. Mike started to look back, but Harry caught him and dragged him on.
"That's not something you want to see," he cautioned. "But don't worry, Richie'll be fine."
After that, the path quickly began to drop. They crept down stairs, trekked down ladders, and slid down poles.
At one point, they paused, the stalactites around them dripping in a subterranean harmony. Distantly, they felt the earth shake beneath their feet.
'Another trap?" Mike asked cautiously.
Winnie's lips tightened. "No. Angel. We need to hurry."
The reduced group found an exit to the cavern, a small hole that led a simple, square room below. One by one, they dropped into it.
The room was pitch black; they had to stumble to make their way.
"Hang on," Luke called. "I think I remember there being a light switch around here somewhere. Ah! A string, here we go."
At once, brilliant light blinked on, flooding the room, revealing Luke standing with a dangling rope, grinning happily.
The roof groaned. As they looked up, it sunk a foot. Then another.
Luke's face turned green. "Wait a second. Oh nuts! This is the room where the roof falls, and crushes everyone-"
"Don't forget important details!" everyone cried, arms around heads, as the roof suddenly lost its hold on the walls and came hurtling down, bleak rock rushing towards them-
-And stopped, suddenly, inches from their heads.
TK grunted painfully. His entire body trembled as, through some incredible Atlasian force of will, he held up the roof.
"Go…" he croaked, words cracking. "Hurry… get out."
"All righty! Thanks man." Winnie chirruped, scooting out through the exit.
Harry patted TK's shoulder as he skid by. "Much appreciated dude."
Mike stared at the hippie in awe as he shuffled past, unable to think of anything to say.
The shuddering roof held until the last of them had escaped, and then, with sigh, it thundered down on their hero.
Mike stared back the way they had come as they trekked on. "Will he be okay?" he asked aloud.
Winnie brushed herself of. "TK was a valiant sacrifice for our cause. His brave actions will not be forgotten."
"Hey-Don't talk like that, it really creeps me out…"
"Shush. We have to hurry."
A dim light became visible ahead, and the 6 of them emerged blinking, in a long cement tunnel. Flickering flood lights swung overhead.
'We're getting close to the Guild," Luke cautioned. "Everyone, make sure to be very-'
Looking behind him as he spoke, he casually trod on a one tile slightly indented from the rest. Instantaneously, the floor beneath them swung away, leaving them temporarily hovering over a yawning abyss.
"Ah! I forgot to tell you-well I guess you know noooooooooow!" Luke howled in apology, his voice fading as he plunged into the darkness.
Mike flailed wildly, arms thrashing. Instinctively, his hand flung out and grabbed onto the one thing stationary.
He jerked to a stop, left swinging over the void. Mike looked up.
Harry, whose ankle he'd managed to snack was holding onto Winnie's feet with a death grip, who in turn had latched onto Emmanuel, who had snagged onto Hannah, who, in the nick of time, had managed to fling a rope to catch around one of the lamps. For several moments, they swung from the lamp, one extremely surprised human chain.
"Get… moving." Hannah grunted, holding onto the rope with red knuckles, as she began to swing them to the edge of the pit.
"Mike! You need to climb up us!" Winnie called from above. "It's the only way!"
Why, Mike wondered to himself, couldn't have ended up in some peaceful form of purgatory? Like, one where you just sat in a doctor's office waiting room for another hundred years. I could dig that. Instead, I'm dealing with these nut jobs. He glanced down at the smothering shadows, and quickly started moving up, reaching for whatever handholds he could find.
"Whoa," Harry chuckled as Mike moved past. "Sure are eager, aren't ya'?" he laughed, somehow managing to make jokes even when suspended over a seemingly endless drop.
"Aw shut up," Mike dismissed through gritted teeth.
He hesitated, looking up at Winnie with uncertainty. How… how was he supposed to climb over…
"Get moving, moron!" she hissed down at them. "We can't hold on like this all day!"
"But, but, where do I grab on to-"
"It doesn't matter, just go!"
Taking a quick gulp, he centered his legs around her knees, then as quick as he could reached to hoist himself up by her shoulders. Halfway through the pull-up, he found himself face-to-face with Battlefront's leader. She stared at him, defiantly ignoring the blush on her cheeks.
"Get moving, numbskull!"
"Oh, yes, sorry, sorry."
With a tremendous effort, he finally reached the top, and hoisted himself over the edge. He rolled over, gasping.
"All right, I'm coming up," he faintly heard Harry call from below.
"Ok, that's- Hey, you can't grab on there, you moron. THUNK."
"No! Ahhhhhhhh, you biiiiiii…." Harry cursed, his voice ominously trailing off into silence.
When the others had heaved themselves back onto solid ground, Mike looked around, and noticed only three other faces.
"Uh, where did Harry go?" he asked awkwardly.
Winnie turned away, her face hidden behind her hair. "Harry perished along the way. Come along, we can't forget his sacrifice."
Emmanuel snorted cynically from his position, slumped against one of the cement walls.
"Huh," he breezed. He appraising Mike with a critical eye and a knowing smirk. "Pretty impressive, surviving this long. I would have suspected that a new guy like you would be the first to go."
Emmanuel suddenly leaned in close to Mike, brows dancing. "But you can be sure… you'll be the next to go…"