The smooth cement wall behind the path down to the Guild was rapidly sliding away. In its place, they could here and see what appeared to be an enormous, industrial sized elevator. And coming up the elevator, was a crowd of Guild members hanging proudly off of their newest creation, a gigantic, menacing cannon.
"You guys rock!" Winnie called as she and Mike fled to a small passage on the side of the chamber.
"Hey, we're not even sure how to build a cannon," one of the Guild members called out jovially. "But it doesn't matter! This thing's totally awesome!"
There was a lull. Angel was back on her feet, and she gazed blankly ahead at the oncoming contraption, its barrel grinning down at her.
The Guild member in charge took a deep breath, his messy blonde hair ruffling. "All right, ready… FIRE!"
There was a click. Then, a central chamber of the cannon ignited… quickly followed by the rest of the cannon. With a clashing boom, the contraption blew itself apart into a thousand pieces of smoldering iron, sending the Guild members zipping in all directions, groaning as they hit the ground.
Winnie took the opportunity to energetically kick the one nearest her. "Don't create things you don't understand, if they blow up, moron!" she cried.
"Sorry…"
Asher poked his shaggy head out of the tunnel, as he and the last of the Guild scurried out.
"Here," he called, tossing a crate of objects to his moaning associates. "Get up, take these! We have to cover our retreat!"
With the resilience Mike had come to expect of people of this world, the workers struggled to their feet, and hastily chucked the metallic objects at Angel's oncoming form. With snaps and flashes, the small bombs imploded, blasting her small form as she persevered onward, slowing her progress.
"Come on!" Asher called, ushering the last of the Guild members into a small side passage. He looked at Winnie, indecision briefly flickering across his worn face as he procured as small switch from his coat. "You really think we should do this?"
She nodded. "I'm sure."
"Very well." With a deliberate motion, he flicked open the case around the switch, and pressed down the button with a burnt thumb.
Below them, hundreds of cases of Battlefront-made explosives were set off.
Angel, meters away from the fleeing Guild members, paused. She looked down at her feet. As she watched, spindling cracks appeared all over the floor, opening up like a snake's maw. As they watched, the floor of the central passage disintegrated.
Angel plummeted, expressionless, into a burning cavern full of exploding incendiaries, crashing machinery, and boiling air, and disappeared into a pit of fire.
Asher surveyed the room critically. He kicked one of the piles of dirt lying around skeptically.
"We haven't been in this dump in years," he smiled. "Heh, those were good times though."
"Everybody awake again by now?" Winnie called, speaking into a walky-talky set. "We've moved to the old Guild, I want everyone to head down here now, so we can get going!"
Elly slid off the boulder, holding his now-intact head miserably. So much rolling….
Richie got to his feet. As he did so, his uniform slid off, torn into shreds. He looked down at the fragments in surprise.
Harry helped Luke to his feet, as they looked around at the dark pit walls around them. "Whew! Guess it all turned out all right!" Luke whistled, relieved.
"True… but… how the hell are we going to get back up?"
As the ceiling clicked its way back up into position, TK blinked, and sat up. "Hells bells…" he muttered, glancing upwards.
Emmanuel suddenly coughed, breath flooding back into his body. He whirled around the draining chamber, water flying in a mist. His movements slowed as realization hit. "Aww, nuts…'
Hannah lay still, her face flushed pink. Her eyes were shut tight in chagrin, the teddy held tight in her arms.
Winnie smiled back at Asher. "You guys can rebuild, right?"
"Of course. We have the materials, and the memories. All we need to do is get to work." The tall youth turned to appraise the assembled Guild members. "All right, all! Show me your ability, let's rebuild even better than before!"
The sweaty rebels howled a throaty cheer, and moved out, experienced hands sifting the dirt into structure, bringing order from chaos.
And through it all, strode Winnie, barking a command there, offering encouragement here, and talking to an old friend over there. Mike noticed she didn't actually tell the workers how to do their tasks, instead trusting them to know how to do their jobs. Instead, she simply somehow managed, through some unknown instinct, to weave all of the workers in, until everyone felt included, could feel and understand their efforts going to something bigger.
They all know her so well, Mike realized. And whenever she's around, they manage to create with more confidence. Is it because they just really want to help the Battlefront, or they just really trust Fred?
He smiled to himself, leaning against a wall at the periphery of the activity. I don't know what she's going on about, he thought. She's an amazing leader; she brings all of them together. She's incredible.
A/N. End of Mission Two. I'm starting to get really into this. There's just something exciting about taking something you love, and having it flow in a new medium. Thanks so much to everyone of you that's read this far. In the next chapter I'm planning on adding in a new scene between Mike and Angel that wasn't in the original, to give their relationship some early development. Does anyone have any ideas on what would be fun to see?