"You reckon he took the vents?" Salvo asked.

"The only other way out of this room is a fifteen metre fall. I'm certain." Blondie stated as he moved under the vent with his revolver drawn. Being a nox he had a distinct height advantage over the others. He reached up with his free hand and tapped the panel to see how steady it was. When it refused to budge and he was certain it was stable, he slowly shifted it to the side, making sure to keep his gun and eyes trained on the opening constantly. The three who were armed also made sure to keep their weapons drawn, lest any unwanted kugraws surprise them.

Thankfully though it seemed empty.

"Well... now what?" Vex asked.

"We hunt the son of a bitch down and get the hell out of this shithole," Blondie threw a finger in the doctor's direction. "You, where do these vents lead?"

The dahmak froze up as she saw his black eyes staring straight at her with visible frustration etched all over his face.

"I-I don't know, I-I'm just a doctor! I d-didn't design the buildings. I-I can try and g-get the blueprints-"

"Forget it, there's no time. He could be on the other side of the building by now."

Keeping his revolver in hand, Blondie jumped up and grabbed hold of the edge of the ceiling. He pulled himself up into the cavity as best he could. Being a nox, it was a tight fit. But he just managed to squeeze his way into the roof.

"Right, who's next?"

Salvo quickly followed suit. The nox held down his hand and Salvo grasped it. With Blondie's assistance he hastily jumped into the vents and scrambled alongside him. Next up was Ava.

Before Salvo could even offer a hand, she moved. With the ease of someone practised in moving freely she was able to leap up, grab hold of the ledge, and quickly fling herself into the roof. The doctor watched with nervousness in her eyes as her heart started beating rapidly. Almost instantly she regretted being in the same room as all of them. She knew what came next.

"Impressive," Salvo jested. Ava gave him a quick smirk before heading down deeper into the roof.

"You're up, short stuff," Salvo called. Vex was a little shorter than the others and so getting up there wasn't as easy as she would've liked it to be. She was just barely able to leap up and grasp Salvo's hand. Her light weight made it easy for Salvo to pull her up into the roof.

At last it was the doctor's turn. She stood alone in the cold room, a gulp sliding down her throat as she weighed up her options. Despite not feeling comfortable around her new acquaintances, as soon as she was on her own a cold feeling ran through her. It felt like there was someone breathing down the back of her neck. Being alone in a building where someone had just been murdered wasn't a nice feeling, but the vents weren't exactly a place she was eager to get to either. In fact, she'd rather be almost anywhere but there.

"Alright Angel, time to fly!" Vex called out. She reached a hand down and prepared for the doctor to grab it. The dahmak her her hands close to her chest. She felt her heart rate rising and her eyes narrowed.

"R-right... right."

She took as deep a breath as she could and reached her hand out. Vex grabbed hold of her and heaved her up into the roof. Being a dahmak, her morph lights and eyes began to glow like neon lights in the darkness, illuminating a small part of the ceiling they were in.

"Oh wow, that's pretty!" Vex marvelled, complimenting her glow.

The doctor gave her as best a smile as she could, but it didn't last long. The ceiling was too small for them to even crouch in, so they were forced to crawl on their stomachs the whole way. Almost immediately the doctor felt her chest begin to squeeze. She began to start wheezing as she breathed and that breathing became staggered and uncontrolled. Her limbs began to tremble and shake.

Vex seemed to notice her immediate discomfort. "Aw... you're not claustrophobic, are you?"

There was no response to her question, only trembling whimpers as the dahmak closed her eyes and tried her best not to cry out. The exit was right next to her, all her instincts were screaming at her to clamber back down and run like hell. She was almost about to give in when she suddenly felt something touch her hand.

At first she jumped, a small yelp escaping her mouth. But when she opened her terrified eyes she saw it was just Vex's fingers curled around her trembling hand.

"Hey, it's alright! Look, if the big bad nox can fit through there then so can you!"

Her attempt to comfort the petrified dahmak wasn't entirely in vain. She clenched her hand around Vex's and held onto her like her life depended on it.

The others were already halfway down the vent at this point. The thumps of their movements sent slight vibrations buzzing through the roof.

"Oh... oh g-god..." the doctor whimpered. She began to feel like her entire body was caving in. It felt like the walls were closing in around her, like if she stayed any longer her entire body would be crushed. Her heart rate skyrocketed so much it felt like it was about to tear itself from her chest.

Any attempts she made at controlling her breathing were completely in vain. At this point she was completely paralysed with fear. She couldn't move even if she tried.

Vex's cheery demeanour suddenly took a hit as she realised just how bad the dahmak's reaction was. The girl was frozen with fear, too scared to even open her eyes. She wasn't going to get anywhere in this state. There was always the option to leave her on her own and head up with the rest of the crew. After all, the key to her freedom was that way, not here with a random dahmak, but she quickly burned those thoughts and scolded herself for even thinking them in the first place. She wasn't about to leave this poor girl behind. The doctor had tended to her earlier, it was only fair she tended to her now. Besides, she honestly found her quite cute.

"Alright, hey, hey! Look at me ok? Open your eyes slowly and look at me."

She shifted her other hand and grasped the dahmak's other hand, now holding both of them. The doctor wrenched her eyes open and tried her best to look Vex's way.

"What's your name, Angel? That your real one?"

"N-no... no... E-Eric-ca..."

"Alright then Erica, we're going to shuffle back slowly ok? I'll go back, you go forward. I'll be right here ok? Nothing's gonna happen to you alright Erica? You got this, c'mon."

Slowly Vex began to crawl backwards; a much harder task in the pitch black than she had initially expected. However her presence gave the doctor enough reassurance to get her to inch forwards. It wasn't by much, but it was progress. Slowly but surely they began making their way through the vent, Vex holding Erica's hands the whole way and whispering words of reassurance to her.

After a few minutes of terrifying darkness the doctor's nerves were put at ease slightly as she eventually saw a small light breaking through the darkness up ahead.

Just a few more metres...

closer and closer they got until the purple sunset was visible through the inky black of the vent.

On the other side of the vent the three who had gotten through waited for the other two. Some more impatiently than others.

"What the hell is taking so long? This guy could be anywhere by now!" Blondie huffed, tapping his feet on the ground in frustration.

"Juuuuust give 'em a sec..." Salvo said. Eventually Vex's legs poked through the dark, followed by the rest of her body.

Both Salvo and Ava exchanged confused glances when they saw her reversing out the vent.

"Uh... you alright there Vex?" Ava asked with a bit of a chuckle mixed in with her words.

"Just a moment," she replied. She tried her best to swivel around in the vent. The tight spaces made that much harder than she would have hoped, but eventually she managed to pop her head out into the open air and clamber through the vent.

"I see your sense of direction is as lacklustre as your manners," Blondie chastised. Vex paid him no mind, instead quickly turning back and grabbing Erica's hands. With a vice-like grip she pulled the terrified dahmak from her dark prison and into sunlight.

As soon as she tasted fresh air Erica gasped slightly. Her breathing was still rapid and staggered but she quickly began to control it with deep breaths. The squeezing on her chest had faded and her heart rate began to fall slowly.

"Finally, it'll be Ascension Day soon. Hurry up," Blondie grouched.

Vex sneered at him slightly.

"She has claustrophobia," she growled.

Blondie scoffed nonchalantly.

"Of course. What's new. You afraid of heights too? How the hell did a runt like you even get through chil-"

Crack!

The sound of a gunshot suddenly echoed out across the roof.

Salvo suddenly roared in pain as he felt an instantaneous sharp burst of pain tear across his shoulder. He staggered back slightly before slumping to the ground, red blood pouring from his wound.

"Shit!" Blondie cursed. The group whipped around to see their target laying prone on the other side of the roof. His face was hidden behind the scope of a rifle that was aimed directly at them.

Crack!

He fired again, this time at Blondie. However, now that the element of surprise was gone, the group was able to react. With lightning speed Blondie whipped to the side, the bullet missing him by millimetres.

They all scattered across the roof, each one finding a different piece of cover. Vex and Ava both made a break for a lower section of roof that provided good cover while Blondie ducked behind an AC unit.

Seeing Salvo slumped over against the vent exit, Erica made a split second decision. She rushed over to him and quickly grasped him under the arms, pulling him into cover behind the large skylight that took up the majority of the ceiling.

"Hey, hey, You're lucky, the bullet missed anything important," Erica stated. She quickly dropped her bag and pulled out a roll of thin but strong bandages.

"I'm gonna need you to let me take a look ok?" She said with a soft and caring voice as she gently pried his fingers from his shoulder.

"Gah... fuck, that stings like a bitch," Salvo cursed through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry, give me a second, I'll get you some painkillers," Erica gently wrapped the bandage under his arm and around his shoulder a few times before ripping it off with her teeth. She quickly tied the excess bandage to make sure it wasn't going to fall off and applied a large strip of medicinal tape over the top.

When the bandages had all been applied she quickly plucked a syringe from the sash on her chest and injected it into the kugraw's arm.

"Here you go, this'll dull the pain ok? You're doing great,"

The drugs kicked in almost instantly, Salvo felt the burning in his arm begin to fade.

"Gracias doc," he said happily before grabbing his guns and quickly running off to get back at the gunman who put the bullet in him.

"Wait, that's not...!" Erica reached out to try and grab him but wasn't fast enough. He was already taking aim and firing off shots at their attacker.

"...Stable." She finished. There was no way those bandages would keep the blood in for long, they weren't designed for moving and being put under stress. But in the back of her mind she knew he'd be fine. The bullet hadn't hit anything serious and was only just a flesh wound. It would hurt like hell, but it wasn't lethal.

Besides, it didn't seem like he was worried about the pain anyway.