Chapter 103: Our Great Escape
I'm still in this nightmare with Stealth where we are fighting our way out of some gigantic prison complex, and though I have numerous troops helping us to escape and I like to think that we have made progression, I am worried about how there appears to be a significant number of enemies. I just hope that soon we'll have seen the last of them in this area, as we manage to eventually wipe out each wave only to find that a new one comes, while our troops fall to them, it's getting to be a real battle of attrition.
"Come on guys don't give up, wipe them out!" I yell to my allies to increase their morale, while I continue to shoot at the enemies at the cat walk over looking where I am.
At least there are no enemies who are attacking the army of prisoners who are with us from behind, and furthermore after wiping out the wave of enemy guards on the cat walk up above, which covers the room there doesn't seem to be any more coming to reinforce them, I just hope that it isn't merely for now as it will be very frustrating.
I wait while another group of allied soldiers come rushing in and engage the enemies there, to see if there are any more of them that will reinforce those cat walks, eventually though I realise that there's no more and that I'm better off trying to see if I can assist the allies without exposing myself to being shot. I feel quite bad for the allies getting shot by the enemy as they charge in while I have plenty of cover, but at least I'm doing what I can to help the allies, and I'm not simply hiding behind cover.
After I manage to help out by continuing to harass the enemies, eventually I can't see any more from where I am, and so I leave my position while trying to take cover and seeing if there are more enemies. There are a small number of them left but they get shot down quickly by our allies.
Yes alright! We are through this part, I thought for a few minutes that that was the end, with the enemy numbers showing no signs of diminishing, I'm glad we're through, hopefully there won't be so many and we can get out now. It's a pity though that I'm quite low on bullets for my rifle but at least I can pick up some extra clips from all of those dead enemies. It is sad to see the pile of dead bodies that were once our allies, lying on top of one another with blood pouring out from where they have been shot. It's very tragic and even though they won't be able to escape with us, I hope that their deaths will not be in vain.
After all this time of fighting in this area, we at last go up the stairs. With all of these enemies that we have to deal with, it is my only hope that we can find a powerful weapon which will allow us to wield a fist of iron against these enemies.
With us up the stairs and along the catwalks, we head to another room which isn't particularly well lit, which has a good number of guards in the area taking cover behind pillars, and on another group of stairs as well as cat walks. This place looks very bleak as it's purple metal walls are very rusty and need a new coat of paint to say the least. We try to take them out, but it isn't easy as I find that for every one enemy we get, they get one of us, and this concerns me as although we still have plenty of troops, I'm getting the feeling that they're running out and there won't be any more reinforcements, I just hope they can last but I get the feeling that the enemies will prove tougher and tougher.
With the enemy soldiers cleared on the floor, though there are still significant enemies on the catwalks who try and stop us as they continue to shoot even if it expose themselves to our bullets, myself, Stealth and a group of us head up the stairs with our allies giving us the best cover they can, even though the enemy has the advantage of elevation against us.
We rush through, and the enemies noticing us and shooting at us, force some of our allies on the stairs to stop and shoot back at them.
Eventually we get up the stairs and find that on the other side of this cat walk, to be a corner where a group of enemies are trying to shoot at our friends down below, and thanks to them being distracted, they all get wiped out fairly quickly.
Oddly enough this place is better lit as I see some purple pinkish paint on the bottom half of the walls, as well as a few numbers painted in red, there are also desks with a few chairs along with wooden shelfs containing purple old torn books and paper work, this is in what appears to be a makeshift office, as it's surrounded by bars and gates.
After seeing this we turn around and shoot the enemies in the direction that we face, behind them turns out to be the exit, which leads out to a balcony. Before going out I wait for some allied forces as I know that there'll be more enemies on their way to come and try and take us down.
With this area clear and us having a good number of troops, we then head out into the open, where I see the sky being very cloudy and full of smoke, as well as the place being full of buildings that are quite close together made of old rusty purple bricks, along with it being full of large broken windows, and the roofs are tilted like that of a factory and have large chimneys on top. These buildings are surrounded by large circular pipes which coil around the walls, there are also a few rusty pink barrels containing liquids which I'm unsure of, though I wouldn't be surprised at all if the liquids happen to be deadly.
"More reinforcements, we must stop them quickly, we do not have much time!" I yell to my allies, rallying them so that we can keep our morale up as high as possible, as I then see a few trucks driving in this area with the intention of unloading their soldiers who intend to wipe us out, though something tells me that they'll be tougher to defeat than the ones we have already faced.
Hmm, I then look around to see if there is any way of moving forward considering how I don't see any stairs from where I'm looking, but I then turn around and see that behind me are some stairs. I cautiously head down these stairs only to find that I'm in a large room, but in front of me is purple metallic shutters with a worn Planeptune logo on it which are closed down.
I look in this room full of boxes, wooden shelves only to see in the corner that there's a blow torch, but I'm concerned that I don't know how to use it as I've never used one before. This doesn't look good, this doesn't look good at all, and I can only hope that one of my allies is able to use the blow torch to get us out of here, I hope so because I don't like the idea of being cornered while trying our best to escape.
Suddenly, I then notice an explosion at the shutters blowing a hole in them where the logo was and forming lots of smoke, I quickly order the troops to go back up the stairs while I follow them as my gut tells me that these troops won't be so easy to kill, and when I look back after reaching those stairs, it turns out that I am right as these soldiers are dressed in purple but rather than standard uniforms, they are wearing body armour which covers their body including their heads. They're armed with shotguns and I have a feeling that they can take a large amount of punishment from our weapons, before they'll eventually go down.
Upon reaching the stairs and with there being more of us after a couple of waves following us finally catching up to us, we do our best to attack and kill these armoured troops, while keeping our distance from them as best we can.
As soon as they're in range we open fire, and fortunately our bullets hitting them, hinders them and slows them down as they take our shots, but they don't go down and there's about a squad's worth of them. I fear that unless somehow we can take them down even if it's one by one, they'll just take us down one by one and we'll be forced to flee until we reach another wave of allied forces, where hopefully they can take them all down, and hopefully us being faster than them will mean we can reach our allies before getting killed. Still, I worry that rather than finding a group of allies following us; we'll end up finding a group of enemies who intend to catch us in a pincer movement.
"Use your shotguns if you have them, they will go down!" I yell to my troops hoping that I can encourage them not to give up hope.
We then switch our weapons and after firing a few rounds of our shot guns at them, one of them falls down. We do this again at the next one, and the one after that and they fall down in the same way. The unfortunate tragic thing is, is that as we engage them, one by one our own troops fall by just one shot of their shot guns and what ends up happening, is that there's just me and Stealth against this one grunt, and so we run and try and make distance as we fear that simply engaging him will simply result in our tragic deaths. It is just as I feared, and it's not good to know that for now it's just us two when we've relied so much on our allies to get us to this point.
We run back as fast as we can, banking on the outcome that there is an allied force heading our way, only to find that there are no allied troops, well there might be some if we head back but I then have a different idea on how to take him down. We carry on running back in the building we recently fought our way out of, looking for a place to ambush him.
We then find the stairs and run down it, after which we hide behind it in hopes that we can ambush the shotgun juggernaut successfully without him being able to take us down. The thing is and this frustrates us a fair amount, is that the juggernaut takes some time to get down the stairs due to his armour slowing him down.
I find that the amount of time we have to wait for feels like hours, which isn't good considering it's time for more enemies to advance towards our position, though at least it's time for our allies if there is to be any in this nightmare right now, to advance to where we are. Come on I don't want to die in this dream, no even if it's to happen I don't want to have that attitude because I have no intention to beg for that pathetic excuse of a person Neptune, for any mercy what so ever, if anything it should be she begging me and my team for mercy.
Ah, at last I finally hear him coming down the steps, and this is when we both come from behind the stairs and we both fire shot after shot at him, while his back is turned towards us. Yes he finally falls down after almost emptying our magazine of shot gun rounds at him, but even if we've defeated this batch, I know as does Stealth that there's plenty more where that came from, and so our first priority is to reload our shot guns which without perk a colas take a good amount of time.
At least during this time we both see a fair amount of allied troops rushing in to assist us, and so we then rush back to where we were forced to abandon it due to the enemy juggernauts, but we head back cautiously as something tells me that there'll be more guards, and indeed we are proven right but because of us surprising them and catching them completely off guard, we manage to defeat them, but even so there are still plenty more of them as they come pouring in, making Stealth comment about how they keep coming and I feel the same way.
At least eventually even if our forces take some casualties, we manage to get to where we have started, and one of our troops picks up the blow torch, but even through that hole there is nothing but a destroyed truck, barbed wire fence, and a brick wall with peeling purple paint in the way, I guess we'll have to go back in the building but something tells me that there'll be more enemies in there, waiting to ambush us and kill us, and from the looks of it we'll have to defend one of our guys, as he tries to use the blow torch to gain access through a closed metal door, and there's no cover but there are plenty of enemies. This does not look good; this does not look good at all.
Never the less, we cannot give in and we must do this and assist our ally with the blow torch. We rush through as quickly as we can to the balcony only to see that outside are enemies trying desperately to take us down, even though their numbers are no match for ours, and we manage to rush past them without incident, but I'm guessing that much of their force in this conflict will be in the building itself. I just hope that our forces can hold them off, and that there'll be reinforcements to assist us, but I know that in any case our allies will do their absolute best to defeat the enemy.
Come on, let's do this we will defeat this nightmare of ours and we will be free. I think this in my mind as I'm sure our allies do, as we rush inside while our ally with the blow torch gets to work. We all hide as best we can and do our best to engage the enemy who's coming from the lower floor, at least we'll have the elevation advantage this time even if they have superior numbers, not to mention tougher units.
Though there are lots of them, by the time they spot us from up above, they get shot down and those that climb up the stairs get shot down as well, but the thing is I feel like this is only a small portion of the enemies who intend to attack us at this point in our nightmare, and I have a feeling that the blow torch will be quite some time in opening the sealed metal door, though I like to think that he's at least 10% of the way there and after hearing the sound of the blow torch get to work, I ready myself for this fire fight against the enemy who wishes to stop us.
Despite us being able to hold off the enemy, I become increasingly concerned about the enemy getting more numerous, and I'm worried about how it'll only be a matter of time before we die, especially with how one by one our own troops are dying. There is a small part of me who wants to encourage the guy with the torch to go faster, but I know he's doing the best he can and what more can he do.
Already I feel the pressure as alarmingly I find enemies being able to go up the stairs and even taking out our allies positioned there, but even though I manage to shoot them down, their actions and movements concern me even worry me, but I must not panic because that is exactly what Neptune wants in this nightmare as well as for me to fall no matter how many of them it will take to take me down.
Eventually just as I thought, I then see the enemy juggernauts trying to come up the stairs. This does not look good as there isn't enough of our troops to deal with them effectively as it is, without the enemy having regular troops to assist the armoured units, I guess all I can hope for is that their slow speed will provide just enough time for the blow torch to do its job, for now I suppose I'll have to see if aiming at their heads will be enough to kill them without it needing too much of my ammunition.
"Keep going guys we will defeat these enemies, aim for their heads!" I yell to keep the morale going.
"I'm almost there guys keep protecting me; I just need a little bit longer." The blow torch user yells.
At least he's nearly done but I know we're not out of the woods yet, even if he opens up there is no guarantee that there'll be many useful weapons to aid in our fight, but still we cannot give up hope.
We continue to hold our position even if our position is weakening slowly but surely with each ally who dies by their hands, though at least it's good to see the enemy dying at a decent rate, and that even the juggernauts are slowed down further by being shot, especially in the head where after a few clips from the rifle to the head, they fall down.
Excellent, maybe we can hold out long enough and finally breakthrough out of here.
"All right, I'm through guys thanks for the cover!" He yells, his tone thanking us for protecting him.
After which and noticing that we have a small window of opportunity to make it to the room he's opened for us, we then rush in there as fast as we can, knowing that we'll probably reach a dead end, and knowing that the enemy will surely be waiting for us.
We rush in and find that this place consists of RPD light machine guns and they should be more powerful than the rifles, and be able to mow down all of these enemy troops with no problems. I was hoping that there'd be a mini gun in there or a grenade launcher or even some body armour for us to wear, but alas there is nothing except for these weapons, and I can only hope that they'll be enough.
The annoying thing is, is that by the time we have each picked up an RPD, the enemy have already arrived and they try to attack us, but we then manage to mow them down at a quick rate without us suffering any casualties, though I have a feeling that this is the last of our forces and there isn't many left right now. I hope we don't suffer any more casualties but I have a feeling that it will only be a matter of time before it'll just be me and Stealth remaining to escape this area.
We head out on the floor cautiously making sure that we don't get shot by the enemy, only to find that there doesn't seem to be any more here, this I find strange though I get the feeling that they are waiting to ambush us, hmmm I hope we can survive their ambush that is sure to come our way.
Unlike last time, there is a door on this floor which has been opened, this must be where we can make our great escape but the thing is a group of troops come charging in, though before they can fire at us we mow them down with our RPDs. More of them come charging in after the last wave, but they too get mowed down by our light machine guns. At least it's good to have better weapons after being at the same level of weaponry as them for all this time, and even better than earlier where we had to make do with our bare fists.
We then head out and see that there's an emergency exit which has been opened leading down the stairs and outside, where there is nothing but the same grim scenery of old rusty sheet metal buildings with peeling pink and purple paint, broken glass, and old rusty chimneys. Even though we're outside, the heavy smoke makes this place rather dark and what little light there is doesn't make much difference here.
From where we are we can see the enemy coming rushing in from outside, they're mostly coming in by foot but there are a good number of moving trucks that are full of troops, which we try to shoot down with our light machine guns.
There are many of them coming our way and though the number concerns me, I am confident that our fire power will be enough to hold them off, and perhaps defeat them where we are; if we can ensure that we don't get flanked by our enemy. The thing is that something tells me that they're going to try something to catch us completely off guard, though what I'm not completely sure but I must not worry about that now, and I must focus on the task at hand.
"Keep this up guys we will be out of here soon!" I say to them, to keep their morale up.
With the enemies being cleared at least for now, one by one we head down the stairs and find the nearest cover we can find, as I am absolutely positive that the enemy will send another wave against us, and they do so the moment that we went down the stairs and hid.
The thing is while they send in more of their trucks and troops to charge towards us, firing their weapons while getting shot, the enemy tries to attack us from the windows of their buildings, and not only this but they even attack us from a factory bridge through the windows, which we see in front of us as we head down the stairs. I'm finding this to be ever so chaotic considering all of the gun fire and the amount of troops there, but I'm not panicking just yet and neither are my allies as we just do what we can in taking as much cover as possible, while we then do our best in taking out as many of them as possible.
Even so I'm finding that slowly but surely our troops are beginning to die, and I'm finding that even though we're able to take out a large number of them, there have been quite a few instances where they've nearly shot me and I'm finding myself as I'm sure is the case of the others having to duck from their fire.
"For honour, for vengeance, for Lastation and Lowee we will keep fighting, and we will burn this place to the ground and we will be free!" I yell to my allies rallying them again.
Eventually we find that there are no more enemies in the windows and that we are able to advance forward towards the enemies that are charging forward. I am getting the feeling that we are quite close to our exit, but also quite close to a nasty surprise that I fear will probably defeat us, but I know that there is nothing I can do to avoid what may come my way, and that all I can do is to face it and hope that we can somehow survive it.
When we advance about a few metres forward, there are more enemies for us to face from the windows of buildings in front of us, but at least they're not behind us and it's very clear that they're all fighting to the death to ensure that we do not escape. I must admit that even though this is supposed to be one of Neptune's top prisons and we're in it, I would have thought that Neptune would be here by now, but she is nowhere to be seen. I am starting to wonder if I'll even see her in this nightmare of ours.
Still we must focus as I have no intention of ever surrendering to that witch of a CPU, even if our troops are diminishing at a fair pace.
We do manage to push through them eventually, but it appears that there is no end in sight to all of these enemies rushing in or even this bleak scenery of buildings. While I acknowledge that this is a nightmare, I can't help but feel curious with regards the use of all of these buildings that are old and rusty, and are in need of a repair at least. Eventually though at least the scenery changes a bit as the buildings with windows, are replaced with buildings full of balconies with the troops shooting at us from there, only for them to find that they have less cover and they quickly fall down from our machine gun fire.
It's a good thing that we can quickly wipe them out because in our path there doesn't seem to be much cover for us to use to protect us from enemy fire, as well as for us to be able to reload without fear of getting shot by their bullets, but still I hope that when we finish in this area there'll be more cover up ahead, because I'm concerned about how the enemy can still ambush us, especially from atop the buildings, I just hope we can spot them before they can take us out.
Regardless of whether there's cover up ahead or if there's an ambush or both, I still say things to inspire my men, for them to continue fighting because even if we try to hide it, I do wonder whether the relentless amount of enemies concerns them, and the constant ambushes stresses them to the point where they worry that they'll die, and them dying one by one perhaps hasn't helped in their morale or their nerves.
"Unleash fury everyone!" I yell to my friends, encouraging them to continue the fight against the enemies.
Oddly enough I get the feeling that this is about to be the calm before the storm, as although there are still enemies coming our way they're in fewer numbers. My sense of something bad coming our way is even stronger now, and I feel that something will get us at any moment. Funnily enough this reminds me of how I played a mission before resembling this, where we fight through enemies only for something to hit us, it's annoying how I can't remember what is was, because if I could then it could help me, perhaps Neptune knows what it was and has therefore affected my memory such that I don't know it, maybe she's the reason for our amnesia when we arrive at Lastation and Lowee depending on who we are.
I find this tension of what will happen to be quite bothersome to say the least, as we advance through the path surrounding by similar looking buildings, though I'm glad to see variety consisting of buildings but with large rusty shutters with purple paint peeling of, suggesting that they're garages, with trucks outside. There are a few troops on the ground in various parts trying to shoot us down with their rifles, but our RPDs mow them down first.
We then advance further only to find that there are no more troops but suddenly just as I thought, something stops us. I find myself struggling to move as a matter of fact I'm struggling to breathe, I reckon it must be tear gas or some other gas, I and my allies find ourselves coughing, struggling to breathe and I fear that this gas will kill us unless we can find something, but I can't even see anything, nothing but smoke clouding my vision. It also reeks of eggplants though at least unlike Neptune, the smell doesn't bother me but the effect on my breathing and vision and my body does. I can't imagine what it must be like for our allies to get this far, only to find themselves choking on tear gas, which will slowly but surely kill them all.
Oh no, oh great and I suppose even if I knew they'd throw tear gas there'd be no counter measure considering how I've seen no masks of any kind, or anything to protect us from a gas attack. Well I guess this is it, I don't see a way out of this, as I'm wondering around just barely struggling to breathe, I can only feel nothing but metal as I struggle to find somewhere I can enter, to escape the gas. I feel like I'm about to collapse at any second, well so much for fighting my way out, so much for defeating Neptune, and so much for bringing justice to that pathetic excuse of a CPU, but I refuse to show her satisfaction, I refuse to show her pain, I refuse to….