Read or Dare
Chapter 29
The tunnels continued to be very, very weird.
"WHY do they always look so totally clean?" Shane wondered aloud as he walked with the one assault team.
"It IS weird," Yomiko agreed.
There were three 'teams' that had gone into the tunnels, all converging on an area that they suspected was the source of the youma. They had combined their mapping efforts, and realized there was still one area unexplored.
"Well, this is exciting," Lara Croft said, her long brown ponytail swinging.
Shane REALLY wasn't sure he liked or trusted the woman. On the other hand, Drake vouched for her, and she was good with her guns.
Nancy warily looked around, her uzi in hand. "We're near the target, I think," Nancy murmured, checking the rough map.
They had been jumped by Youma twice already, and thankfully had killed the five creatures. They were a little easier to kill than the first one he and Revy fought, thank goodness. Made him wonder why though...
Drake frowned as he said, "Does the air feel.. different, as we go deeper?"
"More humid," Yomiko agreed.
"Sounds ahead," Shane murmured.
The group advanced quietly, as they saw a reddish glow up ahead. They carefully inched around the corner, then froze.
"Oh, ICK," Yomiko blurted.
It HAD BEEN one of the retro steampunk labs they had already found, but now it had been reshaped. There was a massive, organic growth that filled much of the chamber, covered in large, wart like buds. Within each 'bud' was a gestating youma-creature.
"We're going to need bigger guns," Lara muttered.
"Yup," Drake agreed, "try the radio, call Ms Balalaika?"
"Right," Shane agreed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Why are we stuck on GUARD DUTY?" Kelly Miles complained as the three functional mechs patrolled outside the camp.
"We're too big to go into the tunnels," Koyomi Kishiro noted.
"Okay, point," Kelly conceded.
Lisa Kincaid, a gymnast and on the island on a scholarship, had been recruited to man the third on. Dan Wisner had died in the second wave of attackers, and poor Adam Smith had asked to stop piloting as he was just too damn tall for the machines.
"This is SO weird," Lisa muttered as she practiced using the modified sword, the squat mech swinging it easily.
"Be careful how you swing that," Adam warned. "With the weight of the sword and the power of the mech, you could cut through things like a hot knife through butter."
Lisa grunted. "Who, exactly, decided this was a good idea again?" she asked.
"Well, we DID end up with a youma invasion," Kelly pointed out.
"Yeah, true enough," Lisa admitted.
"Why are WE just waiting here too?" Anita King complained, the youngest Paper Master watching them train.
Michelle Cheung teased Anita's hair. "We need to protect the civilians," she pointed out, "with our powers we can best protect them."
"But there's the mechs!" Anita gestured.
Maggie Mui shrugged, "They're good in a direct fight, but..."
"Food's ready," Nenene Sumiregawa called. "We've got soup and crackers," she added briskly.
"Yaaaaay," Anita sounded unimpressed.
"Be grateful we're getting fed at all," Nenene scolded.
"Come on Anita," Michelle added as they headed in.
Maggie lingered beside Nenene. "Hmm?" the writer looked up at her.
"Are you worried about Yomiko and the others?" Maggie asked quietly.
"Of course. Especially like this, when they don't really KNOW what they're getting into," Nenene admitted quietly.
Maggie reached out to squeeze her shoulder comfortingly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Balalaika calmly gunned down the attacking youma, nailing it with a single headshot.
"Nice!" Rin Asougi agreed, carrying a shotgun. Her arm had been ripped off in an early encounter, then had regrown, freaking EVERYONE out.
"I wish we had had you with us in Afghanistan," Sgt Boris noted to Rin.
"It's REALLY not as useful as you'd think," Rin admitted,
Taichi Hiraga-Keaton frowned as they advanced by a seemingly empty lab. "I wish we could go over the labs," he sighed.
"No time," Balakaika shook her head as they lead a team of (mostly) volunteers. She was honestly concerned over how well they could fight, hence her and Boris being there.
The radio squawked, and Boris unclipped it from his belt, "Report."
"Trouble?" Keaton wondered.
"The Librarian team has found SOMETHING," Boris said, "they link the hive."
"We should converge on their location," Balalaika started just as they heard the youma howling up the tunnel.
"Oh fuck," one guy whimpered.
"Weapons ready! Do not fire until the range closes!" Boris barked.
At least one wild shot whizzed by, and Balalaika cursed. Damn incompetents.
"GWAAAR!" the youma howled as a larger group burst from around the bend. They charged awkwardly towards them, chomping teeth and glaring at them.
"Fire!" Boris ordered.
Keaton fired with surprising accuracy, though Balalaika remembered that he had military experience, Rin also fired reasonably well, though the rest of the volunteers were all pretty poor.
'Thank goodness I brought them along as cannon fodder,' Balalaika thought coldly. Some of the youma reached the fighters, and men screamed as claws tore.
"Back up! Keep firing," Keaton barked.
The charge faltered, then broke under their fire. Calmly Balalaika made sure they were all dead, shooting the things in the head. "Injuries?" she checked.
"Three dead," Boris reported.
Balalaika nodded as she reloaded, "We should be nearly there."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Fuck me," Dutch muttered, the balled black man looking at the organic... mass that was blocking the tunnel.
"Yuck," Revy agreed.
"What IS that?" Yoko asked, the attractive bartender having volunteered.
"I think it's a youma nest," Dutch mused. "Anyone got some explosives?" he wondered aloud.
"Huh?" Yoko asked.
"It's not like we can SHOOT it," Revy agreed. "Call Balalaika?"
"Right," Dutch used the radio, and they quickly confirmed that the organic 'thing' was stretching across at least three tunnels, and was pretty large.
"So what's the plan?" Yoko asked as the group spread out defensively.
"When in doubt, C-4."
"We'll need to coordinate with the other two teams," Revy mused aloud, "partially blowing this thing up probably would be bad."
"Yeah. Balalaika wants us to plant the bombs evenly around it, set a timer and get clear," Dutch relayed the orders.
No one other than Dutch had explosives experience, annoyingly. "Where did you...?" Revy wondered aloud.
"Nam," Dutch said shortly.
As he was preparing the devices, Yoko swore. The walls of that... THING are bulging," she warned them.
"More youma. Great," Revy sighed, reloading her pistols.
"Can't we just set the bombs and leave?!" one guy demanded.
"They might damage the timers if we leave too soon," Dutch answered.
"Wheee, fun," Yoko sighed as several Youma emerged, then started to stumble towards them.
"Let's do it," Revy grinned as she opened fire.
To be continued...
Chapter 30
"More incoming!" Revy barked as she fired her twin pistols.
Yoko had a rifle, firing short bursts into the attackers.
'She's been trained, for sure,' Dutch noted as he set the charges.
Over the radio Balalaika ordered, "Set the charges for two minutes. That SHOULD get us enough time to get clear."
"Should," Revy grunted.
"Worse comes to worse, we get caught in the blast. It'll be quick at least," Yoko noted.
"Fuck THAT," Dutch finished setting the charges as the youma charged them. "We need to break through," he said, firing his shotgun.
"We gotta clear the ones here first. Or trick 'em into following us," Revy added.
"Lure them away from the bombs, then run like hell?" Yoko nodded.
"Right," Dutch backed away from the nest, the youma slowly following them and not messing with the bombs.
"I don't see any more coming out of the nest," Revy noted as she reloaded.
"Run away?" Yoko asked.
"Run away!" Dutch agreed and they bolted.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Boris?" Balalaika asked as she shot another youma.
"Charges set!" Boris barked.
Rin Asougi shot a youma with her shotgun. "Okay, I'll stay to make sure the charges go off," she said calmly.
"What?" Taichi Hiraga-Keaton blurted out.
"I don't die, remember?" Rin pointed out. She shrugged, "I'll make sure the youma don't screw with the bombs."
Balalaika shot another youma, "Are you certain?"
"Yes! Get going," Rin ordered.
"Come on," Boris addressed the other survivors, "hurry. If you fall behind, you will be left."
"Hey!" one guy protested.
"Silence," Balalaika ordered as they reloaded.
"Good luck," Keaton addressed Rin then hurried off.
"So, what happens if we're too near when the bombs go off?" another guy wondered aloud.
"The passage collapses and we're buried alive," Boris noted flatly.
"Oh. We should hurry maybe..."
"Gwaaaar!" a howling band of youma emerged from a side tunnel.
Keaton turned, backing up and firing as they hurried. "These ones are tougher," he noted as one only went down under several shots.
"Lovely," Balalaika sighed. "Concentrate your fire!" she ordered.
"We're gonna dieeee," a cannon fodder moaned.
"Keep moving," Boris ordered, knowing there was maybe a minute to go.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Lara Croft made a gurgling noise as a youma ripped her throat out.
"SHIT!" Drake cursed, realizing the thing had emerged from a branching tunnel.
"Move!" Shane shoved him aside, slapping paper onto the wound and sealing it with an improvised bandage.
"Too late, she's going to drown in her own blood," Nancy noted as the woman collapsed.
Drake hesitated beside the collapsed woman, clearly torn.
"No time," Shane admitted as they ran down the tunnel. There was maybe a minute or so until the bombs went off.
"Damn it, I HATE losing clients," Drake bitched.
"We're not going to get out of the tunnels before the blast," Yomiko realized.
The three groups converged in one of the tunnels, Balalaika looking grim. "Time is acting odd in these passages again," she scowled, "we won't get out before the blast."
Dutch scowled, "So what now?"
"Yomiko," Shane barked as he pulled wads of paper from his coat.
"Right," Yomiko did the same as they quickly threw up paper walls.
"What in the...?" Boris blinked.
"Everyone, get close together," Nancy ordered briskly, "the smaller the area they need to shelter the better."
Balalaika realized, "You're using your paper powers to shield us from the blast and support the tunnel? Is it strong enough to DO that?"
Drake noted, "I've seen them do some crazy shit."
"All right, brace yourselves," Shane said, hands on the newly formed paper walls.
"... three, two one," Boris checked his watch.
THOOOOM!
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"SHIT!" Nenene Sumiregawa yelped as the ground rumbled beneath them.
"Easy, ma'am," Nodoka said, the library assistant grabbing her.
Yue grabbed at the desk as the building shook. "What NOW?" she groaned aloud.
"Please let it not be more monsters," Anita King muttered, the young paper master looking around wildly.
Once the shaking stopped Rock yelled, "Is everyone all right?"
"We're fine," was the general response.
"What was that?" Nenene asked Rock crossly.
"Nalalaika took along a fair amound of explosives," Rock said quietly, "looks like they needed to use them."
With that Rock hurried outside. He nodded to the three mechs on guard, then addressed Michelle, "Can you or Maggie come with me? I want to check the tunnel entrance."
"Maggie, you should go with him. You're better at using your powers at defense if something happens," Michelle ordered.
"Right," Maggie agreed, the tall black haired woman following Rock.
The tunnel access was out from the main community, near where the road had collapsed into the tunnels. They moved forward warily, looking out for youma, but saw none. Concerningly, there was some smoke drifting from the hole.
"Is that...?" Maggie started, then they heard yelling.
"Get moving!"
"Climb faster!"
"That does NOT smell nice at all."
"There!"
People began to emerge from the hole, several of whom they knew.
"Rock," Balalaika smiled tiredly, "Help us carry the wounded."
"We can form paper stretchers," Shane added tiredly as he helped a bleeding Yomiko out, who was being watched over by Nancy.
"What happened?" Rock ashed as he helped people out of the hole.
"The bombs went off early," Revy sighed. "The Paper Masters MOSTLY shielded us, but the shock wave knocked us around a bit."
"Did the raid succeed?" Maggie wondered as they helped everyone up.
"We'll need to go down again and check," Balalaika said cautiously, "but I think we destroyed the main hive."
"Miss Croft didn't make it?" Rock noted. "And Rin?"
"I saw Croft go down," Dutch admitted.
"Rin... well, we'll see," Nancy shrugged.
Revy paused, then looked around. Seeing Shane, she strode over to him.
"I..." Shane started, before Revy grabbed him by the collar then kissed him forcefully.
"Well, well," Balalaika noted, amused.
Revy let him go as she declared, "We've been dancing around each other WAY too long. Let's find someplace private and bang."
Shane just looked at her blankly a second then said, "Okay..."
"Not now," Balalaika jumped in.
"Spoil sport," Revy pouted.
Rock just shook his head and laughed.
To be continued...