It wasn't easy trying to stay behind this soldier and the assets it was transferring.

The corridor it elected to traverse had little to offer when it came to cover, so Shephard and I resigned ourselves to make a move only after it rounded a corner, rushing as quickly and discretely as we could to catch up. After a few minutes of tailing our unassuming tour guide, we ended up being led to an area of the facility that had an elevated level of security. Shephard was the first to realise this after leading the way the entire time as he peaked his head around the corner.

"Dang…" he muttered.

"Barricade?" I asked, still keeping an eye on our backs like I had been doing up until now.

"Yeah. Lotta cameras too," he reported. "I don't think we'll be going that way."

Taking a momentary leave of duty to have a look for myself, I flattened my ears and looked around the corner. The one-eyed soldier was entering a terminus of some kind that consumed the end of the hallway with Combine metal plating. In addition to security cameras attaining vetting eyefuls of the armed white-uniformed courier with its dubious parcels, there was a prominent wall of transparent blue energy erected around the midpoint of the hallway, ensuring that Shephard and I had no chance of following this soldier further even if we wanted to. Better still; it likely wouldn't have been a good idea to go down there anyway if security had become so threatening.

"Bugger…" I whispered in mutual discontent after assessing our situation.

"Guess we'll have to make a detour," Shephard conceded, already looking around for an alternate route. He quickly settled on the hallway the continued past this intercepting one just in front of us. The only problem was the cameras potentially seeing streaking across their point of view, but we both arrived at the same conclusion when we saw the cameras inspecting the rack of pods the soldier had been escorting.

"Quickly! To the other side!" I prompted in a wispy yell. We both across and hid behind the wall of the proceeding corridor while the cameras were busy inspecting. No immediate alarms rang out, so we assumed that we narrowly avoided being found out thus far.

"Well, at least we know we should be heading in that general direction," Shephard figured with his back against the wall.

"Indeed, but I fear that security will not get any lighter no matter which way we go," I said as my tail swished with tension.

"Hey, worry not; I'm kinda a wiz at improvising," Shephard reassured as he continued looking around for ideas. He was about to keep moving forward when his eyes landed on an air vent near the ceiling on our wall several feet away. Shephard leaned over to get a better look at it and inspiration flared in him. An inspiration that was evident when he turned to look at me. "Hey, you up for crawling with the dust bunnies again?"

Sewers and air ducts seemed to be the favoured method of passage for rebels like us because I realised that's all we had to work with.

While Shephard had been leading our way up to this point, I had insisted that I lead our way through the air ducts this time around, both as a means of having a firsthand reception of any threats and counteract them and also because I didn't wish to have wads of dust and cobwebs kicked in my face by the individual in front of me. Contrary to what I was expecting out of this, the ducts we snuck through were more pleasant than previous ventilation tracks I had shuffled through in the recent past.

There was some generous width to our passage, and there were sections of the tract that had ladders we needed to ascend and descend from, alluding to the likelihood that maintenance workers were meant to come through here regularly. Humans were mad if they believed that sending staff in this allergenic cesspool was an ethically sound premise. Then again, I had the hunch they didn't invent any robots yet that were designed to enter and repair ventilation, unlike what was standard practice on Conaria and its colonies.

We had been crawling in here for a few rough minutes as we circumvented the security checkpoints in the proper hallways just beyond the walls. My telepathy was on high alert as I crawled ahead, listening in on our enemies outside. Even though I had no visual reference to reflect on, there was a point where I sensed my telepathy being prohibited to its full range before gradually expanding again to a greater length in the span of a few feet of distance, indicating that we had passed a checkpoint of some kind, which ensured that we had bypassed security.

Unfortunately, because I cranked up my telepathic range and strength to such an elevated degree, I was about to hear Shephard's thoughts like he was actually speaking them. He was heavily mission-oriented, keeping a constant ear as he minded the noise of his shuffling and trusting that I could sense any danger we may have been wading into. I would have been comforted by this if it weren't for the obnoxious tune he had been simultaneously thinking to himself.

I knew why he was doing this; he was trying to keep me from reading his thoughts by making that the only thing he was thinking about. I desperately wanted to tell him that he didn't have to fear me, but I knew that saying that would most certainly indicate that I was reading his thoughts, and I knew he would not take well to that at all. So, I said nothing and maintained course, but I was getting a really bad feeling about all of this.

Sooner than later, we eventually came across a corridor that had a row of three slanted vent plates on the floor. They looked like they would just pop out if any weighty pressure were applied to it, and I was certain that it would not support my body weight. "Hold up," I whispered to Shephard, putting a hand up behind me.

Shephard obeyed without hesitancy. "What is it?" he whispered back.

"We may have to disembark here," I relayed. "These vents don't look strong enough to hold us up if we were to try and cross."

Shephard leaned over to look, noting the light source down below. "Do you sense any hostiles down there?"

I paused to check and make sure, and the results came back surprisingly clean. "Well, either the whole area is walled off with their metal, or the coast is clear." I shuffled a few inches forward to look down at the mysterious area and saw what looked to be a tiled floor made of green and white tiles. It looked empty enough, but I was mindful that I was looking through a confined square hole. "I don't sense anybody directly below us, though. This room may be clear."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Shephard said putatively as he shimmied his rifle forward.

With a little passive magic from my staff in its retracted state, I was able to unscrew the vent on one side, so the whole thing swung open, hardly making a squeak, which was refreshing. I carefully poked my head out to see what we would be jumping into, but much to our luck this room was empty. It was filled with old consoles and rolling chairs that had either been knocked over or had towers of boxes stacked on them. I delicately slinked out of the opening in the ceiling and landed quietly on the dusty tiled floor, my paws barely making a sound having my sandals in my mouth for the sake of silent infiltration.

Shephard didn't have much of a chance to be quiet with all of his gear jostling as he crawled his way out of the duct, and he landed on his boots as they made a loud impact sound. I would have potentially reproached him to be a little quieter if I were not distracted by what I was seeing out the observation window on the other end of the room, which I was already on my way to look out from by the time Shephard emerged.

Just beyond this window was a giant circular chamber almost a hundred feet high to the ceiling and did not appear to have a bottom anywhere in sight. Layered capsule-like modules of Combine machinery coated the entirety of the chamber almost like a giant hive of winged insectoids, about seventy in total from all that I could see, and appeared to have large rows of pistons churning slowly on their sides. There was a network of walkways that encircled the chamber, where faint scrawny figures could faintly be seen motioning across the varying levels. The most captivating thing about this chamber was the single beam of bright blue energy shooting up from the depths and into a receiver in the ceiling, flickering intensely with power.

The whole arrangement just outside was as breathtaking as it was terrifying. And I put my hand to the window as I marvelled at the grandiose ingenuity that the Combine flaunted, yet were somehow simultaneously soulless in their display. Whatever was being conducted in that chamber was not meant for the betterment of life, I was certain of that much.

"Well, shit…" Shephard cursed to himself as he stood up next to me, looking at all the activity just beyond this thick window. "That's a pretty big drop, ain't it? Wonder what the story of this big contraption is?"

"I don't know, and a part of me kind of hopes I never do," I said, removing my hand from the window as I took a pensive step back. I took a brief look around the human-made room and noted the large metal door close by, like the entrance, had a Combine lock fused to the nob. "We better keep moving. There's no telling how frequented this room receives visitors."

Shephard removed himself from the window and looked off to the side. "The only other way that I can see is right there, but they've got it walled off with that solid light stuff."

Shephard brought said exit to my attention. The sight of the chamber outside must have stolen my full attention when dropping in because this was the first time that I noticed it. There was indeed a way out of the room, but it was walled off by an energy barrier.

I approached it to examine it and quickly deduced that I had the means to remove it. I extended my staff to full length and tapped its spear end on the installed machine generating the barrier, and the whole thing collapsed in a flash as its energy transferred inside my staff. It now crackled softly with siphoned power, a spectacle that amused Shephard.

"A pilot, a mercenary, an electrician, an exterminator, and a witch," he observed with a hand on his hip. "The running theme of orphans being the most well-rounded adults shows true in you."

I smirked, not exactly knowing what that was meant to suggest. "I was not aware that was a typecast in your world."

"You'd understand if you've read a lot of Batman," Shephard offered. Again, the cultural context was lost on me, but I felt flattered nonetheless and gave him a thankful nod. Shephard then lifted his rifle in both hands and made his way to the opened doorway before I put a hand on his chest, making him pause.

"Ladies first," I reprimanded. Shephard begrudgingly complied and backed up, though his cheeks moved upward, indicating an air of playfulness.

I lament that our aura of friendliness did not persist once we entered the next room, which had been heavily altered by the Combine. It was another control room of sorts, filled with alien consoles and monitors that rimmed the walls. There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy in this room, so we moved through this area swiftly and on high alert. I had no way of sensing any soldiers outside or around these walls, so we had to be extra cautious.

After rounding a few corners in a very narrow, triangular-shaped hallway with bright rim lights, Shephard and I arrived at the mouth of a room, and I jumped back into Shephard and abruptly stopped his pace. "Stay back!" I warned in a vehement shush.

I accidentally pushed Shephard against the wall, but he was quick to stabilise himself. "What is it? Soldiers?" he questioned, already switching to a combative mindset like any soldier who had seen combat would.

Despite my initial panic, I mustered myself and crept toward the entrance to the room again to see for sure. What I saw confused me. Several humanoid creatures were standing around the room, attending to various pieces of equipment like monitors and other hardware. They were sickly in colour and had short limbs that were enhanced by aperitive stilts on their legs and arms. While I was too far away to make out key details, I was able to read their minds, and what I received disturbed me immensely.

"They're mindless…" I deduced, finding that to be the most alien thing I had felt in a long time. They weren't cognitively primitive like some animals were. They were alive, yet had no minds to speak of. Like living robots. But the worst part about it was that I could detect traces of a mind in each of them, almost like they had simply been removed with cerebral residue.

"Can they detect us?" Shephard pressed, not quite understanding or receiving my distress and remained mission-focused.

"I…don't know," I admitted, feeling quite uncomfortable about the uncanniness of these creatures. It was then Shephard peered around to have a look for himself.

"Scrawny fellas, aren't they?" he observed, "They look pretty busy. Why don't we just move on passed them?"

I looked at him with slight concern. "What if they attack?"

"They look like a breeze could knock them over. It won't be a hard fight should they raise a fuss," he remarked tapping the end of his rifle's grenade launcher attachment again.

After some careful consideration, I resigned myself to this risky strategy and we both began to carefully travel across the room to the exit on the other end. We both kept our weapons ready as we motioned passed these creatures, though they remained far too preoccupied with their tasks to notice us, which was a bit of a blessing, but it also made me extra nervous. But the lack of notice from these creatures was dwarfed considerably when I finally got a close-up of these creatures, which made all of my fur stand on their ends.

These were unnaturally gaunt creatures with incredibly tight skin that exposed and highlighted their bones to the point where they looked fleshless. I could see their ribcages and shoulder blades with uncomfortable clarity like they were simply skeletons with skin. Their heads were all low and had medal devices stuck over their eyes with what looked to be blinders hinged onto the side of them, suggesting that they could also cover the eyes.

They had no forearms or forelegs, and spindly stilts and forked instruments were instead crudely fused in place of them. And their faces? I am hesitant to even call them such, for they carried no identification. They were blank, featureless, and devoid of life, yet they were kept alive regardless. They operated the machines they were positioned in front of while using their little apparatuses. Their minds remained non-existent as we passed by them, and they paid us no mind, almost like they weren't meant to even if we were caught by them.

Eventually, I and Shephard successfully left the room with no issue, but we hardly left feeling accomplished given how disturbed we both were. Entering the next branching corridor, Shephard was the one who dared to state out loud what I was terrified to confront. "Oh my God, those were people…" he spoke in a very small voice, quite contrary to his normal robust manner of speaking.

'Getting executed is mercy from the Combine.'

Those words from Aaron were the only things on my mind after I viewed these creatures up close, and they continued to haunt me the further on we pressed.

Our situation had grown dreadfully worse when we were confronted by a direct entryway into the giant chamber outside.

Neither of us favoured the idea of venturing across that cavernous abyss, but our options were unfortunately finite. We had to keep moving if we wanted to find the detention centre and find Hal; and if not that, then to simply make it out of here alive. There was a terminal adjacent to the large metal door that divided us from the outside chamber. One large sliding lever on the wall appeared to be what controlled the door automatically. Me and Shephard looked at each other contemplatively, mutually uncertain about this.

"Doesn't look like there are armed guards out there," Shephard considered, taking an affirming glance outside the small window in the terminal. "We could slip through easily."

"If we remain careful," I reminded.

"Of course."

I looked at the sliding lever since I was standing closest to it. I took a wary breath and clasped my hand around it. "All right. Let's make this a quick venture, yes?"

"Of course," Shephard said again.

Without wasting another moment, I pushed the lever upward with mild resistance, and the thick metal door began to slide upward into the ceiling, exposing us to the crackly air of the chamber. The door was more than halfway up by the time Shephard began to suddenly panic. "Whoa, whoa! WHOA! CLOSE IT!"

Shephard flung himself toward me took the lever and heaved it down as hard as he could, and the door slammed shut just as quickly. I was left quite spooked by his sporadic rush, making my tail puff up so hard I thought my bands would pop off. "W-What happened?!" I sputtered, indecisive if a fight was about to happen, but I was quickly able to register Shephard's intense fear of something he realised we were unwittingly letting in.

Shephard said nothing and just looked at the door for a second, and his shoulders slumped in cautious relief. "Oh jeez, that was close…" he sighed, slipping his hand underneath his mask to rub his eye. He turned to me after recollecting himself. "There were a shit ton of rads out there," he informed, pointing at the door. "My vest has a built-in Geiger counter, and it was clicking like crazy when that door opened. I don't think we want to go this way unless we both wanna chug some gamma rays."

That did not sound appealing at all. Perhaps that crackling I heard wasn't coming from the air at all. I thought about this dilemma for a long moment. I would have felt pressured to relent in our current pursuit and backtrack to find a better path if a radical idea had not spurred on me.

"Perhaps a little spell-casting could solve our problem?" I suggested, which made my lowered ears stand up with inspiration. Shephard was less than swayed by my proposal.

"What?" he said with an obvious wince. He was still not quite so accustomed to my ready disposal to magic, let alone the concept of it.

"I can generate a protective airtight bubble around us," I clarified, hoisting my staff into prominent view. "It is resistant to all manner of deadly hazards. I'm confident that it can also keep us safe from intense radiation."

Granted, I have not tested to see if this were true, and I was accustomed to generating partial obstructions for defence in combat. I have created bubbles around myself when trapped in fiery pits and I survived without a singe. Shephard still did not look sold on my proposal, but he was split on the matter. He wisely was not one to play with the dangers of lethal radiation, and he didn't express any interest in going back into that room where the monstrously deformed remnants of human beings were. I could see this conflict clearly through his goggles as his eyes darted back and forth. It appeared that he was just a little more unsettled by those creatures.

"Fine," Shephard nodded tepidly. "But if I hear any more clicking, we're turning around."

"Agreed."

I quickly got to work and summoned an all-encompassing magical shield that spawned from the tip of my staff and where I maintained its magical stream. A girthy bubble of transparent blue energy that swirled with mystical patterns that completely encapsulated us. It could adjust to the space around us, sealing up against the walls and objects around us accordingly if any were in our path. It was a sound as any sealant. Shephard marvelled at the phenomenon, looking in all directions as the bubble closed around us. He even reached out and felt the walls of our magic capsule, and he made it ripple like he was touching water in a still pond.

"A marvellous enchantment, isn't it?" I asked, keeping steady hands around my staff as I maintained its existence.

Shephard was impressed, I saw it in his eyes, but he remained wisely sceptical. "Dazzling for sure, but let's see if it keeps the bad particles out."

Shephard motioned over to the lever on the wall, which happened to be inside our bubble at the point of conjuring. He forced it up, and the corresponding door went up with it. Shephard was still as he listened to his Geiger counter, but miraculously heard no incessant clicks coming from it. The silence was loud enough for me to even hear it.

Shephard then turned to me in complete disbelief, wide eyes and all. I simply shrugged with a modest smile, not having much to say myself. With that being enough said for him, Shephard then held his arms towards the now open door to the chamber. "Well, ladies first."

Our trek through the giant chamber was many competing levels of tense―but all of which were extreme.

Even with my shield protecting us from the particles emitting from that potent stream of energy flowing up through the centre of the chamber, I felt unnervingly warm, and my nerve endings felt near-insufferably irritated. The low ambient hum of the chamber was also unsettling to my ears. The Geiger counter in Shephard's PCV continuously assured us that no amount of radiation was seeping inside our bubble, but I knew it would not be able to withstand much else. I could feel it in more ways than one.

I poured most of my energy into strengthening my shield as we diligently walked across the walkway encircling this power stream―which was thankfully solid and decidedly not grated. We didn't move slowly as I made Shephard well aware of my limited energy to maintain our bubble. He kept his assault rifle at the ready as he led me along, keeping a relentless eye for any enemies as we ventured towards the terminal on the other end of the chamber. We both quickly arrived at the point where our number one goal in our lives was to get out of there as quickly as we could without sabotaging the only thing keeping us from succumbing to fatal rays that I could feel were pelting our shield.

I left the surveillance of hostiles entirely to Shephard as I poured everything into keeping us protected―I had little that I could afford to spare for helpful telepathy. My arms began to tremble by the time we passed a quarter portion of the circumference of the walkway, and my legs began to strain like I was adding an extra pound to myself with every step. I stopped looking ahead and kept my eyes on the ground, prioritising every ounce of strength I had in reserve to keep this going. I worried I would not be able to handle it for much longer and began to audibly struggle when it was becoming too much.

Shephard had been giving me gentle encouragement whenever he heard me struggling, nudging me to keep going, which did help a little bit. I put them to good use as we moved, but they could only keep me going for so long. Just when I felt like I couldn't go on any further, we finally arrived at our destination, though I barely had the strength to look up and see for myself. I was nearly about to collapse on my knee by the time Shephard was trying to let us through the door, which operated in the same way as the door in the previous terminal.

After Shephard successfully opened it up, he prompted me to enter behind him, and I struggled to do so as my legs wobbled with every shuffle. Once I barely made it passed the door, Shephard acted quickly and slammed the door as hard as he slammed the lever with his own weight. I collapsed onto the instant after I heard the door do the same, dropping my staff and 'eating the pavement' as the phrase goes.

"Whoa-oa there, easy does it. Easy…" Shephard cooed gently as he knelt and propped me upright, holding my back up in this momentary lapse when I had no strength left in me.

"Uuuuugh…" I moaned pitifully. It had been a long time since the last time I was forced to spend everything I had into maintaining a spell.

After a moment of recovery, Shephard reached into his large backpack fished out a canteen of water and gave it to me, helping me to drink by pouring some little portions in my mouth before I soon regained the strength to do it myself. I breathed heavily in exhaustion after I finished drinking and just laid there for another moment longer to catch my breath. "Damn, missy, I don't know what to say after that, other than thanks for keeping my organs from failing."

I looked up drowsily at that masked face, finding comfort in its otherwise provocative appearance. "You're…welcome…Corporal…" I heaved, my weary tail tapping lightly on the ground as I lay.

"Guess we ought to add endurance champion to your resume too after this, yeah?" Shephard suggested.

I was simply too tired to slap that mask off of his face, so I just grinned flaccidly.