With the two first floors of the ravine cleared, Crisis joined Frost in the middle of his fight with the brute. They could spot more antipunks around, but as they were running away to not suffer the same fate as their peers, the team had to wait for Frost to be done with his opponent since he wouldn’t let them interfere. The brute was now exhausted, but as Frost kept siccing him by getting close, he kept swinging his hammer out of desperation. His opponent was too quick for him, though, but instead of taking the brute out now that the entire team was waiting behind, Frost took some liberties to have his way with the antipunk.
Every one of his dodges mocked the brute further, as he just got out of the way when his hammer was about to strike. His swings kept failing repeatedly, and as Frost just flaunted his sharp reflexes without throwing any attacks, the brute began tiring himself out, and eventually, he stopped attacking completely to back off and catch his breath. In response, Frost teased him with a frown of pity before menacingly approaching him with his blades raised high. He had the opportunity to slash the brute’s throat as he had lowered his guard, but instead, Frost meticulously planned each of his strikes to cut deep into his body, executing another flurry that left the brute immobile, barely able to breathe but still alive.
Crisis tried to step in after seeing the brute collapse and whimper in pain, but before Indie could take a shot at him and end his suffering, Panda got in the way of keeping the rest of the team back. He shared Frost’s amusement without the twisted pleasure that he seemed to be getting, like Nitro and Kiwy. While Scott looked more confused as to why no one was joining the fight, he also did nothing but watch as Frost was about to finish off the brute, who threw as many desperate punches as he could in his direction before he sliced every part of his body.
They kept watching the spectacle for a few seconds, slightly repulsed by the sight of the small chunks of flesh hanging from the brute’s body. He had lost the ability to move his arms, only supporting himself on his knees, not even being able to keep crying as his face had been slashed to the point where his eyes and mouth were useless. While he couldn’t see or feel Frost’s cruel attacks anymore, the brute was relieved for a moment when his opponent stopped and began walking back to his team.
Expecting him to meet with the squad, Panda stepped back to welcome Frost back to the group, but instead, they were all utterly astounded when he proceeded to grab one of the pickaxes from the dead antipunks on the floor. The brute barely got to sigh before accepting death, but his peace was interrupted when Frost casually turned around, and with all the anger built up with every cut on his opponent’s body, he jumped higher than the brute’s head, only to slam the pickaxe down at full force, thrusting it deep into his chest.
If he wasn’t bleeding enough from the seemingly hundreds of cuts over his body, the pickaxe was the final nail in the coffin for the brute, splashing blood all over Frost before passing out. But he wasn’t done yet, despite the brute appearing lifeless. Frost found a bit more enjoyment as he grabbed the giant hammer that the brute was carrying, and with a bit of struggle, he lifted it to smash the pickaxe sticking out of his chest, pushing it even deeper until it came out the other side of the brute’s body.
The platform was soaked in blood, making it slippery for Frost’s teammates to go to him, but as he was about to go for another swing, Panda was forced to step in and stop him right on time. He stopped the abuse by pushing what was left of the brute off the platform, accidentally impaling him in both arms and parts of the chest with the stalagmites below. And while Frost seemed a bit disappointed for Panda to ruin the fun for him, he didn’t think too much about it and just laughed it off.
–Had enough fun already?– Panda asked with a sarcastic smirk while Frost gave one last look at the dead brute below, getting a chuckle out of the way the pickaxe and stalagmites poked out of his body. He turned to Panda and the team with a sudden change in expression, but as they saw his now straight face, a tense silence formed for a second. Scott stared at the mangled brute with a mix of curiosity and fright, similar to Candy, who just looked away while hiding the traumatizing sight with one hand. The rest of the team remained quiet and hesitated to join Frost in the middle of the platform as Frost and Panda stared at each other intently, but then they broke into a burst of brief laughter and began discussing their next move.
After taking out the antipunk brute and leaving seemingly no one in the three layers of mineshafts, the squad looked around the ravine to either appreciate or condemn the devastation they had left behind. Scott out of all people was the most impressionable, looking astonished, intrigued, mortified, in disbelief, and even slightly impressed by how much havoc Crisis managed to wreak in a matter of minutes, especially on the second floor.
Scott did appear more disturbed once he saw all the bodies lying around, and even though it didn’t look as cruel and depressing as the scene they left at the quarry, the aftermath was definitely a lot bloodier, causing his stomach to turn, though he managed to remain composed after a while. But somehow, the entire squad just looked past all the corpses as they gathered around Frost at the entrance of the last mineshaft left to explore, where they got to see tunnels descending deeper into the mine.
–Alright, what now?– Panda asked casually as he reloaded his machine gun for a second time, although it looked like he didn’t have enough ammo for the next time. The rest of the squad took a moment as well to reload and compose themselves, but out of the entire team, Nitro didn’t lower his weapon at any time; he held it high as he grinned with thrill after pulling down his mask.
–We blow this place up, that’s what!– Nitro exclaimed with a brief cackle, still fired up as the amount of explosives and grenades on his belt appeared intact. The squad tried to dismiss him, but as he pulled a grenade out as a joke, Frost stepped in to stop him and take the lead as he naturally drew everyone’s attention.
–Nope, not yet, we need to see what they are hiding here. They must be mining for a reason, we must go deeper…– Frost asserted decisively, turning back to the unexplored mineshaft with some curiosity but also remaining as wary as the rest of the team, with Indie pulling him back before he could run off on his own.
–But we won’t have enough space to fight…– Tricky protested with mild concern, but Frost quickly brushed it off as he wiped the brute’s blood off his blades to resume fighting whatever was found in the rest of the mines.
–It’s alright, we just need to find where the trash is hidden and dispose of it. Also, Nitro might be onto something, let’s smoke them out…– Frost replied with conviction, encouraging his team, but mainly Nitro, who smiled mischievously at the idea forming in his chief’s head. But as the squad stayed silent for a moment to let him think, Indie reclaimed command and guided her team after a bit of consideration.
–There’s a way down here, but maybe we should split up to attack from both sides…– Indie suggested tenaciously, but with some caution, as he pointed at the set of stairs that they took to get down to the platform. The team diverted their attention to both sides, with Frost, Panda, and Scott fixing their attention forward, where it looked like the mineshaft opened up more than the others.
–Not only that… We have to break them down. You know what I’m talking about…– Frost added resolutely, although showing some spite in the grin he directed at Nitro, which told him everything he needed to get his explosives ready. The rest of the team suddenly showed more interest in the plan, and while Scott began getting nervous once again, he had plenty of time to ease his worries after Frost agreed to the plan and the team received exact instructions to follow.
Crisis discussed their plan for a couple of minutes before deciding to split up when they had all they needed to descend further into the cave. Indie led Nitro, Tricky, Candy, and Kiwy back to the stairs where they came from, where there was another set of steps to head down. Frost took Panda with him to the unexplored mineshaft in front, but since Scott never got any direct order to follow anyone, he saw the need to join them since they were the closest, drawing his sword as they stepped into the unknown.
The squad began exploring both sides of the last layer of the ravine, only to discover that there were even more floors underneath waiting for them. Indie’s group quickly found themselves in the narrow, endless passageways of the mine once again, struggling to find their way down but also encountering some enemies running away. They began following them while Frost’s group stayed close to the main path on their side, which took them straight to a large, natural slope to the lower levels of the mine.
Now that they were below the bottom of the ravine, both groups seemed lost as to where to go. Frost and Panda tried to investigate some of the different paths next to the slope before going down it, while Scott stayed close behind to keep an eye out for enemies, though they all seemed to be running around on Indie’s side. They kept chasing the fleeting antipunks, but after a few turns, they had suddenly lost all sight of them. The corridors they were in were much darker, as there were barely any lanterns around, and with no one to follow, they lost track of where they had come from. They were getting frustrated until they walked around for a little longer and found another staircase, but since they only found a way down, they had no other choice but to keep descending.
Frost and Panda secured the area surrounding the slope before taking a closer look down it. It appeared to lead to at least two more layers of mineshafts that intersected it, though it was hard to see the end with the minimum light at their disposal. Without a good sense of what they would be encountering, Panda snatched one of the few lanterns hanging at the entrance of the shaft, and after throwing it down the slope and waiting for it to reach the end, they realized there wasn’t much ground to cover, so they began heading down. Every tunnel seemed clear, and since they were much smaller than the ones above, it was unlikely for enemies to hide at their sides. But as Scott still checked both sides, after walking past the first set of narrow corridors, he noticed some noises coming from the right.
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Indie’s group also perceived the noises as they took the staircase to the next level. They carefully stepped down until Indie gestured for them to wait behind her while she poked her head out of one of the wooden beams supporting the low ceiling of the tunnel below. She only got a glimpse of a long, pitch-black, tight corridor before the faint noises coming from within became loud gunfire. She began getting shot at, forcing her to step back into cover with the group on the staircase. Frost and Panda heard the distinctive bursts of antipunk rifles coming from the right, and since it was the direction the rest of the squad went, they immediately tried making their way there. But before they could make a move, they also began receiving fire from the left side of the tunnel, but more enemies were waiting at the base of the slope as well.
Unable to help Indie’s group, Frost focused on taking out the enemies on his left, with Panda providing cover with his shield while getting a few shots out, although he had to turn forward to block the bullets coming from the bottom of the slope. Scott stayed right behind him, and as Frost was able to sneak his way into the dark passage, he slashed through his enemies without even seeing them until he had distanced himself too much from the group. While there were still antipunks on the left, he managed to scare them off for a moment before returning to Panda, and to not get surrounded, they began advancing.
Since more enemies were popping up in the tunnels at the end, Panda pushed through with his shield while Scott and Frost tried to get a view of the enemies below. Scott was waiting for Frost to jump out of cover, as he had his sword ready to join him, but before he got to make the move, Frost noticed some of Trash’s members hiding at the end of the slope, running across the last mineshaft in a frenzy. They tried to stay low to avoid getting shot by their own teammates, but as they passed by in front of them, Frost got a brief view of their cowered heads with the muzzle flash of the antipunks’ rifle.
–There they are, they have nowhere else to run!– Frost exclaimed with ardor and aggression in his voice, not hesitating to pull out one of Nitro’s grenades from one of the front pockets in his pants, and without warning, he threw it down the slope. Scott was able to react in time and backed away after almost charging at the enemy in front. Instead of confronting them head-on, Panda stayed in place as the grenade rolled down for a second until it reached the end of the slope, which is where it exploded and opened up the mines a little, as well as giving them the opening to continue pushing forward.
The end was quite far away from them, and while Panda maintained a good pace as he tanked all the shots and kept moving, not even more grenades were able to clear their way. More and more antipunks came from both sides of the last mineshaft, grouping up in the intersection with the slope to shoot straight at Panda, which began overwhelming him with the number of bullets that he had to block. He was forced to keep his shield high, obscuring his and Frost’s vision, causing them to lose sight of Trash as more antipunks began surrounding them.
The same was happening to Indie’s group, who weren’t yet at the last mineshaft as they were stuck trying to get out of the staircase. They couldn’t poke their heads out while getting shot as there were enemies on both sides, so Nitro blindly threw a pack of explosives at the enemies on their right, and while the bullets stopped coming after the explosion, it was due to the blast destroying the beams supporting the mineshaft. The ceiling collapsed on the right side, and as they weren’t sure if it was safe to come out yet, they waited to hear more movement. However, all they heard was the walls around them trembling, and shortly after, the staircase they were on began crumbling.
Without checking the corridor in front first, Indie’s group ran into it to avoid the structure behind them falling apart. They nearly got out of the way before getting crushed, but Indie immediately turned to her left, where the antipunks had backed away to not get crushed as well before proceeding to attack. She began shooting to clear the way before they got a chance to fire, but instead of fighting, they began running away, leaving the rest of the tunnel completely empty.
Now that they were clear, Nitro handed Tricky, Candy, and Kiwy some of his explosives for them to plant all throughout the long mineshaft, making sure they covered as much area as possible since it was the floor right below the ravine. They planted explosives in key locations, such as beams and what looked like openings to other paths. The mineshaft branched like the others, but they stuck to a straight line to not get lost, though they came across the same slope that the rest of the team used to get down the last level. Despite hearing the gunfire coming from below, Tricky and Candy didn’t bother to check down the slope, unaware that Frost, Panda, and Scott were mere meters away, and instead returned to the rest of the group in the middle of the tunnel as they had found another staircase.
With the explosives planted only on one strip of the first floor below the ravine, Indie, Kiwy, and Nitro didn’t hesitate to rush down the staircase to the lower floor. They were quickly met with more enemies from both sides, although the ones on their left seemed to be targeting someone else. Indie managed to draw them towards her, allowing Panda to keep advancing as half the enemies turned around, shifting their attention to the bigger threat as Indie’s group was unstoppable. Indie focused on shooting at everyone coming from Frost’s side while Nitro bombarded everything on the opposite end, slaughtering dozens of antipunks in seconds. But so were Frost and Panda once they were able to advance, with the former getting to slice everyone in his vicinity easily once he reached the bottom.
However, Indie and Nitro had to cease fire once the cave began trembling like before. It was too risky for him to keep engaging, so to take care of the remaining enemies in the tunnel, Indie distracted them while Kiwy ran low to the ground, catching the antipunks off guard when she pounced on them before they could see her. And now that they were executing their plan as they intended before, the team got to clear the last floor in its entirety, leaving Tricky and Candy able to place all the explosives at their disposal freely. Scott just watched as Panda and Frost continued to take out any remaining antipunks on their side as they were forced to retreat.
With Crisis putting them in a chokehold, the antipunks had to escape through any crack or hole they could find, but even hiding behind walls wasn’t enough to avoid getting decimated by Panda’s gun. While he kept chasing the antipunks, Frost looked around in confusion as they reached a dead end at the bottom of the slope. He didn’t even pay attention to the fact that the rest of the squad had cleared their right side, and despite being only half a tunnel away, he remained fixated on the fact that Trash had seemingly disappeared. They had nowhere to go as Crisis had blocked both sides of the mineshaft; however, they hadn’t been caught yet.
–It doesn’t make sense…– Frost mumbled under his breath as he kept pondering Trash’s whereabouts. Panda had finished clearing his side and returned to the slope, where he was just as puzzled when he only found Frost and Scott snooping around the area without a trace of Trash.
–Alright, all clear here! That seems to be all of them, but where are these other punks?– Panda announced with a shout to alert the rest of the squad, but instead of trying to head in their direction, he stayed with Frost as he was becoming furious. He kept shaking his head desperately and began kicking the stone wall at the end of the slope in anger, fuming so much that he just took it out with some of the corpses nearby.
Panda tried to calm him down and forgot about the rest of the team, ignoring Nitro’s response from the other side of the tunnel. On the other hand, Scott seemed curious about Frost’s reaction more than anything, even though he was slightly scared of him when he lashed out at the wall. He awkwardly tried to get closer to the wall as his attention was caught by the odd sounds Frost’s kicks made. Hesitating for another moment, Scott waited until Frost was done with his fit and approached the wall, where he began to search it thoroughly.
Panda and Frost began to argue and curse out Trash until they noticed what Scott was doing. They slowly turned around in confusion as he ran his hands around the wall, trying to feel the surface of the rock face as much as he could. Confused by it and still annoyed, Frost tried to pull Scott away, grabbing him by the shoulder to shove him aside. But as he laid his hand on him, Scott grabbed onto a protrusion of the wall, and with Frost’s help, they ended up pulling it incidentally. He had discovered a hidden handle, and while they were barely able to move it, they had clearly opened up a sliver in the wall.
–No way…– Panda gasped in awe, looking back at Frost and Scott in disbelief, who shared the sentiment. Seeing some traces of blood and dirt inside, he was immediately tempted into fully opening the secret door and walking through the new passage, but as soon as he set his foot past the door, Panda pulled him back.
–Are you sure we should go after them? I mean, this place is about to blow…– Panda asked with great concern, dropping his previous breezy demeanor as he looked back into the mineshaft where the rest of the squad was waiting. They had already cleared their side and had set their explosives, which could be heard beeping from the slope. Scott was about to return to the team as well, but with the secret passage holding his attention, he couldn’t make up his mind on what to do and just waited for Frost’s response.
–It’s okay, I’m sure Nitro will resist the temptation to blow us up just yet… We still have a couple minutes…– Frost replied nonchalantly, but Panda still looked worried as he kept considering turning back with the rest of the squad. However, when he saw that Scott was willing to go with Frost, already following him into the hidden corridor, Panda appeared to change his mind begrudgingly and gather the courage to join them.
–Stay behind, alright?– Panda told Scott prudently as he assumed his position behind Frost, deploying his shield to protect Scott, even though he suddenly looked more courageous than him after discovering the secret wall. Scott had his weapon ready as well, and with the sudden boost of confidence that he gained after contributing something to the team, he left his nervousness behind despite the darkness they were approaching. Frost took a brief second to reflect on the decision since the rest of the squad was already returning to the ravine at this point. But as there was a direct lead to Trash right in front of him, he fearlessly ventured into the deepest nooks of the mine, dragging Scott and Panda with him.
| THERE’S NO TIME, NO SPACE, NOW LAW
WE’RE OUT HERE ON OUR OWN |