It was a cold and awkward journey attempting to swim through the heavy waters at gunpoint but the four crawled out into the fog where they were surrounded by more Piranhas and immediately relieved of their wet weapons. Eimose was surprised at how young the majority of them were, most likely in their teens, and wondered what life choices led them to this point in their lives. In his teenage years, he was shadowing Scouts and Patrollers to see what field he would go in and his life was preplanned for him. Although he was envious of their freedom he couldn’t help but notice how gaunt and skinny a lot of them were.
“Keep moving!” A rough voice ordered.
Eimose nearly fell forward when the man behind him unceremoniously shoved him forward towards the side of a plateau. He held his tongue for everyone’s sake considering his special superpower of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and instead kept moving forwards towards the wall of rock, wondering where the entrance to the base was. His unasked question was answered when he saw a warped metal door lying a few feet away, drawing his eye to an opening built in the wall of the earth itself.
They were led into the dark interior of the base, pitched into complete darkness. In the fading light from behind them, Eimose saw as the people leading them down the corridors put on goggled which he assumed allowed them vision in the blackness since they didn’t bump into anything while the four had found every object that was at shin-level and run into it. There were too many turns to keep track of in case they were thinking of escape, and that was if they could find a way to see through the suffocating dark that encompassed everything. With one final turn down a hallway and the click of a door, the four were left alone in a room. Eimose was still hoping that his eyes would adjust to the darkness, but there was absolutely no light in the room so it made no difference.
“So what’s the plan?” Jeringy’s asked softly.
There was a moment of silence before Brit finally spoke up, the tiredness in his voice making him sound older than he was.
“I don’t know.” He confessed.
Eimose heard someone, who he assumed was either Jeringy or Regal, walking around the interior of the room to gain a better understanding of the size. Someone sat down on the ground whom he assumed was Brit since that had been the general direction of the origin of his voice.
“So it might be a little late to ask this, but what are Piranhas?” Eimose tentatively questioned. “I mean, I figure they’re outlaws that steal from ships, but what are their motives and why wait until now to take them out?”
Regal broke out in laughter, quickly inciting Jeringy to do so too.
“You joined us on our mission and you didn’t even know who these people were?” Regal stated in disbelief. “What cloud were you raised under?”
Eimose wanted to retort, but everything he would have said to counter would have outed his being raised by GreenHouse and one person was one person too many already knowing his secret.
“To answer your question, they are an outlaw group that raids ships. They formed about a decade ago out of the blue and had old world technology. You saw their ships, they can travel underwater. For a while ship captains simply thought they were ghosts from the war, but eventually, it was discovered that they weren’t inhibited by above-water travel. Their initial attacks left no casualties and only non-valuable luggage was stolen so no one went after them. Their attacks got worse as more people joined them and they attained more ships, attacking bigger ships. Up until a month ago, they were just an annoyance, stealthily raiding ships for carriable luggage and leaving no casualties, but they’ve stepped up their game. They must have found a ship with weapons since their firepower is no joke anymore. Our team isn’t the first crew to go out and try and find their base. I guess this is why people aren’t sent out on small boats anymore.” Jeringy said, rapping his knuckles against a metal wall.
“What do they do to people like us?”
“Well, I doubt they’ll let us go,” Regal replied, voice heavy with the defeat while still keeping a light tone.
Eimose slumped against the wall and wondered if there was any chance of escape. It was times like these that he wished he’d just kept his head down and never jumped at the chance to investigate the strange signal coming from the Eldern landfill. Maybe he would still be working his way through the chain of command at the Scout division. Or maybe he would have just been part of the casualty statistic when it blew up. Either way, he was stuck in a cell devoid of light with three others, one of which was a trigger pull away from ending him. In other words, life could be better.
“So there’s no hope then,” he concluded out loud.
“We’ll see,” Brit said with a stronger gusto in his voice. “I doubt they’ll do anything to us while their power is out.”
As if on cue the lights came on, temporarily blinding all of them.
“Alright, can I give up hope now?” Regal asked innocently.
“We don’t know our way around the base well enough to ambush whoever comes for us, so we have to just do as they say for now. Let’s hope they don’t kill us immediately. Our number one priority is to alert Lin to our location and hope he gets here fast enough. Just follow my lead and don’t do anything stupid.”
“So all we need is a communicator to get out of here?” Eimose summarized.
“In layman’s terms, yes.”
“If we can make it to the cargo bay and if they haven’t gutted the bags yet, I have a screen in my bag. If we could find a map and--”
“That’s too many if’s,” Brit interrupted. “We have a higher chance finding it on someone than finding your bag. I highly doubt they’ve drawn maps of this place.”
Eimose fought to come up with a way that resulted in him getting his bag back, but every scenario ended up with all four of them dead. If they ambushed the next person that came in through the door, they would have a chance at escape, but they were all unarmed and shivering from their damp clothes; that fight would be a short one. The highest chance they had at survival was just waiting for their captors to decide their fate and hope it was in their favor. As much as he disliked the idea, he agreed with Brit that the best option for them was to lay low and follow his lead.
They sat silently in that room for another ten minutes before they could hear multiple sets of muffled footsteps coming towards them through the walls. They all got to their feet and straightened up, trying to become as stony-faced as they could to hide the fear. The door burst open and a teenage boy with freckles and bright red hair walked in with a large gun strapped around his shoulder, holding it at the ready.
“Boss wants to see you.”
He pointed the nose of the gun at the group and motioned for them to step through the door. A group of older men and women holding weapons ranging from hunting knives to sub-machine guns stood at the entrance. All thought of the potential of overpowering the teen near them vanished from Eimose’s head as he knew these people wouldn’t hesitate to kill him the instant he sneezed in the wrong direction.
The four were wordlessly herded down the corridors until they reached a much larger room that was adorned with flags and bent pieces of metal with odd names on them. Gertrude, Harvin’s Heckler, Unsinkable Glory, Poor Man’s Home, Interest, and Nostalgia III were just a few Eimose spotted before one of the women poked the sharp end of a spear at his back to get him to move to the center of the room. At the end he was being forced towards, Eimose saw a large metal chair with ornate decorations carved into the side panels. On the wall above it were two large crowbars with blades welded to them. They seemed comically large for actual usage so he deemed them part of the decoration.
“Wait here until he comes out. He seemed quite interested in you.” The teens spat out, glaring at Brit.
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Brit didn’t seem to notice the hostility, or he didn’t show it on his face, continuing to stare forward without even a glance around him. Regal and Jeringy had a thin sheet of sweat on them despite the chillier temperature, but their faces were emotionless as well. Eimose wondered if this was a common occurrence since they seemed to be keeping their composures quite well if it was their first time held captive, turning red when he recalled how much of a blubbering mess he’d turned into at the first sign of someone threatening his life.
The people that had lead them to the room got into position on the perimeter of the room as a tall man with dark brown hair pulled up in a tight ponytail emerged from a metal panel Eimose hadn’t realized was a door and strolled to the large chair before them and sat down. His blue eyes shone with amusement and a smirk was painted evidently on his face as he crossed his legs and leaned onto an elbow.
“Brit, I didn’t expect to run into you. Funny how things work out that way.”
Brit’s face paled and Eimose was suddenly fumbling with the last string of hope he’d had.
“Ahhh, at a loss for words? I guess no one ever guessed I would become the leader of the Piranhas. I’m the one in power now.”
Eimose felt a shiver run down his spine as the leader’s eyes turned dark as he growled the last phrase. Brit still looked shaken, opening and closing his mouth without saying anything. If the strongest man in their quartet was in this condition, what did that mean for everyone else?
“Don’t worry, I’m a very forgiving man and won’t hold the past against you, dear Brit. Let’s start fresh and forget everything. In fact, to show my merciful nature I will even allow you to choose one other person to survive with you.”
The words took a second to sink into everyone’s skulls.
“What? You can’t make me choose who lives and--” Brit exclaimed.
“CHOOSE OR YOU ALL DIE!” The leader screamed.
Regal pushed Jeringy towards Brit and took a step backward to stand next to Eimose.
“Jeringy lives. I’ve always wondered what the other side is like anyways.” He stated with a smile.
“Wha--” Jeringy and Brit said in unison.
Eimose stared in shock at Regal condemning them both to death. He didn’t want to die! He’d done too much to get to this point and now this stranger had volunteered someone else? Well, he didn’t want any of them to die since they’d all grown on him, except Brit, but he certainly would like to prove his case to keep living!
“Seems like your comrade has more balls than you.” The blonde said and then turned to an aid by his side, whispering something in his ear.
The aide nodded and went into the hidden room, coming out moments later with two pistols. They walked up to Brit and Jeringy and set them into their palms and then walked away, leaving four very confused people in their stead.
“Kill those two.” The leader ordered with a grin.
“Excuse me?” Brit asked.
“I don’t like repeating myself. Kill the two you didn’t choose or I kill all of you.”
As if orchestrated, the people standing at the ready at the sides of the room raised their weapons at the small group huddled at the center.
“You can’t expect me to kill my own crew!” shouted Brit.
“Oh yes, I can.”
The leader raised his hand and the sound of guns being cocked filled the deafening silence.
“Kill, or you all die,” The leader stated in a soothing voice.
Regal slowly took a step forward and took the gun from a wide-eyed Jeringy.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it easier for you.”
Regal wrapped his mouth around the mouth of the gun and Eimose barely had enough time to register what he was doing and shove the gun away just as Regal pulled the trigger.
“What the fuck are you doing!” Eimose yelled, completely forgetting where he was and focusing on the suicidal boy in front of him.
“If I don’t do this, then they’ll die, it’s pretty straightforward,” Regal stated calmly. “And if Jeringy actually has to kill me that would traumatize him more than me doing it myself.”
“My gods, do you even hear yourself? You just tried to kill yourself in front of your friend! Are you insane?”
“There aren’t many options right now if you haven’t noticed,” said Regal, irritated. “This option results in only two victims rather than four.”
“You can’t just decide to--”
“SILENCE!”
Eimose jumped when the voice brought him back into the reality he’d momentarily forgotten about.
“You have five seconds to kill otherwise all this drama would be pointless.” stated the leader, a look of annoyance distorting his features.
“Five.”
Brit raised his gun to Eimose.
“Four.”
Eimose grabbed the gun from Regal’s hand and pointed it right back.
“Three.”
The Scout was tempted to pull the trigger, but Brit’s eye’s seemed to be telling him something he didn’t recognize.
“Two.”
Brit cocked his gun and shot his weapon, the bullet flying past Eimose and hitting one of the guards on the perimeter. Eimose didn’t need any more encouragement and began firing expertly at the people caught by surprise by the sides of the room, rushing towards one of the fallen figures that sported a much higher caliber weapon. The room was filled with a flurry of bullets and chaos, the group of four against twenty.
Eimose glanced up to see if he could see where the others were, but the teenager that had escorted them to the room chose that moment to begin his barrage of bullets. The Scout dropped to the ground and quickly retaliated with his new gun, pleased when the bullets stopped trying to end his life. He didn’t have much time to bask in his small victory as a female swung her spear down on him.
He blocked it with his gun and rolled away, swiftly pushing himself up with his free arm and aimed fired a round of shots at the female, but she was surprisingly agile and cartwheeled around him, using her spear as leverage and launching herself at him. Dodging out of the way, he finally managed to get a shot in her calf, which slowed her down, and then one in her chest.
“Eimose! Over here!”
He turned and saw Jeringy beckoning for him to follow him through a doorway. Eimose quickly grabbed another gun from a corpse as a man with throwing knives nearly sank his weapons into his back. Brit and Regal were already leading the way through the hallways, cutting down anyone in their path. People were shooting at them from behind, so they had to turn a corner where they met more hostiles with guns and arrows. Eimose used the last of his round getting rid of the ones ahead of them and he could tell his other gun was running low. Whatever they were trying to accomplish, they had to do it fast.
“Goddam Pliancie, making me do all the heavy lifting. Fucking robot. Fuck this job.”
Eimose stopped in his tracks and narrowly missed a chucked spear sinking into his abdomen. After dealing with the spear-thrower, he saw the origin of the complaining voice coming from a thick metal door to his left.
“Hurry up!” Jeringy called out to Eimose.
Just then a swarm of hostiles blocked the route the three others had been taking and another dozen came around the hallway where Eimose had come from. Both escape routes were blocked.
Eimose used the last of his bullets to shoot at the panel of the door and pried open the door, nailing someone in the head when he chucked his gun. The others had already caught on and were fighting their way into the room. Brit shoved the metal door shut and pushed all his weight against it to prevent anyone from opening it. A series of pounding and grunting could be heard from the interior.
“Alright genius, now we’re all going to die in a room instead of just two of us before. You’re totally right, this was a much better solution.” Regal said sarcastically.
Eimose didn’t bother responding because he was in a state of surprise when he saw the large robot laying on a table with a very shocked man in a grey lab coat staring back at him.
“Can I help you sirs?” The man asked timidly.
Eimose answered by delivering a swift uppercut to the man’s jaw, effectively knocking him out. He stared at the robot and felt his heart sink. This wasn’t the Efficiency. This wasn’t the robot he’d seen kick a ridiculous amount of ass when he’d set up the ambush. But it was still a Combatant, so perhaps he could still use it.
“I can’t hold them much longer.” Brit expressed, his voice still strong but the underlying defeat he felt was evident.
Eimose started inspecting the robot, trying to find some sort of way to turn it on. This wasn’t a model of Combatant he recognized, but the majority of them had their power switches in the back of their skull, but when he went to observe the robot it was already set in the 'on' position, meaning that there was an issue somewhere else in the robot. Scrambling for anything at this point, he fumbled around lifting up any piece of clothing on the robot he could find to see if there was anything obviously wrong he could fix. He noticed a panel slightly raised in the stomach region just as the pounding at the door grew silent.
“Why did they stop?” Jeringy asked.
“Maybe they’ve decided to let us go,” said Regal hopefully.
“Shit, they’re probably going to throw a bomb and clearing the area. You should all get back.” Brit said in a dead voice.
Eimose opened up the panel and saw the remains of a used power core. He quickly removed it and glanced around the room, hoping there was another one lying around. He’d never seen a core like that before either, so it was easy to spot on the counter just an arm’s length away. The Scout grabbed it and placed it haphazardly in the slot, closing up the hatch and hoping his last efforts would result in something, anything.
The Combatant’s eyes flickered on and it sat up at an alarming speed, then turned to Eimose. It stared at him for a moment and its glowing blue eyes flickered red.
“You.”