The castle was massive, y’know. The whole thing was built on this…giant hill, at least that’s what I’d call it, though I heard a few guys call it ‘plateau’ so who knows. The point is, the only way up was through this big old open road that kinda got curvy near the middle, with all these defenses built into it. In fact, if there’s one thing this money grubbing squealer put his funds to good use on, it was basically turning this whole place into a military base. Trenches, artillery, bunkers, armories…everything a guy would need to make his mercenaries into a legit army holding a legit fort. But really, none of that compared to when we got inside the actual castle. Thinking about it now, it really did fit the old guy. Real flashy place, armor displays that looked more decorative than actually usable, a huge wall around the place that had its own little towers that guards were watching from, and a huge steel gate that rose up and down. He had all these statues running down along the path inside, like ten of them I think, all of them girls, different girls at that. Pretty ladies, if I had to be honest. No idea who they were, but I could guess that if Eirgan was the reason they went up, it was probably for some creepy reason. Walking inside was even more…amazing, I guess I would say. I don’t want to say amazing on the account that I kinda hate him, but I’d be lying otherwise. It’s like a thing straight out of a storybook. Enormous chandeliers covering these crazy fancy rooms in just…dazzling light, hallways with actual red carpets running down the middle with these black and white checkered tiles underneath, massive sets of stairs leading to the next floor of stuff just as expensive looking as the last. I’m just…in awe. There’s treasures and artwork and things like clocks and mirrors covering the walls on both sides, running all the way through with basically no end to them. It’s crazy to me how much stuff one guy could possibly have in here. It was around then I started getting jealous over it. Why should this ugly fatass waste of space get to have all this? Guys like Gransel and Wasp should be the ones living like kings here, they fight harder than anyone else I know, they deserve this kind of life. Instead, they sleep in rooms no bigger than Eirgan’s bathrooms. In a way…I kind of get it now, why someone wants this guy dead. He does nothing except move money around in a way that helps only the queen and himself, and this is his reward. It sucks that I gotta fight for this guy, basically. Too bad all I can do now is sit around with the rest of these gunners and wait for something to happen.
“...Hey. Wasp.” Hypo called out, though he mostly focused on kicking a vagrant block of ice around.
“What’s going on, little buddy?” He answered, equally bored as he emulated lifting weights with the minigun he had brought along.
“We’ve been here for a week now, and nothing’s happened. Didn’t you say the legion was on the move?”
“That’s what the scouts said, not me. I got here the same day you did, and you might be surprised to learn we have access to the same information…because, y’know…we’re the same rank basically.”
“I forget that sometimes…anyways, what if they just decided to call off the attack? I mean, there’s like, around four hundred of us now? If I were them, I’d just quit while I’m ahead, save myself the trouble of trying to attack this place.”
“Y’see Hypo, I agree with you. In fact, everyone agrees with you. No one wants to be here, camping outside in gear while Eirgan sits in his cushy panic room all the way inside. We all wanna leave, and go home, enjoy a nice steak dinner, mess around with my dog, maybe catch up on the latest ‘Bed Wars’ season because I was called in a day before it premiered, and maybe, just maybe I can take a nice long nap.”
Upon hearing this, Hypo stopped kicking the chunk around to think about what he heard. He then looked up at Wasp in confusion.
“...Huh?”
“Sorry, that was more me just being mad at the world, but to answer your little theory: They probably didn’t. If anything, this is just motivating them further that Eirgan is an important target who must be killed. Likely, they’re gathering their resources just as we are to mount a proper assault on this fortress.”
“Oh.”
“...I kind of expected a bigger reaction from you, y’know.”
“Oh, I mean, I'm worried, but also I'm just kind of…ready? I guess that’s the best way to put it.”
“Looks like I have to drop another truth bomb on you, little buddy: waiting is half the war, and it is most definitely a drag, just like the paperwork.”
Visibly discontent, Hypo kicked the ice harder this time, launching it through an open doorway and off the balcony it was connected to.
“Hypo…are you bored of all this peace and quiet?”
The boy stopped for a moment, thinking on the question.
“...No. I don’t think I’m bored of it being peaceful, I’m just…bored of doing nothing.”
“Hoh-hohh, in that case, I’ve got an idea! So, maybe a couple days ago, another batch of merks landed here, right?”
“Riiight?”
“You’ll never believe who was riding along with them.”
“Who?”
“A kid around your age. Turns out, he’s some kind of up and coming prodigy, which is how he got dragged along.”
This seemed to pique the boy’s interest as his eyes lit up and he stood up a little straighter.
“You’re not messing with me, right?”
“Nah, I’m serious. If you’re really looking for something to do, why don’t you go find him? I’m pretty sure Gransel had him stationed near the main entrance to the castle last time I checked. I’m pretty you two can just mess around, on the account that you’re one of the elites.”
“Ok! I’ll go check right now then! I’m serious, if you’re screwing with me…!” Hypo shouted, pointing at Wasp as began walking away.
“Get outta here already!”
Hypo jogged through the halls and downright sped down any stairs in his way, garnering the attention of nearly every one of the mercenaries he passed. Eventually he made it outside, the whole area surrounded in a pinkish-blue light as dawn had begun to break over the horizon. Somewhat out of breath, he began looking around for the other boy, until his eyes locked onto the back of someone his exact size handling a box of munitions in front of a tent that had other soldiers inside. Without a second wasted, he quickly walked over, unaware that most people were keeping a curious eye on him.
“...Hey, uh, hey! Uh…” Hypo began, which was enough to cause the other boy to turn around. He had a particularly uninterested look on his face, not even reacting as he came face to face with a fellow boy soldier. He also didn’t even bother to respond either, simply looking over Hypo.
Dismayed, but not discouraged, the little medic continued.
“Uh, I’m Hypo. I just, y’know, heard you just came here, so y’know I was wondering if you, like, wanted to train together or something, y’know?”
“...Can I assume that’s an order, General Hypo?”
“Uh…sure, that’s an order, uh, so…I guess let’s go.”
Still uncaring, he simply turned around to judge the reactions of the other riflemen, who seemed slightly annoyed but otherwise silent. He then stuck his hands into his pocket, and looked towards Hypo expectantly.
“Oh, uh, right, let’s go.” He said, walking back into the castle, with the other boy following along wordlessly.
What the hell. This guy is way quieter than I thought he would be. He’s like a robot, but if he just didn’t care about anything. How am I even supposed to talk to him? I don’t even know what I’m going back into the castle for! I just walked this way at random! I can’t even turn around or anything, or else this dude is gonna think I’m stupid! Why’d Wasp even tell me to talk to this dude if he was like this!?
Hypo had been mindlessly continuing back the way he came, unaware that there were no more mercenaries around to watch them as they entered a long hallway with an open balcony near them. Being so lost in thought, it was reasonable to understand why he was caught off guard when the new boy let out a loud, long sigh. Hypo stopped and looked back out of concern, seeing the boy’s head down and his hands out his pockets. He then looked up to him, and to Hypo’s surprise, his face was now filled with relief.
“Dude…!” He said, putting his hands on Hypo’s shoulders. “Thank. God. I was about to lose my mind! It’s so boring out there!”
“What the…?!”
“Yeah! I know, I know! I was acting, and I gotta act that way cuz unlike you, I’m just another mercenary in the grand scheme of things! They treat me like some retarded kid if I don’t act all cold and serious all the time!”
“Woah, seriously?”
“YEAH DUDE! You think I’d like doing nothing but counting bullets?! I thought about putting one in my foot so I could at least relax for a bit in the sick tent! This place fuckin’ sucks! Eirgan sucks! Why’d he have to go and hire every mercenary he could reach?! I hate it here!”
“Yeah...yeah! That’s right! I hate this place too! I hate being dragged around doing nothing but missions that nearly get me killed! I wanna go out and have fun for once! I hate having to be in charge of all these guys! It’s all retarded!”
“YEAH! We don’t need to do any of this! We can do whatever we want!” The other boy shouted with a fist raised high.
“YEAH! We can…! We can…uh…huh…” Hypo trailed off, then crossing his arms and pondering to himself. “I dunno. What can we do? There’s not too much around here we can mess around with.”
“Hmm…me neither. But we can figure out as we go, like baby steps. Why don’t we start with an actual introduction, now that I don’t have to worry about anyone catching me off the act.” He said, extending a hand to the healer.
“Ok, then…I’m Hypo, and you don’t have to actually call me general or anything.” He said, shaking his hand.
“I don’t have a codename or anything, so you can just call me…Jan.”
Being a boy of the same age and occupation as Hypo, it came as no surprise that he was dressed with striking similarity as well. He wore a pair of jogger pants equipped with knee pads and shin guards, clean white running shoes, and a slim jacket with the sleeves rolled up to about his biceps. Accessory wise, he wore a standard pair of leather gloves, a light waist belt carrying most of his supplies, a wooly scarf, a pair of earmuffs that wrapped around the back of his head, and a black patrol cap bearing the design of a silver crosshair painted on it. Essentially everything he wore came colored primarily in a dark blue, with the secondary color being pure white, which seemed to match himself, as his skin was an equally dark blue and his hair being snow white. His hairstyle itself was unique as well. It could be best described as unruly and voluminous, with it running freely down the sides of his head and tied up in a simple ponytail in the back, while the bangs in front were cut just short enough that it didn’t block his eyesight. His eyes in question were black with bright blue pupils, which prompted Hypo to mentally note that they seemed almost like they were glowing. Perhaps the most interesting piece to Jan was that he wore a sort of metal chest piece that featured an overshield module at its core with the same symbol that he saw on V-bucks emblazoned upon it, which made for an unusually advanced addition to his rig compared to the rest of what he had.
“So…Yawn? Like, when you’re tired?”
“No, it’s spelled J-A-N, the J just sounds like a Y.”
“Ohh…huh, that’s a weird name though, sounds foreign.”
“Heh, that’s cuz it is. I was named after a man who saved my parents, and that he was a human.”
“A human? Aren’t they a rare sight around here?”
“Yup. Well, not in this case, with all the merks Eirgan is calling in. Like…look, down there, two humans. Boom. not so rare anymore.” Jan pointed, leaning over a railing of the balcony they were near. Hypo walked over to look for himself, and just as promised, there he saw them. Two humans, a boy and a girl, with distinctly red hair and peachy white skin, sitting next to each other on a wall.
“Woah. I guess they really aren’t rare anymore. Kinda weird to think.”
“I’m sure it’ll get weirder the longer things go on around here, so I think it’s about time we start wasting some time around here, and have I got just the idea…” Jan said with a devious grin as he stared at the front gate.
Ten minutes later, they found themselves standing in front of the entrance to the castle grounds, staring down at the winding hill that led down to the trenches at the bottom. It was at this point Hypo realized the decline was steeper than he remembered. He looked over and saw Jan dragging a heavy, empty wooden weapon crate over, which was just long enough for the two of them to fit inside and just tall enough that they could comfortably rest their arms on the edges.
“Yeah. This is gonna be awesome.” Jan grunted as he pulled the crate along. “Just think…with how long this thing stretches out for, we could be going like…30 miles an hour.”
“How are we gonna stop?”
“...Stop?” Jan asked, looking confused.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Are we just gonna crash?!”
“Psh, maybe. Who cares? You’re the next saint. Broken bones shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Oh, yeah. You’re right! Heh! I thought you’d be more worried about getting hurt.”
“Hell no! Now…here we are! Finally in position! Take a good look…That’s a long ride down. Snow’s almost in perfect condition…no cargo is coming through yet…only a couple of patrols on the move down there…oh yeah…this is gonna be big.”
“I just realized how awesome it is that we can just do whatever we want since I’m technically in charge, like we can strap bombs to this thing and launch it off a ramp and blow it up.”
“That IS a good idea! We should do that after this mission and lie about where the resources went. Now get in! We ride now!”
With that, Hypo took the front seat while Jan pushed off, hurriedly hopping into the back at the last second as the crate’s momentum took over. Their excited shouting could be heard clear through the air as they gained increasingly more speed. Snow flew up all around them as they cut down the hill, covering them in white and slowly filling up the crate as well. Though the turns on way down weren’t particularly sharp, the wooden box’s uncooperative shape required great efforts from the both of them leaning in a given direction to make it move just enough to avoid them plowing into one of the walls or flying clean off the plateau altogether. Yet, despite the challenges, they made it work. The actual problem arose when it became clear to them that a weapon crate wasn’t actually a proper substitute for a sled as they hit top speeds. As they would learn, a cheaply put together box would in fact not hold together throughout the bumpy ride, as they lost both sides to their ride near the end. In seconds, both boys tumbled out helplessly into the snow, their momentum carrying them to the end as their pseudo-sled lost control and swerved hard into a wall and broke apart.
The two were left lying quietly, their breaths heavy and smiles wide, while soldiers looked on silently. They eventually sat up and high-fived each other, then stood up and wordlessly admired the road they had carved all the way through.
“...Wanna go eat breakfast? High command gets to eat inside while everyone else eats outside in the mess tent.” Hypo asked, with a smug grin
“Ooh, does that mean we get butlers and stuff to bring us stuff?”
“Yea-well, I guess they’re mostly maids, but there's a few butlers. Either way, they treat us pretty nicely and there’s no wind to blow our food away.”
“Then let’s go! Anything beats sitting out here!”
An hour or so later, the two left the dining hall together after a hearty meal, though Jan still carried a bowl of frozen yogurt to eat as he walked alongside Hypo.
“...You really weren’t kidding about being stuck with Shiver, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s not much fun. She’s been sitting next to me this whole week, each breakfast. At least this time you were there so I wasn’t forced to sit in complete silence like usual.”
“Does she just hate you or something?”
“Probably. I’m like…I dunno, like a leash? Or a prison guard, that would be a better way to put it, either way, I’m always around to keep her in check so she doesn’t go too far or get out of hand. So really, I don’t really blame her.”
“Huh?? How the hell does that work? She wasn’t wearing any cuffs or anything!”
“It’s because of a…I guess it’s easier to call it a curse, but yeah, I placed a curse on her when we arrived here to limit how far she could go without me and how much energy she could expend at once, in case she goes berserk.”
“Berserk?”
“Yeah, I know you’ve heard about her already, but I saw her in action once. There’s no lie in saying she has everyone on edge. She really is a killer, through and through. Once she really gets going, there’s basically no stopping her. And Eirgan wants her to be his personal bodyguard and keeps asking me to tie the spell to him. It’s…yeah, it’s stupid.”
“Hrm…well, I won’t ask how any of it works or what you plan on doing, but I am kinda curious if you’ve ever, y’know, tried to be her friend or something?”
“Be her friend?” Hypo asked, a little dumbfounded. “She tried to kill me!”
“Yeesh. I guess she’s got some problems. Then again, I would too, if I was locked up for so long. Maybe she just needs to talk it out? I dunno.”
“...Talk it out?” He repeated skeptically.
“Yeah, I mean, she’s gotta be thinking something if she’s dead silent the whole time, right?”
“...Probably. I guess I’ve never bothered, because it’s her. She’s intimidating to be around, especially if you know what she can do.”
“Well, if you’re gonna be stuck with her for the time being, it might be-Oh, um, excuse me! Miss!” Jan stopped midconversation to grab the attention of a maid with particularly long black hair walking past them. He then sheepishly handed his now empty bowl to her so she could take it away, offering a please and thank you as she quietly took it and continued on her way. “Anyways, it might not be a bad idea to talk to her. I mean, if she’s going to be watching your back, at least you can have a bit more trust in her knowing what’s going through her head.”
“...Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
“Oh ho, look at me, I’m like a therapist now! Maybe that’ll be my career once I get outta being a merk! But for now, I wanna go shooting! I’m feeling recharged!”
With that, the two went down one of the ranges set up near the gates, and began preparing. Preparing, in this case, meant Hypo ordering some freelancers milling about to set up for them. Perhaps a selfish, lazy, and obnoxious abuse of power, sure, but then again, you’d do it too if you saw how heavy those ammo crates were.
“Hey Jan, I heard somewhere that you’re a prodigy, apparently.” Hypo asked as he was inspecting his SMG whilst sitting on an ammo crate.
“Yup. Everyone thinks i’m overrated or something when they first see me and hear that. Definitely a few guys I’ve managed to kill cuz they went easy on me. It’s not a bad time, to be honest.” Jan answered, his back turned while he fiddled with a weapon inside a crate.
“Hold on, you’ve killed other mercenaries?! Really?!”
“Uh, yeah? Some in duels, some in battles. One guy just tried to straight up waste me during lunch cuz he didn’t like me. He was a moron till the end. I mean, that’s just how merks are.”
“Huh, now I know. No wonder those guys looked like they wanted to kill for making them do chores. They actually wanted to.”
“Maybe if they weren’t chumps they could have tried it. Now…there-we…go! Finally put it together!” Jan announced, pulling out from the crate a weapon. It was an old generation burst assault rifle with what looked like an under barrel shotgun attached, painted in the same color scheme as his clothes.
“Hey, you consider yourself a medic on the battlefield, right?”
“Not a lot of room to do anything else, y’know.”
“Well you’re a sniper too, right?”
“Ok, true, true. So really, I’m just a combat medic.”
“In that case, you consider me a combat…sold-no that sounds retarded. I just have a lot of firepower available and can take a lot of hits-in fact! Shoot me! I want you to see this thing first hand!”
“What?! You want me to shoot you?!”
“Yeah! Right in the chest, with that pocket shredder you got! Just empty the gun into me!”
Hypo looked at him with both concern and astonishment, but obliged as he pulled out his SMG and aimed it at Jan. A moment of hesitation passed before the boy pulled the trigger. A short, cautionary, burst of three bullets was unleashed, with Jan only nodding enthusiastically to keep going as he remained unfazed, and thus followed the rest of the magazine as countless bullets bounced clean off of his friend’s chestpiece in a show of shiny blue pulses and yellow muzzle flashes until the healer ran out of ammo. Hypo stood silently, impressed by the fact that the prodigy remained entirely unscathed by the attack, the only change being that he now wore a wide, satisfied smile.
“What the hell…what IS that generator!?”
“Crazy strong, right? You wanna hear a secret about it?” Jan asked, leaning in closer. Hypo tacitly agreed as he leaned in as well.
“...I stole this thing.”
“...What?”
“Y’see…a while back, during an operation we were a part of, way out near the borders of the ocean kingdom and the forest kingdom…A rift opened up near me while I was on scout duty.”
The boy’s eyes widened upon hearing the word rift, thinking back to the event that started his journey in a different direction.
“...A rift. Right, I’ve…heard about them.”
“Yeah, well out of this rift came this…suitcase. A metal one. No notes, no escorts, nothing. Just a box with no lock and no explanation. So I just opened it, and there it was, a chestplate like nothing I’ve ever seen before. As soon as I saw it, I just felt the urge to put it on and it just felt…right.” Jan told him, a more thoughtful look overtaking him. “It’s probably the best thing that has ever…and probably will ever happen to me. My life has been saved so many times by this thing, that I can’t even joke about it. Without this…I don’t even know where I would be.”
“And…what about that rifle of yours?” Hypo asked, now eyeing up the heavily modified gun.
“This?!” Jan perked up, seemingly washing himself of his deep thoughts, a smile on his face once more. “This is my pride and joy! All made by me! Countless payouts have gone into this baby! It’s my bread and butter! I call it…the Rumble!”
“Rumble, huh? How’s it work?”
“Why bother telling you? Just watch!” He exclaimed, then shouldering the gun firing into the line of targets. Despite its appearance, the rifle wasn’t a burst rifle at all, instead going full auto at a slightly slower rate of fire compared to its burst speed. Hypo was impressed with how well Jan handled the Rumble, the recoil seemingly not bothering him as he shifted from target to target with ease, his shots all grouped tightly. Once he emptied the magazine, he swapped over to the shotgun attachment, its semi-auto nature allowing it to keep close pace with the main gun’s speed. Hypo noticed from the get-go that Rumble’s bullpup build allowed for its secondary gun to be longer than usual and hold more ammo. This translated to its shells being deceptively more dangerous than initially assumed, as it could shred a target in all of about two shots without Jan moving an inch from where he started.
“...So, whaddya think? Crazy, ain’t it?”
“I hope we never become enemies. That’s all I can say.”
“I’m not invincible, y’know. Sure, I got a great gun and crazy overshield, but that won’t help me if the enemy thinks a little. Explosives, gas, melee, heavy armor, snipers…all sorts of things you might see on the field, that’s all still a threat to me. Not to mention, this shield takes a while to recharge fully, like, right now, it’s only at 75% charge after you nearly broke through it earlier.”
“Oh. Huh. I mean, you’re still pretty deadly from what I can see, but at least now you seem a little more normal.”
“Oh-ho, but with you around to keep me up if I get hit, I’ll live forever! I’m basically a dreadnought now!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, let's get these targets moving and test out how good you are at aiming!”
“Aiming? Nah, nah, nah, I got sum’n better!” Jan smirked as he reached into a weapon crate, pulling out a bag of grenades. “I think we need to check who’s a better pitcher. Now let’s see how far you can throw!”
*KA-BOOM*
*BANG*
Onwards those boys went, messing around with their weapon, spending the next few hours going about their day like this. Eventually, night came around and the two had done all they could as they gallivanted around the estate free of responsibility, thus they found themselves lounging in one of the watchtowers on the outer wall, playing games on their phones.
“...Alright, alright, no more, no more, we got our win, I’m calling quits on this game.” Hypo said, wearily putting down his phone. “Sweaty ass game!”
“I think you carried me through every single one of those matches…” Jan mumbled, equally tired. “I don’t think phone games are for me, especially P-V-P…”
“At least we had fun at the end, right?”
“True…but, I think I’ve got something better than some virtual crown…you wanna explore the castle?”
“I’m pretty sure we already did like two hours ago, the whole castle, up and down.”
“That was just the surface, you’re gonna like what I got in store. Follow me.”
They descended from the tower and moved quietly through the main garden in front of the castle, going around to the side where the barracks were set up. Most of the mercenaries had turned in for the night, save for a couple patrols here and there. Jan walked up to a generally unassuming part of a castle wall, looked around one last time to ensure he was clear of any suspecting eyes, and pressed on one of the blocks. To Hypo’s shock, the brick gave in to the pressure and slid deeper into the wall, and seconds later, the wall opened up with little sound, revealing a small entryway for them to duck into. Jan gave a beckoning nod as he stepped inside wordlessly, the medic following along out of curiosity. It wasn’t until the hole behind them closed up that they spoke once again.
“What even is this…?” Hypo asked in awe. Dimly lit with nothing but pale white lanterns that were each placed a good distance away from each other, a tunnel stretched out in front of them, with dirt flooring and brick walls.
“I have no idea what this place was for…found it one day when I was relaxing on that wall, just a complete accident. I don’t think anyone besides us knows about these secret paths.”
“...Where’s it lead to?”
“I only walked through here once, and it ended up taking me way up to one of the balconies, and funny enough there was a hole for me to look through to see if the coast was clear.”
“You mean to tell me this thing leads all the way through the castle?!”
“Yeah, and the crazy part is that there were ways that led to other places, so we can say for sure there’s a big network going throughout this whole place…and more importantly, there’s gotta be something good hidden in these routes, right?”
“That make’s sense…if the castle ever got overrun, you could stash just about anything you wanted here...treasure, weapons, people, basically anything if it could fit. Yeah, we gotta get exploring here, and fast!”
“Just like that, huh? I thought you would be more against this.” Jan half-smiled.
“...I’ll say this. I’m not a stranger to looking in places I shouldn’t be. I just wanna see where we can go, and what we can find. Now then, take point Captain Jan!” Hypo ordered, triumphantly pointing down the hallway.
“Yes sir, General Hypo!” Jan responded with a strong salute, amused at his new title of captain.
Quickly they made their way through the channels towards a different balcony exit, and as presumed, there were indeed items hidden within the forgotten passages. Hypo noted small stashes of jewelry, sets of rifles, and cases of fancy clothing. What caught their eye the most though appeared near the end of their travels: a corpse sitting against a wall. It was of a knight adorned in what looked like ceremonial armor, in which the chest plate was filled with two large bullet holes. His face revealed a middle aged man, and despite being in this subway for a stretch of time, his skin hadn’t decomposed much. That wasn’t something to be shocked by however, as it was just a typical trait of Hypo’s cold-blooded race.
“...There was a battle here, that much I can guess.” Hypo whispered.
“But when? And more importantly, why?” Jan asked, investigating the body closer. He picked up the discarded shield next to him and looked it over. “...It’s a different coat of arms than what Eirgan uses. This guy was under the command of a different king before Eirgan came along. And…that rifle. That’s a pretty standard looking infantry rifle, which means…he had to have died recently.”
“...What happened here?” Jan asked out loud. He grabbed a rolled up parchment sticking out from the man’s bag, discovering it was a full map of the entire tunnel system. Before he could properly inspect it however, a noise coming from nearby alerted them. They looked at each other, and both pulled out sidearms. Stepping lightly, they walked over to one of the exits. Peering through a peephole, they saw nothing at first, then heard a number of footsteps followed by a group of unfamiliar soldiers entering from the balcony and walking out of sight around the corner.
“...Were those our guys?” Jan questioned in a hushed voice.
“I dunno…but we need to check it out. Mercenaries aren’t permitted up here. Something is up.” Hypo determined.
Opening up the wall once more, they ducked out and looked around. Noises coming from the end of the hall gave them their next clue as they snuck over, eventually coming upon an alarming sight. Illuminated by only the moonlight through the open windows, they laid eyes upon a group of ice legion soldiers, with Bulkhead in the center of them.
They were under attack.