Cal walked back into the building and began to indiscriminately fire off lighting blasts as he calmly walked down the corridors, moving meticulously from floor to floor. He had decided it was past time to cut loose. The agency was far too confident in their ability to win the war they had started, and that was the important point, the one he wanted to harp until he was blue in the face. They had started the war, all while Cal, his family, and friends had been trying to save everyone on the planet from the threat of extermination by a hostile alien force.
But his anger had finally turned into something much more useful, a driving sense of what had to be done. He doubted this building housed any of his missing people, but he would still thoroughly check each floor as he destroyed them. When he finished, nothing would be usable and he was sure there would be an army waiting for him on the outside. Hopefully, this was the kind of distraction Harold had needed.
Several soldiers ran in front of them. A few of them even had some magical abilities, to his surprise. He had been sure that, for the most part, the agency only allowed anyone with a mana core to exist as an ogre. But that was something to ask the new prisoner about. Dwelling on it now would just slow him down.
He launched two void-infused lightning blasts in front of him. That was all it had taken as he continued his hunt. Room after room fell to him, and he wondered if the Agency really understood just how much more powerful than them, most of his group had become. This wasn’t like the start, where a single ogre was a matter of life or death. At some level, they had to have understood as their initial assault made sure to render him unconscious, but was that out of fear of his strength or just fear of the loop restarting? Those were more questions for Clark to answer.
Once he reached the lowest level, he paused to take a longer look around. There were a lot of machines here that had areas for humans to be strapped into. Cal wasn’t sure what the function of each of them was, but he imagined it wasn’t some kindness they were doing to their subjects. They needed to keep a list of every facility they found, as it looked like most loops were going to start with wiping the Agency out. Many loops ago, he had entertained an idea of a possible alliance, but that had long since gone out the window.
He supposed a non-aggression treaty was possible if only to save themselves time in future loops. He had no idea how something like that could be enforced, though, so it didn’t seem likely, only possible. As he continued his search of the room, he noticed one of the doors was still sealed to another chamber. He opened it, wondering what they were still hiding down here.
The room was full of scared, crying kids. The oldest was maybe ten. To his own amazement, instead of the rage overwhelming him at the discovery, all that hit was worry for the kids. He had to bring them back with him to the void house, and that made his planned exit much harder. These children would need to be rescued in every loop along with Bug’s new friend. Maybe even every ogre if they could find a way to help them. It was certainly a good way to start building the army they would need come invasion time.
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“Hey guys, I know you’re all scared, but it’s going to be okay. I promise I’m not one of them. I’m just a kid like you. I’m going to get you all out of here,” Cal said, doing his best to smile and sound reassuring. Interacting with kids his own current biological age was a strange experience and something he had been avoiding for many loops.
“Where are our parents?!” The biggest one of the kids yelled back at me. He had probably been trying to take care of the rest of them as best he could.
“I don’t know, I’m sorry, but if I can get you all out of here to a nice, safe place with a ton of friendly animals, we can work on finding them. I promise, okay? What’s your name?” Cal asked, trying to remember that he was in the body of a kid himself, and it didn’t sound like a creepy old guy offering candy.
“I’m Randy and do you really promise to get us out of here? They keep hurting us, and I just can’t protect everyone,” Randy replied, tears filling his eyes
“I do, every time,” Cal said. Even if they didn’t know what that meant yet, he would stand by it.
“Alright… what do you want us to do?” Rusky asked, a lot more subdued this time.
“I want you all to follow me, carry any of the smaller kids who can’t walk on their own if you can, okay? And it’s really important that we all stop each each stairwell and you let me explore ahead and then call back to you before you follow,” Cal explained. He hoped this would keep them safe on the way back.
While he said this out loud, he called Fulginanis in his head. “Please tell me someone is back. I found a bunch of kids that I need to get out of here, and I’m sure there’s an army waiting for me on the surface.”
“Your father, Harold, and Alfred have already returned,” Fulginanis’s voice said back inside Cal’s head.
“Okay, let Dad and Alfred know what’s going on and send them through to clear as much as they can. If anyone else gets there before we’re back, send them too, unless you’ve lost contact with me, then send no one else until someone else tells you differently,” Cal said to his mana spirit.
He looked back at the kids again and really hoped he could get them all out of this. “Alright, guys, let’s do this.”
Cal led them slowly out of the basement up the first flight of stairs, dreading the fight he was going to face once they reached the surface.