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===[CHAPTER 47: CLEAR SKIES OVER HELENA]===

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Storm. Rain. Downfall. Bursts of thunder crackled over the base like distant drums echoing on the horizon. A warning for the weather to come, if the harsh dank smell of salty seawater wasn't warning enough. Eventually, there would be no need for the warnings, as the first pitter-pattering's of raindrops thudded against the antique structure's walls. Pitter-pattering's soon grew into a constant stream, and the stream morphed into a downpour. Rushing water washed against the windows, making it difficult to see outside, obscuring the few glowing towers of Renewal behind a curtain of raindrops and foggy mist while the rotting tenements of Helena's core were shrouded in darkness. The coming rainfall enforced an odd peace within the base, though outside the echoes of gunfire could still be heard making it difficult to tell bloody revolution from natural thunder. It all blended together no matter what with the sound of rain, and Eli may have found it soothing if he'd been anywhere else. Anywhere, but the middle of it all...

Many of the rebels and almost all the refugees had fallen asleep, or at the very least, had quieted down during the night. A few lamps were allowed by the groups that were still awake, but the rebels were adamant that the building’s lights be turned off for fear of Imperial detection. Not like it would matter anymore, with the lightshow in the skies acting as a beacon for the entire army to move in and pursue them. And that's if the Imperial sentry hadn't already alerted the entirety of the River Republic and Avonian Empire to the presence of the ULA base, which it most certainly had. If the Imperials had a target in mind for their counterattack on Helena, the ULA base would've been priority number one. Eli knew it, Misfit knew it, Sparrow and his rebels knew it, everyone did. Each rumble of thunder and flash of lightning made Eli's heart jump, his mind raced to the march of an Imperial sentry and its red eyes peering through the darkness down at him, or the fiery pit of a dragon's throat. His talk with Otaes had helped solidify where he stood on the matter of helping the refugees held here, but overcoming his own uncertainties was probably the smallest hurdle in that vein...

There were rumors, whispers of a safe ride to a new spot outside of the warzone that Helena had become. Human, elven, and beastkin families alike whispered ideas of cautious optimism to one another. But nobody quite knew how that would transpire. Misfit, perhaps, knowing least of them all.

“It has something to do with the Ostralanders”, they would say. Casting glances at Misfit’s direction.

But if he could at least try and do what he knew was right, then maybe it would work out for Misfit too? He sighed when he realized he was being foolish at best, an idiot most likely, and purposefully obtuse at worst. Ultimately, the choice was not his. It was Misfit’s.

"It's only the right thing to do," Dutch said.

"It isn't our call! We don't have the power to decide who lives and who dies here," Matteo rebutted, but the usual sternness of his voice had long since faded, "We're here to do a job and nothing else. We physically cannot do anything else. Eli already asked Juma, she said no. Sparrow clearly doesn't care! That's it! We're done!"

"So if there was something we could do about it, would you support it?" Asked Rafael, leaning in to Misfit's huddle talk.

Matteo sighed as he withdrew for a moment, his face dark. His fingers idly ran against the surface of his medical pouch, and the consternated look in his eyes told Eli that he wasn't fully sure. Matteo was there with the refugees, healing them, caring for them as if they were one of his own. Eli could see how the thought of doing nothing to help them tortured him. The old man slowly shook his head, "You aren't seeing the bigger picture."

"Bullshit. You don't believe that Matteo," Rafael muttered, "I know you want to help. You just won't do it. Why? Fear-"

"What the fuck else am I supposed to feel? Huh? For God's sake I have a daughter on Earth! I can't die here or stay here in prison for years, Rafael! I-I can't. You might be able to say 'fuck it' and throw caution to the wind because you don't have anything to lose! But I don't have that luxury! I..." Matteo's voice suddenly wavered and in the midst of his impassioned argument, Matteo gave up, "I already know you think I'm terrible for saying what I've said. Some of you more than others..." Matteo glanced at Eli who grimaced and averted his gaze, "I don't want these people to get hurt, at all. But ignoring the obvious fact that we physically cannot do anything without Overwatch's say-so, I don't see a scenario where we can help these people and not get ourselves killed or tormented in the process. The only thing we can hope for is that the Avonians won't deliberately target their own people. It doesn't make any sense... right?"

"An Empire that uses brainwashed bio-mutant slaves as frontline expendables?" Eli muttered.

"What?"

"That's what a shock trooper is. I've seen them before with my own eyes. I don't think the Avonians will deliberately target their own people either... They probably aren't. They just don't give a shit, they'll go through civilians if it means killing their enemies. Look at Raritan," Eli gestured wildly to nothing in particular in order to accentuate his point, "I've seen Avonian soldiers kidnap and kill civilians for no other reason than to cause collateral damage and weaken morale..."

"Then why are the rebels keeping the people here?" Asked Badger, "That doesn't make any sense. Surely, they'd know that the Empire isn't going to second guess mowing down civilians to get to them? I mean, if the ULA is using phantoms as meat shields - that's bad enough. But knowing that it isn't going to stop the Avonians? Why..."

A pause, a moment of silence. Badger's voice trailed off to leave the squad to conclude something far more dreadful than they wanted to admit... what if, the rebels had no pure intentions here at all? Otaes had warned him about trusting Sparrow, and though she was vague about her reasons - Eli trusted her. Even Sosa, one of the ULA's own, had warned Eli about trusting Sparrow. He knew that he shouldn't trust the man, but he couldn't believe that they were warning him of something so major...

"Sparrow," Eli said through gritted teeth, "It's got something to do with Sparrow..."

"You need to find out what it is then," Badger said with finality, "Sparrow is what Overwatch is here for. And without Sparrow being onboard, I don't think we have a shot at saving anybody. If we convince Sparrow to resist Overwatch's exfil, we might have a chance."

"W-what if they leave us for dead?" A small voice peeped through the conversation. Their heads turned to see Omar's face listening closely. He'd been pretty silent since they'd arrived in Helena, almost afraid to speak or do much of anything, "I also have a family at home... I want to see my mom again. But, if we make Overwatch upset they could just abandon us. Can't they?"

Eli shook his head, "I doubt it. This entire revolt, the invasion Helena, everything was purely to get the ULA back to the Nexus. If they fail to do that then they'll have wasted so much time, money, and resources to come back empty handed. Even if Juma says no, if Sparrow doesn't cooperate then they'll have no choice but to accommodate him, at least briefly."

"So that's that. We convince Sparrow and we save the refugees," Dutch threw up his hands, "Simple."

Rafael muttered, "Simple, but not easy. Now, you have to convince Sparrow, and I doubt he'll be willing to listen unless you do something crazy."

"You're a revolutionary like them, right? Why don't you go talk to them?" Dutch asked.

Rafael offered only a chuckle and shake of the head, "My revolution is different from the ones these ULA people preach. I've seen their types before back in Brazil, they don't fight for freedom at all. That is not their vision."

Otaes, Sosa, and now Rafael himself. Three people all telling him the same thing. Do. Not. Trust. Sparrow...

"Only one of us has been close enough to Sparrow to have any kind of pull over him," Badger gestured towards Eli, "You're going to have to change his mind yourself. I don't know how, but you know him best."

Of course, the burden of this would have to fall on Eli's shoulders squarely. He was the squad leader, he was the one Sparrow talked to the most, out of all of them - Eli had the biggest say, no matter how small even that was, "I'll do it, if we're all in agreement of course."

He looked around Misfit, waiting for their reaction. Dutch, Rafael, and Badger were all committed leaving only Matteo and Omar. Omar was the first of the two to speak, "I think... I think we should. I want to go home of course but, they're phantoms. Like you said before, Phantoms look out after Phantoms. We're the only ones who will. So I say we do it if we can."

"Smart kid," Dutch said.

Omar smiled briefly at Dutch's compliment before it faded once again. Now it was just up to Matteo. His hands were clasped together and the look of fear hadn't quite left him fully. But slowly, he sighed, "I still don't think it's possible... but I won't stand in the way of the squad. We made an agreement after getting reunited that anything we do, we do as a whole. If you want to do the right thing, who am I to say we can't?"

And like that, there was a collective feeling of relief that washed over Misfit. Matteo forced a grin to accentuate his point, but it was clear that he was apprehensive. Yet, changed. He was not the same old man who was willing to sacrifice half of the squad to their deaths only a short month ago. He'd changed, and truthfully, so had Misfit.

With that Eli nodded, willing his exhausted body into motion to track Sparrow down...

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It took several moments of searching through the dark interior of the base. The walls from the inside were coated in classical green paint that seemed to chip around the foundations. Bookshelves and ornate furnishings were tethered to the wall as the last reminders of the structure's history as a university before it became a Junta stronghold and then a ULA rally point. The halls were long and winding, with the windows large enough to easily dwarf a man, letting him see the full extent of the city within the storm. Of course with the rainfall and relative darkness, Eli wasn't able to see much at all. Though the moon's light did manage to soak through the storm clouds at some points and paint the interior with a dark nocturnal blue. Eli passed by squads of ULA rebels on patrol, and though their purpose was to guard the base, their presence was no longer comforting with the suspicions of their motives piling.

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Locating Sparrow was difficult enough and asking the rebels was out of the question for he had neither the benefit of Otaes’ translation spell or Sparrow’s communication device. So, he had to rely on the good old tried and true method of looking over every single floor, awkwardly staring at groups of rebels until he found him. As he wandered through the base without aim, he saw two familiar figures. Neither of which were Sparrow, but they were close. It was the wolfkin Sosa and his human companion Vega. He flagged Sosa and Vega down, getting their attention. Vega pulled out a translation device, covering the hall in familiar red bubble of ekron energy.

"Well, well, well... if it isn't the alien," Vega chuckled to himself as Eli approached, "Sparrow was looking for you, you know?"

"Alie- wait, he was?" Eli raised an eyebrow.

Sosa snarled at Vega for the comment, giving him a slight elbow into the smaller human's side, "How many times do I have to tell you not to bring the 'Earth' thing up. That's still classified!"

"Sorry, it's funny, you can't blame me."

Sosa rolled his yellow canine eyes, before settling on Eli again, "And yes, little human, Sparrow just gave me a call to find you. In fact, that is exactly what I was going to do now."

"What for?"

The two rebels both gave each other concerned looks before they looked at Eli again, "You haven't heard?" Asked Sosa with a twitch of his grey ear. Eli shook his head.

"That Imperial battlegroup we've been so anxious about? It was spotted at the edge of the city. The Imperials are here," Sosa said, "We need your Coalition bosses to come and relieve us right now! The Kiotes have already declared their retreat from Helena, and so far it looks like the city's been lost to the Republican Guard! Without the Coalition, we're surrounded!"

"There is some good news though, comrade. Marshall Navarro is dead and the Republic will fracture without him... and that's about it."

"Very helpful, by the way," Sosa gave the human a rather unimpressed look.

"I do what I can."

Eli shrugged, "I don't have contact with Overwatch. The radio jam is still up! I don't know when they'll come."

"It'd better be sooner rather than later. If the Imperials overwhelm us here at the ULA base, which they will, then we'll have no choice but to go to plan B," Vega raised a pointed finger out of one of the dark windows towards the horizon. Above the roofs of the nearby tenements, there were tall structure in the distance that manage to have some definition through the fog, "The Port of Helena. Those are the cranes near the water. You can see it isn't too far away, but trying to run out there in the rain will be chaotic if we get surrounded. If not, almost impossible. We'd lose a lot of people, but we'll have no choice but to regroup there."

"And if we can't make our final stand before the Coalition comes... it's all over," Sosa's ears flattened behind his head, "They'll kill everyone."

That was terrible news, and it only magnified the problem. They were on a ticking timer, with each second counting down until they would inevitably be flattened. It seemed the rebels had given up hope on trying to fight the Avonians head on, which was likely the correct assumption. But if the rebels couldn't even ensure their own survival... then...

"What about the people?" Eli asked, looking up at the duo, "That's what I needed to ask Butcher about. I need to convince him to let the refugees go to the Nexus."

Sosa and Vega both shifted uncomfortably, "Eli, I don't think that's really possible right now or a priority in his mind," Sosa growled, "Sparrow is difficult to convince of anything. He's thick skulled. He believes that since everything he does is to fight the Avonian Empire, that makes everything he does morally right. You can't convince people who are like that. I'm sorry."

Eli refused to accept that as an answer and he took a confrontational step forward, "Maybe I can't, but you two are his right hand men! You have to at least try! Or help me out!"

The two were silent for a brief moment, thinking. That on its own was a good sign. They were at least considering Eli's offer which was more than what Sparrow could've said. In fact, if Eli looked hard enough, it seemed like they actually agreed! But of course, they had their own concerns.

"You know, I have been concerned about them too. I've been saying that we should at least try to get them out of here. But Sparrow told me that if there were people here, that would make the Avonians hesitant to attack us..."

"So you want to use them as meat shields?"

"No not... fuck," Vega bit his lip, averting his gaze, "Yes, as meat shields. That was Sparrow's strategy. And if that didn't work-"

"Bull - fucking - shit! That's ridiculous! You can't go along with that!" Eli shouted, "Those are Phantoms we're talking about, people like me!"

"But how? Even if we manage to convince Sparrow of this, we'll be bleeding time!" Sosa offered as a rebuttal, "The Imperials will slaughter us all."

"Isn't that the point of revolutions? It's people sacrificing their lives for a better world! That's what revolutionaries do!" Eli pleaded with them, "Come on... help me. Please! You can't go along with Sparrow! Help us get these guys to relative safety!"

A moment passed, and then another. In the distance, Eli could hear thunder rumble - though it sounded louder than usual, stranger too. The decision was difficult, and Eli knew he was asking a lot from these two, but he also knew that it had to be done.

Vega was the first to open his mouth, "You know what... you're right. I'm a revolutionary at heart! I've always said that I'm willing to die for a better world that was free from the Imperials. Fuck Sparrow, I'm with you," He said with finality, "He doesn't decide what I do! That might be true of Bell and the others, but not me!"

Eli smiled as Vega came around. Leaving only the wolf. His yellow eyes closed as his claws pinched the bridge of his snout, but finally he too relented, "I have a job to support the ULA but personally I've never actually believed in the ULA's cause... at least not while Sparrow was calling the shots," Sosa growled, "I'm no rebel, but I think I have a responsibility to do right by the people here. Count me in."

"Yes!" Eli nearly shouted in joy, before tempering the volume of his voice, "Look, thank you. We just need to go find Sparrow and get him onboard too."

"I believe Sparrow is on one of the lower floors talking strategy with Bell and the other rebels," Vega said, "I doubt the Energy Lance is being used, and that's the only thing-"

“What the hell is that?” Sosa turned to the window. The three all turned their focus to the outside world, and there they saw it. Golden flashes of light streaked their way through the clouds, momentarily being obscured by the storm before flashing into view again. They were tracing their way up across the horizon, arching over like a shooting star, and falling... fast. Eli was confused, but he watched Vega take a step back, his eyes widened in pure terror.

“AVONIAN ARTILLERY! GET DOWN!”

Eli heard something akin to a whistle screeching through the air outside, bombs falling over their heads. Not lightning, not rain, but pure devastation incoming.

He dropped to the floor, arms wrapped over his head, eyes closed shut. The whistling stopped. Only followed by an explosion.

The pressure wave rocked the building, blowing out windows and sending glass flying into the air. The sound of the blast was enough to nearly deafen Eli, who moved his hands to his ears instinctively in pain. More shells dropped onto the base, and among the sounds of explosions and the disorientation of the shockwaves, he could hear the distinct roar of screaming from downstairs.

The Avonians weren’t just going to try and take out the rebels. No, they were going to bring the entire building down ontop of the rebels and refugees alike.

Eli shakily stood, hardly able to get proper footing the way the artillery shells rocked the very core of the building. The fear that one could tear through the roof and obliterate them all at any moment kept him paranoid, ducking his head as he ran through the halls flooded with panicking rebels.

And in the midst of the chaos, he could hear screaming. A chorus of hundreds of voices from downstairs, yelling, shouting, screams of the innocent as they struggled to find safety. He realized it was coming from downstairs. Right where Misfit and the refugees were.

At some point he stopped, running out of breath. He had no idea where in the building he was. Everywhere he looked he could only find rebels running in opposite directions, and people shouting in a language he could not understand.

To his right were glass windows. His eyes turned to the night sky. The golden stars falling to Earth, crashing and exploding with each impact. There was one star in particular which only grew larger. It was coming straight for him.

He could only shield his face as he anticipated the impact. The artillery shell hit the ground in front of the wall, but the resulting explosion was enough. The windows burst, sending shards of broken glass flying at him. The shockwave was enough to take him from his feet, and the force of the blast sent his body flying to the other side of the room. His back was thrown against the wall, as was the glass which scraped and dug itself into parts of his uniform and body.

Mind foggy, he smelled something burning and could taste iron in his mouth. A distinctly warm and reverberating pain in the back of his skull and his tongue. His eyes slowly opened, blurry, unfocused.

The windows had been broken in front of him, and the bright orange glow of fire ebbed just underneath the open space. Raindrops and the distinct smell of seawater blew into the room, sometimes washing over Eli’s body with the large drops of rain mixed with ash and smoke. He struggled to his feet, though more of the shells kept falling over the building. No matter what, he needed to get downstairs where it was safer. He could already see parts of the roof giving way, with the artillery shells screeching overhead.

From the darkness though, a figure rushed towards him. A familiar claw.

“Get on your feet, Eli! Come on!”

When Eli did manage to grab ahold of Sosa's paw he was practically lifted from the ground by the strength of the wolfkin's arm. Without wasting a second, Sosa spun on his heels and made a dash to the interior of the building with Eli, clumsily, stumbling after him. His world was still spinning and his mind was nothing but painful fog. He could feel his wounds bleeding as he hustled alongside Sosa to exit, and he felt a sharp pain stab at his side. But he had no choice but to ignore them. He had to keep running. He had no idea where Vega was or what happened to him, and he could only follow after the canine form of Sosa as the wolf took the lead.

As they ran through the winding halls, the artillery kept pounding on the building. It shook the very structure, distorting every step that Eli took, threatening to knock him off from his feet once again. But he kept running. Sosa took a turn down a narrow corridor towards a staircase that would lead them to at least temporary safety.

Yet, Eli was lagging behind. He tried to rush, giving it his everything to reach the stairs. But he could hear the distinct whistle of an artillery shell falling through the sky, right over their head.

And then impact...

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