“I’ll kill him myself.” Vinn said, grabbing random gear in a fury.
“Vinn you can’t. I can’t go back out there, and I can’t be alone, so you have to stay here and keep me safe if he returns.” Jack and Zeph geared up as Vinn attempted to think of an argument.
“Good. Then I’ll kill him.” Shrugged Zeph. “We split up and hunt him down.”
“We move as a team, if he’s back to his old ways, he’s likely amassed a hell of a force on his side and splitting up is a great way to get killed." Jack informed.
“Sure, maybe for you guys. I’m hitting the Lost City.”
“That spot isn’t even clear of bugs, you’d get mauled in minutes.”
“There’s a lost city?” Vicki asked, looking baffled.
“First I’ve heard of it.” Nicole replied.
“It’s a recreational area built for underground fighting that was converted to a camping park and abandoned due to flooding issue. I bet you they keep the girls there.” Zeph said.
“Firstly, there are too many entrances and no cover from the high points, so it’s a shooting gallery to walk into if they have that taken over.” Jack noted. “Secondly, we have no idea where the girls like Dee are, and you’re just speculating on instinct. Our best plan is to stay as a team, move as a unit, and hit the Delmarian owned businesses for information. Someone has to be disloyal to that asshole."
“It’s a wild goose chase in a timed maze, Jack. We split up, cover more ground, Little Miss braids stays and runs surveillance, everyone who’s a killer goes out and kills someone.”
“Excuse me.” Nicole said angrily. “Little miss braids planted a tracker on Hyde, so we don’t have to guess where he is. Now I can’t track without my computer and I can’t focus without someone watching the doors, so everyone shut up and listen. Claybourne has a hunch, we have nothing, so go check the hunch and look for Dee, stay on the bidding and keep her there till you find her, Vinn, you guard my ass here and don’t you even start to argue. Jack and Vicki are the best team together, go get Hyde, kill him.” She said firmly. “And wear armor, he’s out for blood and knows you’re coming. Vinn, draw a few vials of your blood for Vicki, Jack, prep the guns, Claybourne, you said you were basically an operative in training, how good are you at getting through doors?”
“Without detection, mediocre, but if I can brute force that shit, unstoppable. I like this human" he smirked.
“I’m the most experienced tactician here.” Jack said confidently towards Zeph.
“Jack, you’re the most experienced killer and that’s why you’re killing Hyde. I may not have the brains, the hunting skills, the tracking skills, the gadgets or the espionage Rizz…” Zeph said.
“Please stop saying Rizz.” Nicole huffed.
“But I have a particular set of skills that make me perfect for the job. I’m bulletproof, I’m fast, I can carry a human at full sprint and if there was a basketball league on this moon I’d be the best on the court due to lump height alone and not because I’m tall and black. That makes me Lost City prime weaponry. I just know she’s down there.”
“The hell do you mean bulletproof?” Vinn asked.
“Nobody even asked what species I am this whole time. I’m fuckin Osirian. I’m a light-armored vehicle who doubles as a sex machine, and buddy, right now I’m about to raw dog an army if they get in my way.”
“Can I just say something?” Vicki said. “I don’t disagree with his tactics, but do you have to make everything sound terrible?”
“Yep. Kinda my jam. And I’m about to spread the jam of justice with some peanut butter whoopass.” Zeph smiled.
"Okay, fine, stop talking.” Jack sighed. “I’m outvoted here for some reason, and I’m tired of hearing your puns"
The gearing up montage began, metal music playing as various black leather straps and belts tightened to various limbs and attached tactical pouches and gadgets. Vicki seductively tightened Jack’s vest, playfully mouthing his neck just enough to feel teeth, and Jack reached back, running his hand over her throat, grabbing her vest strap and pulling it tight.
“Guys, we are RIGHT here.” Vinn said as he and Nicole stared with annoyance.
“Sorry, we don’t get the chance to do this very often. It could always be our last.” Vicki said, kissing him and shoving him into the tunnel. Zeph noticed them leaving, and stopped checking emails, putting the phone in its holster. With no tactical gear whatsoever, he grabbed a shotgun and pumped a round into the chamber, pumping one out of the chamber as well since it was already loaded by Jack.
“Fuck.” He said, fumbling and picking it back up, jamming it into the tube and following them. Zeph and Jack nodded and split directions, Zeph strutted towards the lost city, making turn after turn, stairwell after stairwell, always down and in a spiral.
“Should really have elevators for this place.” He grumbled as a man in sunglasses, standing in his path, shouldered a rifle.
“Drop the weapon.”
“Nah.” Zeph replied, strutting onward. He fired one round, then another, then went into a series of quick auto bursts as the rounds did nothing to Zeph. He grabbed the guard and bounced his head off the concrete wall, taking his gun as he fell.
“Mortals.” He scoffed. Suddenly, his head struck the wall, and he rolled to the ground, peering up as a Delmarian in body armor smirked, holding a semi-auto 50 caliber.
“Okay, we’re playing rough then.” Zeph smirked.
Jack and Vicki strutted side by side, dual wielding suppressed pistols and, in a dramatic slow motion, capping bastards left and right as they passed the intersections. The slight puff of powder occasionally jetting from their vests as they serpentined and crossed paths to confuse the enemy.
“I should be down there.” Vinn said, looking over Nicole’s shoulders as she typed and scrolled, looking for activity. “I feel useless right now.”
“Vinn you’re guarding me. You’re not useless, you’re keeping me alive if anything heads down th-” she paused. “Vinn! The entrance.” She barked. He grabbed his rifle and moved to the tunnel, firing down the hall and cutting the group down the middle as the survivors hugged the sides for cover. He held up his phone, pressed a button. A series of explosions came down the hallway, pelting the men with shrapnel.
“Never fuck with a demo expert’s wife, dumbasses.” He hollered, closing the door.
“And THAT is why you’re here.” She said proudly.
“I love you."
“I love you too, ya big furry pyro-nerd.” She grinned, leaning back for a quick peck as he loaded a fresh magazine.
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“Damn, he keeps moving.” Jack complained. “How is something that big so damn fast?” he asked.
“He knows the tunnel’s secret hatches in a way we don’t, Jack. This is HIS world down here.” She reminded.
“He keeps going down. He’s leading us. He knows we’re tracking, and he’s leading us into a trap.”
“I know, so what else can we do?” Vicki shrugged.
“Take a bait, make sure he’s trapped in there with us.”
Gizzy in a Charlotte body sat in a chair, evil eyes peering up so you could see her smile even with the muzzle and restraints on. The guard looked down at her inquisitively.
“What are you so happy about, cutie? You’re gonna be sold to the highest bidder and with your reputation, it’s gonna be a low price and someone who likes a challenge. A girl like you isn’t gonna submit, you’re gonna get beaten to death for entertainment while trying. You should be terrified.” She closed her eyes and belly laughed in a muffled yet jolly manner. She locked eyes and muttered something inaudible. He had an uncomfortable feeling, like looking into the eyes of the devil herself, that gave him the creeps. He shook it off, checking the other girls as more men moved girls into the room. The demented sound of her humming a jolly sailing tune behind the plastic and leather mask made some of the guards uneasy.
“You have the world's smallest cock!” she sang loudly at the guard, without him flinching. “Okay, they can't understand me.” She sang into the mask as she remotely tapped into the team’s headsets.
“Glad to hear your voice, what’s the status?” Jack said, ducking gunfire and returning some.
“The girls are being moved to the bunker. I’m biding my time until they stop. I want all the girls in one place and in here with me. I have eyes on the surface.” She said as 2 drones zipped past each other in a stitching motion to cover all scanning range.
“We have several unknown vehicles on the surface, all breaking quarantine but not necessarily hostile, could be some dumb kids, could be reinforcements, could be more girls being moved.”
“Hyde keeps moving across our damn feet, we can’t out-navigate him. I think he’s just leading us in circles so we encounter more men. He’s hoping one of them will take us out before he has to, chicken shit bastard.” Vicki hissed.
“Guys, he's slowing down, and moving down…WAY down.” Nicole said, puzzling as he went off the known grid, “I swear to god of if he found the tracker and put it on a bug or something, I’m gonna lose my shit.” She huffed.
“Hostiles.” Said Vinn, going back to the tunnels and grabbing a grenade launcher, poking his head out and lobbing 2 rounds of tear gas down the hall.
Zeph wiped the blood off his face and checked his phone.
“Why is there no tunnel here? It’s on the map-app. This is a dead end.” He said, staring at the wall and grabbing the 50 cal, unloading into the random wall hoping it would give way to a secret tunnel. It was just giving way to dirt and gravel.
“Guys, I’m lost as shit.” he admitted.
“You said you knew where the lost city was.” Jack hollered.
“Well…apparently they changed the tunnels. I’m just nowhere.” He said, doubling back to the last set of doors, prying them open to reveal a freight elevator. “This only goes up. Am I already at the bottom?” he asked.
Nicole checked his location.
“You’re 6 floors from the bottom.” she informed.
“Dafuq? There’s solid rock down here, the elevator just goes up. How far does it go?”
“Surface. It’s a mining elevator for dropping equipment.” She replied.
“Screw it.” he said, getting in and going up. “I can find my way to the lost city if I know where I am topside” he argued.
“That makes no sense.” Nicole objected.
“Well I’m totally lost here, half these tunnels aren’t on the maps and the ones on the maps, just stop. So if I can get directly over the lost city, there has to be like an air vent or something.” He argued.
Jack and Vicki noticed the stones getting older and mossier as they descended, darkening like stone that had been underwater more than not. They followed the tunnel to the stairs and kept going down, the lack of guards either being a really good or really bad sign.
“Jack, Claybourne is lost, he’s going topside for some reason, we got things handled down here, we don’t know what Gizzy is waiting on, and Hyde is just…stopped. You’re right on him and he’s just waiting.
“He knows we’re down here.” Jack said, taking off his backpack and removing two round devices the size of a roomba, handing one to Vicki. They connected them to their chests and removed the covers, taking out 2 special magazines each with glowing gold rounds and a red button in the middle of the chest attachment. They nodded and pressed the buttons, as a faint glow of energy shielding enveloped them, and they reloaded their pistols with the new ammo.
“Go easy, we only got two mags each, don’t hit anything close to you.” He reminded. “That shielding isn’t impervious to everything. It’s designed to stop supersonic projectiles, not subsonic flying rocks.” He gave her a good luck kiss, and they stepped into the opening, visors flipping down and night vision on, revealing the lost city.
“Well…we found the lost city.” Vicki said.
“SHIT!” Zeph barked. “So what am I even contributing here?” he asked, reaching the surface. He immediately noticed the bugs approaching him. “I hate bugs.” He huffed, firing his way forward through the dark streets and abandoned, apocalyptic surroundings. Streetlamps off and moonless, like some forbidden circle of hell, he scanned for anything useful, he spotted one of the armored cars rolling in the night and sprinted to catch it, leaping up and climbing to the top. He grabbed the top hatch and gave it a hefty yank, popping the latch open and taking gunfire as he peered in. “Well, you dicks aren’t very friendly.” He said, dropping in and smiling as they froze in confusion. “Where ya goin, party people? Surface is closed.”
"Hyde, we got you surrounded, we got shielding and AP7 thermite rounds. You got 2 choices, weapons down and hands up, and we take you alive, or you don’t, and we cut you down right here. End of the line.” jack yelled.
“You two humans think you have everything under control.” Said the voice as the city dimly glowed red with the hum of electricity. Jack stuck his head out and sighed, annoyed and worried as Hyde stood there, fully clad in the same kind of armor he had for the Arena fight with Gizzy, shield on his back and sword in hand, holding a belt-fed machine gun in the other.
“Vicki, fall back.” Jack ordered.
“Oh like hell, you stay, I stay. You fall back and I’ll follow you. I’m not leaving you. He tried to have me abducted, he brainwashed a Nicole, he took Dee. I’m gonna kill him.” She growled, her eyes turning red.
“He tried to kill everyone I care about too, We’re both gonna kill him. Don’t go in angry and blind. Focus. Resist the thirst, the anger. Focus on your training and surroundings.”
“Welcome to hell.” Hyde growled, hitting the trigger and unleashing a proverbial chainsaw of lead and brass in Jack’s direction, tearing through buildings and cover like tinfoil, sending him running for anything solid.
“I should be down there.” Vinn huffed, pacing the floor. "I’m going down there.”
“Vinn don’t leave me. You promised you wouldn’t leave me. You said we would stick together.”
“You’re right, I’m just venting. I’m angry. I feel helpless up here. I can’t help them, I can’t leave you. What can we do to help them?”
“You can come here, closer.” She said, pulling him in and touching her head to his, and petting his fur to calm him.
“Did you just stick me with a syringe?” he whispered.
“Just a small one.”
“Honey…what are you doing?” Vinn sighed with worry.
“Trust me.” She said as he slowly dropped to his knees and his eyes wobbled slightly. “It’s just a tiny bit of Vicki’s venom. Not even enough to pass out. But enough that you can’t follow me.” She said, helping him gently over.
“Nicole…stay together.” He muttered incoherently.
“Well, you made that promise, not me. Everyone treats me like a child, and right now everyone is in danger. Go to sleep, Vinn.”
“Stay here.” He ordered, lethargically.”
“You can punish me later, we’ll both have fun, see you soon, sweetie.” She said, kissing his snout and darting away.
Nicole ran down the tunnels, following the water pipes and opening the valves, carrying a backpack and a pistol with her.
“Follow the water, bitch.” She said to herself. “You know this place.”
Vicki flattened out, slamming to her face as a red beam of tracers clipped her shielding and made a noise that made her confident it wasn’t going to stop those rounds.
“Deplete uranium, eats energy shielding for lunch.” Hyde hollered as Jack fired 3 rounds into his side, each one detonating like a grenade and throwing sparks and shrapnel but doing nothing to his armor but ruining the pain job. “This armor could hold back a god for a few minutes, Jack, you really think your popgun is going to do shit?” he chuckled, chain gun chewing the corner off a building in Jack's direction.
“Where’s Gizzy when you need her?!” Vicki barked.
Gizzy tapped her foot to the 14th verse of her nautical tune, mumbling behind the mask as the guard rolled his eyes and gave her a backhand to shut her up, knocking her over but never missing a beat as she chuckled and sang along.
“This bitch is completely insane. Is that the last of them already?” he asked the others.
“That’s all the product we have, and the vault is locked. Nothing is getting in or out of this place without the Kraken’s permission.
“Oh goody.” Gizzy grinned, her eyes glowing white. The restraints snapped, she tore the muzzle off, and she sprung to life, leaping to the guard’s back. Her hand slammed down on his face from overhead as 4 of her fingers forced into his mouth, and with one yank, she tore his skull from his jawbone, spraying blood across the wall.
“Who wants to play next?” she asked in a deep, masculine voice, an almost electric buzz to it, eyes and mouth illuminated from the inside. She dropped to all fours, sprinting like a canine directly into the panic gunfire as the guard screamed and became a chew toy. She tore off an arm, now wielding one of the rifles and using her targeting to aim behind her back, mowing down two more guards. She finished peeling her victim in half, roaring primally like some kind of prehistoric beast.