The rush to get back to the surface was fueled by the impending doom that hung above their heads, in the most literal sense. The truck contained the actual device that would explode and carry the destruction down here, and with none of their communications getting through to the surface, it hung like the Sword of Damocles.
Tired bodies pressed up against one another, now desperate to escape this hell hole, but their retreat was not easy.
As if the Guardian sensed their desperation, it took steps to prevent their departure. Hoards of Corrupted were birthed near the outer edges of the dome in an attempt to push them back toward the center. It tried to close all the gaps exiting the cavern, but Lisa already had a team in place to prevent this.
While the rest of the room’s exits closed over with mold and ichor-filled pustules, their path remained lit by the glow of the Church of Brilliance.
Mark had been keeping an eye on Patrica and knew by the size of the light, that their time down here was reaching its end. Most of her circle had been swapped out and even her two closest followers had to be carried.
All of this compounded when the news of the bomb got out.
Lisa had asked them not to spread the information but that seemed like an impossible task at this stage. Word got around quickly, and for a while, the desperation entering the fighters was beneficial, but soon they began making mistakes. Rotations were not on time or someone was too distressed and jumped the gun.
Injuries were cropping up more often all across the formation. Because of their relatively small group, containing the panic was doable, however, it was taking a real toll on the larger groups. Mark extended a helping hand to the nearby teams but he only used the smallest amounts of Prana. Choosing to mostly treat their injuries with what Tommis had on hand.
The desperate strides towards the exit was anything but slow and stead, however, eventually, they made it. Mark could tell their formation was frayed near the edges where people had lost cohesion, but repairing them now was difficult. They finally reached the gap, and by this time Mark was near the frontline. It was because of this that they heard Lisa’s comms going off.
She rushed to answer it but the voice that came out was the opposite of calming. Mark could make out Oscar's voice loud and clear.
“Ms. Howl, please come in. I’m afraid I have a favor to ask you.”
The formation pushed ahead and began evacuating through the gap, but Lisa froze in place before pressing the button to respond.
“Mr. Wilson… Is Nathan alive?”
Her response was to the point, yet Mark could tell she was struggling with a rolling storm of anger.
“Of course Ms. Howl. But I am going to need something from you to keep it that way.”
“I’m not the negotiating type Mr. Wilson. That’s Nathan's job, he was always better at reasoning these matters out, I usually just kill my problems. Make your request, but don’t expect me to play your games.” The threat was evident in her tone.
The response came a moment later and some shouted on the other end before falling silent.
“-Where were we? Right, so from now on, I’m the only line you speak to, so don’t bother contacting anyone else. What I want is for you to remain right where you are, and send my son up while you’re at it. We have an old score to settle. Oh, make sure his friends join him.”
Lisa ground her molars.
“And hostage aside why would I give you want you to want?”
“Well, that's simple. You forget, Mr. Moore is not my only hostage, everyone down there is only alive because I haven’t pressed the button yet. Send them up and I’m sure we can come to some arrangement.”
Lisa's eyes flickered over to Jonathan’s to see if he would do it. She obviously didn’t like what she saw because she swallowed and looked at them all. Sam tugged at Jonathan's side and made a motion with her head towards Chloe. They then looked at Mark and Daphne, and all he could do was shrug his shoulders and nod, Daphne did the same.
Jonathan gave Lisa the go head and she pressed the button again rapidly.
“Alright we're sending them up now, but we’re at the bottom we need time.”
The response from the comms came back quickly and then went dead.
“You have thirty minutes, don’t test me.”
Mark furrowed his brow. It had taken them a couple of hours to get down here but now they would be heading back over a cleared path. If they pushed it, they could probably make it in time, but they had to leave now.
Mark looked over their people, he didn’t want to leave them there, but he didn’t have much choice in the matter.
Lisa seemed to sense his hesitation and spoke.
“Go, don’t worry. I will make sure your people are safe. Oscar may have us in a difficult spot, but our situation is not hopeless. There's no guarantee that Nathan actually gave up the code. I would take it as a personal favor if you saved him.”
Jonathan's brow twitched and more anger surfaced. He had warned Lisa something like this would happen, and still, she had not listened to him.
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Mark placed a hand on Jonathan's shoulder and squeezed. He could not afford to lose himself right now. They were all running low on energy and now it looked like they would have to fight Oscar in a petty grudge match. Or, at least that was the only way Mark saw this going. They were way past forgiveness.
Now Jonathan needed to get this head right to deal with the fallout.
Jonathan looked at him, and Mark tried to convey this all in a look. His eyes darted to Sam and back to Mark, only then did his breathing even out. Jonathan closed his eyes for at most a couple of seconds, but when he opened them they were clear. His internal conflict was gone and he radiated resolve and determination.
“Alright, I'm going to hold you to that promise Lisa. We’ll do what we can up there and buy you time to figure this out.”
Sam broke off and went to speak to all their leads. Gibby, Andy, Isabel, and Sofia, along with Tommis, Brian, Maggie, and Franklin looked on with worry, there was no time to say a proper goodbye. Instead, they wore expressions of worry and support, the people here trusted them implicitly, and Mark didn't doubt for a second they would do everything in their power to help their fellow faction mates.
Their departure was hasty and even as they left they saw the other half of the formation still fighting their way back to safety.
Once they’d exited the throng of people, making the trip back up the spiraling slide that had led down here was quick work.
Flying would be the fastest option right now, but they needed to conserve energy. The next best option was to make use of the Aura user's natural strength.
So Jonathan carried Sam close to his chest and Daphne lifted Mark. Like this, they were capable of quickly traveling through the tunnels. With Chloe up front leading the way.
Mark could have run but he never would have been able to reach the speeds these three were capable of. Instead, he used the time to try and get some [Meditation] in, which he thought would have been harder to do, but he sunk right into the calming darkness. The energy here was abundant, but so was the Corruption so he had to be careful what he absorbed. A couple of times Mark opened his eyes to see where they were, and he got glimpses of NAS’s people fending off smaller waves of Corrupted. Faithfully standing their ground in the corridors. Rows of people heald the line, shooting a couple of glances at their party, but were otherwise occupied. Mark could tell when they left through the hole and entered the upper dungeon by the way the Corruption dropped.
It was the third time Mark took a peak when he noticed the tunnels had changed. NAS had been altering them, closing off certain sections and opening others. They had built walls and barricades, thickening structural supports and molding anything resilient into the walls. Mark’s first thought it was to stop the hoards but it became apparent they had been reinforcing the tunnels for the potential bomb. It was probably once more to reduce the collateral damage.
The five of them moved unimpeded through the space, everyone too busy to pay them any mind. They moved quickly, but they were still cutting it close by the time they reached the upper subway tunnel, just one staircase stood between them and the surface.
Jonathan called a stop and they all got ready for battle, they had a minute or two at most.
Mark reached into his inventory and pulled out a handful of bright crimson fruits. Even though they were only around a quarter in size Mark handed a small cluster to each of them. The system prompted him with the item.
Item: Saturated Cherry (Bronze)
Item lvl: –
Description: A product of a [Cherry tree - Prunus cerasus] that has stored a small amount of ambient energy within its flesh.
Nurturer: A product of [Mark Young], created through energy Suffusion.
Consumable: Restores a moderate amount of Aura, Mana, and Prana.
These were the very same ones Mark had pulled from his two cherry trees. They had just ripened and he could have probably left them longer, but since they had come here he thought he could make use of them and he was glad he’d picked them. Mark had not yet had time to experiment with them but there was a notable difference from the cherries they had originally found. It seemed that since Mark had fed his energy into the growth of the trees, they were considered a product by the system. Not unlike when Jonathan made an ingot.
The interesting part was because he put his power into them, they seemed to be stronger than the natural version they had found.
Originally, the cherry only gave around 15 of each resource, but the ones Mark had made gave around 25 each. It wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things but he had harvested a decent number of them now, so there was enough to go around.
They all took them and began eating them on their way towards the stairs. Jonathan didn't even hesitate to shove the whole handful in his mouth and chew the lot, seeds, and all.
Mark ate his own in a similar fashion, but chose to spit out the pips to keep for later. Bursts of sweet, tangy juice buzzed in Mark's jaws as they began the ascent toward the surface.
Jonathan held out his hand for more and Mark gave him the last few.
The darkness of the passage consumed them as they climbed up out of the earth. No one spoke any words as they prepared themselves for the unknown.
Mark's mind couldn’t help going back to their people still down there. Even if they could get out of the bomb's direct path, it would probably collapse the tunnels. If people were going to survive it would Probably only be those that were physically strong enough to endure, or those that could control earth magic or something in a similar vain.
Mark resolved himself to put the bomb at the top of his priority list.
At that point, the light had begun to slink in as they neared the exit of the dungeon. Mark wrapped a construct around them all as they crossed the threshold.
The light took only a second to adjust to, and Mark saw the space they had left just hours before. It had changed somewhat, for one all the walls were now up. Each with its own weird squiggly symbol, left by the inscriptionists. The space was empty except for the truck parked off in one corner, abandoned.
Near the center just off-kilter, sat a large device that screamed bomb. Mark could now see why they needed the truck the transport it because it was easily twice Mark's height. The base was a cone-like structure that flared out and bolted into the concrete, while the body was covered in a protective housing. A panel had been pried back to reveal a smattering of wires beneath it.
Mark tore his eyes away long enough to spot the form lying collapsed and bloodied near the device. Mark couldn’t be sure from this distance but it had the be Nathan. Mark didn’t see another soul in sight and only silence greeted them as they took their first step into the space.
They took all this in, in less than a second, but it was Chloe who shattered the calm.
One moment they were walking forward to meet the conductor of this sham of a play, and the next Chloe let out the most hair-rasing screech Mark had ever heard. Raw and terrified, it sounded like the pain was wringing the air from her lungs.
Mark's eyes darted over to her to assess the damage, he hadn’t felt anything touch his shield. When he saw her, he knew he was wrong, she wasn’t hurt, she was lunging through the air with a hand outstretched toward him. Her eyes filled with the power of her magic and concern marred her face.
Only then did something hit his construct with the weight of a mountain behind it.