The Abandoned Subway Tunnels of Elhm
It only took a few minutes to reach the subway tunnels. Vin had left two men to watch over the jeep from the safety of the subway's shelter. Meanwhile, him and the rest of his men ventured forward in the murky darkness, staircases, platforms and tracks covered in dust and debris.
They walked in silence, guns at the ready. Anything could reach out and jump them in this darkness. They had to stay alert.
Walking on for a considerable distance, it was almost shocking when a masked face and a hand reached out to them, dimly lit by their flashlights.
It was a runner for Savio.
“You're right on time. Boss got back too. Storm is brutal out there.” The runner commented, before following with the Bears to the next platform, and up the stairs.
Vin's eyes adjusted to the dimly lit, expansive abandoned mall that the Red Embers called home. Little fires cropped up every so often across the floor, with men sitting on plastic chairs and other miscellaneous objects from days bygone. Vin didn't spare the men a glance, feeling their stares on him as the runner led them to the second floor, where the remains of an outlet store stood.
Savio was seated behind a large table, fingers propped against his mask as he sat there, pondering over scribbled maps of Elhm. His sharp gaze darkened as he saw Vin approached, but waved his guards to stand down.
“Vinny boy, you look like you've seen a ghost. Did you lose men in the storm?”Vin held his rifle at the side, a grim look to his face.
“Nah, lost my marks. Some good loot has fallen from the stars.”
“Oh?”Vin nodded.
“Yeah. Three humans with, get this, Wild hearts. They're literally walking fortunes.”Savio's head lifted a little from his hand, surprise evident in face.
“And you just let them walk away?”
“I had to!” Vin growled, frustrated.
“They had a massive Wild and that Val helping ‘em.”Savio leaned back in his seat a bit, amused.
“Massive, eh? Would it be that one about the size of a building, bleeds fire?”
“Yeah, that's the one.”
“Ah. So they got old Mercy and sneaky Valentino on their side.” Savio snorted.
“And you're willing to split the goods sixty-forty?”Vin grimaced.
“You really gotta pull my arm, dont’cha?”
“That's just how it works, Vinny boy. Now, we gotta a deal?”
“...We do.”
“And you know where they're headed?”Vin raised his head in thought, pausing before responding.
“One of them said something about the Wild King. My bet is they're headed to the city center.”Savio chuckled.
“Then we better get started.”
Abandoned Facility, Five Hours South of Ehlm
@SporkoBug
Ivy nodded towards Wren,
“It's true. Not nearly studied enough, but from what my research has uncovered, not all Wilds consume negative emotion.”She gazed at the little dinosaur-like Wild.
“Wilds such as this one are the exception…”Cercyes watched the soldiers try in vain to get their little technological device from the Feathered Beast, but to no avail. It would get out of hand, maybe even dangerous, if he left it.
Fine. Time to play mediator.
Followed by a stream of blue souls, Cercyes approached the Feathered Beast, the expression on his face similar to a mother scolding a child.
“Zishit untasen satla unu-unulations lina-ina, rema? Ester rema notan se untasen avas, zat must jamost. (You want to foster positive relations with these people, don't you? Then you know the right thing to do, what must be done.)”And, gently, Cercyes climbed his staff and freed the computer chip from Mimi’s maw. He sighed, before sliding down, and offering the chip up to the soldiers. The soldiers were only hesitant for a moment, before scooping up the chip.
With that done, Cercyes gave the room one last look, before his gaze was caught up in the swirling souls around him.
“I've got to shepard these souls, and I imagine you humans are busy with what you need from here.”A carpet of stars appeared below Cercyes, and his staff spun, causing the souls to stir up in the breeze. He spared a glance back, body facing the door, and waved.
“See ya.”And he was gone, out the door and into the sky.
Meanwhile, the soldiers, along with Ivy, were staring in shock at what was loading up on the screen after inputting the chip. Diagrams and schematics of the research being conducted here, the failed experiments, and the successful ones taken to the space station. All in the effort to, all to build up to a type of super soldier.
Wild heart tissue was grafted onto the heart of a human, allowing for impossible phenomena. But what if it could be duplicated, multiplicated, up to infinity?
The schematics detailed such a beast, filled with scraps of thousands, if not tens of thousands of Wild heart fragments.
The research for it was here. But, did they go through with it? And what was Umbra's plan for such a creature?
Ivy stared at Wren, blinking a couple times, before she said hastily.
“We need to report this back to HQ.”
Northern Outskirts of the City of Ehlm
@rabidbacon,
@Herald,
@Qia
“Lady, I appreciate the sentiment, but there ain't no debt here. Just some mutual survivors looking to live another day. Not that I'm gonna stop you if you really want to pay me back somehow some way."
VV's lips drew into a fine line.
”I'll find a way, I swear it. We owe you our lives.”"Maybe we all just get to some cover for now, yeah? I'm not fond of talking with lungs full of Dust. Bad way to die."
VV grimaced at the coming sheets of sand pulled up into the sky, and made to loot off the corpses of the men. Before a groan stopped her. D, of all people, stepped forward, a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
VV took a sharp intake of breath, slipping under his arm to support him.
“A, help me get him to shelter!”“No, don't bother yourselves…” D whispered weakly.
“Just… set me in the escape pod, and close the hatch. I'll-… you won't make it to safety dragging me along.”VV stared for a long moment, before the increasing howling of the wind had her cursing under her breath. Regret painting her face, she helped support D as he climbed the outside of the escape pod, and entered it. VV could be seen whispering into the hatch, before she pulled it shut, and turned away.
A pause, before she pulled the pistol off a dead man, and nodded to Val.
“We'll follow your lead, friend.”Soon enough, the group plus the behemoth had made it into the shelter, the office building with its telltale bird. Outside, the storm wailed, sand and wind screaming against the exterior walls. The winds were turbulent enough to send rocks, metal signs, and other small objects into the air. If that wasn't lethal enough, the sand itself was too thick to breathe, the Dust indeed coating the lungs enough to induce suffocation.
However, they were safe, circled around a warm fire in the comforts of Val's shelter. VV had set her packs down beside her, pocketing her rebreather for the time being.
VV stared at the flames, guilt flushing her face as she thought of D, before she swallowed and pushed the thought away, and looked over at Val.
“We don't know your name, friend. I'm VV, and this is A.” She said, gesturing to A sitting beside her.
“We, uhm, we're actually on a mission. We've been tasked with killing the Wild King.” She said, her red eyes staring at Val, watching for his reaction.
“I know this might be a lot to ask, but we know nothing of this world. It would… Well, it would be a mighty help if you guided us to where the King resides. We can take it from there.”Before VV looked over at A, and nudged her elbow.
“You doing okay?”A breath, before VV grimaced at A.
“I don't think it'll be the end that we see D. We just gotta have faith.
“Beyond that, there's those raiders that tried to capture us. Said something about our hearts. We, uh, well we had that heart surgery before on the station. Maybe that's what they're referring to? Something about our hearts being different?
“Regardless, I don't think this will be the last time we see them.”VV's gaze dropped between A and Val, sighing.
“I was trying to be subtle, but it looks like their leader understands the speech of the ghosts. They know we're headed to the Wild King. And I very much doubt they'll leave us be…”VV gazed up at Mercy, feeling a shiver run down her spine as she saw him licking his wounds. He'd be able to feel the fear and apprehension seeping off her, mixed with a bit of hesitant trust.
“We need fire power. You fought those men so easily… Would you do it again for us?”A pause, before VV considered what the behemoth would consider to be useful.
“There would be more bodies to eat, I'm sure.”
Andre Valias,
op2024,
Herald,
Silent Showers,
Hope Lover,
Nani,
flux,
ChronicleMan,
HereComesTheSnow,
evierose
