LAL2: Return of the Missing - IC

Vienna was the first to step through the opening.
Opajik was hesitant to follow, but when he realized how much he didn't want her to be out in the open by herself, he crossed into the open hallway and stood next to her.

He looked around. It was true; no one was here.
For the current moments, they were safe. He beckoned for the others to come out as well.
Ekko did, and expected to see Rhey following, but instead he was fixed where he stood.

He was staring at the hole in the vault. A strange look haunted his eyes, very much unlike his usual expression of calm collection.

For years he had been trapped in this place.
It was dark and full of suffering. All he knew was the hunger and the coldness. Getting up in the morning knowing he'd spend his day searching through garbage in order to survive. The routine of things. The routine of struggling.
He hated it. He did.
But it was the only familiarity he had left.

He never thought he'd actually get to leave... But now was his only chance.

He took a breath and stepped up onto the metal flooring of the hallway. It was cold on his bare feet, and he hopped up and down just a little bit. His half a tail twitched with nerves and excitement.
He was out.

"We're one step closer, guys," Safyr3 said, grinning despite the gravity of the situation. "One step closer to home."

Faez did a little dance.

Parell jogged up to where Rhey was, eyes wide and tail twitching.
"What is this place?" he asked Rhey, not really expecting an answer.

Kalia looked around, not sure wether to be relieved or even more nervous. They had made it out of the Dim, but to where? An empty hallway. A cold empty hallway, but better.
"I don't know..." she answered, barely more than a whisper. The place was just so quiet...

Shaenn stuffed the small rock into his pocket. He would take it home, he decided, as proof that he went to the Dim and survived. Of course it was also a good emergency weapon, but his knife was much better.
Either way, he hoped they could get in and out quickly. Every second that passed made him more nervous...

One side of the hallway was visibly a dead end; the other took a turn to the left, and anything past that was unseen.
Vienna walked in that direction, and carefully, quietly, peered around the bend. Empty.

There were stairs though. Just what she'd been looking for.
The motioned for the others to follow as she rounded the corner and made her way towards the stairway.

Safyr3 bounded after Vienna, shaking the dust and filth off of her scales. She left clouds of dirt behind her, which Faez ran through laughing giddily.

"Shh Faez," Safyr3 cautioned. "We don't know who might hear you!"

"Sorry Safyr3," Faez replied sheepishly. He shook himself, shaking off the dust.

"Is there anything ahead?" Safyr3 called up to Vienna.

Vienna was already on her way up, stepping carefully and trying not to make sound.
"There's a door," she said in a hushed tone. "But no one's here."

Eventually, she found herself placing her hand on the doorknob at the top of the stairs.
She waited for the others to gather behind her, although they all had to be single file due to the narrowness of the stairway, and Safyr3 and Kalia barely fit.
"This is it, guys."

"This is exciting!" Faez whispered, eyes glistening. Parell hugged him fiercly, and buried his head in Faez's shoulder.

"It's all right Parell," Safyr3 said reassuringly. She looked at Vienna and nodded somberly. "Open it. We can't afford to wait."

***

"Let's go."

With a click, the screen turned off, rendering the room completely black.
Footsteps sounded towards the door.

The people outside quieted as the Overarch stepped out of the dark and briskly started down the hall.

There was no time to waste.

The Hunter stood up quickly, and followed the Overarch down the hallway. He glanced left and right at the people standing around, noticing the fear in their eyes.

Good. The people should know that when the Overarch and the Hunter were out walking, there was obviously something going on and they should stay out of the way.

He grinned silently, and pulled his hood down farther.

The two were soon approaching Kydi's room.

The Overarch knocked on the door, but didn't wait for a response. He opened it and stood in the frame with an expression that was hard to decipher.
He raised an eyebrow. "Your friends have finally decided to come for you." A bit of a smirk.

He stepped to the side of the door in a way that commanded Kydi to walk through.

Kydi jumped as the Overarch entered. He had stammered some sort of greeting before scurrying out of the door, trying to determine the meaning of what the Overarch had said.

Friends? His friends? Where?
Kydi awkwardly fell into the Hunter, who had waited outside the door. The Hunter pulled him up roughly and steadied him.

He gave Kydi a strange look before facing the Overarch again.

The Overarch didn't say anything more. The others knew to follow him as he made his way down corridors and through rooms, clearly knowing the building's layout by heart.
He seemed to know exactly where the group was, as well, because eventually the sound of shouting guards and growling animals could be heard just around the corner. They were right there.

The Overarch didn't do so much as pause before striding out into the hall. He wasn't even looking at the commotion in front of him when he stepped out; he was focused on adjusting the settings on the gun he held. It was a black stun gun, fairly bulky in his hand. It was unusual for him to turn it to a setting that wasn't kill.

When he did look up at the scene in front of him, a wide grin took over his face.

The group of rebels were backed into a corner, surrounded by guards. At least a dozen guns were aimed at them from all angles, preventing the larger creatures from attacking.
They looked helpless.

The Hunter stayed a few steps behind the Overarch, and stopped. Kydi tried to walk past him but the Hunter put an arm out to stop him.

Kydi looked at him. "What?" he whispered.
There was a slight hand movement from the Hunter, just a flick that was his language. Kydi, being very intelligent and having been with the Hunter long enough to pick up a bit of it, understood at once.

Not yet.

Opajik's focus was on the numerous guns, all pointed his way. He tried to calm the panic rising quickly in his chest.

Turning his head to the side and seeing who was standing there didn't help.


The most feared man in the world was ten feet away from him.
The ruler of the universe was ten feet away.

And he was holding a gun.

Safyr3 was pressed against the wall. If the others hadn't been standing in the way, and there hadn't been so many loaded guns, she would have launched herself into the fray and probably killed most of the guards before falling herself.

The Overarch was another matter. Judging by his reputation, she wondered if she could take him here and now just by attacking then and there.
She gave a low growl as he came closer.

Faez had a different reaction.
"Safyr3!" he whispered, "Do you...smell that?"
There was a familiar smell in the air. One that was not forgettable, and one that both Fraethre recognized.

Safyr3 looked at Faez out of the corner of her eye in shock.

Opajik's eyes did not stray from their newly revealed enemy. He was terrified.

"You guys," he whimpered through gritted teeth. "I honestly don't think wierd smells are what we should be worrying about right now."

Of course, he was oblivious. Invaders did not, at all, have keen senses of smell.

Kalia shrank back slightly at the sight of all the Invader troops, especiallythe one who appeared to be in charge, as he was absolitely huge. She wouldn't have guessed who it was though, why would the Overarch himself come to fight a few renegade prisoners?

Then she smelled it. Something she had been looking for for a long time, or at least it felt like it. Kydi. She had no idea why he would be here, so close to the Dim, but he was, and she wasn't going to let these Invaders get in her way.

Er, theoretically. There were a lot of them...


Shaenn, on the other hand, was hiding in a corner, clutching his knife in one hand and the small stone in the other. He was terrified. But he couldn't be terrified, that wasn't something he did. It wasn't how he lived, all those years. Frozen in terror, as he was now, would get you killed. He knew better.

So why couldn't he move?

"But we smell Kydi!" Safyr3 hissed back.
"And the Hunter!" Faez added helpfully.

And at that moment, Kydi pushed past the Hunter, silently demanding to see what was going on.

Opajik froze.
Well, he was already frozen, but even his face went still for a second.
His eyes locked with Kydi's.

Questions and exclamations ran through his mind.
He's alive. He's alive!
But why is he with them? Why isn't he doing anything?

Opajik had no time to voice these things, but he managed to get Kydi's name out in a stuttering, jumbled mess that ended up sounding like a question.
He didn't try to say anything else.

"Opaji--?" Kydi gasped, losing his breath halfway through. "Wh- What are you doing here?"

He appeared very nervous. Very shocked, and some might even say a bit guilty. He looked down at the ground, refusing to make eye contact.

He thought about all the Overarch had said about these people who were his friends. How they'd used him as a taxi, and as a Mr. Fix-it... He had never really been part of the group. Always the weird outcast with the fancy gadgets...

He tried to tell himself that, but at the same time he was just relieved to see them.

The Hunter stepped forward as well, blades drawn. He glared at the group, daring them to speak further.

"He's with them?" Vienna hissed.
Opajik's voice was only a hoarse whisper when he said, "I don't know."

Behind the two of them, Ekko was terrified at the sight of the Hunter. Her previous wounds hadn't even healed yet, and it was seeming as though now she might be inflicted with more. If they survived at all.
She couldn't see what Rhey was doing from where she was standing, but she guessed he wasn't feeling much better than she was.

Opajik was trying to get himself to say something more; do something.
They'd been trying to rescue Kydi, and now he was standing right in front of them. Why was everyone so still?
No one was moving. For a moment, the world seemed to be on pause.

That moment couldn't last.
The Overarch stepped closer, chuckling as he fiddled with the gun in his hands.
"Enough of this," he said quietly.

He held up the gun.

Safyr3 screeched, and launched herself at the Overarch.
In the process, she knocked over Faez and Parell, and anyone else who happened to be in her way.

The Hunter's sword flashed, and he pushed Kydi behind him with on arm, aiming to strike Safyr3 with the other.

The Overarch stepped to the side just in time to be missed by Safyr3's razor claws.
Swiftly, he held out a hand, ordering the Hunter not to do anything rash, and with the other arm, held his gun out to point at Safyr3.

He fired it.

This gun bear too much resemblance to that of a gun that could kill; none of the others knew it was anything less than a death sentence. Opajik screamed something, and was starting to move when he too fell victim to a gunshot.
He fell to the ground.

Stunned, Safyr3 fell to the floor. The Hunter nudged her with a boot. Kydi stared, still in shock.


"NOOOOO!" Safyr3 roared mentally. "NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!"


Faez half-heartedly tried to run, but he too was stunned. Parell fell on top of him.
"Ouch," Faez mumbled, before the paralysis took him completely over.

They all fell unconscious.

Kalia wailed, that was the only word for it. Just like a house cat asking to go outside, but much, much, louder. she had been hit, and all she could think was that she had failed again. She choked on her yowl as she fell to the ground. Yes, she had failed, they all had. And most likely, for the last time.

Shaenn watched from the corner as his friends fell to the ground. All of them, he realized, were his friends. Some of them didn't like him all that much, but they had all helped him, in a way. And now? Dead. Or at least he thought so. It reminded him of when he was captured, years ago, with his friends dying around him. And, just this once, he acknowledged the memory. But there was no time.
The gun swung through the air to point at him, and in that moment he growled. There was pure hatred in his eyes, and for the moment he was not scared.

Oh, it was NOT going to end like this!
Without a second thought, he threw. Not the rock, he knew now what it wouldn't do any good. No, he threw his knife. Made from the hull of a broken ship, irreplaceable. Just like his friends.
His aim was perfect, but anything could be dodged.

The pulse hit him in the chest, and he fell.