IRON ★ OF PHOENIX ASHES

Chapter 2

Walking through silent halls, occasionally passing the (hopefully not deceased) body of a guard, in no way did I feel safe - but that feeling just intensified by a hundredfold as we crept out of the building once more and up the make-shift staircase. Eyes only on the platform, I sighed in relief at the bend of plastic underneath my feet.

Alesha followed, and gestured one finger in the direction of the roof of the neighbouring ration building.

'We can jump.'

For a second, I stopped to consider the amount of sense in this plan.

...

Okay, so there was none; I shrugged, dismissing my own thoughts, and made the quick leap. The roofs were level, aside from the occasional flowerpot-sized chimney, so running across them was easy enough. In the nothingness, the metallic, hollow thunk, thunk, thunk of footsteps echoing beneath us seemed terrifyingly loud - but I gritted my teeth and ignored the anxious pulse of my heart in favour of our surroundings, dimly highlighted in the grey glow of moonlight.

'What if we lose our way?'

Alesha's face was lost to me in the darkness, but she still managed to make the silence sound critical. 'I thought you grew up here.'

'I did,' I replied testily, still distracted by my efforts to distinguish the silhouettes. Building Level 2 out of boxes didn't do much for its navigability. 'But I didn't grow up on the roofs, did I? I come from the eastern sector, anyway.'

'Huh.' Alesha paused, as if considering this new information about my origins - then pointed over to a building exactly to our left. 'Let's head there. Looks pretty easy - should be able to get in alright.'

'Don't see how we couldn't.' A light smile graced my lips: 'This should be your specialty.'

I could sense her looking at me again, as if searching for the barb hidden in my words. '...Yes. Come on, let's move. I get us in, you light the way, we... do something, and get back to the pillar in time for pick-up.'

'Er - how are we going to tell which pillar he left us at in the first place?'

'Left a marker.'

I squinted, then blinked in shock: 'Wait -'

She sighed impatiently. 'I know what I'm doing - '

'You left your face-mask -?!'

'Quiet! The entire City will hear you. I strung it up on that loose nail. It's fine.' She took a few uncertain steps backwards, before turning with purpose - 'I said already - let's move.'

Wind in my hair, an electric thrum in my blood, clockwork motions in my brain - I jumped, landed, and sucked in a breath of mist-ridden night air. The freeze acted as balm to my lungs, even as I shivered. Alesha pulled ahead, footsteps light as if picking herself over invisible strings - before she crouched down, hand extended briefly over a patch of metal. The edges seemed to pull away from themselves in a rough circle; it fell with a clatter. We waited, tense, with bated breath - but no siren filled the air, nor the shout of an angered guard. She nodded, ran her hand over the edge of the hole - then slipped inside, her fingers grasping against the edge before the light sound of her fall echoed and the hand was drawn back. I wasn't particularly excited to follow her (this would have been the moment I'd asked if Cero had given us an extra parabomb, for example) but despite myself, I followed her through the makeshift trapdoor. Fire burnt back to life in my palms, and I quickly took stock of our new environment - a cold silver hall, almost tunnel-like, lined with closed doors. Could have been copy-pasted from our last break-in, to be frank - but couldn't that be said for everything around here?