𝗔 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱'𝘀 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻 (𝗠𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗮!𝗡𝗶𝗵𝗮𝗰𝗵𝘂)

23

cw// mentions of blood, magnolia is still injured so we dealing with that // (lmk if i need to add anything)

dust tickled their noses but sneezes were held back as they squeezed through a flimsy air duct. niki was surprised it hadn't fallen from their combined weight, yet, but she was crossing her fingers that they would make it.

magnolia didn't seem like she was doing very good but her sheer determination was enough to keep her moving.

"agh... fuck," magnolia said suddenly.

"what is it? are you okay?" niki asked, craning her neck to look back at the woman.

"did they say to take a left or a right?" relief washed over her at the common question.

"a right. then we go up and across the roof until we're at the edge," niki reminded.

"good." magnolia continued to move forward, bringing up the rear and leaving a small trail of blood.

"hey, is that thing supposed to be beeping?" the boy in scene clothes asked, pointing at the red alarm light above the door.

"that's the thing from the introduction video, it tells us when we're under attack," the mixed woman said nonchalantly.

"should we do anything about that?" he asked anxiously.

"eh. i'm on break for the next ten minutes," the latinx with the ds said distractedly.

"wait... could that girl we let in...?"

they all looked up at the person with the buzzcut and eyebrow piercing, who was dawning upon the truth.

"well shit, she's gonna need help," they said, jumping off the couch and picking up their necessities.

"i'll come, she seemed anxious," the mixed girl said with an uneasy smile.

"guess i'll go," the scene boy said with a shrug, keeping his eyes on the mixed girl with a soft look in his shaded eyes.

"what the hell. y'all are like a young adult dystopian novel cast that's getting ready to face the big baddie," a boy in the corner said with a dawning expression. "i'm totally in."

"if i don't go, will i be a bad person?" the latinx person asked, finally pausing their game.

"your sister will be upset you didn't help take down a jerk of a crime lord."

"damn you."

"come on, come on, come on," puffy hissed under her breath, clicking through programs and trying them one by one to try and work around the awful internet that was plaguing damian's compound as stray bullets rocked routers and explosions blew away signals.

a pop up led to her typing quickly and clicking a few more things before a staticky connection popped through.

"guys?" it took a few seconds but magnolia responded with "i forgot i had this thing."

"well, i'm glad you still have it. i thought you'd been caught, everything just cut out and now you sound super metallic. are you both okay?"

"i'd say we're good. we- oh, niki says hi. we're in an air duct right now but we'll be getting out in a minute or so. anybody on the roof, from what you know?" magnolia asked. puffy shook her head in disbelief. of course they were in an air duct.

"shouldn't be anyone up there. the drone says you're clear," she said, looking through the camera of the hovering robot.
"these guys are falling apart at the seams."

"is it surprising though?" magnolia laughed, devolving into coughing in a few seconds. a more distant voice appeared, sounding concerned as metal creaked around them.