Immortalys III: The Revelation

Chapter Thirty-Three: Detour

Friction struggled vainly against the officers who had pinned him to the table, exhaling through his teeth; the fierce twinging of the wound in his side made each breath painful.

"Friction Brumbah, you are arrested for attempting to hijack our security system, and we have orders to terminate you immediately."

Friction's eyes flew to Willow as she leapt into an elevator in pursuit of Blainey—She turned and locked eyes with him right as the door began to close and her face filled with terror.

"Friction!"

"Go!" Friction rasped.

The door shut her completely out of his sight just as more guards scooted to a stop nearby, furious at her escape.

The officer holding Friction pressed his blaster against the side of his head—Right when his finger flew to the trigger, a lithe figure sprung over the desk and bowled him over.

"Thanks, Shelbi!" Friction gasped as his rescuer stood up on the unconscious officer's shoulders.

"We've got to get out of here!" Nikolai exclaimed as he knelt on the desk, blasting at three guards which came to corner them.

"You've screwed up their system enough that John's already succeeding in stage three," Shelbi called to Friction. "It's time for us to scram!"

"I can't—I have to find Willow!" Friction stumbled around the desk and bolted toward the elevators.

"Friction, we have to go! We'll get the aircraft and pick everyone up from the top of the Capitol!"

Friction ignored Shelbi and pummeled at the elevator's screen. The nearest compartment, apparently, was down at floor -23. "Come on..."

"Friction! You're messing up the plan!"

Friction felt blasts whiz by his head and he turned around with his pistol to defend himself. "It's already been messed up; now I'm going to find Willow!" Two guards pelted toward him, and Friction blasted at them, aiming for their helmets. One of them shot his armor directly against his wound, and Friction doubled over in pain. More blasts pummeled him and he sank against the elevator door, gritting his teeth.

The door flew open and Friction collapsed inside of the elevator compartment, breathing heavily, lunging for any button that would close the doors. As the opening to the lobby snapped shut the officers' blasts ricocheted from the metal walls and burned marks into the floor, where the sparks settled at Friction's feet. He closed his eyes in relief as the elevator began to rise—but a fiery pain suddenly seized his side and he retched harshly onto the floor, tasting blood. Friction disintegrated his armor to check his wound, finding it still raw and secreting fluid. His hands, weak from the efforts of conflict, had begun to tremble.

There was no way this was going to end cleanly. It was time to find Willow and get out of there.

. . .

Blainey, breathless, stared at the numbers whizzing by on the screen above her head, praying that the elevator would behave until she reached the top floor. She squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on Altair to see if he was still alright—

Savage fury and pain exploded inside of Blainey's mind as she accessed the telepathic passage—The conflict had already begun—Altair's malicious triumph radiated through her as he clawed at a helpless victim, not even flinching when heavy blows were dealt to his shoulders by an unavailing attacker. A blank clarity had filled his mind, intent only on destruction.

Altair! Blainey cried to him. Altair, no! Resist it! You'll hurt yourself!

...Yesss.... His reply came to her as cognizant as any sane response. ...My power only grows with pain!

...Altair! Blainey, her mind racing with horror, knew she could not reach him now. He had let himself go too far. She would be of no help on the 251st floor if Altair's only intent was to tear them all to pieces.

Instantly a small hope blinked on in her mind, and Blainey lunged over and pummeled at the glowing button for floor 102. The elevator stopped and flew downward, coming to rest at the exit for the Biochemistry level.

"Rupert!" Blainey pounded down the hallways until she came to the Virus Research and Eradication lab, throwing open the door and glancing around the room. "Rupert! Are you there?" She had no plan in place if he wasn't.

Rupert Huxley came running out of the back room with a briefcase full of supplies and Taffy barking at his heels. "...Blainey? What on Earth are you doing here?"

"Everything's gone wrong!" Blainey cried as the dog ran to her, sniffling. "The rebels have gotten in... they're taking over the system..."

"I know," Rupert replied quickly, shoving a few more items from the table into his bag. "Our leaders have been telling all of the officers to evacuate. I've sent out all of the members of my board already, and I've tried to contact Randi, but you know she's never been good at telepathy, and now all of the technology's gone haywire! I don't want to leave until I know where she is."

Blainey opened her mouth to reply, but the thought of telling Rupert the truth stung her throat too fiercely. "Rupert, I... Rupert, Altair's still in the Capitol. He and the department heads are being attacked!"

"What?" Rupert dropped the bag on his foot. "I had no idea they were still in the building!"

"The rebels have locked all the doors to floor 251. The elevators will be next. Altair is already fighting the rebels. We have to get up there before it's too late!"

"But I... I've never been in a battle before!" Rupert protested. "The guards will take care of it!"

"Everything is in chaos now! We can't just rely on the guards to save them if we can get there first!"

A shadow passed in front of a window and Blainey did a double-take at the landscape. Countless Immortalys ships had surrounded the Capitol, blasting at a few rogue aircraft which sped above the snow. High in the sky, silhouetted against the scarlet sunrise, hovered a gigantic black triangle, casting a shadow on the tundra below.

"What is that thing?" Blainey gasped. "...It can't be one of our surveillance ships; it's much too big."

"I have no idea, but it's not one of ours." Rupert tugged her wrist and they sprinted out of the room, leaving everything in the lab behind; Taffy raced after them, wheezing. "Now I see what's keeping the guards busy! You're right, Blainey; we have to get up there to help Emperor Chasm." They rushed past a few other officers who hastened to make their own escape, oblivious to the conflict raging a hundred floors above their heads.

"But what are we going to do?" Blainey asked helplessly as she, Rupert, and Taffy rushed into the secret elevator. "I don't even have any weapons."

"I've got one." Rupert patted the pistol in his belt. "But... we'll have to get something for you to use. Oh, wait..." He dug a black cube out of this belt and handed it to Blainey. "Here, take this. It's armor that the guards wear. I kept one just in case I happened to run into any rebels on my way out."

"Thanks," Blainey gasped, "but what will you wear now?"

"I've got the weapon; you've got the defense. We'll make a pretty good team until we can find something else to help us. We have to try."