17 Chapter Seventeen: Armed and Dangerous (2/2)
”Halt!” Some soldiers shout, coming into the long corridor and circling the crew. This particular group of soldiers looked different. They weren't wearing the usual uniform, they were all dressed in a black uniform and wearing some sort of gas mask. Four letters, written in white, were on the front left side of their chest and on their backs, MTRU. Zia and Alex try pushing them away, only to be stopped by a digital shield.
”I didn't expect them to learn” Holly says in disappointment.
”We know who you are” one of the MTRU soldiers say, through their gas mask. ”Put down your weapons and don't resist”.
”Make us” Rose says, then fires several large bursts of laser like magic energy out of her gun at them.
”Wait!” Siran says. ”The no kill rule!”
But when the smoke clears, none of them were harmed in the slightest.
”You won't be able to break a digital shield that easily” Holly says to Rose. ”You either have to be good enough to hack digital magic, or be strong enough to deplete them of their magic, and even I'm not good enough to hack a digital shield”.
”You can hack those?” Rose says.
”There has been a few people who could in the past” Holly says, ”but no one alive now can do that”.
”Then it's a game of attrition” Alex says. He then throws a flurry of punches at the shield, and at first it seemed only in vain, but then a crack forms in the shield. One of the soldiers pick his gun up and fire at Alex. As soon as the soldier picks his gun up, Siran shouts ”Watch out!” and tries to shield him. The shield barely stops Alex from getting hit in time, but he's still knocked off of his feet. Alex quickly retreats back, holding onto his right shoulder which was giving off a very small amount of smoke. Alex rolls up his sleeve to reveal his charm, that was tattooed to his arm, was burning him.
”Guess I used it too much” Alex says, panting.
”I've warned you, use different charms!” Siran shouts.
The first digital shield that the enemy soldiers were using vanished and a new one appeared.
”Looks like in a game of attrition, you lose” one of the soldiers say to Alex. Alex's face stiffened up in anger.
”Disappointed?” The same soldier asks.
”If you really think I'm a one trick pony” Alex says as he stands back up, his other shoulder glowing with a different charm, ”then you've got another thing coming”. Alex punches the air, but no gust of wind came this time. This time, the air between them cracked.
”Distortion magic!?” The soldier panics.
Alex lets out a small smile and throws his fist further. The soldiers feel the impact even through the shield, and were sent flying backwards. When the soldiers stopped moving, Siran went to check them out. He took off their masks and blood was slowly coming out of their noses and mouths.
”Like I said” Alex says, holding onto his right shoulder again, ”I can't promise not killing them, but I at least tried to hold back”.
”Well, they're unconscious, but probably fine” Siran says. ”Nice work!”
”Can't believe I had to resort to one of the forbidden magic styles for such crap” Alex says looking at the MTRU soldiers. ”Who even are these people? I don't think I've ever seen soldiers like them before”.
”Whoever they are, they seem pro-efficient in magic at least” Siran says, ”so expect them to be harder on us next time”.
”Let's hope there isn't a next time” Finn says.
”That's wishful thinking” Zia says.
”Hey guys! Look!” Rose says, coming out of another room, ”a map of section 'FOXTROT' of the base”.
”Oh... convenient” Siran says.
”I guess your jinxing actually worked, Alex” Zia says.
”What are the odds?” Alex responds.
”Foxtrot?” Siran asks. ”Does it say anything about the base's HQ or anything like that?”
”It says report to section 'OSCAR' for a change of post” Rose says.
”Oscar huh?” Zia says.
”Oscar will be pretty far away” Alex responds. ”If the front part we saw is Alpha, or the front of the base, and this is Foxtrot, then we could assume that the base splits in an intersection at Alpha. Since we didn't see any other way to go but here from the hangar, then it's likely that we took the first sector of the base”.
”What does that mean?” Rose asks.
”It means, we're quite a ways away from the main part of the building, and Oscar will probably be on the opposite side, since it'll be in sector two and this is likely sector one. When these bases are made, they make one sector to the west, then one to the east. So we'll likely have even more to go through before we get there. Next section should be Echo, then Delta, then Charlie, then Bravo before we finally make it to Alpha. From there, we have to head east and go from Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November then Oscar”.
”Wait, if there's that many other sections of the building, then wouldn't it make sense to have a sector three or four?” Zia asks.
”Maybe, but we don't know the layout yet” Siran says.
”It's possible” Alex says, ”and if there are more sectors, then it'll actually be easier for us”.
”Why do you say that?” Rose asks, still holding up the map.
”Because, that means there will be less sections of the building to go through before finding out if Oscar is even where we'll need to be. There's still a good chance that Oscar isn't even where we can find a commander of this base, so the less we have to travel, the better”.
”At least we have a plan for now” Siran says.
”You better start working on a Plan B” Alex says to Siran, ”just in case”.
”You should know me better by now” Siran says, ”I always have a Plan B”.