32 Plans May Crumble (1/2)
Althea frowned before sending a message,
Althea Tolstoy(3:23 pm 3/4/00) - They'll hear you digging.
Harbinger of Cataclysm(3:24 pm 3/4/00) - Not if we get a little distance and dig a little deep.
She shrugged before we went further back until we were out of earshot of them. With a few quick swipes, my shovel hands clawed through the dirt in large chunks. What would’ve been hours of work for a normal man passed by in seconds before we were both underground.
While I dug, Althea would place supports made from rebar to prevent a collapse of the tunnel. She would go back up to the surface, get them, run back, and place them as I moved forward. With a little spit of acid, Althea melted the dirt as we traveled as well, letting us move forward fast. We made decent progress over the next hour, getting within fifty feet or so of Michael and Kelsey.
Of course, we still didn't know anything about what was inside. From what we could guesstimate, they would both be in cells or something like that. Althea and I would have to beat the shit out of a guard or two before busting them out then running back towards the creek. If necessary, I would act as a decoy since I would be far more difficult to take down than Althea.
With our plan set, I dug upwards. I slowed down my pace until I reached concrete. By then, we had dug for two hours. Planning anymore was risky, considering someone might find the hole. I tapped the wall, noticing it was reinforced concrete. Breaking through it would be tremendously difficult for me. For Althea on the other hand, it would be a simple task.
She reformed her left arm, turning it into a biotic rifle over five minutes. Extra adjustments were made, along with an eye along the edge of the barrel. I whispered,
”Can you see out of that eye?”
The eye closed as she mumbled, ”Uh, yeah. It makes aiming easier.”
I cupped my chin, ”Weird, but yeah, probably.”
From her right palm, she grew a riveted rod of bone. She placed it into the ammo compartment before placing it against the wall, ”I'm going to spit acid onto the wall before firing. That should give you enough space to get inside. We get your friends and then run. You ready?”
I nodded before getting behind her. Even at a time like this, I noticed how lithe she was. For a moment, she distracted me with her figure. I mentally whipped myself before gritting my teeth. It wasn't the time to be thinking about dumb bullshit. From the pit of her stomach, a bulge formed before traveling up her chest and out of her mouth. Any attraction I felt died right there.
The acid steamed and hissed on the concrete before she fired. The sound of the shell was deafening in the cavern, leaving my ears ringing. The concrete gave as a cloud of dust exploded into the room above us. With a firm leap of my legs, I crashed through the leftover splinters of the concrete. As I came up and out, I glanced around and found us inside a garage.
At the center of the room, several people worked on cars and machines, sets of tools beside them. Groups of armored soldiers spoke with technicians and scientists hunched over tables lining the walls. Two large, open doors let light into the room. Above me were holes lining all the way up and through the roof. Althea's bolt had pierced through the ceiling, allowing a beam of light to shine into the room, right onto my face.
Along the edge of one of the vehicles was a set of clear, human sized capsules. Inside two of them were Kelsey and Michael, floating in a vacuum. I sprinted towards them. I got a few feet forward before all hell broke loose. Compacted rifles expanded as soldiers readied their aim towards me. Dozens of laser pointers lined up with my head before a deep, full voice shouted,
”Don't fire. Run and kill him. I repeat, do not fire. We cannot afford to bust the containment pods.”
Their numbers worked against them since they would no doubt blow this place apart. A soldier sliced a shining dagger of red towards my throat. Without a thought, I pushed on his wrist while pulling his elbow back. His arm bent backwards, cracking his ligaments like breaking a chicken's neck.
He shouted in pain, his electronic voice blaring out of the speaker beside his helmet’s camera. Another soldier tried a stylish swoop kick towards my feet. I adjusted my run so that my heel slammed right into his armored knee. His joint and the armor’s metal crunched and bent underfoot. Another roar of agony shouted out before I jumped on top of the vehicle parked with Michael and Kelsey on it. I grabbed the edges of the containers before bending my hips down.
I deadlifted with all my strength, my legs exploding with force. The metal under my feet bent as the metal bars holding the tubes in place warped. I kept pulling before a harpoon smashed straight through the bent bars. I jerked upwards at the release of pressure. The bottom bars snapped,and my strength flung me off the vehicle. I flew backwards before landing on my back.
The polished concrete caved as I hugged the two containers to me. As we landed, the glass didn't break. It was more like a really hard plastic. I glanced around on the ground, seeing faceless suits of power armor closing in from every side. I pulled my legs up into the air before forcing them downwards. My upper body whipped up off the ground before I landed onto my feet.
This time they took a more cautious approach as they closed in on me. Of course they would. I just crippled two of their less cautious members. Meanwhile, Althea stormed through a group of the soldiers, sending them flying backwards with her unbelievable strength. Her legs looked like a goat's hind legs while her arms and hands had grown into massive clubs. With a few quick swings, she'd sent a group of soldiers rolling across the floor.
Using the opening she made, I picked up the glass tubes before sprinting back towards our hole. Their commander roared with anger.
”You maggots. There will be hell to pay if you don't stop those eldritch. I mean Hell.”
The soldiers redoubled their efforts to stop us. A group of them lined up, blocking our way back. I stopped in my tracks with the stomp of a heel. The concrete burst underfoot, sending a hail of rocks at their helmeted faces. Althea leapt passed me, latching one of her massive hands onto my shoulder. I dug my feet into the ground as she pulled on my shoulder to swing her around.
Her leftover arm acted like swinging a tree trunk. The soldiers were sent flying before Althea dove into the hole. I tossed one of the containers towards her before leaping into the hole with Kelsey's tube held overhead. Althea slid the capsule through the hole before I followed her with the other. As we slid down, a rain of bullets slammed into the walls of the tunnel entrance above us, a hail of crumbling rock splattering down.
As I landed on the ground, my legs bent as the containment tube landed against my back. The plastic bent but held, a surprise considering how solid my armor is. Tube in tow, I sprinted towards Althea. We dashed through our tunnel before jumping out of the entrance. With my legs slamming the ground beneath me, I ran as fast as they could carry me.
We sprinted down the railroad tracks, the gravel flinging back at our steps before we started hearing the sound of revving engines in the background. Althea glanced at me,
”Decoy?”
”Fuck. Alright.”
I tossed the tube towards her. She caught the tube with one of her arms before she set them down. Her arms shrank as her muscles tore and snapped into place. Looking like a fleshy, disgusting centaur, she grabbed the two tubes under her arms before sprinting towards the creek.
I winced a little at the disgusting reformation before I turned back around. Several vehicles rolled out of the garage before I sprinted right down the train tracks. My feet thunked against the ground with each step like hammers against the gravel. The boards between the tracks snapped under the weight of my steps. The air rushed past my ears as I enjoyed the speed of my own run.
After two minutes of running, a bullet whistled straight past my head. I didn't turn around. I kept pushing forward. Then another bullet landed straight into the ground were one of my feet were about to land. With the precognition, I twisted my ankle, stopping myself from getting stuck. More and more bullets came in before I beelined straight towards the city.