Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-25924729-20151120095928/@comment-25924729-20151125000817

Every breath was agony as the shaft filled with heat and smoke. Zhu-li coughed and gasped for the oxygen she desperately needed, fighting a growing sense of panic and the urge to scream. Wasted energy only consumed more oxygen after all.

Part of her wanted to give up, to curl into a ball and cry until it was all over. This situation reminded her of the endless nights in the Funhouse, where she watched hundreds of others despair and die, just like herself now.

But back then, she'd survived. She never gave up, kept fighting for every extra day of life. Until it was over, Castellan saved her, showed her a new way of life. He trained her as his own child, fed and clothed her, custom built Alaska for her....

Alaska...

Of Course! Zhu-li hit herself for not thinking of this earlier. ''I'm an idiot! ''

Twisting to get her arm underneath her body, she fired a jet of pure ice at the lower wall. Of course in the confined space, she also shot herself and gasped as her legs went numb from intense cold. But it worked, cold counteracted heat, and the shaft returned to normal temperatures.

It was a crude tactic, but one that bought her enough time to cut herself free and drop out of the shaft. She rolled to safety in the coridoor below, dragging herself behind a crate to hide while recovering her breath and legs.

Hearing a commotion, she peeked out and saw a team of WF grunts throwing large objects into a nearby furnace. What could they be up to?

---

"You should've blown the mines anyway, kill those two just to be safe." Lyko suggested to his brother. He wasn't being cruel or sadistic like Drake, just practical.

In truth, Lyko never shared his brother's passion for pain. To him, killing and death were simply duties to perform quickly and efficiently, not gloated over like a bizarre victory. But trying to convince Drake was a waste of time. The guy never listened.

Drake smiled at his brother. "Brilliant idea, puppy!" At the base's controls, he punched a series of buttons, detonating enough mines to send a shock wave through the building. "With the camera focused on those two destroyed, the pet has no way of tracking his friends. He must be convinced they died in the explosion too. Ahhahaha!" Drake explained.

"That's not what i meant!"

Drake continued laughing. He cut off the feed from all the cameras and ordered his men to throw the bodies of the dead civillians into a furnace, then channeled the smoke and smell of burning bodies into Amilanthior's chamber through the ventilation shaft. "Now he thinks the girl died too!"

"You're messed up." Lyko stormed out of the room in disgust.

When he could finally control himself again, Drake spoke to Amilanthior through a microphone "All your friends are dead, and it's your fault! Nobody will save you now, how does it feel?"

-

"What the crap?!" Dawn exclaimed as an explosion rocked the base. Instinctively, she broke away from Kinaver to investigate the source.'' Landmines, Damn. We could've gotten fried. Wonder why they didn't detonate when we crossed them?''

She turned to rejoin her teammate, only to find a wall had magically appeared to cut her off. "Kinaver!" she called. Only a faint rustling came in response. "One moment, i'll semblance up and bust through to you!"

--

But Kinaver didn't have the luxury of waiting 'one moment', as a familiar white coated man rounded the corner and attacked him. "Divide and conquer, kid." he said cooly as he launched a wave of throwing knives.

Lyko pulled a karambit and darted in after the knives for a second attack. "Be grateful, at least if i kill you now, you won't have to face Drake's torture later."