Chapter 174: Parting of Ways

The maintenance door opened with a sharp sound, revealing a dark, narrow tunnel. It was their only way out of the storm.

“The door’s open!” Vanessa screamed over the constant noise of the battle. “We have to go!”

“We can’t just run!” Seraph yelled back. “They’ll shoot us in the back! Draven, can you move?”

“Not without getting turned to ash!” he yelled, his voice strained with effort. He took a step back, his boot screeching on the floor as the force of the blasts pushed him.

They were trapped. The door was open, but the path to it was a death sentence.

Seraph’s mind came up with a plan. “Jonah, cover fire on the soldiers to the right! Vanessa, get ready to seal that door the second we’re through! Draven!” she shouted, her voice loud and clear over the noise of the ongoing battle. “On my mark, you are going to do something completely crazy! I need you to overload your shield! All of it! At once!”

Draven’s head snapped towards her, a wild, smile appeared on his bruised face. It was an insane plan. It would leave him completely drained, but it might just give them the one second they needed.

“Ready when you are, Captain!” he shouted.

“NOW!” Seraph commanded.

Jonah and Seraph moved quickly to the edge of the open conduit, using the doorway as cover. Seraph’s gun made loud noises as she fired shots that forced the soldiers on the right to look for cover.

Draven let out a angry roar. He stopped fighting the energy that was hitting him. Instead, he pulled it all into himself

“I AM THE SHIELD!” he screamed.

His golden armor began to glow with a blinding brightness. The cracks on its surface sealed over, replaced by a light so powerful it was painful to look at.

“GET READY!” he yelled to his team.

Then, with a mighty roar, he released it all.

A blinding wave of golden, concussive energy came off from him in a circle

The soldiers in front and behind were knocked off their feet, their armor making a loud, clattering noise as they fell backward. The robot guns in the ceiling sparked and stopped working, their aiming lights blinking and going out. For one moment, the shooting stopped.

That was their chance.

With his last ounce of strength gone, Draven’s armor dissolved into motes of light. His body slumped, and he fell to one knee, completely drained of all his energy.

Seraph and Jonah quickly moved forward. They grabbed their wounded teammate under the shoulders and hauled him back, his boots dragging on the floor.

“Vanessa, NOW!” Seraph screamed.

They tumbled into the dark conduit, pulling Draven in with them just as Vanessa slammed her hand on the control panel.

The door slid shut with a loud sound. The noise of battle was gone, replaced by a sudden silence. They were safe.

The only sounds were their own ragged breaths and the low buzz of power cables along the tunnel walls. Draven leaned against the wall, breathing hard. “Did it work?” he asked, his voice a rough whisper.

“It worked,” Seraph said, giving his shoulder a firm, respectful squeeze. “Now let’s get out of this tube before they figure out how to open it.”

They moved as quickly as they could, supporting the exhausted Draven between them. The tunnel opened into a huge, circular chamber. It was a central hub, clean and quiet. Two identical, huge corridors branched off from the hub, leading deeper into the fortress.

The team paused, catching their breath. They had survived, but the mission was far from over.

Jonah’s head turned to the left. A cold, known feeling went into his mind. It was a psychic trace of emptiness, just like Subject Beta, but clearer and much more stronger. It felt like a pair of predators waiting patiently.

“He’s that way,” Jonah said, his voice low. “Thorne. And his final project. I can feel them.”

At the same time, Vanessa’s scanner, which had been quiet in the shielded tunnel, screamed to life.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

She stared at the small screen, her face becoming very pale. “Jonah’s right,” she said, her voice sounding alarmed. “But the facility’s main reactor core is down the other path. The energy readings are going crazy. It’s unstable. If that thing blows, it could set off all the wild magic in these mountains.”

The choice hung in the air between them.

Thorne, the man they had come to stop, was down one path.

A bomb that could potentially destroy this region was down the other.

Seraph looked from one dark corridor to the next. She was the commander. The choice was hers. “We can’t let Thorne escape,” she said, her voice absolute. “And we cannot leave this fortress standing. One way or another, this place gets wiped off the map.”

She turned and helped Draven to his feet. The big man was hurt, but his eyes were clear and determined.

“Jonah, Vanessa,” Seraph ordered, her eyes locking with theirs. “You two go after Thorne. This is a battle of creators. This is your fight. End it.”

Jonah and Vanessa looked at each other. This was it. Everything they had been through, everything they had learned, it had all led to this one moment.

Seraph nodded towards the other corridor, the one that led to the reactor. “Draven and I will handle the bomb.”

Draven managed a tired smile. “Time to make some noise,” he said. He looked at Jonah. “Go finish your fight. We’ll make sure to blow this whole mountain to dust right behind you.”

This was the parting of ways.

Jonah met Seraph’s gaze. “Be careful,” he said.

“You too,” she replied. “Give him hell for me.”

Jonah and Vanessa headed down the left corridor, towards the presence of a madman and his terrible creations.

Seraph and Draven headed to the right. They went toward a ticking bomb and their duty to finish the mission, no matter how it ended.

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