[x] The princess
"I'm going after the princess." you descend quickly. "Knight in shining armor BS aside, we both know you aren't good at handling people who aren't under your command. And you look like you want to blow off some steam after that one cultist beat you up earlier..."
"You don't have to fucking remind me." Red huffs.
"Just be sure to pull back if the prick's tougher than you thought." you see a pair of dented elevator doors, covered in soot. "Helix and Lazarus'll be more than happy to give you supporting fire. Actually, hold on..." You raise a leg and kick the elevator door once. They tumble to the floor. "Helix, Lazarus, Sparky, come in. What's your status?"
"Hold on..." Helix says. There's a loud crack .
"Gotcha, bitch! Anyway, I'm good. The cultists still have no idea- wait, hold on..."
"Lazarus and Sparky here. We're picking up movement from the wreckage of the hangars. I think some of the wyverns survived the a rocket barrage and a several tons of metal falling on them." there's a pause.
"Yep, one of them did. It looks real pissed, too. It's got a broken wing and it's limping, but damn it looks pissed."
"I'm sending rounds at it, but it's still holding." Helix announces through grit teeth.
"Advise not bringing any of the VIPs into the open until the thing's dead and- oh shit, I think it sees me. Relocating fu-"
There's an ungodly shriek and Helix's transmission cuts off.
"Lazarus, Sparky, got eyes on?" Red barks, kicking you out of her way as she slides the rest of the way down the ladder. You shoot her a concerned look, then rush down the tunnel with your rifle raised.
The hallways are a maze that frustrate you with their complexity and nonsensical distances. Some hallways are lined with frames that hold symbols drawn on human skin, or have dried fingers or ears dangling from the ceiling. You tear down and destroy as many as you can given your tight schedule, gunning down anyone who tries to stop you.
All the while, you keep an ear on how your teammates are doing.
"-ing tough scaled bastard. The wyvern's going after Helix, but the asshole's slippery and the overgrown lizard's limp isn't doing it any favors." Lazarus reports.
"Shifting fire to the wyvern."
"What about the cultists?" Red asks, the sound of her boots landing heavily on something metallic briefly over.
"What're their status?"
"Angry. Running out into the open. I can pick them off once they get in range with my gun, but there's a lot." a pause.
"Fuck, I see bright lights from inside the buildings. I think the mages have finally gotten their shit together."
"Relocate." you tell him, rounding another corner and gunning down a pair of cultists running at you with glowing machetes. The walls shake as explosions continue to sound above ground. "Move to cover, now. Before those fuckers can cast a spell at you. Go. Helix? Talk to us, man."
"Fuckfuckfuckfuck-" you hear the sniper swear.
"Ow, the bastard's breathing fire!"
"Just get it to stay still for a few seconds, Helix. Sparky'll take care of the rest." Lazarus tells him, then you hear gunfire coming from his end.
"Come on, scum! Get shit on! Come on!"
"Helix, keep running. Lazarus, Sparky, relocate before the mages can get a bead on you with their hocus pocus. When you can, put some fire on the wyvern on Helix's ass and finish off the cultists." you hear gunfire in Red's background.
"Zim, find the girl and get her out now.
I think we pissed off the cult."
"Copy all, closing in on target location. Out." you shoulder check a door and smash it into the face of one unlucky cultists. Half a dozen more turn to you, shocked and half- way to raising their weapons.
You manage to gun down half before the survivors force you to dive for cover and load a fresh magazine. You peek out of cover to gun down yet another unlucky cultist, then roll away when a blast of red lightning obliterates the table you were hiding behind. The one responsible, a man in flowing red robes wielding a staff that crackles with daemonic energy, laughs as he levitates off the floor.
"Fool!" he bellows with a voice that isn't quite his own. "You dare stand before the might of the-"
You empty the magazine at the floating idiot and grin satisfactorily as his body flops to the floor missing half a head and sporting several new holes on his chest and sternum. The remaining three cultists look at you in shock and realize their mistake too late when you shoot new holes through their heads with your sidearm. Idiots, all of them. Never talk in a fight unless your voice can bore your opponent to death.
You charge into a hallway lined with cells that reek of feces and blood and rotting corpses. You proceed slowly, carefully examining each cell for signs of your target. Alas, most of the cells are either empty or imprisoning a dead corpse or two.
You reach the end of the hall and find a locked door that's lined with dried skin and a several daemonic glyphs. You roll your eyes and knock on it thrice.
The terrified gasp you hear on the other side of the door confirms your suspicions. Cliche as fuck cultists.
You rear back and kick the door once. It dents and the glyphs splutter as though they're surprised. You kick it again and the glyphs crackle and fade with a hiss as the door falls off its hinges. You enter and sweep the chamber behind the door with experienced ease.
The chamber is small, and has little in the way of niceties. No bed, no table, a single lightbulb, and a bucket half-full of excrement. In the corner of the room is a bundle of shaking blankets from which a pair of terrified blue eyes peek out of. Those eyes blink once as recognition lights up in them and you approach slowly. You kneel before the bundle and tug off the filthy blankets to reveal a pretty face with dirtied sking framed by gold hair like silk. Pointed ears stick out from her hair.
"Princess Alina Ar'Laan D'Lotuk?" you ask unnecessarily. The young elf nods, desperate and frantic. "I'm with the Irregular Combat Unit, sent by your father. We're here to bring you home."
The girl latches onto you, babbling incoherently and crying tears of joy. Her fingers dig into your shoulders and she holds on for dear life. You let her unload for a few seconds, then pry her hands off and keep them at her sides to look her over.
"Are you alright? Any pains or injuries I need to know of?"
"M-My legs..." she sobs, reaching down to pull away the rags and reveal her ankles. They have been bolted to a set of heavy chains that are attached to the wall. "I-I can't move my l-legs..."
"Okay," you drawn your rifle and load a fresh magazine. "Cover your ears."
The princess complies as you take aim at the links closest to her ankles. A quick burst blasts it to pieces. You shift to the side to help the princess into your arms when hear movement and spin around, gun raised.
Half a dozen emaciated corpses shamble in the hallway towards you, their joints glowing red as they whispers blasphemies. You open fire and the princess screams, tucking herself into a ball as your sabots hit home but do little to stop their advance. You don't stop firing until an explosion knocks them, and you, to the floor in a heap. You draw your sidearm and pop their heads when they try to force themselves back on their feet.
"This is Red," your comm link crackles, you hear fire and screaming in the background.
"I got the cultist leader. Fucking bitch tried to sacrifice herself to summon the daemon prince, but I managed to stop her. Zim, sitrep on the princess?"
"I got her." you give the young elf in your your sidearm and pick her up while she's still looking at it in awe. She squeaks in surprise, but doesn't relinquish her hold on your gun. "Moving to extraction. Helix, Lazarus, Sparky, status?"
"The fucking wyvern's still alive!" the sniper screams over the sound of the wyvern roaring.
"Lazarus, where's your fire support?!"
"I'm working on it! I'm fucking working on it!" the engineer barks back. There's a half second pause, and a few screams being cut-off halfway through, before he speaks again.
"Okay we've moved, and Sparky's in position. Where are
you?!"
"Look for the fire-breathing dragon, chasing the screaming motherfucker, up and down the fucking snow dunes!"
"Zim, it isn't going to be easy going up as it was going down." Red tells you.
"What do we do?"
"I've got an idea. I'm headed for the elevator shaft, get there as soon as you can." you end the call, then turn to the elf in your arms. "Can you cast any spells, ma'am?"
"Y-Yes." she nods, magic gathering into her hand.
"Okay, I'll need you to cast something for me; a levitation spell. The elevator's out, so you'll need to move it up. Can you do it?"
"I c-can." she nods jerkily. "I can."
You shoot her a half smile as you reach the elevator doors. You ignore the fact that the return trip is much shorter than the first trip there.
The princess murmurs something in Elvish that you don't understand. The light in her hand reaches a bright gleam and she throws a mass of swirling lines that orbit a shape you can't understand. The shape bobs once, as though in understanding, and drops into the shaft.
"Zim, I'm a the elevator." you hear Red say.
"Now what?"
"Get in it and wait."
"Seriously?"
"Just do it, quick."
You hear grumbling that's quickly replaced by a shocked gasp. Something deeper in the shaft moves, climbing upwards to your location and occasionally bumping against the shaft walls in a shower of sparks. You wait patiently as it comes up to your level, revealing Red with an unmoving robed form over her shoulders. You ignore her smirk and step in without a word.
The ride is short and bumpy, but you reemerge onto the surface as a great gout of flame erupts in the horizon and loud roar is drowned out but the crack of an energy cannon going off.
"Hah!" you hear Helix scream jubilantly.
"Motherfucking lizard fuck! Take that! Woohoo! Yeah!"
"Lazarus to Red and Zim," the engineer's voice is the very opposite of Helix's, sounding tired and ragged beyond belief.
"We've finally got the wyvern, and it looks like pick-up's here. Fuck, mind if I take a trophy from the dead lizard?"
"Go ahead." Red sighs as you both step out with your respective charges. The elf princess tucks herself into you, eyes shut tight as she tries to ignore the devastation around her. "But regroup over at the air field. Out."
...To be continued.
A/N: Alright, prologue's done. A bit shorter than I thought, but I'll take it.
