[Data Retrieval Squad]
Layla sat opposite Aurora, her right foot tapping a frantic beat against the floor as she was staring at the man sitting in the corner.
"So," Layla said suddenly, pointing with two fingers. "You're the one we've gotta get to the retrieval site and back alive, right?"
The man looked up, clearly startled. He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah."
"Great to know." Layla muttered, her foot tapping even faster.
Diego leaned forward from the bench opposite, elbows on his knees. "You nervous?"
Layla didn't miss a beat. "Of course I'm not nervous."
"Well, stop the leg work then." Diego sighed. "You're making everyone around here nervous."
She glanced down, noticed the movement for the first time and forcibly planted her foot flat on the floor. But it only lasted maybe three seconds before it started again, slower this time.
Aurora watched from her seat. She stood up, moving through the vibrating cabin to sit beside Layla. She handed her a bottle of water.
Layla took a long swig and handed it back. "Thanks, Captain."
Aurora leaned in. "I honestly don't know why you're twitching when you've got me around."
Layla smiled despite herself. "Right. The world's greatest hero, I forgot."
Aurora turned her eyes to the European man. "Look, we know what we're retrieving is classified. But you could at least tell us your name or is that classified too?"
He man blinked, a faint pink hue creeping up his neck. "No, ma'am. I am... I am Dr. Julian Vane."
Knox leaned over from the other side. "Is he blushing?"
Julian stiffened. "I'm not blushing."
Knox grinned wider. "Dude, you're totally blushing."
Laughter rippled through out the transport.
The pilot cut in over the comms. "Jump point in ten seconds. Good luck down there."
Aurora rose smoothly to her feet.
The vehicle slowed, hovering just above a half-collapsed building. The rear doors slid open, air rushing in. And they jumped.
Aurora hit the rooftop in a crouchy and straightened immediately. Nanotech flowed over Clyck Squad's arms, solidifying into laser rifles. Russian soldiers raised their own weapons.
"Julian, on me." Aurora said, glancing back at Julian. "And don't leave my sight."
Julian nodded quickly and stayed close.
They stacked at the rooftop access door. Diego moved first, kicking it open. Dave and Knox flowed in ahead of him, weapons sweeping the dark stairwell.
"Clear." Knox said.
They descended the stairwell in formation. And when they reached the lobby, Aurora raised a fist.
"Knox, Dave – take four men and cover the street outside."
"Yes, ma'am."
As they moved out, Aurora tapped her wrist and a holographic map bloomed in the center of the room. She studied it.
"Retrieval site is in the south-east." Aurora said. "Knox, I need you guys to clear the south-east route now. We're right behind you."
"Copy that." Knox replied and turned immediately, lifting his laser rifle. "Alright, on me." he ordered.
They moved as one, slipping down the cracked street and cutting through the ruins. Knox took point, sweeping corners and doorways while Dave covered the rear.
The soldiers fanned out, checking alleys and the dark mouths of collapsed buildings.
Knox tapped his comm. ""South-east route is clear, Captain."
"Doesn't it feel weird to you that we haven't spotted a single Elyrian since we jumped?" Dave asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"We've only been here for less than fifteen minutes, man." Knox replied. "And weird is good."
Aurora and the others caught up to them, they started walking until they reached the research base.
Layla slowed down, as she looked at the shattered windows. "This place looks haunted."
Aurora turned to Knox and Dave. "Can I count on you guys to guard the entrance?"
"Yes, ma'am." They replied in unison.
"The rest is with me." Aurora said, already taking the lead.
Inside, the place was dark. Aurora's suit sealed her helmet automatically, night vision flickering on.
"Stay sharp." Aurora whispered.
Layla's helmet formed a second later. "These new suits are cool as hell."
Julian led the way, his hands shaking as he pointed toward a deep hallway. Aurora grabbed his hand, pulling him closer to her side.
They walked through a corridor until a collapsed ceiling blocked their path.
"It's a dead end." Julian said.
Suddenly, a shiver raced up Aurora's spine. It was the feeling of being watched by something. She spun violently, her visor scanning the dark.
"Wait." Aurora gasped, looking back at her group. She had entered the building with eight people. But now, there were only three. Layla, Diego and Julian.
"We're not alone!" she shouted. "Light up!"
And they opened fire, the laser illuminating the hallway in flashes. Something massive moved in the rafters.
It's tail whipped out of the darkness with the speed of a bullet. And slammed into Aurora's chest, she right crashed through the collapsed ceiling, blasting a hole straight through the obstruction.
"Move! Julian, get through the hole!" Layla yelled, shoving the doctor through the gap.
Diego followed and Layla dove after them just as it's claws slammed where she had been standing. The creature was too large to fit through the opening.
Layla stared at the darkness behind them. "What the hell was that? That wasn't an Elyrian, that thing was huge."
"Either they're evolving." Aurora said, standing up. "Or they brought something else with them."
"I agree." Diego muttered, checking his rifle.
"Let's move." Aurora said. "And try to avoid dark spaces."
Layla frowned. "How do we get back?"
"We'll find another way."
They climbed upward, Julian leading them to a sealed room. "In here." he said. "I hope the door still works."
Julian pressed a pin into the keypad with trembling fingers and the door hissed open.
"Guys, I need you two on the door." Aurora said, stepping inside with Julian.
The room was a massive laboratory with huge glass cylinders, shattered across the floor. "What is this place?" Aurora asked, looking around.
"Where we studied Elyrian biology." Julian said, struggling to eject the data drive.
At the doorway, Layla took a long drag from her cigarette looking down. And something moved in the stairwell below.
She pulled a lighter from her pocket, flicked it and tossed the small flame down into the stairwell.
The flame revealed dozens of massive, twisted creatures surging upward.
"Captain! We've got a problem!" Layla yelled, opening fire. Diego joined her, the hallway lighting up as they tried to push back the tide of monsters.
Aurora ran to Julian and ripped the drive free. Julian snatched it instantly but Aurora shoved him toward the back exit. "Move!"
They sprinted upward for the rooftop. Layla and Diego firing backward as they retreated.
They reached a gap in the stairs where a section had fallen away, leaving a ten-foot drop into darkness.
Aurora didn't slow, she jumped and cleared it. Layla followed with a graceful roll. And Julian stood at the edge, frozen.
"Jump!" Diego yelled.
"I can't! I'll fall!"
Diego grabbed Julian by the collar, lifted him and threw him across the gap. Aurora caught the doctor mid-air.
He turned back, firing as the creatures closed in.
"Diego?!" Aurora yelled.
Diego turned to run and jumped but a tail caught his ankle, tripping him. He didn't make the full distance, his face slammed into the ledge of the other side.
"No!"
Aurora lunged forward, grabbing Diego's wrist just as he began to slip. She hauled him up, dragging his limp body onto the landing.
He was unconscious, blood trickling from a gash on his forehead.
The creatures were leaping across the gap now.
"Go! To the roof!" Aurora said, slinging Diego over her shoulder. They ran to it and Layla slammed the rooftop access door shut behind them and twisted the manual lock just as something heavy hit the other side.
Aurora staggered forward and lowered Diego carefully onto the ground. She straightened and scanned the skyline. Every surrounding rooftop was too far. "We could really use your help right now, Diego."
The door behind them screamed again. "Captain." Layla said, raising her laser rifle. "They're coming."
Aurora's comm crackled in her ear and Knox's voice came through. "Captain, we can't hold the entrance for long. These creatures aren't Elyrians and our rifles are not effective on them."
Aurora closed her eyes for half a second, thinking. "They're blocking our way down too." she said. "And Diego's out."
Aurora looked around and her eyes landed on the west building, it was closer than the rest. She looked at Diego, then back at the door that was beginning to buckle inward.
Aurora tapped her comm. "Knox. Pull your team back. But tell Dave I need him to swing the building to the west."
Knox chuckled, breathless but unmistakably amused. "Ohhh, Captain." he said. "He's been itching to use the heavy charges and you're about to make him the happiest man alive."
Minutes dragged like hours.
Dave's voice came over the comms, sounding entirely too excited. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen." he said. "Brace yourselves."
Far below them, support columns in the west blew out in sequence. And the entire structure began to lean westward, slow at first, then accelerating as gravity took hold. The ground beneath them shifted into a steepening slope.
Julian's eyes went wide. "What... what's happening!?"
"Keep your feet, Doc!" Layla yelled, her own suit digging its magnetic soles into the roof to keep her upright.
Aurora grabbed Diego and hauled him upright, as the rooftop turned into a sliding ramp. "We have to run and jump at the peak of the slide! On my command."
Layla laughed, exhilarated. "I love this part."
"I can't!" Julian screamed, his voice cracking. "I've never... people don't do this."
"Listen to me!" Layla snapped, grabbing him by the collar and yanking him close. "You don't have to do it right, you just need to do it now!"
The gap between the two buildings was closing but not enough and the research base was descending too fast.
"Now!" she shouted and began to run. Layla followed, dragging a stumbling Julian with her.
Aurora reached the edge first and using the speed, she threw Diego at the exact apex of the descent. But the momentum change cost her. As she threw him, her own feet slipped on the crumbling ledge.
Diego's body cleared the gap, smashing through the western building's windows. Layla and Julian launched a split second later. Layla caught Julian mid-air, tucking into a ball and slamming through the opening after Diego.
Aurora was late, she leaped but the building beneath her had dropped too far and she didn't clear the gap. She slammed into the exterior wall of the Western tower and began to slide down.
Thinking at the speed of the suit, her nanotech reacted instantly, forming a blade. She immediately drove it into the wall, sparks screaming as she was still sliding down fast.
She thrust her other arm out. "Grapnel!" she yelled at the suit. Nanotech reshaped again and a grappling cable shot out of her wrist. The cable bit deep into the building's interior. And the sudden stop nearly snapped her spine.
"Pull!"
The suit retracted the line and yanked her sideways, ripping her through a shattered window and into the building in a violent tumble. She hit hard, rolling across floor and slamming to a stop against a pillar
On the other side of the gap, Layla scrambled up and looked around. "Captain?" she shouted into the comm. "Captain, can you hear me?!"
Julian clutched Diego, panic written across his face. "She... she didn't make it, did she?"
Layla stared at the broken edge, smoke curling upward. "Captain... please." her voice shook.
Aurora lay on her back inside the building, staring at the flickering. And she let out a slow laugh, the reckless joy of surviving something that should've killed her.
"Captain?!" Layla yelled again, desperate.
Aurora clicked her comms open, her breath hitched between the laughter. "Yeah." she said, still laughing as she pushed herself to her feet. "I'm okay, Layla."
Layla sagged in relief. "Captain! Don't ever do that again."
Aurora wiped blood from her brow. "Yes ma'am." she said, limping toward the stairs. "Meet me in the lobby."
She was walking down the corridor when her comm crackled. "Captain." Knox's voice came through. "We're outside the west building."
Aurora allowed herself a small exhale. "Copy that. Hold position."
She rounded the final corner into the lobby just as Layla emerged from the elevator, hauling Julian along. Diego followed a step behind them.
"Well." she said, a tired smile teasing at her mouth. "Look who decided to rejoin us."
Diego huffed out a weak laugh. "Yeah… figured I'd miss the fun if I stayed down."
Aurora crossed the distance in two strides and placed a hand firmly on his shoulder, steadying him. "You okay?"
He nodded once, then winced. "I've got a massive headache but I'll live." His gaze met hers. "All thanks to you, Captain."
Aurora squeezed his shoulder briefly, then let go. "Good. Because I'm not dragging you again." she said laughingly and turning toward the shattered front entrance.
They exited the building. Outside, Knox and Dave were waiting by a pile of rubble with one remaining Russian soldier, weapons raised but lowered slightly when they saw Aurora step into view.
Layla stopped, looking at the lone soldier, then back at the empty street behind them.
Dave jogged over to Aurora, visor pushed up. "Captain." he said proudly. "You absolutely made my day back there. Though I gotta admit – I really thought that building was gonna fall straight onto this one."
Aurora met his grin with a cool look. "But if that were the case, Dave. We wouldn't be here."
He laughed. "Fair point."
Before anyone could respond, another Russian soldier came out from the north corner running and stopped near Aurora. "Captain, we have a problem. The longer route to the pickup point is gone."
Aurora's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean gone?"
Dave cleared his throat, looking a little sheepish. "Yeah, about that. When the research base touched down, it tore up the ground beneath it, triggering a massive sinkhole that accelerated right toward the north sector."
Aurora closed her eyes and dragged a hand down her face. "God, I really hope the search and rescue team was nowhere near the north."
Layla shook her head, trying to be the voice of reason. "Don't worry, Captain. If I remember the briefing correctly, the route from the emergency tunnels was to the east."
Julian cleared his throat nervously. "Uh… Captain?" When she looked at him, he swallowed. "What do we do now that route is gone?"
Aurora tapped her wrist and the holographic map bloomed. She exhaled deeply, looking toward the center of the city. "We don't have a choice, the only way to the pick up point now is the straight shot – the route close to the nest."