The team follows behind Ziya as they move through several corridors of this giant facility. They encountered another fire escape stairwell, but the door was blocked off and they couldn't move through it. They continued to search around for another exit, in silence, after watching Ziya hold that big of a grudge against the announcer. They continued to walk in silence together until Drake eventually broke the silence. "Zizi?" Drake asks. However, Ziya simply kept walking, ignoring Drake. "Zizi, listen to me".
"What is it?" Ziya asks.
"Look" Drake says, "I'm sorry about the things I've said earlier. I know what you're trying to do, but-".
"What I'm trying to do" Ziya yells, "is exact revenge against a certain few people! Whether you want to continue being involved with that is entirely your choice. If you want my advice, split up now and go find the exit yourselves".
"Zizi-" Drake says softly.
"What!?" Ziya yells. "What is it, Drake!? Can't you see you guys have your chance to leave now!? We're probably not too far from the surface! You can probably make it home now if you leave! What I'm doing now, is for me and me alone... you'd be better off not sticking around me from here on out...".
"Zizi, you need help too!" Drake yells. "Whether it be help getting your revenge, or help overlooking such a... a vain reasoning for sticking around this awful place! Let me help you!".
"Can't you take a fucking clue!?" Ziya asks. "I'm beyond your help!". There were a few seconds of silence, before Ziya continues to say "You've seen it yourself, and experienced it a little bit... sanity doesn't last long in Pyramid. I'm a lost cause at this point, and a menace to society. If I go down, the least I can do is take those bastards down with me! I don't want you tagging along so I can accomplish the only goal I have that isn't a complete mess!".
"Zizi... what happened to you?" Drake asks.
"I'm not the same person you once knew, Drake..." Ziya says softly. "Not that you can actually remember any of it anyways... just go, before you do remember anything... before it gets too hard for you to leave my side".
Drake stops walking, and stomps one foot on the ground. "Dammit!" He yells. "I'm not leaving anyone behind! With the exception of the guy who plans to kill you, the rest of you are good people! I don't care what they may tell us about being a menace to society or whatnot! If you're going to get revenge on them, then I'm coming too. If not for you, I'm at least doing this much for me".
"Drake, just go home..." Ziya says.
"Make me" Drake replies. Ziya turns around and points a revolver to Drake's face, with the barrel lightly touching the tip of his nose. Ziya pulls back the hammer of the revolver as she loads the next shot, but waits. "Go on..." Drake says. "Do it!". Ziya keeps the gun pointed at Drake, her hand shaking lightly. Eventually, Ziya lowers her gun, and holsters the weapon in her pocket after releasing the hammer to keep it from firing.
"I... can't" Ziya says.
"Then you also can't stop me from tagging along and helping" Drake says as he starts walking again.
Ziya stares at Drake as he walks past her, with the rest of the team following behind him. When Chris passes by Ziya, he places a hand on her shoulder, then says "Don't worry. The rest of us already had the same goal as you. We all want a shot at revenge... wasn't that the plan when we agreed to break out of Pyramid and turn this place upside down?".
"Yeah... I guess" Ziya says.
"There won't be another Pyramid game anymore" Chris says. "And we'll make sure of it".
"Right..." Ziya says.
As the team continues walking, Chris catches up to Drake and lightly hits Drake in the side with his elbow. "Not bad, kid" Chris says.
"I didn't do it for you..." Drake says.
"I know" Chris replies. "But still... that was impressive, having that kind of bravery while at gunpoint".
"Hm" Drake replies as he keeps walking.
After a while of walking, the team enters a hallway with a large metal double door at the end of the hallway. Before they approached the doors, the doors opened on their own. Through the doors, a single man with a large duffle bag on his back came walking towards the team. The team pulls out their weapons and aims it at the man. When the man got close enough to see their faces, he looks up with a smile. He had short, wavy black hair, green eyes and a black trench coat on, over a black suit with a black shirt and a white tie. As he smiles, he raises his empty hands up to his chest and begins clapping slowly. "I think a congratulations is in order" the man says. "We've had one man escape Pyramid before, but never have several idiots come running through the station like you!".
"Who the hell is this guy?" Gerald asks.
"Ah- that's right" the man says. "I am James Hockney. But you can just call me Jay".
"You're one of the game masters, aren't you?" Ziya asks.
"You're like a detective or something~" Jay says with a smile. "I'm an arms dealer within the Black Market, Chief of Staff for all of those involved in the show Pyramid, Observational and Visual Director for the cameras, and, yes, second in command... or as you called it, Game Master of Pyramid".
"Quick question" Judy says. "How did you guys make something like this place anyways? Pyramid and Station Zero. What is this place?".
"You mean..." Jay says with a worried look, "that you've seen several government workers in this facility, have seen how massive this place is, and even came across a plethora of guards, who, by the way, cost a fortune to hire... and you still can't quite put your finger on where that money comes from?".
Judy squints at Jay and says "Just checking...".
"Of course you knew!" Jay says in an almost cheerful tone. "It's the government! The whole government is supporting us, of course, spearheaded by the brave and unorthodox, Governor Dylan Floyd. While I don't agree with the man... money speaks for itself".
"You really are a piece of shit!" Judy says, then pulls the trigger of her pistol, hitting Jay right between the eyes.
Jay's body quickly hits the ground with a loud, metallic, echoing thud. After a few seconds, however, he gets back up. The bullet hole in his head was gone. He stands up straight and tilts his head to the side until his neck pops. "Funny" Jay says, "I get that a lot". Jay takes the duffle bag off of his back and places it in front of himself. He unzips the bag, grabs onto a large metal handle with a button on it, then slides the straps over one shoulder, keeping the bag barely held up with one arm. As he reaches back into the bag, he grabs another metal handle, then slides the strap off of his arm. When the bag hits the ground, a mini-gun was exposed in his hands. "I'd run if I were you" he says as the barrels start spinning.
The team scatters and hides in different offices. As they take cover, the everlasting purr of heavy machine gun fire filled the hallways, with the sound nearly deafening the team. The walls around them slowly started to crumble and fall in chunks as this mini-gun tore the walls apart and ripped the entire hallway to shreds. "What do we do!?" Chris yells across the hallway at Ziya, who's standing in the office across the hall from Chris.
"I don't know!" Ziya yells back. "He has the Respawn ability! So we'll either have to kill him over and over from a distance, or get close enough to stab him repeatedly to death as he keeps reviving!".
"Yeah, but..." Chris says, "that's a fucking mini-gun!".
"Yeah, that's exactly the part I'm not so sure about, Chris!" Ziya yells. "Really freaking insightful!".
Chris sits back for a moment, then shouts "I have an idea! It's just... not a good one!".
"Well, anything will do!" Ziya yells. "We're kinda really limited on time right now! What do you have in mind!?".
Chris reaches down in his pocket and pulls out his last two grenades. "I'll definitely die at least once trying to throw this at him!" Chris yells. "Think you can help me distract him for a second so I can get the chance to throw this, instead of dropping it and killing myself a second time!?".
"Well... you were right about it not being a very good plan!" Ziya yells. After a short second, Ziya nods at Chris. Chris pulls the pin out of one grenade, then drops the handle as Ziya runs around the corner. Ziya immediately gets ripped to shreds, but as Jay aimed at Ziya, Chris ran around the corner with the grenade in his hand. He threw the grenade down the hallway at Jay. The grenade bounced off of the floor once, and immediately exploded, tearing Jay in half with the explosion. Jay struggles to lean up with such a heavy weapon in his hands, as well as the lack of legs. As he struggles, Ziya charges up to him, taking the combat knife she stole from a guard in her hands. She pounces on top of Jay, plummeting the knife in his chest and ripping the blade out of him. She stabbed him over and over for several minutes. Even after he stopped reviving, Ziya just kept stabbing and ripping, stabbing and ripping, over and over. "Fuck your Pyramid game!" Ziya yells. "Fuck your money speaks bullshit! Fuck your ties with the government! Fuck your staff! Fuck this whole facility! And fuck you!".
"Ziya... I think he's dead" Drake says.
"He's dead when I say he's dead!" Ziya yells as she turns to look at Drake with a stern and angry expression, blood starting to cover half of her face.
"Ziya!" Chris yells as he places a hand on her shoulder. "Enough! We have to keep moving before more people come. Someone's sure to have heard all of that noise".
Ziya slowly stands up, and looks up at the large, open metal doors. Suddenly, Gerald walks up to the dead body of Jay and picks up the mini-gun. "Is no one taking this?" He asks. "Because- dibs!".
"If you want to be the one carrying such a heavy machine..." Chris says. "Go for it, I guess".
"Totally keeping this" Gerald says.
"Have fun trying to run with that in your hands..." Judy says.
"Oh, I'm gonna have fun alright!" Gerald says as he admires his new gun.
Judy sighs, then says quietly "Boys and their toys...".
The team runs through the metal doors, and quickly finds another emergency exit. They all run up the stairs, Gerald less so than the others, and make it to the highest floor they can reach. When they open the doors of the emergency exit, they see another set of large metal double doors. Just beyond those doors was the outside world. The sun was out, and the terrain outside looked like a desert of some sort, with no greenery of any kind in sight. However, in front of those doors was a massive wave of guards, all aimed at the team. What looked like replicas of military armored vehicles were parked outside of the station, and the heat coming in from outside was nearly intoxicating. Suddenly, the wave of soldiers separate down the middle, moving to the side as a single man in a black suit with a white tie walks between the guards. He had an assault rifle with a dual drum mag inserted in the bottom of the gun and wore a smile as he walks towards the team, with his hands resting in his pockets. "John Breikenn..." Gerald says with his eyes squinted.
"Heh heh..." John says, "Gerald Wey. I thought I'd never see you again...".