"Oh, fucking hell," Bella muttered under her breath, "All of you, keep climbing as fast as you can!" She moved down the rope a little bit, getting to Fenix's level, "Alright, come on. As much I'd love for you to conquer this fear, we don't have the time right now. Put your arms around my shoulders and hold on tight."
"Wait, Bella, you can't carry me, I'm too heavy—" Fenix was cut with a yelp as Bella bodily hauled him up.
She glared back at him, "Still think I can't carry you?"
Fenix rolled his eyes, "Okay, okay, coming," He moved over to Bella, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
"Hold on tight," She said, and with that, she began scaling the wall rapidly. She let out a yelp as an arrow barely skimmed her, "Where are they shooting from?!" She yelled up toward Carion.
"Over there!" He yelled back.
"I can't fucking look, Carion, I'm speed-scaling this fucking wall with a teenager on my back, which direction?" Bella called back her voice both tired and distressed at the same time.
Leon intervened, "To your right, a little bit above you, they're shooting from the top of the wall!"
Before Bella could say anything, she heard Mina cut in, "Carion, do you have a gun on you?!"
"Yeah, but—"
"What kind?" Lumina asked, seeming to catch onto Mina's plans.
"I've got a pistol but Sarena has a sniper on her," He responded.
Mina turned to the woman dressed in all black that they had met the day before, "Sarena, can I borrow that?" She asked. Sarena didn't hesitate to toss the gun over to her, "Thank you. God, I really hope this thing can fully support my weight."
With that, she let go of the ropes with both hands, clutching onto the guns and letting out a small noise of surprise as the safety gear tightened around her waist to hold her in place, "Mina!" Lumina called out, worried.
"I'm fine!" She called back, "Everyone stays out of my bullet range. I'm definitely not as accurate as Val, but it doesn't mean I can't take these motherfuckers down a notch," She lined her eye up with the scope on the sniper, aiming carefully before squeezing the trigger. Judging from the sound of the chaos from where the arrows had started, she had certainly hit someone, "Alright, Bella, keep climbing! I'll cover you!"
Bella thanked her and kept climbing, "You doing okay, Klahan?" She asked calmly.
"Fine, fine, just. Vertigo is a bitch," Fenix said shakily, "Man, heights fucking suck."
Bella nodded, "They really are. You should have seen me the first time I scaled a wall. I was shaking and crying the whole way up. I think Uncle Gong was almost about to come up there and bring me down himself."
Fenix sounded surprised, "You? Scared?"
"Terrified," Bella laughed, "I hated heights as well. But I had plenty of time and a safe environment to get over it. You, however, have none of that right now. So, we've got to keep moving."
Fenix gripped on tightly, "I mean, you're the one carrying me."
"You ungrateful little—"
"Can we keep this moving?!" Mina yelled up to them, glaring, "I would really like to be out of their line of fire right now!"
Bella was about to say something back to her when she felt something tug her climbing rope. Looking up, she saw Leon and Lumina grabbing onto the rope and bodily heaving them up, "Keep climbing, Bella!" Lumina called down, "We'll try and help from up here!" The ginger-haired woman nodded and began climbing quicker, covering distance much faster now, pulling herself and Fenix up.
"Oh, Jesus fuck!" They heard a yell from below them and instantly, everyone had thought the worst.
Lumina was almost about to leap back over, "Minnie!"
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" The woman called back, "It was a close call, can I start climbing up again, please?"
Leon grabbed onto Fenix as Bella finally made it to the top and tugged him over, Owen rushing over to help as Lumina yelled back down, "Climb up, quick!"
Mina took one look at the gun before calling back up to Sarena, "Sarena, I really hope you aren't attached to this gun!"
"What?!"
The woman didn't even bother to reply, throwing the gun down towards the ground as she started quickly climbing up.
Leon pulled Fenix up onto his feet, "You still okay to do this?" He asked, concerned. Fenix pulled out one of his daggers, looking over to him.
"There isn't exactly a way to turn back now, is there? Come on, get ready. We're going to have to knock them out and switch clothes with them," He pointed at the people who had originally been shooting at them, who were now running over.
Lumina tugged Mina over the edge just in time for them both to rush at the guards, "Try not to kill them, they're some of the brainwashed people of Sector 2!" Carion called out, "They don't have control over what they're doing, they've been brainwashed into doing this!"
"Yeah, but they're trying to kill us!" Owen yelled back, taking down one of the guards.
"Correction, if you're about to be killed, you can kill them. If not, try to knock them out! Also, avoid spilling blood onto their clothing!"
Lumina kicked one of the guards away and looked to Carion, "You're making a lot of demands there, sir."
"Well, if you all want to not get found out immediately, I suggest you listen to me!" Carion yelped as a guard pushed him almost over the edge of the wall. Within a second, Carion switched his position and the guard was over the side of the wall. He cringed, "Ah, fuck."
Mina pointed at him, "You were the one who said not to—"
"Yes, I know! It was an accident! Miss Bella, are you friends all always this…"
"Unbearable? Yes, yes, they are. God, I love these idiots," Bella grinned, racing forward and knocking two people out. She counted the unconscious people and yelled back to the others, "We've got enough people, hurry and knock the rest out!"
Within the next five minutes, all the guards had been knocked out, and the six entering the Sector had changed their clothing, "Alright, everyone got their headsets in?" Carion asked, "Good, this is where our help stops. Bella, you know the signal for when you all get back up to the wall and when we have to pick you up. Keep these guns on you until you get into the tower. There should be group marches that start soon. Watch your surroundings, discard the guns, and join the march. From there, you need to knock out six scientists—"
"Or kill them. They're not innocent," Bella muttered.
"—Or kill them, yes, and you need to make your way to the center of the Sector. Once you get in, Bella and Lumina can get up to the third level, but you still need the fourth-level access card. Meanwhile, the rest of you need both the third level and fourth levels. Does anyone have any questions?" Carion finished.
At the silence that greeted him, he gestured for Bella to speak, "Alright, everyone. When we get down there, I'm assuming the first march will start soon. We join in there together, but as soon as it's over, we split up. It'll be easier to knock out two scientists at a time. Is everyone…Are all of you ready?" Bella asked, "I know it seems a bit late to say this now, but this is extremely dangerous. There is a big chance that we won't get out scratch-free."
Leon put a hand on her shoulder, "You don't have to sugarcoat it for us," He said softly, before turning to the others, "I'm sure you all understand how dangerous this is. Don't put yourself in any unnecessary danger. We get in, grab the tracker, and get out."
"Got it, kiddo. We can do this, alright? Let's have some faith in ourselves," Mina chuckled, patting his back. She turned to Carion, "We'll see you guys soon. Hopefully."
Carion nodded, "Hopefully."
The six of them had made it down to the bottom of the watchtower with no issues, surprisingly. It seemed that the people at the watchtower had all been so focused on going after them that they left no one behind and in their overconfidence after seeing only ten or so people, they hadn't bothered to alert any other watchtowers.
As they neared the large open door, Lumina gestured for them to hug the wall and stay behind her, "Alright, the marches are already in session. Bella and I will join first, then Mina and Owen, and finally Leon and Fenix. Just…Leave the guns here or something."
Bella tossed her gun and made her way towards the door, leaning to peek out, turning back to Lumina, signaling her to join, "Come on, I see an open spot," Lumina tossed her gun as well as Bella looked to the others, "Good luck, be careful, and stay alive."
"Well, we'll certainly try," Fenix muttered as the two women left the watchtower.
The marches were organized in twenty-four rows of about eight in a row, and Lumina Bella had managed to tuck themselves into the group, slightly pushing two others out of position. Strangely, the group molded to simply include them with no confusion, Bella in the second to last to the right while Lumina was the last towards the right.
After a couple of minutes, Bella whispered to Lumina, "Ask them quietly if they managed to join the march as well. It's been long enough and the last of the group should be able to move past the watchtower."
Lumina nodded and pressed the button in her pocket, "Are you guys all in, are you okay?" She asked quietly.
It took a couple of seconds, but Mina's voice came over all of their earpieces, "Owen and I are in. We're just waiting on Leon and Fenix."
"We're in as well, second to last row. We have to be careful. There's enforcer-type citizens at the very back, and at the very front as well, I'd assume," Leon responded.
"Alright, as long as we're all here, we're good. Follow the march. I think this one goes up to the 24th Plaza, so we only have to walk a bit more. Once we get there, split up," Bella murmured.
"Bella?" Fenix asked.
"Yeah?"
"Why is it called the 24th Plaza?"
"...Honestly, I've been wondering that myself for years," Bella muttered, "Because if there are twenty-four plazas in this Sector, I only know about six of them."
"You're right, now that I think about it," Leon added, "Technically there are nine main plazas in this Sector, so I don't why it's called the 24th…"
Mina made a small noise, "Can you guys shut up? If anything, they'll find us out because you guys can't keep quiet."
"Yes, ma'am."