"What are you doing here so early?" Cait inquired as she followed them through the labyrinthine hallways.
One of the men in the group had taken Fate and was now carrying him princess-style, something she wish she had her Ex-Ear on her to take a picture of. It would've been hilarious if Fate hadn't started leaking blood from his eyes, ears, and mouth. Gwen had pulled a bottle of strange, glowing green liquid from one of her many pouches and had poured half of it down Fate's throat when she noticed, which stopped it.
"It's only temporary," she had explained. "Just enough to keep him alive until we get him to a doctor."
Gwen paused at an intersection, raising her hand to stop the group. She leaned over and looked both ways, waving forward with her hand to signal the all-clear as she resumed her brisk pace. The others followed, and Gwen fell back to walk beside Cait.
"This is the day we agreed on," she told Cait. "You must've lost track of time in this nightmarish cube."
"I suppose I did. By any chance, have any of you found Fate's sword ring? I'd never hear the end of it if I left it behind."
In the few weeks they had been traveling together, especially on the flight to Ontragna, she had never seen him take it off, not even to shower. Every so often he would fidget with it, tapping it twice with his thumb as if to reassure himself that it was still there. It didn't take a genius to realize that he had an attachment to it.
"No, but we plan to raid this ship of everything they have, so we'll find it if it isn't destroyed. I'll radio in and let everyone know to look out for it, but first, we need to get you two somewhere safe."
"Fate, maybe, but I'm perfectly fit to fight," Cait protested. "I need to get some payback from these assholes."
Gwen affixed her with a placid stare, unconvinced. "Hold up your hands."
"What?"
"Do it." When Cait obliged, Gwen grabbed them by the wrists and held them steady, making the wild shaking of Cait's hands as plain as day.
"It looks like you aren't. That electricity they pumped you full of might have some lingering effects. I can't allow you to fight in this condition. I doubt you'll even be able to hold a gun, much less aim one."
"Fine, then at least let me give me some time alone with one of them if you take any prisoners."
"Sorry, that's out of my jurisdiction. Separate department."
They paused a few feet away from another intersection, hearing the sound of footsteps. Gwen motioned, and everyone aimed their weapons, except Cait and the man carrying Fate. A group of guards crossed from one hallway to the next, perpendicular to theirs, and the Flaming Crows opened fire.
The armor that the Advanced wore was particularly effective at deflecting and dispersing lasers and even plasma, but physical objects, like the bullets flying from the Flaming Crows' ballistic rifles? Not so much.
The guards collapsed in a heap within seconds, several unaware of how their lives ended. The guns hardly made a sound, the impact of the projectiles smashing through the armor louder than when they fired.
"Forward," Gwen commanded, the group jumping into motion once more. "Estimated five hundred feet before extraction point."
Gwen's estimate soon proved to be accurate. After rounding another few corners and going through a few doors, mowing down scientists and soldiers here and there, they arrived at what Gwen called the extraction point. There was a hole in the wall, twelve feet tall and fifty feet wide, lodged within which was the cargo space of a ship, which extended back for a hundred feet before stopping at a wall with a reinforced door in the center.
The sides were lined with flat steel benches that started ten feet in and had buckles, and the ship stayed anchored via four large clamps the size of a person. The threshold between the two ships was lined with a flickering blue shield of hard light, something Embodiments loved to use.
The interior was well-lit, highlighting the light brown of the benches and walls. At the front of the ship – or the back, depending on perspective – were three chest-high green walls in the center, right, and left. Behind the right and left ones stood two soldiers, and behind the center one was a single mustachioed man with his hands on a mounted gun affixed to the wall.
All five of them pointed their weapons at the newcomers, not lowering them even when they saw the outfits they wore.
"Name, credentials, passcode," the man behind the turret said.
"Gwen Hadrinla, H-05436. Sarah, Omega, Crow Five."
"To your knowledge, have you or anyone with you been compromised by shapeshifting and/or mind-altering Manifest Powers?"
"No."
"Who are the two unknowns?"
"The ones we were sent to retrieve. Cait, A.K.A. Athena, and Fate, A.K.A Null."
"I've not heard of this mission," the man said, fingering the trigger of his gun. "Who authorized it?"
"Margaret. Code 59 dash T dash F4 dash 9. Search and rescue, need-to-know basis."
"You four keep an eye on them while I radio this in," the man said to his colleagues, gently lowering the barrel of the mounted gun and entering the door in the back.
The four soldiers performed their duties well, glaring down the barrels of their guns and daring the group to try something. Cait and Gwen's group stood like this for quite some time before the door opened, the mustached man strolling to a stop behind his wall, where he pressed an unseen button and the shield flickered off.
"Your story checks out," he said. "Use the teleporter in the front of the ship to get back to the mothership. I've already sent word to Medbay Five to prepare for your charges. After you drop them off, your orders are to join the sweep of the southeast quadrant. Understood?"
"Sir, yes sir," Gwen said, her and her fellow soldiers saluting, minus the soldier carrying Fate.
They hurried into the ship, the shield whirring back to life behind them as they filed into the door at the back one by one.