"TERRENCE!" She screams at the same time as Ozzie's ding.
I don't get to check the points because she grabs and shakes me back and forth. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"N-NOTHING!" I raise my voice to make it seem like I'm also panicking.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!!" She screams at me again with more intensive shakes.
"I-It slipped from my hands! I SWEAR! Ugh—" I'm starting to get dizzy from her shaking, not going to lie. That 'ugh' in the end is honest from the bottom of my throat. "I think I'm gonna puke…"
Her face twitches from anger to worry, and then to annoyance. She doesn't look like she's done with me, but maybe she can see the paleness in my face, because eventually she lets me go. I immediately move to the side and let rainbow flows from my mouth.
I think adrenaline from the chase finally gets me with all that shaking. But it's worth it because my points are now 5/27. I take out my water bottle and gargle some water to wash the foul taste from my mouth. Then I return to her folding a cloth and keeping it in her pocket. That must've been the broken crystal pieces, because I can't see them on the ground anymore.
I scratch my head and act guilty. "I'm so sorry, Natalie…"
"It's fine. It happened." She said, but she doesn't even look at me. I try very hard not to laugh, so I hide my face behind my water bottle to hide my grin.
It soon drops though because backups suddenly arrive. There are two Terrace students and several police officers. We told them the terrorists' position and immediately left in the police's car, since they're offering us a ride.
When we arrive at the base, we are updated on the current situation. We learned that the Tower staffs have mostly been evacuated, but some of them are still trapped inside the towers along with the terrorists. Some Go Team pursue inside the tower while those wounded stay outside. Natalie orders most of us to aid in them while her team supervise through our Arrows. I immediately follow the others and in no time, we reach the tower's back entrance.
The aftermath of battle is clear here. Holes on the ground, weapons strewn around, chunks of paving everywhere, along with blood. Terrorists are tied up in several points of the area and some of them also lay on the ground, unmoving.
I bite my lip in annoyance when I see the terrorists on the ground. Cadets aren't allowed to kill them, but it's not like they have a choice either if their life is in danger. But it seems like they're only wounded. Not that I care though. This is canon. I just hope the dead doesn't affect my points.
I glance at my points, no change. I sigh in relief.
As our team help the wounded cadets, gunshots echo from somewhere above. It sends chills down my spine. It reminded me that there are gun users among terrorists in the building too. I really want to go inside, but Jake ushers me to tend to the one closest to the wide-open door. Well, at least I can sneak inside right after.
"What do you need?" I ask the wounded cadet as I give her a quick observation. She's likely a senior, because I don't recognize her face from my class. Her foot is bruised and bleeding a little bit, but not severe.
She whimpers in pain as she's holding her stomach. "F-Foot..." she whispers.
I immediately pour Potions all over it, ignoring her cries. I'm not a doctor, but it feels a bit squishy when I touch it. And not a good normal squishy. So I bandage it carefully, adding a piece of wood I found beside her to turn it into a torniquet. I don't want to risk it fracturing when it's not, just because I want to hurry. Again, not risking point deduction.
Then I give her a Potion and ask. "Who are there inside?"
She chugs the Potion before answering. "Three seniors and I think five juniors… Your friend Rean too… They went inside to search and rescue, but the enemies are too many! They need backups!"
"I am backup. If you're feeling better, I'm going inside." I said, standing up.
"W-Wait! Take this!" She gives me a green card. "It's the access card for Level 1 workers. You can get, ugh—" She whimpers in pain.
"Just rest. I'll figure it out." I pocket the card and go inside. I'm sure she told me to wait, but I wasted enough time as it is. I need to get upstairs fast. I need to catch up to Rean's points. Besides, I already know what it's used for.
Luckily, I still remember this place from my memory. Well, I was quite annoyed for having low score in this certain event, so I repeated it multiple times until I reached the highest score. Now if anything hasn't changed, I would obviously nail this one.
The terrorists had disabled the elevators prior to our arrival, so the emergency stairs are the only means to get to the next floors. This tower has 32 floors including the rooftop, which means this will be a very long journey. I brace myself before walking up the stairs.
I go to 5th floor. As I recall, there is one worker who has trapped himself inside the restroom. But there are two enemies right outside of it. I have to beat them first in order to save him. But I need to conserve my ammo for emergency, which this floor is not. So I look around the desks for anything I can use before I make my way there.
'I should've just taken one of the weapons scattered at the entrance… I'm so stupid.' Sadly, I didn't think of it before.
Moreover, the first few floors are the administrative, so I can't hope to find anything violent. There are empty water gallons that I can use, but it'll slower my movement when I start swinging it, so a no-no. I need something smaller and nimble for me to move with. I see a rag lying on the floor, and I immediately take it without much thought. At least, this can be a bit helpful.
One of the terrorists is using the computer in the office area while the other is patrolling in the hallway of the floor's actual entrance, which is around 15 meters from the office area. The one on the computer is closer and more vulnerable since his back is facing me.
I wait for the patrol to take a further turn in the hallway before carefully sneaking behind the computer guy. But I hesitate for a bit.
I haven't strangled anyone before. I only saw it in movies, and I'm old enough to know that if I strangle them too tight, they can also die. I don't care if they die, but it can take away my point and I don't want that. Those unmoving terrorists outside are not my responsibilities, . But I remind myself of the bigger picture, and it calm down.
The one patrolling will come back soon, so I suck in a quick breath and strangle the guy with the rag. I increase the pressure just a little bit and wait while he claws around his neck. When his movements become sluggish, I release him and he falls to the floor, coughing.
'He's not dead.' –was my first thought. I'm very relieved, but I come to my focus and immediately take something from my bag, a bundle of zip ties.
It's that short and very thin object that people use to tie something. You put the sharp end into the tiny square, and when you pull, it's locked and if you want to untie it, you have to use scissors to cut it. I bought a bundle of 25cm of these for a decent price. I couldn't not buy it. Especially when it's very useful for this mission.
I immediately pull his hands together and secure them with a lock. The man grunts, but he doesn't make much fuss after his movements are constricted and just lays there on the floor.
I thought I heard something like footsteps, so I look to the hallway. The other terrorist had already turned from the corner and is making his way here fast. I see a bat leaning on the computer desk, so I take it without much thought.
The terrorist draws his sword high and brings it down at me, but I immediately stand up and block his sword with the bat. A clank sound echoes in the room as the two metals clash against each other. The man is stronger than me and I got pushed back slightly. So I stop blocking and dodge to the side and go past him. I can't fight him in a narrow space, I'll get easily dominated.
I bait him to the hallway he just came from and we fight there. I block his sword again with the bat and push it to the right. It results in an opening, so I hit the man's left shoulder. It pauses his movements for a split second, but it's enough for me to send numerous swings at him. I hit his side, then his other shoulder, then I kick him hard on the stomach. The man falls backwards from the impact and his sword falls to the floor.
I immediately kick the sword away and hit him a few more times on his chest and stomach. The man tries to get up, but I hit him every time. I think his body reached its limit at some point, because his efforts are becoming sluggish. When he falls again for the umpteenth time, I immediately take a zip tie. I kick him to roll on his back then tie his hands together.
I sit down to catch my breath. But I found something funny when I see the last terrorist. His hands are tied, but his feet aren't. Yet, he's squirming on the ground like a worm. I chuckle at the sight before tying his feet with the rag I used before. Just to be safe. Then I go to the restroom.