Chapter 4

“On the Inside”

Gretta stomped through the thicket, slashing as she went. The NERVE! She thought angrily, stomping down overgrowth. A sudden shot ripped through her thoughts and she felt herself being tackled, and a leather sheathed hand clamping down over her mouth. She glared into the black T-shirt and the finely muscled chest beneath it.

“Do that disappearing thing! Quick!” Trace whispered harshly. Gretta continued to glare at him.

“Why?” she inquired, raising her eyebrow.

“Just do it woman!” he growled, pulling his guns from his shoulder holsters. Gretta’s eyebrows shot up at his comment. She opened her mouth to rebuke him, but slapped the globe instead, watching him crawl away.

She stuffed her helmet on her head. “Redoran!” she whispered into the com. “Where are you?” Static sounded in her ears. “Redoran?” after a few hiss and spits his harsh whisper came through her ear-piece.

“Yeah?”

Gretta breathed a sigh of relief. “Where are you?” she felt a warm hand grasp her forearm, and flicked on her heat sensor. Lying next to her was Daunte, his long frame spread in the undergrowth, so as to not make a large disturbance in it. “What’s going on?” she asked softly, mirroring his pose, all the while fluffing up the ferns Trace had unceremoniously dumped her in, and edging away from the small slope of the cliff behind her.

“We’ve been spotted. Or rather, the Gnar Mok are on patrol… Either way, we gotta stay down.”

“Where’s Yukoda?”

“He’s over by the copse of palms and ferns just over there.” He indicated some 200 yards to the left of them. “He should be fine…The man carries his own arsenal for Christ’s sake! He’ll be fine.”

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Trace growled and slid a full round into his pistol. Women! Just because you tell them to do something, they won’t! Crouching low, he watched the nearest Gnar Mok pass him and pulled back the hammer on his pistol. He stood slowly and leveled the barrel with its head. About to squeeze the trigger, he heard the thin whir of a mechanical arm raising to his right. Immediately he spun on his heel and bolted towards the cliff. He hoped it wasn’t too steep…

Gretta watched him rise and point his pistol at the cyborg with its back to him, but she noticed the other one to his right before he did. Where there’s one, she thought, there’s always more. At which point she thought this, Trace turned tail and ran straight towards them. STOP! She thought and started to squirm. He continued to run, trip over Daunte, and tumble over the cliff…but not before grabbing at whatever he could…which just happened to be Gretta’s utility belt.

“NOOOOO!” she screeched as they tumbled down the slope. Trace hit a large tree root at the bottom, and with a resounding CRACK it snapped. He groaned and let his head drop to the mud beneath him. An indiscernible amount of weight rolled onto him with a moan and a sigh. Irritated, Gretta slapped the transparent globe on her arm and dropped her chin onto his chest. “I loathe you.” She muttered, but made no move to untangle herself from him.

Trace smirked at her. “As unbearably nice this is, you’re crushing me.” Gretta gaped at him and glared before pushing off his chest and ‘accidentally’ kneeing him in a private spot. Now it was Traces tun to gape, open mouthed as a small whine escaped the back of his throat.

Smirking to herself, Gretta stood and began walking. Daunte tumbled down the hill after them and found Trace curled in the fetal position. Blinking rapidly, he hauled the fallen man to his feet. “Move it! Won’t take long for them to find us if you stay down there.” Trace stumbled after Daunte and the bobbing head of blonde hair a few yards ahead of them, bent at the waist.

After a few minutes of ‘walking it off’, the sharp pain in his lower regions dulled to a minimal ache, with a gained growing dislike for the blonde lieutenant. Just as the ache began to wane, a bullet grazed the tree next to his head. “FUCK!” he shouted and ducked rapidly, and glanced behind. In hot pursuit were the Cyborgs, outfitted in the dark metal instead of the standard aluminum. “Guards! Watch yourself!” he called to the two ahead of him, who had already disappeared. “G…Guys?” he stammered whilst running. He watched a puddle ahead of him splash up twice and noticed the column at which no water entered.

The adrenaline pushing through his veins, Trace followed the muddy, shapely legs in front of him. Sliding around a thick tree, he slipped through a blue light and collided with a hunk of metal with a vacant blue stare. “YOU!” Trace hissed. “Where the hell were you?! Damn tin can, ANSWER ME.” He felt the air behind him move as Daunte collapsed against the tree trunk gasping for breath and clutching his upper arm.

“He went to his mark.” He heard the Irish woman wheeze from the opposite side of the tree. “Fortunately he’s programmed to set up a visual obscurity perimeter.” She sneered at him and sauntered up to him. “Not a kitchen utility after all.” She laughed getting up close to Trace’s face. Trace set his jaw into a hard line, keeping his anger in check. “IT’S smarter than the button.” She stated, her lip curling slightly. Sliding her hand around to his back pocket, she flicked open the button and pulled out a blue disk on a chain with a silver circle in the middle. Trace quirked an eyebrow as she placed it around his neck and poked the circle. Immediately he disappeared. Astonished, he rapped the button and came back into focus. She smirked and simpered over to the breaker attached to a sheer stone face. After prying open the door, she began typing in access codes and finally called the robot over for the final codes.

The droid whirred and beeped as it tapped the codes in with preciseness found only in machines. As the final digit was pressed, the island went dark and a green pinprick of light could be seen a little way off to they’re left, nestled against a cliff. Trace heard a soft ‘shing’ as Daunte unveiled his knife and cut the wires of the robot’s steel spine. It instantly collapsed into a heap of warm metal. Startled, Trace furrowed his eyebrows at Gretta, wondering why she’d not scolded Daunte as she had him. Gretta glanced back at him and then at the robot. “What?” she asked, her voice eluding that she knew but didn’t want to admit to anything.

“You know what.”

“It’s disposable!”

“But it wasn’t before.”

“NO!”

“Ah, I see.” Trace smirked at the flustered woman. Irately, Gretta covered the metal corpse with a few fronds of palm leaves. Daunte sheathed his knife and indicated for Trace to follow him. Trace gestured huffily at the lieutenant behind him and followed.

The two men stole over to the pinprick, which just happened to be a touch pad to open an old, slightly rusty door, half covered with vines. Daunte unsheathed his knife again and pried the casing of the pad up, revealing the wires beneath. As he worked, he conversed with the young man. “You seem irritated.” He stated quirking his eyebrow and smiling secretly.

“You think?!” Trace blustered. “That…that…thing…that woman! Who does she think she is?!” he stormed, waving his hands wildly. “Where does she get off being so…”

“Rude? Impudent? Engaging? …Evil?” Daunte suggested, trying to lighten his compadre’s mood.

Trace snorted. “The last one about covers it…but so does the second to last I suppose.” Trace conceded leaning his head back against the cliff. “But you forgot infuriating.” Daunte smirked and vaguely heard the dull thunk of a piece of inexpensive metal being kicked purposely.

“Well I do believe the topic of conversation has finished her task.” He chuckled. “But before she gets here, you gotta know, she isn’t always that way. The stress of such a large mission gets to her.”

“Yeah? How do you know?”

“She told me. Try apologizing after the mission. See if it gets you a friend.” He spotted the rustle of vegetation. “Or a date.” Gretta crept through the bushes and scowling. “Hullo Lieutenant. Finished so soon?”

“Shut up Redoran.” She muttered and turned to glare at Trace. “You done sulking yet?” Trace glanced at Daunte and bit his tongue, opting to nod. Gretta blinked, surprised and looked from one man to the other suspiciously. “Can we get in now?” she asked Daunte, fixing her gaze on Trace.

Daunte nodded and flicked the blade. Gretta leapt to the cliff wall next to Trace and with a hiss and a grating sound, the door opened to a dark hallway. She nodded to Daunte and pressed her hand to the globe on her arm, and the pendant on Trace’s chest. The company disappeared and Trace was left slightly stunned, invisible, and with a warm hand on his chest. He felt something cool pressed into his hand. “Put these on.” A female voice whispered, before the warm hand left his chest and he heard soft, slow footsteps enter the dark hallway.

Turning the object over in his hands, he found it to be a visor. Unfolding the ear-pieces, he slid it on. Immediately the darkness of the hallway turned blue and he saw two orange and red figures before him, pressed against the walls. He turned around and glanced outside and saw shades of green and blue. Smirking at his newly found tool, he spun and followed his comrades into the fortress.

After two hours of wandering through the deserted corridors, Daunte announced he had found a door. Gretta shone a light on the door, revealing a sign that said ‘mess hall’. As they all flattened against the wall next to the door, Gretta switched off the light and Daunte opened the door. Carefully, Trace peered into the room. It appeared to be empty. The tables had a thick film of dust on them, and cobwebs strung from pillar to pillar by the ceiling.

“Makes sense that they would abandon the mess hall.” Gretta stated, stepping into the room. “After all, what need have machines to eat?” Trace nodded as he and Daunte followed her in. Producing the floor plans and a glow stick from her utility belt, she snapped the stick and spread the plans on the table. “In fact, it would make sense for them to abandon this entire floor. The only things actually on this floor are the mess hall, facilities and storage.” She sighed. “They’ve probably sealed it off too.”

“Sealed it off?” Trace questioned, drawing his gaze from a neglected vending machine, his stomach rumbling. “Meaning what? That we can’t get past this floor?” Gretta nodded. Trace threw his hands up and began to pace. “Now what?!” Daunte leaned over Gretta’s shoulder and peered at the plans.

“We move vertical.” He stated tapping a shaft on the map. “This might sound cliché, but there’s air vents all over the place.” Trace stopped pacing and stared at him, Gretta following suit.

“What are you saying?”

“Mission impossible style?”

“Are you crazy?!”

“That’s BRILLIANT!”

Gretta and Trace locked gazes and spoke in sync. “What?” Daunte laughed and folded up the plans and tucked them into his pocket.

“We crawl through ventilation ducts.”

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“This is crazy.” Trace stated as he hit his head for the fifth time in 10 minutes. “How much further?” Daunte checked the GPS on his arm.

“20 meters and then straight up.” He stated and continued crawling. Gretta frowned and peered before her at the first man.

“Well in 20 meters can we stop for a bit? My hands and knees hurt.” She whined, pouting.

Trace rolled his eyes and cracked his neck. “Stop complaining.” Gretta opened her mouth to reprimand him, when Daunte interrupted her.

“Don’t make me come back there.” Daunted joked. “Before the vertical we’ll stop, it’s a long climb up, you’ll need complete use of your arms and legs.” He finished practically. He moved forward again and was surprised when his hand met thin air. “STOP!” he rushed, not wanting to fall headfirst for 200 ft. “Go ahead and rest now Lieutenant.”

He heard a whump as Gretta collapsed and curled into a ball. “Thank God!” she muttered. Trace smirked and stretched out on his belly, resting his head in his arms. Daunte swung his legs over the ledge and sat hunched over at the shoulders.

Letting 20 minutes pass, he roused the other two before unsheathing two knives. Gretta eyed the blades and glanced at him. “How exactly are we getting up there?” she asked timidly.

“Like this.” He stated and stabbed the aluminum of the vertical vent. Pulling himself out of the horizontal vent by gripping the knife hilt, he stabbed the other knife higher and hung from them. Gretta gasped and covered her mouth.

“I don’t think its gonna work!” she stated. The high velocity of air coming up the shaft blew around his pant legs as he removed the first knife and placed it higher than the second and slowly crawled up the shaft. Gretta blinked. “Maybe it will. But I cant do that!” she called up to him. He continued to crawl. Gretta chewed her lower lip watching him worriedly. After a while, she ceased to hear the thud of metal piercing metal. “Daunte?!” she called up the shaft.

A rope rolled down the vent, settling on the side across from her. Gretta blinked and stared at it. “Grab on!” Daunte called down to them. “Then place your feet against the wall and climb up!” Gretta grinned and reached for the rope. A hand gripped her ankle. She turned back to look at Trace.

A worried look was etched in his face as he released her. “Be careful.” He ordered. Gretta smiled slightly and nodded before turning around and gripping the rope and swinging herself out.

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Trace groaned and pulled himself up and allowed his arms to be grasped and be hauled up. Daunte and Gretta laughed and patted him on the back as he massaged his arms. “Well?” he asked. “Shall we continue?”

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Trace dropped down into the room and spun. Spying no one, he gestured for Gretta to drop. He saw her small boots swing down through the hole, followed by her thighs and hips, but not any further. “What’s the hold up?” he called up irately.

“I can’t just drop.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Its too far. I’ll get hurt.”

Trace sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “No you wont.”

“Yes I will.”

“I’ll catch you.”

“Liar”

“Lieutenant Gretta Mahoney, drop right now or I’ll do something very unpleasant to you.” The space above him was silent for a short time.

“Alright but you had better catch me.”

“I will!”

“You had better! Ready?” She called down.

“Yes!” he huffed. Gretta took a deep breath and released the sides of the grate and fell neatly into the waiting arms of her comrade. She let out the breath she had been holding and relaxed. “Told you” Trace smirked down at her. Gretta smiled.

“Put me down swine.” She said, lacking her usual venom.

“Ok” He dropped her.