Ch. 16 Rescue in the Ruins

[Jet]

When the turrets appeared Jody was in midair, already jumping over to the cube. The lazer shots caught her off guard, but luckily she had just enough time to raise her shield. The problem was that there were turrets on both sides, and unless her back was to the wall she would always have one side of her exposed. To make matters worse, she had no ranged weaponry to speak of and had no way to strike at the turrets.

Rai offered up his chainrod which was attached to the block that Jody was standing on. She knelt down and freed the weapon from where it was lodged and fired it at the ceiling. The chain pulled up over the gap and straight at one of the turrets. Jody used her shield to deflect the shots and smashed the turret against the wall when she was close enough.

Dropping down, she saw Stark attempting to force the trigger back down using his own weight. She hurried over to assist him, he didn't seem to be quite heavy enough on his own, but before she got there Raven blew up most of the turrets rendering it unnecessary.

One by one their units made it across the spike trap, and Jody and Stark used the chain rod to pull the block back over to the trigger point before returning the weapon to Rai and moving forward.

After a bit of walking the path suddenly split into three forks. Without a map or some sort of indication from the earlier team it was impossible to know which way they needed to go.

“If we split up we can cover more ground,” someone said.

“If we split up it increases the likelihood that one of us gets left behind,” Jody countered. “The commander said not to separate for any reason, we’ll just have to take a little more time and be extra carefu-“

A plasma shot screamed through the air, narrowly passing between two of the resistance members. The blue ball of energy struck the wall, scorching it, while the energy lingered in the air for a few seconds before dissipating. The shot had come from the path behind them, from a large reploid in heavy black armor with golden trim and a blue undersuit. He looked menacing, standing at 6’5 with golden spikes protruding from his helmet and shoulders, and he sported the largest buster cannon Jody had ever seen.

The reploid stalked forward, its heavy steps shaking the walls. Its shoulders appeared to be retracting, revealing hidden missile batteries. Jody knew the passage didn't afford them much room to dodge. There was only one thing to do. “RUN!” she screamed as the missiles began to fly.

In the moment there was no time to coordinate their path, and the team ran through whichever door was closest to them. There was no going back either, as the missile detonation had collapsed the ceiling behind them, they had to press on.