"Look out!"
A scream came from behind Kai. Not for him, it was intended for Crimson who was the receiving end of a surprise attack. Sera moved forward passing Kai, but she did not make it in time.
The Bang of gunfire echoed through the tunnel, forcing everyone to take a step back.
Crimson would not have cared under normal circumstances. Due to awakening, the wanderers have been strengthened, no primitive gun of the old world could harm him—which was why his raid into the base was smooth so far.
'What!?'
"As you can see, these are no ordinary guns. Don't think you've surpassed us."
But not anymore. Blood ran down his skin, staining his clothes.
From the darkness, reinforcements from area six arrived. They did not have the same uniform as regular soldiers, the insignia they had on their clothes belonged to special ops.
There were even more hiding inside. Crimson fell for this trap. He lost because he did not know the army was hiding something like this and more. They've always been tenacious pain in his arse.
"W-what do you think you're doing… lieutenant? Did you forget we have hostages?"
This was a difficult choice for Bucky. He had the upper hand now, he was close to area six where the most of the military forces were. He can turn the tables now and get rid of this problem that killed his troops.
Without question the army was never challenged like this before, taking so much damage and humiliation.
But can he do this? Crimson still held powers beyond mortals in his hand, even injured he can still burn the civilians into cinders. They might suffer more damage and the soldiers morale would be affected.
"I didn't forget." Bucky replied. "Which is why the fight hasn't begun yet. We have the upper hand now. Stay back."
The people started murmuring, fear grappling them from hearing the word 'fight'.
"Are they gonna fight again? What are you thinking?"
"Theyre still not done? Do they want to kill us?"
"Yeah, why are you causing trouble?"
It would be counter productive for Bucky if he tried to save them. Though initially he was prepared to leave them here. He can't make that choice in front of his soldiers.
"Are you idiots!!?"
A loud voice stopped the murmurs. It was Kai who screamed, silencing the unrest. 'I have to stop this before it gets worse?'
Now everyone had their focus on him. From feared wanderers to rattled people
Though he didn't want to interfere at first and intended to stay hidden until the exit became clear. However, without his powers, he wanted to rely on Daksha as least as possible in order to avoid pointless victims.
"The lieutenant is right! We can't trust the wanderers who attacked us! Do you think they'll let us be after getting out? What if they kill us like others they already did many times? Did you think that?"
Hearing that made everyone think through his words. He's not wrong. The same could be said for both parties. No one thought about what comes after getting out. Who will take them in? The army. They selfishly thought like it was their duty. But they almost forgot how the army didn't shelter many victims during the apocalypse because they didn't have the means.
Whoever the person was, Bucky found him useful. It's rare to see someone rational after all this. One wrong move and people could die here, yet he brought them to their senses.
Kai's outburst made everyone realize their priorities were almost lost. This brought them to a stalemate once more.
"Tch, Is that so?" crimson said, still pressing down his chest while old man Ember tried to close the wound. "You think you've won because you have more toys. I still have enough to destroy you?"
"But you hesitate to do it, right?" Bucky followed, "because even you don't want to put your comrades at risk. You know we can kill your kind now, you're no longer invincible."
Both of them realised each other's positions. They can't be the ones to make the wrong move, both want to keep their people at their side if possible.
Crimson looked around his teammates. Koul and Ember had the worst look of them all. Mera was emotionless as always, and the rest were unsure, waiting for crimson to give them command.
They can still claw their way out of this, but at what cost? Will the organisation accept the damage? In ruined earth losing even one awakened in a huge blow when fighting monsters.
He can't lose them in a minor skirmish with the army. It seems like he had to obey and accept the loss for now.
"Alright. Then you must have a deal you want to make," Crimson said, getting up, dusting off his shoulders and correcting his posture.
"Yes. and I'll be straight about this. If you value your teammates, offer them as hostages."
Crimson saw where this was going. 'Prick. He's using my game against me.'
"Which leaves me unable to attack you while still within my power to do so."
"Exactly." Bucky smiled, taking a step forward and facing closer to angered Crimson.
***
[Area Six]
The ceiling was pitch white when he came into, what he felt was a sickly familiar feeling. Robert understood what happened immediately.
'I lost… again… not only that many of my friends died.'
His body felt pain when he tried to move.
"You made it," a voice came across the room. Robert recognised him, narrowing his eyes. "Dont move. You'll only hurt yourself."
It was Nathan. An engineer from the research division. Behind him was Hilda, worried, she was checking up on him.
When he followed the attack force that went after Zeff. Nathan found the gore scene left by the criminal. After finding Robert in his bloodied state, he did what he could to help him and brought them back. Unfortunately, only Robert survived.
"It's you," Robert said. "You were there after—cough!"
"Are you okay!?" Hilda's voice followed. She was glad that he made it okay. "Here, let me help you."
Robert sat up on the bed, staring at Nathan. He wasn't fully conscious when a monster attacked him from behind.
'That criminal,' he cursed, 'he has a monster with him now, I should've known he wouldn't play fair. So that's a level five threat from ADX?'
But after being injured and waiting for death, he saw Nathan. It was suspicious what he was doing there, but it did not matter as he picked him up. Because of this person, he was still alive.
"What were you doing there? No one was supposed to come after us?"
"Yes but I talked with Hilda here. She was worried even with all the armour you went with." Nathan said, dodging the question. He can't really say he went after Zeff because they have a history. He worked his arse off to wipe his slate clean. He can't let anyone know about their relationship.
'Of all the times he could've found me,' Nathan loathed. 'It had to be now. Just my luck. I hope he doesn't do anything crazy with the codes I said to him.'
"My job here is done, I'm leaving" Nathan said. Leaving the space for Hilda. He's sure they have something to talk about. And he had enough headaches for today. After seeing Zeff, he decided to evacuate from this place. After everything, this place was no longer safe.
"Wait." Robert stopped him, still feeling defeated. "What will we do next? I—"
"Ive talked to the Dr. Stalin on my way back. Things have escalated, he said."
It was after Zeff escaped area six, the backup power kicked-in after the wreck to the data center, when communications came back online.
The research team that went to fix things received an emergency message from lieutenant Bucky. The message was in morse code so Stalin assumed the lieutenant was in a difficult situation with the enemy.
During the whole time he was in the hostage situation with the infirmary, Bucky held a wire that sent signals to the data centre.
"Everyone here was listening when the wanderers took the people in area four hostage. So Stalin sent some of the soldiers through the bunker they will be coming to," Crimson said. "If all goes well, everything should be under control by now."
The code told Stalin to send reinforced soldiers to his aid when he brought the enemies through the bunker.
Because of this, Bucky was able to know what happened to the commander Leo. He will come to know the rest of the story when he comes back. He stayed in line until help arrived.
"Then—"
"No," Nathan interpreted Robert, knowing what he would say. "That doesn't mean everything is good. Because of this exchange, we now know a bigger threat—plaguebeast. The monsters have already hit the level four security. It won't be long before they reach the bottom."
Stalin immediately ordered to store data and prepare to evacuate.
"If you didn't wake up now when you did," Nahan said, coming closer. "We would've had to leave you behind."
Robert gripped his hand, surprised. 'We're leaving this place… running away?' He thought about the day he lost his home, when monsters wrecked the whole world. 'Why, again?'
"You better get yourself together, kid."
===