Ultima Ratio

Chapter 83: Heavenly Ascent

The remains of the Himalayas were just as eerie as Akira expected. While Everest remained, the other peaks sat at the foot of the mountains, burying the life that once surrounded it. When the team disembarked onto the treacherous terrain, the only sounds were their footsteps slipping on stone, the monotone hum of their plane's engines, and the howls of wind rushing through the valleys around them.

Their group of ten was uncomfortably large for a stealth mission, but their options were limited. While having the Aegis Squad spearhead the infiltration was a no-brainer, Makana refused to be delegated to emergency evacuation duty again, especially when everyone knew they were going to need all the firepower they could get.

Then there were the non-combatants. For one, they couldn't leave them unprotected in enemy territory with the likes of Victor. That, and they knew Sam and Izzy would merely sneak after them anyway, whether the others liked it or not. Therefore, they clamored over the rubble as a ragtag company, fully camouflaged, and keeping Sam, Izzy, and an unarmed Victor between them. Their only comfort, if any, was that their modified earpieces now allowed them to completely see through each other's camouflage, making it slightly easier to distinguish who was who within their oversized group.

Amidst the rubble was the tunnel their drone found weeks ago, connected to the surface with a gradual descent. Akira and Danya led the way, Akira with Izzy and Victor's new monitoring device in hand, and Danya focusing her senses on everything around them. Whenever Akira glanced at her, Danya's pupils seemed to be absorbing the darkness around them from beneath her helmet. Occasionally, she would raise her visor, and her nose would twitch with a short sniff while her tongue would dart out from between her lips to sample the air.

Navin followed close behind, peering over their heads with his rifle ready. Alongside him was Jivan, their eyes scanning their surroundings for any signs of traps.

At the rear, Elodie and Makana kept an eye on their non-combatants; while Elodie was tasked to protect Sam and Izzy, Makana was asked to shoot Victor at the first sign of betrayal. Behind them was Quyen, her and her gun acting as a comforting presence at all of their backs.

Inside, the tunnel was just as foreboding as the surface. But while the unnatural graveyard above haunted them with the past, the abandoned subway system seemed to threaten their futures. Even with their earpieces' infrared vision, Akira felt unseen hostiles lurking around them, waiting to pounce. Their quiet footsteps echoed within the vast space, occasionally amplified when someone stumbled over the old-fashioned train tracks that lined the floor.

The first obstacle was right where they expected it to be, a fact that was both reassuring and ominous. Akira's uneasiness only grew when Jivan easily disabled the shielding with one of Victor's gadgets, and she partially expected giant blades to swoop down from the ceiling. The chilling thought made her hesitate just long enough for Danya to fearlessly proceed, and Akira was forced to hurry after her to watch her back.

And then they continued into the dark depths.

It took them three stressful hours before anything changed. And when it did, Akira didn't even notice it.

"Hold," Jivan whispered, the single syllable sending a chill through the group.

A second later, Jivan crept between Akira and Danya's frozen figures, their eyes and gun trained on the ceiling three stories above them.

"Something's there," they said. "The texture's unnatural."

"It's an opening," Navin added, his voice no louder than a breath. "Circular, based on thermal."

While Akira's own eyes, with or without her sensors, didn't detect anything, she trusted the Guptas' observations.

Suddenly, an obnoxious hissing noise emerged from their group.