Premonition

Chapter 5 - One Hell Of A Time!

When her vision finally cleared a few seconds later, the stairwell resonated with the cacophony of gunshots and clanging metal from both ends. The clash of metal meeting electricity filled the air, while Elisé remained in the grasp of a stranger who had picked her up. Though their current actions seemed like assistance, after the events that had unfolded just a chapter ago, Elisé found it hard to discern their true intentions. Her surprise heightened as she noted the absence of any police presence. Did this place even have law enforcement? It dawned on her that she might be in the clutches of a criminal, a delightful realization indeed.

"THIS ISN'T YOUR PLACE TO TAKE OVER MY JOB. SHE IS AN ANOMALY, QUESTIONING MY LINE OF WORK." The woman yells, face red with anger and burn marks she didn't have before. Obviously the criminal blue man could aim better than her.

"I assure you, I don't want your line of work." The person says, now being deemed a dude by Elisé due to their face being completely jumbled into two separate colors?

"THIS JOB WAS NEVER FIT FOR YOU. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I CHOSE YOU FOR THIS. TO BE HIGHER THAN MYSELF."

"Selene, I don't think that's really my problem. Plus, I do my job better than you do yours."

"YOU SELF-ABSORBED LITTLE—"

"I thought we agreed we wouldn't get personal! I'm heartbroken, I truly am." The person says securing their one arm tightly around her so they can pull back out their other one and do a faux sad gesture, hand over... head? She thinks that's their head, atleast. There's hair on it.

"IT WASN'T PERSONAL UNTIL YOU BROUGHT HER INTO THE PICTURE." She starts throwing the blades at them. As they spin back and forth around the walls, The 2 (and Elisé) continue to run upwards and jump back down if an attack spiraled towards them. It had been about the same song and dance for about 9-10 minutes, screams echoing from each other bouncing off the metal of the stairs. When it got to the point where Selene had literally been stabbed, the person above stopped.

"Here's a rhetorical question," They said, putting Elisé down and onto a stable stair. "Is there any chance you can run right about now?" Elisé nods, taking their hand they now offered and darted up the stairwell faster than they'd already had run.

"Sir?"

"Call me ASPEN." Oh. So this had been the guy. They were with Ethos!! They knew where he was.

"Do you know where Ethos is?" She asked simply, not making it any more intense than it already had been.

"He's been uptop with me for about an hour, kiddo. Any chance your name is Elisé?"

"That's me," So they know her somewhat. That saves some exposition. "And who is the woman?"

"That's Selene, no personality, all fight. Doesn't come as a surprise she'd attack you. She started hitting me when I didn't want to work in the office anymore." They shrugged, indifferent to whatever garbled screams came out of the woman below the both of them, running at the same speed they were.

"So you were the one who had the upgraders, sir?"

"Just ASPEN, dear. And yes, it wasn't my intention at all to have them attack. It's all that pent-up anger in them, I suppose." The hat of his tilts down, obviously with the intent of being sorry. "By the way, your disgusting looking burn you have there, remind me and I'll get you some medicine."

"So I'm,, wanted. For like,,, not being from here."

"That's what the authorities are going at, I assume. We'll get you out, Ethos said that's what you needed."