Respawn: Last Man Standing

Chapter XXV: Station Zero

The team begins waking down this empty white hallway of what seemed to be a laboratory of some sort. Eventually, out of one of the nearby rooms, a man in a white coat comes out of the room with a clipboard in his hands. As soon as he sees the team, wearing their torn up jumpsuits and covered in dust and blood, he drops his clipboard and runs away. "The hell is with that guy?" Drake asks.
After a few seconds, an alarm in the building goes off and many people in lab coats start running out of the rooms ahead, and they all ran for an exit. "If I had to guess" Ziya says, "that's what was with that guy. Seems the whole place knows we got out of Pyramid now".
"They've known since we first left the game" Judy says. "They sent guards after us".
"That was likely the work of the game masters. Now everyone here knows about us" Gerald says. "I'm not too sure about this, but if I had to guess, this isn't just a laboratory. This must be the place known as Station Zero".
"Station Zero?" Drake asks.
"Government sanctioned building" Gerald says. "You wouldn't know about it because-".
"Because this is where certain branches of the government manage and run the biggest parts of the black market" Judy says.
"Correct" Gerald says. Gerald grits his teeth and growls "clever bastard".
"What's that mean?" Chris asks.
"Oh, just some dumb fight I've had... my own personal vendetta" Gerald says. "When I refused to take part in anything in the black market that the government had their hands in... what I was really doing was avoiding this place".
"And?" Drake asks.
"And" Gerald says in an irritated voice, "I told them they'd have to kill me if they really wanted me to take part in this scheme. I told them "I'll never set foot in Station Zero, so you might as well just kill me". A black market dealer... as well as a mob boss, has nothing left when their business is busted wide open like mine was. I see now, that he managed to do both putting me in Station Zero and try to kill me... unfortunately for him, he fucked up the second step".
"He?" Ziya asks.
"His name is John Breikenn" Gerald says. "However, you can call him the head game master of Pyramid, since he leads the... production side of this particular black market facility".
"Does he have any ties with Governor Floyd?" Ziya asks.
"In this particular branch" Judy says, "you may as well call him Floyd's right hand man. During my research into the ties with the black market, I was never able to uncover what or where Station Zero is. However, Breikenn's name popped up frequently alongside Floyd's name".
"I don't know where in the world this place is..." Gerald says, "but I do know it's all underground".
"Meaning we still have work to do before we can even see the outside world" Drake says.
Ziya starts laughing, then says "I can't tell if this is a curse or a blessing! On one hand, we have the immediate chance to shut down Pyramid for good! On the other hand, we have this bullshit to deal with now!".
"Life is often bittersweet like that" Chris says as he pulls out his revolver. "Come on, I doubt we have time to lose with those alarms going off".
The team ran down the hallway, following the direction that all of the men in lab coats ran off to. The team comes up to a turn in the hallway, and at the end of the hallway was an emergency stairs exit, large metal blast doors and some elevators. "It can't be that easy, can it?" Drake asks. They run up to the elevator and push the button. However, nothing happened. The button didn't light up, no noise of an elevator moving could be heard... just silence. "Dammit!" Drake yells. "We've already been through so much! Why can't we just have elevators once!".
"I'd worry less about that much, if I were you" Gerald says as he prepares his gun. The sounds of boots stomping down stairs could be heard as suddenly, the doors for the fire exit flung open and a group of guards come running through. The guards line up, side by side, and point their guns at the team.
"Nobody move!" One of the guards shouts. "Drop your weapons!".
"Listen very carefully" Chris whispers to Drake. "I've noticed your Respawn counter... if you take a hit now, you risk dying before we reach the surface".
"Y-Yeah, but!" Drake says.
"Drop 'em!" The guard shouts. "You have 'til the count of three!".
"What do you want me to do then? Give up?" Drake whispers.
"When I give you the signal" Chris whispers, "hit the floor. I mean, really lay flat".
"Three!" The guard shouts.
"While taking cover, try to provide covering fire, okay?" Chris asks. "Take Judy with you. Let the rest of us worry about dying for now".
"Two!" The guard shouts.
"As long as we have our power in numbers, we can get through this" Chris says.
"Yeah, but-" Drake begins to say.
"One!" The guard yells.
"Now!" Chris says as he kicks Drake in his side, knocking him into Judy and pushing them both over. The rest of the team starts firing at the guards as the guards fire back at them. Judy and Drake hit the ground, stumble around for one of their guns, and each take out a pistol and start shooting at the guards as well. Judy and Drake each hit one guard in the ankle, causing that guard to lose balance and focus on the pain as one of the other members shot that guard in their head. "Great job, Drake!" Chris cheers as the guards all die and he, as well as Ziya, Gerald and Gregory revive. "You're a natural!".
"A natural at what!?" Drake asks.
"What was with the sudden improv plan?" Ziya asks in an irritated tone.
"W-well" Chris says, "I just wanted to help, and I know you're trying to keep the boy alive, s-so I just-".
"Drake" Ziya asks with a sweet voice that sounded more angry than nice "let me see your watch, please".
"My watch?" Drake asks nervously. "Why?".
Ziya snatches Drake's wrist and looks at his watch as it shows the number "1" on the counter. "Drake F. Goldermann!" Ziya yells.
"Ooh... the middle name" Chris says as he winces, "that's how you know they're angry...".
"I-I can explain!" Drake says.
"Why the hell did you not tell me!?" Ziya yells.
"Because I knew you'd do this!" Drake yells as he forcefully yanks his wrist out of her hands. "If you focus less on me, then you'll have a better chance of getting out of here!".
"Without you!?" Ziya asks.
"Yes!" Drake yells. "If that's what it takes!". Suddenly, Ziya fell silent. She turns her back on Drake, then starts walking towards the fire exit where the guards came from. "Ziya?" Drake asks.
"Come on..." Ziya says in a low voice. "We don't have all day".
As the team starts to move, Chris whispers to Drake "Yikes".
"What?" Drake whispers back. "She's done enough here. She needs to worry about herself more".
"I'm not taking either side here" Chris says, "but she is doing this pretty much solely for you... and you just kinda threw that back in her face".
"Well, we're all in danger right now" Drake argues. "Haven't you noticed it? We're killing the guards, but none of them Respawn, nor are we gaining any lives here! The guards don't have Respawn! We're running on a finite amount of lives and who the hell knows when we'll find the exit!?".
"I realize that" Chris says. "Like I said before, I'm not taking any sides here. But I do think you two need to talk that bit out... because an angry Ziya makes me very nervous".
"Y-Yeah..." Drake replies.
The team moves up several flights of stairs together. They pass through several floors and make it as high up as these flights of stairs can go. When they open the door to enter whichever floor they arrived on, there was a large wave of guards. All of the guards already had their guns aimed at the door. Ziya quickly closes the door, slamming it as bullets hit the door and bounce off. "Wrong turn?" Chris asks.
"Something like that?" Ziya replies.
"Should we turn back and enter a lower floor?" Judy asks.
The team looks down the spiraling stairway and hears the faint noise of stomping up the stairwell. The team looks at each other as Chris says "So... no turning back then?".
"Fuck it" Ziya says. "Now or never!". Ziya kicks the door back open, firing her SMG at the wave of guards as the door opens. Drake and Judy hide behind the door, taking cover from the bullets as Chris, Gerald, Gregory, Tyler and Micheal all charge through. After the other six run into the next hallway, Judy and Drake follow behind them. Drake and Judy ran into a nearby empty office, and took cover in there as the rest of the team fights against the guards.
"I have a plan!" Judy yells at Drake. "Help me move this giant cabinet!".
"What are you doing!?" Drake asks.
"Finding a way to block the door before more trouble arrives!" Judy replies. "Be a man and help me out here!".
Together, Drake and Judy move a large metal cabinet across the floor. They push it outside of the office, and push it against the door. After making sure the cabinet was directly against the door, they ran back into the office as the fighting continues. They found another large metal cabinet and pushed that one to the door as well. When they rushed back in, they moved one of the desks in front of the door, then anything else that looked remotely heavy. Eventually, the fighting in the hallways come to a conclusion, and repeated banging on the fire escape door could be heard. "I... I think it worked!" Drake cheers.
"Of course it did" Judy says.
As Drake and Judy walk back outside of the office, they see all of the dead guards on the floor, and the rest of the team still on their feet. In an office at the end of the hallway, a door opened up. A tall woman with long black hair, wearing a lab coat poked her head out of the door. Suddenly, Ziya shoots at the woman, and she closes the office door and hides in the room. The team moves up to the office and kicks down the door. In the back of the room, the woman was cowering in fear, pressing against the wall. "P-please!" She begs, "don't hurt me! I'm just a simple worker! I'm just a researcher! I don't have any quarrel with you!".
Ziya squints her eyes at the woman, keeps her revolver pointed at her and says "Yeah, that's what I thought at first too".
"Y-you believe me?" The woman asks.
"Hell. No" Ziya says in a low growl. "I thought about it... but then I thought, that doesn't make any sense. What is an innocent scientist doing in a place like Station-freaking-Zero?".
"Please don't hurt me!" The woman begs again. "You're welcome to take anything from my office! Anything! Just spare me!".
"Welcome?" Ziya repeats. Ziya thinks for a second, then pulls back the hammer of her revolver, preparing he next shot. Ziya presses the revolver against the woman's cheek and says "Say that again...".
"Take a-anything you want!" She begs.
"No, not that..." Ziya says as she squints. "Say Welcome... one more time".
"W-Welcome?" The woman repeats.
Ziya looks over at Chris and asks "Sound familiar to you?". Ziya looks around at the rest of the team and asks "anyone?".
The rest of the team shakes their heads, then Ziya presses her gun harder against the woman's face. "O-oh god! Please!" She begs.
"Do me a quick favor" Ziya says. "Say Welcome to Pyramid".
  "W-Welcome to Pyramid?" The woman repeats.
  "Now say" Ziya says as she grows visibly angrier. "May the best man win".
  "C-can I go if I say it?" The woman asks.
  "Say it!" Ziya demands.
  "May the best man win!" The woman says, almost cheerfully. Suddenly, Ziya pulls the trigger and paints the walls with bits of the woman's face, skull and brains.
  "Ziya, what the hell!?" Chris asks.
  "You mean, you couldn't hear it?" Ziya asks as she wipes blood off of the barrel of her gun. "You don't remember that voice? She was the announcer. You know, at the very beginning of the game?".
  "She... was the announcer?" Drake asks.
  "Well... she was" Ziya says with a disgusted look. Ziya looks down at the woman's body and kicks it once.
  Ziya storms out of the office, visibly angrier than before. The team watches in hesitation as she leaves the room alone, then shortly follows after her. As they walk, Drake watches her nervously. "Zizi?" He asks himself nervously. "What... happened to you?".