RAVEN FYRE

Chapter 19

The large metallic slab rose into the ceiling. When Raven peeked under the gap, another door was lowering.

WarFairy nodded at the door. "D'you think the guy in the mask is back there?"

"I don't know. He might be tied to this base, but why would he still be down here?"

"If he's behind all this then maybe he's still at it, still working on whatever." WarFairy shook her head at the titanium slabs and it's crawling pace. "Remember Mr. Takahashi?"

"How could I forget?"

"Yeah well, assholes like that just don't know when to qui--"

A bone shattering bang shook the room. The security door they came in through was failing. The hairline fractures on the walls opened up even more, creeping their way across the walls. Chips and flakes of concrete flew out from the seams. Small puffs of concrete dust plumed from the cracks forming all around.

A flash of lighting ripped away from WarFairy hand at the sound, cinching a small spot on the floor by her foot. "Shit! That scared the fuck outta me!"

Raven rubbed at our temples for a moment. "Ngh! Me too. Will it hold?" Raven swiped a drop of MP.

The glance WarFairy gave Ell and the door before landing on Raven did not send a message of hope.

Eyes wide, Ell's started to give as her gaze shot back and forth between the door and the light on the console.

"Ell." WarFairy called out.

"Just go. Don't worry about me."

"Alright. Stand back." Raven rested her hand on the hilt of her Light-Sword.

The doors were nearly open. It was pitch black on the other side. Raven switched to flashlight mode on her wrist watch.

Struggled breathing through some kind of apparatus was their only warning before the hall was illuminated by emergency lights. Standing before them was a giant mutated beast of a man in leathery, rubber-like clothing. The skin on his face was thick. It was pulled or held back by metallic wires. The twisted skin was burned, looking more like an afterthought smeared over a hulking frame. It's pulled back features revealed a shark-like maw with teeth from ear-hole to ear-hole. His eyes were large and red with the ferocious gaze of a wolf.

Another massive bang shook the room from behind them. In that instant, Raven pulled the sword from its holster and twisted the ring as far as her wrist would allow.

WarFairy screamed at the sight and tripped on the floor gap.

Raven leapt at the monster with a forward-slash, slicing clean through the behemoth in their path. Without a single drop of blood, muss or fuss, the two halves of the beast fell back, splitting upon impact with the floor.

She quickly untwisted the ring and switched it off. The entire front of her body burned.

Covering her eyes, WarFairy crumbled in pain. "Shit! Ahh! Shit that burns! Ff-my eyes! I can see." WarFairy rolled over and crawled away from the bangs at the door booming out behind her.

As soon as the sword disappeared, Raven fell to her knees from the pain. Her body wasn't ready for a fight, neither was her bad shoulder. "Sh- shit. Me too. How the-. Why is it like that?"

"D'you have any idea how much of a fantasy a 'LightSaber' is?! It's just not - p-possible like you see in the movies. Blast that much heat out of something, yah gonna get burned." WarFairy got to her feet as the MP kicked in, and helped Raven off of the floor.