With that, she nodded and did as he said. Mere moments later the door burst open and the woman from previous came in followed by Kenny and Otto.
"Quickly, we have to leave, make sure Project 3-1 doesn't leave our sigh-"
Isaiah took the woman by the collar and shoved her into the room before exiting with both himself and Sage, closing the door behind them. Otto and Kenny went to grab Isaiah and started yelling,
"Yo what the hell's the matter with you? What are you doing?"
Isaiah didn't have time to explain, he needed these guys to cooperate,
"Hey! The wolves howl together, the pack prowls forever."
When he said that, the two let go and looked at him with deadly serious faces. That simple statement was what the group spoke to each other whenever they were in a dire situation and they needed to quickly let the others know that they were looking out for the best interest of the wolves.
"I will explain everything in detail later. Right now, we need to get out of here, with Sage. The scientists were plotting to kill us once we got something out of Sage that they couldn't and now Roakon is on their way, if not already here."
Kenny spoke,
"How do you know they were out to kill us?"
Isaiah bit his lip, blind trust? What could he say at this point? Before he could reply, Sage spoke up, or more like opened her mouth and played a short voice memo. They heard a voice, the voice of Doctor Lager,
"... they will get the codes that we need from her. After that, we cannot let them leave. If word of Project 3-1 spreads, it could compromise us. So after the meeting, kill them.."
Isaiah turned back to Kenny who did not look too convinced, however he held his tongue and simply nodded. Otto spoke up,
"The rest of the scientists went to salvage what they could from the facilities. I don't know my way out of here so this could get messy."
Isaiah replied,
"Alright. Fangs out, gear up."
Otto tossed him his gun and the three of them loaded their weapons, then activated their ARCs, pulling out the gloves and testing their communication radios,
"Mic check, Devil."
"Bear."
"Fox."
Sage spoke up again,
"I know the entire layout of this facility, we will have to hurry."
They nodded and she began running, the three following the barefoot woman out of the room. Before Isaiah could leave, the woman banging on the door yelled from behind it,
"She's tricking you. We are trying to save humanity. This is so much bigger than the Stigmata you don't understand!"
Isaiah got close to the door and replied,
"I'll take my chances with the one who isn't trying to kill us, yet."
With that he left the woman and followed his crew. They sprinted down the dark halls they previously travelled towards the interrogation room and into the grander white halls of the building. Sage somehow was able to open all access terminals with the wave of her hand, like some kind of telepath. Every second that passed riddled Isaiah's head with questions, and he could tell by the subtle reactions from Otto and Kenny that they were just as confused. Nonetheless, the man focused as Otto spoke,
"Kenny, call extraction, let them know to be hovering overhead and that Roakon is here so be ready."
The man replied quickly,
"Yeah I'm already on it."
He went for his phone and began sending messages through it and another small electronic device he always kept on mission. His lifeline is all he ever referred to it as. The alarms all around were painting the white walls red and filled the labyrinth of a facility with a daunting sense of danger. The group of four continued running, blending in with the multitude of people who were more concerned with their technology and escape than those four. Sage led the group down winding corridors until they finally came to a familiar elevator. They entered and she pressed a few buttons before they began ascending. Isaiah spoke out,
"Hey aren't you not supposed to use elevators during emergencies?"
Kenny looked at Otto and then back to Isaiah and responded,
"Shut up-"
As if on cue, the elevator came to an abrupt stop. Isaiah and the others reached out to keep their balance but still ended up stumbling and clinging to the rails on the walls. When the initial shock of the stop settled, Isaiah started looking around before he went to begin tapping the elevator buttons to no avail. Sage spoke,
"It seems power has been cut. We're only three floors away from the entrance hall."
Sage reached up towards the ceiling,
"Lift me up please."
The three looked at one another and nodded before Isaiah and Otto lifted the woman up by her cold feet. With her bare hands she tore straight through the thick metal, ripping a hole large enough for them to fit through and climbed up. She turned and reached down to help the rest of them up. Kenny placed a hand on the back of his head as he looked forward in disbelief. When they exchanged looks again, Otto spoke up,
"I mean, she IS an alien synthetic so I guess that makes sense."
Otto went and grabbed a hold of her and one by one they climbed atop the elevator into a chasm of darkness and cable railing. Isaiah looked around as he heard gunshots, yelling and explosions above them echoing in the distance. Roakon was likely here fighting with Capella. Sage spoke again,
"Follow me."
With that she leapt up and slammed into the wall, climbing it like a spider. Isaiah looked up and started to think, why did she let them keep her here if she was capable of things like this? It seemed like she was allowing them to keep her, like she had been waiting for them, or just a good opportunity. Isaiah was called out of his brief thoughts to Kenny speaking,
"Jets!"
The two of them nodded and activated their Rifting boots before leaping up and climbing the walls behind Sage. They climbed up using the railing and cables as makeshift ladders and rappel while leaping from wall to wall to gain momentum and speed up their ascent. As Isaiah was climbing the wall, red lights began activating in the elevator shaft and he started hearing a humming noise. He did not bother looking down, simply yelling,
"Elevator! Speed it up guys!"
They all took the cue and started climbing as furiously as Isaiah was cursing. Sage tore a hole through the door they were to enter and the others pulled through it, Isaiah reached it and got stuck on one of the rails briefly, tripping up for a moment. Kenny leaped and grabbed his arm, pulling him through the entrance just as the elevator ascended past, threatening to crush the man. They were breathing heavily at this point but had no time to catch their breath, as Sage pulled all three of them behind a makeshift barricade created out of rubble it seemed. Gunshots and yelling were much more prominent now, as the room they entered was turned into a warzone.
The three retrieved their black handguns and prepared themselves.
"Ask extraction what their status is."
Isaiah ordered as he went into full combat mode, feeling his heart ready to burst out of his chest from anxiety and physical fatigue. He could feel the sweat begin to permeate his undershirt and his deodorant cake up under his armpits. It was time to go home and get a shower in if they could make it out alive. He went to peek over the barricade and saw people fighting everywhere. There were fights happening on the walls, the ceiling, close, beneath, in the distance, you name it. Then Isaiah remembered that this was the entrance they came in at first, so he looked all about the abysmally dark chasm lit only by red emergency lights now until his eyes crossed a large entrance with natural light shining through. The sound of a storm brewed outside with the occasional crack of thunder and Isaiah was not looking forward to having another fight in the rain. However he spoke up,
"I'm setting our waypoint at the door. Tell extraction to set one for us to head to as soon as we make it outside. It's the front entrance so don't expect to get out of this without scratches. Grab whatever weapons you find laying on the ground and stay close. On my mark."
The group braced themselves, hearing the gunfire still and seeing the muzzle flashes light up the darkness.
"Three. Two. One."
With that, they charged.
They were going at full speed on their Jets, engaging only those who got in their way, ignoring the rest. Isaiah ran full speed into one of the Roakon soldiers, launching his knee into their chin, using his Jets as a booster for impact and lodging a bullet in their chest with one hand while grabbing his rifle with the other. Isaiah holstered his sidearm and began using the large black rifle. It was semi automatic and deadly accurate. The horizon shifted for a moment and they were facing away from the door, Isaiah cursed and began firing his weapon at those facing him. The kickback from the gun beat against his body as his heart resounded in between like a drum line, energy bullets were whizzing past his own team and impacting other soldiers and structures. Sage yelled,
"This way!"
She jumped and instead of landing a few inches ahead on the same level as they were, she fell. When Isaiah went to look, she was standing a few feet below, sideways and running towards the exit he set the waypoint to. The others followed the woman with Isaiah bringing up the tail end. His head started feeling dizzy from switching between horizons constantly ,but he pressed on sprinting towards the exit. His heartbeat, breathing and adrenaline numbed him to the danger surrounding as all that was on his mind was making it out of there. He could see a large firefight underway outside and aircraft parked everywhere.
"Where the hell is our ticket out of here?"
Otto yelled over the chaos. They were done for, Isaiah thought, there was no way they would be able to fight their way out of that sea of the two warring factions. Capella was fighting off the Roakon group, but it looked like they had brought plenty of assets, and they were organized on top of that, moving along the edge of the canyon and shooting down from above the Capella faction. It was literally like shooting fish in a barrel. A slaughterhouse. Isaiah could see the blood of the multitude of people mixing with the enormous puddles of rain and splattering across the structures. Bodies lay still on the ground aside screaming men and women who were wounded. It looked like it was all over. However, Sage spoke and what happened next was a blur,
"Place the outage of your boots at maximum and deactivate the dampening fields. When I say jump, jump with everything you've got and fly to the waypoint!"
Kenny and Otto began swiping, not hesitating, Isaiah followed along as well, using his glove to set the parameters just as Sage stated. How she knew how their Jets worked was a mystery, but there was no need to question if she could get them out of there. He could feel his Jets get heavier, but boost him almost a full foot off the ground. They sprinted past Sage, who trailed behind them a few feet, and when they got out of the facility Sage yelled,
"JUMP!"
With that, the woman spread her fingers out and emerald streaks of electricity webbed out of her hands, filling the air with the smell of ozone and charging the wet ground with energy while causing all of the combatants outside to duck or get fried to a crisp. Many collapsed, screaming in agony, while others kept firing out of confusion. Isaiah jumped on command and felt weightless, as if he were on the drop of a rollercoaster ride.
He and the other wolves were sent soaring high into the sky, looking down he could see that his shoes were charged, exuding a green energy and arcing with the electricity. Isaiah was yelling as he tried to glide like the other two, who were spread eagle and frantically placing emergency beacons on their location. Isaiah lost sight of them and broke through the clouds. He placed his arms over his face and squinted to see and what he saw made his heart drop. He saw the ground quickly approaching.
However, before he could freak out even more, a jolt went through his left arm and he cried out in pain before looking up and seeing Tek holding onto him. Kenny and Otto were reaching over the edge to pull Isaiah into the aircraft, but before he could get in fully he looked down to a sprinting Sage. He grit his teeth and yelled,
"Get lower! I have to grab her! She'll jump!"
With that, the aircraft lowered as instructed and Isaiah saw Sage still running faster than any human would be able to. He reached out his arm and started whispering,
"Come on. Jump. Come on. Come on.. JUMP!"
As if on cue, the woman slammed her feet into the ground and shot herself high into the air, reaching out her arms, she was going to miss by a few inches he knew it. Isaiah yelled and lunged to grab one of her arms, catching the left one with his own while his friends pulled at his legs to keep him up. They all pulled one another into the aircraft and started to catch their breath.
"Is everyone alright? Any wounds?"
Otto yelled and asked over the winds. Isaiah and the others began assessing themselves, no bullet wounds thankfully, just scratches here and there. Isaiah's left arm was surging with pain, but the adrenaline did well to mask it in the moment. They started climbing into their seats, feeling a wave of relief just peeking over the edge of their racing hearts, then Tek's voice broke over into their channel of communication,
"Two enemy aircraft inbound!"
Isaiah started hearing his team begin to fire from the cargo ramp and saw the two Roakon helicopters pursuing them. Stingers, like from the night Otto and himself had the tangle with them. Kenny was assisting the pilots while Otto secured Sage. Isaiah looked out the rear of the aircraft with adrenaline fueling him. He looked to his feet and saw his Jets were charred black but still humming with that green energy. He realized what was going on. He had seen it before on Riftball. The boots were resonating with the Rifts in the air around them for some reason. If that were the case. Isaiah would be able to glide and walk on air just like the athletes would do during Riftball. That would be if the Rifts around the area were dense enough and not too sparse. Isaiah then remembered his talk with Bruna, speaking on how they never got hit until the Stingers shot Isaiah. A devious, or more accurately, insane grin painted the Wolf's lips from under his mask as probably the dumbest idea he has had yet popped in his mind.
"Pilot, this is Devil. Stay close. I'm settling the scores."
With that, Isaiah grabbed a rifle from the aircraft storage and launched himself off the back before anyone could stop him. The cold, rainy winds stung at his exposed skin like tiny needles. He had to squint hard in order to see where he was going. He focused on the output of his Jets and reached a gloved hand out to adjust the settings, he steadied his breath like the athletes on television would say, trying to feel the Rifts and catch a good one.
It was hard to explain, but in that moment, he felt a dense cloud of energy engulf his legs, allowing him to crouch and launch himself from it, causing him to shoot forward like superman right into the windshield of the enemy helicopter. He spun so that he would land feet first and fired a few bullets into the glass, the sound briefly drowning out the drone of the engines. The bullets cracked the glass and Isaiah slammed his feet into it to shatter the glass and break in. Upon entering, he fired at the co pilot, killing the man. Then he shoved the dazed pilot out of the aircraft. He climbed into the back and regained his sense of direction before the Stinger started spinning. He bent down and held onto anything his hands could find as the aircraft spun out of control. He timed himself, speaking,
"Don't die, don't die, don't die."
Then he screamed and jumped out just as it began descending. He launched himself towards the next helo which was below and behind the previous. The man found himself literally bounding through the air on emerald clouds of energy that revealed themselves to him as they resonated with his boots. He had no control over where they appeared, but he was able to use them to get past the second Stinger and launch himself backwards to grab at the ledge of the cargo door. He pulled himself up, breathing loud and heavy at this point.
His muscles were screaming at him from all of the physical strain. He seriously needed to start hitting the gym again. When he stood upright, he was met with a soldier who aimed his gun at Isaiah. Isaiah ducked under the man and stepped his foot in between the man's own, shoving the gun out of the way and using his free hand to shove him over his knee. This caused the soldier to trip and Isaiah used the ill-balance to shove him out of the helo. He then turned to the pilot, who turned around to see him, quickly pulling out a weapon. Isaiah ducked and shot the co pilot a few times, who slumped over as blood painted the inside of the windshield. He then moved in to kill the pilot but was met with a taser that contracted every muscle in his body.
He groaned in frustration, having felt the pain before as part of training for the Wolves. He was not immune, but was able to push hard past the effects and fire a round into the man's throat before he was able to do so to Isaiah. When it was said and done, he pushed the man out of the seat and crawled into it himself, pulling up on the yoke and stabilizing the ship.
He pulled the wires from the taser out of his body and began wheezing to catch his breath. The man was already soaked from dancing through the rain and clouds, along with sweat clinging to his body as well. However, he felt a warmth down his leg, a liquid that was warmer than the others on his body. He felt a sense of embarrassment creep over on top of all the adrenaline and pain, realizing that he wet himself due to the taser. When he was in full control of the aircraft, he used his communications mic to call up to his team, still out of breath,
"Devil...Hey.. I took out..the other one... And.. I have no clue how to not crash this thing..."
With that, the group placed their helo beside Isaiah's since he did not actually know how to properly maneuver. They directed him to just continue whatever he was doing so that they could extract him. When they were in place, they sent out a few members who were trained to fly in order to capture the ship. They extracted the tracking devices in the craft and confiscated all valuables before ditching it in the mountain range and returning to their own ship. They brought aboard a lot of valuables in fact, high tech and such. Isaiah winced and groaned as he sat into his own seat and buckled up. He was soaked and cut up bleeding everywhere. Kenny and Otto sat next to him as well and looked him over. Isaiah spoke up,
"You should see the other guys.."
He laughed and was met with a shove from either side by both of the guys. Laughing hurt his ribs and so did the playful shoving he received, but he could still breathe. Otto spoke,
"You seriously have no care for your own life. You know that right?"
Isaiah pulled his mask off and spoke, his lip busted and bleeding,
"Yeah and you're not so bad on the eyes yourself."
Kenny pulled his own mask off and laughed at his response. Another voice, Tek's came over comms and spoke,
"That's what makes him the fearless leader right? Did you see that? He was flying through the sky like an eagle! That was some serious Rifting!"
Otto took his mask off last and revealed a small grin before he nodded,
"I guess it does, that was alright. But wait until we tell Bruna what happened and let's see how fearless he is then."
Isaiah's heart dropped and he turned to Otto,
"Otto come on man."
Everyone laughed and Isaiah turned and caught a glimpse of Sage. She was staring at the rain from her open window, her hand reaching out and grasping at it, as if she had never seen the phenomenon before. All this for her. No. All this for Avis. Isaiah decided he should tell them now,
"So.. About Sage."
Kenny cut in,
"Hey, later."
Isaiah could not agree more. With that, they closed up the ramp and cleaned everything up before securing themselves and drifting off to sleep without a second thought.