Takeo lifted his right arm and quickly swiped away the tears which had fallen. Though, simply trying to remove the evidence in one quick wipe had proved much too untenable. The cool wind that breathed throughout the facility was quick to graze past - kissing his wet cheek. It was not until a few minutes had passed before the residual tears finally, and slowly, began to evaporate.
However, before Takeo could return to his meditation, there was a loud rumble in the distance. The Japanese warrior immediately rose to his feet with his famas machine gun in hand as he hurriedly made his way towards the direction of the noise. Takeo opened the metal fence gate in the power switch and launch pad room without hesitation.
As he did so, he could hear the familiar sound which accompanied the spending of points. But now, this usual sound felt eerie and discomforting as he thought about his whole universe being just a game. It could no longer be conveniently dismissed as unexplained paranormal phenomenon.
Takeo then promptly descended the stairs which lead to the mule-kick vending machine. At the bottom, there was a large hole in the wall which lead outside to a sheer drop. As Takeo's face set in a look of fierce determination; he sped down the steps before launching out into the air. His mind was in deep concentration as he readied himself and began to execute the elegant manoeuvre.
And with the artful grace of a gymnast, or more appropriately that of a shinobi, he landed safely on the ground. As his feet made contact with the gravel, Takeo immediately bent his knees to soften the impact and leant forward to roll over his right shoulder. His landing, however, had kicked up clouds of dust which swirled around in the air taking their time to settle.
Takeo then stood tall and dusted himself off. As he brushed off his dusty shoulder, he stopped to look at Kiana and Primis who were now wide eyed and sitting up in shock of what they had just seen. It brought a smile to Takeo's face but he chose to quickly hide it from them.
As the rumbling continued, all three then looked in the direction of the centrifuge room. Primis hastily jumped to his feet before turning around and reaching out a hand to Kiana. As she extended her hand towards his; Kiana was then instantly on her feet. Primis then nodded to Takeo as they all began to run towards the commotion.
Once they made their way past the turret gun; everyone then took a sharp left to make their way down the stairs into the centrifuge room. With step they descended, their view of the room became less and less obscured. Then, a rather perplexed Dempsey was suddenly revealed to them.
He stood, mouth agape like a deer in headlights, on the catwalk by the musical teddy bear anxiously staring down below. As they hurriedly approached, everyone tried to preemptively decode Dempsey's expression - as part of the catwalk obscured what Dempsey was looking at below.
Takeo was the first to run ahead and make his way by Dempsey's side. Kiana and Primis eventually followed behind as everyone's hearts sunk in anticipation. They all stood together, quietly watching from their vantage point, before Kiana frowned as they looked at the rumbling lunar lander.
"What on earth is it doing?" She enquired aloud.
"It- it's just been refuelling. I ran over when I heard the first rumble", Dempsey replied in bewilderment.
"The lander is preparing for flight", Takeo said - as if deducing what was going on from Dempsey's testimony.
"Ja, it must be going somewhere--", Primis whispered as he kept his eyes on the lander. Everyone then collectively realised exactly what that meant.
"Richtofen!" Everyone exclaimed aloud at the realisation.
"Oh great, and I was enjoyin' the peace and quiet!" Dempsey remarked sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.
"But I'm gonna enjoy kicking his boney ass for what he did to you, Kiana", Dempsey grinned as he looked over towards the small Scottish woman.
"Now is not zhe time for rivalries, Dempshey", Primis reminded the American sternly.
"Remember the deal I made with Dr Maxis, Dempsey", I added as Dempsey frowned angrily.
"Dammit! Why'd that piece of shit have to lie to you like that?! How the hell are we gonna get out of this one?"
But before anyone could answer, the rumbling of the lunar lander quelled - leaving the room in silence. Everyone looked at eachother apprehensively as they all awaited to see what would happen next.
Then, one of the fuel pipes let out a hiss as it then detached from the lunar lander. And within a few seconds, the rest of the pipes followed suit. Once the lunar lander had detached from the receiving pad; it let out a sigh of white smoke before the machinery powered up again.
The rumbling returned as the lander began to slowly rise in the air. The roaring incandescent flames beneath the device propelled it higher and higher; and within minutes, the lander had risen back up through the tunnel and up into the sky.
Everyone then rushed outside to try and get a look at where the lunar lander was going. Everyone craned their necks trying to look up at the illuminated object in the sky. The lander appeared to hesitate in the air as it hovered in the same spot. After a few minutes, the device made a peculiar whining sound before shooting off across the cloudy sky. Everyone stood there dumbfounded as they watched the lunar lander disappear off into the horizon.
"Wait, what direction is that?!" Dempsey enquired.
"West", Takeo replied immediately.
"Maybe Richtofen is still in Germany then?" Kiana suggested to everyone.
"Well, he made us leave on the lander to come here after we arrived at some creepy facility", Dempsey explained.
"Yes, Richtofen called it the "Ragnork" facility", Takeo recalled.
"Ragnork?" Primis asked confusedly.
"Do you mean "Ragnarök", Takeo?" Kiana asked.
"Hai", Takeo replied with a nod.
"Yeah, that was it!" Dempsey proclaimed as he leaned forward in surprise.
"Was it in the -- erm... story?" Dempsey asked awkwardly as it was clear that, he too, still felt uncomfortable at the thought of his reality being a 'game'.
"Actually... it isn't", Kiana replied with slight worry in her voice.
All three men looked at her in shock. It was rather unnerving that were parts of the timeline she did not know about.
"I just happen to have spent a ridiculous amount of time studying various culture's mythologies. Germanic mythology is quite interesting", Kiana explained - trying to move past the unpleasant revelation.
"Ja, I too have across mein fair share of mythological tales during zhe excavation", Primis added - referring to his work back in the France of his own universe.
"What the hell happened in France?" Dempsey queried apprehensively - as if fearing the subsequent answer.
There was a pause as Primis and Kiana both looked at eachother before Kiana volunteered to explain.
"Edward had been working with the Dr Maxis from his time on locating sources of element 115. This took them to France 1918 during the first World War. Edward and Dr Maxis were sent along with a team of German soldiers to investigate. But once they unearthed the relics hidden beneath, they unleashed the zombies into their timeline as there were more than just treasures buried away. Many soldiers had initially reported hearing human-like noises as they patrolled the tunnels", Kiana began.
"But once they broke through into the main chamber of the site; they were attacked by men wearing knights templar garbs. These men had been turned by element 115 and had remained there until they were finally released in 1918 by the Germans. The element 115 also began to infect the German soldiers causing the Allies to finally intervene at the dig site", Kiana explained as she assessed Dempsey's reaction before continuing.
"Each country had sent one agent on a reconnaissance mission to gain intel: one from Japan, Russia and America. After being given the green light to intervene; the three agents stumble upon Edward whilst he desperately tried to preserve the brain of Dr Maxis before he finally turned. Long story short, they all eventually form a precarious alliance in order to leave the facility alive... These men are you in an alternative universe. In Edward's universe, there are versions of Takeo and Nikolai as well as you, Dempsey", Kiana explained delicately before finishing.
There was a short silence as Dempsey stood frozen in disbelief. His eyes glazed over as he blankly stared out into the distance. Even Takeo looked shocked at the thought of there being another version of himself.
"Dempsey?" Kiana spoke gently as she tried to break the spell he was under.
But there was no response.
End of part twenty-one...