//Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I'm totally addicted to Gears of War right now. Hopefully I make up for it with this 12.5 kb post.\\
Precious little light shone through the windows as Alex crept through the citadel?s shadowed corridors. He kept to the darkness as much as possible, utilizing Midna?s shadow cloak spell to its fullest. Despite these efforts, the citadel seemed utterly empty.
Most of the citadel?s soldier compliment had evacuated in the imminent danger of self-destruction. Now that the cycle was halted, they would be forced to spend time and resources repopulating the tower. Alex had a few hours at best. He had to find the cellblocks, hopefully with Dr. Kleiner and the remaining rebel leaders still detained. Alex would bail them out and get them out quietly. Alex had been roaming around for the past twenty minutes or so trying to find the prison blocks.
He moaned in exasperation. ?This is the fourth time we?ve passed this stairwell. I know it?s on this level, but where the hell is the corridor??
?Are you sure you were looking at the right floor of the map?? Midna asked.
Alex had previously broken into an intelligence room which contained a full floor plan of the citadel?s hundred-something floors. To search every room of every floor would be like attempting to find a needle in a thousand-foot tall haystack. Alex reached into a pocket on the P.C.S. and withdrew the map. In a stroke of seemingly coincidental convenience, the prison was clearly earmarked on the map. It was on the 42nd floor.
?Know which floor we?re on?? Alex asked. Most of the room layouts for a lot of the floors looked alike. Standing near the stairwell, he looked around for sign or plaque or something denoting what floor they were on. He found it. Etched on a brick near the stairway?s threshold was the floor?s number in Roman numerals.
?XLII.?
?Forty-two,? Alex said to himself. ?This is the right floor. So where the hell are the cellblocks??
As Alex leaned back against the brick wall, he felt some of the bricks buckle under his weight.
?What the??
He pushed against the bricks. The entire wall crumbled to the ground. When the dust cleared, he saw barred cells.
?Well then,? he mused. ?That?s?clever.?
As Alex walked into the cellblocks, his metallic footsteps fell hard against the floor. The prisoners began to rouse from their sleepy states.
?H-hello?? called a clearly terrified voice. It was higher-pitched voice, with a little bit of inflection. It was Dr. Kleiner.
?Doc?? Alex called back.
?My goodness! Alex, how did you get here, and when?? He walked to the front of the cell, looking worse for wear. His lab coat was torn in several places, and covered in dust from the dingy cell. If Alex had not seen him before, he wouldn?t have realized it had once been white. One lens in his glasses was cracked, the other had fallen out.
?Doc, sit tight,? Alex said. ?I?ll get you out. Who else is here??
?I believe the other leaders are here as well. That means you should find Vance, Savant, and Fenix in those cells.?
Sure enough, they were. The locking mechanisms on the doors were strangely simple for a Kandarinian installation. With little effort he busted the locks.
?Izzy,? Alex said, handing him a Kandigun, ?I hope you know how to use one of these.? ?Izzy? was Alex?s nickname for Kleiner, whose first name was Isaac.
?Oh my,? Kleiner complained. ?Is there no other way to get out peacefully??
?This is just for precautions in case we do get confronted,? Alex said. ?The rest of you, pull a Kandigun off the wall and follow me.?
Obeying, the frail and wiry scientists armed themselves reluctantly. It had seemed that none of them had combat experience. As they returned to the stairwell, Alex disappeared into the darkness.
?Dear me!? Kleiner cried. ?Alex, where did you go??
?Take it easy, Izzy,? Alex said coolly. ?I?m still here. The P.C.S. turns invisible when I step into the shadows.?
?Interesting,? Kleiner said. ?I don?t remember adding that feature.?
Alex stepped into the dim light, and became visible again. ?Quick, I can get us out of here before the Kandies come back.?
Alex led the scientists down the spiraling staircases, occasionally stopping behind a wall or two to check if the area ahead was safe, and then motioning them on. In half an hour?s time, they had covered thirty floors.
?Sit tight guys,? Alex said. ?I?m gonna scout ahead.?
As Alex ran ahead and around a corner, Midna emerged from his shadow.
?Alex, this is too risky,? she complained. ?Even if you get them out of here, the headquarters is too unsafe to head back to. Where will they go??
?The rebels always have redundancies,? Alex said. ?There?s a secondary base on the north side of the city, a mile or so from here. It?s in the commercial district, which is essentially a maze of buildings. It?s very difficult for even me to find, much less those Kandie bastards.?
?If you say so,? Midna said. ?Also, the bald man, Kleiner??
?Yeah, what about him??
?He?s not like the others, he actually has a brain. I?m a little concerned that he might find out that you?re doing all this for someone like me.?
?Why would that concern you??
?What if they thought that you had no interest in their affairs? I mean, I know you do, but you put forth so much more effort helping me. Why??
?Well, I guess it?s because you saved my life,? Alex said. ?Also, you?re the only one I?ve ever known to willingly help me. I guess it?s because of my past.?
?Oh really?? Midna said. ?What happened??
?I?m not sure you want to know.?
?Now that you?ve said that, I do want to know. Please tell me, I promise not to judge.?
?Very well then. Eight years ago, there was a huge war, far larger than the one now. I was hired by multiple sides as a hired gun, though when I finished serving one party, I immediately went over to the opposing party and destroyed what I had created for the side I had been on last. I did this a number of times, garnering huge amounts of money, and I had to keep my identity secret. I was never found out.?
?I can see that your past is not one you?re proud of,? Midna said. ?What motivated you??
?I guess just to be wealthy,? Alex said emptily. ?I didn?t really care who won the war, just so long as I was paid. To this day I haven?t spent my vast earnings. I try not to. That would only confirm how wrong rigging the war was.?
?Don?t beat yourself up about it,? Midna said softly. ?That was long ago, and now you?re a different person. I look at you and I see more than just a human being. I see someone who?s willing to risk life and limb to help someone, and you definitely show it. What happened in the past can be forgotten. When I revived you from near-death I knew that you would be a trustworthy person, someone I could look to for help. You?re a unique person, Alex. Not many people are as selfless as you are. Many people come from checkered pasts, and they simply learn to jump the pieces that get in their way. Alex, I--?
?Alex!? Isaac called, ?Are you there? Is it clear??
Alex turned back in their direction. ?Yeah, move on up!? He turned back to Midna. ?Sorry to cut this short.?
?I know, I know,? Midna said, becoming Alex?s shadow once again.
The scientists ran up behind Alex. ?Let?s go,? Kleiner said.
?Are you sure they?re headed this way??
?Positive. The citadel?s self-destruct sequence was stopped by someone. Probably Alex. He?s most likely freed the prisoners and is on his way.?
Two rebels conversed in the underground bunker that was the secondary base. In comparison to the first one, it was smaller and more unkempt. Equipment was strewn every which way as other rebels scampered around the base. Amazingly, both Lamarr and Otis, Kleiner?s and Alex?s headcrabs, respectively, had managed to survive the ordeal by hiding in the pipe network.
The doors above slid open, followed by those telltale metallic footsteps. Alex and the other rebel leaders had reached the base safely.
?Alex!? A rebel stepped forward. ?We?re glad to see you and the other leaders made it.?
?Yeah, so am I,? Alex yawned. He hadn?t slept all day. ?Tired.?
?Perhaps he?d like some off-time,? Kleiner said.
?Are you mad, Izzy?? Dominic Fenix piped up. ?We?re in the middle of a war and you want our most capable fighter to stop fighting??
?Oh, look at him, Dom,? cried Ilia Savant. ?He?s faced far more in one day than any of us have our whole lives! Let him take a break.?
?Yeah,? Samuel Vance spoke up. ?He?s earned it.?
?Fine,? Dom said begrudgingly. ?But only for a few hours.?
As Alex stood, watching scientists argue back and forth over him, he finally got a good look at the other scientists he had saved.
Dominic Fenix was a large-built tall man. He was a man of about fifty, with relatively short grey hair that had white streaks running through it. His face was chiseled and hard, its features greatly standing out.
Samuel Vance was calm-natured black man of about seventy, his scalp dominated by snow white hair, and his chin ruled by a ruffled beard. His left leg had previously been amputated below the knee after a poisoned Kandigun spear skewered through it. In its place was a crude prosthetic that allowed him to walk.
Ilia Savant was a beautiful, slender young woman, far younger than the other scientists, but just as intelligent. Across her shapely body her white lab coat simply hung off her shoulders. Her black hair flowed down to her neck, and her icy blue eyes pierced through many of the rebels who approached her with flirtatious moves. She herself was a flirt, though not to the extent of how the rebels attempted to flirt with her.
?You three can keep quarreling if you like, I?m going to show Alex to the scrapyard,? Ilia said, tugging on Alex?s arm for him to follow. In front of Ilia Alex was a little uncomfortable, and didn?t say much. As she led the armored rebel to the set of double sliding doors to the scrapyard, they were scanned up and down by salvaged Asgarnian scanners, ensuring no hostiles were present. As they waited for the cycle to complete, Alex was still quiet.
?You?re a man of few words, aren?t you?? Ilia finally said after about half a minute.
?Sorry,? Alex said. ?I suppose it?s my combat attitude getting the best of me. I try to be quiet when I sneak around and stuff.?
The cycle was complete, and the large metal doors slid open. On the other side was a large lot full of junk and scrap.
?Here we are,? Ilia said. ?The scrapyard.?
?It?s, uh, very nice,? Alex said. The sky was a deep blue as the sun went down. Lamps began illuminating the yard. ?So what are we here for??
?They say you ought to take a break,? Ilia replied. ?Why don?t you? You can toy around with one of our experimental weapons.?
?Oh, really?? Alex said, suddenly curious. ?What?s that??
Ilia opened a large compartment on the wall, and produced an interesting looking device. It looked like a clawshot to some extent, but various tubes and other odds and ends were attached.
?A clawshot?? Alex asked. ?I already have two of those.?
?Not quite,? Ilia said. ?Put this on your arm.?
Obeying, Alex took the strange weapon and applied it to his right arm. ?Okay, now what??
?Focus a little magic on it,? Ilia replied, ?And point it towards that box.?
Alex put forth a little magical effort, and, amazingly, the box sprung off the ground and hovered in the air.
?Amazing!? Alex cried. ?It?s like some kind of?gravity gun!?
?It amplifies a user?s magical energy tenfold and turns it into psychokinetic energy, allowing the moving and throwing of inanimate objects. We originally designed it for the handling of dangerous materials as well as heavy lifting, but we believe you can put it to better use. Just surge the gun with more energy to launch the crate.?
Alex did so. The crate rocketed across the scrapyard and smashed into tiny wooden bits against the opposite wall.
Alex chuckled a little bit. ?This is neat.? He didn?t care how it worked, just that it worked.
?You can also pull things over from a distance,? Ilia tutored. ?All you have to do is make your energy reach out further, and that barrel over there ought to slide towards you.?
Again Alex followed instructions, and again they yielded a favorable result. The barrel found its way over in front of the gun?s claw, and was hovering.
?If you cut off power to the gun,? Ilia continued, ?You can just drop the barrel gently.?
Alex released his magical grip on the barrel, and it fell softly to the ground.
?See? You?re getting the hang of this,? Ilia said. ?You can stay here and play around with it some more if you like. I have some things inside to take care of.? She went back through the blast doors.
Midna immediately burst from Alex?s shadow, examining the weapon.
?Interesting?? Midna said thoughtfully. ?Why don?t we see what we can do with it??
