They weren't far behind! Ren, Drask, Parsh and the newly joined Stella ran down the hallway to the elevators. Ren's anger was growing. He felt as if he could sense him near. He was on the trail like a wolf hunting his pray, gradually getting closer while Frost remained clueless
"The left elevator has stopped on the fifth basement floor," Stella noted. "That must be the limit of the guardsman's clearance." She couldn't help but smile. "They didn't think this through."
"It's some sort of training ground," Frost remarked, glancing up and down the hallway. There was a massive window leading out into a massive training area. It had greenery and a blue roof to give the illusion of the outdoors. "Searching could be a pain. Can't we just jump?"
Lana leaned out of the elevator cautiously. "Jump where? Down the shaft? Don't be ridiculous."
"We don't have anything to break the fall," Lex added, stepping out of the elevator.
"What are the odds that anyone here has higher clearance anyways?" Frost countered. "Elevator shafts on Earth always have a ladder for maintenance. We can take that."
Lana crossed her arms for a moment. "He has a point, even though I don't like the idea of climbing a ladder down fourty floors…"
"Quicker than searching this floor for the chance of finding clearance," Frost countered again. As he spoke, he looked out into the training grounds. Currently, they were vacated. Targets slid up and down the firing range without anyone to shoot at them. "That's assuming there's anyone here at all," he added.
They were both forced to concede. Lex slid his pistol back into the holster and stepped back into the elevator. He got on one knee and laced his hands together. "Come, I'll boost you to the hatch."
"You're not so bad, Lex," Frost mused. He'd always wanted to climb up or down an elevator shaft. It would be like a spy movie!
As he turned 180 degrees to return to the elevator, a sound was emitted from the neighboring elevator. It slid slowly to a stop with a series of clicking sounds and then let out an electronic ding. Idle chat could be heard between a man and a woman on the inside, but it was abruptly cut off as the elevator stopped. It sat still for a moment before the doors clicked and began to slide open.
Lex diligently prepared his gun, and gestured for Frost to return to their own elevator. Frost just shook his head and pointed his pistol at the opening doors. With any luck, he'd be able to catch the enemy off-guard and kill them before the battle even started. His mind raced with possibilities. Who exactly was inside the elevator, and how had they managed to follow them here? Did this mean that the operation really was a bust?
A flash of movement could be seen from something vaguely shaped like a human. Frost was so deep in thought that he hardly managed to react in time as a sword came down upon his head. The man had not only sensed Frost's presence, but had exited the elevator with such speed that the pistol was useless! Frost recalled the words of warning from the shopkeeper in Realmhome. Guns 'don't work very well on anyone above an amateur level that isn't sleeping or otherwise entirely distracted'. In that moment, in a pure state of panic, he understood fully the meaning of this.
He raised his pistol up and caught the sword slash in the nook between the trigger guard and the barrel. They struggled for a moment before Frost wrenched the sword away and fired a shot simultaneously and with little concern for his aim. It sliced open the man's cheek as he snapped his head to the side to avoid taking the bullet straight between the eyes. They both backed away to work out their next move, and in that instant they saw each other's faces.
The man has short brown hair and big green eyes. He looked to have a friendly nature that was ruined by years of hardship. He was wearing a transparent raincoat over a stylish tactical outfit with a vest, gloves, and boots nearly up to his knees. In his right hand he spun around a standard looking sword. His hair and his raincoat were both soaking wet, which meant he'd just come from the outside recently.
Frost recognized this man very well! It was the man who'd kidnapped him and sold him to slavers. He was the whole reason this story had begun. Frost's greatest enemy. Ren!
Ren, upon realizing Frost's identity, had an air of caution about him. For Ren, this was not a personal vendetta but rather one of a greater purpose to the universe. He was under the impression that the newbie in front of him was someone of great power. It was in his best interests to subdue Frost quickly before the fight could drag on. A Voidhunter was weakest at the very beginning of a battle. If Frost was allowed to gain momentum, Ren wasn't confident in his ability to defeat him.
Can I win? Frost wondered. He remained rational despite seeing the face of his enemy. He'd intended to gain power and defeat Ren when it was feasible. Instead, here he was. Running away wasn't an option for the sake of his pride, and also the limitations of their current scenario. Frost didn't mind when Ren was killed so long as it happened eventually. For now, he'd try his best to pull out a victory and retreat if absolutely needed.
For this single moment, all of his anger strangely allowed him to be rational. If he got cocky and brash and ended up dying, Ren would never see justice! For that reason, he had to keep a level head and make his decisions logically… Just this once.
Ren tried his luck and dashed forward. Frost fired three bullets that were all batted away effortlessly as Ren moved into second stage enhancement. In under a second, his sword was swinging through the air and biting at Frost's neck. Frost's head was detached from his body in a singular smooth swing. Frost felt a strange force pull him downwards as if reality itself had willed his survival. He aimed his pistol upwards and fired, the bullet taking off the tip of Ren's nose as he leaned his head backwards to dodge.
Lex, with his book in one hand, grabbed the back of Frost's uniform and pulled him into the elevator. As he did so, he fired off a few shots in Ren's direction to cover their escape. The doors started to shut immediately thanks to Lana desperately spamming the button. Frost growled and clawed forward, feeling confident in his ability to win if he continued fighting. Lex kept a firm hold.
"Get a hold of yourself!" He yelled, shaking Frost.
Ren, outside of the elevator, gave up on trying to make it before the door shut. He discarded his sword into the Void and drew his pistol to empty the mag into the door. The powerful rounds of the Daxter easily pierced through, raining bullets into the interior of the elevator which was still trapped on the third floor. He hurled unintelligible insults in anger, and then moved to return to his own elevator.
As the bullets pierced the door, Frost was caught in the line of fire. A bullet pierced through his hip and struck the wall behind him. He fell back, nearly toppling Lex as he fell into the wall clutching his wound. He lifted his blood-covered hand in utter disbelief. His brain was working overtime to process the situation at hand.
Ren was here, and Frost was so weak that he'd nearly gotten himself killed just now. No, he thought, it's not over yet.
"I didn't want to do this," Lex said. "But we don't have a choice." He held his book firmly and scribbled a line into it. 'The elevator glitched, and gained level forty security clearance'. This wasn't a massive reality alteration, but would still take up a quarter of the Void energy that Lex had remaining. Even so, it was better than sitting trapped in a stationary metal box to get shot to death.
At the moment he wrote the line, Lana pressed the button to take them to the lowest floor.
Frost pulled out a healing card and crushed it, overcome with the feeling of serenity as his wound healed over. Immediately after he finished healing, Lex was on top of him and grabbing him by both shoulders.
"What the hell just happened, Frost?" He demanded. "We're on a mission. Get a hold of yourself!"
Frost clenched his jaw tight. "It was him."
That shut Lex up. He'd read about the whole predicament in Frost's book, and so he couldn't possibly bring himself to say anything. He understood the anger fully. Lex just stepped back, feeling slightly ashamed of himself. "I understand… But please get your priorities in order."
Frost nodded. Even though he'd been shot, he was blushing profusely with a massive smile on his face. "I can't just run from him, Lex–"
Four bullets came through the roof of the elevator and struck the floor, just barely missing Lex's head. He immediately crouched into a defensive position and raised an arm above his head. It seemed like their enemies were chasing them down the elevator shaft. Not only that, but they had high ground! They were sitting ducks if they remained here for the entire descent!
Lana stomped across the elevator and grabbed Frost's gun. "Let me see that." She pointed it at the ceiling with confidence.
[Lana Whitehall is activating an attribute: Perfect eye.]
"There's four enemies in the elevator," she said, firing off three bullets. "I'll cover you."
Even Lex was forced to concede. He readied his book with an exhausted look. "I can only save you once, Frost. Make it count!"
Those bastards had gotten ahead of them a little bit. That meant that their elevator was downwards somewhere. Ren tried to estimate his gunshots, pointing his pistol at the floor and firing four bullets. Due to the fact that he couldn't see his target, there was no feedback to prove that he'd hit his target at all. He grunted in frustration.
"Calm down," Parsh said. "We can just get them at the bottom of the shaft. We know their target."
"It's best to wait," Stella affirmed nervously.
As they were about to engage in a debate, three bullets struck back through the wall. Ren felt the flair of an attribute activation at the same time. He raised his pistol and used it to deflect a bullet with only a millisecond of time to spare. It ricocheted away out of the opposite wall. He let out a sigh of relief, and then turned to remark about it. "Bastard isn't a bad shot!" He said.
The sound of two bodies hitting the floor could be heard, and the elevator shook with feedback. Parsh and Drask were lying flat. Drask had a bullet in his neck, and Parsh had one right between the eyes. Ren's eyes widened. Some sort of shooting based attribute!?
Stella backed into the corner in utter terror, biting her lip to avoid letting out a yell.
[Drask Matreya is activating an attribute: Divine grace.]
Drask was clutching his neck and gurgling desperately as he was healed. He eventually sat up, looking dazed but surprisingly calm. Unlike Savra, he wasn't beyond saving. The feeling of taking fatal damage and being brought back to life left him in a daze, though. The fact that he still had his wits about him to activate his healing was impressive in itself.
His ability extended to Parsh, whose forehead threaded over itself and closed. His body was convulsing like he was having a seizure, but he promptly went still, his eyes blank and staring at the ceiling. His brain would take awhile to return to normal operational capacity. His mouth hung open, and he ran a finger along his forehead in bewilderment.
He would be fine in a few minutes. Unfortunately, they didn't have that long.
Drask pulled a card from his breast pocket and infused it. This was a fairly common attribute card called 'shield', which allowed the user to specify an area to create a barrier around. You could push it into your chest, shielding yourself from danger. In this case, though, Drask slid the card into the centre of the elevator. Void energy snaked out and encompassed the elevator just in time for another volley of bullets to strike. The shield would only hold for so long.
Ren was on a timer.
"It can't wait," he insisted, bringing their earlier argument full circle.
Drask nodded, readying to boost Ren up to the service hatch. Ren obliged, shoving open the creaky metal trap door and clambering out onto the top of the elevator. He stumbled a little bit before steadying himself with Void energy. The natural stickiness Void meant that infusing it into a surface would allow you to stick or do crazy things like walk up walls. Ren himself only used it to steady himself, and had only witnessed the immensely impressive feat of wall-walking once. Naturally, the one who'd done it was Belleram Medeara.
He walked to the edge of the elevator, summoning his sword into his hand. Looking down, he saw it. It was exactly the scene that he'd been hoping for.
Frost Direshard was standing on top of his own elevator, sword in hand, looking up at his adversary.