Freeze or Fall

Chapter 41: Freeze

"You all know the plan, right?" Iskall checked.

Zed nodded. "Joe and Doc pretend to spy on the base to draw their attention. Me, Grian, and Taurtis sneak in the back and find Hels."

Grian chipped in. "Hels will probably challenge me to a fight, but everyone knows I'm horrible at PvP-"

"Except fistfights. You are stupidly good at fistfights." Doc added quickly.

"-so Hels will realize something's wrong. Worst case scenario, I spawn back here and Taurtis and Zed pop out and knock him unconscious."

"If it does happen to get worse, I'm in charge of getting Zed out while Grian takes the lead." Taurtis finished.

Iskall nodded. "Good. And Doc?"

Doc rolled his eyes. "If we come face-to-face with Xisuma, retreat. We've gone over this a lot Iskall."

"And your Plan B?" False cut in.

"If Xisuma or ET corners us and we end up in a situation where we have to fight, use our emergency rocket launchers." Joe answered.

" 'Emergency Rocket Launchers' is such a me thing to say." Grian giggled.

Cub laughed. "Whatever you say, Pesky Bird."

__________

"Sir, we have two Hermits unnaturally close. Doc and Joe, I believe."

"Go check it out. Don't engage until necessary."

"Yes sir." Wasp scuttled off to do as told.

ET went back to what he was doing: perusing the map of the server Hels had put together. The man in question had just walked in, looking a bit irritated. Well, he wasn't really "Hels", per se. The Hivemind had already taken over.

"Hels. Any updates on Renbob?"

"We lost 'im."

"Any potential targets from your scouting?"

"Actually, there's one target I think is more important."

ET turned to look at Hels. "And who would that be?"

"Taurtis is on the server. So is the short one called Grian." Hels answered.

With a sigh, ET walked away from the map. "This could be bad. If we want our plan to work, we need no obstacles. Any updates on Grumbot or Mumbo?"

Hels paused. "Both are fully oblivious, sir. I don't believe it will impact them that much."

"Good."

"What about the preparations?" Hels asked.

ET hummed. "Almost complete. Being the main host is a big responsibility, glad it's getting handed off to something else."

"Are there any other orders to be attended to?"

"None for now. You may go."

__________

The base was a large black structure near Doc and Bdubs' half mansion. It wasn't long before Joe spotted Wasp in the distance, watching them intently.

He quietly alerted Doc, before pulling out his notebook and doing suspicious things that from afar, would look like he was spying on the base. Doc joined him quickly. The two never made a move to go closer, knowing that would just end in confrontation.

Doc quickly sent a private message to Zed through his communicator.

<Docm77> Clear.

He just hoped they hurry up.

__________

"Aaand... We're in." Zed whispered, dropping down into the base. They'd snuck around back using a route that was a bit darker, and had mined into the base. Grian had kept quietly commenting on how awful the build looked, with the fact that from the outside it was just a bunch of black shapes.

Now, they were finally inside. At least the interior of the build looked nice, it gave off a lot of 1930's vampire vibes.

Grian quickly cast a glamour on Taurtis and Zed, effectively making them invisible as long as they stand still. The three crept down the hallway. It wasn't long until they found themselves face to face with Hels.

It wasn't long until Grian had been pinned to the ground with a sword pressed up against his neck.

Grian glanced up at Hels' unwavering stare. This... was not going according to plan.

"Well, we meet again."

As soon as he recognized ET's voice, Grian began to panic. Et was standing near Hels, watching him with a slight hint of amusement.

Then amusement turned into confusion as Zed smacked him over the head with a bat.

Hels whirled around as Zed came charging at him, quickly intercepting the swing with his sword. Taurtis took the opportunity to help Grian up. ET was sitting dazed on the ground.

Grian had enough time to look backwards as Hels whacked Zed over the head with the hilt of his sword, leaving the blonde unconscious and pretty much turning the tables.

To make things worse, ET had just recovered and was standing back up.

Taurtis readied his own bat, conflicted as to whether he should run to Zed or fight.

He didn't have to choose, however, when Grian grabbed the weapon from him and charged into battle.

So. Having the two most impulsive people on the server on the rescue team might not have been the best idea. Either way, Taurtis dropped down to Zed and quickly checked for a pulse and all that.

Zed seemed to be doing fine, so Taurtis hefted him up.

Just in time to see Grian get disarmed and tossed across the hallway. Everything was going wrong.

A second went by where nothing happened.

The bat was at his feet. Grian was behind him, getting to his feet.

Zed was still unconscious in his arms.

Taurtis made a split second decision. Grian was panicking. He would be outnumbered and was already hurt. Taurtis on the other hand, knew his way around a fight. He also knew ET since well, ET was him.

Taurtis shoved Zedaph into Grian's arms. "Go. Get him out of here."

"But-" Grian faltered, seemingly realizing his odds.

"You're panicking, you're outnumbered, and you're hurt. Screw the plan, get him out of here." And with that, Taurtis scooped up the bat and charged into battle.

This was all wrong. This was never a good idea. It was suddenly suffocating. Frost spread out in a circle around his feet, the air taking on a cold chill. It was all wrong. None of thsi was supposed to happen.

Grian wasn't proud of what he did. But his instincts kicked in, an urge to find somewhere safe.

So he took flight, escaping with Zed safely in his arms.

The snow had never felt so cold.