Requiem of the Broken

Chapter 23: Apprentice

The floors of the underground base were separated by larger than normal amounts of space. As the result, they had walked up seven flights of stairs before they arrived on the fourth lowest floor of the complex. The Hunter stopped at the entrance to the floor; he peered through the small glass panel which gave vision into the corridor beyond. He didn't notice anyone outside so he tried to open the door. When it didn't open, he tried putting actual force behind it but no matter how much he pushed or pulled against it, it didn't budge.

"They probably welded the door shut. If they knew the monsters were down there, their first act would have been to cut off elevator access to those floors and then seal up the staircase." Said OCHAKO, mildly amused at the Hunter struggles.

It was then that they became aware of alarms going off in the corridor beyond the door.

"I imagine the rest of your friends are trying to fight their way to the lower floors as we speak. Now would be our best chance to break out and cause some real damage. Besides, if the door is welded shut then that precludes any chance of stealth anyway, so if you wouldn't mind..." he said gesturing to the door.

OCHAKO grinned and floated over to the door, she put one hand on the door and shoved it with a massive force of gravity. The door itself actually stayed intact, instead, the door frame was ripped out of its concrete housing and smashed into the far wall, leaving it embedded in it. The noise, of course, had been tremendous and already people were poking heads out of doors and patrols were running to the scene.

OCHAKO floated through the hole into the corridor, looking around. She could see several people looking out of doorways towards where the noise had come from, upon seeing her though they either fled wholesale away from her or slammed their doors shut.

"They probably think I'm one of the monsters from below," she thought amusedly.

Then in a sudden burst of movement, she glided up to a surprised guard that had just rounded a corner, liquid fire trailing from his fingertips. She grabbed a wrist in each hand and crushed each into shards. The liquid fire petered out and his hands were rendered useless, the guard screamed and tried to collapse but OCHAKO held him up by his tactical vest.

"Where is your leader?" she commanded simply after his screaming had subsided enough.

The guard looked at her in terror, his mouth moving but no sound coming out.

"Answer or I break your legs next."

The guard managed to stammer out, "Up one level in an operating room, she's operating on something left behind by the League last I heard. She wanted to get it out of the base before the heroes breached the floor."

OCHAKO cocked her head in interest. "How would she get it out if the heroes have already taken the upper floors?"

"The- There are warp pads on that floor," he said quickly, eager to give his interrogator anything she wanted.

OCHAKO turned up her lip in disgust, betrayal at the first sign of opposition. They truly were the scum of the earth, fully deserving of their fate.

"Thank you," said OCHAKO before reaching up, grabbing the side of his head and slamming him into the wall, killing him instantly.

She turned away from the body and started to make her way back towards the Hunter who had apparently run into several guards, their groaning or unconscious bodies scattered about. She ignored them as she approached.

"Their leader is up to one level in some kind of operating room. I think they might have found a Nomu that was on ICE and are trying to revive it," she said.