Honkai Impact: The Serpent's Tale

Chapter 8: Two Sides, Same Coin

The elevator base was complete frosted over as multiple layers ice frosted over the floor.

Despite that, cracking sounds were heard as in an instant, all the ice shattered into a million pieces from tons of volts of electricity.

Standing from the rubble was Mei as it took her a while before she had managed to gain back her full strength.

"Raven. Owl. Hello? Anyone there?" She asked over her comms device however she was once again still met with silenece.

She surveyed her surroundings and saw Alex laid next to her still unconscious.

"Alex!"

Mei rushed and kneeled by his side as she saw a dart sticking out of his right shoulder.

She'd pluck it out and inspected it before quickly figuring out what it was.

"A tranquilizer? Someone put him to sleep, but why?" She asked.

Mei would touch his face and gasped as the boy was extremely cold.

Figuring that she had to get out of there since the Herrscher had escaped again, Mei would hoist Alex onto her back and left the area.

As she continued on, her comms device came to life on its own.

"Mei........" Said Raven in a tired tone.

"Raven! What's happened!?" Asked Mei.

"Owl............betrayed us."

"Owl? Why?"

"B-Beats me...........ain't got a clue. All I know is that he used the Scepters on you.............and then stabbed me. He took my weapon, b-but thankfully he can't use it without authentication."

"Are you okay?"

"To be honest, I feel awful. Whatever he stabbed me with, it had some kind of toxin on it. A-Anyway's.........how's the kid?"

"Alex got hit with a tranquilizer. Owl must've put him to sleep. He's still unconscious and is extremely cold to the touch." Said Mei before she then decided to question Raven on something important to her. "Hey Raven?"

"What's up?"

"I noticed Alex favoring and hold his left arm in pain during that prior battle. Do you know why?" Asked Mei.

Raven kept silent for a bit as while she obviously knew why, she was certain that Alex wouldn't want Mei to find out the truth.

"Beats me. Probably just suffered a bad stinger during it. Those go away quickly though so there's no need to worry about it."

"I see."

"Anyways, listen Mei. Don't waste time on trying to help me. Go warm up Alex first. Once he's good, you two go and chase them down. Don't let Owl escape with the Herrscher." Said Raven.

"Understood. Take care of yourself Raven."

"Hold up Mei. One last thi-." Despite it seeming like Raven had one last thing to say, Mei resumed to leave the as she quickly tried to find the nearest furnace she could find.

Thankfully there was one right down the path as she activated it and set Alex down on the ground as he began to warm up.

Mei would breathe a sigh of relief as she kneeled by his side and awaited his awakening.

As she waited, Mei figured she could take a peek at Alex's arm just to make sure nothing was wrong with it however before she could, she heard footsteps approach them.