Slugterran Saviours

Chapter 34

Author's Note: got into school drama, 2 toxic bitches came at me, then I got physically sick from their bullshit. so there's that, also the picture above is a cestus and its plural word is "caestus", which is information you'll need later :) feels so good to be BACK

Brodie's POV

"General Team, status?!" I yelled as I shot an endless stream of slugs at the guards, protecting the stairwell on level six, fighting and fending off the seemingly infinite amount of guards storming up the stairwell. I squeezed my elbow to my ear to press the earpiece, grimacing as I heard nothing but fuzzy static from the other Defenders, but I couldn't dwell on it, not right now. I straightened back up, the recoil of my blaster affecting me ever so slightly while I stood on my knees, firing a Rammstone, knocking the soldiers back down the stairs. The crystal blockade at the edge of the landing where the stairs began gave me some cover as I tried to use the least slugs I could, even using the stray ghouls that wandered here.

After Maie and Trixie had obtained all the information they needed, sent it to Questria and went down to Ataro's base, the whole place went on alert, flashing red lights illuminated the building on all floors. All of our channels and networks were blocked except the ones we had with our separate teams, and even that, the connection was questionable. Now, people were trying to get to the Defenders in Ataro's base, and we were the last line of defense, besides the crazed mecha beasts, which I wasn't even sure we could trust in the first place.

I gasped as I dodged a ghouled Geoshard, ducking behind the cracking crystal blockade, my back on the crystal. My Geoshard rushed to fix it, and I loaded my Frostcrawler into my blaster, firing it at the guards and turning back, reinforcing the blockade before landing on my shoulder. I fired a Speedstinger, at the small wall, who bounced off the walls and knocked out the rest of the guards. My heart pounded in my chest as I ducked down, taking a breather as my Speedstinger knocked out the guards, and the hall went silent. My ragged breaths were the only sound in the stairwell for those few precious moments, my heart hammering against my ribs, sweat trickling down my brow.

I finally had time to look out the window in front of me, and I let out a relieved sigh as I watched some of the freed prisoners riding away to safety, led by imprisoned Defenders who were locked up in the cells. Before I had to guard the stairwell, I told them to separate the group and go to hidden safehouses around the area and further away, safehouses that served as places Defenders could retreat to if they were trapped in a certain area, and could only be activated by Defenders. It should have enough food stored in it to feed the people for at least a few weeks, which was enough time to get everyone out discreetly to Bonnie Springs Hospital and to rehouse the people, thanks to the refugee program that was set by Eli and the government a couple of years back for the Defender's Initiative. If we sent too many people to the hospital at once, it would raise a lot of suspicion from Ataro's sources, so we had to keep it as low profile as possible. Ataro couldn't find these people again, or who knows what he'll do to them.

Scowls and yells sounded from behind me, and I quickly turned around, seeing six guards running up the stairwell, yelling incoherent messages as they charged up the stairs. I sighed tiredly as looked around my area, trying to find more slugs to use against them. But as I looked under bits of debris, looking around my area, I realized there were no slugs around, all of them still returning to me after I had used them. I looked down the long, dark staircase, no slugs or ghouls to be seen on the ground, and I grimaced, trying to think of another idea. My hand brushed against one of the steel circles that hung on my belt, but I didn't have time to think about using them as the guards arrived, charging towards me. I scrambled to my feet, realizing staying here was suicide, swearing under my breath.

"Floppers." I swore under my breath as I saw the first ghoul flying towards me. I dodged, grabbing the forest green circles on my belt in my hands and bolting up the stairs to the seventh floor, the guards hot on my heels as the crystal blockade shattered. I threw open the door to the seventh floor, appearing in a mecha beast testing field, blank space with a desk at the left side of the room. I pushed it towards the door, stepping back as my hand went to my earpiece.