Chapter 8

"Agh-hah-haaaaah!" Toni cries out,

She groans loud and pulls again, "Raaaagh! FRICK!" She shouts,

Her hand is definitely shattered, she takes deep breathes and hangs her head and let's out another painful groan.

She clenches her robotic hand and draws her arm back, she rams her fist against the rock. She whines at the immense pain, then hits it again as hard as she possibly can.

Bam!-Crack!-crack.

"Agh!" She yells,

She pulls her hand close to her chest and looks at the rock pile. That distant crack, did she do that?

"Please be okay Ashe." she mutters,

With her robotic arm, she wipes her tears away and huffs out. She whines again and gets to her feet, still holding her arm and hand close to her chest.

She turns away from the rock wall the blonde kid created, her only option is to pray Ashe made it out, she's in no condition to go after her, and even if she was, she has to go all the way around again and try and find her.

"Ugh!" She shouts,

She can't leave her. Toni sprints down the way, to find the way out and go in the way she entered...again.

****

Atlas and Ashe roll down a side tunnel and plummet down toward more water where all the water drains into.

Atlas reaches out for anything, he grabs hold of something and reaches out to grab the falling woman.

She grabs her onto his arm and jerks him, but he keeps hold of whatever it is that keeps them from hitting the water in the sewer, below.

She looks down and back up at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah...please no dying."

She huffs out, "My hero." she mutters,

He sighs, they both look down at the electric box that is getting soaked with water and is shorting out.

"We are so having a talk after this."

She smiles, "J-just don't drop me."

Atlas snorts, he looks around and above him, then at the woman. "can you climb up?"

She shakes her head, "I'll slip if I try to climb up again."

"Well...crap." Atlas says,

He shakes his head, "I'm an idiot, grab the pistol off of my thigh."

She frowns, "I know our options are limited here, mmf! But shooting ourselves doesn't seem to be any better than-"

"N-no! Just do it, trust me. Come on hurry!"

She strains and reaches up and awkwardly pulls it out of his holster.

She grunts and looks from the pistol to him. "Now what? Shoot the water?"

"First roll the cylinder till the white dot is lined up with the barrel. Then fire at the tunnel, then the water down there.

She looks at him and gives a very confused and skeptical face as if he were insane.

"Just trust me."

She groans, points the gun up and...

Bang!

Quickly the water begins freezing solid until its all become ice. Her eyes widen.

"Hah-a-are you freaking kidding me!?" she laughs,

She looks at the pistol, then the water below and fires at it. It freezes over. Atlas releases, she also does so and drops to the ice below.

She stands and steps back to let Atlas drop, he follows her and hits the ground with his feet.

He holds his hand out, she smiles and hands it back to him.

"You know, you're pretty cool...Im sorry about your friends."

He sighs and holsters his gun, "It's okay, I'm sorry about yours, you think she's okay?"

The woman frowns, he shrugs. "No one was supposed to die. I know you two felt the same."

She gives a softy smile, "What's your name?"

"...Atlas, yours?"

"Ashe, you're a pretty skilled bounty hunter, we could use a guy like you Atlas."

"We?"

She bends down and places her palm flat in the ice. She moves her hand in a circle and makes it more glossy, causing a slight reflection in the ice.

She stand up and looks at him. "Atlas, I'm a member of the Syndicate. But-but! Before you say anything, I don't know what side you lean towards, but hear me out, please?"

He stares at her, not sure what to do. Does he shoot her? Knock her out and take her in? She looks like she's ready to react in any way she needs to.

"You're with the Syndicate?"

She nods, "Atlas I need you to hear me out on this okay? Please? Or...let's call it even and let me go."

He takes a deep breath. "I do owe you one for saving us both Ashe. How do I know you aren't the enemy?"

"Let me show you. The people we are fighting. They want to control us, to filter everything to their benefit."

"How do you know that?" he asks,

Her eyes widen, she takes a step back. "You're one of them...Atlas-"

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you or take you in."

Her breathing speeds up, "Atlas we are the good guys, made to seem like bad guys. They want order, their order. We want freedom to choose our own destiny and paths, not to rule over others."

"Why should I believe you? They are pretty convincing."

"Yeah? Who convinced you, May? Or Erin? Or Qin?"

His eyes widen, she nods, "Yeah, they have a way with their words, they are just some of the recruiters. May, I'm assuming she was the one, she's dangerous. Actually...she might truly believe that what they are doing is right. But...Atlas I know this is crazy and it may not convince you. But I can't let you take me. I'm sorry."

"You suck at trying to win me over." he says,

Atlas grunts as he sits against the wall.

"If you are on their side, why haven't you tried to kill me yet? Even if we did save eahh other...sort of. I suppose you could've dropped me."

He shrugs, "I'm still new to them, I don't know much about you."

Ashe nods, "We'll be in touch then."

"Just this once Ashe."

"Guess we'll see."

She backs away and starts down the sewer, she turns and sprints away, Atlas watches as she runs.

May has been hiding something, she didn't tell him the real reason they are fighting the Syndicate, but he doesn't know enough about either side just yet. He wants to be sure he's joining the right side.