Escape (3)
Because of the ringing in his eardrums, Shivan could barely perceive what was happening. The acrid scent of burnt fabric hung in the air. Rubble lay all around him.
Shivan scrambled to get up, but there was no strength left in his left arm. He could barely move.
Just before the explosion hit, Shivan barely covered himself in a layer of mana, protecting him from most of the impact.
Chloe, who was the least harmed out of everyone there, picked up Alexia in a princess carry and grabbed Shivan's right hand, pulling him to his feet.
As Shivan started to recover, his body kicked into overdrive as adrenaline surged through his body. With his newfound strength, Shivan followed Chloe into the elevator shaft.
Shivan regained some of his senses due to the flow of adrenaline and felt the presence of other guards rushing them. The guard's weapons fired at them as they tried their best to avoid or mitigate the incoming damage.
Shivan and Chloe quickly entered the shaft and got on the ladder as they tried to escape up a floor. The building had three floors above ground and they were going to the top. Going underground meant the guards could easily corner them.
Chloe was holding the unconscious Alexia while climbing up and Shivan had to give cover fire with his weak left arm.
Even though he couldn't aim properly, his bullets exploded, deterring any incoming opponents.
When they got to the top floor, they opened the elevator and hid in a nearby room to assess their situation.
They were in a small storage room with several pieces of equipment on the shelves that wouldn't be of use to them. It was a perfect place to rest up for now.
"Hey, let me see your shoulder." Chloe whispered to Shivan after they caught their breath. She laid Alexia gently on the floor, as she inspected Shivan's shoulder.
"It's dislocated. Don't I'll fix it. It'll hurt for an instant though."
Shivan nodded in response and gritted his teeth.
A second later a small popping sound was made and he tried to muffle the sound he made from the pain. It still pained him, but now it was usable again.
"I would ask you to put some ice on it, but we don't have any currently." Chloe chuckled dryly.
Just as they were about to discuss their plan forward, Alexia started moving and she got up in a daze.
"Uhhh... I have a massive headache. What happened?"
She rubbed her forehead and tried to get her bearings. Her eyes were unfocused, as she tried to shake off the dizziness.
"We were trying to escape. The big explosion happened. Now we're on the top floor." Chloe gave a brief explanation of what happened.
Her eyes regained clarity and she nodded in understanding. "Oh, I remember. They probably have a sniper. How'd they get our position?"
"They probably just estimated it. They knew we were in the hallway so the bullet just hit nearby us. Then the explosion afterwards would take us out. To be able to pierce the wall so easily means it will kill us if we get hit, even if we cover ourselves in mana." Chloe responded.
Shivan was keeping watch while Chloe caught Alexia up to speed. But one thing bothered him.
"How were only unconscious for a couple of minutes? A head injury would take at least half an hour to wake up and several days of recovery?" Even though it wasn't the time for such questions, Shivan did it anyway.
"I used mana to mitigate the damage. Also, my body works in different ways." Alexia responded.
"So you're saying you're built different?"
"Mm-hmm."
When Shivan took a good look at Alexia, he noticed her skin was red and charred from the explosion. Her clothes were still burned from the explosion but it only burned most of her sleeves and a small exposed patch around her stomach.
Despite the burns, she looked capable of fighting.
Then, Chloe clapped her hands to get their attention, "Okay, we need to create a plan, they'll be any minute. Firstly, we need to deal with that sniper first. If a bullet lands close by us, we die."
They collectively nodded.
"But none of our guns would be able to reach them," Shivan pointed out, "and none of my other moves have that kind of range."
"Don't worry, I've got a technique." Alexia spoke resolutely.
"Okay, Alexia's got the sniper. First, we need to locate him. We know this location is the building adjacent to us, but we don't which floor." Chloe started laying out the details of the plan.
"Luckily, we have a window directly facing the building. But the other men probably won't allow us to do so. They probably know we're on the top floor and rush at—"
"I'll deal with that," Shivan interjected.
"Okay, thanks. But more importantly, the sniper. They'll probably get a lock on before we do. They know what floor we're on and we don't know theirs.
We can probably smoke-screen them with a gun MAW explosion, but we need then we need to locate the sniper before they fire at us. Alexia how long would it take to fire once we know its location."
"Umm... well it depends. Should I risk it all at once or should I use a smaller attack? If I go all at once, I'll have the greatest chance of killing him, but if I miss, I can't fire again."
Chloe pondered for a second.
"Go all at once. If you miss, we're fucked anyways. So might as well do your best."
"Okay then. If I do that, then it'll take about 10 seconds or so to charge and a couple more afterwards to aim. I will also become anaemic afterwards as well."
"Good. We'll buy you that time. How much mana is everyone at? I'm at 80%."
"90%" Shivan responded.
"60%" was Alexia's answer.
"Since we conserved most of our mana, we can go all out now." Chloe gave one last bit of encouragement to her group.
With their plans ready, they waited for the opportune moment.
As soon as Shivan heard the footsteps of the guards approaching, he started overcharging the gun.
As soon as he did that, the mana detectors in the room started blaring, immediately alerting everyone to their position.
With the gun being highly unstable, Shivaan quickly opened the door and chucked the weapon outside the smaller room.
"Ready?" He asked his two comrades.
"Ready." They answered simultaneously.
BOOM!
As the explosion rang outside, they set their plans into motion.