Rampage

Sumire awoke from the sound of a mildly irritating beep, and her slumber was already problematic from the blighted nightmares. Her shoulders and neck were stiff to the point of turning into hardened stone after laying in the sediments and muck underneath her. Her body's warmth made the dirt's conditions even harsher, staining her skin with something that seemed permanent. Her eyes creaked open with muck between them; she had seen better days after being unhygienic.

She creaked her head to the side, seeing Maven and August sitting next to each other. She summoned her strength to stand up with all her might, stretching and swiping all of the muck off of her body.

"Where exactly did you find that?" Maven asked, peeking into August's lap.

"Been trying to get it to work after snatching it off one of the soldiers we beat down," August replied. "I've been listening in on their conversations. They've given up searching for us. They've got a hideout not to far from here that has several computers which can help us track down that crystal."

"We're not moving from here. Not unless the rest of the Fon come," Maven said. "Better to be safe until Vayah arrives with the others."

"Hey," Sumire greeted, dusting the dirt off of her long black pants. She avoided eye contact with Maven purposefully because of last night's argument. She shrugged off any incandescent emotions, resetting her mind. "What's going on? What's all that beeping?"

"Communicator," August said, activating the device. High frequency signals emitted through the antenna, and static sounds hazed through the device. Several weak voices lingered through the signals. "Listen."

"Log 232, couple of our boys on the move right now. In the deep tunnels, power slightly low. Hasn't been long since there's people out there searching for that damn crystal. Someone's been sending us threats with these pixelated avatars. Can't seem to trace it, but it's no threat as of now." A voice rang through.

"Pixelated... avatars? That sounds like Lucine," Sumire said. "She's been using those 3D comical things in her weapons and items to make herself known."

"She knows about Genesis being here? How?" August asked.

"Threat level is still low," The voice in the radio transmitted continued. "People are messing with us. The mines are getting hotter and darker to the point where it feels like I'm staring into the bottom of a well. Our men can't get enough breaks. Running low on food and water too. But it's only a matter of time before we find that crystal."

"Is it really possible for them to find it?" Sumire asked.

"Not sure," August said, turning off the device. "We don't have a lot of time left. They'll find that crystal before we do if we don't get to that computer. We're getting out of here right now."

"You're crazy," Maven interrupted. "We're not going anywhere-"

"No, I agree with August," Sumire jumped in. "I think it's about time we leave. We can't wait for them to come. Since they've stopped looking for us, this is our chance to escape."

"Sumire!" Maven cried.

"Sounds good," August said, moving towards the hole that they created in the dirt opening. "I'll wait for the two of you to decide, since there seems to be a little debate between you two."

Sumire passively waited for Maven to approach her, staring off into the distance pretending like he did not exist. She placed her hands behind her back, picking at her fingers nervously as Maven approached her.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Maven asked. "If we go out there right now, we'll die!"

Sumire cocked her head forehead and flipped her hair to act passive aggressive. Her cheeks pinched themselves as she sucked in air without opening her mouth. "You are the thorn in my life, and I avoid you," She expressed with a much higher-pitched voice, which hinted at a sense of humor and sarcasm. "You are the fly on my static trap."

Maven's dull expression almost made Sumire burst into laughter. She held in the urges to giggle as his eyes drilled straight into her face. "You're kidding me, right?" He said. "You're messing with me."

"Oh? What gave you that idea?" Sumire sarcastically remarked.

"Hey, I'm serious here!" Maven yelled.

"Mhm. So am I," Sumire said, ignoring him as she moved towards the end of the tunnel. "Funny of you to say after constantly talking about my father like you know me. You're serious about that, aren't you? Or are you just joking?"

"Why would I joke about something like that? The same shit happened to me too!" Maven said.

The cavern suddenly shook as multiple vibrations surged through the darkness. Sumire activated her nanosuit as a precaution in case the cavern collapsed on top of them. August's communicator began reacting to the sounds above, hearing the chaos ensuing.

"Get to your stations! We're being-" Static signals began blotting out their voices behind the communicator. "Catapults! Get to the top as fast as you-" More static ensued. "Kill those Fon! Kill them right-"

"Did he just say Fon?" Maven asked.

"Looks like our reinforcements have come right on time," August said, looking above the cavern. "Carve us a path with your blade, Sumire. We have to support the rest of them as soon as we can!"

Sumire extended her crimson energy blade and her ignition boosters, charging them up to dash at maximum velocity. She squatted down to prepare to leap. "Move out of the way and follow me!" She shouted while pushing herself forward. The scorching flames underneath her boosters hardened the dirt as she blasted forward with her right arm in front. The blade sliced through her path until she finally caught a glimpse of radiant light. After being deprived without it for so long, Sumire exerted her full strength to break free from the underground.

The soldier's communicator was accurate; the Fon were bombarding the entirety of the crystalline mine pit with hulking flaming boulders with their wooden catapults. One massive sector of the Fon charged with spears against the Genesis miners in a pathway leading above the mountains. They clashed against the soldiers with their battle-hardened cries, piercing through their armor with their scaled spears. The battlefield was soon overridden with scarlet blood and death as the Fon's assault eventually pressed forward into the mine pit.

"Tear them apart!" Captain Charlotte's commanding voice echoed through the mountains as she took the leadership role. "Make sure none of them survive!"

Battle horns sounded through the entirety of the battlefield. The Fon chanted and yelled in unison as the rhythmic calls of the horn rallied them together, pushing their morale to the absolute limit. They clashed with Genesis forces on inside the mine pit, flooding their establishment with their combined power.

From above the mine pits, Genesis soldiers soared through the skies with their winged attachments. Armed with rifles that held energy rounds, they blasted bullets towards the Fon charging towards the mine pit. Sumire disallowed this to happen, soaring through the skies and cutting them apart with her energy blade. She bounced off one of them and sliced off the wings of another, leaving that soldier to be mangled through the stampede of soldiers underneath him.

Charlotte gave Sumire a thumbs-up after witnessing her brave maneuver. Suddenly, a piercing sniper round struck Charlotte unexpectedly, catching her off guard. Sumire watched in horror as she collapsed behind in the mountains out of sight.

"No!" Sumire shouted, using her ignition booster to catch up with the fallen Charlotte. On the snowy mountaintops, Charlotte laid back with her hands over the right side of her chest. Sumire slid towards her to support her as more soldiers slid down the mountaintops to join their comrades. "Charlotte! Are you okay?! Where did you get shot?" Sumire asked.

"I'm fine, kid," Charlotte said, coughing. She moved her hands to reveal a thick plate of armor protecting her body from the sniper bullet. "Just knocked off my ass, that's all. You did good, Sumire. You held your ground until we came."

"It was all we could do," Sumire said. "Maven said-"

"He's a brave man, coming to us like that," Charlotte said. "We need more people like him."

"Captain!" One of the Fon soldiers cried, rushing over to support Charlotte. However, the same sniper bullet whizzed through the air, striking the soldier through his left temple and instantly killing the man. Sumire and Charlotte watched in horror as a pool of blood formed from where the bullet exited the man's wound.

"Oh my god, oh my god..." Sumire panicked as she placed her hands over her stomach in sickness. "I'm not used to this, I'm not used to this..."

"Sumire!" Charlotte shouted as she snatched her arm. "Get a hold of yourself! This is..." She paused. "Sorry. I keep forgetting that you're just a kid, and..."

There was a drastic callback to the man that she had murdered willingly at the art museum where Lucine was located. At that exact moment, Sumire's esophagus rumaged full of vomit and disgust at her actions of how life was frail. Life, an abstract concept that could not be returned, only made Sumire's emotions even worse after witnessing more death and destruction beneath her control.

"Get rid of that sniper, Sumire!" Charlotte ordered while pressing against the location where she was shot. "Find them and hunt them down!"

Sumire nodded, clearing her mind to help protect Charlotte and the others. She equipped her helmet visor on and blasted off into the sky, using her armor as bait to locate the sniper. Alas, seconds later after appearing visible to the crowd, the sniper bullet struck her helmet and deflected right off. Using her neural interface, Sumire tracked the sniper's origin on the opposite side of the mountain in one of the mine's shelters.

Despising to let more death take her allies, Sumire rampaged through the skies by slicing through the winged soldiers. She roared at the top of her lungs as she charged through the small gap that the sniper was nestling within. She clashed against the mine pit, shattering the foundation and breaking through the floors. The sniper resided on the opposite side of the long and narrow corridor, and Sumire noticed something was off.

The corridor walls were nothing compared to the abundant ore and crystal sources from the outside. The walls were pure white reflective surfaces where light from the lamps above on the ceiling refracted from, making it difficult to see through the corridor. At the end of the corridor, the sniper stood by Genesis soldier reinforcements holding blighted weapons in their hands. At the same time, all of the soldiers activated their blighted weapons, reflecting its crimson light on the surfaces of the wall. Sumire was instantly drowned by the hallucinations that came from the weapons, coating her vision in pure darkness.

Not this time, Sumire thought. Voices clouded her ears once more that arose from her mother and father hounding to her of her faults in her life. However, she knew that this was all nothing but a ruse to weaken herself. She closed her eyes as the Genesis soldiers vanished in thin air because of her hallucinations. The illusion of them disappearing was untrue; they remained there with their weapons ready to attack.

"Okay..." Sumire whispered to herself after forcefully drowning out the voices in her head. Although she was at a significant disadvantage, she knew that this mentality would be the first time in overcoming her fears. She charged forward in nothingness until she leaped off the walls, striking the first soldier that she collided with. One by one, the vanished soldiers started reappearing, bewildered by her ability to withstand the blight.

Sumire flipped off one of the soldiers and leaped onto another, executing them without hesitation. Bullets whizzed past her as she dodged them accordingly, attaching herself to the ceiling with her mag booster. She crawled through the ceiling and sliced through the rest of the soldiers. After dealing enough damage to the enemy forces, she began ramming her fist against the reflective walls to remove the effects of the blighted vision.

"Useless sacks of shit..." Sumire muttered as she approached the entrance of where the sniper escaped towards. She kicked the door open and was immediately met with a sniper bullet towards her shoulder. She shrugged it off like it was a minor inconvenience and continued advancing toward him with her blade extended. No mercy for those who hurt her friends.

However, Corlean leaped from the opened gap in the ceiling with her blade in hand. She tumbled on the sniper and pinned him to the floor. Sumire gasped at the sight of Corlean's assault and rushed over to support her. The sniper soldier counterattacked Corlean's drop and pinned her with a dagger to her neck. Sumire stopped in her tracks and watched as the sniper held her prisoner.

"All you disgusting Fon... must die!" The sniper cried before thrusting the knife towards Corlean's neck.

Before the tip of the blade could execute Corlean, a shotgun blast splattered the sniper's entire right arm off. The soldier cried in agony before another shotgun blast towards the head exploded his brains out, ending his life. Corlean cried in desperation as Sumire kneeled towards her.

"Corlean," Sumire called as Corlean began hyperventilating in a panicked state. "Corlean!" She repeated, pulling her close.

"Sumire..." She cried, embracing her. "I was so frightened. I noticed you from faraway and I wanted to help..."

"It's okay," Sumire said, stroking the back of Corlean's white hair. She turned towards the direction of the one who held the shotgun. It was Maven who had saved Corlean, armed with a fully loaded shotgun stolen from Genesis's barracks near the mine pit. Sumire blinked rapidly and looked away in guilt for the way that she had treated him earlier. "T-Thank you," She bluntly said before lifting Corlean off of the ground. "You saved her."

"I know," Maven said. "You don't need to thank me. We're in the same battalion after all."

Corlean tugged on Sumire's shoulder as she regained her sanity. "Sumire, they're trying to set off explosives on top of the mountains!" She cried. "They are trying to start an avalanche to kill everyone in the mine, even their own!"

"Shit," Sumire spat, gently pushing Corlean into Maven's arms. "Take care of her," She said. "I'll go handle this. Take shelter somewhere else and try to evacuate as much of the Fon as you can. I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Okay," Maven said, grabbing Corlean's arm. "Don't make me wait." He said as a callback to their first humorous moment.

"Be safe, Sumire," Corlean said. "We'll gather the rest of them and evacuate."

Sumire nodded and blasted off into the skies. She circled around the perimeter of the mountaintop, witnessing the Genesis soldiers armed with explosives. Loud pops began surging through the air as the detonation process had already begun. Massive slabs and boulders of snow-infused rock tumbled down the mountaintop, crushing the life of several Fon and Genesis soldiers battling each other on the sidelines. Screams of peril and death only made Sumire even more furious for how little they accounted for the lives of many, including their own.

She landed beside one of the soldiers arming the explosives and grabbed his neck for a quick slam onto the device. She disarmed the mechanism and rushed towards the opposing soldiers with her blade to end their plans.

"Retreat!" Genesis soldiers cried as they attempted to escape the mine pit. However, their cries were soon drowned by the sound of more horns from the Fon preventing their escape. Charlotte, who recovered from her wound, entered the opposite side of the mountaintop with her armaments to disable all of the explosives. She nodded at Sumire who made a quick pass by her.

"Move! Move!" Maven called to the others in the pit.

"Hurry!" Corlean cried, supporting the Fon to escape.

Sumire landed near the edge of the mountaintops until she remembered that someone was missing. "August," She said to herself as Charlotte approached her from behind. "Where's August?"

"I don't know," Charlotte said. "We need to evacuate right now! The pit's about to collapse!"

"No, I can't leave him!" Sumire rejected, leaping off the mountaintop as the snow continued to blanket the pit. She landed near the area where they spent the previous day inside the dirt cavern hoping he would be there, but to no avail, he was gone. Maven suddenly rushed towards Sumire with a gathering of Fon soldiers and creatures sprinting up the mountaintop to escape. She noticed Corlean was not there. "Hey, where's Corlean!? I told you to look after her!"

"She's back there trying to help the others!" Maven shouted to keep up with the sound of rushing rocks rapidly falling down towards them. Pebbles and stones began landing beside them, making them cover their heads. "We have to get out of here!"

"No, Corlean and August are back there!" Sumire yelled, moving past him. She dashed forward with her ignition booster, passing through the crowd as she swept past. Her heart rate began to spike up in pressure, believing she would never find her comrades in time. She prayed that they would be safe regardless, though she know that would not be the case.

"Sumire!" Maven's voice rang as he chased after her.

"No! No!" Sumire cried to herself. "Corlean! August!"

At last, Sumire spotted August kneeling beside Corlean, whose entire back was trapped under hefty debris. August's face could not be seen from her viewpoint, so she moved in to assist. When she moved in, August cocked his head back and began standing up and pushing the debris back.

"Finally, you're here," August said, pushing the debris. "I was waiting for some help. Come on, help me push this off of her!"

Sumire nodded. Taking the opposite side, she utilized the raw power of the nanosuit to successfully shove the debris aside. Maven stepped in as well, but he did not try to save Corlean. He pulled Sumire and August away as the pit began to flood with the avalanche from the mountaintops. The avalanche began to infuse itself with explosives from the surface level of the pit, meaning that the entire area was rigged to explode altogether.

"Get the fuck off me!" Sumire cried, tugging at the boulders trapped on top of Corlean. "August, push!"

"I-I'm... trying...!" He spoke, buffering all of his strength.

"Sumire," Corlean said, chuckling as the avalanche began to gain in size and strength. "It's okay. It'll be okay. You have to go."

"No, shut up!" Sumire cried, using her energy blade to slice some of the debris off to lessen the weight. "Come on! Come on!"

Before the snow engulfed her body underneath the debris, she smiled at Sumire and mouthed an unknown phrase to her. From behind, Charlotte snatched August's back collar and Maven seized control of Sumire. The four of them darted out of the mine pit on the safe side of the area where the avalanche had yet to strike, but their time was limited. In a matter of seconds remaining, the four of them finally escaped the mine pit. Explosions rumbled underneath the surface of the mountaintop, reducing all of the area to ash and slag.

Maven hauled Sumire towards the snow as he struggled to cough the smoke out of his lungs. Sumire clenched her teeth and lunged towards him, pinning him to the ground. "You fucking son of a bitch, I had her!" She spat with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I had her, goddamn it! You didn't even help! You selfish little fuck!" She cried more, jabbing blows at Maven's face. "Corlean should have been here! She should have been here!"

August yanked Sumire off as she flailed her arms uncontrollably. Charlotte watched their struggle ensue, believing it was in Sumire's best interest to relieve her of her enraged thoughts.

"Stop it, stop it, that's enough," August said to Sumire who collapsed to the ground. "It's done. We need to keep moving if we need to find that super computer."

"No..." Sumire's voice trailed off as she pressed her hands to the ground. "Corlean..."

"Captain!" One of the Fon called for Charlotte on the opposite side of the mountaintop. "Ziko's here! We found a course for the Glacial Crystal!"

"I'll be right there!" Charlotte called. She turned to Sumire. Her eyebrows drooped in sympathy, believing that a part of Sumire had just been cut out unwillingly. "Sumire... take some time to rest. You saved everyone else in this fight. If you weren't here... we would have all been dead."

August kneeled towards Sumire and patted her head. "Here, let me pick you-"

Sumire lashed her arm out to swipe August's palm without moving her head. Her face was buried in snow with her entire body quivering in regret and spazzing torture. She said nothing as Charlotte and August left the vicinity.

Maven watched as Sumire lifted her head up from the snow, eyeing her cautiously. Sumire's maroon-pooled eyes set themselves on Maven's as she pushed herself off of the ground.

She wanted to say something to him.