Legionnaires
Chapter 10, Underground Secrets

©Rosayln Cross / MMO Gurl 2020-2022. All Rights Reserved. Do not replicate this intellectual property without obtaining my permission.

Crouching down, Akihiro first tested the door handle as silently as possible to see if it was actually open and when it turned with ease, he stood up. He looked back at Misaki and made an expression that said ′Wish me luck!′ and opened the door without any concern for making noise. To keep up the spectacle, he shut the door just as loudly as the dead man had done when he originally entered the room. He’d leave Misaki to come in by her own devices, but leaving the door open for too long might make the remaining inhabitants suspicious.

There was a steep set of wooden stairs before him. He took the steps carefully, walking through the darkness towards the light shining somewhere from below the right side of the stairway. Akihiro had hoped for a better layout; perhaps a way to approach his unaware victim with their back to him. From the looks of it though, he was likely going to be walking right into an open room. He wondered what they could possibly be doing in an abandoned bar’s basement. The time for thought had ended as he reached the bottom of the stairs and without hesitation turned into the bright opening.

He paused for a moment as he took in the room. He had expected to see a man or even several men standing around and waiting for him, but instead there was just a light bulb hanging from the ceiling and a bunch of dusty boxes. The pungent smell of mold permeated his nostrils as he walked through the room. He could hear a soft pitter pat on the wood behind him as Misaki silently descended the stairs behind him, keeping hidden until the moment she might be needed. The basement walls were assembled from concrete cinder blocks and in the corner of the room he could see an area where the wall had been cut to make a new passage.

As Akihiro approached, he could see the lines of the makeshift doorway were clean, as though they had used some sort of laser technology to cut the concrete. Maybe even the Laser Gun that guy had... He considered it for a moment before walking through the passage. A mechanical door had been installed, and thankfully had been left open, resting in its cradle by his bathroom dwelling friend. Past the door, there was a long hall cut through the earth and some sort of sheet metal had been bolted to the dirt walls and ceiling for support. The experience felt quite surreal as though he were walking through time, from the past to the present. It was almost like he had found some government base nestled inside of a wasteland. Updated lighting had been added to the ceiling and for all intents and purposes, it was like being in an army bunker or even a space vessel.

His mind raced to try and understand what he was seeing. Is this an underground lab? Why would there be mecha pilots coming down here then? What are they delivering here? His thoughts were interrupted sharply by a noise that sounded like something being slid against the floor. Against his better judgement, Akihiro stopped dead in his tracks. The plan had been to play along and catch whoever was making that noise off guard. Along the way he likely stopped too long to inspect all of the oddities of this underground base and might have made them suspicious.

“Is that you Reggie?” an aloof man’s voice echoed down the way towards Akihiro.

Several boxes were stacked on the right side of the hall, and he considered hiding there should the need arise. He heard several steps hitting the metal floor with a rattling thud. Before he could even improvise a plan, the footfalls grew louder and more hurried as they moved closer. Akihiro darted behind the boxes and leaned down to keep himself hidden. Now all he could do was wait for his assailant to come; it wasn’t optimal, but it was a far sight better than walking blindly into an open room.

The clomping feet came nearer still and Akihiro could even hear the man chewing on something. The sloshing sound was revolting, but a good focus point to keep tabs on the exact whereabouts of the guy’s head. The working plan was to get his combat knife as close to that creep’s neck as possible. Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ (F)indNƟvᴇl.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Reggie?” the voice called out again as if making one last ditch effort to clarify that he wasn’t just paranoid. The man was so close to where Akihiro was hiding. If he would only move forward a few feet... But instead, the knowing voice alerted a confirmation, that something had gone south. “Shit,” he said before a loud beep could be heard. “Corin, we got a prob...”

Before the voice could get the words out completely, Akihiro emerged from behind the boxes. Trying desperately to keep him from calling in reinforcements, Aki ran forward and buried the knife into the base of the man’s neck. His words became gurgled as blood started to seep into his throat. The man’s eyes were wide with shock and horror as he grabbed at his throat helplessly trying to stop the bleeding.

“Corggg, Ahggghhggggghh neeegggh,” the man’s words couldn’t form into anything coherent leaving Akihiro to almost feel bad for the man. He took the knife out again and as spurts of blood erupted from the deep wound, Aki punched the knife directly into his heart and twisted it. It was a guaranteed quick death and in an instant the man’s body began to slump to the ground. The eyes remained ever accusing as the life faded from them and he fell over as blood ebbed out from under his body in a pool.

Akihiro heard a static emit from the man’s communication device. “Steve..? Read me?” Misaki had said there might be more than two and she was right. This wasn’t just a couple of bandits stopping by to get some supplies. This was a full blown operation and he had been naive to consider otherwise. He looked back down the way he had come and didn’t see his partner anywhere. She was likely staying hidden given the total lack of cover in the long hallway, but he wondered how she might help him if she couldn’t get in close.

“Fuck it,” he said out loud. He quickly frisked the man for a weapon, but there was nothing. He must have left it behind like an idiot, but that wasn’t going to help Akihiro now with the reality of more men coming to his aid. Forgoing his desire to be careful for the urgency at hand, he stormed into the next room to look for Steve’s gun. Even getting a better idea of how he could bunker down would be helpful, but he wasn’t prepared for what he saw.

Rows of screens were lining the far walls with two desks set before them. It was some sort of surveillance setup, but each monitor simply showed what looked to be a small cell including a bed and a dug out latrine. He could make out the shape of a thin man standing motionless in the center of a room, wearing what looked like a huge nightshirt. The man’s strange appearance gave Akihiro the shivers; he almost looked like a ghost.

With a whirring sound, a door behind him slid open and a man armed with a high velocity rifle stepped forward. “You motherfucker!” he shouted as he raised the rifle to center and cocked it with malicious intent. Without much time to think, Akihiro turned on his heels quickly and pulled his knife out as he flew through the air at the heavyset man. If he could just get to him before he managed to fire a shot off, he could still recover this whole mess. The oafish man likely named Corin seemed surprised at his speed and shouted in alarm as Aki slammed into his rifle. The gun fired into the air, ricocheting off the metallic ceiling before lodging into one of the monitors. Using this golden opportunity, Akihiro forced the rifle’s barrel into the man’s face as he slid the knife across his side.

Aki pulled the rifle back, attempting to disarm him, but it was slung around his shoulder making it difficult to remove. Catching Akihiro off guard, the fat man shoved him back, using his gut to push Aki away. He slid to the side taking the chance to pick away at Corin with more cuts, but Aki just couldn’t seem to make a dent in his resilient flesh. Becoming impatient, Corin quickly reared to face Akihiro and let off a burst of ammo in the hopes of actually hitting the lithe target. The shots began bouncing off the walls and Akihiro couldn’t tell if this man was plain stupid or just reckless. He managed to land a long cut on the fool’s left arm, driving it in deeply and pulling it down the length of his arm.

“FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE!” the guy shouted, finally sounding like he was in pain.

As the big oaf lurched forward unable to hold his heavy rifle any longer, another figure stepped out from the doorway behind them and readied a gun aimed right at Akihiro.

“Crap...” the words escaped Akihiro’s mouth as he tried to keep up with the chaos and defend himself. Just then an immensely bright light shot from across the room. The light was so blinding, he had to stop and cover his eyes. As the light subsided and he lifted his hands up from his face, his blurred vision refocused and he could see again. A bright orange line was turning deep brown as the man in the doorway’s head began to slide off of his neck and then fell to the floor.

Akihiro looked to his left to see Misaki standing there with the Prismatic Laser Gun. “Wooo!” he shouted excitedly, almost forgetting that the large-bellied man was still an active threat. Misaki took aim at Corin’s head, looking down her sights.

“No! No!” Akihiro shouted. “I want to interrogate him!” After a moment, she relented and lowered her guard slightly.

“I AINT TELLIN YOU SHIT, MOTHERFUCKER!” the fat man said while thrashing his rifle with his remaining good arm into Aki’s side.

“Someone should teach you some manners,” Misaki said with distaste clinging to her words.

“I’ll teach you something, bitch! Like howto shut the fuck up!” his voice had lost some of its spunk, but he wasn’t about to give up even in his current state.

Misaki looked down the sights of the laser handgun again, aiming lower this time.

“No Misaki! That’s an order!” Akihiro called out as a beam of light shot out from the barrel and amputated the man’s leg clear off with a bright orange line. Unable to balance himself upwards, he fell down in a heap squealing like a pig.

“Fucking bitch took my leg!!” he cried as Misaki walked over to stand beside him.

“Be thankful it was with a laser and not something less surgical. You won’t have to worry about bleeding out as it’s already been staunched,” Misaki said smiling as she looked down at the man, clearly enjoying herself.

The oaf grabbed her ankle in an angry panic, but she simply lowered the gun again aiming for his other leg, “Would you like to crawl for the rest of your life or use a crutch?”

Finally, the man stopped his fighting as the realization of his options dawned on him. Akihiro struggled to lift him up and then assisted him over to a chair by one of the desks.

“Take a seat. I’ve got some questions..” Aki said as he disengaged the rifle from the man’s back and tossed it to the side.

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