He was a "rock and roll messiah"
She was known for her childcare
The truth is gonna give up the world
If you can give up the stage
-Lyrics to "Stage' performed by Live
Crimson Bonds Part 85
The ground shook violently for the entire sustain of the Siren scream that pierced the air from the operating room.
In the holding area, Celeste gasped sharply as she lowered herself to her knees to brace herself against the tremors while sand that was shifted overhead fell through the cracks of the ceiling. Her enlarged eyes filled with fear, she peered around through the flickering lights that finally came back to their full brightness once the shaking stopped.
Arms at her sides, the Companion slowly rose back up with a whispered, "W-what was that?" Peering over to her side, she froze when the saw the pale, stricken expression on her lover's face. "Solo?" she frowned deeply.
Without raising his head to meet her gaze, the blonde Hybrid's wide violet-and-silver eyes wouldn't so much as blink as he managed softly, "Anna. I heard her screaming when that came on..." Suddenly, his head snapped to the side and his concern grew tenfold when he took in his brother as his own eyes snapped open with a familiar glow. "Duo," he called, his composure coming back instantly. "Don't..."
But it was too late and he knew it.
His head reeling back, Duo's eyes closed and his mouth opened to emit a ferocious howl unlike anything human or animal that reached a near deafening pitch.
Covering her ears, Celeste dropped back down to the floor and shielded her eyes just as she noted cracks warping their way through the glass of their cells. Under the incredible pressure of the unearthly sound, the near impenetrable barriers shattered into thousands of pieces that flew into the air with a bright ring.
Maddened by his rage, the braided half-breed snarled at the first being that he could take his rage out on... and she was crouched down in the opened cage beside him.
"Oh God," the Latin Companion breathed when she realized the terrible situation she was in by staring down at the predator that was slowly climbing to his feet with his glowing eyes fixated on her. "Duo," she tried soothing while rising up into a crouch with her hands raised and feet slowly pacing back away from her brother. "Please... don't..."
Fangs growing in, Maxwell howled again and lunged for her. In mid-air, only inches from claiming her, Solo intercepted his twin and knocked him down to the ground as they became a tangle of limbs that kicked and punched to get the better of the other. His own eyes glowing, the blonde Hybrid struggled to free himself enough to meet his partner's terrified gaze. "Celeste!" he cried, "Get out of here now!"
Not needing to be told twice, the brunette broke from her shock and nodded. Jumping from her damaged cage, she ran for the main doors and rushed through them as they opened to put as much distance between herself and the crazed Hybrid as possible. Passing through the corridor, she was only then aware of the pulsing alarms that were sounding throughout the entire base.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Here we go!" Trent exclaimed at the arrival of the last jeep that completed the entire ring of the five-mile wide base. Closing his left eye, he took aim with his cannon and fired the glass beam into his designated mark. At his lead, the remaining Others pulled back on their triggers to follow suit while their drivers continued to wrap around the facility's ceiling.
At the impact of the blue beams, the metal beneath the dirt moaned and creaked as it was sliced away from its foundation. Peering back at his brother, Mueller cheered, "Nice shot! Just don't let go now!" Gripping the wheel, he kept on in a perfect pace behind the driver in front of him.
Flying into the scene, Heero stopped himself above the center of the ring that was being cut out. Under his breath, he muttered anxiously, "Comeoncomeoncomeon."
With not long for the Companions to go, the Vampires that had followed them materialized around every edge of what was about to become their entryway. "Comeoncomeoncomeon," Wufei murmured under his breath with his cousin and sons close by.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The piercing wail of tearing metal overpowered the sound of the alarms throughout the facility. From every nook and cranny, confused and dazed Hunters were stumbling out of their living quarters in various states of undress or attempting to pull on fresh clothes after being awoken so abruptly from their sleep. Staring up at the source of the grinding steel, the lot shouted in horror at the sight of the glowing ceiling.
"What the hell is going on out there?" Septum hissed, turning away from the crying baby in Adodera's arms.
Pushing himself away from Anna's lifeless body, he headed for the com at the door just as one of his guards cried through its speakers, "Boss, we're under attack! Someone or something is opening up the roof! And the Hybrids are out of their cells!"
His dark eyes narrowing, Millers growled, "Nonono. Not now." Spinning on his heels, he turned his pistol back onto the young woman who was placing the last of the triplets into his incubator. "How are they?!" he demanded.
On the verge of emotional collapse, Gloria kept a watchful eye over her tiny patients and shook her head, "They're all of good sizes and weights for being multiples at this stage in their gestation, but they shouldn't be moved until I know they're breathing fine They were pulled before they were full-term, so they need to be monitored closely."
Gulping down bile, she glanced over to the operating table where the Irish Infected lay open and bleeding into the bags that had been placed at either side of her abdomen. So much blood. Her eyes closed and skin white as a sheet, Anna's head was tilted to the side as though she were only sleeping. But the distraught doctor knew better as her eyes drifted back to the nearly full bags.
So much blood.
The researcher snarled in frustration and focused on Berg to order, "Finish it! We need to move if we're going to reach the emergency hatch in time!"
Nodding, Doctor Berg took up Doctor Adodera's medical tray and gripped the scalpel. A wild, lustful glint in his eyes, the old man hummed to himself as he bent over the dead Infected's midsection.
Mortified by what she was seeing, Gloria let out a sharp cry and turned away to look after her charges that she could save.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Telepaths!" Treize bellowed when the cuts that had been made linked up to reveal the light from deep within the ground.
Already in place, Lady Une and those gifted with the ability to do so mentally lifted the heavy plate of metal that had been exposed by the sifting dirt high into the air.
The moment there was a wide enough opening for them, Heero and Wufei were amongst the first to descend into the pit while Broderick and a handful of Others took to the elevator shaft. Using claws and metallic ropes provided by Catherine, they scaled down to the first level of the lair.
Greeted by the first wave of defense, Chang raised a hand in the air and pointed his index finger up to the starry night. Upon his silent command, the Hunters' weapons flew from their grasps to soar from their sight.
From there, the stunned unarmed livings we were powerless against the weapons being aimed at them. "Stand down if you don't want this to end badly for you," the scaly Infected warned in a low rumble as his fangs grew in. Folding their hands behind their heads, the couple dozen guards got to their knees and lowered their heads.
Charles and John became blurs of themselves as they restrained their captives while their father and the hoard of Vampires with him made their way further into the catacomb maze of catwalks.
For every progression they made, there were more Hunters coming about their senses and challenging them. But as promised, every means to not harm the livings was used. Throughout the facility, gunfire and shouts could be heard from both sides of the fight.
"Over here!" Broderick hollered over the commotion to the scaly Vampire when he finally caught up to him. Waving his free hand, he gripped his rifle in the other and pushed past the thickening crowd of his former allies to lead the charge for the laboratory.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In one of the thicker fire fights at the opposite end of the base, there was an entire catwalk of agents and Hunters locked down as they protected themselves behind doors, railings and anything else they could used as a shield. Occasionally peeking out to send off a few rounds at their opponents, neither side was gaining ground.
Suddenly, Septum emerged from behind one of the shot up barricades guarded by the Vampires. Waving frantically to his soldiers, he shouted, "Stop firing! They took me captive!"
Taken by surprise, the men and women that had been holding their position craned their heads out to blink at their Boss. And that brief hesitation was more than enough for one gifted Vampire to raise her hand up and the air above the mortals became an invisible, heavy force that pushed them down to the ground with startled cries.
Chuckling deeply, Septum's body shifted until Zechs stood in his true form. "That never gets old," he smirked as his wife and cousin emerged from their shelters at his back.
Treize snickered and patted the Vampire Speaker's arm on his way past to investigate the sealed off rooms that had been so heavily protected by their opposition.
Noin began searching the new captives that had put up the fight for additional weapons when she stopped short at a familiar face amongst the Hunters sitting with their hands freshly bound behind their backs. Her fangs slipping past her lips, she hissed, "Mark Barnet."
The young, normally cocky young man raised his head in surprise at hearing his name from the Councilwoman. Lucrezia cracked her knuckles, smirking, "This is for Anna and Emma." The punch she delivered knocked out cold before her hit the floor.
Forcing the first door open with a shove of his shoulder, his blue-and-gold eyes widened at what he found. A long, thick chain hanging amongst filing cabinet after filing cabinet was all that he needed to realize that he was standing in Millers' office. And there was a laptop sitting below a stack of files on the desk.
As he hurried back out onto the catwalk, he shouted to his agents, "I want everything in here packed and taken back with us to be analyzed! Make sure that it's cleared out before we have to go! Search every one of these rooms for anything else we'll need!"
Quickly, a handful of Vampires ran into the office to carry out the order while their Commander, Zechs and Noin opened the remaining doors to lend a hand to the efforts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Solo panted as he tried to keep his sleeper hold on his brother, gritting through his teeth, "Come on, you bastard. Just go out and give it up. We're not going to be able to kill each other and we're on the same side anyway, damn it!" Bleeding from many cuts and scrapes that they received as well as delivered, the twins remained entangled and disheveled from their long spar to get the better over the other.
For every blow and power they tried to unleash, they were perfectly matched and so deadlocked as far as either of them gaining the upper hand. For the blonde Hybrid, his main goal was to hold his counterpart off so that he could at least give whatever was making its way inside the base time to find them before any real damage was done.
But that objective was brought to a decisive halt when the main doors slipped open to reveal a whole hallway filled with Hunters aiming their guns on the Hybrids. "Nonono," Solo breathed as he looked up in a panic, the glow of his wide eyes fading when he took in the livings as he fought to keep his squirming brother pinned beneath him. "Get the hell out of here, you idiots! I can't hold him much longer!"
No sooner had he yelled his warning did Duo regain his balance enough to push himself up so quickly and with such strength that he knocked his twin off of his back. His illuminated eyes shifting to the slack-jawed mortals, he smirked darkly.... and sprang for them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rosshe brushed his hands after restraining more than a handful of livings that he had run into with handcuffs that linked together. Peering to his grazed left shoulder, he whistled through his teeth at the close call he had avoided during their exchanges of gunfire. "Good thing that's the worst of anything between us," he muttered to himself. From the corner of his eye, he noted five of his closer friends closing in.
"Nice job, mate," Darnell smiled alongside his wife, Margi.
Trowa nodded, "I'll take it from here." Facing his 'nephews,' he informed, "When I get back, I'll be heading for the lab. Your Dad and Uncle Heero should have reached it by then." That said, he held onto one Hunter's shoulder and disappeared in a swirl of colorful light along with the prisoners latched on by their chains.
Gazing over the ledge of the catwalk he was currently on, Rosshe watched his fellow Preventers darting through the rooms and halls to clear them one-by-one.
For as far as he could see, more Transporters were collecting the prisoners that would then be sitting in the Vampire holding cells where Lucie was already stationed for the time being. "We'll be out of here in no time at this rate," the Egyptian Infected smiled in relief.
Charles brushed the back of his hand over his brow with a sigh. "This whole mission's going a lot smoother than I thought it would," he commented. Gesturing to his brother, he smirked, "Not bad for your first official field assignment. You'll be great at taking down Rogues some day."
His head shaking, John snorted, "Yea, well it does help to be able to see through objects when clearing a facility like this ou-" Eyes growing, the youngling froze in shock for a breath before he glared down the corridor that he had been searching.
Beyond the wall at the end of the stretch, he could plainly see a wide elevator shaft buried in the ground... a hidden escape route for a person to slip out unnoticed.
"Son of a bitch," he hissed. Facing his teammates, he urged, "This way!" Becoming a blur of themselves, they dodged flying bullets and laser beams in their rush for their new target.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Blasting his way through walls and suspended walkways, Heero was the first to reach the laboratory. At the appearance of the closed doors that Broderick had drawn out to the finest of details, the Original's gold-and-cobalt eyes narrowed fiercely as he raised his Buster Rifle to send a ball of energy ahead of himself and soared through the opening it burned out for him.
At first, he was caught off guard by the empty first room... until a head framed by long, dark hair peeked out from beneath a white table. Gasping sharply, the lovely Companion stared up in disbelief at the Vampire. "H-Heero," she whispered as tears flooded her eyes.
Yuy landed as the Latin immortal threw herself at him, latching onto his neck in a tight hug. "Oh, thank God!" she whimpered. "I thought that we were going to die here!"
Reluctantly pulling back after a quick squeeze to reassure her, Heero rested his hands on her shoulders and asked, "Where are the others, Celeste?" Beyond the next set of doors, his strained ears picked up on a frightening howl, gunshots and crazed cries of pain. His eyes growing, he was about to shoot his way through the barrier his arm was grabbed.
"Heero, Solo's looking after Duo but it's Anna you need to get to now!" the Companion shrieked when their eyes locked again. "We heard her screaming just before..."
Desperately clinging to his sanity at that, the Original gripped her arms as he demanded, "Where?!"
Shaking her head, Celeste sputtered, "I-I think I saw where she was probably moved to when I was running out here. That lab is a maze, but I remember the turns I took." Yelping when she was latched onto so that her chest was pressed against her rescuer's side, she gulped as she saw their feet leave the floor with one strong flap of the wings on the Vampire's back.
Eyes glaring at his target, he lifted his rifle on his free right arm and warned, "Hang on."
The Latina wrapped her arms around his neck once more and turned her head away when the doors were blasted away. Flying through the long hallways, he released his need to be reunited with Duo for the sake of seeing his sister and babies safely away... even though he was nearly torn apart inside when he could hear his Chosen's voice snarling and snapping away in his wild state.
Pointing to the turn coming up on the left of a fork in their path, Celeste yelled, "That way!" Carrying both of them as fast as his pack allowed, Yuy took the turn and allowed his company to guide him.
Mere minutes behind them, Wufei materialized in the first room of the laboratory and stared down the opening that his brother had created. Upon the sounds of struggle coming from further inside, his onyx-and-gold eyes narrowed and he surged down the main hall to take to the right at the fork.
When he was nearly halfway down the channel, the scaly Infected came to an abrupt halt.
Blinking in shock, he took in the corridor that had turned from silver metal to red from the blood and mangled corpses of livings strewn throughout the space. And crouched in the center of the carnage was the growling beast of his vision. Hands were dripping blood, Duo's violet-and-silver eyes pierced the dark to glare dangerously at his new mark.
Just like as the glimpse into the future revealed, the distraught creature howled and lunged forward in a headlong rush for Chang. Glaring at his brother, the Chinese warrior raised his hands and intercepted the violent blow that knocked them both to the ground. "Duo!" he shouted as they fought each other on the floor. "Snap out of it! It's me!"
Nothing he managed to say between defending himself against the incredibly strong assault that would have ripped a mortal apart was getting through to the Hybrid. Too consumed by his blind rage, Maxwell was only concerned with destroying any and everything in his way.
A few feet away, Solo groaned as he pushed himself up from where he had been lying unconscious amongst the dead. Shaking his head to clear it, he winced at the slight throbbing from the punch to his temple that he hadn't been prepared for. The dark bruise from the punch was fading even as he slowly got his bearings enough to stand. With a sharp gasp, he scanned his wide eyes over the bodies of over forty men and women that were unrecognizable.
Then he spotted the intense fight that he had woken to.
His skin paling and jaw falling open, the blonde Hybrid recognized the identity of the scaly Vampire as he breathed, "Wufei." Violet-and-silver eyes narrowing, he became a blur of himself and slammed into his twin to give the Infected a chance to get to his feet.
"Solo, he can't hurt me!" Chang yelled over the snarls of the embattled half-breeds. "I'll take care of him! Just get to Anna!"
In having forced Duo back a few paces, his twin nodded firmly at remembering the impenetrable scales that protected the Vampire. "He has to seal this away!" he shouted, taking advantage of the opening before the next strike. "We had a mantra! All of this goes into a box!"
Using his mindreading ability now that he was back in the braided Hybrid's presence, Chang went into the deep recesses of his mind. Once he locked onto the black box, he nodded firmly, "Got it!" The crazed Hybrid got his wind back from the last kick to his gut that he had received. Screaming, he disappeared in a blur to bring Solo down when the Chinese Infected materialized to block the blonde Hybrid and to take his brother on instead.
Slammed up against the nearest wall and pinned there with an arm pressed against his neck, Wufei bellowed, "Go!"
Though he wished to stay and help, the elder half-breed couldn't help wanting to get to Anna to save her even more. Spinning on his heels in the opposite direction, he vanished from sight in his charge to locate his sister.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Only one door of the many in the hallway that Heero and Celeste were searching was closed. Landing before it, the Original carefully set the Companion down and gripped the sealed panels to pry them open.
Hurrying into the room once the warped metal was ripped apart to him, Yuy stopped himself short at the sight that greeted him. The air that he had unknowingly been holding rushed out of his lungs in a ragged breath as his eyes grew. To the lifeless body lying on the table, he murmured a faint, "O-oh my God."
TBC...
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