#36

You is still laughing as You holds the laser pike, until Klaus jars You out of it. You gets the vague impression that You has been cackling for a rather long time, long enough to forget the seriousness of the situation. And it is rather serious; serious enough to perhaps negate the insane advantage of something as badass as a laser pike. But it's a start. You and Klaus start running down the oddly-lit hallway.

As You runs, You hears an intercom turn on, with a voice almost identical to that of the Fennec Gang intercom; probably the same model. “Security alert; Ultramarine Guard units RE9 and K710 deceased. Prisoner escape in progress. Contain and eliminate.” The mechanical nature of the voice links up with the sterility of the hallway.

You begins to hear other footsteps, and suddenly before You the walls part like liquid, rippling. It's almost enough to give You pause, but You has to do that anyway; four soldiers are emerging. They have guns, but You just has to put faith in the laser pike. It's all You can do.

Two of the pikes blaze at once, and two soldiers are dead; their armor shattered like shells, and their blood and splattered meat interrupts the light of the hallway surfaces. Okay, good to know—laser pikes are not clean killers. You and Your German companion are about to fire again when they do. Suddenly, Klaus' arms are out before You, twirling his pike at incredible speed; the shots are deflected, but his pike is shattered. This gives You an opening.

Even with Your starved legs, You can manage a lunge forward. The guards cry out as You swiftly disarms them, knocking their guns aside with Your pike. Then, doing Your best not to consider it, You stabs the first, while kicking the other to knock him down. By the time You rips the pike out of the first man, You still has enough time to stab the other. The squad has been eliminated.

You looks up, and surveys the area. The hallway begins to curve sharply ahead, and to Your side, the ripple-hole in the wall has already closed. Klaus rejoins You, and You figures You has no way to head but forward.

An alarm bell, which You hasn't noticed until now, continues to sound overhead as You goes. The enemies could appear anywhere if all of the wall surfaces are like that other one; but as the hallway curves, there's a new prospect in the distance. This curved part now ends with a dark space that seems wide and open; You can even hear wind whistling in it, even if You can't see it—Your eyes are still messed up.

The walls in front of You ripple again, but this time, it's not a squad of soldiers. It's two more of the “Ultramarine Guards”. These ones are even taller, and tower over both You and Klaus. It's rather intimidating, until You remembers two words: laser pike.

You fires, but as You does they raise their arms; and a buzzing disc of crackling pink energy appears on their forearms. They easily deflect the shot. And now, it's their turn.

As two laser pike blasts head Your way, You dodges; You has no such shield, obviously. And that's quite a shame.

Klaus jumps over the shots, faster that Your weakened eyes can catch. He lands on his hands and flips again, his incredible bulk swirling around freely, almost roaring through the air. With that sort of projectile the Guard he's targeting can't help but fall backwards. But he's not out. He pushes himself back up, knocking even Klaus aside, though he's lost his pike.

The other is somewhat astonished, but only for a half-second. You reacts too slowly, and he gets another shot off. You conjures up an awkward slide to dodge it, but as You reaches him, he's raising his pike to stab You.

You grabs the pike to stop it, but in Your speed You grabs the sharp part of it. You stops it, but lets out a scream as blood runs down Your hand. Struggling to remain in control, You pushes it aside, against considerable strength. It's like arm-wrestling; but You would like to remind all involved that You is a strong farmer boy, and You's able to give Yourself enough of an opening to stand.

A pike-duel commences, but Your technique is sloppy. The Ultramarine has years, if not decades of experience on You. You makes a bunch of feeble swings as he undercuts and stabs; You keeps leaving Your body open, while he guarantees his guard. Still, at least You has a crazed desperation on Your side; You's pushing him back, and fighting offensively against his defense. You begins to knock him back into the dark chamber behind him, which You realizes is a shaft of some sort.

Just then, he hooks his pike with Yours and lifts You over his head. There's a small catwalk which the two of you have been fighting on, but as he flips You over he's doing so over the shaft. The barbs on his pike that are hooked on Yours, though, are not letting go, and neither is You. This all sounds very suggestive but in reality it is quite terrifying, and You does not find it very pleasant as he perhaps would in the face of it being genuinely suggestive.

The metaphor of the scenario becomes even more confused when Klaus, having since performed another off-stage murder (he snapped another neck), barrels down and knocks both You and the Guard into the pit.

However, the man has precision; and as the Guard falls in, his spear collapses forward in such a way that You is improbably launched towards him, past him, and onto the safety of the catwalk. You feels Your heart stop to the point where Your vision goes black around the edges and Your brain starts screaming, much in the way that in fact Your mouth is screaming as well. You hears Your pike lands next to You, because Klaus' guide powers can allow contrivances such as that, and You continues to hear screaming for a good long while until at last, You is able to decide to stop.

You stands up, and brushes Yourself off. Klaus stares at You, and then walks aside. He points You towards a button on a pedestal, before pushing it.

Moments later, with an eerie near-silence, a massive cylinder descends. It's an elevator car.

A door parts for You, and You enters, with Klaus behind.

There's a holographic display of a number of locations, possibly in ascending or descending order. Some of them are just offices, or strings of numbers; but two seem interesting. One is “Courtyard”, which sounds like just the place to have an execution. Perhaps this was where You was destined to head. However, the other is even more interesting, and the intrigue around suddenly ignites a tiny flame in You. Speaking of destiny, this button reads “E – Office”.

You presses it immediately, and the elevator begins to drop. It can't go fast enough, You realizes. As if in response to this, it begins to take a rather long time.

Eventually, it stops, and there is pause that almost seems to be deliberately conveying suspense. Then, the door opens, and the office You sought is before You.

When You sees what is within, You gasps.