Freedom

On level 13 of the facility the lights had begun flashing red as the facility's speakers blared static. Everybody across the entire Hephaisteion had felt the impact of the explosion. The sound of distant gunfire that was an ever constant ambience, ceased. Ayla stood up shakily as she held her pistols. Seeing the guards across the hallway still disoriented, she rushed over while holstering her pistols

Grabbing the first by the head, she slammed her into the wall before swinging her leg to knock out another guard who had been getting up. After a full minute of beating the guards until they stopped moving, she walked back toward her disoriented allies.

Kneeling down, she helped Cades, who was still shakily getting up. The two moved over to Ajax, "Wake up." Cades said as he shook him awake. Ajax pushed himself onto all fours and nodded before standing.

Ayla gazed down at Eversor and shook her head as she heard his low breathing and quiet mutters, "Eversor, this isn't the time for a nap." she said as she nudged him with her foot.

"My suit. It's heavy…the systems might be damaged…maybe I'm out of gas, or my canisters tore." Eversor groaned as he struggled to just push himself up and onto his knees, "When the explosion went off, I felt the suit give out."

"What?" Cades asked, "Your back is undamaged, and no steam is leaking out. The same didn't happen to us," Cades helped his ally up as he glanced over him for damage.

"It's fine now… it's like whatever happened interfered with the gas system in my suit."

"But that's not possible." Ajax pointed out, "There's a reason we're all using mechanical suits. They protect us from any technological interference. You probably just hit your head…Ranius." Ajax paused before saying the true last name of the man he thought he knew.

"Ranius, get up. We have a War Chief to kill," Cades said as he took Eversor's hand to help his ally stand. Eversor's determination hadn't faltered, and that reflected on his gaze of confidence as he stood. Cades and Ajax turned to try to open the door behind them. Digging their fingers into the crevice between the doors, the two began to pull. The door gave way, slowly opening up.

"The whole system must have been shut down," Ajax said as they were slowly forcing the door open.

Eversor looked towards Ayla and the knocked out soldiers down the hall, "Are you ready? Last chance to back down." he said softly as he stood side by side with her.

"If I don't fight now all the comrades I killed will have died for nothing…and if I don't play some part in this my family will remain at the bottom. If we win my family will get its status returned…maybe even raised to higher one if we're successful."

"So which one is it? Are you fighting because it's too late or for your tribe?" Eversor asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why can't it be both? You said you want the emperor dead. Is it for revenge? Or is it for your family's status?" she asked back, breath her helmet gazing at him with soft questioning eye's. It was a look he hadn't given him before and all he could see of it was her green eye's through the visors. Before he could answer, the door was open.

From the doorway they could see a stairway just feet away from it. Moving up the steps, the four made their way towards the door at the top of the stairs. Their radios came to life, static ringing through the hallway as well as the sounds of stomping footsteps and what sounded like a tussle came from their radios.

"Get off of me!" Elswyth's frantic, muffled screams crackled on the radio.

"Take her to the–" A crunching sound cut off the radio's signal, making them go silent once more.

"Elswyth." Ajax abruptly stopped in his tracks as he looked up at the three others who were a few steps above, "We can't leave her."

"We'll save her afterwards. If I can take a night in a cell she could take some time in the brig. I don't want to leave her either, but Pankraz is our first priority." Ayla said with a shrug of the shoulders.

Ajax quickly shook his head, "But what if the rest of the legionaries get into the facility. It's going to be chaos! Finding her will only be harder!"

"He's right." Cades sighed, "The brig is on level seven. It's guarded but not impossible to get through. With the battle they'll have less security and what they will have will be inexperienced guards. I say one of us should go for her, and the rest of us go for the War Chief."

"I'll go," Ajax said as he turned to walk down the steps, "She risked everything to help us when we were cornered and without her we wouldn't have gotten here."

"Sounds like somebody's got a crush." Eversor called out with a laugh. All three of his allies looked at him perplexingly, "Good luck valiant knight. Save the noble maiden." he joked out as he smiled beneath the helmet. His joking may have bee poorly timed but he hoped his friend would at least find it funny.

Ajax chuckled softly before changing to a serious voice, "She isn't a maiden and we still haven't had a long talk about why it took you so long to tell me about your past…Ranius."

"I'll tell you over some drinks. On me, of course." Eversor said as he began to move back up the stairs. Ajax nodded and began walking down them.

"Good luck." Ayla said as she followed Eversor. Cades stayed silent and followed after Ayla.

Rushing down the stairs Ajax unholstered his submachine guns as he ran back the way he came. Through the twisting and winding hallways, he eventually reached the elevator. "Please work," pressing level seven, the elevator began to move. He breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator began to move, "After that explosion the security must have been reset. What could have done that?"

Turning around Ajax stared upon a sight that took his breath away. He gazed upon the aftermath of the explosion, the battlefield that had been flipped on its head, the destroyed buildings of the facility lay in ruin while the wall of the facility had partially crumbled, "It can't be. He muttered to himself.

Elswyth felt herself being dragged across the floor of level seven, her Thorakai making large scratches in floor, "Toss her in a cell. We don't have time for this," one of the guards said before leaving. She felt herself tossed away and heard the clinking of a locking door.

Her mind flashed with images of her arrival at the facility, the sleepless nights of running over calculations, and her most recent memory of Ajax looking at her as he left with his ally's. Ajax…why am I thinking about you at a time like this? I should be worried about being executed for treason, she thought to herself as she looked around her cold cell.

Feeling for her pistol on her thigh, she realized it had been taken. Wouldn't have done me any good anyways, she thought to herself as she slowly stood up. Moving towards the door, she grabbed the bars of the cell. The room was wide with amenities for her. The cell's bars were old and worn down. Grabbing the bars she tried to pull on them but to no avail as they wouldn't even shake.

Letting go of the bars she turned around and with her left hand used her fingers to grab her index finger and began twisting. The tip of the Thorakai's finger began to unscrew and once revealed a thin and sharp piece of metal that had been covered by the outer layer of the gauntlet's finger.

The sound of soldiers stomping by her cell kept her from turning around as she periodically glanced back at the bars of the cell while waiting for an opportunity to pick the lock.

Ajax stood in the elevator as the door opened, letting him free. Moving forward he raised his submachine guns as he sprinted down the hall. Turning the corner, two guards caught sight of the approaching Roman. Ajax fired at them, eliminating the two threats before turning the corner.

"Sir, there's a Roman on level seven," one of the women in the security room shouted as she attempted to activate the lockdown on that level. The head of security rushed up behind her, clad in his Thorakai, while his subordinates were unarmored.

He slammed his fist onto the table as he watched Ajax move along the screens, making short work of the enemies he was encountering. Throwing grenades around corners, firing from cover, and knowing when to advance, the guards struggled to even slow him down. "Lock it all down!"

"I'm sorry sir but whatever that shockwave did to our system has everything rebooting. We're lucky we even have the camera's back up," she said as she typed in every command she could but to no avail.

"Sir I recommend a full evacuation; the walls of the Hephaisteion won't keep the Romans out now!" one of the security team said as he sweated at his computer.

"Recommendation denied, I have orders from the War Chief himself that any attempts at evacuation will be fired upon. This battle will be won or none of us are leaving," the head of security said as he turned away.

The door to Pankraz's room shook and shuddered as it began to be pulled upon. The scraping of the metal against the floor caused sparks to pepper the ground. After a few seconds the door was thrown open, slamming as it was opened for the three.

Cades held the door open as let Eversor walk forward first. Looking back at them, Pankraz watched as Eversor strode inside of the room at a slow pace as if he was in no rush. As Eversor walked his right arm visibly steamed. Behind him Ayla walked with her pistols in her hands followed by Cades who had his fists clenched.

Pankraz gazed at them from across the room, standing far from them with the glass panes behind him. He was slightly elevated by the raised floor near the glass wall, but only by a few feet. His chin tilted down slightly as he stared at the three.

"So a Roman, a traitorous Germanic and one who is disgraced from both of those peoples have come for me…interesting….maybe if this battle wasn't already won you could have changed how it went. It's over now anyways."

The three stared at the glass behind him, seeing what was left of the cloud the explosion had left being slowly dissipated by the winds and the battlefield that had been buried in debris and dirt, "What did you do?" Cades asked with a slack jaw beneath the helmet.

"I ended this battle with the weapon that will save my people. Save my war," Pankraz stepped forward towards the group. His plated armor was adorned in sheets of metal as if emulating the armor of his ancient peoples. The helmet of his armor had a rounder shape, with the sides having thin pieces of metal jutting out that were attached to the sides of the face.

Metal plating on the breastplate extended down to the middle of the armor's thighs, an armored Fauld. On the back of his armor a round shield was attached with no design besides the worn down scrapes and cuts carved into it. On his right arm a shotgun similair to Cades' was attached and on his hip was another small gun.

A laugh so abrupt and so loud everybody in the room looked towards the source rang out. Cades laughed hysterically as he looked out at the battlefield in the distance, "All…all this? For a few bombs? You're insane! Always rambling about power and those dead ancestors of yours>..this has to be some sick joke! All you want is more killing! That's it right? More killing? You're insane and I should have tried to kill you sooner." In between his words, Cades struggled for breath in his hysterical laughing.

Pankraz looked on with a confused and disturbed expression of confusion as he looked upon the man, "I should have put you down earlier. What was I thinking when I pulled you out of that rubble?" Panrkaz asked himself as he reached back to grab his shield. Holding it high with his right arm, he reached back for a small cylinder on his back that fit comfortably in his grasp.

His thumb ran over the smooth metal to push up a small lever on the surface of the cylinder. From the cylinder an entire spear extended from it, clinking out in chunks revealing a pointed tip with a serrated edge. Lifting it up, the War chief planted his right foot forward while pulling his arm back and winding up his stance. As he held his stance steam built up within the arm increasing the pressure with every passing moment.

Cades raised his arm to fire off the first shot at Pankraz. The pellets of the shotgun barely scraped the shield. Pankraz roared out as if trying to intimidate his enemies while throwing his spear forward. Spinning through the air the Spear grazed Cades' side, tearing out a chunk of his armor revealing the thick pipes and mechanisms within. Cades fell to the floor and continued to fire his shotgun at his enemy from the ground while trying to frantically get back up.

Eversor fired his rifle at Pankraz from across the room. Kneeling, Pankraz used his large shield to cover himself from Eversor's and Ayla's gunfire. Reaching back he unsheathed a blade from his back before standing up and charging closer. Closing the distance, he raised his sword and swiped downwards. Eversor raised his left arm while pushing his fingers against his palm and pulling them back, extending his shield.

Sparks flew as Pankraz's sword collided with Eversor's shield. A shield? What kind of armor is that, Pankraz thought to himself as he retreated back while using his shield to defend himself from the gunfire he was receiving from the two. From behind him Cades ran up and leaped into the air as if to throw a punch, his shotgun fired a spray of pellets before his fist collided with Pankraz's shield. The War Chief had whipped his shield around to defend himself from the attack.

Three of Ayla's bullets tore into the back of the War Chief's armor. Eversor's bullets peppered his back, tearing into the gas pipes beneath his armor. The world seemed to slow down for Pankraz as he was surrounded on all sides by the enemy. They're just children with guns thinking they can kill me! I've been in worse situations, he told himself as he reached for his belt with the arm carrying his shield before tossing a grenade behind him.

Eversor and Ayla leaped away to avoid the explosion. As the grenade exploded, plasma burst from the round metal ball. Droplets burned into their armor and Eversor's rifle, ruining the weapon as he was thrown back from the shockwave. Ayla's pistols flew from her hands as she rolled on the floor. Raising her head, she looked around for her pistols before seeing the spear right in front of her.

Turning his attention back to Cades the War Chief smiled before jutting his sword forward to impale Cades. Dodging to the right Cades pulled his left arm close to his body, wrapping his arm around Pankraz's limb getting Pankraz's arm caught between Cades' arm and body.

Cades' gritted his teeth, and the wound on his head had reopened, letting blood leak down the side of his face as he put all his strength into restricting the War Chief's movement. Pankraz growled like an animal caught in a trap as he thrashed and writhed to get away from Cades' grip. The War Chief smashed the shield against Cades' helmet, denting the helmet and whipping the man's head back but Cade's grip didn't falter.

Cades raised his right arm and pointed his flamethrower at Pankraz's face. With the last bit of fuel he had left he activated his flame thrower, blinding Pankraz's vision for just a moment. Pankraz turned to look away as the heat burned his helmet and he gasped as he saw Ayla running towards him with a spear pointed at his back.

Screaming out in anger, the War Chief threw his body weight sideways, turning the two of them to the side just in time for the spear to narrowly miss him. The serrated edge sliced against Pankraz's abdominal armor, damaging it further.

Pankraz groaned as he felt the damaged metal dig into his stomach painfully, threatening to cut in and slash his organs. Thrashing, his body he slammed his shield into Ayla's neck. The metal plating around her neck bent, pushing against her throat and sending her sprawling onto the ground. Ayla gasped for air, as she writhed on the ground clawing at her neck for air.

Pankraz turned back to Cades, repeatedly using his shield to bash his enemy's helmet until Cades fell to one knee and released Pankraz from his grip. Raising his sword Pankraz swiped down towards Cades' head before Eversor lunged at the War Chief, tackling him away from Cades and onto the floor.

"Ayla!" Eversor screamed out as he slammed his shield against Pankraz's helmet. The War Chief pushed his chin down, using his helmet to shield his vulnerable neck as Eversor bashed his shield against him.

Eversor used his shielded arm to hold down the War Chief's own shield arm. Eversor snapped his fingers trying to retract the blade as his right arm steamed endlessly, even stinging the skin below the armor. In frustration, Eversor roared out and slammed his fist into Pankraz's face.

Pankraz swung his left arm up, pointing the barrel of his shotgun at Eversor's helmet. Acting quickly Eversor grabbed Panrkaz's arm slamming it back down. With their helmets just mere inches from each other, Eversor screamed out as loud as he could. With his voice echoing through the room, his throat stung as his vocal cords were pushed to their limits. Pankraz gazed up at the man with a disgusted look on his face seeing nothing but childish anger as Eversor continued to scream.

"Since when has screaming ever made somebody stro–" Eversor cut Pankraz off by smashing his helmet against the War Chief's whipping his head back into the floor. Pankraz grunted, his vision becoming blurry and the taste of blood blood coated his mouth.

Eversor raised his arm to slam his fist into Pankraz's neck, only for the war chief to swing his left arm up and fire his shotgun. The spray of pellets grazed Eversor's helmet and combined with the War Chief's fist slamming into it, the Roman fell to the floor.

Ayla slowly stood up as she pushed the neck plating on her armor back into place to keep it from suffocating her. Gasping for air, she looked around for her fallen pistols. She watched as Pankraz slowly began to rise. Running for her weapon, she slid onto the ground to pick it up and begin firing at Pankraz. The War Chief jerked back and forth as her bullets collided with his armor. He winced as he felt three shots hit him in the abdominal area of his armor, further damaging it.

Yelling in pain, the War Chief reached for the gun at his hip. The gun appeared to be a submachine gun but bulkier and without a magazine. Firing the weapon, bursts of plasma came out of the barrel. Ayla lunged to dodge, but a ball of plasma collided with her right hand and thigh. Gripping her wrist she screamed as the plasma burned her hand beneath the armor partially melting the palm of it. The pistol she had been holding lay on the floor, having its grip melted off.

Pankraz turned to Cades who was standing shakily with one hand on his helmet that had a large gash in it from Pankraz's shield. Cades raised his gaze to gaze at Pankraz as he panted, barely holding himself together.

Pankraz ran at Cades ramming his shoulder into Cades' chest, tackling him all the way to the glass wall. Pankraz holstered his submachine gun and grabbed Cades' by the back of the neck.

Pulling back, he slammed Cades' head against the glass. Multiple times he slammed him against the glass wall, "Apparently the Greeks who built this facility used Vulpecula glass for this…your head will be crushed before the glass even cracks." He sneered as he looked upon Cades' dented helmet.

"I'll…kill…you." Cades muttered as beneath the helmet he spat blood.

Pulling his head back Pankraz's arm locked, building up pressure within the suit that made it begin to shake and sputter as the pressure rose, "You have lived as a slave and so you will die as one." Pankraz pulled back just a bit more in preparation to kill his enemy when a hook embedded into his arm. Steam from the broken valves shot out as the pressure was released. Pankraz looked back with wide eyes as he saw Eversor using his grapple hook to hold the arm back.

Pankraz looked on in disbelief as he watched the gas fly out of his damaged arm. Glass that won't break? Let's test that out, Eversor thought to himself as he gripped the coil attached to his arm and pulled with all his strength.

Whipping Pankraz back the War Chief was dragged across the floor, scraping the ground and sending sparks flying as Eversor swung the War Chief in a circle around the room until he collided with the glass. Retracting the hook, Eversor reached down to take the spear with two hands only to see that the shield on his arm fully covered his left hand making it impossible to hold with both. Retracting his shield, the Roman charged at his enemy after picking up the fallen spear.

Pankraz had his back to the wall as he breathed shakily from the impact, hunched over his head hung low as Eversor charged forward with the spear. Stomping across the floor, the Roman was just a few feet in front of Pankraz when the War Chief's head shot up.

Jerking his arm up the War Chief fired a shot of pellets directly into Eversor's chest penetrating into the armor. Pankraz fired a second shot, sending the spear flying. The War Chief watched with a smile on his face as Eversor fell forward. The Roman's right foot implanted itself into the ground as he began to fall forward towards the floor. Watching on Pankraz saw that Eversor's body appeared to have gone limp before he caught himself with his left foot.

Eversor pushed himself up as blood leaked from his mouth beneath the helmet before grabbing onto the area between Pankraz's neck and shoulder blade digging into the groove between the armor. The War Chief's armor locked up just as Cades' armor had during their fight an hour before.

Foolish boy, Pankraz thought as he pushed his fist close to Eversor's chest, the shotgun on his forearm clicked. Eversor's eyes went wide before he pulled his left arm to his chest, trying to block the coming blast with his arm. Within a split second, the blasting sound and flare of Pankraz's shotgun was followed by Eversor being thrown back across the room rolling and tumbling, his body denting and scraping the ground. As his momentum gave out Eversor lay limp on the floor scraping to a stop.

"Eversor!" Ayla screamed out as she and Cades watched him skid to a stop. Eversor was still and limp on the floor. Under the helmet, blood leaked from the side of his mouth while steam came off the bullet holes from his armor as he lay there.

"It's over now...Cades… Colonel Ayla…tell me...was it worth it? Allying with a Roman...was it worth betraying the tribes?" Pankraz said rather calmly before reaching down for the sword he had dropped and sheathing it. Taking the shield off of his arm he dropped the hole riddled shield before dropping it.

Beneath her helmet Ayla's eye's watered, "Yes...for my tribe...Maybe even for him..just to give him a chance to do the right thing and end this." She whispered to herself as her head lowered.  Cades could barely even hear her words and Pankraz hadn't. "Eversor get up! Get up you lousy Praetorian…is that all it takes to make you go down…get up!" She yelled desperately as Eversor remained unmoving.

Cades on the floor looked out at the last heir of House Ranius, "Get up Ranius…get up! Our war hasn't even started...you said you'd kill an emperor, and yet you can't even kill one War Chief? What kind of Praetorian are you? A real Praetorian…would not let a fight end until he had won… it's only over when you've given up…get up!" Cades screamed at his ally as he raised his head, showing the mangled helmet while reaching out for him

Blood dripped from Eversor's mouth inside of the helmet as nothing more than a low groan came from him. Can you guys just stop being so loud…always arguing…just let me sleep, he thought to himself.

"Eversor think about it! What about your Father? Domiton? You're going to let the emperor get away with this? Are you going to let Ioannis win...are you just going to let him sit on the throne? What about my tribe? What about Cade's family? What about your allies? Think!" Ayla shouted as she sat up, just barely out of reach of her second pistol.

The red glow in the crevices in Eversor's armor began to illuminate even more as the systems inside of his armor, ones that were covered in dirt and old grime from lack of use after decades rebooted.

Pankraz simply shook his head and grabbed the submachine gun at his hip and aimed it at the two. Ayla's attention was pulled away and back towards the War Chief as he aimed down his sights. His body shook and his breath was shaky as the fight was taking its toll. Pankraz began pushing his finger against the trigger when he heard a large clank from behind him.

Turning around, the War Chief witnessed Eversor rising to one knee before slowly standing up. Raising his left arm, Eversor showed off his shield. In middle of the shield, the symbol upon it was dented by the point blank shot but not penetrated.

Glancing at his gauntlet, his brows furrowed. The metal that was previously bent beyond use looked as if it had pieced itself back together. The metal before his eye's was putting itself back into place as the armor repaired itself.

How many more times is this shield going to save me? I didn't even want it…it looks like the rumors were true. Damn you Domitian, dying on me without telling me shit, Eversor thought to himself. The red hue around the crevices were glowing brighter than ever.

Eversor shook inside his armor that rattled, trying not to collapse beneath its own weight. His gaze turned to Ayla as he nodded slowly. Ayla nodded, smiling beneath her own helmet as she had faith in him killing the War Chief. Eversor's head turned to look back at his enemy. The two men stood a good distance apart from each other as the blast had sent him far across the room.

Pankraz turned towards him, holding up his rifle with quivering arms and shaky breath, aiming down his submachine gun's sight. As Eversor rose before him, he saw his enemy already taking steps forward. It doesn't matter if he gets closer, he's got no weapon, even then he's in worse shape than I am, the War Chief thought to himself as he watched his enemy pick up speed.

Eversor's heavy stomps rushed forward towards his enemy as he grunted his exhausted legs rushed towards Pankraz. Charging forward, he grimaced as the War Chief fired his submachine gun, burning the armor that his shield didn't cover.

You Romans just never give up, Pankraz thought to himself as he reached for his sword with his free hand. Raising the sword, he fully expected his enemy to attempt to tackle him. Eversor was just feet away from him as Pankraz raised his sword, roaring out as he swung downwards in pain and anger.

The War Chief's yell was quickly drowned out by Eversor's roar of fury. The two men's voices mixed together as Eversor held his shield up to defend himself from the plasma that hit the shield. Once he felt his shield touch the barrel of Pankraz's gun, he locked eyes with Pankraz from his leaned position. Roaring out in anger, he snapped his three fingers together, extending his blade piece by piece until it was fully extended.

Pankraz gasped as he looked down at the blade that appeared to come from nowhere before it stabbed through his damaged abdominal armor. Pushing through the damaged plates, it gouged itself into his gut, tearing through his organs and making blood spray from the wound. The gushing blood stained Eversor's armor and shield, staining the Chi-Ro symbol upon it.

Pushing forward, Eversor continued to roar out as Pankraz screamed out in pain, the sound of his agony and Eversors fury mixing together into a deafening sound that went silent as the blade pushed through Pankraz's body and outside the back of the War Chief's Thorakai.

Cades and Ayla watched on in horror as Pankraz's arm went slack and his sword fell to the floor with a rattling sound. A long moment of silence passed as Eversor panted in exertion and steam emanated from his armor, "It doesn't matter…if you kill me." the War Chief wheezed, "The battle is…over."

Eversor said nothing for a few moments that were filled with the guttural sounds of Pannkraz's ragged breaths, "A Roman once said...that the victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so." Ripping the blade out of the War Chief's gut, Eversor let the so-called victor fall to the ground. "I do not consider myself vanquished…and neither are my allies." Pankraz wheezed as he spat blood beneath the helmet while the rest of his blood pooled beneath him. The Roman's words echoed in his head as he lay dying.

Stepping away Evesor left the War Chief to lay there in a pool of his own blood.. Turning around he grunted as he felt another Thorakai collide with his, "Ayla." he muttered out before feeling his head whipped back by Ayla's remaining good hand smacking his face.

"When did you get permission to…scare…us like that? Tell me! I want to know!" Ayla shouted as Cades came up from behind them, "What took you so long to get up? You looked pathetic there just taking your time."

Cades stepped past his two ally's who watched on as he kneeled next to Pankraz, "You said i'd die a slave...look at you now. What are you dying as? A defeated War Chief...who brought about his own death."

Pankraz looked up as he sputtered for the words to speak back to Cades but none came as he twitched on the ground. Cades' wide eyes stared into Pankraz's eye's that were filled with anger and fear. After a few moments Pankraz's twitching stopped and the color faded from his blue eyes.

Eversor watched as Cades stood up and looked away from the dead War Chief, "Your free Cades...and with you house Erbach is as well." Reaching out, the two men shook hands.

"Damn you both… all this talk about houses when there's barely any of you." Ayla scoffed as beneath her helmet she blinked away the tears that threatened to come out of them. Sniffling softly she tuned away hoping they didn't hear her. Eversor did, and he smiled beneath the helmet.

"Thank you...both of you." Eversor said as he let go of the handshake to step forward and take Ayla's hand. Ayla looked back and down at Eversors shield and nodded.

Meanwhile, downstairs Ajax stomped forward. The slamming of his Throrakai's boots against the ground echoing through the hallways. Speeding up, his shoulder collided with the door ahead of him. Breaking through the door chunks of metal went flying into the faces of the guards who had been waiting behind it.

Ajax fired his gun into the first guard, emptying his magazine before lunging forward at the next. Slamming into the guard, he rammed his elbow into the guard's chest before whipping him in the head with his weapon, knocking the guard out. The last guard fired at Ajax with his rifle from down the hall.

Ajax grabbed the dead guard behind him and turned, using the guard's body as a shield while running forward at the last guard who screamed out as the Roman approached. Discarding the guard's body, Ajax grabbed the guard's head, slamming him to the ground before picking him up again and throwing him against the wall. On the ground, the soldier felt his helmet whacked by Ajax's foot knocking him out.

The Roman panted as he stepped forward, passing by the cells. All of the cells were empty before he reached one. Elswyth stood at the bars, gripping them as she looked up at Ajax. Standing in front of her she saw the Roman standing tall, with armor that shined with steam coming from its crevices and off of the armor itself. He looked strong in her eyes, skilled, and, in a way, daring.

In reality, Ajax was panting, his body burning inside of the armor, causing him to sweat and tire. His shaky stance was barely being held together, and his armor was covered in scrapes, dents, and burns. The Thorakai he wore had several bullet holes and chunks taken out from it. Pointing his gun at the lock on the door, he pulled the trigger, firing and destroying the lock before throwing it open, "Let's get back to the others." he said with tired breaths.

With the door open, Elswyth rushed forward to embrace Ajax. Her arms wrapped around his waist as she buried her helmet into the crook of his neck, "Thank you...I didn't know if any of you would come." she said as beneath the helmet, her eyes were clenched shut.

Ajax stood there dumbfounded for a few moments, his arms still hanging at his side before he slowly wrapped his arms around her, "You're welcome." he said softly before his arms moved to push her away, "Let's go before reinforcements arrive."

"Right," she said before she followed him as he began to retrace his steps to the elevator. Reaching the elevator, they began to head up toward the thirteenth floor slowly but surely. Glancing out at the battlefield that was silent, "They did this? Pankraz….he must have used…but it's not possible we ran out of the materials for those long ago." she said as she looked out at the battlefield dumbfounded.

"Clearly, it's possible. He fired an atomic." Ajax said grimly as he looked out at the battlefield while feeling a pit deep in his stomach.