Vol 2 Ch 3(Matt): Expedition (Part 1/3)

As we teleported off I set a timer, 3 days is our time limit, it may seem like a lot, but in our situation, it would take two days just going in and out, so we had 1 day only for extra time

3 days until extraction

"Here, I'll mark it on the map" Kenneth summoned his hud and placed a yellow waypoint on the area we were going to.

"Just in case we get separated right?" Crystal walked in front of us

"Yep, exactly that" While he said that he slowed down until he was next to me, then he walked at my pace "How's the arm? Did it malfunction yet?" Kenneth started spewing a ton of questions

"The arm is fine, no issues yet either, although, using magic with it...it feels off" I looked at my arm, using it was weird enough, but trying to fight with it is a whole other situation

"Tsk" I heard Crystal, we both went over to her "There" Before I could say anything she pointed over at Eaxura, I took out my binoculars and looked around

"Is that....." It looked like a corruptor and yet, it looked like one of those things

"They don't just eat them anymore? They fuse!?" Kenneth knelt down and began looking "We can take that path" I saw another waypoint on my map, from the looks of it, while it was safe now, in a few hours we would be surrounded if we didn't leave:

"In and out, we don't have time for looking around" Crystal looked concerned at my comment "What?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it" Crystal began to stretch "Let's get going now, if it's as you say, staying here is a horrible idea"

"Alright, Matt, Take point" Kenneth moved aside so I could get in front of him. We began to make our way into the inner workings of Eaxura, that was until we met a roadblock, AKA, Those new Corrupted things

"What do we do?" Crystal asked as we all went up against a building while I peeked around the corner

"It's only one, I was thinking of just killing it, but we don't know what it can do anymore" The thing moved sparaticly, with random movements like it was glitching across the place "Sneaking past it is our only option really"

"We can't even see where we're going without light, did you forget how dark it is?" Crystal had a point, except, I'd had already been accustomed to the dark by those supply runs, so I could see just fine, but it didn't include them, so there was no point in mentioning it to the two.

"How about we go in the building?" I looked at the building we were leaning on, it had UV lights in them

"Heh, I don't blame them" When Crystal noticed the UV lights she made the comment, with Kenneth interjecting

"I get what you mean, they make Eaxura in semi-eternal darkness, so, why not think that they're afraid of the sun's rays?" Kenneth moved away any broken glass that might've stabbed us and motioned me to go. I vaulted the window and landed on broken glass, I looked at Kenneth

"There was no point after all" I gave a joking shrug and moved out the way so they could get in. While getting in, Crystal managed to get hit in the leg

"Damn!" Her thigh was bleeding

"How'd you manage that?" Kenneth sat her down and checked

"Hey! I'm not as tall as you all, you made it so you and Matt could get in, not someone my size!" I looked at the window because of Crystal's comment, after looking at it, yeah, the lower glass was still there

"It's fine, we have an extra day of time, and, I'm assuming you won't let a little stab stop you" I looked around the store while Kenneth dealt with the demon girl

"I'll be fine!" The two began to argue, Crystal most likely wanted to leave it be while Kenneth wanted to bandage it.

"You're bleeding! Heavily I may add!" I looked over at them, the blood began to make a small puddle, although we were DTs, we bleed a lot when we get cut, so it's not as serious as it may sound or look.

"We're not even human! What does it matter!?" The yelling was getting to the point that I knew they would be on us

"Both of you, shut up already! Unless you wanna die I suggest we all just be quiet" I shouted, but to the point the outside wouldn't hear us. Crystal stopped resisting and let Kenneth bandage her

"Alright, there, let's get going now" She stood up and stretched her leg.

"We just have to go through a different window, I'll clear it this time" I turned my robot arm into a small hammer to knock the glass off, that was until I got pulled down under the window "what?" Crystal was on the other side of the store, she stood against the door to the place while making sure she was under the windows, and thanks to Kenneth, we were both under the window as well, although not the same one. Kenneth motioned at the window, after seeing that, Crystal tossed me a mirror, she saw my confusion and mouthed what looked like "Don't ask" or "Shut up" Although I wasn't even talking...although, it made me wonder why she had a mirror.

I used the mirror to see what was through the window without looking up and on the other side of the window was that thing, it started to turn towards the store we were in and I brought the mirror down. I looked around and saw a door

"kenneth, how tall is this building?" I whispered as quiet as I could manage

"i dunno, most buildings are like...seven stories?" I looked through my hud and saw it, a zipline, one that I could shoot and set myself "i see what you're doing, alright" Kenneth motioned for Crystal to join us, she crouch-walked towards us

"what?" I moved my hud to face her, then she knew what I was getting at "we still have to get past that thing you know, it'll see us when we do it"

"i'll set it on another building, then, hopefully, we'll be gone before it gets to us" Everyone seemed to be in agreement "Alright, now, let's get to i-" A blast to the wall beside me cut me off, we were only a few decibels higher and yet it heard us! "Damn it, go!" We ran to the door, Crystal ended up slamming into the door telling us that it was locked "Move it!" I changed my arm to a crowbar and prayed the door, I could hear the thing behind me, with the others firing at it

"What is it, immune to bullets!?" I heard Crystal, and soon she was beside me "I'll kick it, you pry!" I nodded, and right as her leg hit the door I pryed it, it seemed to work, but only slightly

"Again!" I shouted and we repeated it, she kicked, I pryed, it was nearly broken, but any further attempts didn't do anything else.

"Ahh, fuck this!" She stabbed herself in the hand, causing a massive cylinder spear to appear

"What the..." Last I checked, I don't recall her ever knowing much magic. When Crystal closed her hand, the spear launched at the door, breaking it "Kenneth! Let's go!" I turned around and immediately ducked down as that thing launched something at us. I went inside the door, waiting for the two...It took a second but Kenneth and Crystal both came running in, allowing me to place down one of Kenneth's things

"Kenneth!" As he heard me, he took out his spear and jabbed it into a small hole that the rectanglely looking box had. When it was fit in a surge of electricity went into it, making the box turn into a wall.

"Matt, get the zipline ready, we'll take down any doors or people in our way" Crystal's hand and thigh were still bleeding heavily, it was concerning even for being a DT, but it wasn't anything we could deal with now, and Kenneth must've realized the blood

"Crystal, i'll handle it, you focus on not opening any more wounds" As we were going up the stairs Crystal looked at Kenneth

"I'm fine, just call in Nicholai and check, or better yet, just use that squad figuration thing to see our stats!" Kenneth looked away

"What?" I asked, noticing it

"I'll tell you both when we're not about to die" Kenneth burst through the roof's door "I'll get it, just set up the zipline" He changed his spear into a bow, charged with a special arrow.

"Alright, it's just shooting it right?" Crystal asked, taking the mirror she gave me earlier.

"Yeah, should be" I got ready to fire at a nearby skyscraper, we had tools to accelerate up a zipline, so we'll be fine

"Should be?" Ignoring Crystal, I fired at the skyscraper, and yet, it missed the roof and went through a window instead "Greeeat, we won't be able to use our tools now" The zipline was at an angle to the point we wouldn't be able to use any tools, otherwise we'd hurt ourselves on the glass, or, just miss entirely

"Hey, we're on a seven-story building, hitting somewhere high up would be a miracle" I shook the line a bit to make sure it was fine

"So what? We're tightrope walking it?" With Crystal's comment I put a foot on the line, it shook slightly, causing a response to get off of it

"Yeah...yeah, we're gonna have to..." Damn it, I didn't want to say it, but we didn't have an option "Kenneth! Get over here" Kenneth finished setting up another wall, and came over "Me and Crystal are gonna tight rope this, can you keep it st-

"The hell!? I never said I would go!" Crystal looked over at the zipline, which at this point, should now just be referred to as a tightrope

"Well, you can focus way more than Kenneth can, not to mention, you can just do that hand or thumb thing to make platforms to save yourself"

"Alright, let's say I'll go, what're you gonna do if you fall?" Crystal asked while being smug

"I've perfected a landing strategy thanks to years of fighting, and, I can just turn my arm into something that can stab into a wall and drag me to it, and the buildings aren't so far apart, we'll be fine" Crystal sighed

"Fine, Kenneth, hold it" Throughout the conversation Kenneth looked confused

"O-Okay?" He went in front of us and held the rope, steading it. As I stepped onto it I heard the wall downstairs break

"How much chaos is it causing if we can hear it up here?" I heard the two questioning that thing, but soon I began ignoring them and just focused on the tight rope. The swaying of the line was minor, but it still worried me and forced me to readjust myself. I was about one-third through the line before it started swaying more, I turned and saw Crystal on the line

"What're you doing!?" I shouted at her

"That thing is coming up here stupid! I'd rather do this than fight that! Just get moving!" I refocused myself, there was no point in arguing with her, I could only continue.

"The hell?" I heard a voice as I made it halfway and Crystal was where I was before. I looked up and saw a woman standing there...I guess not everyone got wiped out, soon another person showed up, a guy looked at us and then looked shocked

"It's them! The people who killed our camp!" He took a rifle out, the laser sight he had on showed that he was aiming at the rope. When Crystal saw the laser sight she began to go faster on the line, I did the same. A bullet fired, missing the line by a small amount

"HA! Laser sight is put on wrong!" Crystal taunted them, she most likely knew the line would be shot at and cut soon and just wanted to entertain herself. The guy shooting looked pissed off "Matt! Let's jump! I'll meet you up there" She ran a little more and jumped off, landing through one of the lower floors. I summoned my axe and jumped, hooking onto the floor I intended to go to. The wire was shot down shortly after I made the jump "I'll meet up with you later, just don't get yourself killed" Crystal said jokingly. I lifted myself up, laying down on the floor, something felt like it was tugging at my leg and so I looked and saw glass stabbed into my gear, but it hadn't gone into my leg yet and because of that I took it out and stood up.

From the looks of the place it seemed like an office building, but I knew that this was for multiple companies.

P#*$(ive

???-"M..rn" *$*!* "ee" ..)#!#*..."ssing"

Matt-"Hello? You're not clear enough! Repeat!

???- "ee" !($(# "Is" (#(!)#( "ssing" From the sounds of it, they could hear me just fine, they repeated right after I said to, so that must mean that I'm getting jammed

Matt- "Listen, I can't understand you right now, I'll talk to you later okay?"

P($*!($ Deactive

My head burned after it turned off, I remembered what they said before we came here, MEMP, a device that prevents people from using magic. Maybe, maybe those people set up the MEMPs and not Raymond, from the sounds of it they hate us, so it might make sense, although, it wouldn't explain those other years of MEMPs. I started to hear footsteps to my far left, it seemed like the people from earlier were coming down the stairs. I went to one of the desks that were far from the stairs and went under it, turning my arm into a dagger, there was a wall in front of me, so if anyone looked under here they would have to be really close, making the axe and sword mode overkill...although...it was an intriguing way of doing things.

"This is the floor we saw the guy drop into" An older sounding man spoke, from the sounds of it, he wasn't the same guy. The same guy began to whistle, but, it seemed to be in some sort of code, a long whistle and two short ones...a few seconds of silence passed. I looked around the desk and saw the man become worried, he then began a new "code" Five short whistles, it was kind of deafening considering how loud it was. I went back under the desk and took of my bag, looking through it. After looking through my bag I realized nothing could get me out of this without fighting, well, that was with what's in my bag, I looked out from the desk to my left and saw a flimsy plant, it seemed like a small nudge could knock it over. The man's footsteps continued, and it seemed like it was getting closer.

Quickly, I looked on top of the desk and grabbed a pencil, I rolled it at the plant and quickly went back under. As I got under the desk I saw the man, he was right in front of me, soon the plant fell over, I saw his position change as he focused on the noise.

I kicked his leg, forcing him to fall over, I got on his back and put him in a headlock, choking him. The man's arms flailed around, trying to get me off of him. The man's arms went slower and slower, and after what felt like minutes, he passed out, I let go of him as he started breathing again, he wasn't infected, there was no point in killing him. I picked up the guy's rifle and stood up, but when I tried turning around, I heard a gun rechamber behind me.

"Drop the gun" A female voice behind me started giving me orders, I followed the first, dropping the gun I picked up from the guy. "Good, now, walk a few steps and turn the corner towards the stairs" I followed, I was now facing the stairs that were a good distance away "Go to, and down the stairs" Down? Weren't they upstairs before, then I thought, did they already get Crystal? If that was the case then this entire building had these people in here, I guess there were some survivors left out here. I followed her orders, but halfway down the stairs, I thought, if she was on the stairs as well I may be able to swing behind me and knock her legs off the stairs. Right as I heard her step on the stair behind me, I turned my arm into an axe and swung behind me, while turning I saw the woman jump up, I moved to the left to dodge any shot she fired and placed my arm under her, right as she landed on it I yanked back causing her to fall. As I went over to grab her rifle I felt something jab my stomach and shock me.

??? Minutes later

Everything hurt, I could feel myself lying on the floor with something on my leg and yet I couldn't see, meaning something must've been on my face

"Where's the girl?" The people around me began to speak

"We already checked all the lower floors, the zeeks are all on the first floor, there's no way she's down there" The hell are Zeeks? Was that what they called those things? hmm, guess we could use a proper name for them as well, so I'll use Zeeks as well.

"Are you sure you checked everywhere? She's small, she can hide anywhere!" The voice sounded like the woman who most likely tazed me, damnit, I should've checked for other weapons. I tugged the leg that felt heavy, it seemed like I was tied to something, yet my arms were free, they must've not had anything for it...yet...they had some dumbbell or something on my leg...okay? Later a more obvious answer came to my head, they most likely were using the ropes as pully systems, after all, the building was heavily damaged, going down just a few stairs earlier was hard enough.

"You're right, we'll resurvey the area...what about him" Must've been referring to me.

"I'll handle it, I'll just go through his mind and squad menu and see where the others are" ...did...did she forget?

"Umm, I don't mean to sound rude...but...the MEMP?"...silence filled the room

"Well, turn it off then!" It seemed like the woman wasn't that smart, the minute they turn it off I'll communicate with Crystal

"O-Okay..." I heard footsteps that became more distant over time.

PTS Ac&ive It was still slightly buggy, but it was manageable

Matt- "Crystal, they're searching for you, they already got me, but I should be fine"

Crystal- "Al%ight then, &'ll come h*%p soon, Cry^tal out"

PTS Deac&ive

Footsteps started to come at me

"Get up" I tried playing off, acting like I was asleep "I know you're awake, my power lets me see when magic is used, and you just talked to Crystal" Well, that seems like a BS power to have. I stood up and took off the thing on my face, I doubt it mattered if I had it on or not "Alright, listen I'm not like those two Psychos at the gate, we can come to an understanding...even with you almost chopping my leg off" Well...this became civil all of a sudden

"And why should I believe that?" The woman looked at me after my comment and looked a bit pissed off

"Well, sending you down there is also an option if you don't wanna cooperate" After she said that I looked behind me, I was extremely close to a broken window

"If that's the case, I'll ask something first"

"Alright, go ahead" She seemed calm, I called her foolish at first because of the MEMP, but with a power to see when magic is used, it was more of a clever plan

"Zeeks, that's what you call those things right?" I motioned at the window

"Yeah, I didn't make it though, it was someone else, now, let me ask something, the train, what happened, I saw a part of it rip off" That was decently recent, so it was only normal to ask

"Those things...Zeeks I mean, got onto the train, we had no choice to cut them off, luckily, there were barely any deaths" She began thinking.

"Alright" She walked over and took off the thing weighing on my leg "Using my power, you seem like you're trustable" The hell, is her thing a personality test as well? No, even with that type of thing, she seems psychotic for trusting a guy her group hates "What? Want me to keep it on?"

"No, you just don't mentally alright"

"Well...that's oddly blunt...should you really be saying that in your situation?" I didn't say anything "Right, anyhow, let's get going, I wanna show you something"

And off we went, it was practically a hike all the way to the room, something that felt like it would take hours to get to