Renegades (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 3)

Chapter 41

Kovak entered the large cavern, shooting off a few shots from his handgun, then turned around and saw something that made his eyes widen. A large city was on the ceiling, and glowing with a phosphorus green light. "My God..." He whispered to himself, before a bullet came whizzing past his head, and he dragged his Resistance soldier to cover. He shot back at the GDF Elites coming out of the shaft, and occasionally looked back at the large city. Then, he noticed a small group of people standing below it, and a glowing beam of light shooting upwards into the middle of it. So, they had already found it. If he had the necessary forces, and some climbing equipment..."Damn it." He muttered to himself. Morticia and Gottlieb came out of the mineshaft, covered by the three Elites that had driven them inside before the entrance collapsed. As Morticia looked into the cavern, she saw the cave, and her eyes lit up. This was what she had expected when she had thought of the power of the Markers. The miners had discovered this place after they had recovered the Tablet, and had kept it top secret, so that no one else except for Morticia knew it. Even the miners who had found it originally had been executed. She looked into the middle of the city and saw a glowing golden beam of light shooting up into the centre. The Piece was here...she cursed herself for not bothering to look before, then looked over at the two Elites. "Get into the city. Find the AU Prerogative before they do." The Elites nodded, and ran over to the other side of the city, as Morticia could already see the Slingers gathered at the bottom of the tallest building. Well then, a race it is. She thought to herself, then ducked behind the wall with Gottlieb as a bullet hit close to them. She motioned to the Elite, who ran over to the place where the shot came from and took out a Resistance soldier that was hiding behind a rock. Morticia walked over and cocked her custom made pistol, and aimed it at the other figure behind the rock, who had his hands in the air. "General Kovak. Pleased to finally meet you."

Nolun had no idea how the whole reverse-gravity thing worked, but he didn't question it as he ran down the stairs towards the bottom of the large building. As they made it to the bottom, he stepped out into the streets, and looked around at the different buildings and walkways. It looked like a civilization had once lived here, but abandoned it. Kind of like Earth...before he could think any more about it, he heard Andress yell to him. "Nolun! You better hurry! The GDF just got here!" Nolun looked up at the floor of the cave, and raised a thumb in affirmative. He took out the Cone, and saw the beam in the middle of the street. He looked at Elicia, and then began to hit the roof of the cave with his gun, the stone surprisingly breaking easily. Elicia joined in, digging with her knives. Then, they saw a golden glow poke out from the ground, then Nolun swiped the rocks aside as he pulled it out. It was a large golden diamond, and it was covered in hieroglyphs. He looked at Elicia, and they both smiled. Then, bullets began to spatter around them, making them run for the buildings. Nolun looked and saw two Elites firing from the 3rd floor of another building. "How the hell did they get up here?!" Elicia shot back with her shotgun, then looked over at Nolun. "Doesn't matter. Let's go! Now!" Then, the city began to rumble, and Nolun looked over to see something come out of one of the smaller buildings. The entire wall crumbled as a large robotic shape leaped out of it and onto the road. Nolun saw it was a large crab-like robot, with two large guns on it's back. Nolun quickly looked through the journal, and saw the machine again. Merrick described it as sort of a guardian for the city, which wasn't good for them. The two large guns aimed at the Elites, and shot at the building they were in, exploding it and vaporizing them in an instant. Then, it turned towards Elicia and Nolun, and shot again. They moved behind the wall, and ducked for cover. "Nolun! I have an idea! Follow me!" Not questioning her ideas, Nolun ran behind Elicia as she moved right towards the large robot. She then leaped onto it's back, and sliced the two cords to it's guns, knocking them out. She then grabbed onto the back, and pulled Nolun up. Moving the cords around, she somehow managed to control the bot to climb up the building, and then towards the top of the spire, where she and Nolun leapt off, and the gravity reversed, putting them back on the real floor, while the robot flew up towards the ceiling, and crashed.

Andress was keeping the GDF in her sights when she heard an explosion above her inside the city. Looking up, she could see some sort of large machine chasing Nolun and Elicia around. Her eyes widening, she raised her rifle and was about to take out the machine, when she saw that Elicia had managed to somehow disable the robot, and was heading towards them fast. "Move!" Andress yelled, and the crew looked up, then got out of the way quickly as Nolun and Elicia fell to the floor, and the robot crashed into the ceiling. They both got up, and Andress stared at the both of them. "Are you two ok?" Nolun smiled and pulled out a glowing gold diamond out of his bag. "Better than ok. We got it." They heard a gun cock behind them, and saw an unpleasant sight as they turned around. Morticia and Gottlieb were standing there, confident smiles on both of their faces, along with an Elite that was holding General Kovak hostage. Koil's eyes widened, and he raised his rifle at the two of them, as did the rest of the crew. "I'd put those down if I were you." Morticia said, holding her pistol in her hand. Everyone was standing with their guns pointing at each other. "Doubtful." Nolun said. Andress narrowed her eyes. "Let him go, Morticia. He's not a part of this." Morticia stared at Kovak, and kept smiling. "But he's a criminal. Like you. He's committed treason against the GDF, and therefore must be sentenced to...well, I'm sure you can figure out the rest." Gottlieb stepped forwards and looked at Andress. "Well, we've come a long way, haven't we, Lovecraft? You and the three of your friends have caused me a lot of trouble over the years. Almost exposing Operation Matchstick, avoiding me, and starting a war...but now it's all come to an end. Your sister would be ashamed of you." Andress flinched, her face grimacing. Nolun said out loud, staring at Gottlieb. "Hey Director. How's that scar treating you?" Gottlieb stared at Nolun, and then pulled out a small pistol, and shot him in the shoulder, knocking him back. "NOLUN!" Andress yelled, and tensed on her gun, but didn't want to shoot, fearing it might result in everyone dying. "You'll wait your turn, Metreo." Gottlieb said, quietly, then Morticia stepped forwards to the General. "First things first. Hand over the Pieces, or Kovak dies."

Koil looked over at everyone, and looked at the General. He saw no fear in his eyes, only acceptance and just a simple anger at his current situation. Some things never change. Then, the General seemed to meet Koil's eyes, and look around at the crew. Something then came over his face, something Koil had never seen before. It changed from a stubborn defiance to a sort of recognition, a change of heart. He then looked at Koil, and nodded his head. Koil knew what that nod meant, and returned it with one of his own. It's been an honour, sir. "We won't. He means nothing to us." Koil said, and everyone looked at him. Andress stared at Koil with shock. "What are you-" He shot her a look which said, trust me. Andress stoically nodded, and got ready to run. Morticia looked at all of them, and nodded her head, cocking her gun. "Fine then. Any last words, General?" Kovak looked up at her, and smiled a small smile of his own. "Long live the Resistance." As soon as the words left his mouth, Koil aimed his rifle and shot at one of the grenades on Kovak's belt, instantly making it explode. It vaporized him and the Elite holding him, and blew back Morticia to another side of the cave, and made Gottlieb stagger backwards. Dante took this as his chance, and drew Zero's plasma sword. He charged forwards with a yell, and stabbed Gottlieb through the chest, staring into his eyes. Gottlieb looked at Dante with fear, and blood dripping from his mouth. Dante looked at Gottlieb with anger, and thought of all the evil he did, and growled at him. "Zero sends his regards." He pulled the sword out of his chest, making his body collapse to the ground. Andress, Bunker, and Koil saw Gottlieb's dead body, and felt something leave their bodies, like a great weight had been lifted off their shoulders. Andress rushed over to Nolun, and picked him up, his side dripping with blood. "I'm ok..." Nolun grunted. Then, the entire cavern began to rumble, and the large city began crack, and some parts of it began to fall. "Watch out!" Bunker shouted, and Andress pulled Nolun to the side of the cave quickly, and found that they had been blocked off from the rest of the crew by a large rock. "Go! Get out of here! We'll find another way!" Andress yelled, then felt something large pass over her, and saw another rock hit the ground behind them, making the floor fall out from under them, and she and Nolun began to fall.