Parallel: United Front

Chapter 35: Split Up

"What took you so long?" Dayle chuckled as Arthur lifted the chimera, barely allowing him to crawl out from under it. Once he got to his feet, Dayle realized something was off. "Wait, no. How'd you guys get here so fast? How long has it been?"

"It's been forty minutes since we separated," Arthur reported while giving Dayle a worried glance. "Are you alright?"

"Forty minutes?" Dayle let out a whistle of shock. It took about ten to fifteen minutes to get to the experiment chamber. That meant he had been playing hide-and-seek with the Nexus for roughly twenty minutes. "Wow. I've been so tense; I didn't even notice the time pass." He then glanced at Raines. "Did the main force catch up?"

Raines nodded. "They were even faster than we thought. Jack sent an elite force ahead of the rest. They got here ten minutes ago and raised hell. We took advantage of the distraction to slip into the west wing."

"West Wing..." Dayle recalled Queen's information. "That's the armory, right? Did you get anything?"

Arthur and Raines shared a look, and then looked at Dayle with equally wretched grins. The rascals had torn the place bare. They would have taken even more, but unfortunately, their gauntlets had limited space. Considering they still needed to explore another base, the agents elected to leave some space.

Dayle, recognizing their grins, revealed one of his own. "That's the way!" Circumstances like these were why Dayle, early on, decided he would never work in regular law enforcement. The young man was one to seize the ultimate personal benefit during any mission. That trait put him in trouble early on, but luckily, his new workplace was much more flexible. They did not care what Dayle did during the mission if it was completed successfully.

Fortunately, Dayle's teams' 98% completion rate spoke for itself.

"By the way, where's Queen?"

"Ah!" Dayle looked at the shattered helmet on the ground. The FiendBody skill was too overbearing. The helmet's electronics could not withstand the explosive radiation and shortcircuited. Luckily, the armor Dayle wore did not contain any electronics so it did not get damaged. "She should be behind that door." He pointed at the massive door. "But you guys will have to contact her." Wearing a wry smile, he jerked his chin at the helmet. "It's toast."

Raines looked at the helmet, and then at Dayle. "Seems there's more to your skill than we thought." She adjusted the rifle on her back, and then said with a smile, "Can't wait to see it in action."

"Hehe, I'll leave you speechless." Even though Dayle said that his brows were tinged with worry. FiendBody might appear strong on the surface, but it was too risky. Once he burned his stats, he would enter a weakened state while waiting for the stats to replenish. Imagine if right after using the skill, he ran into another powerful foe? Sure, he could replenish the stats with cores, but FiendBody still required a lot of work before it could be considered a viable combat option.

Raines, oblivious, to Dayle's thoughts, chuckled and then said with a teasing smile, "Heh, can't wait."

"Guys, I got her." Arthur said, interrupting his teammates' banter. "Queen said she'll open the door in a few seconds." He then looked at Dayle with concern. "She sounded urgent though. Do you think she's in trouble?"

Dayle shook his head. "I tried my best to lure out the bots in there. I don't know if any remained. But look on the bright side; if she answered, I don't think it can be that bad, right?"

"Yeah. You are right." Arthur visibly relaxed, as he agreed with Dayle's assessment.

Whoosh~

Fortunately, FireRain did not have to wait much longer for answers as the door opened with a hiss. Dayle took a step behind his teammates and then raised his pistol. However, he then put it down when he saw Queen waving from beyond the open door.