Chronocide: Mission Wounded Pride

Her com beeped again.

"Come in," she murmered.

"Red Fox here...that thing's a HIND helicopter. It's uh, got some heavy duty weapons , so you're gonna wanna watch out. Rockets, miniguns...not to mention the trained soldiers inside."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking... I'm hoping to avoid it."

"Yeah, me too, but you probably can't outrun them forever..." He sighed "you'll probably have to fight Brass Eagle at some point, and he's cruising the perimeter....and if those HINDS are still active, he can call on them to fill you full of lead in an instant...if his cannons don't get you first."

"Good point..." she made a face. "Think i should take em on now?"

"maybe...though if you do, the base is likely to go on Red Alert once you take them down. you might wanna try getting your brother first...or Iron may decide to keep him lashed to her side."

"yeah.... alright.... I'll try to get to him before I kick over the hornet's nest."

"once he's safe, even if you put the place into lockdown, you don't have to worry about his safety!"

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Fox."

"you got it, Heron. I've got your back."

"Thanks Fox. Over and out."

She heard the HIND behind her finally take off into the sky with a roar of it's rotors.

Good timing. She peeked into the door again, tranq gun in hand, ready to take out the guards.

The guards were doing a sweep, one had his back to her while he looked out over the helipad...and the other had his gun trained on the door.

Damn... had she been heard? She'd just have to roll with it if so. She looked for an angle to shoot through the gap in the door- if there was one.

There was a small gap in the door. She could get the guard with the gun trained on the door in her sights, but the other was out of range to shoot without easing it open any further and risking being seen.

She edged over so that she could get the guard with the gun in her sights-- aimed quickly and pulled the trigger on her tranq gun twice in quick succession.

The man wobbled in place...his gun falling to the floor with a clatter, before he toppled to the ground.

But the other guard opened fire at the door, sending a series of bullets through the pale wood.

Hazel heard a scream of pain behind her, as Ana, who had been too close to the left door, went down.

"_shit_" Hazel hissed, her attention, unfortunately whipping to the other girl momentarily at the same time as she tried to avoid the hail of bullets.

Ana fell against the floor, pelted by a few more bullets on the way down. She collapsed into a heap with a wheeze of ragged breath.

"Elite Guards.....some...some of Iron's best..."

Hazel shuddered on the ground. It had been faster than this, the other times. She wished it had been this time.

"Sorry.... Ana," she managed to gasp out.

Time tugged at her once more, as she heard Simon's voice calling

"Hazel, get up! Please!!!"

The familiar sensation of time travel yanked her through the starry field once more.

And Hazel found herself perched outside the room, gun trained on the two men inside.

Ana was once again too close to the door, her submachine gun at the ready.

Simon's voice stammered through her comms.

"oh god, it wasn't a ...a camera glitch last time."

Hazel backed away from the door, and motioned toward Ana to follow.

Simon's words filtered into her brain. "Shit... sorry you had to see that."

"You said you could 'reset' after death, i just...just didn't think I'd be able to see it too."

Ana backed away from the door, cocking her head. "bad situation?" She whispered.

Hazel nodded. "Need to rethink the approach," she murmured back to Ana.

"Simon I... we should talk about this later."

"probably a good idea. I got a look at 'em.."

She bit her lip. "Those are some of Iron's Elite guards...the best of the best. They've got keener senses than the others... itchier trigger fingers too.."

"Yeahh," Hazel nodded. "Going in half-cocked could get ugly fast."

"Maybe we aught to distract them...maybe an explosive, or...or some thing to draw their eyes away from the door...?"

She nodded. "That could work," she murmured. Was the gap in the door big enough to get a grenade through?

It could just barely fit one if she angled it right.

She had a shot.

"Lets do it," she nodded quietly. "I'll throw the grenade and we go in hot. But be careful, and keep aware of your surroundings."

Ana saluted her. "You got it, Heron. I've got your back."

Hazel holstered her tranq gun and got out her high caliber pistol. "We're going to make some noise, so we should be ready to get out of the area asap."

"Got it. We should still try and find the keycard, though...and place those guns. then we'll run. I have an idea of where we should go next."

"Perfect," she nodded. "Lets do this."

She pulled a grenade from where she had stowed them.

Ana flicked the safety off her submachine gun, and nodded.

Hazel swept the room with her gaze, easing her way as quietly as possible toward the door.

The two guards were near one another, the one with his gun on the door looking grim and serious, and the other passing him, looking out at the helipad for a moment.

Hazel pulled the pin on the grenade and counted, throwing it so that there would be a second or two before it went off, and she _immediately_ moved away from the door, gun at the ready.

She heard a shout of alarm, and the scuffle of feat just a moment before the loud , rocking BOOM of the grenade's deafening explosion.

At the sound, Ana rushed forward, and kicked the door open. She opened  fire inside, spraying bullets towards the staggering and wounded forms of the guards.

They went down in a heap, though one was still reaching a burned hand towards his gun.

Ducking back into the doorway, Hazel narrowed her aim at the reaching man and ended him.

*Bang*

And with that, the two elite guards were dead. The desk was blown over in the explosion, and the windows behind them had shattered, letting the cold air blow in from the helipad outside.

In good news, shrapnel had peppered the cameras and looked to render them useless.

"Come on," Hazel said, "Lets get that key." she moved into the room, giving it a sweep.

Inside the room was a mess...with the corpses, the blood...the singed paintings that might have once been beautiful. Even the flag of the Pax Republic was smoldering and on fire.

The desk was knocked over, spilling it's quirky contents all over the ground by the shattered windows.

"it was probably in his desk..."

Heron nodded and moved to the desk, giving the spilled contents a look, kneeling down to check.

There were quite a few 'puzzle' items. A colored cube, some metal interlocking rings...the burned remains of what was probably a number puzzle...

The man sure liked his puzzles.

But on the desk, she could see one of the drawers had a series of tiles on it's face rather than a traditional lock.

"Ana-- is this what we're looking for?"

Ana leaned over "it's probably inside there, yeah..." she traced her finger over it. "maybe the tiles are supposed to make a shape...there's a lot of curved lines and straight lines....in the colors Green, yellow and red..."

Hazel narrowed her eyes at it. There was only one thing to do in a time like this.

"Simon. I need your skillset."

"Red Fox here." he chirped.

"oh, it's supposed to make the flag of the Pax Republic, duh, you can tell 'cause of the color choice and the way that the curves will make a circle."

"... that's not a very secure lock, Fox," she said with some surprise, as she quickly tried to move the pieces into order.

The pieces, though, didn't move into order very well. Twice she managed to get them ALMOST to forming the flag....but two pieces were swapped.

"Depends on how tricky he made the sliding block puzzle. But I can walk you through it real fast, alright?"

"hhhh... please do. These things are the worst birthday partyfavors."

"okay....so the first thing you're gonna wanna do is..."

Another voice cut into the feed. It was Ishmael. "put your high caliber gun against the bottom of the drawer, angle it towards the puzzle , and pull the trigger."

"... huh. Thanks, Ishmael."

Hazel followed the instruction.

The gun went off, and the drawer clicked open as it's mechanism blew to pieces.

Simon signed "awww...narts...my skillset..."

"heh. Maybe next time, Fox."

"well, i guess that's one way to open a lock." Ana laughed.

Hazel gave her a grim smile and pulled the drawer open (what remained of it) to find what was inside.

Inside was a keycard that looked like it could be slid around and rearranged into a variety of shapes.

She slipped the keycard into her belt. "Alright, lets move."

She nodded "we just gotta bust through that side door to get to the hall where we can find the old guard shack."

She hurried for the door in the office's side, and used her shoulder to knock it open.

Hazel followed her, gun at the ready.

Ana walked down the hall, her submachine gun pointing back and forth as she scoped the area.

It was a utility hallway from the look of it. Sparse, spartan. With a number of windows to the outside.

The most exciting thing was far down the hall, snow had started to accumulate along with the sound of rushing, howling wind.

"Almost there," Hazel murmered, picking up the pace a little.

The sound of roaring rotar blades cut through the sky, and a searchlight suddenly cut the darkness ahead in a wide swath of light, bisected by the dividers between windows.

Hazel hissed and froze, trying to keep her sillouette out of the windows. "Shit, Ana get down."

Ana dropped to the floor as the HIND swept the corridor, dropping out of view before it's searchlight caught her. "damn it!"

Hazel had flattened herself against the floor as well. "Looks like we have a complication."

"They're probably doing a perimeter check after you killed Crane." She whispered. "we just...have to keep going , but avoid the searchlights if you can."

She nodded. "We'll stay down."

The two of them started to crawl down the hall, as the HIND did another sweep above them. Ana winced "I just hope they don't send a search team..."

"Lets be on our guard," she said, holding her gun as they crawled.

Ana crept along the floor...but behind them, they heard the door to the directors office slam open.

"Fucking hell." A soldier's voice called. "Someone did a number in here, boss!"

"We have to move faster," Hazel hissed, getting up slightly so she still wasn't visible but could move quicker.

Ana stood, and ran for the snowdrift ahead. "yeah, come on, if we're careful we can run and duck if the HIND comes back... they're gonna search this hallway real soon!"

Hazel nodded, and stoood carefully. "let's go," she said, following.

Ana and Hazel ran for the snowdrift at the edge of the hall, just as someone shouted "clear" from the room....

But the roter sound came again, filling the air as Ana dropped to the ground and rolled.

Hazel did the same, mentally, making sure to scan the sky as she came out of her roll.

She saw the flash of light as the searchlight passed over them...a hind helicopter flying past them, and towards the helipad.

"Shit," she hissed, looking around for cover.

Ana turned and aimed her gun at the doorway. "We can either make a break for it, or fight" she whispered. "If we can get to that snowdrift, we're in the clear."

"Let's make a break for it," she said, tensing to run as soon as Ana heard her decision.

Ana leapt up, and made a break for the guard shack, turning and bolting for it with surprising speed.

The helicotper's rotors were still whirring nearby...but they drew ever closer to the abandoned guard shack, their spot of safety.

Hazel ran with speed and determination, glad that Ana could keep up. She kept her guard up even as the shack drew closer.

Ana dove into the shack, once again hammering down the door with her shoulder in a full body check, tumbling through the frame and into the snow beyond.

Hazel leapt in after her and dropped to a crouch, sweeping the area with her pistol.

It was empty...an old guard shack with an entire wall blown away and exposed to the elements. Snow was piled up all over the place....and there was a good place to hide the rockets under the now broken console.

Hazel allowed herself a moment to breath. "Good hustle," she told Ana.

Ana nodded, shutting the door tight behind them. The window was busted in...but other than that, they had some privacy. "...yeah, heh, i get a second wind when my life is on the line."

"happens sometimes," she agreed, starting to hide rocket launcher.

"yeah." Ana leaned against the wall "so uh...remember how I said I knew a way out of here?"

"yeah."

"How uh....how's your fear of heights?"

Hazel chuckled. "Don't worry about it."

"Cool, cool" She glanced out the broken wall "because ...like, we're basically right over the research wing right now. If we shimmy down the pipes, we could probably get into a window and make for the main research lab."

"Perfect," she nodded. And then paused. "How's _your_ fear of heights?"

"it's uh..." She cleared her throat "it's great! never better!"

"Uhuh. I thought so. I'll go down first. You come down right behind me."

"y...you got it" Ana saluted her "I won't let you down ma'am!"

"Good," she nodded. "I'm counting on you."

Ana smiled weakly "...you got it, ma'am."

"We'll take a moment to catch our breath and then we'll go."

Ana nodded, and slid down into the snow to take a seat.

"I cant' believe this whole thing, Heron.."

"tell me about it," Heron nodded.

"I know we talked about this before...and you've got like, no way of knowing anyway..."

She ran her hand through her hair with a pained smile "but I can't even begin to understand why heroes like Iron and the Alloy Unit would....would kill so many innocent people."

Heron shook her head. "They have their reasons," she admitted. "and they think they're good reasons. That's what makes it hard."

"what reason could be good enough to..." She pressed her hands to her face. "My parents are back in the capitol...and...and friends of mine. People I know, or went to church with.."

She sniffed softly "and Iron's just going to blow them all away. Even if they'd done nothing to her?"

She wiped her eyes. "I...understand why they hate the republic...at least a little. I've heard them talk some while I was guarding before you got here... but...all those innocent people too..."

"I can't say I understand it," Hazel said "but I think sometimes when you've been hurt enough things like that stop mattering."

"I can't imagine feeling that way." Ana said quietly "I wouldn't want to."

Hazel nodded, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Good. I hope life never hurts you so badly you experience it."

"Have you experienced it?" Ana asked with a tremor in her voice.

She shook her head. "Not me.... I'm not ready to burn the world."

"I hope you don't either." She said seriously "I know the world hurt them...."

Ana wiped her tears "but if they commit that kind of atrocity...the cycle of violence will only continue. We've gotta put a stop to it. I don't _care_ if I die trying, as long as we stop it."

Hazel squeezed her shoulder. "Damned right." she nodded, but the image of Ana bleeding on the floor came to mind.

Ana brushed her dark hair out of her face, her lips tight. "It's not even about my duty to Pax at this point. it...it's just... "

She sucked in a sharp breath "If she does this, she can plunge the world into another....another Great War..."

"we won't let her," Hazel said, shaking her head.

"We won't." She shook her head. "we can't."

Hazel nodded. "We won't. But we'd better get going."

She nodded "Eventually they'll wanna check this room..." She closed her eyes. "...we'd better be gone before then."

"yeah," she nodded." Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Try to center yourself."

She took a deep breath "center myself?" She kept her eyes closed

"Its a technique for achieving mental balance," she said. "Part of the art of Aikido."

"Mental balance sounds nice right about now..." Ana took another deep breath "Aikido...sounds vaguely familiar... is it ah, from Shenzhou?"

"Around there, yeah. I can give you a quick lesson if you want."

"Alright, we've probably got enough time." She agreed with a nervous nod of her head.

"We can do a real lesson when we get out of here. Alright, with your eyes closed, find your center of gravity. About 2 inches below your naval, and concentrate on it."

"I'd like that." Ana murmured, clearly still nervous.

Her brow furrowed in concentration as she followed Hazel's instructions. "alright.."

"Alright now hold that sensation, Concentrate on it as you breath deeply in and out, Let it remind you that you are solid, You are balanced."

Ana was quiet as she listened, and after a moment, she breathed out. "balanced..yeah.."

"Feel the energy in you flowing and cycling through that spot like blood through your heart."

Ana nodded once, taking another deep breath. "yeah.."

"Positive energy flows into you. Your body and mind are balanced and solid."

"That's good...solid." She murmured, exhaling.

"Good," Hazel said. "You can do that any time you're stressed and you have a moment to get ahold of yourself. I do it.... a lot."

"Must be why you're so cool" Ana laughed  as she finally opened her eyes. "I...I can do this. We'll be okay."

"You can do this," she nodded. "Now, lets get going."

Ana glanced out into the snowy wind beyond. "alright...after you."

Hazel nodded, and moved toward the exit, gun in hand, giving a careful sweep of the area.

There was nobody directly outside the room...and they were out on an outcropping overlooking the rest of the facility. Directly ahead was the massive dome of the main lab...connected by a long hallway like the one that had been destroyed at the other side of the building. But instead of being a tube of glass...this one was a solid hallway.

There was a pipe they could shimmy down to get to the labs below...and from there, down the hall to the main lab.

Hazel gave the all clear to move, and carefully made her way to the pipe, half crouched just in case.

Ana followed close behind her.

Meanwhile...flashes went up in the hallway below. Like gunfire, they flashed one after the other.

"what the hell..?" Ana whispered "I thought ....we were the only people here aside from Iron's men. Unless they've started fighting one another...or ...or started another slaughter.."

Hazel paused. "Oh-- yeah. I was told there's another operative here. The Wendigo?"

"The WENDIGO IS HERE?" Ana's careful calm centeredness faltered, as her face went pale.

Hazel sighed. "try not to worry about that right now."

"I...I won't." She swallowed "worry. About Pax's deadliest wetworks agent . Loose in the facility I'm ostensibly a guard from."

"She's on our side."

"Lets hope she knows that." Ana murmured. "I'm fine though.. I'm centered again."

She nodded. "... alright. Follow me down. One hand over the other. You can do this."

Ana nodded, aiming her gun at the hall as she waited for Heron to get a little bit down the pipe before she began climbing after her. "g-got it." SHe kept her eyes firmly rooted upwards.

Hazel eased her way down the pipe, gripping tightly where she could find handholds, and sliding where she couldn't.

They slowly made their way down the long pipe, buffetted by the wind and snow as it howled all around them. Distantly, they heard the chop of the HIND's rotors as they flew around the other end of the facility and the roar of a tank somewhere far off and away....

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aHQnDTd1y4>

Hazel kept an eye on Ana as they descended, but made sure to pay attention to her own movement as well.

Ana, despite her fears...was doing very well. And soon, they found themselves window height with one of the lab windows, looking into an empty lab filled with beakers and old computers.

Hazel held tightly to the pole with her legs as she tested to see if the window would open-- or if she'd have to break it.

The window was solid against her hand. She'd have to break it.

Ana, not looking down, gently bumped her foot against her head. "ooh! sorry!"

Hazel snorted. "Oof. Careful with those. I gotta break this and then we're going in. Be alert."

She nodded "I got my gun. I'm ready for anything."

Hazel hoped she was too.

She grabbed her rifle off of her back, and slammed the butt of it into the upper corner of the window hard and fast.

The window crackled, and spiderwebs of fractures ran along it. One more good hit would do it in.

She hit it again, as hard as she could given the angle she was at.

The glass shattered...and fell from the frame with a loud crash.

"Looks like we got our way in." Ana said

Hazel used the butt of her rifle again, to clear the lingering shards of glass from the edges of the fame, and swung from the pole into the room. She offered her arm out to Ana.

Ana grabbed her arm with her shaking hands, and leapt inside

"A-alright. Cool." She breathed. "we're safe and sound.."

"You did good," she said, taking in the layout of the room as she spoke. "Now we just have to find the doctor."

Ana nodded, gripping her submachine gun for dear life. "he'll be in that dome...that main lab...That's where they're making the Wolf."

The room seemed to mostly be made up of desks with computers, with a chemical mixing station off to the side of the room. The lazy lights of computers left in idle mode gleamed, casting flickering shadows on the walls...

And it was mercifully empty. One exit stood at the front of the room.

"Then that's where we need to go."

"It sounds like the Wendigo's clearing the path for us...so maybe we'll get lucky...maybe it'll be easy."

Hazel grimaced. "I'm hoping she'll at least draw some attention away from us. But Ana if you're going do this you have to do one thing for me."

Ana nodded, gripping her submachine gun tightly "Y-yeah?"

"Please never say something like "maybe it'll be easy" ever again."

Ana blinked "....is this a superstition or something?"

"Lets call it that, yeah," she sighed. She really was going to have to find the Pax Republic version of Scooby Doo.

"Well... alright." She smiled nervously "I'll cut back on my optimism?"

"Better to be pleasantly surprised," she said dryly. "I'll check the hall."

Hazel moved toward the door carefully, listening for her motion detector.

It was silent...strangely enough.

Hazel would just have to hope that _didn't_ mean they were all lined up in front of the door ready to fire on them.

She pushed the door open a crack and took a look.

All of a sudden, her motion detector began beeping erratically.

Was that _morse_ ?

She raised her hand to Ana in a 'don't move' gesture. Hazel had memorized morse code out of a junior spy book from the library when she was 6 years old.

Ana froze, and pressed against the wall.

The morse code spelled out "mess with the best, die like the rest."

Hazel waited patiently for the first 2/3 of the message, and then with annoyance and trepidation at the final third.

"Wonderful."

It was around that moment that the throwing knife sunk into the wall beside her.

"Well." Drawled a voice , the western movie accent layered thick over a familiar voice. "Ain't this a familiar sight."

Hazel growled, whipping her aim around to the source. "_Panther._"

"Heron." He smiled at her.

Lynx was back, standing beside him as he waved his hand in greeting. "funny seein' you out of your restraints. And Miss Ana with her legs intact."

"I'm hardier than you think, Panther sir." Ana said, aiming her gun at him with a frown "no thanks to you...you...traitor."

"could call you the same thing,dependin' on what side yer on."

"Now's not the time for semantics," Hazal said eyes narrowed. "What's your game?"

Lynx was grinning widely, holding her accustomed long rifle.

Ana turned her gun on Lynx "There you are, you creepy little thief." She flicked her safety off "I...I can shoot first, you know."

Panther sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Arguing semantics is a philosopher's pastime, anyway."

"Maybe," Lynx smirked. "But even if you kill me there's my boss to worry about."

Hazel already hated this stand off. "Are you here to argue then?"

"I'll just shoot him while he's acting like an idiot and monologuing." Ana sneered.

"Girl's got spirit." Panther tossed a knife into his hand, and flipped it around his finger with a wink. "But I ain't here to argue with you...."

He flung it suddenly at Heron's throat. "I'm here to stall ya."

Heron ducked the knife rolling to the side and coming up to fire her gun at Panther.

The bullet pinged off his knife as he brought it up in a wide slash. "now keep that up and you'll start messin' up the balance, girlie."

Ana opened fire on Lynx, her lips tight.

Lynx strafed across the room, lining up for a hail of three shots at Ana, as she stood briefly still.

"Wouldn't want that," Hazel snorted. She looked for an opening to dart into close combat with Panther.

She had one, as he fished a pair of knives from his hip belt.

Ana was grazed by one shot, and hissed. Her fingers clenched around her gun as she suddenly rushed Lynx in a full body tackle. "i've got you now you little twerp!"

"Whoa!" Lynx was thrown off balance, and swung her huge gun at Ana like a bat.

Hazel pulled the same move on Panther, drawing her large ceramic knife at the same time.

Panther grinned, and made a slash for her arm "I see you've gone and switched to Ceramic, haven't ya?"

Ana was clocked, reeling for a moment. But the tall, long limbed woman simply turned it into another heavy push to destabilize Lynx "not so tough now that I've got you off balance , huh?"

Lynx yelped-- but turned her momentum on Ana, practically falling on top of her with the heavy gun.

Hazel deflected the slash quickly with her own knife as she turned her body. "Fewer drawbacks."

Ana yelped, rolling with it, and winding up pinned under Lynx's gun. "...maybe I shouldn't brag all that much." She laughed weakly.

Panther chuckled, and brought his other knife around for her side as she turned "woulda served you well back against Gagarin."

She caught his wrist with her free hand and redirected him, throwing him into the wall. "easier to change the future than the past."

"Maybe not," Lynx leered, pressing the gun against her hard.

"But i've always been too hardheaded when faced with this kinda thing." Ana smirked, before actually headbutting Lynx as hard as she could in the forehead.

Panther slammed into the wall with a grunt, but springed off it and launched him self into her, grabbing her wrist in turn as he went to swipe her leg with his heel. "For some, they say that's the case."

Hazel went down, but rolled with it, and grabbed his ankle, to pull him to the floor with her.

There was a CRACK from both of them as Ana and Lynx knocked heads, dazing them for an instant.

"geeeeh...." Ana reeled, but shook herself out of it with a sharp punch to Lynx's face. "give me that gun." She hissed, grabbing it and trying to tear it from her hands.

"Damn." Panther's boots jingled as he lost his balance, and tumbled down atop Hazel, his knife clanging against the floor as he swung it down towards her.

Hazel rolled hard, swinging him beneath her and herself on top. She slugged him in the face.

Lynx snapped. "Mine!" and swung the butt of it at Ana again.

This time, Ana caught it in her hand with a wince, as her other hand went for her belt...and the pistol stashed there. "Protective of your overcompensation?" she asked.

Panther reeled, grinning wider "learned a few tricks since last time, eh?"

He tapped his heel on the floor...and a small blade sprung from his boottip, which he plunged into her leg "so have I."

"Hnnn!" Hazel's eyes widened as the blade cut into her leg-- though she managed to turn it so that it slashed rather than punctured. She dropped her knife-- and put both hands around his neck.

"You wish!" Lynx hissed. She swung around. unbalancing Ana as she finally let go of the weapon.

Ana yelped, and stumbled back from Lynx... only to grab her pistol, and fire three shots at the woman as she fell.

"Gkkk.." Panther choked, bringing his knife up and pressing it hard against her throat, though it wound up pinning his arm between their bodies. "Bit of a loser's game, ain't it?" he managed to say

Hazel hissed feeling the knife bite into her throat. "Seems like."

Two of Ana's shots went wild, but one of them hit Lynx in her shoulder. The woman yelled-- and drew the largest pistol Ana had ever seen, aiming it at her as she stumbled.

Ana's hands shook, her eyes locked on Lynx. "It'll be hard to aim that thing with a wounded shoulder. The kickback'll smart something awful."

Panther pressed the knife solidly against her throat "Lucky you." He smiled "I think i've stalled ya just long enough."

"Is that so?" she murmered, her fingers easing up sightly on his neck, (but not freeing his arm), as her body tensed to move.

Lynx made a face. "I can take it..."

"You really wanna test that?" Ana asked, aiming her gun at her face. " Because if you miss, I won't."

Panther shifted to press his arm against her "Lynx? Why don't you detonate that surprise of ours, and let our fine feathered friends get on their way?"

"Yeah boss!" Lynx grinned grimly and pulled out the 'surprise' just as Hazel leapt off of Panther and grabbed her gun.

But there wasn't much time for her to react before the surprise happened.

Ana leapt for Lynx, swinging her pistol at her, just as Lynx pressed her thumb on the device's trigger.

There was a deafening explosion of sound. Time seemed to stop in the hallway, as temporal energy erupted from one of the labs nearby. Panther leapt up, just before it hit and grabbed Lynx...the two of them slipping through what looked like a wound in time itself, and vanishing from sight.

As they left, Hazel saw Ana freeze in time for a long moment....before it abruptly resumed, and she hit the ground mid strike. "Dammit!"

"damn it," hazel hissed. She stumbled over to Ana. "you okay?"

Ana took a deep breath "I got hit but...not too bad." She murmured. "Looks like they gave us the slip."

She looked up at Heron "the..." she gestured to the door, which seemed to be snapping between two moments in time rather aggressively "do you think that's what they were stalling for?"

"Maybe, maybe not. we don't want to wait around here trying to find out." She reached down to touch her leg-- how bad was it?

She'd managed to avoid the worst of it....or maybe he wasn't trying to hurt her. It was hardly  more than a painful scratch.

"no... I think we'd better head to the main lab right away."

She sighed. Panther was nothing if not inscrutable.

"Yeah. Lets move."

Ana dusted herself off, and took off at a jog down the hall "it's right this way... we're almost there, Heron."

She nodded, and headed with her after collecting her knife. "Good."

"Looks like you and Panther have some history." Ana said as she hurried past old labs and lonely break rooms.

"we ran into one another a long time ago. Care to guess where?"

"Snowdrift?" she guessed awkwardly, as she gestured through a set of locked iron doors.  "The hall's through there."

"yeah," she nodded. She examined the iron doors. "This what we needed that key for?"

"yeah, it's one of a few doors locked with the director's weird key." She sighed "It's usually open but we've been in lockdown, so.."

"So key it is," she nodded, taking it out.

"yeah you ah, gotta..." she mimed twisting and rearranging with her hands. "make it fit?"

She nodded. "I get it. Male puzzle," she joked wryly. She looked at the hole, and at the key.

Ana flushed a bright red "....Heron!" she squeaked.

It looked like she had to form it into a series of three prongs in the shape of a triangle for this door.

"Huh..." she gave a try at manipulating the puzzle.

It slid faily easily. As she moved parts of it, different attachments and shapes were formed. It didn't take long to find the three pronged shape.

"Interesting key," she said, pressing it into the slot.

"yeah. It's only supposed to be in the hands of the Director, but...well. He won't complain now, I guess..."

The door beeped, and slid open , letting her take the key when it was finished.

The hallway was dark, with one light flickering far down at the end.

Hazel peered carefully down it, and waved Ana to follow as she stepped in.

Ana stepped into the hallway, just as the door shut behind them.

It shut out the light as they went, leaving them in the dark save for the flickering light at the end of the hall.

Ana stepped , and there was the crunch of glass underfoot.

_crinkle...crunch...crinkle_

Hazel paused. "Careful," she said quietly.

Ana nodded, pulling up her guard mask with a nervous hum. She stopped walking, and fished for a flashlight "can I give us some light?" She whispered.

She frowned. "Be ready to go dark if I say."

She nodded, and flicked on a flashlight, bringing it to the underside of her pistol, and aiming around the room.

"Oh...oh god.." She whispered in horror, as the thin beam of her flashlight fell open a decaptiated corpse slumped against the wall. Blood spattered the floor, mingled with broken glass from the lights above. Bullet holes, slash marks, and bodies showed wherever Ana pointed the beam of her flashlight.

It was a hallway of death.

Hazel grimaced, pointing her gun at the corners. "What the hell?"

Ana took a hesitant step forward, avoiding the glass...though her feet made tacky sounds as they stepped in the blood of her fellow guards.

"this is what the Wendigo does, Heron." She whispered "They ...they have _stories_ about her in our sectors..."

"I wasn't briefed on this," she growled stepping carefully forward.

Ana shook her head, her mouth hidden behind the mask of her uniform as she crept forward, her steps careful as she shifted over the body of someone she once knew.

"Goddess bless." She whispered in a shaking voice. "I can hardly recognize them.."

She gripped her gun, and took a centering breath. "You weren't?"

"Not about.... this..." she said gesturing to the carnage. "damn...."

"SHe ah... she's sent in for missions where survivors are...not...the main...objective..." Ana murmured...

She passed a guard, glancing at his face with a sad look. She turned her eyes away and shined her light forward, towards the flickering light ahead.

"She's a cleanup crew."

"Ironic," Hazel muttered.

"isn't it?" Ana whispered.

She stepped on a piece of glass...and something slid, landing with a wet thump at her feet, the sound seeming deafening in the otherwise silent hall.

She aimed her light down to find a head had rolled against her boot...and Ana screamed, falling backwards and onto the glass-covered floor.

"Shit!" Hazel's first move was to try to catch Ana as she fell, or pick her up failing that.

She managed to catch Ana just before she hit the shattered glass.

"oh god..."

"Just breath," Hazel said, helping her up. "Concentrate on your breathing."

Ana concentrated on her breathing but her eyes were still locked on the head. "he owed me money." She laughed, panic in her voice. "he...He was...ah, we used to play cards together."

Hazel picked Ana up in her arms and started carrying her down the hall slowly. "What's past this hallway?"

_Don't let her think about it. Keep her distracted with the task at hand._ That was how Hazel got through it herself.

Ana's voice quavered "the...the...the Main Lab but uh...there's a few c-command rooms...and...and..."

She sniffed "a break room...some other facilities.."

"Any security checkpoints?"

She moved toward the door.

"The big one, yeah, it's just beyond the door. But given..." She walked slowly forward "we might be okay."

"what's the first area I'll find past it?"

"There's a command room, though it splits off into the two halls that surround the main lab... left towards some more of the ancillary labs, and right towards the break rooms  and other amenities..."

Hazel put her hand on the door, ready to ease it open. "which way's your guess to Kovalenko?"

"Either way , probably. We might be lucky and he's in the command room... or he's in the main bay...which is accessible through four points in the circular hallway, two on each side."

She nodded. "we'll look there first," she said, easing the door open.

The door opened to a narrow hallway between two guard shacks. Beyond was the doorway to the command room...

Bullet holes riddled both sides of the guard shack, though they didn't quite penetrate. Bulletproof glass, it looked like....

But it got the attention of them enough for someone to open the door to try taking out the intruder. Inside both of the guard shacks was a massacre.

On one side, guards hacked apart, and riddled with holes. The other had fractured bulletproof glass and scorchmarks mingling with the dead, the aftermath of a localized explosion.

"......"

"Damn," hazel hissed. "Come on lets keep moving." She pressed on toward the command room.

"They're all dead." She said, sounding dizzy, but still...she pushed on, and grabbed the handle of the door. "...dead...."

*BEEP BEEP BEE BOOP*

"Yeah?" Hazel answered.

"Ishmael here. Seems you've run into the handiwork of one 'Wendigo'. "

"Some handiwork," she agreed.

"She's a real deadly piece of work, that's for sure. Now, I trained her...briefly...during some of her earlier years. Before she got shipped off to that top secret facility to the west."

"What should I know about her?" she asked

"She's a black ops agent. Dropped into a territory and asked to eliminate whoever needs eliminating for a job to be done. Surprised they sent her along, honestly, given the fact she's prone to working alone...or with distant backup."

"Does she know I'm here?"

"yeah, but ...well... you may have to work your way around her...unique..personality."

"Unique how?"

"Aggressive as all get out. A little odd...try to tread lightly around her or your buddy's going to find herself full of holes"

"Yeah.... I'll keep it in mind."

"Good luck." For some reason, his laugh was less than reassuring.

She let him go, and nodded to Ana to open the door while Hazel covered her.

Ana pulled open the door, slowly peeking inside.

She heard someone babbling for help...and another voice, this one masked by some kind of vocal distortion.

"Please, I..I don't know where Calvin is! They took him out of the main lab after that explosion! he...he's probably in one of the side labs, you gotta listen to me!" babbled a quavering voice.

Hazel leveled her gun and stepped forward, making an educated guess. "Wendigo, ease up."

"she's going to kill me!" the main said "she's a monster!"

Ana raised her submachine gun, and aimed it right at the wendigo "I don't care if you're black ops, lady! You leave him alone! o-or else!"

The wendigo was clothed head to toe in wetworks gear, a mask and goggles covering her face, making her look like a shadow with a pair of shining eyes,

"who the hell are you?"

"I'm uh...uh.. A..Anastasia" she said, though her voice shook. "and I'm not about to let you hurt an innocent man!"

"Y-you tell her!" The man said, slowly trying to edge towards the door.

"Never heard of you," the wendigo said. She grabbed the guy as he was leaving and he had a look of surprise for a moment, before he went slack in her arms.

"Stun needle?" Hazel guessed.

"No shit," the wendigo's eerily distorted voice snapped. "What about you, who are you?"

"Heron. Steel Heron."

"Anastasia Folcroft!" Ana finally managed to stammer "Daughter of General Folcroft and A....Agent Stilletto!"

She gripped her gun tightly. "why'd you knock him out?? He's a victim here as much as any of the other eggheads!"

"He's a liability to have running around."

"I'm starting to think you're a liability, lady!" Ana frowned under her mask

"You might wanna rethink that."

"How about we all take a deep breath," hazel suggested.

"as long as the crazy lady in the mask doesn't decide to taze me half to death." Ana said

"How about if the kid doesn't shoot her mouth off?" Wendigo retorted

"i'm not a kid! I.. I was almost a member of the Alloy Unit you know! I'm a soldier!"

"Sure thing, kid," she snorted.

Ana grit her teeth behind her mask. "Stop calling me kid, you murderer."

"That's a good one."

"Ladies," Hazel said sharply.

Ana winced, and lowered her gun slightly "I knew those people." She muttered darkly "Even if they chose the wrong side, they didn't have to go so ....so violently."

"My methods get results. What about yours?" the wendigo demanded, lowering her own just a bit.

"we've been doing just fine without playing 'Marie the Ripper' with decent folks in a bad situation"

"Sure, because I've been back here in the shadows taking care of the real business"

"Heron took out two members of the Alloy Unit." She said, her voice tense. "We're doing the work that needs doing, so you can ...can..."

"So we can all get this done with and get out of here," Hazel put in before the wendigo would retort.

Ana nodded. "Yeah, what the _great war hero Steel Heron_ said."

Somehow despite not being able to see her eyes, Ana could sense Wendigo rolling her eyes.

"Alright, so what now?" she demanded.

"We've got to get Dr. Kovalenko to safety...then we can take out the HINDs and set our sights on Brass Eagle and ...hopefully Iron.." Ana said "right, boss?"

Hazel nodded. "Exactly. Sounds like you were looking for him too?"

"And as you no doubt heard, our friend here didn't have any answer were." She nudged the unconcious man with her foot.

"That was probably because of Panther and his..." Ana grimaced "Time...bomb....grenade...thing."

"HIs what?" she demanded. "What happened?"

"Pan...Panther detonated some kind of bomb that froze everything in the immediate area!" Ana murmured "i felt kinda weird after it washed over us, too. But it wore off pretty fast.."

"Time bomb," she agreed. "Shit."

"yeah..." Ana scratched her arm "....it didn't feel great, that's for sure..."

"Probably destabilized the whole area," Wendigo agreed.

"Where'd he even _get_ something like that?? Research into time...stuff...was supposed to be dead! off limits!"

Hazel considered, "Lynxcould have gotten it from the past, potentially."

"... like...the actual past? You think she's a time traveler?" Ana asked with trepidation

"She hijacked some old time tech. Before I ran into you."

"Great, a crazy woman with a time machine, what could go wrong?"

She paused 'wait a minute!!"

Both of the women's gaze snapped to Ana.

"Yeah?" Hazel asked.

"i've listened to Dr. Kovalenko talk before." She said with a frown "a lot...too much. I wish I hadn't. but..." She pulled down her mask 'But the **only way people can travel through time** is in those pods...and even then it's so dangerous they shut down the project! If you're not shielded you're... awash with radiation... the technology's not even CLOSE to ready when it comes to traveling unassisted by some kind of ...massive machine."

Hazel's brow wrinkled. "Thats not what Lynx did... but she still disappeared into some kind of time rift"

Ana chewed her knuckle. "....but how? it' s impossible.."

"fuck if I know," Wendigo said, "But that's just _wonderful._"

"You think he's from the future?" Ana mused out loud "you know? like...where time travel like that's possible?"

Hazel frowned, thinking about Panther and how old he'd been when she met him-- did his appearence line up with how much time had passed between the snowdrift mission and now?

He looked...honestly, a lot older.

It's true a lot of time had passed, but he had a grizzled sort of quality to him, where Stilletto simply looked like she'd reached her later middle age.

"He.... might be from the future, yeah," she admitted grudgingly,,

"Greeeat," Wendigo said darkly.

"soteria's not gonna be happy about that..."

"I'm not happy about it either," Hazel mused. But it did put into stark light what he meant by stalling. They'd come back to change something.... but what?

"He's not using it to help Iron, is he?"

"I... don't know," Hazel said, "I feel like he might be more trouble if he was. He DID give me the armory key."

"Which let us get the rocket launchers we're gonna use to take out the HINDs." Ana agreed. "...he wouldn't have done that if he was on Iron's side...but..."

She looked down at her leg "he's the one who carved up my legs..."

"Just becasue he's not helping Iron doesn;'t mean he's not a violent man," hazel said with a shrug.

"hah... guess that's true.." Ana said with a weak smile. "....asshole."

"wonderful," Wendigo said. "A meddler AND a time traveler. Just what I needed."

"I dunno, I think the two of you'd get along famously." Ana muttered

Hazel shook her head. "Well, whatever Panther's doing and whereever he's from, we can;t do anything but proceed with the mission"

"Yeah. the mission's all that matters." She said, glancing at the great and shuttered window that would have showed the main lab. "Stopping Iron from turning her hate outwards onto the world."

"We should get back to that then insead of standing around here running out mouths," Wendigo said

"yeah, we're on a timetable." Ana murmured.

After a moment, she offered a shaking hand to the Wendigo. "hey, I'm sorry about being so....ah, aggressive."

she sighed and took her hand. "Sure. Sorry about calling you kid."

Ana smiled, and shook her hand ."I'll forgive you." She leaned in "I face my fears by running straight at them, Wendigo."

Her eyes narrowed "if I survive this mess.... I'm gonna take you on in training one day soon and lay you flat on the mat."

"heh. I'll take you up on that. Now, lets get this done, shall we?"

Ana nodded "Just try not to kill any scientists." She backed away "Heron...ready to find the good doctor?"

Heron nodded. "Lets do this."

Ana clicked the slide back on her gun "...maybe we should open the window and get a peek at the Wolf."

Hazel nodded. "Good idea."

Ana flexed her fingers nervously "Wendigo..we'll catch up with you later."

She walked for the console at the front of the command center, and typed a few things onto the keypad.

Wendigo nodded and took a few steps backward, fading smoothly out of view soon after.

".....fucking hell" Ana whispered "she's a weird one."

As she spoke, the shutters began to slowly open behind her.

Warily, Heron turned toward the opening shutters.

Slowly, they began to open. As they rose she got her first look at the machine that could end the world. It towered in the center of the main lab like a beast in crouch...

It was a walking tank, like the Titan had been... but this one had four legs and a heavy, almost canine body to it. Twin ICBM missile launchers for the deployment of nuclear arms stuck from either side of it's chassis, as a tail mounted cannon lay confined in a vice grip , a few scientists milling about it slowly.

And at it's head....one of those Pods. The same kind her mother had been working on, embedded in the canine-esque array of sensors and armored plating....

"...i always hated seeing this thing."

"damn..." Hazel hissed looking at the thing with a mixture of appreciation, horror, and sheer annoyance.

"That thing in it's head lets it sense the intent of people. Like...like those small little wolves that the police force has."

"Yeah," she breathed. "Great. That's a real miracle of science."

"yeah... though it kinda freaks me out, you know? I feel like it knows more than it lets on..." Ana mused "...is that weird to say?"

Heron shook her head. "For a mindreading robot? No, that's... probably fair."

"how's it even supposed to judge what's 'ill intent' anyway? ...the police 'bots always freaked me out with that." Ana gripped her gun.

"but this thing's meant to find specific people..." She frowned "....and kill them, and all their allies in a single blow. It's...destabilizing."

Hazel had thoughts about that but.... "It might be, but lets focus on the task at hand. Do you see the doctor in there?"

Ana leaned against the window, looking out at it. "....I think I see him getting shoved into one of the side labs actually...by Iron herself."

"Wonderful." she narrowed her eyes tracking the people in the lab and trying to find them.

She saw Iron shoving a pale haired man into a lab, barking some orders as she slammed the door shut behind him.

She hollered at the other scientists, waving her hands , before she grabbed someone seated at a computer terminal.

The scientist? Soldier? was directed towards the large bay doors to the lab, which were opening to the snowstorm outside. Iron didn't even wait for him as she marched forward towards it.

The scientist, if that's what he was had shockingly dyed red hair, and a large pair of round glasses on his face. he did NOT look happy as he was being marched.

"oh...shit..." Ana whispered. "that's Sterling Owl, Heron..."

She glanced at her "...have your people in the command center been having any technical difficulties?"

Hazel 's mouth formed a hard line. "Yeah. They have."

"and any of your equipment?"

She nodded. "Anything with a signal in seems to be having problems."

"looks like he's been at work already." Ana frowned "and now that he's mad....it's probably about to get a lot worse."

"Great. Its not like i can just ditch my equipment...."

"we'll have to take him out...maybe after we rescue your brother."

She gestured "we can reach that room via the west wing..."

"Then lets get moving," she nodded.

Ana nodded, and headed to the doors on the west, pushing them open with her shoulder "this place is gonna have a lot of guards and scientists. so we'll have to be careful."

Hazel stepped slightly ahead of her, tranq gun out and ready. "Without a doubt."

Ana nodded "I gotta get me one of those." She said quietly, as they walked out into the long, curved hallway. "I feel bad always having to go full lethal."

"Here," Hazel said, pulling her spare from her kit.

Ana whistled, taking the gun as she slinged her SMG over her shoulder "you really do come prepared, huh?"

"I do my best," she nodded.

"Well. I know I appreciate it." Ana said, cocking the slide back with a smile "Let's go save your bro, huh?"

She nodded, "Lets do it."

She moved forward, keeping a cautious eye out.

Ana eased slowly down the hallway, glancing though the windows and into the main lab as they passed them.

The hallway curved inwards, leading them in a wide circle around the main lab, with several doors dotting the other side where other labs sat...the one they needed was about half a length away.

Hazel paced carefully, paying anttention to every sound and on the look out for motion as they made their way there. She kept her gun trained on each one that they passed in case it opened.

None of the labs opened as they passed....but Hazel's keen ears hear the blip of motion ahead of her, further down the curl of the hall.

Hazel paused slightly in her approach-- coming toward them, or heading away?

They were coming towards her...slowly.

They heard lab doors opening, and a digitized voice saying "clear" after each one.

"shit," she hissed. "This hall, is it a full circle, Ana?"

"yeah, it connects with the Operations room on this end, and a guard shack on the other..."

"Great." she pointed her gun at the nearest door. "What's the likelihood its empty?"

"honestly." Ana whispered "50/50. But we can probably take the people in there pretty easy."

She nodded. "Lets do it. On my mark."

Ana raised her gun "Get set..."

"Now," Hazel hissed, throwing the door open with one hand and aiming her gun with the other.

Ana burst into the room with her, aiming her pistol at a surprised looking woman in a labcoat. "...Anastasia?" she whispered "i thought you died!"

Ana blinked "Oh uh. d-hey Doc!" She glanced from side to side....and noticed the two guards who were already drawing their weapons.

"Aw...crap."

Hazel didn't hesitate, she aimed and shot the one and the other as they drew their weapons, rapidly squeezing off multiple tranq rounds

Ana fired a perfunctory dart into one of the men...just as both went crashing to the ground "...shit. I hope I didn't overdose Steve too bad."

"He'll be fine," Hazel said, her gun leveled warily at the scientist.

The scientist raised her hands up with a panicked smile. "Ana, mind telling your friend here to maybe ease up on the trigger finger?"

"I would Doc, but we're in a bit of trouble..." Ana said "armed guards heading towards this area kind of trouble."

"What kind of sweeps are they doing in this area exactly?" Hazel asked

"It's...it's probably just a hunt for you two. Given the red alert that Iron issued ten or so minutes ago...Seems we lost a whole guard post..." The doctor said, nervously twiddling her braid

Hazel nodded. "Alright. What can you do to help us out?"

She pushed up her glasses "...I can help you get into the ducts. They won't look there."

Hazel looked at Ana.

Ana grimaced "not the comfiest, but we've made due in the ducts before."

She smiled at the doctor "thanks Doc. Sorry plans got all mixed around. Stay safe, we'll catch up."

The doctor nodded, and pulled up a chair for them , gesturing to a duct near the ceiling. "up there, quick."

Hazel nodded, "Thanks, doc." she said. "You first, Ana."

Ana nodded, and hefted herself into the duct, crawling in.

"Take care of Anastasia, stranger." The doctor pushed up her glasses "She's a nice girl."

She hesitated a moment before she said 'and tranq me. they'll kill me if I'm the only one awake in a room of sleeping guards."

"I was planning on it," Hazel said with a thin smile. She put an arm around the doctor. "Nighty night."

"Glad we're on the same page." the woman drawled, her body tensing.

Hazel shot her in the neck, and eased her down onto the floor.

"oof.." Ana said from the duct "are you sure you had to put her out?"

"She's the one who suggested it," she confirmed, easing herself up into the duct with the grate in one hand. She pulled it up behind her.

"yeah..." She sighed softly . "I figured she'd do that. She's a sensible kinda girl." She crawled through the duct. "I just hope she doesn't have a headache when she wakes up."

"She'd have worse than a headache if I didn't put her out," Hazel said, following.

"...." Ana lowered her head "....yeah. The guys are getting pretty ruthless."

"Keep it in mind, but don't let it panic you," Hazel offered.

"I know" Ana said softly "I just ...wish it didn't come to this."

"Me too, Ana. But it wasn't a choice either of us could make." she sighed. "if you don't think you can go any further, I understand."

Ana's shoulders tensed as she passed a grate, looking inside  before continuing on "no."

"I'm not going to just...sit back and let Iron end the world. I'm a guard...a soldier..." She sighed "and I'm going to do what a soldier's supposed to do....and protect the people back home who need it most."

"Good. Then be strong, for the people who need you."

Ana nodded , and continues on. The duct curved with the hall, leading them down as they heard snippets of conversation.... a digitized 'Clear' from one room...nervous chatter from scientists about the fuel consumption of the Wolf and the viability of solar power...

Little conversations, but none of them the man they needed.

Hazel pressed on, listening carefully as they quietly scooched through the events. The whole situation was rough. Part of her wanted to put Ana out and take on the rest herself, but she'd been valuable so far-- and Hazel suspected she'd never forgive her for doing it.

It seemed to stretch on forever...but then Ana paused by a grate near the end of the duct, right before it dropped into some kind of chute.

"....hold on" She whispered, and listened carefully "I think that's Dr. Kovalenko."

Hazel paused just behind her and closed her eyes, listening carefully.

Ana pressed her ear to the wall of the duct, listening close.

The doctor was humming. Or singing? Mostly humming but every now and then it seemed he'd sing a few words.

_"do do do do a spiteful angel's litany...._" 🎵

"....." Ana pinched her nose "....wow...this guy's one serious nerd." she muttered, before she started loosening the bolts from the inside of the duct.

"I know that tune," Hazel murmered.

"Yeah, it's the theme song to frickin' Neo Rebirth Conversion." Ana said,b efore she physically kicked the grate off the duct, and leapt down into the room.

The white haired scientist shrieked, and grabbed the nearest object, aiming it at Anna like a weapon.

It was a pocket fan.

"I appreciate the breeze, Kovalenko." Ana said, pulling her mask down with a smile "but it takes more than a stiff wind to blow me over."

Hazel slid down into the room to join them.

His eyes widened and he briefly pointed the fan at hazel too, before putting it down, sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" Hazel asked.

"we're here to save you, Doc." Ana leaned on the desk with a grin. "If we manage to get you to safety, taking out Iron Heron will be a piece of cake."

"Taking out Iron Heron," he repeated. "Thank Pax you got here when you did."

"well I've been here the whole time. " Ana rubbed her neck "sort of trying to sabotage from the inside...but Ms. Steel Heron here." She nodded her head towards Hazel.

"She's a war hero sent to stop Iron once and for all."

Heron smiled tensely. "Don't buy into the hype. I'm just doing what has to be done."

Calvin however looked floored. "Huh? _The_ Steel Heron?"

Ana grinned, holstering her tranq pistol with a nod. "The one and only. The one from Snowdrift!"

"I can't believe its you," he said, biting his lip. "I'm happy you're here but... sending you will piss off Iron, that's for sure!"

"Too late."

"Iron's pretty mad. Like...full on torture room mad." Ana grimaced. "But we'll keep giving her the slip as long as we need to."

She gestured. "Which brings us back to you, Doc."

"You know what she has me doing,, right?" he asked. "I mean aside from when she's shouting, or trying to get me to make announcements for the benefit of phantoms-- though, I guess you're really here..."

"Yeah, she uh, was trying to do some kind of intimidation tactic." She mused. "anyway...."

"she's trying to activate the Metal Wolf and nuke the Pax Republic, right? to...prove some twisted loyalty to a dead terrorist?"

"That's right," he nodded. "And she has that weasel Sterling Owl checking over my code. So I'm stalling as much as I can but trying to sabotage it without them knowing...."

"it's a losing game. She'll know and you'll be punished and have to do the whole thing over again." Ana nodded.

"But it'll be fine. they _need_ you...and your sister and I are gonna get you out of here, so they can't use that brain of yours anymore!"

"I sure hope so," he nodded. "What's your plan?"

He paused, glasses slipping down my nose. "Wait-- my what?"

Hazel coughed.

"Your...sister." She gestured back towards Heron. "Steel Heron?"

"man, this is gonna get awkward." Simon murmured through their private comm channel.

"Ana..." Heron said. "Now

isn't really the time,"

"I'm sorry, are you trying to say that _Steel Heron_ is my sister?"

Ana nodded slowly "yeah. uh...that's what she told me, anyway."

She glanced at Heron "...but she's right. Now's not the time. "

"I hope you'll tell me when we do have time," he said. "Cause I'm thrown for a loop!"

"A wonderful reuinon with the [Kovalenko] family." Chronia announced.

"...." Ana shivered "anyway, it's about time we stuffed you in a vent, Cal."

He grimaced. "If we have to..."

"We have to," Heron agreed.

"Better than being strung up by Iron for another one of her rants, right?" Ana grinned. "lemme give you a hand, Doc."

"I appreciate it," he nodded, letting her take the lead. "if I had to sit through another I don't know what I'd do."

Ana grabbed him, and bodily hoisted him up towards the vent. "Hop on up, Doc."

She chuckled. "I think when she really gets going the only thing you _can_ do is pray for death so you don't gotta listen to too much of it."

Kovolenko allowed himself to be hoisted in, using his arms to help pull himself up. "Seriously," he mumbled,

"I didn't know she was so wordy when I wanted to join the Alloy Unit, but uh...after my torture session." Ana laughed. "I think someone gifted her too many word a day calendars"

With a push, he was in the chute, and Ana leapt up after him.

hazel followed her, closing the grate off behind them.

"okay" Ana whispered "we need to find somewhere safe for the Doctor...it's a shame we can't just....send him flying up to your mobile command center."

"wouldn't that be perfect?" Hazel murmered. "Alright, any suggestions?"

Ana cocked her head to the side "actually..." She grinned "doc, you went to the ol' time labs a bunch, right? To meet with the freaky robot?"

"your goddess." Chronia helpfully corrected, piping her voice through the headset's little speakers.

"Uh, I did," he agreed whispering."Wait... is she here?"

"yes, I am [Calvin.]. I was rescued by [Subject: Heron]."

"yeah uh. she's here. " Ana muttered "anyway, there's a lab there that's kinda busted up...the door's broken. Maybe if we can get you in via the vents, you can set up a little command center? The door's busted, so they won't be able to get in easy, even if they find you."

"That sounds as safe as anything else we could try," heron nodded.

Calvin bit his lip. "I don't _think_ I see any major drawbacks."

"I mean, there might be some residual radiation, but you're all chrono-radiated up, right? You'll probably be fine!"  She said with an ear to ear grin

"Great thanks for reminding me," he said dryly

She flashed him a thumbs up, her hand shaking slightly "come on. Let's get outta here, alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah...."

"Remember, be as quiet as you can," hazel whispered as they all started to move.

Ana nodded, and together they crept through the ducts. "we should exit in the south guard shack and try to make our way around the outside." She murmured.

"Good," Hazel agreed."Lets do it."

"I hope we won't be outside too long," Calvin whispered. "I'm not exactly dressed for it."

"we're just gonna skirt the outside some, and try to avoid the guards as we get back to the old lab. Eagle destroyed the main hall to it with his tank, so we gotta get creative."

"we won't let you freeze," Hazel assured.

"You can borrow my coat if you want." Ana grinned, as she gestured forward 'alright, inside voices....they probably saw Wendigo's slaughter near the command center...so they're likely staffing this one fairly heavily."

"Got it," Calvin said, trying to make his movements even quieter.

Ana eased out her pistol "Heron...got a flashbang?"

"Yeah," she breathed, easing one out into her hand.

Ana nodded, and peeked out the grate. "we got a small crowd of them. I'm gonna flash them, then we should slip out and open fire while they're blind."

She nodded. "Alright. Doctor, make sure you're as out of the line of fire as possible."

calvin didn't answer but he did press himself back into a nook of the vent.

Ana nodded back at him before she pushed the vent open...and tossed the grenade through. SHe pressed her head down into her arms as a number of alarmed shouts rang out.

Behind her in the vent, Hazel readied herself, tense for action, gun in hand.

There was the bang...the flash...and Ana leapt out of the vent. Hazel could hear her fire off to rounds, before a returning bout of fire erupted.

Hazel slipped out of the vent behind her and quickly got her bearings.

She saw one man blind firing at Ana, who'd ducked behind a console, as two more attempted to get their bearings by the door.

Two were down, knocked out by Ana's shots...

a fourth man was blinking...and seemed to be able to focus enough to see them move.

he was going for a grenade.

Hazel raised her gun quickly and fired at the man as he went for the grenade.

The bullet slammed into his chest, and sent him staggering back into the plate glass with a loud crash.

The two others turned towards him, only for Ana to pop out and get one in t he neck, before she had to duck under another flurry of fire from her blinded opponant.

Two men remained

Heron whirled toward the men at the door, and squeezed off another few rounds at them, meanwhile moving to close the distance while they were still dazed.

She rushed them, taking them by surprise enough to drop them both...leaving only the man who was pinning down Ana with his machine gun fire.

He stopped just long enough to glance for Heron's footsteps...and earn a dart to the temple, dropping him with a heavy thud.

Heron nodded to Ana. "Nice."

Ana flashed her a thumbs up "Now we just gotta get outside."

"Come on, Doc," she waved the all clear for Calvin who nervously let himself down, his feet waving briefly in the air.

Ana grinned "you gonna hold up alright, Doctor Kovalenko?" She asked as she headed for the door.

"This kind of thing isn't exactly easy on my knees," he admitted, pushing up his glasses. "But I'll try not to slow you down."

"Your knees, huh?" She asked, as she inputted a code into the exit hatch...the door hissed open, and the cold air blew in. "Are they..bad?"

"I didn't _think_ so," he said with some embaressment.

"Not used to crawling and jumping huh, Doc?" hazel teased

Ana slipped out into the cold, pulling her uniform close as the wind whipped her black hair around her face. "I can manhandle you some more if you want?" she winked over her shoulder

"I'll uh, pass unless its necessary," he chuckled, pulling his own coat tight as they walked out.

The white landscape of the lab's tundra environment shone bright under the halogen searchlamps that illuminated the main road leading up to the encampment, and the outside of key exits... and once more, they heard the distant rotors of the HINDs.

"Alright" Called Ana, "If we hug the right side of the building and hustle, we should get there fast without triggering any searchlamps."

"Lets go," Hazel nodded. "I'll take point, lets keep the doc between us."

Ana nodded, and waited for Calvin and Hazel to get into position , before she took up the rear, gripping her submachine gun tightly. "alright, lead the way, boss."

Hazel did as Ana had suggested, hugging the side of the building and moving as fast as she dared without attracting attention.

Voices came from windows high above occasionally. Snippets of guards conversations, concerns...but nobody seemed to notice them as they hurried past a fenced in area containing a cold weather training course.

Ana was tense, nervous as she hurried along...but she kept her gun hand steady.

**beep beep boop beep.**

"What is it?" she hissed quitely, staying alert as she moved.

"hey there, Heron! Just thought because you're _wandering around_ outside in the cold, you might want to get in some cold weather training....or at least a refresher on survival strategies." Ishmael drawled.

"I don't plan to be out here long," she murmered, "but Im listening."

"Step one. Bundle up!"

"Uhuh." She carefully made her way, tranq gun in hand, scanning for threats.

"Step two, keep close to your buddies."

There was a set of lights out in the distance....

They glowed near what might have been a vehicle depot lodged on the side of the main lab. A depot they'd have to cut through to get to the rising form of the old lab ahead.

Was there any cover for them to pause?

There were a lot of trucks...covered ones, utility vehicles....all terrain jeeps. They could cover behind those as they passed.

"Maybe hop in a vehicle if you're feeling chilly and get some cover going."

Hazel waved them forward carefully, staying behind cover as best she could. As long as they had enough, they'd be able to make it through....

"Start a fire...."

They took cover behind a truck, as one of the spotlights passed overhead.

Hazel gritted her teeth, keeping low and putting a hand on Calvin to keep him low as the spotlight passed.

"Uhuh."

"Pray, if you're into that sort of thing."

Ana kept low, holding her submachine gun with a little smile "this is going well" She whispered. "I think we'll be able slip past this just fine!"

Hazel winced. "_Ana_"

She quickly checked their six.

She peeked under the truck...and saw the distinct shape of tread tracks that had gone past this truck and further into the depot...and behind a few other trucks....

*Click clink clink clink*

The sound of a cannon's turning sounded through the depot.

"and I mean, you can always loop around to the Fire, you know?" Ismael said.

**BANG**

 

The cannon roared, and a shell shredded it's way over their heads, tearing the top of the covered truck straight off before it slammed into one of the heating units beyond, igniting it in a fireball.

"_Fuck_." Hazel's body went into red alert.