Mysty coughed as she opened her eyes. Dust and smoke choked her. She sat up, and looked around her. She soon realized she is sitting on Albur, she quickly get off him. She noticed her blood covered a portion of his shirt. She slowly dragged herself to him and shook him gently.
"Albur? Albur, wake up."
Albur's eyebrows were pulled together. He slowly opened his eyes, he coughed, and slowly sat up. He looked around him, and saw Mysty.
"Mysty....?"
He blinked and looked around.
"Where are we?"
Mysty tried to stand up, but forgot her leg is still severely injured. Albur don't know what he should do, he looked around him. He found out they are in an underground place, above their head is a hole where seems like where they fell through. Its a hole on a ceiling, Albur looked through the hole, and found out they are seemingly at the bottom floor of this structure. Albur turned to Mysty, who is groaning in extreme agony.
"Hey Mysty, I'm gonna go see what's going on here. I'll be back very soon, alright?"
Mysty turned to Albur, and slowly nodded.
Albur swallowed saliva as he looked up at the hole. He managed to climb up with one left hand thanks to the dirt slopes near the hole.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At the surface, the trembling settled down. Rhea slowly stood up, she shook off the dust on her back and exited her suit. Covie slowly opened her eyes, she realized its safe now, she activated her propellers and levitated. Then, she fired a healing beam at Rhea and a repair beam at herself and Rhea's suit.
Rhea looked around the massive hole. And yelled out Albur and Mysty's name. There is no response. A bad feeling appeared in her mind. She walked to the hole, and realized it is covered by giant rocks. She walked into the hole's area, standing on the rocks and yelled again.
"Albur! Mysty! Can you hear me!?"
The voice echoed, still, there's no response. Rhea stepped back, and slowly shook her head.
"No...."
But then, Covie heard a muffled voice, coming from one of the rocks. She called Rhea to come. Rhea hurried to Covie's side. She scanned the place where Covie heard the muffled voice. As expected, she detected a life sign.
Rhea then found a gap between two boulders that are blocking the hole. She removed the pebbles and rocks blocking the gap. They found Albur, panting, and his face covered by dust. He is standing on a dirt slope due to the gap is quite far away from the floor Albur is standing on. Rhea and Covie sighed in relief.
"Albur! Thank god you're alright."
"Wait, where is Mysty?"
"She's deeper in this damn place! She is badly injured!"
"Bring her up! I can heal her!"
Albur nodded as he went back down. He slid down the dirt slopes, holes on ceilings and back to the deepest floor. Mysty is still sitting there, but she is near unconscious. She is losing a lot of blood, she will faint and eventually die. Albur quickly carried her on his back, and started climbing back up to the highest point where he can see Rhea and Covie.
Havoc hooked Mysty on Albur with his virus particles to make sure she doesn't fall off. Though Albur had struggled climbing up since he only have his left arm. He kept sliding down and collapsing the holes he climbed up from. They were all filled up by rocks and cement.
Mysty's body is getting colder. Her breathing is getting slower. Albur panicked, he sped up his climbing speed. At last, he reaches the gap again.
"Covie! She's here!"
Albur quickly put Mysty down. Covie squeezed her hand into the gap, then, she fired the healing wave at Mysty's shattered leg. Albur panted and sighed in relief as he leaned backwards. But a crack formed the moment he touched the wall. He then turned to Rhea.
"Rhea, is there anyway you could get me and Mysty out of here?"
Rhea looked at the hole. The boulders covered the hole completely. She tried moving one of the boulders, but when she did, the boulders next to the boulders she moved begun sliding. She quickly stopped. Turns out the boulders aren't simply blocking the hole. They are interlocking each other at the boundary area. Removing one of the boulders would cause other boulders to fall into the hole. Considering the tumor is weakening the ground, the boulders will surely collapse the whole underground structure, and both of them would be crushed and buried alive, unable to be revived.
"I can't, if I had to save y'all like that I have to remove all boulders at once. I need UTD's help for this!" Rhea knelt down and looked at Albur through another gap.
"Then what should we do in here?"
Rhea scratched her head. Just then, the energy detector buzzed. It showed that 2 high energy source is in the hole.
"Hey Albur, I think there are 2 cores in this place."
"What? Right here?"
"Yes."
Albur looked around him, the floor he is currently in is a huge wide area with boulders above their head. Cracks, dirt and broken metal pieces are seen everywhere on the floor. With many holes leading to the lower floors.
"Can you tell me what the hell is this underground structure first?"
Rhea stood up. She scanned the whole area, and scanned the floor of the structure through tiny gaps.
"Huh, this is an underground car parking lot."
"A car park lot?"
"Yeah, some metro stations are also buried in there. Curse that tower lifeform..."
Covie finished healing Mysty. Her leg had returned to normal, she felt much better. Albur looked at Mysty, and sighed in relief.
"Then what should I do now?" He turned to Rhea again.
"I think, you will have to destroy the cores in there...."
Albur looked at his surroundings. And sighed.
"We'll be separated then."
Rhea nodded. She looked at the time, its already 6. She looked at the tumor walls, it is getting darker, the glowing blue and purple lights became more obvious. She stared down at Albur again.
"The portal opens tomorrow, I'll try to get them to help. But for now....I guess you both have to stay down there."
"Alright then...."
"Its about to be night time. Stay where you are, don't go anywhere. I'll give you guys the water and food."
Albur slowly nodded. Rhea turned to the moon hut and ran towards it. Covie slowly pulled her hand back through the tiny gap. Havoc slowly wiggled himself out of Mysty's pocket and moved inch by inch to Albur's side. Albur noticed him, and picked him up.
"Seems like you're not going anywhere." Havoc said.
Albur smirked, he looked into the deeper parts of the underground car park, and sighed.
"How am I supposed to get to the cores now? Without Covie and Rhea's help, only me and Mysty."
"Figure it out yourself."
Albur turned his head and glanced at Havoc.
"I don't even know what to say to you."
Rhea returned to the gap with 20 bottles of water and a few bags of nutrient capsules. Covie noticed her, she then tried to move one of the boulders, but Rhea quickly stopped her.
"Don't move these boulders, find small gaps that could fit."
Covie looked at the previous gap she squeezed her hands in. She opened it further, slowly and carefully. Its not big enough for a person to climb out, but big enough to squeeze the water bottles and the bags of nutrient capsules in. Covie flew back into the hut and gave Albur a four dimensional telescopic bag to let him put the resources there. She also handed him his rifle and his shadow blade.
Albur noticed Mysty isn't awake. He checked and realized she had fallen asleep. He moved her to a corner and used his vest to cover her body. The sky turned dark, inside the underground structure is extremely dark. Albur opened his watch's flashlight and put it on the floor that made a dim light to at least be able to spot Mysty.
Rhea gave every resource the 2 of them will need. She walked to the gap again and looked at Albur.
"I'll be in the hut with Covie, if you guys need anything, use the walkie talkie, alright?"
Albur lowered his head, he looked at the right side of his body.
"Rhea..."
Rhea blinked,
"What?"
"Are you.... free now?"
Rhea looked at her hands, and turned back to look at the hut before turning back to Albur.
"I am."
Albur looked at his rifle. The turned to look at her.
"Can you coach me?"
Rhea's eyes opened wide, staring at Albur.