Shadows Chapter 10

Note:-This chapter has been typed up whilst hungover to truly replicate that morning of the night after feeling.

As the intense rays of sunlight hit his eyes, Alker groaned. He looked left and looked right. Where was he? Then he realised. Oh no! Glanching at his watch he saw that it was 6 o clock in the morning - and here he was lying in a gutter outside a bar, in the center of Neon Town. Alker groaned once more as the memories of the previous night began to flood his head. He was not meant to be here. He was meant to be back at the base. Oh ****! Everyone was usually up by dawn! He had next to no time to pick himself up and get back there before anyone noticed. Still somewhat fragile he stood up and spotted Jake slumped against a lamppost half a street away.
"Jake!", he yelled, as he approached. Unclean and unkempt, smelling of alcohol, Jake looked in a worse state than Alker actually was. How much HAD they drunk last night? Alker could not even remember. It had been a good night. He recalled a fight though. After that his memory seemed very blurred. What the heck had actually happened? It was not a nice feeling to experience.
"Huhh", Jake slowly came to as near as full consciousness as he could manage in his present state.
"We're not meant to be here! ****!", Alker began to sweat and panic started to take hold.
"Oh crap", Jake gradually pulled himself up, "and we have a fight in half an hour as well"
"Let's go NOW!", Alker stated urgently.
"Okay", Jake seemed to recover a bit as he began to ease some ki into his hungover body. Gradually he started to float into the air. Alker began to drift forward, expecting Jake to follow, only to look round, whereupon Jake promptly fell to ground and was violently sick. It was going to be a very long and tiring day.
***
They travelled a journey, which under normal circumstances would have taken about 5 minutes from the city to the complex. Unfortunatly these were not normal circumstances. It was almost five and a half hours later, coming up to midday, whereupon Alker and Jake finally arrived outside the disused warehouse, which disguised the base below.
"We are in so much trouble. Alec will literally kill us!", Alker worried.
"Don't be so concerned, Alker. I will think of something", Jake reassured Alker, though the tone of his voice belayed his words, "Still I think that it is best that we use my...personal entrance in this case"
Instead of entering the warehouse, Jake turned and took a 15 minute detour, which involved entering an abandoned subway and climbing a ventilation shaft. At the top of this shaft was another tighter tunnel, which Jake and Alker only just managed to squeeze through. This tunnel had been filthy, with what seemed to be rubbish of sorts scattered across its length. Of course such activity was not too pleasant, especially when they were both still nursing a severe hangover. Finally after this long haul they came to another ventilation duct which led into the base itself.
"Finally", Alker complained, his hands and clothes dirty from the crawling.
"Aw shutup", Jake grinned, "Its better than entering via the main entrance isn't it where you would get a bollocking from Alec"
"Yeah. I just wish..."
"...Quiet!", Jake abruptedly said. After a pause in the conversation for ten or so seconds, where Jake appeared to be concentrating on something, in a voice of deep concern he hushed, "This is not good. Listen and tell me if you hear what I hear"
Alker stopped his complaints and strained his ears. Just on the very limit of his hearing, there was a noise. An unusual noise. It sounded like...it couldn't be! The base was meant to be impenetratable.
"Androids", Alker whispered, his face assembling one of abject horror.
"Yes Alker. Dozens of them", Jake's expression matched Alker's in its distress.
"They found it? Where are the others?", Alker blustered miserably.
"We've got to look", Jake's voice was pained as he quietly undid the gratting, "We've just got to"
"Y-yes", Alker stammered, "But is that a good idea? Any battle is prob..", Alker saw Jake's expression and stopped.
"I know Alker. I know. But we know the only other way out of here. If they are hiding, which is likely, since the androids are still here...", it did not occur to Jake that the androids might actually be looking for him and Alker.
With the greatest caution, they both suppressed their power levels so that they would not be detected, entered what had once been their base and searched for any survivors. Several times a group of androids, A classes by what Alker could determine(power level approximatly 100,000-in a fight Jake and Alker would not have stood a chance against one) passed. After coming out of hiding once the danger had gone, they would resume the what seemed to becoming hopeless search. Finally after about an hour of frantic looking, they found Ferefire.
"Ferefire!", Jake exclaimed, "what happened?", and then he noticed the condition that he was in. Bruised and battered, with what appeared to be several fractured joints and a bloodied face, Ferefire was in a terrible state.
"They came...During the night...Where..were you?", Ferefire wheezed as he glared at both of them.
"We..I mean I", Alker started.
"Surveillence", Jake swiftly covered it over, "Alec sent us. You probably were not told. How did they find us? How did you escape? Are you okay? Where are the others?", he asked frantically.
"Slow down...", Ferefire coughed several times before continuing, "I'll live. Just. How they found us I don't know. The alarm was triggered at about two o clock during the night. We hastily got up thinking it was just another drill by Alec. How wrong we were. It took thirty seconds for the androids to penetrate the doors. It was hopeless", Ferefire's voice was one of dispair, "They were...elites"
"****! No way!"
"Elites? What are elites?", Alker felt like screaming. His friends were being taken away from him. Again. Just like his father had been all those months ago.
"We tried. We really did. After beating us to a pulp, I just managed to hide. The others were not so lucky"
"Are they...", Jake could not bring himself to say it. After the night that he had just had, it was almost as if this was a dream. It was surreal. All other concerns that he had before this, being late and so forth felt insignificant now.
"No", Jake and Alker showed immense relieve at this, "They were not interested in us. It was the boy they were interested in. You have caused us so much trouble kid, it's all your fault...What the ****e do they want you so desperatly for anyway?"
Alker was astonished. He could not think of a reply to this.
"They took them both...for interrogation..."
"We need to get out of here! We must rescue them! We need to get help!", Jake exclaimed.
Jake and Alker carefully lifted Ferefire up and they began to make their way out of this death trap that they had once called home. Suddenly the entire building shook violently and kept shaking. Alker only just narrowly dodged a section of the ceiling above him which collasped.
"What the heck was that?", Alker almost screamed in panic.
"NO! They're trying to blast us out!", Jake yelled over the ongoing noise, "we must hurry"

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