When something in the rubble moved Anna's grip on her gun tightened and she turned towards it. Her reactions were not nearly as fast as they should be; it was disappointing. Ursula's challenges and then her "fight" with Dedward had really taken it out of her. She was tripping and she knew it. It was not something she could afford to do now, tripping now could mean death. Trying to shake away the hazy tiredness that clouded her mind she took up a fighting stance, her deployable machine gun trained on whatever was in the rubble as she prepared to fire if need be.
Keira was behind the others, preferring to remain in the back of the pack. When something in the rubble moved, however, she bolted to the front to see what was going on, and her grip on her gun tightened. She, too, pointed her weapon into the darkness, afraid of what they may find within. "What was that?" she asked, repeated what Anna and Jena had already said. "Another alien? Just our luck . . ." She really hoped it wasn't another monster. She'd had enough of them already.
Reese reacted to the noise behind the rubble quickly, more quickly then what he had expected. His hand was tight on the gun and he was pointing it towards the rubble. He had been expecting this the whole time, something peeking in the corridor. He wanted to yell something. Like they do in the movies. He wanted to say, Come out so I can kill you. But he refrained from doing so. * * * Stewart's gun was taken away from him, the gun to keep him safe was now in Anna's hands. Stewart was now being watched by Anna more, so he just let Ann react to the rubble and turned because everyone else turned towards that direction pointing their guns. They had been treating Stewart like a criminal, or at least Reese. Reese decided it would be best Stewart was unarmed and more manly watched then ever by Anna.
Jena was now standing between Anna and Keira, all three had their guns out, and behind them Reese had his gun out too. Jena felt fear immediately replaced by fear, Why the hell was everyone so determined to not let them get home?! But she hid her array of emotions behind the mask she had worn for so long. Just because it was cracked didn't mean it wasn't usuable. And she was now beginning to realize that the cracks weren't necessarily bad...they almost made it better. She took another step forward, her gun held steady. Should she call out or continue quietly? She took another tentative step.
Reese noticed Jena's advance and Reese noticed the others slow advance. Well slower then Jena. So Reese moved up a little more and caught up to Reese, they could call out, but if they called they may get attacked. Then again it could have been someone dying or already dead down there. "Jena you uncover the rubble, I'll have your back," Reese said.
Jena shot him a dirty look; she didn't exactly trsut him to have her bcak. However times had changed and she needed to put aside her prejudices. She had to trust him, they all had to trust each other. She nodded her headn and walked slowly into the room. It was totally destroyed. She picked her way across the rubble strewn across the floor looking and listening for the shifting rubble. Finally she saw some move out of the corner of her eye. Walking cautiously over to it she turned around to find Reese right behind her, doing exactly what he promised. She turned back to the pile...she didn't want to uncover what was in there, what if it was another alien? But what if it's a person? if that was the case they had to help...they were the only chance left for survival. Slowly she reached over and began to move the rubble aside.
Suddenly they heard a gun being cocked. And as Jena uncovered the rubble they saw a man pointing a gun at them. He had dark brown hair almost black, he was handsome, had piercing bright blue eyes. He looked pale and peaky. And they could realize why, his left eye looked to be gouged out and his right arm had been teared off. His clothes ragged and covered in blood. * * * "You are people?" he asked calmly, and still in control of his words. He had a British accent and an arua of calmness about him. "People, not one of those things?" he said.
Jena looked at the man in astonishment for a moment, then gathered herself. "Yes, we are people. I assume you are too?"
"Yes, I am a person," he said, "I'm Oliver Rigor, part of the electronic facility down here." Even such a situation, he had time to convulsively fix his ties from what was of his ragged suit. He put the gun down. "This isn't a trick, a hallucination?" he asked, "An alien technique?" He stared down at the floor. "I ask only cause if you haven't noticed I have suffered a great deal of blood loss, I don't know how I am alive," Oliver said.
Anna stepped forward, next to Jena, her gun at the ready just in case. "We could shoot you," she offered. "That might prove that you weren't hallucinating, but I doubt that was what you had in mind."
Jena suppressed a smile, Anna was always one to get straight to the point. "Look, Oliver is it? We aren't a hallucination, and if you let us we can help you."
M shrugged at the Oliver fellow suggesting he was witnessing an alien by seeing them. Stranger things have happened, so he couldn't really ridicule Oliver for the stupid thought. Ideas of shooting him were brought up, which Marcellus could easily get behind. Then Jena decided to extend the helping hand to Oliver, which caused M to slightly shake his head. The humans they were meeting got weirder and weirder, and soon, M's headache came back.
"I don't need to be shot," Oliver said with a smile. He stared at Jena and nodded his head. "All right let me get up and I follow you guys," * * * Reese lowered his gun, but still kept himself cautious. It wasn't a bad thing, everyone was still on edge about what happened with Ursula. Reese found almost hard to believe someone with a missing arm and a missing eye could still be alive. How the hell in the world did they survive something like this? * * * Edgar had known Oliver for a long time, he as a good friend to everyone in the underground. Edgar was pleased to see him alive. Of course with his survival, meant the decrease in his survival. "It's good to see you again," Edgar said. Of course this was what Edgar would say to his fellow underground mates to make them feel better. To reassure them, but truth would be it was only there to reassure himself. Oliver just nodded. "Likewise," Oliver said. * * * Stewart stared at everyone and then at Oliver. Was he to risk his thoughts on everyone? Or should he stay silent like most. "How do we know this isn't an illusion?" Stewart said he found his needed to voice his thoughts, "What if he's an alien or something? How can a human survive something like losing an eye and arm; and still stand here alive?"
Jena heard Stewart piep up in the back of the group. He was right of course. "He's right...but I don't think anything will be solved here debating about it. I think our best chance is to try to get Oliver out of here and then determine if this is an illusion." The idea wasn't great, she knew that, but it was the best she could come up with, "If anyone has a better idea now be a great time to say it."
Keira listened to the conversation between Oliver, Stewart, and Jena in silence, not thinking it important to add anything more at the moment. When Jena did mention getting out of the room, though, Keira spoke up. "I agree with Jena. We need to get out of here. I'm sick of illusions, I'm sick of aliens trying to kill us, and I'm damned sick of this facility. Does anyone object?" Her grip on her gun tightened as she left the room, leaving the others behind her. Of course they would follow her. What else were they going to do?
Anna backed up to where Stewart was, her voice low. She made sure no one else could hear her when she whispered, "Don't worry, I'll have a gun to his back the whole time. I'm not going to trust anyone anymore. Any of us could be an illusion at this point--another of Ursula's tricks." Then she gave him a reassuring smile. "I said I'd protect you, right? I intend to do that."
Jena watched Keira walk out of the room then turned to Oliver. "Come on, lets go," she said offering her hand, "But I swear to God if you are just another illusion I will kill you." She pulled him up and began to help him out of the room, following Keira.
Reese stared everyone was so jumpy about this being an illusion, everyone had their guard up, held their guns tightly. Like he did now. He needed change this, he somehow had a gut feeling Oliver was normal. Reese made sure everyone heard him put his gun back in his lab coat. And he put his hands down, bearing no malicious intent to the new comer. This wasn't a way to greet someone, this wasn't a way to behave. * * * Oliver got up and stared at them and just nodded. "I swear the pain is to real to be an illusion," Oliver said.
"Look, I'm pretty sure that you're telling the truth. But I also know how really an illusion can feel, and how much an illusion can hurt and still be an illusion." She looked at him, she was almost one hundred percent positive that he was being honest, and she had learned to trust her instincts. "Come on, lets get out of here."
Vic felt like s*** ever since the Ursula incident. For some reason, it took extremely long for the paralysis to wear off; maybe it was because of all the drugs. He'd been the first of the men to awaken, but was left paralyzed, unable to move or speak. Even after Ursula was long gone, he lay there like a vegetable, and didn't regain use of his limbs until long after the action had ended. He was a mute witness to everything that went on. Even the Wall Walkers ignored him, probably assuming he was another corpse on the ground. His friends -- Jena especially -- could've died a thousand times over and he'd have been powerless to stop it. It was the greatest insult he'd ever suffered. Now, much later, he had a newfound resolve. Now that he had use of his body, he'd be sure to put 110% of it to use protecting them. His first opportunity to do so came when the new guy showed up. Without saying a word, Vic kept his gun trained on Oliver while everyone else debated whether or not he should be trusted. F*** trust, he thought, if this guy tries anything, he gets his head blown off. It's as simple as that. "Look, I'm pretty sure that you're telling the truth," Jena said to Oliver. "But I also know how real an illusion can feel, and how much an illusion can hurt and still be an illusion. Come on, lets get out of here." "Yeah, let's go," Vic said, still not lowering his gun. There were plenty of reasons to keep a weapon on hand, Oliver being the least of them. Reese was an idiot for holstering his pistol.
With Oliver leaning on her, Jena started to help him along, her arm wrapped around his waist to support him. But their progress was slow, while Jena was quite strong, Oliver was also much bigger than her and he had lost so much blood that he was very weak. After a few more steps Jena decided they weren't going anywhere anytime soon if someone didn't help her. 'Hey, somebody come help me, or else Oliver and I aren't going anywhere."
"Hey, somebody come help me, or else Oliver and I aren't going anywhere," Jena said. Vic groaned and approached them. "I got it," he said, supporting Oliver. Not only were they picking up a total stranger, they were taking on a wounded man who probably wouldn't last another hour. Judging from the amount of blood the man had lost, Vic figured he wouldn't be carrying him for long. Still... he felt a slight urge to speed up the process.
After Vic stepped up to the plate, M felt a sense of accomplishment. The past few hours seemed like lifetimes with no benefit at all stemming from the time spent. The consistency of someone new introducing themselves was a bit much for Marcellus, considering he had only met a few of the people he was stuck with at the moment. "So can we all go now... please?" He asked Jena with a slightly playful smirk. In all honesty, he was thankful to be alive, but his spirits must stay up in order to make his salvation a success. He would have to be much more watchful of the things going on in the lab. As of now, he can't escape the feeling of being trapped, but if he doesn't smarten up, that will be the least of his troubles.
"Yes definately." She replied to M before shooting a grateful smile at Vic for helping her. He lookes tired and worn from whatever he had faced while in Ursula's coma, but still he was safe, and ok, and alive. He was safe, her penalties in the challenges hadn't hurt him, it made her so relieved to think of that. Fianlly they followed Keira again, the process much sped up now, and this tiem actaully going somewhere.
Reese watched Vic carefully. There was something odd about Vic recently. He seemed to be helping out Jena a lot these days. He found it odd and yet Vic led no emotional attachment to anyone or anything. Other then himself. Reese no longer doubted Oliver and he kept his cool unlike everyone else who was still on edge. Reese thought that Ursula had bigger plans that required a different tactic. He felt she would leave them alone for now.
