Sanctuary

V was already in the elevator as the others dove in, a few squashed up against her to avoid those at the front who were still firing.

"Someone grab Jack and get him IN HERE!" V yelled.

If they made it through this they were going to have to talk about him risking himself and the disk over and over.

She had her hand on the control to shut the door and was ready to drop the elevator as soon as all were ready.

 

Lin hopped out of the elevator with a sigh and grabbed Jack by his collar and yanked him towards the rest of the group.

"GETCHO ASS IN THIS ELEVATOR, FEARLESS ONE!!" he said, again slightly mocking V's tone from earlier and mixing it with his signature.

 

Alternating firing his pistols, Jack nailed Carver after Carver as the blades whirled around him. He was backing up into the elevator when a strong hand grabbed him hard by the collar and yanked him backwards. From the comment that was yelled in his ear, Jack conjectured it was Lin that had grabbed him. V threw the lever, and the big steel mesh door slammed shut. The high pitched whine of metal against metal sounded again and again as the Carvers hovered outside, trying to reason a way in.

Jack found his footing and stood up, breathing an exasperated sigh as he dropped another pair of empty clips. The elevator began to move slowly downward, the Carvers still chewing vainly at the sides.

 

Well, that worked, V thought. She had already had far too much time to count heads and knew they were all present and accounted for - even Vishka and the unexpected Dre.

The instant that Jack was jerked back over the threshold V slammed her hand onto one button, dropping the door which was another panel of steel mesh. She didn't wait for it to drop completely before she slammed the next button and the cage began to crawl downward.

 

"Cozy." Joshua muttered. He shrugged. It was not their fault he was a lousy shot, and taking his frustration out on them would be unwise and unkind. He sighed.

"So, does anyone have any idea where this elevator is heading?"

 

Zefie found herself squashed against the wall of the elevator, near V and Bruce. As a precaution she flipped the safety catch on her rifle for the duration of the ride; elevators tended to make her feel light headed, and she didn’t want to accidentally pull the trigger and shoot someone.

Vishka took up most of the space in the elevator, and Zefie wondered if he felt the same way about Dre’s return as she had finding Neena and the others. She hoped their reunion would be longer than hers had been with her friends.

V’s scream as the elevator rushed down seemed to compound the nervous silence, but a moment later Josh broke it with a sigh.

“So, does anyone have any idea where this elevator is headed?”

Zefie could feel the elevator starting to make her dizzy, and answered shortly, “Down, I think.”

 

"Down," V agreed.

She had regained some composure and was now just concerned about the Carvers that continued to knock against the sides of the elevator, striking sparks.

"And if anyone has an idea of how to get rid of these damned things it would be much appreciated."

V could see Jack in the front of the press of bodies, she herself at the back. She wanted to be near him, mostly so that she could shake some sense into him. How dare he scare her...er...how dare he put the disk in danger like that?

She had an idea. At the first opportunity for them to be a little apart from the others she was going to suggest that he let her carry the disk.

 

Lin watched as Zefie's state didn't look so good. She muttered an answer to Josh's question of which way the elevator was headed, though it seemed a bit silly that question was asked.

"You okay there?" he asked Zefie.

He took a step back and felt soft woman pressed against him. He smirked at the discovery and an idea popped up. He figured he'd lighten the mood once again.

"Hey, who's hand is that on my butt?"

 

Joshua glanced at Lin. He had to be kidding... He was kidding off course, but at a time like this?

"Not in what direction we're heading, where. Are we getting any closer to the craft?"

 

"Not in what direction we're heading, where. Are we getting any closer to the craft?"

"Yeah, the elevator's gonna take us straight to the craft, man," Lin said sarcastically. "What's wrong with you?"

 

"I, for one, would like to get the hell out of this place!" Joshua hardly ever raised his voice, but this man started to get on his nerves. "I, for one, would like to get that disc some place save!" Anger started to take over. "I, for one, would like to get rid of those things!" He slammed his rifle onto the elevator wall. The carvers were still following them.

Never lose your nerve. Never lose your cool. Hadn't his father teached him that?

"All I want to know, if wether we are getting any closer to the plane or helicopter we're supposed to head to." His voice calmed down, but his mind didn't.

 

Lin's poking seemed to have finally caused Josh to crack.

"Alright!" Jack said, setting a hand on Josh's shoulder. "We all wanna get out of this. And we are getting closer. This is just another problem that'll need to be solved." He shifted his gaze to Lin.

"Lin, ease off, okay? And try to understand that this whole thing isn't a joke." A Carver clanged off the shell of the elevator near Jack's head.

"Now. Let's figure out what we can do to stop these things. They're mechanical...electronic. Probably with an on-board power source..." He fell silent thinking. Suddenly he looked down at the elevator controls.

"Hm. Anyone in here have better knowledge of electronics than me?"

 

“You okay there?”

Zefie glanced up and was surprised to see Lin looking at her with what appeared to be genuine concern. She shrugged, self consciously pulling on her headband. He reminded her a bit of Drey, who would chase after anything in a skirt and turn everything into a joke.

“Fine. Just don’t like elevators,” she muttered, “They make me dizzy.”

Her answer seemed to satisfy Lin, whose attention was drawn away by Josh. She half-listened to them discussing the direction they were heading in, still down, and the carvers that were doggedly hacking at the elevator.

As far as Zefie was concerned, you shot the carvers. Simplest way to get rid of them. She would leave the fancy programming to the rest of them.

“Anyone in here have better knowledge of electronics than me?”

Zefie looked round at Jack, one eyebrow arched. That rhetorical? She wondered flatly.

Then again … she looked round at the group. Bruce was probably pretty smart and good with computers, judging from his super-gun. Why he hadn’t broken it out before now was a mystery to Zefie.

Josh didn’t seem to be of much use with weapons, so maybe he was hiding some genius intellect. She didn’t know about Dre or Lin, but the other one she could see maybe being of some use was Vishka. Though at the moment he seemed content just to follow them and watch rather than actually help.

 

"Alright, first, you...(points at Josh) YOU NEED TO NUT UP OR SHUT UP!!! Second, you... (points at Jack) nobody SAID it was a joke. I been dealin' with these things all day, ALL DAY. If I thought they were joking before, they wiped that thought out pretty fast. Third, you... (points at Zefie, and shakes his head, realizing she hadn't said anything to him except elevators make her dizzy) excuse me, ALL O Y'ALL, you seem to have a problem with how I manage to cope. GET THE HELL OVER IT!!! You need an enforcer with these things, not a mascot for Disneyland, you're welcome!"

Thinking back to that question Jack asked about electronics, Lin brought his attention back to him.

"And another thing, what the hell kinda stupid question was that?!"

He looked at the Dragoon.

"You have something YOU'D like to say?!" he asked with his hands out.

 

"Oh shut up," V didn't often snap at people but they were descending to who-knew-where with killer mechanical things after them and this guy was having the vapors over how people spoke to him when all he did was be abrasive, "that is," she added icily, "unless you are an electronics wizard. There is more at stake here than your ego. Now, Jack, I'm afraid you might be our last best hope for electronics...if you can trade places with some people to get back here."

 

Jess stood in the corner of the elevator and calmly chewed a toothpick as the others argued and made plans. She kept quiet. Making the plan wasn't her job. Her job was to make sure the civillians stayed alive whilst putting the plan into effect. It helped to repeat the mission objectives in her mind, so that she didn't get distracted for even a moment. The list of importance started with protecting the lieutenant and the disk.

She reloaded her rifle and rested it against her shoulder, ready for whatever was waiting for them outside the elevator.

 

Lin's sudden explosion made Jack jump, and he turned back to the big man with a glare. It was a simple warning, a simple request, and there he went, flying right off the handle. Jack was about to yell back at him to shut his mouth and deal with it without getting everybody more agitated, but that would do nothing but start a shouting match that none of them needed. All did was hold his gaze for a second. With a shake of his head, he turned in V's general direction and shuffled his way through the bodies to press up beside her.

"Okay, I don't know if this can be done, but I might be able to use some of the components here to rig up an electromagnet. Trouble is, I'm either gonna need a lot of wire, or a lot of power....probably both. But, I'd say its the only way we're getting out of here without being sliced right up."

"And before I start, we should probably decide where we'd like to stop. Cause this'll probably pretty much fry the controls."

 

Ignoring everything else, he focused on V's voice telling him to shut up. At least his plan to get them fired up was working on SOMEBODY. He smirked at her spark. Finally, they're getting it. He knew the least about the situation, but felt he was the most vocal about getting the job done.

"V, I like this side of you," he started, "don't lose it, now, hmm?" He looked around at the rest of them, he was almost disgusted. "Y'all..." All he could was shake his head.

"Pathetic."

 

Zefie rolled her eyes, irritated. She was itching to punch Lin the way she would have Drey if he annoyed her, but in the cramped elevator she was probably end up hitting the wrong person.

Maybe once they got out the elevator. Lin didn’t seem the time to stop acting like a idiot one they were out of danger, more like he was one the majority of the time.

She was bound to have another excuse to hit him.

In the meantime, she focused on Jack. “So, you’re gonna use the elevator power to … do what? Fry the carvers?”

 

"Not quite." Jack explained as the elevator ground to a halt. He used a small screwdriver from his batbelt to start to carefully remove the panel from over top of the elevator controls.

"We magnetize the outside of the elevator, and they stick to it. Can't move. Its a long shot, but it might be the only shot we have."

 

V decided to ignore Lin. She would have preferred to cause him pain and certainly wouldn't cry about it later if she had to stitch him up.

The thought soothed her and she put him out of her mind as the carvers tried to get through the mesh and messily into hers.

"I'd like to stop somewhere that we don't have a long jump out of here," V volunteered.

 

Lin shook his head with a smirk at being ignored by V. And he caught the look Zefie gave him as well. The two must have been friends. Remembering Zefie's pep talk about 'Rows to the 'Yard confirmed it. He didn't mind being the bad guy, but as much they despised him for it, they would have to understand it wouldn't stop. He meant what he said about get the hell over it. This fight was only beginning, and he wasn't going to ease up just because someone felt he was rough.

Hell, Lin's whole life was rough. He was much poorer than the next man, or woman. And he had a sick mother to take care of, which eliminated the hope for school. He and his brother had to eat rotten food on several occasions. And that was on days they had food. He wouldn't take any lip about how rough he was being. Not that it was their fault, but now his family was gone. He was alone. He literally had nothing.

 

Dre spent much of the elevator ride huddled in the corner, caught in the disbelief left in the wake of Roy O's death. Outside the elevator the Carvers clanged angrily against the metal grate, easily keeping up with the elevator as they tried to reason a way to get at its occupants.

Jack was doing something to try and make an electromagnet that would fry the little bastards, but Dre wasn't paying much attention. He became lost in the swirling motion of the Carvers. He could see himself in their reflective surface. That was when the pain hit him.

He cried out and a small river of blood began to flow from his nose. The entire world seemed to swirl around him, but he could still clearly see the Carvers. It was strange...they seemed to be motionless. The confines of the elevator melted away around Dre and he found himself with the Carvers in an endless expanse of white.

Dre didn't quite know why, but he felt the urge to reach out and touch the machinations. Slowly, he did so. Dre was bombarded with information. He knew every single curve, every fraction of science involved in the complex workings of the Carver. Dre let his hand slide over the smooth surface, then through it. Inside he could feel every aspect of the machine. He found the core of its power and simply removed it. It literally ceased to exist.

When Dre came to, he found himself back in the elevator pressed up against the mesh and screaming. His shirt and face were completely soaked in blood. The others were staring at him with shocked, maybe even scared expressions. When Dre looked back outside the elevator, the Carvers were gone.

 

Jack worked at tearing out the components of the panel, trying to unravel as much wire as he could. From behind him, he heard a blood-curdling scream that send a cold shiver up his spine. And then, all around the elevator, the Carvers simply dropped lifelessly to the ground.

"What...?" Jack stood and his head snapped over in the direction of the scream, which had turned into frantic, panicked yells. But he couldn't see over the others.

"What happened? Who's hurt?"

 

"What happened? Who's hurt?"

"Probably the man that's screaming," he said pointing at Dre. "Dre, how in the hell did you just do that?"