All that separated the men and women of this night was a wall of stone. All it took to reunite Arlo with the love of his life was to defeat this new enemy. All that was needed for the women to escape their hard fought victory was the helping hand the men could provide. And every person had their choice to make, and make it fast they must. For in less than single bit, the women would be buried forever. And the collapse of such a structure could be very unpredictable. Would it still trigger the explosive materials in the warehouse? Would it collapse the entire block of warehouses and apartments around the alley?
Kura and Sephira and the twins had watched the vengeance filled Earth Elements flee down the steps, to an exit that only they knew, that only they could escape through. These troops made their way into the connecting ring of all the balconies and found their exit wall. A blade in the right crack, a brick pulled free, and the wall crumbled away, just as it had been designed to do. And they scrambled over it, and up the steps that led into another warehouse within their control.
Through a wooden door, they found their freedom. Or thought they had. There waiting for them was Captain Liovah and her white hat, one of the only women to have evaded capture, a thin frown upon her face, scimitar and dagger in hand. And behind her was the rest of her true crew, not the bastards that had joined and immediately betrayed them. They were all still groggy from the effects of the gas bombs, but all were armed and ready to take a piece out of someone's arse.
"Seems this is the rats' nest after all."
She nodded her head to the side, pointing to a couple of men who appeared to have been tied to beams and tortured, gagged and bloody and crying. There was a long stare down in silence, no one spoke. The Earth Elements knew they were outnumbered, backs to a wall. They were done.
"You all are not going anywhere."
The ground shook, and every person at the docks felt it. The chamber collapsed, and with it, the main warehouse, the neighboring warehouse, and the apartments across the alley. Dust billowed all through the night, spraying outward from every opening. There was a series of smaller explosions from the main warehouse, much less potent than the single massive explosion that had been planned, but blasts nonetheless.
And the dust hung heavy, and the world was quiet, everyone waiting for something, anything, a noise, a movement, anything at all, to break the cacophony of silence.
Kura and Sephira and the twins had watched the vengeance filled Earth Elements flee down the steps, to an exit that only they knew, that only they could escape through. These troops made their way into the connecting ring of all the balconies and found their exit wall. A blade in the right crack, a brick pulled free, and the wall crumbled away, just as it had been designed to do. And they scrambled over it, and up the steps that led into another warehouse within their control.
Through a wooden door, they found their freedom. Or thought they had. There waiting for them was Captain Liovah and her white hat, one of the only women to have evaded capture, a thin frown upon her face, scimitar and dagger in hand. And behind her was the rest of her true crew, not the bastards that had joined and immediately betrayed them. They were all still groggy from the effects of the gas bombs, but all were armed and ready to take a piece out of someone's arse.
"Seems this is the rats' nest after all."
She nodded her head to the side, pointing to a couple of men who appeared to have been tied to beams and tortured, gagged and bloody and crying. There was a long stare down in silence, no one spoke. The Earth Elements knew they were outnumbered, backs to a wall. They were done.
"You all are not going anywhere."
The ground shook, and every person at the docks felt it. The chamber collapsed, and with it, the main warehouse, the neighboring warehouse, and the apartments across the alley. Dust billowed all through the night, spraying outward from every opening. There was a series of smaller explosions from the main warehouse, much less potent than the single massive explosion that had been planned, but blasts nonetheless.
And the dust hung heavy, and the world was quiet, everyone waiting for something, anything, a noise, a movement, anything at all, to break the cacophony of silence.