Revitalize - Part Two: Breath of Light

A stench that only came from age and rusted metal permeated the entire area. The air was still, completely unmoving within the entire expanse of darkened tunnel. It was silent, ever so much more than the silence of frightened masses. No, this was the silence of the dead, the kind that only came with centuries of disuse and abandon. The lights of a few flare torches glowed, light flickering off the walls and ridges of collapsed tunneling. It was there. Behind broken wall and aged piping was a chamber older than most recorded history. A tomb; an ancient ground held secret from the rest of the world.

Killshandra�s hand swept slowly across an edge of decayed metal, feeling pieces crumble beneath her fingers. Her eyes glowed in the shadowed light, blue orbs sparking to life as she scanned the scene before her. She drew her hand away again, fingers slowly rubbing together to disperse the fragments of metal which remained. A tilt of her head, and then she moved, whirling around on her heel to face Shadow and the other two who had traveled with him. Other than them, they were alone in the darkness.

�You two. Fallout and..Binge, was it?� Killshandra left no room for complaint as she strode forward, fingers hooking the arms of the other two. �Get back to the others, and bring them here, quickly. There isn�t much time, and we need to get through this wall.�

Shadow couldn�t help but grin a little himself as he approached the wall. Killshandra could deal with doling out orders for the time being. His hand traveled much the same path as the female�s own had done. To think, that their searching had paid off this well. It was near to a miracle, really.

�Shadow,� Killshandra�s voice cut deeply into the male�s thoughts, bringing him around to face her again. �This wall needs to be opened further, or we�ll never get through.�

That was the truth. The fracture in the tunnel wasn�t wide enough for anyone to squeeze themselves through. Explosives would work, but they couldn�t afford the attention it might bring. The footsteps of the ones called Fallout and Binge echoed away into the darkness. They would find the group, but the wall needed to be open once they returned. Progress had to be made, or they would start to get restless.

�Yeah,� he agreed softly. �It shouldn�t be too hard. You saw how rotten this all is.� He broke off a hand-sized piece of the decaying metal.

Killshandra moved forward then, nodding as she brought a foot out to kick at the edge of the tunneling. Some broke, and some stayed firm as the thing shuddered, raining down small pieces of rust and rock. �We�ll have to rebuild it.�

Shadow gave a small wince at the kick. He didn�t have to think about what that would do to another person, Maximal or Predicon. Although the wall itself wasn�t very strong, it would take more than that to widen it out enough for the rest to move through easily. He stopped though at her words, giving the female a strange look.

�Rebuild it? Why the hell would we do that?� The complaining tone earned him a glare from Killshandra, but he ignored it. �We�re gonna tear it down and build it back up again?�

�Idiot,� she murmured softly, reaching out to grab a portion of the wall, breaking off another chunk. �Start helping. Of course we�re going to rebuild it.� There was almost a growling tone in Killshandra�s voice, irritated that she should have to explain things. �It�s as good a place as any for a gate. Something that we can seal when we need to. Did you think we were simply going to hide down here for the rest of our lives?�

Shadow couldn�t answer. He hadn�t thought much on what would happen after getting the few people they had found to safety. The city, and likely the world above them was at war. No, it was more like a massacre. There wasn�t one side fighting another. Those things that attacked were hardly more than drones, it seemed. They killed, and there was no difference between killing a soldier, and killing a child. They were out to slaughter everything they could. After watching Killshandra a moment longer, he started to help again, breaking the tunnel wall bit by bit in order to reveal the area beyond.

�See what you can find down that way!�

The voice echoed in the darkness, recognized as Fallout by those that knew him. The clanking footsteps which mirrored his own was most likely Binge. The two hardly ever separated from each other. It made it easy to find them, if that was any consolation. Their splitting from each other was a testament to the sheer size of the place they had found.

�I�m so sick of running around in the dark, damn it!�

Yes, definitely Binge.

The racket made Killshandra twitch. They made far too much noise, all of them did really. It was a constant struggle to remind herself that they were not like her, and they never would be. Wasn�t that a good thing? Sometimes she wondered, but the world didn�t need any more of her kind in it. Assassins. A breed meant only for the killing of others. No, the world didn�t need them at all. Or her.

The shift in air to her right had her stopping, and she simply looked in that direction, blue orbs alight in the dark. It was Shadow there, she knew that. When had he started to get on her nerves?

�So, what do you think this place is, anyway?� His voice was nearer to her than she would have liked, but she made no move to correct him on it. Not now, anyway, while they had to fumble through the darkness. Really, it would be a shame for him to fall on something sharp and die.

So she didn�t answer him. Instead, Killshandra moved on, touching the wall carefully as she made her way through. Clawed tips of fingers grated, high pitched and twinge-worthy on metal siding. They had run out of torches some time earlier, having left most of them with the huddled group in the tunnel. It wouldn�t be good to leave them alone for too long. She didn�t trust them to stay put, and stay calm for very long at all.

�Killshandra.� Shadow�s voice cut into her thoughts again. Again, he was ignored. �Killshandra. Killa. Hey! Are you even listening to��

�Be quiet,� her voice came out soft, hardly a breath of noise. Something was moving in the darkness ahead. The shivering whisper of gliding metal was a katana being freed from its sheath, the ever distant light from the entrance glinting briefly on the blade. Killshandra could feel Shadow tense beside her. Who knew what lurked here, down in the depths of the world?

�Momma?�

The sigh of relief from both of the bots was audible, and the weapons that both had evidently drawn were put away once more as Killshandra moved forward. A seeking hand easily found the arm of the child, tugging him forward with a stern motion.

�Bladerunner, what are you doing down here,� she hissed, neither pleased or amused to find her son wandering about in the darkness. �You�re supposed to be with the others, not trapsing about on your own.�

Shadow made no sound. He wasn�t about to interrupt the berating of the child. It would definitely be better to not have him present, after all. It was dangerous enough with just the four moving around in the black. He did move away, however, skirting around the two as he headed further in. He could feel the walls as they curved upward. They were in a tunnel, or a hallway of sorts. What they needed was power, and above all, light. They�d already come farther than expected in the darkness.

�You are to go back to the group right now, do you understand?� Killshandra�s voice echoed, along with the small clatter of footsteps of the child retreating for the light. �I don�t know what to do with him sometimes.�

That brought a grin to Shadow�s face. Of all the things he had ever heard about Killshandra, her being a mother was not one of them. Strangely enough, he had found in the short time they had been searching down in the tunnels, that it suited her.

�Well, you know he just wants to help,� he laughed, fist giving a slight knock on the wall. �We need all we can get about now, I think.�

A rumble sounded throughout the darkness. The noise echoed, causing walls to vibrate and dust to rain from the ceiling somewhere above. Killshandra was tense again in a moment, looking around rapidly in an attempt to determine the source, before finally reaching for her communicator.

�What the hell is going on?�

Noise cracked on the other end of the line, before Fallout�s voice could be made out through shuddering snow. �Don�t know, man. We�re looking into it, but it�s kind of hard to get a good look at anything with it so dark!�

Killshandra growled softly to herself as the noise sounded again. It continued, however, like the constant rumble of an engine. She fell quiet. An engine? The rumble began to even out after a few minutes, steadying into a low thrum that reverberated through the walls.

�That sounds like a power turbine!� Shadow�s words echoed her own thoughts.

Within seconds, light began to flood. It washed through the darkness of hallways and rooms, leaving behind a sea of white and brightness that cocooned their escape sanctuary. Killshandra blinked for a moment, and moved, heading on through the hallway until the area opened up again. Hardly just a small area, there were walls and platforms; the expanse of the place was huge. Hundreds could be made to dwell here. Many more than they already had.

Killshandra was speechless, her silence mirrored by Shadow�s own gaping at the place, as white noise cracked over the communicator again.

�Hey, check this place out! Killshandra, we found your kid over here, by the way. He found the power shut-on.�

Shadow tried to hide his grin, as Killshandra threw a glare at him.

They had light.