THE BELL DIVERS

1777, APRIL 03rd, SUNDAY 3:00pm.

Noche was motionless as a puddle of water stretched out past her feet.

"We left Boots behind," she turned towards the door. "We have to go back for him!"

"W-Wait!" Baxter shouted. "Boots isn't that reckless. With his speed and reaction timMme, I'mm sure he's ok."

The blonde took a deep breath and her shoulders sagged as she turned to the bear man. She stared up at him with a big eye.

"Boots has been in mmMmore dangerous situations than you can immmagine," he said. "I shudder at the t-thought of some of the things he has dealt with. Even as a child."

Noche grimaced but didn't say anything. Baxter placed a paw on her shoulder, and she closed her eye.

"Alright... Alright," she muttered.

With a sigh, she opened her sole remaining eye and glanced around the room. The group stood in a surgery room that had giant vats against the left and right walls and operating tables hidden behind curtains. A few of the tables had people laid motionless on them.

"Corpses," Noche muttered as she examined them.

She then turned to the massive glass tubes full of liquid. Inside a number of them were old-timey bell diver suits. Some were deflated and some were partially filled out – as if blown full of air like a balloon.

"What in the world are the Grave brothers doing?" The blonde asked.

"FrommMm what I've heard, they're trying to turn into beings of pure energy. Drive energy."

"What like General Salt?"

"Oy lass, aven't you seen the bell divers yet?" Timmy said.

"Like the ones in soaking here?"

"Nah, on the igher floors. They're like gas contained in a suit. You can't urt them – they're intangible."

Noche cracked a grin. "Corruption doesn't care about that. Be they made of gas or energy – if it exists, I can erase it."

"We're mmMm lucky to have you nearby then," Baxter said.

The blonde walked over and picked up a clipboard.

"Replacing body mass with energy. Researching DeathTech soldiers for hyper-regeneration... A hydra?"

"Mmmm I've heard of that," Baxter said. "Supposedly, there's a sea monster guarding the asylum in case anyone escapes."

"So the Grave brothers are doing genetic experiments using drive – something that the United Government made highly illegal."

Noche turned to stare at Baxter, the man who was a full hybrid of a bear.

"Guilty," he smirked.

She rolled her eye.

"Anyways, they're trying to become beings of pure drive energy like General Salt... And they're using prisoners as the test subjects. Turning them into these gaseous, bell-diver beings."

"Mindless automatons. From jailed to jailers." Timmy shuddered.

"Another reason they need to be put down," Noche said.

With that, she walked to the door and an arm of white fire formed from the stump at her shoulder. She slammed an ivory fist into the metal and corruption ate away at every inch of the barrier before her. In seconds, the new stairway was revealed before her.

"I'll never git o'er the fact you can destroy wot generals can't even dent."

Noche smiled. With that the group ascended, reaching the next intersection that acted as a prisoner floor. They destroyed the door, ran up stairs, and repeated the process every time an obstacle came before them. Time flew by as the group made their way higher and higher.

It wasn't until they were about a third of the way to the surface did they encounter a problem. Noche destroyed the door that led to another floor full of prisoners and halted after taking a few steps in. A dozen bell divers stood in the room and turned to her; behind the glass diving helms was swirling prismatic energy.

To her credit, she managed to dodge in time. It was so fast she couldn't follow it with her eye. If she was even a split second slower the fist would have struck her head with enough force to knock her out. She reacted with a kick to its ribs, but it was like striking a balloon.

The second one came in with a fist and she managed to raise her right arm to block. There was a crunch of bones as she slammed into the wall. Noche's eye widened and she summoned her white left arm – she clawed at the bell diver.

A hole appeared in the suit and prismatic energy shimmered within. Corruption ate away at the rainbow lights, but like living gas, the affected areas separated from the uninfected. Unlike the flesh-warping DeathTech soldiers, these bell divers didn't have to stay in one piece. It seemed they could simply remove the parts of them affected by corruption.

"Shit!"

Noche ducked under a kick and threw a left hook – she hit one directly in the head. The helmet and the gas within were destroyed, but the body didn't go down. It kept on throwing punches and kicks, forcing her on the defensive. A new head of prismatic light formed as it continued its assault.

"Fuck – these bastards are a lot stronger than a DeathTech soldier," she grumbled.

The blonde rolled out of the way of drop kick and she retaliated with a breakdancing spin. Her leg slammed into the balloon body and sent it stumbling back. She planted her hand into the ground and launched herself into the air – she summoned her sword and cut four bell divers in one circular strike.

Back on her feet, she unleashed a flurry of slashes at the nearest opponent. Within seconds she cut the suit to ribbons, then the strangest thing happened. With its container damaged beyond repair the energy within dispersed. It seemed the Grave brothers' attempt to make beings of pure energy wasn't quite perfected yet.

A fist slammed into Noche's face and for a brief moment, the world went dark. She bounced across the floor like a stone skipped across a lake. Noche slammed into a wall and the world went blurry. She crumpled to the ground as the bell divers ran after her.

As she regained her vision, stood up, and bounced on her toes. She ducked and weaved between strikes; she counterattacked with her sword or left arm whenever she got the chance. Soon she was destroying each suit piece by piece. After taking down half their numbers the corruption on her left arm began to flicker.

Sweat trickled down her face as her breath grew heavy. Her body was starting to burn as she tangled with opponents that were each far beyond her in terms of physical strength. She barely managed to avoid another punch to the face and leaned into her attacker – her left arm slammed into its torso and white flames ate away at the entire suit.

"Five remaining," she spat.

Noche looked at her opponents and then gauged her left arm. The corruption was starting to thin out, she was exhausted. It had been years since she had any physical exercise, let alone combat. Even with her augment, she had gone through a lot of strain today.

As she was now, she couldn't handle an extended battle if she wanted to stay at her best, and her best is what she needed to be if she was about to face the Grave brothers.

"Baxter! Timmy! We're making a tactical retreat!" She shouted. "Get ready to make a break for the door."

The five remaining bell divers surrounded Noche, but she grit her teeth and focused. Two lunged for her at once. She jumped, spun, and cut them in half with her sword. A third was waiting for her when she touched back on the ground, but she caught its punch in her left hand and destroyed its arm.

Noche ducked under the fist aimed for the back of her head, she spun along the arm and clawed her left hand across its back as she danced out of the way. Two came in with a high and low roundhouse kick – Noche did a spinning jump with her body parallel to the floor and tucked in between both legs. When she landed her sword cut both in two.

Before any of her opponents could recover, she dashed towards the door. Her left arm slammed into the metal and white flames erupted across the surface. In a matter of seconds, the door was gone. She rushed herself, Baxter, and Timmy all out into the stairwell.

The bell divers were a heartbeat away from catching up to them. Noche spun and raised her left arm towards her enemies – a wall of white fire exploded from her fingertips. One of the suits ran into the barrier and was instantly destroyed. Noche's left arm evaporated and she almost buckled to her knees.

"That won't last forever," she gasped. "Let's move."

Baxter helped the blonde to her feet.

"Yuh ok there lass?" Timmy asked.

"Yeah... Yeah. Corruption is just. Taxing. It's powered by," she paused. "An intense emotion and maintaining that level of intensity can be mentally draining."

"Mmmaybe you should use it less?" Baxter said.

"No. No, I can't," she regained her breath. "It's our only means of escape. My trump card."

There was a moment of silence between them.

"I'm good now. Lets go."

With that, Noche and her crew ascended the next flight of stairs. They went from intersection after intersection on their way up. There were a few more encounters with the bell divers, but none in a group as large as the first one. Time crawled by as the group passed thousands of stairs.

It took about eight hours since she escaped her cell, but eventually, Noche made it to the penultimate floor. The one just below ground level. Freedom was one stairwell and a front door away. Noche grinned and approached the door blocking the stairs, only for her smirk to falter. The door was already open.