June’s perspective

All gone.

“Urm… I hate to mention this during this… moment, but what do we do now?”

I shake my head to clear out my thoughts. Time to be serious. “Same code, I’m guessing.”

“There are no panels to push,” Notes Day.

“Then—“ I walk over to examine a pod. They’re marked with numbers. “—365.” I push them but they don’t budge. What now? Maybe the pods aren’t just traps, maybe they’re also lifts for something…

“I think we have to put something into those pods,” I comment, bending down to pick up a rock. “But what?”

“I say bodies. Maybe this is a test to see if you’re brave?” Nick asks. He has no idea, I tell myself as I feel a short course of anger. Day beats me to speaking up.

“Don’t speak about bodies like that. And did you see them hoisting anyone?” His voice is icy. Day comes to stand next to me. “Something small.”

Something small. Something to prove you’re a Combatant. Something for the people down there to know…

“ID cards.” I snatch mine off its hook and place it into the pod marked “3”. “I think it’s one each.” The pod lights up with a green color, confirming my assumptions.

“Then one will have no pod to be in,” Jenny remarks.

“Maybe ‘0365’ instead?” Nick says and he tosses his own into the pod marked “0”. Luckily, it lights up green. Day and Jenny do the same, placing theirs into pods marked “6” and “5”.

“Stand back,” I warn as the pods tilt a little, the earth rumbling just a tiny bit. I count the seconds in my head as the pods cast a portal, outlines just visible. Nine. “Hop on,” I instruct as I place my hands into the portal gingerly, and feel something pulling at me. I don’t resist and am sucked into it. It’s pitch black for a while, then the light overwhelms me. The others follow me.

It isn’t much, like a simple underground lab, my guess is so that it doesn’t look like a Base, since Base is likely to be huge and high-tech. It just looks like another Combatants laboratory. The bad thing is, we land right onto a platform, monitored by people in front of computers. The first girl looks up and has an astonished expression. I lift my gun and shoot her. The rest realise what’s going on…

“Enemy attack!” One hollers and I realise how much this seems like a suicide mission. We expected 10 and 19 to be here as well, but it looks like they’re not, and here we are in the demon’s lair.

They’re unsuspecting, so we pick off easy prey, dodging behind obstacles. But they lift guns and they’re numbers come to light, and it’s not good. They shoot and we shoot back, and Jenny gets a bullet in the head. It’s no point saving her, and we’ll be doomed soon…

Just then, someone moves next to me and fires back, and I see the captain of 19. “Right behind you, soldier.” He mutters as our troops appear. We gun down people, and the Combatants seem to realise the tables have turned.

“Remove the data!” One yells as a man rushes forth to a computer. This must be their Plan B, but we need the data, so I have to stop him. “Cover me,” I tell the captain as I rush forward and swing the back of my gun into him, hitting him right on the skull. Someone shoots me in the shoulder and I retreat behind a partition, hand cupping my shoulder. Blood oozes out and I let out a grunt of pain. Day races over and guns down my attacker. Code appears on the screen. Luckily, Metias taught me about this sort of code before. I scroll over, reading out loud. It says—

“It’s not in the Base. It’s in—“

“The Weapons Lab.” Day and I stare at each other, looks saying it all. All this for nothing…

Suddenly, a message comes through. It’s Nikolai…

“Combatants! We have shut down your best defences, your planes, everything! Surrender or the Republic seizes your home!” Nikolai booms, and Parker—Harry—appears, imprisoned by our soldiers. You could see in the footage al the wreckage, the Republic winning as their flags shoot up into the air. “Who’s next in charge?” A lady slips behind me and punches a series of numbers, camera facing her.

“I am. I am the Vice of the Combatants, and Combatants, cease fire. We… we surrender. We will sign the agreement with the Elector.” Soldiers seize the woman, to take her to the Elector.

I nod to Day amidst the chaos, and the stunned expressions of the Combatants as one by one, they drop their weapons, heads low.

“We kneel before you, Elector of the Republic,” They say, almost like a chant.

It’s done.