The Last Bastion: Bunker Chicago The Rescue of Mouse

A Difference in Opinion
Florence, Lillian, and Eve
@Persephone & @Nilum

As Florence hid within the shadows of their hiding place, she couldn’t believe the exchange going on between Carolyn and Eve. Instead of striking down the sinners and heathens where they stood, the Holy Mother intended to work together with them. Although she had her reservations about working with their potential enemies, she nevertheless stepped out from the shadows when Eve called for her and the others. Even if there was a temporary truce between them, she would still keep her weapons close, in case the truce fell apart.

As the group made their way down into the hole, Florence kept her distance from the heathens and the sinners, and stuck near Lillian, reaching out mentally to the other Awakened Listener to try and communicate in secret. ”Why is the Holy Mother tolerating these sinners and heathens? We should be killing them where they stand, not working with them as if they’re our allies!”

"She's using them," Lillian replies telepathically, and quietly. "There is no other explanation for what mother is doing, sister."

"And what if she isn't using them? What if she intends to make peace with those who fear and despise us? I believe in mother, Lillian, I truly do, but this isn't right. If she does try and extend an olive branch towards our enemies, what will we do?" Florence knew that the sinners couldn't be trusted, and she hoped that Lillian felt the same way.

"We will be stronger than them. We are stronger than them. Any peace between us will only be temporary." Lillian replied, glancing over at Florence. Unlike Eve, who had a far more temperate and compassionate aura, Lillian projected something far more animalistic and childish.

"If we are so stronger than them, then why don't we strike now, and slaughter them where they stand? God did not make peace with the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, she destroyed them for their sins, and we should be doing the same with the sinners of Bunker Chicago. We are the heavenly host, sent forward to claim the Promised Land for God, are we not? We are warriors, not pacifists, and these whelps are little more than dirt beneath our boots!" If Florence had kept herself restrained before, she showed no indication of doing so now, as her ever-present zeal presented itself in full display.

Eve turns and in a single, swift movement, steps in front of Florence. Within the same moment of time, she raises the back of her hand and slaps Florence hard enough to send her onto the floor. "Enough!" Eve states audibly, for a change. There was a hint of anger within her now, before she switches back to speaking telepathically. "Many lost children remain among the Children of Sodom. Thousands of them, who know not of their destiny, who look upon us with fear--fear, because we are the unknown! We are the ones who have invaded their home in their eyes! They must come to see that we are not here to harm them. We are not here to destroy them, but to enlighten them. Even now, the lover of The Old Guard's leader has started to become enlightened, started to realize her full potential. Not to live in fear of what she is, but to embrace it... It is only because she came to realize that I wished upon her no ill, no fury or wrath, and allowed her to make her own choices.

To think in methods of war would be to doom thousands of lost children. Lost children that you should fight to protect, for not but three weeks prior, you were among them yourself. If you should find yourself incapable of abandoning the inferior human elements within you that cry to destroy, maim, and kill, especially against our own kind... Then you will find yourself rendered lonely and sundered, and like the rest of humanity--doomed to your own failed nature."


Florence remained on the floor for a few seconds, utterly stunned by Eve's outburst, before she slowly came back to her senses. Staggering back to her feet, she stared at the other woman with shame in her eyes. "Forgive me, Mother, I spoke out of turn. I have known only the cruelties of war, whereas you have experienced enlightenment, and thus know the best course of action. I will not question you again." For now, there would be no more talk of violence against the sinners, lest she risked further angering Eve.
 
For most of the exchanges, Mia was silent. She was never very chatty, but she did observe, listen, and most importantly, she learned.

Still, she almost felt the need to reach out as they descended into the hole. Nothing had been normal or even familiar since she met Eve, but she didn't find herself fearing anything. She wasn't safe, but she was better off: this much she knew. Being awakened meant that she could depend not only on herself but the allies around them.

Or so she thought until her senses were overwhelmed, causing the woman to bring a hand up to her face. It was almost painful, but not quite. If anything, it was just as unpleasant. When she came to her senses, she glanced between Carolyn and Eve and glared. If anything, she would have gladly suggested letting the Children of Sodom run in and get their asses killed first. Using cannon fodder had always been a faithful tactic in Mia's repertoire, but Eve had other plans. Better plans. Ones that Mia could admire, unlike Florence's thirst for slaughter.

Mia didn't flinch as the blow came down upon her sister. She didn't even look down at her with pity. Even as a woman who was a selfish lone wolf who trusted little and betrayed most, even though Mia had just joined and was still figuring things out, she had suspected from the beginning that to defy Eve even in the slightest was a massive mistake.

What a fool.
 
“I don't want you to become like me... And I sure as hell don't want you to become some killing tool that has no other purpose for life.”
Marie Black, The Old Guard Debriefing: Kiku, Page 1.​

The Depths of Human Avarice

Viktor had made a valid point it seemed. Carolyn nodded in agreement, and Eve simply steps back and motions for Viktor’s drones to go right on ahead. They deploy with ease, and fly down the hallway about ten feet before stopping, having completely lost connection to Viktor and thus losing their purpose and orders. Eve glances at Carolyn, and smiles, knowingly. “This facility was built with the intention of ensuring that no secrets would ever escape. Do you really think they would not build it to stop a radio transmission?”

Carolyn sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose. “Red Star will take care of the observation deck. If our technology has a vastly shortened range inside this place, we’ll need your help getting through it alive ourselves.” Morai simply nods in appreciation, while Eve glares in a stone, cold faced way. They had delayed long enough, it was time to enter the structure.

Morai motions for his men to follow him, Línghún Jī takes up the front of the line as her armour would keep her safe from harm. “I will lead.”

Carolyn, meanwhile, quickly moves back to her tank, and then pulls out an additional tool from its cockpit—a wrist-mounted flamethrower, with two small tanks. She then seals the cockpit after setting the autopilot up to defend itself, and hops off of her tank. “Let’s move on, Old Guard! Eve, keep up and watch for trouble.” Eve nods, and telepathically whispers to her people. “Do as you are told, for now.” She then glances at Kiku, who could hear them, before moving out with Carolyn.

Lillian looks pityingly at Florence for a moment, seeming to almost feel more for her than Eve, before leaving with Eve.

Descending into the facility was an immediately disquieting experience for all involved. Everyone with detection gear would watch as nothing—absolutely nothing whatsoever—penetrated or deflected off of the cold, black walls of the facility. No radar, no night vision, no heat vision—it was a simple, pure form of nothingness that, by all rights, could not exist given the known physical properties of the universe. The listeners, too, would feel cold—a sense of claustrophobia would set in whenever near the walls, as though they were cut off from the world itself.

Finally, they came to a fork in the path, as stated. One led up to the observation deck, and one led down into the experimentation area. Morai had waited for Carolyn and Eve to catch up, then taps Línghún’s back. Línghún proceeds up onto the observation deck, with Red Star following, and Eve and Carolyn proceed into the first of the experimentation rooms.

Red Star would find themselves in a simplistic looking room in terms of construction. There was a single piece of usable cover—three thick looking, metallically reinforced computer terminals all built around each other on a platform, raised only about one foot from the rest of the floor. Looking down through the bulletproof glass, they would see Carolyn and Eve’s group entering the first of the experimentation rooms. There were two levers as stated, one beside them as they entered, and one on the opposite side of the observation deck—at least fifty feet away.

The first thing that Carolyn would notice as she stepped into the experimentation room was an unsettling crunch underneath her foot. Glancing down at the floor, everyone would see that it was coated in old blood stains and bones, the smell of musky, undisturbed air would flood their senses. Bones were scattered all over, covering most of the floor, and while most looked human, some looked merely humanoid. Elongated skulls, truncated ribs, enlarged or shrunken eye sockets—at least half a dozen different humanoid specimens. Or, rather more accurately, their ancient remains. There were several pieces of waist-high cover, and though many showed signs of ancient battle scars—blast marks, and dents from bullets—they still stood where they had presumably been left. A few shreds of clothing were left behind, mostly lab coats, but a few collars made out of the same metallic compounds as those found on the walls.

Ezekiel kneels down beside a skeleton, still relatively intact, wearing a lab coat. He pulls off an ID tag from it and blows the dust off of it, then stares down at it. He glances at Eve, and for once, speaks aloud—keeping The Old Guard in the loop. “Doctor Tarin Melbourne... United States Citizen, member of the Eden Project? They just left their scientists here to die?” The aura around Eve seems to momentarily be poisoned with regret, though rapidly returns to its soothing feeling. “They left us all here to die, Ezekiel. That is what humans do when they open a terrifying secret—abandon their own to die, and try to lock the secret down which they themselves had opened.” Ezekiel’s eyes widen, instinctively. “You were here before, mother?” Eve smiles, softly, though her orange eyes merely stare at the skeleton of Tarin. “Not in this specific facility, but in one much like it, yes. I know what is here, and I know that... We are not ready for it. It should remain buried.”
 
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