[url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=60122859&viewreplies]All previous chapters[/url] Feeling like absolute crap today, so this chapter was particularly short, may have some cursory mistakes as well. Fortunately, I am too busy kicking the common cold's ass to care. Red warning alarms blazed through the dark hallways of the over 9000 facility. The darkness of near-midnight was ablaze with the entire facility burning from the ground up. Fires exploded from windows and doorways as Rogue entered the weapons facility. A thick strip of cloth stolen from a dead bungie soldier served to cover her large, razor filled mouth and keep out the choking black smoke. She had to find her friend and get him out of here. She had already chosen a grave site. A large chunk of plaster nearly trapped her while she was speeding down the hallway, searching frantically. She jumped out of the way and breathed a sigh of relief. She carried on, this time determined to get panzie, then get the hell out of there. Her tail kicked up a bit of soot while she ran. Each door she checked yielded nothing but either charred bodies and fire, or an empty room. One such room had an entire squad of desperate bungie soldiers trying to get out. The soldier nearest her yelped in surprise as one of Rogue's shining blue energy swords dug into his stomach. The blade was removed with a hideous "hiss" and he soldier fell dead with fear and surprise frozen on his face. Rogue engaged the others. Stunned by the original surprise, the other four bungie soldiers couldn't stop her from taking out a second of their number, but as the second man fell, the captain of the troopers regained his composure and ordered them to gun her down. Rogue jumped out of the wall of gunfire and rebounded from the low handing ceiling onto a pillar, landing behind one of the soldiers. A quick slice and his upper body slid from atop his lower body. A burning stink emanated from it. Unfortunately the soldiers continued firing. A shot grazed Rogue, but she rolled onto the ground and spun, sending her legs out into a tornado of sweep kicks, Then pulsed her arm muscles and landed on her feet in a dual energy sword spinning slice. The captain was cut into several steaming pieces. The last soldier turned to flee, but Rogue ran him down and tore into is throat with her terrible carnivorous jaws. Rogue stepped through the bloody mess on the floor as she ran and wiped the blood and strips of meat from her lips. Ahead, a door to the missile tube of the facility was slightly ajar, through it she could see a yellow and white boot flickering with the light of the overhead warning lights and a nearby burning wood beam. She charged in. Inside, panzie lay in a large pool of blood. Rogue sprinted to it and slid to his side. His armor was smashed and destroyed across its entire length. A large hole in the abdomen region still spurted gouts of blood. His left hand was clenched on an evil looking sword. A red and black demon, coated in blood. She tried to remove the sword from his hand, but he held it with a deathgrip. Her eyes widened as he gripped it even harder. He wasn't dead. A tear of joy dripped from rogue's eye. She positioned panzie's arm over her shoulder and picked him up. She nearly stumbled. "Dammit panzie you're heavy as -blam!-." She cursed loudly. Regardless, she trudged onward toward the main gate to the facility. To her despair, the facility was almost completely destroyed. Each ten or twenty feet was met with a loud explosion far into the facility, or a gout of flame bursting through the wall or floor. Rogue gritted her teeth and steeled her already wobbly legs. Ahead, the door stood on fire, a beacon of no hope. Rogue nearly dropped to the ground and punched the wall in frustration, but a chunk of wall exploded and revealed a smoke choked view of the night sky. Rogue tightened her grip on panzie and charged through. Outside, the black sky drank the light from the burning buildings like a happy giant, and the cool air sapped rogue's strength just as readily. Carrying panzie became easier as she got further from the heat of the fires. The forest stood across the open field ahead, but the facility had been completely abandoned. Rogue set her sights on a hill in the distance, and headed for it with panzie in tow. Several hours later, rogue dropped to the ground in exhaustion. Every inch of her body burned and didn't want to respond after the mile or so of distance she put between the facility and herself, but she had to check panzie. He had no pulse. In a panic, rogue tried CPR as best she could. 1..2..3 push 1..2..3 push. It was having no effect, but rogue didn't care. She continued on through the night. Panzie wasn't going to die here, he was too damn important now. In the distance, a blue-white explosion enveloped the facility and expanded into the nearby woods. The blast roared toward the two across the small advance of trees. As Rogue continued pumping panzie's chest, everything turned white. [Edited on 06.21.2011 6:36 PM PDT]