“Knifejaw, I’m Knifejaw.” Said woman blurt it out at Rook, almost sensing his fear. He knew this wasn’t her real name, but given her hostility, decided it wasn’t worth asking.
“Rook Alexander, I wish it was better circumstances.” Knifejaw nodded, then looked about.
“This has been my hiding place for roughly a couple of weeks, but I fear we will be found soon. What were you thinking going outside at daytime?” Clearly Knifejaw didn’t think it was the greatest idea to be wandering out the streets of Palis in daylight hours, where Rook could’ve been easily spotted by patrols.
“Knifejaw, I haven’t left the bloody property in little under a decade. I’ve been outside maybe, but that’s literally it!” Rook hissed at the woman, but she just rolled her eyes.
“Watch your volume, git.” Knifejaw pressed her hand against the mouth of Rook, despite his mumbled protests and retorts. “Do you want us to get caught?”
Rook nodded no, but he was clueless about surviving out here. Knifejaw knew he had to learn fast, or he was going to die trying to survive. “You’re clearly a newbie around here, so I’ll say this; arguing gets you nowhere. Keep arguing and you’ll get us both killed.”
Rook now actually took the time to inspect his surroundings; stormy diamond plated walls, and grey terrazzo on the floor. The room had little to no decorations and the only illumination came from the torch Rook held. He crouched down, picking it up and turning it off as Knifejaw began to exit the room. She halted. “You coming?”
Rook quickly nodded and followed along, heading deeper and deeper into the facility. “Most of the facility looks the same. I chose deeper into the cliff, there’s traps everywhere as well. It helps with keeping the little red riders out.”
It was true; most of the facility looked the same. Knifejaw had to steer Rook around the various mines and bombs hidden about, not to mention the lasers. “Watch your step, this is the lava trap.”
They had arrived in a large oval room, double doors on the other side. It used to have been an office, is what Knifejaw thought. Regardless, she had just called it a ‘lava trap’; that’s one more obstacle to add to the list.
Even Rook could hear the bubbling of lava below them. “Whose idea was this?”
Knifejaw shrugged. “Probably the past settlers, I certainly didn’t put it there. It was just luck I got past it.”
There were three platforms, all of which looked real. Rook took a step forward, about to step on one, but was grabbed. “Two of those are holographic; you pick the wrong one and you die. Watch me.”
Knifejaw walked forward, taking the left pathway. Rook felt the nerves build up on him, but she got across safely, so Rook repeated what she had done.
Rook then walked forward, hand on the door handle. He pulled the big grand opening wide, and Knifejaw walked in.
They were greeted by a long circular room that only contained a long drop down now. Rook gave a dramatic sigh. “Now what?”
Knifejaw chuckled. “Real drama queen, Alexander. This is a secret staircase.” Said woman then took a single and long stride forward, then spoke again.
“Password, Igneous.” She boomed up at practically nothing, but that made the staircase begin to unravel from the wall. It was very well hidden, and Knifejaw motioned Rook to follow.
Rook began stepping down the long circular stairwell, looking about at the murals on the wall. “Who are they?”
“These are memorials of Fireteam Osiris, the ones who died fighting for Earth.” Knifejaw carefully explained, not wanting to reveal too much. That still didn’t satisfy Rook.
“That wasn’t my question; who are they?” Knifejaw rolled her eyes and sighed. She stopped, pointing to a top mural.
“That’s Cutlass. She was a fierce warrior and the team leader, all we can assume is she died. Nobody knows what happens to her, other than she was the last to die.” Knifejaw had pointed to a mural that contained another woman with a Mohawk. She looked fierce, the mural capturing a couple of scars on her face. She wore full tactical uniform and stood there saluting for all eternity.
The room suddenly became quiet after that, Rook seeing the growing tension on Knifejaw. Maybe she knew these soldiers? They both continued walking, Rook hoping he hadn’t hurt her feelings in any way. He couldn’t help but ask. “Are you alright?”
Knifejaw nodded slowly. “I’ll be fine. It’s good you ask questions, but I’d rather not talk about something like this. Cutlass was close to me.”
She looked up at the mural once more and slid to a halt, smiling softly and eyebrows sunken. “Well, I apologise if I intruded on something a bit personal.”
Seeing this girl’s soft side made Rook smile a little bit, he didn’t show it however. There really is inner good in some people, even if they didn’t show it.
They continued on once again, finally reaching the bottom after an arduous descent down the stairs. “Password, Sedimentary.”
The stairwell closed behind them. “Come with me now, we’re here.”
Knifejaw opened up a large, heavy door; obviously made for big vehicles. It was seemingly a blast door, so it was incredibly sturdy. As it opened, she pulled Rook to the side and pressed his thumb into a makeshift fingerprint detector; this had been rewired to register fingerprints. “The turrets shouldn’t attack you now.”
Rook glanced at her. “Shouldn’t?” Knifejaw nodded.
“Shouldn’t, but its technology on Gliese. Anyways, go on out; I can patch you up either way.” She pushed Rook out and quickly followed as the turrets turned on their hinged rotors to face Rook.
They revved up, but never fired. Rook stood dead in his tracks. “See, it’s not that bad.”
A wide-eyed man turned to face Knifejaw, and she just rolled her eyes. She pushed Rook inside as the doors sensed this and closed behind them.
The lights turned on, two surprises jumped out of nowhere. They both let out a war cry as they swung their weapons at Rook, who dodged them with ease. Knifejaw grabbed them both. “Stars above, calm the heck down!”
Both humans, when grabbed, seemed to calm down. It was only now that Rook had worked out they were human, and not some beast. He raised his hands up, trying to be friendly. “He’s with us. Do not attack him again.”
Knifejaw put her hands on her waist, both humans turning to face Rook. A male, fully geared walked off, leaving the female with Rook. The man did mumble something about not wanting to deal with it, so Rook decided to leave him be. “I am sorry about that, these days the only people we get are intruders.”
The woman sounded Brazilian. She had a large yellow afro held up by a tired hairband and delicate green eyes that constantly moved. She had a mechanical forearm and leg, which was obvious due to the fact she didn’t wear a shoe on her mechanical foot, nor did she wear anything on her wrist.
He hadn’t been able to catch the other man, but right now that didn’t matter. He now observed his surroundings.
Crates of weapons and ammo laid in the left corner, whilst living equipment was on the right. There were no separate rooms, it was all open on one. The walls were soundproof and metal, so was the floor.
He then turned back to the blonde-haired woman. “It’s alright, I understand.”
“Should I introduce myself?” She raised an eyebrow, asking the question to herself.
“Go ahead. I’ll start, I’m Rook.”
“Callisto. Welcome to our little safe haven for the time being, Rookie.” The nickname from his new roommate Callisto made him chuckle.
“Rookie? Is that what you call everyone?” Callisto laughed at Rook’s uncertainty.
“Nah, you’re the only one I’m calling Rookie.” Rook just nodded, letting out another chuckle.
“Sense of humour I see?” Callisto continued laughing.
“Oh yeah? You wish!”
He may’ve made a couple of new friends, and maybe, just maybe he’d be fine.
