"Spike..."
"Twilight, where are you?"
"The Everfree Forest."
"What? How did you get there so quickly?"
"Don't worry about it. What's your status?"
"Applejack's in trouble, I'm currently chasing a Seraph operative that's captured her. Starlight is helping me, but I'll make sure she doesn't get in your way if it comes to it."
"Maybe you can use that as a distraction to keep her from following me."
"That's the plan. You sound hurt, though, are you-"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine..."
"It sounds like something bad happened."
"My Inner Demon is back, Spike. I can control it for now, but I don't know how long that will last. Just save Applejack, don't worry about me."
"But I am worried, Twilight."
-----
Flash was incredibly aware of his own heartbeat over the hum of the emergency lighting. In the corner of the police station's armory, Rainbow Dash stirred, but Flash didn't want to spare a glance in her direction. He was keeping a mental count of the door's timer- there were only five seconds left on it.
Four.
Something else was in the room with them. Spitfire heard it, and had her head turned to the side. Somewhere to their right.
Three.
Flash drew his weapon, but had nothing to focus on. Backing up, he put himself against the wall in front of the panic room door, minimizing the directions he might be attacked from.
Two.
He listened as close as he could. There was nothing.
One.
Click!
The door unlocked behind him, opening just enough to let a weak sliver of light escape from behind it.
Spitfire backed up, sweeping her weapon across periodically as she quietly called back to Flash. "Get them out of there. I'll keep you covered."
He didn't want to take his eyes off of the room, but he trusted Spitfire. Quickly but cautiously, he turned, pulling the door open to reveal the small metal walled panic space. Sitting on a bench up against the wall across from him, a concerned Rarity held a trembling Pinkie Pie, both quietly holding onto anything they could to keep themselves from breaking down entirely. Face down on the floor by the wall to the far left wall was the body of Sergeant Colt.
A shame, Flash thought. He shook his head, but the fact that Colt a hand in this curbed how much he mourned the sergeant's loss.
"He's dead..." Rarity breathed. Neither of the girls registered Flash's presence until he spoke up.
"Come on, we need to go, or we will be too. We're not alone here."
"Flash- Pinkie isn't... She's not..." Rarity stood, but it seemed Pinkie needed someone to support her to stand. "She's not okay."
"Heh... We're next, aren't we?" Pinkie looked up into Flash's eyes, meeting them with a look far darker than he'd ever seen in them. Her usually curled and bouncy hair was flat and hanging over her face, framing her desperation that much more. "We're going to die here?"
"No. Not if I have anything to say about it." Flash held his hand out in an offer to support her, but she pushed away, now standing independent of Rarity.
"What are we doing then?" Rarity asked. "Where are we going?"
"I have a ride on the way to pick us up behind the station. We need to be careful though, there's hostile agents here."
"Hostile.. agents? What do you mean?"
"Former Seraph Agents. Apparently they're trying to capture you two and-"
Bang!
As he led the girls out of the panic room and closed the door, there was a loud, ringing gunshot, followed by both of the emergency lights exploding and casting the entire room in darkness.
Rarity let out a startled yelp, and the sound of scattering glass and hurried footsteps filled the following silence as Flash and Spitfire scrambled to get a lock on the threat. Both of them were now completely alert, checking every angle around them as their eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. They were a good distance apart, and between the two of them they could see almost the entire room. If something, anything moved...
A blurred shape jumped in directly in front of him. Following that, a fist suddenly took him across the cheek and stumbled him away from his friends. Recoiling, he made mental note that they weren't firing weapons around the girls, they didn't want them permanently injured.
As he re-centered himself, he looked for the blur again, but couldn't find it. A fist hit him again, knocking him back further, but this time he braced for it, and leaned forward. Silent Lynx suddenly became visible, and he now had his forearm putting pressure against her collarbone. Pushing through the pain, he ran forward, taking her straight into the wall behind her and introducing the barrel of his handgun to her chest.
To his friends, only a few feet away, he gave a warning.
"Get behind me, go!"
Rarity shakily nodded, pulling Pinkie away from the action and taking her to the opposite corner.
Lynx's hand immediately shot out to push Flash's gun away, and her other hand slipped between her body and his pinning arm, making the injured skin there burn. The blasting of Spitfire's machine gun sounded off somewhere behind him, further disrupting his focus. Lynx wriggled against him, sliding to the side as he tried to realign his gun with her. Lifting her head up for a moment, she suddenly threw it forward, smashing her visor into his bare skull and pushing him away In the same motion she pulled the knife off of his sheath and swung it around at him, prompting him to just barely catch her at the wrist. Two more gunshots illuminated the room, from Sparrowhawk's rifle, giving him a better visual on Lynx's stance. Responding with an appropriate counter, he twisted her arm to the side, therefore redirecting her attack, but she smoothly cartwheeled along with his motion and let her whole body be thrown.
From there, she slashed at him again, putting a small cut on his cheek as he evaded. They were now in the center aisle, and from what he could tell Spitfire and Sparrowhawk were having a shootout from the aisles on either side. They were directly in the crossfire. Not a great place to be...
He pulled his gun in close, and aiming with his torso he fired off two shots as she closed in, but found the knife tearing at his uniform and his shots missing, the blade cutting through the layered cloth and biting at his skin. He buckled, and he saw her going in for a disarm. The moment it registered, he flicked his gun safety on and threw his weapon down, knowing that he couldn't stop her if she got it. She had him weaponless, but in willingly dropping his weapon he was now one step ahead of her.
Flash saw her next move coming too, a forward knife thrust, the blade reflecting more light from the backdrop of gunfire. It would easily take him down if he didn't act fast. Adrenaline was again rushing through him, though he wasn't feeling it as vividly as he was before. He felt more like he had control of himself, like he was watching things play out slower than they actually were. He was unarmed now, with little means of defending himself. Defending himself wouldn't be an option, he reasoned.
Pulling his arms close into his face, he pushed against Lynx's knife attack, aiming to take the hit at the shallowest angle possible as he threw all of himself into her. As expected, his forearms stung as the blade drew more blood from him, but better the bony parts of his limbs than his than the softer parts of his face. The pain wasn't any lessened, but he still sprung forward, one hand a fist crashing into her chin, and the other going for the knife. He caught her wrist again, but this time shifted his hand to challenge her grip on the knife.
At this point, they just took turns punching each other as bullets flew back and forth around them. Neither of them were ready to let the knife go, but both wanted desperately for the other to release it. It was incredibly taxing for Flash, as his wounds were beginning to burn deeper into him, but increasingly frustrated grunts from Lynx suggested she was close to folding as well. Eventually, they caught each other's fists, and they were put into a raw pushing match with each other. In his current state, Flash wouldn't have the stamina to keep fighting like this. Rather than let her overtake him, he'd put the rest of his energy into driving his knee into Lynx's stomach, successfully knocking her breath and his knife from her.
She reeled back, and Flash immediately dropped to a kneel, taking his gun back and squeezing off three shots, one of them going straight through her shoulder. As she fell, he heard gunshots go off to both sides, and with both of his weapons back to him he retreated to the back of the room, back to where his friends hopefully still were.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the glare of Sparrowhawk's night-vision goggles targeting him. She would have no problem taking a shot in the dark, and he thought she was about to, until Spitfire lit her cover up from across the room. Sparrowhawk hid away, and for a moment everything was silent. Flash's eyes were alert as possible, though focusing was much harder now that he was cut up and bleeding. Spitfire didn't make any movements either.
They were all waiting for one of the others to move.
Amidst the silence, something else stirred. Starting as a quiet groan of pain, it echoed from the back of the room, behind the reinforced walls. It started out quiet, then quickly intensified to a horrendous scream of terrified agony. Flash heard Rarity gasp, and Pinkie squeak in fright. There was a disturbing, fleshy squishing, following more infuriated screaming.
Moments later, a huge humanoid demon crashed through the panic room doors and into the armory, skin glowing grey and with huge, hulking muscles. Tattered remains of a Canterlot City Police uniform hung to its body, and between its bald head and intimidating mustache Flash saw the pain-stricken, tortured eyes of Sergeant Colt. Whatever 'poison' had killed him also transformed him into something horrible, a demon, and he was now an immediate threat to all present.
His hands had mutated into four-fingered talons, which extended towards Flash as he lunged for him, the intent to make him his first victim. Flash backed away, firing his weapon as he did, and found that the bullets did slow Colt's demon. Even Sparrowhawk seemed worried about this turn of events, she spoke openly into her communicator, despite him and Spitfire being in earshot.
"The Type-C has activated. We need to get out, like, right now!"
"Girls!" Flash called his friends to him, putting himself between them and the newly formed demon. He saw Pinkie and Rarity, but not Rainbow... "Come on, move! Get out that door!" Spitfire was moving too, and he pointed to her before giving her a quick order as well. "Go with them, I'll catch up!"
"This is no time to play hero, Sentry..."
"No, that's not it. Rainbow's gone again. I'm not leaving until I know she's safe."
"Right. Just don't get yourself killed."
During this exchange, Sparrowhawk was firing on Colt's demon, but seeing that Flash and his friends were escaping, she turned their attention to them. Neither of them seemed to notice that Lynx's body had disappeared, nor would they have really had the chance to in the low lighting.
A bullet punched through the door as Flash slammed it behind him. Spitfire and the others went one way, towards the main hallway, but Flash saw movement down the other direction. A smaller person, running.
"Rainbow? Rainbow!" He called out, but if it was her, she didn't respond.
He set off after her, but remembered Sparrowhawk would be behind him. Turning, he saw her, but getting ready to chase after Spitfire and the others. An inaccurate bullet in her direction drew vague interest, and another one glancing off of her shoulder armor got her full attention. Before she could snap to fire back, he was already around the corner.
Flash turned quickly into an open office area lit by a single emergency light, one with many desks and workstations, but also one with no other exits. There wasn't anywhere to run, Rainbow had to be somewhere here. Hiding. He'd need to hide too, with Sparrowhawk close on him. His still bleeding cuts were a sharp reminder that he wouldn't be able to take her in hand-to-hand or in a straight shoot out.
As she turned the corner, she immediately shot out the room's light. Whatever light was left in the room reflected off of her lenses, giving them a soft green glow as she scanned the office. Flash expected as much from her, but he wasn't expecting to see another soft reflection from across the room.
From his place behind one of the desks, in total darkness, he saw a reflective shimmer move across a small strip of light coming in from the hallway.
"Oh, Flash..." Sparrowhawk's carefree voice called out through the darkness. "You can't hide from us."
She slowly paced through the room, scanning across the rows of desks as she moved.
"Or maybe you can, and we'll just grab your friend. She's hiding in here too, y'know."
Flash kept still. He was focusing on that odd reflection. The wall behind it has a bloodstain... She kept saying 'Us'. Lynx was in here with her. That strange reflection had to be Lynx.
"So if you're not gonna say anything about it... we're just gonna take her and go, okay?"
Flash had one shot left in his handgun, and reloading now would make too much noise. He'd need to time his attack just right.
When Sparrowhawk got close enough, he jumped out of his hiding spot, intending to take her by surprise and grab her, using her body as a shield to keep Lynx from firing at him. What happened was he was smacked across the face with the butt of her rifle, as if she had been expecting his exact movement, and soon after found himself on his back staring down its barrel.
"No!" He couldn't see from where, but Rainbow Dash had come out of her hiding spot as well, violently shoving Sparrowhawk to the side and pointing the bright end of her industrial flashlight right into her goggles, eliciting a shriek of pain as she took in the magnified light, feeling searing heat in the back of her eyes as her pupils were blasted with the intensity of what felt like a miniature sun right up against her face.
Screwing her eyes shut, her headache would only get worse as Rainbow brought the flashlight back, then cracked her over the head with the back end of it, sending her sprawling out onto the floor.
"Get up, come on..." She came to Flash's aid, offering a hand to him, but Flash needed to warn her-
"Rainbow, behind you!"
Too late. Silent Lynx slipped an arm around Rainbow's neck and drew her suppressed pistol, leveling it with her head. Still on his back, Flash lined up a shot on her, but didn't dare pull the trigger.
"Try anything and she gets it!" Lynx hissed. Rainbow glared, shivering in fear but at the same time looking surprisingly defiant. Rainbow actively struggled against her captor as she backed towards the way they came in.
"You wouldn't..." Rainbow muttered.
"Don't test me."
Sparrowhawk picked herself up too, prompting Flash to take aim at her instead, but she only dizzily rejoined Lynx, shoving her goggles up onto her forehead and cradling her head in pain as Flash slowly followed their movements from his spot on the ground.
"Is the Type-C secure?" Lynx asked her.
"I uh..." Sparrowhawk replied, very lightly. "I sent it after the others."
"You idiot!"
Sparrowhawk winced as her partner rose her voice. "Hey! You don't have to yell..."
"Do you not realize that it'll kill them!?"
"Nah..." Sparrowhawk gently shook her head. "Just the SWAT lady, hopefully."
"We're not supposed to be putting the Elements in direct danger!"
"Says the one holding a loaded gun to the head of one of them."
"I-" Lynx stopped herself, then glared at Sparrowhawk. "Shut up. We're leaving."
Their back and forth continued as they left the room, leaving Flash alone to collect himself. He was losing Rainbow. He needed to get up, but his wounded body wouldn't let him. Laying on the floor was easy, and it didn't hurt nearly as much to be up and around everywhere.
No. He wasn't going to let himself give out, not after coming this far. He could hear their footsteps quickening, moving at a faster pace now that they were clear from his line of sight. Flash holstered his weapon. He rolled himself over, put both hands on the floor, and pushed as hard as he could against it. It was a strain, as his entire body was ready to give out at any moment after an intense day of running around, fighting, and hanging on the very edge of his life, but he rose.
First to a crawling position, but then to a kneel, and then, with a hand supporting him on a nearby desk, he pushed down with as much force as he could muster, bringing himself up into a weak, slouched over standing position. It wasn't optimal, but it'd have to do. Pain below his ribs drew his attention to a bloodied tear in his uniform, giving way to a dripping red gash. Unlike the slashes across his forearms, this cut hadn't slowed in it's bleeding yet. He pressed on it with a hand, keeping it covered, but also finding that his sleeves were coated in crimson, sticking to the skin on his forearms in a way he hadn't noticed until just now.
He wanted to run, but the most he could manage was a brisk walk. Fighting through dizzying pain and lightheadedness, while leaving a slight trail of blood behind him, he gathered up everything he had to chase after his former squadmates.
-----
Just when Spitfire thought she was in the clear, a wall nearly crashed down on her.
The monstrosity that once was Sergeant Colt blocked her way to the back exit, prompting her to quickly direct the two girls following her in the other direction. Colt eyed her threateningly, then let out a disturbing growl as he threw himself at her.
"Back that way, back that way!" Spitfire opened fire on the demon, expending all of the ammunition left in her magazine as the towering demon chased after them. The bullets pushed Colt's demon back, he was feeling the impacts but it wasn't enough to stop him. Spitfire turned and ran before long, catching up with the girls and guiding them through a door right by the blast door she and Flash had shut not too long ago. They came into a small receptionist's office facing the main lobby, with a sliding window linking the two together. Unlocking the latch on their side, Spitfire opened the window, providing a small access into the lobby.
"Come on, through here. One at a time... We'll loop around him and slip out the back that way."
Watching the door they came through, Spitfire took inventory as the two girls hurriedly climbed through the small window, Pinkie first, then Rarity. They shook and gave fearful murmurs as Colt's stomping became audible from down the hallway, but Spitfire confidently reloaded her weapon. Back in the armory, one of the storage cabinets was blasted open by gunfire, and inside were two whole magazines for Spitfire's weapon. Even if she couldn't kill this demon, she had enough ammo to slow him down.
Once Rarity cleared the window, Spitfire went to climb in, but thought better of it as Colt's demon entered the room and flung the nearest desk at her. The whole window shattered, and the wooden office surface bounced several times off the tiled lobby floor. The girls scattered, and Spitfire jumped through the now much larger window, which really was just a square hole in the wall.
That hole was made even larger, as Colt's demon shoulder-bashed straight into it, managing to hit Spitfire and launch her into the overturned desk out in the center of the lobby. Her back took the most of it, but she still had a plate of armor and padding there. It lessened the impact, if only slightly, making the pressure even across her back rather than having it hit in any one place.
From her sitting position, she checked the sides of her vision, making sure the girls were okay before taking aim with her weapon. The demon pulled a claw back as it approached, a sluggish telegraph for his attack. Spitfire put a few rounds through his shoulder, causing him to recoil, then did the same to his other shoulder when he tried the same with his other had. He was still too close for comfort.
He brought a clawed hand in again, an apparent attempt to smash her against the floor, but she rolled herself out of the way as the attack went through. The demon's fist broke the desk in half, claws scratching up the tiles as his head swiveled to track Spitfire, now up and running from him.
Clearly, he was faster than anticipated, they wouldn't be able to get around him. She looked around, making sure Pinkie and Rarity were still in sight, then braced herself to properly take on the demon of Sergeant Colt.
She'd have to bring him down, or would die trying.
-----
By the time Flash had reached the end a split in the hallway, Lynx and Sparrowhawk were long since gone. He didn't catch the direction they'd turned, and he couldn't know for sure which way they'd taken Rainbow Dash. Spitfire hadn't gone towards the back of the station though, he could hear her gun going off somewhere near the front. She had run into trouble.
And as luck would have it, Flash would too.
Where one hallway intersected with another, Flash looked off to his right and was instantly alarmed by what he saw. Giving off a faint teal glow was six and a half feet of greying purple power armor with an intimidating stance and a cracked helmet.
The Hellsoldier.
Had he more energy, Flash might've drawn his weapon, or maybe ran away. Right now though, he registered the threat, but wasn't in the mood to respond to it. Even worse, the Hellsoldier had found the shotgun Flash had dropped earlier, and held it forward and at the ready.
"Great..." Flash said, addressing the soldier directly. "Guess this is it for me then, huh?"
The Hellsoldier didn't reply, but upon seeing that Flash didn't pose a threat, they lowered their shotgun.
"What, you feeling nice today or something?"
The Hellsoldier took a few steps forward, until they were face to face with Flash. Still silent, they looked from him, to the hallway behind him. Then, they kept walking, right past Flash, like he had suddenly vanished from their sight. They were going towards the front of the station.
Considering his friends were quite possibly in trouble, Flash supposed he should follow.
-----
Nothing Spitfire was tried was working. Colt's demon just wasn't phased by bullets, and she couldn't keep dodging him forever. She was in no way prepared for those two rogue SRAPH agents to kick in the door with Rainbow Dash as a hostage, either.
Too much was going on, she had just jumped out of the way of another of the demon's charge attacks, when suddenly, the thunderclap of another gun took her by complete surprise. A brief spike of pain shot through her shoulder as a rifle round went right through her, followed by a total, invigorating numbness.
She'd been shot. In fact, this was the first time she'd ever been shot. It wasn't anything like she thought it'd be. It felt almost painless, empty and surreal, so surreal that she couldn't bring herself to react fast enough to a followup going through her left leg. Her entire world spun as she lost all semblance of balance, but before she hit the ground she was given a solid whack by Colt's demon, a hit that both gouged her open and tossed her hard into the wall, taking away all sense of anything.
-----
Flash heard more gunshots and a dangerously close sounding crash. He was tailing the Hellsoldier, not to close, but following them back through the pathway to the SRAPH offices and out into the main lobby. Lynx and Sparrowhawk might've gone a different way, but they seemed to all be headed to the same place regardless.
He checked his ammo situation. He had one spare magazine, but it only had four shots in it. The one he had left was currently chambered, so a quick magazine swap but him at five shots, half a magazine. Not much, but he was going to have to make it work.
After losing Rainbow, Flash thought that this mission couldn't possibly have gotten worse, but through the office's broken window he saw a scene that would quickly prove him wrong. Lynx and Sparrowhawk had all three of his friends rounded up and were being taken out of the front of the station at gunpoint. Upon seeing the agents, the Hellsoldier rushed in, but quickly was cut off as the demon of Sergeant Colt jumped into view and threw a solid punch into them, staggering them and halting their advance.
The rogue agents began to run at sight of the Hellsoldier, but Flash wasn't about to let them escape. Putting all thoughts of self preservation aside, he ran through the SRAPH offices and jumped through the broken window, catching himself very shakily but snapping off two shots at Sparrowhawk as she was covering their exit. Both shots connected, and she fell before the open door frame, bleeding and out of action for the moment.
One down, and Flash's determination was reignited. There still was urgency, but he couldn't fight like this forever. He needed to take Lynx down and escape, hopefully while Colt's demon was preoccupied with the Hellsoldier.
He kicked open the police station's front doors fully, finding Lynx out of sight, but all three of his friends backed up against the demon anchor. It was glowing, lighting up, and a swirling purple vortex was beginning to form around it. Flash knew what this was... He was about to lose them.
"Flash!" Rarity called out. "She's by you!"
Flash immediately ducked, hearing the hushed blast of a suppressed weapon sound off to his right. He couldn't see her, she was cloaked, but from a kneeling position, he raised his weapon and fired it at the most likely place she'd be. He hit nothing, but her footsteps gave her away. She was moving. The spire lit up again, and in it's illumination he saw her shadow moving across the station's courtyard.
Got her.
Two more shots and two more hits, all within the scope of a few seconds. Lynx came back into view, holding her pistol out as if she were going to fire, but with new bullet holes in her she was frozen still. She'd already had one in her, how many more could she handle? Flash didn't want to wait, but he had to confirm she was down. One moment passed, then another. She wobbled, wavered, and ultimately collapsed on the ground.
The swirling purple vortex was opening in full, pulling his scared and screaming friends into it.
Without thinking, he ran towards the anchor, his vision spinning from blood loss but yet managing to keep himself steady. He holstered his gun, put all of his body into sprinting towards them, wanting to clear the short courtyard in as little time as possible, not knowing how many seconds he had until they were gone completely. Rarity vanished through it, then Rainbow. He could see a look of terror on Pinkie's face, half of her body already through the portal, reaching out with one hand to be pulled free. Flash extended his own, just inches from her.
A foot suddenly smashed against his face as someone else dive kicked their way into the scene.
A woman with curled and voluminous orange hair, a pair of sharp, streamlined sunglasses, and a black trench coat dropped down in front of him, holding... was that Applejack over her shoulder?
That made four of his friends that he lost, as she too was quickly tossed back into the portal moments before it closed.
"Tisk tisk. So close, Agent Sentry..." The woman said, standing over him as he fell to his knees, holding his face where her boot struck him. He knew this woman, she was the one behind this, the one directing Lynx and Sparrowhawk. She took a cynical tone, mocking his attempts to save his friends. "What did you think you'd even do, hmm?"
Flash's breath was heavy. He could hardly move his head to look her in the eye.
"Adagio..." He breathed.
"Surprised to see me?"
Adagio Dazzle, Dr. Adagio Dazzle, rather, was a SRAPH researcher, a demon specialist that led one of the two groups his team split into during the Sire's Hollow mission. She would identify the source of the anchors, the types of demons in the area, and assist in destroying them. She herself often went on missions with a team, technically making her an agent as well, but her role was that of a researcher and scientist first and foremost.
During the incident, her entire team vanished without a trace, and were all presumed dead, but it was little surprise at this point to see her alive again if Lynx and Sparrowhawk were also. None of Flash's half of the group would be coming back though, as he bore witness to their demise.
"You... You were dead too..."
"Maybe so, but you know I'm just too good to stay that way. You see, my 'death' was all part of the plan..."
"What are you talking about? My friends... Where did you send them?"
"Don't you worry about that," She gave an ominous smile, and a short, sinister laugh beneath her breath. "They'll be in good hands."
Adagio always seemed the type to keep secrets, but now, like the rest of her team, she seemed outright evil, cruel, even. She was smiling, fully enjoying seeing him in pain. What happened? Had she been possessed? Corrupted? Why were all of his former allies now turning on him? Had they always been like this?
"I... I won't let you..." Flash began.
"Won't let me what, now?" Adagio approached, her foot kicking him over with minimal effort and pressing down on his stomach. "Look at you, you can't even defend yourself..."
The body of Sergeant Colt's demon suddenly flew over his head, right at Adagio, but she vanished into a faded blur before she was hit and the body crashed into the demon anchor. In the doorway, the Hellsoldier stood, pumping their shotgun's handle and charging forward. Where she went, Flash couldn't see, especially with the Hellsoldier opening fire on Colt's demon at the forefront of his vision. He didn't want to be in between them, so frantically moved aside, managing to crouch run at his best.
His earpiece began buzzing at this completely inconvenient time, seeing as demonic roaring and shotgun fire were blasting his eardrums from fairly close range, and so he made his way back into the police station. Moving past Sparrowhawk's slumped body, he hid behind a smashed up desk, answering his radio in what he hoped was at least partial cover.
"This is Sentry..."
"Flash!" It was Sunburst. "Is everything okay in there? We're in the back parking lot waiting for you!"
"I... I couldn't save them. They're..." Flash's throat was completely dry, and he gave a painful swallow, unable to cope with what he was saying. "They're gone."
"Well you need to get out of there, then! It sounds like there's trouble in there!"
"I'll be right there. Hang tight..." The call ended, and Flash checked his surroundings again. In panic, he froze, seeing a blue-armored SWAT officer laying motionless against a heavily damaged wall.
"Spitfire?" He rushed to her side, checking over her body to check her condition. She'd been shot too, and was bleeding heavily from slashes in her front. He leaned in close, pressing his ear to her bloodied chest, listening intently. She wasn't breathing. He thought he heard something but... maybe, was it just in his head? Feeling across her neck, he checked for a pulse, and also felt nothing. His blood ran cold. No breathing, no heartbeat, no movement... She was gone.
Flash locked up. She died for absolutely nothing, because he wanted to run off and save Rainbow. Maybe if they had stuck together, maybe if he was willing to cut his losses- What was he thinking? Rainbow was his friend! But Spitfire didn't deserve this, either. After all she'd been through, she had his respect, his admiration, even. Would it have been better if he'd left Rainbow behind? He didn't know. Shock overtook him. Flash closed his eyes and tried to regain composure, regain control, tried to not go back into his memories, to not go back to the last time he had to ask himself these horrible question-
Bang!
There was yet another gunshot behind him and a bullet pinging off the wall in front of him. He snapped back to himself, and looked back to see Staccato Sparrowhawk weakly raising her rifle and taking shots at him. Spitfire's machine gun was right by her, and so he took it up as made his way back towards the hole through the receptionist office, managing a brisk limp. Sparrowhawk took another shot, but her aim was off, and it only made Flash move faster.
As he stepped into the back hallways, he realised Sparrowhawk was chasing after him, albeit just as slowly as he was limping away. She'd stagger a few yards, lean against the wall, and take a shot at him, and he'd duck down, swing Spitfire's machine gun around with one arm, and fire a small burst back at her. The back doors had push bars across them, and Flash exerted way too much energy trying to get them open. Sparrowhawk got closer, and nearly got him as he ran through the doorway, putting a hole in the door right next to his arm as it swung open.
Now outside, Trixie's RV was in sight, but he wasn't about to let it get shot up in the open, dark parking lot. Reaching into his pouch, he took out the stun grenade he'd been hanging onto since the truck crashed and pulled it's pin, tossing it back at the door as he moved away from it. He heard the doors open behind him, seeing and hearing the bright, intense light and sharp crack it produced even with his eyes turned away and his hands over his ears. Sparrowhawk let out an angered, painful, desperate sound of defeat, and sparing a glance back Flash saw her on the ground again, holding her head in pain.
The door to the RV swung open and both Trixie and Sunburst came out to haul him in the vehicle. Both concerned, they laid him down on the couch with a towel beneath him, and Sunburst went right away to assess his injuries.
"Oh my gosh- What happened in there?" Sunburst glanced back to Trixie when he saw the severity of Flash's cuts. "Oh, no- Trixie, get my surgical tools and the first aid kit!"
"Go! We need to leave..." Flash managed. Being able to lay down on something soft felt nice, but his entire body was still soaked in pain. They weren't out of the woods yet. "It's not safe..."
"Stay awake, Flash. You need to stay awake right now..."
"There," Trixie came back in with two separate cases. "We're picking up Starlight and getting the hell out of here!"
Flash heard the RV start up and begin to move, and Sunburst shifted his limbs around, saying something, but he couldn't quite hear it.
His focus was fading, he didn't catch anything else.