//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 Denouement 
// Story: Nueva-Delhi and the Snow Catastrophe 
// by oranzinispegasas 
//------------------------------//

Nueva-Delhi sighed, releasing a new puff of vapor. Max watched it with a gloomy, almost sleepy look. Vasilly picked up a piece of ice from the floor and threw it against the opposite wall.

"How have you been sitting here for so long without getting frostbite?" Nueva-Delhi asked, her teeth chattering, as she shrugged.

"The temperature here," replied Max, "never drops below 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Besides, I have a warm scarf and jacket. I don't know why you're freezing."

"Clearly, I'm not used to the cold," Nueva-Delhi replied. "And Mila's jacket isn't as warm."

Vasilly suddenly perked up and even stood up.

"What's up?" asked Max.

"The pipes," Vasilly replied shortly, and walked past Nueva-Delhi.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"You don't plan on sitting here until the plant closes, do you?" Vasilly said. "If it's cold in here, there must be pipes. Pipes lead somewhere. They'll get us out of here."

He moved along the wall. Max and Nueva-Delhi immediately became more animated and followed him. The warehouse turned out to be much larger than Nueva-Delhi had imagined. She was amazed by the large number of containers and boxes. They had created a veritable maze!

But finally, they managed to find the pipes Vasilly had mentioned.

"We need to follow them," he said. "But don't touch them under any circumstances. You could get burned."

And they started moving along the largest pipe. And it was the right decision because within a few minutes, they indeed reached the wall. There was a gap between the pipe and the wall, large enough for them to squeeze through one by one.

"Look," Max exclaimed, clapping his paws, "you were right."

Vasilly approached the wall.

"It's very narrow," he noted. "We need to be careful. I'll go first."

Vasilly stood for a moment, getting ready. Nueva-Delhi suddenly coughed, startling him.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes," Nueva-Delhi replied. "Don't worry."

Vasilly pressed himself to the floor and edged closer to the wall. He cautiously began to crawl and soon disappeared. Max approached the wall.

"Everything's fine!" Vasilly's voice came from the other side. "Come on!"

Max looked at Nueva-Delhi and, with a sad sigh, followed Vasilly. They were lucky. They were cats, after all, and more flexible. Nueva-Delhi drooped her ears disappointedly and sighed.

"Nueva-Delhi," Vasilly's voice came from the other side. "Come on, you can do it."

Nueva-Delhi decided to act like Vasilly. She pressed herself to the floor as hard as she could and edged closer to the wall. The cold emanating from the pipe was chilling. Nueva-Delhi felt uneasy. Summoning all her strength, she began to move forward.

Nueva-Delhi moved much slower than Vasilly and Max. She kept stopping. She couldn't raise her eyes to the pipe, but she constantly felt the freezing cold radiating from it.

But finally, she saw two pairs of cat eyes ahead, watching her attentively.

"Come on," Vasilly encouraged her. "Just a little more."

She took a few more uncertain steps, but suddenly, her hind leg touched a thinner pipe next to the main one. She immediately felt a terrible burning sensation and cold spreading throughout her body. Nueva-Delhi screamed and lunged forward. Vasilly and Max grabbed her front paws and pulled her outside. Nueva-Delhi collapsed weakly to the floor.

"What happened?" Max asked, concerned.

Vasilly examined Nueva-Delhi's hind leg.

"She touched the pipe," he replied. "Not as critical as it could have been."

Max and Vasilly helped Nueva-Delhi to her feet. They looked around.

"This is the first workshop," Max said.

As it turned out, they were behind the repaired reservoir. They had simply bypassed it and immediately encountered Alex Vetrov. His face was contorted with anger.

"Not bad, my friends," he said arrogantly.

Vasilly immediately dashed in one direction, and Max in another. Alex ran after Max. Vasilly climbed the ladder to the mezzanine. Nueva-Delhi followed him.

But after just a few flights, she noticed that Alex was now climbing after her. And he was surprisingly fast. Nueva-Delhi wanted to speed up, but the wound on her leg immediately reminded her of itself. Nueva-Delhi hissed in pain. Vasilly stopped and looked back.

"Nueva-Delhi?" he shouted.

"I'm fine," she replied. "Keep running."

But Vasilly knew everything wasn't fine. He grabbed the side of the ladder and slid down, straight towards Alex. Nueva-Delhi looked back.

"Don't stop!" Vasilly shouted, trying to block Alex's path.

Nueva-Delhi immediately continued climbing. She didn't accelerate, but she still managed to reach the top fairly quickly. She looked down, and immediately felt dizzy. She leaned against the wall and tried to calm herself down.

Then Nueva-Delhi noticed some belts lying on the floor. She grabbed them and quickly tied them around her torso, hooking one end onto the pipe.

Alex's hooves appeared on the mezzanine, followed by his head.

"I won't let you ruin everything so easily!" he shouted angrily as he climbed up. Now he towered menacingly over Nueva-Delhi. He laughed. "There's nowhere to run."

Nueva-Delhi backed away. He slowly advanced towards her. There was nowhere to retreat; the mezzanine was quite narrow.

Out of the corner of her eye, Nueva-Delhi noticed that the repaired reservoir was just a few steps away from her. She knew it was risky, but there was no other way. She couldn't just give up.

Summoning all her strength, Nueva-Delhi suddenly turned around. Alex leaped at her, but missed and went straight into the reservoir. Nueva-Delhi stumbled and also fell after him. In mid-air, her heart almost stopped from fear. She closed her eyes, bracing for the worst. But the belt saved her, and she only collided with the reservoir wall. She hung from the belt. Vasilly was right. It really held.

Nueva-Delhi slowly opened her eyes and looked down. It was pitch black below.

"Nueva-Delhi?" Vasilly's worried voice came.

"Vasilly!" Nueva-Delhi exclaimed joyfully. "Get me out of here!"

She felt herself being pulled up by the belt. And soon she was on the mezzanine. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where's Vetrov?" Vasilly asked.

"He's in there," Nueva-Delhi replied, pointing her hoof at the reservoir.

Vasilly approached and peered inside. From here, nothing could be seen, as the bottom was shrouded in darkness.

"Is he alive?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes," came a sudden voice from the reservoir. Vasilly recoiled in fear and fluffed up his tail. Nueva-Delhi was too scared to get closer and look inside. She had had enough.

"Get me out of here... Please..."

"No way," Vasilly replied. "You're on your own."

Nueva-Delhi thought it would be wrong to leave the poor guy lying at the bottom of the reservoir. She stood up.

"Vasilly," she said, "help me. We need to get him out."

"Why?" Vasilly asked, puzzled.

"Well... We're not villains," she replied. "Come on, don't be a coward."

"Fine," Vasilly rolled his eyes and looked back into the reservoir. "How are you planning to do this?"

Nueva-Delhi looked around. She noticed belts lying everywhere, and then her gaze fell on the pipe. A memory of Vasilly's rescue immediately came to mind. She wasted no time and started gathering the belts.

"Vasilly, help me," she said. "We need to tie these belts together to make a very long rope."

Vasilly took a handful of belts from Nueva-Delhi's hooves and started weaving them together.

"Are you sure we can pull him out like this?" he asked. "He's probably very heavy... And he won't be able to climb up himself."

"He won't have to," replied Nueva-Delhi. "We'll pull him out just like I pulled you out of the well."

Vasilly stopped asking questions, and soon they had a long rope made of belts. Nueva-Delhi skillfully threw it over the pipe and handed one end to Vasilly.

"Throw it down," she ordered.

Vasilly tossed the makeshift rope down. It quickly unwound, and its end disappeared deep into the darkness.

"Alex," Nueva-Delhi called out. "Wrap the rope around your waist, and make it tight."

For a long time, there was no sound from the reservoir. Nueva-Delhi began to worry.

"Alex?" she called.

"It's fine," came the reply from the reservoir. "You can start pulling."

Nueva-Delhi pulled the rope with all her might. But her injured leg was terribly painful, and she didn't have enough strength. Vasilly approached her and also grabbed the rope. Pulling took a long time, as the reservoir was very deep.

After a minute of pulling, Nueva-Delhi couldn't feel her hooves anymore.

"I can't... anymore..." she gasped.

"Don't let go!" Alex shouted in panic. "We're almost there."

Nueva-Delhi and Vasilly made one last effort, and finally managed to pull Alex out of the reservoir and onto the mezzanine. Covered in dirt and disheveled, he breathed heavily, trying to calm down.

"Thank you..." he managed to utter. "Thank you..."