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Eden rolled her eyes but turned around to go and run to get Jack.
She had forgotten that Dante was still holding her hand, and as soon as she pulled, he refused to move, the difference in strength almost making her fall back with a vivid pain in her arm. She glanced back and glared at him.
“Let me go!”
“You don’t need to save him.”
Eden pulled on his hand, but as he refused to move, she slapped him.
“You don’t get to decide for me, Dante. Let me fucking go,” she hissed.
Dante barely seemed surprised by the slap. His expression didn’t change at all, even if his head had slightly pivoted. Eden’s hand was probably more hurt than his cheek, but he still glanced down at her again, and after a second, he finally let go. She glared one last time and ran off, leaving him behind.
“Oh... Is that what they call a catfight...?”
“Loir, shut up.”
“Okay...”
She ignored him and kept running, trying to find her way back. She had a very vague memory of the rooms’ positions, and she hit a wall a couple of times or stumbled upon what was probably a dead body, trying not to think about it too much. Thankfully, Loir lit up a couple of lights ahead to guide her, allowing Eden to quickly find where she was going and stop tripping or hurting herself. The fight was mostly over on this floor; there were a lot more people down and dead than up and running, although she tried to avoid both, and hid against a wall each time she heard footsteps. She wanted to ask Loir if Rose was really dead, but she didn’t dare, knowing Dante could still hear her. He would probably have said something if the Tiger had lied, anyway...
“...Next one on your left, Kitty!”
“Got it,” she hissed between her teeth, still a bit pissed.
Because everything was so quiet on the other side, Eden kicked the door open without hesitation. With Rose dead, there were high chances something had happened in here already, and the action was already long over. It was miraculous Jack had survived, but she quickly spotted why and how.
Just like Loir had described, Jack was stuck under a massive, half-naked guy, and trying to get out from under the dead body, grunting. As soon as he saw her, his eyes opened wide.
“Eden! Thank God you’re alive, hun! Those bastards barged in, and everyone began shooting on all sides! That guy knocked me over, and then...”
“It’s okay, Jack,” she grunted, immediately running to help him out. “Jack, we don’t have time, we need to get out of here. A rocket is coming right toward us from the Core, if we don’t get out of here quick–”
“What?” he exclaimed as he finally crawled out. “Are you kidding?! I didn’t live underground for two days and survive a mass shooting for–”
“Holy shit, that’s it!” shouted Eden, reacting to his sentence. “Loir! Loir, what about a bunker? Isn’t there some reinforced room to hide in instead of a way out? Something underground?”
“Ooooh, good idea, Kitty! Give me a second, I think... Holy unicorn! The armory is reinforced with massive steel or whatever that thing is, but it’s a fortress. I don’t really wanna thank your stingy master, but I’m glad I had that Map on my server... I guess they wanted to avoid one bomb going off by mistake and blowing up the whole building. A nice little fish tank to keep the sushi fresh!”
“What?” asked Jack, as he couldn’t hear Loir but could see Eden’s expressions changing.
“We’re going underground,” she quickly said, grabbing his arm and pulling him out. “...Dante, you heard that?”
“See you there.”
She was a little bit glad she didn’t have to explain, as she was still a bit mad at him for suggesting they abandon Jack. At least they had found a solution for now... She only hoped the armory was large enough to contain everyone. In fact, she didn’t even have to ask where it was: all the remaining Italians were running there, and she and Jack only had to follow the group, running through some corridors with minimal lights.
Jack kept complaining about going back downstairs and locking themselves up with mafiosos as they were running, but according to Eden’s clock in her head, they really had no time for other solutions. In fact, they arrived with the last group of Italians running inside the armory, and the very heavy door was closed behind them as Dante, appearing behind Eden, was the last one allowed in. Eden didn’t know if he had left any more men behind, and she didn’t want to risk asking...
“Did you find Circé?” she immediately asked.
The armory wasn’t the small room she had imagined. In fact, it was the largest one she had seen so far, and it was crowded with people, Italian and Vietnamese thugs lined up against rows and rows of weapons. This place wasn’t exactly storage only; this was also some sort of clandestine factory, as she could see desks meant for illegal workers, several boxes of unknown materials, and plans on how to assemble weapons stuck everywhere on the walls. No wonder the Snake’s nest had become the prey of choice for anyone who wanted to wage war against the Core...
“Damn, you guys look like mackerels stuck in a can!” giggled Loir. “Say hi to the camera, Kitty! I see you! And you! And you! And...”
She ignored Loir and all the cameras above them following her movements. In fact, there was an astonishing number of them lined up on the walls, explaining Loir’s latest little game of zooming in on people’s faces. He was probably having a lot of fun right now, but those were definitely meant to watch the workers here... The mafiosos had them all lined up against a wall, some on their knees, heads down and their hands behind their backs.
“She’s over there,” simply said Dante.
