Ocho swung his leg high, barely missing the ducking teen.
The two stepped back from one another in the middle of the cavern.
The boy shot back up, his eyes locked onto the Deputy
Taro continued to swing wildly, Ocho dodging each with ease.
The Deputy's eyes darted from fist to fist, his head keeping center as if he were a rabbit, hyper-aware of every movement within his eyesight.
"I just need one opening, this palm strike was perfect when he was hesitating, but it needs more space than he's giving right now." Ocho thought.
Thud
Ocho struck Taro's side.
The boy stumbled over his own feet before recovering, beginning his barrage of fists once again.
He gritted his teeth so he wouldn't stop to wince at the pain shooting up his side, or the shocks of discomfort every time he moved his spine. Everywhere hurt.
Bam
To the surprise of both, Taro landed a punch to the face of Ocho, his body twisting with his head as he jumped back, reeling in pain.
"Can't let up now." Taro thought. He charged the Deputy, giving him no time to breath.
Whoosh
Taro's first punch rushed past Ocho's head, the Deputy predicting it with ample time to dodge.
Ocho jabbed at the boy's side, the same one he had just attacked earlier.
"Agh" Taro closed his eyes as a wave of weakness rushed over his body, followed by an unbearable pain.
"There it is…" Ocho thought as he grinned, reeling his open palm back.
Boom
Ocho struck Taro's stomach with an open palm strike, a low worp sounding from the epicenter of the attack.
"Fuck!" Taro doubled over, stumbling backwards in a futile attempt at creating space between him and his opponent.
"I gotta admit, that was more of a fight than I thought it was gonna be." Ocho caught up to the boy with a slow walk while he fixed his long hair under his cap.
Taro crawled away from the Deputy.
Blegh
Taro vomited onto the floor below him, his head spinning like never before as he lifted his gaiter back up and over his nose.
He felt blood flowing from his nose, the taste of iron and stomach acid making him want to pass out almost as much as the disorientation.
"I found a way to use a direct strike to push the Spirit around inside of someone else. Messing with someone's Spirit system messes up everything, y'know." Ocho tightened his gloves over his fingers as he looked down at the defeated teen.
"Fuck… You…" Taro was able to mutter through the blood spilling into his mouth as he turned onto his back to look at his enemy.
Ocho's brow furrowed. He opened his palm as he reeled it into the air, aiming straight for Taro's head-
A blood curdling scream echoed through the cavern's entrance.
"Tine…" Ocho muttered to himself as he tried to discern which direction his sister would have fallen in based on their plan.
He ran to the left, his hand running against the wall as he frantically searched for something.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, where the fuck is it?!" Ocho screamed, his confident demeanor melting away seconds after his sister's scream.
"There!" Ocho lifted up a rough spot in the rock. It slid up to reveal a hidden keypad, which the Deputy promptly entered a passcode into.
A door slid open in front of Ocho, who walked into a hallway with an almost sterile look, the walls, floor, and ceiling all with that white tiling one would think to find at a hospital or a laboratory.
Luckily, Taro, feeling as though he were on the brink of death, was able to make out the Deputy's finger movements.
"3… 7… 1… 9…" Taro repeated the passcode to himself, partly to remember it for later use and partly to keep himself sane through the unbearable pain that consumed his entire being.
"Oh shit…" Taro thought as his vision went blurry. He tried to fight it, but his eyelids grew too heavy to keep open as he was consumed by exhaustion.
In another tunnel, only moments earlier:
Tine hid behind a rock pillar, occasionally looking past her defense to see if Chase had opened his eyes yet.
"C'mon, you can't hide forever." Chase made his way around the pillar, his guns waving around the cavern as he stepped with extreme caution.
Tine moved away from Chase, stepping equally as slowly as she tried to keep her movements silent.
Tears streamed from her face, a fact that she hated.
"If only I was more like my brother… I can't. I can't do this." Tine thought to herself as she stepped away from the pillar.
She tip-toe'd towards the wall that she recalled the door being in.
"Goddammit, I don't have time for this." Chase muttered to himself as he gritted his teeth. For as much as he had tried to play it off to conserve his Spirit, his patience was thinning.
Bang
He let off one gunshot into the middle of the cavern, a random guess.
Tine let out a little yelp as she winced at the sound of the gunshot. It was only a few feet from where she stood.
"Gotcha." Chase spun towards the sound, shooting two shots from his pistols.
One hit the ground, ricocheting off the hard stone before hitting the one of the cavern walls as its momentum died.
Tine let out a blood curdling scream as the second bullet ripped through her left thigh, shooting out the other side as blood splattered onto the ground beneath her.
The Deputy dropped to the floor, holding her thigh while she attempted to crawl towards the hidden door.
"Hey, just give up now-" Chase was interrupted.
"I hate you! I hate all of your friends!" Tine sobbed as Chase walked cautiously over to her, his eyes still closed.
"Well, what the fuck?! We're out here trying to save everyone from being locked up for the rest of their lives!" Chase threw up his hands like they weren't holding two mobile death machines, his frustration and confusion boiling over into a surprisingly honest response.
Tine looked at the boy's face with both confusion and surprise.
"There's… I don't think he's trying to lie." Tine thought.
The door to the cavern slid open, Ocho's eyes widening as his gaze met the sight in front of him.
"You motherfucker!" Ocho screamed as his eyes met Chase.
"Shit." Chase opened his eyes, pointing his pistols straight towards Ocho.
The Deputy ran to his sister, kneeling down as he checked her thigh.
"Are you alright? Don't pass out. It doesn't look like it hit anything important. I'm sorry, I-" Ocho rambled on, pulling a roll of gauze out as he began to wrap it around his sister's leg.
"I'm sorry… I failed again." Tine's tears continued to stream.
Ocho went silent, glancing at his sister's face.
The Deputy stood up, turning his attention towards Chase.
"I'm gonna fucking murder you." Ocho pointed a finger at the boy, who kept his pistols pointed at the Deputy.
"You can try." Chase grinned through the gaiter, enraging the Deputy.
Ocho charged, reeling his fist back as-
Boom
Alex landed in the middle of the cavern, shocking all three of the combatants.
"Alex!" Chase exclaimed, his guns still pointed at the Deputy.
"One of your partners is unconscious, and the other is dead. Give up." Alex spoke with a calm, almost defeated voice, despite the circumstances.
"What-" Tine's eyes widened as her brother placed a hand on her head.
"Don't worry, Tine. They're just trying to scare us." Ocho nodded to his sister before turning to the rebel.
Alex let out a sigh. "I thought you'd say that."
From the tunnel above, Sev's body descended into the cavern, hung by one of Hendrix's steel strings by his neck.
Ocho, Tine, and Chase all stumbled back, equal parts shocked and horrified.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Chase screamed.
Tine screamed, followed by sobbing as Ocho held her.
"Tennie's safe in one of the other rooms. Just tell us where our other teammate is and we'll leave-" Alex was interrupted.
"You're monsters! All of you!" Ocho held his head low as Alex stared at the Deputy, her eyes showing some kind of sadness.
After a few moments of silence, Ocho opened his mouth once more. "That kid's in the room to the left. Follow that door."
The Deputy pointed towards the door, holding his sister in utter defeat.
Alex walked towards the door as Hendrix dropped through the tunnel, resting Sev's body a few feet next to the other two Deputies.
"C'mon, let's go find Taro." Alex waved to the two boys, who quickly caught up to her.
The three rebels made their way through the sterile hallway, Chase trying to examine the expressions on Alex and Hendrix as he tucked his pistols into his waistband.
Chase stared at Hendrix's injuries before finally opening his mouth. "Okay, so… What the hell happened?!"
Hendrix looked to Alex, who nodded back to him.
"Alex says to keep it between us, okay? We'll only tell parts of it when we get back to the compound." Hendrix looked to Chase, holding his shoulder as they walked.
"Woah, is it really that bad…?" Chase's eyes widened before nodding in agreement.