Meanwhile, the cylinder Ace hurled went perfectly through the door and struck a Hunter squarely in the chest.

A flash of fire, white light, and electricity rippled through the mechanized horde in an instant, the crude electromagnetic device's explosive power and pulse amplified by Ace's mysterious charge. Just like that, the tram tunnel fell largely silent, save for sparking, malfunctioning equipment falling over on itself. There were many survivors farther back, no doubt, and any human troops that may have been bringing up the tail were unaffected, but the numbers of their pursuers were chopped down in one fell swoop.

All that was left was for them to follow Tau out.



***


The path up was not an easy one, but it was infinitely easier than going back the way they came. The problem wasn't so much opposition; human soldiers tried to stop them through the first few corridors, but even employing bullets so well as they did, their fortunes were not good. The team had a rocket-powered machine at the point of their team. Whether or not he had earned everyone's trust, Tau was a boon, and anything he didn't personally dispatch, he made easier for the others to get near to. And, as seen before, Rock's methods of subduing organic opponents differed very little from the horrific energy-blasting and plasma-knifing methods he used on machines. Instead, the problem was the sheer amount of stairs they had to climb.

Tau's path led them up a concrete stairwell, through a corridor, into a stairwell at the back of a large elevator shaft, then through another corridor, and up more stairs... It was a crazy, winding path, but Rock would actively insist that, when it came to matters of timing and pathing, an AI could be trusted. It proved true enough. At every turn, every random change of route, and every odd stairwell chosen, they evaded an increasingly frustrated pursuing force. With less than a minute on the clock, they emerged on the second story of a thirty-or-so story office building. All that stood between them and freedom was a plate glass window, a short drop, and a busy city street—all the better to disappear into.

They would leave in their wake the Arware-Mistar corporate headquarters.

They had traveled all the way across the channel via that tram tunnel before, and gotten back to Empire City; however little he liked Empire City, Rock was infinitely pleased to be there in that moment, and hit the street running.

More accurately, he hit the top of a delivery van, then hit the top of the street running. Fortunately, it wasn't a big drop, and he wasn't terribly heavy, so it wasn't a grievous injury to the van. Then again, collateral damage wasn't something Rock seemed terribly concerned with.

Case-in-point:

Fifteen seconds after they got out, well after they were all doubtlessly trucking it down the darkened street, the asphalt beneath their very feet began to quake, and the orange sodium-vapor streetlights whizzing by overhead flickered. Plumes of dust, smoke and fire, and rays of vivid light shot out every window in the structure at once, and just like that, the entire tower of steel, concrete, and glass very uniformly and neatly crumpled inward into its own utterly vaporized sinkhole, as if it was suddenly sitting on absolutely nothing at all—like a cartoon character that had just realized it had walked off a cliff, looked downward, and felt a sudden need to fall, except much more morbid and destructive overall.

Water in the channel rippled, and larger-than-normal waves pelted the harbor, while, invisible to their current position, but quite noticeable to anyone remotely near the shore, smoke and fire was shooting up into the sky over at the base where they had started. Being that it was all the way through the tunnel, it didn't quite get hit with the same brunt of the nuclear blast as the connected Arware-Mistar facility did, but the pressure needed to vent somewhere, and there was almost as good as anywhere else, as far as physics was concerned.

Rock made a swift turn into an alley at first opportunity with a shout of "Here!" and a wave, hoping the others would follow, and ducked to cover side a dumpster, wheezing and panting more than anyone had probably ever seen him. He actually couldn't speak at first, even sitting there, taking a knee, and gasping in every little molecule of air as if nitrogen and oxygen were about to go out of style. The week's events had truly taken their toll.

"E'rrybody..." Huff. ... Huff. "... good?"

Ace seemed to be having the same exhausted kind of trouble everyone else was having by the end of it, barely recalling to bend his knees when he flung himself out the window. When he zig-zagged his way to to their alleyway rendezvous (more hurriedly dragging himself there than running), he was the after Rock to plant his forearm on the wall and start catching his breath. A workout like that hadn't come his way in a while. "Yeah, I'm..." KHOOFF KHOFF. "...I'mogey."

But then came the question. "Is Caz okay?"

And while Ace did had enough time for his heart to skip a beat and look at Jam like the proverbial deer in the headlights, in a fantastic and wonderfully relieving coincidence, his pants began vibrating soon after. Hastily digging through his pockets and catching his breath, the serval held up a 'hang on a second' hand that would hopefully ease her until he put the cell phone to his ear.

"Hellhho?" he wheezed.

A spirited cry of "Danny! was heard on the other line, among the sounds of screeching tires and honking horns. "Tell me you're okay! "I'm--" Tell me you're okay right now!"

"I'm okay!" he blurted with a drained half-smile, pausing only to half-laugh half-cough on the wall. "We're all okay here. Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little curious about all the s**t blowing up!"

"Yeah... well. There was kind of a prison riot..."

"Kind of a prison riot!?"

He cleared his throat, while the corners of his mouth pulled themselves up like he was trying to keep a straight face. "And uh... some bullets, bombs... Lotta explosions, aaaand... I think a nuke...?"

"A n-- gh-fuh, a-just tell me where you are, now. I'm comin' to to pick you up right now, once this asshole gets outta the way."

"Well, you saw that big building? The one that..." He paused for the right word. "...Imploded?"

"Pinche pendejo-- Yeah nice truck, pal! Sorry about your tiny dick! Yes. Sorry."

"We're--" Beat. "...We're in an alley way a few yards west of that. Might move around a bit before you get here."

"Okay. I'll be right there! I love you!"

"Love you too."

Click.

Ace looked back to Jam with a fatigued, but genuine sort of smile. "...She's fine."

( Pardon holding every one up, didn't intend to. )

Tau had ended up at of an x shaped intersection in the alleyway he'd ventured down and had begun to consider simply wandering off on his own, at least until Rock decided to shout.

"... ... ..? "

He could have chosen to ignore it and vanish into the city on his own.. but.. So far those organics seemed.... rather resourceful, perhaps sticking around a bit longer might pay off, After all, they had to have some sort of connection to get that deep into the base. Having decided, Tau proceeded into the alleyway the voice originated from and exited a few dozen feet ahead of them, but not too far to not be in visual range. He didn't say any thing.