Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The flickering of the fluorescent lights on the ceiling, along with the hum of electricity, bugged her every time she stepped foot in the hallway. Antoinette wondered if maybe there was a ‘fix-it’ shop, and she could hire a handyman to come and fix the lights. He could probably give the walls a new paint job and color also; the gunmetal gray on concrete block just screamed prison.

Antoinette walked quickly to the shiny metal door of her apartment; Midnight barked excitedly to be home. The door opened and she walked right to the blue pulsing circle, setting the rifle in the middle and moving to the terminal. She signed in and tapped on Identify and was surprised at the message that filled the screen.

This weapon belongs to the Sisters of Silence. Would you like to verify membership?

After several seconds she was given a simple choice: Yes or No. She tapped yes and the screen changed.

Press your palm on the scanner

She followed directions and pressed her palm on the scanner. Antoinette watched a thin light-green line start at the top of the scanner and move down over her palm before moving back up.

Assassin Antoinette verified

Messenger of Eternal Rest: MYTHIC (Unique) – Lvl 20

Holy shit! She was excited that the weapon was one of a kind; and being Mythic, it had to be amazing. The annoying this was it would take fucking forever to get to level 20. Damn. Antoinette picked up the rifle and carried to her bedroom. She turned it over to inspect it closer, trying to discover any clue to what the true power of the weapon was. After several minutes, she gave up and left it on the bed.

“So, we just got a really cool rifle,” she said to Midnight, who tilted his head to show her he was listening. “But I have no idea what it does and we probably won’t be able to use it for quite some time.”

Several seconds passed with the two of them looking at each other. Finally, Midnight broke the silence, “Woof!”

“Right, lets go check out the new shop quickly, and then we have to get back for a raid!” Antoinette said excitedly.

She ran to the elevator with Midnight right behind her. They took the car down and when the doors opened, she walked quickly to Constantine’s Crafting Depot. Antoinette pulled on the door and, when it swung open, walked inside. There were tables and bins containing gears and parts and other things she had no idea what they did. As she walked towards the counter, she noticed there wasn’t another soul in the shop.

“Welcome,” the handsome man behind the counter said. He was well dressed, wearing a black suit and tie. His dark hair was slightly tussled and he smiled at the confused look on her face.

“Aren’t you …,” Antoinette started while pointing at him.

“Yes, I’m Constantine,” she shopkeeper said. “But I’m not who you think I am.”

“But you look just like him,” Antoinette said. She still wasn’t convinced. “Ted Logan?”

“Nope.”

“Johnny Utah?” She asked.

“Nope.”

“Jonathan Harker?” Antoinette was beginning to quick fire her guesses.

“Nope.”

“Don John?”

“Not even close.”

“Jack Traven?”

“Nyet.”

“Johnny Mnemonic?”

“Even if I was, I wouldn’t admit it. That only got a 20% on the Tomatometer,” he said with a pained look on his face.

“Neo?”

“Do you mean Mr. Anderson?” He asked.

“Sure, him.” Antoinette answered.

“Never heard of him,” he smiled.

“John Wick?”

“Do I look like a killer?” He asked, trying to make himself look innocent.

“Well, yes. Yes, you look like several killers, who are all the same person,” she laughed.

“I’ve never been convicted,” he said innocently with his palms facing up.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Antoinette asked.

“Are you out of guesses?” Constantine said.

“Duke Caboom?” She guessed.

“Come on,” he said. “That was just voice work.”

“So, it is YOU!” She shouted and pointed at him.

“I’ve never even watched Toy Story 4,” he said.

“What?” She asked.

“What?” He responded.

They looked at each other like some secret was revealed, but Antoinette wasn’t sure what it was.

“How come you play characters mostly named John?” She tried a different angle. “I mean, even Jack is a form of John.”

“I can’t help that John is the third most popular name in the last 100 years,” he said.

“That’s not a denial,” she smiled.

“What can I help you with?” Constantine tried to move the conversation along.

She realized that she wasn’t going to get him to admit his identity, so she told herself she would come back to the subject another time. “I’m not sure, what kind of stuff can I get here?” Antoinette asked.

“I have materials to for crafting. Do you have any blueprints for crafting or boxes you can’t open?” Constantine asked.

“Oh damn, I do have a box like that,” she said. “Can you open it for me?”

“No, I can’t,” he said in a flat tone. She could feel anger rising in her body with his answer. “But I can sell you something that will open it for you.”

“I feel like you’re jerking me around,” Antoinette said.

“I’m certainly not,” he said. “You would have to buy me a drink first.”

“Wait, that doesn’t make any sense,” she said. Antoinette wasn’t sure if Constantine was lucid.

“Do you want some nanites or not?” Constantine asked. “I need to know how big your box is.” The corner of his mouth turned up slightly.

“How much are they?” Antoinette asked, ignoring his reference to her box.

“That all depends on how big your box, I mean, how big the item is they need to open,” he answered.

“It’s roughly the size of a shoe box,” she said.

“Your box is the size of a shoe box?” Constantine exclaimed. “Can it hold an echo?”

“Only a select few will ever get the chance to find out,” she countered. If he was going to keep making references to her vagina, she might as well play along.

“That will be 600 credits,” he smiled.

“Oh man, why don’t you just use a gun?” She spouted. “I don’t have that right now.”

“You can put it on credit with your guild,” he offered.

“I can get this on credit?” Antoinette asked. “That could be dangerous for me.”

“Each guild sets up credit limits for their members, assuming you’re in a guild?” Constantine put a finger to his mouth and tapped his lips like he was deep in contemplation.

“Yes, I’m in a guild. I’m with the Sisters of Silence,” she said proudly.

“The lesbian guild?” Constantine asked.

She wasn’t sure if he was trolling her or not, so she didn’t know how to answer. If it was a lesbian guild, and she denied it she would look foolish. If it wasn’t a lesbian guild and she agreed, again with the foolishness. She just smiled politely.

“Please check my credit limit,” she said.

“Okay, hold on,” he said.

Antoinette watched him start tapping away on a keyboard by a screen. She felt very nervous as to what he might say, almost like she answered an ‘instant decision’ credit card offer. She remembered sitting and watching the spinning circle as the message flashed, ‘almost done’ until a decision was made. She didn’t care what it was, as long as it was enough to get the nanites to open the box.

“Well, well, well, I wasn’t expecting that,” he said. “It appears as though they have set you up with a 5,000-credit limit.”

“Great, I’ll take the nanites,” she said.

“What else can I show you?” his asked politely.

“Nothing else,” she answered. “I have somewhere to be.”

Constantine knelt down behind the counter and Antoinette could hear him turning handles. After about a minute, he popped up with a class cylindrical container the size of a pencil and handed it to her. The container looked like it contained a silver liquid like mercury.

“Please log in to finalize the purchase,” he said.

She pressed her palm against a scanning pad on the counter. After verification of her identity, he handed her the container.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything else today?” Constantine asked.

“No, I have to go,” she said as she turned and started walking to the door.

“Vaya Con Dios,” he called after her.

The door closed behind her and Midnight barked in greeting. “I knew that fucker was Keanu,” she said to him. “Okay, let’s get back for the raid boy.”

Antoinette led Midnight to the waiting elevator and they entered the car. She punched the code in the keypad and soon the opposite side of the elevator opened and she walked out. Unlike the last time she was here, when she walked out of the elevator this time, she found herself in a large lobby. There were women entering and exiting the door that led to the street. Others were in small groups talking, and still other women were going about their own business.

“I was hoping you would get back in time,” Savannah said.

Antoinette hadn’t seen her when she exited the elevator, but was happy to see a familiar face. “Do you know the weapon from earlier?”

“Yes, I do,” Savannah said. “We have to walk and talk.”

She grabbed Antoinette by the wrist and started leading her towards the far side of the lobby where a doorway of swirling colors awaited their arrival.

“The weapon is level 20,” Antoinette said.

“I knew it was amazing!” Savannah said. “Now we just have to get you to level 20 as soon as possible.”

“You don’t know what the weapon is?” Antoinette asked. She was confused that Savannah wouldn’t know.

“This portal takes us to the raid room,” Savannah said.

She didn’t stop when they reached the portal and had a firm grip on Antoinette’s wrist. A wave of panic gripped Antoinette as she had no choice but to follow Savannah. She held her breath and closed her eyes as her hand penetrated the swirling mass. The sensation of walking through the portal was similar to jumping in a pond on a late spring day; before days of summer could warm the water. A shock of cold embraced her and then started to fade.

Antoinette was surprised at the size of the room they ported into; it was like a giant slice of pie. Behind them was a portal she assumed would take them back to the lobby of the guild, and before them were seven more portals. They were spaced out evenly on the far wall with different colors: dark orange, orange, light orange, white, pink, dusty pink, and dark rose.

“Constantine was right,” she said under her breath looking at the colors of the portals. They were the seven colors of the lesbian flag.

“What did you say?” Savannah asked.

“I said I was excited to be part of the guild,” she said with a smile.

“Good,” Savannah said. “I’m glad you’re here with us. Okay, follow me.”

Antoinette followed her though through the other guild members in the chamber until she approached the white portal in the middle. She could see that there were already five women standing in a group watching Savannah approach.

“I didn’t think you were going to make it,” a tall brunette said. “We almost had to spam for another member.”

“Melanie, I told you she would be back,” Savannah said. She stopped several feet from the group, who had spread out in the semi-circle. “Let me introduce your raid party for today.”

Savannah started to point at each woman in turn, stating their names and profession as she pointed. Antoinette watched as the women were introduced: Melanie – Engineer, Shepard – Bruiser, Lumina – Electrologist, Sprout – Adventurer, and Chili – Medic. When Savannah was done, the group all gave their version of greeting and Antoinette waved back.

“Thanks for having me about,” Antoinette said. “This is my first time.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“LET ME HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, WE HAVE A RAID VIRGIN WITH US TODAY!” Chili screamed at the top of her lungs. The others in the chamber all started chanting ‘virgin’ over and over again.

Antoinette could feel her face getting red, while Savannah just smiled, enjoying one of the traditions of the guild. The chanting only lasted several seconds before members started giving up and going back to their conversations.

“Was that entirely necessary?” Antoinette asked.

The raid group answered in unison, “YES!” Seconds later they all broke out into raucous laughter. The laughing lasted longer than Antoinette felt appropriate, but she put up with the silliness.

“Okay, you’re going to be in good hands with this lot,” Savannah said. “They have run the raid several times before and haven’t lost a soul so far, Chili is very good.” Antoinette looked up at the red-haired woman named Chili who smiled back, but didn’t say a word.

“What’s the raid?” Antoinette asked.

“Let me check your gear first,” Melanie said. She walked over and inspected Antoinette’s weapons, shaking her head. “Savannah, didn’t you get her a sniper rifle?”

“Oh shit,” Chili spoke up. “Don’t you have any long-range weapons?”

“I’ll bet she has been using her bat and shotgun to get this far,” Spout stated.

“Is it true?” Lumina asked. “Have you been doing mostly close combat so far?”

Antoinette wanted to protest about using the tools that were given to her, but she remembered opting for the shotgun over the sniper rifle at Wally’s. Looking back, she didn’t know why she didn’t select the rifle. That’s not true, she thought more and knew exactly why she picked the shotgun over the rifle. A shotgun could protect her more at close-contact, and it was a hell of a lot sexier than some run-down looking rifle.

“Yeah, I didn’t know any better,” she said. “I can skip the raid until I get better equipped if that works.” She was starting to feel dejected.

“Have some thicker skin, Harley Quinn,” Spout said. “Did you hear that, I’m a poet and didn’t even know it. We will take care of you.”

Antoinette looked at the diminutive woman in front of her and smiled.

“Yeah,” Shepard said in a voice that sounded like she had a smoking habit. “Because without us you’ll just make more dumb decisions and we need you to stay alive.”

“Which means,” Chili took a step forward before continuing. “If you go running into battle without my permission, I’ll ‘forget’ to send healing your way.” She gave her the air quotes when she said forget.

“She forgets quite a bit,” Lumina said. “Don’t let the red hair fool you, she’s really a blonde underneath.”

“All you have to do is use that shotgun if anything gets too close to Chili,” Melanie said.

“Are we going after the Demon Prince?” Antoinette guessed.

“Not unless you have a flame-thrower,” the group said in unison, before sharing in a round of laughter. Antoinette couldn’t help but join in. She wasn’t sure exactly why they were laughing, but it felt good to be included.

“The raid is a lower-level raid, where we have to get the antidote from a laboratory infested with zombies,” Shepard said. “We should be able to almost speed run it, but we will go a little slower, since this is your first time.”

“These are for the occasion,” Savannah appeared out of nowhere. She handed each of the party a small flask the size of something you would get during an airplane flight, except the liquid was swirling in shades of purple.

“What in the flask, Egg. Magic Potion?” Antoinette said looking from face to face.

Most of the party looked perplexed at Antoinette and she wasn’t sure any of them got the reference, until Melanie smiled and spoke, “Yeah.”

Antoinette smiled back and continued, “Thought so, good. What do we do, drink it?”

Melanie tried to look deep in thought before answering, “Yeah.”

“Good, thought so,” Antoinette finished and the two of them lifted their flasks to their lips and drank.

Seconds later the rest drank and then handed the flasks to Savannah.

“What was that all about?” Sprout asked. “Were you two having a moment.”

“I can’t believe none of you have seen Big Trouble in Little China,” Melanie said. “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”

“All we need now is a six-demon bag,” Antoinette said. The purple liquid had a sweet taste and she was trying to lick any part off her lips. Her stomach felt warm and that warming feeling spread out through her body, tightening her nipples and tingling other areas.

“Oh great,” Chili said. “We got another movie quote member, now Melanie is going to be intolerable.”

“She was already intolerable,” Spout said, but they were all starting to smile.

“What is this supposed to do for us?” Antoinette said.

Shepard tried to answer to stop the silliness, but Melanie beat her to it and answered in her best Egg Shen impression, “Can see things no one else can see. Do things no one else can do.”

“I swear,” Lumina said. “If this shit gets in the way of the raid …” She left the consequences to the imagination of the party members.

“Real things?” Antoinette said, ignoring Lumina’s warnings.

“As real as Lo Pan!” Melanie exclaimed before bursting into laughter.

Antoinette joined her while the other rolled their eyes in annoyance. They left Melanie and Antoinette laugh it out until it was reduced to a giggle.

“Damn, I needed that,” Melanie said. “Okay, let’s make this happen.”

“What about Midnight, does he get to come along?” Antoinette asked.

“Not until he has been trained,” Sprout answered. “He will be here when you get back.”

Antoinette nodded in silent agreement as the group started out towards the swirling white portal, walking in twos. Melanie and Shepard took the lead, followed by Lumina and Sprout, with Antoinette and Chili in the rear.

“So really,” Antoinette said in a soft tone to Chili. “What exactly was the purple stuff for?”

“It’s like a super energy drink,” she answered. “Heightened reflexes and stuff. If you drink too much you would swear that you can feel your hair growing.”

“Fuck that,” Antoinette answered, just before it was their turn. She held her breath and stepped through with Chili.

When she was through, she saw that they stood in a large reception area that looked like an abandoned hospital. There were several desks and a room filled with chairs and tables. Several televisions hung on the wall at various intervals playing static and filling the area with a soft buzz.

“We have to go down three floors until we find the good doctor,” Melanie was looking at Antoinette while she spoke. “Since this is a beginner raid, we shouldn’t run into much trouble.”

“Just stick by me and you will be fine,” Chili said with a wink.

“Don’t bunch up,” Shepard said. “I’ll take point. Melanie and I will draw aggro and you ladies clean it up.”

“You can’t hurt us with friendly fire,” Melanie said. “So let it ride with your shotgun. If it gets to a point where we are down to you clubbing bad guys with your baseball bat, we are all probably dead.”

The group nodded their heads in agreement. Antoinette pulled out her shotgun and held it in both hands; one on the stock with a finger on the trigger, and the other on the fore-end. Her body was humming with energy and excitement. She wanted to say something inspiring, this being her first raid, but she couldn’t think of anything outside of another movie quote.

“Here’s to the Army and Navy and the battles they have won,” she said louder than she intended.

“Here’s to America’s colors, the colors that never run,” Melanie continued.

“May the wings of liberty never lose a feather,” Shepard finished for them. Everyone in the group looked at her with mouths hanging open. “I love that movie,” she said and smiled.

Shepard started down the open hallway on the left without saying another word. Antoinette saw that in her hands Shepard wielded a large chainsaw. Melanie followed, in her hands was what looked like a blunderbuss shotgun. Sprout and Lumina jogged after, carrying twin machetes and something that looked like a globe, respectively.

“Let’s go,” Chili said, giving Antoinette a slight push.

Antoinette saw that Chili had small clear balls, the size of baseballs, in each hand. The one in her right contained something red while the other one was filled with something yellow. She wanted to ask what they were for, but noticed the others were getting far away. She started jogging after and had to quicken her pace to close the gap.

Shepard led them to a set of closed doors that had the words ‘Restricted Area’ in large red letters on them. She nodded to Lumina who pressed large silver button on the wall. The doors slowly swung inwards and Antoinette tightened her grip on her shotgun. The doors opened all the way to reveal nothing but another hallway, only this one had several open doors on each side.

Before Antoinette felt too disappointed, Melanie knelt down and set something on the floor. She could hear a whirring sound and a soft tapping. Antoinette moved to see what was happening, and soon she noticed a mechanical cat running away from Melanie. The movements of the cat were very smooth and lifelike, but it was clearly not alive.

The cat made a zig-zag path down the hallway and Antoinette was intrigued at what happened next. She didn’t have to wait too long before zombies started pouring out of the open doorways. The party jumped into action.

The sound of Shepard’s chainsaw filled the hallway and the zombies all turned to her. While she charged into the oncoming throng of undead, Melanie stood against the right wall firing with her blunderbuss. The sound of her weapon firing was like the boom of a firework on the 4th of July.

Some zombies were drawn to Melanie, and Sprout jumped in to cut off any of them getting too close with her flashing machetes. Lumina waited with the globe on her hands, apparently bored with the activity of the hallway.

“Go cover Shepard’s back,” Chili yelled to Antoinette. “She’s gone too far down the hallway.”

As if on command, several zombies exited the open doorway on the left and were only feet from Shepard. Antoinette started firing, not worrying about what she hit knowing Shepard couldn’t be injured from friendly fire. Eleven shots later, the three zombies lay in pieces on the floor and Antoinette looked around for more.

A large pile of zombie parts lay at the feet of Shepard, with several more piles scattered in the hallway from Melanie and Spout’s efforts. Chili still held the balls in her hands waiting for something to do.

“Everyone okay?” Chili called out.

“I took a little damage, but I got it,” Sprout said as she jammed an EpiPen into her thigh.

“The next floor is a bit tougher, but not much,” Melanie said, mostly for Antoinette’s benefit. “We need to take a path through several labs to get to the next elevator. Just listen to Chili and you’ll be okay.”

The party walked to the waiting elevator at the end of the hallway and just before entering, Shepard turned and opened the door to the stairs. “If you get in the elevator, it gets stuck and several waves of zombies trap you inside,” Chili said.

“Son of a bitch,” Antoinette breathed. “Are you talking from experience?”

“Yeah, but I was with another guild at the time that wasn’t run so well,” she answered. “Leadership was volatile and membership was a revolving door.”

“Is that when you joined the Sisters of Silence?” Antoinette asked.

“If you’re in the guild, it’s just called the Sisters,” she corrected. They entered the stairwell and followed the team to door leading to the second floor.

“We’re going to move through this floor quickly,” Melanie called over her shoulder. “We don’t have to kill all of them; we just need to get to the elevator. When Shepard opens the door, get ready to shoot and fire.”

Antoinette felt like she was part of an elite military group as they exited the stairwell in single file. She took the rear position and kept pace with the others as they moved quickly from lab to lab. Shepard and Melanie did a great job kicking and knocking zombies to the ground to clear the way. There were several zombies Antoinette had to dispose of, but in no time, they were at the elevator. She stopped at the opening and turned, joining Melanie who was firing at pursuing undead.

Lumina was pressing on the button to close the doors as the ring of gunfire filled the small compartment. They each fired until the last moment and then the doors closed and the car moved to the next floor down. All of the party members were breathing heavy from the effort.

“What should I expect on this floor?” Antoinette asked between breaths.

“The doctor has the antidote,” Lumina said.

“He will be the zombie wearing the white lab coat,” Sprout added.

“He’s also tough as hell,” Chili said. “Make sure that Shepard has aggro before you start shooting and we will just wear him down.”

“Antoinette,” Melanie began. “You and Lumina deal with the mobs of zombies while we deal with the doc. Between mobs, shoot him in the head. Any questions?”

The women in the elevator car all shook their heads no as the car stopped moving and a ding sounded, letting them know they were at their destination. They jostled a bit to let Shepard out first, and when the doors opened there were several zombies within ten feet of them.

Shepard took several quick steps and then slid on both knees, her chainsaw cutting the legs out from the closest three while Melanie’s blunderbuss hit them in the chest.

“Out! Out! Out!” Chili shouted.

The four remaining party members filed out and Lumina tossed her globe in the air. Small wings with propellers unfolded and it started to spin like a disco ball. White lights began to strobe the area, and electricity started to crackle along the metal frame.

Shepard got to her feet and was moving into the zombies with Melanie close behind. Sprout was flanking Melanie with Lumina’s globe moving farther into the room. Seconds later it started spinning faster and then started to shoot small bolts of lightning. Antoinette stood transfixed watching the globe work. She watched several bolts hit zombies and it seemed to lock their joints, like being tased.

The tased zombies made for easy targets for Shepard, Melanie and Sprout. Antoinette noticed that Lumina was using a controller to operate the globe and knew that they were going to have a talk later about her toy; and if she could get one of her own. Chili still held her orbs and was watching to make sure that the tanks didn’t get too overwhelmed.

Antoinette took a flanking position behind Shepard and added her shotgun fire to the mix. The battle for the first room was a grind, and she saw several party members administer EpiPens to themselves. She took a look back at Chili and wondered what she actually did as a medic.

Unfortunately, there was no break after clearing the first room and the battle was constant into the second and third labs, which went very similarly, except each room took longer to clear. When they hit the fourth lab room, Lumina’s globe’s lights started to fade and Antoinette watched it return to her.

“THERE HE IS!” Shepard shouted over the sound of her chainsaw.

Antoinette looked around the room and saw her target. There was a zombie that was taller than the others that was wearing a white lab coat with a dark red outline. She laughed to herself seeing that it was wearing nerdy glasses and a bow tie. She wondered how tough this boss could really be.

The group stayed in formation as they fought their way towards their goal. Step by step they made slow progress and Antoinette could see that the undead doctor was surrounded by plenty of zombies, several of them also had red outlines.

“This is where if you had a ranged weapon, it would shorten the fight,” Chili shouted to Antoinette.

Antoinette aimed her shotgun at the boss and fired, but she didn’t notice a change. Suddenly she had an epiphany. She grabbed her grenade and pulled the pin. She took several steps to build momentum and lobbed it in the direction of the boss. She was so happy she remembered her secret weapon, but all she could hear was Lumina yelling, “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The grenade exploded and zombie parts flew in every direction. Antoinette smiled at her destruction, until through the cloud of debris and gore, the boss started stomping in her direction. She took a couple of steps backwards and raised her weapon as he knocked other zombies out of the way. As he got closer, she could see that one of his glasses lenses was cracked, and she giggled.

He approached Shepard and Melanie and they tried to block him, but the effects of the chainsaw and blunderbuss did little to hamper his path of fury. He kicked Shepard hard in the chest and she screamed in pain. He swatted at Melanie as he passed. Luckily it only grazed her, but it was enough to knock her off her feet.

Chili threw the yellow orb and hit Shepard in the shoulder. The orb broke and a yellow mist formed around her head that she started to breath in. Antoinette started to fire her shotgun at the approaching monster and hit him repeatedly in the chest, neck and face, but he kept marching.

Antoinette saw Chili throw her other orb in Melanie’s direction and then fill her hands with more. Lumina ran to her globe and pulled it out of the air. She quickly tucked it in her backpack and pulled out a long metal stake. She held it in both hands and raised it over her head and then brought it down with a thunderous force. The stake stuck firmly in the ground. She ran across the path of the oncoming zombies and repeated the process to put the other one in the ground. Immediately after, long streaks of lightning started shooting from one pole to the other.

“We don’t have much time,” Lumina yelled. “Someone grab the boss!”

The boss was getting closer and closer to Antoinette and she was pulling the trigger of her shotgun as quickly as she could. The boss walked through every shot until he was close enough to grab Antoinette. She felt his hands around her neck and then she was flying though the air towards the elevator.

As she crashed into the back of the elevator car, she was surprised she was still holding her shotgun, but her vision was blurry and flashing red. She administered an EpiPen and then another, followed by one with an E on it. Her vision quickly cleared and the red faded slightly. She sat on the ground and began firing.

The boss was only steps away when she heard Melanie screaming, “STOP FUCKING SHOOTING HIM!”

In the heat of the moment, she didn’t know why she would want to stop shooting him. If she didn’t stop, she was going to die, if she stopped, she was going to die; there wasn’t much choice. She thought that at least she had a chance to meet some friends before getting killed. She stopped firing and crawled to the corner under the buttons ready to meet her fate. She reached up and pressed the button to close the doors in a last-ditch effort at survival.

One second passed and nothing happened, then the doors began to close. She felt relief as the doors were almost shut before she saw his hand reach in. She pressed her body against the wall as tight as she could as he forced the doors to open.

Once the door opened a foot, the hand disappeared and Antoinette got to her feet. She switched her weapon to her flame thrower and slid over so she could see out. Thankfully, the boss’s attention was now on Shepard, but it looked like she was holding her own. Something caught her eye and she noticed things flying her way. It was too late to get out of the way, and two orbs hit her in the chest, breaking on impact.

The orbs released the same type of mist she saw forming around Shepard, only she got both yellow and red. Antoinette took deep breaths. Quickly the red in her vision faded and she stepped out of the elevator car. Lumina’s posts were stunning the zombies trying to move between them and Sprout quickly separated their heads from their bodies. Meanwhile Melanie was firing her weapon, hitting the boss in the head with each shot.

Before using her flame thrower, Antoinette looked at Chili for approval. The medic gave a quick nod while tossing more orbs at Shepard and Melanie in turn. Lumina pulled out something that looked like a giant bear trap and slid it across the floor in the direction of the boss.

“Traps up!” Lumina yelled.

As Shepard fought the doctor, she steered it towards the trap. After about 30 seconds of fighting, the boss stepped in the trap and his arms and legs stiffened. His immobility only lasted a second, but his movements were substantially slowed from then on. The fight didn’t last much longer after that, and Antoinette watched in awe as the five others worked as one to dispose of the boss.

As Shepard delivered the final blow, the boss’s glasses flew off and landed at Antoinette’s feet. She stepped on them until she heard the glass crack. His lackeys also fell to the ground in defeat, as if they were all connected by a hive-mind. Each of the party members looked around for other threats before lowering their weapons.

“What in the fuck did you think you were doing?” Spout said as she walked towards Antoinette.

“Leave her alone,” Melanie said. “This is her first raid. I can remind you of the incident in the graveyard if you’d like.” Her tone wasn’t threatening, but it certainly carried a message and stopped Sprout in her tracks.

Chili walked around and started using EpiPens on all the party members in turn; finally getting to Antoinette. “You never pull aggro before the tank has the boss locked in,” she said softly before jamming an EpiPen in her thigh.

Her eyes opened like a light inside her head turned on. “Oh shit, I almost got everyone killed.”

“Not everyone,” Chili said. “Just you. But we all made it and now you are the wiser for it, but you have to listen. We told you that, pay better attention next time. I know you were trying to help, but …”

“Enough chit-chat,” Melanie called to them. “Let’s grab the antidote and finish this raid.”

The group formed a loose circle around the boss.

“Do you want to do the honors Antoinette?” Shepard asked.

“I don’t think I deserve to,” she answered quietly.

“I’ll do it,” Sprout said. She walked to the boss and started searching the boss’s lab coat. When she put her hand in the second pocket, Antoionette’s screen flashed.

Quest Complete