Ellie heard the comment from Archangel and turned her sigh of relief into a sigh of exasperation, suddenly with an inkling of an idea in the back of her mind. “Look, can you let the poor man go? I don’t know what he was doing here, but he’s a trustworthy sort. And kindly let myself and whoever-this-is go? I’m with him; I’m not doing another delivery for you lot. But my parents are expecting me at home and they’ll call the police if I’m not home by eight. So will you guys please let us go? Oh, sorry. Guys and gal, my mistake.” She pointed to the female guard, looking that direction, and instinctively knew that the guard behind her would be looking that way too. 

She wrapped her feet around the front legs of the chair she was on, lifting with all the muscle-power in her legs, and threw all her weight back against the seat as hard as she could, toppling into the guard behind her. She fell, thwacking the man squarely in the chest with her head. He let out an “oof!” and the girl rolled, snatching the rifle from the dazed man. In that second her fear fled her mind, replaced with cool calculation, and she rose to one knee and shot the guard standing behind Fox. She shot the guard in the head, not wanting to miss and hit Fox, and whirled to shoot the one behind Patch. This one she was in a hurry for and the bullet went just over Patch’s head, imbedding into the guard’s lower chest.

At this point she was grappled to the ground by the guard she’d winded. Gritting her teeth she kicked the guard in a not-so-nice place and shot him through the throat as soon as she had room to bring the rifle up. Rolling from under the dying guard she brought the rifle up to shoot the two by the door, hitting one in the thigh and the other in the shoulder. She shot the male guard at the counter before shooting the female—big mistake. The woman turned, her rifle up, and shot Ellie, catching her in the left shoulder with the bullet. The force flipped Ellie onto her back and as a reflex to the pain she pulled the firearm’s trigger. An automatic weapon, it let off a steady stream of bullets as the girl flipped, one bullet happening to catch the woman in the side of the head.

The pain was intense and Ellie’s vision faded out for a moment, but only for a moment. Through her own willpower, the willpower that had enabled her to hold on for a year of pain a hundred times worse than this, she brought herself back into her mind. Mentally blank with the pain but not willing to check the damage, though her left arm hung limp beside her and every motion sent a jolt of agony through her, Ellie dragged herself to her feet and walked quickly through the now blood-splattered canteen, finding a kitchen knife and walking back to Fox. She cut the ropes on his hands and fumbled with the gag until it came undone.

Funny… the voices in her head were unusually silent. For that matter, so was everything. Her heart roared in her ears, her footsteps pounding on the floor, but… everything else was silent. For one blissful moment there was no fear, and even the pain in her shoulder dulling to a mere ache. She dropped the rifle onto one of the tables.
“Come on.” She spoke to Patches and Fox, her words clear and concise and containing no emotion in the heat of the moment. She spun on her heel and walked out of the canteen and out of the facility itself, and no one was there to stop her.

Of course, as soon as she got out into the light, she realized immediately three things. Firstly, she was extremely conspicuous, covered in blood. Secondly, a shocking amount of that blood was her own, coming from the wound in her shoulder. And thirdly…. Thirdly…. [i]I-I… I k-k-killed s-s-s-seven p-p-people wh-who w-w-were j-just d-d-doing th-their jobs.

[color=7bcdc8]See? I told you. You are a monster. You don’t deserve to be out in the light. You’ll join me soon, in the darkness where you belong, in agony that you cannot even comprehend. You’ve killed seven innocent people today. You should have done the noble thing, sacrificing yourself for your comrades. You were dirty before, but now you’re filthy. You’re not even a human being anymore, just a monster. Join me, and have a release from morals, if not from pain.[/color][/i]

Ellie felt the ground under her knees and saw spots in her vision. “A-Angel, h-h-help m-m-me. H-help m-me pl-please… P-please…” her mind cleared a little bit as she sunk her teeth into her tongue, cleared enough for her to report somewhat normally, at least. “A-all agents a-accounted f-for. F-Fox a-and P-Pa-Patch u-un-unh-harmed… Owl w-wounded, c-c-condition unstable a-and d-d-dec-clining. E-es-escape c-c-complete, a-a-aw-awaiting p-p-pick-pickup… S-sec-curity comp-compromised. S-s-s… s-seven c-c-conf-firmed d-d-dead o-or m-m-mort… m-mortally w-wound…” She choked up. “A-angel, Kh-Khesh-shig… C-co-condor… s-s-someone… I k-k-killed s-s-seven p-people, I k-killed s-s-seven p-people, I d-don’t deserve t-to l-live but I-I’m sl-sl-slipping… H-help m-me…”
[@Jangel13] [@SimplyJohn] [@Avanhelsing] [@Skythikon] [@Genni] (Everyone except Dragonite, basically. Sorry, Dragon. Love ya, just, you’re not part of the backup squad.)