[hr][h1][i]The Pursuit of Science Arc P3.[/i][/h1][sub]Collaboration with [@Mr Allen J][@BurningDaisies] [@Zombiedude101][/sub][hr]


Meifeng had to be strong; she had to fight to live. These freaks are coming out of the woodwork to wage war. She swiped her hand with enough force to hit hard on it's own, and the orb of water wiped out at the beast that [i]killed[/i] Jen. The Ghoul dodged, going so fast down the opposite hallway that it looked like it teleported, she clenched her teeth. The other one was racing down the hallway. She spun around, and swiped her other hand - but it simply course-corrected and went around her. Swiping at Meifeng with it's claws, it left three deep gashes in her side that swelled with dark blood, staining her clothes a gruesome color.

"[i]AHHHHHHHH![/i]" Meifeng let out the cry as liquid pain seeped through her fresh wound. She put her hand on it, let out the groan, and turned around. She saw that their ploy to hold her back; the Nemesis was just about out of time - the massive thing was breaking free of the ice. Plus, there's no way they can take on these other two monsters like this. And Anna... Jen left her on the ground.

However, they needed an opening. Meifeng gathered all the water around her, and spun her arms around in the air, created an orb of rushing water. When the Ghouls came up to it, they immediately stopped. Meifeng nodded, but kept spinning her arms. "We gotta go! Find somewhere bigger!" Meifeng quickly dove down, and lifted Anna up over her shoulder. They needed an opening above all else.

[i]Alright, showtime.[/i] Meifeng thought to herself, as the creatures were approaching. She brought her hands in, and violently shot them outwards. Causing the orb of water to explode outwards. Stunning their group of aggressors, and giving them that opening. Meifeng quickly zipped past the two invisible monsters. Looking back for a moment only to see Jen's body. She felt immense regret for letting her die, and at the same time, felt even more regret in leaving behind her body like this. But, she needed to stay alive. [i]For her[/i].

Meifeng hadn't been the only one to notice that the Nemesis was about to break free and the sudden loss of one of the group by those things had sent Quentin's heart racing. [i]"Shit, think fast!"[/i] was all he could memorize now. He had to keep a level head, he knew, but... wait! Following after Meifeng, their earlier suggestion came to mind as he shouted back "Give me an opportunity to get at that thing, I'll do what I can to fight these fuckers!"

Shortly afterwards, the ice that surrounded the Nemesis shattered, and the brute climbed to it's feet. Nodding at the Ghouls, it began it's unholy march, as the Ghouls zipped on past it at high speeds. Ignoring Jen.

The group arrived in a very large, hexagon shaped room. It was fairly empty, other than operating tables, and large wooden crates lying around. With hallways that lead into various parts of the base. There were various pipes over head. The group ran into the center of the room, before they heard the Ghouls zip into the room. They were scaling the walls like lizards, and each stood on both sides of the door as the Nemesis stepped in. It's eyes shined brightly as it stood there. 

Meifeng turned around, and nodded her head. This is the place. The place where they have to fight the battle that would decide whether they walk out of here free or not. She walked over to some crates that were out of the way, and rested Anna down. "Stay safe, Anna." She said.

[hider=Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - Lonely Youth][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX5NznUBsXw[/youtube][/hider]

Blood scraped through Anna's veins like tiny shards of glass and made her head ache in rhythmic agony with the weak pattering of her heart. The anesthetics had mostly worn off and now her nerves were on fire. She could scarcely feel or think of anything else. Myriad sights and sounds entered her eyes and ears, but still she could not focus enough to make sense of them. Everything was torturously painful - moving, being moved, thinking about lifting a finger - it all hurt, but it had started to recede in waves, as if being wash away by an inexorable tide.

"Stay safe, Anna."  Maybe it was the right moment, the right time, the right way, but those words rang through and caught her attention. She knew that voice. Without realizing it, her hand reached out for it and found the rough knuckles of some familiar fingers. "Meifeng" she squeezed out. 

Her grip tightened, with it a torrent of pale luminescence poured out of Anna's skin and flooded over onto Meifeng's. Thin wisps of ethereal silver floated away from her like trails of steam and seeped into her friend with ease, and it carried an ambient warmth like the midday Sun. Power pervaded Meifeng through and through, coursing into her like a river. 
In a brief, lucid moment, Anna half-opened her weary eyes and grinned. "Go... Go kick his ass..."

"[i]Anna...[/i]" Meifeng moaned as she witnessed the light show with her own two eyes. It was a beautiful display. A light that reminded her what she was fighting for, and everything that was good. Despite Jen's death, it honestly reminded her of what she was fighting for. To avenge Jen, and every person who died at the hands of these [i]monsters[/i]. She didn't know if it was Anna, but she was filled with a strength like no other. She felt like she was strong enough to do this. Her eyes started glowing a whitish-blue color, that encompassed the whole orbs.

"Yeah!" She said, with a smile. "Thank you, I promise you... I won't lose. Not here. Not after what they did to Jenny." A tears welled in her eyes.

Quickly skipping back over to the group, Meifeng raised her hands in the air, and one of the pipes above her began violently shaking. It burst open, and water started raining down. Just perfect for what she needed. She called all the water into her hands to form an orb. First step was getting Quentin powers, because she knew that she couldn't face these things on her own.

First the Ghouls rushed at her, with the Nemesis lumbering behind them. Meifeng closed her eyes, and spun her arms around, and created a twister of water underneath her fist, which  lifted her into the air. The Ghoul went right through it, and ended up on the other side of the room. Turned around. The other went right for Ratchet.

All Meifeng was focused on was knocking down the Nemesis. [i]I wonder if it'll fall for the same trick twice.[/i] She thought to herself, as the cascading pillar of water went closer to the Nemesis. She absorbed the pillar into her pocket dimension, and in the middle of her descent, she shot it out at the floor the Nemesis was standing on  in a stream. The second she hit the ground the water froze into ice. She gathered water from around her again, and dropped her arms downwards, put them together, and swung them upwards as if she was swinging a golf club.

It hit the Nemesis like a truck, and sent it flying backwards, and it landed right on it's ass.

"Quentin, now!" Meifeng shouted, drawing his attention instantaneously.

Ducking past the flailing Ghouls, Quentin made a frantic charge for the Nemesis before diving onto its fallen body, letting out a hefty grunt as he jammed his fingers into whatever crevices or gaps he could find between its mask and its body, tightening his grip with all the strength he could muster. All he could think about was making these fuckers pay for what they'd done, for what they'd made [i]him[/i] do and it had given him enough drive to draw whatever powers he could from this thing.

Electronic-red eyes flashed behind the Nemesis's mask as if had it's powers sapped. It cocked it's fist back for a weak jab towards his chest. He couldn't muster the strength to deliver building breaking blows while on the ground, yet if Quentin hadn't taken its abilities the blow would've been fatal. 

Instead, he was thrown against the wall and impacted like a heavy sandbag with an even heavier grunt. It took him several moments to overcome the sudden disorientation that came with being punted aside after taking on several powers, writhing on the floor in place.

"Quentin!" Meifeng shouted, putting her hand out. She wasn't sure if he could survive that. She didn't want to lose [i]another[/i] person. It worried her when the Nemesis hammered it's fist on the ground and utterly shattered the ice they were on. It was up on it's feet, and moving right towards the incapacitated Quentin. Meifeng quickly raised a spinning pillar of water, and went towards Quentin, with the intent of helping him with the Nemesis.

However, the Ghouls didn't want none of that. They rushed Meifeng from both directions, lunging at her with claws drawn. Thinking fast, the girl threw her hands up like a surrender, and the pillar of water turned into a spinning orb rushing with the force of a waterfall. Both Ghouls managed to course correct mid-air, and land on the opposite sides.

Meifeng hit the ground in a kneeling position. The water hit her, and absolutely soaked her dress. A Ghoul was in front and behind her. She had to act quickly, or she'd get impaled like Jen. Meifeng quickly created an orb of water and stood on it, and as the Ghouls rushed forward, she shot to the side. Pulling some water together to swipe at the nearest Ghoul, it dodged, and Meifeng cursed in Chinese. These fuckers are quick. She kept moving quickly on the orb, trying to keep up with them, but they're fast as hell.

Meifeng had completely forgotten about the Nemesis, who had approached a recovering Quentin and sent a kick with enough force to crush cars his way. At the last second, however, Quentin ducked out of the way and threw his weight against the hulking berserker's mass with all the might he had. Which sent the Nemesis falling backwards and he hit the ground with a loud bang that echoed through the tunnels. It climbed back to it's feet as robotic as ever. Almost unaffected by the blow done to it. It slammed it's fists together as it tried a different attack. It started running at Quentin - which due to it's size and weight, was no faster than a jog - and kept running and running.

Knowing he didn't stand as much of a chance in a head-on fight, Quentin opted to use his smaller size and mobility to his advantage in comparison to the Nemesis' hulking figure as it charged for him, timing his next movement to the last second before finally diving as far past its flank as he could, scrabbling to his feet as fast as he was allowed. Quentin knew the only way he'd gain an advantage was either if he brought the berserker to the ground like before or nailed it from behind, yet judging by the fact that it had already stopped and was headed back towards his way it was clear he'd have his work cut out for him.

Bearing this in mind, he set the Nemesis up for the same tactic, goading it into charging at him yet again. This time, instead of diving out of the way he ducked downwards and sent a kick towards the creature's leg in an attempt to sweep it off its feet. Like a ton of sandbags, it hit the floor and looked like it had felt it this time, if only a little. Seizing the opportunity, he quickly circled around to the back of its head and clamped his fingers around any handholds he could find on its mask, attempting to wrench it off with all his might, hoping to expose a weakness in its defences.   

It's mighty hands were dug into the ground, leaving holes in the concrete near effortlessly. It tried to pull free of Quentin's grasp, only for the mask to come clean off - throwing Quentin off guard in the process. With it's mask off, the Nemesis stood straight up, and revealed it's face to the world... it was surprisingly normal, for such a bruiser. Most notably, there was a mask over it's mouth and nose, with tubes bringing a strange glowing liquid from underneath it's coat. It clenched it's fists, as it put one arm up at the same level of it's face, before slowly walking over to Quentin. Waiting for him to pull the first move before he reacts.

Quentin backed away at a hefty pace, keeping a steady distance away from the unmasked hulk. Something told him that he needed to tear away at those tubes if he wanted it to feel the hurt. However, once the Nemesis crossed a certain distance, it turned that slow walk into a charge - still with it's arm over it's face. Simply to cross the distance. Quentin searched their surroundings for a gap, an opening - anything that'd give him an opportunity to outmanoeuvre it. With the gap between them closing fast, Quentin made yet another attempt to evade the Nemesis' charge by diving past its flank but he'd failed to account that this thing was smarter than it looked.

Prematurely, the Nemesis halted mid-charge with enough time to grab Quentin by the leg after his dive, yanking him back within its proximity before tossing him against the wall and watching his body fall into a slump with a heavy thud. Before he could even recover from that, Quentin felt the Nemesis seize him by the collar and pin him against the wall, ready to deliver another blow or crush his throat. On instinct, he sent a kick aimed for his assailant's face and felt the ground hit him like a ton of bricks as the Nemesis dropped him and stepped back, the blow having left a visible fracture across the exterior of one of the tubes leading into its mask. 

Gasping for air, he dragged himself as far as he could before he'd mustered up the energy to stand again, fatigued as it was already.

All while this happened, Meifeng was fighting for her life against the Ghouls. She was standing on a spinning pillar of water, as the ghouls rushed her at once. She created an orb of water around herself, and violently shot it outwards. Which, soaked both of the Ghouls in water, but it didn't make too much of a difference in terms of visibility. They were so quick that the water basically slid off of them. Meifeng's feet touched the ground, and set her eyes on the first Ghoul in sight. She gathered all the water into an orb, and shot it out at the Ghoul in a burst of aqua. The Ghoul moved out of the way, but the water destroyed the wooden crates that were behind it. 

She gathered more of the water around her, and put both hands into the air as she created an orb of water. Sounds of ice freezing filled the air as chunks of razor-sharp arrowhead-shaped pieces of ice formed within the orb. These icecubes shot outwards at high speeds, it was hard to track with the naked eye. This ice shot out in all directions like a machine gun, as Meifeng was shooting it out fast as she could freeze it.

The Ghouls were moving in a zig-zag motion, however, not even they could avoid the sheer amount of attacks Meifeng was producing. One Ghoul got shot in the shoulder with a bolt of ice, and it quickly pulled it out. It didn't penetrate anything major, but it left behind a stream of blood. The other Ghoul got hit a bit harder, it was dodging other ice shards - but then ran into a stream of seven. Three penetrated it in the chest, one hit in the face, and it threw it's arms up, so the last three were embedded in it's arms. It's flicked it's arms, and sent them off, and quickly swiped the rest off it's body. 

That wasn't too big of a victory, since Meifeng's body temperature dropped a bit during that attack. Her arms dropped, shaking. She was shivering, and wrapped her arms around herself for warmth... along with the fact that she was getting very dizzy. She was very thirsty... and dry. Oh God, she couldn't give up [i]now[/i]. There was so much at stake here, and she was the only thing keeping the Ghouls busy. With the Nemesis they would overwhelm him.... she had to keep fighting. She let out a battle cry just as one Ghoul was charging right for her. She crossed her arms in an X, and made the same motion. Creating an X-shaped wave that went rigade the same motion. Creating an X-shaped wave that went right for it. It quickly went around it, and kept going for her.

There wasn't any room for her to move. The one behind her was moving in, she could hear it. Yet, she wasn't going to go down like this. She pulled as much water out of her pocket dimension as she could....

However... A wide slab of concrete was erected right in front of her, and behind her at the same time. The Ghouls circled around it not to cause impact.

"Huh?" Was all Meifeng could say.

A large chunk of concrete was also ripped out of the ground, and it levitated into the air. Before it flew at the Nemesis with crushing force. The brute barely had the mobility to [i]move[/i], let alone dodge an attack like that. It hit the Nemesis in the chest and launched the brute across the room. The Nemesis was launched backwards with incredible force. It was flying until it hit the wall and went right through it (and two walls behind it). The Nemesis didn't get back up.

Her footsteps could be heard as she walk up. The Ghouls put their eyes on her, and the Nemesis clenched it's fists. Lihua Vuhong entered the fray with a shotgun over her shoulder.

"... [i]Mom?[/i]" Meifeng said, almost like she couldn't believe it. She ran over to Lihua and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm... so glad to see you." Meifeng said... tears would be running down her eyes if it wasn't for the dehydration. She squeezed her a little tighter.

Lihua squeezed Meifeng back. "I'm so glad that you are okay, Meifeng."

"I... wanna go now. It's so [i]awful[/i] in here."

"I know..." Lihua trailed off, looking upwards to see the Ghouls' glowing eyes getting ready to strike. "... but, I doubt [i]they'll[/i] let us." Lihua let go of Meifeng, and put her hand on the other end of her shotgun. 

"Are you ready for this?" Lihua asked Meifeng.

Nodding her head, she dropped into a stance. Sideways, legs shoulder-width apart, and her left hand shoulder level, other hand was chest level. Fingers on both hands were pointing upwards. said, "Ready as I'll ever be...."

"Good." Lihua said, pumping her shotgun.

[hr]

[i]Huh? What happened? It hurts so much. Where am I...? I... just want to go home.[/i] Jennifer Caspin thought to herself. The lights above became almost as intense as staring into the sun. All she could taste was blood... her own blood, really. She let out a cough, and blood splattered at low velocity. It went up, then right back down. All over her face. She felt so weak right now. She couldn't pull the energy to even [i]move[/i]. Everything was blurry, and her heart was slowly beating. Every beat felt like a hammer... but, it was not in her chest. Downwards in her midsection. Jen was breathing slowly. It felt like her body was operating on the lowest settings, and she was on the verge of death.

She winced, there was a pain like no other in her chest. She barely remembered what happened that got her in this situation. She tried to recount her steps that lead to this moment. It had something to do with those... monsters, yeah, the monsters. There was one she saw that was going for Meifeng, and then she... got in the way, and was horribly impaled. That was risky. That was stupid - but, she did it for Meifeng. Someone she was willing to take the risk for. Well, maybe this is a good lesson about her regenerative factor. It [i]can[/i] allow her to survive wounds like this.

There was a griping fear of what she would see if she looked down. She could feel the blood of her own blood that she was lying down in. She let out a faint, weak, sigh, before raising her head a bit (Which made it feel a little more weak). Her blue eyes shot wide open, she almost screamed, but she didn't have the energy for it. 

Her chest had a red hole that went clean through it. No organs or anything. However, her chest was slowly closing. She didn't notice it at first. She wondered just [i]how[/i] the hell she was alive right now. Actually, maybe she [i]is[/i] dead. This is just a dream... but that doesn't add up, now does it.

That wasn't the problem. The [i]real[/i] issue was that she was all alone here. They left her. [i]They thought she died here[/i]. She didn't know which of the two were worse. 

What to do now was the question. She barely had any strength in her from the regenerative process. Just wait here? And wait for one of those things to come back and finish the job? Honestly, she didn't know what else to do. Until the regenerative process finishes - which could take [i]ages[/i] with wounds this severe.

Footsteps came up, and Jennifer closed her eyes. She knew that it was the end. She figured that she should just take it with dignity.

"Good grief," Lihua said as she stood over what had to be Jennifer's corpse. This wasn't good at all, if they took Caspin, and killed her... that doesn't bode too well for Meifeng. While she didn't have the highest opinion of the girl, she couldn't help but feel a [i]little[/i] bad for her, and her family. Meifeng's certainly going to take it hard. Lihua knelt down, and examined her corpse - specifically the hole. Going off the blood splatter, and bits and pieces of the organs (Heart, lungs, and so on) behind it, it was more than apparent that something impaled at high speeds, then it was either pulled out, or went clean through her. And then Jennifer dropped dead. It had to be something with an insane amount of force behind it to create such a wound, but at the same time, the wound was rather... clean? Like, the wound didn't look as nasty, or jagged as it did before. 

"Wait..." Lihua thought out loud as she noticed something. The wound was [i]closing[/i]. "Caspin must be a Metahuman. Or must have been." Lihua thought out loud again, not even sure if she's dead, or alive, or is going to [i]come[/i] back. 

She was going to investigate some more, but Caspin's eyes opened - not that Lihua was surprised or anything. It just further convinced her that she was a Metahuman (There's no way in high [i]hell[/i] that a baseline human could survive that).

"I... " Lihua was a [i]little[/i] lost for words here. "... Can you hear me Caspin?" She asked, feeling as if it'd be a waste of time.

But, Jennifer nodded her head, slowly, but still showed a response. She managed to groan, "[i]I-I... will survive....[/i]"

"Good to hear that." Lihua started off... there's no way that Caspin registered in the NEST Databanks, so she theorized that she was one of the people that the girl from before empowered. How convenient she gets a power that saves her life. "Can you tell me what happened, where's Meifeng?"

Coughing a bit of blood (some of which landed on Lihua's [i]already[/i] bloody suit)."[i]I...[/i]" Jen had to cough up some more blood to the side. She took in two deep breaths. This would be a tough one, she was trying to gather the air just to talk, and with every few words, she had to stop and take a deep breath, "[i]We... broke out of the b... b-base - no, cage... and we... we ran into these monsters. I... I... I saw one going for Meifeng... then I took the hit for her.... I... do.... don't... know where she went... but... they went after her....[/i]" She pointed down the hallway where she last saw the monsters go. Before her hand dropped, and she put her head to the side.

"Thank you, Caspin." Lihua said. Now that Jennifer had told the story, she's now one step closer to helping Meifeng. Still, she felt the need to help Jennifer here. She knelt down, and grabbed Jenny by the leg and tried to pull her somewhere safe so she can finish this... [i]process[/i].

[i]"No... he... help Meifeng.... I'll... I'll be fine."[/i] And she wasn't even sure about that.

"Alright, Caspin, I hope you're okay." Lihua said, before she ran down the hallway

[hr]

[hider=Attack on Titan OST - DOA][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKmYQa0kOks[/youtube][/hider]


"There are more of them. You cannot be [i]serious[/i] right now...." Lihua muttered to herself, as she stood there as the Ghouls began their unholy charge. Meifeng ran forward, and spun her body around, putting her leg out for a roundhouse kick. A wave of water followed the motion in a wide arc.The Ghouls stopped, and split around it, clearly going to meet at the center in a pincer manuever.

"You're being impatient. They're far quicker than you are. You have to wait, and find the [i]perfect[/i] moment to attack them." Lihua told Meifeng. 

"... And [i]wait[/i] for them to [i]kill[/i] me?!" Meifeng shouted, looking back at Lihua.

"Focus!" Lihua said, pointing her shotgun forward, and aiming it at the Ghoul approaching Meifeng. Hoping to time it just right. Let [i]it[/i] go into her crosshairs. She pulled the trigger and... nothing. She used all the shots. [i]Perfect.[/i] Lihua quickly rushed over, and pushed Meifeng out of the way, and put her shotgun up. The Ghoul slashed at it, and left several scratches in it - but nothing that'd ruin it - before running off past them, and turned around.

Meifeng put her hands out, and started shooting off a barrage of ice at it, as Lihua turned around and noticed the other Ghoul standing on a pile of crates, ready to leap off. She did a motion like she was punching the ground, and the earth underneath it the crates started shaking, making the Ghoul fall off. It landed on it's feet, before running off backwards, and coming back around past some crates.

"Meifeng... hold onto something, and stick close to me."  Lihua warned Meifeng in advance, because what she was going to do was going to leave everyone... quite shaken. Lihua raised her fist high up into the air.

"Wait-" Meifeng looked over her shoulder at the same time as she stopped the (useless) barrage.

Right at that moment, Lihua brought her fist down and hit the ground. It sounded like it hit the earth with far more force than it actually did - because there was a loud crashing sound. The rest of the area was hit with explosive force, and a fierce shockwave vibrated through the area. Meifeng let out a yell as she fell over - managing to catch herself, by putting her arms up. It's effects on the Ghouls were more apparent, it made them trip over in their advance, and turn invisible. One had grey skin, and the other had disgusting fleshy red skin.

Quickly acting, the Vuhongs launched their attacks. Meifeng gathered water and sprayed a hail of needles at one, while Lihua slammed her foot into the ground, and created a hail of concrete spikes out of the ground. Which managed to connect, and impaled the Ghoul in several areas. The tips of the spikes were stained red with blood, as the creature let out it's death cry. Lihua retracted the spikes, and raised her hand into the air, and dropped it. Causing a block of concrete to come down, and smash it's skull with a sickening crunch.

Meifeng managed to impale the creature with the thick needles all over the side of it's body. The wounds were oozing blood. Her hands were frigid... felt like they were about to fall off, but Meifeng wasn't going to stop here. She reached up above her, and more of the pipes started shaking. They quickly broke open, and rained water over the Ghoul, drenching the creature in water. Meifeng pulled as much of the water together as she could, and ran for it. Her feet were splashing in the puddles of water, which quickly turned into a cascading tower of water that elevated her into the air.

It gave her enough lift as she cocked her fist back - gathering all the water she could into an orb. As she descended, she aimed for the Ghoul to deliever this awesome finishing move.

The Ghoul, quickly moved out of sight, and Meifeng quickly moved the orb underneath her feet to stand on. She looked around for the Ghoul... however, she barely had seconds to react before the Ghoul came from behind the crates. "Huh?" Meifeng said as she heard the jet of air.

In seconds, she was face to face with the now visible Ghoul, it quickly raised it's claw and brought it down for a slash. Meifeng moved her head backwards fast as she could - which helped... but it wasn't enough to stop the Ghoul's claws from digging into her flesh underneath her eyes, and slashing downwards to her breasts. Leaving a fleshy four claw-point scar on her face.

Meifeng let out a violent scream as blood was splattered all over the place.

"[i]Meifeng![/i]" Lihua shouted, she quickly rushed over.

The Ghoul stood there, preparing for another attack... however, it was covered in water, [i]and[/i] within range. She shot both her hands out, and the Ghoul froze solid. The water that drenched it formed a solid layer around it that it just couldn't break out of... at least in time to avoid Meifeng's next attack. Meifeng let out a heartfelt scream as she gathered all the water she could, and ran towards it. She wiped her arm upwards, and a barrage of water tendrils hit the Ghoul with immense force. She wiped her other arm upwards, and did the same thing. She brought her arms down, and the water formed a giantic orb which slammed into it, sending it flying as the ice broke.

Finishing it off, Meifeng ran at it, screaming, until she got close. The water formed a orb around her as she started spinning around, the orb turning into a massive vortex of water that had immensely strong currents. With shards of ice flowing in the vortex, the Ghoul was ripped to shreds as it was being violently carried along. Meifeng let out one final cry, as she stopped spinning, and shot both hands out. Causing he vortex to stop, and explode. Sending the deceased Ghoul into the wall.

Meifeng immediately knelt forward, panting heavily. She dropped to her knee, and with all her willpower, tried to remain awake. She was exhausted, in pain, and dehydrated. Her face was bleeding profusely... and she was dizzy. The room was spinning, but... she won. She killed the bastard that killed her friend. Her body was filled with an odd satisfaction. Though, with all of her will, she remained on her feet.

"[i]Meifeng![/i] Are you okay?!" Lihua ran over to Meifeng, and put her hands on her face. Turning her daughter's head so she could get a good view of the wound. She got her face slashed open, fortunately her eye seemed to be untouched. The thing missed it, she moved out of the way, or just luck (Or all the above). She was still glad her daughter still had her vision.

"I... failed. I should have been the one to fight this battle. Not you... I shouldn't have-" Lihua was cut off by Meifeng putting her own hand to Lihua's lips.

"Mom, it's fine..." Meifeng put her hand to her bloody oozing wound. 

"Agent Vuhong." Lihua's earpiece came alive.

She put her fingers to her earpiece, and said, "Agent Vuhong, speaking."

"There is a team in the base as we speak detaining many scientists, and extracting anyone that has been kidnapped. Where is your location?" The man on the other end spoke.

'We're..." Lihua looked around, looking over to Meifeng for a moment. "... Heading back towards the entrance as we speak."

"Affirmative. Agents are en-route to your position. Out." 

"Agent Vuhong out." Lihua announced to the group, "Alright, everyone gather together, we're leaving here."

Meifeng's dress was stained with her own blood, from two different wounds. Along with the dehydration, and exhaustion. She doubted if she could carry Anna out of here. She hobbled over to where Anna was, and said, "Hey, mom, can you give me a hand?" 

"Yes." Lihua said, as she walked over to Meifeng, and the two of them together lifted Anna up, each of them was under one of her shoulders. Anna had regained some of her own strength, and with great effot could almost stand on her own two feet. She relied on Lihua's steady grip, since Meifeng was fairly weak at the moment. "Let's go." Lihua said.

Stumbling footsteps and light breathing could be heard coming from the hallway. Which prompted Lihua to let go of Anna, and aim her shotgun at the approaching party. Whether it was a scientist, or a NEST Agent, Lihua wasn't the type to take risks. Especially if there's [i]another[/i] monster. She doubted if anyone had the energy to face another down. 

Blood dripped down her figure as she walked into view. Jennifer Caspin, heavily breathing, and she leaned up against the corner of the doorway. Taking a moment to breath. The hole that was her chest had pretty much closed, and all that was left was a small, quarter-sized, hole.

"[i]Jen![/i]" Meifeng shouted and ran to her friend, leaving Anna stumbling to find her balance. Lihua doubled back and caught her, before she fell, and siddled over to Jennifer. Meifeng wrapped her arms around her friend and held tightly, getting some of her gore on her. Her body could barely produce tears, as she heartfully said, "I thought I lost you [i]for good[/i]..."

"[i]I... took the hit for you....[/i]" Jenny moaned, being able to breathe better.

"Thank you..." Meifeng replied. "... but, don't ever do that again, Jenny...."

"Let's go." Lihua said, hoisting Anna out of there. Jenny followed behind them, fast as she could.