Bombastic Pt 9

The next hallway was in just as sorry a state, collapsed roof and flooring from what Serena could see through the thick smoke. She coughed, trying to catch her breath but there wasn’t much breath to catch. The floorboard lights had gone out, and even the alarm sounded like it was dying. Dying. That was the last thing she wanted to do. It was a useless gesture, but she pressed the elevator button anyway, as if it would magically start to work.

“Move.” Vas said as he went to wriggled his fingers between the elevator doors. He strained a bit as he worked to push the door open. It strained and groaned against his brute force solution and they started to slide open unevenly. He managed to open it just enough that they could shimmy through the gap, the doors were too damaged to waste time pushing open further, not with the building falling down around them.

Serena backed away from the elevator, there was no car to take them to safety, just a gaping drop into blackness. “There should be another way!” She squeaked above the noise.

“Nope.” Vas said, slipping on a pair of thick gloves from a pouch. “None that will get us out faster.” He added taking out a back up harness. Not just for when your primary failed but when you needed to rescue or recover and there was climbing involved … like now. “Let's get you strapped in.”

Serena looked at the burning rubble trying to find another option, and shook her head. “We’ll fall!” she told him, “We’ll die!”

“You won't fall but you will die if ya stay here. Besides, it's better to die trying then not at all.” Vas stated. “So … let's get you strapped in and fight like hell to get out.”

“Like a hellhound?” Serena asked, wiping her eyes with the back of a soot covered hand. It did little to clear them, but at least it made the tears stop.

“Exactly.” Vas nodded. “I'll even let you do the heavy lifting.” He joked. “You can cry your eyes out later but right now we gotta focus on getting out. Kay? So let me help you get strapped up.”

“Okay,” Serena agreed, throwing her arms around his waist for a quick hug. “Thank you, Puppy,” she whispered.

“Don't thank me yet … stop calling me puppy. It’s Vas.” He explained. Kid has a surprisingly strong grip. “No more wasting time Rabbit. Kay?”

“No more wasting time,” she agreed, trying to help him with the harness.

Vas nodded and helped the girl in the harness, clipping her in with well practiced motions. “All you have to do Rabbit is hang tight … and not look down. You are going to be clipped into me so even when you get tired you won't slip off me. Okay?”

“So I don’t gotta help?” She asked, slightly relieved. “What if you get tired?”

“Hellhounds don't have time to be tired. I'll be tired after we're on the chopper back to Tartarus.” Vas tsked. “Ready to get clipped in?”

“Ready,” she said, trying to sound as brave and least time wasty as possible.

“Alright…” Vas kneeled down to let the girl hop on his back and clip her to him. Even if she fell asleep she wouldn’t go and slip off him. He took a breath squeezing them through the cap and over the open shaft. Vas was careful testing the cable to make sure it wasn’t busted before testing it with his weight. Once he was sure the whole thing wasn’t on the verge of giving out he started the slow climb up the cable. The cable, being thick and made of steel, was not exactly conducive to climbing even with a thick glove it was hard on his hands. Sweat beaded down his face as he kept an even pace as he climbed.

Serena drew a sharp breath as the stepped into the abyss, holding on for dear life as if the clip wasn’t there. Her whole body shook, and she squinted her eyes tightly, which - seeing as they were in near pitch black didn’t so much matter. Another explosion from below made the cable sway.

Vas grunted, gritting his teeth and he held tight to the cable and it swayed. Thankful the with the gloves on no one but his knee he was white knuckling the damned cable. “We're okay … we're okay …” He assure between long deep breaths.

Smoke started filling the elevator shaft.

“I know,” Serena said shakily. “On account of we’re hellhounds.”

“Woof.” Vas said with a slight smirk as the Cable finally steadied. He took a deep breath and then started to climb again. “We're almost there …”

“We’re gonna get stuck on the roof!” Serena reminded him.

“Climbing …. Can't talk.” Vas grunted as he reach for the ledge with his foot. It was much harder with the extra weight on his back.