I landed hard on the floor of the drop bay, Rebecca in my arms. I looked back and saw the horde of Assimilators bellowing at us. The Merlin rocketed upwards in a straight vertical ascent, the ramp closing behind. I carefully laid Rebecca down on the bench in a sitting position, pulled off my helmet, and began trying get hers off too. She hadn't said anything coherent and was mostly unresponsive, but there'd been a few moans of pain.

“What’s the damage?” Aaron asked me urgently, moving to crouch near her.

“Not sure yet,” I grunted, detaching the helmet, “I need to get a look at her first.” Rebecca’s face was pale and her eyes fluttered underneath her eyelids. I spotted a sickly green color rising in her cheeks. I cursed loudly and leaned her forward, then ripped the spike out and tossed it to the side, getting shocked looks from the squad.

I barked orders at them, “Allie, medkit, now! Anyone with medical experience, I need your help!”

Allie leapt up and grabbed the medkit from its spot near the cockpit doors. She tossed it to Jackson, who came over my way. His helmet was off, and the sweat plastered his hair to his head.

“I was going to medical school before, I can help,” he told me, looking over the injury.

Hadn't expected that, but I still nodded, “Good. She’s been hit with a neurotoxin. I'm going to need you to dress the wound, I’ll prep the stabilizing shot.” I was busy trying to pull the armor away from her chest to get access to her heart. Through one of the open gunports, I saw the Greenwood Building begin to collapse, the glass and concrete caving in on itself as it crumbled to the ground. The sound came a moment later, a horrible shrieking and rumbling that reached all the way up to the Merlin. We’d made it out with only minutes to spare.

The gunship suddenly pitched to the side crazily, and I made sure that Rebecca didn’t shift too much.

“Sam, we just got out of anti-aircraft range. I need you up here in the cockpit right away.”

I knew exactly why Adelaide wanted me up there. It was damn important too.

“Twenty seconds,” I told her. I pulled a short plastic tube out of the medkit and left it next to Jackson. “You know how this works? Prime using the button on top, that’ll pop the needle out. You’ll be doing an intracardiac injection. The neurotoxin is spreading to the heart first, so this will stabilize her. You’ve got ten minutes, at most, until the toxin sends her into cardiac arrest.” The simulator had taught me plenty about treating Assimilator neurotoxin, and that experience was invaluable right now.

Jackson gave me a tight nod.

“Good. Get Mary to help you, I’m sure she has experience with this type of thing,” I gently let Jackson support her, then glanced at the cockpit. I stood up and made eye contact with him again, “I really, really hate to leave her like this, more than I can say. But I can trust her with you, right?”

He nodded again, eyes deadly serious.

“Good.” I took long strides to the cockpit. I hesitated briefly before opening the bulkhead door. It wouldn’t be hard to see that no one else was in there, but at this point, it didn’t really matter. The door slid open with a hiss and I walked to the pilot’s chair. Through the canopy, I saw a nightmare.

It was a massive rectangular object, blazing blue with oversized anti-grav propulsors, easily the size of the Greenwood Building. It rose from the center of downtown with a menacing slowness, ripping apart the skyscrapers that stood in its path. It had clearly just emerged from under the ground, because chunks of rubble were cascading off its hull. It was an Assimilator carrier, one of the ones used for the invasion. And it was coming directly at us with speed that belied its size.

“Can we outrun it?” I asked, oddly calm.

“I believe so. It will be closer than I would like. One of the engines was damaged by anti-aircraft fire,” replied Adelaide.

I checked the HUD on the canopy. We were heading East as fast as possible, but it was at two-thirds of our normal speed. The back-left engine was only at half power, and the rest had to compensate for it. I took a deep breath. The problem was that I had no idea if the carrier had weapons capabilities or not.

“Has it done anything except for move?”

Camille answered for her, “As far as I can tell from the Merlin’s feed, nope. The problem is scanners can’t pick the thing up at all. We’re only relying on sight here.”

I smacked my hand on the dash in frustration, and regretted it immediately because it reminded me how badly everything was hurting. I hated it. I hated not knowing anything about what was going on. Why the fuck didn’t they attack us? What had we possibly done to get something like that pissed off at us? Above all, I hated feeling so fucking helpless. All we could do was run and pray that it couldn’t shoot us out of the sky, and that it wouldn’t follow us all the way back.

I heard the sound of boots near the doorway and a series of knocks followed. I closed my eyes.

“Are you okay if we open it?” I said to Adelaide.

I received a quite noise of affirmation in response, and the bulkhead door opened again. Aaron and Allie walked in, then did a double take when they saw only me.

I sighed and waved away their questions. “Later. I’ll explain later. How’s Rebecca doing?”

Curiosity was plastered all over Aaron’s face but he still answered me, “She’s stable, for now. But I’m worried. We don’t have the facilities to treat neurotoxin, and she could - holy shit what the hell is that!?” His eyes went as round as saucers as he spotted the carrier, and his finger was raised, shaking heavily. It would’ve been absolutely hilarious at any other point in time.

“That’s a fucking carrier,” whispered Allie.

I was about to respond, when I saw something on the Merlin’s video feed out that froze the blood in my body. A dark red light was starting to glow on the prow of the carrier. Even from miles away I could see it clearly, and it was growing by the second. I grabbed the manual control joystick, one of the few times I’d ever done so, and pulled the Merlin into a sharp evasive maneuver. A half second later, an incredibly bright flash of red lit up the night sky, and for a few terrifying moments I couldn’t see anything. The white spots cleared from my eyes and I stared aghast at the Assimilator ship still moving after us.

“Adelaide, what the fuck was that?”

She sounded close to panicking, “I don’t know. There was a massive energy spike from the carrier’s direction, almost exactly the same as the energy signatures from our laser weaponry, but exponentially higher.”

I felt sick to my stomach. Humanity had always survived on its technology, always used it to hold back the alien menace. But this thing… this thing was so far beyond anything we’d ever come up with. The sheer destructive power that laser boasted could’ve incinerated a small city. I tried to calm myself down. That weapon clearly wasn’t meant for hitting a ship as small as this one, so it would be easy enough to evade it as long as we were paying attention. And from what I could see, which wasn’t much admittedly, the carrier’s speed seemed to have slowed considerably. There were limitations to it.

A tense minute followed. The distance between us and it was growing second by second, and it didn’t seem to be preparing for another shot. Once it was out of sight, I breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back in my chair. Allie sat down on the floor and put her head on her knees, and Aaron leaned heavily on the back of the co-pilot’s chair.

“So, Denver’s not a great tourist hotspot,” I said into the silence, “the locals are just such assholes.”

I got a snort of amusement from Allie but she didn’t raise her head. Aaron stared at me blankly. Tough crowd. I rolled my eyes and returned his look, “Jesus, fine, sorry for trying to lighten the mood. You were talking about Rebecca before we almost got fried. Is she okay?”

A worried look flashed across his face, “Like I was saying, she’s doing alright for now. But the Red Eagles only have a basic mobile hospital… I don’t know if we can fully treat the neurotoxin.”

“We can.” It wasn’t me that said it. Camille spoke quietly again, over the coms, “We’ll be able to handle it.”

“Who the fuck-“ started Allie, but I cut her off.

“You’ll meet her in a little while. Adelaide, how long until we reach Camelot?”

“I estimate ten minutes, Sam.”

Mary picked that moment to walk into the cockpit. She looked at me, confused, “Camelot? What the hell is Camelot?”

I sighed and looked out the canopy.

“Home.”

The canopy was tinted black when we touched down on Ellie. They didn’t question that decision, luckily. I was waiting in the drop bay with everyone. We’d all removed helmets and armor by this point, and the rest of the team all looked as tired as I felt. They looked like they were about to drop where they stood, but I could tell that they were all burning with curiosity as well. Rebecca was laying on the bench, and I was sitting next to her, keeping an eye on her. The stabilizer was working well, but she still didn’t look good. Her face was white as a sheet and her thin blonde hair was disheveled. Her heart rate was fine though. Slow and steady. She’d be okay, but that didn’t stop me from worrying.

Speaking of heart rates, mine was thundering like I’d finished a sprint. This would be the first time anyone I’d met after the end would be down here. I was letting people into the only place I felt truly safe. And it was nauseating

The elevator finished lowering to the first floor with a soft clunk, and I tensed as the Merlin’s ramp cracked opened. It dropped slowly, the artificial light from the entrance leaking in an inch at a time. I stood up and cracked my neck. As the ramp settled on the floor, I looked at the squad.

“Welcome to Camelot,” I told them with a dramatic sweep of my hand.

Honestly, I’m sure it was a little underwhelming. The entryway was, to put it bluntly, incredibly plain. It was just a large, empty, unfinished room that was big enough for Ellie to travel through. I saw Camille standing on the concrete, her face set with worry, looking completely exhausted. Four spider-bots were next to her, with two bearing a stretcher.

I started to move down the ramp, and she sprinted up to me and caught me in a tight hug, burying her face in my chest. I was painfully reminded of our initial reunion, because god damn was my body too sore to handle this right now.

Her voice was muffled, “I thought you died.”

I gave her a squeeze, “Still alive and kicking. You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

“I’m more than a little lost here,” said Allie from behind me.

I let Camille go and faced them again. The spider-bots trundled up the ramp next to me, and the squad warily gave them room to pass. When they got to Rebecca, Jackson started to move towards them, but Aaron put a restraining hand on his shoulder. They watched in silence as the two free bots gently picked her up and placed her on the stretcher. The odd procession moved out again, carrying her to the medical bay.

Allie watched them go. “Yup, real fucking lost.”

I held up my hands placatingly, “Those are the utility bots for this facility. They’re taking Rebecca to the med-bay right now. We’ll meet them there, but for now, I’m sure you guys want an explanation.”

Camille nodded from next to me, then she suddenly realized what was coming next when I and the rest of the squad stared at her expectantly. She started shaking like a leaf, and I grinned wickedly on the inside. From experience, this was honestly one of the more entertaining things to watch. She gave me a pleading look, and I shook my head. Camille swallowed audibly.

“Uhh, I-I’m Camille, it’s meet you,” she stammered, then turned bright red, “Shit. I mean, um, it’s nice to meet you all. Sam is very nice.” She paused, realized she hadn’t gotten her sentence right, and turned redder, “I mean, Sam tells me you’re all very nice.”

The squad was looking even more confused, and I couldn’t hold back a giggle at this point. I got a furious and desperate glare from Camille and decided to put her out of her misery.

“As she attempted to say, this is Camille Brown –“

Allie interrupted me with a look of dawning realization on her face, “Oh shit, the one Anton was talking about? Your dead girlfriend? She looks pretty damn alive to me.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Your observational skills are unparalleled.”

“You lied to us!” said Jackson in an accusatory voice.

“I mean, generally? Yeah, a couple times, but when I told Anton she hadn’t made it I honestly thought so as well. We only met up again about a week ago,” I responded. Camille jerked her head up and down like a broken robot next to me. She was getting so much shit for this later.

Mary cut in, “Well that’s nice, but I don’t really care all that much about your girlfriend,” Camille deflated slightly next to me, “Where the hell are we?”

I looked back over my shoulder, “Let’s start walking, it’ll be easier to explain on the way. Besides, I want to check in on Rebecca.” Mary gave me a reluctant nod, and I started leading to the main hallway.

I launched into explanation mode as we walked through the base, “Essentially, this is an experimental underground base, meant for training Paladins. After the invasion and the war ended, I was the only staff left down here. It was still under construction, and since it was mostly automated there only needed to be a skeleton crew. I named it Camelot, because I’m cute and quirky like that.”

The door to the command center was open, and Aaron stopped to gape at it. Camille had left the holoprojector running. It was far more sophisticated compared to the embarrassment the Red Eagles were using. Elitism was delicious.

I paused as well, and grinned at him, “You’ve got good taste. The command center is one of my favorite parts of Camelot, but I’ll give you all the tour later. For now, let’s keep moving.” He reluctantly tore his eyes away from it and followed along. I gave a basic overview of the two facilities as we walked, but I stuck to only the main floors, choosing not to talk about the Paladin storage or fabricators. But I wanted to show off a little bit, maybe get them interested in what Camelot had to offer. Mary looked flabbergasted when I told her about the simulators. And by flabbergasted, I meant her right eyebrow raised very slightly and her mouth opened for a second. For Mary, that was basically shitting her pants in shock.

“So you’re telling me you’ve got a full combat simulation set up in here? With virtual instructors?” She asked as we rode the sidevator over to the secondary facility.

Camille had been quiet the whole time, sticking close to my side, but she tried to answer her question. Tried being the operative word. “Yeah, it’s pretty dope,” oh God this was already amazing, “the simulators are all actually linked, so you can train together with a squad,” that was an improvement, “But they take a little getting used to, I pretty much throw up almost every time I get into them because of you know the harnesses and stuff and the instructors are pretty tough because they’ve gotta get you trained up… I’ll uh. Yeah. That’s about it.” She didn’t stick the landing, to say the least.

Mary flicked her eyes at her, dismissed her existence, and looked back at me. Camille withered, and Allie shot her a look of pity mixed with judgement.

“Fun,” said Mary, “I’d like to take one of them for a spin sometime. There are a few skills I’m rusty in.”

I nodded at her, “I might be able to arrange that.”

We stepped into the main facility, and this time it was Aaron that spoke, “Where is Adelaide? I’d like to thank her for piloting the drones and saving Rebecca. I’m assuming she’s been flying the Merlin remotely.”

I hesitated, “Adelaide did fly the Merlin remotely, but it’s a bit complicated. Another thing for later,” I paused then remembered something, “Oh, and Adelaide wasn’t flying those drones, Camille was.”

Mary took another glance at Camille, and there was a good deal more approval in her eyes, “Really now? That was some damn good flying. Never seen someone pilot drones like that.”

Camille had more of a spring to her step as we rounded the corner to the med-bay. I had to forcibly suppress the urge to ruffle her hair fondly. The doors slid open, and we walked in. The sterile white tiling always threw me off a bit. The first Medical Pod showed that it was occupied. I checked the display. She was going to be there for around twelve hours. It took a damn long time to get Assimilator neuro-toxins out of the blood stream. I heard a small squeak and turned around. Jackson was looking around the room, dumbfounded

“Are… are those med-pods?” he gasped, “Twelve med-pods?”

I nodded.

“Jesus fucking Christ, do you know how much even one of these costs?” He asked me urgently.

I shook my head with a Zen smile, “No, but does it matter? Life is priceless.”

“Three hundred-million.”

“Holy fucking shitballs.”

Aaron cleared his throat, “I take it that Rebecca is in one of these?”

I pieced together my blown mind, “Yeah, she’s in the first one. Don’t worry, this thing put me back together after I fought the Hive Lord, so it’ll patch her up right as rain. In twelve hours, it’ll be like she was never almost dead.”

“That’s pretty handy,” said Allie.

I rubbed my side, where the Hive Lord’s claw had come punctured, “No kidding.” The simple action of doing that, for whatever reason, brought all the pain and exhaustion from the day rushing back up, and I nearly collapsed on the spot. Camille grabbed me to keep me up, concern written on her face.

I straightened up again and addressed the squad, “I’m going to be honest with you guys, I’m pretty much on my last legs here. I’m in no shape to escort you all back to where you need to go, and I’m pretty sure that everyone but Mary wants to wait for Rebecca anyway. How ‘bout we have a slumber party here for tonight? We’ve got plenty of empty rooms.”

Mary nodded wordlessly, and the 4th scouting team shared a glance. Aaron answered for them, “That would be amazing actually. I think all of us could use some rest. I’ll get in contact with the Red Eagles to let them know we’re safe,” he paused, then continued, “And don’t worry, I won’t say anything about this place.”

I smiled, “Awesome. Once you get your parents’ permission, I’m going to let Camille and the spider-bots get you all settled in. I’m pretty sure that most of my muscle fibers don’t exist anymore, and I’d like to fix that ASAP.” I was fairly certain that I was going to pass out sometime in the next minute, so I walked up to one of the medical pods. It slid open to greet me and I plopped myself down on the soft plastic with a satisfied groan, and stared out at everyone. The squad was looking more than a little awkward and Camille looked an adorable mixture of panicked at the situation and enraged at me.

“Nighty night everyone,” I said, wiggling my fingers at them as the white shell closed around me.