//Cliffhanger warning

Inside a wide room with white metallic walls, Ellowyn sat, a figure lay still in her shaking embrace.

"Alice, why, why would it be you?" The flickering light illuminated two wet lines on her face.

"Miss Ellowyn, what should we do?" Rexis said, her voice wavered.

"I don't know."

Sometime before

"Every robot design has to have these four parts: a controller, ..."

Ellowyn and Tommy chat away, oblivious to the droning tone of professor Damion.

Ring. He answered his phone.

Analyzing unencrypted signal... connection established

"Hold on a minute." She signaled Tommy to stop talking and listened in using the system. It was a neat little trick taught by her new friends at Sentria. She could tap into any unencrypted phone calls in her surroundings using her own phone. She set the system to pick up and relay to her any calls it detected.

"Are you sure this line is secure?"

"Not really, let me use an encrypted line."

"There is no time for that. The attack has started, get out of there as soon as you can."

"What! Okay, okay Let me grab my things."

"No! You have to leave now."

"Shit." Damion muttered, grabbed his coat and left the room.

It took Ellowyn a few seconds to register what she heard. Never had she thought tapping into calls would work, she only did them to cure her boredom.

So it begins huh. She clenched her fist to steel herself. Then she tried to call Alice but the signal has already been jammed.

"Rexis, are there anyway I can contact Alice? Its an emergency."

"Is your phone not working?"

"They're jamming the phone signal."

"Who?"

The alarm muffled out Ellowyn's answer.

"We have been breached, get in the tunnels now!" Bang. Bang.A man desperately yelled through the speakers before gunshots followed, and then silence.

Even the alarms have stopped.

"They got to the broadcasting room!" Came a panicking cry.

"There is no time to panic, we need to get to the underground passageway." Contrary to his calm voice, the student already sprinted towards the back of the class.

Each classroom in the Armadillo had a small underground passage that all lead to one big tunnel to the bomb shelter.

"Miss Ellowyn, I think we should stay under the cover of the desk. I believe it is not safe to be in the open." Rexis said.

"Alright." Ellowyn deployed the desk into cover mode and hid with Rexis. Many other students did the same.

"Why does it not open?", "Come on!", "Let’s try again, we'll all lift on the count of 3"

She could see a red glow surrounding the lid of the passage. Its locked.

A series of explosions rocked the building much more so than the previous missile strikes. The alarms restarted with an automated voice telling everyone to take cover. Deafening gunshots, turret fires and more explosions followed.

The other students ignored the warnings and continued trying to pry open the passage hatch.

Another explosion, she was sure then that the campus walls have been breached. She crutch her handgun and looked around, trying to suppress the terror rising up her spine.

"Please stay calm, Miss Ellowyn." Rexis's tough voice only managed to agitate Ellowyn further, but she tried her best not to show it.

Should I retrieve my gear? Taking out her gear that will materialize from nothing would lead to Rexis knowing she had the system. She decided against it unless they were forced to fight for real.

A familiar growl emitted behind the classroom doors. Wolves. Rexis immediately shut the openings surrounding the desk to prevent any light leaking in.

Ellowyn wanted to cup her ears to ignore the screams and the sound of bones cracking as the creatures put the bodies of students at the mercy of their jaws. There were a few gunshot sounds here and there as some students fired their weapons. Aside from Ellowyn and Tommy, the class had no other VIP students and therefore few came equipped with good gear to defend themselves.

She could see then how important it was to be equipped with a full body shield like her bracelet. Even with their short battery span, they could still provide almost complete protection.

Looks like its impossible to hide the system anymore. A sense of unease sat in her stomach as she prepared the procedure to retrieve her gear..

She knew that Alice and Tom won't disown her for having the system, but she wasn't sure what they'd do exactly.

What?

"Arggg!" A agonizing headache hit her hard as all of the system's visuals distorted in her vision.

"What's wrong Ellowyn?"

She couldn't answer for the pain stopped her from doing anything but hold her head.

There were growling and scratching from a side of her desk, a wolf had found them.

By the time the aching subsided, the wolf had ripped a piece of the desk and was about to lunge its head inside.

"Stay back!" Rexis gave it a fistfull of shotgun pellets.

The wolf howled and pulled back quickly, but another one took its place. It shoved itself into the hole, trying to worm the rest of its body in.

Ellowyn had to retreat to the other side of the under-desk while shooting her handgun.

"Don't use low caliber bullets, they just bounce off its fur and can injure you." Rexis warned.

They could hear the sound of metal scrapping on their side of the desk. Another wolf was trying to get in.

"We need to break out." Rexis thrusted her shotgun forward just as the wolf opened its maw and fired, blasting its insides.

"Are you alright?" Ellowyn saw blood trickling down Rexis's hands when she pulled the shotgun from the limp jaws.

"Its just a scratch, help me push it out."

She was glad that the morning trainings had helped improved her body's constitution. But her still feeble strength wasn't of much help to Rexis.

They pushed the carcass and made it out the other hole just in time before the second wolf tore a new opening on the other side.

She looked around at the gruesome sight, blood smeared on the floor and walls as the students desperately struggled. She looked away from the tattered bodies in fear that she might loose her already trembling composure.

The system visuals were still distorted and unresponsive. Some kind of jamming I think. Nonetheless, she needed to pull herself together.

"Stay close to me." Rexis said.

She nodded and grabbed a rifle lying on the ground before following Rexis.

"Watch out!"

Ellowyn responded instinctively to the shout and jumped to the side just before the wolf behind her desk lunged. Without her thrusters, she couldn't control her fall and slammed into a nearby desk, knocking the wind from her lungs. The missed wolf jumped on another desk and faced her.

Before it could lunge again, Rexis forced it to retreat with her shotgun and reached out to pull Ellowyn up.

"Ellowyn!" Alice's shout gave her the attention of everyone. She was holding a shotgun with two shield straps to each arm.

Two wolves near the door attacked but were kept away by a blue force field surrounding her.

She promptly dispatched one with her shotgun up its nose and sent the other sliding back with a kick to its side.

"I'm glad you're alright." Ignoring the rest of the hostiles, she made a straight dash towards Ellowyn and Rexis.

"Give me a hand here." Bob entered the door but had to turn around to face another wolf that entered. He had a force field but his wasn't as visible as Alice's.

Making a sidestep as fast as lightning, he avoided the wolf's lunge and slashed/shot its side. The wolf didn't stand back up.

"What are we to do?" Ellowyn asked, rubbing her temples as the ache returned.

"We can try to blow up the hatch and enter the tunnel. I have some explosives."

"I'll set up the charges." Rexis said.

"Then Bob and I will keep the perimeter clear. Ellowyn, save your shield bracelet for now and give me support fire but don't get too close to me." Alice said.

"Everyone, either take cover under the desk or stay at the back wall but away from the hatch." Bob yelled towards the students.

There were three wolves in the room but more were coming.

"Alice, stand back!" Bob charged towards the door.

A black humanoid robot stepped in, it wielded a rifle and was protected by a forcefield.

Seeing the charging Bob, it open fired but the bullets bounced off his force field. The bot then raised its rifle to block Bob's slash when his gunblade penetrated its field.

It then attempted to stab Bob using its own gunblade but he was faster. With a quick jab to put his gun barrel inside its field, he fired and shattered its chest.

Bob then jumped behind a nearby desk before the ground he stood on exploded. Two more bots entered.

"Can you take care of them? I need to protect Ellowyn." Alice said while facing two wolves.

Without the system support, Ellowyn could only hide behind a desk and aimed her rifle, hoping not to hit Alice.

"Just shoot when you can Ellowyn, I'm protected by this force field for now."

She nodded and managed a headshot right from the start. Glad to know my aim is still good.

"Good job." Alice said before finishing the other wolf with a stab to the head.

The students killed the last wolf by stuffing it full of bullets.

She could do nothing when Alice and Bob faced the two bots, her bullets couldn't penetrate their force fields. She sat still and waited for the system to come back online, which it did moments later.

"No!" She watched helplessly as the system cancelled the procedure shortly before it was distorted again.

"Everyone, take cover!" Rexis yelled shortly before the explosion blew the hatch wide open.

"Be Careful." Rexis warned as some of the students were burned by the hot metal.

"Give my thanks to Alice and her tough looking bodyguard guy." Tommy and his bodyguard got out from under his desk and headed for the opened hatch.

"His name is Bob." She returned.

"I'm hearing buzzing." Alice said.

Every muscle in her body trembled at the sound. So they come. Without the system, will here be my death?

Four giant bees entered the room, two tried to bury their stingers into Bob only to slam into his field. The other two aimed towards the disordered students in the back, only a third had made it down the hatch.

"Watch out!" She screamed, attracting the attention of a larger one that had a different pattern on its abdomen. Oh crap.

She fired three rounds but all missed the bee flying towards her in a chaotic pattern.

"NO!" Alice put herself between her and the bee.

The bee slammed into Alice's field, but its stinger somehow managed to pierce through and shot at her belly. "Fuck." The stinger managed to stab through her light combat shirt.

"Alice!" She saw Alice taking the stinger out, but the area around her abdomen had been dyed purple. No, this can't be happening!

"I'm alright, Ellowyn, turn on your bracelet now!" Alice still urged Ellowyn despite keeping pressure on her stomach.

Ellowyn didn't know whether it was by chance or her desperate determination, but the system came back online again. She took Alice's shotgun and charged towards bob who was cornered by two bots and three bees.

"Ellowyn, what are you doing?"

She ignored Alice's cry. I need to help Bob first. Without Bob, they would all be dead.

"The bees can stab through your field!" She yelled.

Bob heard her warning and raised the shield on his arm just in time to block two stingers.

One bee hit her force field but she ignored it for it wasn't the type that could stab through.

She stepped back to avoid as one of the bots slashed forward, penetrating her field where she stood earlier. The bot open fired when its gunblade was in her field, but the system predicted it and she leaned to the side, letting bullets grazed her shoulder.

She retaliated by stabbing her shotgun forward and blasted its head.

Bob finished the other bot shortly and looked at Ellowyn. "What is your combat capability with the system?"

"You knew?"

"Tom told me he knew the day after he picked you up."

She couldn't hide the shock from her face, but there was no time to lose. "My system is being disrupted by something, I can only use it once every few minutes."

She looked towards Alice leaning on a desk. "Alice was stung. I think she is poisoned."

"Crap, let me check."

"I should be alright for now. We need to get down." Alice grunted, shook away Bob's hand, and walked towards the hatch.

"I can't let you walk, it'll spread the poison faster." Bob forcefully took her into a princess carry.

Beneath the hatch was a ladder leading down. Everyone else had already made it down.

Bob ignored the ladder and jumped down while holding Alice in his arms. Ellowyn and Rexis followed.

Ellowyn could see the pain on Alice's face. Why am I so useless at the crucial moments? She shook her head to clear the self depreciating thoughts.

If only Sophie and Alex were here. She clenched her teeth, remembering that Sophie had an important errand and had to go absent.

The small tunnel lead to a much bigger one, unlike her nightmares, the large tunnel was protected by gray metallic walls, mounted with various defensive weaponry. All of which directed their firing at the far end, where a drill bot made a giant hole from the surface and various bots, wolves and bears were streaming in.

A giant pair of metallic doors stood at the start of the tunnel. Looking at it, Ellowyn could feel as if she was inside the clairvoyance module's video again, only it was much brighter.

"Thats the bomb shelter." Alice said.

Students came out from various other small tunnels and were running toward the bomb shelter.

Bomb shelter tunnel illustration:

Spoiler :

Right click/open image in new tab to view it better

She frowned, the system was starting to distort on her again.

There was a message from Carl.

Hey Elllowyn, sorry for responding so late. I got buried in work and couldn't find the time to sneak on.

We're under attack!

What is the situation?

Alice is dying, the system keeps getting disrupted as if someone is using a soul stream jammer or something.

She quickly pulled up the chat window and sent him all of her logs before the system became unresponsive again. Let's hope he can do something about it.

More explosions followed behind them, she could feel the defense of the place falling apart, step by step. By the time they made it inside the bomb shelter, the giant doors had started to slowly slid into a close. Few if any students were still outside, there were only bodies and the scene of the invading forces heading towards them.

"Is there a way out of here?", "Are we going to be stuck here until they break in and kill us?", "What do we do now?" The voices around her were beginning to panic.

"Don't worry everyone, this shelter is made with walls so thick even drillers can't go through." The speakers said.

While heavily armored, the shelter was too small to be housing the hundred of surviving students for a long period of time. Many of whom were injured.

"Ellowyn and Rexis, watch over Alice while I go to confirm the situation. Maybe they'll have the antidote" Bob laid Alice leaning on the wall and left towards the command room.

She stared at the unconscious Alice, her eyes wet. Are you going to die because of me? She sat down and held Alice within her arms.

"Alice, why, why would it be you?" The flickering light illuminated two wet lines on her face.

"Miss Ellowyn, what should we do?" Rexis said, her voice wavered.

"I don't know."

The system came back on.

Tell me if you think the battle description is too convoluted or confusing. I’ll try to fix it.

GDoc link Please, please comment in any errors you see. Its not that I’m lazy, but I’m too busy to proofread my chappies.