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--- Fort Legrath, Secret tunnel ---

August 26th, 2025

Deep inside the Fortress of Legrath, the bulk of Vanguard-7 is moving through the secret tunnel that Tuka and Hardus escaped from. They are all moving through the hundreds of paths that lead into the heart of the hill, which the fortress was built around over the centuries.

Private First-Class Alicia Moore looks around the corner, making sure everyone is clear before they continue. Down the hall she sees this guard walking away. As she watches the guard go through this door, she can feel the sweat drops move down her skin. Surprise on how hot it is down here. It is probably from the touches that are lightening up down here.

"Boss, clear," She said. She reaches out her hand and waves forward. She sees both Private Second-Class Scott and Randy rush past her and down the hall. They are going to the other end to secure it. The Major does not want us to get too bunched up in these tight hallways.

She turns around and sees the team two new guests, Tuka and Hardus. She has mix feelings of both. It is more that she is getting sick on always doing rescue missions. It seems like that has been the only thing they have been doing since coming to this world. But she admits, a lot of good fights came from them.

Alicia glances at the boss, Major Jackson Sharpe. When he first was assigned to the lead our unit back on Earth, she never hated someone more in her life. Since coming here and mission after mission that view changed a lot. She thought he was crazy in Italica for staying, just trying to get a fancy metal and a promotion.

It was in the Elies Forest when saving our fellow Ranger from the Empire when talking with Rory. Her views began to change after a nice evening conversation about Emroy. Rory talked about how the Major is motivated by love but just could not show it. While it gave her much to think about, she did not fully by it until seeing him run through from that Empire fort, running to us during an Imperialist cavalry charge. Not many officers or anyone would have done that. Since then, she decided to give him a little slack and see where everything goes.

She believes the fight against Taylin was the true moment when Vanguard-7 fully become united. The Major was not going to let him kill another one of his teams and we decided we were not going to let Taylin kill him. Then all going against orders to find that little girl, we all came together, and it felt great. This was the feeling she wanted all along, it was the reason why she enlisted. To be with the best Mankind has to offer.

Looking at him now, he sees him glancing towards them. He clearly does not trust them, but it seems he is more focus on Hardus. It has been clear that he has been overcompensating for something and when Rory told us the truth about his last team, it all made sense. Seeing his distrust, she thinks he might be a little jealous of Hardus. Sharpe probably has gotten used to being the shiny Knight in armor, being the one who is saving the day.

However, he is not the one who puts those kinds of feelings in the way of the mission. He is too much of a soldier to do that. If her experience in this team tells her anything, he is definitely planning something.

Looking over to Hardus, she finds him very handsome. The scare on his cheek and he just projects confidence. He just seems like he knows what he is doing and takes pride in who he is and what he is doing.

Still, unlike all the other times they have helped and rescued people, it felt natural. This, nothing seems right. And if the boss does not trust them, she will not either. He has earned that trust.

As Tuka and Hardus move pass her and head down the hall. She notices when they pass, Tuka gave the Major a hateful frown. After they head down the hall, she looks to her boss.

"Boss, why didn't you bring Rory?" She asked her, missing her warrior buddy.

He rushes to the other side of the hallway to keep an eye on them. Steele is with them, as their personal escort. That is probably why Tuka seems to not like him right now.

Without looking at her he responds. "Rory gets scared in tunnels. Something about this lesbian marriage threat with this god Hardy. Found out back on Earth, was kinda cute."

Everything he just said, confused by her. She can see him thinking about some nice memory. "What the fuck? That is messed up in every way."

"Not really. Hardy, the god of the underworld find Rory attractive because of her aggressive spirit and gun-ho personality. Since underground is her domain, it makes sense for Rory to try to avoid being underground." Lelei explains.

She turns around and shakes her head slightly at Lelei. "Always the Wikipedia you are."

"Stow it and move out," Sharpe said and then rush forward.

Seeing him rush forward, she gets up and runs. Lelei is to her right side, both having a small enough frame to side almost side by side.

"Lelei, do you mind telling me what is going on?" She asked quietly.

"He doesn't trust Hardus. He isn't the only one either. Delilah has a bad feeling with him too." Lelei answers.

"I got that but then why isn't Delilah here then? She is the stealth master, isn't she? Vanguard-5 and half the team guarding the exit? If he does not trust them, only having half the team here doesn't make sense. This is a rescue mission after all." She said, letting out what has been on her mind.

"I agree with you. After our talk, he has been keeping everything close to the chest. More than usual. Have you seen his eye I never seem them look like that?" Lelei said.

She can tell that Lelei cares about him. It has been interesting seeing how much Rory and Lelei stick to him. It is cute in many ways but strange too, but again there she is under a hill on an alien planet fighting space Romans.

"I have. You and Rory were not there when he got transferred to our unit. Right then and there I saw those very same eyes. Those are the eyes you get when you in the 1st Special Force Group or in the Navy Seals." She speaks.

Saying that makes her realize that there is more going on then she realized. In those Special Forces groups, they see and do things that most people cannot even phantom. Even as a Ranger, what they are fighting and been trained for is so beyond what we been trained for. Point is, if he is looking at this mission as an ex-Delta warrior and not as a Ranger, that means there is something big happening.

Growing up she never thought about joining the Army. She grew up in an area where the people her higher middle class. Nothing wrong with that but many of them did not like the United States, always stating how great Cuba and China is but the West is pure evil. Ungrateful for living in a land where they can hate their own country.

One day she finally got sick of it and saw that the country was struggling. In her history class, she heard the famous quote from ex-President John F. Kennedy, "Ask not what your country can do for you and do ask what you can do for your country". For some reason that she cannot explain, that inspired her.

The first thing that popped in her head after hearing that was the Army. Never been like her older sister, who is a girly girl, she decided that is the route she wanted to go. She started working out and getting in shape, just so she could be ready when she finally enlisted.

---

As Sharpe moves forward, he reaches up to his advance Rangers, Randy, and Scott.

"What is your feeling Sergeant Major?" He asked as he gets close.

"Besides those few guards we took out before, it seems to be easy," Randy responds.

"He did say it was a secret tunnel. It looked pretty secret to me." Scott added, looking around the corner.

His gut is agreeing with them. The secret tunnel, there would not be a lot of security around here. Who would expect a strike force from within the fortress?

He turns around and looks to both the High Elf girl Tuka and this rebel fighter Hardus. "Hardus, how much farther?"

Hardus looks to him and then walks up. "We should take that path. That will take us to the dungeon where I found Tuka. This time though I do expect there to be a few more guards."

"Good, this quietness is starting to get annoying." Alicia comments.

Hearing Alicia, Hardus turns around to face her. "Someone feisty."

"Knock it off and get you head into the game." He said, mainly directing towards Hardus.

That man just looks to him unfazed. In his eyes, he can see this solid warrior, no fear, no regards, only clarity, and purpose. This gives him an unnerving feeling deep down inside.

"Roll out." He orders and head forward.

"Roll out?" Hardus mumbles, confused.

"It is a long story, tell you later." Lelei answers and then walks past him.

As they slowly move through the tunnel system that is inside the fortress, he can hear Hardus quietly asking his team questions. He has noticed, very sneaky he has been talking to Lelei a lot.

Since they entered the tunnel, he has been asking her about her magic and everything she has learned. At first, it seems innocent, the questions you would expect from these native folks. Slowly it started getting personal. He pulls him back up front a few times.

There is a lot of tension within the group. Tuka clearly has feelings for Hardus and does not approve of how he has been treating Hardus. She also was not happy that he refused to allow her father to come along. He was against separating from his daughter, but he did not have time to deal with it. He only needed Tuka with him and had to threaten him to stay with Bailey and Johnson.

He moves up to Tuka after signaling Lelei to stay close with Alicia.

"Your ears, are they for show or can you hear better with them?" He asked her.

She looks at him with a glaring eye. "That is degrading Human."

"Regardless, answer the question Tuka." He replied without hesitation nor acknowledging the degrading tone in her voice. He can tell she does not like him and that is fine. His only priority is to keep this group alive while the rescue mission is going on.

"Why… well yes. Everyone knows that elves have a better hearing then Humans." Tuka said in an angry tone.

He just ignores her tone, just focusing on going forward. "If you hear anything strange, you tell me."

He hears her take an angry puff and then walks forward, taking the lead.

That is when Alicia walks up behind him. "Sir, why are you being a dick? I thought you were passed this."

He then hands her a flash grenade and then answers, thinking on everything. "When the time times, you know what to do." After saying that he moves forward, taking point next to Hardus.

"Tuka, move back in the formation." He speaks.

"No, I am staying up here," Tuka responds in a voice.

He grabs her by the arm and makes her look at him. "I gave you an order, do it."

He can see she was about to say something, but she just walks back towards Randy and Lelei. He did not want to do that but felt no choice. Need to make it clear who is in command or all of this will go to hell.

Once he gets close to Hardus, he decides to follow his right side. All his senses are telling him something is wrong, this has been too easy. He has broken into many insurgent camps; most had no idea his old team was coming. Even for a back door, there should be more guards.

"This is taking too long Hardus." He said to him.

"Patient Major. We are nearly there. There is an opening up ahead and that will take us straight to the dungeon. There we will free her people." Hardus said. "Did you have to be that rough?"

"Keep moving then and yes. You're a soldier, you need to maintain order." He responds, looking at him.

He can see that he is judging and testing him. He has felt that since they enter the fortress, sizing him up. Sharpe has been trying to do the same but has found it hard to size him up.

"I see you do not like me, why is that? Your making enemies acting that way." Hardus said in an offhand comment.

"If you want me to trust you, then get me to the elves. After we retrieve them then we will talk about manners." He replied right back.

"Interesting, I thought you were a softy when it comes to the ladies. Glad to see you just don't accept any flie that lands on your lap." Hardus said in a cheeky exist tone.

Hearing that confused him greatly because he did not believe a word he just said. He just assumes the word flie must be some degrading word for women. It seems more like Hardus was poking at him, testing him. He struggled to find a proper response, which Hardus noticed.

"Now tell me, how did you get them to serve you like this? Especially Rory Mercury. Only one man has ever subjected an apostle in all the time. What is your secret?" Hardus casually asked.

"We don't subject people. If you truly are an Alnus freedom fighter, you would know that. They are members of my team, my people." He responds.

"That is hysterical and oversimplified. Tell me, what makes an apostle and a mage willing serve someone like you. An American that is not from this world and yet they obey your orders like little puppies. What is so special about you that makes the world travel around you?" Hardus responds.

He glances at Hardus, he finds it very interesting on how he said that. He knows what Hardus is sexist however he can't figure out if it is how he really thinks or trying to get under his skin. He reaches and grabs him by the shoulder, forcing him to look at him. "If you ever talk about them like this again, I will rip your throat out. Do we have an understanding?"

Hardus smiles like he got some piece of information that he been wanting. "We have an understanding Major Sharpe. Now this way."

He sees Hardus take one last look towards the back of the formation. He looks to see who he is looking at, expecting it to be Tuka. She smiles and waves, seeing that Hardus is looking in that direction. But he can see that he was not, he was looking towards Lelei.

He looks forward. "Go!"

Getting the hint, Hardus starts to lead everyone again.

The team moves slowly through the tunnels until they get to that room he was said before. It is far wider than the tunnels. This place seems to be like a hub of the tunnel network.

"Yes, I recognize this place. We are close." Tuka said with some excitement.

"We should hurry." Hardus states.

He walks over to Tuka. He sees her excitement dampers when she notices his presence. "What?"

"Do you hear anything?" He asked her quietly.

"What?" Tuka asked in confusion.

"Are you close enough to hear your people? Can you hear anyone?" He asked again, keeping a close eye on Hardus as he walks forward.

Tuka stands there confused. She closes her eyes, just wanting to save her people. She then opens her eyes and looks at him confused. "No, I hear nothing. But it doesn't matter, they are right pass this door."

After hearing that, he decides to hold on right hand up in the first position, telling everyone to hold their position.

He then takes a few steps forward and stops, hand on the grip of his rifle. "Alright Hardus, who the hell are you?"

Everyone stops and looks to him, confused about what he meant by that. He can see Hardus turn around and face him.

"What do you mean Sharpe?" Hardus responds.

Tuka walks up, annoyed this game. "I don't care about whatever Human issues you have between each other. My people are right there, can we put that aside to save them?"

"No, they are not." He said to Tuka as he stares right at Hardus. "He is working for the Empire. I have been in Special Forces for a way to long to not see the signs."

Tuka looks to him and then at Hardus. She then looks back at him, getting between them. "Wait, what is going on? No. He saved me. I saw his fellow rebel’s dead. Two of my people died trying to escape! He nearly lost his life when we were trying to escape."

"She is correct, explain that," Hardus responds, crossing his arms.

He can hear Randy walk up behind him, asking for orders. He just ignores him, unable to take his eyes off of Hardus. He just stares at him, glaring into his eyes.

Hardus stands there and just looks back at him, ignoring Tuka and everyone else's. "You never intended to save the elves here." He asked in a tone like he is putting a puzzle together in his head.

Tuka and everyone else looks to him, wondering what his answer will be.

He looks at her, knowing he is correct. "No, I came down here to see if you were legit or a fake. Now answer the question."

"What!?" Tuka said loudly. "You damn Humans. You always betray people, why-."

That is when Hardus begins to laugh and slowly clap his hands. "Very good. It was silly of me to think I could have kept my identity hidden for this long."

That is when the room goes quiet. About eight Imperialist guards come out of the doors behind him like they were waiting for them.

"My name is Krysist, General of the Northern Legions. And I came for you, Major Sharpe. And honestly, I am not impressed. I did not think you would use her people to come after me like that. Now they will suffer because of this." Krysist said chucking.

"Hardus… what are you saying? You, saved me? How could you, you cannot be working for the Empire? Your people?" Tuka said, beginning to ramble in confusion.

He begins to wonder who this man is. Krysist, his name was even a lie. He will have to tank Delilah later; her instincts were right on. He just continues to stare right at Krysist, waiting for more information. It has become clear all this has been set up just to lure him in. He wants to know why.

He can hear Tuka beginning to cry, believing that her people have finally meant their deaths. "Tuka, go stand by Lelei."

"Tuka don't. Stay right there if you wish to see your people again. This man is the enemy of our world. Your people are part of our world, if you stay right here, you can see them again." Krysist offers her. "As he said, he never intended to rescue your people."

Tuka looks over to him, crying. "Is that really true."

He hesitant to respond, trying to figure out what this man has up his sleeve. "Completely. Our job is the distraction while Captain Bailey and your father rescue your people."

The room goes dead silent for a moment. It was Krysist who spoke first. "What?"

"Alicia!" He yells.

"Flash!" Alicia yells.

Suddenly these two grenades come out and explode, blinding nearly everyone in the room. The second Alicia said Flash, all the Rangers covered their eyes.

"Fall back!" He yells.

---

As Delilah pulls out her sword out of this Imperialist neck. After confirming the kill, she looks around. This little guard post inside of the fortress, dead bodies are everywhere.

She turns around and waves over.

Vanguard-5 starts to rush through the thin tunnelway.

"Secure the area, Johnson, take Hodor and free their people. We shouldn't stick around for long." Captain Bailey orders.

"Order that sir. Vanguard-7 with me!" Lieutenant Johnson orders. The rest of the team starts to move with him and free the prisoners.

She watches the Rangers begin freeing the elves. She sees the elf father Hodor looking thrilled to see his people again. A feeling that she hopes to feel one day.

She walks over to Bailey. "I am confused, so your boss planned all this out?"

She sees her Captain looks over to her.

"Well, planned out I don't know. I think he just trusted your gut and formed a plan around that. We just got lucky that the Private First-Class Christman unit discovered another entrance. A not so secret one but they wouldn't expect us to come from a guarded entrance." Bailey said.

She smiles and nods.

Sharpe gave Bailey secret orders in the form of a note. Once they followed Hardus into his secret entrance, besides staying outside on guard duty we would go to the other are where Christman believed there was another entrance. Using her assassin skills, she was able to sneak through and cleared a path for them to enter.

---

Sharpe can hear Randy behind him, getting everyone in line, pushing them back through the tunnels to the exit.

He is aiming his rifle and shooting down the tunnelway, trying to provide cover for his troops. This arrow passes by him and hits this shield of this Imperialist soldier. To his surprise, the impact from the arrow pushed the man back from some great force.

He takes his rifle and shots that soldier in the head. He then looks to Tuka. "Was that you? How did you do that?"

As she pulls out another arrow and starts to reload her bow. "Yes, I enchanted my arrow to go faster with wind magic."

He is impressed by what she said. It is a reminder that he needs to read up on this magic stuff in this world. "Alright. Head out Tuka, go meet up with Lelei."

He notices her nod her head, accepting the order. Her reaction seems to be more acceptance now than before. He never intended to mislead her however he needed to find out the truth of what is happening. Something was off and he knew it but could not put his figure on it. He had to play this close to the chest to spring whatever trap it was.

He fires a few more shots and turns around.

Right as he turns around to join up with the rest of his team, he sees this Elf looking man in dark skin. His first thought is how the hell did he get behind him in a tunnel system. Tuka was right there.

He quickly raises his rifle to put a bullet in his skull. Before he would fully react, this blast hits him right into the chest, burning the first part of his vest. The impact was surprisingly heavy, forcing him back into this hub room that they just left. It is like the one Krysist revealed himself in.

He lands on his back and natural moves his hand to grab his radio so he can contact Randy. That is when he realizes that his radio is destroyed. Not just that he finds that his NW is out. That is when he sees that attack was not to kill but to destroy his way to call for help. How did this elf even know about this gear?

That is when he remembers Krysist watching, asking questions. What seemed like just innocent questions that he has been asking a million times by now, now seems like this man was gathering intelligence.

His training from the Green Berets and Delta kicked in, quickly recovering. After standing up be aims at the elf, he sees the elf do this strange gesture. Like he is warning him that something is behind him.

"Ah fuck." He said as he turns around. This sword just passed him, being forced to his rifle as a shield to block this man sword.

Taking a step backward, he moved to the side and tries to aim his rifle at this man. He pulls the trigger but misses the swordsman as he grabs his rifle and pulls it away.

As they both struggle for the rifle, he was forced to let go of his rifle to just barely dodge the sword swing. With this thought, he sees an opening and tackles this swordsman, ramming him into the wall.

After ramming him into the wall, he received a knee jab into the gut, forcing him to loosen up on this swordsman. He was forced to back up to get away from this guy attack range. He pulls out his knife and gets ready to defend himself.

That is when he remembers this strange-looking elf behind him. He adjusts his position and glances back, not wanting to be attacked from behind.

"No, you look at me, Sharpe. You are mine."

Hearing that he looks back to that man and sees that he is staring at Krysist. He readjusts himself to only face him.

"If you beat me, you can go free," Krysist said.

"You're kidding, right? What is the meaning of this? You planned all this out just for me?" He asked, none of that making any sense.

"Of course not, most of it I had to make it up as I go. I had scouts keeping an eye on you, so I knew the proper direction. I elves made a great excuse to drag you back here. You peaked my interested after the attack on Sadera." Krysist said and then charges right at him.

Krysist moved faster than he was expecting and barely had a chance to get out of the way from his blade attack. But with that, Krysist quick reacted and spun around, slashing Sharpe side, going through the Kevlar armor.

He backs up and hits the wall, placing his hand on his side. It is not a lot of blood, his uniform blocked most of the attack. He docks his head as this fist hits the wall where his head was at.

With that, he ignores his wound and grabs Krysist by the arm and side. He then lifts him over his shoulder and swings him down onto the ground.

Once he tossed Krysist onto the ground, he rams his fist into the chest. He then switches hands with his knife and rams it right at Krysist's head, he just dodging the knife attack.

He then receives a kick from Krysist, to distract Sharpe long enough to get back on his feet.

He stands up from being kicked. He sees that this man has control of the fight and he is struggling in taking that away from him.

He dodges backward as the sword swings. That attack was a fake as Krysist grabs the loose parts of his clothing. Seeing that he is now stationary, he takes his knife and tries to jab it right at him.

Krysist grabs that arm by dropping his sword.

They end up in a slight tug of war as they hold onto each other.

As he tries to get control of the situation, he looks directly at Krysist. He can see in this man's reaction that he is enjoying this. Like this fight is just a game to him. He then sees this grin on this man's face.

"What is this? Is this all you got boy? After this, I am going to enjoy ravage your friends." Krysist and takes a breath as the struggle continues. But then he smirks, "I wondering, what it is like to rape an apostle woman but first, I will start with the pretty blue hair…"

Hearing that he takes a step back, allowing Krysist to lean forward. He lets go of Krysist and punches him in the head. He then again and then again while their arms are still holding onto each other with their other arms.

But the Krysist uses his free hand to sneak a nice hard punch right at him. Krysist then hits his hand to the side and lands another punch on his chest. He then spins and trips his one of his legs, using the previous punch momentum to force Sharpe to fall backward.

He falls back but rolls back onto his knees. He quickly jumps back on his feet and blocks another attack. He can gram Krysist arm and toss him away.

Krysist quickly recovers and looks right at Sharpe. Both men stand there breathing heavily, nothing sizing up each other again.

He starts to try to find a way to end this fight. Every time he gets close in landing a final blow, this man finds a way to dodge it. It is clear that he is a skilled fighter, fully knowing what he is doing. This is not some average fighter but someone who has trained in the arts of close quarter combat.

"General!" This voice yells, coming from his side.

He takes a glance to his left to see the new incoming threats. Right when he did that, he realizes that he screwed up and gave Krysist an opening to attack. He glances back but it was too late, he was not able to stop him.

He reserves three hard punches and rams against the wall. He lifts his arm and blocks an attack by Krysist just grams that arm and flips him over, being slammed right into the ground.

Before he could recover, he feels this elbow being rammed right into his chest. Even though his vets would absorb most of the impact, he still feels the impact.

He looks over to his right and sees his knife. He reaches over and tries to grab it but feels Krysist hands grab his helmet. Being forced to look up, he sees this fits rams right into his face and then everything goes black.

---

As Tuka rushes right behind Lelei, she begins to reflect on what is happening. This Human man she trusted turned out that to be the enemy and this other Human man that she did not like turned out to be the true helper.

She felt her world finally fell apart when she found out Hardus was this other man called Krysist, a General of the Empire. And then hearing that this American soldier Sharpe never intended to save her people.

But hearing that the plan has always been for her father to sneak around and save her people. She did not understand what was going on at first but now it makes sense. If he knew he knew that Hardus was working for the Empire, he tried his best to try and find another way to help her people.

She begins to think about the few days she was out with Krysist, sitting by the campfires. He spoke about these Humans from the other world with high degree and respect. She struggles to understand why he said everything he said when he was the enemy leader.

She realizes that she has been rude to him all this time because he did not trust Hardus, or his real name Krysist. Apparently, that was right, and she was wrong, his mistrust was justified.

She suddenly stops and turns around, wanting to ask the Major some questions. That is when she notices there is no one there. "Major?"

She stands there for a moment, waiting to see if he is lagging behind everyone. Still, nothing. She closes her eyes to listen more carefully. All she can hear are voices, nothing out of the normal. Right then, she hears what sounds like cheerings and sounds like some fight. Too far to hear and make sense of it.

She then hears one of the American Humans yells, telling everyone to keep moving.

She turns around. "Mister American Soldier. I cannot find your Major! I think he is lost."

She waits but no one shows up. It seems they are too far away unless she yells but she was strictly told not to yell because that would attract the enemy of their location.

If she continues going, she will see her father again but going back might risk that. She takes a deep breath and decides to go back.

She runs back through the tunnelways, heading back to where she last saw the Major. When she gets close to the last location, she saw him, she can hear what sounds like fighting sounds. It seems like the fight is just wrapping up.

Peaking around the corner and she can see a few soldiers, that man Krysist and this dark elf. Where didn't a dark elf come from? He looks like he is a mage. That is when she looks down and sees Sharpe laying on the ground, blood over his face and his side. This black mark on his vest, like from some kind of magical attack.

"You two, pick him up and take him to the keep. I have a question for him." Krysist said as he patches his right arm.

It is clear that Krysist does intend to take Sharpe as his prisoner. She closes her eyes and begins to chant. This blue dust like energy begins to fly out of her hands and then she directs it to the first two soldiers. Those two soldiers in front of her fall asleep.

Once everyone in the tunnel tub room looks at their two fallen soldiers, she moves out of the tunnelway and aims her bow right at Krysist. "Let him go or I will kill you."

Krysist looks directly at her, unfazed by the threat. Three soldiers begin to rush at her, but he stops them. "Tuka, interesting that you came back. I am going to say this to you. I have no interest in your people. If this man is telling the truth, they are being rescued right now. If you turn around and walk away, no one will chase you and you will see your father and people again. I will not offer this again."

As she stands there, aiming her arrow right at his head. It is a perfect shot however that would not stop everyone else in the room. She was hoping that he would value his life over Sharpe however it seems that he does not. It becomes clear that she does not know him at all, he used her trust to get to someone else.

She admits, she is thinking about the offer. All she wants is to see her father again, her people. After eight long years of terror, there is finally hoped to live in peace again. Just for a moment she thought about accepting the offer but sees his motionless body on the ground. Thought the only reason her people are being freed is because of him and his people.

She looks directly at Krysist, lining up her one shot. Her inaction said everything that she is not going anywhere.

"Interesting," Krysist said more to himself. He is like seeing her defiance as of some piece of some puzzle and he is putting together.

Before she releases her arrow, she hears someone come up right behind her.

"Get down!"

She gets on her knees, she hears these loud muzzle sounds right behind her, forcing her to cover her ears. Looking behind she sees the Rangers standing there, firing their strange metal bows. Looking back, she sees that Dark Elf tackles Krysist and phantomized, which allowed objects to go through him for a limited time. He takes Krysist back to come cover as the Empire soldiers fall dead.

"What was that?" She said, shocked what the Dark Elf just did.

"Alicia, cover!" Randy yells.

"Lets rock!" Alicia answers as she rushes out into the room. She is acting as a distraction as she fires her weapon down this other tunnelway.

She rushes up and goes checks on the Major. She places her hand on his vest and the other on his cheek.

Sharpe lightly moves his head, showing life.

"Mister American, he is alive!" She yells, turning around.

Randy rushes up. "Thank god. Everyone covers fire and pull back!" He yells. He picks Sharpe up over his shoulders and then starts rushing back down the tunnelway.

She grabs Randy rifle and follows right behind him. Looking behind she sees the women warrior Alicia turning around and running down the tunnelway.

She stops herself and aims her bow, pulling back the string with an arrow ready. She waits for Alicia to run pass her and then release her arrow. The arrow flies through the tunnelway and hits this other soldier, knocking him down.

Seeing that, she runs away, following her American friends.

---

Lelei stands there waiting for everyone to come back. Randy told her and Scott to wait here to watch this six o'clock. Something seems to be wrong as both Tuka and Sharpe were missing.

As she stands there, she begins to feel nervous. Her heart is telling her that something is wrong.

"It is all ok kid. They will be right back." Scott said, trying to cheer her up.

She looks over to Scott and nods him.

That is when she hears voices coming. She prepares her staff for battle, not going to let the Empire block this exit. She then hears friendly voices; it sounds like Alicia. She always has a big mouth, being the loudest of the group.

She sees them rush out of this tunnel and charges forward. She notices that he is carrying someone on his back.

Her eyes grow big with the realization that the body is Sharpe.

"Lelei! Destroy the tunnel entrance! Now! Scott, help me!" Randy orders.

As Scott rushes over to help Randy, she walks up and begins to chant. Her staff glows and then she points it to the tunnel entrance. Hearing voices inside the tunnel, she fires a strong blast and closes the tunnel.

After doing that, she turns around and follows everyone else out of this so-called secret path.

As she runs out of the final tunnel part, she can see everyone gathering up. Randy is ordering everyone around which seems weird. Since Lieutenant Johnson is not here, she guesses he must be the next in charge. She is just so used to seeing Sharpe the one in charge, always like a rock.

As she walks closer to the vehicles, she finally can see Rory Mercury. Her eyes are wide open, struggling at the sight of our leader hurt.

"What happens?" Rory asked, staring at Sharpe's body as Randy and Scott loads him in the back of the command vehicle.

"I will explain late Rory, we need to get to the others," Randy said. "Everyone loads up."

"We have contact! What the hell is that?" Alicia said, looking at the tunnel they just came from.

She turns around and sees this Dark Elf coming out of the entrance. This confuses her as she destroyed the entrance. "I destroyed the tunnel, how?"

Hearing that she stairs right at Tuka in complete shock. "That is not possible. How?"

Tuka rushes up by her side. "I saw him do that in the tunnels. I don't know what kind of magic that is."

"Doesn't matter, open fire!" Randy orders. He and all the other Rangers open fire at the Dark Elf.

She looks and watches as the elf phases out and all the bullets go through him.

"How do we stop this?" Scott asked, somewhat freaking out at the sight.

She looks over to Rory as she gets in a fighting stance. She then looks back at the Dark Elf and phases back in and launches this green stay energy blast, destroying one of the JLTVs.

"I need a moment. Rory, be ready to strike." She speaks.

"What? ...fine ok." Rory said and got ready.

She takes a deep breath and walks forward. She places her hand over the top of her staff and begins chanting. All around her she can hear the Rangers firing at the Dark Elf, trying to kill it.

There has been this new spell that she has been working on. It is nowhere near ready for action, but she believes it will work for this type of battle. She has not study phantom magic much only understand that it exists. It was thought to be a lost type of magic, only in legends.

Back on Earth, she learned about many of the great inventions of Benjamin Franklin, mainly electricity. It is the core of Earth technology, one of the most important discoveries while also being enormously powerful.

She opens her eyes and sees this electric shock appearing around her staff. She promised Sharpe that she would not go crazy like before when trying new spells. Not wanting to hurt others because she did not master it yet.

She moves her hand around the orb of her staff and then points it to the Dark Elf. She can see him just noticing her, looking confused about what is happening.

She fires the electric shock, and it hits the Dark Elf phased out the body. It electrifies the body, clearly showing that it is doing damage. While not killing him, it forced the elf to phase back into our world.

"Rory!" She yells, exhausted.

"Ahh!" Rory yells as she flies forward. She slashes the confused Dark Elf, cutting him into three pieces.

Once Rory lands on the ground, she turns around and looks ta the Dark Elf head. She raises her halberd and cuts the elf head off, just out of pure rage.

"Holy shit Lelei. You are flipping crazy. Like crazy good." Scott comments, looking at the body.

"Thank you… now the Major?" She responds, only thinking about her father figure friend.

"She is right. We need to get him to Jerry ASAP. Assuming their mission went better, they should be extracting the elves right now." Randy said. "Everyone loads up now! Scott, place C4 into the destroyed JTLV, I don't want us to leave anything for the Empire."