After 10 minutes or so, a rough plan of action had been thrown together to get everyone out of the compound safely. Seeing as somehow nobody in the compound seemed to be aware of what had happened yet, they were going to simply reverse the process of getting in as best they could, and adapt on the fly if needed. Zerath helped them all into the now empty crates and did their best to cover them, as only a couple of the crates had the false lids. This mostly went without any issues until it was Whittaker’s turn to squeeze into a crate.

“There is no way im going to be able to squash myself into one of these things! Look!” Whitt attempted to sit down and swiftly found that their shoulders indeed caught the edges. “See, I told you.”

Alex rubbed at his face wearily, the fact they could be caught at any moment preying heavily on his mind. “Whitt, it’s only got to be for a short while. Can you not just scrunch up a bit?” Alex mimed pulling himself into a tight little ball.

With a hurt look on their face, Whittaker copied Alex and found that they juuuuuust managed to pull their shoulders inside the box. Zareth capitalised on this and quickly shoved the crate lid on, clipping the top of Whitt’s head in the process. “Hey, not cool!”

The others quickly got themselves situated, and Zareth rolled the cart back out of Gaet’s chamber towards the front of the building. There were still no guards in the hallways, which was unusual. “Alex, something really doesn’t feel right about this… There are no sentries or patrols anywhere. This seems too easy…” Zareth hissed through the crate.

Alex agreed with them. This all felt like it was just too much to be a coincidence. “You aren’t wrong. We can’t go back to your shop, it's too easy for them to let us ‘escape’ and then ambush us there. We will need another location to recover.”

“But all of my tools and supplies are in my shop. I won’t be able to make any repairs or be of any help without them…”

Alex thought for a second. “Wasn’t Gaet your trainer here? I assume that means they had a workshop of their own that you had access to? Can’t you just… steal that stuff?”

Zareth stifled a groan. “I suppose I can. I’ll take us out that route and clear it out. It’s not they’re gonna miss the stuff now, is it.”

Alex felt the cart stop and lurch tightly around a corner, throwing them all against the sides of their crates, leading to a multitude of hastily stifled curses. Abruptly they stopped, and Alex could hear Zerath making small-talk with someone.

“...sent me to grab a spare… Yeah, mine got damaged in the move and Gaet said I could use theirs until… Thank you, yes I still have my key and will lock up once I’m done inside.”

Alex barely breathed the entire time this conversation was taking place, afraid that even his breathing could give away the ruse. He heard the sounds of someone walking past the cart and heading away from them, and breathed a deep sigh of relief. A minute or two later there was a clanging sound as items were dumped unceremoniously onto the cart.

“That was too close Alex. Luckily I know that guard fairly well and I don’t think they suspected anything was off, but we need to get out of here right now!” Zerath rushed, and Alex could hear their voice breaking under the stress.

“We will be. Head out now and get us loaded onto a cart. Then take us to anywhere you think will be empty.” Alex replied, trying to keep them from freaking out.

The cart started moving again, and after another 5 minutes Alex felt the cart start to pitch forward as it went down the ramp at the front of the building. Again he heard Zerath shouting to someone, but was unable to make out the words this time. He assumed it was to get the crates loaded onto a transport. Making sure to hold very still, Alex waited. The seconds stretched into what felt like hours until he felt his crate lifted into the air before being put down again a few seconds later. He felt and heard the others being placed around him, then some more shouting off to his right. Unable to do anything, Alex sat readying himself to spring free from his hiding place should anything untoward happen. A light tapping on his box made him jump before he heard a very light whisper.

“We are being escorted back to my shop. They’ve never escorted me before, so this basically confirms it’s a trap. There will be 2 guards accompanying the transporter. I don’t know what to do…” Alex heard the fear and panic in Zerath’s voice, and kept his response measured.

“That’s fine. When we get out of sight of the main building, reach back and tap on my crate if you can. We take out the guards and use the transport to get us somewhere safe.” Alex threw together a hasty plan of action. It would NOT be okay to allow their transport to bring them right into the jaws of the trap. He heard another couple of taps and could only assume this was Zerath acknowledging whilst being observed.

“Yep, crates are all secure back there so we should be okay to head off Captain.” Shit. Captain. Alex let out a silent scream at hearing it was someone higher up than just a guard who was overseeing the transport. Seems like the difficulty of his plan just took a little spike, but theoretically remained unchanged.

The transport got underway, the sound of the wheels crunching over the cobbles reverberating up into the confines of the crate. Alex checked to see if Chronos had lifted the Realm restriction yet and saw that the bastard still had him on lockdown. Looks like he would need to rely on his other skills this time.

After what felt like an eternity, Alex heard a quick tap on his crate and heard Zerath saying something to one of their escorts. “That bump looks like it dislodged a crate, I need to get back there and make sure my work isn’t damaged!”

Showtime! Alex felt the transport slowly grind to a halt, and he slowly pried open the top of his crate to get a better look. He could see the two escorts sharing an annoyed glance at the stop, and one of them was wearing far better looking gear with an evil looking hammer strapped to their back. He assumed that was the Captain. The other guard looked like all the others Alex had seen so far. He inspected both to see what levels he was dealing with.

Fridigian Soldier lvl 74

Fridigian Captain lvl 110

Alex winced a little. Without his time skills active, fighting both of these Fridigians was going to be tough. The soldier needed to be hit hard and fast so that the Captain could be taken on their own. Zerath caught his eye and gave a helpless shrug. They headed to Alex’s crate. “Zerath, tell the others what’s happening. It will need all of us to take out the captain, but I should hopefully be able to shock and awe the soldier.” He whispered, before waving Zerath on to get the others alert.

The captain looked back at Zerath, “Get a move on! How long does it take to check on your crates?”

Zerath visibly flinched, and Alex saw the captain’s eyes narrow slightly. Bollocks, guess it was go time. Alex jumped up with a yell and leapt over the side of the back of the transport, needing to get in contact with the ground to utilise his skills better. He quickly activated his passives, and grabbed his weapons off his back. All of this happened so fast that the soldier was barely able to follow his movements. The captain was a different story, and had already jumped down from their seat and wielded their hammer in a double-handed grip. Alex really didn’t want to engage the Captain solo, but couldn’t see a way to get passed them to take out the soldier. Unsure if his Earthshape skill would be quick enough to be used offensively, he instead took off away from the transport, hoping to draw the escorts away and let his friends get set up.

As he ran, Alex started forming his little rock bullets and letting them hover around his shoulders. Looking behind him, he saw that the Captain was hounding his heels, but the soldier was falling a little behind. Perfect. Veering down an alleyway, Alex ran down until he heard the Captain run in behind him. He quickly lowered his weight and jumped to the roof and set about blocking one end, using his stored rock bullets to instead create a quick wall at the alley entrance, effectively blocking the Captain in for a short while. Sprinting back the way he came, he kept pouring energy into reinforcing the walls, and funneling his Rock Armour into turning his BucklAxes into viciously serrated versions. He reached the edge of the roof and spotted the Soldier just ahead of him, staring at the constantly growing wall where the alley should be. With a roar, Alex leapt from the roof and made himself lighter to gain some extra height before tripling his weight and plummeting like a comet straight at the soldier. With all of his new strength Alex swung the weapons, adding his own power into the huge amount of force his maneuver had generated. His weapons sunk into the soldier like a hot blade through butter. One hit their neck and shoulder area, cleaving straight down through the muscle and bone. The other had been aimed at the soldiers helmeted head. This one was deflected and instead left a deep laceration straight down their face and came to rest in the chestplate. The rest of Alex’s momentum bore them both to the ground, so Alex started laying into the Soldier with abandon. The soldier tried to bring an arm up to stop the blows raining down on them, but Alex simply hacked straight through the limb and buried his axe in the soldiers exposed face.

Then the ground and the sky swapped places as Alex felt an enormous smash hit him from the side. He felt his ribs creak and snap as the flesh on that side was pulped by the force of the blindside. He had been so focused on the Soldier, he hadn’t kept up on reinforcing the barrier keeping the Captain at bay. He felt himself soar through the air for a good distance before his progress was rudely impeded by another building. That one attack had left his HP teetering dangerously low, but he couldn’t focus enough to bring up his HuD and check. He couldn’t even make himself move, and so he just stayed stuck in the wall groaning.

The Captain looked down at their soldier and let out a sad sigh. The Outsider had completely outmatched them, because no amount of military training could account for the skills and abilities the Outsider had displayed. He was supposed to be a low level, having only been in the Frigid Realm for a few short days, but this was not what the Council had told the Captain to expect. No matter, that attack had sent the stupid fool flying, and probably outright killed him. The Captain looked over to where Alex’s body was still hanging from the hole in the wall, blood dripping from his mouth. Wait! He was still alive? The Captain ran over and grabbed Alex by the throat, and pulled him free of the wall.

“You fucking parasite! How did you survive that attack?!” The Captain screamed, spittle flying and hitting Alex in the face.

Alex coughed, and tried to speak, but all that came was a frothing of blood. Alex kept coughing, spraying the Captain’s face and chest with flecks until his airways cleared enough. “Be...cause I’m… awesome…” and he flashed the Captain a giant shit-eating grin, teeth stained red with his own blood.

The Captain’s face was priceless. They had expected Alex to be scared, but here he was grinning crazily despite his obvious horrific injuries. Re-evaluating killing him, the Captain instead decided it was imperative that the Council have the Outsider alive to study what had made him so powerful so quickly. If their forces could be trained this quickly, it would be able to change everything about how their forces operate!

Still holding Alex by his throat, the Captain made their way back towards where they had left the transport. They fully expected the cowardly Zerath to have fled using it, so when they turned the corner and saw that it was still there it was a genuine shock. There were no signs of Zerath, as was to be expected, but the crates had been ripped from the bed of the transport and were lain in pieces on the ground.

The Captain advanced carefully, eyes scanning constantly for any signs of an ambush. Alex was still dangling from their outstretched hand, and luckily for him the Captain wasn’t paying him much attention, having assumed he was helpless after the attack. This was far from the truth, as Alex’s regen had already healed him for most of the damage and he was now jut waiting for the time to strike. He didn’t have to wait long.

As the Captain drew level with the transport, Whittaker appeared in a blur and swung rapidly at the arm holding Alex. Nieve and Eira rushed around the side of a nearby building and launched themselves into the fray. All 3 of them assumed Alex was actually injured and this fury fueled their attacks. The Captain barely flinched at the combined attack, their level far surpassing Alex’s friends, easily blocking their combined blows with a single hand as Alex was still clutched in the other.

“Come now, surely you don’t actually think this clumsy assault poses a threat to me, do you? Look at your friend here,” They jostled Alex to make their point, “He fell after just one blow from my hammer.”

Alex acted then, slamming his fist directly into the Captain’s nose with the full might of his combined skills. Rockflesh coated his hand, he had pumped his muscles with the warming might of fire despite still not having a formal skill for that, and at the exact moment of contact Alex increased the weight of his whole arm to 10x its normal. Aimed at such a delicate area the impact was spectacular. The Captain had been caught completely unawares by the cheap shot, and didn’t even have a chance to flinch to lessen the damage. Their nose exploded in a fountain of blood and viscera as Alex’s fist fractured the entire front of their skull. The force of the punch sent the pair tumbling to the ground, Alex still gripped in the Captain’s hand.

There was a moment of stunned silence before Nieve leapt over the prone Captain and started trying to prise open their hand which was now closing around Alex’s neck.

“Whittaker, Eira stop just standing there and help me free Alex! Before this asshole comes to properly!”

Snapped from their reverie they jumped to follow Nieve’s orders, each taking a solid grip on the offending limb and wrenching hard. Alex finally tumbled free and pushed himself up whilst trying to take a few trembling gasps of air.

“Phew… thanks for that. Asshole has a grip like a vice!” He managed to wheeze after a few deep breaths. Alex watched as the Captain spat a mouthful of blood and leapt to their feet. “For fuck sakes, can’t you just stay down?!”

The Captain let out a dark laugh and wiped their face. “Stay down after a little tap like that? I’ve been hit harder by rookies in training you arrogant little shit! This has barely even warmed me up!” Reaching over their shoulder, the Captain again pulled free the massive hammer and swung it around easily. “My men should be arriving here shortly, as they were instructed to if we didn’t arrive at the ambush point. Until then, let’s see if you can keep up.”

And with that they seemed to vanish, before suddenly reappearing behind Whittaker and swinging at their head. Whittaker raised an arm and batted the blow slightly off course, turning the crushing blow into a grazing one. It still had enough power behind it to spin Whitt and dislocate their shoulder, but was better than the alternative.

Alex watched as within the span of a few breaths the Captain laid his friends low. They held back from outright killing, but after the blazing display Whitt, Nieve and Eira lay crumpled in a heap at their feet.

“Well, Outsider? Aren’t you going to do something to stop me? Or was that little punch all you had?” The Captain mocked, feeling themself far above anything Alex could respond with.

Alex kept his poker face, but inwardly he was screaming. There was no way he could hope to defeat them. Sure he had taken out Not-Gaet, but that was with Chronos allowing him full access to their power and Gaet hadn’t been half as skilled at real combat as the Captain appeared to be. Now? He wouldn’t stand a chance. And with backup apparently on it’s way, he had no idea what to do. “Let them go! I’ll do whatever you want!” He screamed.

“You will anyway, idiot. Why would I leave them alive? You have nothing to bargain with.” The Captain smirked.

Alex formed a spike with Rockflesh and pressed it to his throat. “You obviously want me alive, so if you won’t let them go there’s no way I’m letting you have me!”

The Captain raised an eyebrow, “Impressive Outsider, but do you really have the guts to kill yourself? Would you really be able to do it fast enough to stop me from restraining you, I wonder? I doubt it.”

Alex pressed the spike in harder, causing a rivulet of blood to begin flowing down his neck. Chronos you arsehole, give me back at least some access! I’ll pay whatever tithe you want, just let me save my friends!

You should be careful what promises you make to me Alex. Especially when you insult me in the same instant. You get one activation, however long it lasts you. After that, my Realm’s powers are locked until you come here and assist as we spoke about earlier. Good luck, make it entertaining won’t you?

Alex felt his connection flow with Chronos’ power briefly before closing off again. Fine, one activation with his current health and regen gave him a drain of just 20hp/s. That meant he had a little over a minute of Time Stop to play with. He could try and fight the Captain, but if he couldn’t deal enough damage before the skill ran out, he would be done for. That left escaping. But how could he escape with his friends, as he refused to leave anyone behind again.

Alex triggered the skill, and ran over to his friends. With his increased stats, he was easily able to throw Eira and Nieve over his shoulders and sprint over to the transporter. HE dumped them both in the back and ran over to grab Whittaker. Eyeing his health, he estimated he had a little over 40 seconds left. He hoisted Whitt into a fireman’s carry and ran back to where he’d placed the other 2. Dropping Whitt, Alex looked around for Zerath and Yas, spotting them peeking from behind the corner of the same building Nieve and Eira had come from behind. Luckily that building was up the road in the same direction that the transporter was facing. Alex jumped into the driver’s seat and just hoped his skill allowed whatever he touched to work. He slammed his foot to the floor and after a moment, the vehicle began to creep forward like it was driving through tar. Agonising moments passed until he drew level with where Yas and Zerath were hiding, the inevitable headache pressing behind his eyes as his HP bar began to bottom out.

Cancelling the skill, Alex screamed “Jump in NOW!!!” before turning to look back to where the Captain was now looking around in shock. He had maybe a few more seconds before the Captain gathered his wits and started chasing them. “FUCKING GET IN!!” He yelled a second time as the pair ran the few short steps. Yas hopped in the back and Zerath climbed beside Alex to give directions. Alex kept his foot fully planted and the vehicle began to accelerate quickly.

“Where are we going Zer?” Alex asked, again glancing back behind them. The Captain had now zeroed in on the rapidly departing transporter and was beginning to give chase on foot. Alex didn’t like their odds, the Captain had been ludicrously fast.

Zerath was also looking behind them and came to the same conclusion. “We won’t straight up outrun them, so our only chance is to try and shake them. Take the next left under the bridge. The path is narrow as it’s not designed for vehicles, so be careful!”

Alex nearly missed the tiny turning, and wrenched the wheel to the left bringing the transporter into a slide as the heavy rear lost grip. The back slammed into the side of the building that lined the alley, but managed to make the turn. Alex saw the bridge ahead, and grateful for the amount of driving games he had played, he kept going at top speed as the pathway narrowed to just wider than the width of the vehicle. Rocketing under the bridge and out the other side, Alex saw they were now in some sort of public park. “Where now??”

Zerath was watching behind them for the Captain who was running flat out and had just turned into the alleyway. “Keep going straight up that hill, don’t let off the accelerator. It will jump us out of the park… hopefully…”

“Hopefully? Fuck Zer, bad time to rely on fucking HOPEFULLY!” Alex yelled hysterically.

“It will work, it has to…"

Alex forced the transporter to eke every single bit of speed from its engine as he hit the crest of the hill. They took off and soared through the air towards a boundary wall. They weren’t going to make it.