Please note that Rush's point of view is no longer valid.

Chapter 9: Living On A Prayer

Alex

"H.I.V.E", Somewhere Along The Coast Of Singapore, 0800 hours

"Uhh..."

I struggled to stand up, bearing the pain in my head. My head was already hurting from the knock. Wait a minute—why am I here alive?

I touched my body all over. My body was still intact from all scratches—but how?

Then, I looked down.

Debris of the suit that I was wearing protected me from the explosion, but it certainly did not help in cushioning the knock.

"And she said that it wasn't blast proof." I grinned to myself.

After a few minutes of less painful walking, I was able to walk properly.

I saw a hand sticking out of the rocks. The hand looked familiar.

"Wing's?" I mumbled to myself.

I jogged my way slowly to the hand and touched it. The hand was still very warm, and there was still a pulse, so maybe Wing was down there.

The hand suddenly raised itself and waved.

"Oughhherrr hherr!" The person shouted from below.

I pushed the rubble away from the person quickly. When he came out, he was taking in large chunks of air. The person was... you guessed it.

"Wing!" I exclaimed.

He hauled himself up to the top, and gulped in large chunks of fresh air.

"Fresh air. Finally." Wing monotonously said.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"I'm fine." He insisted. "We have to get to the others as fast as we can."

"Fine with me."

He struggled the first few steps, and then walked perfectly fine afterwards. We found a helicopter at the base of the whole thing, which was actually a river. We got onto it, and tried to start up the helicopter.

"No dice..." Wing muttered.

"Let me try," I offered.

"It's all yours."

I fiddled with the controls a little, and then gave up.

"There is really no dice." I said.

Suddenly, the helicopter emitted a beeping sound.

BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEEEEPPPP!

"Oh no," Wing said.

"Run!" I shouted, pushing Wing to the ground.

My head landed with a thong on the cold, hard floor.

"Huh?" I muttered.

We were still in the helicopter.

"Are we safe now?" Wing asked.

"No we're not. In fact, we're about to die in the helicopter."

I pushed him one final time and he fell into the river, arms working to thread on the water. I quickly took action by looking at the display. One minute left. Just enough. I rushed to fish out my trusty Swiss Army knife. While pulling it out, I examined the display board. As soon as I found my knife, I already knew what to do. I quickly unscrewed the four nuts and uncovered the display. I quickly glanced at the remaining part of the display that held the remaining seconds. Thirteen seconds to go. I examined the inner part and found the wire. I changed the type of tool on my knife and cut the wire.

THEET!

I glanced at the time. Five seconds. I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Hey! What are you doing there!? Come down here!" Wing shouted from below.
"Coming!"

I kept the knife and dived below.

BOOM!!!

I surfaced from the water just to find debris splattering all over.

"Fireworks," Wing grinned.

It was true. The helicopter's explosion made the helicopter look as if it just fired some fireworks on itself. The steaming hot fire blazed as the debris was scattered all over the place. The fire met its end by being put out by a mysterious person.

Who is that?

He came out of the smoke and revealed his tiny invisible face, followed by two other people. Their figures were masculine.

The person in front held up an empty water bottle that's capacity was approximately a litre, and threw it down.

I swam towards it and looked at the bottle.

It said: Property Of V.S.S.E.

I looked up.

We were saved.

. . . . .

"Come, let me help you up."

Rush and company heaved us up as they reached the top of the gigantic rock. It was quite a long distance up, but we still made it nevertheless. A helicopter was parked nearby. We were saved.

"Of course you are," a voice inside my head said.

Huh?

"Alex!" someone shouted into my ear.

"Huh?" I looked up to see the four of them standing in front of me. Their faces carried a worried expression.

"Are you okay?" Giorgio asked.

"I'm fine," I insisted.

We walked towards the helicopter. Voices still rang in my head.

Of course you are...

The voice sounded familiar.

Somewhere in the air over Singapore, 1000 hours

The helicopter's blades cut through the oxygen-deficient air, sending waves of wind down to the buildings below. I overheard that tremors were found near the island coming at fast speed. They were expected to arrive at noon. We had to get out. Fast.

I got up from my white bed, which was now stained from my blood. Apparently, my back had been cut, shot, and bandaged. My head was heavy, making me drowsy. I surveyed my surroundings, only to find that the cabin was empty. I looked further and found some soldiers, each carrying one FRWL. I immediately realised that that was not part of the standard issue of guns for the military.

Oh no.

I tried to sneak out of the bed but one of the "soldiers" caught me.

"Hey you! Why are you moving around!?" one of them commanded.

I cocked my head to him and realised that the person that was talking to me was a Lieutenant.

"Uh... hi?" I replied.

I bent down and reached for the P99 that was on the floor.

"Checkmate!"

I shot the emergency fire extinguisher that was at the back of the helicopter. Everyone took one step back and covered their eyes. In the confusion, I shot the PFC "soldiers", leaving the Majors and Lieutenants standing there blinded. I pulled the trigger. It cocked.

"Shit," I cursed.

Bearing the pain from my back, I reached for the bed. While I was at it, I released the brakes on the rollers.

"Say cheese," I pushed the bed towards the Majors that were staggering at the foam.

They were pushed out of the exit with the bed, sending the interior into havoc. Three Lieutenants were still at one side, now concentrating on the exit door.

"What the hell are you doing!? Are you trying to get us killed!?" one of them shouted over the noise of the helicopter.

"How did you know?" I retorted.

Glancing at the two knives that was on the operating table, I picked them both up, throwing the knife on my left hand to the Lieutenant who said WTH (guess what that means). He fell out of the helicopter, plunging to his death.

I decided to go close range for the second one. I walked briskly towards him and slashed his upper part of his arm followed by the lower arm, almost making it cut off completely.

"AHHH!!!" he screamed in pain. He fell down to the small island down there.

I closed the door.

"You my friend," I said to the last Lieutenant. "This is the luckiest day of your life."

I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the cockpit. The cockpit was suitable for four persons, but only three people were inside.

"You three. I'm surprised," I sarcastically said.

"That's right," Evan replied.

"Go and die."

I took Giorgio's gun and shot Giorgio and Evan.

"Rush!" I shouted.

He turned around.

Bad move.

Once he did that, he would be dead.

Well, he is now.

I checked all of their pulses. No sign of heartbeats.

I turned to the Lieutenant. He seemed shocked to see an injured person killing so many people. But hey, you don't see that every day, right?

"Get up. I have some unfinished business with you," I commanded.

He gulped.

. . . . .

Unknown Off-Radar Singapore Base, 1100 hours

The helicopter landed on the soft ground, slicing some parts of the Singapore base. The place that I was landing the helicopter was not an actual helipad, but it was better than landing four miles away, right?

The force field that was covering the base was extended to a whopping four miles radius, making anything electronic—BOOM!

If you're thinking about how I got inside with the helicopter—

Don't ask.

I got out of the helicopter and sprinted to the entrance to the hostage tower.

The door slammed onto a guard's face, knocking him out.

I ran further up the stairs, scanning for any casualties or guards.

Suddenly, a guard grabbed my neck.

"Arghhh!" I shouted.

He strangled me with his humongous hand while interrogating me.

"Why are you here!?" He interrogated.

I kept quiet.

"Why!?" He said once more.

Hey, I feel something.

"I'm gonna ask you one more time, buddy. Why are you—"

PLONG!

The plank of wood hit his head.

"Ow!" He staggered back and let go of my neck.

Ah, fresh air.

"Oof!" I landed on the ground.

The man held his head, bearing the pain of the chunk of wood that was just knocked on him.

I got up, still bearing the pain in my windpipe. Just thinking about it makes me—

OW!

I looked up to find chunks of metal falling from the roof. I had to get to the others. Fast.

I punched the man's face, making it bleed. Grabbing his collar, I kneed his stomach and broke his nose.

"Argh!" He yelped in pain.

Letting go of his collar, I dealt one last uppercut to his chin. He flew back, knocking onto a wall.

Or was it?

The "wall" broke into pieces only to reveal an enclosed room.

"Shortcut. Hee hee," I murmured to myself.

I sprinted inside. It was an empty room with many chemicals inside. I surveyed the room. There were many biohazard signs in the room. Although it looked faded, it looked as if it was authenticated by a Singaporean government. I took one last look, only to find a door with a sign: AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY!

"Jackpot." I murmured.

I slowly opened the door, making it creak.

"Yo."

I fully opened the door only to find Chris, Tom, The Contessa, Laura, Artemis and Otto. Wait. Shouldn't there be one more person?

Wing!

"Untie us. I've had a long day," Artemis said.

"Well, I've had one too," Chris said.

I found a button on the wall.

Closing the door, I said, "Don't worry. I'll all be over. Soon."