Maite gave a panicked glance at Kepa. “What now?”

Kepa shrugged, as he looked back up at the woman floating above them. “Ez dakit! I don’t know!”

“Hemen!” They heard a voice whisper from one of the buildings next to them. A door had opened seemingly from nowhere. “Here! Hurry!”

Kepa nodded as he and Maite rushed toward the opening. The woman above them fired her weapon, a bolt of energy roaring forth. Kepa smelled the ionized air around him as the blast flew over his head. He and Maite stopped in their tracks.

“That was a warning,” bellowed the woman above them. “The next one won’t be.”

Before Kepa and Maite could respond, another blast of energy came from behind the woman. Cursing, she turned her head to see where it had come from. Maite and Kepa seized the moment and took off for the open door.

“Arraioa!” cried the woman. “Damnit!” She fired again, hitting Kepa in the leg as he stumbled through the doorway. It closed behind them with a small click. They could hear another blast hit the wall where the door should have been.

Kepa and Maite found themselves in a dark room, with barely enough light to see their own shadowy forms. 

“She isn’t going to give up,” said a voice in the corner, the one that had called out to them in the street. It was nondescript. Kepa couldn’t tell if it belonged to a man or woman.  “And she’ll already be calling for backup. Come, before they find a way in.”

The shadowy figure belonging to the voice started scurrying down a long corridor. Kepa tried to stand, but collapsed to the floor.

“My leg…” he began in a panic. “It won’t move.”

The figure came to his side and picked him up, placing its arm around his side. “Don’t worry, it’s just stunned. Your leg will be back to normal shortly. But we have to get out of here.”

The figure half dragged Kepa down the corridor, Maite following right behind. They turned left and then right, passing other forks of the corridor until Maite was completely confused. She knew she wouldn’t be able to find her way back.

They came to a hole in the floor with a ladder leading down.

“He’s hurt, his leg is stunned,” said the figure into the darkness.

“We have him,” replied a gruff male voice. Rough hands grabbed Kepa’s hips as he made his way down the ladder, his left leg dangling uselessly from its socket.

The figure, one hand holding the top of the ladder and the other resting in the small of Maite’s back, gently nudged her forward. “Your turn.”

Maite paused, turning to the figure. “Eskerrik asko,” she said. 

The figure stiffened. “Just doing my job,” it replied as she pushed Maite with a little more force down the ladder.

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