[10] End Game

[Kaden]

Gunshots and explosions aside, it was eerie to travel back through the town. Unlike Olde Town, which had been empty from the beginning, Kaden could had seen the underground city when people had been buzzing about. As they passed back through, however, the only people present were those under Kai's command. Maybe they were all under Kai's command, though. Maybe things had only been set-up to look like a city. It was becoming difficult to tell.

Ahead of the courier, Trisha and Oliver continued to lead onward -- or "take point" as Jackson had called it -- and behind the courier, Rosemary and Jackson himself were supporting and watching the rooftops. Kaden, quite literally, was simply walking along inbetween everyone else. It wasn't that the courier didn't want to help, he simply wasn't sure how. Every time he thought he saw a bad guy, someone else would take them down first. Rosemary's attacks were just as accurate and even stronger than his own would be and the ex-soldiers of the group had decades of experience that made it seem like they shared Kaden's sixth sense.

With no real role to fill -- at least in a group of people who were stronger, faster, and more experienced than he was -- Kaden had time to just sort of look around. And look after Champ, though sometimes it seemed as though the dog was actually looking after him.

As they moved down the main-street, they passed the hotel in which Kaden had cleaned up and rested. They passed the restaurant where he and Ashe and Sage and Sophia and Piper had gotten some food and relaxed -- some relaxed a little more than others. Though it had been a relatively happy scene, it had segued into something less comfortable for the courier.

----

"Hey," the courier waved to his ally. "Piper!"

The medic turned towards the voice, stopping as she did. She had been about to enter the hotel's elevator and get some rest. Sophia had already taken Sage to her room, and Ashe had been pretty close behind. Fortunately for Kaden, Piper had just missed the elevator doors closing and was just waiting in the lobby.

"What's up, Kaden?" she asked as the courier approached.

"I was... y'know... wondering if you were, like, alright?" Even intoxicated, Kaden winced at his eloquence.

"Am I alright? Really?" the medic shook her head and feigned a laugh.

"I mean... obviously you're probably not alright. None of us are is my guess." The courier shrugged. "Not really. But, no, I just meant... you seemed kind of off in the restaurant is all."

"Oh?" Piper turned her attention from Kaden toward the lit elevator button. "Did someone say something?"

"What? No. I mean, well, I'm saying something now, but..." Kaden laughed as his voice trailed off. "I can be pretty perceptive is all. You just didn't seem like yourself."

"And you know how I should seem?" Piper's voice was unusually harsh.

"Probably not," Kaden replied with a sigh. "But I do know that if something's wrong it helps to have someone you can talk to about it. I just, wanted to let you know that I can be that someone." Kaden flashed a smile as Piper turned towards him. "That's all."

"I..." Piper frowned, though it didn't seem directed at Kaden. "Thanks, Kaden."


---

Instead of uncomfortable conversations, though, the hotel was now host to a swarm of bad-guys carrying uncomfortable-looking weapons. Kaden tried to estimate how many people Kai had working for him on that tiny island, but it seemed like they simply never ended. If the man could engineer a mall full of zombies, an unending horde of faithful soldiers didn't seem very far fetched.

"We're almost out," came Jackson voice from behind Kaden.

True enough, sunlight filtered into the underground city as the quintet continued fighting through the city. Unfortunately for all of them, the massive slab of stone that was the door to the city began sliding back into place. Before any of them could make it out, they once against found themselves trapped. Kaden let out a slow sigh as he watched the door settle into place.

"Well fuck..."