NOVEL FROG Chapter 99: The Pressure
The Heartaches greeted the antipunks at the furnace room with a surprise attack, letting Cookie take the first move as he dropped all the raw steel that the crane was carrying right on top of the first antipunks that walked through the left gate. It only seemed to knock a few enemies out, but it served as a sturdy barrier to block their path momentarily, as well as a great distraction for the Heartaches to coordinate their attacks while they were still unnoticed. They jumped off the catwalks on each side of the room to drop on the first wave of antipunks, delivering quick blows to those that approached the stairs before returning to their high ground before they exposed themselves for too long.
Repeating this strategy in rapid succession, the Heartaches started killing any antipunk that dared to enter the room. But after a few successful attacks, the enemy began to catch on to their moves and scattered to flank the furnaces. Soon enough, the antipunks were running in all directions in an attempt to reach the stairs at the back of the room to get up to the catwalks. Even though they were too slow to defend themselves from the Heartaches, the latter had too much ground to cover and chose not to keep jumping off to hold their ground. But as they were now busier with the antipunk flankers, their attention was diverted from the main squad, Trash, who slowly approached through the center to watch the Heartaches get overwhelmed.
Luckily, as the antipunks started flooding into the room, they could do very little to reach the Heartaches from ground level, especially when they were now taking cover above the furnaces and the higher levels of the catwalks. The only way up was through the stairs at both ends of the room, so the antipunks with melee weapons wasted some time looping around to flank, all while the ones with guns, or those brave enough to climb the furnaces, were about to be met with an unstoppable force in the form of a large shield and even bigger machine gun.
As soon as the Heartaches stopped dropping from above, Panda had a clear shot at the incoming antipunks, and he didn’t hesitate to gun down every enemy in his sight. He locked his sights on the center, where most of them were coming from, but his heavy gunfire prompted the enemy to stick to the sides to avoid getting shot, trying to squeeze past the furnaces to reach the stairs. They could advance very little without getting burned by the dripping buckets of molten metal hanging above, but their target wasn’t the catwalks anymore; it was closing in on Panda since he was too focused on shooting in front.
Cookie stayed at the crane to get a good view of the action and see which spot of the room was the most vulnerable to the antipunks. He first focused on the stairs next to the gate they were coming from, where he kept jumping from side to side to get the drop on the enemy whenever the Heartaches had a hard time hitting them. However, he restrained himself from attacking too often to not be spotted, choosing to support the Heartaches when needed or keep an eye on Trash.
While the enemy didn’t seem to notice him, he soon found himself doing nothing to help the team as the Heartaches fell back a little, leaving his range to provide support. But it wasn't until he saw a couple of antipunks flanking him through the narrow spots between the furnaces and the walls that he got on the move once again. Almost instantly, he found something useful to do as he looked over at the cranes on both sides, the ones right above the catwalks, noticing that the buckets of molten metal could be moved as well, only that he would need something else to push them to not get burned.
With the Heartaches busy holding out on the catwalks as seemingly every antipunk that entered the room went straight upstairs, Panda making sure to take out all the armed enemies to cover for the young warriors, and Trash hiding after seeing him blocking their way, the rookies and Saint could only watch and stay alert in case the enemy flanked them. They hid a few feet behind the boilers, next to the shutters, with Ace and Chappy keeping an eye behind to check for the rest of the army and their inevitable arrival. But as they noticed that some antipunks were making their way through the sides of the room, they tried to warn Panda, but to no avail.
The constant and loud gunfire prevented Panda from hearing a single thing, and after spotting Savage and Ruin taking a peek in the distance, he was too focused on the front that he didn’t realize the imminent danger he was in. But just when it looked like the enemies could get close enough to take him out, or at least corner him, someone else came to help and take some of the antipunks out before they could shoot at Panda. It was Cookie who first jumped to grab the ledge of the second floor of the catwalk above him, pulling himself up to reach two of the spare chains with hooks hanging from the ceiling before dropping to the main crane again.
First, he created some momentum by swinging the hook of the crane a couple of times to make his way across the room to reach Panda and the rookies’ side. But as he was slowly building up speed and getting closer, he took a brief moment to spot all the enemies flanking, which were surprisingly less than the ones still idiotically trying to push through the center. He couldn’t see the main antipunk squad anymore, but that was the least of his worries now because all the Heartaches were starting to fall back even more. He was now jumping up to the third floor of the catwalks to stay far away from the antipunks and avoid getting shot.
Some were apparently already hurt, as Ignatius and Nolyn were both limping and groaning in pain while taking cover behind their teammates. But even Kayden, Agnus, and Zayn, who were by far the most skilled of the team, were struggling to keep the group together and continue delivering hasty strikes. They were losing the advantage, not only the higher ground but their speed, giving in to the pressure as the antipunks were gaining leverage to not only attack them but shoot Panda from above. While it looked like they were safe on the highest floor, the Heartaches didn’t seem to have a plan to get down again, and even if they did, the antipunks were closing in on Panda, so they would quickly overwhelm them at ground level. Still, they were willing to risk it and prepared to jump off until Cookie decided to make his move.
–Stay there! Don’t come down!– Cookie shouted at the Heartaches, who looked over at him in confusion but didn’t have time to figure out what he had in mind as they were getting cornered by some of the antipunks coming to their level. They began panicking now that not even the catwalk was secured, and with the antipunks shooting at them from right below, they hugged the wall on both sides and waited until the gunfire abruptly stopped right as Cookie let out a loud battle cry.
–Burn you rats!!!– Cookie shouted with vigor as he made his way across the room with the main crane, but from each side, he attached the chains he snatched to hook the two other cranes, pulling the buckets above each furnace with them. While it wasn’t as swift as he probably expected, and he wasn’t even applying enough force to move much, the crane pulled the others inconsistently, causing the buckets to tilt from side to side exponentially, swinging more every time. It ended up playing to his favor, as instead of pouring all the molten metal to the ground right away, it sprinkled a bit of it all over the room, gradually covering the two sides of the room with hot lava.
Cookie continued screaming to gather the strength to keep pushing the crane, allowing the buckets to sprinkle more of their contents over the two first catwalk floors. His shrieks started blending with the enemy’s as the antipunks began writhing in pain after being splashed with lava. Since the buckets had much to give, it kept raining hot liquid for seconds, giving the antipunks no chance to escape. They took a moment to react, but even when they began running, they couldn’t make it back to safety with their main squad in time. The result was dozens of panicked soldiers dropping their weapons to run as fast as possible, only to get stuck between the furnaces or slip on the catwalks while trying not to get hit.
Some were killed almost immediately after large drops landed on their heads, while others weren’t so lucky as they resorted to desperate measures to save themselves. Almost all of the antipunks on the catwalks decided to jump out of the way to not get burned, leaping off the platforms and trying to make it to the center, but they seemed to have forgotten the furnaces waiting right below them, where more melted to death like that first unlucky victim.
Even the ones that made it past the furnaces weren’t safe either since the furnaces began overflowing, adding more lava to the one already pouring on the floor. The room began flooding, forcing all the antipunks to retreat immediately, but also burning and melting everything touching the ground, including the base of the catwalk. The few that were still running were caught by Panda’s bullets, though even he panicked a little when Cookie continued pulling the buckets towards him.
Without a clear way to go, the Heartaches were also in trouble, trapped on the last floor of the catwalk as it began collapsing. They couldn’t jump to the ground, as evidenced by the antipunks that they watched run to a dead end as the lava caught up to them, and despite the platforms they were standing on melting, they ran to the back of the room, waiting for Cookie to stop as he blocked their way with the raining lava. He was maniacally laughing as he incinerated all the enemies in the room, looking back on the path of destruction he left one last time before stopping and jumping off the crane, as he only made two-thirds of the way across the room before the buckets ran out.
He prevented his teammates from being killed as well, but there was still some space for the antipunks to make their way over to them, at least through the middle, since the ground wasn’t completely flooded yet. However, it didn’t look like the enemy was daring enough to make their way across, at least for a while, since the room was now filled with smoke from all the burning bodies and metal. Instead, the Heartaches jumped off the main crane and regrouped with EchoForce, right as Cookie stepped to the edge of the lava pool he created to admire his work.
They all looked at him like a savior, but their praises were cut short by the sight of Trash appearing on the other side, accompanied by another large group of antipunks. More enemies were coming, and it was as if the team hadn’t made any progress by killing all the previous ones. But now that they could only come through the middle path between the overflowing furnaces, the antipunks would have to wait for a while until they got a shot to fight again, though the team wasn’t going to wait for them and took the little time they had to figure out how to escape.
–We have to leave. We can’t fight here anymore…– Saint suggested in concern but hesitantly because only the rookies were hearing him, and while they agreed with him, they didn’t seem to have much hope for a way out.
–But they are coming from the entrance as well!– Ace exclaimed in desperation, with Chappy panicking as well but finding comfort when Cookie approached nonchalantly and seemed to have a plan in mind.
–It’s okay, we can hold out until we find another way out…– Cookie replied confidently but vaguely enough to leave the rookies confused. However, they then noticed that Panda whispered something to him while the Heartaches recovered, and after staring at the boilers on both sides next to them, Cookie grabbed Panda’s machine gun to reload it for him.
–Grab all that scrap and try to block both hallways. We’ll get out of here soon enough!– Panda ordered as he reached for the pile of raw steel at the center before turning to his squad and the Heartaches to hand the materials to them. They were all hesitant, but with him grabbing his gun again to keep shooting at Trash to buy more time, the rookies and Heartaches began grabbing everything they could from the pit connected to the conveyor belt from the room behind and bringing it to the hallways.
The rookies carried most of the weight, as it looked like half of the Heartaches were injured, either with cuts, bruises, or burns. They could still run but didn’t have the strength to carry the heavier pieces, and although Chappy, Ace, and Zoey weren’t capable as well, Saint and Shade provided enough muscle for them to carry a good amount of metal sheets and small boulders. Both squads split, with the Heartaches taking the left hallway with the window and the rookies going to the one with the diner next to it. Faye once again looked out the window to see that they were indeed being surrounded, but she couldn’t help but notice that the enemy’s formation was quite different now.
It seemed like most of the enemies outside were making sure the team couldn’t escape, as a large portion of them could be seen approaching the front of the factory, right where they came from. However, the antipunks hadn’t made their way to the hallways just yet, so the team had some time to set up a few barricades right at the corridor connecting to the entrance. The rookies noticed they could hide at the diner, but when they went to check for the emergency exit, they were met with the entire side of the quarry filled with antipunks, who were making their way to the front as well.
–I don’t think this is going to work…– Zoey muttered as she nervously tried to build a steel wall with Chappy and Shade while Ace brought more materials. Despite being able to work fast, it was clear that she was giving up hope like the rest of her friends, so Saint had to step up to inspire some hope after bringing the last batch of scrap.
–Don’t worry, we are going to draw them in and hold out as much as possible to then escape…– Saint replied with an optimistic and rather prudent tone, but his response didn’t soothe his friends’ worries that much, prompting Shade to question him with a befuddled expression.
–But how? Where can we go?– Chappy asked in distress as he and the rest looked around for an exit for them, with the only one being the door to the staircase next to them, though it only led them to the roof, so they didn’t see the point in it.
–There… It’s the only place that they likely won’t check, but we first have to get their attention and stop them from coming over to this side…– Saint responded while pointing at the small door at the corner of the dinner, which led to an empty court, fully exposed to the hordes of antipunks coming from the front and back, which prompted a negative reaction at first from the rookies. However, the fact that the exit was so innocuous made them realize that it was probably the only way to get out of there unnoticed, and while it wasn’t perfect, they were becoming convinced that Saint was right.
–Right… Then what was Cookie and Panda thinking of?– Ace asked with a bit of skepticism but more curiosity as he tried to peek around the corner to see what the two were up to behind the shutter. Chappy, Shade, and Zoey shared the sentiment and looked back in confusion, but unlike them, Saint was resolved and drew their attention back by maintaining his positive demeanor.
–I’m not sure, but we are safe as long as they-...– Saint replied in a self-assured manner, trying to keep the rookies’ focus on him, which only worked for about a second before being interrupted by the very same people they were talking about. The shutters opened all of a sudden, and after Cookie and Panda ran straight toward them, they closed right away, only giving the rookies a brief glimpse of a threatening sight.
Trash and a bigger group of antipunks were getting closer than ever, and their presence was accentuated by a high-pitched noise coming from behind. It only grew louder, increasing in intensity to the point where it still rang in the rookies’ ears after the shutters closed. Panda and Cookie seemed relieved and took a moment to relax, completely ignoring the sound, but they were very agitated, and their faces were bright red, which didn’t help to soothe the rookies’ worries.
–What is happening?– Shade asked calmly, trying his best to keep his cool but showing a bit of anxiety as some banging noises started coming from the furnace room. The shutters were closed, but it didn’t seem like the antipunks were trying to break in. Regardless, they couldn’t pay much attention to it as they waited for Panda to explain the situation, but his response was cut short when more alarming noises came from the entrance, startling the Heartaches as well.
–They are here! Hold the barriers!– Kayden shouted with enough weight in his voice that it was heard from the hallway on the other side, where all the rookies turned to the barricade they had set up to take cover. They noticed another wave of antipunk forces coming directly at them, flooding the entrance room, though they still waited for an answer from Panda, which unfortunately didn’t seem too reassuring.
–We have to fight for our lives now…– Panda replied with a grim expression, growing tense by the pressure building up in the hallways now that they had to face the antipunks in a less-than-ideal space. However, he wasn’t nearly as anxious as the rookies, who looked at each other for a good moment while they processed what was going to happen.
They were in disbelief and even refused to take action as they couldn’t believe they were being cornered in the two tight hallways, at least until Cookie ran to the barriers to block the path for the antipunks like the Heartaches were already doing. Seeing that reminded them that they had to keep the barriers in place to prevent the enemy from getting to their only safe spot. With that, the rookies came to their senses, and despite not being ready for it, they mustered up the courage to defend themselves for as long as possible and pray whatever the plan was would let them live through their first mission.