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The Mercenary is the first arc of The Underground series

Chapter 26 of 32

Lazarus Plaza

Alias moved carefully, placing one foot in front of the other, maintaining his balance. He then lowered himself to his knee, looking across at the brightly lit high-rise skyscraper. It was the Lazarus Plaza, ironically, the place where Alias had been doing business and normally could just walk through the lobby.

A breeze fell upon Alias, swaying him slightly. His paws gripped the I-beam tighter, as he looked to the street below. Nearly fifty stories down, Alias could see the cars and random people moving about the street like ants. Heights didn't get to Alias, but it wasn't like he enjoyed them either. He considered scaling the building again, but thought better of it. He knew that if he were to make it, his body would be exhausted after the climb. This was not one of his half-assed assignments, because now more than his own life was on the line.

As it was, Alias was currently looking down on the Lazarus Plaza's roof from an unfinished construction site across the street. It happened to extend a few stories above the Lazarus Institute, which made it very convenient for Alias. Even though he had to throw this thing together in only a few hours, Zias Noxid was able to round up everything he needed. Including a military issue grappling hook.

Squeezing the trigger, there came a soft pop as the hook was set loose. It cleared the street, and caught one of the ventilation fans on the top of the roof. Alias then secured the other end of the rope around another I-beam, making the rope extremely tight.

Not looking down, Alias wrapped a strip of fabric around the rope, and held on tight. His feet left the security of the I-beam and met the void between the buildings. Pulling his feet under him, he picked up speed as he slid along the zip-line made by the grappling hook. His eyes gave a wayward look down at the tiny specks of life below him as he slid silently from one building to the other, nearly fifty stories in the air. Gaining so much momentum, Alias let loose the material he gripped and made contact with the roof of Lazarus Plaza. He rolled to a stop, crouched down on both feet, guns immediately drawn.

Just then a guard stepped around the corner, on patrol duty. Immediately Alias dropped the gun in his left hand and grabbed a combat knife that was attached to his thigh. The guard noticed the black fox, and reached for his gun. He had been instructed on what to do should he happen to run into any uninvited guests. However, before be could reach for his firearm, he felt the metallic sharpness of Alias's blade drive itself home in his jugular vein. Alias watched the guard sputter a bit as death took hold and dropped him to his knees.

On his feet once more, Alias quickly recovered his knife, wiping the bloodstain on his pants and returning his knife to its proper spot. Moving silently, Alias moved toward the elevator shaft. The Mercenary wasn't exactly sure where they were holding Jenna, but he had a good guess; approximately forty-five stories down a forty-story high-rise. She would be interrogated in one of the sublevels. Probably the same sublevel where Noxid's fiancée was interrogated. A flash of anger, fear, and rage reverberated through him as the thoughts of Jenna being submitted to the same kinds of tortures went through Alias's head.

Alias came around one of the heating ducts, and in a flash, grabbed a second guard by the shoulder and spun him around. With his free paw, he curled his fingers down, leaving the palm of his paw exposed. The stoat's nose broke, and gave off a sound as if one had just stepped on a chip that had been left on the floor. He flew back and landed on the rooftop. Before he could recover, Alias was on top of him. Taking him by the collar, the fox ruthlessly beat the stoat into oblivion. There was no time for prisoners; no time for leniency for Alias knew they would show none to him, or Jenna. The battle lines had been drawn, and they had chosen their sides.

Reaching the shaft, Alias gripped the doors down the crevice that separated them. His powerful arms forced the sliding doors aside, revealing the dark elevator shaft, extending more than forty stories straight down. Taking a deep breath, Alias reached out and grabbed the handle of the maintenance ladder. As he swung his body out over the abyss, Alias remembered that he wasn't too fond of heights. Shutting his eyes for a moment, he reminded himself that the sooner he did what he had to do here, the sooner he'd be back on solid ground.

Moving as quickly as his environment would let him, Alias began his descent. After climbing nearly ten stories down, He stopped and used one of his carabiners (supplied by Zias) to attach himself to the ladder. Now that his paws were free, he reached behind him into his backpack and pulled out what looked like a yellow brick. Using the dim lights it the shaft, Alias saw that it was much more than a yellow block of clay.

C4.

Trusting his carabiner to keep him safe (away from a sudden and painful death) Alias leaned out into the abyss. His boots stayed secured on a rung of the ladder as he placed the C4 charge along artificial shelf made by the various metal structures running along the shaft right next to the door. Once he had the charge secure, he then reached into his pocket and pulled out a detonator.

It's game on after this... Alias thought to himself as he pushed the detonator into the soft plastic explosive. Waiting for a second, he watched as a red light started to flash. The charge was armed, so once he was ready, he would hit the remote and send this place into chaos.

But not just yet.

Alias felt the heavy weight of his pack where there were several more charges, which he would place strategically throughout the building. Unhooking himself from the ladder. Alias continued his descent down the abyss. Time was not on his side as he knew that somewhere Jenna could be having the same horrors done to her that he had seen so many go through.

No matter how bad Alias tried to repress it, the thought that he was already too late was at the forefront of his mind.