Sunny wasn't doing so well with the knowledge that she may be paralyzed. The sudden vulnerability had triggered her deepest fears, and when Carson had entered all Nat had to do was look up for him to understand that he was not welcome at the moment. She nodded, though--she knew he felt responsible, and he knew she would come find him the moment Sunny could tolerate a male presence. He still hesitated before he turned and left, the door sliding silently shut behind him. He stayed there, arms folded, mind turning, until Letto found him, the other Strider approaching with one eyebrow cocked. Carson looked up and sighed. "It's Sunny. The injury she took was more severe than we thought--she's... well. Paralyzed."<br/><br/>Letto's eyes widened.<i>How badly?<br/>
</i><br/>"Her legs. There's a good chance the poison on the blade that got her affected her spine."<br/><br/><i>Can she recover?<br/>
</i><br/>"I don't know, Letto. I hope so. I can't stand the idea of her being stuck like that for good." He was going to say more, but the entirety of Central shook as the doors began to open, and he frowned. "That was... quick. The patrols shouldn't be going out already." Malia rounded the bend, though, bearing her bad news, and Carson felt his blood run cold. Max. It had to have been Max. Everyone knew the code to get in and out of Central who lived there, just as a matter of fairness. And Max had spent months there. "Letto, raise the alarm," he said, already moving. He paused to touch Malia's cheek, meeting her eyes. "Come with me. Hurry." Then he turned and ran, sprinting back down the hallways to the CIC and his gear.<br/><br/>Letto sped down the hall Malia had come from, hand dropping to small knife at his belt. The first of the Hunters had already made it deep, charging after Malia, and the Strider barely paused as the gap between them closed. He ducked under the swing of the Hunter's axe and came up under his guard, knife thrusting deep into his throat. He bore the man down onto the ground and caught the axe as he flailed, yanking it free and resuming his charge. The next two were dealt with just as swiftly, and by then Letto had reached the switch that triggered the alarms across the entire base. He didn't hesitate to throw it, and immediately the lights dimmed. Red emergency lights lit the whole bunker, and a shrill alarm rang down the metal halls.<br/><br/>Letto turned toward the entrance hall and found even more Hunters struggling with a thin line of Runners, the two sides fighting violently--but behind the Hunters were more soldiers, barechested with crossed red swords painted on their skin. Letto felt his blood run cold, but he knew what he had to do. Any time he could buy would be precious. As the last of the Runners fell he hurled the axe at the lead Runner, then planted his feet, took a deep breath, and screamed down the hall. The eerie, paralyzing quality of his voice was only amplified in the closed space, and the Hunters were frozen where they stood, even the Vanguard behind them slowing to a halt as Letto's shriek echoed. Only one seemed resistant to it, a strangely familiar girl with a scar over her eye and a mad grin on her face. She alone staggered forward, inch by inch, though clearly in pain. Her ears bled, and the closer she came to him the harder it got to move, but she managed. Letto took half a step back, and the girl laughed, voice low and wild beneath the shriek.<br/><br/>"Can you taste it, Strider?" she asked him, barely audible over his attack. She drew a wicked-looking knife from her belt, the weapon shining and even seeming to bend in the intense soundwaves as she closed the last few feet. "Can you taste your own death coming for you!?"<br/><br/>Further down the hall, Carson heard Letto's voice go abruptly silent even with the alarms blaring. He swore under his breath and yanked his harness tight, then drew his pistol and glanced at Malia. No words seemed right. Here and now, the war seemed utterly lost. He took her hand tight. "Think about that cabin by the river," he whispered. "We just have to get through this, and then we're there." A moment later, and both of them were charging back out to meet the enemy.<br/><br/>A small group of Hunters and Vanguard had already reached down that far, and one in particular broke from the knot. She slammed into Carson hard, winding him, then shoved him down and away before seizing Malia's arm and throwing her back into the CIC. "We'll talk later, big brother!" Sarah taunted, then slipped through the door and slammed it shut. The locks clicked into place before Carson could stand, though that didn't stop him from trying the door anyway. He realized, dully, that Malia was on her own for now, as he turned to face the other six or seven that had been with Sarah.<br/><br/>He drew his knife, too, holding it and his pistol in either hand, and gave his shoulders a roll. "Right, then. Let's see if even six of you are worth one of me, shall we?"<br/><br/>On the other side of the door, Sarah made sure that the locks were holding before she turned away. She paced away from the Runner, pulling a pair of knives from her belt. One of them, a wicked-looking blade with a distinct twist at the tip, was coated in blood. She turned and grinned, waggling it at Malia. "So far that's two down for big brother's closest posse," she said teasingly. "First that loudmouthed bitch, then the even<i>louder</i>one... there's just the normal girl left, right? Aside from you?" She giggled and slid into a fighting stance. "I'm going to enjoy gutting you."