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Description
    Silence echoed in the long, narrow darkness. Although it was not a true silence, the sounds of people huffing and puffing as they climbed up the seemingly never ending ladder. Boots hitting metal, guns and knifes clinking as they also contacted the ladder steps, as one had to hold ones weapons as they made their way up to the top… to the third level.
    The third level, the last level until sweet, sweet freedom. The group could almost taste the fresher air and feel the warmth of a sun upon their skin.
    Although many felt like they’d die of exhaustion before they got there.
    “I… I can’t go on,” Gar said suddenly and loudly, stopping where he was on the ladder, “I’m too tired.”
    “MOVE IT!” Sideos shouted from way out in front, “If you don’t, I’ll take you up in pieces, understand?”
    “He’s to fat to continue,” Sirra snickered up from somewhere down the ladder.
    This was immediately met by laughs and chuckles from the others along the massive ladder before Gar snapped back.
    “FUCK YOU GUYS!” This only made the others laugh harder, “I’ll climb this damn thing and then kick each and every one of your arses!”
    The group continued on, the last of their laugher dying away in the seemingly bottomless cavern that made up the elevator shaft. They had been climbing up for what seemed like hours… it was probably less, but time was seen as different to those would couldn’t find a straight line their thoughts.
    By the looks of it however, it would be an hour before they’d even reach the next floor. They had to move slowly as constant explosions rock the huge prison-asylum and as such, any wrong movement could send any one of them tumbling down into the darkness to be forever forgotten.
    The two doctors were still in the middle, being softly growled and barked at by Tika, who seemed to have an instinctive grasp of climbing things.
    Greep was also having trouble keeping up with the effort of constantly climbing up the ladder, but he kept silent about it. He didn’t want the others knowing he was out of shape; they’d certainly end his life before he’d gathered the research he needed.
    He found it remarkable that the group of misfits and defects had gotten so far. It went against all things printed in the e-books or essays he’d read over.
    They were defectives, they were nothing, they shouldn’t be able to think their way out of a plastic bag. And yet… they’d shut down the base defences, killed off any who would stand up to them, and were about to take on the army special strike forces.
    He was certain he’d get out of this alive, while the strike forces were hardly the best the irken military had to offer, they were very powerful and effective in their own right. Especially when it came to ‘homeland affairs’ like this one.
    Yes, Greep smiled, he was sure that this foolishness would be stopped in time for dinner. He only hoped that the strike force wouldn’t underestimate the enemy like he had…
    They all shivered as another blast of cold, icy air drifted down the long chute. They’d have to endure it. Outside the planet was covered in ice and snow. It was a white wasteland, nothing but rock and blizzard. There was life, but nothing above basic animalistic levels. It was a planet built around harsh survivors, giant mammals with massive claws and fur that draped around them, keeping their bodies warm in the sub-zero climate while terrible lizards lived within the volcanoes that dotted the landscape.
    In a way, it was the perfect place to hide the empires most dangerous criminals and the perfect place to study their broken minds.
    The white of the constant snow provided no distraction and the almost all the native animals were predators, whilst underneath the rock, magma flowed in a constant stream, bursting and exploding with anger whenever pressure built up too much.
    Rather like the inmates.
    They must have all underestimated how deep the facility was, and how fast the elevators moved. However, this was all part of stopping them, it was made so deep so that anyone trying to escape from the lower levels would have a hard time crawling through the massive tunnels and tubes that would eventually lead to the outside, and even then, they’d be lucky to survive more than a few hours before freezing to death, or if they were really unlucky, be eaten by some great horrible beast of the planet.
    “I’m never coming to another ice planet,” Sideos muttered to himself, unknowing that even a mutter here, in this chamber, bounced around and amplified so that all could hear, “I’m going to toast myself on some desert planet first.”
    “I didn’t know you where into tanning?” Katz suddenly commented from somewhere along the ladder.
    Sideos suddenly looked down to shout at Katz, but his eyes widened at the blackness of the depth below and he suddenly clung to the ladder, “Whoa.”
    Neep was just behind him and had to pause for a moment, frowning, “What? Are you afraid of heights as well as ghosts?”
    “Noooo,” Sideos growled back immediately, “But I just got one of those… you know when you’re in a voot and you’re coming down on a planet and the clouds open up and the whole planet is there before you and its like ‘dude, we’re so high,’? Like one of those things.”
    “… you mean vertigo,” Slert’s voice drifted up from somewhere around were Katz’s voice had come from.
    “Kinda yea,” Sideos chuckled and began climbing again, “Damn, I can’t remember the last time I was high.” He giggled, “But maybe that’s the point.”
    “Waster…” Kaiser grumbled from somewhere right down the ladder.
    “What?” Sideos growled back again from the top of the ladder, “And what did the great and mighty Kaiser do during his academy days?”
    “I studied!” Kaiser shouted back, “Like you’re supposed to do at the academy!”
    “You know,” Klik suddenly announced, “Doing drugs is the cause of eighty per-cent of all mental illness!”
    “Oh come on,” Vagnur replied back from the shadows, “That statistic is completely bogus. Mental illness is caused by stress, the effects of outside events and errors in PAK calculations.”
    “Drugs are fun,” Sirra commented, “Especially my drugs.”
    “I wouldn’t want to try one,” Scintille chuckled, “I’m more of a drink guy. Ooh, I miss those academy days were you could drink and get discounts for being a conscript.”
    “Damn right,” Tamy agreed, “You’d drink across the weekend and spend the whole next day in class hung-over… fantastic.”
     Gar suddenly laughed loudly, “HA! You youngsters have no idea how good you have it! We didn’t have no ‘conscript discount’ when I was at the academy.”
    “We didn’t have spaceflight when you were at the academy,” Sideos announced to a mass of laughter and a growl from Gar.
    “I can’t wait till I go!” Meg squeaked. She was currently sitting on Cello’s PAK, unable to grasp the ladders herself due to her size.
    “You’ll have mounds of fun,” Cello grinned, “Meeting new friends, killing them, going to parties.”
    “Oh my Tallest…” Kunst’s voice echoed through the hall, “I just remembered what I used to wear back then… ugh, that was a terrible time for fashion.”
    Vagnur chuckled back, “Come on, it wasn’t that bad, liebing, you forget we were all dressed in those things.”
    Sideos suddenly groaned loudly, “I used to dress all studs and spikes and ripped pants and shirt hanging out and everything, I was such a moron back then.”
    “You’re a moron now,” Kaiser quickly snapped back while accompanied by the groups’ laughter.
    “I swear, if I wasn’t on some freezing cold ladder in the middle of a dark tunnel I’d kick your ass for that!” Sideos angrily shook a fist down into the darkness, “I’m adding that to the tab of things to get revenge on you for!”
    He looked back up and narrowed his eyes, trying to find any kind of sign that they were nearing an exit.
    Then, he spotted it, a tiny, tiny blinking light in the darkness, it could have been easily overlooked if it wasn’t lighting up a small sign, one that read ‘First Floor Maintenance Entrance’.
    “FINALLY,” Sideos exclaimed out loud, loud enough for everyone else to hear it.
    “The exit?” Klik suddenly asked, “About time, my arms were getting tired.”
    “Shut up, doc,” Gar quickly replied.
    Klik blinked and sighed, “‘Kay.”
    Gar looked back up towards Sideos, “This better be the exit you moronic prick.”
    “Oh I don’t know,” Sideos rolled his eyes and put on his best sarcastic voice, “Maybe it’s the sign and the flashing light but DAMN, it could be a closet!”
    “Just get climbing!” Tamy called up, “I wanna get back to shooting people in the face!”
    There was a large collected agreement from the group and, with a rather annoyed look, Sideos continued up the ladder, refusing to let the others see his slightly pained expression from his very cold and still aching limbs. He’d been shocked at just how much damage Kaiser had done to him, he was even a little concerned that he’d lost a tooth which really would NOT be good for when the press took his photos for wanted posters. He couldn’t look ugly and toothless on his wanted poster!
     Kaiser on the other hand was wondering if the wounds Sideos had amazingly inflicted on him would harm his ability to fight the soldiers. He knew that the upcoming battle would not be one that would be easily won. Soldiers knew a hell of a lot more about battle than lazy security guards whom had been under prepared and taken by surprise.
    He also wondered if he’d cracked a rib. He’d have to remember to crack all of Sideos’s ribs when they got out.
    From the very top of the long, dark shaft, they could hear the growing sounds of explosions. It seemed that the military were blowing their way through the security doors rather than just wait to override it themselves.
    Gar was silently shaking his head, what where these morons being taught? They were acting like amateurs, rushing in with no forethought. Maybe they were underestimating their opponent, just viewing them as a bunch of crazed defects, running around without any kind of plan whatsoever.
    Odd… the military were the ones destroying everything in their path while it was the escapee’s were trying to get out as efficiently as possible.
    Gar chuckled to himself as he climbed higher up the ladder, soldiers nowadays, all brash and no brains.
    Sideos’s claws finally reached the top of the ladder, and with a final grunt, he pulled himself over the top. “That… took to long.”
    “Far too long,” Scintille added as he climbed up and collapsed next to him.
   The space they were climbing onto was a small metal cat walk which was built into the wall, however, the place was so dark they couldn’t see anything and so, as each irken climbed up, they each kept as close as possible to the wall.
    “Well,” Katz announced suddenly from the darkness, “This is just super, isn’t it? Trapped on a freezing cat walk in the middle of a big dark tunnel… super.”
     “We’re not trapped!” Neep replied, “There’s an exit here… somewhere…” his eyes widened, “Does anyone actually know where the exit is?”
     “Shouldn’t the dear doctors know?” Cello asked calmly, instantly drawing a loud growl from Tika who was, presumably, still keeping a very close eye on Klik.
    “Actually, we don’t,” Klik replied from the perma-darkness, “We were meant to follow the guards in cases like this.”
    “Itz iz zavingz zee money,” Greep replied with a huff, “Don’t botzher withz our savety! Juzt zave zome money for da damn ZE.EE.OH.”
    “It’s ‘C.E.O’,” Neep replied hotly, “And I happen to know C.E.O’s are very nice people!”
    “Can we just SHUT UP for a moment and search for this exit?” Slert announced, “I’m sure if we all circle around and stick to the wall we’ll get to it eventually.”
    “I can see that evil genius of yours is really being put to use,” Vagnur mumbled, which of course echoed around the shaft.
    The only reply from Slert was a very loud ‘grrr’.
    Another blast of wind came rumbling and rattling down the chute, causing all to try and cling to the wall and shiver. The wind was odd in this place. It roared and shook everything like an angry spirit as it fell to its black death. Every irken on the little cat walk had to wonder what lay at the bottom of that massive drop. What unimagined creatures lurked at the very depth of darkness?
    Gar wasn’t thinking about that right now, he was trying to find the door. He really hated being cold as he personally had bad memories of ice planets. Mainly of battles on those ice planets, people dying around him, bits of body falling on him… that wasn’t the bad part though, that was the redeeming memories. As he patted along the wall, trying to find the door, he remembered when he was shot three times in the chest and had his foot blown off and almost freezed to death in the ice and snow of the battleground whilst he crawled on his belly until he found a medic.
    Even now he kept that a secret from the others, why should they know he had a mechanical foot or that he’d cried out in pain and feared for his life on that horrible day? That was his memory and his alone…
    His hand went ice cold as it touched the metal doorway, but he managed a smile. “I’ve found it!”
    It was at that point, the world exploded. Or at least it did to Gar.
    Fire burst from behind the doorway, instantly throwing the door forward, smashing it into Gar and throwing him with the force of speeding train from the tiny platform. Everyone else around jumped and grabbed hold of something as fire and noise rocked the tunnel, the explosion being amplified tenfold to create a sound that resembled a sun blowing up.
    What had once been freezing cold suddenly became red hot, and for a second, it seemed like all was over for the group. The army had reached them, blowing the door apart and rushing them, probably to kick their bodies over the platform and into the abyss below.
    For a brief moment, a flutter of fear entered the hearts of every killer there. Not from fear of their own deaths, but from fear of their freedom being taken away, just when they were so close…
    However, like all explosions, the fire retreated and the door fell into the black, leaving only smoke and melted metal as proof there was once a door there at all. The creaking and groaning of ice breaking above them was hear, and soon, the tunnel rained as ice and lose metal fell upon the group, forcing them to push themselves even further against the walls of tunnel.
    When the smoke and the ice finally stopped falling, they looked to the pit, now illuminated by the light of the corridor opened to them.
    “Gar?” Neep called out cautiously, “Is he…?”
    “BASTARDS!” The voice of the old warrior-rapist echoed up loudly from the tunnel, and the group moved forward a little more to see that Gar had, amazingly, survived. He was hanging onto the ladder that they’d used to climb up, and his face was covered in blood and burns. “WHOEVER BLEW THAT DOOR UP IS GOING TO FUCKING DIE BY MY OWN HANDS!”
    “Oh calm down old timer,” The youthful and jumpy voice floated over from the entrance, drawing with it the collective interest of the group, “It wasn’t even THAT big of an explosion!”
    Standing at the door was a very short, somewhat deep skinned irken with round lime green eyes and one large sun-like tattoo over the left eye. He was wearing the usual asylum uniform, but it seemed to reveal that he wasn’t as scrawny as most of the group. Also, the right tip of his medium-sized antennae was darker than the other.
    In his hand, he held a belt of grenades and in the other he held a small remote.
    He blinked at the others and grinned again, “Well? Who’s going to thank me? That door was frozen shut! There was no way you would have got it open without me!”
    He was met with a collective blank stare before Scintille suddenly shouted, “WE COULD HAVE ALL DIED YOU MORON!”
    “Why did you use THAT much explosive!” Cello added.
    “Who the heck are you anyway?!” Sideos added with a loud growl.
    “Everyone,” Kaiser suddenly announced, “This is Groove. Groove, everyone.”
    Groove grinned and bowed, “HI!”
    As people began to slowly shuffle out of the tunnel, there was a somewhat worried call from within the tunnel, “Hey? HEY! GUYS! Don’t give me a hand or anything here! Oh no! I’ll just climb up this ladder with my burnt hands and bleeding face all on my own!”
    Sometimes, Gar just wished he could kill everyone. Well, he wished he could kill everyone all the time, but this was especially true for this moment.
    As he hauled himself up the ladder he grumbled, “I hate people,”

Description
    Silence echoed in the long, narrow darkness. Although it was not a true silence, the sounds of people huffing and puffing as they climbed up the seemingly never ending ladder. Boots hitting metal, guns and knifes clinking as they also contacted the ladder steps, as one had to hold ones weapons as they made their way up to the top… to the third level.
    The third level, the last level until sweet, sweet freedom. The group could almost taste the fresher air and feel the warmth of a sun upon their skin.
    Although many felt like they’d die of exhaustion before they got there.
    “I… I can’t go on,” Gar said suddenly and loudly, stopping where he was on the ladder, “I’m too tired.”
    “MOVE IT!” Sideos shouted from way out in front, “If you don’t, I’ll take you up in pieces, understand?”
    “He’s to fat to continue,” Sirra snickered up from somewhere down the ladder.
    This was immediately met by laughs and chuckles from the others along the massive ladder before Gar snapped back.
    “FUCK YOU GUYS!” This only made the others laugh harder, “I’ll climb this damn thing and then kick each and every one of your arses!”
    The group continued on, the last of their laugher dying away in the seemingly bottomless cavern that made up the elevator shaft. They had been climbing up for what seemed like hours… it was probably less, but time was seen as different to those would couldn’t find a straight line their thoughts.
    By the looks of it however, it would be an hour before they’d even reach the next floor. They had to move slowly as constant explosions rock the huge prison-asylum and as such, any wrong movement could send any one of them tumbling down into the darkness to be forever forgotten.
    The two doctors were still in the middle, being softly growled and barked at by Tika, who seemed to have an instinctive grasp of climbing things.
    Greep was also having trouble keeping up with the effort of constantly climbing up the ladder, but he kept silent about it. He didn’t want the others knowing he was out of shape; they’d certainly end his life before he’d gathered the research he needed.
    He found it remarkable that the group of misfits and defects had gotten so far. It went against all things printed in the e-books or essays he’d read over.
    They were defectives, they were nothing, they shouldn’t be able to think their way out of a plastic bag. And yet… they’d shut down the base defences, killed off any who would stand up to them, and were about to take on the army special strike forces.
    He was certain he’d get out of this alive, while the strike forces were hardly the best the irken military had to offer, they were very powerful and effective in their own right. Especially when it came to ‘homeland affairs’ like this one.
    Yes, Greep smiled, he was sure that this foolishness would be stopped in time for dinner. He only hoped that the strike force wouldn’t underestimate the enemy like he had…
    They all shivered as another blast of cold, icy air drifted down the long chute. They’d have to endure it. Outside the planet was covered in ice and snow. It was a white wasteland, nothing but rock and blizzard. There was life, but nothing above basic animalistic levels. It was a planet built around harsh survivors, giant mammals with massive claws and fur that draped around them, keeping their bodies warm in the sub-zero climate while terrible lizards lived within the volcanoes that dotted the landscape.
    In a way, it was the perfect place to hide the empires most dangerous criminals and the perfect place to study their broken minds.
    The white of the constant snow provided no distraction and the almost all the native animals were predators, whilst underneath the rock, magma flowed in a constant stream, bursting and exploding with anger whenever pressure built up too much.
    Rather like the inmates.
    They must have all underestimated how deep the facility was, and how fast the elevators moved. However, this was all part of stopping them, it was made so deep so that anyone trying to escape from the lower levels would have a hard time crawling through the massive tunnels and tubes that would eventually lead to the outside, and even then, they’d be lucky to survive more than a few hours before freezing to death, or if they were really unlucky, be eaten by some great horrible beast of the planet.
    “I’m never coming to another ice planet,” Sideos muttered to himself, unknowing that even a mutter here, in this chamber, bounced around and amplified so that all could hear, “I’m going to toast myself on some desert planet first.”
    “I didn’t know you where into tanning?” Katz suddenly commented from somewhere along the ladder.
    Sideos suddenly looked down to shout at Katz, but his eyes widened at the blackness of the depth below and he suddenly clung to the ladder, “Whoa.”
    Neep was just behind him and had to pause for a moment, frowning, “What? Are you afraid of heights as well as ghosts?”
    “Noooo,” Sideos growled back immediately, “But I just got one of those… you know when you’re in a voot and you’re coming down on a planet and the clouds open up and the whole planet is there before you and its like ‘dude, we’re so high,’? Like one of those things.”
    “… you mean vertigo,” Slert’s voice drifted up from somewhere around were Katz’s voice had come from.
    “Kinda yea,” Sideos chuckled and began climbing again, “Damn, I can’t remember the last time I was high.” He giggled, “But maybe that’s the point.”
    “Waster…” Kaiser grumbled from somewhere right down the ladder.
    “What?” Sideos growled back again from the top of the ladder, “And what did the great and mighty Kaiser do during his academy days?”
    “I studied!” Kaiser shouted back, “Like you’re supposed to do at the academy!”
    “You know,” Klik suddenly announced, “Doing drugs is the cause of eighty per-cent of all mental illness!”
    “Oh come on,” Vagnur replied back from the shadows, “That statistic is completely bogus. Mental illness is caused by stress, the effects of outside events and errors in PAK calculations.”
    “Drugs are fun,” Sirra commented, “Especially my drugs.”
    “I wouldn’t want to try one,” Scintille chuckled, “I’m more of a drink guy. Ooh, I miss those academy days were you could drink and get discounts for being a conscript.”
    “Damn right,” Tamy agreed, “You’d drink across the weekend and spend the whole next day in class hung-over… fantastic.”
     Gar suddenly laughed loudly, “HA! You youngsters have no idea how good you have it! We didn’t have no ‘conscript discount’ when I was at the academy.”
    “We didn’t have spaceflight when you were at the academy,” Sideos announced to a mass of laughter and a growl from Gar.
    “I can’t wait till I go!” Meg squeaked. She was currently sitting on Cello’s PAK, unable to grasp the ladders herself due to her size.
    “You’ll have mounds of fun,” Cello grinned, “Meeting new friends, killing them, going to parties.”
    “Oh my Tallest…” Kunst’s voice echoed through the hall, “I just remembered what I used to wear back then… ugh, that was a terrible time for fashion.”
    Vagnur chuckled back, “Come on, it wasn’t that bad, liebing, you forget we were all dressed in those things.”
    Sideos suddenly groaned loudly, “I used to dress all studs and spikes and ripped pants and shirt hanging out and everything, I was such a moron back then.”
    “You’re a moron now,” Kaiser quickly snapped back while accompanied by the groups’ laughter.
    “I swear, if I wasn’t on some freezing cold ladder in the middle of a dark tunnel I’d kick your ass for that!” Sideos angrily shook a fist down into the darkness, “I’m adding that to the tab of things to get revenge on you for!”
    He looked back up and narrowed his eyes, trying to find any kind of sign that they were nearing an exit.
    Then, he spotted it, a tiny, tiny blinking light in the darkness, it could have been easily overlooked if it wasn’t lighting up a small sign, one that read ‘First Floor Maintenance Entrance’.
    “FINALLY,” Sideos exclaimed out loud, loud enough for everyone else to hear it.
    “The exit?” Klik suddenly asked, “About time, my arms were getting tired.”
    “Shut up, doc,” Gar quickly replied.
    Klik blinked and sighed, “‘Kay.”
    Gar looked back up towards Sideos, “This better be the exit you moronic prick.”
    “Oh I don’t know,” Sideos rolled his eyes and put on his best sarcastic voice, “Maybe it’s the sign and the flashing light but DAMN, it could be a closet!”
    “Just get climbing!” Tamy called up, “I wanna get back to shooting people in the face!”
    There was a large collected agreement from the group and, with a rather annoyed look, Sideos continued up the ladder, refusing to let the others see his slightly pained expression from his very cold and still aching limbs. He’d been shocked at just how much damage Kaiser had done to him, he was even a little concerned that he’d lost a tooth which really would NOT be good for when the press took his photos for wanted posters. He couldn’t look ugly and toothless on his wanted poster!
     Kaiser on the other hand was wondering if the wounds Sideos had amazingly inflicted on him would harm his ability to fight the soldiers. He knew that the upcoming battle would not be one that would be easily won. Soldiers knew a hell of a lot more about battle than lazy security guards whom had been under prepared and taken by surprise.
    He also wondered if he’d cracked a rib. He’d have to remember to crack all of Sideos’s ribs when they got out.
    From the very top of the long, dark shaft, they could hear the growing sounds of explosions. It seemed that the military were blowing their way through the security doors rather than just wait to override it themselves.
    Gar was silently shaking his head, what where these morons being taught? They were acting like amateurs, rushing in with no forethought. Maybe they were underestimating their opponent, just viewing them as a bunch of crazed defects, running around without any kind of plan whatsoever.
    Odd… the military were the ones destroying everything in their path while it was the escapee’s were trying to get out as efficiently as possible.
    Gar chuckled to himself as he climbed higher up the ladder, soldiers nowadays, all brash and no brains.
    Sideos’s claws finally reached the top of the ladder, and with a final grunt, he pulled himself over the top. “That… took to long.”
    “Far too long,” Scintille added as he climbed up and collapsed next to him.
   The space they were climbing onto was a small metal cat walk which was built into the wall, however, the place was so dark they couldn’t see anything and so, as each irken climbed up, they each kept as close as possible to the wall.
    “Well,” Katz announced suddenly from the darkness, “This is just super, isn’t it? Trapped on a freezing cat walk in the middle of a big dark tunnel… super.”
     “We’re not trapped!” Neep replied, “There’s an exit here… somewhere…” his eyes widened, “Does anyone actually know where the exit is?”
     “Shouldn’t the dear doctors know?” Cello asked calmly, instantly drawing a loud growl from Tika who was, presumably, still keeping a very close eye on Klik.
    “Actually, we don’t,” Klik replied from the perma-darkness, “We were meant to follow the guards in cases like this.”
    “Itz iz zavingz zee money,” Greep replied with a huff, “Don’t botzher withz our savety! Juzt zave zome money for da damn ZE.EE.OH.”
    “It’s ‘C.E.O’,” Neep replied hotly, “And I happen to know C.E.O’s are very nice people!”
    “Can we just SHUT UP for a moment and search for this exit?” Slert announced, “I’m sure if we all circle around and stick to the wall we’ll get to it eventually.”
    “I can see that evil genius of yours is really being put to use,” Vagnur mumbled, which of course echoed around the shaft.
    The only reply from Slert was a very loud ‘grrr’.
    Another blast of wind came rumbling and rattling down the chute, causing all to try and cling to the wall and shiver. The wind was odd in this place. It roared and shook everything like an angry spirit as it fell to its black death. Every irken on the little cat walk had to wonder what lay at the bottom of that massive drop. What unimagined creatures lurked at the very depth of darkness?
    Gar wasn’t thinking about that right now, he was trying to find the door. He really hated being cold as he personally had bad memories of ice planets. Mainly of battles on those ice planets, people dying around him, bits of body falling on him… that wasn’t the bad part though, that was the redeeming memories. As he patted along the wall, trying to find the door, he remembered when he was shot three times in the chest and had his foot blown off and almost freezed to death in the ice and snow of the battleground whilst he crawled on his belly until he found a medic.
    Even now he kept that a secret from the others, why should they know he had a mechanical foot or that he’d cried out in pain and feared for his life on that horrible day? That was his memory and his alone…
    His hand went ice cold as it touched the metal doorway, but he managed a smile. “I’ve found it!”
    It was at that point, the world exploded. Or at least it did to Gar.
    Fire burst from behind the doorway, instantly throwing the door forward, smashing it into Gar and throwing him with the force of speeding train from the tiny platform. Everyone else around jumped and grabbed hold of something as fire and noise rocked the tunnel, the explosion being amplified tenfold to create a sound that resembled a sun blowing up.
    What had once been freezing cold suddenly became red hot, and for a second, it seemed like all was over for the group. The army had reached them, blowing the door apart and rushing them, probably to kick their bodies over the platform and into the abyss below.
    For a brief moment, a flutter of fear entered the hearts of every killer there. Not from fear of their own deaths, but from fear of their freedom being taken away, just when they were so close…
    However, like all explosions, the fire retreated and the door fell into the black, leaving only smoke and melted metal as proof there was once a door there at all. The creaking and groaning of ice breaking above them was hear, and soon, the tunnel rained as ice and lose metal fell upon the group, forcing them to push themselves even further against the walls of tunnel.
    When the smoke and the ice finally stopped falling, they looked to the pit, now illuminated by the light of the corridor opened to them.
    “Gar?” Neep called out cautiously, “Is he…?”
    “BASTARDS!” The voice of the old warrior-rapist echoed up loudly from the tunnel, and the group moved forward a little more to see that Gar had, amazingly, survived. He was hanging onto the ladder that they’d used to climb up, and his face was covered in blood and burns. “WHOEVER BLEW THAT DOOR UP IS GOING TO FUCKING DIE BY MY OWN HANDS!”
    “Oh calm down old timer,” The youthful and jumpy voice floated over from the entrance, drawing with it the collective interest of the group, “It wasn’t even THAT big of an explosion!”
    Standing at the door was a very short, somewhat deep skinned irken with round lime green eyes and one large sun-like tattoo over the left eye. He was wearing the usual asylum uniform, but it seemed to reveal that he wasn’t as scrawny as most of the group. Also, the right tip of his medium-sized antennae was darker than the other.
    In his hand, he held a belt of grenades and in the other he held a small remote.
    He blinked at the others and grinned again, “Well? Who’s going to thank me? That door was frozen shut! There was no way you would have got it open without me!”
    He was met with a collective blank stare before Scintille suddenly shouted, “WE COULD HAVE ALL DIED YOU MORON!”
    “Why did you use THAT much explosive!” Cello added.
    “Who the heck are you anyway?!” Sideos added with a loud growl.
    “Everyone,” Kaiser suddenly announced, “This is Groove. Groove, everyone.”
    Groove grinned and bowed, “HI!”
    As people began to slowly shuffle out of the tunnel, there was a somewhat worried call from within the tunnel, “Hey? HEY! GUYS! Don’t give me a hand or anything here! Oh no! I’ll just climb up this ladder with my burnt hands and bleeding face all on my own!”
    Sometimes, Gar just wished he could kill everyone. Well, he wished he could kill everyone all the time, but this was especially true for this moment.
    As he hauled himself up the ladder he grumbled, “I hate people,”