"Right." Celia turned to Abner and Zed. "We can't go back the same way. We'll have to flee fast if we can't disarm this thing. There is a secret tunnel behind that shelf." She pointed at the wall on their left. "Get it open, and I'll see if the old bastard left anything useful behind."

"It's not looking good, boss!" Lyra said, her hands busy sorting through many colourful cables in the middle of the metal construct chest.

"Can you disarm it or not?" Celia growled, shifting frantically through the papers on the desk.

"I..." Lyra hesitated for a moment, and her face paled even more. "I don't think so. Not without risking an early explosion."

"How much time do we have?"

"Roughly five minutes."

"All right, we are leaving. NOW!" Celia grabbed a handful of paper and stashed them in the bag at her belt. "Sir Prancer, code red. Go!"

"Red alert! Red alert!" the parrot screamed and bolted through the balcony.

Celia grabbed Lyra, still fiddling with the bomb and heaved her to her feet. "Move!"

"I knew it was a bad idea," Abner whined as they darted into the dark tunnel leading slightly upwards.

"Save your breath and run!" Ceilia shouted. "We don't have much time, and you don't want to get caught in this small tunnel while this bomb goes off. How big of an explosion are we talking about here, Lyra?"

"Very big," huffed the redhead not far behind her. "Big enough to collapse most of the complex."

"Rust and starvation, that bastard! Run faster!"

Soon the tunnel started to get brighter when the first shy rays of the setting sun illuminated the end of the caverns, painting it golden orange. Celia slowed, knowing that the opening led to a narrow rocky outcrop and it would be easy to fall to jagged stones and raging waves below.

And that's probably saved her life.

A strange red light hit her from the right above her, and she instinctively dodged to the left seconds before the bullet hit the rocky outcrop and exploded, sending shrapnel pieces everywhere. Celia hissed when a burning pain bloomed from several shallow grazes.

"Back to the cave! Take cover!" she cried, and she rushed backwards. But the cave mouth was narrow, so she bumped into Zed. The big man grabbed Celia by the shoulder and turned around, shoving her toward Abner and Lyra. He moved his other arm rapidly, and a steel shield unravelled as an opening fan, covering him partly from another incoming bullet. The shrapnel pieces went in wide and uncontrollable arcs in all directions. Zed growled, wiping the blood from his cheek with his free hand and backed to the tunnel's safety.

"This is bad!" gasped Abner. "We need to get out before that bomb gets off, or we'll get buried here!"

"Come out, come out!" a voice called from the outside. "We have unfinished business to attend, de Visher!"

Celia growled. "Hector. I could have predicted he would jump at the chance to get back at me. Where is he hiding?"

Lyra peeked out and quickly leaned back when another bullet pierced the air and exploded, forcing them further into the cave. "He's perched on the outcrop on our right. It's over four hundred meters away!"

Celia frowned. "How does he shoot so precisely, then?"

Lyra chuckled nervously. "Remember those rifle prototypes we stole not so long ago? I looked at them, and I can bet my lucky nail gun that it's what is firing at us."

"Figured it will come back to bite us." Celia rubbed her brow. "Did you devise a way to disable that thing while looking at it?"

"I didn't have time, but I might have some good old acid flies that can get him distracted for long enough so we can make a run for it," Lyra said, crouching and going with a loud clang through her tools backpack.

"Then let's get on with it quick!" Celia looked at her pocket watch. "We have around two minutes till this place blows up. Zed, cover us while Abner and I do some covering fire."

Zed nodded and moved to the tunnel's edge, opening and raising his shield. Celia leaned out from behind it and fired. Their guns could not do any actual damage at such a great distance, but they were only meant to be a distraction.

"Who is hiding now, Hector?" Celia shouted, unloading her barrels. "Come here and meet me face to face! Or are you too much of a coward?"

"Ha! You wished. I could smash your face with my eyes closed if I wanted. But I thought it would be much more entertaining to shoot you with this shiny new rifle you kindly delivered!"

Celia and Zed were forced back to avoid shrapnel exploding around them. But a few seconds later, Zed raised his shield again, and this time Abner was trying his luck with his shotgun while Celia reloaded her revolvers.

"How are you doing, Lyra?" she asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. They were running out of time.

"Almost there!" The redhead fiddled with a controller, and three little insects rose to the air, little rotors buzzing as if they were real flies. They were not a pretty or accurate depiction of natural creatures, but they were functional, and that's what mattered. Each of them carried a glass bauble no bigger than Celia's fist that held an ominous-looking green liquid. "Alrighty! Give me that cover fire now, and watch my minions fly!"

"On it!" Celia waited for another shrapnel explosion and bent out again to unload her barrels. She heard as the little mechanical creatures whizzed past her, and it took them only seconds to reach the outcrop Hector was perched on.

Lyra pressed the button on her controller, and all three insects exploded, releasing the caustic acid. Hector's surprised and painful scream pierced the air a second later.

"Run! Now!" Celia pushed Abner and Lyra toward the narrow pathway leading down the rocky slope, following them with Zed closing their group with his shield raised protectively. It was a long way down, but she hoped they would get far enough out of Hector's range before he recovered from Lyra's nasty surprise.

But before they reached even halfway down, a loud explosion shook the whole mountain. The ground trembled, and the jagged rocks started raining down on them.

"Stop!" Celia cried, trying to outshout the rising rumble. "We can't move like that because we'll─" before she finished the sentence, a stone beneath Lyra's foot broke, and with a distressed scream, the woman lost her balance.

"No, you don't!" Abner caught her flailing hand just in time to stop her fall, but he was dragged to the edge with her. Celia grabbed his belt, and with Zed trying to shield them from the more dangerous flying stones with his shield, they managed to pull them back from the ledge.

"We can't stay here!" Abner yelled as they stood with their backs plastered to the wall, trying to make themselves as small as possible. The rumble of falling stones was deafening, and the whole place shook like an earthquake. "This whole place is falling apart!"

"There!" Zed pointed ahead. "That place is more sheltered than here!"

"Let's move there. Slow and steady!" Celia ordered, and they started to make their way towards a neighbouring section of the path. There was a little ridge over the course they could fit under if they huddled together. Gritting her teeth and trying to dodge the bigger rocks rolling off the slope, she finally reached the more secluded spot.

The crew scooted down together, trying to fit under the rocky roof over their head. Zed looked endearing, trying to squeeze his broad shoulders to fit in. Luckily, he still had his shield that helped deflect the more persistent projectiles.

"Everyone in one piece?" asked Celia. Being squashed between Zed and Lyra felt almost cosy if you discounted the shaking earth and stones falling on their heads.

"Yeah, though not sure for how long," Abner said with a long-suffering sigh. "I knew it was going to be a bad day. This morning my moustache was particularly difficult to curl! It's a sure sign that nothing will go right today."

"Are you seriously worried about your moustache right now?" asked Lyra, flabbergasted.

"The proper look is important!"

"You know what would help? Shaving this ridiculous thing off."

"How dare you! You have no sense of fashion, woman!"

Celia snorted with a laugh, and with the tremors slowly subsiding, she felt all tension finally leaving her body.

"I love you guys," she said, earning a surprised look from her friends.

"Is this a trap? The one that you lure us with the compliments and trick to sign never-ending servitude?" Abner asked, narrowing his eyes.

Celia reached out and punched his arm playfully. "Don't be daft and take the compliment. I feel that lately, I'm so off my game that it's a wonder you're still with me. I keep failing again and again, and it's just... hard to swallow."

The silence was heavy with meaning as the tremors and rumble of falling rocks subsided. Zed shrugged, lowering his shield.

"You're the boss. Where else would we be?"

"Yeah, plus without your recklessness and numerous backup plans, we would be dead ten times already," Abner added with a grin.

"Also..." Lyra took Celia's hand, her calloused palm squeezing tight. "We are family. It doesn't matter if we fail ten or twenty times. We always stick together. That's what we do."

"It's us against the world," rumbled Zed. "Always."

"Now you are making me tear up." Celia brushed her eyes with the back of her hand. "Stop it, this instance!"

"Have a little cry, boss. Maybe tears will clean up your face some. Man, you are filthy!" Abner clucked his tongue.

Before Celia could punch him again, the explosion of red piercing through the cloud of dust caught her attention. She grunted and got back to her feet. "Our ride is here. It seems the worst of the aftershocks are gone now. Let's get out of here before the sea swallows this whole place."