Finally, the correct level. Ironwood had been marching through the ship for what felt like too long. His trigger finger burned, eager for battle. The image of the Huntress was etched into his mind and if you looked hard enough, you could probably see her image reflected in his eyes. His hatred was immense.
He charged forward towards the next sealed door but was furious at what he saw. The whole door and arch were covered in red ice.
'Futile!' he bellowed. 'This won't hold me for long!'
* * *
The Huntress stood again, leaving an unconscious Will on the floor. Her focus was solely on the new arrival. She observed her curiously but didn't feel threatened or even troubled.
It was another officer. She was shorter than the Huntress. Young, chocolate brown hair in a bob-cut. As with the others, her breathing and words didn't match with her lips. Her skin was drenched and pale as her eyes were lifeless. It almost broke the Huntress' hearts to see her this way.
'I can see it, your plan to save them' she slowly uttered, water endlessly seeping from multiple places around her face and being heard dipping into the water below. It was almost like hearing the downpour of rain.
'You know then, what I need from you. You, your friends and your crew. This is the only way I can save everyone' the Huntress answered, her tone soft-spoken and sincere. Gentle diplomacy.
The watery figure looked down at Will. She observed his face and seemed to look not just at him, but through him. Perhaps through a solid look, some of these people could actually see into their minds, understand them. The Huntress always liked thinking of possibilities, since there were always so many things that never produced a real answer or left a mystery behind which she would rather be solved.
The figure jolted as she heard something off to the side. Footsteps. Ever so faint but the Huntress could still hear very well. It didn't take a psychologist to see that the woman was afraid. Afraid of who approached.
Feeling the anticipation rising, the Huntress had to cease whatever remained of the moment. 'Please! All I need is a yes and I can go ahead and end this nightmare'
The woman broke her trance of the footsteps and looked back at the Huntress. Within her eyes alone with their teary coating and their brightness, she knew that the Huntress was beyond sincere with her request. She nodded to her in consent.
'Thank you. You'll know when it's time'
The woman bowed her head down to the water below and closed her eyes. She allowed her body to be reduced down and disappear. The Huntress watched in respect as the officers lower body disappeared into the murky water.
Before she looked away and continued putting her plan into action, she couldn't help but take one more look at the nametag across the woman's chest and hold her breath in recognition. Broke.
Within a snapping second, the feel of the room changed. The game was on, the plan was in motion. The Huntress ran back to the consoles and continued her alterations. She raised her glance from the main control to look out of the bridge window. Before her was a massive sphere. An alien machine. What this whole plan hinged on. The very thing she was spending so much time modifying.
Behind her, Gray and Kate sprinted the room with Cassie close behind. All of them were very out of breath, gasping for air.
'Bugger me, I'm done!' Gray exclaimed with a dry, breathless tone. His hands were on his bent knees in an attempt to hold his upper body up. Sweat dripped down his forehead and even a drop hung from the tip of his nose.
Kate leaned her body against the edge of the doorframe. From the weakness in her whole body, she limply slid down into a sitting position, using the frame as a backrest. Her eyes were closed and she tried to calmly regain her breath.
Even Cassie was now struggling. Her hands were up on the wall and she held all her body weight against it whilst remaining straight. She was short of breath, but nowhere near as much as the others.
'I'm with him. I am so not fit enough for all this' Cassie commented.
The Huntress just stood still and watched them. She couldn't help but sigh and slump her shoulders. She didn't know whether to be disappointed in their fitness or proud of what they achieved, assuming that this really is an extreme undertaking for humans. No, of course it was extreme for them.
'Nice to see everyone here in one piece' she warmly greeted, her hands still working on the consoles at great speed whilst her whole head remained turned and focused on her friends. Her comrades? Her associates? Whatever she'd decide to call them.
'Nearly time to get this show on the road. I've extrapolated the relevant data from the Sea Devils central hub and translated then rewrote one of their control codes into a whole new sequence. My very own skeleton key. For this plan to work, I'm going to have to calibrate, align and re-sequence everything perfectly without a single, teensy-weensy thing going wrong. Make sense?'
She was met with blank and worn faces. Clearly there were too many words for them to process or maybe she didn't explain it properly. She was puzzled. It all made perfect sense to her.
It was Gray who sighed and straightened himself up, his arms sore and limp along with the redness from rope burn throbbing within his palms.
'Look, whatever ya need, we'll help. Can we at least 'ave it in simple English and less than thirty words?'
The Huntress nodded along with Gray, noticing the agreeing faces of both Kate and Cassie behind him.
'Oh, I can do even better than that' the Huntress answered with a smile. She allowed her arm to swing out in a grand manner and stop, her open-palm aimed directly at the massive spherical device on the bow of the ship.
'Ladies and gentleman, we're going to hijack the water ourselves with that handy-dandy climate regulator with an impressive engineering control module ran with good old blood control regulator.'
Gray, Kate and Cassie stared in awe of the device. It glow green, multiple layers of hoops swing around the huge centre sphere which seemed to be littered with glowing green runes, almost like a lost language.
'We're going to put its power into the right hands'
* * *
The group were immediately put to work and everyone could feel that time was running out. An oncoming solution which would hopefully end with a successful conclusion in their favour.
The Huntress ushered everyone quickly out to the device outside. Everyone was off balance, but fought hard to do as they were instructed. The ships were getting very close to its central point. Five minutes left at minimum.
The wind had picked up, clouds had formed in the sky. They were dark and rumbling with thunder and fit to burst into a storm. Things were about to get very scary very quickly.
'Kate struggled to remain still as she fought against the wind, in her hand were a multitude of cables wrapped together in all colours, leading from the bridge cabin out into the climate regulator. The Huntress was at the other end with the cords, using her sonic to fuse them to the wires from behind a panel.
Gray and Cassie were busy over at some strange control panel on the other side with a handful of pages, handwritten and bound together with some strange kind of wire down the whole left side. A makeshift manual. They had to start inputting the codes for her. She didn't have enough time to do everything herself.
'Huntress!' Gray shouted over the howl of the wind as the first drops on rain started to fall. 'What's happenin' to the weather!'
The Huntress turned and nearly slipped on her knees on the slippery deck. 'Woah. Uh, it's the Admiral's programming. They want to cause disarray and have enough water to eventually flood the city. The closer we get, the more chaotic the weather!'
Cassie watched the raindrops fall on the pages of the manual she held. It was slightly going limp and soggy. 'The manual! It's going to be drenched!'
With a face of twisted frustration, the Huntress removed her blazer, kissed her sonic before placing it deeply into the inner pocket and threw the blazer towards Cassie with all her strength.
'Catch!' she yelled as she used her careful aim and strength determination to throw the blazer, calculating the wind, the weight, everything. It landed around Cassie's left knee, where her hand luckily ended up. She lifted it up and eyed the Huntress in befuddlement, more than lost now.
'Use it as a shield against the rain! The sonic as a light!'
'Oh' was all Cassie could say in realisation, scrambling with the blazer and eventually finding the sonic. As she grabbed the sonic, she looked all around it and was couldn't figure it out in the slightest. The Huntress rolled her eyes as she instantly noticed.
'There's a button! Just press and think!' she shouted one last time. She had to keep working, now by hand and not by sonic.
But she believed, knew she could still get it done with enough spare time in case things went pear-shaped.
Cassie figured it out and ignored her overwhelming curiosity and fascination with this peculiar device that the Huntress used to do so many crucial and impossible things.
Gray however was letting his panic get to him. His hands shook in distress and he had hot sweat rolling down his face. He understood the pressure. He knew that one wrong input and the world would be lost, only starting with his home.
'Come on! I need more, what's next!' he yelled at Cassie, the area around growing louder and louder the heavier the rain became.
They all worked hard and never stopped for a moment. Gray and Cassie become synchronised with their communication and their confidence grew every minute, though bit by bit. Kate had joined the Huntress at the panel, carefully linking cables where she was told and severing those as instructed, all the while being cautious of electrocution thanks to the unwanted rain shower.
As she worked, the Huntress would throw not many, but a few glances back at the large window to the bridge. What she was looking to, however, was the person still unconscious on the floor inside. Come on, Will. I could really use your help right now...
Inside, Will was still very much out of it. A few minutes later however, his finger twitched once. Twice. The whole hand started clenching and unclenching. In a matter of a few following seconds, Will's eyes flew open at the moment a clap of thunder crashed outside.
'Huntress' he spoke in a quick awareness.
Meanwhile, the Huntress leaned back on her heels still knelt down. Her shoulders relaxed and she now had a smile of success right across her face. She started frisking her pockets, looking for something. Kate was still by her side, waiting patiently for the next part of her plan with eager anticipation.
The rain was started to become like tiny daggers that felt like they pierced when they hit the skin. The whole blackening sky would light up brightly at the rumble of thunder. Sheet lightning. It was only going to get worse from here.
All four of them were soaked through. Their shirts clung to their bodies which were rapidly dropping in temperature. The Huntress had to keep flipping her wet hair out of her face as she worked.
Eventually, she found what she wanted. The Huntress pulled out a device from her side pocket. It was the device she had stolen from Admiral Ironwood. Kate was confused, seeing only a round bronze-based device with a bright red button-like light flashing atop of it.
'What's that meant to do!?' Kate questioned loudly over the rain. She could barely hear herself think at this point and staying in the same place was growing difficult. The weather was causing the ship to rock side to side. That with the drenched flooring made for a very slippery surface.
The Huntress beamed as she started to place it correctly inside the module. 'It used to be a brainwave enhancer, to put it in your terms. Now, it's a brainwave dampener! I can use it to amplify something else now'
Upon hooking up the last few wires, Cassie and Gray slid over to join them with the code now correctly inputted. Cassie was able to slide on her feet then kneel down, but not Gray. He immediately slipped onto his backside and slid right into the Huntress' side. Luckily, he didn't cause her to make a mistake.
'Top of the mornin' to ya!' he cheekily greeted, hoping to save himself from some anger.
Instead of being mad, the Huntress grabbed his arm and pulled him up into a sitting position. 'Nice of you to slide by!' she smugly retorted, bring a smile to both Gray and Cassie.
Such a nice moment at the end of the world's approach. However, within seconds of it, the mood was ruined and ruined harshly.
From somewhere behind them, a warped sounding gunfire was heard and the Huntress screamed. Her left side was hit and severely burned. It ripped a circular hole through her clothes and left the view of burnt flesh.
The Huntress flung forward in pain and quickly held out her arms to catch her body. Both hands landed firmly on the ground and her fists clenched so hard her nails were piercing her palm. After a few moments, a tiny streak of blood flowed from underneath with the rainwater.
Gray immediately positioned himself in front of Cassie to protect her and she in turn hid behind him in fright.
As a reflex, Kate turned into a one-knee kneeling position and went for her gun. It wasn't until her hand reached the spot in question that she finally remembered. It was taken back in the cave. She was unarmed.
All the three companions could do is look at the assailant in fear and rightly so as it was non other than the fury-driven and raging Admiral Ironwood himself. A ray gun firmly gripped in his hand. The rain hitting the end which the shot was fired was creating steam from the immense heat it emanated.
'I did say you would perish!' Ironwood declared, filled with confidence and righteousness. Like the front lining soldier at the beginning of a war. One who was ready to kill his prey.
The Huntress stumbled involuntarily as she felt the pain of the blow. The harsh rainfall constantly hitting the open wound didn't help. She groaned as she decided what to do. She staggered, but gave it her all to get up. She had to stand on her own feet.
Noticing her struggle, Kate immediately offered her aid. Both gave each other a smile of assurance. Teamwork. Kate wrapped her own sore and tired arm under the Huntress' right arm and started pulling her up. Feeling something on her other side, the Huntress turned and saw Cassie gently grabbing her lower left arm and Gray following her suit with her upper arm. Her friends lifting her up. All their eyes, the emotion on their faces. No fear. She couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe how much they were believing in her in this moment.
Finally, she was on her feet. Ironwood simply sniggered as he watched a wounded animal require help just to stand. Pathetic. Such a glorious spectacle for such a nuisance in their final moments, he thought.
The Huntress rested her gaze on Ironwood. Though on a leash, she felt her past self-creeping up again. She felt the rage, the outrage, the fierceness of her want for vengeance. She never acted, but all of that within her was directed into one place. Her eyes. Her beautiful green eyes became intense, vicious and unforgiving.
'Cheap shot' she couldn't help but spit back. Her stance and voice acted like she was never even injured. Inside however, she was twitching and clouded in agony. Burning, itching agony.
Then, for no reason whatsoever, she smiled at him with a wicked grin. Ironwood didn't know whether to be impressed or afraid. The others behind her couldn't see her face which in this moment was a very good thing for the Huntress. This was the side of her she never wanted another soul to ever have to see for a long as she lived.
'Oops. Don't you realise what I am? I'm sure I've heard you refer to it many times!' she added, shouting even louder over the thunder and downpour of the oncoming storm.
Her stare was started to cause something to happen within Ironwood. His trigger finger started shaking. What he thought was the rain was actually sweat dropping down his brow. Even with the rain saturating his whole body, his hair in every place was now furled and standing on end. Goosebumps.
The Huntress tipped her head slightly to her side, leaving her grin in place but her eyes narrowing as she held her lock on his.
'And what is that!' he snapped.
With everyone looking at Ironwood, no one had noticed what was happening. It wasn't until she raised her left hand so it was up near her face that it all became so obvious to some but so astonishing to others. The Huntress had even dared to looked away from him to observe her hand.
Ironwood's jaw dropped at what he witnessed. Kate and Gray stood in the same bewildered state. Cassie couldn't help but take a few steps back away from her, nearly slipping on the deck.
It glowed. Her hand was glowing with regeneration energy, golden and sparkling. It swirled and danced like a flame would but looked much less harmful.
'Time Lord!' she proudly uttered. 'One who is still within twenty-four hours of her regeneration cycle. Snap!'
Knowing what this meant, Ironwood forced himself to look down at the injury he inflicted. He gaze tried to avoid it, his mind was fighting for control, wanting him to look away from her all together. Once he overcome his reluctancy, his gun fell as his hands grew limp and all expression on his face died away. A sign of imminent defeat.
'No...' he gently said. 'No!!!' he angrily shouted afterwards.
It was Gray who actually figured out what was going on, remembering her changing bodies in the apartment. He looked at the wound on her lower left side. It was completely healed.
'Oh yes. Now then, last chance to talk'
And with that, the first violent strike of lightning fired down from the heavens into London. It made a loud and horrendous crash as it struck.