Chapter 10: Failure

As both pilots head out, they look around at their surroundings. They are atop a grassy hill, where the small house accommodating other pilots sits; in the distance, there are neon lights around a large pillar-like structure in the middle with bright bold words written on it along with a large ticking clock.

Floor 1: Endless games and fun!

"This way," says the pilot telepathically and leads the way.

The pair looks around as they make their way to their destination, they pass by several places packed full of kids, teens, and adults playing in arcades, PC cafés, comic cafés, and other places.

"Here we are," says the pilot as he stops in front of a diner.

The female pilot halts and looks up, scanning the sign of the diner, it says Mister Snack in bold colors.

The owner's voice greets them as soon as they enter through the doors, "Hey buddy!"

Their gazes wander towards the source of the sound and the pilot waves at him.

"I see that you've brought a new friend. Come on, your favorite spot is available. Follow me, ma'am," he says, walking ahead of them.

They walk through a hallway with closed doors on either side.

"Right here," says the owner, opening the door. The room consists of a table, a large TV screen and a bunch of U-shaped couches.

"Please, take a seat and I'll be right back with the menus. Of course, the Castle pays as always, so there isn't a need to worry about that!"

The pilots enter the room and take their seats.

"He seems like a very pleasant guy," says the female pilot.

"Agreed!" replies the pilot telepathically.

"Puta, what are you doing?! Here, let me show you how it's done!" they hear as the door closes behind the owner.

"Relatively speaking," she amends, telepathically this time.

"He means well. It's just his way of talking" remarks the pilot telepathically.

The door opens and the owner walks in, handing them each a menu.

"I'll take the barbeque chicken with a side of salad," says the female pilot.

The pilot gestures towards the cheeseburger and a large apple juice.

"Great choices, coming right up," says the owner as he collects their menus and walks out.

"Alright, let's get to it. Let's keep the communication telepathic for now, I'll start," says the female pilot telepathically.

. . .

"I see. Why did you go as far as making such a promise to her on the first day?" questions the pilot.

The female pilot pauses, "I'd rather not answer that question."

"Didn't we agree to share our points of view?"

She sighs, " . . . I am not sure why. But if I had to guess, maybe I felt pity and sadness for her, and wanted to do anything to be able to help her. I could hear and feel how agonized she was in the days I was with her, digging her nails into her skin, biting her lip until it started bleeding . . . " she trails off.

"And what happened on the day we had the fight?"

"Once she managed to fall asleep, I planned to carry her to my plane. But the moment my feet hit the ground, the gates opened and the man in the suit showed up with his army," she recalls, "Well, that's about it for me. What about you?"

"Well, after the situation with the man in the suit, my passenger disappeared, and I told the woman to remain inside the plane. After that, I came here in search for him to ask if he still wanted to go the Rope or not. I searched and asked around for him, but it was to no avail," he pauses, "After a day of fruitless searching, I decided to have another pilot take the woman to the Rope as it seemed that my search would take longer than I had expected."

He looks at her, "That's when I ran into you and asked you to do so after giving you the seal. I spent the next few days searching, until one day, while asking around, a group of people approached me and told me about a man asking around the way back to the gates and the hangar. He matched the description I gave so I decided to go check back at the hangar. That's when I walked in on the situation you had."

"Hm, the gates never opened until the man in the suit walked out so you were most probably lied to," observes the female pilot.

"The only lead we have happens to be the man in the suit. I think that if we find him, we can get some answers," proposes the pilot.

She nods, "Yeah, I am suspicious that he planned the whole thing. Anyway, let's give this information to headquarters and let them deal with it. I must search for─ " she halts, remembering the bracelet on the woman's wrist, "As I was saying, let's report to headquarters and hand over the weapons. We can go our separate ways after that," she concludes.

"What are you thinking of doing afterward? Surely, you won't attempt to drag the woman to the Rope?" asks the pilot.

"What I do afterward is none of your business."

He sighs, "Why the obsession–", a loud smash interrupts him.

"Run from the backdoor, friend! They've come for you!" shouts the owner, barging into their room.

Before he can say anything else, a gunshot sounds, and the owner falls forward.

The two can only watch as he slumps to the ground, looking to the door as they notice a flash grenade being thrown inside.

They both move to the middle of the U-shaped couches and flip the large table, holding it as a cover and shut their eyes just as a flash of bright white light fills the room.

A small team of people wearing SWAT suits breaks into the room shortly after.

"Get out from behind the table with your hands up in the air." orders one of them.

"What is happening?" questions the female pilot telepathically.

"I don't know but whatever it is, let's just comply. They can't hurt us if we surrender for now and see where this takes us," replies the pilot.

The female pilot nods and watches as the pilot prepares to get out of the cover.

"W-we are coming o-out now, without violence. H-here, my hands a-are up," he says, rising slowly with his hands in the air.

The moment he is in the team's vision, they open fire. The female pilot watches, horrified, as the pilot slowly falls back down. As he looks at her, she notices that none of the bullets hit his head or chest.

"Fight!" he urges her, telepathically.

She responds by running towards the team at high speed as the pilot launches the table using his powers acting as a battering ram and it results in the team scattering and getting distracted by the sudden attack.

"Now shoot!" another order from the pilot.

The female pilot takes out the plasma gun and swiftly begins to target the SWAT team one by one.

She glances back to the pilot and sees him pointing his plasma gun in her direction, she furrows her eyebrows and before she can react, he shoots.

The bullet passes right by her and into the head of the SWAT soldier she missed behind her.

"You gave me a heart attack with that!" she accuses, her heart pounding.

"Yeah, that was fun," he says telepathically and chuckles before he starts coughing out blood from his mouth.

"Damn it, you pushed yourself using your powers," says the female pilot as she hauls him up and carries him on her back, "Let's get out of here now," she sprints to the backdoor.

Kicking the backdoor open, she walks out and finds herself in an alleyway.

" . . . as you can all see these pilots are abductors and aggressors, terrorizing us like this!" she hears in the distance.

Her eyes dart around to find the source of the sound and she finds the large screen broadcasting the man in the suit.

She sees a video playing next to him and notices that it is a recording.

"Everyone, brace yourselves!" shouts the man in the suit as everyone around him is knocked down.

"Why?" she sees herself ask.

A chuckle sounds, "It's a matter of Castle security. I can't have you abducting my lover, can I?"

"She made up her mind and choice about going to the Rope. None of you have business with that."

The man laughs, "Oh, really? Then why is she heading towards the gates as we speak?"

The clip ends as the man in the suit speaks again, "Not only that, but two pilots got into a fight, terrorizing my poor lover. Isn't that right, honey?"

The woman nods as she shows up beside him.

The female pilot watches as the man in the suit raises a finger to his ear, "This just in! It seems these Castle terrorists have taken an entire SWAT squad down using plasma guns. These two are currently wanted for trial, if you find them, please call─ "

The female pilot stops listening as she stares at the screen in disbelief, only one thought coming to mind.

I failed.