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Several seconds later, when more arrows flew past her, like a recap of yesterday's mission, Reine was regretting not having Robert as a shield of sorts. Gritting her teeth, she looked forward, trying to calculate her next step. What was the chance of getting through this..? She'd been through this with Jordan before, and even though she'd failed before, there was so much more at stake this time..

He took a second to pause between tiles and untie his scarf, which incidentally, was still issued in the Hunter standard outfit because it made a very handy temporary bandage to stop the bleeding as he considered his options. 'Robert' gave Reine a look of long suffering as he tentatively tested a tile.

Apparently an Ancient, Red, Aria, Conquest, and several other Four Clan leads could not pull off what Robert had just nearly just done. Congratulations Robert, you almost killed Caelius for good.

Unfortunately, it was very possible through the profuse bleeding from nearly being hammered flat from a wall of spikes that he was just severely injured and not actually dead. Quite yet.

The silence- something she would have expected from anyone-other-than-Robert set off the feeling of unease, and she looked backwards at Robert, only to see him crumpled on the floor, bleeding..

It felt like an eternity before she could move, running over all the tiles to get to him, not even caring that she, too, could at any moment be dead. Reine crouched beside him on the tile, slowly moving him so as to not disturb the wounds too badly.. oh god, he couldn't be dying. Her throat felt so dry she could barely speak, could barely do anything, really, except stare.

The blood was everywhere, staining her jacket red. Caelius hadn't been kidding, for sure, when he said Robert would be a handicap, and sniffling, Reine pulled him up, slinging his arm over her shoulder. Why did he have to be so heavy, she was struggling under his weight, almost, but she couldn't let go.

"I'll get us out of here, Bobby," she whispered. "Hang in there."

She could run the course ten more times if Caelius needed to, for a promotion mission. Just not this time, not when Robert was possibly dying.

Robert slammed his face against the monitors, both hands resting to either side. Did he seriously just watch his own body fall to it's death? Jesus CHRIST, what was he thinking sending Caelius in there in his body! If he died, what was going to happen to him when this day was over? Would he go back to his body? Would he be transported back into a DEAD BODY?!?! HELL TO THE NO MOTHER ********!

And then what? If not that, then.. to live his entire life as Caelius, the head of Deus Ex?

...

Well, that didn't sound that bad, and dying was certainly worse.. but still.. he loved his body.. he loved it so much..

A single tear fell from his eye.

And then he watched as Reine backtracked, picked up his body, and tried to go back out the way she came. She wasn't leaving him there. She was giving up her mission to save him.

Him.

"Oh God, Roberta." He whispered at the screen, that single tear turning into several big, sloppy ones.

All of the scratches, but that had to be nothing compared to what Robert was going through. As it was, she couldn't even minimise the damage being done to him, it wasn't as if she could carry him under her arm or something, or hold him close to her lack of bosom, to attempt to shield him.

Eventually she made it out, collapsing onto her feet. As gently as she could she let Robert down, so he was sprawled out on the ground. More than asking about how the promotion mission went- and she was sure enough that it had been a failure, she needed to get Robert to the infirmary now, and she was pretty sure Caelius wasn't going to offer his assistance. There was only one person she could trust in this situation, and she texted him quickly.



There was no need to worry, if Jordan was involved. She could count on him.
And now, without Robert to hold her back, Reine wasn't going to waste his sacrifice, especially if it meant that Caelius would order him to go in with her again. Petting his forehead tiredly, she pulled herself back up, somewhat shakily, and headed back inside.

The run didn't seem as long as it had before, and there was.. the exhilaration of doing the training course alone, for once. It felt almost like freedom- there wasn't any pressure to catch up to someone else, and no need to worry for them, either.

In fact, it was almost fun.

A large metal axe swung by, just barely missing her. This time, she knew to avoid the tile with the arrows. It wasn't that the room held no more surprises- this was just some kind of stroke of luck, she supposed. It felt almost surreal, skipping past all the tiles, getting away unhurt.

She'd take whatever she got.