[Xiomera]

Meanwhile on the floor above, Lily Doll and her accompanying Shorn One had broken through the door shooting, downing a number of guards who had been in their way. They were less merciful, all those who crossed their path were killed, quickly and painlessly, but without any hope even if medical attention was given immediately. Noises came from cells in response to the commotion, but Lily was focused on her objective. The other prisoners would find no salvation today.

Lily and Temexay made quick work checking the cells before they found Cozamalotl. Lily opened the cell using her stolen keys only to curse at the state his interrogators had left him in.

"We're going to need extra keys for these chains," she informed Temexay, irritated and almost gagging at the smell of vomit.

Temexay nodded, quickly running outside to find the needed keys.

At the sound of voices, Cozamalotl turned. His clothing was in tatters and he clearly hadn’t been allowed to bathe himself or groom himself in weeks. The dapper image he normally presented to the world was far gone, but even with that, his eyes still glimmered with weary intelligence. “If this is yet another ploy by Mariya or her minions, you really needn’t bother. I have never understood ASI’s need for theatrics. You all watch too many telestories,” he said in a dry tone.

"I don't work for ASI," Lily replied. "We're here to get you out."

Cozamalotl looked up from the chair he was in, seemingly unconvinced. “Or....you could be trying to make me do something that gives my torturers more of an excuse to torture me. Trying to escape would be yet another ‘crime’ the government could label me with.” He sighed. “But they hardly need an excuse anyway, and if there’s a chance you’re telling me the truth, why not.” Cozamalotl’s thoughts were interrupted by Temexay returning with the needed keys. “If you are indeed my rescuers, I thank you and don’t mean to seem ungrateful,” he began, then stopped at a noise from the doorway. A guard had appeared in the doorway. Temexay threw a dagger to silence him, but a fraction of a second too late. The guard had pressed a button on a device strapped to his belt. Within seconds, more guards were coming, their footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Lily swore again and pulled out two pistols, turning around to the door of the cell. "Get him free," she instructed Temexay as she fired down the corridor at the first guard she saw while kicking the first guard's body out of the way.

Temexay swore to himself as well as he quickly bent down to unlock Cozamalotl’s chains. “You must be a Shorn One,” Cozamalotl said, raising his hands. “Only a Shorn One would be brave enough, or crazy enough, to break into the Cauhloc. But she’s not a Shorn One....” he added, his eyes suddenly widening as he put two and two together. “Perhaps not only the Shorn Ones are so brave or crazy....” he murmured.

“We can discuss it later,” Temexay replied, focusing on the chains. With a final click, the last lock was removed. “Can you stand up?”

“I believe so,” Cozamalotl said, rising slowly to his feet. The two of them began to move towards the doorway, then stopped as Lily was already in the midst of several guards.

Lily spun kicking one of the guards in the groin as she reached out to shoot one in the head. The gun clicked; she'd used up her ammunition, so she dropped it and went to pull out a knife. Unfortunately, that brief delay allowed one of the Xiomeran guards to grab her arm and pull her off-balance. As she tried to regain her footing, another guard stabbed her in the stomach.

She gasped, pushing off the guard in front of her and slamming herself against the wall to give herself a second to glimpse her wound. It wasn't good; and she was already getting dizzy. There were too many guards, and she was almost out of weapons. Things didn't look good. As one of them pointed his own gun at her, she threw the knife at his head, but at the same time her legs buckled under her and she slid down the wall.

"Temexay!" she yelled as much as she could, though breathing was becoming harder. She needed assistance desperately, but several dead guards lay between her and the Shorn One, and getting past the unfortunate barrier would take half a second too long for the Shorn One to save her as further down the corridor a guard who'd only just joined the fray raised a rifle he'd managed to fetch from the weapons locker, and fired a bullet directly into Lily's brain.

As Lily fell to the ground and stopped moving, Temexay let out an angry growl. Rushing the final guard, he jammed his fighting knife into the man with such force that the guard was slammed into a nearby wall, the blade pinning him in place. As the guard struggled vainly to free himself, Temexay grabbed his mācuahuitl and ended the man’s efforts with a single swing.

Dropping the mācuahuitl, he ran back to Lily, bending down to try to help her. It was already too late; the gunshots the guard had fired had done their work. Sighing, he closed her eyes, saying a brief prayer that she be rewarded by the gods for her bravery. He turned back to Cozamalotl. “Sir, we have to go now, we have to get you out of here,” Temexay said, leaning down to raise Cozamalotl from the ground. He was surprised when Cozamalotl stopped him. “I can barely walk, after what they’ve been doing to me in here. And now, you’re alone. You’ll never make it out of here if you have to carry me along. Go on, get out while you can,” Cozamalotl said, shrugging Temexay off and leaning against a nearby wall.

“But I was sent here to rescue you. My mission must not be a failure.” Temexay moved to take Cozamalotl’s arm again, only to be shrugged off once more.

“Enough people have died for me,” Cozamalotl said, looking sadly at Lily before shaking his head. “I will not have your life on my conscience too - and it hardly matters anyway, if you insist on dragging me along, we’ll both end up dead anyway to no gain. Get out of here, Shorn One. Go home, and see your family, and live to defend Huenya once more.” Cozamalotl began limping along the wall, as Temexay looked on in confusion. “Where are you going?” he asked.

“I am off to be the bait. When any guards that come through here see me out of my cell, they’ll fall all over themselves to capture me. Who wants to be the one to tell Calhualyana that they let her star prisoner escape, after all?” Cozamalotl chuckled softly. “In that confusion, I should buy you and your cohorts a little bit of time to escape. Now go, Shorn One. Please. And….thank you for trying.”

Cozamalotl limped up the corridor, towards his destiny, as Temexay could only watch. Shorn Ones did not cry. Ever. But if they did, this would have been the time.

Feeling more frustration than he had ever felt before in his life, Temexay bounded the other way down the corridor.