Operation Honey Trap vs The Emperor of the Apocalypse-Chapter 146: Zipline Adrenaline

"General Chastain!" shouted Alton, "you’re up".

She didn’t bother arguing, noting he was probably going in order of weight, lightest to heaviest. She could tell how tense he was because sweat was pouring unchecked, down his face.

He strapped her pack onto the wire and checked the straps again before giving her hand a quick squeeze. "Stay safe, meet you at the bottom," he and Niko pushed her off hard before she could say a word in reply.

Bogden shot off after Delphi, running like a dervish underneath where she zipped down the line.

Okay, Arrie could see the end now. Thank goodness it was a round mushroom-shaped pulley contraption. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

She would either hit it and go around in a circle or come to a hard stop.

Here goes nothing she thought, bracing for the impact.

Her bag’s strap hit a pulley mechanism, and she jerked to a stop, flying forward with huge momentum, but held in place by her shoulder straps and harness.

She looked behind her and saw Delphi zipping down not too far behind her.

If she wanted to avoid being body slammed by Delphi, she needed to get out of there, and fast.

She quickly undid her harness and then monkeyed up her backpack using her upper body strength gained from years of gymnastics training. She reached up and unclipped her backpack, falling to the grass below with her pack, and scrambling out of the way.

Not a moment too soon!

Delphi flew down, her eyes shining with excitement now that she had seen Arrie dismount, unharmed.

She laughed with delight as she hit the mushroom and swung.

"How did you get your bag off, Arrie?"

"Unstrap and climb. Quick, Opal’s coming down fast. I think they’re getting more efficient at getting everyone onto the wire."

Delphi grunted with effort as she hauled herself on top of her own pack, watching as Opal came within seconds of slamming into her.

She just managed the clip and dropped ten feet to the ground.

It was too high for them to be of any use from below.

"Opal," Delphi shouted, "climb up and unstrap your pack, quick! Before Loveday hits you!"

Opal looked behind her and started to panic. Her arms were shaking, and she lacked the strength needed for the haul upwards which required a full chin-up.

"Leave it! Leave it!" shouted Delphi, "Just drop. Drop!"

Opal let her arms falls free from the backpack and she fell to the ground.

"Loveday! Feet out. Shouted Delphi. You’re going to hit Opal’s pack!"

Loveday stuck her boots out and they slammed into Opal’s pack, saving her face from the same fate.

"Climb up and unclip!" yelled Delphi. "Hurry before Indy hits you."

Loveday was able to unclip her pack, but Indy had to kick Opal’s pack too.

"Indy, looks like there’s a bit of a break before Brenner will run into you. Can you unclip Opal’s pack as well as your own?" called Delphi.

Loveday gave it her best shot, but she was too top heavy, and the extra weight impacted her agility. In the end she had to unclip and drop, leaving two packs strung up there in a row.

"It’ll be like hitting a crash mat," said Delphi to Arrie.

Brenner was not only able to unclip his own pack, but he monkeyed along the wire to unclip both Indy’s and Opal’s packs before Wolf arrived.

He looked at Delphi to make sure she had clocked his physical prowess. She gave him a ’yes, you’re very good and you know it,’ smile, rolling her eyes.

Wolf was so heavy that when he hit the pulley, his bag strap ran right through it and he continued on to the mushroom carousel, almost completing a 360-degree turn.

He gave a high-pitched cackle of delight.

"That was amazing! We must do that again some time."

He dropped to the ground, seeking out Arrie.

"Were you okay Araminta? You were the guinea pig. That must have been scary. We all had the benefit of seeing you all get off safely."

"I was pretty scared," she agreed. "It made me swear like a trooper."

"Oh swearing," he teased, "well that’s a sin. Imagine swearing in a situation like that!"

She gave him a playful punch in the guts. "I’ll swear at you if you keep that up."

He laughed and mussed up her hair.

"We’re coming back here after we win the Rebellion," he said to her, "and that’s a promise".

She smiled appreciatively at him. It felt nice to have a man be so kind to her after the business with Baer.

"How is Alton going to get his pack on there?" asked Delphi, squinting up at the top.

"I’m guessing he’ll just hang onto his bag, he won’t easily be able to strap in," said Wolf.

Delphi looked at the area behind the mushroom, noting he would most likely fly off, if he wasn’t strapped in.

"Wolf, help me kick down this fence," she said. "General Meyer will probably come off when he hits the pulley, so let’s get this out of his way."

There was a sharp tipped timber paling fence that looked like it would be lethal if one happened to land on it at warp speed. And he was the heaviest man...

Baer hit the pulley, ran through it, and managed a full loop of the mushroom before he came to a stop. He easily unclipped himself and jumped down. Niko followed suit.

"Do you know if General Meyer managed to clip into the harness or is he travelling loose?" Delphi asked Niko.

"He’s flying free. We already worked out he can’t do anything else. Here he comes!"

Alton had picked up an enormous amount of speed; you could tell because the wire was making a very loud whistling sound they hadn’t heard before.

"Stand back everyone!" called Delphi. "Move your stuff out of his way. He’s going to come off fast."

"Get ready to fly, Alton," she called to him.

His pack swung through the pulley and kept on going. Sure enough he was propelled off it at speed, flying so high in the air that Delphi winced thinking about the landing.

Amazingly, he turned a somersault on the upward flight, landed lightly and rolled again in the grass to slow his momentum.

There was dead silence for a moment.

"That was fucking awesome, General!" clapped Niko, and everyone joined in the round of applause.

"No time to dally," he grunted, dusting himself off. "Arrie, climb on Niko’s shoulders and get my pack down girl?"

"We’re going to need horses to get out of here at speed," he said. "Did anyone see a large stable on your way through?"

"Yup," said Wolf, "there’s one central one outside the pub if we want to become horse thieves".

"We don’t have any choice," Alton growled. "Let’s go steal some ponies, privates."