"Light as a feather, got it." Shizuka whispered to Rika, nodding and following after her. As they made their way through the claustrophobic halls, her eyes gazed down to Rika's feet. As far as she could tell, the woman's feet were touching the metal flooring at the same pace as her own, however, Rika was not making a single sound. It was as if someone had hit the mute button on her, silencing any possible noise from her. As adapt as she was in the art of stealth, anyone with eyes and ears could tell that she was being slowed down by the presence of a partner. 

Shizuka took a deep breath, and focused on altering her body's composition. She rubbed her thumb against her fingers, and recalled the sensation of something soft she had once held in her hands. An image of a plush moogle entered her mind, and as it did her fingers softened and bent backwards. She tried to apply the same texture to the rest of her body, but her memory was stunted by something. She was blocking out part of the memory, a pair of caring hands holding out the plush to her. She let out a sigh, finding herself loathing this process once more, if only she wasn't forced to always remember the exact moment she first touched something, she wouldn't have to keep seeing his face, wouldn't have to keep seeing things that reminded her of what was no more. The rest of her body and clothing took on the light, flexible texture, and her steps turned nearly silent. Rika could likely still hear her, though she was effectively silent against the noise of the factory.

Carefully making their way around a corner, Rika had spotted a group of soldiers in front of what looked to be an elevator. Before Shizuka could ask what they should do next, Rika told her to stay put while she handled them, and handle them she did. Rika moved swiftly and silently, taking out one solider after another, seemingly blinking out of her sight as she struck them down. Shizuka nearly had to pick up her jaw from the floor, she knew Rika was good, but what she did exceeded her expectations. A quiet whistle let her know to come out of hiding, Shizuka walked forward, stepping over bloodied bodies. A thought occurred to her, that this is what Rika had meant by being able to take a life so easily. She was able to look death in the eye without fear, and deal it out in the same turn. Shizuka had seen enough death to warrant it being an acquaintance, but it was not a friend. She had trained to become a keyblade master in the hopes of finding solutions to conflicts that did not involve lethal force, needless to say she had not found an answer yet. 

Rika told her to destroy the communicators of the soldiers, and as Rika began interrogating the only standing solider she did just that. It wasn't pleasant pilfering things from dead or dying men, so she moved as quickly as she could, gathering the devices and crushing them in her hands using a metal grip. Tossing the scrap metal away, Shizuka watched the exchange between Rika and the man she had on the edge of her blade. She would have to admit to being a little nervous when the man was called for a check in, however, Rika stayed calm and handled it without issue. The man gave them the directions to the core room, and was knocked out by an elbow to the jaw. "Impressive." Shizuka said with a grin.

Rika told her to take the stairs, Shizuka wasn't too sure about splitting up, but she trusted her partner's judgement in the matter. Rika took the elevator to the floor below, and Shizuka was left alone to head into the depths of the factory. 

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"What? Lin, hold o-." Ace let out a disgruntled sigh and followed after Lin. "Cori, let's go, we don't want to be near Cerden when the Heartless find him any....way." As if on cue, Ace heard the sound of claws scraping against the floor behind him, from the sound of it, a group of at least five Defender Heartless had found Cerden. "Yeah... Let's get the heck out of here."

He went off after the rouge assault team member, wondering what it was that she had heard. Their goal was to ensure a safe exit for Rika and Shizuka, but he had no qualms with saving someone if they were truly in duress. What he was not okay with was Lin trying to go off on her own. Besides the fact that she was a friend, they were a team, and they needed to operate as a single unit. He kept pace with Lin as she walked, however, she soon broke out into a sprint. Ace moved to rush after her, but a pipe released a stream of boiling steam that cut off his sight of her.. "Dammit..." Ace grumbled as he wiped sweat from his forehead. The factory's temperature as well as it's humidity rose the further they went down, it made it feel as if they were descending into the bowels of a living creature. Ace kept a hand on his blade, and walked through the halls, trying to find Lin.

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Ryoko backed away from the scrawny man she had just forced awake, astonished by his late reaction to the venom in his veins. The pain hit him like a sack of gummi blocks, and he began to writhe on the floor, groaning in agony. Ryoko was in no rush to help him, and spent the spare time until it wore off to check her nails. She kept them polished, and sharpened them to make it easier to draw her own blood, but she wondered if she should paint them a shade of violet, it would greatly complement her hair.

The man that she could only only refer to as 'Min' since his introduction was cut off, eventually sat forward, and began to ramble incessantly. She had been called quite a few things in her life, but no one had ever outright, plainly called her a 'bad guy.' Ryoko couldn't help but crack a grin, this man was amusing, at least. He tried to stand up, and attempted what she could only assume was a pathetic attack. But his legs seemed to numb, and refused to move. Ryoko's smirk spread into a wider grin, and she had to cover her mouth with her right hand. The small amount of blood she had forced into him couldn't have caused any level of paralysis, so she had to wonder how in the hell he had ended up in such a state. 

Even with a pair of rubber legs, the man threatened her, calling her an enemy to the light, and spouting lines she expected from a cheap sentai show. Her hand couldn't contain the laughter that then erupted from her mouth. 

"Good lord, is the newborn fawn here serious!?" She held her gut, going into a full on giggling fit. Her legs buckled, and she fell over to the floor, just then, a blaze of fire passed over her, and headed straight towards him.

Ryoko's giggling fit stopped, and she looked up to see the young girl that had just tried to fry her alive. "And then there's THIS!" She yelled, still on the floor, extending both her arms out at the Chinese girl in a hyperbolic manner. She stood up, and crossed her arms like a teacher disciplining a student. "Who the hell are you? And how the HELL did you get past the guards? I swear some people are just completely useless." Ryoko shook her head, upset that the Emperor had been right in expecting the Unbound Hearts to attack the factory. 

She dug her nails into her wrists, and black blood pooled into her palms. "There wouldn't happen to be more of you brats here, would there?"

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Heading down the stairway on her own, Shizuka had decided to try and remain as covert as Rika was when she was leading. She hugged the edge of the rounded spiral stairway's wall, and quickly but quietly eased her way down. "Do do duh, buh da bah, dah-da bah bahhh." She mumbled a tune to herself, building up the drama of her rather mundane method of sneaking. She reached the bottom most floor of the factory, and pulled on the collar of her shirt. It was nearly as hot and humid as a sauna. Keeping close to the hall's wall, she peeked around a corner and saw the elevator that Rika had taken. A guard had walked up to it, rifle in hand and ready to fire. Shizuka figured Rika could handle one lone man, but a tugging in her gut told her to take care of the man anyhow. She turned the corner and dashed towards him, her softened feet letting her close the distance without alerting him. The moment her hands could reach him, she hardened her arms into steel and grabbed the man, placing a hand over his mouth, and the other on his back. She slammed him to the ground, the impact to his head rendering him unconscious. The elevator had not arrived yet, but she decided not to wait for it and instead headed towards a large door at the end of a hall.

The door was different from the rest in the building, it had a valve instead of a nob, and was made of a thick, black steel. Shizuka turned the valve, and steam poured out from the sides of the door. The metal slab swung open with a groan, as if it wished she had not bothered to open it. The room she stepped into was larger than she thought it would be, compared to the tight quarters elsewhere in the building, this room was the size of a ballroom. And yet, for as large as the room was, much of it's space was occupied by large black tubes and pipes, all of which converged onto a single object in the center of the room. A large glass tube lay diagonally on a pile of wires that were connected to the back. Shizuka moved closer to the tube to see what was inside, but whatever it was, was obscured by a swirling dense miasma of darkness. She moved even closer, and pressed her face against the glass to get a better look. For just a moment, the darkness let her see through to the tube, and what she saw inside shocked her. It was hard to see, but she knew for a fact that inside the tube she saw the face of a human being. Shizuka fell backwards onto her bottom, and backed away quickly.