[u]Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology[/u] [i]Coastal Waters, Tenebrae [color=lightgray]Time: After Midnight[/color][/i] [h3][b][u]Dream[/u][/b][/h3] [I]"Stay behind me, let's go!"[/I] Shiny, steel-toed leather boots stampeded the platform as Ellie spoke, blocking the way behind them. As Linus and Ellie finished making the water shield, Dream gritted her teeth, pulling frantically on the steel binds on her wrists. If she couldn't use her hands, she wouldn't be able to protect them. The smell of gunpowder mixed with the hot air as guards fired off a warning shot over them. "On the ground, on the ground now!" Dream tried rubbing the sweat from her brow with the edge of her shoulder. Whether it was from the heat or nerves, she couldn't tell. There was something off here. She stood beside two metas, both strong. The security detail were suicidal if they thought a few bullets could stop three seasoned metas. Sure, Dream was stuck in handcuffs, but Ellie and Linus could hold their own easily. What was the source of the guards' confidence? A laser light caught her eye, and she turned. The lobbed smoke grenade from the vents cast a veil, suffused with the updraft from below, lit up with snaking, lethal red beams. She could see them play over the shield, Linus, Ellie. They traced figures over the heart before lining up with vital points on all three of them from both sides of the platform. Security had extra detail in the walls. Men hidden in the numerous vents. If she squinted, she could see the cold glint of rifle barrels sticking out of the grates. Dream's heart dropped. These people were just waiting for an excuse to open fire. Did they care about the legalities of harming metas? Probably not. Staring at the pointed guns and padded vests in front of her, the haze of smoke disfigured the details just enough, and panicked images flashed in front of her eyes. ~*~ [I]The smell of fire and sweat, eyes straining as she staggered away from the unconscious man on the cement in front of her. Weak flames curled off his limbs, slowly extinguishing, leaving no marks. A pyro meta, a criminal by trade, finally defeated in the wet streets of Tenebrae's Japanese village. "Don't move!" Her panting breath caught as blinding lights took over. She blocked it with her hands, watching silhouettes come into focus. Vests, badges, automatic rifles. She couldn't count how many surrounded her. And, slowly, she raised her hands.[/I] ~*~ Light dripped from her hands, angrily curling, useless behind her back. "They got snipers in the vents. They haven't shot us yet, but we're running out of time." [hr] [u]Section A, the Hole Above the Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology[/u] [i]Coastal Waters, Tenebrae [color=lightgray]Time: After Midnight[/color][/i] [@Shu] In the sabotaged remains of one of the world's most secretive lab, the Triad men crouched around the hole that once held the heart, checking their ropes. A gunshot rang out, and screaming. The toy soldiers had found their targets. A man surveyed the hole behind the others, dressed in dragon tatoos and bullets. "Let's go, men." "Yes sir!" As men leapt down, he turned to see one of the smaller, less dressed men behind him, feet shuffling toward the hole. He held up a hand, "Stop right there, Pak Tsz Sin." The younger one looked up, bandage hiding the gash on his neck. The one Scarlet had spoken with in the alley. "Sir?" "You're staying here." "But sir, if Scarlet Shadow is in the vicinity--" "The heart's extraction is our top priority." "She is a priority as well, sir. I have to sway her to our side, Hung Kwan." The Hung Kwan rolled his eyes, "She's as good as dead, Pak Tsz Sin. The sooner you realize that, the better." "Sir, this is the one job I have. I want to make Shan Chu proud." He said, jutting out his chin. The Hung Kwan paused, then sighed. "No." He pushed the younger one to the side, "Go watch our escape route. If I need you, I will call you." The Pak Tsz Sin watched grimly as the Hung Kwan followed his men down the hole, and he turned away sharply, kicking the metal floor with a jarring clang. -- [@Shu], [@Blizz] In the center of the platform, meters in front of Linus' glowing shield, a dozen men with heavy boots, QBZ-95 automatic rifles, and bare arms covered in tattoos landed from the ceiling. They lobbed canisters high over Ellie, Linus, and Dream's heads, landing in the security guards ranks. The canisters bursted, and white clouds covered the guards. The frantic gasping for air and coughing on hands and knees made it clear these were tear gas canisters. They thickly coated the doorway and far part of the platform, threatening to inch closer to Ellie and Dream. The tattooed men turned their guns on Linus' shield, others pulling grenades off their belts. The Hung Kwan held up a hand, studying the metas in front of him. "Friends, not sure where you're trying to go, but I think we might be able to help each other." His hand gestured to the heart in Ellie's hands. "Hand over the heart, and I can grant you safe passage." The smoke grenade previously launched was almost finished, leaving a thin film of smoke in the air. Ellie, Linus, and Dream could see red beams realining like a morbid rave show, highlighting the chests and faces of the tattooed men. The Hung Kwan clicked his teeth, pulling off the velcro of his front chest pouch. A charge, safety cap knocked to the side and red button lightly depressed by his thumb, was pushed into the air. "And if you all [I]zhū tóu[/I] think you're safe in those vents, you know better than me what happens when the reactor matter below is lit by something like this. Don't push me." One of the men beside the Hung Kwan passed what looked like night vision binoculars, pointing to the wall. The Hung Kwan scanned the wall, and a smile tugged at his lips. "Well, I'd be damned if that wasn't our master ninja come to join the party." He passed back the binoculars and pulled out a crossbolt in his other hand, lining up a shot. A metal bolt smashed into the wall beside her, creating an anchor. Rope spilled out as he fired off a second shot on the opposite wall, making a tightrope perpendicular to the platform. "Why don't you come join us?" He said. "A certain low-life friend of mine wants to talk to you, so I won't shoot you. Yet." The crossbolt was back in his free hand, other hand gripping the charge. "Trust me, the closer you are to him, the better." On the other side of the platform, behind Ellie and Linus, Dream staggered back, eyes tearing up from wayward vapours. She squinted, seeing the guards spluttering and choking on the ground. It gave her, Ellie, and her friend precious minutes to make a plan, and if the draft stayed back, her and Ellie wouldn't have the same suffocating problem. Dream leaned to speak low to Ellie, eyes shifting from the charge in the tattooed man's hand, to the shadowy blob on the wall. "If the heart falls, it'll be destroyed. If you push that, they might back off and we can figure a way out of here." [hr] [u]Corridor, Laboratory of Microreactor Technology[/u] [i]Coastal Waters, Tenebrae [color=lightgray]Time: After Midnight[/color][/i] [@Shu] A buzz in Scarlet Shadow's ear. [code]"Code Red, what's your status?"[/code] Scarlet could hear tapping of a keyboard. [Code]"There's no cameras in this part of the lab, so I'm blind. Have you located the heart yet? I have an escape route available, but it involves leaving the vents. There's a lab above this reactor shaft with direct access to open water. We can have a getaway device on standby for you."[/code] A pause. [code]"There's another way that involves the vents, but it's a much lengthier process. What do you think?"[/code]