Episode 23

Phase 1 is just saving
the shinobi. Protect yourself,
protect your partner.

The bomb blew upwards, tearing apart the shaft.

Ross opened his eyes. First one, then the other. No alarm. The sensor strip was untouched.

"Get in there!" Sabrite hissed, poking him.

Ross clambered through the shaft and turned a corner. There, amid much smoke, was a charred, gaping hole and some remains of a screwdriver.

Ross scrambled down.

"Never again, never, will i climb up behind you. You are the most insolent -"

"Good thing i brought the scredriver." Ross cut in, fingers already flying over the keyboard.

"Good thing i saw it in your butt. Dumb stealth suit pockets."

"Shut up and do your part." Ross snapped, finally cracking. "Kyioshi is still up there, in a cell!"

Silence but the tapping of keys. Ross effectively put the entire security system to sleep. Then he realized Sabriye hadn't left.

They stared at each other, through their masks.

"You're not that lazy, are you?"

Ross frowned. "You don't hate Ceri that much," he shot back, "Do you?"

Sabriye was silent. Ross couldn't see her face, underneath the helmet.

"You're not that worthless a person after all," she said, at last. "And that's me passing judgement."

She turned and made for the hallways.

Ross moved back to the screen, relayed a message to Alec, and wondered just what the hell did Ceri see in Sabriye.

*

The pigeons had passed by for the third time. Ceri grabbed the rope nervously and chacked his mana reserves. The display on his arm showed five percent left. The batteries were not going to last.

"Cameras down." Alec said, in his earpiece. With hidden relief, both boys bounced over to the window, Taylor getting in first.

The guards were still dead to the world. Ceri headed for the cells, Taylor checking each and every one of the guards on the floor.

The four shinobi had suffered the same fate as the guards outside. They had neither the filters nor the anti-agent that the eight had. Kyioshi was in rags, almost naked and bleeding all over. Ceri averted his eyes, taking out four syringes.

"Wow." said Taylor, coming over and looking at Kyioshi.

"We need clothes."

They spent the next few minutes stripping down one of the the guards and putting the clothes on Kyioshi. Ceri cleaned the wounds as best he could, using the guard's handkerchief. Not clean enough. Blood still seeped into the uniform.

Ceri injected the anti-agent as Taylor tended to the rest. Kyioshi stirred.

"W-wha?" he said, eyes squinting.

"Shut up." Ceri said, propping Kyioshi's arm over his shoulder. "You need a medic. Fast."

The other shinobis were waking up as the anti-agent started to combat the sleep. Of the three, Milo took in the broken cell doors, the fallen guards and the stealth suits.

"Centauri." he said, a little relieved.

"They made Kyioshi t-tell tehm -" Kierra started.

"Never mind that, we need to leave -"

"- where t-the academy is located."

Taylor and Ceri exchanged dark looks, and Kyioshi shifted a little on Ceri's shoulder.

"We have to go." Ceri said firmly.

*

Three seconds.

The explosion rocked the walls, sending Sabriye spinning like a top. She stabled herself and then slid down the grappling rope.

A hole had been punched out at the bottom of the elevator shaft. Alec calculated correctly the thickness of the walls, and it had been easy to drill the explosives in. Sabiye loosened the warm concrete and crawled through.

The room beyond wasn't very large, but it contained one very important thing - the black armoured van.

Whistling, Sabirye walked over to the entrance and hit the controls, raising the garage doors.

"Hello," she said, "On time as usual."

Chong Fen nodded and entered.

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