No Good Deed Shall Go Unpunished (Open, PM for story if needed)

When the black bag covering John’s head popped off head he had to squint from the sudden arrival of harsh white light. There was so much it and the light was so bright and piercing it felt like his eyes were going to pop right out if his head. Thank his old teacher his hat wasn’t on his head. The Shaman reached up noting his hands were cuffed and squeezed the orbs trying to ease the pain. He wasn’t sure how he got to where ever this was or why he was even here. He did know he was sitting in a metal chair, the cold hard material hurting his back just enough to be uncomfortable. Finally after a minute his eyes could stand the light just enough to open and make out the near surroundings. The small ten-by-ten room he was in matched the light, harsh white, with the exception o f a small plastic table and a tall man sitting across from him in a second metal chair. Other than that there was nothing at all in the room, not even a door form John could see.

“Good day Mr. Greywolf,” the man who was dressed in an expensive dark gray suit and similar expensive wing tip shoes said with a polite air. His dark hair was cut meticulously with a very professional look.

“Is it day, can’t tell from where I sit what time it is.” John replied just as polite.

“Nothing to worry for Mr. Greywolf, I just felt it would be more accommodating to have our conversation away from prying eyes and ears. This a safe room in a very safe place I assure.” The man said with a nod.

John looked over to the small plastic table drawn there by the smell of an old friend. A small paper cup sat on the table with steam and a very strong aroma of peppermint drifting up from its rim. “A safe room for you I presume Mr. Bruinsma, for me, I still need time to decide.”

“You remembered me Mr. Greywolf, that’s the sign of a good memory.”

“You’re a hard man to forget, being the CEO of Atlas Arms Makers and all.” John answered reaching over and taking the cup of tea. He sipped at the hot liquid feeling a nice relief from the tea before speaking on. “Am I here Mr. Bruinsma because the way everything ended with Teidor and the Heir?”

The tall man shook his head and John noticed not a single hair fell out of place. “The litigation of all that will take longer than you and I need to care for. At the end of the day it’ll all bear no harm to Atlas or Teidor. By the way, you’re not worried we might try and drug you again?” Mr. Bruinsma asked pointing to the cup.

“No, you’ve drugged me all ready to get me here and doing it again right now would just defeat the purpose of having this conversation.”

“You are a calm one I must say Mr. Greywolf.”

“I have been told I am. How did you drug me Mr. Bruinsma, if you don’t mind sharing?” John asked before taking another sip of his tea.

The CEO of Atlas Arms smiled and reached into his coat pocket. John watched carefully as the man pulled out his hand and held it out with a single long projectile in the palm. It looked alien to John, no bullet or round he had ever seen resembled it, with no jacket or wad. “A man shot you with it at close range using compressed air. It’s an R&D prototype that I’m sure every arms maker in the business would kill for, even that pretender Fury Leohnart. Have you met him before Mr. Greywolf? He’s as rude and arrogant as that sister of his, whole family is a tainted blood line. ”

The Shaman looked up from the palm and leaned back in the chair. “We’ve met once or twice, but I’m sure I’m not here to talk about the Arms business or Fury and his family.”

Bruinsma pursed his lips for a second then spoke. “No Mr. Greywolf, no you’re not.

Fury sat in the dim red light of the cargo hold in the back of the Kestrel in his X-130 Modular Combat Suit. He had been investigating several missing person’s reports in the greater Midgar area and had finally tracked the people responsible for them to a weapons manufacturing company by the name of Atlas Arms Makers by tracking a very special bullet. The design of the bullet was ingenious, if not downright diabolical, but that wasn’t why Fury was infiltrating their main headquarters. He needed to see if there was any evidence connecting the company to the disappearances other than the bullet. Even if it was just the bullet, the company probably kept records of technology of that caliber and most likely would be able to point him in the right direction.

Fury nursed a cigar as he looked over the file on the company. They had a very interesting track record, but for the most part completely clean. No company was ever entirely clean. He shook his head and tossed the tablet containing the files on the chair next to him and rubbed his eyes. It was going to be a long night. He opened his eyes again just as Dusty entered the cargo hold. ”Mad you don’t get to go?”

A smirk touched Dusty’s face as he said, ”Hell no! I don’t miss these closed in infiltration missions. We haven’t run an op like this in a long while. Do you still remember how this is supposed to work?”

The red light flashed three times and the cargo door slowly began to open. Fury placed his mask on and activated the oxygen tank before standing and walking towards the now open cargo door. He looked down at the series of buildings flying by beneath him. The light flashed once more before turning green. Fury looked up to Dusty and said, ”Like riding a bike…”

Fury stepped off the ramp and began falling towards the target building. He activated the stealth systems on the suit, making him invisible to all forms of detection. He fell at an extremely high-speed, the wind tearing at him as he made a beeline for the roof of the Atlas headquarters. When he was maybe fifty feet above the roof, he drew out on of his Grav-Con balls and tossed it ahead of him. The ball struck directly where he was going to land, creating a small area that was null of gravity. Fury tucked his legs in and made a cannonball into the field of weightlessness. He hovered above the ground for a moment before the AMP material succumbed to his weight and dropped him silently on the ground.

Fury looked around; there was only one guard on the roof. The guard didn’t appear to have noticed his landing and there were no alarms going off. He reached up and activated the communicator on his neck and whispered, ”Raven, clean insert.”

A moment went by before the radio buzzed in his ear and he heard, ”Rodger that, maintaining holding pattern.”

Fury stood and drew his knife and crouched low to the ground. Time to go to work…


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Form: X-130 Modular Combat Suit 60 MP

800 - 60 = 740MP remaining

We sat across the street from the Atlas Arms Makers headquarters, and when I saw ‘we’ I mean Nafeesa and myself. It had had only been an hour since the anonymous call that told us where to find John, who by the way had been kidnapped off the streets sometime around lunch. I assumed it was noon when he went missing. It was the last time he had been seen. The lady, who ran the incense shop John always visited said she saw him leave, talked about going to see someone, and then nothing. He was supposed to return and purchase some special concoction he used to meditate with, only the shaman never made it back. The lady had called Wahkan who in turn called them looking for John. A small taste of panic set in as I said no, we were off testing the engines on the Crescent Moon. The giant then informed us of the situation and even though Roland had us making record time in our return to Midgar we missed catching up with Wahkan.

“Do you see John or Wahkan?” Nafeesa whispered next to me. We were standing in the shadows of some decorative trees across a street and a very wide turn about in front of Atlas’s HQ. It was as close as I dare get due to the various and nefarious alarms and surveillance around the large building.

I shook my head as I answered keeping my eyes on the front doors. “No, not a single hide or hair of the large man and that is rather unusual. Wahkan cannot hide to save his very large muscular body.”

“Are we in the right spot?”

I did not respond in word to my kitten, only a nod of my head. As we searched the streets for John I received a second call, the anonymous one. The voice on the other end was scrambled but I could understand it easily enough. It told me John was in one piece for the moment, but for how long that remained the status quo it could not say. He had had been taken by two men who drugged him and took him to the Atlas Arms Makers headquarters. I asked the voice why John had been kidnapped but it only responded with a grunt and told me if I wanted to help the shaman I had to be over at Atlas’s by nightfall ready to run into the building through the front when the time came. I said there was no way to get in unseen. I knew from past experiences the place was one giant electronic alarm. The voice just said to be there and be ready to move through the front doors when the time came.

I asked how I would know when that was. It just grunted again and said in modulated tone I would know when it was time to move. So here I stood in the dark shadows of the trees waiting for a sign, only the deep blue sea knew what, while trying to keep my kitten calm. I mentally noted a minute passed in quiet, about time for Nafeesa to ask me if we were in the right spot again, when the building went black. Every light on the first four floors went out including the lobby. The lights on the top floors suddenly started flashing on and off in rapid succession while the ones in the middle turned a blood red.

This was it, the sign. I looked to Nafeesa and smiled. “Run behind me and stay as close as my shadow.” She stayed close enough for me to hear every breath she took as we ran across the street and turn about.

“The Gaff?”

John had answered Mr. Bruinsma’s statement with a question. The Shaman lowered the cup of tea slowly as his mind tripped over the last words by the CEO of the Atlas Arms Makers company. What would a man who dealt I guns want with a cyborg? John was all ready guessing the answer and it made him just a little apprehensive. “You kidnapped me and those other people looking for the Gaff?”

“Not the first ones,”, Bruinsma said with a small evil smile, “they were just test cases to ensure the darts would work. Once we perfected the chemical cocktail to knock a man unconscious within a minute and sustain that state safely we moved onto the true business at hand.”

“Which is taking the Gaff?”

“Yes, not so much for the human but for the technology in his head.”

And there it was. The answer John had already figured out. The circuitry embedded in the Gaff’s brain that allowed him to connect to any and all the systems in Midgar was the treasure and Bruinsma was the seeker. There was no one else like the Gaff anywhere John had been and he had travelled all the known worlds through the Multiplex. This made the technology the Gaff possessed unique, priceless, and worth any effort or cost to get it to man like the CEO of Atlas. The only problem was there was only one man who knew how that technology had been fused with the Gaff‘s brain and he had long since disappeared from Midgar. No one was really sure where he was. This meant any attempt to remove said circuitry could cause major damage to the Gaff’s brain or worse. Form the look on Bruinsma’s face this didn’t seem that much of a problem.

“You can’t remove the circuitry in the Gaff’s head. It could kill him.” John stated before taking a last sip of the peppermint tea.

Bruinsma sighed and shifted just a bit in the uncomfortable chairs. “That is a very distinct possible outcome Mr. Greywolf. My scientists say the procedure would almost certainly cause severe brain damage, to the point of rendering the boy a vegetable. They assured me the technology though could be safely retrieved with no damage at all.”

“You have no clue how to make it work. You would kill an innocent boy for a technology you’re not even sure of how to make work?” John asked looking down at his hands then back up.

“I have some very intelligent scientists, best on Midgar Mr. Greywolf I assure you. I’m confident that with enough time they could discover its secrets, though if I had the boy’s father I would not need the Gaff at all. He could run around breaking into all kinds of networks and we would never have need of him.”

And the other shoe drops John thought. Now it all made sense. Bruinsma would have to drug all of Midgar to find the Gaff and even then it might take years to find the boy. Yet if he could find the man who created the technology he could forgo the kidnap and move straight to R&D. Only finding him would be even harder than finding his son, take even longer, unless you knew of a man who could find him by touching one of his personal objects and if this man were to say refuse to help, well then you just force his hand, literally. Help us and no one gets hurt, balk…and well this might get messy. “So you’re asking me to find the Gaff’s father?”

The CEO leaned forward in the chair after a second as his voice dropped low in a growl. “If you haven’t noticed Mr. Greywolf, we’re beyond the asking part of this negotiation. Give me the location of the Gaff or his father or we will move on to the next phase of this process. ”

Just then the lights in the room went out and pitch black took over. A deep dark so black it seemed to coat everything, not one object was visible, and out of the blackness a single voice carried. “I don’t think this is part of that process, is it Mr. Bruinsma?”

((OCC: Okay, I talked to Kindred about it, and since I know you would like to be able to dual-wield, Lady Keiko, and you will be past the 500 point restriction to gain it by the end of this thread. You can go ahead and use dual-wielding in this thread to use as your rp example you have to submit.))

Fury slowly crouch-walked over to the lone door leading into the building. He looked over the door and realized it was biometrically locked. He would need someone with clearance’s eyes to get through that door. He slowly turned around to look at the guard standing off to the side having a smoke break. Looks like you got put on the wrong duty, pal.

Fury turned toward the guard and placed the knife back in its sheathe. He crept across the moon-lit roof with the silence and gracefulness of a cat. He was a mere five feet away from the man when he came to a complete stop. The man let out one last puff of smoke before turning back around to face Fury. Luckily, the fact that it was night coupled with his suit’s camouflage system meant the guard walked right past him without even batting an eye. The man was heading straight for the door.

Fury rushed back to the door, only moving as fast as he thought he could without making any noise. The guard leaned in and began scanning his eye on the retinal scanner. There was a pause before the door beeped once and flashed green. It was then that Fury realized he wasn’t going to make it there in time. The guard reached out and slowly opened the door. There was a soft bang as Fury tossed a pebble at the vent near the door that stopped the guard in his tracks. The guard stood there a moment, staring into the night. While he did so, Fury snuck past him and into the building, making sure not to bump into the guard at all.

Fury started down the hall leading towards the elevator when all the lights went out. He could hear the guard who had let him in swear as he bumbled through the dark for his radio. A moment later, the lights started to flicker rapidly, like strobe lights. What the hell? C.R.A.I.G., tell me what’s going on. was all he thought to the Computer A.I. in his head while he ducked into the corner away from anyone who would be going down the hallway’s path.

”this is very strange… Very strange indeed,” chimed the A.I. as he scanned Atlas’s systems to learn what was going on. ”This is not a lockdown protocol. In fact, these lights shouldn’t even be able to flicker… Oh… Oh my… I think there is someone in the database other than me. No doubt the one who did this.”

Is it a danger to you? Fury thought as he checked all his gear again.

There was a long, drawn-out pause before C.R.A.I.G. said, ”No… I don’t think so… It would appear that we aren’t the only ones here, though. Suggest you abort the mission. There are just too many variables appearing.”

No… we have to keep moving. Can you do something about the lights?

”Yes”

Do it and then get the hell out of there.

Again, there was a long pause before the lights went completely out and C.R.A.I.G. said, ”It is done.” Fury silently thanked him and then started to continue down the hallway toward the central elevator.

((OOC. Thanks Fury! I went ahead and added in my piece for dual wielding.))

I moved up quickly on the large doors that led inside of Atlas Arms noting just past them was a check point for the guards with another set of doors on the other side. The room was decorated with the general niceties, paintings hanging on the nicely painted walls. The only thing out of place I saw was the large black box with two sides, an elevated floor, and no top that sat square in the middle of the room with a long table on either side. It had to be some sort of metal detector or x-ray machine or some new device meant to scan for any possible weapon hidden on visitors. I opened the doors and moved through with Nafeesa behind me purposely dodging the contraption as it was as dead as the lights now and ran to the second set of doors. I saw no visible handle, no way to push or pull them open as I arrived and then I realized they were on locks. You had to use a key card on a special pad maybe or something like that, and when you did the door would just open ri-

“What is it?””

The question form my kitten took my attention away from my thought. I was starting to answer her when there was a small click, just enough to detect, and the door slid open to my rightly as silent as the dead. We were in.

“Nothing now, get your daggers out.” I replied with a whisper pulling Mayhem and Chaos from their holsters. I waited a second as Nafeesa got her claws ready and then I moved into the spacious lobby. It was as tall as the building itself, each floor rising like steps to my left and right all the way to the top floors. I had no clue where to go from here. I had no map to look at so I just moved north along the wall toward what I saw were elevators. We were maybe ten feet from them when I heard the click of boots on the tiles floor, boots other than mine. I spun to see two guards coming out of a hall on the east side of the lobby running right for us. I drew down Mayhem and fired at the first one just as he fired his pistol at me. Nafeesa bolted by me running for the elevators and luckily she moved at the right time as the second guard had fired on her and just missed. Before my first round had dropped the first guard I fired Chaos and hit the second square in the leg sending him the floor with his comrade. It did not mean they were incapacitated, just not able to follow. I fired another round from Mayhem and one more with Chaos as they fired at me, bullets screaming by as I ducked into an elevator.

“Good timing on getting the elevator kitten, but may I ask which floor are you sending us too?”

Nafeesa looked at me with a confused expression and shook her head. “I didn’t open the elevator, it was just sitting there, like someone sent it for us.”

I felt my blood go cold. I swear I could the doors closing on a trap when my communicator beeped. I jumped a little from the sudden noise then hit the receiver buried in my ear growling. “You better have a damn good reason fo-”

“Your safe, for the moment.” The electronic voice said cutting me off as quick as a knife stroke. “ I sent the transport to save you from getting into an all out war with the security team. The shoot first and talk later attitude is going to get you and Greywolf and the other person killed lady.”

“Other person?”

“This party turned into a foursome about ten minutes ago, but don’t worry about that. From his movements in the system he’s not after what your after but he could show up so don’t shoot him or her, all right? ”

“What do you mean he may show up?”

“Well he won’t be wearing a sign that’s for sure. My guess, he’ll be the one dressed like a ninja and he didn't come to look at the art on the walls. The transport is going down, to R&D and the safe rooms where John is being held. I have all the guards going up to the 12th floor, the pair you shot was moving there when you took them down. Everyone is looking in the other direction for the moment so if you keep quiet you’ll get in, get John, and get out, understand?”

“The guards will just call in on their radios-”

“Nope, the radios and phones and satellite links are all down. I just cut out the heart of the comms for the building. The only thing up is the network so I can keep track of you. The guards are blind now, just heading to the 12th floor like protocol Omega Five Charlie says to when a secure area has been breached, going where I want them too basically. You’ll be good as long as you don’t shoot anyone else, got it?”

If I ever meet the owner of this voice I plan on hitting him in the face very hard with Mayhem.

The room went pitch black, no warning or sign, just black in the blink of an eye. It was so dark it made you feel claustrophobic, like the world had shut off and the nothingness was going to strangle you. Bruinsma pat out a curse word as his the room just disappeared. He sat still in the metal chair waiting calmly for the generators to kick on and relieve the room of the dark. He sat perfectly still holding back that ‘closed-in’ feeling with the usual cold he did business with. Bruinsma would never be called compassionate when it came to his work in the boardroom. Ruthless maybe, blood-letting gremlin would likely be a better fit. He smiled a little as thought about it sitting in the dark waiting for the generators, and just where were those infernal machines? The damn things should have kicked on by now.

A bright light suddenly flooded the room a second after the door opened and Bruinsma had to hold up his hands as the blinding glow. “Are you all right sir?” The guard asked from behind the flashlight.

“Put That Damn Thing Down! Why are the generators not coming on line?” Bruinsma screamed.

“Sorry sir. The generators are having issues sir,” the guard answered dropping the light by his side.

Bruinsma lowered his hand letting the bright sparkling flashes in his eyes but just as his vision was returning the halo of harsh white from the guards flashlight threw just enough light in just the right direction to make the CEO sick with what he saw. “Point your light over there, Now! Bruinsma screamed.

The guard started to follow the order when the black of the room peeled back sharply giving way to the red emergency lights. All at once everything was bathed in dark red, a low ambient color that signaled an emergency situation had occurred. It just showed the empty chair where the Shaman had been sitting just before the lights went off. The same empty chair the guards flashlight had touched ever so slightly showing Bruinsma he had been alone in the room from the beginning of the blackout till now. He took one low breath and whispered to no one really, just the air around him. "Damn!"


Jurl had only been on the job for six months, a very long but satisfying six months, as a guard in the Atlas Arms headquarters. He still was hoping to get a promotion to the day shift even though he was young with no experience in being a guard except for his time on the nightshift. Jurl was always ready to impress and he showed it in his uniform. He kept his boots shined and his gun well oiled, which is why what was about to happen occurred so damn easy. When the lights went out he froze in his chair in the small guard room, maybe big enough for four people including the desk and the weapons locker, he was sitting in. The sudden dark scared him just a bit. He reached down and tried his radio and got nothing but static then fumbled around the desk he sat at knocking over a cup and something else before grabbing the phone.

It was dead too. The young man started to panic a little. What was he supposed to do? What was the protocol for this event he kept trying o think. Then the red emergency lights popped on and he gasped with joy. “[color=green]Thank You,[color]” he called out getting to his feet from the chair he had been sitting in. When he spun round ready to head for the door Jurl froze as his eyes saw the man blocking the exit from the room. His long hair looked like blood flowing down his shoulders and his eyes looked alien. The man was built too, taller and wider than Jurl dressed in the green scrubs issued to people brought down here. He asked once and was told it was for everyone’s safety.

“Are my things in that locker?” The man asked calmly, rather nicely.

Jurl didn’t waste a second more drawing his sidearm with a snap and pointing it at the man. Only the man didn’t seem too scared by the motion, in fact he wasn’t because with blinding speed he lept right at the guard. Jurl felt a hard slap across his face sending him stumbling across the room into the wall. He came up quickly pointing the handgun at the man and squeezing the trigger just as fast.

Click, click, click…

The young guard knew that sound all too well. He dared a look down at his gun and stared in disbelief. All he had left was the grip and the bottom part of the slide, everything else was gone. He looked up to the man with the long hair and noticed the other part of his weapon was in the man’s left hand.

“Are my things in that locker?” The man asked again, just as calm as the last time. Jurl wasn’t sure how to answer.

((OCC: Sorry, it took so long.))

Fury crouched in front of the now open elevator control panel. He was carefully trying to re-wire the panel to gain power, but was running into a patch of bad luck. No matter what he tried he could not get the damned thing to gain power. It was as if all power routed into it was being drained completely, but that didn’t make sense because all the emergency lights were coming on, so there had to be some power coming from somewhere. C.R.A.I.G., how safe can you be with another hacker in there?

There was a long stretch of silence as the artificial intelligence began to calculate his odds. Finally, he chimed in Fury’s head, ”Probability is most likely good. If you can directly plug me in through a hardline I should be perfectly safe, but there is always the possibility that he would detect me and try to repurpose me.”

Fury contemplated the idea for a moment before he reached up and pulled the small chip from his head. He rigged up a port into the elevator that would accept the chip and then inserted C.R.A.I.G. into the elevator’s systems. The adapter Fury had used flickered once before displaying C.R.A.I.G. in a bright orange hologram. ”Are you safe?” was all Fury whispered as he scanned the area around himself. He hated standing in the open like this, even if he was invisible.

Numbers began to fly past C.R.A.I.G.’s face as he began his work. ”It would appear that the elevator is already in motion. It is on its way down to… the R&D department.” A few minutes later, his face contorted and he said, ”Strange… it seems that the elevator is working on a separate network than the rest of the building. That’s why it appears that it is shut down when it is really moving.”

Fury held a finger up to C.R.A.I.G., even though he knew the AI could not see him and gave a soft shooshing noise. He could hear something… something coming towards them… ”C.R.A.I.G., you better hurry up, we’re about to have company.” Fury walked away from the console and looked around the corner to see several guards searching rooms with weapons drawn. Luckily they searched with a deliberate thoroughness, giving them both time.

A few moments later and the guards were nearly at the bend. They were out of time. Fury walked back over to the elevator and said to C.R.A.I.G., ”We have to go, now.” C.R.A.I.G. opened his mouth to object because he was nearly complete, but was cut short by Fury yanking him from the system. He placed the faceplate back on the console and stepped in front of the elevator. He wedged his fingers in the seem of the doors and pulled them apart, revealing a long elevator shaft. He pulled his assault rifle from his back and fired the grappling hook at the top while he swung freely out into the shaft. He quietly shut the doors behind him just as the guards came around the corner. Fury began lowering himself until he caught up with the elevator and landed on it with a thud. He was prepared to ride it all the way to the bottom.

((OOC.Nah, your not late at all Fury! No worries at all.))


“There’s someone else in here with us?” Nafeesa asked with a whisper, as if the man or woman was in the elevator with us.

I nodded quickly answering my kitten while keeping an eye on the doors.“Yes, the voice said there was another here in the building only he was not after John but something else.”

“And the elevator-” Nafeesa asked.

“Going down to where John is…and where this other intruder is heading the voice thinks.”

“And this other one, he’s on our side, right?”

“I am only here for John kitten, whatever this other wants he or she can have it. Now get ready, I think the elevator is coming to a stop finally.” I replied as I felt the moving box slow in its descent to wherever the hell we were going. I stood at the ready with both pistols reloaded waiting for the usual ‘Ding’ as the elevator reached its destination, only the usual never happened. All at once, to my dismay, the damnable doors just opened revealing myself and Nafeesa to anyone who might have been standing there at the moment. I dropped to a knee as my kitten moved to her right pressing her body against the wall with her claws drawn.

Thankfully there was no one in the hall except a glaring red light that doused everything for the eyes to see in a deep crimson. There were no guards and no personnel of the company. I guess the voice had completed the task of having all the guards head for the 12th floor. I stood back up and slowly exited the elevator wishing I had John’s enchanted hat all of the sudden. I could have used his special hearing right about now as I left the safety of the light in the elevator and stepped out into the dark of the hall. Nafeesa followed me moving just as slow as we crept then my communicator rang and I heard my kitten gasp.

“Are you trying to scare me into a heart attack?” I snapped as I answered the inopportune call.

“What are you two doing down there, having a picnic?” The altered voice hissed at me, which was the wrong thing to do at the worst time to do it.

“Sorry if I am not conforming to your time schedule but at the moment I am acutely aware of not getting myself, or my companion, shot or locked up, understand?” I hissed back.

“Whatever, just go down the hall 75 feet, take the second left, and then go another 200 passing a bunch of other doors. Do not open any of them, you’ll just get more lost which is amazing when you think about it.”

“This is not the time for a critique of my style. Maybe when we are face to face and I can hit you fairly, in the face, several times.”

“ You’ll find Greywolf in the one room behind a door with no markings or signs, just look for the scuff marks on the floor and that’ll be the one the shaman is in.” The voice responded obviously ignoring my last ending our little verbal jab battle.

“Scuff marks?” I asked back with a lost look on my face that caused Nafeesa some discomfort it seemed. Her brow scrunched and looked around suddenly.

“Yeah, it’s the kind of room no one goes into willingly, understand?”

Oh yes, I more than understood that.

John closed the door to the guard room slowly as he exited leaving the unconscious young man lying on the floor. The Shaman knew the guard would be asleep for a fair amount of time, not enough to induce any serious health problems, but long enough still to allow him to make good his escape. He adjusted his jean jacket then his black hat making sure both were resting just right before he looked both left and right down the dark halls. The red lights gave just enough illumination to cast deep dark shadows in all the corners. His hat enchanted his sight enough to allow John to see into those pockets though and see there was no one waiting. He breathed a small sigh then turned right taking three steps in that direction before coming to a full stop.

There was a flashlight bobbing up and down the hall coming right toward him and the guard room. John could make out the frame of the man holding the light, about six feet tall and rather wide at the shoulders. He was obviously a guard and that didn’t worry the Shaman that much, it was the man walking behind the guard which made John reflect just a little on his situation. The man was tall and strolled down the dark hall with an air of superiority…it could only be Bruinsma the Shaman thought as he decided on making a quick course change. John turned quietly and bent at the waist compacting his profile as he headed down the hall away from the duo coming toward him and quickly put distance between them. He listened out for any sounds of footsteps or doors opening ahead of him hoping to duck and hideout in case another guard came patrolling by.

Yet after a minute or two he hadn’t come across any other guards or Atlas personnel in the hall. That alone was enough to make the Shaman wonder just what was going on with security, which was usually tight and competent, but add in the fact the guard from the room and his non-functioning radio and John was just about as much in dark as this hall he was walking in. What was exactly going on that had taken the attention of the security in the building made the Shaman curious?

And then there was the cold fact he was as lost as a newborn babe down here in this underground complex. He wasn’t exactly lucid when they bought him in here, hell he wasn’t even awake, so John had no clue where he was going. He just knew it was not a good idea to stay in the room with Bruinsma any longer and with the blackout offering up a chance to make an escape it was too much to pass on. Then his ears picked up the sound of a door popping up, a vacuum seal letting go, and it was just a foot or two ahead. The Shaman stopped just in time as the portal swung open from the wall itself, a perfect match to the surface, and almost hit him square in the face. Someone stepped out turning quickly and heading off down the hall away from John leaving the door to close by itself.

There was only a second to make a decision and the Shaman decided to jump through the door just before it closed. He stopped and knelt in the dark corner as the vacuum seal on the door pressurized again. John’s eyes scanned the room, which was a wonderland of computer screens and electronic equipment. There were also tables in the room which held all forms of tools and apparatuses used to construct what the Shaman only assumed were weapons. He stood back up when it was evident there was no one else in the room, and then the communicator on the wall next to him rang. He knew better then to answer it, nothing good could come of talking to whoever was on the other end, and yet John still reached over and picked it up. As he held it to his ear he spoke.

“How may I help you?”

Fury slowly stood up and swore to himself as he realized he was trapped in the elevator shaft. Even if he could enter the elevator cab he would run the risk of walking straight into a guard or worse an alarm. He glanced around the shaft with his night-vision goggles and luckily found a ventilation shaft on the wall. It was just large enough for Fury to fit into and crawl through. He pulled out his knife and used it to unscrew the screws holding the cover in place and slowly pulled himself into the cramped confinements of the ventilation shaft.

Fury began to crawl his way through the narrow tube, occasionally swearing about small, confined spaces and brushing the stray cobweb out of the way. He stopped when he reached another vent cover and looked down into the hallway in front of the elevator. In the dim red light, Fury could easily see the woman and the mithra with the assistance of his goggles. He couldn’t tell what exactly they were talking about, but he could tell the woman was upset about something. The pair was obviously not on the payroll in the building, which meant his job probably just gotten ten times more difficult.

Fury continued to crawl through the vent for a while. Whenever he would come to a fork in the vents, he would have CRAIG pull up the schematics of the building so he was sure they were going the right way. At one point CRAIG said, ”It would appear that because of the security breach, several of the prisoners that were housed here have escaped.”

Fury paused as he was crawling, And?

”The ones found so far have been terminated. Kill on sight order.”

Fury swore audibly before he responded, Do you know the location of the nearest escapee? Fury began to wriggle his way through the tube again, moving faster than before. He had to save at least one person and if they were purging the facility, that would be extremely difficult. Damn, he needed more time. If he could have just been able to find the evidence and then sent a SeeD team in to actually save the hostages, this mission would be so much easier. Now that the facility was on alert, though, he didn’t have the time for that. He had to take anyone he was going to save with him.

After a long pause CRAIG chimed in again. ”It would appear that there is a prisoner who has barricaded himself inside a weapons development lab. Marking his location on your map now.”

Fury continued to crawl towards the map-marker for a while. Eventually, he found himself inside the walls of the development lab. He could see the general shape of a man talking on a phone. Fury braced his legs up against the vent cover and kicked, sending the grate scattering across the floor. Before it even struck the floor, though, Fury was out of the vent and merely five feet from the man, holding his pistol to the back of his head. ”Turn around slowly…”

I knew John would not stay put so it was not much of a shock when I saw the room the voice led me too as empty as one of Jack’s promises. The man’s as slippery as he is handsome I thought as I stepped away from the door to the room. I looked down taking note of the scuff marks on the floor, just like the voice said in its electronic squeal, not a room anyone goes into voluntarily. “Which way do you think John went?”

My kitten looked around once and then nodded in the direction farther down the hall. “We need to go that way…he would have passed us if he went the other way.”

“Thinking like a true huntress, now that makes me very happy.” I smiled and purred. I noticed Nafeesa smile back in that way which makes me think about certain things we do at night, things that make very happy.

I took the lead and started down the hall staying close to the wall at my right. I kept my eyes scanning from left to right as we walked along checking every dark shadow and spot making sure no one was hiding for us. We kept our ears listening for any sound or hint of a noise that would alert us to an approaching soul. With each step we expected someone to pop up and try to take a shot at us, but no one did. We only saw one group, a tall man dressed very nicely with hair so groomed it must have taken him an hour to make sure each hair was in the right place. He stood with what must have been two guards being dressed as they were. The sound in the tall man’s voice, and the way he was busy pointing with both hands, was nothing short of full frustrated anger. I was never fully sure what he was upset about but I assumed enough to draw the conclusion one shaman had something to do with it. I knelt down in a dark shadow with Nafeesa at my side and we watched the two guards take the verbal barrage from the tall man before the all left heading down the hall away from us going in the direction we needed to go.

“They’re going where we need to go!” Nafeesa whispered in my ear with some panic.

I kept my eyes on the trio as I started to follow them at a safe distance. “I have taken note of the direction they are walking kitten, now stay close.” I answered.

She fell in behind me still worried about the shaman, “Do you think they’ll lead us to John?”

I did not answer as I had none to give her. I only knew going in the direction we were heading was our best and only option at the moment. Soon though I had second thoughts about the way we were heading when I someone coming toward us. I stopped in another dark shadow with Nafeesa as the trio passed the single man practically pushing him out of the way as they passed. I watched with some concern as the man walked right toward us, right along the same wall we were hiding against. I held Mayhem ready to give him a good thump to the head with my pistol when he stopped just three feet away from us.

The man touched a spot on the wall and a perfect fitted piece of it opened revealing a blank piece of glass, which he put his hand too. There was a flash of a scanner and then a pop as the vacuum on a door seal opened. A section of the wall suddenly separated from the rest and a door to a secret room began to swing open. I am not sure what made me do what I did next, John would have called it an ‘intuition’ or some other metaphysical word. All I knew was I wanted in that room and as the man started to step through I lunged and hit him to the head from behind with a nice blow form Mayhem’s grip. Nafeesa was right behind me as all three of us went through the door, two walking and one falling.

Even with the enchantment of his hat giving John his heightened hearing the Shaman barely heard the man approach him. It wasn’t until the grate hit the floor with a bang that John was sure there was someone in the room and just like the man ordered he turned slowly while still holding the phone. Whatever John was expecting it sure was not the man dressed in tight fitting armor holding a gun to his head. The Shaman grinned at the man and stood perfectly still.

“I don’t think you’re with Mr. Bruinsma-“ John started to say when the voice on the phone cut in loud enough to be heard in the room. It was oddly…electronic based.

“Hellllllooooooo? Are you going to talk or what?”

The interruption didn’t slow the Shaman though as he talked on with the armored man holding the large gun,” -one of his men would have used the door and I’m pretty sure his-“

“I can see you standing there ignoring me John,” The voice spat over the phone.

“Excuse me for a moment, my friend on the phone is a bit impatient.” John replied before turning his attention to the voice on the phone. “Are you sure you’re looking at the right room Gaff?”

“How did you know it was me? I altered my voice through three fractal generators and a 3 Gigawatt multiplier.” The Gaff responded in shock.

John smiled while speaking, “Because who else would call me on a phone in the building I’m trapped in, and by the way, just ‘why’ are you calling me?”

The line went silent for a second before the Gaff spoke, “To warn you about the ninja sneaking around so you won’t attack him.”

“The same one I’m staring at right now, the same one you’re looking at? I’d say your just a minute late on that one.”

The voice answered quickly and John could almost see the smile on the young man’s face, “Yeah, well I still get an ‘A’ for trying, right?”

John looked back to the man in the armor and smiled again. “I’m not supposed to attack you so at least we don’t have to worry about that now, though I’m not sure why I would attack you in the first place.”. Then the Shaman turned his attention back to the phone, “What’s the fastest way out of the building Gaff?”

“The guards are still running crazy on the 12th floor chasing my false attack on the systems so you can get out through the underground tunnel which should take you to the backroom of a building five blocks away.”

“Bruinsma has an underground tunnel?” John asked looking like he just smelled some meat that had gone bad. This felt too much like AVALANCHE all over again with safe houses and such.

The Gaff’s electronic voice filled with sarcasms, “Of course he has a secret tunnel, every bad guy has a secret escape tunnel. No one’s guarding it right now so you should be able get out with no problem, only you can’t leave just yet.”

John’s right eyebrow lifted just a few centimeters as he spoke, “What is it Gaff, more guards?”

Before the electronic voice could respond the door to the lab opened, slowly at first but then with a rush as three bodies spilled into the room. John held the phone away from his ear as he recognized Keiko and then Nafeesa and finally the lab tech that had left the room just minutes earlier. Of the three he was the only one not moving as the Gaff proclaimed to everyone in the room through the phone.

“The Pirate’s here, now we can start the party!”

((OOC: After talking with John decided it was time to get this thread moving again.))

I popped up off of Nafeesa and the poor soul who we just knocked unconscious to a standing position in the room. I was just a little shocked to see John standing there talking into a phone, this was not exactly the best time to be catching up with friends. Then I saw the man dressed in the strange green armor holding a pistol on John and my instincts turned on. I almost pulled Mayhem up to draw a direct line of fire on the man in the green armor when the electronic voice cut in on my ear.

“What part of don’t shoot the Ninja did you not understand?”

I smiled keeping my hand at my side. “It must have been the part where you forgot to tell me he’d be pointing a gun at John’s head.”

“Don’t worry, he’s not going to shoot John. One, he’d have done it by now, and two John would have either kicked the bullet out the air or sent it magically to another dimension right out of the thin air.”

“He can do that?” I asked surprised.

The voice suddenly was more sarcastic if that was possible. “Probably, the man’s a mystery for a reason lady and anyway you have something else to worry.”

I looked at John who was busy looking at me. “And what pray tell do I need to worry about now?”

Before the voice could answer a small screen on a small computer screen turned on and the face and of a man standing in another room in the building popped up. He wore thick glasses that preceded dull eyes which told me he must have been scientist. His face filled the small screen which also told me the man had no idea of personal space, if he was that close to the screen imagine how close he’d get to you. No, rather not think about that. At the moment thankfully he was looking over some folder he had in his hand and not the screen showing the room we were in. I noticed then we were right in the direction of the camera showing the room back to the other screen.

”Hey Sam, we need to check the data on project 293-E-L-5, specifically test 19, 21, and 33.”

Well, at least I knew what the voice was talking about now. Nafeesa and I hopped behind the screen so the man wouldn’t see us. I held Mayhem up, why I am not sure. It’s always nice to have a gun in your hand I think.

“Now what do we do?” Nafeesa whispered into my ear.

I shook my head as I was as lost to our next move as everyone else. The man on the ground was mostly the ‘Sam’ the man was looking for and since ‘Sam’ was not a woman we had no chance of imitating him and getting out of here. And I was sure we would never understand what the man wanted to check, like what were tests 19, 21, and 33?

Maybe it was time for the ‘man of mystery’ to send us to another dimension magically, right out of the thin air none the less.

”Hey Sam, you there? If need be I can come down and go over this in person, won’t take too long is my guess.”

Fury held fast as the man slowly spun around. It wasn't until the man was fully turned around that he recognized him as John Greywolf. He had met Mr. Greywolf twice before, once when he had been on a small vacation with his daughters in the universal multiplex where he had told them a story by the small waterfall there. The second time had been when New Bodhum had come under attack by a huge wave of monsters that had lived nearby. If it weren't for the Shaman and his friend Wahkan, many more people would have died that day. A moment later his heads-up display that CRAIG laid before him confirmed what he had already known.

He relaxed just a bit, but kept the pistol still aimed at him. Even though he trusted John, he couldn’t leave any evidence that he was there at all. This was supposed to be a black mission. He was to get in, get the information, find the hostages exact location, and get out before the “proper authorities” were notified about the hostages. The mission was already getting out of hand with the security breaches and dead hostages. So as John bickered with this “Gaff”, Fury just kept the gun aimed at him and kept his ears open for anything that might help him. Apparently, John was headed for a secret tunnel to get out, which was good because that meant one less hostage to worry about.

Fury snapped to attention when the door opened and more people rushed into the room. His gun snapped away from the shaman and over to the unconscious scientist, the cat, and the pirate that all three rushed into the room. The man wasn’t a threat, but the other two could be much the opposite. The cat had twin daggers but she was too far on the other side of the pirate-looking woman to be any real threat with them, but the pirate was already reaching for her sidearm. Fury was about to put a round in her chest as the girl gripped the handle of the pistol when the man on the loud-speaker cut in and scolded the woman. Once again, the new people attending the party began to banter with this mystery “Gaff” which led to Fury side-stepping out of the way and beginning to search the room for the documents he was looking for while keeping his gun aimed in their general direction.

The banter came to a sudden stop as a computer screen sprang to life, forcing the two women to dive for cover. Fury realized that Sam was probably the unconscious scientist sprawled across the floor. He swore under his breath as he also realized that he wasn’t getting up to answer his phone call anytime soon and the other guy was going to come down soon. Before he could make a decision on what to do, though, CRAIG chose for him. The artificial intelligence was projected before him from the small camera attached to his hat. He flickered once before changing into an exact copy of the scientist and stepping in front of the camera.

”Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don’t let your panties bunch up too badly,” he said as he lifted his middle finger to the web-cam. ”I’m still transferring the tests into viewable files. I’ll have them to you in a few hours.” The man on the computer screen seemed less than pleased with the answer, but after a moment accepted it and threatened to fire the man if he took too long to get him the files. The screen went dark and CRAIG turned to give a bow to everyone in the room and a salute to the unconscious man before blinking out of sight.

”How did you know how that guy would talk and act?” Fury asked CRAIG after he had disappeared. The AI answered silently in text form on his HUD, “I didn’t. I made a probable guess.”

Fury chuckled and allowed the AI to go back to its task of finding the files he needed on the drives in the room. Fury, on the other hand, had his own information to find. He holstered his pistol and approached John. ”Mr. Greywolf, I’m going to help you get out of here, but first I need a few answers from you. One, do you know where any of the other hostages are being held? Two, why is Atlas taking people off the streets? And three, do you know anything about this…” Fury held up a projectile that looked like it could be a tranquilizing dart. It was used to sedate one of the hostages and Fury couldn’t match it to any known weapon.

Watching the hologram answer the scientist over the video link was impressive and John had to admit it was quick thinking…on someone’s part. That someone, well the Shaman wasn’t sure of it was Fury dressed in the special green armor something else. All John cared about was the fact the man in the other lab was not coming down anytime soon. He looked down to the unconscious ‘Sam’ on the floor and was thankful no one else was going to be knocked out this night. Then he looked to Fury and thought that probably wasn’t going to be the case this night. The man had his intentions set on saving the hostages, which was an honorable path, and with Fury’s warrior spirit there was little save death that would stop him from completing his intended path.

As Fury held up the round in his hand John recognized it immediately, the same one Bruinsma showed him back in that room he woke up in. This one didn’t look as pristine as the one the CEO of Atlas Arms had which made John wonder just how Fury got his hand in it. Then the Gaff was screaming into his ear through the phone.

“Time to take the ninja up on his offer and get out of there John.”

Yes, it would be the smart move to get out now, but there were two things stopping John from leaving the Atlas building at the moment. “Where are there other hostages Gaff?”

“Do you know what you’re doing? Do you know how hard it was to get into this place and set this escape into motion? Are you serious…I mean…just…” The Gaff spat in frustration and when the Shaman didn’t answer he just grumbled. “Find the other hostages…of course I can find them, who do you think you’re talking too… there’s nothing I can’t slip into…There, done, now can you leave!”

John smiled, “Where are they Gaff?”

“Separate building on the campus, underground and accessible only by another tunnel.”

“What tunnel?”

The line went dead for a second before the Gaff spoke up. “You’re really going to stay in there?”

“I have to Gaff, others need my help.” John answered calmly.

“Yeah, should have known you wouldn’t leave…just before you reach the escape tunnel the hall forks, take the left one going west and you’ll reach a set of doors guarded by four men. Once inside you’ll have to ask what floor the hostages are on.” The Gaff stated.

“Thank you Gaff, now can you tell me where the information for the tranquillizer darts Bruinsma is working on is kept? Fury needs it.”

“What, you have that whole place about to come down on you heads and you want me to do a file search?”

John looked to Fury and pointed, “He asked nicely and it might help to stop Bruinsma if we have the information on the dart.”

The line went silent once again as the Gaff worked before speaking. “See if I help you escape again…the data is on a set of servers kept off the main network, different VLAN and encrypted databases…may take a few minutes to get. I’ll send the ninja’s man a data packet with the info, that good enough for you?”

“One more thing Gaff,” John replied before getting cut off.

“What now?” The electronic voice gasped and one could almost picture arms getting thrown up in exasperation.

“Move, find another place to hide.”

“I’m all ready a ghost mystery man, long gone on the asphalt highway.” The voice said before the connection went dead.

The Shaman dropped the phone and sighed. “The hostages are being held in a special underground section of the campus. I’ll take us there, as for the dart all the location of the information should be in your hands by now. That dart Fury is an R&D prototype Bruinsma has been working on and testing on innocent people. He plans on using it to capture and sedate a special young man.”

John looked to Keiko and Nafeesa then back to Fury. “The Gaff is not a regular human. His father removed a piece of his brain and replaced it with a highly sophisticated and very powerful mini-computer that allows him to tie into the cyber world like no other. He’s not an AI thus not restricted by those rules. That mini-computer is what Bruinsma is after and he kidnapped me because I can find the Gaff with little ease.”

The Shaman wasn’t sure if what he said was making sense but there was no time to discuss further.

So, the electronic voice annoying me for most if not all of this night was that little ingrate Gaff. I had only met him once and that was quite enough to last me for the remainder of my lifetime, and yet after this night I made a silent solemn resolve to visit Gaff and show him the errors of his ways. As I stood there listening to John explain how he ended up here in the bowels of the Atlas headquarters building to the ‘ninja’ dressed in the sophisticated armor I started to feel this was bigger than just ‘revenge’. From what John was saying to the man, who he obviously knew, this was some kind of a sinister plot involving innocents from the outside world.

Now, as you know, I am not the heroic type. If there is some gain to my helping a person I do not know then I will lend my help and aid to them accordingly, yet if there is no gain to my side from stepping into a fray well then I must decline in helping. As the talk turned to that of hostages and the peril to Gaff I felt my need in this matter was drawing to a close. I have to admit I felt no remorse for the boy with the computer in his head even given the fact Mr. Bruinsma was going after him. The Gaff had more than the savvy and the people to stand between him and the hands of the CEO of Atlas Arms. John was closer to the boy then I was or would be willing to be.

And to hear of the plight of the others who were drawn into this for no other reason than to be in the wrong place at the wrong bore no more fruit for sacrifice from me than did Gaff’s story. As I stated, unless the gain for me is enough to warrant a risk I will not subject myself to a fight. Then I looked over to Nafessa and noted the concern on her beautiful face. I knew John would risk his life for the souls who fell into Bruinsma’s web and Fury looked more than willing to put his neck in the noose. I just was not prepared for my pretty kitten to do the same. I knew from the talks we have had at night lying in each other’s arms that her conscious and social leanings would not allow her to walk away from helping someone and that my objections would not stall her effort. Still, when I saw the look in her eyes I was hoping it would not come to what I knew it was coming to.

I sighed and held Mayhem to my side as I spoke. “If we know the way to saving these people then we might want to think of leaving now as any minute wasted will costs us later.”

The looks on the two men’s faces were nice, but the smile from my Nafeesa was worth more than both of theirs together. She smiled and my hardened heart beat a little faster. I chambered a round in my pistol with a loud pop of the slide. If I was going to risk my neck at least I was going to get my money’s worth. We left the room a minute later silently moving down the hall. The poor scientist bound behind some tables just in case he came to and decided to make a call.

Fury listened as John talked back and forth with the voice on the phone, arguing to help the hostages instead of fleeing. Fury was taken slightly aback by John using his name, but only smiled under his mask. Maybe there really was something about this “Man in the Black Hat” that had everyone so stirred up in Midgar. Since his name was already put out there, he saw no sense in hiding anymore, so he pulled the constricting mask off of his head and placed it in his vest. He wasn’t too keen on John and the others coming along for the mission, but he could see in John’s eyes that he was determined to help. Since he had already helped so much already, Fury couldn’t help but think he could be useful.

As John finished his call and began explaining the bullet and the boy, Fury continued to listen to him, soaking up all the information that the shaman gave him. As soon as he said that the information should be in his hands, CRAIG gave him a message stating they received the data. Fury mentally told him to forward the data to Dusty on the Kestrel and update him on the situation. They were going to make a move for the hostages now instead of sending the information to the authorities.

At the mention of the Gaff, though, Fury’s lips puckered in frustration. He knew what it was like to be the subject of experiments and the such, and he had very little tolerance for it. The fact that Bruinsma was developing weapons to bring this kid in meant that he would stop at nothing to get him. Fury made a silent vow not to let anything happen to the kid. He wasn’t about to let some kid get abused because of something that wasn’t even his fault. He smirked as he could hear his sister’s nagging voice in his head: You don’t need any more responsibility, you have enough as it is!

As John concluded, Fury placed the dart back into his vest. ”Thanks, John. I’ll have my boys and the people over at Jakobs to try and take this thing apart. Something this advanced would be disastrous if it fell in the wrong hands. As for this… Gaff… Well, I’ll help however I can. If you need a place to help hide him or a place to keep him safe, I have some sources that could help him.” Fury started to unthread his silencers from his guns and checked his flashbang grenades that could prove helpful in the hostage situation. Things were about to get loud.

He heard the lady with the gun tell them that they should get going and nodded. ”Your friend is right, John. Our window of opportunity is quickly closing. If we want to save those hostages we’d better move fast. I’ll have the rest of my team waiting at the building with my airship so we can extract in a hurry if we have to.” He pulled his assault rifle from his back and chambered a round before moving to the door for John to lead the way.

The Shaman looked to Fury and nodded before moving out of the lab and into the hall. He knew to take the lead and did so with a quick step as his eyes searched the dark for any sign of a guard, yet just as the Gaff had said the guards were nowhere to be seen a first. Nothing barred their way as the group made its way along the deserted passageways, John in the front with Fury behind and then Keiko and Nafeesa making up the rear. They trotted along at a silent gait for a few minutes till they reached the fork the Gaff had mentioned, well a fork in modern architecture terms.

John brought the group to a stop as he came across the change, the hall they were in kept on heading in the same westerly direction but just ahead were a set of double doors leading to another hall and just beyond that the hall dropped in a slight downward descent. John looked over the ‘fork’ for a second listening with his enhanced hearing waiting to detect a noise of any kind. There were only the mechanical sounds of the building, the vents constricting and contracting with the cool air flowing through them and small clinking of electronic switches being turned off and on remotely. Another second ticked off the clock then John gave the motion to continue on as he started down the hall.

The Gaff had said to keep following the hall west to reach the hostages so the double doors must lead to the escape tunnel. As he reached the entrance John noticed the doors there were thicker than any of the others on the hall, a lot thicker and made of steel, like blast doors one would find in a military complex. He then noticed there was no handle to open the pair of heavy portals, no round knob or ring to grab and pull on. There was just black steel and rivets. John stopped and examined them trying to discern just how the doors were supposed to open. The walls were barren along each jamb and the group hadn’t passed a switch on the way to the doors. The Shaman looked down the wall toward where the hall slopped and he didn’t make out a switch.

Someone behind him sighed with impatience and given the situation it might not be the best idea to just hang out n the hall. John looked back and nodded then motion with a shake of his head they needed to keep moving on. He led the way as the hall which had been running level began to descend at a nice general slope, nothing to severe, and it kept on for the foreseeable future. John stuck to the center of the hall staying out of the dark shadows cast by the low light and then his ears picked up the sound of a walkie-talkie being cleared, the usual click followed by a deep voice.

“This is station alpha 27, nothing to report.”

A guard shack was near, John immediately with quiet steps took cover against the wall in a dark shadow with the others following. He turned to Fury and spoke quietly but loud enough for Keiko to hear. “Guards up ahead, we’ll have to go slow for a bit.”

He got a nod from the others, a sigh they understood what was happening and what was coming, before starting down the slope again. John reached into his cargo pants pocket and thought about Tsuki no me and instantly the chain weapon was in his hand. With silent steps the group crawled along toward the shack and the guards.