Chapter VIII - Escape

Getting out, of course, wasn’t as easy as getting in.

The group encountered numerous guards along their path towards the ceiling window they had entered from. None proved a difficult task for the two experienced agents and talented newbie, but it was still a nuisance to their escape. Just as they crossed the half-way point to their exit they met a blockade of personnel waiting for them.

“E3,” Darren called out from the front of the group as soon as he saw the guards, “we have a detour. The radar is mapping a west exit, turn left.”

They bypassed ten meters ahead of the barricade, but it wasn’t long before they were followed by shouts of frustrated realization.

“Can you make it?” asked Esteire to her lagging sister.

“Y-yeah, I can,” breathed her sister heavily who wasn’t used to this sort of extreme long-distance sprinting.

Worried, Esteire instructed Darren to redirect their route for a shorter one, “Is there another exit?”

He shook his head, but with a roguish glint in his eyes he said, “But we can make one.” Pointing at the upcoming right bend he imparted, “The radar located a weak east wall a few corridors away in a sectioned-off room. It looks like another storage room, but not nearly as big as the main, probably more like a large closet.” Darren turned and smiled at Esteire, a sincere and alluring grin with a brilliant, warm spark in the eyes that would make any girl let down her guard. “Want to have a go?”

They arrived at the room in good time and with a good kick from Darren, knocked the door down effortlessly. It was almost as if the constructers had forgotten about this part of the building. But the scene that laid before them as they entered wasn’t one they ever imagined.

“Are these… explosives? No. They’re…” Esteire breathed at sight of the crate-piled room, crates full of what look like huge bombs yet weren’t.

“You would be correct, these aren’t bombs, they’re specialized fuel containers manufactured by F.R.I.E. It seems you’ve found our secret to how we travel so fast. You who eluded me from Day One, and I don’t mean school,” said the man in the center who turned around to face them, “Just who are you really?”

Esteire’s eyes narrowed, darkening at the sight of the homeroom teacher.

“And I’d like to know how you got here from the storage room,” she replied.

The dark-haired man tutted at her answer. “Diversion my dear pupil, diversion.”

Esteire bit back the urge to retort “I’m no one’s pupil,” but she held her tongue and glared at him instead.

“Well I’d love to chat, but I’ve got to go now. I’m sure we’ll see each other soon,” grinned Mr. Emerson jumping onto a hovering platform, “It’s your lucky day. I could kill you all right now, but I need Miss Elisabeth alive. Then I’ll be going.” And he left with a fiendish smile and little wave.

At his departure and words Elisabeth swore she heard her sister curse under her breath, her sister who was unfazed by anything. That’s when she realized they were in a room crammed with gasoline. A single flare and the room and surrounding area would be devastated. Logically one wouldn’t want to destroy their new hideout, but somehow Elisa knew that he would’ve jumped at the chance if- Wait. Why does he need me alive? Is he going to dispose of me after? Came the thoughts tumbling from her head, sending a sickening shiver through her body.

“Let’s go,” said Esteire defeatedly, “And grab one of those containers for the lab.”

As Darren’s apprentice took the fuel and placed it in his belt bag she whipped out her steel pole and clicked one of the several indistinguishable buttons on the handle. It elongated to a two foot stick and blazed with a white fire at the tip. Starting from the ground up she created a full-sized door on the weak wall and then kicked the outlined piece in. In a rapid flurry of dust and dirt it cleared, revealing the forest and their exit out.

She stood there for a few moments after the wall fell, her expression hidden from the others. Darren only stared sadly at her back before she finally turned and motioned them out with a jerk of her head.

Just really…what was happening…. Sighed Elisa in her head as she followed the group outside.

~Forever Waiting~

“It’s the usual hydrocarbons, but there’s another substance in it that seems to be a sort of catalyst, but we haven’t sourced it yet,” reported the man from before who had informed them of the mission.

“Thank you, continue with your research,” responded Esteire with an inclination of the head.

“Anything?” inquired her partner once they left the AAQ.

“Not yet. But I’m guessing as he didn’t stop us from receiving a sample that he doesn’t care if we possess it. This means one of two things. F.R.I.E. knows very well we have the technology to recreate it, so either they have other things up their sleeve, or they’ve already completed what they wanted,” assessed Esteire.

“Hmm,” agreed Darren contemplating the situation, “Does that mean our next mission is to found out or to stop them?”

Esteire halted at the end of the street.

“No.”

Darren stopped and creased his eyebrows in a questioning manner.

“I already know.”

Elisabeth paced around the entrance mat for the umpteenth time, her face lined with a mixture of annoyance, impatience and concern. As soon as she heard her sister’s voice from behind the door she jolted it opened and barraged her sister with questions, totally ignoring Darren who entered as well.

“What exactly is happening?!” demanded Elisa, the question which seemed to be the question of the day. “This is just ridiculous, no absurd! I can’t even-! He just came in and-! I don’t even know-! Aghhh~~~ I just don’t understand!!” she spouted while the two calmly made their way to the couches.

“You!” Elisa suddenly spun around with her pointer finger at Esteire, “Tell me!”

“Yes, yes, I understand, now come over here,” eased her half-amused sister.

The younger girl plopped across the couch the agents sat on with a determined expression.

“Now…” breathed Esteire, “Where shall I begin?”