"Maria, you're small enough; can you see if those tunnels lead anywhere?" Danny requests, indicating one of the holes the Hunter Snakes burst through.
"OK," Maria sighs reluctantly; she heads to the nearest hole to her. "It's a bit of a squeeze," she observes. "Do we have a rope to pull me out again if I get stuck?"
Danny looks around; he spies some sturdy cables among the wreckage. Within moments, he's fashioned a makeshift rope from several lengths. "That should do the job," he comments, handing one end to Maria.
"OK, here I go." Maria, holding the end of the cable firmly, drops into the tunnel feet-first; twenty feet down, she reaches the end. "Dead end!" she calls up to Danny.
"Serpentine must have buried them then patched the floor," Danny concludes as he hauls Maria back out of the tunnel.
Once out and standing, Maria tries in vain to brush the dirt off her dress; unfortunately it's mixed with the oil from the battle in the gardens. "I'm so icky-sticky!" she sighs, exasperated.
While Danny and Maria were exploring the tunnel, Hanna had wandered over to one of the doors; her ear to the steel, she taps several parts of the door. "Can we make an explosive from the snakes?" she thinks aloud.
"The doors are solid steel," Rob informs.
"And only an eighth-inch thick," Hanna counters. "With enough force, we can blow right through them."
"Hmm…" Rob thinks hard for a few moments. "OK, here's the plan: scour the wreckage and get all the fuel tanks and battery packs; these things were spitting fire, they'll have some sort of liquid fuel store. Take all the tanks and batteries you find over to that door." He points to the one Hanna had been inspecting. "Take some of the casings too, so I can direct the blast. Once that's done, while I'm rigging the bomb, build some sort of shield from the rest of the casings. Doesn't have to be sturdy, it just has to deflect shrapnel and flame. So try not to leave any holes."
Twenty minutes later, Rob makes the final wiring checks. Satisfied his improvised bomb will work, he takes up the detonation wires; taking extreme care not to let the exposed ends touch, he retreats and joins his friends behind their makeshift blast shield. "Be warned: when this goes, it'll be loud and violent," he warns; his friends hunker down and brace. "OK… three… two… one…" Rob touches the exposed wires together; they spark as the circuit is completed.
The detonation is deafening. A roasting pressure wave rolls over the blast shield, penetrating a couple of tiny gaps; less than a second later, the shield is rocked by the impact of a wall of shrapnel.
Once the rain of shrapnel ends, the Scarves peek over the top of their blast shield; Rob's improvised explosive hasn't just taken out the door, it's taken out quite a bit of wall too.
"You were only supposed to blow the bloody door down!" Hanna exclaims. "Can anyone smell singed fur?" she adds a moment later.
"Now you mention it, my tail feels like it's-" Rob starts, twisting to inspect his tail; he stops suddenly when he sees the blackened remains. "Ah. That would explain why it feels like I set fire to it. Excuse me a moment," he requests, walking away from the group; once fifteen feet away, he unleashes a great howl of pain.
Hanna jogs over to comfort Rob. "We've still got plenty of the Magister's elixir; you'll get your tail back," she assures.
"I know," Rob replies with a mix of smile and grimace. "At least it's cauterised," he adds, reaching to touch his tail; as soon as he tries to bend it, it falls off and shatters on the floor.
Hanna can't help bit giggle; Rob fixes her with an unamused look. "Sorry," she murmurs, bringing herself under control.
"Come on," Rob sighs. "Let's get our mission finished; the sooner we do so, the sooner I can grow a new tail."
