Yo, look at me keeping schedule. Not gonna lie, not a huge fan of this chapter, it's a little boring, but it's one of those chapters that actually is important, so...yeah. Also, I may or may nor have already written four chapters of the sequel BUT WHO'S COUNTING(me, it's me, I am counting). It's gonna be a lot more central to actually building up Rex and Kateri's relationship(because let's get real, I'm fangirl TRASH). That's about as far as any spoilers are gonna go, though.

Hope y'all enjoy!

Kateri and Rex had been wandering around the floor for a good twenty minutes, the one person that had been on it having move to the floor beneath them about ten minutes ago. Kateri was checking open rooms, but she knew that this floor was primarily storage for the materials used. She found a lot of stores of various chemicals and biologic ingredients, and had to force herself to leave them be. If the mission was successful, she wouldn't need to do anything with them, and if it wasn't it wouldn't matter anyways. She did however swipe a white coat for everyone to hide their body armor and weapons.

"Ema says their less than two minutes away." Rex told her."She said she wants to poke around here a bit, there's a ton of useful chemicals and stuff."

"I figured she might." the archer said, hands working at a piece of paracord. Rex had realized that braiding the thin rope seemed to be a nervous tic of hers to keep her more focused and prevent her from getting too stressed.

"So, what are we doing once we get down there?" he asked.

"I grabbed coats so we can hide in plain sight, so we shouldn't have as much difficulty traveling. A lot of people at the other facilities I've been to tend to carry around messenger bags for work stuff, so as long as no one opens theirs out in the open, we could be able to carry most of our equipment. I can clip my bow to by belt, but we're going to have to figure out something for Salem's gun." Kateri replied, eyes never leaving the rope.

"Okay, so where are we going?" he asked.

"Ultimately to the bottom chambers because that's where logically they would keep the things they want the most hidden, but I want to sweep the other levels as well to make sure we don't miss anything, because I get the feeling that what's at the bottom of the barrel is only the worst of the worst. If there's people to help, I want to find them." she said. Her hands paused as she listened carefully. Then, there was a quiet bang followed by a muffled clatter, low voices carrying to them.

"God I hate crawling through vents, I literally feel like a movie cliche." Salem's griped.

"It's not my favorite method, but it's certainly efficient." Ema followed.

"It got us here, didn't it?" Abe said.

A moment later, they rounded the corner to where Kateri and Rex were.

"You guys get everything taken care of?" the Navajo asked.

"Virus planted, set to initiate in eight hours, four minutes and sixteen seconds." Ema replied.

"I melted every piece of paper I could find and all the vials and bottles and stuff and smashed." Abe reported.

"Technically you can't melt paper." Salem piped, but no one bothered acknowledging her.

"I grabbed everyone a lab coat to hide weapons and whatnot." Kateri said, tossing one of the sterile white jackets to everyone. "Ema and I will take point, Rex, Abe and Salem travel a few feet back to avoid drawing attention. Move quickly but don't draw too much attention to it, and we should be able to move without much notice."

They all slipped on the jackets, Abe's sleeves being a bit short on the lanky blond. Kateri looped her bow across her body on a piece of paracord, her quiver being concealed by her backpack so long as she didn't take it off. It took them a few minutes to get Salem's shotgun fully hidden without any odd bumps under the coat, but once it was sorted out, nothing conspicuous was visible under their clothes.

Ema and Kateri broke off for a few minutes while the genius went through the chemical storage, but they were back to the group within a few minutes.

"Biochemical experimentation is awful, but they have a good supply of just about anything." Ema commented when they returned.

"So, basically we're going to just walk down there like we know what we're doing?" Abe asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. It's not my favorite plan, but a lot of this will have to be played by ear." Kateri said.

"No offense, Arrow, but this seems awfully rushed for something you've been working for since you were like twelve." Salem commented.

"I know, but this is the first time I've ever had this kind of chance. It's exceptionally rare I'm given undercover missions, because they make it difficult to monitor me. My entire house is bugged, so if I'm not undercover and I don't show up there for a few days, they start asking questions. I also knew that they wanted information on Rex's nanites for this project, which made it a lot easier to nose around in the files for it. But in a week, I'm supposed to go in for a report again, and if I didn't have something significant, I'd be pulled off the case." the archer explained.

"I have another question." Rex interjected. "What about all the workers here? Are you just going to let them die?"

Kateri chewed her lip and looked at the ground. "If they're working here, they know exactly what they're here for and what they're doing. If they can willingly partake in this this kind of torture, knowing what it does to the victims, then I'm willing to live with letting them die."

Rex's eyes widened a fraction. "So, you're just going to let all these people die."

"Rex, this isn't the time. They're here putting countless people through unimaginable pain and trauma, all putting them on the street is going to do is put more people at risk." she defended. "If they go back to Jessup, then they could start back with the same thing they're doing now."

Rex glared at her, but didn't speak. He knew there was no point, but her willingness to let so many people die over assumptions bothered him a lot. A small part of him knew that she was right, that most of these people wouldn't hesitate to go right back to what they were doing. It didn't make it sit any better in his conscience.

"Right, so we better get moving." Kateri said, pushing Rex's response to the back of her mind. There would be plenty of time to argue over her shaky morals later, but right then, she had very little sympathy for people who were intentionally experimenting on living people.

Now it was time for a little karma.

(*)

"This is really freaky." Salem whispered. "I feel like any second we're gonna get busted and locked up."

"Shh, don't jinx it." said Abe, who seemed completely unfazed. Everything he had as a weapon was easily hidden and he carried himself casually with great ease. "Thank god the floors are relatively small, this already feels way too Umbrella for my liking."

"Can you do one mission without making references to those stupid movies?" Ema hissed, leafing through some papers of a random clipboard she stole from a bin on the wall.

"Yes, but I won't."

"We're about to go down to the next level." Rex's voice came through the comms.

"We should be approaching it in less than a minute." Ema reported. "Just continue to the next one, we can stay separated for a little bit, but we have to regroup once the doors have access panels and don't automatically open, which should be floor thirty one."

The trio quickly made their way down the stairs, entering the next level easily. It was much like the previous one, and Ema casually swapped her clipboard with a different one. It was just more data graphs, and useless ones at that. She assumed they went with whatever projects were nearby and didn't require labeling, but it made snooping much more difficult that way.

"Rex, tell Arrow I don't believe that she's going to find anything up here, I'm not seeing anything for anything living, let alone full blown human experimentation." Ema said.

"Makes sense." said Salem. "I could hit the door of the labs with a rock from my cell at the place we were at. Easier that way."

There was a ruffling noise, and a moment later they could hear Kateri's voice over the comm. "If that's the case, then skip the sweeps, we need to save time where we can. It won't matter anyways, we'll have to come back through here later anyways, so if we missed something, we can come back."

"So we're just going straight to the bottom?" Abe asked.

"Yes. I didn't expect we would find much, but it took longer to get this far than I'd anticipated, and I'd rather conserve the limited time we have left." Some muffled cursing could be heard. "I hate changing plans."

"Plans have to be flexible, especially for situations like this one. We'll rendezvous soon." Ema said, and the comm Kateri used was returned to Rex a moment later.

"I dunno why she's so stressed. Half our plans are half ass cobbled together because shit goes wrong." Salem said. "It's not like this same thing hasn't happened several times before."

"It's different to her this time." Abe said. "There's a lot more at stake for her and she's afraid of things that are out of her control."

Salem and Ema both gave him blank looks.

"What?" he defended. "I'm not all ninjas and iHop, I pay attention...sometimes."

"I am not certain if this is a good or bad thing." Ema said quietly and Salem snickered.

"Oh, shut up and come on."

(*)

Kateri tapped her fingers against her leg with an agitated look on her face. She and Rex had been wandering the transition level aimlessly for the past ten minutes, doing nothing but dodging guards as they waited for the others to arrive.

The archer had kept on her coat as means to keep her bow covered, on the off chance it could buy her a few more seconds if they were caught. Rex, however, had shed his, the navy blue jacket hiding his vest and keeping him from drawing a lot of attention to himself(something the Latino would never admit, because then Kateri would have been right).

"C'mon, Abe, I know you can do better than this." she murmured. "You damn near should've gotten here before us."

"Alone, or with someone like Salem?" Rex asked, overhearing her.

"Alone, but even her her probably slowing them down, they should have gotten here by now." she replied.

"Maybe they're-oh wait, here." he pointed behind her, and she spun around to see the trio walking towards them.

"There you are, took your time." Kateri said, though there was a slight grin on the archer's face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you try sneaking around anywhere with this loud talking little shit on your tail. We got stopped three times and I'm surprised we haven't been hauled off yet." Abe replied.

"I said I was sorry!" Salem protested, her voice a loud whisper(probably for the best, or a guard would've heard them).

"Whatever, you're here now and we need to keep moving, another guard comes through in about twenty seconds. There's a cross hall this way that Ema's going to have to unlock, but we should be out of sight long enough for her to unlock it." Kateri hoisted her backpack on her shoulder. "Thought it was hard getting this far? It's been a cakewalk to get here. Now it's time for the real challenge."

(*)

"This is super creepy."

No one verbally acknowledged Salem, but the opinion was unanimous. This section of the facility was very different from the other levels. The above floors had been very clean and open, with a number of full glass walls that created the illusion of a much bigger space. Everything was very sterile and carefully maintained.

Not here. No, here, the hallways were poorly lit and so far, almost all of the walls had been smooth metal and heavy, thick doors with several layers of security before they would open. It was poorly lit, much like the empty levels above the primary labs, and the softest of noises would echo eerily.

There were a lot of echoes, very few from the group.

There were also many large doors that were nearly as tall at the twelve foot ceilings, maybe higher as the area behind the rafters was nothing but shadow, that had no outside access, but were very heavily reinforced. Kateri did not want to think about what may have been behind these doors.

"So Arrow, where exactly are we going?" Salem whispered.

"Right now, we just need to find a control panel so Ema can get into the network here, but until then, we're pretty blind." she replied.

"Right, fun…" she grumbled. "Also, what happened to your comm?"

Kateri gritted her teeth. She loved her friend to death, but sometimes Salem just had the most uncanny ability to grate her last goddamn nerve. "It stopped working and then I lost it."

Salem could hear her annoyance, but continued anyways. "Then take mine. I'm always with SE and no one wants to hear me talk anyways, but you and Rex might still split up."

"It's fine, you're more likely to get in trouble than I am, you'll need it."Kateri dismissed, but Ema wasn't convinced.

"Arrow, you're the leader of this. You have a tendency to separate if it will get the job done and we need to be able to communicate. Salem and I are always together, so I can speak for her if need be." Ema said, her tone saying she knew Kateri was hiding something.

She was about to respond when footsteps could be heard from one end of the corridor. They all scattered, Rex and Kateri flattening into one doorway in the shadows while Ema and Salem moved to the other. Abe jumped(almost flew, really) about four feet off the ground in a high leap, snagging the frame above the two girls and vanishing into the rafters in seconds.

A moment later, a lone man stepped around the corner, a file folder open in his hands to read as he walked. What also caught every person's attention was the gun strapped to his belt, Ema and Salem spotting the knife clipped on the outside of his right boot. He passed them without pause and was gone from sight a few minutes later.

"That was freaky." Salem whispered, emerging from the shadows with Ema. Abe dropped down from the ceiling, making almost no sound from the twelve foot fall. "I didn't even hear him until he was almost up on us."

"Yeah, come on, maybe we can find where he came from." Kateri said, motioning forward. "Come on, he turned from the left."

"Hold up." said Ema. "Take Salem's comm first."

"Ema we don't have time for this!" Kateri said, exasperated, but she knew she was about to back herself into a corner unless she found a miracle.

"We also don't have time for a leader who is hiding things from her team." Ema's eyes narrowed. "First you refused to let me treat your wounds without explanation, which is odd because I have before, and now you refuse to take the communicator. Up until now, I didn't think anything of it, but they have something in common, and I don't know what. What are you keeping from us?"

"Ema, we don't have time for this." Kateri hissed, her own eyes narrowing. "You're overstepping, so just leave it the hell alone. I can tell you later, but it's not happening right now."

An animalistic growl rumbled in the back of Ema's throat, and even Salem bristled at the way the archer had been addressing the genius.

"This isn't over." Ema snapped.

"I didn't figure it was." the archer replied. "But right now, you're either with me or against me, and I don't have time for games."

She strode forward, Ema following with the rest of the group with a moody scowl.

"See, this is why I don't have a girlfriend." Abe said quietly to Rex, the two boys having watched the exchange silently. "Most of them are way more drama and arguing than they're worth, especially when you live like I do. If someone showed up who can live this life with me, great, all for it, but until then...nah."

"I get the feeling you're the smart one in that situation." the Latino replied.

"I get the feeling that both of you forgot SE and I can hear you whispering." Salem said, tilting her head just enough for them to see her smirk.

They glanced at one another and fell silent.

(*)

"Alright, I'm through the firewall. This one's got a lot more security than the one for the above sector, it's rather impressive. Most hackers wouldn't be able to get through it, but I'm not most hackers." Ema smirked, eyes jumping around the screen as line after line of code streamed across the screen. "Aaaand, I've got it."

She disconnected her phone from the massive panel did a proximity sync to the others around her, the other four getting the information a few seconds later. "There's a pretty decent layout of the floor since the controls for the systems within each room is here, but there aren't many cameras, which I do find a bit odd, but there is enough to at least navigate efficiently."

"Does it have any kind of labeling system to tell you what they are?" Kateri asked. She got a curt glance from Ema, but the genius did answer.

"There are, but not overly specific. It only breaks down as far as laboratory, subject containment, testing quarters and storage, it doesn't specify which are which."

"Damn. So then the first place to go would be Subject Containment, which is the most likely place they're be keeping anyone. Storage is irrelevant, but the labs need to be swept. Testing Quarters have to be checked as well, but we need to go as a full group, because whatever's there, I doubt is very secure." Kateri instructed.

"Are we splitting up for everything else?" asked Rex, and she nodded.

"Containment would be really secure, because logically it would have to hold failed experiments, too, so they have to be able to hold up. It should be safe to split there, and so should the labs. All we'd be going through those for is to destroy information." the archer continued. "However, first priority are the test subjects. If they're still human and in their right mind, they're coming."

"What if they aren't?" Salem asked. "Of their right mind, I mean."

Kateri was quiet for a moment. "That's going to have to be a judgement call, but I trust all of you to know if they're beyond saving or not." She shrugged her backpack off her shoulders, pulling out several of the shock sticks and handing everyone an extra couple. "Arm the most able bodied ones, because we aren't getting this many people out without a fight and we need as many numbers as we can scrape up."

"We have six hours and forty three minutes before the system crashes." Ema informed them. "After that, every security measure will go into a failsafe mode and this lab will become a fortress; no getting in or out."

"Then let's move."

I do try to mention the countdown every now and again so people can keep track of time passing, since I don't do a very good job of making in clear otherwise(only been writing about four years, still learning), but I'm hoping I slipped it into the dialogue well enough.

Please drop me a review and tell me what you think! And please throw up some ideas of what you might like to see in the sequel! I have an idea of several things I want to do, so nothing major for the plot, but little things you might like to see in there. I might not do all of them, but suggestions are more than welcome!

I'll see you all again on Monday!