Luna watched as Prompto and his group left through the slim passage. They would wait for a few minutes before going on their own way. "Pelna? Can I see the map? We should plan out how to approach the cells." She turned back towards the glaive, hiding her worries.
Pelna nodded and laid the map on a crate nearby. The 8th floor seemed to be composed of two main areas separated by a large blank space. There were no elevators leading into the cell area and the only way to it was by the single passage linking the two parts of the floor.
Gladio frowned as he took in the details of their destination. "Taking that passage is bound to be trouble. A single way in or out of a holding area means that it will be well monitored. Even if we managed to get rid of most of the human soldiers, there's bound to be MTs or clones guarding it carefully." He glanced up to Libertus.
The glaive shook his head as he noticed the look. "The invisibility spell won't do much good. The passage is too small for the shield to be fully formed." Libs tapped the blank area on either side of the single hall and asked, "Pel? Can you figure out what that is exactly? We may be able to warp past the guards completely if it's empty space."
Pelna was already shaking his head before Libertus was done talking. "I already checked. Those blank spaces are walled off from the rest of the floor." Libertus' shoulders slumped down.
Iris hummed and turned to Gladio. "Hey, Gladdy?" Gladio turned to look at her. "Do you remember the lecture Dad gave us about the security system in the Citadel? I kinda remember him saying something about the size of the Citadel making it necessary to use something to keep the security system load balanced?" She pouted as she tried to remember what her dad had said.
Gladio frowned, he remembered what Iris was referring to but he wasn't sure if he remembered the details properly. "I think Dad was saying something about needing to secure servers? I think someone had tried to cause some kind of overload of the security system." Pelna yelped and whirled back to the broken monitor screen.
Gladio shared surprised and confused looks with Iris, Libertus and Luna as they watched Pelna furiously doing something. "YES!" Pelna's sudden low exclamation made them all jump. The glaive whirled back to face them, a fanatical gleam in his eyes. "They have dedicated servers for their security system!" When he was met with confused looks, Pelna sighed. "It means that if we can find the server for the 8th floor I can turn off the alarm system for the entire floor without anyone realizing it."
Gladio grinned and punched his open palm. "That means we'll be able to take down anyone in our way without worry right?" Pelna nodded, matching Gladio's grin with his own.
"The server is probably going to be on the opposite side of the holding cells." Pelna looked at the map for a moment. "Probably around here." He circled an area around the center of the non-cell area. It was close to the only elevator on that floor.
Now that they had the beginning of a plan, it wasn't long before they were leaving the small hiding spot and heading to the elevator. Luna ignored the sight of the airships lined in the hangar, she had seen this many darken the sky above her home once before. She didn't miss the way Gladio tugged Iris into a one armed hug as they moved.
The elevator ride was tense as the floors flew past fairly quickly. As the elevator came to a slow stop, Gladio and Libertus moved in front of the others protectively. The doors slid open and the two moved forward to secure the area.
It was a good thing since there were four MTs guarding it. Gladio quickly brought out the summoned his broadsword and cut down two of them easily. Libertus followed suit, warping behind the other two and digging his curved daggers through their necks. As the MTs dropped heavily to the floor, Iris and Pelna had to move quickly with Luna to keep the dropping armor from causing too much noise.
The five stood tensely as they waited to see if anyone had noticed their less than stealthy arrival. As seconds ticked by with no one coming their way, Luna shared a look with Pelna before setting off. Gladio met Libertus' gaze and jerked his head towards the leaving princess. Libertus nodded and hurried to join her in leading the way through the passages.
After passing through many empty halls the group came across a wide space filled with well organized desks. Pelna looked around and smiled as he spotted the lonely looking metal tower by the edge of the room. "There. That should be it." He said as he walked over.
There were two ways into the desk area; Gladio and Libertus moved to cover each of them while Luna and Iris started looking through the desks. Most of the papers still on the desks were useless to them but the two ladies did find a few lists of 'confiscated' historic or valuable objects taken from Insomnia.
"They took some of our weapons!" Iris exclaimed angrily as she thumbed through the first three pages of the report. "Gladdy! They even took Great-Aunt Amara's lance!" She put the papers away, not wanting to read more about the pillaging the Niflheim Army had done.
She stomped over to the next desk and rummaged through it angrily. Luna watched with sympathy as the younger girl made a mess of the desk. She picked up the list and decided to give it to Aranea, the Resistance might be able to find the current location of the objects and possibly see to their return to Insomnia.
Pelna worked quickly, plugging his handheld into the server and bypassing the firewall with ease. The process of finding and copying the all-clear code for the security system was longer and more detail oriented. As soon as he was done setting up a looping all-clear signal and adding in a master key to the floor's security system, Pelna rose to his feet with a relieved sigh.
Luna smiled. "All done?" Pelna nodded as he walked over. "Good, could you put these into the armory for the moment?" Pelna reached out and grabbed the papers Luna gave him, sending it with a flick of his wrist into the same magical storage as his weapons.
Gladio huffed, "Let's go kick some ass and save Ravus then." He grinned widely, his expression slightly bloodthirsty. Libertus and Iris nodded together, just as determined to deal with the guards standing between them and Ravus.
Pelna was no less determined to do so but there was one thing they had to deal with first. "Wait a minute. Don't forget that we won't be able to use magic as we get closer to the holding cells. I'm not sure what the range is but we'd best be prepared." He reminded them sternly.
Gladio moved to stand beside Luna and pointedly asked, "Think your magic is going to work in the barrier?" He summoned his broadsword, and his rarely used baldric to strap it to his back. He wanted to be able to get his hands free when he wasn't fighting.
Luna brought out her trident with a shrug. "I don't know. I guess we'll find out once we get there." She watched as Pelna and Libertus got ready. The glaives had their own weapons strapped at their waists, and were dividing up potions and the few elixirs Noctis had created for them.
Iris crossed her arms; she didn't have access to the Crystal's magic so she wasn't really worried about the barrier. She was, on the other hand, realizing she didn't have a weapon and that was not right. "Gladdy! Lend me something please." She begged with a pout.
Gladio chuckled and mentally checked what he had in his part of Noct's armory. Most of his swords weren't well suited for Iris' preferred fighting style. Then he remembered that he still had Noctis' old training sword stashed away. Perfect! "Here, it's Noct's old one but it should do perfectly for you." He tossed Iris the sword and grinned when she caught it one handed. He watched with pride as Iris tested the balance and edges before nodding satisfied.
Pelna and Libertus watched the youngest Amicitia try out her new sword with equally amused smiles. It was like seeing a younger Crowe all over again. Pelna checked his handheld before saying, "Looks like they have a half a dozen MTs and just as many clones guarding the passage. "
"A dozen? Eh, that's not a lot." Gladio said as he glanced over to Iris. "Me and Iris can take them down." Iris bobbed her head in agreement. "We'll deal with the guards in the passage. Libs, get Luna and Pelna to the door. There might be some more guards..."
"At least 4 guards more." Interrupted Pelna.
Gladio nodded, "I'm sure you three can manage those four by yourselves." The glares Pelna and Libs sent his way were answer enough. Gladio chuckled, slapped Iris on the back and set off, his sword leisurely slung over his shoulder.
"Ready Iris?" Gladio asked, shifting his grip on his broadsword. Iris nodded, her expression determined. Gladio took a deep breath, checked over his shoulder to see Pelna and Libertus looking ready for a fight., and took the last few steps between his position and the passage entrance.
The moment he came into the view, guns were swiftly pointed his way. Gladio grinned and roared as he rushed the closest of the MTs. He dropped his broadsword downwards and grinned as the feeling of bullets bounced off the expertly forged blade. A swing upwards and the first MT lost its torso.
Iris was moving the instant her brother roared. She rushed towards the other guard, keeping herself low as they both opened fire on Gladio. As Gladio dealt with the left MT, Iris slid under the other's guard and dug her borrowed sword straight through its neck.
The Amicitia's attack drew the attention of the rest of the guards and Iris dove behind Gladio as bullets came flying towards them. Gladio hissed as he shifted to cover Iris properly.
A flask went flying above their head, soon followed by a second one. Glass shattered, lightning and ice filled the passage. Gladio took the opening and dove back into battle. Iris following right behind.
They watched each other's back. Falling into a rhythm that rarely happened outside of their sparring matches against Dad. Strike and block. Dodge and counter. The sound of gunshots. The sound of bullets. Metal ringing against metal. Silence.
Gladio turned around to check on Iris, his breath coming in short pants after the fight. He could feel the satisfactory burn of sore muscles and the sting of scratches that would heal quickly. He sighed in relief as he saw Iris looked completely mostly okay though out of breath.
They were both speckled with blood and oil but thankfully had managed to escape serious injuries. Gladio walked over, "You alright, Iris?" he asked gruffly. Iris nodded slowly. "Good. I saw Luna and the others dart through while we were fighting. Let's go join up with them." Gladio ruffled Iris' hair gently before walking past the empty armors strewn around.
Luna watched Gladio charge at the guards, Iris following after her brother with utter confidence. The few seconds it took for the Amicitias to deal with the two MTs were a reminder of why the House of Amicitia were the King's Shields.
As the sound of gunshots erupted from beyond the two, Luna hissed, grabbed a lightning flask from Pelna's waist, and tossed it over Gladio's figure. Libertus swore under his breath and grabbed an ice flask to lob it after the first.
The gunfire stopped as the elemental magic took effect and the trio followed right after Gladio and Iris. Luna watched with a pang of worry as she, Libertus and Pelna rushed past the fighting siblings.
She didn't have much time to worry about them as they ran out of the cold mist only to be faced with four guns pointed their way. Luna ducked as bullets ripped through the air, she shifted her grip on her trident and threw it.
The ceremonial weapon was still sharp and deadly. Luna was sharply reminded of that fact as her trident buried itself easily into the MT's arm, making it unable to aim properly with the extra weight. Libertus threw one of his curved daggers at the same MT, face twisting as he concentrated. "Shit, can't warp!" He said moments later as his dagger pierced the armor and dropped the MT.
Pelna took the warning, using his short blade to lunge forward instead of the throw he had been planning. His blade was sharp enough to pierce the MT's thick armor with ease and Pelna rolled over the dropping armor, dodging bullets as he did.
Luna and Libertus are by his side as he gets back to his feet. Libs using his second dagger to detach the arms off a third MT while Luna had been able to grab her trident from the floor. Pelna quickly dispatched the now armless guard, allowing Libertus to tug Luna out of the way of a spray of bullets to safety. Together both glaives rushed the last guard, taking it down with ease.
"Anyone hurt?" asked Luna as both glaives got back to their feet. Both shook their heads as Pelna headed for the security panel. Libertus walked over to Luna, quickly checking the Oracle for any injury and smiling when he found none.
The sounds of fighting from the passage were fading slowly, soon replaced by two people approaching. Libertus tensed up, his fist tightened on the hilt of his daggers but he relaxed the moment he saw Gladio's hulking figure through the fading mist.
Gladio and Iris slid beside Luna and Libertus, all of them turning to watch as Pelna worked his own brand of magic on the doors. It took less than a minute for the doors to open with a slowness that irked them all.
Luna was first through them, hurrying to find her brother. The halls were dimly lit; drab grey walls broken by thick metal doors. Beside each door was a small screen showing the inside of the cells. Luna glanced at each as she barely refrained from running, all showed dark empty cells.
Iris was quick to go after Luna, not wanting to leave her alone. Gladio frowned and glanced over to Pelna, "Any way to figure out which cell Ravus is in? I don't think we'll be able to check each of these in time to meet up with Prompto and the rest." He hadn't even finished talking before Pelna was heading straight to the closest monitor to work.
As Pelna went to work, Gladio watched as Luna and Iris disappeared from sight. He tensed up, about to go after them, when they both came back into view. Luna had a worried scared look on her face as she returned to the entrance. Even Iris looked confused as she trailed over.
"What is it?" Gladio asked once they were back with them.
Iris answered for Luna, "It's a dead end. We didn't see any other passages either, only cell doors." They were both frowning. The area outline in the floor plan was much bigger than just this one cell filled hall so where was the rest of the holding area?
Pelna had the answered ready for them in no time. "The Nifs are a paranoid bunch." He sighed as he straightened from where he had been. "Some of the doors don't lead to cells but rather other passages. Follow me. I found the only occupied cell and how to get there." He started down the path in a hurry.
They followed Pelna down seven doors. He used the fake masterkey to open the right-side door and shook his head slightly at the sight of another passage. They kept going with rising impatience, Pelna opening doors that lead to halls one after the other until he finally stopped in front of a cell.
Luna gasped as she took a glance on the monitor. It showed someone lying still on the small cot in the cell. Pelna was already tapping in his masterkey as Luna rushed past him, intent on entering the cell as soon as the door unlocked.
There was barely any light inside as Luna threw the door open the moment she could, and rushed inside. A bruised and bloody arm reached from right out of sight and yanked her off her feet and into the darkness.
Gladio grabbed his sword and rushed in, knowing Libertus, Iris and Pelna were undoubtedly doing the same right behind him. His rush sputtered to a halt as he faced the person with their arm curled around Luna's neck in a loose hold. "Cor?"