Over 10,000 XP before lunchtime. A banner day for any Hinobi tech, but just another day on the job for Mitch Williams. However, there were other things on his mind besides that number and the glitch he had just contained, namely the fact that Zahra and Haneesh had gone dark. He tapped the black rectangles containing their names and double-checked their statuses, but they remained unchanged from the last time he had looked. The only difference was that five minutes had passed on the clock indicating how long they had been offline, which now read 41 minutes. Mitch shook his head and let out a puzzled "What the hell..." as he returned to the gauntlet's main menu, where a flashing red exclamation point awaited him.

"Oh, for God's sake, what now?" He planted his finger on the alert icon, which resulted in another duo of black rectangles appearing on his screen. Zahra and Haneesh were one thing, but when he saw that the new pair of offline techs were none other than Miko and Five, his eyes widened in alarm as he dove further into what had happened. When he looked at their last known location, however, his wide eyes narrowed in irritation when it was revealed that they had been near Five's apartment. "Unbelievable," Mitch mumbled to himself as he let out a snide chuckle. "A slower day than usual, so you just throw in the towel. Pfft... rookies." He took a drink from his water bottle and cycled back to the statuses of Zahra and Haneesh, but just before he checked their last location, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket and began to play a ringtone.

"You can try to slam me with your harder stuff
But your double whammy isn't up to snuff
I'll set the record straight
You're simply out of date
You're only second rate..."

Mitch pulled the phone from his pocket with a grin that radiated smug amusement before answering the call with, "What's going on, Miko?" When she responded, the smugness fell away from his face as the tension and fear in her voice cut right through him.

"Mitch... we've got a problem. We have a big, massive problem."

"You're telling me." Mitch leaned his seat back and let out a sigh. Something in the back of his mind told him Miko wasn't faking, but he hid it beneath his usual veneer of snark and sarcasm as he said, "I see you two went off the grid a few minutes ago."

"We did, and there's a good reason-"

"Are you having a good time skipping work and hanging out with Five? Was the boredom too much for you?"

"Mitch-"

"Or do you need my help? Has the twelfth of Never come along sooner than you expected, and-"

"WE RAN INTO THE NEUROSURGEON AND HE DID SOMETHING TO OUR GAUNTLETS!" That did it. Mitch returned his seat to its upright position and demanded, "Where? How?"

"Near Five's place," Miko said as she switched her phone to Facetime. Hearing the fear in her voice was one thing, but seeing it plain as day on her face caused Mitch to cringe and let out a slight shudder. Once that moment passed, he asked, "Are you still there? Where are you?"

"No... we're at a farmhouse outside of town. This is the only way we could get a hold of you, and... well... while we were here, we found Zahra and Haneesh. That's the good news. The bad news..." On the other end of the line, Miko turned the phone towards her captive coworkers, who did their best to remain calm as time continued to tick away. The timers on their vests were at 8 minutes, 32 seconds when Mitch got a good look at them, and when he did, his jaw hung slack and sweat began to bead on his forehead.

"H-hold on, Miko! I've gotta check something!" He put the phone down and returned to his gauntlet, pulling up Zahra and Haneesh's last known location. The second the map appeared and revealed the coordinates, Mitch felt his entire body turn to ice. They had been five miles outside of the city... on the east side... and their gauntlets had gone dark while inside a vacant farmhouse that Mitch knew all too well. His hands were soaked in sweat as he reached for his phone, but it slipped out of his hand in his haste and landed on the dashboard of the van. He retrieved it with little effort and returned to the call with a breathless, "M-Miko, have Five take some pictures! Get the bombs, get the chairs, get every possible angle you can! I'll need as clear a picture as possible!"

"On it!" Five pulled out his phone and did as he was told. The photos showed up on Mitch's phone one after the other, with the first being a full-screen vertical shot of the device attached to Zahra's chest. Haneesh's chest was the second picture, and Mitch could see that the construction of both devices was exactly the same: four cylinders rested on the left and right side of the vests, and all were wired into the detonator in the middle. Shots from behind the chairs were next, but aside from unobstructed views of Zahra and Haneesh's bound wrists, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Inside the farmhouse, Five moved back to the front of the chairs and said, "Mitch, I'm gonna try and get a closer pic of the detonators!"

"Good idea," he responded. "But for God's sake, be careful!" Five crouched down and filled the frame of his phone with the detonator on Zahra's chest, and as he prepared to take the photo, he said, "We're gonna get you out of this. You're gonna be fine. We're all gonna be fine. Don't worry." His words served to calm her, and just as he pressed the button to take the picture, the detonator slipped slightly out of frame thanks to Zahra relaxing her body with a deep breath. One quick snap of his wrists later, Five had the detonator in frame once again, and this time, he didn't miss. After the picture was taken, Five put his hand on Zahra's knee and said, "You're gonna be fine. I promise." That gesture served to further calm her, and she let out a relieved sigh as well as a smile. "Thanks, Five."

He smiled back at her before moving to Haneesh. "You're gonna be fine, dude. Once we figure out which wires to cut, we'll have you out of this in no time. Just sit tight."

"Hey, I already am," Haneesh snarked as Five captured the second detonator on camera. "How much time do we have?"

"About six minutes, fifteen seconds," Miko said. "Hurry and get those pics to Mitch!"

"Way ahead of you." Once Five had done his duty, he turned his attention back to Haneesh and placed his hand on his knee, saying, "You're gonna be fine. I promise." He responded with a determined grin and a nod of his head, a nod that Five returned as he studied the detonator. His eyes darted between Haneesh and Zahra as he compared the vests, and while there were no major differences between the two, the main thing he noticed was that they each had a green wire, a red wire, a blue wire, and a black wire running from the detonator to the cylinders on both sides. Five put his finger to his chin in a thinking motion and asked, "Mitch, are you seeing what I'm seeing? These four colored wires?"

"I am, and I know what you need to do! This is a puzzle from the game, so listen to me very carefully! You have to not only cut the wires in a specific order, but you have to cut both of the same color at the same time! If you're off by even the slightest of margins, the bomb will detonate!" Whatever calm remained in the room evaporated as Miko responded with a quivering, "Yeah... n-no pressure."

"No kidding," Mitch replied. "And odds are you don't have any sharp objects at the ready, am I right?" A collective nod and a pair of defeated yeahs was the response, and all Mitch could do was mumble, "Damn... Okay, here's what I want you to do. Grab onto the end of the red wires attached to the dynamite!" Five stayed in front of Haneesh while Miko put her phone down and crouched in front of Zahra; they exchanged worried glances before they followed Mitch's instructions. "They're in my hands," Miko said as she clenched her teeth in anticipation.

"Mine too," Five added.

"Good. Now, on my signal, pull the wires out! Ready?" Miko and Five were wracked with fear, but they put on the bravest faces they could. Haneesh closed his eyes and repeated a mantra of "It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine" over and over again. Zahra bowed her head and began to pray, closing her eyes to shut out the visual of the bomb. Miko and Five were a mess of nerves and sweat as they waited for the signal, which arrived via a yell of "NOW!" On Mitch's command, Miko and Five pulled the wires out of the explosives with a hard yank, squeezing their eyes shut in preparation for the blast. It never came, much to their relief, and they breathed a sigh as Mitch said, "Okay, now move to the black wires and wait for my signal!" Five could feel his temples pounding and teeth chattering as he grabbed the wires, saying, "We're a quarter of the way there, Haneesh. D-don't worry."

"Yeah," Miko added as she concentrated on the task ahead. "Soon, we'll be... we'll be halfway there." The stress of the situation began to wear on her as she let out a harsh, choked laugh and felt the sting of tears at the corner of her eyes, but she managed to blink them back and remain strong for her friends. That didn't stop her hands from shaking as she grabbed the black wires, and no sooner had her fingers closed around them than she heard another yell of "NOW!"

Miko and Five pulled the wires out with another hard yank, this time keeping their eyes on the timer. Both continued their relentless march to zero at their normal pace, and there was barely four minutes left to finish. "Halfway there," Mitch declared. "The blue wires are next!" Zahra's praying grew louder, moving from a whisper to her regular speaking voice as she said, "O Allah, protect me from my front, behind me, from my right and my left, and from above me, and I seek refuge in Your Magnificence from being taken unaware from beneath me. O Allah, protect my friends from their front, behind them..." Her prayer continued unabated, echoing through the room and lifting the spirits of the trio alongside her. Five could see tears running down Haneesh's face as he repeated his mantra, and he blinked back an onset of his own as he waited for Mitch's signal. Miko, however, let her tears flow freely as she grabbed onto the wires.

"NOW!" Another hard yank, another pair of explosives defused. "One more pair to go! One more! Grab those green wires and finish this! Don't wait for a signal; just DO IT! GET THIS OVER WITH!" Miko and Five looked at each other as they grabbed onto the last pair of wires - Miko's face was a flushed, tear-stained mess, and while Five had managed to keep a straight face through the entire ordeal, the dull, glazed look in his eyes told a different story. There was so much adrenaline flowing through his body that he didn't notice he was grabbing onto the bottom portion of the right stick, and as he looked at Miko, he said, "If this doesn't work... I just wanna say... it's been an honor working with you. I... I love you guys."

A grateful smile formed on Miko's face as she grabbed the last set of wires and asked, "Ready?"

"Nope." This was it. The moment of truth.

One.

Two.

Three.

"NOW!"

Miko yanked her wires out with little effort, but when Five did the same, he felt the bottom portion of the dynamite break off in his hand as he brought his arms back towards him. Whatever sense of panic he may have felt died in an instant as he saw the result before him. The dull fear in his eyes gave way to astonishment, then disbelief, then sheer, unbridled anger as the road flare on Haneesh's chest burned away, dribbling its runoff onto the floor. Five pulled the rod off of the vest and threw it through the window, exclaiming, "That son of a bitch! THAT SON OF A BITCH!"

Miko and Zahra couldn't believe their eyes. After dragging her shirt sleeve across hers, Miko took a rod out of the vest and examined it. What looked to the untrained eye like a stick of dynamite turned out to be nothing but a harmless road flare. She flipped it over and snapped the top off, resulting in another bright red-orange flame lighting the room. Slack-jawed shock was on Zahra's face as she watched the flare burn, and it didn't take long for her expression to darken, her teeth to clench, and a round of heavy, furious breathing to emanate from her body. Haneesh said nothing, instead letting the deep, angry scowl on his face do all the talking for him as he shook with rage.

Five grabbed Miko's phone and pointed it at her, exclaiming, "Look at this, Mitch! All that for a bunch of road flares! ROAD FLARES! I'M GONNA KILL HIM! I SWEAR TO GOD, I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL HIM!"

After picking his jaw up from the ground, it was time for Mitch to feel the collective rage coursing through the farmhouse. He dropped his phone on the floor as he grabbed either side of his head; his entire body shook with fury before he released it all with a loud, harsh scream accompanied by a medley of fists on the dashboard and the steering wheel. He hung up his phone, buckled his seatbelt, started the van and peeled out towards the Hinobi store as Miko, Five, Zahra and Haneesh attempted to calm down and regain their bearings. Little success was had as Five grabbed the sides of his head and sat down against the nearby wall, spit flying from his mouth as he breathed through clenched teeth. Zahra and Haneesh had begun to squirm and struggle against the tape binding them to the chairs, and Miko took it upon herself to assist in their efforts; she picked up a piece of broken glass and cut Zahra free before doing the same for Haneesh. After they stood up and stretched, the first thing they did was remove the vests, sending them crashing to the floor with an unceremonious thud as the trio approached Five. Miko crouched down in front of him as Zahra and Haneesh sat beside him on the left and right, and when he felt the pair of arms across his shoulders, the anger on his face turned to relief as he found himself surrounded by the smiling faces of his friends.

Miko fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around Five's torso, enveloping him in a hug as Zahra and Haneesh placed their free arms around Miko's back. Their gesture turned the singular embrace into a big group hug as Five let out a massive, relieved sigh/yell combo that bounced off the walls of the living room. "My sentiments exactly," Zahra cracked.

"Same here," Haneesh added.