Loqi was counting the seconds.

Forcing his way out of the vents had been noisy. Too noisy. Yes, the base appeared to be big and there was a chance no one had been close enough to hear the racket, but he was far too realistic to expect that. In all likeliness, it would only be a few moments before someone tried to get in.

"Here! He's in here!"

There it was.

Loqi gritted his teeth, eyes darting around the room in hopes of finding something he could use.

Nothing of use. Just a lot of dark and likely broken terminals. And then there were the two doors.

Simple choice, then – flee out the door his enemies weren't about to burst from.

And so he did, trying desperately to remember the layout of this type of base. Maybe they weren't identical, but practicality had built them on similar designs. If he could get a grasp on where things were he'd be able to run circles around these Tenebraens.

He just needed the answers to a few simple questions: where was he, where was that transmitter device, and would his old clearance codes work on anything?

Loqi sprinted out of the room and down the hallway it led to.

Nothing distinct… He needed some sort of sign that told him where he was in this building. Empty hallways were no help.

He took a sharp left into another room, skidding to a stop and whipping around as soon as he was certain he hadn't just entered a dead end.

If they had enough power to run the lights in this place, then maybe there was enough to…

Ah. Yes. There it was.

Loqi smirked as he keyed in the necessary commands to lock the door behind him.

Great. Okay. That gave him a few moments.

He turned once more to face the room he'd entered. He'd chosen to stop and lock this one behind him not just because of the timing, but because of the terminals. Maybe all this technology had just been daemon security and lights to the Tenebraens, but he might be able to spin a few more tricks with it.

Hastily, he crossed the room to the terminals, pressing buttons in rapid succession.

The screens flickered.

Excellent. They weren't dead. Good old Imperial quality technology.

There was banging on the door behind him as his pursuers attempted to break in, but Loqi tuned the noise out.

Schematics… Security controls…

Loqi grinned, chuckling under his breath.

Oh, they'd picked the wrong place to keep an Imperial captive…

"Let's see you prance around as though you own the place now," Loqi said, ordering the computer to execute a few specific commands.

Immediately, the racket began.

Maybe there weren't any MTs or soldiers for Loqi to send after the pests, but he could very much limit their movements.

The alarm sounded, shrill and annoying to Loqi's ears, but oh so satisfying to his mind. He could just hear the sound of doors snapping shut and locking just beyond the confines of the room.

Complete lockdown.

Those fiends weren't going anywhere fast. Not without any Imperial clearance codes.

The yelling beyond the door protecting him grew.

Loqi laughed to himself again, taking another look at the schematics.

Right. Basic design, as he'd expected. Easy to keep in mind.

He squinted at the map.

Now there was another thought…

If these terminals were working, perhaps others were too.

Maybe he didn't need to steal their garbage transmitter device after all.

Time to get moving again. This battle was in his favor at the moment, but it was far from won.

Right. Left. Right. Straight.

That's all he had to remember.

Loqi typed his access code into the door he needed to take out of the room.

Right now, he was the only one who could move freely in this place, but he wasn't going to rely on that. For as much of an idiot Loqi thought Cortez was, the man had still been resourceful enough to pull off kidnapping them all in the first place. He wouldn't put it past him to able to figure something out.

Right. Left. Right. Straight.

The door shut behind Loqi, and he locked it back.

Caution and speed.

The alarm kept blaring. Loqi hoped that it was as annoying for Cortez's people as it was for him.

Left. Right. Straight.

The greatest threat right now was what Cortez might do to the others if any of his people were still guarding them.

Loqi had heard one gunshot earlier. One. That meant at least two of his fellow leaders were alive. Perhaps all three, but Loqi doubted that had been a warning shot after the verbal warnings earlier.

Fita was most likely dead. She was most likely dead, and Loqi was trying very hard not to let that high possibility screw up his thought process. Trying to face all of Cortez's people with his bare hands was a terrible idea that would likely get him killed and leave Cor and Petra as captives of who was left.

Another door…

Right. Straight.

Almost there.

Strange to think these types of halls had once been familiar and comfortable. Almost like… home.

He'd been so set on climbing ranks within the army and leading the Empire to glory…

He'd been a bloody idiot.

Nothing he'd done prior to the endless night had meant anything. The only good that had come of it was giving him the experience he needed to do the work he was doing now.

Another code. Another door.

Straight.

This was it.

Loqi scrambled to input his code one last time before he burst through into the area he'd been trying to reach.

Communications…

Sweet Shiva, he hoped that Imperial technology had held up in here too…


Ravus snagged the mic at Monica's desk, nearly crushing it in the grip of his metal hand in his haste.

He winced. One would have thought he'd be fully used to controlling that thing by now, but it could still act strangely. He was more gentle when he pressed on the button to speak.

"Loqi?"

Vaguely, Ravus registered that there were footsteps behind him. Some of the others must have followed. Hopefully not Ardyn. He really didn't have the time or desire to explain that.

"Fleuret? Thank Astrals."

Loqi happy to hear him… A pity all those jokes about it being the end of the world had lost their fun…

"What's your status?" Ravus demanded. Monica had said his time might be limited.

"Temporarily safe since I've locked myself behind several doors, but I'm the only one free. I… suspect that Fita is dead, but I, Cor, and Petra are most likely alive. I have no guarantee on either matter, though. "

There was a swear from behind him that Ravus recognized as being from Gladio.

"…Understood." If those three were the options, Ravus selfishly hoped that any of them but Cor was dead. Ravus would hardly call them friends, but he didn't deny that they'd formed comfortable camaraderie over the years. Cor had been a constant pillar of reliability for so long now, Ravus wasn't entirely sure what the hell he would do without him. But, with luck – and the help of a certain daemonic madman – he wouldn't have to find out.

All they needed was to know where their people were, and it was game over.

"Loqi, have you any clues as to your location?" Ravus pressed hopefully.

"None specific, I'm afraid." There was an alarm of sorts in the background. "It's an Imperial base, that's for certain, but I don't have the slightest idea on direction or distance from Lestallum."

Ravus paused. "…That may be enough." An Imperial base presumably somewhere between Lestallum and Crestholm that could be reached in the amount of time that had passed before they'd first received Cortez's broadcast… Surely there couldn't be a large number of those...

He needed those maps back in the other room.

"…How?"

"Leave that to me. We'll have help to you shortly. Just do what you can to keep yourself and the others alive."

Loqi sighed. "Well, I was intending on that, yes…"

Ravus rolled his eyes. "Do you ever cease being asinine?"

"Not while I'm conscious," Loqi shot back easily. "Honestly, that's hardly useful idea. Were you expecting me to try and die?"

Ravus rolled his eyes again. "They were meant words of encouragement."

"Well go encourage your people to get to work on getting us out of here."

Ravus almost wanted to take his time just to spite him. "We'll do what we can. Good luck."

"And you."

The transmission cut off.

"Sir?" Monica asked. "How do you intend to locate them?"

"Leave that to me," Ravus repeated, turning on his heel and nearly plowing into Gladio as he headed back the way he'd come to the meeting room. He was relived to see that Gladio and Aranea were actually the only ones that had followed him. Likely Lunafreya's doing, keeping the others back.

Ravus broke into a sprint, trusting that Gladio and Aranea would follow in his wake.

He just needed those maps.