Hiiro, Duo, and Shiris jumped to their feet as they heard an explosion from another part of the complex.

"What the hell was that?" Duo exclaimed, fearing for the others lives.

"If the lights don't go off in the next five minutes, I'm heading back there," Shiris said, hurriedly putting her shoes back on.

Hiiro assured himself that Trowa would have the common sense to get away before an explosion could happen. At least, he hoped he got away in time.

Damian pushed himself off the wall, getting very excited as he watched the others panic. Duo and Shiris were tense and alert, ready to bolt back at any second. Hiiro was standing perfectly still, listening for any other sound of distress from the other group. This wasn't part of the plan, and he hoped it would make it more interesting. Perhaps only two of the three made it, or none at all, or maybe one lonesome person made it out alive…

He smiled happily as the lights flickered and died and Shiris sucked in her breath. Immediately numerous flashlights turned on inside the control room.

"Thank god," Shiris murmured, looking though the window on the door.

"When do we move?" Hiiro asked his face illuminated by the light coming through the window.

Damian joined Shiris. "I think right now is a good time," he said, watching as the beams of light ran all over the place, not once focusing on the door.

Shiris moved aside as he silently opened the door and slipped in, completely undetected.

Hiiro immediately followed, pulling out his gun. They could hear the guards talking quickly to one another, and the technicians typing furiously at their computers. But no one seemed to be aware of the two intruders.

Shiris turned to Duo.

"So do we go?" she asked, her eyes worried. They wouldn't be able to turn back once they went though that door. They could very well be killed.

Duo was glaring, his usually soft blue eyes now glinting icily.

"We might as well go. The others are going ahead, even after the explosion," he finally admitted.

Shiris nodded. "Okay. Lets go. But we ought to watch over Hiiro. He trusts Damian too much."

"Totally."

They entered the room, sidling up next to Hiiro and Damian, who were against the wall to their right.

Shiris thought the room actually looked pretty, what with all the beams of light dancing every which way. The others next to her didn't move, so she took a moment to calm her nerves and focused on the lights. As she stared at them, they began to melt into one long, unending beam of light, swirling around, never stopping. She didn't blink, but let herself be lost in the light, for once forgetting who she was, what her mission was, all the pain…

A hand on her shoulder broke her trance and she started forward, the beams of light reverting back to the normal broken, jerking streaks.

"What is it?" she whispered, expecting Duo to answer.

Instead, a deeper, cooler voice answered.

"We're going to attack. The others are already heading for their targets," Damian answered, still gripping her shoulder.

She looked up in fear at the sound of his voice and caught sight of his eyes, illuminated by the light of the computers. They were swirling, menacing, frightening. She wanted to run away, to get away from him, but couldn't move. She was rooted to the spot.

"O-okay…" she said shakily, trying to move away. He didn't let go. Just when she was about to start struggling, a beam of light fell upon them and the guard gave a shout.

Shiris blinked once in the light, putting her arm up. Damian didn't move. Then she wrenched herself out of his grip and threw herself to the side. As she raced to a desk, she saw the light stay on Damian for a moment. He was standing as he had been before, staring at her. The light paused a moment, and then moved away, towards her. She didn't hesitate, going for the owner of the incriminating flashlight, losing sight of Damian in the darkness.

Damian saw the flashlight move off of him and towards Shiris, then watched as it was thrown across the room, coming to a rolling stop at the foot of a hapless technician. The man picked it up and Damian saw him push his glasses back up his nose with a shaking hand.

Poor man, Damian thought pityingly, he has no idea what is going on.

Duo and Hiiro went from flashlight to flashlight, surprising the guards and taking them down quickly. Duo made a quick stop at one of the computers, occasionally jerking back as a stray bullet hit the console or a shout sounded next to his ear.

Using the light given off by the huge computer screen in front of him, he typed quickly, trying to find out how far along with the laptop they were. He hit a particularly difficult firewall and cursed, his fingers beginning to cramp up. He heard Shiris faintly shout something, but couldn't make it out. He had breached the wall and only had one more to go.

"Duo!" Shiris shouted again, and she appeared next to him.

"Duo, come on! Here!" she shoved something in front of him, but he didn't look at it.
"Hold on, I'm almost in," he murmured, fingers flying over the keyboard.

"Duo!" she shouted again urgently.

The computer pinged and data sheets flooded the screen.

Duo stared at it, dumbfounded. Then he pumped his fist in the black air.

"Yes! I am the master!" he shouted, finally looking at Shiris.

"Shiris, I got in!" he exclaimed excitedly, "We can see how far—what's that?"

He saw the thing she was holding in front of him—night vision goggles.

"Shiris, where did you get that?" he whispered, taking it.

She glared at him. "That's what I've been trying to say. Backup has arrived, with these!"

"So they can see us?" Duo whimpered. In response a bullet hit the huge screen right next to Duo' head, shattering it with a crash. As pieces of glass rained down, Duo grabbed Shiris and flung them to the floor, under the desk.

"But I got in! I can get information from their own computer systems, stuff that can help us. Can you cover me?" he whispered quickly and forcefully, panting slightly.

She nodded. "But be quick. I think the other two want to head out of here soon," she replied, and rolled back out into the open, night vision goggles placed firmly over her eyes.

Duo sat back in front of the computer and proceeded to of through as many of the screens as he could.

Most of it was junk, useless stuff about where the bases were and who worked where. He knew all that already.

There was one about new employees, one about a certain sector, one about the Russian Prime Minister's nuclear weapons cache…

Duo blinked and rubbed his eyes. The Russian Prime Minister's weapons cache? Since when did the Federation know about that? He had never heard of it before! All he knew was that the PM wanted to assassinate the president!

He scrolled down, his eyes widening in shock every second. The information he was reading couldn't be right. He would never align himself with an agency that was so corrupt. He had to tell the others.

"Duo, no more time!" Shiris shouted, ducking as a bullet whizzed over her head. Hiiro came running over, Damian close behind.

Duo didn't move, only continued reading.

Damian almost choked on his tongue when he caught sight of the bright white screen.

Duo had cracked the code? He had gotten into the system? This was not a good development.

"Duo, time to go," Damian ordered, grabbing his shirt and bodily lifting him out of the seat.

"Hey! Damian put me down! I need to get the info!" he cried, but to no avail. Damian dropped him to the ground.

"We're leaving. This way." He set out for the door opposite the one they had come in from.

Grumbling, Duo sprinted behind Shiris.

They burst into a new hallway, the colors indistinguishable because of the night vision.

No new guards came rushing at them, no alarm sounded.

"This way," Damian whispered, turning a corner and ducking into another room

"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Duo muttered when he looked at the stalls and sinks.

Hiiro began to wonder if Damian was as smart as he had seemed to be.

Damian leaned against the wall, pressed his palms onto it, and turned his head slightly, listening. The guards' footsteps pounded right past the door.

"Ah, very smart," Hiiro murmured after they couldn't be heard any more.

Damian grinned confidently. "Did you think it wouldn't work? Come on, now we go up," he gestured to the ceiling.

Following his gaze, Hiiro found the opening to a vent.

Shiris grimaced as she was hit with a cruel sense of irony and Hiiro glared at the sight of the damned opening.

"I hate vents," Duo muttered, "I really don't think we ought to go up there."

Damian brushed their complaints away and told Shiris to stand on his shoulders.

"Once you open the grate, lift someone else up, and so on," he ordered.

Sighing, she carefully stepped onto his cupped hands and then propelled herself onto his shoulders, careful to make sure her heels were not digging into him.

A little embarrassed because of the skirt she was wearing, she pulled the covering off the grate and swiftly climbed up into it.

It was slightly smaller than the one they had previously been in, and she had some trouble turning around.

Finally she managed to grip Duo's hands and pull him up, then Hiiro, then Damian.

"Now where to?" Shiris called back as she started forward on her hands and knees, her head brushing the ceiling.

"Just follow the vent, you can only go one way," Damian returned.

Shiris sighed again. "Why do I have a storage sense of de-ja-vu?"

"How long is the vent?" Hiiro asked.

"Not long, we should be coming to an opening soon." was the cool reply.