Damian smiled as Shiris continued forward. He knew it was only a matter of time before the next surprise came along, and it was a good one.

"Hey, Hiiro, what do you think we're gonna do once we get outta here?" Duo asked quietly as he inched his way forward, Shiris' legs barely visible in front of him.

"I suppose we could see if Jane wants to hire us. Other than that, I have no idea," was the cold reply.

"I see. Man, I hope she's a nice lady!"

"I'm sure she'll hire you," Shiris chimed in optimistically. "We'll tell her how much you helped us, and you'll show her your abilities. That should be enough for anyone."

"I hope your right," Duo muttered, "because I cant see myself, a trained assassin and spy, waiting on tables."

Hiiro snickered and then grunted when Duo kicked him.

Immediately a fight broke out, and in the confined area of the vent, the noise was deafening.

"Will you shut up!" Damian roared finally, and Shiris reminded herself to thank him when they immediately grew silent.

"Guys, we have to work together," Shiris told them sternly, "no more fi—!"

"Shiris?" Duo cried as she stopped mid-sentence and disappeared.

They heard her shout once and then silence.

Duo stopped and felt in front of him, heart beating wildly.

Hiiro began to breath faster. Damian smiled.

"Shiris!" Hiiro shouted.

Shiris landed with a thud onto concrete and winced as she leapt up, her butt painfully hurting.

Rubbing her back, she gazed around her.

Weapon after weapon greeted her eyes, and then body armor, and more weapons, but no guards. There were two doors, one in front of her and one to the right. She glazed back up.

"Hey, I'm down here!" she called, letting them know she was unhurt, for the moment.

"Shiris!" she heard Duo return, and then Hiiro.

After answering them, and assuring them it was safe to come down, she explored her new area.

She stopped dead when she moved to see what was behind a shelf of body armor.

Case after case of explosives loomed above her, their warnings blaring at her.

She ran to look behind another shelf. More explosives. And not just grenades, but TNT and dynamite as well.

"Guys! Wait! Don't come down, its not safe!" she shouted, but Duo came sailing into the room at that moment.

"Ouch! You didn't mention we'd be landing on concrete!" he muttered, rubbing his butt. Hiiro appeared soon after.

"Where are we?" he demanded, and Shiris looked at him fearfully.

"As soon as Damian comes, we have to leave. Look." She motioned behind her, and they caught sight of the explosives.

"We could be blown to pieces if one bullet hits one box!" Duo cried as he inspected the cases. "There's enough stuff in here to blow us all to heaven and back again!"

Hiiro joined him and nodded, backing away.

Damian landed lightly in the center of the room, on his feet. As he stood up, he took out his lighter and began flicking it open and shut.

"NO!" all three cried, tackling him and wrenching the lighter out of his hand.

"Give that back right now. What the hell are you doing?" he exclaimed when he ripped it back from Duo.

"What the hell we're doing is saving our asses from being blown up! One flame and we're history!" he shouted, pointing to the explosives.

"Shouldn't you have known that?" Shiris demanded, turning on Damian. "Yes, you should have! I thought you knew the layout of this place. Obviously, someone was lying along the way. You have no idea where we're supposed to be going. And I'll bet you got the others lost too!" she was walking closer to him. "I want you to lead us to the laptop now. No more of your games; get us there within the next five minutes, or your done. Move!" she shoved him towards the door as Duo and Hiiro looked on, a little surprised.

Damian's face became a snarl and his eyes flared up, the spirals becoming a solid dark gray.

He shoved her roughly back and she stumbled but kept her balance.

Hiiro put a hand out in front of the furious Shiris.

"Damian, stop. She has a point. You should have known about this room and what was in it. It is not a room to ignore."

He spoke quickly and coldly, his eyes boring into Damian's

Damian stood perfectly still for a moment, calming his twisted nerves. All right, so maybe he shouldn't have done the whole lighter thing. But he was still certain he had been too charming an helpful for them to know the whole truth.

He jerked suddenly. "I don't want any more of this mutiny crap. You listen to me or you get out and forget the laptop, got it?" he told them harshly.

Three pairs of eyes glared up at him.

He strode to the door and threw it open.

"This way," he hissed, glaring furiously at them.

Shiris started forward first. Hiiro watched her stride up to Damian and then stop directly across from him, saying something to him.

Then he heard a slight ping from outside the door, and everything slowed down. He felt like he was watching a movie in slow motion. He watched Shiris and Damian's mouths move, and then stay open as a small, green oval ball sailed past their eyes, heading straight for the boxes of TNT next to them.

They followed its trail, watching as it bounced once on the ground with a sharp metallic ping, bounced a second time, and rolled to a stop in front of a box.

In a flash, time resumed its usual pace as all hell broke loose.

Not bothering to scream, Shiris flung herself out the door, Damian right behind her, his coat swirling behind him.

Duo shouted in pure fear and raced for the door.

Hiiro sprinted after him, glancing at the grenade lying right by the dynamite. There was no time to pick it up and chuck it way. At most he had two seconds.

He threw himself out the door, rolled to the ground, and slammed into a wall.

One second to go.

He leapt up and raced down the hall after the other three.

Boom

He heard the first explosion, the original grenade. It wasn't large, but it did shake the walls.

Then the real fun began. With a whoosh, the wind was sucked from the hallway and into the arms room. Hiiro could feel himself being pulled back and fought to keep going, his skin prickling. Then a deafening explosion immediately followed by a blast of heat rolling over them. He ducked and covered his face, protecting it from the searing heat. They were still moving.

Next came the blast of air pushing them forward, and Hiiro felt himself lifted up and thrown forward. He crashed into Duo as the four of them were tossed like rag dolls down the hall.

He cried out as the heat from the resulting explosion hit them and the walls began to crumble. Down the hallway he could see a fireball explode out of he doorway, taking the whole wall with it. Many tinnier explosions were now occurring as each case and each weapon exploded as the heat hit it.

He felt like he was in a war, except there were no foxholes to hide in.

All he could do was cringe and curl up into a ball, protecting his body from the pieces of concrete raining down on them.

He heard Duo cry out as a piece hit him square on the back.

Then, as if things weren't bad enough, the floor began to shake under him. He whipped his head up, willing to risk getting hurt, and saw what he had most feared. A thin crack in the cement was rushing towards then, its jagged edges dancing closer and closer. Finally it hit them and went right by, all the way down the hall.

Then the ground spilt with a groan and cement pieces began to crumble and fall down into a dark pit.

"The ground!" he shouted to the others, but didn't have a chance to see if they heard him before he felt himself fall as the ground gave way.