"You know, I bet we could have gone back to the base and packed up and moved by this time," Julie muttered, fingering the vial in her pocket.
Mayumi grabbed her hand
"Stop touching it. You do that again and I'm taking it, got it?"
Julie pulled her hand away and glared, but removed her hand from her pocket.
"Look," Trowa said, pointing, "I think we're close to the last room."
Down at the end of the hallway was a door marked DO NOT ENTER.
"Do you think that sign was put there for a reason, or will it be a normal room? No traps?" Julie asked hopefully as they paused in front of it, flashlights aimed at the warning.
"Don't get your hopes up," Trowa replied, inspecting the lock.
Julie moved him over.
"Stand aside, the master lock picker is here to save the day," she said, removing a thin, stretched out paper clip from her hair.
"You had that the whole time?" Trowa said incredulously as she proceeded to deftly pick the lock.
She stood back up, smiling. "I always keep a spare handy, and the last place people would think of looking is my hair."
Trowa shook his head and gestured for her to enter. "I think you and Duo must have grown up together."
"Thanks you!" she said graciously, and swung open the door.
Darkness greeted their wary eyes and they stepped cautiously in.
"This is huge," Mayumi murmured, surveying the enormous empty room, her words echoing in the air.
They walked to the center of the room, their footsteps amplified to sound like they were pounding on the ground.
"This was way too easy," Trowa muttered as he spun in a quick circle, finding nothing out of the ordinary.
"Maybe this room wasn't completed. Or its an unused storage room," Mayumi suggested, sheathing her gun and running a hand through her hair. "Maybe we actually got lucky."
A low but powerful hum filled the room, vibrating the three people standing at the center of the room.
"I didn't do it!" Julie cried as the noise became deafening, drowning out all conversation. Mayumi drew her gun and made a wide circle.
"Nothing is happening!" she shouted above the roar of what sounded like a generator.
"Lets get out of here!" Trowa called back and ran for the metal door on the far side of the room. He could literally feel the rumble crushing him, closing in all on sides, and he knew nothing good could come of this.
He put out his hand to grab the doorknob, the girls not far behind, and heard a 'whoosh' to the right. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw an opening had appeared on the right wall, but couldn't see anything else because he was shoved to the side and slammed into the wall.
Mayumi and Julie watched as Trowa was blown to the side and crashed into the wall, unable to move. He was effectively pinned, his hair blown straight back and his arms and legs splayed, like he was ready to be operated on.
"I can't move!" he shouted, "Something's pinning me down!"
Julie went to move forward, intending to help him, but she was picked up and thrown, crashing into the wall a few feet from him.
Mayumi backed up quickly and saw the holes sliding open all along the wall, popping open every few seconds. She dove to the ground and covered her head as one slid open next to her. She felt a low breeze then a hurricane force blowing over her head and thundering towards the opposite wall.
She realized there must be incredibly strong fans blowing air across the room, so strong that they could pin a human to a wall.
Slowly she put her hand up to the tunnel of wind. One second she felt a light breeze, the next her hand was almost wrenched out of its socket as the wind blasted it. Flexing her hand, she pulled it back to her.
"Okay, think. What to do," she murmured to herself as she grabbed her hair to prevent it from being sucked into the wind tunnel.
Julie felt like she was going to suffocate.
"Trowa, I can't move!" she cried, her eyes forced shut or else the wind would dry them out in seconds. She knew that it was wind holding her on the wall, but she personally felt like a hundred ton weight was pressed against her chest.
"I cant breath!" she added and struggled to force her head to face Trowa.
Trowa in turn had managed to turn his head to the side and had opened his eyes slightly. He watched Mayumi dive to the floor and then stay there, unable to move. He knew that if they didn't get out of the blast soon, they would either suffocate or be crushed to death.
Mayumi carefully crawled across the floor until she could stand up in between two of the fans, even if she did have to fight to keep her balance. But it was a start. She made her way cautiously down to Julie until she was standing next to her.
"Julie!" she shouted, "I'm going to try and pull you out of there! Help me!" and she put her hand into the gale.
Immediately it was sucked against the wall and felt like it was being crushed. Using all her strength and willpower, she moved her hand inch by inch until it was against Julie's hand. Lifting it, she soon realized, was going to be a problem. It was impossible. She couldn't get enough strength to lift even her finger up.
With a cry of frustration, she pulled her arm out and crouched against the wall, taking another look around the room.
"There has to be something that stops it, something that controls it," she told herself, "There must be some master control in case someone gets caught in it by accident. And there is usually a master control in this sort of room anyway."
Her eyes swept the wall she was leaning against, the door, the door they came from, and then the fans.
Her eyes sharpened as she saw a small metal box on the inside of the fan directly across from Julie. Glancing down further, she saw there was one in the Trowa's fan as well.
"Gotcha!" she murmured, and scuttled across to the fan.
Her hair blew back and she had to squint when she stood up, but the control box was there. Just inside the left side of the fan, where the wind was most powerful.
Ducking under the wind, she came up on the left side and slid her hand into the opening. It came flying back at her and hit her in the face, almost knocking her into the wind of the next fan. She steeled herself and forced it in again, this time gritting her teeth and moving it forward. Slowly she made her way to the box and crawled up the side, her hand aching from the stress. She felt around for a button that was raised, expecting it would be the automatic stop button. When she found it, she slammed it down and her hand fell, released from the wind. At the same time Julie slid to the floor as the fan was turned off and died with final, plaintive 'whir'.
Not waiting to see if Julie was hurt, Mayumi ran over to the next fan and released Trowa. He fell to the ground with a thud and groaned.
Mayumi went to each and helped them up, noting they were not badly hurt.
"I feel like I've been run over with a steamroller," Julie muttered, coughing weakly and rubbing her chest. Trowa nodded, taking a few deep breaths.
"Time to go," Mayumi ordered, hoisting them both up and going to the door, the remaining fans still blowing air into the room.
Julie suddenly stiffened and began frantically feeling around her pants.
"The vial!" she cried, unbuttoning the pocket. She hesitated to put her hand in, afraid of possibly touching the agent.
She instead pulled the pocket open and peered in, frantically trying to see of the vial was intact, the other two looking on.
Then she sighed and reached in, pulling it out, not a scratch on it.
"They sure make these things indestructible," she smiled, holding it up in front of her. Suddenly it was ripped out of her hands and went spinning across the floor, towards the original door.
"What the?" she muttered, and then ducked as a metal disk shot over her head, many small spikes attached to the edges. It paused in the air, spinning in circles, seeming to evaluate them. Then it rushed them and Mayumi and Trowa dove to the ground and it passed them.
"Security System Number Two now activated," a female computer voice announced loudly, and they heard many 'zings' as metal disks appeared from the wall, all whirring towards them.
"Get down!" Julie shouted, following her own orders.
"We need that vial!" Trowa shouted and started crawling towards it.
"What do we need it for?" Julie yelled back, sprinting for the wall where Trowa's gun was laying.
"For proof!" he called, then ducked and rolled under a fan as a disk darted at him. Then it shot towards the wall and was smashed to pieces on contact, the spikes fanning out in all directions.
"Quick! We're safe under the fans!" Mayumi shouted, motioning for Julie to follow Trowa, who was almost at the vial.
Julie grabbed the gun, spun around on one knee, and fired at a disk heading for her. It exploded and she covered her face as small bits of it flew at her. Then she ran for the fans.
Mayumi rolled under one and stood up, watching two disks be sucked into the fan and crushed. Pleased, she rolled under a second fan. Then a disk shot at her, paused at the fan, and then ducked underneath it, coming back up and pausing again.
Her eyes widening in fear, Mayumi quickly rolled under a third and forth, the disk coming closer. She couldn't get a good shot because of the wind, and if she stayed still it would hit her.
She saw Julie aim for it and fire, but the bullet fell to the ground many feet away and a few feet ahead of the disk, the wind having blown it to the side.
Trowa rolled under the final fan and grabbed the vial, pulling out his gun at the same time.
Mayumi stopped and turned back. The disk was two fans away, Trowa one, and Julie three. She had to get the damned disk.
Running all the way to the left wall, she watched as it trailed her on the other side of the fan, matching her stride for stride. When she reached the wall it dove under and spun up, aimed directly at her face.
She didn't have time to shoot it; she had underestimated its speed. Without thinking, she held her gun up in front of her face and closed her eyes. She felt a jerk and her hand flew back, hitting the wall. The disk had impaled itself on her gun, the spikes still feebly whirring in place.
Smiling, she chucked the gun and rolled back to join Trowa and Julie by the exit door.
Julie grabbed the knob and flung the door open, thinking nothing could be worse than the room she was just in.
She was totally wrong.
"Oh no," she whispered, looking at the army in front of her and the rifles they were pointing directly at her. She immediately thought the other group had been captured or discovered and didn't want to think about what might have happened to Shiris.
"How…" Trowa murmured when he stepped in next to Julie and Mayumi, similar ideas flashing through his head.
"What happened to the other group?" Mayumi demanded when she was roughly grabbed and shoved forward towards the center of the large room, well-lit room.
"Please, allow me to explain," Sethin stood up from the chair he had been sitting and walked over.
"I'm sure you are all very confused. But let me assure you no words are necessary."
He made a quick motion with his hand and Damian stepped out of the crowd, grinning.
"You!" Mayumi shouted, unable to move from the shock. She had trusted him completely and he turned out to be an insider! She was absolutely furious. It wasn't often someone could deceive her as well as this man had.
"Where are the others?" Trowa asked him while mentally kicking himself for allowing Damian to go with the other group and split them up. He should have listened to his instincts and not trusted him, and now he was paying the price.
Julie was trying top hold it in, the one phrase she was dying to scream in Mayumi's face. She honestly tried her hardest, but it was too perfect to ignore.
"I told you so!" she shouted at her friend, glaring at her madly. "Maybe next time you'll listen to me! I am a trained spy and I have instincts! And so far, they have a better track record than yours!"
Mayumi's eyes flared up and she spoke through clenched teeth, "Julie, this is not the time to bring this up!"
The men began moving them forward, away from the door.
"But I was so right! You better pay more attention to me next time!" Julie exclaimed angrily and tried to move around in the man's grasp. It was starting to hurt her arms, he was gripping so tight.
"Julie! Shut up!" Mayumi shouted, eliciting a grin from Sethin. He leaned over closer to Damian. "This is more amusing than I could have imagined. You weren't exaggerating when you said they were ready to kill each other!"
Just then they came to the opposite wall where the other three captives were waiting patiently.
"Shiris!" Julie cried when she came into view, her face slightly blue from the rock fall and many rips in her shirt and skirt.
"Julie! Mayumi! Trowa!" Shiris exclaimed at the same time, the relief washing over her when she saw her friends unharmed, and she sagged slightly, smiling.
"Trowa, you okay man?" Duo asked when they came closer, and Trowa smiled slightly at him.
"As well as possible in this situation. I'm just glad you guys are okay. When we saw these hoards, we had no idea what was going on. We thought maybe…you know…"
Duo nodded. "Yeah, we thought the same about you a few times. But here we are!"
"Trowa, I'm glad you here," Hiiro said quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear him. He rarely showed affection in front of anyone, but in this case it was justified. Having his best friend back in one piece was a major event.
"Thanks Hiiro, good to see you to. And you, Shiris," he smiled at the girl, and her whole face lit up.
"I'm so glad your okay. I was so worried!"
"Duo, I would give you a big hug right now, but I'm kind of tied up, so just imagine I am!" Julie exclaimed happily, her smile taking over her whole face.
Duo closed his eyes and grinned. "When we get free, you owe me one!" he returned.
Mayumi, after greeting Shiris and Duo, turned her face to Hiiro.
"I'm glad your safe," she murmured, her eyes cast down on the floor. She wasn't sure she liked the feelings that had run through her when she caught sight of Hiiro, a burn from what looked like a cigarette on his face and a gash on his shoulder. She had wanted to kill Damian with her bare hands for what he had done to the man, and she was scared that she was actually starting to like him.
"Thanks, you too," Hiiro muttered back, his own eyes staring at her confusedly. Why was she looking at the floor? Did he look that bad? She didn't look like Miss Universe herself with all the cuts and scrapes she had on her. And her hand was bleeding badly from three marks along her palm. But he did admit she still looked pretty. Very pretty. Extremely pretty. And he should not be thinking that.
"I hate to break up this little reunion, but we do have to get going," Sethin apologized, stepping in between the two groups.
"We do have a schedule to keep."
"A schedule?" Julie asked, puzzled. Weren't they just going to kill them?
"Ah, that's right, you don't know about what comes after this. But I'm sure your friends can inform you as soon as we get to the chamber. This way," he said to the men holding the captives.
"Where are we going?" Trowa whispered to Shiris as they started to the right.
She bit her lip and looked down at the floor.
"They have a made a toxin," she began, but he interrupted.
"A toxin? Yeah, we found it."
"You did?"
"Yeah, we came to a research lab."
"It's called T-59," Shiris explained, "and, to make a long story short, they are going to use it to take over the world. But first they have to test it. On us."
His eyes opened wide. "On us?" he whispered, remembering the rats and the slides he had seen back in the lab.
"Yes. We have to get out of here."
"But how? Look at these guards!"
"I know, and I have no idea. But we better think fast."