Rule #26b: Defeat can be a much needed wake up call for the youth
Their screams followed them all the way down the twisting slides until the trio were met with the ground, falling out onto the floor and each other in a groaning mess of a dog pile. Thankfully by this point, Toru's two minutes had passed and she was able to move again; although she could've done without the pins and needles creeping through her legs like a horde of ants. "Ugh! Where are we?" Toru groaned as she weaselled her way out of the pile of wayward limbs, spitting out whosever's hair had been stuck in her mouth in the process.
"I dunno" Minho replied as he sat up, pushing Shindo off of him.
"It looks like a super computer or something" Shindo mused, climbing to his feet and gazing around the electronic room.
A large shifting cache stood in the middle of the floor—a floor which was decorated with various bubblewrap-like dots that beeped every so often—and surrounding walls that were lined with red flashing lights. There was a particularly cold air in the room that reminded Toru of a computer laboratory and further cemented Shindo's earlier suggestion.
"The floor is rigged with pressure sensitivity" Rin's voice came over the loudspeaker and stopped Minho from stepping off of the small unmarked area the three were on. "Any contact which overcomes 0.25 seconds will trigger the alarm"
"So…we're stuck then" Minho deadpanned. "Great"
"All you have to do is turn it off at the source" Here a spotlight was shone on the object in the center of the room, telling them where to go.
"And how are we s'posed to do that without touching the floor?" Shindo sassed.
"I guess I could swing myself over"
"Using what? There's nothing to hold onto"
'Er…yeah, right"
"Get cracking! The clock's still ticking!" Rin called as the boys continued to bicker with each other.
With that proverbial kick up the ass, Toru shot forward despite the boys' protests and began to flip across the floor. Front over back, head over heels, making sure that neither her hands nor her feet remained touching the motion sensitive ground any longer than was needed. The needless worrying from both of the boys had Toru rolling her eyes even as she paused slightly longer on her final flip, with this one launching her up onto the spotlighted super computer in the middle of the room. Landing in a handstand, Toru slammed her eyes shut and grit her teeth as she felt the computer move beneath her and hoped against hope that she would topple off and set off the alarm. With sweat beading on her brow, the invisible girl waited it out until she gently lowered her reflectively-clad legs into a walkover, allowing her to get herself situated before she began to search for the hidden keyboard. "Lesson three" Rin's voice crackled crisply across the intercom. "Infiltration"
Thankfully it didn't take long for Toru to find the panel and pry it open. Which meant that the next step was to input the correct coding sequence in order to shut down the motion sensitive floor. The odd thing about the super computer was that no sooner had her finger begun to fly over the keyboard did the walls surrounding her come to life with said code. Where the flashing red lights had been only moments before, now lines of code and sequences lit up the walls allowing her peers to see what she was doing.
"How…are you doing that?" Shindo trailed off as he watched the green digits flash by.
"Oh, y'know, just press a few buttons and type some stuff in" Toru replied absentmindedly, sticking her tongue out as if that would help her to bypass the firewall.
"Wha—is that the firewall? Are you bypassing the firewall?" Minho blinked dumbfoundedly. Apparently he had at least had some idea of what she was doing.
"Trying to, yeah"
"Cool"
"You code too, Minho?" Shindo turned to the ginger with brows furrowed.
"Eh…" Minho shrugged, "I may or may not have downloaded some, er, movies that haven't been released yet"
"May or may not? Movies?"
"The details aren't important"
"But—"
"—THE DETAILS AREN'T IMPORTANT!"
"And…done!" Toru sang, hitting the last key with a flourish of fingers. With that, a single pathway of lights lit up the floor between the super computer, the platform and the next door as if it were a runway. Jumping down from the super computer, Toru made her way over to the newly illuminated door on the far left wall."Well? Are you coming?"
"Y'know, you shouldn't rush into things like that" Said Shindo as he joined Toru on the welcome door mat.
"Well, it worked, didn't it?"
"But there was no guarantee that that was going to happen"
"I know my strengths and weaknesses"
"You still should've told us what you were going to"
"At least discuss with us what we would've done" Minho added, joining the pair.
"So we could what? Run the clock down even further? And why're suddenly so against my actions? It worked, leave it alone"
"That's not the poi—AAAAHH!"
"WHAT IS WITH THESE DROP FALLS?!" Shindo cried out as the floor gave way once more and the trio found themselves transported from the computer room into three seperate rooms of glass.
"Well, now what?" Toru threw up her hands in the air in exasperation as she found herself locked inside a small glass prison with barely just enough headspace,
"What?" Minho called, his voice faint and hard to hear through the thick glass.
"What'd you say?" Toru repeated a little louder as she turned to face the second year who was practically bent in two inside his own box.
"WHAT?" He wildly waved his arms around as he tried to gesture that he couldn't hear her.
"WHAT? I CAN"T HEAR YOU!"
"Lesson four" Rin's voice filtered through her little prison and by the sudden jerking motion from her counterparts, theirs as well. "Escape and evasion"
"Evasion?" Toru puzzled. "What is there to evade? Aside from these glass walls"
ZZZTT! ZZZTT! ZZZTT!
"Oh" she squeaked upon spotting the rapidly randomly firing lasers that had accompanied the first task.
"WHAT IS WITH THE LASERS?!" Minho bellowed despairingly as he too spotted their fourth lesson. In the meantime, Shindo seemed to have figured out a way to cheat the system, so to speak, or at least a way out of the glass prison they found themselves in. With both hands placed on one of the glass walls, he activated his Quirk, letting the vibrations flow throw the pane before him. Humming filled the air like a swarm of angry hornets buzzing in unison. A giddy grin exploded across his lips, splitting his face as the hum grew to a crescendo and the glass visibly rattled beneath his fingertips. Toru warily stepped away from the edges of her box as she watched the glass around her (which was evidently connected to Shindo's box) dance like reeds in the wind and before she knew it, she was ducking her head as glass rained down on her head like freshly fallen snow.
"Nice going, man!" Minho called as he shook his head like a dog, shaking any loose shards of glass free whilst Toru merely brushed them off of herself in a much calmer fashion.
"Don't forget about the lasers!" Shindo replied as he quickly dove to the side to avoid getting hit. Unlike before where they had large blocks to hide behind, there was nothing here to use, not even remnants of the glass boxes.
"Eep!" Toru squeaked, instinctively throwing up her arms as a bubble of violet surrounded herself, protecting her from getting hit.
"Ack! Watch your step!" Shindo cried out as her foot came dangerously close to his crotch. It seemed at the same time she had thrown up the forcefield, both Minho & Shindo had dived towards her for some reason or another, and soon enough they found themselves caught inside her UV bubble with her. She had wondered why her personal bubble was bigger than it usually was.
"Ah, sorry" She shuffled back as far as she could before toppling over Minho who lay sprawled out on her other side.
"Why didn't you do this before?" Minho glanced over at the invisible girl as she untangled herself from his costume and climbed to her feet with as much graceful dignity as she could possibly manage.
"I dunno" Toru shrugged, before she set about pushing the forcefield along. "Didn't think I needed to, I guess"
Tumbling around like three hamsters in a ball, the trio (not-so) easily made their way over to the gaping hole in the floor which Toru could only assume led to the next and final task (she hoped it was the final task). Stopping just shy of the hole, Toru cancelled the bubble letting both of the boys flop the mere inches to the floor as she went to inspect the hole. There was a singular railing bordering the hole that brought a hiss from her lips when she bumped her knee against the cold metal; but apart from that, she couldn't see much else unless she leant all the way over.
"What'd you find?" Minho curiously questioned, coming to stand next to the invisible girl as Shindo fiddled with something out of the corner of her eye.
"Dunno" Toru shrugged, absently noting that the lasers had shut off at some point. "Some kind of trapdoor? Are we s'posed to go through it?"
"Well, only one way to find out" Minho grinned.
"Wait—what?" Toru puzzled as she watched the ginger hop the small fence and loop one hand around the protruding poles before slung himself down into the hole. "What happened to discussing it?!" She called down.
"Shhh!" Minho hissed, his voice only barely reaching her. "There's a guard down here!"
"What would need a guard after all of that?"
"Hey, check this out" Shindo mused, feet crunching over broken glass as he joined Toru at the railing and barely spared a glance at the rubber hand tightly tied around the pole in front of him.
"Hm?" Toru hummed, turning from the mysterious hole to find the object of the brunette's attention. It was a small sparkly notebook (much like the one Snipe had been writing in earlier in the week) with a comically large title that read 'CODEBOOK' across the front. "A codebook? What would we need a codebook for?"
"Guys! Guys! Hey!" Minho called up to them from the room below. "I found the prize! But it's locked away! I think it needs a password or something…"
"Oh"
"Ladies fir~st" Shindo gestured with the notebook, his voice only slightly cracking at the end.
"Guys! Hurry up! I can't hold on forever!"
With Minho's word of warning in mind, Toru nervously scaled the railing before making her way over to the elongated arm that hung there and wondered how on earth she was supposed to climb down the rubbery limb. The sound of a drill sounded below her, catching her attention and making her wonder where and how the second had managed to conceal the tool this whole time. Why did he even have it in the first place? Sparing a glance down into the red room (illuminated by yet more lasers), Toru saw what had made the ginger pause oh so suddenly in his drilling; there seated not too far away was Snipe who appeared to be playing the role of 'sleeping guard'.
There was a beat of silence as everyone seemed to hold their collective breath, hoping against hope that the Pro wouldn't turn around and spot them. Although it was hard to tell with that gas mask that he wore.
"~Rock-a-bye baby in the treetop" Toru sang, thinking on her feet and she cautiously began to climb down Minho's arm like it was a rope and ignoring the raised eyebrow from Shindo as she did so. "When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall—"
"Lesson five: infiltration" Rin intoned over the intercom, catching Toru by surprise.
"AHH!" She shrieked in surprise, losing her grip for just a moment and sliding all the way down until Minho caught her with his spare hand, before she hit the floor.
"It's simple—put in the password to collect the prize, but hurry up because your time's almost up"
"—And down will come baby, cradle and all~" She ended, eyes wide as she hauled herself up far enough that Minho could have use of his free hand again.
Up above them she could see Shindo's head peering over the lip of the hole, clearly concerned about her wellbeing but not concerned enough to descend the arm.
"Keep going" Minho whispered to her, drill at the ready.
"That's the end of the song"
"Do it again!"
"~Rock-a-bye baby in the treetop, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS the cradle will rock" Toru tried her best to keep the tune going over the sound of the drill, but it sounded more like a cat being run over by a lawnmower than the soothing lullaby it was supposed to be. Nevertheless, she kept going until Minho could take off the glass encasing the prize. "WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS, the cradle WILL FALL AND down will come baby, cradle and all~"
"Phew. Now all we need—" Minho sighed, slotting the drill back into one of the many pockets on his jacket, before quickly cutting himself off when Snipe roused at his increased tone. "~Now all we need is to open the next case~"
Twisting around into a somewhat less awkward position, Minho sang his plan using the tune of the lullaby in the hopes that they wouldn't rouse Snipe any more than they already had. With the first case gone and set to the side, all that remained was a much smaller glass one that you'd often see at jewellery stores or in museums when they housed expensive artefacts. "~Shindo, will you bring the codebook to us?~" Toru sang next, tilting her head all the back so that she could stare up at the reluctant face of the second year. His fear of heights was becoming more and more apparent with each passing moment.
"WHY'RE YOU SINGING?" Shindo called down, his loud tone ripped through the lower level causing the other pair to flinch hard and snap around to see how Snipe had reacted.
"SHHHHH!"
"~Keep your voice down, try to relax" Minho sang back, still using the same tune as they spun in lazy circles. "The guard is asleep, you're a pain in my ass~"
"~Er, here I come" Shindo began hesitantly sliding down Minho's arm with white knuckled fingers and notebook jammed between his teeth. "Now with the codebook, slowly down this slippery arm~"
"No—no!" Toru cried out when the codebook suddenly slipped from Shindo's grip and fell into Minho's other hand, mere centimetres from the ground. Of course, now the ginger was stuck upside down with the one hand keeping all three of them afloat. Toru may not have known the full capabilities of her peers, but she could hazard a guess that it wouldn't be long now until they hit the floor.
"~Dammit, you moron! Now I am stuck!~" Minho grit out through clenched teeth as they continued to spin lazily.
"~Sorry Minho, it slipped out my…mouth~" Shindo apologised.
"~Why can't you just do what you're told?~"
"~I'm trying my best!~"
"~You're a stupid asshole!~"
"~C'me on now, boys" Toru cut in, whacking Minho on the shoulder as he tried to reposition himself again. "Let's try not to fight~"
"~'m sorry Hagakure, I'm just not good with hei—AHHH!"
Toru was starting to feel sorry for Minho as Shindo suddenly slipped down the rest of the way and their entire weight culminated on top of the ginger like a floating dog pile. Again a beat of silence passed as they waited for Snipe to do anything and even then, Toru was sure that whomever was watching them right then, was pissing themselves with laughter. Catching a glimpse of their reflection in one of the hexagonal walls, she could see why. With Minho straining to hold on at the bottom, her invisible self—only blocked out her costume—sandwiched to the ginger, and Shindo who had fallen in such a way that he looked like a circus performer.
"~And down will come baby, cradle and all!~" The trio chorused, all of them crossing their proverbial fingers as Snipe returned to his post again without sparing a glance in their direction. Taking the codebook from Minho, Toru scooted closer to Shindo until the two were sitting across from each other like they were on a roundabout.
"Gotta put the code into the panel" Minho whispered, completely dropping the whole lullaby-schtick. "Reach for it!"
"C'me on!" Toru encouraged.
"Here we go" Shindo agreed as all three tried their best to stretch for the access panel on the other side of the room. In any other given circumstance, this would've likely been a piece of cake for the ginger, but as it was he was far more preoccupied with maintaining his hold on the railing far up above their heads seeing as it was really the only thing to keep them triggering the laser grid covering the floor.
In the end it took them a few pitiful tries to reach for the panel, ones that thankfully ended when Shindo locked his legs around Minho's armpits and leant back far enough to grab a hold of the edge. "Got it! I got it! I got it!" Shindo cheered quietly as he inched his way closer using only his fingertips.
"Okay, alright, okay" Toru hummed, cracking open the codebook and flipped to the only marked page in the middle.
"What's the code?"
"Er, six—nine—nine—six"
"Seriously?" Shindo deadpanned, his words unnecessary as he faced the panel hanging upside down.
"Yes! Now hurry up!"
"Alright! Alright!" The brunette's finger hovered above the number nine, barely tracing it when Minho suddenly kicked his classmate in the side.
"No, no, no!" Minho panicked when he saw the Shindo was about to hit the wrong buttons.
"What?"
"Nine—six—six—nine" The ginger helpfully amended.
"Right" Shindo nodded, putting in the right code and releasing the second case from around the unknown yet shiny prize. The trio quietly cheered, still not raising their voices up an octave even now that they had finished. They had finished…right?
"We did it! Yay!"
"Oh no…!" Minho gulped, his celebration cut short as his rubbery grip finally gave way and all three tumbled to the ground in a mess of regular limbs and one rubbery one that lay about like rope.
BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT!
"Game over" Rin chuckled over the intercom and the blaring alarm. He sounded like he had been laughing hysterically only moments before. "You lose!" An alarm blared overhead as Toru tried to squeeze herself out from beneath Shindo; at least that was until whatever little light they had in the room was blocked out by Snipe who now stood over them sounding as amused as she'd ever heard him (granted that wasn't a big sample pool, but still). "Yer havin' fun down there?"
