Sawyer, Sayid, and Jin do battle with the remaining Others.
Sawyer, Sayid, and Jin were prepared to leave the room next to the laboratory and enter the main corridor. Sayid carefully poked his head out the door near the floor to make sure the coast was clear. It wasn't. Sayid jerked his head back just before a bullet went ricocheting off the floor, the wall, and the wall at the end of the corridor. A change in plans was in order.
The trio retreated back into the room, when Sayid ordered, "Quick, into the laboratory! There may be something in there we can use." Again checking the door, and finding no one apart from the bound unconscious Other inside, they filed in. Sayid gestured to Sawyer and Jin to watch the doors, while Sayid scanned the chemical-filled bottles lined on the walls. Then Sawyer had a thought.
"Just a minute," the southerner addressed the Iraqi. "Don't you have those grenades our friend the French chick so generously donated to us?"
Sayid hadn't thought about using grenades, but answered with caution. "Yes, I have them, but they are really only to be used as a last resort. Even though this place looks very well constructed, there is danger that the walls and ceiling would collapse, trapping us here."
"There is also the danger we could be shot where we stand, and we were able to remove those rocks from the avalanche that fell on Locke."
Jin felt uneasy as the other two were conversing rapidly in English. This wasn't the best time for an argument.
"Just give me a few minutes, Sawyer," implored Sayid. "You might take a shot at him to slow him down."
"What do you want me to do? Stick my neck out there and let him get a good shot too?"
"No, I do not mean that. Wait, here is a mirror. We can push it into the hall to get a view. It is on a stand, you can find something to push it out the door with."
Sawyer grunted, then strode quickly to the mirror. As he fiddled with the angle, and searched for something like a metal rod to push it with, Sayid was making observations as to the chemical supply.
"Chloroform, … only useful if we're right on top of them, ethylene! If only there is some … yes … here: sulfur chloride!" Sayid seized the bottles, emptied their contents into a beaker, and turned the gas on a small stove. He placed a cork on the beaker.
"What are you doing, MacGyver?" asked Sawyer.
"These are the ingredients for mustard gas. I … have some familiarity with the substance thanks to my previous career. I just need a couple minutes to make these chemicals react properly. Now stall them!"
Sawyer sneered, then crouched down and placed the mirror on the floor, and pushed it along the floor through the open door. He was able to glimpse of someone in the distance, when suddenly the mirror was smashed into a thousand pieces by another bullet. Sawyer dived backward to avoid the splintering glass, and grimaced in pain once more as he hit the floor. Jin rushed over to see if Sawyer was all right, but Sawyer shooed him away. "Now there was a brilliant idea," Sawyer remarked to Sayid.
"Now is not the time to be sarcastic. You have been very helpful. The preparation is ready." Sayid held the hot beaker with a pair of tongs. "One of us should throw this at the shooter, exposing only his arm in the corridor. When the glass breaks, the concentrated mustard gas will be released. This is not enough to kill, but should temporarily disorient him. The other of us should have time to get off a shot, as long as we time it right and he is in the corridor. The question is, which of us does what?"
Sawyer dearly wanted revenge for being shot at on the raft, but wasn't in perfect physical condition, and knew the trained soldier was a better shot. With a mock salute, Sawyer replied, "All right, Captain, I'll throw, you'll shoot. And if this doesn't work, we fall back on the grenades."
Sayid relented. "Fine. Here, we should each have one." Sayid removed a grenade from the pack. "Now be very careful with this. If you have to use it, hold it tightly in your right hand. Pull hard on the pin with your left index finger, and don't let go with your right hand. The grenade will then detonate in approximately five seconds. Be sure to release it before three seconds. And only use it if absolutely necessary."
"I got it. Now are we going to do this, or what?"
Sayid took a position on the floor just inside the door. He listened for footsteps, but didn't hear any. He really needed to know who or what was in that hallway with out sticking his head out, so he silently got up, located another mirror, went back to the door, and slowly poked it out. He didn't see anyone in the reflection. He shook his head so that Sawyer could see. They waited a minute, and another, and then Sayid saw a figure in the mirror. He nodded at Sawyer, who nodded back.
Sawyer picked up the beaker that Sayid had set on the floor, and grasping it by its neck, took a step forward, and hurled it as hard as he could down the tunnel. While the gas bomb was in the air, Sayid saw a second figure step into view of the mirror, almost a twin for the first, and said to Sawyer, "There's two!", and a second later that mirror was shattered as well. One second after that the beaker crashed against the floor. Sayid stepped partway out into the hallway, enough to see two men in body armor momentarily startled. Hesitating not, Sayid took aim at the leg of the one on the left, an area not covered by the armor. Sayid's shot was true, and that Other immediately crumpled to the ground, but before Sayid could reload, the Other on the right aimed his gun at Sayid and fired. Affected by the gas, this Other's shot was slightly off, searing Sayid's right upper arm and causing him to drop his gun. An instant later a deafening noise sounded close to his left ear.
When Sawyer heard Sayid shout, "There's two," he guessed correctly that Sayid could take out one shooter, but might have trouble with the second. As Sayid was low to the ground, Sawyer reasoned the second shooter would be aiming low, and this would give Sawyer a chance for a clear shot while standing up. On this occasion his logic was impeccable, and also seeing the armor, aimed below it, and hit the second Other near the knee. With both men down, Sawyer and Sayid kept an eye on them, but neither moved. After a couple minutes, Sayid figured the mustard gas would have dissipated enough to let he and Sawyer rush the Others, while holding their breaths, to make sure they had been neutralized. One was moaning, and received a blow to the head to keep him quiet. Then Sayid and Sawyer dragged them back to the laboratory, and secured them to table legs bolted to the floor.
Sawyer tied a bandage from among the lab supplies around Sayid's wounded arm. Then with mixed feelings, Sayid tied bandages around the bleeding leg wounds, while Sawyer removed the Others' faceplates. They were in fact the twins from the raft, one of whom had shot Sawyer. He scowled in satisfaction.
The Others had been working in shifts the whole time, and on this occasion it had been the female one's turn to rest. Awakened by the latest gunfire, she entered the laboratory from the back door. But not realizing the threat and not fully alert, she was no match for Jin who was waiting behind the door. He immediately put her in a headlock, and pressed his thumb and forefinger against the carotid arteries on her neck. Within seconds she collapsed unconscious, and Jin dragged her to a chair. Soon she was secured to that.
When all was quiet, Sawyer, Sayid, and Jin again went to the corridor to listen for any more Others. This time there was dead silence. They cautiously went up the corridor in the direction Michael had been last seen. At the end of the corridor, a shadow protruded from around a corner.