Chapter Ten: The Great Escape
Friday Evening
Had it really only been a week?
Morgana couldn't believe how quickly the time had gone. Seven days ago she was a different person - tired, confused and angry – and it was amazing how much better she felt having gained some control over her magic.
And she was in a relationship. Again, something she would have never believed possible last Friday. In many ways the two things were connected – her magic control and her happiness – but, viewed from a different angle, her relationship with Merlin was just a co-incidence. She suspected that, even if they had had no sexual attraction, she would still have made progress with her magic and become his friend.
But would she have still been prepared to fight against Camelot?
Merlin's Eden friends may suspect him of succumbed to sexual and emotional pressure by trusting her, but Morgana was certain that their relationship had little to do with her decision. He had shown her a new way, a better way and, now that she fully understood what Camelot did to sorcerers who didn't comply, she was even more determined to help them and perhaps convince her family to change their stance in the process.
"Are you ready?" Merlin asked, coming out, dressed in black and carrying just one, very small bag on his back.
"Yes. Do I need anything else?"
"No, I've got most of it. All you need is your security pass."
She nodded, holding it up for him to see before slipping it into the pocket of her black jacket. "Let's do this," she said in a steely tone.
He smiled bleakly and signalled for her to follow him out.
~o~0~o~
They initially approached from the front of Camelot; a large, impressive stone fronted Georgian building which some might mistake for a museum. Although it looked inviting, the night-time guards and array of security cameras made it a poor choice for entering stealthily, so Merlin lead them around to the back where high, barb-wired walls and ugly metal gates seemed, at first glance, to be even less appealing.
The pair walked quietly down the dark back-street until they drew level with this entrance's security camera. Merlin then gently pushed Morgana up against the pole which housed it and kissed her.
"What are you doing?" she asked him silently.
He pulled away and grinned, simply raising an arm above him and focusing. She saw his eyes glow gold and followed his gaze upwards.
"The camera's now looping the current view," he whispered.
She looked around and grinned. "As in... nothing?"
"Yes. We can move to the gate now."
"I did wonder about that. And it won't register who entered here or at what time?"
"No, it isn't as sophisticated as that. You have high level clearance and, as such, the system has no issue with you entering Camelot at any time."
"Right so..."
They moved to the main gate and Morgana swiped the card against the reader and entered the four digit code. There was a dull click and she smiled bleakly, pushing the gate open.
Next to her, Merlin sighed loudly. "Step two."
She repeated the procedure on the side entrance of the main building - the one that was closest to the laboratory – and the pair then moved confidently down the first flight of service stairs with no concerns about security cameras.
"This isn't the way to the lab," she commented.
"I know," Merlin replied. "There are a number of systems we need to disable first."
"Last time all the alarms went off."
He winced. "Yes. That wasn't ideal but, in the end, causing a fire drill helped to clear the building for me."
"But we wouldn't want that sort of attention at this time of night?"
"No. We need to ensure that all power sources are disabled."
They were now in the basement where they were faced with a long corridor leading to various rooms housing several large, humming metal boxes.
"I've never been down here before," Morgana declared.
Merlin nodded. "This is where I need your magic. Here's the backup generator. As soon as I power down the main system, this is designed to start up. The security system is also programmed to send an alert to the local police station and, obviously we don't want that to happen."
"So?"
"So, I'm going to go down to the main power section and call you telepathically when I'm there. Then we'll do a 'three, two, one' and short-circuit both systems at exactly the same time."
She looked at him wide-eyed. "So that was what all those training sessions with that power box were all about?"
He nodded. "Just repeat what you did in the lesson. Focus on the controls within the generator and push the power into it hard. There are magical sensors down here but they won't detect our magic if it's controlled and they'll be overridden once all the power is down, anyway." He saw her sceptical look and grinned. "You can do this, Morgana. I have every faith in you."
He kissed her very briefly on the lips and then dashed off, his lanky figure quickly swallowed up by the darkness. Morgana sighed and pushed her senses out to the back-up generator, just getting a feeling for it.
"Are you ready?" Merlin asked shortly afterwards.
"I think so. I've found the power source."
"Good. Latch onto it and get ready to push your magic in. Remember, you're attempting a controlled version of the very thing that's been frustrating you all these years. Just one short, sharp burst of magic. Everything you've got."
"Yes, I understand."
"All right. Ready...? Three, two... One!"
She pushed.
And everything was instantly plunged into darkness. She winced, waiting for the alarm, but, fortunately, was greeted by complete silence.
"We did it?"
"Yes. It's all dead," Merlin confirmed. "Power, cameras and magic alarms. I'm on my way back to you."
She saw a blue glow first; the same type that he'd lit on his hand to show how their magic could be controlled and not effect the CD player. She looked at it more closely now, curious.
"How do you do that?"
"I'll teach you later," he replied abruptly. "Right now we need to get moving."
They hurried back up the stairs, Merlin's magical light the only thing guiding their way, and the rushed to the lab only to find the main door firmly closed.
"That's deliberate, of course," he explained, reverting to telepathy now they were in such a sensitive area. "The secure sections are designed to self-lock if ever the power goes out."
"So, what now?"
"We use magic, of course. The sensors are all down now so there's really no problem."
He held out his hand towards the door until it clicked and then pushed it open with Morgana following close behind. The pair then moved through the darkness straight to the secure door and Merlin focused again, although it took quite a bit longer for this second click to sound.
"Why the delay?" she asked.
"That one has a few extra layers of security on it – even with the lack of power in this area."
He lead her down a long, narrow corridor and Morgana was suddenly bombarded with strange sounds and sensations. The intense emotions and sense of fear she experienced was so great that she was stopped in her tracks.
"Ssh, it's all right," Merlin said coming back towards her and resting a gentle hand on her arm. "You're magical power is allowing you to sense the others' pain. The next few minutes won't be easy for you, but you have to understand that we can't rescue everyone tonight, no matter how much we may want to."
"I know," she replied, gritting her teeth. "We have a specific mission to complete."
"Well, we actually have three. What cell was your new girl put in?"
"Six-B."
"Right. And the first thing I need to do is talk to her."
Merlin halted suddenly, although Morgana had no idea how he could know where they were in this claustrophobic darkness. With his back to her, the blue light was shielded and so she only heard the click of the cell gate and the shadow of him disappearing inside. She heard him whisper, although she couldn't make out any words and then, a moment later, he was back.
"Her name's Gilly and she really wasn't coping that well," he said. "So I dropped her down to Green. Although, obviously, her Gauntlet is still showing Purple."
"Will she be able to use her magic now?"
"No. No more than you could before I trained you. It'll just make her feel less ill and, now I have a few of her details, it'll be easier for us to find out more about her. Now for our main target."
He continued to hurry them down the corridor until they reached another point. Again there was the click of a door, followed by whispers, but this time Merlin emerged with someone. Morgana could see little in this darkness but she was fairly certain he was male; about her own height but considerably more stocky.
Merlin rushed them both down the corridor, past the quiet moans and strong emotions of fear and pain and it took all of Morgana's self control not to blast every single lock and free them all there and then. Back in the larger space of the laboratory, Merlin's blue light seemed much brighter and Morgana could now see more of the man they'd rescued; middle-aged, thick set and not looking at all well. Merlin had his hand out against the door they'd just come through, obviously using his magic to seal it shut.
"How are you feeling?" he whispered to the man.
"Better now you've taken that thing off."
He nodded. "Don't attempt any magic for a while. Your body will need time to recover."
Merlin looked around the room before rushing over to one of the Gauntlet cabinets.
"What are you doing?" Morgana asked.
"Eden's asked for one of the latest models to study," he replied, unlocking the door with magic and taking a Gauntlet out.
Morgana rolled her eyes. "Merlin, why didn't you just ask me to bring you one? I wondered why the numbers never quite added up. I could easily tweak the inventory so the discrepancy isn't noticed you know?"
He gaped at her. "Oh, I hadn't thought of that."
"Idiot," she retorted affectionately.
"Thanks," he replied, coming back over with a sheepish grin. "So... could you?"
She shook her head with a smile. "Of course."
He smiled again, his face looking ghostly from the reflected blue light. "Now I'm going to transport Robert out. There's complex magic within the tunnel which makes it close to impossible, which is why we needed to bring him out here first."
"I see."
"I'm going to take him straight to the teaching room at home and then jump back here to collect you."
"Okay," Morgana said. "But why can't we all leave that way now?"
"Because you and I need to restore the power and I can't transport out once it's back up. Not only that, but the security system will automatically inform the local police station if they don't get some feedback fairly soon, so I can't hang around."
"Oh, I see."
"Perhaps you could make a start," he suggested. "Did you see how I locked that door?"
"I-I think so."
"The main lab door should be easier. If you manage that, go down to the generator and wait for me there. If you don't, stay here and I'll return to you position in a few minutes, wherever you are."
"All right."
And then, Merlin put an arm around the man they'd rescued, dropped his head and the pair disappeared in a whirlwind of air, dust and darkness.
Morgana remembered to breathe out.
After another few seconds, she rushed to the main door and closed it, focusing on the mechanism and remembering all her magic lessons with Merlin. Her Gauntlet was now bursting with magic, due to the strain this mission was putting on her emotions, and so all she really had to do was focus on controlling it; ensuring she allowed only the smallest amount of magic to leak out.
She saw the way the lock and the mechanism worked so clearly then. The magical and digital locks were still in place, having been simply bypassed by Merlin's special brand of magic, which mean that all she needed to do was lock the door mechanically. Nice and easy. She took another couple of deep breaths and focused, allowing her magic to travel through her Gauntlet and into the door.
The loud clunk made her jump, but her panic was short lived, and she instinctively knew she'd achieved her goal. With a smirk at her success, Morgana turned and made her way back downstairs to the basement.
Time appeared to drag but, finally, she felt another rush of wind and Merlin appeared, not too far in front of her. He looked around, as if surprised by her location.
"The lab door?" he asked.
"I locked it. I noticed you only left the mechanical lock for me to worry about."
He nodded and grinned. "Good. Now all we need to do is put the power back up."
"Just like that?"
"This time I'll do both, if you don't mind? The timing isn't so tricky, but there is more subtlety required."
"Can I watch?"
"Of course. Come with me. We need to return the main power before we restart this back-up."
Although Morgana wished she could do more to help, she had to reluctantly accept that Merlin had far more skill as far as this sort of thing was concerned. Hopefully though, if she kept watching carefully, it wouldn't be long before she could do more of this, perhaps setting everything back up whilst he transported the prisoners out.
He grinned as he turned back from switching the main power back on, working out what she was doing.
"That one was especially complicated," he said. "But yes, let me help you switch the back-up on yourself. It will certainly save time in future."
Despite Merlin's earlier comment about the task, Morgana found it exceptionally easy, even if she was being assisted.
"That's it?"
Merlin nodded. "As far as I can tell, all power and sensors are back online. The only thing we need to do is reset that alleyway camera and then, with any luck, it should seem to Camelot that the prisoner has disappeared into thin air, without a single security system being tripped."
She laughed. "Which is why everyone was so confused last Thursday?"
"Yes. I achieved most of the same things then although, of course, I wasn't able to turn off the back-up generator in time, which is why all the alarms went off."
They made the way out of the side door and gate; Merlin quickly checking the locks to make sure all was well, before moving back under the camera. Then he lifted his hand up, set it back to its usual setting before retracing their steps out of view, hopefully showing no sign of their presence on any of the systems when they were checked.
~o~0~o~
"How is he?"
When they'd arrived home, the first thing Merlin had done was go into the spare room to check on their new guest. Now he'd come into the kitchen where Morgana handed him a mug of coffee.
"Recovering." Merlin shook his head. "That purple setting is vicious."
She nodded. "I just wish we could get them all out straight away."
"Yeah, so do I. But, it has to be done slowly and carefully."
"But with all your power, all your contacts, surely you could try something else," she pushed. "Find some way to break them all out at the same time?"
He frowned. "Morgana, that's not helpful."
"Or get Eden to push harder, really live up to their reputation and threaten Camelot in some way. Force some concessions from them."
"Now you're just being silly."
She folded her arms and glared at him. "Silly?"
He winced. "Poor word choice, sorry."
"Silly!"
"This is the best way, Morgana, the only way. You have to see that."
"No, I don't see that and sometimes I don't understand you at all, Merlin. How can you be so calm and happy about this situation?"
"Hey, that's unfair," he retorted, sudden anger flashing in his eyes. "Of course I'm not happy and I thought you knew me well enough by now to understand that." She often forgot that her boyfriend was nowhere near as meek as he appeared. "You've trusted me up to now, so trust me on this. This is bigger than you and me, Morgana and it has to be done properly."
She shook her head, not at all convinced by his weak argument. "I'm going to try to get some sleep," she said, sharply. "We'll talk about this some more tomorrow morning."
"Oh, will we?"
"If you have the balls, yes."
And she stormed upstairs before Merlin could find a suitable retort.
~o~0~o~