Chapter 5

May 1st 2021, flashback

"Holy shit, look at this place" Nicole said walking into the Snyder building lobby. It was super grand and wide open. They got a shot at a better job and a free vacation to California, she hadn't been here since high school.

Nicole's interview came and finished first. Then Jacob's interview came up on the security floor, with office workers and people going in and out. A pretty red elevator brought them up to a bright hallway with sterile white walls. Jacob was pretty nervous but Nicole talked him up and got him in the interview room.

"Nicole, Nicole Bristow" a feminine voice came behind her, nicole turned to see a blonde woman about her age

"Hi, do I…. Zoey Brooks" Nicole recognized, hugging her old friend "wait what are you doing here"

Zoey bit her lip "Ugh, my boyfriend's actually applying here" Zoey said

"Not you?" Nicole asked

"No, I'm still in the design business I'm still working my way up in that" Zoey said nervously

"Oh good for you" Nicole said

"Yeah" Zoey said in a strange way before walking away, the strangest reunion ever.

Back to the present

Once the false breach incident after ten seconds of being inside was over and Nicole was finally breathing again, they were ready to move on. The elevator opened revealing a… seriously ugly green color, what were they thinking, why would they change that. After letting Logan know they were alright they entered the elevator and went to the highest floor they could with normal security guard clearance, 50 out of 101. This floor had all the insane security Snyder was known for. This was supposed to be the hardest part of the mission but they weren't supposed to be outside at all during the Purge, maybe it will be easier.

They stepped out of the elevator, guns drawn. If there was even the tiniest sound they turned to face it. Nicole looked behind and was disappointed to find they had only moved ten feet in what felt like an hour. She finally got a good look at the hallway, it wasn't anything like she remembered, it was something straight out of a horror movie now, the walls were kinda dirty and cluttered with dim lighting. The hallway was completely silent and devoid of people; and this was supposed to be an office building on the day they needed the most guards.

They all calmed down slightly and kept going. It was weird obviously but less security is good, besides most of the guards are probably on the ground floor preventing break ins. Once they cleared this 'High Security Floor' things should be smooth sailing. "Ok once I get passed the terminal at the end it should smooth sailing" Nicole said

"I hear ya" Zoey said while looking down at her phone texting

Way to not to not live up to its reputation, there weren't any laser gates or saw blades or anything you'd expect. "STOP" Chase screamed causing everyone to freeze, Nicole couldn't speak for everyone else but she needed to restart her heart afterwards. Chase kneeled to the floor and revealed an invisible tripwire.

They made sure to step over the tripwire and made to the end of the hallway, Michael stopped in his tracks and looked back "what do you think it does" he said referring at the tripwire

"Nothing good" Zoey specified

"Yeah but does it like set the hallway on fire or blow up" he contemplated

Chase sighed and investigated "I don't know it's drilled into the wall" he observed

"Well should I shoot it and find out" he said urging Chase to come back

"No" the other four all said in unison

"Alright alright I won't" Michael said, the others nodded and went on to investigate what looked like a forensic lab designed by Tim Burton on a budget. Michael then pulled Nicole back into the hall "you wanna see what happens" he asked referring to the tripwire

"Hell No" she asserted

"Come on I just want to see what it does" he pleaded

Nicole pondered this "Ok" she agreed "but cover your eyes"

"Why?"

"Well what if the trap is a super blinding light, I want to be able to see tomorrow" Nicole said trying to be as convincing as possible

"That's smart," Michael said. Nicole aimed her handgun and they both covered their eyes, only for Nicole to uncover her eyes and aim her gun at the ceiling. She shot a bullet and it ricocheted off the metal ceiling and into the forensic lab.

"BULLET DETECTED" a loud computer voice blasted before the sounds of crashing and screaming, it happened so fast and Nicole and Michael ran into the lab to make sure no one was shot.

They entered to find the lab now had two large white pits in it, it was like something straight out of the Matrix, being trapped in a white void. Zoey was dangling off the edge of one of the pits "Don't worry Zoey I'm comin" Michael said rushing to help. He slipped on Chase's spilled thermos and fell into the hole, causing Zoey to fall as well.

"MICHAEL" she growled as she layed on the white void

Nicole grabbed her hair as the last one not trapped "is everyone ok" she called out. She didn't get an answer, but she could see everyone getting up and didn't seem to have any injuries. She let out a sigh of relief that everyone was ok.

Nicole noticed a security terminal, after carefully avoiding the pits she made it to what seemed to be the floor controls, it was just a small key card scanner. They had a few of these at the mall, they weren't like the terminals. If she ripped these apart they would just stop working. "(Sighs)" she needed a key card, they would be on one of the real guards.

Nicole stood in a position where people in both pits could see her "I'm so sorry, my fault. Ok guys I'm going to find a key card, I promise I'll be right back so don't–"

Meanwhile Chase and Lola were at the bottom looking at Nicole being silent while moving her lips "Ugh are.. Are you trying to talk to us right now" there gesturing seemed to get Nicole's attention. She gestured to her hand and snapped her fingers, completely silent. Nicole stuck her arm into the pit and snapped her fingers, they could hear it that time. Awesome it's like they were using high pitched sounds on the pit entrance to deflect out all other sound waves, at least it would be awesome if they weren't trapped in a pit.

Nicole shrugged this off and gestured that she was leaving the room. She was halted by some weird scratches "freaky" she said as she kept going. She stopped and took a deep breath, this wasn't too big an issue, it was only… 10:50 PM so they had plenty of time. Her team was strong, professional, and patient, they would be perfectly fine. What was she saying? They were probably dying down there.

Meanwhile….

Lola peaked over at Chase, then to the floor, then back to Chase, then back to the floor, then back to Chase. Just wait for the right moment and then ask him … son of a bitch he saw her looking at him, oh Lola how could you be so careless, ugh what could he be thinking right now.

Chase mentally face palmed himself, Lola saw him looking at her, she probably thinks he's such a creep now. Ok the situation is still salvageable, just look at her and shoot her a compliment. Something like….. 'I like your Jacket'... 'I like your jacket' they're all wearing the same security jacket. What was he thinking? He noticed Lola looking at him while he was cringing at himself and she looked away. Just stop, it's over Mathews, you're a weirdo in her eyes.

It's over Lola, he was so just cringing at how you were acting, just don't do anything worse

Nicole continued down the hall checking every door, nobody. It was helpful a second ago, but now she needed someone around. Also could they keep a worse workspace, there were papers on the floor every once in a while, and some tiny holes in the wall. She barged into another office and no one, goddammit could no one just…

Nicole slowly reentered the office, a large bloodstain painted the wall. She slowly reached for her gun and kept it at eye level. She retraced her steps a little and there were bullets and shells among the other garbage. Her spine started shivering as she kept looking for the key card.

The floor was still completely silent, and aside from that one stain there wasn't a drop of blood to be seen. But there were indentations all over the walls, she couldn't tell if they were bullet holds or knife marks. It honestly felt like the walls around her were getting smaller and smaller.

Nicole took a few more steps toward-

"AHHHH-"

A scream coming from down the hall made Nicole leap back in fear, and just like that silence. How does that work? She looked at the walls and there was a strange gap in them. She stuck her head across it and the screaming happened again. It was the same thing with the pit, you couldn't hear anything on the other side. There was a terminal next to it already unlocked, but there were only two settings; 'sound deflection' and 'glass wall', nothing that could help her.

Nicole had already checked every room on this side, which meant that the key card was somewhere on the other side. Nicole gulped and bravely stepped past the gap.

"SHOOT HIM" someone shouted

There was a barrage of gunfire happening a while down the hall, against the sounds of fist fighting. She checked the first rooms she came across, trying desperately to avoid going near whatever was happening. Most of the rooms were like the ones on her side of the gap, just empty and clean. If she didn't hear the commotion she wouldn't believe there was a-

Nicole had to fight really hard not to immediately puke her guts out, she found all the security on this floor, all piled in together in a bloody fly and maggot filled room. She swallowed and kept quiet but couldn't fight a few tears. She closed the door, refusing to look through that room.

She kept checking rooms, getting terrifyingly close to the fight, less and less voices calling out. She checked another room with an… eviscerated body on the ground. Nicole covered her mouth and almost left but noticed the label on the door Chief Tom Sandin, if anyone had a key card it was the Chief.

Nicole gently closed the door behind her and rummaged through the drawers and locker, nothing. Nicole then realized there was one place it might be as she looked at the Chief's dead body. Ugh this is gonna be horrible, but she's doing this for Chloe for her friends and to get herself away from whatever's out there. She hesitantly looted the Chief's shirt pocket, nothing.

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT" one more voice came from outside the room "I'VE GOT A LOT OF MONEY ON ME IF YOU-" and then silence, the worst possible thing she could hear.

She kept looting his corpse trying to find it, always quieting down when she heard footsteps going by the door. It was the same every time, footsteps then a door opening then a small crashing sound, he was hiding all the new bodies. She kept searching and eventually found his wallet and looked through it and…. She found a small card in it, it read 'Chief of security all access card'. YES FINALLY, she wanted to cheer but couldn't alert the invader, right now she was glad she could move away from this corpse. Nicole just had to wait and let that thing pass. Wait No, he could find the pit and kill everyone, she had to try and sneak past.

She waited until she heard his footsteps grow quieter then she could go. His footsteps moved away, ok now was the time. She slid the card into her pocket as she prepared to sneak out in 3-2-

BOOM

A gunshot came from right next to her and she felt blood on her leg. Nicole did everything in her power not to scream. She frisked herself looking for a bullet hole, only to find that Quinn's stupid pen gun went off in her pocket and shot alongside her leg leaving a huge scratch.

Her heart froze as she heard footsteps approaching. Without thinking she smashed her hand into the Chief's corpse and smeared his blood all over her. The door knob started to jiggle and Nicole collapsed onto the floor in the most convincing way she thought possible. She held her breath just to be sure.

The door opened. OH SHIT. OH SHIT. Shit shit shit shitshitshitshitshit. A figure walked in, dressed in an entirely black outfit. He wore an expressionless owl mask with piercing white goggles. Nicole did her best to keep her entire body still and didn't flinch, refusing to even move her eyes. The figure examined the scene, he barely noticed the Chief and focused on Nicole, he stroked his chin as if he's trying to remember if he killed her. She couldn't keep this up, she could only hope she wasn't turning blue from holding her breath this long.

He held out two fingers and moved them towards her neck. NO, don't check her pulse, don't check her pulse. By now her pulse was probably exploding which would make it worse. Right before he reached her his goggles lit up slightly and he laid his fingers on the side of his head. Whatever he saw or heard got his attention. He lifted the Chief's body on his shoulder and dragged Nicole by the arm out of the office. Nicole still avoided moving to keep up the façade. He tossed them both into the room of corpses, thankfully not in the pile but off to the side.

The figure left the room and locked the door behind him. Nicole immediately stood up and started breathing again, it took a while it felt like her lungs were the size of a pea. She held her ear to the door hoping he wasn't going towards the others, instead she heard a strange buzzing sound. She flipped the lock on the inside and opened it to find a hole in the office wall to the outside…with a rope dangling above it from the outside.

She was finally safe, at least for now. She ran back to the others and inserted the key card, the others were forced up as the floor returned to normal. "GUYS GUYS WE GOT A HUGE PROBLEM" Nicole screamed with urgency

"Your telling me, we had to have lost an hour" Zoey said putting her phone away

"Not that, I was just-"

"Woah are you ok" Michael said noticing the blood all over her clothes

"Don't worry it's not mine" she cleared "I was just attacked by the L.A. owl" she said silencing the whole room

"The guy from the news?" Chase specified, Nicole nodded

Zoey tried to hold everyone together "Ok, maybe it's not as bad as we think"

"It's worse," Nicole said. She brought the four to the room with all the corpses, Lola and Michael couldn't hold their puke in.

"Come on guys" Michael said getting himself together "let's go" he said going in the direction they originally came

"Where are you going, what about the money" Zoey scowled

"What about us" Michael retorted "we see this maniac again we're dead"

"I… kinda agree with him" Lola said "I got a son, I can't drop dead in this hell hole"

"You can't just quit, you made a commitment" Zoey scowled

Chase held her back "guys I know it seems hopeless and I'm so sorry this became ten times more complicated, but think about it he killed all these guards so going back the way we came won't help, and there is still an army of psychopaths and murderers outside" he argued

"And I think going to the safe and riding it out of here is still our safest bet" Zoey interjected, yet Michael and Lola stood their ground "Nicole you're the tie breaker"

Nicole was in a difficult spot. No, she didn't want to face that psychopath in a mask again. But she still needed her share of the money and maybe Zoey was right the safe extraction was the safest way out of here "I vote we finish the mission and get out of here" she felt bad putting Michael and Lola through more of this, but the sooner they finish then the sooner they can leave with their lives.

Nicole went back into the Chief's office and unlocked his terminal, the security camera got the owl bastard's massacre. But it also got their little escapade with the security floors, so whoever monitors the footage saw them. Dammit, how could she be so stupid, they'll send real security guards after them now. All because she wanted to play along for Michael. "Guys I'm sorry, this is all my fault for shooting that bullet"

"Yeah Nicole, you really blew it" Zoey said as if it was actually comforting

"It's not all her fault, I kinda asked her to" Michael confessed

"Hold on" Chase said with a smile "if you weren't so nosey" he said patting Michael on the back "and if you didn't shoot that bullet" he gestured to Nicole "then we would've walked straight into Owl boy's fight and he would've killed us" he said applauding them

Nicole chuckled as she ditched her blood covered jacket "I think that's kinda a stretch"

"Well it's not, now correct me if I'm wrong but we've still got an asshole to rob" Chase said heading to the elevator to the security free floors.

Nicole inserted the key card and easily got the door opened so they could finally finish the mission.

Meanwhile….

"And the award for deadliest water-based kill goes to" Serenity said on stage as she announced the winner "Miguel Garza for his Piranha drop on the mayor of Portland" she announced as she applauded a picture of Miguel committing the kill "you'll receive your award tomorrow, try and stay alive" she said giving a sick catch phrase as Snyder cheered her on

"Reese isn't this amazing" he said smashing Logan's shoulder

"Of course it is," Logan said, trying desperately not to sound sarcastic. Logan peaked at his phone again, set just inches from Snyder's Pocket, downloading intel on Snyder's phone. Luckily he remembered Quinn made them both an app that can download all of someone's intel by just being near a device (granted she made it to have the wi-fi password wherever they went but now it's noble), once it hit 100% then he'd know exactly how to get rid of the helicopters and maybe even where the explosives are. And he needed to get out of here soon, almost half the people here have already been cheated out of their businesses and are now drowning their life choices in whiskey and chocolate whiskey cake.

"This is Serenity Olivia Snyder and I'll be back after these people try to sell you something" she said snapping for some advertisers to come on stage.

Stacy poked Logan on the arm "woah i can't believe they faked all this stuff just for our entertainment" Logan literally could have face palmed himself after that

Snyder cheered Serenity on as she sat by his side and choked down a shot of vodka. A security guard captain came to his side "sir I just got this footage-"

"RUBEN DON'T INTERRUPT MY DAUGHTER'S AWARD SHOW" Snyder said before punching a hole in the wall behind Ruben

"But it's from the security floor, it looks like we have six intruders including the L.A. owl" Ruben said much more urgently

This caught Logan's attention, and was also deemed important enough by Snyder "Oh alright, I'll take care of that myself while you fix the hole you made" he said

"Ugh do you have visual on them" Logan butted in

"Reese my friend, relax, what happens to these thieves has nothing to do with you…. Right" Snyder said with a terrifying smile

"No I guess not" Logan said trying to avoid too much suspicion

"Have all available guards on standby, but I'd like to take this opportunity to test out some new security prototypes," Snyder said with a margarita in his hand, getting up from his chair. Logan checked his phone and he only had about half the intel he needed. 'Damm' he mentally sweared

"Oooh I get to use my new toys" Serenity said