It was a bad decision to have a scientist be in the middle of a fight.

Firstly, the scientist was middle-aged, and he seemed older than Mr Weaber with the grey streaks in his hair. Secondly, he was still in his lab coat and had nothing on him. Thirdly, he was a scientist, not a fighter.

I was responsible for guarding him at the moment.

That made the whole plan to push out even more complicated. Scover and Denisse were just armed with knives while Luke had to clear the way. Still, it was a better plan than earlier because now we had knives to defend ourselves if necessary.

Luke had arranged with Braya and Christopher to meet up in the main corridor. By following the signs and emergency exits around the place, we managed to somewhat make our way to the main corridor.

"You sure it's this way?" Denisse yelled to Luke as we took on yet another batch of guards. I glanced over to see Luke tackle another guard to the floor as he yelled back, "Must be! Where would all these guards be coming from?"

I pondered this as I recollected the water I had just blasted at a guard. Luke's got a point. Behind me, Dr Jerydonn straightened out his lab coat.

"Let's move," Luke decided as the last guard's body flopped to the floor. We continued down the corridor, but the second we took a turn we were faced with another set of guards. This time, they formed three waves and took us on.

The first wave wasn't too bad. Luke immediately ran towards the guards and tackled two. I made sure that Dr Jerydonn was close behind me before blasting some water to take down the other two right next to Luke.

Once the first four had been taken down, Luke immediately moved onto the next wave of guards. Instead of charging towards us like the first wave did, the second wave formed a defensive border.

Luke glanced at me. "Iolla, have you heard of waterboarding?"

"Waterboarding?" I repeated.

"Yeah. History? Torture? Water dumped on heads?" Luke prompted.

I thought back to a history lesson and realisation dawned on me. Waterboarding activates the gag reflex. Could I do that?

"You want me to..."

"Yes."

With that, I slashed a wave of water onto the guards' faces. The second I heard one let out a cough, I pulled back the water and slashed it again. The guards coughed again. One lifted his hand in an attempt to block the water. Aiming for the chest, Luke took advantage of this opportunity and struck down two guards. The distraction gave me an opening, and I quickly pulled back the water and blasted it at the other two guards, who coughed too before stumbling to the ground.

"Guys, I need to visit a computer lab," Denisse informed and we nodded. We advanced towards the end of the corridor and stopped outside a room with the words Hacking Hub on the outside to wait for Denisse.

"Are we close?" I asked.

"Not quite. We still got a— Dr Jerydonn!" Luke yelled. I turned and saw the scientist in a chokehold, being dragged away by a lanky assassin. Scover was inching back towards the door while Luke was racing towards the scientist and attempting to free him. I pulled the water from the ground towards me and directed it straight at the assassin's face. He flinched, but he didn't let go.

I need to try something else.

I pulled the water towards me with my hands and levitated it in the air with my right hand and flicked my left wrist to the side. The water took a curve and struck the back of the assassin's head. The assassin grimaced and instinctively let go of the scientist, giving Luke the window to tackle him. Scover waited for Dr Jerydonn to join us before standing guard outside the hacking room.

Levitating the water from the ground again, I gathered with Scover and the scientist while Luke busied himself with the assassin.

"Done!" Looking towards the door, I saw Denisse running out with her equipment in her hands instead of in her backpack. Must have done something with them.

"Sorry, had to remove some viruses I think they put into my computer," she explained, tucking her laptop back into her bag.

"You good there, Luke?" I called. Luke gave a thumbs-up and replied, "Yeah, let's move!"

We managed to walk another couple metres when we saw the area where another corridor intersected the one we were walking in.

"After this, we turn left and—" Luke was cut off by a body flying right past us and smacking into the ground with an audible thump. I jumped.

It appeared to be a guard, though by the way he slumped on the ground, seemed to be knocked out hard.

How?

Luke didn't wait to wonder why.

We took a sharp turn and were faced with Christopher, Braya and several guards engaged in close combat not too far away.

Christopher and Braya!

"Watch out!" Christopher hollered as he sent one of the guards flying diagonally into the wall.

Oh.

"Braya!" Luke shouted, loud enough that Braya turned towards us.

"Luke!" she yelled back before proceeding to incapacitate the guard with a neat kick to the chest.

"Get back!" Acting on command, I leapt backwards, almost into the wall as another guard went flying. Christopher's work.

While Luke joined Braya and Christopher, I backed away and let them take care of the guards while I checked on the others.

"You okay?" I asked Denisse, who was watching the trio from afar. Her eyes flickered onto me and she gave a nod.

"Yeah. Don't worry about me. It's just very tiring, that's all. Constant fighting and guards everywhere," Denisse shrugged it off.

"Of course I should worry. I'm putting you in danger every time we fight."

Denisse glanced back, distracted by Braya's smooth takedown on one of the guards, hooking her leg behind the guard's as she sent him to the ground.

"I chose to come, Iolla. Besides, you guys just look so cool whenever I see you guys taking the assassins down. Maybe, if this had been the movie we had watched that day at my house, I would have wanted powers too."

"Denisse, you won't," I replied with a sigh.

She gave me a grin. "I know."

I turned to look at the other two. Dr Jerydonn didn't just seem to be watching Luke, Braya and Christopher, he was almost analysing them. He must find their powers riveting.

Meanwhile, Scover looked like he was gazing into the distance. As usual.

It didn't take much longer for the guards to be wiped out.

"Scover! Iolla! Denisse!" Christopher cheered as he high-fived Denisse and me and had a quick chat with Scover.

"Hey Braya. Glad to see you're alright. This is the scientist. We got him out from a lab," Luke informed Braya, who smiled and nodded in return.

"Good to see everyone's okay," Christopher said, grinning. His eyes flickered over all of our faces and landed on Dr Jerydonn's.

"Ah, yeah, Christopher, this is the scientist, Dr Jerydonn," Luke explained. After the introduction, Christopher's eyes drifted off to the side as he mumbled, "Hmm."

"Come on guys, we need to move. Braya, is the nearest exit nearby?" Luke questioned.

Braya nodded. "Yes. It's not too far away from here."

We took another half a minute to catch our breaths before we started moving again. While we travelled down this corridor, Luke updated Braya and Christopher and what had happened.

"We got split up in the main corridor after the incident with Patrick. I think the other exit should be somewhere along the end of this corridor," Luke recalled as we ran.

Christopher nodded and indicated at a poster on the wall with the exit signs as he replied, "Well, at least these posters to guide the visitors will definitely help us here."

Luke led us down a right turn but as Christopher and I were about to follow, he suddenly halted, causing us to be forced to stop behind Luke.

What—

"This way to proceed to the, uh, weapons showcase for the upcoming auction!" A clear male voice called, which was quickly followed by footsteps. Sounds like a large group. The visitors?

"Weapons showcase?" Denisse questioned once the footsteps had dissipated.

"I thought they knew about us?" Christopher wondered.

"They probably don't want people to panic," I realised.

Luke waited for a few more seconds, then took a quick look before turning back to give us a nod. "Let's go."

As we passed by the room where the visitors had apparently exited, I took note of the sign. It appeared to be some form of hall.

Luke managed to run another ten or so metres before having to slow down to allow the rest of us to catch up. But just as he turned, ready to go, one of the ceiling panels shifted. A second later, Luke was on the floor, pinned by a guard. Only moments later, guards jumped down to the ground and started to tackle Braya. Her quick response allowed us to reposition.

"Watch out!" Luke let out a yell as he struggled on the ground. While Denisse and Scover pushed Dr Jerydonn away from the action, I recollected the water on the ground and then aimed a blast of water at the nearest guard. They ducked and crashed into their counterparts that were right next to them. In an instant, two other guards taking on Braya were quickly sent flying into the wall on the right.

I backed away with a loud "Move!" as one of the guards raised his electric rope, lashing out. It narrowly missed Denisse, who let out a shriek and jerked her arm away in the nick of time. Pushing her behind me, I retaliated with a slash of water to the face and another to the arm. The guard flinched and stepped back, only to receive a stab from Denisse's knife. He realised a second too late what had happened and was knocked out by the knife.

Beside us, Christopher was ramming the guards into each other. While I recollected the water on the ground, I surveyed the area. Braya had just helped Luke by knocking out the guard pinning him to the ground and both were now working together to take out the guards around them. Then I saw Denisse having trouble fighting off one of the guards so I hurried over to help.

A blast to the face, a jet to the chest. Something from within me seemed to be instantly adapting. Within a couple of seconds, the guard was on the floor and Denisse stared at the water, slowly shaking her head.

"Thanks, Iolla. That was fast," she remarked.

I gave her a smile and nodded. "It's like instinct now."

Denisse glanced at the guard on the floor. "You reacted a lot quicker than I remember you did a few days ago."

I let her words sink in while I took in the situation. Scover and Dr Jerydonn were moving to gather with Denisse while Christopher was now taking down a guard by slamming him into the wall before dropping the unconscious guard onto the floor.

"That's... interesting. Though there still is a lot I don't understand about my power–" I was cut off by the sight of a guard approaching Christopher from behind.

From behind!

"Christopher! Behind you!" I yelled as a warning, hoping that he would turn and take down the guard in time. Denisse turned to see what was happening and instantly started running towards him.

Christopher turned to glance at me, but it was too late. The guard had already leapt towards Christopher. He managed to jerk to the side, but not before the guard had moved his knife.

Denisse and I sprinted to Christopher's side. I pulled the water from the ground and directed a blast to the guard's stomach and a quick slash to the face. The guard stumbled and fell back from the impact. Once I had made sure that he had been knocked out, I ran to check on Christopher.

"Christopher! Are you okay?" I heard Denisse ask. Christopher's eyes were focused on the wall on the opposite end of the corridor before they drifted over to glance at us. His curls bounced as Christopher shook his head twice and pointed to his arm. There was a light cut, once again with no blood. Like the one that Scover had gotten.

Christopher shook his head again and got out, "He... he got me on the arm–" before collapsing onto the floor.

Unconscious.

"Christopher!" I yelled. Denisse shook him once, but when it became clear that he was unconscious, she flipped him over with the help of Scover and Dr Jerydonn.

Whatever was in the knife knocked him out. We have to make sure that that doesn't happen to the rest of us!

"Luke!" I called and he was by our side in moments. He took in Christopher lying on the floor and us trying to carry him. Meanwhile, I did a quick survey of the area. Though Luke and Braya had made quick work of those who were blocking our path, I could already spot more guards rounding the corner.

"We have to go, now," I told Luke.

Luke darted forward while Scover, Denisse and Dr Jerydonn moved away. "I can try to carry him on my back, but that means I'll get tired and can't fight. We'll do defence. Let's go."

I turned to see the guards catching up and with two waves of water, managed to hold them off for a few moments. Once Luke had pulled Christopher onto his back, we started running to the end of the corridor.

"Christopher got knocked out by one of the guards' knives and Luke is carrying him. We need to get to the van as fast as possible," I explained to Braya, who nodded.

We barely managed to turn around the next corridor when we were stopped by two guards. I blasted a jet of water at one of the guards' stomach and face. The guard clutched his stomach with a grimace before struggling to cough out the water. I looked at Braya who had incapacitated the other guard and we joined the rest.

The corridors twisted and turned twice more as we followed the signs to the exit. Only small groups of guards took us on before we reached a large black pane on a long white wall opposite a corridor intersection. I glanced at Luke, thinking, does he know how to open the door?

He seemed to register that both Denisse and I were looking at him for a solution. "Any ideas on how to get out?"

So he didn't plan this.

With a glance over my shoulder, I realised that the guards were gaining on us.

Can we force it open?

At that second the black panel split down the middle like a double door, and opened to a single guard. He was quite lean and seemingly accepted the strike to the face and knee to the gut that Braya gave him which knocked the guard out.

The guard was in a small room which, after walking on a bit, led to an extremely narrow corridor that led to the door of a changing room cubicle. There was even a mirror and clothing hooks.

Another of Patrick's secret entrances.

Denisse stepped forward and opened the door just a tiny bit to peek outside, before popping her head back in to give us a nod. Then she opened the door fully and walked out, followed by Braya and me.

It looked like we were in one of the clothing stores that we had spotted earlier from the outside. Brick walls, rustic wood floors and metal shelves stuffed with clothes surrounded the area. Industrial-style pipes were suspended from the ceiling. We were opposite a tall wall completely covered by big glass window panes framed in black. To the left was a wooden platform with clothed mannequins on it and to the right was a cashier kiosk. It was moderately big and did indeed look like real and not like the entrance to science labs.

I turned to look at Luke who appeared to be sweating. "Are you sure you can carry Christopher to the van?" He nodded and signalled for us to keep moving.

We continued running out of the tiny shopping street and back to the more suburban area where Braya had parked the van. Scanning the area one last time before getting on, I noticed that there weren't any guards or assassins following us. We might have lost them.

Denisse and I sat at the back of the van and helped Luke to adjust Christopher into a comfortable position for when he woke up.

"Good. He's breathing, just unconscious," Luke informed us with a wheeze.

"Okay, you better rest. Be careful not to overexert yourself next time," I replied. Still breathless and sweating from carrying Christopher, Luke moved to sit in the first row with Dr Jerydonn while Scover sat in front of us and looked over at Christopher, probably out of concern. Braya soon drove us out of the suburban area and then onto the main road.

"Whatever was in that knife that knocked him out?" Denisse pondered.

I shrugged. "I bet Patrick has the resources and money to make much more of those. And how did it get to him if it was in the knife?"

Denisse nodded at my first point. "It seems similar to the one that cut you, right Scover?"

Scover just nodded and looked at his arm. "No blood, so I don't know if I should bother bandaging that up. Not sure if it would make a difference," he muttered.

"True, true. Well maybe–" Denisse was interrupted by a loud thump that sounded like it came from the ceiling of the van. We looked up.

What...

There was a second thump, this time even louder.

"The van isn't faulty, is it?" I heard Luke ask Braya.

No, there is an assassin on the van.

~

This part took me so long to finish. I was battling procrastination for a long while but hey, at least now we have the longest chapter in this book! I haven't written this much in one chapter before, so hopefully it's still engaging. Thanks a lot for sticking around.

What are your thoughts on this chapter? How do you think they'll take on the assassin?