Dossier in Sight!

There was still some distance between the team of soldiers and the vault doors as they started closing.

"Dammit! Everything was perfect so far! Why did it have to mess up now?", muttered Lance as he ran through the whole plan in his head.

In the janitor room, the team had tried again to look for any other solution. Try as they may, a better scenario than evacuation from above ground couldn't be thought of.

After eliminating all other possibilities, they had decided on this plan. Now, the problem was to figure out a way to initiate the evacuation.

Frontal assault was out of the question. Any plan which needed the sacrifice of a team member was not one that Lance would consider.

This wasn't just because of the strong connection Lance felt with his teammates. Each and every one in front of him had trusted him and aided him the best they could. To make a plan now to sacrifice one was not something that he would consider at this stage at all, unless there was truly no other way. Lance also had a gut feeling that the way to score the most points was to have everyone alive till the end and if possible have no casualties. He suspected that they would be teleported out the same way as they came back in, so there was no reason to think of an exit strategy. Instead of a "grab and run" tactic, they only needed the "grab".

What would he choose if many lives were at stake and the only option to save them was to sacrifice his teammates? Lance asked himself this, but didn't know the answer. He wanted to get stronger because he knew that strength gave the ability to take control of ones own life. To be constrained in a cage was his worst nightmare, it was why he had been so desperate on earth to find the evidence of something beyond.

This planning part initiated in everyone a similar reasoning. What was their motive to grow stronger? Was it only to be powerful? Would they be able to make the call and commit a lesser evil for the greater good? None of them had clear answers to all of the questions. Only time and their experiences would give rise to answers that would shape their lives and futures.

Startling everyone, Darius asked, "Is an earthquake OK?".

After the shocked looks had subsided, Darius explained that by positioning himself at a location and studying the earth and tectonic plates, he could induce an earthquake. As he was still an initiate, he needed at least 6 hours at a fixed location to generate an earthquake strong enough to cause an evacuation. Even given the time frame, this was such a shocking ability that everyone kept shooting glances at Darius throughout the planning. Imagination was truly the only limit of an Intrinsic Nature.

To Lance's joy, this fitted in perfectly with their "grab" tactic. He immediately assigned the role of the disturbance to Darius. He instructed the janitor to take Darius to a spot where there would be no patrols before returning to his post and forgetting everything that had happened. Luckily, there was one such spot at a part where the labyrinth was being expanded. Construction was on break for today and no one would come there.

The rest of the plan was simple but very tiring for the girls. The team masqueraded themselves as the team next in shift at the ID post after hypnotizing any required personnel. They circumvented DNA tests by using the 6 hours to switch between soldiers frequently who had already been verified.

Both the girls INs were a delight to watch, but there was no need to mention why the 2 boys kept looking forward to Yu Ying's performance. Although she used the same pose, they could never get tired of it due to the sheer allure that radiated from her in those moments. Entsy and Lance even had an unspoken agreement where Yu Ying was requested each time to hypnotize. Serious as he was due to his unknown past, even Entsy secretly looked forward to these sessions every time.

Yu Yan's frequent performances though unconsciously rooted in them a desire to protect her. This was an unintended side effect of her IN on any companion that she would have now or later on.

Finally, they were on the home stretch. Even the dossier could be seen by Lance from his position with the words "NIKOLA TESLA" shining on them. But, they were at gun point.

All they could do was run like hell and hope the barriers would do as advertised.