Chapter 1: The Plan Of Escape

Since I was just pretending to be unconscious, carefully, I analyzed where they were bringing me, and I suppose I wasn't expecting a whole underground complex. Through what I could see, that place was heavily fortified, full of cameras, alarms and movement detectors. When they finally dropped me, it was in some sort of quarantine bay. It was isolated from the rest of the base, with a door that required a specific ID to access it. However, that place was also full of air ducts, which could be to prevent some infection to stay down there for long.

''Doctor, we'll need some sample from this guy's blood to prevent he is not infected'', one of the soldiers told that to the man in white who was standing next to him, ''After you finish it, send him to the interrogation room''

''Yes, sir'', the doctor answered, and he escorted the soldiers out, ''I am sorry, young one. Orders are orders''

If he was going to take a sample of my blood, he'd make sure that the needle wouldn't wake me up, so it was obvious that he had to prepare something to keep me sleeping. Humans take an average of 0.15 to 0.45 seconds to react to visual stimuli, so I only had to react faster. I noticed that he was preparing the anesthesia, and even for a second, if I allowed him to inject this into me, I would lose all combat ability. However, it was notable that he had some kind of ironic and distorted face, as if he wanted to do that.

When he was about to inject that, I grabbed his wrist, and forced him to release the anesthesia. I had to be serious about that, since one mistake, and I could be done for. After twisting the doctor's wrist, he got on his knees and I immediately kicked him in the face, knocking him out immediately. Probably he had the ID anywhere, but it wouldn't be smart to rush into the exit. It was obvious that there could be soldiers waiting to contain any threat if necessary.

The situation got worse, when the alarm started ringing. The air ducts could be a good exit, but I had to find a way to delay them before. Through quick, but careful analysis I noticed some pipes, and some of them could release some smoke and gas. They were rigid pipes, so I had to find a way to break them. Mostly, they would have some tool for safety, in case of a fire, for instance. I took a look into the doctor's room, and I found an axe. That could suffice for now. Quickly, I landed some strong blows into the pipes, which were enough to break them.

After seeing the liquids coming out of them, my surprise was clear. It was liquid nitrogen, normally used to cool large reactors, and in large portions, it could freeze the human body with ease. It wasn't safe to stay there, so I went as fast as I could to the air duct. By just pulling the vent cover out, it already came out. The trap was set, so the guards wouldn't notice the vent so soon.

Not only swimming on the flooded room was dangerous, since they could get frozen, but it was also freezing there. That temperature was harmful to humans, so it was the perfect escape. While making my way through the vents, I had to change paths a lot, due to the active fans inside of them.

Not only I had to escape, since they took my stuff, and I had to take them back. According to what I noticed earlier, they took them into a security room. They took me down to the fourth level of the underground, now, I had to go up again. Carefully, I got out of the air duct, and I spotted two guards in a hallway, looking towards a door. Perhaps that was the staircase's door. As I expected, they'd be waiting for me. So, if their plan was to surprise me, I could use their distraction to knock them out.

''Waiting for someone?'', I made an ironic tone, as I pushed their heads against each other, leaving them unconscious

Unfortunately, I don't possess any experience with machine guns, so I decided to leave them. But their knives could be useful for later. Since I could take my time, I also took some smoke grenades they had. In my current state, every item that could give me some advantage could prove itself useful. Before I left the hallway, I noticed that they had some consoles with them. It had two screens and, apparently, they broke when they fell on the ground. Maybe that could give me some nice spare parts if I dismantled them.

There weren't so many cameras in this level, which was odd. Anyway, the guards were obviously being deployed from the upper Levels. Security on Level 1 is, by far, the most rigid one, due to all the cameras and alarms. Crawling through the vents wasn't an option anymore, taking the fans in consideration. Going up would be fatal, since I would run straight into the guards. On my way down, I recall seeing some power station on the level I am currently in. The best strategy was to redirect the power somewhere else, so the fans could be turned off. Cutting off the whole power would alert them right away, and they would turn it on quickly.

With slow steps, and careful movements, I made my way towards the power station, so I didn't end up running into the guards. The door wasn't locked, so I got inside with ease. However, there could be alarms in the hallway that separated me from the electric control room. Good thing I took the smoke grenades, since they could be used to detect the alarms' lasers. Mostly, human eyes can notice infra-red lasers, but only for a small fraction of time. The smoke would keep them revealed without triggering them.

Probably, they weren't expecting someone to outsmart the lasers that way, so there were only a few of them. Revealing them made it pathetically easy to go through the hallway. As for the energy's control panel, it wasn't that easy. It was protected with another ID lock. Was there any way to hijack those systems? That was when I felt something vibrating in my pocket. It seemed like one of the consoles the guards had was reacting with the lock. There wasn't anything I could do, besides testing it, and fortunately, the ID on the console was able to open the door. As soon as I got in, I looked for the control panel, so I could redirect the power.

The power was successfully redirected to Level 4, the same Level which was flooded by the liquid nitrogen. Their movement downstairs is limited, because of the temperature they had to bear with. Yet, any metallic component could be now electrified, so if by any chance, there are soldiers down there, they'd probably not survive to all that.

''The escapist has flooded Level 4 with liquid nitrogen'', that voice came from one of the speakers, which had an alarm ringing again, ''He escaped Level 4. I repeat, he escaped Level 4. All troops, go upstairs immediately. The escapist has redirected Level 3's power''

They noticed the power redirection sooner than what I was expecting. Fortunately, if the control panel had an ID lock, it could only be controlled manually. It would take them some time before getting to Level 3, so I could make it to Level 2 through the vents, without them restabilizing the power. The only vent cover I could use as an exit was the one on top of the security room. It showed up in perfect timing, but there were guards there. There could be more, but I could only spot four of them.

''They said that all troops had to go and capture that guy'', one of the guards said that as he was drinking some coffee, ''Shouldn't we go out as well?''

''The captain said that we're supposed to protect this stuff'', another one of them said, as he held my sword, with curiosity on his face, ''I wonder what that guy wanted by coming here...''

A distraction. That's all I needed to take my stuff back. Since they were tempering with them, it wouldn't be safe. Luckily, another soldier got inside the room, and I was surprised to see that he was one of the guards I knocked out earlier. He called for all the guards' attention, and I could use that as an opportunity. Discreetly, I threw the second grenade through the vent, and when the room was covered up in smoke, I jumped out.

After getting my stuff back, I knocked all the guards down b, and I had to find another exit. Maybe now, I could resist more. After all, I got more knives from the guards I've just knocked out. Now that I got my sword back, there was no point for using the knives into a melee rush. Perhaps, I could throw them just like daggers. Fans back on, so the ventilation system wouldn't be an option. Unlike the previous level, this one had some cameras. Analyzing them, they had tranquilizer guns, which would fire if I was spotted. Maybe an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP for short, should suffice to disable them.

Perhaps the knocked out guards could have some? Revealing my position and going through the risk of being shot at with tranquilizers wouldn't be smart, even if I had a complete arsenal. Taking that in consideration, I had to go and look for anything that could disable the cameras. Mostly, these cameras run on a separate power module, instead of the same they use for the lights and other systems. It made cutting the power pointless now. When I was about to go down the hallway, towards the security room, two guards showed up, but they didn't see me right away.

Quickly, I aimed for their necks, and I threw the knives at them. They didn't have any time to react, so they knives landed perfectly. My smoke grenades were over now, so I couldn't do an ambush attack as I had before. What was concerning me was the fact that the guards in the security room could be awake now. No smoke grenades, only some knives. Maybe I was unlucky not to have found some more of them. As I expected, the guards were awake, so I had to think quickly. The power redirection made the corridor's lights dim. Peeking through the door, I noticed that they couldn't see me, even with those bright lights of the security room. That gave me the idea of causing a blackout, by throwing some knives at the lights.

With slow, and careful movements, I threw the knives with ease, breaking the lights right away. As the guards looked at their sorroundings, trying to find out what caused the lights to break, I ran past them, slicing them at their necks. Generally, I am used with the dark, due to the lack of lights in the city. It was pretty easy to finish them, and luckily, I found EMP grenades and I took some smoke ones as well. The grenades worked out great, and they also prevented the alarm from warning the guards. The speakers were also out of order, so I could move on safely to Level 1.