A Very Deep Dive

The three of us split up into different sections of the facility. Elio on the west wing, Mr. Isaac on the center and me at the east wing, being the closest to our meeting point.

"Ugh... I feel like I'm gonna hurl..."

I said quietly as I covered my mouth and clutched my stomach.

Despite coming this far, I couldn't deny the fact that I was indeed a nervous wreck as I approached the facility's doors.

Analyzing them a bit, I realized they were shut tight and needed a card key to unlock.

Seeing this, I frantically patted all of the pockets of the guard uniform we stole, before finding it inside the chest pocket.

"Yes!"

I quietly celebrated before walking in.

Noticing a few cameras installed, I tried to walk in a way where it'd be hard to see my face with the camera's angle.

Walking through the halls, I focus on the first part of the plan and that is to look around for any building maps.

Taking a right turn, I immediately found what I was looking for.

Placed inside a frame, as a matter of fact.

"Huh, that was easy..."

I didn't expect to find a map this quickly. I honestly thought I'd have to walk further inside the facility, but nope. It was already here.

Walking towards the map, I took a quick picture before walking away.

Just then, I suddenly heard two people walking in my direction. Thinking quickly, I analyzed my surroundings and found an unlocked door.

Not wasting another second, I quickly got inside the room behind said door and closed it.

I was wearing a disguise, but I couldn't risk talking to them directly. If I got caught now, then I'd be toast.

If Vida Corp. hired these guys as bodyguards, then it's very likely they each have good combat oriented abilities.

I let out a quiet sigh of relief as I looked at my surroundings.

It was a dark office space.

The walls were surrounded by shelves filled to the brim with old, dusty documents. The desk was covered by messy stacks of papers, and some even fell to the floor.

The only thing providing light was the lightbulbs outside the room, piercing through the blinds that were covering the office's window.

Trying to see if the coast was clear, I peaked through the blinds only to see something I didn't want to see.

As a stroke of bad luck, the two men I heard from earlier stopped right in front of the office door to get themselves a cup of water from the dispenser outside.

Aw c'mon...

I thought to myself as I clicked my tongue.

Guess we'll have to wait it out for now...

Opening my phone's gallery, I looked at the map I took a picture of.

All seems to be normal. There doesn't seem to be anything suspicious going on.

There's a medical station and a cafeteria in both the west and east wings and a laboratory at the center of the facility.

There were other illustrations of different floors going up to the 4th, but still nothing noteworthy besides a few office cubicles.

Besides the laboratory, all the other places are too conspicuous to put the victims in...

All things considered, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary.

Our best shot is the laboratory I guess...

I told myself.

But I couldn't get rid of the feeling that it was too easy of a deduction.

As if something in my head was nagging me, telling me I'm wrong.

Then suddenly, I heard a crucial bit of information coming from the two men outside.

"The boss said we got another kid coming. They said this one's abilities have a lot of potential, so I'm sure the boss will be happy."

"That's great! If this next experiment is a success, then our budget will increase!"

"Speaking of which, I gotta go to where the brats are being kept. There's this one girl who's being a pain in the ass..."

My eyes widened as I heard what he said.

A girl? That's probably Mr. Isaac's daughter! If I know where he's going, then I know where to find the victims!

Taking advantage of the situation, I waited for them to pass by the door before sneakily opening it and throwing a small, coin-sized disk which latched on to the clothes of the man who was going to the location where the kidnapping victims are.

The small disk I threw was another one of Mr. Brok's gadgets. It was a tracker that can be connected to my phone.

Once I made sure that the tracker was attached, I walked back to the shed where our group was supposed to meet back up.

When I finally got back, I saw that the guards we knocked out earlier were already awake and tried yelling at me.

But because of the DIY gags we made, nothing came out of their mouths besides muffled voices.

"Mmmmfff mmmmph!!!"

"Mmmnup!"

"Mmmmm!!!"

"Yeah, yeah... You guys are mad, I get it..."

Finding a place to rest, I walked towards a crate and sat down.

"Just gotta wait for them to get back, then..."

________________________________________

It wasn't long before Mr. Isaac and Elio got back.

Unfortunately, the two of them didn't find anything concerning the kidnapping victims, so all they could bring back was the same map that I took a picture of minutes earlier.

That is if I didn't overhear the conversation of the two men earlier.

"So did you guys find anything?"

I asked them.

"Unfortunately, no..."

Mr Isaac said as Elio shook his head.

Noticing my smirk, the two of them looked at me in a funny way.

"How about you, Aran?"

Elio asked me as Mr. Isaac raised his eyebrow.

Grinning smugly, I took my phone out to show them the screen.

"Hehe! Check this out!"

Still clueless, Elio looked at it closer before asking me what it was about.

"Well I'm glad you asked! This is—"

"A tracker."

Without letting me get another word in, Mr. Isaac finished my sentence for me.

"Give it to me..."

"Wha- hey!"

Quickly taking my phone away, Isaac looks at it as Elio asks me a question.

"So... how does it work?"

Sighing to myself, I looked at Elio to explain.

"Well you see that green dot in the middle? That's us. The red dot is the guy I put the tracker on. He said he was going to the place where the kidnapped children are stored and hidden."

Nodding to my explanation, Elio asks me another question.

"I see! That's so cool! Like one of those spy movies I watch!"

"Hehe! I know, right?"

I said with a smug grin.

"But... Where'd you even get something like that?"

Elio asked me.

"Well, I slipped it in my pocket back at Mr. Brok's warehouse!"

"Oh nice! You really are prepared!"

"Yep!"

Looking away from my phone, Mr. Isaac looked at us with a surprised expression.

"Did you just say Brok?"

"Hm? Yeah, I did. Do you know him?"

Looking at him, I could see that Mr. Isaac was wearing a gentle smile.

"Yes... He's a good friend of mine. His brilliant contraptions have helped us many times in dire situations."

"Oh, I see..."

So that old geezer's been hiding stories behind my back, eh? I'm gonna make him spit it all out when he gets home...

But still...

Hearing someone I know get talked about in such high regard filled my heart with a warm feeling.

Puffing my chest out, I started talking with pride as I chuckled.

"Hehe... Mr. Brok might be a rude and pervy magazine-loving old man at times, but he's a really good guy at heart! I hope you two continue to get along."

Mr. Isaac smiled at me, lightly chuckling as he remembered how Mr. Brok is.

"Yes..."

"Hehe..."

I chuckled as I scratched the back of my head.

Trying to get the conversation back on track, I cleared my throat before speaking of the things I heard from the two guards from earlier.

"I heard the guards say something about a girl. I'm not sure, but I've got a feeling it's your daughter..."

Nodding his head, Mr. Isaac painted a picture in his head.

"I see... Then we don't have any time to waste..."

Giving me back my phone, we started following the red dot on the tracker.

________________________________________

The three of them were led towards an elevator door.

Aran's phone shows that they are very close to the tracker.

Seeing as there was barely anyone on the first floor, Aran, Elio and Isaac went inside the elevator to check all the other floors.

On each floor, they check every cubicle, the toilets, even the women's toilets, being careful as to not look suspicious.

But as close as they were to the location of the red dot on Aran's phone, they weren't able to find anything out of the ordinary.

This continued until the last floor, leaving them without anymore options.

Clicking his tongue, Elio grumbled in frustration.

"Dang it... How is every floor a bust?! We couldn't find anything!"

Aran nodded his head in response.

"Yeah, this is weird... Mr. Brok's gadgets rarely malfunction. Maybe we should double check the floors again?"

Thinking of a way, Aran chewed on his thumb to focus before Isaac suddenly spoke.

"Follow me."

"Huh?"

The two boys were a little confused. What sort of idea did Mr. Isaac think of? Were their thoughts.

Aran and Elio looked at each other before shrugging and following Isaac back to the elevator.

Waiting for the doors to close, Isaac pressed the button to go back to the first floor.

When they reached the facility's first floor, Aran asked Isaac exactly what his plan was.

"Here."

Isaac said as he pointed towards the floor of the elevator, leading the two boys to scratch and tilt their heads in confusion.

"Uh... What?"

Aran said.

Not planning on wasting anymore time, Isaac activated his ability as his hands started to glow a dark purple.

The elevator's floor dented before breaking, creating a small hole that revealed the dark shaft underneath.

A few seconds passed before they heard the piece of the floor hit the ground, creating a loud sound of metal hitting hard concrete.

Elio was left puzzled at this sight.

"Uh... Aran, what did Mr. Isaac just do?"

He asked Aran who was wearing a face that looked like he just cracked a hard puzzle.

"I get it now!"

Tilting his head, Elio asked Aran to explain.

"Get what, exactly?"

Pulling Elio closer, Aran spoke.

"What floor are we on right now?"

He asked Elio.

Quickly responding, Elio said "The first floor."

"Yep! So why would the elevator shaft extend further down if we're already on the lowest floor?"

Elio's eyes widened as if an imaginary light bulb just lit up in his mind.

"Because there's a basement level!"

"That's right!"

Aran said as he high fived Elio.

"Wait, but how did Mr. Isaac know about this beforehand?"

Elio asked as he looked at Isaac who was leaning on the corner of the elevator's walls.

Looking at them without any change in expression, he nonchalantly said "Intuition."

"Huh? That's it?"

Elio asked him.

"Yes. Years under a dangerous profession can sharpen it."

"That's so cool!"

Said Elio, surprising Isaac.

"I see... Thank you."

He nodded as he nervously scratched his cheek.

Quickly interrupting the two of them, Aran asked a question.

"But how do we head down there? Is it possible that the guards are using a secret button combination that makes the elevator head towards the basement floor? If so, maybe I can..."

Isaac spoke to Aran in response to his question.

"Oh, you don't have to concern yourself about that."

"Huh? What do you mean by tha— AHHHHHH!!!!"

Without any warning, Isaac pushed Aran down the hole, making him fall down the elevator shaft.

Panicking, Elio looked at Isaac before also getting pushed down himself.

"What the?! Why'd you do tha— AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!??"

If the two boys weren't falling several feat at this moment, they would've seen Isaac smirking to himself as he listened to their voices of fear.

"Heh..."