"Okay, I've gained control over their cameras," Fanatic said via our earpieces right as we stopped before a door that seemed to lead into the dungeon.
"He's gotten control," Iris relayed the information to the man leading us, who nodded in return.
"Understood. I will go out first to lure the other guards away, then pretend to come back and walk back and forth as if patrolling the area. Just loop that part of the feed."
Finn pressed on his own earpiece. "You catch all that, Fanatic?"
"Yep, no problem."
"Sweet. Seems like it's a go," Finn said to the man.
"Alright, you three wait here. I'll be back shortly."
Saying this, he gently pushed open the door just wide enough for him to fit himself through. It also served as a peephole for Reaper, Iris, and Finn to watch what was going on.
The three observed nervously as the man walked up to three of his colleagues a short distance away, right across from this door, and began talking about something. A few seconds later, the exchange was over, and the three headed into the door across from this one, appearing to go upstairs.
The man who was on our side walked back to us, strolled around for a little bit as if on patrol just as he said he would, then swiftly returned to our location by slipping through the gap in the doorway.
"Loop's up and running," Fanatic said through our earpieces. Step one, check.
"Alright. You will only have about three minutes to work with here, by the time I'm finished explaining," the man said quietly, careful since the door was still open. "I will turn invisible and watch for when the other guards come back — look for my hand signals, as you'll still be able to see me even though no one else can."
'Invisibility…? That's a nice Ability to have,' Finn thought. 'I wonder if I can... steal it.'
"Here is the key to the cell your friends are kept in," the man said, pushing a key into Iris's hand, since Finn was blind and responsible for the perfume. "When you go out this door, turn directly left and walk down the corridor all the way to the end."
"What if the other guards come back before we can get Archon and Melvia out?" Iris asked.
"I will notify you when they are returning — you three, just hide in the cell and close the doors from the inside using a button you can find on the wall. After that, I will find another way to lure the guards away and get you out. That is definitely not ideal though — many factors could go wrong, so just try and get it done before they come back. Ready?"
Finn, Iris, and Reaper all nodded.
"Alright… out you go."
Finn opened up the bottle of perfume he had received from the Guildmaster. Immediately, a heavy, dreamy scent filled the air. Finn, Iris, and the man all blocked their noses to prevent inhaling it themselves.
As the trio walked down the corridor just as told, the fragrance of the perfume continued to spread, afflicting every prisoner who inhaled it with temporary amnesia and hypnosis. They couldn't afford to run, as that would disperse the potency and density of the perfume. They had to walk slowly — that's what the Guildmaster told them.
Naturally, this wasn't easy. Sometimes, the prisoners would look straight at them, scaring the living hell out of Iris, but they all eventually turned away as if they didn't see anything, which caused her to sigh in relief. It was a roller coaster of emotions, this corridor. Finn and Reaper weren't affected, obviously.
After what seemed like eons, the trio finally reached the maximum-security cell at the end of the hallway. Gulping in nervousness, Iris inserted the key the man handed her into the socket. She turned back around and saw that the man wasn't giving any hand signals yet, which meant the guards hadn't returned yet. Good.
The mission was practically already complete. Iris gave the key a good twist-
"It's not working…?!"
"What?" Finn whispered sharply.
"The key! It's not working!"
'Interesting… did that man betray us? No, we would've been caught already if he did…' Finn thought. 'Just a mistake then? Not likely either.'
'But then… that leaves only one conclusion.'
"Heartbeat… he modified the lock somehow before leaving," Finn analyzed. "He predicted — or at least thought it was possible — that we would come and try and break Archon and Melvia out…"
"Tch… what's the plan now?" Iris asked, sweat forming on her forehead as she continued trying to play around with the key, praying to god it would miraculously work somehow.
But then, the third member of their team finally decided to make an input. Heaving his scythe, his singular electronic red eye narrowed as it focused solely on the door's lock.
[Warning: Stand Back.]
"Reaper…" Finn murmured, realizing what he was trying to do. But after some hesitation, he backed away as told, carrying Iris on him.
Reaper's method… it was a huge risk, but it was also the only chance they had left.
By doing this, they are basically telling Heartbeat they came in here and broke his favorite prisoners free. The consequences of that are unimaginable. If he were to revolt now, within the chaos of this Perfect Outbreak, no guild would be able to defend against him should he choose to attack, unless they wanted to risk letting the Ghosts roam free.
But to Finn… all the better.
More enemies meant more training dummies More training dummies meant more strength. And more strength… is the conductor of revenge. Besides, the more Ghosts there were, the faster Finn could gather the Souls needed to help Zelestria recover and grant him his eyesight back.
Reaper hovered in the air, locking onto his target, then boosted himself towards the lock with all his energy.
The scythe smashed into the metal lock bounding the doors together and cleaved straight through it, sending sharp splinters of steel everywhere. Iris's eyes widened a bit at the power of Reaper's weapon.
Luckily, the Guildmaster's perfume was strong enough to prevent the prisoners from waking up from their daze even with this large noise, but the man helping them did look at them in shock. However, he quickly returned to watching the staircase for any sign of his colleagues, as that was more important.
The doors rolled open, revealing the two people the trio had been searching for.
"Archon, we're here to get you out," Iris immediately said bluntly.
"Ivis…?"
"There's no time for questions. Now…" She turned to Melvia, who was still chained to the wall by the locks on her wrists and ankles. "How do we get those shackles off?"
"We can't," Archon said in defeat. "Other than brute-forcing it, anyway."
"… Reaper, do it," Finn said without any hesitation.
"W-What?! You can't, it's too risk- ugh!"
Finn held Archon back to prevent him from getting in the way, as that would be problematic. Melvia closed her eyes tightly and braced for impact as Reaper lunged towards her.
SLASH.
Ding… ding, ding.
In an instant, Reaper sliced the air in an X-shape, just barely missing Melvia's body and hitting the shackles instead. Melvia, now freed, fell to the ground as Archon rushed over to her.
"Melvia!"
"I'm fine… nearly scared me to death there, but I'm fine…" she coughed, letting herself get picked up by Archon.
Iris helped Finn unpack the large sack he carried on his back, which contained the two fake bodies. After she tossed them into the cell, Finn began to leave, but she called him back.
"Wait. It won't seem believable if Melvia's not chained up…"
"It doesn't matter. The cell door's already been busted open beyond repair — Heartbeat will know when he comes back. I'm just letting the bodies down because they're difficult to get around with."
They weren't particularly heavy to Finn, but they were troublesome to maneuver given the size.
"Hold on," Melvia interrupted, then looked up at Archon. "You can repair them, no…?"
After a short silence, Archon replied uncomfortably. "... I could, but it's going to take a bit of time since I don't have any tools. How much time do we have left?"
"The man's not giving us any hand signals yet, so we should have a bit of time still," Iris said, then turned to Archon. "Hurry!"
"Hold on." Finn pressed on his earpiece. "Octane. Status?"
"Thank god, Ace! Did you get them? Please tell me you got them, we're runnin' out of excuses to keep stalling time over here!"
"About that… can you stall for a bit longer?"
"Guh… w-we'll try. But please, hurry up, Storm's doing everything he can right now to keep that bastard there!"
"Understood. Tell us when you can't hold on any longer."
"Alright, I'm countin' on ya!"
Finn cut the comms, then turned back around to face Archon after weighing the consequences of doing this.
"… Go for it."
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