About 27 mins before Dev and the rest heard the ear-splitting sound...
While Ann was reporting the result of their mutation experiment to Dev, his monitor was showing the live CCTV footage at the laboratory.
All was calm except for a particular footage that displayed four teens KO'ing the guards and with each one falling to the ground, a footage was going blank on the monitor till there was nothing but a plain white screen.
Timmy's virus was meant to do nothing more than destroying all the files related to the mutation experiment on the computer and it's database but it seemed that the virus was doing more than just destroying files, it was also wrecking the system that the entire laboratory was based upon.
Back at Winters lab,
The gang were already on their way out of the laboratory but of course, this short journey wasn't a smooth sailing one.
*Thud*
That was the sound of the last guard in silver shirts the gang crept upon and made unconscious falling to the ground.
"Phew! That's the 13th guard...but why are they so many?! And in just 5 hallways!" Avi whispered forlornly.
"You're actually keeping track?! What really bothers me is their silver shirts!" Timmy said while looking at the guards on the floor.
"I'm not keeping track, it's just... I just couldn't help but notice. And by the way, this is the 6th time you've complained about the silver shirts but who's counting?" Avi said as she flipped her hair.
Penny rolled her eyes as she and Cyrus thought, 'You!'
"It's too flashy! I'm almost going blind! Whoever gave them this uniform has very poor taste and this is coming from a guy that spent most of his life on computers!" Timmy whispered back whilst dragging the last guard into an empty cell that was now filled with unconscious guards stacked up against one another.
Avi whose mouth twitched decided to ignore Timmy while Cyrus chuckled and looked towards Penny just in time to see her shaking her head. Guessing that she did so because of Avi and Timmy's bantering, he left her side and assisted in piling the guards on top of each other, even putting them in awkward and funny positions.
"But you know guys..." Avi began again while looking at the guards that Timmy and Cyrus knocked out in the cell before looking around the hallway with a worried look on her face, "... couldn't we have just tried to wiggle our way out of here without knocking them out?"
"I don't feel too good about this...isn't this a bit too...."
"...too much?! You're joking, right? You saw for yourself just how many 'silvery' guards we had to knock out on our way here. Escaping them would be impossible without observing their shifts beforehand so what did you expect?" Timmy snickered before taking a glance at Avi who had her mouth opening and closing like a fish.
"And if we get caught? Hmph! These are guys who killed people immediately they barged into Platinum Valleys and imprisoned us like we were criminals! So you can imagine what they'd do to us."
"That's not...."
"Or, I know! Do you suppose that we walk up to them, give them a handshake or a hug and say, "Esteemed brothers and uncles, could you please let us out?" with a huge smile on our faces...huh?" Timmy interrupted Avi's thoughts again while doing a simulation with one of the sleeping guards.
"Well knock me down with a feather! I barely asked one question and you lash out at me! What's the big deal?" Avi scoffed exasperatedly.
"Just come help instead of asking silly questions," Timmy answered back.
Rolling her eyes while taking off her blue and white butterfly hairpin that complimented her pastel blue hair, Avi pulled out a part that looked like the abdomen of a real butterfly. In it, was a vial which she opened and put under the noses of the guards.
"Done!", she said excitedly as she clipped the vial back into the hairpin before placing it back into her hair skilfully.
"And what does that do?" Cyrus asked while looking at the guards sceptically.
"Oh, nothing much, just a little gift for our visitors," Avi said with an evil smile on her lips as she stepped back from the cell and glanced at Timmy who had the same expression on his face.
Locking the cell with one of the key cards they got from the unconscious guards, Timmy made sure to add some special 'amenities' to the cell room by tapping some buttons on the touchscreen panel at the entrance of the cell.
The 'cell' that Dev and his goons made was originally a personal suite/private lab for the scientists in Platinum valleys to carry out their own experiments and make their own theories to increase the prestige of Azalea. The red laser beam that was used to imprison them was a last-minute add-on that Timmy installed himself to further ensure the scientists' privacy and also prevent project plagiarism.
"Let's increase the temperature....." Timmy said as he tapped a button on the panel continuously.
Winters was the playground he and his master put so much effort to create in the first place.
Okay, not really a playground but he and his master put in a lot of effort in setting up Winters so seeing some people in flashy silver shirts tainting it with their dirty hands, really made him upset.
'Using my own invention against me, hmph! The nerve of these idiots....'
".....a little more....", Timmy continued.
' ....nobody snatches a kid's toy and gets away with it unscathed', he thought further.
"Perfect! Combined with her potion, this room is going to be a 'party' zone soon. Too bad we can't stay to watch." Timmy said as he played with the key cards.
"Guys.....?" Penny's voice was drowned out.
"Nice!" Cyrus and Avi laughed while high-fiving Timmy.
"Guys! we've been to 5 hallways now, yet no sign of anyone but the guards, what's going on? Aren't they here anymore?" Penny asked with a worried look on her face. "Cy, you and Timmy know this lab better than we do, where do we need to go to leave this place?", she added.
"Sorry, we actually got carried away, uhm...let's go right from here," Cy said sheepishly while Timmy scratched his head.
Going down the hallway on the right, the gang continued on their journey to escape and perhaps set the others free while Avi thought,
'This is the 6th hallway we've been to since we escaped from that lab room, but..who's counting anyway?'.....