K1 waited with his hand still on the lever. He had waited for over one minute since K11 told him to stand down for a while. If it continued like this then he'd have to open the exit without confirmation. Time was crucial here.
He tapped the wall with his finger impatiently and waited. After a while, the lights above flickered and went out leaving him in the dark.
'K7 must have killed the power. She's expecting that I've opened the exit by now!' K1 thought with apprehension. Just then K7's voice echoed in the ear piece telling her that she had killed the power. He forced himself to take several deep breaths before pulling the lever down. The mechanism hissed and churned then started to slide open. The large metallic door rolled to the side letting in sunlight. K1 readied his weapon and aimed as soon as the door moved enough for him to jump out. He jumped out and aimed the gun but didn't shoot immediately. K10 and K11 were still fighting the soldiers. They had knocked three out already.
"Hey, don't shoot." K10 said and delivered a punch to the man he was grappling.
K1 moved quickly and hit the other soldier in the head with the butt of his gun, knocking him out. "How has the other not heard the commotion?"
K11 smiled. "Probably too busy to respond." She knocked the last soldier to his knees and snapped his neck.
"You just had to kill didn't you?" K10 asked slightly amused.
She shrugged and moved inside the exit. "It was taking too long."
"Let's get them in, we're behind schedule." K1 said. He and the other two dragged the soldiers into the exit and tied them up to prevent them from running away when they woke up. They gagged their mouths and stripped them of their weapons.
K10 moved towards K1 and smiled at K11. "This is where we part ways, my lady."
K11 snorted and turned down the corridor. "I'll meet you guys back here in about twenty minutes—if you're still alive by then."
"Good luck." K10 said.
"Let's go man," K1 dragged him along. "This isn't time for your love games."
"What love games? I'm not interested in her romantically!"
"Keep telling yourself that."
"We're going to the underground?"
"Yes," K1 replied. "We'll meet up with K7 and then join K3 in the lower levels but first there's the distraction."
K11 pulled down his bag and took out flame throwers. "Here."
….
K3 walked forward with powerful strides as he approached the lower floors. He held his bag tightly with one hand and held the railings what the other as he climbed down steadily.
The lights here were a little mild but bright enough to help him see around the room. The temperature was a bit low down here. The lights kept flickering.
He hadn't met any soldiers ever since he entered the lower levels. His eyes wandered the corridor as he passed different rooms with labels on them. He knew the particular lab where the exoskeleton was supposed to be in according to their intelligence.
Something must have delayed the others. The plan was that K1, K10 and K7 would immediately meet him in the lower levels immediately the lights went out so that they could disassemble the exoskeleton and load them up in the bags before anyone found anything suspicious.
He navigated his way forward and turned a corner but immediately came face to face with a lab scientist with lab coat. She had contact lenses and her eyes were light blue with a warm smile on her lips.
She paused the moment she noticed K3 and frowned. She looked at his ID. "What are you doing here? You don't have clearance to be down here."
In just seconds the beautiful face was replaced by a crunched up one. K3 lifted his hands up. "I have clearance."
The lady ignored him and immediately grabbed her walkie-talkie and relayed the info. K3 rushed at her and grabbed her neck choking her out of breath. "Oh no you don't, pretty lady."
The walkie-talkie fell to the floor and shattered. She struggled and clawed at his arm but he held firmly till her body went limp. He threw her to the side. He heaved a sigh and continued to walk forward but three armed soldiers came from the other end and they had seen him strangle the doctor!
They aimed their guns and released a barrage of bullets in his direction. K3 jumped to the side and quickly crawled towards the corner. He pressed down on his ear piece. "I've been discovered, where are you K1?"
"Stand by, the building will be evacuated."
He peeked out and a bullet hit the side of the wall sending dust into his face. He ducked back. He then noticed a black object rolling out from the corner.
'Grenade!'
He quickly used his assault rifle and smashed the grenade back to where it came from. It exploded shortly after leaving smoke and broken shrapnel in the air. K3 took a deep breath then took off the short range aim of his assault rifle and attached the long range aim. He peeked out and delivered two quick bullets. The sound of gunshot was followed by something falling. The lights in the lower levels turned red and the alarms went off. The researchers rushed out and more soldiers rushed towards the area of disturbance. K3 cursed under his breath.
'If I'll die today then I'll die with honour.' He pulled a smaller gun from its holster and took aim again.
Everyone was being forced to evacuate the lower floors till order was restored. He ducked back after a few missed shots. Bullets were flying everywhere leaving behind holes in the opposite wall.
K3 leaned forward and rolled to his side then released a few more shots. The soldiers took cover as well but they were relentless. He was only one man against a dozen soldiers. He looked towards the other end of the corridor and was quick to notice the door open slightly revealing more soldiers with sub machine guns aimed at his direction. He rolled towards the other end but there was no cover for him.
Soon another grenade rolled towards him then another followed quickly followed by a third one. K3's eyes widened and he cursed. "Fuck!"