'We never got the chance to fulfill our dream'. Ten thought with trembling eyes as an image of his dad's funeral picture flashes in his head. 'But I will make our dream come true, but first right now'. His eyes fixed on the kid's gaze on him. 'Right here right now, am getting us out of here with my abilities'.
"We are getting inside that elevator! Trust me!" Ten hissed. The rest of the kids just stared at him, the confidence he showed and his unexpected change of mood made them rethink the situation.
"Ten," Shino said, stunned. Ten turned to the box.
"Just leave it to me, Shino-san!" Ten said, adjusting his glasses with a stern look. Shino nods.
"Alright".
Shino believed Ten could do it, they all depend on him to leave this base and find their loved ones. Ten was their best chance right now.
Ten rotated his handmade screwdriver around his fingers, he stared at the tons of different colors of wires. 'Think Ten think, yes there are tons of wires but three or four is the key to hacking this elevator'. He adjusted his glasses once more as he tampered with the wires. 'Please don't trigger an alarm, please don't trigger an alarm, please don't trigger an alarm'. Ten chanted in his head. 'Dammit'. He bit his lower lip, beads of sweat streaming down his forehead.
With the rest of the kids, Haya's gaze was fixed on Ten, her arms folded, a finger tapping on it. 'He did say he got this, I guess there is no need to interfere'. She raises an eyebrow but then her eyes drift to the others, she bit her lip. 'But still, though there isn't enough time for him to mess around with the wires, he has to search for the main plug to pull this off, with which he can gain control of the elevator'. She thought as her gaze moved to the elevator door, she looked around. 'With all those tons of wires there should be the main one he can hack, it's just for him to find it'. She studied the elevator closely for seconds and then it clicked, instantly she froze, Ten did too correspondingly.
'There must be another box!'. Ten and Haya thought in unison.
"What is it Ten?" Shino asked, noticing him stopping.
Ten's glasses shined white. 'So that's it then'. His glasses cleared, he used his hands to feel the wall close to the elevator searching for another box.
'Seems like he figured it out too' Haya thought rubbing her chin. 'But...'
Ten used his elbow to hit the wall slightly and it deepened showing an opening. 'Found it!'
"Another box? But why is it hidden?" Shino asked, confused.
"I don't know" Ten was puzzled by this, why an elevator would have two control boxes.
'Two control boxes but why'. Haya thought deeply. 'Well, at least we found the main controls'. She shrugs feeling there was no use thinking too much about it. 'I got to hand it to him though, Ten is a genius'. A small smile forms against her lips. 'Seems like there's no need interfering'.
Ten opened the box, seeing a switch inside, this he could tamper with alright, he smirks.
"Easy peasy".
Ten worked with it, redoing the switch and some few wires inside, setting it to the very first level to stop at. The elevator made a ding sound opening.
"And done!" Ten said, sighing , wiping the beads of sweat on his forehead.
"Ha finally," Sumi said, rolling her eyes, walking towards the elevator, others did too.
"We are getting out of here Mirai-chan," Yumi said as her face lit up.
"Yes Yumi," Mirai said with a bright smile as they walked towards the elevator along with Kaneki.
"The elevator is quite big, I thought we would take turns going inside but it seems there's no need, it will contain all 12 of us," Ten said.
"Good job Ten, you did a great job!" Ren praises him, Rin nods in agreement.
"Yes, Ten you did good," Shino said placing a hand on his shoulder, Ten blushes nervously scratching the back of his head while chuckling nervously. They all entered, the door sliding shut, it levitated up slowly.
"We are finally getting out of here," Asano said excitedly but then her face dropped in sadness as she remembered Yuki. 'Yuki-chan'. She thought with trembling eyes.
"Wish Hiro came," Kaname said, sighing as his eyes grew sad.
"It was his choice to stay wasn't it?" Daiki said with a shrug.
"Yeah, I guess" Kaname looks away with an unreadable expression.
With a smile against his lips, Ten waited patiently for the elevator to get to the top.
"How did you know there was another box". A voice came in. Ten turned to Haya, he didn't even realize she was standing beside him. She faced him.
"Well the other box didn't quite add up, the wires were too much and I was positive it wasn't the one with the main plug".
"I see," Haya said, reading his lips attentively.
"Have you wondered why there was another box?!"
"Hmm well, maybe the elevator has some problem or so-". He froze.
"Wait a minute!" he was taken aback. He turned to Shino.
"Shino-san no alarm went off".
Shino stiffened by his words knowing he was right.
"Yes none did, it should have, right? When you tampered with the switch".
'Yes, it should have'. Ten thought with trembling eyes. 'But it didn't, I didn't notice because I was too engrossed about getting the elevator to work... Wait what's this feeling'. Ten body stiffen. 'Yes this feeling, I felt something was off from the very beginning, ever since the classroom'. He paused, his eyes trembling. 'Don't tell me...'.
"Did anyone see any cameras?" Ten hissed.
The kid's attention averted to him, wondering why he hissed.
"No, why?" Kaneki asks, puzzled.
Mirai shakes her head negatively.
"Daiki did see a weird-looking water sensor, does that count?" Daiki asked, their eyes landing on him.
"Yeah, you mentioned that earlier," Kaname said, remembering when he said he saw something like that. But wait a minute...
"There's nothing like water sensors, only fire sensors" Kaname hissed with white eyes and then it dawned on them that what Daiki saw was a camera.
"YOU DUMMY!" Kaname shouts with blank white eyes.
Ten's eyes widened in realization. 'It all makes sense, the control boxes one was a decoy, the alarm not going off!.
_ _ _
Level 10: Training Facility
Control Room
Prime Minister Kiyoshi's gaze was fixed on the widescreen transparent computer showing the footage of the bio-genetics in the elevator. In front of the large screen computer were several controls and people operating it correspondingly.
Dr. Kimi Touka walks up behind him, holding a transparent iPad
"We are ready to engage sir".
Kiyoshi nods in agreement, it was the perfect timing.
"Let the bio-genetics training begin!" he announced.
_ _ _
The Elevator
Suddenly a loud siren went off, gaining everyone's attention. They all froze in bewilderment, their looks turned to horror, Ten heads turned to the red light spinning around.
'I should have known'. He thought with horror looks. 'This was all part of their plan'.