The prelims narrowed down the over a hundred contestants to eight teams after the first week, Jon's team made it in but they ended up on the far end of the bracket so the student council would only end up facing them if they made it through all their matches. From what they heard their first opponents were a team that stress defense and have high grade skills where trap setting is involved Anya was saying their tech is skilled enough to level up their security as well. The student council were given the highest building this time round, a sixteen story office building, the opponents target was located on the eighth floor the security room. The opposing building was one they hadn't seen yet which was a drug testing facility that was mostly underground so they would have to descend from above. Their target was to uncover an experimental drug if they chose they could also free the animal test subjects which Ito had insisted they do, Darren had no objections but Anya thought there wasn't much point in the long run. This time round they decided that Anya would hold defense while Darren and Ito would infiltrate, Anya gave them advice on the security they would likely face but given their objective deemed Darren enough to get through.
Darren and Ito arrived at the compound without getting eyes on the enemy, its as they were told all three seemed to be stressing a defensive strategy this time, "Seems we have to use an elevator to enter the first level, be prepared for traps" Darren said. After stepping into the elevator they removed the elevator panel, Ito climbed up above first while Darren started the elevator and quickly swung up and replaced the panel as it kicked on.
"Be ready, we'll take this one fast" The team leader said, as the elevator doors swung open they unloaded a hail of automatic gun fire into the small box, "Stop, stop!" one of his teammates yelled trying to be heard above the cacophony. The elevator was empty, the back wall was shredded and the control panel was sparking where a few stray bullets struck it, they cautiously approached, they walked into the elevator. The team leader motioned to the panel above and once again all three unloaded repeated rounds into the elevator panel.
As soon as they could hear the gunfire Darren removed the panel to the ventilation system and urged Ito to hurry up, he climbed in behind her and closed it, they moved as fast as they could while the automatic weapons drowned them out. The gun fire stopped and they listened, they could hear the team talking below and cautiously approaching when the gunfire started again they moved to the nearest vent and waited.
The team leader pushed the panel open after they had finished emptying their clips, once again there was no one there, "What's going on did they just push the button then step out anticipating a trap" he said. "You'll need to come down eventually" he yelled up towards the elevator doors above.
Darren and Anya dropped out of the vent behind them "We're already here" Darren announced, when the team went to fire on them they were met with a series of clicks, Darren and Ito unloaded semi auto fire into the boxed in targets. From there it didn't take them long to accomplish the mission unhindered, "Hopefully this will teach them not to put all their eggs in one basket" Darren said.
"That one was to easy" Anya complained, "I didn't get to do anything fun, meanwhile you two were crammed in a tight space together, not fairrr," Ito blushed "Well Darren knew it would be easy" she said "Teams that turtle always go for the same tactics" Darren announced. They watched as the next round progressed, nothing to fancy, a few low grade tactics, it was possible they were concealing their strategies with Darren watching, he didn't expect that much from their next match. Jon's team was the match Darren had been waiting to see, he was curious if Jon had made any improvements but he was more interested in Akira.
The team let Jon do his usual blitzkrieg style tactics while they defended the base, despite his constant arguing and browbeating they had no intention of going along with his plan. It ended fairly fast, after Jon was taken out the other two moved with purpose isolating and wiping out their enemies one at a time. "They'll be tough" Darren said, "And Jon's still an idiot" Anya replied "I bet those two are getting screamed at in the locker room right now" Ito said.
The next team they were facing were competent, Darren decided to have Ito and Anya defend while he assaulted their compound alone, he was familiar with it since it was the building he defended in the Prelims. The team were mimicking his strategy they left one guy behind and had the lights completely extinguished, Darren didn't mind since he fought better in the dark, he flicked his helmet to night vision mode and drew his katana. The first thing Darren did was trigger the trap in the elevator, they weren't good enough to recreate it though and only the bottom half of the elevator cable fell leaving the lift hanging precariously above. Darren quickly whipped around to the inside of the elevator, he could hear the fools footsteps outside looking for him as he silently ascended the side of the shaft. Darren had made the second floor and moved around behind the hanging elevator as the man looked up the shaft to see what went wrong, Darren finished the job severing what was left of the cable and the man was forced to jump back as the elevator came crashing down. He rapidly ascended reaching the fifth floor before the man could get back to his feet, he hacked the panel and reached the fifth floor expecting the sixth floor door to be trapped. Darren rigged a flashbang trap to the staircase below the fifth floor before he hurried to the server room and began the process.
The team assaulting the student council building did work well together, they moved in tandem watching each others backs, Anya was able to use it against them though, as they made the manager's office. Anya had intentionally left the door unlocked and they reached the PC sitting on the desk one of them immediately got to work. He slipped a thumb drive into the computer tower and had it begin feeding passwords to unlock the manager's account, "Where are the defenders?" his teammate asked. "Surely all three of them didn't go assault our headquarters, the student council wouldn't do something that dumb" as the man became agitated he noticed something under the desk. It was to late, the manager's account opened, "I'm in" the team leader exclaimed and then the Tesla trap hidden under the desk triggered catching them both, it was considerably repressed but the voltage was still high enough to drop them, Ito and Anya disarmed them and tied them up.
Darren had finished the hack and started the download when he heard the scream from the stairwell, he moved around behind the room and waited.
"Ugh... can't see," the man groaned, he tore off the helmet he was wearing and stumbled up the stairs and onto the sixth floor, "He must have already made it to the room by now I have to hurry" he thought to himself. As the man got closer to the room he waited for his vision to recover, He came upon the room and looked through the open door to see the words download complete on a small tablet hooked into the main server. He panicked and drew his pistol, before he could shoot a black bag was lowered over his head and tightened, he shot the pistol randomly at his assailant, once the weapon was out of ammunition he was promptly knocked out and the bag was removed.
"Your endless amount of strategies are impressive" Akira remarked as the team left the battleground, "I'd expect no less of the Wraith though" he joked, Darren sighed "I hate whoever came up with that nickname." "I think its a good thing, consider it a sign of respect that the students would think that highly of you" Akira said laughing, Darren dismissed the idea, "Its looking like we'll be fighting it out for the tournament" he said nonchalantly. "I wouldn't be so certain" Akira said, "Guaranteed you've already found a way to neutralize our moron before he can do anything" Akira said grimly, "Prepare yourself, you two will be fighting me and Anya in the finals, Anya has showed the least of her skills overall so you'll be hard pressed on what to expect" Darren said. "You're putting Ito up against Jon by herself?" Akira exclaimed surprised, "Don't worry about it" Darren reassured "Jon has no chance against Ito once she gets serious."