JUST AS they expected, they can't get away from the fifth floor that easily.
"Seems like they've locked us down in here," said Niccolo, tapping the end of his umbrella on the hard metal door that would have led them to the stairs.
When the two got out of the elevator—which quite surprisingly opened—they immediately headed to the stairs in hope of walking down to the lower floors. Unfortunately, all the doors in the Carcerem were technology-facilitated and are immune to attack-type abilities, so breaking doors is impossible. Considering how the intruder managed to bring them to the fifth floor only by hacking down the system, they must also have control over all the rooms in the building. Therefore planning to go to the rooftop would be useless.
The two men then walked towards the sole room on the floor that was quite handy.
When Kingston opened the door of the Security Room, the first thing he saw was a piece of popcorn on the floor.
Looking ahead, he saw there was a whole trail of them, a carton of popcorn, and a phone still playing a cat video. It's all beside the curly-haired young man sitting on the swivel chair, constantly looking around the footage and clicking the monitors one by one as if finding something. Seems like he didn't hear the door opening.
Despite the mess, Kingston and Niccolo entered the room and stood at the back of Sebastian.
"Any changes in the situation?"
"None, damn it." Sebastian clicked his tongue in irritation. "There were no outsiders who entered the building, but there's no one inside the—" He stopped talking, realizing something. His jaw dropped, turning his head around and finding two tall men looming over him. "Holy cow—" He stood up, hand raised in salute. "Greetings, Sirs!"
Niccolo held back a smile. "No one inside the?"
Sebastian went back to his seat and clicked something. "No outsiders, the system was breached from the outside internally, and no one is inside the system room."
Kingston frowned. "Where's the footage on the first floor?"
Sebastian shook his head. "Strangely, it was the only one being taken down, especially the lobby. But it seems like it's also been locked."
Niccolo went to the telephone and tried to make a call, but only a static sound can be heard. "Isn't it working earlier?"
"Yes, it is, but when I tried to call the reception area, it broke."
Niccolo hummed and put down the phone. "I wonder what the motive of the intruder is."
"Seems like they're buying time," Kingston said.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the monitors. "But for what?"
The three went thoughtful, and a few moments passed before Kingston broke the silence.
"Heis, I might need your people here."
Niccolo's brows raised. "I assumed it is for a reason you couldn't handle?"
Kingston's eyes remained looking at single footage. "If all the floors were on lockdown, there's no possibility the officers from the lobby would get to the third and fourth floor. The prisoners on the third floor are rampaging, and my men are outnumbered. Besides that, if the intruder managed to turn off the nullifying system, it can cause bigger casualties." His eye twitched as he watched some officers trying to vacate the area, while some tried to fight off the prisoners using their weapons.
Unlike the other floors which only have a nullifying system inside the rooms, the third floor which holds almost all of the prisoners in the Carcerem has that system working on the whole floor. So both prisoners and officers can't use their abilities.
However, since ability users' strength capacities are superior to those of ordinary humans depending on how powerful their ability is, this is still a battle between abilities, only without using it.
"Kingston," Niccolo called. "I will lend you one of my people, but with one condition."
Kingston's brow raised. "It's unlikely for you to ask for something in return. Go ahead."
Niccolo tapped Sebastian's shoulder, "Is there any way we can communicate with one of the rooms on the second floor?"
MIZUKI MUST have fallen asleep after Niccolo left, because the moment a loud alarm went off, she was startled awake.
"Who the f…?" It wasn't the same alarm as the one earlier, so she figured it came from something else. Mizuki roamed her eyes around, trying to find a speaker or some sort that that person—or people is using to catch her attention.
"Mizuki," a gentle voice sounded in the room. "How was your sleep?"
"Interrupted, thanks to you." Mizuki rolled her eyes. It's impossible for her not to recognize that voice.
"Well, pardon me, but we need your assistance with something."
Mizuki still can't find where the voice came from. It sounded like it was sounding from all the corners. So she gave up. "Oh, yeah? A worker in the Carcerem needs a thieve's ally for assistance?"
"Quite like it," his voice didn't even falter. As if all Mizuki's words, even if it includes curses or insults didn't bother him. "We're having a bit of an issue at the moment, and you are the only person who could possibly make a change to this dilemma."
She frowned. "Get to the point."
"We need you to climb to the third floor and help the officers in handling the prisoners. You may not be aware, but an intruder had breached the system of the Carcerem and had control all over the pla—"
"Hold up." Mizuki raised a hand. "The system of this highly prominent technology-based prison is 'breached'? Are you kidding me? If some outsider just pulled an act like that, maybe you should consider either changing the way you manage things here or just resign." It was harsh but the truth. This man should eat all of that brag he said earlier if this is already something they couldn't handle alone, plus bringing her inside the chaos? Are they being serious right now?
It wasn't Niccolo who replied, much to her surprise.
"That's the point, the 'intruder' seems to be not an outsider at all."
"Then you have a mole in your officers? Isn't that much worse?" What are these guys even thinking, they thought saying that would make things better.
In the security room, Sebastian blinked with his mouth slightly agape from the shock. Damn it, why does she have a point?
Meanwhile, Kingston's face expressed disapproval. "I told you this is a bad idea."
Niccolo kept his smile on his face. "A little insult wouldn't hurt."
"If she wouldn't comply and is unable to do the supposed job you're about to ask her to, the situation will worsen."
"I know." Niccolo brought a little mic near his mouth. "It may have been the case, Mizuki. So would you lend a hand?"
"No, of course," she answered quickly. "What do you think of me, stupid enough to jump into an ongoing war?"
"You may consider changing the 'stupid' into 'brave'."
"Your persuasion suck."
Niccolo chuckled, then his face went serious. "You didn't hesitate when you lure Andrei Constantino away from your friend, then you must have quite the confidence in your capabilities to take care of him. Everyone in that situation would've run in fear, yet you didn't. And even in the aftermath, you are calm. Tell me, it's because you're holding an even more powerful thing inside you…am I right?"
Mizuki didn't reply, her face void of any expression.
"Because you're trusting this 'thing' to save y—"
"Who's trusting who?" She scoffed, eyes glancing down at her leg. "Just fucking tell me what you want me to do so that I can go home and we don't see each other again."
Niccolo's smile almost reached his ears. "Well…"
And he explained the situation in detail, instructing Mizuki how to get to the upper floors if all the elevators were controlled and all the doors were locked.
After the talk, Mizuki blew a breath and rose from her seat. "This is all stupid. So, so stupid." She kept muttering those lines as she pulled open the door of the interrogation room. "They didn't even get me a backup? Are they that stupid to trust me in handling all of these?"