*Earlier that day*
Braxton raised his fist, getting ready to knock on the door. He held his breath, preparing himself for what was to come.
"Dude, what is taking you so long?" Doriyan groaned. "Just knock on the damn door, already."
"I am!" Braxton glared back at him. "Jeez." Braxton turned back to the door and hesitated before rapping his knuckles on the metal door.
"Come in," a faint voice said from the other side. Braxton opened the door and walked in with Doriyan and Gaia following him.
"Sorry to bother you, General," Braxton winced as he stood before the older man. "But we're pretty sure Tess's mission is about to be compromised. Gaia, Doriyan, and I were thinking it might be best to pull her out of the Eagle's Nest."
The older man who sat at the desk turned off his computer, the screen dissipating in thin air. The grim look on his face only accentuated his ghastly features. His skin was badly burned and wrinkled, making him look older than he actually was, and he had scarring over his face. Braxton wasn't afraid of how the general looked, though. In fact, no one in the Rebellion was really scared of him. He did, however, have a temper, and Braxton was worried about how he would react to having to pull out their only intel of the government from her mission.
The man sighed. "Very, well. Tess is a valuable member of our team. It'd be a shame to lose her. I'm rather impressed she's been able to last two months in there." The man tapped on his watch a few times. "Silva, report to head office," he said, speaking into the device. He looked back up at the three young adults. "Tell me what happened."
Gaia started explaining her interaction with Tess through their encrypted messages. "We don't know how much longer she has in there," she said when she was done.
The general sighed. "If the Raven is suspecting that one of us is in his office, he'll want to find them immediately. We'll have to get her right away." A knock on the door sounded outside. "Come in."
The door opened and another young man stepped in, looking a little nervous. "You wanted to see me, General?"
"Aren, lighten up a bit, won't you?" The general nodded. "We're conducting another rescue mission, and we'll need your technological skills to guide our rescue party through." He gestured for Aren to sit in the seat next to him. When Aren was seated, the general pulled up the computer screen and started typing in information. A diagram of a map soon appeared on the screen. "This is a tracing of the Eagle's Nest that was mapped by Tess's e-Watch. We'll have to use this to plan an escape route to safely get in and out. It'll be much easier to get in and out with the malware Tess planted in their systems." He nodded at the others. "You three will go and retrieve her, so I recommend that you all start getting ready to leave immediately. Aren and I will be on comm guiding you guys."
Braxton nodded. "Yes, sir." He looked at Gaia and Doriyan. "Let's reconvene at the garage."
After being dismissed, Braxton, Doriyan, and Gaia headed opposite ways, with Braxton and Gaia going to the gear and weapons room and Doryian going to the infirmary. "Hopefully, we won't be too late," Gaia told Braxton. "The Raven will kill anyone he suspects of being part of the Rebellion. If he hasn't killed everyone in his office yet, we'd better hurry up. After gearing up, you should load up the van with all our equipment."
"I know," Braxton rolled his eyes. "You don't have to talk to me like you're in charge of me."
Gaia furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"
Braxton scoffed. "You know what I mean. My uncle put me in charge of overseeing Rebels in combat. I'm tired of you trying to take over my job every time we're on the field."
"What?" Gaia laughed. "Just because you're the general's nephew doesn't mean you automatically deserve everyone's respect. I may be younger than you, but I am wiser and more mature. If you want me to stop picking up your slack, then grow up and start acting like you care."
Braxton stopped in his tracks and crossed his arms. "What makes you think I don't care? You think I would risk my life every other day on the field rescuing people if I didn't care?"
Gaia rolled her eyes. "Braxton, we don't have time for this. Lives are at stake. We can argue about your maturity levels later."
Braxton groaned and followed after Gaia. She's always been like this since they were kids; thinking she's better than everyone and always wanting to please people above her. She was that kid in school who reminded the teacher that they forgot to assign homework. She would always brag to him and Doriyan about how she would get the highest test scores in class. Truthfully, Braxton admired how intelligent she was and how she always produced satisfactory results in everything she did, but she was quite annoying and controlling. If she wasn't so skilled in combat, Braxton would never want to work alongside her.
When Gaia and Braxton entered the gear and weapons room, they started suiting up silently. "You know," Gaia finally said as they started equipping weapons. "I do respect you, Braxton. I think you're strong and fully capable of doing things. But, you know, it wouldn't really kill you if you actually started acting like you're twenty."
Braxton frowned. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is," Gaia grunted as she hauled a large backpack onto her shoulders. "You need to start taking your responsibilities more seriously. I'm only trying to look out for you. The people here don't really look to you as a leader, you know. I'm just trying to give you some advice."
"I don't see what you mean," Braxton shrugged. "People here really seem to like me."
"Sure, they like you," Gaia agreed. "But when it comes to who they expect to give them orders, you're not necessarily their number one choice. It's just something for you to think about. I'm not trying to put you down in any way. Also, a word of advice: a leader shouldn't be afraid to take the consequences of their actions."
Braxton sighed. "Why don't you just be in charge of giving orders, then?"
Gaia shrugged. "It's just not my job. Your uncle entrusted you with that responsibility because he sees something in you. And I see it, too. And as much as you and Doriyan argue, he sees it, too. You have many people counting on you, Braxton. Don't let them down."
Braxton really let those words sink in. Yeah, Gaia was really annoying sometimes, but he knew she was right. He had a whole revolution looking to him for what they should do. People's lives literally depended on him. Maybe it was time to start maturing.
The door to the weapons and gear room opened and shut automatically as Doriyan rushed in. "You guys! Check out what me and the others made!" Doriyan went up to Gaia and Braxton and showed them a tiny vial in his hands.
"What is it, Doriyan?" Gaia asked.
Doriyan beamed proudly. "After spending months trying to figure out how to chlorinate properties from burned sugarcane, we finally conceived our very own trichloromethane!"
Braxton looked from the vial, then to Doriyan, looking rather unimpressed. "So... what is it?"
Doriyan frowned. "It's chloroform. We now have a sedative to not only use sparingly on patients, but to be used on enemies as well."
"Oh, nice. Are we taking it with us?"
Doriyan shrugged. "I mean, up to you guys. I wasn't really thinking about it for the mission."
"Eh, why not?" Gaia said. "It wouldn't hurt to bring it. Besides, you'll never know if it'll come in handy."
"Okay, just give me a second to get my gear on. I'll meet you guys in the garage."
When everyone was ready and the van was packed, the three Rebels piled into the van. Gaia spoke into her earpiece as she started typing directions into the car. "Alright, Maverick, what's the quickest way to the Eagle's Nest?"
"You won't be able to get past the gate," the general replied back over the comms. "You'll have to take the ninety five if you want to get there unnoticed. Aren is sending you a copy of the route."
Gaia's watch buzzed. "Got it." She input the directions into the van's computer. "Okay, we're on the move." Gaia moved over to the back of the van, where Doriyan and Braxton were sitting.
"So..." Braxton looked over at the vial Doriyan still had in his hands. "How does it work?"
"Well," Doriyan started. "The easiest and most accessible way for us to do it is to put some drops on a piece of cloth and hold it over a person's mouth or nose. This sample we made is not super potent, so it may take a while for it to kick in."
"That's cool. So surgeries are going to be a lot less painful, then?"
Doriyan winced. "Not exactly. A patient can be put to sleep under it, but there are so many complications with it that we would never actually use it unless if it was a last resort. I would have loved to grab some samples of anesthesia from the Raven's research facility, but everything was blown up before I could even touch something." He sighed wistfully. "I would've killed to take some of their medical technology with us."
Braxton shrugged. "Sorry, man. Maybe another opportunity will come."
"Maybe," Doriyan agreed. "But for now, its main use is really more as a weapon."
Gaia smiled. "Maybe you could use it to kidnap the Raven's scientist and he can give you access to all the medical supplies."
"Yeah, I wish," Doriyan scoffed.
The van continued to drive itself all the way to town, coming to a stop tucked away in a tight alleyway. "Alright," Aren's voice came on in everyone's earpieces. "You guys are about half a kilometer from the Eagle office, which will be a ten minute walk. Your guy's best chance is to scale the cliff and hop the fence. Enter through the side. You're less likely to be seen that way."
"Alright, guys, let's move out," Braxton ordered. Each of them put on their face coverings, and the doors to the back of the van flew open, the three of them piling out of the van one by one.
"Braxton, wait!"
Braxton turned around to see Doriyan carefully spilling some of the liquid into a white cloth. "Careful not to put it too close to your face." He gave the cloth to Braxton.
Braxton pocketed the cloth. "So we're drugging someone today?"
Doriyan shrugged. "You never know."
Braxton nodded. "I don't care what anyone else says, Doriyan; you're a fun guy."
Doriyan frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You guys," Gaia urged. "Let's get a move on."
The three of them ran behind the buildings, jumping, climbing, and ducking under obstacles in their way. Finally, they reached the clearing where the Eagle's Nest was and looked up at the giant cliff ahead of them.
"The cliff is about twenty five feet tall," Aren said through the earpieces. "Your grapplers should easily be able to get you up there."
Braxton, Doriyan, and Gaia pressed a button on their belts, and suddenly two wires from each flew up and out. The sensors of the grapplers detected the edge of the cliff and latched onto the rock, pulling them up. Once they reached the top and hauled themselves over the cliffs, they retracted their grapplers by pressing the button again and started moving stealthily to the side of the Nest, reaching a tall black iron-barred fence.
Doriyan swallowed. "That's gonna be a tricky climb."
Braxton spoke into the earpiece. "Is there a quicker escape route than going over the fence?"
"Assuming that I can override the electrical locks on the gate in the time you have to escape, that will be your best exit," Aren advised.
Braxton stretched his neck from side to side. "Better start climbing, then."
The three climbed up the slippery bars with difficulty, but nonetheless made it over. They snuck over to the side of the mansion, stopping next to one of the large window panes.
"Busting into the main corridor is your best chance of a quiet entrance and exit," Maverick said. "We want to be as quiet as possible, so use the glass cutter."
Gaia took out a big, round metal object and mounted it on one of the windows. Two bars extended from it, moving circularly in opposite directions, cutting a circle into the glass. Gaia removed the device along with the glass, discarding the piece carefully on the ground. "Is the coast clear?"
Braxton peered through the window. "Yup, for now. Let's move quick."
The three leapt through the space in the window and received more intel from Maverick. "Tess is three rooms down the hall to your left, but it's likely she's not alone. We've sent her a message that you're on the way."
"Got it," Braxton responded. He chuckled. "This mission is cake so far."
"Hey!"
The three turned around to see a large man in a suit. Probably another bodyguard. He spoke into an earpiece. "I have a code orange. I repeat, code orange."
Braxton sighed. "Spoke too soon." The man charged at Braxton, but he quickly sidestepped out of the way and grabbed hold of the man's arm, twisting it behind his back. The man grunted in pain, and Braxton kicked the back of his knee in, throwing the man off balance and onto the floor. "You know, if this is how government security is, this place is fucked."
"Alright, guys," Maverick said. "Their security is trying to put the whole place on lockdown, but we're going to try to hold it off for as long as we can. Find Tess and get out of there."
A door opened, and Braxton, Doriyan, and Gaia saw the Raven and two other guards go out of the room. As soon as the guards spotted the Rebels, one began shooting at them while the other guard fled down the hall with the Raven.
"Shit!" Everyone tried to take cover behind accent tables and curtains while Braxton and Gaia started firing shots back. Finally, after an exchange of bullets, the bodyguard fell to the ground. The Rebels finally emerged from their hiding places unscathed. "Let's go before more get here!" Braxton led the others down the hall when they received an audio message from Tess, letting them know she was okay.
When they had busted through the doors, they were relieved to see Tess unharmed with another bodyguard knocked onto the ground. "Alright, we've located her," he reported to Maverick and Aren. They weren't alone, though. Braxton's gaze fell onto a familiar helpless looking female face. He suddenly remembered who she was. "Well, look at that. Gaia, check this out."
Gaia followed Braxton's gaze and she also felt a sense of triumph. It was like the winter gifting season was here early and someone had just blessed them with the greatest gift ever. "Heh, well, would you look at that. Must be our lucky day." She spoke into the earpiece. "Alright, Maverick, find us a way out of here." She looked at Braxton and knew they were thinking the exact same thing. "Braxton, give it to her."
"On it." Braxton cautiously walked up to her, but when he saw the girl trying to run from him, he quickly reached his leg out to trip her. Knowing this was his only chance, he mounted over her and placed the chloroform cloth over her face. He felt bad as she tried to fight back, but this was probably the only chance they'd get to try to recruit her. And given the circumstances they were in right now, it was probably the quickest way to get her to come with them. Finally, the girl's eyes started fluttering shut, and she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Very gentlemanly of you," Tess said sarcastically. "What the hell did you do that for, anyway?"
"We'll explain later. For now, let's focus on getting out of here."
"Say less."
Braxton scooped up the girl like he had done before in the facility, and Gaia started explaining the escape plan that Maverick and Aren had given. They only had a few minutes, give or take, before their bypass into the Nest's security would be shut down completely.
The group rushed down the hall, with security trying to stop them with bullets, but the Rebels were faster. Gaia and Tess were dropping bodies like it was just an annoying chore. They finally managed to burst through the front doors and out the gate, but a few vehicles were already getting onto their trail.
"Let's move through the alleyways again," Gaia said. "They won't be able to get us through there."
When the group got to the bottom of the hill, they backtracked to the way they came from, escaping from the cars and finding their way to the van. When they got in, Gaia immediately put in the route back to HQ, and the team was finally able to sit back in the van, attempting to get down from their adrenaline high.
"So," Tess panted. "What's the deal with Miss Anong over there?" She nodded to Evelyn, who sat passed out between Braxton and Doriyan.
"Well," Braxton started, looking down at Evelyn's peaceful face. "We think we just obtained the key to saving the world."