Leaving the inmates behind, the breakouts proceeded to the upper floor. Their first stop was the storage room, where they needed to get a weapon and Arwan's tools before moving to the next floor. Unluckily for them, guards were waiting on the floor they had just arrived at.
"Kick me in the ass!" Arwan cursed.
"Heh. What a beautiful welcome," Femi said.
The hallway on this floor was wider than the previous one. Multiple stretchers, used by the guards to carry the experiments, were arranged in the hallway.
Ten guards occupied the middle of the hall. They immediately shot at the jailbreak trio as soon as they stepped out of the elevator. Eina's quick reaction saved them; she pushed them away just in time to avoid the bullets.
They maneuvered and used one of the stretchers, designed to strap down struggling failed experiments, as cover. Although the bullets the guards shot weren't strong enough to penetrate the cover immediately, the repeated shots gradually caused more damage.
Femi peeped to look at their assailants, then smiled at Arwan, and said, "I'm going."
Arwan blinked repeatedly out of confusion. "Are you crazy? You have no weapons! And see that guy behind them? Everything about him screams 'I'm dangerous.'" He pointed at the orange-haired individual standing with his back against the wall and his arms crossed. "Are we ready to risk our lives?"
Femi's smile grew more devious. "I can tell. I won't die here. To answer your question, yes I am."
Knowing they had no choice and driven by their unwavering goals, Arwan sighed. "Let's go with this plan then..."
The orange-haired fellow grew impatient. He prompted the guards, "Would you guys capture them already?"
"Sir Five, this people along with X already took down ten of our men. We can't let our guards down," replied the closest guard.
The orange-haired fellow, Five, didn't like being spoken to like this by people he considered beneath him. He glared at the guard, then sighed as he walked closer.
"You see, guys," he said, thrusting his hand into the guard's chest and grabbing his heart, "fear me more than you fear X, or pay the consequences." He squeezed the heart as he finished, using his tongue to lick the blood off his hand.
The remaining guards watched the scene with terror in their eyes. Five's message was clear: Act like a wimp because of X, and you die by my hands.
They all gulped as they turned to face the jailbreakers with forced determination.
The trio had finished planning and watched the scene play out. Femi smiled, Eina maintained her usual emotionless expression, while Arwan covered his mouth in horror.
"Femi, does your hunch feel like I'll die?" Arwan asked with a tense smile.
Femi kept his usual smile. "That... I don't know," Femi replied.
The tense silence that filled the hallway broke as Femi and Eina rushed the group.
"X! Show me something interesting!" Seeing them approach, Five yelled from behind the guards right before Eina engaged them.
Eina moved on all fours, ahead of Femi. She zigzagged, dodging the bullets fired at her. She was faster than the guards could aim. Once within range, she began knocking the guns out of their hands, one by one.
Femi engaged those who were unarmed in close combat before they could switch to their daggers.
The guards were cool-headed but pressured because any mistake could lead to their demise.
Four of the guards rushed Femi while Eina handled the remaining five.
The only problem the four that engaged Femi had was that they couldn't use weapons as they didn't want to leave much damage on someone that was designated important by their bosses.
Femi could only keep those four at bay by using an attack and retreat process. He had to stall till Eina was done with the remaining five.
It took longer than expected since the guards were better when they were calm. They fought Eina with good dagger skills, and she fought with her nails which were durable enough to fight against steel.
Few minutes in, Eina successfully knocked them out.
She turned to look back at Femi who managed to knock one guard out. She was about to help him when she felt someone approach her.
She jumped back, avoiding the punch Five launched at her. She didn't stop though. She kept back stepping, even forcing Femi to retreat.
Femi and Eina ended up retreating closer to the elevator, where Arwan watched from.
"He's strong," Femi stated. "I don't think I can beat him. Fighting him will be fun!"
Arwan was about to scold Femi but was interrupted by Eina. "I'll fight alone," Eina said. "Go."
"Ehhh, but I want to fight the strong guy," Femi cried out.
"Let's go to the storage room. We'll get just in her way." Arwan explained.
Femi reluctantly accepted. He just wanted to fight the strong guy because it's one of these situations he believed could make him feel more emotions.
They decided that they'll leave after Eina diverted the attention of the remaining guards and Five.
Five slowly walked, reaching the remaining guards. Feeling his gaze, the guards froze.
"S-sorry. We're just about to round up." One of the three stated.
"Ah yes. You c-can leave this, just trust us sir," another said.
"You guys shouldn't worry, I'll handle it from here." Five said.
With a movement faster than average eyes could follow, Five grabbed two of the guards' heads.
"Eh?" They both said as they felt something on their head.
Five brought their heads together to hit the third guard. With those movements, he crushed the skull of the guards. He killed them!
"X! See this?! Do the same and kill those fodders behind you!" Five yelled.
"Go," Eina instructed with an indifferent tone.
Femi and Arwan understood and waited for the moment they'll go to the end of the hallway, where the storage room was said to be.
Eina darted at a faster speed than she had been moving, flexing her hand muscle and she was ready to claw at Five.
Five looked at her and sighed in disappointment, "You're really unworthy of being X-0." He spread his legs to a posture that could take Eina's attack then roared, "I, X-5, shall take the position of the original from you, fodder!"
As Eina clawed hand made contact with Five's kick, a gust of wind rose around them. They briefly glanced at each other before assaulting each other like mad creatures.
From a viewer's perspective, the fight between them resembled one between a wild cat and a big mad bear.
"She was also that strong," Femi commented.
"Right. Let's leave here," Arwan said, scared to be caught up in this battle of these successful experiments.
After finding an opening, Femi led Arwan to the other end of the hallway, reaching the storage room.