Diane made her descent down the stairway while making quick work of the hooded figures that got in her way. Their voices echoed as several of them fell down several flights of stairs to meet the cold embrace of an unfortunate end. Before going down, she had searched the entire 50th floor for any sign of the bomb but came up on nothing.
She was not too familiar with the building but she knew her more than her fair share. Its name was the Helix Centre, and though it was not a government-owned structure, it was where the Leaders of Pedtro Conference took place. According to what she had heard there was a room designated for surveillance of every floor on the 20th, which was where she was headed to now.
The doors to the stairway swung open as she arrived at her destination. Waiting for her arrival was an Ebon Shroud member wielding a metal bat. They swung for her head but Diane dodged the attack with ease. She placed her hand on their chest and sent a surge of Revel into them. The hooded figure began to convulse, shaking rapidly and frothing from the mouth.
More hooded figures began to emerge from seemingly nowhere. It did not matter what their numbers were though. One touch from Diane and they became incapacitated. The floor was littered with bodies as the cold woman drew closer to her last victim. Fear filled their eyes as they backed into a wall. There was no escape.
"Where is the surveillance room?" Diane asked, her arm gripping firmly around their neck.
The hooded figure's breath was heavy and their legs shook from fear. Despite this, they refused to speak. They peeled their mask off the mouth and spat on Diane's blouse.
"G-go to hell," The stammered.
They immediately began to convulse, their eyes rolling to the back of their head and their mouth frothing. Diane let them drop to the ground as they continued to shake uncontrollably. Blood began to ooze from their tear ducts as their shaking grew more uncontrollable. Soon, they stopped shaking. And they stopped breathing.
Diane could not help but admire the determination of the Ebon Shroud. All of its members were more than willing to lay down their lives for their cause. To her, their attempts were futile. No matter how many times they purged the government and gave power to the people, that power would corrupt. This world was one only the strong could rule.
Eventually, she managed to find the surveillance room on her own. She walked into the room and found a man being held hostage by one of the members of the Ebon Shroud. The hooded figure held a gun against the man's head, both they and their hostage's eyes were filled with uncertainty and fear.
"Don't come any closer!" They yelled. "Or else he dies!"
Diane continued onward with a blank look on her face. The hooded figure continued to yell at her to stop but he never took the hostage's life, and she knew he could not do it. Fed up with the situation, the hooded figure turned his gun to Diane and fired. The dark-haired woman did no more than raise a finger to deflect the shot. Revel surged through her hand, reinforcing it to a level not even Folorunsho could reach as she flicked the bullet away.
The light seemed to leave the hooded figure's eyes. Before he could take another shot, Diane was already upon him. She grabbed him by the wrist and his fate was just like all the rest.
"Thanks," The man held hostage coughed as he rubbed his throat.
"You can thank me by telling me where the bombs are,"
The man gave a grim nod. He quickly took his seat in front of the several monitors that filled the room. From the sheer number of screens present, Diane could tell that this room has surveillance over every nook and cranny of the Helix Centre.
"Right there!" The man exclaimed as he pointed to two screens.
Diane squinted.
"Those are blacked out," She commented.
"Exactly! We never shut off the security cameras so there are two possibilities; either those two screens are malfunctioning or they have been tampered with, a D it's definitely the second,"
"Why not the first?"
"Every monitor and camera are connected to the same mainframe," The man explained. "If there's an issue with one, they'll be an issue with all. That's how we get alerted that there's something in need of fixing on time,"
Diane looked at the screens again. Written at the top left corners were 25 and 75 respectively. It seemed Folorunsho had guessed right about the first bomb.
"Why those floors?" Diane pondered.
"It's the foundation," The man explained. "If the Helix Centre gets blown up at those two specific places, the rest of the building will crumble easily,"
"If that is the case, I need to get to the 25th floor as quickly as possible. Is there a way other than the stairs?"
The man nodded.
"There is a staff-only elevator that can be assessed from the back room here," He said. "It will take you to the Staff breakroom on the 25th floor,"
Diane quickly made her way to the elevator. It was much smaller than the main one at the entrance of the building, only having room for at most 4 people. It shot up the next 5 floors, bringing her to her destination.
The staff room was a fairly large room with several leather seats, a bunch of coffee tables that had magazines and other reading material scattered all over them and a mini fridge that whirred softly in the silence. She made her way out of the room and found someone waiting for her in the hallway, yet another Ebon Shroud member.
"You can save us both the trouble and let me know where the bomb is," Diane said. "Maybe then I will leave you off with only grievous injuries,"
The hooded man said nothing, but his response was loud and clear. Diane made a dash for him with her arm outstretched to use her Revel Art.
"Stop," The hooded man said.
A red aura immediately surrounded Diane and prevented her from moving. Her eyes tensed as she looked at the hooded man in front of her. He was not like all the others. He was a Revel User.