Rogue Nation: Meet the IMF

Chapter 8: The Torus

Benji added as he walked into the SCF, pretending to be talking on his phone: "Remember, conserve oxygen. Don't move a muscle if you don't have to."

Ethan checked his wrist for the monitor band Ilsa had provided him with, which had a timer for three minutes and showed his body's current oxygen level. He took deep breaths, filling up the oxygen in his lungs as he watched the monitor, breathing until he reached 100%.

Both Kat and Ilsa monitored his progress on their screens as well, Kat starting to bite her lip as she became steadily more and more anxious. She was keeping an eye on Ethan's stats, the torus and its water flow, and Benji's progress, and fear and anticipation was twisting severe knots in her stomach as they reached to the deeper phases of their plan.

Benji had reached the fingerprint scanner by the elevator, and Kat quickly let him through. As the elevator doors closed, he informed the others quietly: "I'm in the elevator."

"This is as far as I can get you, Benji." Kat added softly, her voice filled with worry.

He nodded so that she could see on the security camera, while Ilsa told Ethan as he peered over the edge of their conveyer: "That current will carry you to a torus. Once you're there-"

"I'll shut it down." Kat finished, starting to get impatient with the two continuing to talk and probably putting ever more pressure on Ethan.

"Important note." Benji added as he went down in the elevator. "The profile is in slot 108. And a slightly more important note," he continued, his voice becoming more worried the longer he spoke, "if you haven't switched that profile before I reach the gait analysis, I'm dead."

"Thank you, Benji." Ilsa deadpanned as Ethan's face went expressionless. To a trained spy, that meant he was nervous... and scared.

"Ethan, good luck." Kat murmured over the comms, and he took a deep breath, before nodding.

"He heard you." Ilsa replied for Ethan as he moved to the edge of the conveyer, conserving his breath as he set his timer. Kat watched anxiously as the clock began to count down from three minutes, while Benji started his watch timer as well.

Ethan pulled on his goggles before stepping over the edge of the conveyer, hanging on with his arms as he stared down at the long drop below him. He took one last deep breath before he let go and jumped right through the centre of the gaping hole. He plunged into the watery depths below, doing as Ilsa said and letting the current take him down and through and into the torus while both women monitored his body stats anxiously.

Benji meanwhile arrived at the SCF floor, and he took a deep breath as he walked out of the elevator. He noted the security camera in the corner and then the three walls of glass doors that stood between him and the central computer terminal area. He stepped out carefully, slipping a ring gadget on the combination lock as he placed himself strategically so that the security camera couldn't see him as the gadget whirred and found the right combinations for him.

As soon as it beeped green, the doors slid open and Benji walked to the next set of doors. Meanwhile, Kat waited for a minute to pass before she rebooted the cooling system, closing the currents. Ethan reached the torus, spinning around the circular container as the currents continued to push him around. He grabbed the nearest slot compartment as he waited for the currents to slow down, avoiding the spinning metal arms as he did so.

When the currents slowed, coming to a stop, Ethan quickly looked around, spotting slot 108 just a few slots over from his current position. He swam over quickly, latching onto the slot and starting to pull it open before ducking as he sensed movement behind him. The metal arm swung over his head, and as soon as he was clear once more, Ethan tugged open the slot.