"May!" Serena shrieked, running at top speed towards her room when she heard Dawn's scream for help, not only for Dr. Hamilton.
"Wait for me!" Ash yelped, staggering along as he struggled to get to his crutches.
"She's having a seizure!" Serena cried.
"I know! I HEARD DAWN THE FIRST TIME! SOMEONE CALL PAUL!" Ash screamed back, still struggling with his crutches.
"WHY DON'T YOU!?" Serena yelled, opening the door for Dr. Hamilton before racing in after her!
"FINE!" Ash called, but he only got silence.
"Ugh, annoying people..." Ash pouted childishly, reaching for the phone attached to the wall. He dialed Paul's Blackberry quickly, telling him to tell the others about May's new condition.
Quickly, faster than Ash would have thought, they were there, clamoring and yelling at each other. Cynthia, Aaron, Bertha, Flint, and Lucian were down there as well, driving Ash nuts.
"You know what? I'm just going to sit here, and pretend that nothing is going on Pikachu. I mean...well, you just came out, and I know you hate your Pokeball, but it was necessary. Plus you might get hurt. Ya know?" Ash said to Pikachu, rubbing the base of his ears, and gently brushing his fingers through his fur.
"Pika. Pikachu. Pika pika," Pikachu purred, forgetting for the moment about Ash putting him in his Pokeball.
"Yeah, I know. They make so much racket! Arceus," Ash muttered, flopping back onto the bed.
"Ow!" Ash groaned as he jostled his arm and leg, Pikachu laughing at his ignorance.
"It's not funny! Ow! Ugh," Ash curled up as much as he could with casts, and Pikachu climbed onto his chest, playfully tapping his paws on his chest. "Pikachu!"
"Yeah yeah," Ash grumbled, resuming his brushing. "Mew, I do not want to spend the entire time brushing your fur, Pikachu."
"Will she be alright?" Serena called from the doorway, as Paul shoved his way inside. Dawn looked scared, but a confident look was pasted onto her face, staring at her friend.
Dr. Hamilton was moving quickly, tying May's arms down. May's shifted, making whimpering sounds as she rolled and twisted painfully.
"Okay. I need all of you to get out. Loud noises will hurt her. Paul, Max, Cynthia, and Aaron may stay. The rest...get out."
The said people stayed by the far wall, letting Dr. Hamilton work, furiously trying to help the struggling May.
"Stay still!" Dr. Hamilton muttered, blocking kick to her head, and pining down her right arm. May spasmed and tangled herself into the bindings, and her face was scrunched up with tension.
"Hey Cynthia."
Aaron pulled on her arm, dragging her away from Paul and Max.
"What Aaron?" she snapped, pulling her arm back.
"I just got a call. People...aren't happy with us. Especially Team Solaceon," Aaron said shakily, staring at the floor.
"So? It's not like anything we haven't dealt with," Cynthia answered, turning back to the two boys.
"No! You don't understand! They'll bomb Rustboro City! You know what that means! It's the home to all industrial parts of Hoenn," Aaron countered, pulling her back.
Cynthia's eyes widened. "Shit. That'll crush the market. And Hoenn's market is the root of all the other stock markets. They'll all drop. It'll be bad."
"Exactly! And now they've released a date. July twenty-sixth. That's in less than a month. But that's not it. Apparently, Zelo got a hold of the Lustrous and Adamant Orbs. And they are trying to get control over the Red and Blue Orbs. For Groudon and Kyogre. Since Cryogonal and Volcarona are safe...we pray and hope Lugia, Ho-oh, the three legendary birds, Suicune, Entei, Raikou...Diancie doesn't help Team Solaceon. We know they can't get the rest to help them, because we have agents with the rest of the legendaries...like Giratina, Mew, Celebi, and the others, but still...if he can get control of time, space, and the elementals...we're in big trouble," Aaron explained, speaking fast.
"Well, what to do?" Cynthia asked, paying full attention now.
"First of all, blow up the hanger with their bombers. And maybe their bombs too. Lucian already had agents track it down. It's somewhere in the Petalburg woods. Then...well. We know where their base is. It's simply too large and well protected to kill off. But if...I can't believe I'm even offering this, but if May get's better, and Ash, we can send them in. Twelve, teenage agents. They can get in and out undetected. Place bombs. And you know, bomb it. The Lustrous Orb and Adamant Orb are horrible. They should not be in existence. Arceus agrees, we called him. Actually...Cilan and Iris visited him. But it doesn't matter. Just that, nobody should be able to control Pokemon. And if they get the Red and Blue Orbs..." Aaron trailed off. "Then we'll just explode those too."
"Hm. Seems like you planned this all out. We'll talk about this later," Cynthia glared, huffing before walking towards the two boys, leaving Aaron with his mouth open.
"What'd I say?" he muttered to himself, still confused.
"Okay. I got her stabilized. She's on a good track. I won't go into the actual medical reasoning, but she should wake up now. Perhaps the seizure did her good. It isn't relevant. I would say with how she's progressing...maybe in a couple days max? Couple hours if we're lucky. Doubt it though," Dr. Hamilton reported, wiping at her forehead.
"Thank Arceus," Cynthia sighed, motioning for Paul and Max to come over.
"Dr. Hamilton just said that May'll be waking up most likely. And it will be soon. Max, you can stay here until she does, okay? But then you need to go back on your own Pokemon journey, right? Weren't you just visiting family in Petalburg?" Cynthia asked, telling Max about her sister.
"Yeah. I'm so glad to hear May's going to be alright," Max grinned, smiling from ear to ear.
"Should I...tell the others?" Paul asked hesitantly.
Cynthia gave him a thoughtful look. "I don't know. This is your call. May's your partner. Do whatever you must."
Paul raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"Yeah, yeah. Fine. Tell Truman and the other agents too. Go ahead. I heard Solidad is still in the hospital, and Harley's with her. Call her too if you must," Cynthia answered, not even paying attention anymore.
"Can you guys...leave?" Drew asked, peeking through the door.
"Okay. I'm going to leave now. Max, you coming?" Paul asked emotionlessly, stalking towards the door with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
"Uh...yeah! Wait for me!" the younger trainer cried, scrambling to stand up and race after the leaving Paul.
"I should probably go now too, huh?" Cynthia smiled ruefully, giving Dr. Hamilton a serious look. "Take care of her. If she doesn't wake up..."
Cynthia didn't finish, turning away to hide the tears of guilt and regret.
"Com on Aaron. We have things to do. Let's go plan out how to execute that plan of yours. Take care of yourself too, Dr. Hamilton. And the others might need check-ups. Just in case. Thanks," Cynthia said, looping her arm through Aaron's and dragging him reluctantly out of the ICU units, shutting the door behind them.
"No more visitors after this. Stress on her environment can completely change her track and condition. So, I'm sorry. But no one must enter the room except me from now on. You guys can go visit Solidad, and like Ash and stuff. Tell him he can swim, but he needs to find me later to get the papers. You can visit anyone, but not May. Though Solidad is coming back soon. Back to here, I got the papers this morning," Dr. Hamilton explained. "Okay Drew?"
Drew nodded as Dr. Hamilton slipped out the door.
Drew silently padded towards the peaceful-now May. He sank into the soft chair, groaning and rubbing at his eyes. "Hello. May. Ugh. I had so much to say, and I was thinking about all the bad things...and now? I have nothing to say. How disappointing," Drew told her, hesitantly brushing back May's sweat-soaked hair.
"She'll be alright," Paul said quietly, shoving Drew to the side. "Wake up in a couple days."
"Dieu merci," Serena breathed, her wavering voice the only sign of worry from her strong, confident stance. Dawn cried into her shoulder, tears of joy this time.
(Thank God," Serena breathed,)
"It will be okay, Mar, hold your head up," Misty whispered gently, supporting her cousin. Leaf hugged both of them with relief, exhaling a breath she didn't even realize she had been holding.
"I'm going to the cafeteria. We're free for the afternoon. Tell Ash that he's allowed to go swimming, if he confirms it later with Dr. Hamilton. Otherwise, I'll tell you more there. I'm hungry. Solidad is up for visits, though she's coming back soon, tomorrow maybe. Max is May's little sister, if you guys don't know. He'll be staying with us until things are permanent with May whether she wakes up or not. Otherwise...class dismissed. Training was this morning. So...have fun!" Paul said, before running up the stair, leaving the crowded hallways and quiet mutterings.
Max followed the cold trainer up the stairs, to the dining rooms.
Paul heard Max's stomach grumble irritably, asking for food.
"Truman! Can I get a smoothie? With that protein powder stuff that Bertha is insisting we eat?" Paul requested, sitting down on at the large table in the center of the room.
"You want any?" Paul grunted, looking at Truman, but talking to Max.
"Uh...Can I just get a normal smoothie? Without...Protein powder? And maybe some Pokemon food?" Max said nervously, polishing his glasses. When Truman inclined his head in agreement, Max called out his Pokemon. "Metagross, snack time! You too Gyrados!"
With a flash of light, both of the giant Pokemon were in the room.
"Uh...maybe we should go to the Pokemon floor. Where everything is built for them," Paul proposed with a raised eyebrow, gesturing towards the door. The disgruntled Metagross and Gyrados looked like they agreed.
"Uh...yeah. Sure," Max said sheepishly. He returned his Pokemon, and the pair left for the Pokemon floor.
"We'll be at the PF! Bring some Pokemon food for me too, yeah?" Paul called out right before the door closed, and he held his foot out, making sure it didn't close.
"Got it! I'll get Swanna to bring it to you guys!" Truman shouted back from the kitchen.
"'Kay!" Paul affirmed, leaving with Max.
They were just as quiet as before as they moved further up the Base, getting closer and closer to the surface. But before they did, they got to the PF, both of them releasing all their Pokemon. They were both silent as they settled down, minds on totally different things.
When Max was slurping his smoothie and staring at the playful Pokemon, did Paul finally say anything to Max.
"So how is she at home?" Paul asked, gulping down his own smoothie.
"Hm? You mean May? She's happy. Excited. She's super lucky. And is fun to be around. Except when she's upset. When she's upset, she brings the whole world down," Max said thoughtfully, remembering.
"No wonder she's so imposing in our Team," Paul agreed.
"But...she's also determined to get what she wants. So...watch out, Team Solaceon!" Max sighed. "If she wakes up..."
"Ngh," Paul grunted not looking at Max. Though his lips twitched into a half-smile, showing that he wasn't that indifferent. "She'll wake up. I guarantee that."
That shut Max up, and he drank his smoothie in silence once again..
Paul finished his smoothie first, and returned his Pokemon, all who were done eating as well. Max hurriedly followed, returning his own Pokemon and running after him.
"They're going go visit Solidad," Paul told Max shortly, stopping to check his ringing phone.
"Uh...yeah?" Max asked hesitantly. "Why're you telling me?"
"Mari wants to know if you want to tag along. Because your family knew Solidad before May joined. You know," Paul said, starting to walk again.
"Sure," Max nodded, a slight hop to his step now.
"Good," Paul muttered as he pointed towards Marina and Leaf, who were waiting for Max patiently.
Max ran after them, following eagerly.
"Good," Paul nodded, before turning away, breathing deeply. "Good. Be strong. Be strong, Paul," he muttered to himself, falling into the shadows.
"Be strong."
Three weeks later...
Shadows danced as the search lights swept over them. Jimmy tripped and coughed a couple of times, regaining his footstep.
"Damn," Jimmy muttered, rubbing at his twisted foot.
"Feu! Shut up!" Drew snapped, glaring at Jimmy.
"Sorry Herbe," Jimmy groaned. "You've been insufferable ever since May's been in that coma. I'm so glad Ash is back..."
"Feu..." Paul warned, shifting and the patterns on his black suit disappeared into the shadows.
"Hey Glace," Leaf's whispered in their ears. "You close yet?"
The whirring sound of a facility at work buzzed around them.
The loud spinning and bright lights of a helicopter raked over them, and both Drew and Jimmy ducked next to Paul, hidden in the forest's protection. "Nah," Paul said quickly, observing their surroundings. "Not quite there yet."
They were now too close to the facility to talk loudly. Security was tight with Team Solaceon. They couldn't afford a screw-up, so they had the ultimate security money could get you, and hundreds of guards and grunts. But it wasn't anything Team Eevee couldn't handle. Even with the unconscious May.
Serena darted over, nearly bowling over Paul, but a steadying hand, and she was up and running again, taking off with her bow slung over her shoulder.
Marina followed, darting everywhere and nowhere. The boys shared looks.
"Can't let them have all the fun," Drew remarked, racing after them with near silent footsteps. Jimmy shrugged and raced after him, Paul falling into to step with him.
Team Eevee was on a mission. Leaf was hidden back in the heart of the forest, monitoring the others. Then the Team had split up, one group to the north side, and one group to the south side.
Jimmy, Drew, Paul, Marina, and Serena took to north end, while Calem, Misty, Ash, Dawn, and Gary, took the south. This was simply a scouting mission. But because the security was so high, they didn't just send the Shadows. They sent the entire Team Eevee. Except for May, still getting better, but in a coma.
The goal was to get eyes for Leaf and Calem in the building, and discover the best way inside and such, because the EIA had absolutely no idea how the facility was built, other than it's general dimensions. But most of it was underground, like the Base, impenetrable for anybody, other than Team Eevee, of course.
"Okay. I've got censors now. There are two grunt-towers to your right, And three patrols of six out and about in your area Glace," Leaf said, the faint bleeping and tapping of her fingers barely audible.
"Calem! Dude! No more walking, there's tripwire and lasers. Right at the edge of the forest," Leaf protested frantically, as she obviously tried to stop the other team from doing anything stupid.
"Okay," Paul muttered, crouching into the shadows of the tall grasses. The forbidding building towered just over the hill, tall prairie grasses surrounding them. Grunt-towers and patrols swept the grounds constantly, while traps and cameras were just as common. But Leaf had placed censors and blockers on all of them, jamming the electrical signals of most of the traps, and allowing her to find metal and wire in the open plain.
"Route, Leaf?" Paul requested.
"Just a moment," Leaf mumbled distractedly, talking and yelling at Calem faintly.
"I swear! Gary shut the fuck up! Do you want to die and kill everyone in your group! Shut up!" Leaf swore, "Okay Calem, there's a patrol about twenty feet to your left, you can probably hear them, the path is intricate. But first, take them out."
"Got it," Calem agreed, the temporary May.
"Alright Paul. You have an open section, but only for about another three minutes. Run zig-zag, as the lights sweep in a strange pattern. Quickly. And when you reach the wall, there will be alarms. You'll have to activate the stronger radio-active blockers and mini hackers Lucian invented. Do you understand?" Leaf spoke quickly, obviously busy.
"Yes," Paul affirmed, whispering.
"Guys, heard that?" Paul asked, verifying.
Nods went around as the entire group nodded in agreement.
"Let's go," Paul muttered, running silently over the rough terrain.
Silent shadows moved as Dorian twirled around, his flashlight bouncing around the uneven ground. He fingered his Pokeball, rubbing patterns along it.
"Hey Silas, do you have a feeling...that someone's watching us?" Dorian asked.
Silas shrugged, an amused smile pulling at his lips. "Don't tell my your scared, Dorian?"
"I dunno...It's just...I feel like we're being watched," Dorian muttered to the raven haired man. Suddenly the crickets all around stopped, and the shadows flickered again in the faint light.
"Hey! Colette was just here!" Carly protested, looking around her with a bewildered expression.
"Huh?" Chris, they're pod leader spun around.
The shadows flickered again, as the light seemed to almost bend.
"Where's Ben?"
Flicker of light.
"Uh...where'd Taylor go?"
The entire pod seemed to panic, everyone spreading out to find their pod-mates. Silas's soft footsteps accompanied Dorian as they spread out.
The grass rustled and a wild Pokemon called out, once. Just once. And fell silent.
The grass shifted again, and when Dorian whipped his flashlight towards the moving fronds, it had already disappeared, whatever it was.
"I don't think we're the only ones here," Dorian whispered to Silas, eyes straight forward.
But he was met with silence. Silas's footsteps had stopped too.
"Silas?!" Dorian whispered, turning towards his partner. No response. Not even a shadow of the lanky man in sight.
Suddenly the slight movement in the grass came closer, but whoever, or whatever it was, was skilled. Even with a bright light shining at it, Dorian still had no idea what or who it was.
Suddenly, a gorgeous face was too close, flaming hair and turquoise eyes. His mouth was covered, and the light hand resting at his neck kept from even gulping. Powerful and lithe muscles pressed against his back and he could feel the sheaths of daggers and a sword as well.
Whoever it was had came prepared.
"Move, and you die," the woman whispered elegantly, tilting her head. Her grip tightened, but was almost relaxed.
Dorian didn't move a muscle.
"Water! Kill him! He saw your face, and this is a 'see and kill' mission. You know that," a blue-haired woman slipped next to the first lady, just as lithe and graceful.
"Fire! We didn't kill all of the others..." 'Water' pouted.
Dorian's mind was screaming, trying to find any way out of her hold. But all his years of training as a guard and grunt for Zebulon resulted in nothing. Her hold was just too damn perfect.
A raven-haired man slid next to him, lugging Silas.
"This one struggled," he said grimly, dropping Silas's unconscious body and let it flop to the ground.
"Will you struggle?" 'Water' crooned, an amused smile, just like Silas's adorned her face.
Dorian gulped lightly, still frozen and half blinded with anger and rage.
"No? Good. Psychique? Should I kill him?" 'Water' questioned softly, eyes observing everything.
Dorian was still thinking of escape plans and how to warn the facility when 'Psychique' answered.
"No. Just knock him out. Hard enough for a concussion. I'm pretty sure Tropius is on his way to collect the ones..." the man winced, "...That we didn't kill. For trials and legal stuff. Private trials."
And right after Dorian's mind registered what he had said, the pretty 'Water' gave a pleasant smile, almost sympathetic, before everything went dark.
Ash shifted, his bunched up muscles cramping as he struggled to move past the laser without twisting any of his injuries further
"Come on Électrique," Misty sighed, gently guiding his stiff limbs along.
Ash groaned and rubbed at his ankle and wrist as he passed through the last of the infrared lasers, glaring at the offensive traps. "Why couldn't we disable them?"
"Because these have special alarms on them. For if they're disabled," Calem answered in a hushed voice, ducking down under the tall grasses, making nearly no noise. He gestured for Misty and Ash to join him as they crouched low and peered over the top of the grasses at the glowing building and far off flashlights bouncing around.
"Hmph. Whatever. What now?" Ash muttered, kneeling silently with Calem, flanking him. It was more Ash and Misty flanking Calem, but Ash didn't like to think of it that way. Dawn and Gary had taken off ahead, scouting and taking out any stray grunts on silent patrols.
"Grass says..." Calem tapped his comms a couple times, static crackling in all of their ears.
Misty winced and glared at the gray-eyed agent. "Psychique."
"Sorry," Calem accepted, still crouched down low. "Fire, Sombre. News? We need to get a move on. We can't stay here much longer and our window of getting in is getting smaller and smaller."
On missions, Serena and Calem cut out their French accents, and refrained from using French, other than the code names, because it would give away information about their identities.
"Killed one, the other...I left unconscious, though I had Umbreon do a couple scratches on his body, as if a Pokemon did it," Gary answered.
"Nothing. All clear. But I discovered a couple of traps. It was...pretty bad. But Leaf activated the electromagnetic field just in time," was Dawn's reply.
"Can we move, Grass?" Calem asked, looking over the swaying grasses again.
"Yes. Move diagonally to the right for about ten meters, then straight forward, and finally, diagonally to your left. That should place you right along the wall of the facility. You know you have to enter the ducts to find the security rooms without being detected right?" Leaf said.
Calem motioned for the three of them to start moving, Dawn bounding closer to them and Gary affirming his location.
"Yes, got it Grass. We're on the move. Monitor please," Calem replied.
"Hm," was all Leaf said.
The group followed Leaf's instructions, making it closer and closer to the glowing wall with every passing moment. Soon enough, they finally managed to make it to the towering wall of the facility.
Calem and Ash both drew daggers, trying to force the little covering open.
Gary joined them a heartbeat later, breathing hard. "I...had to outrun one of the guys with a gun."
Ash patted his shoulder before digging his dagger harder into the vent.
"Hey, there's an alarm. Misty, can you take over for Calem? I need him to do something with the wiring," Leaf asked over the comms, sounding tired.
"Okay, you know how it works. The actual electric supplier, the monitor, you know, the usual," Leaf said, "But you can't take out the electric supplier like we did before. Because we're not infiltrating and destroying. This is the pre-mission. Plant bombs just in case of a screw-up, get our virus in. You know what I'm talking about," Leaf explained.
"Yes, Grass. I do," Calem replied wryly.
"Okay, okay," Leaf laughed lightly, turning back to the other group.
Calem fingered the wiring, cutting open one and connecting a device to the wire.
Hundreds of lines of code, one uncovered vent, five hidden agents, and one re-placed vent later, the team was ducking low in the vents, traveling towards the security room.
Voices echoed beneath them, and Calem motioned for them to stop.
And when the loud company below passed, they continued on, crawling in some areas.
Ash sneezed from the dust once, and that was enough for the group that just passed to stop.
"What was that?" somebody said, though it was muffled.
"I dunno! Should I call security and check it out?" someone else answered.
"I guess," a third voice chimed in.
The entire group shared alarmed looks as Calem started moving again, Leaf's hushed voice urging them to move faster. Misty and Dawn stayed with Ash as Gary and Calem moved with speed, mapping the route ahead.
But the voices still grew, curious about the strange noise.
Uh-oh.
BEEP!
The tiny detector on Drew's wrist bleeped quietly, interrupting the calm.
"Shit," Drew cussed, flicking on the glowing electronic.
"Shut it," Paul growled angrily.
Jimmy glared him, motioning for silence. A second later, Jimmy's detector went off, and he fumbled to flick on his blocker.
They continued on, every once in a while, they would have to stop and dispatch the alarms and traps without leaving a trace of them being tampered with.
"Okay, the other group is already in," Leaf reported. "They're infiltrating the system. I need you guys to get the bombs done in fifteen minutes, 'kay?"
"Okay Grass," Paul grumbled, entering the vents, similar to how the other group did it.
They creeped through the vents, same as the other group, but their destination was the large fuel warehouses, the place with all the oil and different forms of fuel that keeps the facility running, and powered the weapons they were planning to ruin the world with.
"Shit," Leaf's voice whispered, as something happened with the other group. "They've been discovered. Keep moving Calem! Get to the security room. They can't check the ventilation shafts that quickly. I'm guessing they'll use poison. Hurry!"
"And Glace, do what you must, but the bombs must be undetectable. We haven't got much time. The sun'll be rising soon! Tropius made it back okay. But we need to get a move on!"
Paul nodded towards his group as they continued to balance along, walking swiftly, but accurately. When they finally reached the fuel rooms, Paul pried open the little coverings, and checked that there were no guards."
"Go Glace. I've got the the cameras hacked with your transmitter signals. No one will see you, they'll be playing a loop of this morning. Hurry though," Leaf reassured, before it dissolved into static. It was harder to get the signal through so much interceptors and so far underground.
Paul slipped through the narrow opening, dropping onto the ground without a sound, the others following.
They spread out, hiding in the shadows of large boilers and humongous crates.
"Glace!" Marina hissed, peering around her crate as voices passed over the large double doors.
"What Psychic?" Paul sighed, shifting the pack laced around his back off, gingerly taking out the tiny, but destructive bombs.
"First of all, how're we going to get out of here, and second of all, where're we going to put it so that they don't discover it, and it won't detonate by itself?" Marina questioned.
"Exit is easy," Paul answered mindlessly. "Why do you think we wore the special boots today? And Grass should be scanning the room for hidden compartments and other various points."
"Yep, I am," Leaf complained. "There's a mass of crates at the end, the finger prints on them are old old old. So they should be safe, though there is are air pockets built into the cement that they didn't flatten out completely, but not enough to fit all ten bombs. So I'd say actually below the crates would be your best bet. Though you guys brought camouflage material didn't you?"
"Yes, we got it covered, help the other group," Serena answered.
Working together, they managed to work a small tunnel into the center of the large explosives, piling their small bombs into the opening, before hiding the combs cleverly, using the tilt of the lighting to their advantage as they avoided a shadow, but cause a nice effect to make it seem flat and equal.
Ten minutes later, the agents were climbing back into the vents, tension in the air.
"Come on," Drew muttered. "We just have to make it out of here alive, and get the other group out. Just make it out alive. Come on Xerneas and Arceus! Show some grace."
"Shut up Drew," Jimmy snapped back. "We'll be fine. I don't know about group B though..."
"They'll be fine," Marina said quickly, nimbly dancing out onto a wavering outcropping. "Let's hurry."
When they finally made it back to the wall, and wiggled out of the ducts, the blinding lights of the fortress almost paralyzed them.
"Time to run," Paul ordered, as he took in the panicked towers, swinging their lights around. "Someone's figured out that there has been intruders. We've got to get out. Now. With or without the others. Come on."
They took off at a sprint, none of them looking back at the fading building, crossing their fingers, that their teammates had gotten out, with a successful mission completed.