"Clearance code required?" Matthew gasped, frowning as he stared at the computer screen carefully. He then came to the realisation that he couldn't just input the functions and expect them to run.
Of course not. It was a security feature to prevent unexpected visitors like him from running functions that had hazards. And he knew there was much more to it than it seemed.
Just as Matthew had exited the elevator, a wall of partial height surrounding it had a sign on it. And it warned of radio frequencies being transmitted by the antenna, which could cause health issues like tissue damage and an increase in body temperature. Even if it paled in comparison to the effects of radiation, it was hazardous enough to need a security feature to prevent such things from occurring.
As such, he walked away from the transmitter for a moment, pushing the door as he left the room temporarily. He moved towards the chairwoman, who was still in quite a daze after getting hit in the face with a gun earlier. Megan watched as he approached the chairwoman, his face filled with anger.
Matthew grabbed the chairwoman up forcefully by her collars, shaking her to her senses. Her eyes still resisted the urge to open fully, but Matthew wasn't going to go easy on her. He was going to do everything he could to get the clearance code to override the security programme on the transmitter. "What's the code, Georgia?" he bellowed as he tried to force the information out of the chairwoman.
She, however, was rather resistant. She didn't have any plans to give out any information. She just looked over the edge of the building, watching the fires and blazes that began to appear all over the city. And Philadelphia was just beginning to look a lot like New York. Either way, she wasn't going to say anything, all so that her plan could succeed.
"I said tell me the clearance code!" Matthew yelled, shaking her even more violently.
The chairwoman began cackling uncontrollably. She couldn't stop snickering, and it got on Matthew's nerves. It was almost as if she was so immersed in the world of succeeding in her plans, and so much so that it exempted her from the consequences. However, Matthew made sure that she wasn't going to make it past that day if she refused to comply.
He then knocked the chairwoman out again with her own gun, which he had taken from her earlier. Megan gasped in shock as the chairwoman collapsed once again. Now there was no way for them to get any more information out.
Or at least, she thought.
"The code is 2-5-1-5-1-2," Daniel revealed, which was the most unexpected person that Matthew was expecting to get anything out from. Even more unexpected than the chairwoman.
"You're not lying, are you?" Megan asked as she faced him with a look of disgust, even though he was assisting them. Just seeing his face made her retch as she thought about the psychotic thoughts that could be running through his mind at that moment.
"Why would I?" Daniel snickered. "I've got nothing to gain but nothing to lose—"
"Just shut it, will you?" Matthew lamented. He then looked away before moving back into the radio transmitter room.
He began focusing on getting the controls started up again. He started by entering the clearance code that Daniel had given first, which turned out to work. Despite this, Matthew didn't trust Daniel. After all, he could have had some other undisclosed agenda, and he wasn't really helping them.
Just as he was about to hit the "run function" command, however, Matthew stopped. His finger hovered above the button, but he made no contact with it. He stopped to think about the effects of the radio frequency that he was about to release. At a close distance, it was capable of causing tissue damage already.
As such, he began contemplating his choices once more. He couldn't just let the signals be sent out just like that. He needed to get Megan out of there first as a precaution. And when he would activate the signal, he would just have to make a run for the elevators.
However, there was not much of a need to think about that any further. The sound of desperate screaming coming from Megan, accompanied by the echoing noise of a gunshot, was loud enough to bring him back to reality. To the present and not the future.
Matthew turned towards the door and rushed towards it. Hoping for the best, he pushed the door open, wishing Megan wouldn't be harmed. And thankfully, she wasn't. She was still shrieking in fear, however, and Matthew quickly understood why. Despite the fact that she was untouched, she was being held at gunpoint.
And the more unfortunate thing was that the chairwoman had been fatally shot, her body lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
"Daniel, we can talk through this," Matthew said, resisting the urge to bring out his gun. He knew that if he did, Daniel would act defensively and would likely harm Megan as well as a result. As such, he tried a more passive approach to confront Daniel less aggressively.
"No," Daniel refused, however. "We are not going to talk. You're not going to bargain over her life, are you?" he taunted Matthew.
Once again, Matthew wanted to move his hand towards his pocket, but he stopped before his fingers could wiggle. He needed to fight the temptation to act on impulse. And if he wanted Megan alive and unhurt, he needed to do the same for Daniel.
"I'm not," Matthew said, placing both hands down as he tried to emphasise that he was unarmed to Daniel.
"Good," Daniel nodded, satisfied by his answer. "Because I'm not going to let you negotiate when I make my request. And her life depends on it," he added, looking at Megan for a moment as he continued pressing the muzzle of the gun on her neck.
Matthew sighed, approaching him. However, as he got closer, Daniel became even more defensive, gripping onto Megan more tightly. "Look, Daniel," Matthew spoke. "You don't have to do this. I never intended to harm you, so you don't have to do the same to her—"
"Shut up, Matthew," Daniel said as he abruptly turned the gun to face Matthew.
As a result, Matthew raised his hands in the air instinctively. "Fine. I'll listen to what you have to say," he said as he took a step back.
Daniel shook his head in complete dismay. "You were planning to leave the chairwoman and me behind after you send out the radio signal," he said, revealing that he could already tell what Matthew wanted to do. "And I know that you were trying to overload the power on the antenna so that it would kill us. That's the only reason you needed a clearance code for the function you were trying to run. You needed to bypass the security lock. So, yes. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get out, even if it means killing her," he elaborated, turning the gun back to face Megan.
Matthew nodded, pursing his lips. He decided not to advance towards Daniel, all so that he could ensure the safety of Megan, even if it were uncertain what he would do with her. "All right. I won't leave you here. But you'll have to stay with me until I'm done with the signal transmission," Matthew ordered.
Unfortunately, Daniel wasn't on the same page. Instead, he wanted something very different from that of Matthew—something that would be risky. "No, Matthew," Daniel dissented. "We're going to do this my way. I didn't have to give you the code, but I did. So I think that I very much deserve to choose what happens from here, don't I?" he said, keeping his hand on the gun as a reminder to Matthew that he could decide the fate of Megan with the firearm he had in his hand.
Matthew sighed tiredly. He couldn't even feel the anger in himself anymore. He was just exhausted by the entire situation. As such, he gave in to Daniel's demands. "Fine," he said. "How do you want to go about this?"
Daniel didn't reply instantly. Instead, he stopped for a moment before responding. "I'm going to leave now, and she goes with me," he said as he tugged Megan closer to him. "Don't you dare try to follow us, or she'll get hurt," he threatened.
Matthew nodded, giving in to his statement. "Leave now, then," he said, focusing on the half-bandaged gunshot wound in Daniel's shoulder and smirking. "I bet that you won't make it very far with her. At most, you'll slip past some unarmed guards in the carpark."
Daniel didn't respond to Matthew's remark. He just brought Megan with him towards the elevator lobby. He pressed the elevator call button before one of the elevator's doors slid open. The two of them disappeared into the carriage quickly as the doors closed.
Matthew didn't walk over to the elevator lobby to look at where they were heading. He had some uneasiness lingering in his heart. Still, they didn't amount to the same level of anxiety that one would typically experience when their friend gets involved in a hostage situation. He trusted that Daniel would make reasonable decisions despite his weak motives. He trusted that Megan wouldn't give in to him so easily.
And he trusted that the police would catch Daniel should he try to escape with Megan.
Matthew dashed back to the room, moving towards the radio transmitter again. He confirmed that the commands that he had inputted earlier were correct. There was no way that he could afford to make any mistakes in his plan. One wrong move and the whole antenna could fail, or in a worse case, he could get injured.
As such, he checked through the functions thoroughly. Watching the statistics on the computer monitor, he confirmed that everything was correct. And so, he began releasing the signal, as sounds began being emitted by the radio antenna.
It was time to run it.
Matthew rushed out of the room once more, pushing the door open and moving towards the elevator lobby hastily. He quickly called for an elevator, and one shortly arrived afterwards. Taking one last glance at the elevator floor display panel of the elevator that Daniel had taken earlier on, he slipped himself into the one that had arrived.
The carriage began descending to the ground floor quickly, just as Matthew had wished for it to happen. The doubts about Megan's safety had started growing in his heart, and he felt that he couldn't just let her go with Daniel. He needed to find the two of them and stop Daniel before he would run off.
After a minute of waiting, the doors slid open, allowing Matthew to rush out to the lobby. In front of him were many armed police officers from the Philly P.D. At first, he was shocked to see them in such great numbers, especially since they were armed.
But they weren't aiming at him, of course. In fact, they began lowering their guns after pointing in a particular direction for a period of time. Matthew saw that somebody was crying, and so he looked over. He noticed Megan's sorrowful expression.
And right at the spot where the police officers were pointing to was an unconscious Daniel lying on the ground. Despite his lifeless look, however, Matthew knew something about him.
He wasn't dead.