Warden's POV
The warden stormed into the security room, rage boiling in his eyes. His boots echoed heavily on the steel floor as he approached the main console.
"Status report, now!" he barked, his voice sharp and commanding.
"Y-Yes, sir!" one of the soldiers replied, clearly rattled. "We've managed to restore the backup generator. Security cameras are slowly coming back online, and we've sealed off every known escape route."
The second guard added nervously, "But we still haven't located prisoner 528 or his group."
The warden's jaw tightened. He slammed his foot into the ground, causing a spiderweb of cracks to ripple through the concrete. The entire room stilled at the show of power.
"Find him," the warden growled. "He's top priority. Lock down every hallway, every vent, every hidden shaft. I want this entire facility on red alert. No one leaves until we have 528 in custody."
"Yes, sir!" the guards replied in unison.
The warden turned towards the camera feeds, narrowing his eyes. "Where could you be hiding, Adrian?"
POV: The Group
Inside the warden's office, Adrian was busy putting on the man's military uniform. He turned dramatically toward Bobby and Cassie, puffing out his chest in mock pride.
"Look at me! I'm Major Silas from the Big Ego Corps," Adrian said, puffing his voice up mockingly. "Listen to my plan or I'll cry because my fragile Ego can't handle it! Boo-hoo-hoo!"
Bobby burst out laughing, nearly falling over from the vent they had climbed out of. Cassie snorted, trying to suppress her laughter.
Adrian grinned and turned toward the large portrait of the warden hanging on the wall. "Okay, now, if I were a racist dinosaur with a stick up my ass, where would I hide the classified documents?"
All three of them stared at the portrait.
"Yup," Bobby said.
"That's the one," Cassie nodded.
"It's too obvious," Adrian muttered. "But there's probably a hidden mechanism. If we open it wrong, it might trigger an alarm."
Cassie nodded in agreement. "So how do we open it without setting off every bell in the building?"
Adrian scanned the room, then noticed a small, circular indentation just beneath the painting. He walked up to it, pulled one of the warden's medals from the uniform, and pressed it into the hole.
With a hiss and a puff of smoke, the wall behind the portrait clicked open to reveal a safe.
"Dramatic old bastard," Bobby commented.
A keypad blinked to life.
"Password required," the screen read.
"Try something obvious," Bobby suggested. "Like... 1,2,3,4,5,6."
Cassie rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid. Maybe it's his birthday."
"Do you really think he cares about his birthday? He probably celebrates himself every day," Bobby replied.
While they argued, Adrian tuned them out. His mind sped up—hyper-focusing, accessing every memory, detail, and clue. He remembered something he'd seen in the warden's records earlier: a reference to historical milestones, military medals, and a plaque commemorating the 'Great Victory.'
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"The start of World War II," he murmured.
He entered the date: 09-01-1939.
Click. Click. Click. Poof.
The safe opened.
"What the hell?" Cassie asked, eyes wide. "Did you actually put your ear to the safe and listen for clicks?"
Adrian shook his head. "Nah. This safe uses false click sounds to trick you. One wrong move and you trigger an alarm."
"Then how did you guess the code?" Bobby asked.
Adrian smirked. "Because I'm a genius. Now let's see what this creep is hiding."
Inside the Safe
Stacks of documents spilled out, some stamped with government seals, others with coded initials. Photos of mutants in cages. Torture devices. Blueprinted experiments. Adrian and Cassie quickly stuffed everything into their bags.
Then Adrian spotted it.
A small, reinforced container in the back of the safe. He opened it and found a vial filled with a glowing White liquid.
"What the hell is this?" Adrian whispered.
Cassie leaned over his shoulder. "That's definitely not Sprite."
Bobby reached for it. "You think it's like the pink serum from earlier?"
"Maybe. It looks... more refined. I don't like how it pulses," Adrian replied, pocketing the vial. "We'll study it later."
Adrian closed the safe and turned to the group.
"Alright, we've got what we came for. Let's get out of this shithole."
Bobby and Cassie nodded, their expressions sharp with resolve.
"Time to bring the house down," Cassie said.
Meanwhile…
In the sublevels, chaos had erupted.
Guards were losing control as dozens of other mutant prisoners began to revolt. One inmate, a tall figure with glowing eyes and molten skin, burst through the steel doors of his cell, sending two guards flying. Another, a woman with sonic screams, shattered entire corridors with a single breath.
"Contain them!" a sergeant yelled. "Use stun batons and sound dampeners!"
But it was already too late. The mutant uprising had begun.
Back with Adrian's Team
As the group climbed back into the vent, the sounds of the battle below echoed up through the ducts.
"Damn," Bobby muttered. "They're wrecking everything down there."
"No kidding," Cassie added. "I think I heard someone get tased—or maybe vaporized. Hard to tell."
"Not the time for commentary," Adrian said. "We still need to get out of here."
He crawled ahead, leading them through the ducts. "The best place to escape from is the Vehicle Bay we'll need one more stop first."
"Where?" Bobby asked.
"The Warden's secondary office. If the man's paranoid enough to keep a backup safe, it'll be there. And if there's any map or clue about the other camps, it'll be in that room."
Cassie shook her head. "You're insane. What if he's in there?"
Adrian kept crawling. "He won't be. With the facility on fire and mutants running rampant, he's hunting us. He won't think we're dumb—or bold—enough to break into his office again."
"I hate that this makes sense," Bobby muttered.
"Come on. We're almost out of time."