(Ty's POV)

I surveyed our group. Quentin, looking nervous but nevertheless determined; Mitch, confident and fingering his sword; Jerome, looking way too eager for what was good for him; Ian, who was double-checking that his bow was strung tightly; Jason, who was saying good-bye to Dillon; Seto, testing his magic skills; and Adam, giving me an encouraging, friendly smile. This was the team I had built.

“Are we ready?” I asked, trying to sound encouraging.

“Let's kick some inky butt,” Mitch said, swinging his sword around. Everybody except for myself, Jason, and Quentin had their helmets on, ready to leave in a moment's notice.

“C'mon, Ty, we're wasting time,” Adam said, fingering his amulet. I took a deep breath, readjusting my gloves like I had seen Adam do countless times before.

“Well, I guess there isn't much left to do,” I said. I turned around and looked at the water; a deep, transparent blue. This was where it had started, and this was where it would end. I adjusted my shirt collar out of habit and dove in, not even bothering to take off any of my clothes.

(Quentin's POV)

You couldn't talk underwater, but it was obvious from Ty's motions where we were going. I'll admit it; I was starting to see the advantages of being what I was. Especially when I looked over at Jerome; his fur weighed him down, and his paws weren't made for swimming. I pushed through the water and tried to help him as we swam deeper. I barely even had to think about what I was doing; it came naturally, even when I was helping a mass of wet fur.

Ty tucked into a vertical dive and swam straight down, leading us right to the bottom of the ocean. He turned to check that we were all there and pointed to something that was reflecting light a short ways away. He started heading towards it, and we followed- it was a wall of glass.

Ty punched it without hesitating, and it broke almost immediately. Another hit, and he could pull the glass apart into a hole just wide enough for him to squeeze through. He got himself in and widened the hole some more to let the rest of us in. I felt a little upset when I felt the air, like I was leaving a part of me behind in the water, but Jerome seemed extremely relieved. As Adam and Ian filed in, he ripped of his helmet and shook himself like a dog, spraying water all over the dry cell.

“Don't!” Ty whispered. “Everything echoes in these cells. If they find out we're here before we destroy the data, they'll just lock US up.”

Jerome stopped shaking. “Right. Sorry.”

Ty shook his head. “Okay, I don't know where the lab actually is. Right now we're in the cells. We're going to have to split up; I'd say three groups.”

“Each group should have Adam, Jerome, or Quentin,” Seto said. “They're the only ones who can understand them.”

Ty nodded. “Okay. I'll go with Adam and Jason. Jerome, you can go with Mitch. That means Ian goes with...” he turned to me and Seto. “Are you guys going to be okay?”

“We've gotten along,” I said, shooting a sideways glance at Seto. A small burst of purple escaped from his hands, but he just nodded.

“Okay, we should be good to go then,” Ty said, turning to the glass walls that blocked off the rest of the base. When he hit them, there was going to be a lot of noise. “Any questions?”

Nobody said anything.

“Alright then. Sky Army, roll out.”

And then he hit the glass.

(Mitch's POV)

“Okay, Biggums, let's get a move on!” Jerome said, running down a hallway.

“We're looking for the data center,” I reminded him, keeping pace easily. “All we need to do is take out the main part, and the rest should just fall apart.”

“Got it.” Jerome nodded and gave 'Betty' a little twirl as he ran.

We passed several more cells with walls made of glass, but they all were empty. I couldn't help but wonder why; had they planned on making more captures? Or had they already perfected the technology and... I didn't want to think about that.

Jerome stopped running so suddenly that I ran into him, but he barely even moved. “Squid,” he whispered. I put my hand on my sword's hilt and drew it as silently as I could. I looked around for a hiding spot-there weren't any.

“We just take it down?” I asked.

“Them down,” he said grimly. “All three of them.”

The news barely made me blink. We were back in the air now; fortified suits or not, I was still the Hunger Games champion. “Well then, let's take them down, shall we?”

A metallic foot appeared from around the corner, then the entire suit. It looked weird, but I didn't think about that. This was time to enter Hunger Games mode.

The squid made some weird noises and then two more robots appeared on either side of it. “They're going to try and capture us,” Jerome said. “You sure we can take them?”

I shot him a lopsided grin. “Dude, I've been fighting for years. I know what I'm doing.” The squids chose that moment to charge, and I whipped around to face them, the sword light in my hand. I swung and made a scratch on the squid's tank; I twisted it around so that the handle was facing it, and stabbed the tank that way, cracking the glass. I jabbed with the handle again, ducking to avoid a swing of the robot's arm, and flipped the sword around to rip open the glass. I shoved it into the tank and pulled it out with a lot of wiggling. A small hole appeared, spurting water, and then the space around the hole got more and more cracked until the water was coming out in torrents. I turned to face another squid, who was occupied by Jerome; a quick swipe with the handle and the water was draining from its suit as well. I could see the ax marks on the last one, which had a gigantic hole hacked in it, just small enough so that the squid couldn't get out.

“That was easy,” I said, but Jerome seemed to be frozen in place.

“They've sent a message to every other squid,” he said slowly. “They know we're here.”