~Yay! Chapter 20! :D~

My eyes widened and I struggled to keep my breathing even. Without saying a word, I pushed Caleb down the vent, wincing as it creaked and groaned under our weight. We had already come this far and there was no way I was going to-

I flinched when a bullet pierced the thin metal of the vent and ricocheted off the walls.

"Surrender. You've been surrounded." A muffled voice travelled through the confines of the vent.

Suddenly, the grey walls of the vent started to feel constricting and I could barely draw in another breath. Why had we decided to go through the vent again? Especially since we were trapped inside until we reached a grail that was awhile away.

I could start to hear my shaky breaths echo in my ears as my eyes strained in the darkness to try and find a way out. All I could see was an inky grey in all directions.

Suddenly a hand clamped over my mouth and a rush of cool air calmed my rapidly beating heart.

"Shh," whispered Caleb from beside my ear, his breath fanning over my face. "Just stay still."

A gust of air whirled down the length of the vent, nudging Caleb and I forward. I glanced at him. Was he doing this?

The vent creaked dangerously as the air current grew stronger, successfully delivering us out of the crossfire just in time for me to see the vent collapse behind us.

I winced at the muffled shouts of the guards as the ceiling crumbled atop their heads, the metal of the vent giving out a loud clang. Glancing back at Caleb, I nodded.

The time he had bought us would not last long. We had to find the others and get out of here. Ignoring my protesting knees, I continued my way down the chute, stopping when I reached a grail about shoulder-width in size.

Caleb had been right. I didn't think he'd be able to exit through the opening.

I brought my face closer to the edges of the vent and saw that it had four screws to hold it in place like the one we had entered through. I concentrated carefully and slowly, the four screws started rotating as if by invisible force. They eventually fell away, hovering a little below the vent. The grail followed the screws and I waved a hand causing them to settle on the nearest surface.

I clambered out, landing softly on the floor and surveyed the room we had entered. It had a row of sinks on one side and a row of doors on the other. There was a strong scent of air freshener and my eyes widened when I realised where I was.

The women's bathroom.

And then I couldn't help myself but burst into laughter. I wasn't sure if it as the absurdity of the situation or the chance that the place we ended up in was the women's bathroom but suddenly, I just couldn't stop laughing.

"Levi...? Uh, you ok there...?" Caleb stuck his head out the opening and attempted to wriggle his way out. The vent didn't seem to want to accommodate his broad shoulders and a look of panic crossed Caleb's face when he realised he was stuck. "Uh... I'm kinda..."

He wriggled some more causing me to laugh harder.

"You- You're-" I gasped for air, finding the situation bizarrely absurd. The echo of footsteps down the corridor quickly sobered me up, and I glanced back up at Caleb, looking as if he was some sort of cocooned caterpillar.

I bit back my laughter as his eyes widened and stepped forward to examine the vent. It was rimmed with a thin metal and some cement, although I could only hope that the cement wouldn't crumble when I used my powers to stretch the metal a little.

Sending my focus toward the edges of the smooth metal, I pried it outwards enough to accommodate Caleb's shoulders. I winced as the metal protested and created a strange dissonance with the sound of footsteps growing closer.

The metal gave way and Caleb barely stopped himself from falling head-first into the tiled floor. I heard the door to the bathroom swing open and the clip-clop of footsteps continue. A few more seconds and whoever was around the corner would see us, and who knew what she'd do to find a male escapee in the female bathroom?

Thinking quickly, I grabbed Caleb's wrist and pulled him into the nearest stall, closing it and locking it shut. I lowered the toilet lid and drew my feet up out of sight just before I saw a pair of heels round the corner and pass along the bottom of the stall.

Breathing a sigh of relief when I heard a door a few stalls down lock, I was suddenly aware of just how small the bathroom stall was. Evidently, the bathroom hadn't been built with this situation in mind.

To fit in the stall, I had to crouch on the toilet seat, shifting uncomfortably as my legs cramped up. Caleb braced his hands on the wall behind me, either side of my head to keep balanced, and my breath caught in my throat as I started into his yellow-green eyes.

Now that I was closer and in a better lighting, I could see that Caleb's eyes weren't a dark shade of yellow as I had first thought, but instead a light green with flecks of gold around the pupil.

A few tense minutes passed until finally, I heard the toilet flush and whoever was in the bathroom exit the stall and wash her hands. There was the brief whirring of the automatic hand-dryer and then the fading of footsteps.

We were alone.

I let out a breath I hadn't known I had been holding and dropped my legs out of their crouched position, stretching them out. Caleb blinked, as if coming out of a trance and reached behind him to unlock the stall door. I peeked around the corner and confirmed that there was no one in sight before darting out and pressing my back against the wall near the exit.

Silently, I crept out of the bathroom, glancing up and down the hallway for any signs of guards. Not looking to make sure Caleb was following, I continued down the hallway, following my mental snapshot of the blueprint I had found.

I passed a few numbered doors, stopping at one almost at the end of the hallway. I turned to glance at Caleb to ask him to keep watch when I realised the hallway was empty behind me.

A shiver of apprehension ran down my spine. When had Caleb stopped following behind me? How had I not noticed?

And... why did I feel so alone?

No, Levi. You've come so far and your friends are just behind that door. If he doesn't want your help to get out of here, then leave him. You got what you agreed to.

I bit my lip and examined the heavy steel door, realising that it had a mechanical lock instead of the high-tech remote controlled ones in the rest of the facility.

Pulling out two bobby pins that I was surprised still clung to my hair, I inserted them into the lock. I fiddled them around and for a moment, I was worried that this lock would be too complex to pick with the limited tools I had. But then there was a soft snick and the lock gave away.

I pushed open the heavy door, and squinted through the darkness. Wincing as the door creaked, I blinked when I saw that the small box room was sectioned off into two by metal bars going from floor to ceiling.

I felt relief and something else I couldn't place a finger on come over me as I saw Brandon and the twins squinting at me through the darkness on the other side of the bars.

"It's me, guys," I replied, stepping forward, trying a smile. I coughed slightly at the plume of dust rose into the air as I crouched down to examine the padlock on the bars.

The cell that they were locked in was a lot different to the one I had been in less than an hour ago. The bars looked rusty and I could see footprints in the thick layer of dust on the floor. Upon further examination I saw that it simply used a normal padlock instead of the automated system with a forcefield.

It didn't take a genius to see the difference and the only reason I could think of was my powers. But how did STARKON know?

... Did find out that I was a villain?

I shook the idle thoughts from my mind and focused on the task at hand.

"Levi...?" Addison questioned, raising her head. "How did you find us...?"

My eyes met her fearful ones through the darkness and I shook my head subtly.

"I'll tell you later," I replied, attempting to fit the bobby pins I still had in my hand into the lock. I managed to fit the first one in, but as I tried to use the other one to push out the pins, it jammed.

There was something wedged there, that wasn't meant to be.

I felt a trickle of sweat run down my brow as I heard a distant thundering of footsteps pass by. Any moment now, and they'd figure out that I went back for my friends.

I fiddled and twisted the pins some more, cursing when it only caused the tip of my hair pin to come out bent.

"You're losing your touch, Levi," Addison tried to joke as she stood up and walked closer to the bars.

"There's something jamming the pins." I replied absentmindedly and suppressed the urge to roll my eyes at her when she stuck out her tongue.

It was now that I realised she, Aiden and Brandon had their arms tied behind their backs with a zip tie around their thumbs.

I could feel the seconds ticking in my mental clock and I knew that if we wanted to get out of here at all, we had to get out now.

"Stand back," I said, waving my arms and taking a few steps back. I waited until my friends were out of the way before running and kicking the door down with a loud clang.

The rusted door leant on its only hinge left in tact and I pulled my knife out of the sole of my boot and cut through the zip ties around Addison's thumbs.

She quickly ran forward and enveloped me in a hug. "Thank god you're ok!"

I smiled, but it didn't quite reach my eyes, dropping the tie on the dusty ground.

"Where did you get that knife?" Questioned Aiden as I stepped forward to free his hands.

I winced at the question, hiding my expression behind a curtain of hair as I focused on slicing through the hard plastic.

"I took it when we left," I lied, hoping he bought the lie, because what normal teenager usually has a knife hidden in their boot?

Aiden looked as if he wanted to say something else, but I turned away and focused on slicing through Brandon's tie.

"Are you ok? How did you get out?" Brandon asked lowly right next to my ear causing me to glance up at him quickly.

"I..." I glanced up at Brandon's chocolate brown eyes, so unlike the yellow-green of Caleb's and looked away. "I had some help."

"Help?" Brandon questioned, but I pretended I hadn't heard him and turned to the doorway.

"We have to get going, now." I hissed, cutting through the tense silence before darting down the hallway.

Finally, after running down countless strangely empty hallways, we reached the door to the emergency exit. I glanced at the elevator doors a few feet down and bit my lip, debating my options.

Should we risk getting into an elevator again?

There was a ding making me look up and I saw Addison waving me toward the open elevator.

"Levi," she hissed as Brandon placed an arm out to make sure the doors didn't close on her. "What are you waiting for?"

I took another glance at the stairwell and then stepped into the elevator, holding my breath.

"Sorry," I said releasing my breath when the doors closed and we started progressing up smoothly. "I wasn't sure if going back into an elevator was a good idea after what happened... last time."

Addison bit her lip, glancing worriedly around the confines of the elevator.

"But we're thirty-four stories underground. It'd take us hours to climb up all those stairs." commented Aiden, making me glance at him in surprise.

A look at the buttons on the elevator told me that he was right. Apart from the glowing letter G there were 34 other buttons on the elevator panel.

Great, spat my inner conscious. More time for STARKON to catch you.

I pushed that thought away.

"Well, it's too late now; we're already going up."

I held my breath, waiting for the elevator to suddenly plummet downwards like it had before but we continued to steadily progress through the levels. There was no gas, no creepy voice and no malfunctioning elevator.

Nothing.

Maybe, maybe this time we'd make it. Or maybe they were letting us out.

I held my breath as we reached the ground floor. The elevator dinged and I cautiously peered out.

The sight that I was met with had my blood turning cold and my stomach plunging back to reality.

The wide lobby of STARKON's headquarters were blocked by a row of guards holding a barrier of riot shields. Behind them, crouched another row of guards, pointing their rifles at us.

One man stepped forward and raised a hand. The guards lowered their weapons, but their eyes were still trained on us.

"Hands up and don't move. You've got nowhere to run."

a.n.

Phew. I don't know if you guys can tell, but I am fighting a serious writers block here. Who knew writing a story could be so hard?

Also thank you guys so much for the votes, comments and reads! It means a lot to me! When I started this story, I never thought I'd reach chapter 10, let alone chapter 20 and it's all thanks to you guys for supporting me! <3

SpiderPrincess

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