“I will,” she said, her voice growing stronger.

After lighting her flare, Aina waited for Teo to lift the handle in the gravel and descend the ladder. She followed him to the sewers below, and once they were there, they kept their voices and footsteps as quiet as possible. Aina found the entrance to the Inosen’s secret passages she, Raurie, and Ryuu had used last time and led the way. Every few hundred feet, they left flares propped against the walls to mark their path.

Soon, they approached the wide cavern where construction happened during the day. It was eerily quiet now, the drill and tracks just visible by one orange light set along the wall. Aina and Teo snuck along the opposite platform and reached the same door Raurie had found when they came to break out Teo. It opened easily, but when Aina looked through it, she shut it quickly and stepped back onto the platform.

“They’ve posted guards there now,” she whispered. “Probably to watch out for intruders since we broke in last time. I bet there’s more security all over the prison now. We have to save our darts for the guards actually inside the prison, so let’s take out these two the regular way.”

Teo shook his head, then withdrew his gun. “Well, we don’t have time to find another route. We’ve only got about three hours before Bautix strikes.”

She nodded, then slipped into the corridor, keeping her footsteps and breaths quiet. One of the guards was pacing away from her about twenty feet down the hall and under the ventilation shaft they needed to reach. The second guard had gone down a perpendicular hall, but straining her ears, she heard his footsteps nearing the corner again. Any second now, he would turn down this hall and see them.

Beckoning to Teo, she led the way to a spot halfway down the hall where a fuel tank sat in an alcove surrounded by a metal fence. Hiding on the side of the fence covered by shadows, they held their breath and waited for the guards to reach them.

When the shadow of one guard reached their view, Aina jumped out and tackled him to the floor. At the same time, Teo leapt from cover and shot at the approaching guard, the bullet hitting his arm and making him drop his weapon.

Aina slammed her fist into the face of the guard below her. He tried to throw her off, but she forced him around, pressed his face into the cold floor, and placed her arm around his throat. A few moments passed as she increased the pressure. He stopped struggling and passed out.

Teo had knocked out the guard he’d shot, as well. Not wasting another moment, Aina gestured for him to follow her, and they left the guards behind. They walked down the hall and slowed under the ventilation shaft she, Ryuu, and Raurie had entered before. A new grate was in place with a heavier lock attached.