Solomon's progress was slow but steady as he slogged across campus. He stayed off of the main roads and paths as best he could. His shoes were soaked through, a small price to pay for moving unseen.

He skirted around the darkened buildings that blocked his way. Occasionally he saw a light in a window, but he never saw anybody else standing outside. The further he got without seeing any real efforts at internal security, the more he started to think that he just might manage to get away at the end of all this. Those poor bastards in the other zone that were being ground under the invaders' heels were doing him a huge favor by keeping so many of them occupied.

He felt a thrill of excitement when the X on the edge of the minimap started to wiggle, indicating that he was getting close. All the more so when the X finally detached from the edge of the map as he finally drew near where Kanmi was being held. His sense of triumph faded away, though, as he stared across the road at the prison in front of him.

It was, if his memory was correct, one of the university's primary administrative buildings. Like his sister's dorm, it had been built in the seventies in a brutal style that favored concrete and more concrete. The admin building looked like four flat slabs had been set on their edges and joined together to form a zigzag when observed from above.

It had been built on a stretch of land that was well beneath the level of the road. There was a pedestrian footbridge that connected the main road to the front door, and a side entrance that had its own footbridge connecting it to the building's driveway. Both bridges were well lit and had a pair of guards keeping watch.

Solomon walked back and forth along the far side of the road, keeping his eyes peeled for any entrances that he had forgotten. He didn't spot any, although his movement did let him pinpoint Kanmi's location: his friend was in the northernmost slab, right around the middle. Unfortunately, the map didn't indicate the elevation, so he had no idea on which of the building's five floors Kanmi would be found.

Solomon wished that the downpour around him had been accompanied by some thunder and lightning. He could have used the cover for a couple of gunshots. Maybe he could go ahead and shoot anyway and any listeners would assume there had been some lightning, but he didn't want to take the chance if he could help it.

Rather than jumping straight into a fight with the guards, he decided to take a closer look at the building's first floor. He moved up the road a little ways to be well out of sight of the guards before crossing the road. Fording, more like, as the pavement was covered with inches of running water. Solomon couldn't help but wonder how much longer the storm drains would keep working without any maintenance.

He pushed the thought aside and slid down the embankment to reach the lower ground. In the dark night under cover of rain he was able to walk right up to the building without worrying too much about the guards up above.

The dark night also meant that he had to get close enough to the building to touch it before he could make out any details. He began walking, trailing his hand along the rough concrete by his side. He made it almost halfway around the building before he found what he was looking for. A small side door. Even better, there was a window next to it, giving a view into the deserted hallway behind.

Solomon raised his fist up to his ear, spared a moment of thought to hope that his jacket wouldn't get cut up too badly, then slammed his elbow into the window. The first try got nothing more than a thud and a dull ache. On his next attempt he put more of his body weight behind the blow, enough to smash the windowpane. He drew his elbow back and hissed at the sight of blood, but the soothing chill of system healing soon had him right as rain.

He put his hook to use clearing the shards of glass out of the frame, then carefully reached his hand through the window and opened the door. Before the system, he was sure that such blatant breaking and entering would have set off an alarm. Now, with the electricity out, the only danger came from the live guards. They were standing over fifty feet away and a story above. On the rainy night, they couldn't possibly have heard the noise.

He slipped inside. What little illumination was coming in from outside had completely faded once he had taken a few steps. Solomon hesitated for a moment, then drew his own dungeon light out of his inventory. The little ball fit neatly into his palm. He held it against his body to prevent it from throwing light back outside, and curled his fingers over it to try and dim the light even further. Even so, the light was blinding after he had spent so long adapting to the dark.

He put the light back into his inventory, then spent a moment unzipping his coat. It was the little everyday tasks where his missing hand had proven most frustrating, but after a little extra work he managed to get it done. When he pulled the dungeon light out of inventory again, he immediately tucked it under his shirt. The dim light shining through the fabric was just enough to light up a few feet around him without alerting anybody else to his presence.

He took a look around. The hallways were decorated with photos of smiling award winners. What the awards were, Solomon didn't know. Information that once would have been a web search away was now just about impossible to track down. He shook his head and kept going.

At the end of the hallway was a small lobby. There was a bank of elevators, which Solomon ignored. There was some uncomfortable furniture that looked like it was a few decades out of date, which he maneuvered around. He followed the X on his mini map down another hallway, then into an empty office.

He poked around, just to make sure, but the office truly was empty. He hadn't really expected to find Kanmi in the basement. Solomon looked up at the roof. He was so close to his goal, but he wasn't going to be able to get to Kanmi directly.

He moved out of the office and back down the hallway. Turning left instead of right brought him to a set of stairs. He poked his head out to look up. It was a side stairway, but the first floor landing was lit up. That meant that it must at least be visible from the lobby.

Solomon pulled back with a grimace and rolled his shoulders. Much as he'd like to get this over with, it was too early in the evening to be pressing his luck.

Unfortunately, the building designers hadn't taken Solomon's needs into account. The only other way up was the main stairway that ran straight through the lobby and was a definite ticket to a fight. His only chance of slipping by unnoticed was to creep past that one pool of light without being spotted.