After what felt like too long a time, Charlie was again able to place the grind of tubes and wires into the wall, destroying a large part of it. As things turned out, Dr Hale had been smart in her decision to line up everything beforehand with the last place. Without it, several minutes had been spent purely setting up where to place the different cylinders. There had even been a slight disagreement on a few of them, Charlie and Dr Hale not able to agree where optimal places were.

Things had been dire for some with that discussion, but things did finally work out. And it was fortunate that so small an area even needed to be blown. The radius would hardly allow somebody to walk through, much less an arm. With the depth, Troy judged that he could get his hand halfway inside before it would hit what remained of the wall. Not the greatest of ways to get inside, but there were doubts that this was intended as that anyway.

The most notable of clues to that truth would have been the larger amount of wires inside the wall. It seemed that even in the age of primarily wireless technology, security still left physical connections to be the better option. Nobody faulted them on that. It would have been too easy without it.

“Rewire the security pass to allow for manual encoding,” Dr Hale instructed Charlie from the side, the larger man already having moved forward to deal with it. “I have the codes. We just need a way to put it in.”

Restricted with space, Charlie only used one hand to get inside. Troy could not see what was happening, yet could see by the muscle on the arms that things were being twisted, pulled, and otherwise changed. How the man was able to do so while not sparing a glance in its direction, the young man could only wonder.

“Is there any reason for the manual input, other than opening the doors?” Charlie asked out, pausing in the middle for a brief second. The man seemed to have some minor trouble.

“No,” Dr Hale stated plainly. “Do you have a quicker alternative?”

“I believe I do,” Charlie said, going into his pocket with the unused hand for a quick second, before pulling out what Troy would recognize as the cracked key card. “The other place might not have a reader, but I know for a fact that there is one on the other side. It should light up in a few… there.”

For the briefest of moments, the trio was able to see a blue wave slide across one part of the wall a few meters away. A hidden key-card reader, huh? Troy had thought that such things were new, but it seemed that even the old part of the facility favoured them somewhat. He only hoped that it was different with all the hidden entrances.

The one before them was as plain as day, compared to everything seen above. The large metal doors coloured a bit darker than everything else there. It felt cold to the touch and was likely as thick as anything else in the facility, able to survive multiple missile blasts head-on. Troy could see the necessity somewhat, nothing really hiding how important the contents behind the door was. If he was the one storming the place, there was no doubt that this would have been the first door to break down once he got in.

With a grunt, Charlie pulled out his arm. It was done swiftly. That turned out to not be the wisest of decisions, the corners on the opening sharp. Blood had already dried on the man’s skin. Now… it had begun to become wet once again, the arm gaining a new colouring again. Troy closed the distance, to check out if it was serious, but Charlie pulled away before he could get a good look. The man did not want to bother with it. That's what the younger one got from him, at least, the silent shake of the head being too vague to his liking.

Dr Hale, not bothering to check up on the man, went over to the placement that had been revealed, pressing the cracked key-card against it. A small hum came through, with the blue wave once again showing up. It might have been the old technology being at fault, or maybe it was due to the more abstract way that they were entering, but it took an abnormal amount of time for them to be allowed in, reaching the point of a full minute before anything began to move.

Immediately, it became clear that the machinery had not been oiled or kept up, the high-pitched screech of metal grinding against each other being much too loud on the ears. Troy had to cover his own, in fact, the tones being too much for his mind to endure easily. Not that his hands had the most effect, though, the sound still sending through clearly enough. If not for Charlie holding his shoulder, he just might have fallen to his knees.

It was a mercy to the ears that the door finally stopped, the entrance now open for them to enter. Looking down, another hallway revealed itself. It connected to a smaller door a few meters down, nothing else inside. Troy looked at it as a peculiar design but did not bother to question it. He just wanted to…

…

The young man felt his nose dripping. Had he cried and gotten a bit of snot going? No… he hadn't. And there was no way allergies were working on him now. Wiping it with his hand, the truth revealed itself to him.

Blood. There was blood on his hand from a now sore nose of all things. In fact, it actually hurt quite a bit. How had he not noticed it before? That pounding was not something that should have come forth without warning. It should have been there for-

When did they start walking inside? Troy felt his feet moving, yet could not remember ever commanding them forward. The two others were a meter or two ahead of him, walking just as quietly as him. He had to turn his head to look at them. Had he been looking behind?

“Hey, uh,” Troy began, not sure how to handle it. “Are you two also getting a nosebleed right now? I think this air might not be the healthiest to be in.”

While Charlie might have turned his head slowly, Dr Hale positively whipped around, widened eyes on full display. That reaction of hers had been a first for Troy, that fear not something that was seen on her face normally. What was wrong? Was it really that bad?

“Shit,” Dr Hale swore out loud, this time really catching the attention of the two others around her. She was not in her calm state anymore. “We need to run.”

Digging one hand into her own sleeve, the woman pulled out a gas canister. It was the same one that had been acquired much earlier in the day, while they were doing their initial attempt at getting Adam out. Troy had wondered just what it was for, the man never having gotten around to see it being used.

Well, he definitely did get to see that sight now. Dr Hale opened it up, the contents spewing out in an instant. The woman then proceeded to throw it at Troy, the object whizzing over his shoulder. He knew that he tried to look over where it landed, but for the life of him, he just couldn't remember it. Was he getting light-headed?

With a hand on his forehead, the pull from Charlie was more than enough to get him back into gear. The larger man was not looking happy, his eyes digging into Troy. With a nod towards the door, the two ran towards the back of the hallway. Dr Hale had already begun the journey herself.

Why were they running? There was nothing behind-

Troy continued to run. They were almost at the door! What… had they not been far away just a second ago. He could have sworn that he was just looking-

“Snap out of it!” Dr Hale said, slapping him with more force than what the young man felt was necessary. Why was she even doing it? Troy was just hoping to-

Using her hands, the woman physically stopped him from looking around again. He could feel her nails being close to digging into the skin. It was painful, to the point where it should have bled. Yet, there was one aspect that he just couldn't get out of his head. One detail that his now refreshed mind had to realise.

“I can't remember how we got here,” Troy said, looking behind Dr Hale’s shoulder. They were right at the door, the young man had fallen down to the floor at some point. Blood still ran from his nose, his head hurt, and the woman’s fingers continued to dig, though they were loosening up slowly enough.

Charlie was busy opening up the door. With a sharp twist, the door handle was broken, a hole revealed inside. It was barely enough for anything but a finger, but that did not stop the man from inserting a small fuse of some kind. After a moment, the door began to degrade. Troy could only fear the effects such a device had on anybody unfortunate to touch it while active.

“Then you are not completely lost yet,” Dr Hale stated, narrowing her eyes at Troy. She did not look happy, yet the fact that she stopped pressuring in his skull made him happy enough to smile. “Do not look around, do not question any sounds, and just focus on the fact that you aren't supposed to be an idiot.”

Huh. Now that she mentioned it, Troy could hear something off to the side. Not just the gas-canister continuing to spew out god-knows-what, but also what reminded him of… shouts? Screams? Maybe a bit of crying. If he wasn't stupid, he would almost say that it was all coming from-

No! Even without any encouragement from the woman looking over him, Troy gave himself a slap to the face. He focused on the sting, how he did not enjoy it at all, how he hated that feeling, how it made him think of his mom. The man thought of anything but what those sounds were, and who they might have come from. The pain was important now. Nothing else.

“You need to hurry it up,” Dr Hale told Charlie, the slightest of nervousness in her voice. That was not expected. First shock and now fear? What was next? Happiness? “The gas is getting too close. We will not be able to think soon.”

“Not my fault for throwing a dose of toxic gas into a room where we all are in,” Charlie countered, the man looking concentrated on getting a very specific door to open up. Troy could understand the feeling. His eyes were still watering the slightest bit, yet he knew that it was not because of the pain. Even if not directly in contact with the gas, some of the effects were already coming around. He could only hope they were short-lived. “Smart idea by the way. Really does help us hurry it all along.”

“We were getting attacked without ever taking notice. It is only luck that it was brought to our notice before we were all sedated,” Dr Hale threw right back. Troy could feel a shouting match beginning to play out. Even if the voices were not raised, they were stressed enough to make up for it. “Even now, the only thing stopping us from being incapacitated is the fact that I used one of our cards for emergencies. We do not have another one of those.”

“Well, that is just great,” Charlie said, before moving his whole body in tandem, and using his shoulder as a battering ram. There was a loud crack, as the aged door was slammed in. They were beginning to run out of time, and brute force was starting to look like a valid strategy. What had the world come to? “Get in!”

The two others were quick to oblige, moving through the damaged door frame. A quick glance back told Troy just how close they were to being dammed. Whatever was making him forget the sight was not within observation range, the gas having filled up room to an extent where nothing could really be seen. It would have taken so little time before they would have been swallowed up as well.

Charlie just slammed the door back into place the moment they got inside. From one of his pockets, a foam container of some kind was taken out.

“Say hi to Frank for me!” Charlie shouted into the hole in the door before the man began to fill it up with foam. Troy had doubts about the efficiency of such an action before he saw the solution expanding outwards and hardening right before his eyes. The muscular man gave it a prompt few knocks after a few seconds. It resounded much like stone. There was nothing human hands could do to get through it.