Codename Alpha: Intervention

Chapter Fifteen - Listening Wind

"Who the hell are you? How... what are you..." They got on their knees and leaned in close to the vent cap. "Eric?" Now, they sounded more surprised than confused. I felt like I vaguely recognized their voice, but I was unable to place them.

"No, no, uh... Nowicki, er, Conrad. I'm his brother. Don't worry, I get that often."

"Conrad, right," they said. "You brought us breakfast earlier, right? What the hell are you doing down there?"

"Oh, right!" I exclaimed. "Yes, I'm real," I said, holding up my paws, as if they would prove my point. "You're not hallucinating, don't worry. Listen, if the fact that I'm standing down here isn't proof enough, I'm trying to break you all out. I mean, not through these pipes, it'd be... impractical." They seemed to be following along, if not still incredulous to my presence. I shook my head, realizing that I was rambling somewhat. "Point being," I began, "I need you to step out of the way. I've got a plasma cutter here, and I'm gonna be... well, cutting my way out. Is there anyone near you?"

They glanced around quickly. "Uh... no." They stood upright and stepped out of the way, but still continued talking. "Man, I would ask if you've got a plan, but you quite clearly do."

I nodded in agreement, hoping to convey some sense of confidence which I didn't exactly have at the moment. "Indeed. Just give me a minute, and I'll try and tell you more about it."

"Alright, man, I got you. I'll be nearby if you need help, or something."

Nodding in approval, I pulled the plasma cutter out of my laptop bag. Even in the low light, it wasn't too hard to also fish out a power cell and insert it into the base of the cutter. After that, I just had to disable the safety and press down on the trigger. Of course, I did so upwards, that way I wouldn't burn myself or the pipe I was standing in. There was a quick flash of purple light, obviously the plasma. In addition, the tool itself began to hum quietly.

I felt like I should've been wearing a welding mask, but I hadn't thought to bring one with me, and it seemed like it was too late to turn back now. I held the cutter just a few centimeters away from the rim of the vent and pressed down, and instantly it began loudly hissing, and I was showered with sparks. "Damn it!" I exclaimed. I looked away just quick enough that none of them got in my eyes, but my fur still felt singed. I waited for a few seconds to see if that had attracted anyone's attention, but after nobody, not even the other hyena, walked over, I figured it was just louder in here because everything was echoing.

Looking at the narrow slits in the vent, I wondered if it was possible to simply just have the ration pack wrapper with instructions on it be shoved through. I tossed this idea aside when I realized that the slits were indeed far too narrow for something like that. Plus, the ability to sneak people out, even if only one or two at a time so the guards didn't notice a miscount, would be very useful.

Looking away this time, I held the torch up once more, still making sure it was around the edge based on touch. I held down the trigger and moved it around in a circular motion, as quickly as I could. Sparks were still flying and hitting my skin and fur, which certainly stung. After a full 360 degree rotation, I let go of the trigger and looked up, seeing that the path I'd torched was now glowing a light orange, and looked just about big enough for me to climb through. However, I still had to push the inner part of the vent out of the way.

I began doing just that, not wanting to give the metal enough time to harden again. As I began pushing in the center of the vent to try and separate it, the other hyena took notice. They walked over, got on their knees, and began to pull upwards without me having to say anything, which helped greatly. After a few seconds of our combined effort, the piece of vent came loose, and I was left with a hole just big enough to climb out of. "Can you try and pull me out of here?" I asked, while looking downwards, as I removed the power cell from the torch, putting both back in my laptop bag. I pulled out the heat-resistant cloth and put it on top of the rapidly-cooling metal ahead of me, even though it probably was safe enough to touch at this point.