Slow and Speedy Win the Fight

86. Blockade

Sheldon

Dry stale air clung to my skin and the back of my hand rubbed my face in an attempt to get rid of the disgusting feeling.

The tunnel that Haresa had revealed wasn't very long and it quickly led into a small room with a bunch of industrial-sized servers all lined up neatly. They seemed to have been abandoned in a hurry as they were still plugged in and functioning but when I tried cracking one open to investigate the interior, everything used to make the server store any semblance of data was removed. All that was left was essentially power cords to make the servers function as glorified unenthusiastic Christmas lights.

"They left no stone unturned," I said and wiped a finger over the floor. "They cleaned this area very well before leaving."

"Are we going to go home empty-handed then?" Haresa asked nervously and I snorted.

"No," my lips turned upwards. "It makes the challenge harder."

"Which is bad?"

"Wrong. It makes it more satisfying when I finally find their mistake."

Haresa made their way to the other side of the room, not finding any value in the servers while I began to unscrew a panel to another server. There was twelve total in here. It shouldn't take that long to peek into all of them.

"Are you seriously going to check every single one of them?" They asked.

"Yeah, so?"

They muttered something about how pointless it was and I decided to ignore them. If there happened to be any scrap parts that I could slip into my bag, I would call this mission a success.

"Sheldon?"

"Go away, I'm one with the computers."

I could hear fear creep into Haresa's voice. "Sheldon, I think you really should see this."

I ignored them in favour of the computers. They're a hero, they can deal with it themself.

"Sheldon!" They sounded even more panicked.

"I'm busy," I said.

"Sheldon, run! Now, now, now."

The sound of rushing water flooded my ears and a large gust of wind crashed into my body. My shield went up instantaneously and horror filled my body as the water invaded the servers. Electricity coursed through the water and I could only mourn for the amount of damage that all the machinery will suffer through. I was safe in my energy-constructed sphere but now the water was everywhere, making it unsafe for me to take a single step outside it. I don't know if seventeen minutes of shield time will be enough for me to not only continue investigating but escape as well or if I will be able to even hold it out for longer than that.

"I told you to run!" Haresa exclaimed from beside me and I jumped back in surprise.

My sudden movement caused the roof of it to knock into Haresa's head and they crashed into me unexpectedly.

"Ow! What the heck."

"Well, I was busy."

"Busy doing what?"

"Checking out the servers, of course." I gestured to the server next to us.

A part of my shield had snagged itself into the machinery and we were barely anchored by not just our weight but by the server so that we wouldn't slip and roll away without any control. I put my face next to the small area of the server I was about to touch and tried to see how deep the shield was in it.

"How do you do that without slicing the wall off?" Haresa asked.

"I had a lot of practice," I mumbled. "How the hell did this happen?"

"I found a door," they said.

I waited for them to continue but they were silent. "Was it your fault?"

"No."

"Let me rephrase. What the fuck did you touch?"

"I didn't touch anything!" They exclaimed and attempted to throw their arms up.

Their hands bounced against the roof of the shield and they began to tip backwards. My hands grabbed onto their arms and pulled them closer to me so that they would fall into me instead. Their head now rested on my shoulder and I froze. My brain short-circuited and needed a desperate reboot as I felt myself get warm very fast. I quickly pushed them off me and turned to the server.

"So, water just came out of nowhere?" I asked.

"No, it was like a trap. I wanted to go into the other room but water erupted from it like in the movies involving archeology," they said.

"You think it was blocking us from going down there?" I asked.

"It didn't seem like there was anything else in there honestly." Haresa's eyes shifted around the room. "They're probably trying to destroy any evidence."

"If they can't have it, then we can't either," I said grimly.

They nodded.

My hands locked together and I placed them on the top of my head. I tried to think of a solution but the sudden change of plans only made my mind go blank. I had a whole plan and a backup plan if Haresa dropped out. I didn't think they would flood the damn place and ruin the beautiful and expensive equipment. Even if they were shells of what they used to be, if they got all of their hardware back, they would be fully functional again.

"We need to figure out how to get out of here," I said. "The water is still running and if the whole room fills up, we're going to need air."

"Your forcefield doesn't produce air?" They asked.

I blinked. "No. Why would it?"

"I thought your powers worked like Steven Universe."

"I have no idea what that is but this is reality." I wanted to shake them but I held myself back. "I know my villain costume is green but I'm not a damn plant so we need to get out."

"We can't leave before getting something," Haresa said as they tugged on their costume's sleeve. "We went through all this trouble and we don't have any other leads."

"I'm not dying in water," I said through gritted teeth. "What's your great idea?"

They straightened their back and squared their shoulders. "Let me out of the bubble."

"How do you think I can do that?" I asked incredulously. "Am I also supposed to believe that you can hold your breath for that long and swim through this damn room?"

"Yes." They had said it so confidently that I couldn't help but doubt them. "I have supercharged legs, kicking them to swim will be a breeze."

"But you don't know if you'll find anything."

"Just open your bubble."

I hesitated. "How?"

"You know how when you put up your forcefield, it goes from one end to the other?" They asked and I nodded. "Just do the reverse and open it up enough just for me to squeeze through."

I eyed the rising water before I gave them another look of doubt.

"What? You can't do it?"

The taunt made my nostrils flare and I opened the shield. A small hole formed at the top and Haresa readied themself to exist out of it. I held a hand up to signal them to wait and they looked at me curiously.

"You have two minutes," I said. "If you're not back by then, I'm leaving."

They rolled their eyes before they hopped out of the shield effortlessly. They dove into the water and water splashed into the shield before I was able to seal it off again.

I turned my attention back to the shield's makeshift anchor and frowned. Now how was I going to detach this and be able to escape this as efficiently as possible?