Undead Revolution (⛔☁️)

S6 - 13. [Action]

Once inside the facility, Katsuki headed towards the stairs, his steps light and calculated as he moved through the hallways. The place was eerily quiet, save for the faint hum of machinery somewhere deeper inside the building. Rusted pipes lined the walls, and the faint smell of oil lingered in the air.

He reached the stairwell, pausing at the top to listen. Voices echoed faintly from below: two guards, talking in hushed tones. Katsuki could barely hear it, but he managed to pick up bits of their conversation. Nothing extremely important, just idle chatter about prisoner guard privileges. But it confirmed what he already knew: Cipher was being held in the lower levels.

Katsuki gripped the railing, scanning the area for any surveillance cameras. He spotted one perched in the corner, its lens sweeping the hallway like a watchful eye.

Timing his movements carefully, he managed to slip past as it turned the other way. He quickly pulled it's base until it got stuck facing the other direction. Not enough to be damaged, just enough to look like it shorted out.

The stairs creaked under his weight, but he moved swiftly, keeping to the shadows. He didn't have much time. Teskai had mentioned that the shifts changed quickly, meaning the patrols would increase in the next fifteen minutes.

At the bottom of the stairs, he paused again, listening. The sound of metal scraping against the floor echoed from somewhere down the hall. Katsuki tensed, pressing his back against the wall as footsteps approached. A guard turned the corner, his flashlight bouncing off the cracked concrete.

Katsuki didn't hesitate.

He darted forward, wrapping an arm around the guard's neck and pulling him back into the shadows. The guard struggled for only a second before Katsuki took him down with a knife through the guy's temple. He lowered the corpse to the ground and quickly searched for anything useful. A keycard.

"Perfect" He muttered, slipping it into his pocket.

He moved deeper into the facility, navigating through the narrow corridors. The deeper he went, the darker and more claustrophobic it became. Faint, flickering lights hung from the ceiling, casting long shadows across the walls.

As he rounded a corner, Katsuki's gaze locked onto a thick, reinforced door at the end of the hall. It was different from the others: sturdier, more secure. There were no windows to peer inside, just a heavy metal door with a keypad lock.

Cipher had to be behind that door.

Katsuki approached cautiously, pulling out the keycard he'd taken from the guard. He slid it through the reader, and the light on the keypad flickered green. Thank god it didn't require a pin code too. He would've had to use the one-use keypad disabler.

The door clicked open with a low hum, and Katsuki pushed it open just enough to slip inside.

The room beyond was dimly lit, with a single, flickering bulb hanging from the ceiling. Cipher was there, slumped in a metal chair in the center of the room, his wrists and ankles bound by multiple types of restraints. The hero's face was bruised, clothing bloodied, and his hair was disheveled. But by some miracle, he was still conscious, his eyes squinting as Katsuki entered.

Cipher's eyes widened as he recognized the red and black suit. "You...?"

Katsuki shut the door behind him, his eyes scanning the room for any other threats. "We don't have time for a heart to heart" He ordered. "Nezu has paid for your rescue"

Cipher looked at him with a mix of suspicion and disbelief. "Nezu sent you?"

Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Yeah, now shut up"

As he moved to free Cipher from the restraints, Cipher grimaced. "You think you can just waltz out of here? They'll be swarming this place any minute"

Katsuki grinned, pulling a knife from his belt and cutting through some of the restraints. "They can try" The metal cuffs on his legs were a bit harder, but he managed to pick the lock.

Word Count: 672