The Flawed Test

Chapter 20

     Ctchunk! Whrrrrrr! The elevator slowly came back to the land of the living reluctantly. The ride down was surprisingly mostly smooth. Every once in a while it would shake or make a really loud clanking noise that would give everyone in the elevator a mini-heart attack, but it was nothing every time. After about five minutes of descending, the natural awkwardness of an elevator was finally lifted as the doors opened. Will was right in his analyzation, as no workers on the plant were anywhere in sight. We sneaked off to the right and started towards the center. 

     "So, how are we planning on shutting off this gargantuan thing?" Jess asked.

     "Yeah, you guys did find the information. And I swear to God if you came to us without a plan..." I warned.

     "Don't worry. I'm not as stupid as I look." Will said, getting ready to explain. "Well, for starters, I assumed the base would be lightly guarded to not raise suspicion, and for the fact that a generator doesn't need much maintenance. I mean a bit of lubricant on joints that are stuck and the occasional restart for updates, assuming it's electronic. Then, I was hoping Claudia and Leo could team up and hypnotize the 20 to 30 people they have in there. I know it's a lot of work, but thwarting this organization of defectors is on the line. Next, we'll need to deactivate the generator in any way. If that means just flipping a switch or going to the extreme of just exploding the dang thing, we need to do it as quickly as possible, so we don't crush their brains."

     "Elaborate." Eliana commented. "If it does come to exploding the generator, how do you suggest we get out?" That thought put Will to silence, which was unnatural. If he was asked a question, he usually knew the answer right away.

     "It won't come to that." Will finally answered. 

     "There's a small hole in your plan." Tyler stated at the front of our pack.

     "How could there be? I've been thinking about this ever since the guards mentioned it. It's flawless." Will defended.

     "Well apparently the guards forgot to mention the 5,279 dollar, high security, 27 digit pass code, and plated with 3 inches of steel on both sides maximum security door." Tyler said.

      "Two questions. Why 27 digits? Also, how the heck do you know all of that?" Jess asked.

     "Dumb designers, I'm guessing." Tyler responded. "Also, the nimrods here left the price tag on this thing. Kale, do we have any thermite left?" 

     "We have about a pinch, and that's it." I answered. "Plus, I don't think your cheap Etcha-Sketch thermite will break through six inches of steel and two inches of some other metal."

      "Did you just say Etcha-Sketch thermite?" Claudia asked.

     'Long story.' Leo replied.

     "Wait a sec." Eliana said. "Can't Kale, like, just summon a sun sword thingy and burn through the lock? I mean, you wouldn't have had to break all of those poor Etcha Sketches, or waste money on those steel wool pads."

     "Problem with that is, whenever the Helical Blade touches something, it disintegrates." I explained. "It even happened with the hologram back at school in the practice room."

     'Well it's at least worth a shot.' Leo said. 'Claudia, Eliana, get ready to hypnotize those guys in there.' I felt a line of sweat drip down from my forehead and I tried to summon the blade. I thought it's casting words. Helical Blade. The blade slowly materialized from the hilt up.

     "They're hypnotized. Go in." Claudia ordered. I followed orders and braced for the disintegration of the sword as I stuck it in between the wall and door carefully. But the sword never broke. Instead, Smoke seeped out of the entire side of the door until I could stick the sword in and out of the crack no problem.

     "Tyler. Shunt it open." Eliana ordered.

     "Got it." Tyler said, slamming his shoulder into the door. "FBI!"

     "Tyler, really?" I said, with an eyebrow raised. Every person in the room was just laying flat on the ground.

     "Hey. It was on my bucket list." He shrugged his shoulders. The layout of the room was simple. It was a rectangle, which we were on the long side of. The right side of the room was maintenance cabinets and utility sinks. The right side of the room was literally just the generator. Although I assumed it had a lot of other hidden wiring, it was still pretty massive. It was a cylinder, thicker on both sides, but the inside was thin and spinning at an extremely fast rate.

     Tyler walked up to a touchscreen terminal and tried to navigate it. He hit different buttons until he stopped.

     "Here it is. 'discontinue operations'." Tyler pointed out.

     "Then what the heck are you waiting for? Press it! You're hurting my head over here." Eliana complained. Leo followed orders and pressed the button. The inner cylinder slowly stopped rotating. And we had finally stopped them, once and for all.

     Or so we thought.