Chapter 77: Chapter 77
After J'onn gives the signal for them all to go, they break off into their smaller teams. Maggie and Alex are, of course, together with Vasquez and a couple other agents.
They have a specific entrance they're supposed to go into, and it's Vasquez that finds the door to where they need to go. They sneak out from the tree line, staying low to the ground and close together. They move smoothly and silently across the grass, heading straight for the hidden door.
Most of the doors agents are heading into, they don't know what it's used for or if it will be patrolled by Cadmus guards. Luckily, that's not the case with them.
This particular hallway goes right to the kitchens, so they can safely assume that it won't be patrolled. Alex knows that at the Danvers castle, they have patrols that go near the kitchen but never in the kitchen. Lyra makes amazing food, and the smell alone is often tantalizing. Being exposed to that for an indefinite amount of time, and anyone would snap and try to eat everything in sight. According to legend, that's what happened with one knight and he ate himself near to death.
Plus, only bakers and people fetching fresh berries or something from the woods would use the hallway this door leads to. There would be no need to guard it unless they want to intimidate the bakers.
Vasquez tries the door and it sticks at first, but they pull again and the door opens. They pull it open quickly so it has less time to squeak or creak. They hold the door open for the others and close it behind them. The hallway is dark, but it was dark enough outside that their eyes adjusted so they can barely make out everything. With Alex and Maggie leading, they move forward. The hallway is just wide enough for them to walk side by side.
It turns once or twice, and they can all tell when they near the exit. It goes straight to the kitchen, which is lit rather well despite it being around three in the morning. Everyone in the kitchen stops what they're doing to stare at the agents and knights in their workspace.
Vasquez presses a finger to their lips in a shushing motion. They show their DEO badge and tell the scared people they aren't here for them. The group moves onwards quickly, to the relief of the kitchen staff.
Maggie and Alex continue to lead with their swords drawn, but they don't come across any guards. They don't expect to until they get nearer to the stairs leading downstairs, where the Cadmus lab is. Assuming Maxwell's intel was correct, the stairs should just be a couple corridors away.
The first guard they come across has a bored expression on his face until he sees them. His eyes widen and he opens his mouth to yell something, all the while fumbling for his own sword. Maggie slams the hilt of her sword against his forehead. Not hard enough to cause brain damage, but hard enough to knock him out (she knows from experience that he won't be getting up for a while).
Alex and Maggie continue onwards in the front, moving effortlessly in sync. They all memorized the layout of the castle so they wouldn't get lost, and according to Alex's mental map, they're getting close to their stairs.
"Get ready, the stairs are near. Expect multiple Cadmus agents." Alex signs to the others and they all nod seriously.
With their weapons drawn, everyone creeps forward, even more alert than usual. They move efficiently, covering each other as they pass hallways to make certain there aren't any unwelcome surprises. They almost make it to the stairs uninterrupted. Almost being the operative word.
Alex sees them first, two Cadmus guards with wicked looking curved blades, slumped against the wall, barely awake. But Alex knows from experience that once adrenalin kicks in, it doesn't matter how awake or not you were five seconds ago.
Maggie and Alex go and tag team them. Maggie attacks first, kicking out her foot to catch one of the men's knee. The man groans in pain as his leg fails to hold up his weight. He catches himself, only to be kneed in the face by Maggie. His head snaps back and he gets up, clutching his bloody nose.
The other man, alerted by his partner's attack, turns on Alex. She snaps her wrist as he begins pulling his sword from it's sheathe. Her sword hits it's hilt, making a shallow cut on the back of his hand that makes him flinch and hiss. The unexpected feeling of pain combined with the force she hits the hilt with causes his to lose his grip on his sword. Alex catches it expertly and twirls the swords.
The Cadmus agent impressively doesn't give up, despite being up against a woman who he should be able to tell by now is well-trained and probably (definitely) better than he is. The woman who now has two swords, and he has a grand total of zero. Instead of fleeing or raising his hands in surrender, he fumbles around for a second and pulls out a dagger.
Alex raises one eyebrow and waits patiently for him to make the first move. He darts forward, quicker than Alex expected, though she has long since learned not to underestimate her enemies. He tried to bring the dagger up at a fatal angle, where if he were not met with resistance (and if she didn't have on such awesome armor), he would have been able to get under her rib cage and pierce her heart.
She deflects his attack easily and can tell this isn't someone who gives up. He wholeheartedly believes in Cadmus and what they're doing. Which makes Alex want to kill the xenophobic douche canoe, but she knows that this kind of person would be easily picked out by someone as intelligent as Lillian Luthor. She would know he would die for their cause, so she would probably entrust this kind of person with intel she might not tell the average agent. Which means Alex probably shouldn't kill him. Bummer.
She kicks her foot down hard and as his head lowers in agony, curling in on himself automatically, she brings the hilt of his own sword upwards. It hits his jaw and the force makes his head fly up and he slumps to the ground, unconscious. Alex tosses his sword away, onto a surface she know won't make an obnoxiously loud noise. She doesn't need it anymore.
She looks over to see that Maggie's standing over her guy, who's now dead.
"You let yours live?" Maggie signs curiously.
Alex shrugs. "He seems like the kind of guy who would have useful intel. Does someone have something to tie him up with? We can come back for him later."
Vasquez pulls out some zip ties and ties his arms and legs together, placing a piece of cloth they rip off of the dead guy to put in his mouth so he can't yell for help.
"Where the hell are you keeping those?" Maggie signs, dumbfounded. "What all do you have in those pants?"
They're wearing their standard DEO uniform, black on black. Everyone who's ever worn the uniform knows how spacious the pockets are (how they manage to fit so much on one pair of pants is a mystery to everyone but the people who make them).
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Vasquez teases with a wink.
"Hey, step off my woman." Alex signs back, to everyone's amusement.
"I have my own woman to 'step on,' Danvers." Vasquez signs, managing to use air quotes in between signing the words.
"Ari's a lucky girl." Maggie signs to them, turning the conversation onto something less likely to end in a less friendly conversation.
"I'm the lucky one." Vasquez signs with a goofy grin. "Now can we move on?"
Alex nods, knowing they should be moving fast in order to give the scientists as little time as possible after their cover is blown to destroy their findings.
"Let's go." Alex signs.
She and Maggie lead again, their swords up. They move down the corridor another couple of feet, where they find a nondescript door, just like Maxwell said. Alex pulls it open and Maggie goes in, squinting to see a dimly lit stairway leading down.
The stairs are a bland gray color, not posh like the rest of the castle. The lights are oil lamps hung every once in a while, hung too far apart for Alex's tastes. The flames dance in their glass vase-like holders, casting an eerie flickering orange glow against the stairs and the too close walls. The walls are just as bland and gray as the stairs and it's only just wide enough for a single person to go down comfortable. Well, as comfortably as possible considering it looks like they're heading down into a dungeon.
Maggie takes a deep breath and puts her foot on the first step.
Next chapter, back to Supercorp! I'm still winging the Sanvers part, with my basis as "they head to a creepy basement where Cadmus is doing experiments". I haven't really elaborated... Anywho! It's my last day at home until I come back for a break or something (well, yesterday technically because I write these a day before I post them) 0.0 Crazy! My mom's already shed a few tears and my best friend (who's going to a college close to home) hung out with me for a bit... It was awesome to get to see her before I go. And usually I finish my chapters by noon but because today's been crazy, I've only just finished and it's 8:20 at night... Now, onto semifinal packing up and reading Fanfiction before I go to bed! Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!
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