Capítulo 9: Escape Plan
CLANK!
The door closed, and the voice followed, [Currently In Lockdown Mode.]
Nier ignored the voice and turned to Alina, "How did you do that?"
Alina showed the ring and said, "He gave me this ring on my last birthday and said it has many functions that could be used in an emergency."
"I wonder how—" Nier stopped when she noticed a crack on the wall.
She nudged Alina and pointed her finger at the wall. Their gazes followed the crack— just to realize there were cracks all over the house.
Then Alina looked at the floor and saw blood drops that led upstairs. Alina and Nier glanced at each other with a horrified look on their faces and dashed upstairs. The stairs were also cracked, but they weren't damaged enough to be called dangerous.
When Nier and Alina reached Ziro's room, they saw Ziro on the floor.
"Ziro!" Alina rushed to Ziro and placed his head on her lap.
She checked his watch to see the logs and saw the prompt 'No heartbeats detected'.
The time was 12:01 PM.
Alina hesitantly checked Ziro's heartbeats and sighed in relief.
"He is alive."
"But…" Nier glanced around the room and said, "What happened here? And what's with all this blood? There is no sign of the injury on Ziro's body."
"Now is not the time for that. Help me carry him to the bed."
Alina grabbed Ziro's legs, and Nier grabbed his hands to place him on the bed.
Nier was paranoid after the attack on Ziro's parents, so she was acting extra cautious.
"I will call the—!" Nier stopped when she heard the noise coming from outside.
"What is that sound?"
Alina grabbed the tablet lying beside the bed and connected it to the cameras of the main gate entrance.
Some armored cars and trucks parked outside the house, and some men wearing sci-fi suits and guns jumped out.
They took out a human-sized device from the truck and turned it on. And the screen turned black as the connection ended.
"What happened?" Nier panicked.
"That device was most probably a signal jammer," Alina took out her phone to check signals, but there were no signals.
"Yup, it was a jammer."
Alina's guess was correct. That was indeed a jammer, and it had jammed all the incoming and outgoing signals around the area— including satellite signals.
"What should we do?! Are they the same people who killed Aunt and uncle?!" Nier couldn't help but panic— but Alina was calm.
Alina grabbed Nier's hand and dragged her downstairs— to the garage.
"What are you doing, Alina?! We have to protect Ziro!" Nier shouted.
"I know, and that's what I am doing," Alina started looking through the garage, and her gaze stopped on Ziro's motorbike.
"Go sit on it," Alina ordered Nier.
"But I don't know how to drive it. And besides, I am not leaving you and Ziro behind!"
"Nier," Alina cradled Nier's head and uttered, "You are the next heir of Edens— after Ziro. And I can't risk your life in danger."
"I don't care! I am not leaving you—!"
"You need to understand me and my feelings, Nier. And I am sure Ziro would have wanted the same."
Alina was gently explaining everything to Nier.
"Then you and Ziro should come with me too," Nier pointed her fingers at the dozens of cars in the garage, "We can take one of the cars and run away."
"That's not possible. There are so many men outside, and we possibly can't deal with them."
Alina and Nier couldn't even call or signal for help since the signals were jammed. They were trapped in a death zone, and only one thing awaited them if they didn't escape— and it was death.
"Please, Alina. I don't want to leave you and Ziro behind. If something happened to any of you, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for the lifetime."
Nier couldn't hold back her tears and started crying.
Alina slapped Nier on both cheeks and said, "Listen. This bike has auto-pilot mode. So you only need to maintain the balance, and you are good to go."
BOOM! BANG!
Explosives and gunshots could be heard coming from the outside.
"We should hurry," Alina murmured.
Alina pressed the bottom on the bike meter, and a screen popped up.
"I am setting the destination to the palace. Go to G'san and ask him to call my father. And ask them to come here as soon as possible."
"I will try to protect Ziro until then," Alina added with an unconfident smile.
"Then you go, and I will protect Ziro," Nier retorted.
"I love Ziro more than you do, so I will stay behind and protect him. While you will go and ask for the help, got it?" Alina asserted.
Nier couldn't refute Alina and nodded, "Stay safe."
"Wait here for a minute. I will open the way."
Alina started looking through the garage again, and her gaze stopped on the staff— that had strange designs all over it— lying beside the bunch of boxes. She then walked to the weirdly shaped drawer and took out a thumb-sized round-flat object.
"What is this?" Nier asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"Ziro told me he was working on a suit made with nano-technology."
Alina placed the round-flat object on Nier's forehead and said, "I don't know if he had finished working on it or not, but…" Alina tapped twice on the round flat object, and it started covering Nier's face.
It soon covered Nier's entire body with a black suit radiating light blue stripes on the edges.
"Looks like he had finished working on it," Alina sighed and continued, "This suit should be shockproof, bulletproof, and… any and all proof," she shrugged.
There wasn't enough time for Alina to explain everything to Nier. Although, the part of it was because Alina didn't remember everything that Ziro told her about this suit.
"Lily, can you hear me?" Alina questioned and waited for Lily's answer.
"Ziro said he had also installed Lily as an A.I in this suit, but Lily is not working right now."
Alina furrowed her brows and sighed in frustration, "Only if Lily was here..."
"Alina?" Nier called Alina with a concerned look on her face.
Alina ignored Nier and wrapped her palm properly around the staff.
"Get ready," Alina motioned.
Alina's ring shined, and she started tapping the staff on the floor.
"What are you doing?" Nier questioned.
Alina ignored Nier and kept walking further as she continued tapping the staff on the floor. She stopped at one spot and raised the staff as the designs on it shined brightly— and then plunged the staff on the floor.
On the left— that looked like a wall before— a passage opened.
"This is the secret passage tunnel that leads directly to the city hall. But the tunnel is only made to escape by foot or small vehicles like this motorbike. It is private property that belongs to Ziro, and they wouldn't be able to see you escape," Alina reassured.
Anyone looking at the scene would surely think that Alina used some kind of magic, but in truth, she just pressed the switch to open the door.
Alina's ring was a universal and ultimate key to access any and everything that belonged to Ziro. And the staff was another key to open the secret passage. Alina used her ring to access the staff and opened the secret door.
"Go now," Alina patted on Nier's back, "Be careful."
Nier nodded and hugged Alina, "Please, stay safe. I will be right back with help."
Alina turned on the auto-pilot mode and said, "Just maintain the balance."
Nier fixed her position on the bike and disappeared into the secret passage.
After closing the secret passage, Alina rushed to Ziro to protect him and waited for help to arrive.
-- Presente
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