“Would the cost of such a power really be worth the price?”

The sun had gone down making the sky grow darker by the second so they didn’t waste any more time. They were nearing the police station, dodging whatever Legion patrols they encountered. So far everything was running smoothly. When they arrived to the station, it looked small in comparison to the surrounding buildings. It was two stories tall with a landing pad on top. Though it was shorter than the other buildings, it did cover some distance. Finn peaked out of the alley to check for any patrols, but didn’t any. He went back in the alley to talk to the group, “Alright, assuming that our help were the only ones wrangled up today, they should be near the rear of the station.”

Finn took out an arrow and started drawing in the loose dirt and dust on the ground. He drew a map of the station as if he knew it from the inside out. Nova and Tyse didn’t want to know how it is Finn is so familiar with the station so they kept silent and watched him draw the place out. Finn drew intensively as he drew in the greatest detail as he could on the stations floors. After a minute or so, he was finished with his map. It seemed the station was rectangular overall, small on the map, but in reality it would be quite large. “Ok so right now we are around the front entrance here.” Finn pointed to the front doors of the station in the front center of the diagram. “If I’m right, then I assume they would be around here.” He circled towards the back right side of the building. “Now, depending on all of the variables of this, we have to consider the cameras placed around the area, guards posted, and escape routes. Now guard positions is usually different, but I think I can guarantee a high chance of encountering police at the holding cells, front desk, some walking around the halls, and most definitely on the second floor.” He circled all of the points covered. “We’ll be going through the second floor, we’ll be the closest to the security room through there.”

Before continuing, Finn drew out the roof access leading into the second floor on the left side of the building, then he circled the security room not too far away from roof access. “We shouldn’t worry too much about too many roaming police on that floor, everyone should be clocking out for home right about now. Just keep your head low and we’ll be fine.”

He paused for a moment considering all three or their roles. Nova looks like she can handle herself no doubt, but he wasn’t too sure about Tyse. He was about to ask if he could at least hold his own, but then held off and thought it to be safe if Tyse just stayed with either him or Nova at all times. He took a couple more seconds to compose his thoughts and then continued, “Once we reach the security room we will have to take out what ever guards are inside as quickly as possible. We can’t risk a single one of them calling for help or firing off a shot. When we take control of the room, I should be able to shut off lights in the station. Next, you two head out to the cells and free our guys. I’ll stay and distract the guards if they go for the power. You two should just focus on getting everyone out of there, but since we will be getting a large number of people out, unfortunately, you’ll all have to make a break for it through the front doors. Take them all to the alley near the Legion walls where we all met.”

Nova and Tyse looked impressed at the well thought plan. Tyse commented, “Quick and clean, hope this all works out!”

Nova agreed, but there was a small detail that was missing from the end, “Aren’t you coming with us?”

“Well not quite. I’m most likely guessing that once you get the prisoners out they’ll try and block off the entire station with guards. I’ll just have to exit through the roof, the way we came in. But no matter the case, do not come back for me, getting our distraction team out is the number one thing we came for and should focus on. Without them then everything would be for nothing! So, are there any questions?”

Finn looked at them seeing how they were studying the map in every detail they could remember. Finn then remembered something he forgot to mention earlier, “Oh and one more thing. Don’t kill the cops, they’re just doing their jobs, so let’s try and keep it quiet in the meantime.” He looked at the two of them and they nodded. Finn stood up with his feet over the drawn dirt maps, “Last chance!” He said before kicking away the dirt, destroying all evidence of their planning there. He grabbed his bow, extending it with a twirl and then took the lead towards the station.

They all crossed the street quickly while activity was low and headed towards the left side of the station. There was an alley around the corner that seemed to be gated off and code activated. They saw a security camera and Finn directed them just outside of its view. They waited until the streets were clear and no one was in sight. When it was all clear, Finn set his bow and shot a line to the top of the roof. Tyse looked at it with surprise and amaze, but when motioned to climb up he hesitated at first. Nova was impatient and shoved Tyse out of the way to go up first. With no struggle, she manages to climb up to the roof quickly. Finn went up next, but first signaled Tyse to watch and learn. He grabs the line with both hands, pulling himself incrementally while holding himself in place with his legs and feet squeezing on the line. Finn was then on the roof, now waiting for Tyse to follow. Tyse looked around seeing the streets still clear, but decided to hurry due to his fears of someone seeing him. He grabs the line and begins to slowly climb up, but struggled. He wasn’t used to physical exercise such as this. After a short while, he finally manages to get up the rope and on the roof, but before he could take a minute to celebrate, Finn quickly moved him out of the way to quietly check if anyone was coming or saw Tyse climb the rope. Thankfully it was still empty, so he quickly reclaimed his arrow and placed it in his quiver. He then looked at Tyse, pointing his fingers at him in a waving motion, “You make me nervous to be honest.” Tyse declined to comment and the group just continued with the mission at hand.

On top of the roof there was a landing pad at the far edge of the building, which was empty, ventilation systems and air conditioning units were scattered throughout, along with other pipes, and there was the roof access door in front of them towards the left edge of the building. Nova was about to move towards the door, but Finn noticed that and quickly stopped her. Nova was confused, but then saw a camera above the door that Finn pointed out. He slowly approached the door, being careful not to be in the camera’s view. He was now right beside the camera, and he opened a pocket in his cargo pants. He dug in it to pull out strange crystal shards, each in which glowed in different colors. He chose two yellow shards and dug around another pocket below his first cargo pocket for something else. What he got out was a small roll of electrical tape. He took a small strip and placed the tape back. He then stuck tape on one of the shards and stuck it on the code pad next to the door and held the other right under the camera. Almost, immediately the doors opened and he quickly signaled Tyse and Nova to get inside. They hurried inside and as soon as they got in the door, Finn removed the shard from the camera and joined them.

They were now going down a set of stairs which led to the second floor, but also further down to the first floor and what seems to be the basement level. Nova checked around the corner of the second floor and quickly drew back into cover. Above her across the hall was a camera, so she pointed it out to Finn. He nodded in acknowledgement and took out an arrow. He whispered to the two of them, “As soon as I shoot out the camera, stay low and move fast to the security room down the hall.”

Nova nodded and Tyse gave a thumbs up. Finn aimed and readied himself. Nova and Tyse were ready to move as soon as he shot, waiting in anticipation. Finn then moved out of cover and quickly shot the camera. Nova and Tyse then crouched down, moving quickly towards the security room. Finn jumped up and grabbed his arrow from the now broken camera, setting it back in his quiver, in exchange for another one. He then caught up to Nova and Tyse, who were waiting for him eight meters away. He almost made it, until the door opened with someone coming out. Nova quickly reacted by grabbing him and tackling him down, by the head, into the room. Finn hurried and readied his aim as he got to the door.

Nova took out her blade and smacked a gun out of a guard’s hand, who had just gotten up from the main controls. There were two other guards who had also gotten up from their seats on the opposite end of the room, but Finn came in the doorway shooting one with an electrified arrow and shot the gun out of the other guard’s hand. The guards who got show began to spasm as if he were being electrified and proceeded to knock out. Nova twisted the arm of the guard in front of her and uppercut him her palm. She tackled him towards the other guard, and they both crash into the wall. The first guard falls to the ground while the other is still standing. Nova finishes it by hitting the standing guard with a hook and elbow, then stomping on the face of the other. They both fall unconscious as their bodies go limp, and the group then catches their breath.

Finn didn’t waste any time, he quickly checked the cameras and the hallway to make sure no one noticed the incident. Luckily it was quick enough that no one really paid no mind to it, and so he quickly shut the door and closes the blinds. Nova and Finn were dragging the unconscious guards out of the way and taking their weapons away, Tyse on the other hand was standing idly in the same spot in front of the door since Nova and Finn took down the guards. His heart was racing and his hands were shaking. He couldn’t believe that this was all really happening. He was with two people who are set on making a change, willing to fight for Pyrium’s blade, yet he stood there unsure of what to do and unsure on what to think of any of this. This was all a mixture of excitement and terror. When Tyse tried to think about the idea of fighting, he didn’t know exactly how he would respond, in fact Tyse didn’t have the faintest clue on how to fight nor did he ever had to in his entire life.

Nova and Finn finished what they were doing and Nova noticed how Tyse just stood there. They saw the confusion and fear in his eyes and how his hands trembled just slightly enough where it was visible. Finn saw this too, but decided to ignore it. Nova spoke to him, “You alright?”

Tyse, startled by this, looks at her and didn’t know exactly what to say, “Yeah, I uhh…” He trailed off.

“This is the first time you’ve ever been to a fight, isn’t it?” Nova said.

This surprised Tyse, and his face showed it all too well, “How can you tell?”

Nova scuffed, “The look on your face just says it all. Are you going to get in the way?”

The question was so blunt the Tyse felt a little hurt from the question. He quickly replied, “No… I can promise you that I’ll see this through, I swear!”

Tyse felt embarrassed with himself, how could he have come on such an adventure and not know how to defend himself. There was a short silence in the room, but the clock was ticking. Tyse tried to swallow a lump that was stuck in his throat and Nova said to him, “If you say so. Just… stay near the back of the fighting.” She walked towards Finn, ready to just finish the day.

Finn was near the power controls on the end of the room, encased in a large metal box mounted on the wall. “When power goes off, only the cameras and holding cells will continue to run on back up. You both will need to move fast and get to the cell controls once I shut it.” He then opened up the box with a key he pick off one of the guards and placed his hands near the panel. Finn looked to Nova and stared at Tyse, “Are you ready for this?”

Tyse looked back at him, almost in shame, he didn’t mean to be a burden all of a sudden, but he nodded back, holding back whatever hesitations he has.

Finn accepted the acknowledgement and turned his gaze towards the power switches. He stretched out his hand and fingers to get as many switches he can, then he begins switching the power off. One by one, they notice how chunks of the station went dark, until the security room itself went dark with only the lights from the monitoring consoles and monitors, mounted on the wall in front of that, lit the dark room. Everyone adjusted to the sudden dark and then moved on with the plan. Nova motioned Tyse to follow as she runs out the room, heading towards the stairs. He followed, but she move so quickly that it was almost hard to keep up with her. Then headed down the stairs, pausing at the first floor to look for any police roaming about. They continued moving towards the holding cells, on the other end of the station, but they both must have underestimated the length of the building seeing how it stretched so far out. Around the corner two guards appeared with flashlights moving towards Nova’s direction. The light almost blinded her, but she kept running towards them. The guards saw this, but it was already too late, Nova jumped towards them hitting the light from out of their hands. She moved in a strong but graceful manner around them, grappling them one at a time, quickly knocking them both out. She kept moving as Tyse lagged behind her, feeling his legs resisting his commands, his lungs short of air, and his heart pounding hard.