—Okay, you block the lasers, I'll take care of the rest.

Arturo looked at the entrance. The destruction of the structure had produced a lot of smoke. The soldiers stopped firing to let the smoke pass.

—No, that way— he turned and looked at the building.

Unlike the walls on the outside of the penitentiary complex, that control building had several windows, probably because it was an employee area.

—Let's go through one of the windows. We'll start from the second floor— he told Erica.

Erica nodded. They both moved away from the entrance, clung to the wall and Arturo lifted them with his magic to the second floor. From there he opened the window also with his mind. They entered and started to check the place. Finally, they arrived at an office.

—It doesn't look like the control room— grunted Erica.

—It's okay, I can check the map from here— said Arturo.

—Really?

Arturo sat down at the desk and turned on the computer. Unlike Mother's, Nudo's computers consisted of a small box that projected a holographic screen and keyboard. The way it operated was also different; it was less pleasing to the eye and had programs and symbols that Erica had never seen before. Arturo looked at it for a few seconds before he began to move his hands across the keyboard and screen. To Erica's surprise, the screen was tactile. Not only that, several buttons could be removed, put on, extended and decreased in size. It was something much more moldable than she had ever seen in her life. Arturo started out a little clumsy, but after a minute he seemed to understand the system and began to search in earnest.

—What are you doing?— Erica asked.

He didn't answer, too focused on his work. Erica wondered if he had heard her. Only after three minutes, the boy stopped.

—I've got it— he said— it's right below us.

—Lili?!

—No! The control room.

—Oh... all right! Let's go!

Erica formed a timitio drill with both feet and drilled a tunnel to the floor below. Arturo, meanwhile, quietly descended using a rock platform.

Coming out of nowhere, Erica suddenly found herself surrounded by several bewildered nonis. Three of these immediately leapt at her to seize her, but she swatted them away and shot herself toward the others to defeat them in a hurry. Meanwhile, Arturo made his way through the nonis to the main computer to begin work immediately. While Erica was blasting nonis left and right, he quickly went through the programs and files of the entire penitentiary until he came up with the list of prisoners.

After finishing off all the nonis, Erica approached him, and just then Lili's picture appeared on the screen.

—There she is!— pointed the brika.

Arturo reviewed her information and memorized it.

—She's in section B, cell 103.

—There are 103 cells in one section?— asked Erica.

—It must be some kind of code, like the departments in a building.

—Oh, right.

At that moment the hurried footsteps of Nonis were heard near the entrance. Erica stepped forward.

—I'll take care of them, you make sure....

But then Arturo raised a hand and pulled it tightly, as if closing a curtain with a single movement. At the same time the sky in the room crumbled in front of the entrance and locked them in. The approaching nonis had no way of getting in. Arturo continued working on the computer and in five seconds found the location they needed.

—Ready!— he announced.

—You got it?! So fast?!— Erica jumped up.

—It's not like they went out of their way to hide the information— said the mage. Then he turned and pointed out the window— You can't see it from here, but we have to go straight in that direction. We should find a long, three-story building with a large entrance.

—Excellent!— cried Erica— Shall we go?

The brika offered to carry him in her arms, but Arturo turned her down with a wave of his hand.

—You'd better concentrate on defending us. I can move on my own.

Erica opened the window to jump out, but a barrage of laser shots knocked her back.

—Oh, how annoying!— she pleaded.

—Their defenses will increase from here on— assumed Arturo.

—You still want us to subdue them without harming them?— asked Erica.

The boy sighed.

—I'd prefer it that way, but the mission is the most important thing.

—What if I kill one of them by accident?

Arturo shrugged.

—Nothing is good in excess, even compassion— he replied— We went in without authorization, but they choose to shoot us.

Erica, excited, slammed a fist into her palm.

—Don't hang back, then!

—Don't worry, I'll be fine.

Ready, Erica took a step back to gather momentum and jumped hard out the window. Laser shots flew through her wake, but none of them hit her. The girl formed a hammer in mid-air and landed, hitting one of the guards. The others aimed at her, but the girl moved fast and in the blink of an eye rammed the next one. At the same time, Arturo formed a rock skateboard to glide through the air, went down to the second floor and smashed their pistols with his magic. The nonis near him tried to ram and grab him, but he buried his legs in the ground to immobilize them.

Both humans advanced quickly through the penitentiary complex, getting rid of guards between them. Erica surprised them in the vanguard with quick and powerful attacks, while Arturo made sure to knock out those who were lagging behind.

They circled one building, passed by another, jumped over a two-story wall and found themselves in the prisoner area. In front of them stretched a multi-purpose courtyard, suitable for various sports. After the courtyard was the long three-story building that Arturo had indicated where Liliana was located. However, in front of this building stood a dozen uniformed nonis, with clothes and weapons different from the prison guards. Both teens had seen them before; they were the crivia guard. They too noticed them from a distance, but did not move.

—They are defending their position. They won't let us get close— Arturo observed.

—Then we just have to crush them— said Erica.

Arturo thought for a moment.

—Where is the crivia? I thought they went everywhere with her.

—I doubt they would have known we were coming, they can't have been prepared— Erica told him, —Fir must be somewhere else, maybe in the bathroom.

—No, the crivia was expecting us to come— corrected Arturo— Why do you think she published the arrest in a newspaper? She probably wants to capture you, maybe me too.

—What, so this is all a trap?!— said Erica.

Arturo smiled amused.

—Did you just realize that?

Erica gritted her teeth and puffed out her cheeks.

—I haven't had time to think!

Arturo laughed softly.

—All right, all right, your plan to lure the police was pretty good— he snapped— I won't tell you not to think, but you can leave the rest of the planning to me. You just concentrate on defending us.

Erica nodded.

—All right!

Then a laser beam passed between them. As they turned around, they noticed guards coming up behind them and shooting at them from the ground. Both jumped to the ground to avoid the lasers. The guards emerged through the gate leading to the prisoner yard. Seeing them, the humans stood up and continued to run toward the crivia guard.

—Ah, damn it!— cried Arturo— We're going to get caught! We can't fight on two fronts!

—So what do we do?— Erica pleaded.

Arturo turned his attention to the guards of the crivia. What bothered him most of all was that Fir wasn't with them. He thought about taking Erica and flying straight to the roof of the building to infiltrate there, but he didn't want to take the fight to Liliana, he didn't know if she was fit to withstand such stress. He would have to trust Erica.

—Do you think you can outrun them?— he asked her.

—Of course!

—Well, I need you to act as bait. Take them and don't stop to fight, even if you run into the crivia.

—I can beat them all by myself— she assured, though she wasn't so sure.

—Don't even try, you'll only put yourself at a disadvantage.

They didn't have much time left to get to the other side of the courtyard, the time to make decisions was running out.

—All right —Erica agreed— you take Lili and get her out of here.

—Yes.

In front of them, the guards drew their weapons and pointed at them.

—Not another step!— commanded Sikika, the leader of the guard, from a distance.

Erica gained momentum and sped up in a flash. The guards fired at her, but she dodged most of the laser beams. The ones she couldn't evade, she neutralized by shielding herself with her timitio. In this way she covered the distance in a few seconds, jumped at Sikika's face, but evaded her at the last moment to kick the noni behind her. Then she immediately dropped to the ground, crouched down like an animal and rammed the legs of a second noni to kick it away. That got her the attention of the guards. When she saw that she had succeeded, she jumped to a prudent distance while they drew their sabers.

—Shit!

She ran to the side, closely followed by the guards. Those nonis were well trained and fast, Erica had to make an effort to stay away, but she tried not to run with all her strength so as not to lose sight of them. After about fifty meters, she noticed that she was being chased by eight of the twelve guards.

—I leave the rest to you, Arturo.

------------------------------

While she threw herself against the guards, Arturo raised a wall in front of him to hide for a moment and then went into the earth to pass under the fight without being seen. He re-emerged next to the building they were heading for, at the same time as Erica took the nonis away. After hiding against the wall, Arturo watched her scurry away. The prison guards standing nearby noticed the brika and joined in the chase.

—Well done, Erica— Arturo muttered.

The mage also noticed that a handful of Fir's guards had stayed by the entrance. That complicated his mission a little bit, but only that. He figured that, if he used all his power, he might be able to break through the wall of the building and get inside, but that would draw the attention of everyone within a half-kilometer radius. He needed another way.

The building had no windows, but it had to have a back door. He circled the building wary of the presence of more guards. Luckily he reached the door without encountering any, disarmed its hinges and pulled it away from the threshold. It wasn't very subtle, but it was quicker than trying to open the lock blindly and without knowledge of how it was done.

He entered a large chamber with a row of doors on each side. Each door was reinforced and had a slit through which he could see in.

—Door B 103— he remembered.

He immediately went to the one with that number, but when he opened the crack he found nothing.

Puzzled, he opened the door and entered. No one was there.

—No...— he muttered.

The room was small, there weren't many places to hide. Disgruntled, he turned around to leave, only when he did so he noticed Fir'non by the door.

—A trap!

She had moved Liliana and was waiting in the cell that appeared in the records.

—You must be the mage who was helping those two— Fir guessed— another human?

Arturo plunged her to the floor and ran out the open door. However, in an instant Fir jumped off the ground with her hands, freeing herself as if she were jumping out of a pool. She immediately stretched out a hand toward the boy, who was at that moment passing by her. Arturo saw the hand with the black gauntlet approaching his face. Startled, he stepped forward, pulled apart the wall next to Fir and threw it at her. He walked out of the room unharmed. Agitated, he turned to check if the crivia had calmed down, but she rose smoothly and headed for him. The last blow had not even affected her. Arturo had killed fierce monsters with his magic, but even after learning to control it he was no match for the daughter of the First. He realized he had gotten himself into a predicament.