They heard many footsteps from outside their door, but no knocking came. No one was looking for them, meaning they had nothing to worry about.

Hannah took out the notepad from the day before and began to read from it. Nikolai and Muraku joined by her side to read over her shoulder.

Some pages were ripped off, while most others were folded or had only the edges ripped. Letters and numbers were scribbled in all of them. To anyone untrained, it would appear the scribbles were random and done by a madman. But they knew better.

Coordinates, addresses, dates, time. They knew this had to play a vital role to their plans.

The three exchanged glances before nodding, and Hannah placed the notepad back into her suit. The footsteps had gone.

Then, the Deector's voice resounded from within their helmets. "Here are your last instructions before we depart."

~~~~~

Niara wasn't entirely sure what they were supposed to be doing now. The cells were empty since the morning. It was just the four of them, no guards. Even the cameras seemed to have shut off.

She let out a loud groan of boredom and it echoes. "Ughh... Just what is going on?!"

"Niara, calm down." Ban let out a sigh of his own.

"Getting angry wouldn't do anything." Yuuya added.

Jin kept quiet and went over to the bars. It was right at that moment that the elevator opened and guards finally came.

These three...? He kept his thoughts to himself as they unlocked the bars and held their guns up at them.

"The entire facility's been evacuated." Soldier Y3N stated.

"All that's left are you four and the boss." KH4 added.

H0M glanced at the corner of the room and smiled as he lowered his gun. "Fortunately for us, this means that all security measures are down."

The four adults casted knowing glances at each other. This was the entire plan. Let themselves get captured to keep the Detector's eyes on them while the three kids gather as much information as possible.

Their initials stand for their names; KH4 - Kenbishi Hannah, Y3N - Yezerverk Nikolai, and H0M - Houjou Muraku.

They were the three who 'captured' them in the first place, so they too are the ones who would get them out.

"We've recieved orders to take you to the underground passage way." Muraku explained. "The Detector is already waiting there with our insider."

"So you've met her already." Yuuya hummed in thought.

Hannah blinked. "'Her'? No, we met soldier M1T... Mizel." She thought back to what the android told them the day before. "He sent the mail, but wasn't the one who wrote it. So this woman is our true spy then?"

"Mizel, huh?" Ban muttered. "Soldier M1T... He must've been the one who came with Bishop and Eva yesterday!"

Both Nikolai and Hannah reacted, but to different names. The Russian boy turned to his cousin. "Bishop?!" Hannah went face to face with Ban. "Eva-san?!"

Niara nodded. "Yeah, you both heard right."

"I'm not sure who 'Bishop' is, but didn't you say Eva-san was...?" Muraku didn't need to finish his sentence.

Jin sighed and gave a nod. "We all thought so. No one could find her body, so it was assumed that she got completely burned up."

"But she's alive..." Hannah felt her heart thumping rapidly, both in excitement and anger. How dare they take her away from us...

Nikolai, sensing his friend's distress, placed a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Hannah. Not here."

She clenched her fist and took a deep breath. When she exhaled, her features immediately seem calmer. All but her eyes.

They understood her anger pretty well, being close to Eva for so many years. Now, they have to save her, somehow.

~~~~~

It was almost 10 am, and Kirito had managed to get them all up to leave. He led them around the cliffs, smoothly navigating his way around rocks and ridges.

"This is the same road Niara and I took when we first came here." He explained, seeing their questioning glances. "It's the fastest way up and down, especially to the launch pad."

"And who exactly... told you to... lead us there..?" Asuka asked, panting in between. She wasn't really used to steep climbs.

"An old friend." First one to reach the top, he helped pull them up one at a time. Once they were all safe from the edge, he pointed to a tower at a distance. "That's the one we were told to go to. The Duck Shuttle should be there too soon."

"Are you sure that large aircraft wouldn't have any problems getting here?" Vanessa asked out of concern.

"They definitely can't fly upwards." Kageto stated. "The only chance they have is to fly to the other side of the precipice and go up from there."

"It shouldn't take them too long." Kirito started walking. "If we keep moving, we'd make it at around the same time."

"And what about Ban-san and the others?" Mikhail asked.

"A little late to be questioning that, don't you think?" The blonde man smirked. "They'll be fine. They always find a way. We have to stand by to get ready for whatever could be behind them when they escape."

Vanessa clicked her tongue in annoyance. "So all that time in a cave for nothing..."

~~~~~

"Honestly, I can't believe it's the Tech-Sibs, but I can't say I'm surprised either." Niara began muttering to herself.

"Speaking about that," Nikolai interrupted, stopping them all from walking. "Mizel said that he'd give us a signal, but by the time we get it, we'd know what to do? And he also said that you would be able to explain to us.."

"A signal?" Ban blinked.

Jin had his arms crossed in thought. "It might be something relating to the 'key'..."

"You mean the part she kissed you?" Niara nudged him on the side, earning herself a glare.

So he really has a girlfriend... Was what the three kids thought as they watched the adults' exchange.

"So, what's about this 'key' exactly?" Muraku said, leaning back to the original topic.

"I think she placed it in here." Jin held up his necklace.

They couldn't see anything unusual about it. Hannah took a step closer to take a better look, and right then, both the necklace and her gun, which was still in her hands, glowed.

Hannah's eyes widened by a fraction when she figured it out. It must've been when I bumped into him in the hallway! When he handed my gun back to me...

Jin's eyes narrowed. "Hannah, let me borrow your gun for a minute."

She handed it over willingly and he examined it. When he took apart the magazine, a spark flew out and went to his necklace. Both items stopped glowing, but the pendant felt different to him.

He handed the gun back to her before taking a look at the accessory again. The front still looked the same, but when he flipped it over, the engravement of their initials was gone. In its place was a strange red circle with a large green crack inside it.

Jin wasn't sure what to think, but he knew for certain that this necklace was an extraordinary one.

~~~~~~~~~~

Epigraph: An engraved inscription