Entering the display room animal were mounted and covered the wall "Ah, my days as a young hunter" A nostalgic feeling washed over Sagara, "Where'd I put it now....." he continued speaking to himself "Oh right here!" Stopping at the head of a bear, Sagara pulled a key from his robe and plunged his forward into the dead animal's mouth, blues lights flashed on and off and in the middle of the room, a section of the floor split into two "Look everyone!! An exit! A way out!! We're saved " Danji jumped up and down in celebration 

 "Haste makes waste my friend, we must be careful moving forward, never in my life has anyone got the jump on me like this...all we can do is pray no more surprise awaits us in the catacomb below." Entering the dark path beneath, the built in timer started going off, closing back up, the blue flash of light flickered before shutting off, by the time the attendant walked in, the dust and pollen collecting in the only sign they were gone.

"Okay! Follow me!!" Derrick knew he didn't need to say anything, imposing his will was more than enough to get the animals they freed to follow his trail picking the lock, a pair of Siberian Tigers leapt out the cage "Aye! That's our sign to run!!" one of the men working for Sagara turned tail "Not enough money in the world to go out like this!" another followed suit, not wanting to kill, a sight uncanny was witnessed when an ostrich kicked one of the underlings that thought bull-guarding was a bright idea "They never learn" he ran his fingers through the large avian's feathers 

"Go on, you can get out of here." Shooting several waring shots, it was becoming more common for whoever the ran into to run from them "Not a good sign." Jay observed "Not even putting up a fight. You don't thin-" Digging claws into one of the boxes, a flock of exotic flew out, taking off into the sky "Nature taking course is the best option sometimes, and yes, I've noticed that to. Only a few more need to be released then we need to head back before Miller and his men get here." Starting to dial, Derrick changed his mind, opting to instead text 'Please make it in time...please." sending the message, he wished he could attach a prayer and wish 'This time...this time..I hope it comes true..'

Opening the message, Sagara's attendant rushed over to the front door "What're you doing?" Sagara hired only the best of the best to stand watch on the inside-hired guns and hitmen only the best money could , and they were lying in wait at a moment's for trouble to walk through the door "I was going to take a peak outside...but the windows are shut...oh..I don't know!" seeing she was in a state of distress, the man comforted her "Come up stairs with me miss, we'll find you a place to hide; the mansion's on delay so you've got a bit more time to make your escape-my crew and I'll handle the rest." Escorting her upstairs, it took everything in her to suppress a grin 'Check mate.'

Approaching the mansion, turrets turned up out of nowhere from the ground "Gano!" Mayuri yelled in desperation "I'm on it!" holding both hands up in front of him while still running, a current of green electricity shoot from his palms, striking in a second, Gano's hands were slightly burned from voltage emitted, bursting into flames it proved to be more than enough to get the job done.

 "Strike!" Brook cheered "Not gonna lie...that was pretty awesome man" Douglas chimed in "Gano, don't overdo it, take a look at your hands..." Boils were starting to sport and form on his brown skin "Don't worry Tess" he waved off her concern "Those'll heal..." Mayuri surveyed the area, immediately noticing the windows and door were encased in metal in order to keep intruders out "Security's tight" she muttered under her breath "Don't worry Mayuri-" Gano reassured hr with a pat on the back "Obstacles like these are a cinch as well!" Wincing in pain, Gano held up a hand, tearing the metal off the door, screws and bolts flew off the hinges.

"Rude not to knock isn't it?" Mayuri grinned "I suppose so." Gano's mouth formed a thin line, clouds of green smoke and smog aired out, reaching into her satchel Mayuri knew she had to move fast "Of course! I knew more was in store for than just that!!" passing the gas masks to everyone, they fitted them in an instant "These guys crazy!" Brook whistled "If they ain't tryna shoot us down, then they're trying to knock us out!" pulling Tess and Douglas close to him, he shuddered at the realizing how close he was to death "Brook, your valor's needed in situations like this" Gano spoke without turning around "Stay brave." 

Getting ready to follow the two step by step, Mayuri paused holding up her hand in order to stop them in their tracks "Be careful once we go in here...Gano can't spend every waking second watching your back, and it only takes on." She warned, Brook, Douglas, and Tess couldn't help but gulp, the reality of the situation starting to settle in "You're wrong-" Gano turned around to face them "-maybe you can't...but I will." Mayuri was about to protest, but seeing the countenance and posture of the three relax, she turned around to face them herself "Look at me being negative...on the verge of winning and all I can think about is what I'm about to lose...I apologize...I'm just used to being myself." Turning back around, Gano and her were the first to enter the mansion, taking a deep breath, the other three followed right behind them.

"Sir! Sir!!" one of the members of Sagara's elite guard pointed "They've entered the building!! It's like you said!! They're well prepared!" Fire from assault weapons rained down, knowing it was his job to seal the rest, Gano casted a wide net, expanding his magnetic field just like before, collecting every piece of metal in the area he could find, he drew it all to himself and dropped it on the ground-this proved to be a mistake. Several the men pulled pins in advance, only the distance of the light grenades allowed them to survive, but the resounding shock knocked them to the ground 

"Watch it Gano!" Mayuri caught herself just in time, body bent back "Not gonna lie bro....that might've been a miss." Douglas in the midst of all the chaos made sure to catch Tess "An unusual situation for me...isn't the other way around?" he quipped "Tess got up immediately dusting herself off "I suppose so." she blushed "Got lucky that time...Sagara's elite guard's not messing around." Looking up at the long flight of stairs to the second floor, Mayuri waited for the air to clear "Waiting for us to come to them-" she bit he lip hard until it bled "Not my style." Walking over to one of the confiscated weapons lying on the ground, she picked up the large gun to see how much ammo it held "Yeah. This is more than enough." Sharing a look with Gano, she sprinted up the stairs "

Wait!" Douglas' got big and wide "Thought she said that wasn't her style!?" Gano shoulder shrugged before doing the same "Wait a sec!! Don't leave us behind!" Brook, Tess, Douglas knew they had to keep up, breaking into a sprint too.

Top of the steps, the hallway was empty "Something's going on here" Mayuri wracked her brain for information "I know exactly what it is" shooting electricity from the tips of his fingers, several lines of lasers revealed themselves "Sensors!? For what?" Mayuri questioned aloud, panels on the wall opened across the hall "More guns!" Mayuri leapt into action, positioning the assault rifle, she let off several shots, disarming the firearms "Any more tricks! Or you ready to surrender now!" she held up five fingers starting to count down, once it got down to once the elite guard showed themselves, filling out the hallway with raised fists Mayuri looked down in disappointment "Brook, Tess, Douglas...I'm sorry." 

Gano knew what she had planned, separating armor from body, Mayuri emptied the clip, mowing them all down, the chaos and carnage was enough to make Brook and Douglas sick to the stomach, unable to handle it all-Tess passed out "Tess!" Douglas and Brook teamed up to catch her on both sides "If there's anyone left come out and surrender!" throwing the weapon down, Mayuri's hands trembled "Right now I'm pissed!! No telling what I'll do next!" Sagara's attendant walked out the room, holding up her hands "Out of all the messes made in this mansion, I knew I'd come to relish not having to clean one up."

"Don't tell me...Derrick's got you on the inside?" Making her hand into a finger gun, the woman proceeded to shoot "Right on the mark." Pulling out her pistol and reloading, she held it up "So you're on our side?" The woman laughed "So violent. He wasn't lying...he knows you well." 

 Shooting a warning shot, Mayuri grit her teeth "No more time for silly games, tell me what we need to know." the woman rolled her eyes "Must you be so impatient" she rolled her eyes, seeing how wound up she was, Gano removed the gun from Mayuri's hand, placing it in his "What! Gano what're yo-" covering her mouth, Gano ignored Mayuri sinking her teeth into the inside of his hand "Now, what were you saying?" Curious at the situation, the tick tock of an old clock put things back in focus "First things first-" the attendant started before several explosions outside caused the house to shake "This place is about to blow."

Having gotten a safe distance from the compound, several explosions caused Derrick and Jay to look back "Yuri.." the words escaped Derrick's mouth with his heart in full control "She'll be fine Derrick.." Jay attempted to comfort him, but Derrick shrugged his hand off of him "You don't know that...stop feeding me old lines." Eyes downcast, he blinked back tears, wiping his face with his sleeve 

"Looks like Miller and his men are pulling up." Sirens going off, about a dozen police cars, a pair of firetrucks, and several ambulances arrived on the scene, being the first out the car, Lieutenant Miller ran up to them "Derrick! Jay! Tell me what happened here!" huffing, puffing, and out of breath he gasped for air "Calm down Lieutenant, Sagara just happened to be more prepared than we planned, all the animals they were planning to traffick are here: lions, tigers, jaguars, giraffes, wolves, ostriches, an-" Standing up straight, Lieutenant Miller turned his body "A bear?" Derrick chuckled "Yes. A bear?" the other officers got the car, weapons in hand "I won't leave until Animal Control gets here and these guys are safe." 

Derrick's mouth formed a thin line, the firemen hopped of the truck and were discussing what should be done now "No casualties really, other than these gentle creatures right here...you might want your men to search the surrounding area, a lot of the guns and underlings fled." Lieutenant Miller, looked at the sub-houses burning in the distance "Sagara and his men are escaping, top priority's tracking him down. Phone buzzing, Derrick received a text "About that..."

"Looks like we've arrived at the end" Sagara and the other heads reached the end of the tunnel, opening up deep in the forest several miles behind his mansion, the long trek left them exhausted "The hell old man?" Scarlett was wheezing "I don't regret trusting you friend, but....you could've warned us." 

Vlad fell on his back, dehydration and years of smoking catching up to him "This may really be the end." he whined "I've got men stationed out here to open the exit from the outside" footsteps sounded above them, and light from the moon shone on their faces, revealing the night sky "About time." walking up the steps, they were ambushed without warning: figures draped in black appeared at the top of the step "No!" was all Sagara was able to utter, the firing of bullets was heard over the span of several minutes, once the smoke cleared Sagara and the members of the criminal alliance he formed were gunned down. In the forest the body of his underlings and the others were littered on the ground "Heines..take care of it now." Pulling out a flamethrower, Heines got to work doing his best to remove the evidence.

"It's somewhere in here" the attendant escorted them to the display room, where weapons in glass cases were being held "Are you going to tell us where?' Douglas asked "You just said this place's bout to blow." he adjusted his glasses "Don't worry" she closed her eyes, putting her hands behind her back "Your friend's figured it out." Gano and Mayuri walked up the class holding a katana "Can you do the honors?" Gano asked "Fine." Mayuri took a step back, heeled boots proved to be a good decision that day, her swinging kick shattering the glass "Yo!" Brook held up his hands, shielding Tess who'd woken up moments ago "Watch it out!" he yelled, taking the sword into his hands Gano let the tip touch the ground, covering the sword in green electricity, he swung upwards, cutting the silk carpet away 

"'Of course!" Douglas ran over to where the silk carpet had been cut "A box in a hollow space of the floor" the box lifting itself up into the air, Gano was gentle in setting it down "All the information located is in there, of course there's one little wrinkle..." the attendant trailed off "What?" a temple vein formed, Mayuri was running out of patience "The box and its contents are rigged to explode unless you figure out the password-" Stomping on a piece of glass in anger, only one word described how Mayuri felt about the situation "FU-"

"No way.." Ron was the security guard at the front gate of the zoo, a lot of things were seen that hour of the night, but one thing he didn't expect to see was a red corvette waiting outside "Should I alert the authorities?" he wondered to himself, to his surprise a man with slicked back hair got out and started jumping up and down "Is he high?" Ron was bewildered "No" he stepped out the booth so he could e seen "No!" he screamed "We're closed!!" the man continued jumping up and down "Go get Leanne!! Get Leanne !" his ears made out the words 'Leanne!?' Ron thought to himself "No way she has any kind of association with a character like him! Guess it doesn't hurt to check.' Turning on the intercom, he attempted to reach her.

Playing a final round of rock-paper scissors to decide who feeds the wolves, the speakers blared "Leanne! Leanne!! Some weird dude out front says he's waiting on you...I'm about to call the police." Seeing it through, Leanne's hand closed in a fist for rock, and Wendell's spread for paper "Sorry" her mouth twisted into a wry smile "Girl-" Wendell paused, spitting at the ground in disgust "I hate you." tip toeing off in her high hells, Wendell fell into a daze watching her leave "Remember not to stare at my ass watching my leave!" Abashed, Wendell started whistling "Wouldn't imagine it!!" he replied 'Girl got eyes in the back of her head. How'd she know!?"

"Leanne!" Ron greeted her at the front gate "Who's this clown!?" he asked, having stop jumping the man leaned against the red corvette trying to decide if he should light the cigarette in his mouth or not "That's my friend for college-" she batted her eye lashes "Leanne you know the rules" Ron rubbed his neck "No guests after a certain hour "No exceptions leaning forward just enough to expose her cleavage "Fine!" Ron looked upwards trying to avoid an awkward situation" 

Buxom, brunette, and beautiful Leanne was well aware of her 'charm' 'Sorry Ron.' she thought to herself, opening the gate, she motioned the man to come on in , giving a thumbs up he got in his red corvette and parked, getting out the car, he walked over to meet them "Oh man!" he whistled "Seems like he set me up sweet!" Ron was incensed "Watch it peeping tom! Leanne hasn't worked and researched all these years so loons like you could drool!" placing a hand on his arm, Leanne attempted to calm him down "Ron, this is my friend-" looking at the man to fill in the gaps "Vince." he introduced himself "He's a real pig, but I told him I'd give him a behind the scenes look at my work.." Ron grumbled, biting his tongue he returned to watching things at the booth.

"Adding a pig to the fold fits in with the theme of the night" Leanne snarked, once Ron was out of ear shot "But really there's no time for that! Better behavior from the liaison they sent is expected, but nevertheless-" Taking a bow, Leanne was caught off guard "Apologies, seeing a fair maiden such as yourself I lose control of myself.." A tinge of red could be seen on her pale white skin "Anyways! I'll take you to meet Wendell and the others, level with me, can this really be done?" Holding up his head, Vince smirked "Once my co-conspirator gets here all you've got to do is have things in place, trust me, it'll be a joy to sit back and watch." Studying his face Leanne searched for a tell, but he appeared to be telling the truth "Like what you see?" he wiggled his eyebrows, walking away without warning, Vincent scrambled to get back on his feet "Wait up!" he chased after her "We gotta go over the details!!" Ignoring him, Leanne kept on walking "Can I take you to lunch!?"

"Can you tell us please, what's the riddle?" the doe-eyed innocence displayed in Douglas' light brown eyes lowered the attendant's guard "Fine, don't know if you can figure it out, but the last riddle he was murmuring was 'Never on the road, never running out..." Wasting no time, the group brainstormed trying to figure i out "Time!" Brook exclaimed, looking at the box, no change could be detected "If not that-" Tess tapped her foot "Then what?" Mayuri and Gano sat indian-style on the ground "I'm too hold for this crap" she folded her arms "I'm not too old, but I may be too dumb." Looking up at Douglas, Gano grinned "Is your time to shine Dougie! I bet you've already figured it out!!" Blushing hid by his dark brown skin, Douglas fiddle with his fro "Actually, I might have.." Everyone looked at him in expectation "The Wheel of Time." he voice was shaky, his confidence was low, but his answer-

"Right." the attendant clapped her hands, Douglas' guess opened the box "The information Derrick gave us was true." Mayuri walked over, in the box were documented files, a drive, and a laptop "All the information needed to prove Sagara and his associates criminal activity you now hold in your palm-his empire can now be taken down." Out of nowhere, the lights went off in the mansion flashing a bright red "Aye." Brook shielded his eyes "Don't tell me" Mayuri started, the attendant looked down at the floor "I fear, our time may have run out." 

Gano got up off the floor walking over to her "As long as you're alive that means there's still time and you've always got a chance." Looking back up at him, in his green eyes the attendant found a glimmer of hope "Maybe. Maybe not. It's a slim chance but...I need all of you need to come with me." Heading down the stairs, the seconds felt like hours ticking away, arriving in the display room, a frantic search started "What we're looking for....is a spare key."

"These animals gotta be on some drugs" a member of Animal Rescue commented, once Animal Control was made aware of the situation they knew they'd need help "According to my guy on the inside, many of them were heavily sedated, plus who knows-abuse leads to some pretty strange behaviors." the wild cats and bear were the last animals to restrained "Take care of them." Lieutenant Miller's voice was stern, a hint of a warning lied behind his statement "Relax sir. This what we do, just trying to make sure there's no incident on the way back-we want every last one of these rescues to find a good home." Him and Derrick shared a look of understanding between them, a split second late-in the distance- the mansion went up in a burst of flames "Yuri no.." the words escaped Derrick's mouth "Yuri? Who's that?" 

 Jay took Derrick by the shoulders to comfort and cover up "A cat named Yuri was in there, I think it was owned by one of the workers...we couldn't track it down." no explanation was needed because the implication was there "I see your heart heart cries for them, seems I've misjudged you as well." All the animals accounted for, he lunged forward giving Derrick a hug "Whenever death takes as loss, in life down the road we find a-gain." Jay knew it was time for the man to let go, tapping him on the shoulder "Thank you. He just needs time." Without a word, the man understood and walked back to his car 'All our planning, scheming, dreams, and hopes might've dissipated into thin air.' he thought to himself 'Please have made it in time.'