The Crystal Ball

    “Halt! Intruder!” A security guard yelled. He chased me, taking his gun and pointing it at me.

    “...This is bad...” I said, under my breath, as I dodged the bullet shot from his gun, and dashed toward the exit.

    “Halt!!” He said, chasing after me, firing more shots.

    I got to the exit, and shut the door. In the few seconds I had before the door burst open, I had to find a hiding spot. “Where...” I saw the platform on the top. “All, right...” I fired the grappling hook at it, and flew up.

    “Wherever you are, you can't hide from me!” The security guard shouted as he knocked down the door.

    Oh, really? I thought as he looked around the area. I reached for my belt, as it had a few weapons, more importantly at this moment, the smoke grenade. He was still looking around, when he noticed the strange object that fell on the ground from the ceiling.

    BLAM!

    I put my goggles and doctor's mask, and quickly dropped down in the smokescreen, and dashed toward the entrance.

    “Wh-where are you...!?” The security guard yelled, as he started shooting randomly.

    That could be trouble... I thought, as I tried running even faster. The smoke grenade could stop anytime now... Ah, there's the door! I opened the door open, and left it open to lure him to me. I then kicked another door open, and went through a different door.

    “Cough, cough... Ah, he went that way! Think you can hide from me, huh!?” The security guard said as he ran through the knocked down door.

    Well, there goes another problem... I thought to myself. I then took out the GPS system, and said to the speaker, “Signing in, 'Benedict Telum'.”

    The GPS responded, “Voice pattern recognized. Proceeding to gain data...” It loaded up it's data, and proceeded to the main page. It read: “Welcome, Benedict Telum. Would you like to show where you are right now? Touch here to show your position on the planet. Or, touch here to show where you are in comparison to your destination.”

    I touched the second “here”, of course.



    My name is Benedict Telum, and I am part of a group of people known as the Geo-hunters. Several years ago, an unknown group had created the greatest of all supercomputers, the Crystal Balls, and one could completely destroy all computer programs across the globe. Our mission is to find and destroy them before they are used, and this military facility has found one, so I have to stop them.



    It showed the way I had to go, but that was at the direction that the security guard went, and I decided to look for another way. “Hmm...” I looked at the ventilation covers, and decided that that was probably the way through.

    “Gee, this is harder than I thought...” I said to myself through gritted teeth, as I pulled even harder.

    It finally came off, and flew to the wall. “Sure hope that didn't make any sound...” I said as I blew on my hands and crawled inside the ventilation cover.

    “Man, this is hot...” I wiped the sweat from my head and kept on crawling. Then I saw another ventilation cover, and quickly crawled to it. “Ahh...” I sighed, in pleasure, as the coolness of the room eased my body. Then, I heard someone marching across.

    “Heh... wherever you are, you can't escape from me! Your little smokescreen might have disabled my radio, but I don't need others' help in this! This path leads to a dead end!” The person marching across said.

    The security guard! So, this must be the right path. I thought, as I followed him even more. As he said that it leads to a dead end, I decided to crawl even farther, faster than him. Just to distract him, I threw a handy rock at the ground.

    “Who's there!?” The guard yelled as I went on ahead.



    “And here must be the room...” I said to myself as I entered the room. There it was, a shining stone in the middle of a glass case. It looked just like a museum exhibit, except for the high security camera with a gun attached to it. Uh, oh... I knew it wouldn't be easy... how do I disable that...? Of course, the security guard! I thought as I crawled back to the room with the security guard.

    “How dare you fool me with that rock!” The security guard was rushing toward the room with the crystal ball in it.

    I quietly opened the ventilation cover. Then, I tried to sneak up on him quietly. But then, I heard a creaking sound under my foot, and I'm sure he heard it, too.

    “Huh?” In the one second that he had said that, it felt that time was slowing down, trying to give me one last chance before I was killed. In that chance time gave me, I took my belt, quickly unstrapped a grenade, threw it at his face, without activating it, and simultaneously dove out of the way before he shot me.

    It all happened so fast. One shot was fired off, that I just barely dodged, then, I saw the security guard go, “What the-?” As a grenade hit his face with just enough impact to knock him off his feet, and I knew the only thing I should've done before he got up again. I swiped his gun, and ran off.

    “Looks like I dodged the bullet on that one, literally...” I joked to myself.

    When I got to the room with the crystal ball, however, I knew that something was wrong with my reasoning. The door needed a card key, with level 5 security! I had forgotten to take his card as well...

    As there was nothing else I could do, I headed back, prepared for the security guard. He was just within sights, still on the ground. I quickly swiped the card, but it was level 1.

    “Aw, great. This is just like a video game, advancing through the levels...actual levels, in this case...” I thought about throwing the card key back, but then I thought about how it could be useful, so I decided to keep it. As a handy disguise, I decided on taking the uniform as well.

    I walked through the area. People didn't question me at all; if I was out of place, doing something I wasn't supposed to, or things like that. I guess I'm doing fine, then!

    “...ard!” Someone yelled behind me.

    Hmm... what should I do next...? I thought to myself.

    “...Havard!” Again, someone yelled behind me.

    That's right, I should find out this guy's name. I thought as I looked at his I.D. card. Edward Havard? Weird.

    “Recruit Edward Havard!!” That same person yelled behind me. I suddenly figured out, he was talking to me!

    “Uh, yes?” I turned around and said to him. I probably looked very out-of-place, then...

    “What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be guarding the gates?” He said. He looked very suspicious of me.

    “Uh, er... yeah, that's right! I'm, uh, heading down there, right now.” I said, trying to sound like the real guy, but I'm pretty sure I was failing miserably.

    “...Are you okay? You sound kind of...” He started to say.

    “Don't worry about it at all! I'm off there right now!!” I yelled as I ran to the gates.

    “...What's wrong with him?” I heard as I ran farther and farther away.

    As soon as I got as far away as possible, I sighed and looked for that security guard I was disguised as. Just in case, I had crawled in the ventilation again.

    “W-where is h-he!?” The guard was shivering as he spoke, for he was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, because I took his uniform.

    I... I almost feel sorry for him. I thought to myself.

    I crawled away, and went inside the level 5 place, through the ventilation. I had a feeling that, if I went out there, I would be taken out by the armed cameras. They probably don't think a guard crawling from a ventilation cover is really a guard...

    I need to find a different disguise, or else I would get no farther than at the gates... I thought. I could get in trouble with that guy again... I had left the uniform there, but not the card, the gun or the radio. I thought I could use the radio, somehow, even though it was broken by the smoke grenade. I didn't see any level 1 doors anywhere near here, so I didn't think he needed one.

    I had thought of using the radio to call back-up, then hide and knock out one guard and take his uniform, card and other stuff. I had started to take out the radio, when I saw, the radio was broken!

    Suddenly, I heard a loud voice from the side, that said: “Huh!? My uniform!?” The security guard sounded pretty surprised, as I imagined he would be. “Darn it, he's messing with me, I know it!”

    What a jerk, I thought. I felt sorry for him, that's why I left his uniform there.

    “Wait, where's my gun and card?” He cried, loudly. “Aw, he must have took it!” Then, the security guard stood still for a moment. “He could be there, because I didn't see that until a little bit ago...” He guessed. Even though the reason for his answer was completely wrong, the fact that he had guessed right was good enough reason for me to crawl away.

    Wait, I'm stuck! I thought to myself as I saw the radio, which was just barely making me stuck. I kept on trying to wiggle out. At any moment, he could open the grate, pull out his gun and shoot me... I thought to myself.

    Creak... the sewer grate had started to twist, and I tried to get out even more. “First, I should take my gun... Wait... Huh!?” He yelled.

    Wh-what now!? I thought to myself, sweating bullets,

    “M-My gun! What happened!? … wait... I forgot, he took it...” The security guard had sighed as he turned from the grate.

    Well, that was a close one, I thought as I sighed silently.

    I kept on wiggling in a desperate effort to free myself. Great. Instead of dying from being shot, I'm going to die from being stuck. I feel like that Floyd Collins guy... I had thought to myself during a break, when I was too tired to try getting free some more.

    A good thirty minutes, which seemed like a few hours, had passed by. “Yawn...” I yawned, accidentally. Uh, oh, did someone hear me? I thought to myself. I looked as far back as I possibly could, which wasn't far at all, but sufficed. After all, the only place I could see outside the ventilation was the grates, right behind me.

    The room was silent. I guess no one heard that, I hoped.

    After another good thirty minutes, which, so far, seemed to be 12 hours, I had given up on wiggling out. I was trying to figure more... 'creative' ways to handle this. (I laughed silently when I thought “creative ways”.)

    I could shoot it with a gun, I thought. But then, I realized, it would attract attention, and it wouldn't really move the radio. After all, the radio was attached to my belt. Besides, the gun was too far away for me to reach.

    I could move the radio itself, I figured. Actually, that might work! I yelled, in my mind, more hopefully. I tried as hard as I possibly could to reach the radio, and move it.

    My hands barely touched the radio, and I quickly reached a little farther to grab it. Click! Finally! I thought as my hands were clasped around the radio, and I just needed to move it now. I was stuck in a very uncomfortable position, so I really wished to get this done, soon. I started to pull my hand back, and I sighed a sigh of relief.

    I probably spoke... er, sighed too soon, as I noticed the radio wasn't coming with me. Oh, man... I thought, a strain of tension in my voice... well, thoughts, as I pulled harder.

    A... “Arggghhh!!!” I thought, with a bigger strain of stress in my voice. I started to notice my thoughts were turning into actual words. “Gahhh!!” The radio, finally, came loose.

    Y-yes!! I breathed a tense sigh of relief. But then, I noticed I still couldn't move. In fact, I was in a more painful state than ever. I looked at the radio, and it was stuck in a whole new painful position, my stomach.

    My stomach felt like it had just been punched, and the fist wasn't coming out.

    Plan A and Plan B didn't work... Time for Plan C...! I thought, pain messing up my thoughts.

    I tried as hard as I possibly could to reach my belt, as this was the only plan I thought would work in this.

    Alright! I had thought as I had grabbed hold of the round thing on my belt. I quickly unattached the object, took off the ring and threw it as far from me as it could.

    BLAM!!!

    The superheated pieces of shrapnel (At least, that's what I think it is) had stabbed my legs, every one of them. I was forced straight out of the position I had been in, forced out quite painfully. If I told you how, you would have felt it yourself, even only slightly.

    Anyway, I had finally gotten unstuck, and I had decided to quickly crawl to the small room, with my hands, for my legs were still in way too much pain to move.

    I had finally got back to the room, when I noticed the large flow of blood coming from my legs. “Oww...” I had started to utter, when I heard the people marching down the halls.

    “Strange explosion coming from gate!” They had yelled.

    I'd better treat these wounds, quick, I had thought, urgently. They would find the trail of blood I was leaving.

    I quickly bandaged up the wounds, and limped ahead. I was about to open the door to the lobby, when I heard people talking behind it.

    “Hmm, better not...” I said, as I started to back away. I started to look for a different route.

    I looked up, and there seemed to be a second floor. I'm pretty sure the explosion has distracted all of the guards... I fired the grappling hook up, and hung by the side of the second floor. I tried to hear if anyone was still up there, but I heard nothing.

    “Hey, there's blood here...!”

    “...!” I guess I was right, that I would leave a trail of blood. Just in case, I dropped a smoke grenade.

    “Klank!” was the sound it made.

    “Wh-what was that!?” All of the security guards on the first floor, even the ones behind the door, responded.

    Suddenly, lots of smoke appeared, and I hopped on to the second floor and moved into a room, as quickly as I could, without even checking if anyone was in it.

    Of course, someone was there. There was a person who was, apparently, on his break, as he held a doughnut in one hand.

    “...!!!” He didn't say anything, but he was startled and was ready to get on the radio, since he didn't have his gun with him.

    This... this is bad! I had thought to myself. As I was startled myself, I had grabbed the first thing on my belt I could, and swung it toward his face.

    It hit him right smack in the cheek, and he had walked in a circle, dizzily, than fell to the ground, out cold.

    “Wow, I have never seen anyone do that, except in cartoons...” I had commented on the scene as I looked at what I held in my hand.

    It was the broken radio. “It did come in handy, I guess...” I said to myself.

    I looked at my legs. They weren't bleeding anymore. “I don't think they'll find me in here...” I had said to myself.

    After a while, I had heard voices behind the door, like: “I found a smoke grenade right here!” “Hey, the blood trail stops here!” and “I can't find where he went!” I smiled at two of those.

    I had spotted a ventilation cover, and was opening it, when I heard someone say something, something that disturbed me. “Hey, what's a doughnut doing here? Someone drop it?” That made me have to try opening the ventilation cover even more.

    Click! I had finished opening it. I had started to crawl in, when someone said, “What was that!?”

    I had carefully, but hastily, put the ventilation back where it was, so they  wouldn't notice. I, then, started crawling away as fast as I possibly could. Then, I heard another person say something, something that startled me.

    “What the- man down, man down!!!” He had yelled.

    “What? Where!?” Others had followed.

    Better hurry... I thought to myself, quickly hurrying up. There was one of those connection things, where one tunnel was connected to lots of other tunnels. I could go forward, right, left, even down and up. I turned to the right, recalling that the place I was trying to get to was to the right.

    I was almost to the ventilation grate, when, suddenly, a small thing had moved into the grate.

    It was a mouse.

    “G-guh!!” I had to cover my mouth, as I was startled. I'm not scared of mice, I thought someone was opening the grate.

    Because I made that sound, someone just had to say, “What was that!?”

    I immediately rushed away from the grate, but as I reached the connection place, I stumbled down the tunnel that goes down.

    Oww... I was badly bruised when I landed. I didn't have any tools for going back up (I had the grappling hook, but these pipes had nothing for them to hold onto.)

    I was trying to figure things out, when I realized that I was trying to get to some place on the first floor. I just had to go to the same direction I was going earlier.

    I was starting to do that, then I realized, Which way's the way I was going...?

    After I kept on trying to remember, I just decided to guess the direction. I had guessed, behind me.

    After crawling, I had found myself at a grate. “Finally!” I had said, under my breath. I looked both ways, to make sure that nobody was there... but I saw a security camera, armed with a gun.

    …Oh, that room. I had decided not to go in, as I'd be dead meat if I walked out of there.

    I started to crawl back, when I noticed my hand had fallen on the gun I took from that guy.

    Maybe I could use this... I thought to myself. I opened the grate, and took the gun off the belt. I aimed for the security cameras...

    Blam! I figured the other camera would turn around, so I quickly shot it as well.

    And so, I heard once again, “What was that!?” That was getting old.

    I was putting the security grate, when I heard someone say, “What!? No one here has a level 5 key!? Oh, go to the higher-ups and get them to come here!”

    And, so, I quickly dropped the grate, and rushed over to the Crystal Ball.

But then, something horrible awaited me.

    There was a small box, which probably had the Crystal Ball in it. On it, it said,



Level 6 required



    ...There's a level 6 as well!? I had guessed that was the card of the person in charge of the place. … but how will I get it...!?



    I decided to just snatch the box, and get back to the ventilation system. It won't do much damage if it was out of the facility... I thought. So I'll take it outside the facility.

    However, when I reached a different ventilation grate, I saw people marching around, searching every corner of the place.

    “Spread out! Find the intruder!!” They had yelled. “He could be anywhere!”

    At the corner, I saw an intruder say, “Who's there!?” and shoot at a shadow in the hall. As I looked closer, a mouse had scurried away from the place he shot. “Tsk...! Only a mouse.”

    I had quickly crawled away, just like the mouse, after I saw that. This truly is a high security building... I had thought as I heard someone out there saying something.

    “He took my gun, my card... without them, I won't be any help at all!! I need to get a new gun and a new card, but I can't get to the place I need to get them! Could you get them!?”

    I realized it was that security guard from earlier. I stuck around, waiting to hear more of this conversation.

    “Sorry, buddy, not my problem. Look, for all we know, you could even be the intruder, disguised as Recruit Edward Havard, and trying to get me away.”

    “Look, I just need a gun and a card!” He pleaded. “I can prove to you I'm not him. For instance, what kind of intruder would come in here without a gun!?”

    I had gone away, at this point. They must be protecting all exits from this place. I thought to myself. Perhaps I could find an exit they wouldn't normally guard... Normally, ventilation grates would lead outside... I thought. Then I decided to look for a way outside.

    I had spotted a way outside, alright... but...

    Hey, it won't fit... I had thought to myself, as I was cramming the box into the hole. It was a thin hole, maybe small enough for a ball, but not small enough for a box.

    I was constantly hitting the box, trying to make it smaller, but then, I thought, perhaps I could blow a hole in the... er, hole, to make a bigger hole.

    I had crawled pretty far away, and tossed a grenade in there.

    BLAM! There was one thing I hadn't accounted for; the tunnel was too warped and destroyed to get through. I thought of tossing it there, but it was to warped to even throw it. I had finally given up on throwing it there, and started to crawl away. But then, a thought dawned on me: Perhaps I could just leave it her. It's even less likely to be found than outside... I thought. Better yet, I could even destroy the box with a grenade...

    I was a safe distance away from the box, then I threw the grenade there.

    BLAM!! It seemed even louder, probably from the Crystal Ball inside. The ventilation system was even more twisted than before, but I didn't have a problem with that.

    “Mission accomplished.” I said, play-acting one of those top-secret agency people. I had considered even getting back to my base of operations coolly, like them, but then I remembered that I was still stuck in the ventilation system!

    “Aw, geez...” I had thought to myself, as I remembered the extreme security outside.

    I had crawled to the grate, and saw the even more extreme security.

    “What was that explosion!?” They had yelled. “Find the source!”

    This is going to be kind of hard... I thought to myself. I came up with a plan, but it had a lot of risks.

    I had waited for everyone to leave, but I wasn't going to leave as that happened.

    “Let's look for him in the second floor!!” I heard.

    This... this is my chance! I quickly, but silently opened the grates. Now, I just have to wait... again...

    Finally, after a pretty long wait, people started coming again. I pulled out my grappling hook. Sorry, whoever you are... I fired the grappling hook... right at his gun.

    He didn't even notice it was gone. I thought I was on a roll, so I fired it... straight at his body.

    Reminder to myself: The grappling hook is in no way lethal, unless you manage to strangle yourself with it, or something.

    I kept on reassuring myself on that, as it fired zoomed to him.

    “Guh...Gaaaahhhh!!!!” He yelled. I quickly crawled away, and I heard yelled behind me. “What!? What happened!?”, “He must be hiding in the pipes!!” and “He... he could come from anywhere!!”

    I quickly went to the room that had the Crystal Ball in it, and ran toward the other ventilation grate. I dashed... er, crawled really fast, and ended up in the room from earlier.

    I dashed for the exit. It was unguarded, because of the attention I stirred up at the halls.

    I had almost made it, when, suddenly...

    “H-halt!!” Said the voice from behind. It was that security guard. “You won't escape this time...!!”

    He threw some sort of grenade. Wait, isn't that... that grenade I socked him with!?

    “The entrance will be blocked, and you won't be able to escape!” He yelled. Suddenly...

    BLAM!!! The noise hadn't rung any louder than it had right now. Again, time had slowed down, revealing an opening that was too high for me to reach, but...

    I turned around and fired the grappling hook, straight at him. “What the... Argh!!!” He yelped in pain as he hit the blockage at the exit. He fell to the floor, unconscious.

    “Alright... just as planned!!” I had hopped up, and stomped on him, (at this point, he let out another yelp, “Gluurggghhhh!!!”) and used him as a ramp, and jumped up into the opening, and out of the building.

    “Ahh...” I sighed, as I ran out, finally out the facility. “Mission... accomplished...!!” I said, under my breath.