Early the next morning, Brant stood nestled between several piles of boxes in the cargo hold of one of Ryder's transport vehicles. The floor rumbled beneath his feet in time with the thumping engine. His heart beat about double as fast, along with his throbbing head. They only had two hours to extract Baird and Khemera, and he was unsure if they could make it in time. 

Leaning forward, he could peek through a little square of glass to view the cabin beyond, where Ryder and two of his men sat and navigated the truck-turning-submarine. Peering farther, he could see out the windshield. The water level ascended the pane of glass as they drove off the beach and came to a sandy slope. 

Before long, the entire vehicle became submerged. Brant heard a mechanical groan as the wheels retracted and thrusters emerged from the sides of the vehicle. With a lurch, they propelled through the water. Sea creatures washed past the glass as they progressed, increasing in size and number the farther they dove. The other three cargo vessels floated alongside theirs. 

With a sigh, Brant glanced into the opposite corner of the cargo hold, where Hannah sat in a huddle of containers. Her face bore an even heavier load of makeup now, as Ryder had insisted on applying a new coat as a part of their morning preparations. Proving himself oddly proficient at the application of beauty products, Ryder had injected a certain darkness into Hannah's aesthetic, using eyeliners, mascaras, and concealers aplenty. Unlike Wendy, he'd applied a touch of concealer to Hannah's cheeks in order to hide her dimples. 

Brant currently winced as he stared at Hannah. Truly, all the dark makeup on her face masked the pure young woman she was underneath. If he tried hard enough, Brant found himself able to imagine it wasn't Hannah he eyed at all. When she met his eyes, he shot a quick smile her way, which she returned eagerly. Her natural expression proved incongruent with her new appearance. 

Sweeping his gaze further right, Brant spotted Aaron, cozied up in his hiding spot with a laptop resting atop a tall box. Long sequences of numbers ran across the display that shone so brightly into his reddened eyes. Poor guy, Brant thought as he studied his haggard face. The man had labored all the previous day in searching for a vulnerability to exploit in Unterstat's security systems, which proved much harder than he'd anticipated. All through the night, he'd continued to work, until this morning, only about half an hour ago, he'd exclaimed that he'd figured it out. 

Finally, Brant rested his eyes on the other two men sheltered in the cargo hold, Kemarian men dressed in crisp navy blue suits just like the ones he and Aaron wore. Ryder had given them the outfits to wear to blend in as employees of Ford Fashion. Hannah wore the female version of their uniform, a muted violet women's business suit with a skirt and matching boots. 

Brant adjusted the wide-brimmed hat on his head and cleared his throat. "I sure hope this works." he said to nobody in particular. 

Aaron glanced up sharply at the sound of his voice. "It's gonna have to." 

Brant nodded and exhaled, but no more words were spoken. For half an hour, they continued cruising through the water teeming with creatures small and great. It grew murkier as they dove deeper, causing even Brant's enhanced vision to be limited in scope. 

Eventually, they came close enough that he could see a great metal mesh comprising a protective dome around a bustling city. He'd seen pictures of the city-state of Unterstat before, but never in person had he seen its almost otherworldly beauty. The city itself seemed to glow as the light streaming from the buildings' windows illuminated the water around it. 

Ryder maneuvered the vehicle to one of the gateways, where a pre-recorded voice ordered them to wait. His companions' vessels settled themselves behind him. Only a few seconds later, a metal pole jutted out from the sand nearby, with a bulbous attachment up top. When a reddish beam shot from the bulb, Brant guessed it was a scanner. 

He glanced at Aaron's computer. The display vomited walls of numbers at him, which he scrolled through and highlighted one portion. He replaced it with digits of his own and sat back. 

"What'd ya tell it?" Hannah asked. 

"Just that there's only three of us in here, in the cabin. I don't want them coming in here cautiously." 

Brant nodded. "Makes sense." 

He peeked through the windshield and saw the gateway in the metal mesh slide open. Ryder guided them through the passage, and behind them, Brant heard a creak of the entryway sliding shut again. Aaron tapped away at his keyboard to allow the other three through before relaxing a moment. 

The vehicles passed through a series of security checks, each one bringing them closer to the underwater city beyond. Aaron intercepted each scanner's data and modified it before sending it on. 

Finally, they came to the last checkpoint, a cluster of large buildings with sliding doors resembling the garage doors on land. Segments of gateway protected the city beyond from any unauthorized incursion. Brant flinched when he saw a smaller vessel a ways off dart forward unbidden and dash itself to pieces on the gate. 

Ryder entered the door of one of the buildings and settled the cargo ship down inside. It slid shut behind his companions, and then a hiss filled the chamber as the water level receded. Once it had all left, an octet of guards entered through a hinged side door and split into four pairs. Each pair picked a vehicle and stepped over to it. 

Brant's heartbeat hastened as the dripping door to the cargo hold slid open and two guards stepped in. A hammer formed in his hand as he waited for them to draw closer. They casually glanced over the piles of boxes, often shrugging as they went. 

Then Aaron's computer beeped, and the men snapped to attention. They hurried their steps in the direction of the sound, as did Brant. With a quick swing, he knocked the first man out, but missed his second. The guard aimed his pistol at Brant's belly. Just before his twitching finger pulled the trigger, Aaron leapt out at him, tackled him, and twisted his neck. A loud crack, and the man moved no more. 

After a quick examination, they concluded the closest matches in size to the guards were Aaron and one of the Kemarian men. So they swiftly removed their Ford Fashion uniforms and donned the guards' outfits. They exited the vehicle and shut the doors behind them. 

Soon enough, the vehicle was moved on through to the city beyond. As they drew closer, Brant realized the individual buildings were all connected by various covered bridges and the like, making the whole city a single interconnected web of activity. 

A quartet of pill-shaped security vehicles sped in from behind and flew in parallel with each of the cargo vessels' moves. At first, Brant became concerned at the sight of them, but soon relaxed as he realized they were likely his Aaron and his comrades. 

Ryder led the party through a narrow pass between buildings. Gracefully altering his course to avoid hitting the covered bridges spanning the distance, he cruised down until he came to an intersection. Making a left, he dove and banked until he reached a lengthy building, drab in appearance and lined with doors. 

He stopped before one of the entryways, and it automatically opened for him. The vehicle came to a rest inside, and one of the security pods managed to slip in with them. Much like at the security checkpoint, the water drained away with a woosh, only this time, nobody came to meet them. Ryder and his men exited the cab and headed to the back. 

Brant, Hannah, and the other Kemarian emerged from their hiding spots while a pair of Ryder's men opened the doors. The Underground leader himself tapped at his phone's screen. 

Brant hopped down onto solid ground and stretched his back. "So, what's our plan now?" he asked, staring at Ryder. 

For a few seconds, Ryder ignored him. After swiping the screen, he pocketed it and met Brant's gaze. "We'll all reconvene at Patty's. A pair of my men who work in the Iron Hallway's security force are taking their mid-shift break there." 

"Well, we'd better get moving. We only have an hour and a half." 

"It won't take nearly that long." 

Both Ryder and Brant glanced up when Aaron and one of the insurgents tumbled out of the security pod nestled in the corner of the chamber. After straightening their rumpled uniforms, they ambled into the huddle. 

"So, what's our story here?" Aaron asked. "I mean, a random pair of border security dudes escorting five random people in suits looks kinda suspicious, don'tcha think?" 

"We were attacked along the way by bandits and requested escorting." Ryder answered with hardly a second's delay. 

Aaron and his fellow fake security guard exchanged a nod. 

"Alright, let's go." 

Ryder led the way through a door and down a hallway before they emerged in a brightly lit center of activity. Hordes of people crowded the space, some standing in place and talking, others at business stands representing their employers, and still others walking along the pathways. 

Billboards lined the walkways, which Brant found odd. Many of them used 3D backlighting to visually shove the advertisement in the viewer's face, usually the "best movie of the year" or "experience of your life". Brant pointed a few of them out to Hannah with a smirk. 

"How are they all the best?" he asked with a chuckle. 

Hannah giggled. "Dat's advertisin' for ya." 

When Brant started to spot more of the advertisements center around scantily-clad women, he averted his eyes to the path ahead, which proved a difficult task due to their flashy and eye-catching nature. He breathed a sigh of relief when Ryder made a turn and they came to a warmly lit staircase. 

After ascending the stairs and taking a short walk across the next floor, they arrived at Patty's, a homey establishment full of stomach-arousing aromas and moving jaws. Ryder strode right past the hostess and into the seating area. Her wide smile slowly vanished and morphed into a confused expression. 

A pair of men in guard uniforms sat at a massive table, where Ryder seated himself without ceremony. Brant, Hannah, Aaron, and everybody else followed suit. Before long, the men from the other cargo vehicles, insurgent and Underground agent alike, entered and seated themselves as well. 

Ryder cleared his throat and eyed the two Iron Hallway guards. "Tell me what you've discovered." 

"In...twenty minutes now," the first man began, glancing at his watch, "all 80 of the captured insurgents will be escorted to a Kemarian restaurant in Sector Central for their last meal." 

"They all chose the same place. Interesting." Ryder muttered. 

"We figure they wanted solidarity." the other guard remarked. 

"Probably. So wow...80 Insurgents. That's gonna mean a whole lot of guards to escort them." 

"Yep. Around 200, I believe." 

Ryder rose to his feet. "Well, in that case, we have 20 minutes to set up and get in position." 

"Where're we going?" Brant asked. 

"To the restaurant. They'll have the advantage of numbers, but we'll have concealment. They'll have no idea who's us and who's just a regular citizen."

******************** 

A/N: ...And so the rescue begins! I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and if so, please remember to vote and comment. 

My brain's honestly spent this morning, so I'm just gonna ask a random question and go: If the percentage of your phone or computer battery was the number of years you have left to live, how long have you got? [Sorry, desktop users. 😝] 

(I've got an impressive 98 years left. That's amazing. 😂) 

Well, I hope you have a great day and week ahead of you, and I'll see you in Saturday's update!