Two days and two more attempts went by, adding bits of information about the fort every time they failed. Silence's group now knew most of the rooms, windows, and guard formations, though, they still needed a plan that would work. They currently stood outside the library currently discussing the finer points of their plan before they made their next attempt.
Recounting, Snake repeated the full plan to the others with additions he thought of over the night, "So, let's see. There should be 12 guards in all, them being the Head Master's puppets means that we need to hide from them. The forest leads to the previously unguarded back wall of the building, which Nitro made a hole in yesterday. So I doubt it's still unguarded..."
Headache became distressed, and cautiously asked, "That really happened? I coulda sworn that was just gossip. Wait... that means our method is probably screwed then!"
"We could try plan b, and have both you and Silence cause a distraction. But... this is our second to last attempt," he added, slightly shaking as he reminisced the punishment for failing.
Silence, originally ignoring the conversation, butted in with an annoyed tone, "Well, have you checked it?"
Snake shrugged before turning to face her, "Checked what?"
She sighed, begrudgingly repeating herself, "Whether the explosion changed the guard positions or not?"
"Nope... Camo's group was talking about it at lunch," he said.
"Then, let's check that first before relying on another method," Silence said, walking in the direction of the forest.
The others followed, slowly sneaking from tree to tree once they got there. After about halfway, Snake saw someone in black and gestured for the others to duck behind a nearby bush.
With baited breath and a quick one-way field from Silence, they all listened to the sound of sticks snapping under steps gradually get louder until the person was right on top of their position. The party soon heard the person mumble in a grumbled tone before they heard the steps pass them completely and sighed in relief.
Looking at the guard through gaps in the leaves, Snake soon gestured for the three of them to continue.
-
After a lengthy period of similarly slow-paced sneaking, they finally reached the building which was as bare as it was the other attempts. With the only guard actively patrolling the area left way behind them, Silence dropped the barrier around them and took a peek around the building with the same level of caution.
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To her surprise, the south side did, in fact, have a hole in it and seemed undefended from her current position. The north had one man less than they had in the other attempts, so Silence waited for more opinions before acting.
Visually beaconing them with slight movements, the other two peaked over her shoulder and quickly reached their own conclusions. Upon realizing this, she reopened the barrier and the three mumbled a bit before sending Headache to the southern corner.
Soon, a loud thump from the second floor led some of the puppets to inspect it, including three of the four guards at the southern exit going for the bait.
The look through the hole revealed the backs of three puppets. All of whom seemed to be rushing to where the sole staircase leading to the roof was. Then further examination room to now be cleaned, even the central table, which previously held all of the envelopes, was now clear.
With a bit more silent conversation between them, Silence and Snake seemed to agree with going to the western side whilst headache wanted to go through the nearest entrance. Democracy won over, and they peered around the next corner after quickly looking out for the guard's positions in the building and around the corner.
None of the guards noticed them and the quick glimpse seeing that this side was also lifeless on the outside and with a window looking over into another room with no one currently inside, the found that this room had the envelopes. Though doubts on how long the distraction would left the three feeling rushed, so they burst into the window without a delay.
Silence closed her eyes with her hands out in front of her as if she was about to clap, Snake rushed over to the envelopes and Headache closed his eyes in concentration too whilst facing towards another second story window. Soon, the latter opened his eyes again, releasing another thud on the roof which was slightly louder than the first one was.
However, before Silence could finish her part, loud footsteps soon distracted her and a puppet appeared from the sole doorway. Suddenly, without being able to react, the guard was thrown into a wall with a horrendous crash. With even the floor under them slightly shaking, both Silence and Snake paused in amazement at the strength behind her attack.
Frozen for a few seconds, common sense and more footsteps made the two reconsider their positions. Leaving the building in a rush, Snake grabbed Headache's shoulder as he led their mad dash for the forest.
The steps of multiple pursuers swiftly started to bite at their heels, but due to the fallen guard buying them time and their rather fast running in comparison, they vanished into the forest with a moment or two to hide. Though, they instead used that time to split up with their own winding paths.
-
The guards behind them didn't give up easily. Yet their strategy of blindly running towards any sound in an attempt to seize the intruders failed massively since they didn't catch a single one of them before giving up and regrouping. And by that time it was too late, all of the team were all out of breath, but far enough away from the building that their capture was unfeasible.
-
They all eventually met up at the library. Well... Headache and Snake were there very quickly because constantly ran like their lives depended on it, whereas Silence took the chance for a relaxed dawdle and was promptly chastised when she got there.
Checking the contents of the envelope were correct, all three of them walked peacefully to the location their teacher told them to whilst Snake asked what happened with Silence's power on the way.