Micky and Scott arrived at Stephen Cure’s office. They were two scientist geniuses from the Sunrazy guild in the Central Continent, Stephen’s good friends.

Micky lay down on the couch, his heavy weight making it creak, and spoke in a blunt yet friendly voice. “We heard the details.”

“Is it possible?” Stephen asked eagerly.

“Probably. I’ll design a bomb, but sneaking it in is different. Dissension Penitentiary is not your common prison. As soon as a device, such as a bomb, goes within a set radius of the prison, it’ll detect its electric signature and fry the object.”

Scott gently sat on the couch and tightened his blue tie. “The robotic ants I made use advanced Spread Spectrum modulation and Encryption. That means the ants can bypass the prison’s security. However, that’s only possible due to their small dimensions.”

He paused for a moment as he rolled down his sleeves. Scott looked at Micky and smiled as something popped into his head. “The prison will detect things entering from outside, so how about we build the bomb inside? Give me a day, and I’ll train the ants to construct and detonate it themselves.”

Micky raised an eyebrow as he considered for a while. “That… I think that would work!”

“Great. Scott, send some ants to gather intel on what’s happening in the prison, and get the bomb ready by tomorrow, guys.”

…

The next day, Dissension Penitentiary.

A vast sand field surrounded the prison. Dissension Penitentiary wasn’t very colourful. However, its unsaturated construct enriched with magma-red carvings and patterns gave an ominous feeling. A black and red tower on each side of the prison’s high walls had snipers on watch and autonomous gun turrets always activated. It looked like a fortress.

The prisoners were kept underground. There wasn’t any point in letting them outside since there wasn’t a sun in the Obscure Guild. Digging underneath the prison allowed it to remain compact and harder to breach.

There was a single path leading into the walls. Nothing had ever gotten past the security protocols. The guards at the entrance x-rayed and dissected everything methodically. There was a shortcoming, however. It was the human factor.

Gabriella Rivampe’s rebellion and ideals had reached every ear in the Obscure Guild. The prison officers were no exception, and with the right amount of money and insurance, Stephen had managed to bribe one of them.

A refrigerated meat transport truck passed the inspection flawlessly.

Micky had made cloaks for Gabriella, Aaron, and the rest of the recon team. These cloaks used metamaterial cloaking technology, utilizing several layers of lenses to bend light around the users, rendering them invisible to the naked eye.

The recon unit was spread all around the prison’s field. Gabriella was the one nearest to the entrance. As the truck droved inside the single gate, she signalled to Stephen and her team. “They’re going in.”

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…

There was a sewage system running underneath the prisoners’ quarters. Being the lowest point in the facility, not monitored nearly enough, it was a perfect place to plant the bomb.

Thousands of robotic ants formed a black cloud, bringing glue, chemicals, wires, batteries and a shell together to make the explosive. Despite weighing about ten kilograms, the blast would be energetic enough to collapse the entire prison.

“Bomb has been planted,” said Scott, in the fourth layer with Micky and Stephen.

…

The transport truck’s driver parked in a hangar. Nine masked vampires were waiting from within it.

He and another worker opened the back. They expected cold meat, yet were meat with warm blood-crazed cursed. The masked vampires’ leader sliced off their heads with his scimitar and stepped out of the freezer.

The vampire was called Rib. He wore leather attire and big combat boots. His long brown hair fell on his vest’s solid, stand-up collar that protected his neck.

“We’re in,” Rib spoke through his frightening skeleton mask. The signal, however, was detected instantly. His message couldn’t be decrypted, but a high-pitched alarm went off regardless.

“We’ve been found out. Everyone, get ready to fight.” It wasn’t bothering him since the cameras would have found them out anyway. Their role was to create a diversion, after all.

The hangar was attached to the main building through a single door. Many officers were waiting on the other side of the wall, and even more of them further down the hallway.

-Woosh!

Yet, with extreme speed and precision, the masked vampires did what they had trained to do their entire lives. From the moment they opened the door, the guards didn’t have time to take a single breath before exhaling their lungs and falling to the ground.

“Let’s split. Half of you come down to the cells with me,” said Rib as he arrived at one of the staircases.

Rib and four other vampires arrived underground. They were met with many officers and other employees, their hands raised and their weapons to the ground. Across the room was a large window which showed the view of the prisoners’ quarters. They could also see the gym, a large rectangular pool and other sports fields.

The prisoners, all rebels, still strong despite their years in prison, were clucked into small glass rooms. Each one had four people and a single toilet. The glass was more sturdy than iron bars.

Rib seized a weak technician by the collar and dragged him to the control room, where the computers and monitors were. They could control and surveil the entire facility from there. The technician entered a password and unlocked every door, releasing the rebels.

“What’s happening?” “Are we free?” The prisoners were confused. Most had been held captive for decades.

Rib activated a microphone and spoke in a monotonous, uninterested manner. “Come with us. We’re rebels too. Our superiors have sent us here to release you.”

The five vampires guided around a hundred escapees to the exit.

The other masked vampires were on watch. One of them spoke from a tower. “We’re already done. There wasn’t any significant resistance. In fact, they surrendered. No reptoid showed up.”

Stephen frowned. He was listening to the situation from his office. “This is strange, way too easy. Scott’s ants didn’t find anyone either.”

While Gabriella welcomed the old rebels and offered them to join her, Aaron spotted someone in the distance. “Wait! There’s someone running in the fields!”

They looked like an ordinary security officer. His weapons were a taser and a baton attached to his waist.

Gabriella finished her speech and responded with a smile. “Recon team, we’re following after him.”