I rolled my eyes so far into my skull, I think I saw my brain. Marisa's holier-than-thou attitude was grinding my gears. I don't know where she got the delusion she's so much better than everyone else. She thinks she's so morally superior just because she's never killed anyone. You don't like the murders? Grow up. I can't wait until I get my code and blow this place. I've wasted so much time already, and for what? I've been so helpful for no personal gain. It doesn't suit me. "Let's go, losers, we're going next door."
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...
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I led them back to the spa, where the receptionist was still passed out on the ground from when Atlas had choked him. I'll admit it, I admire how brutal Atlas can be if he puts his mind to it. Atlas and I aren't that different. Curseword was the rough draft, and I'm the completed product. I'm continuing his legacy. No one wants to talk about that because he's the hero and everything the hero does is excusable, right? But villains can never be forgiven. I kicked the receptionist in the skull to make sure he didn't wake up anytime soon.
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"That was unnecessary," Marisa said. She clutched onto Patch, helping him limp through the lobby, being extra attentive to ensure he didn't stumble. The sight was so sickly sweet I wanted to puke. I'm so glad I don't have anyone to take care of. It seems like a total drag. Besides, I can barely keep myself alive some days, never mind anyone else. I'd probably kill a goldfish within hours of owning it.
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"What are we doing here, exactly?" Patch asked, scanning the spa lobby. "Are we getting our nails done?"
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"I wish. We're looking for the Annihilation Code. I thought you would've inferred that from our previous conversations," I said, annoyed.
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"In a spa?"
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I clasped my hands together and took a sharp inhalation, trying to control my temper. "Because this is where your nephew told me it was."
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"How do you know he was telling the truth?"
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I froze in place, waiting to hear what he had to say.
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"I'm just starting to wonder if my darling nephew figured you out and brought you here to deter you from the real code."
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That's not true, Atlas didn't suspect a thing until Chase told him. Even if he somehow figured out that I was Oblivion, he never would've sacrificed Patch's life just to inconvenience me. That's not the kind of person Atlas is. I studied Patch's expression and noticed a slight upturn of his lips. He was trying to trick me. He wanted me to second guess myself. Well, I've got some bad news for you, One-Eyed Willie, I'm done being played with. I'm already Bionic Corp's pawn, I won't be anyone else's. "It's here, I know it," I said. That wasn't entirely true. I didn't know that for certain, but I needed him to believe it was here.
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"It would probably be somewhere you wouldn't expect. Bionic Corp is sneaky like that."
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"I know that already. You're not the only one who worked for them, you know? I know more than you."
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"If you know so much, why don't you find it yourself?"
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I scowled at him and extended my claws in a silent threat.
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Marisa stood between us. "Fighting won't get us anywhere, guys. Let's finish our mission, and then we'll never have to see each other again."
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"Great idea!" I said, marching towards the other end of the foyer.
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"Where are you going?" Patch asked.
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"I don't know! I don't know anything, okay? Is that what you want to hear? I don't know what I'm doing, and this stupid freaking spa is my last hope! I bet you two just love seeing me fail, don't you?" I kicked over a ceramic vase, causing it to shatter. The pathetic fake plant bounced twice, then I stomped on it in my fit of rage.
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Patch and Marisa shared a knowing look. I knew what they were thinking. I've seen that look plenty of times in my life. They thought I was crazy, unstable, and on the brink of mental collapse. Perhaps I am a little manic, but who can blame me? If I don't destroy the Annihilation Code soon, Bionic Corp is going to replace me with a sleeker, shinier, assassin, and I'll be killed and turned into scrap metal. I think I have the right to be a little unhinged right now.
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Patch spoke softly, like he was trying to comfort a spooked animal. "Have you cased the joint, yet?"
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I let out a long, frustrated breath. "Yes, I have."
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"Good. What did you find?"
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I pointed toward the door behind the counter. "There's a stairwell that leads to a second floor and a basement."
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"And what did you find there?"
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I thought back to my findings in the upstairs laboratory. "Just a bunch of boring lab supplies, except for this weird glass tube. It was huge. It looked like they were doing some freaky experiments in there. It was unsettling."
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A look of concern flashed across his face. "What kind of experiments were they doing?"
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"I don't know. I'm a rock star, not a nerd. Ask someone from the science division. If I had to guess, I'd say it looked like they were growing something in there."
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"What were they growing?" Patch pressed.
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"I told you, I don't know. Whatever they're working on is way above my station. I'm not privy to that information."
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Patch seemed distressed, but he moved on from the subject. "What about the basement? What did you find down there?"
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"There are three rooms. We already searched one of them. It was this dark room with a huge computer and a bunch of cameras."
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Patch shook his head. "That's too obvious."
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"That's what I said!"
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"What about the other two rooms? What's in there?"
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"One of the rooms was full of boxes of old newspapers. We were making decent progress sorting through everything until she ruined my plans by forcing me to come get you." I nudged Marisa with my elbow.
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"I'm not sorry," She said.
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Patch turned to Marisa. "Did you notice anything out of order in that room? Maybe, a box in a strange place, or some kind of message hidden in the newspapers."
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She shook her head. "No, everything seemed completely ordinary."
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Patch pursed his lips in thought.
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"Anyway, the other room had nothing but dusty old file cabinets."
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"Did you check inside?"
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"We didn't get around to it."
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"Does it seem odd to you that Bionic Corp has a room full of paper files when they have the best computer technology in the world? It doesn't make sense," Patch said.
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I shrugged. "I guess. I don't know why they do half the things that they do."
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"Why would they waste all that space storing old worthless papers?"
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"I don't know. Maybe they were too lazy to digitize everything."
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"Or maybe there was something so precious they couldn't risk it falling into the hands of hackers, something so important the best way to keep it safe was to store it the old-fashioned way in a locked file cabinet."
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I swung open the door to the basement. "Honestly, I think that's a bit of a stretch, but it's worth a shot."
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...
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I waited impatiently at the bottom of the stairs as Marisa assisted Patch down the stairs. I checked my Holowatch for the third time in the past minute. What is taking them so long? Just because Patch has one leg at the moment doesn't mean he has to be slow. Hobble faster, grandpa!
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After a never-ending eternity of waiting, Patch and Marisa finally reached the basement.
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Patch clutched his chest and let out labored breaths. "You guys really need to install an elevator down here!"
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"You're welcome to fill out a complaint card after we finish robbing them." I waved them towards the file room. "Come on, losers, we don't have all day."
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I kicked open the door and flipped the light switch. The bulb flickered several times before it finally stayed on. A group of moths startled awake from the commotion, zigzagging across the room. Eventually, they settled on the lightbulb, dimming the room. My eyes drifted to a lone moth resting on the furthest cabinet. I waltzed towards it to get a closer look.
Somehow the moth looked solemn. I don't know what a moth has to be sad about. They don't have to pay taxes. Mom believed moths were our guides to the afterlife; our guardians in on life and death. I shook my head. This is no time to be sentimental, and I don't plan to visit the afterlife anytime soon.
I flicked the moth across the room with my fingers, sending it careening into the wall.
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I dusted off the handle and tugged, but it wouldn't budge. I tried the one below it. That one wouldn't move either. I tried the one to the left. Still no luck. "Are you guys having any luck?" I shouted to Patch and Marisa on the other side of the room.
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"No, they're all locked," Marisa replied.
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I noticed a small keyhole beneath the handles of each cabinet. I flashed my microchip in front of the lock, waiting for it to open, but it refused. What did they expect me to do? Use a physical key? Who still has metal keys, for God's sake? Luckily, I came prepared. I reached into my emergency supply of lock picks and jammed one into the lock. I began finessing the lock, silently begging it to open. Come on, open for mama. The cabinet ignored my pleas and remained locked. I let out a frustrated shriek and punched it with my cybernetic fist, leaving a small dent behind. If worst comes to worst I could punch it repeatedly until it opens.
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"I'm guessing you don't know where the keys are," Marisa said. I didn't even notice she was right behind me until she spoke. She could've been a stealth operative in another life.
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"Nope. They never tell me the location of anything important. It's probably, so I don't try anything like this. They know me too well," I said.
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Through the corner of my eye, I notice Marisa swearing under her breath. "I can't hack my way out of this one."
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I handed her one of my lockpicks and motioned for her to assist me.
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She stared down at the lock pick. "I don't know what to do with this.
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"You just jam it in the hole and wriggle it around until it opens."
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Patch let out a low chuckle.
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I spun around to face him. "What?"
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He leaned against the wall to hold himself up. "You have no idea what you're doing, do you?"
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I tightened my lips into a grimace. "I'll admit, it's been a while since I had to do this. If you think you can do better, you're welcome to try." I hurtled one of my picks at his face.
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He used his cyborg reflexes and snatched the lock pick out of midair. Show off.
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...
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We worked in silence for several minutes to avail. I guess none of us are particularly skilled in the art of lock picking.
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I caught Marisa standing still and gazing intently at the file cabinets.
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"Hey! Less starting, more lockpicking!"
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She waved me over. "Come take a look at this."
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I stopped what I was doing and trudged over to her.
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"Look! This one is different from the rest."
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I bent down to better examine it. The differences were slight, but she was correct. This one didn't match the rest! The paint was a slightly darker shade of gray and upon further inspection, I noticed the lock was fake; it was too shallow for any key to fit in there. This was the same cabinet the moth had landed on earlier, and now I knew why. If you peered through the tight cracks on the side, you could see a dim light flickering from behind. A thin smirk tugged at the corners of my lips. There was something special in there, I knew it.
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"How are we supposed to unlock it if the lock is fake?" Marisa asked.
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I rummaged through my utility belt and pulled out two slender blades. I jammed them through the cracks and used my cyborg strength to warp the surrounding metal just enough for me to extract my prize.
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Marisa crossed her arms and frowned at me. "Why didn't you do that earlier? We could've saved so much time!"
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"I had no idea if that would work, but desperate times call for desperate measures."
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I readjusted my grip on the object in my hands to closer examine it. On the back side of it was a safe with three separate locks. I haphazardly flicked the tangled mass of cables. "What's with all these wires?"
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Patch threw his hand out to halt me. "Stop! That's a bomb! It will detonate if you mess with it."
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I flinched so hard I nearly dropped the safe, killing us all.
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"Let's just put the bomb back where we found it and leave it there."
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A five-minute countdown appeared on the screen. "I didn't do anything, I swear!"
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Patch swore under his breath. "It's a fail-safe, here to prevent anyone from stealing it. It will detonate if we don't enter the correct password in time."
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I watched the seconds tick down. "Well, dammit." I gently set the safe on the ground, and glared at it, like I could prevent it from detonating through sheer willpower.
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Marisa carefully knelt beside the safe and studied the number, "Look at the buttons. Some of them are more worn out than others. Zero, six, two, and five." She was correct. The lettering had faded from being touched.
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"Now we just have to guess the correct pin of twenty-four combinations before it explodes and kills us all. No pressure," I said.
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Marisa's fingers trembled as she pressed the numbers in the order 0, 2, 5, 6.
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The timer flashed red and let out a piercing buzzer sound.
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"Well, it didn't like that," I commented.
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"How many guesses do you think we get?" Marisa asked.
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"Let's hope we don't find out," Patch replied.
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Marisa's fingers hovered over the numbers.
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"Try six, five, zero, two. It's the password to the safe in her office," I suggested.
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"Gee, that would've been useful to know sooner." Marisa clenched her teeth as she punched in the numbers.
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"I wasn't thinking about it until now."
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The flickering red light returned, followed by the ringing buzzer sound, which let us know we'd failed to guess the correct password.
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Marisa shot me an accusatory glare. "It didn't work."
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"I never promised it would work, I just mentioned it was the passcode in her home office."
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"Are you sabotaging us on purpose? Do you want us to fail? Is this all a game to you?" Marisa spat.
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I raised my hands in surrender. "No way. I have a lot to lose if this doesn't go to plan, remember? You're not the only one with stakes in this game."
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"Ladies, we don't have time for bickering. We only have four minutes left before we all get blown to smithereens," Patch said.
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"Oh, shut the hell up, Pedro. Do you think I can't read? I'm well aware of the situation," I snapped.
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"It's two, zero, six, five," Patch said.
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"Are you sure about that? We've wasted two tries already," Marisa said.
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I folded my arms over my chest. "Yeah, are we just throwing out random numbers now?"
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"2056 was the year Marjorie Spoketon was promoted to CEO of Bionic Corp. I still remember that day like it was yesterday," Patch said with a far-off look in his eye.
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"Wow, you're old! I didn't know I was in the presence of a dinosaur," I drawled.
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"Drop the attitude, kid."
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Marisa shook with anxiety as her finger hovered over the buttons.
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I let out an aggravated sigh. If she doesn't push those buttons I will. After another moment of hesitation, I yanked the safe away from her and pressed in the numbers, 2, 0, 5, 6.
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The bomb lit up green and a checkmark appeared on the screen. It worked? Oh my God, it freaking worked! Suck it, Marjorie! I took a moment to lean back and bask in celebration.
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"Um, why hasn't the timer stopped?" Marisa said.
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"Wait, what?" I looked at the screen and sure enough the timer was still steadily counting down. I fought the urge to punch the damn thing. "What the hell, man?"
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"There are three separate locks. We need to open all of them to stop the bomb," Patch said.
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Marisa started rocking herself back and forth. Her breaths became short and labored. "We're not going to make it in time."
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"Don't you quit, Marisa! We can figure this out! We still have three minutes. We can figure this out!" Patch encouraged. I could see on his face he didn't entirely believe that, but he wanted to give her hope. Pathetic. I don't see the point in lying to comfort someone, it's only going to hurt more when the truth comes out.
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Marisa dabbed at the tears forming in the corners of her eyes and got to work decoding the locks. "This one looks like a fingerprint scanner. Do you think the receptionist's fingerprints would work?"
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I shook my head. "No way, they don't give just anyone access to something as precious as this. If I had to guess, I'd say Marjorie Spoketon is the only person alive with access to this safe."
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"Then we're doomed."
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"Not necessarily. Vindicator still has her portion of the map. The device should still have her prints on it," I said.
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A flicker of hope passed through Marisa's eyes, but it soon vanished. "What if her prints got mixed up with someone else's?"
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"Vindicator doesn't have fingerprints, and neither do I." I wiggled my bionic fingers for emphasis. Without another word, I dashed out of the room.
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I rushed to the sight of Mason's corpse. "Come on! Come on! Come on!" I whispered to myself as I rifled through his pockets, eventually landing on his top right jacket pocket, where the map was stored. I grabbed it and gave him a salute. "Thanks for saving my ass, Mason. It's about time you were good for something."
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Obviously, he didn't answer.
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I sprinted back to the room with the bomb. "I got it! Whatever is in here better be worth it," I muttered. I knelt beside Marisa. I dumped out the contents of my utility belt onto the ground, and we rummaged through for something useful. We pulled out a container of baby powder, a brush, and some clear tape.
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Marisa sprinkled powder all over the device until we found a fingerprint. She placed down a piece of tape and acquired the print. She cautiously pressed the stolen fingerprint against the scanner. We all held our breath in tense silence as the safe scanned the print.
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The safe lit up green and the checkmark reappeared on the scream. We all let out a triumphant breath of relief.
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The timer persisted ticking. We still have one more lock, and we're running out of time to solve it.
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Marisa located the third lock. "It's an eye scanner."
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"We can't fake something like that, at least not in a minute," Patch remarked.
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Marisa buried her hands in her hair. "What do we do?"
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All of a sudden, we heard the loud stomping sound of boots upstairs. A loud, booming voice shouted over the loudspeakers. "This is Bionic Corp security. We know you're down there. Don't make us do this the hard way!"
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"Oh, go to hell, Marc!" I yelled up the staircase.
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Patch quirked an eyebrow. "Friend of yours?"
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I scoffed. "Hardly, he's been a pain in my ass for years."
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I studied the infrastructure of the walls and ceiling, and that's when I noticed something. "This basement is completely bomb-proof. The explosion shouldn't affect this room."
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"But we're not bomb-proof," Marisa noted.
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"You're right we're not bomb-proof." I glared at the bomb begrudgingly. I knew what I had to do. I grabbed the bomb and ran up the stairs.
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"Where are you going?" Marisa called after me.
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I didn't answer. We didn't have time. Besides, she'd probably try to talk me out of this, but who am I if not reckless?
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When I reached the top of the stairs, I was confronted by a team of security officers with weapons pointed at me.
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I flipped my luxurious hair and batted my eyelashes. "Oh hi, Marc."
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"We don't have time for this, you psycho bitch! Put your hands up and surrender." He aimed his gun directly at my skull.
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I puckered my lips in disappointment. "You're not happy to see me? Is it because I stole your car?"
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"You stole my car?" He seethed.
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Apparently, he didn't know. While he was distracted, I slid the safe across the floor and ducked for cover behind the desk.
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"It's a bomb! Run!" Marc shouted to his men.
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I bravely put myself in front of a bomb to destroy the Annihilation Code, save those two losers downstairs, and stick it to my stupid ex-boyfriend Marc. I guess this makes me a hero, or maybe it makes me a villain. I suppose it depends on who you ask. I watched in anxious anticipation as the clock ticked down to zero.
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