The service conduit was barely wide enough for Batgirl's shoulders. She went first, moving in a low crouch, escrima sticks collapsed and clipped to her belt. Behind her, Valeria followed with her damaged gauntlet held close to her body. May brought up the rear, Joltik clinging to her shoulder, its small blue eyes reflecting the dim light from Valeria's scanner.
They moved in silence for thirty meters. The conduit narrowed further. Valeria's breathing was controlled, measured. She counted turns aloud under her breath.
"Two lefts, one right, then a vertical shaft. The containment level should be forty meters past the shaft."
Batgirl didn't respond. She had already mapped it. Two lefts, one right, vertical shaft. She was counting steps now, locking the route into memory. If the lights went out, if the scanner died, she needed to know the way back.
May said nothing either. She was listening. Not to Valeria's directions but to what lay ahead. Joltik's ears twitched. The tiny Pokémon was doing its own reconnaissance, reading the electromagnetic environment through senses none of them had.
They reached the pressure plates before Valeria announced them.
"Stop." Valeria's voice was barely above a whisper. She aimed her gauntlet at the floor. A faint grid of light appeared, mapping the plates. "Sequence is left-right-center-skip-left. Follow my exact foot placement."
Batgirl studied the grid. She cross-referenced it with the structural read she'd taken from the ridge. The plates were arranged in a pattern consistent with weight-triggered sensors, not motion. She filed the discrepancy — Valeria's read said motion — and decided to trust the grid.
"Are they weight-sensitive or motion-sensitive?" May asked.
Valeria paused. "Weight. Threshold is about fifteen kilograms."
May looked down at Joltik on her shoulder. Joltik weighed six-tenths of a kilogram.
"Then we're fine," May said.
Batgirl noted the question. May hadn't been asking about the mechanics. She'd been asking whether her Pokémon was safe. First thing. Always first thing.
They crossed the plates without incident. Valeria moved with precision, placing each foot exactly where she'd said. Batgirl matched her steps. May followed, lighter than both of them.
The security camera was mounted at the next junction. It rotated slowly, a mechanical sweep that covered the corridor in twelve-second intervals.
Valeria pulled a small device from her belt. She angled it at the camera and pressed a button. The camera's red light blinked once, then held steady.
"Loop is in," Valeria said. "I'm feeding it a static image of the empty corridor."
"How long will it hold?" Batgirl asked.
"Twenty minutes. Maybe twenty-five if their compression algorithm is sloppy."
Batgirl nodded. She'd been doing her own math. Twenty minutes to get in, find Zapdos, and get out. Tight. But not impossible.
May used the pause. She lifted Joltik from her shoulder and set the Pokémon on the ground. Joltik darted ahead, disappearing around the corner. Three seconds later, it returned and chirped twice.
"Corridor is clear for sixty meters," May said. "Then there's a room. Two people inside."
Batgirl looked at May. "You knew that before I asked about the camera loop."
May shrugged. "Joltik has good ears."
The checkpoint was exactly where May had said it. Two guards, side by side, standing in front of a reinforced door. One was checking a clipboard. The other was drinking coffee.
Batgirl signaled. Two targets. Close quarters. She pointed to herself, then to the guard on the left. She pointed to May, then to the right.
May nodded.
Batgirl moved first. She crossed the distance in three silent steps and struck the first guard at the base of the skull. He dropped without a sound. The second guard turned, mouth opening, reaching for the alarm panel on his belt.
Joltik hit him with Thunder Shock. The guard seized, his hand freezing six inches from the alarm, and collapsed.
Valeria was already moving. She crossed to the downed guard and pressed a small EMP charge against his comm device. It sparked once and went dead.
"His too," Valeria said, moving to the second guard.
Batgirl checked both guards. Breathing steady. Unconscious, not dead. She zip-tied their wrists and ankles, then checked the door controls. Locked. Card access.
She looked at Valeria.
Valeria was already pulling a bypass tool from her belt. She attached it to the card reader. The device hummed. Three seconds later, the light turned green.
The door opened.
Viper was standing on the other side.
She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, emerald hair sleek against her shoulders. Her expression was calm. Not surprised. Not concerned.
"Well," Viper said. "That was faster than I expected." She looked at Batgirl. "I'm almost impressed."
Batgirl said nothing. She was reading Viper's stance. Weight on her back foot. Hands free. Poison ring on her right hand. The posture of someone who wanted to talk before she fought.
"How cute is this?" Viper continued, her gaze moving across the three of them. "The genius, the detective, and the little spider. Did you bring your Pokémon too, or did you leave them at home?"
May's jaw tightened. Batgirl saw it but didn't react. Viper was trying to get a read. Any reaction was information.
Valeria was watching Viper's hands.
Viper moved first. She flicked her wrist and a cloud of fine mist sprayed toward Batgirl. Batgirl rolled left, pulling a gas mask from her belt and snapping it on in one motion. The mist dispersed.
May was already flanking right. Joltik leaped from her shoulder and hit Viper with a sharp Thunder Shock. Viper staggered, her suit smoking where the electricity had grounded.
Valeria moved in the opposite direction, pulling a small device from her belt. She pressed it against the wall-mounted comm panel at the checkpoint. It sparked. The panel went dark.
Viper recovered faster than she should have. She turned toward Valeria, recognizing the threat. "Clever girl."
Batgirl closed the distance. She struck with her escrima stick, aiming for Viper's weapon hand. Viper blocked with her forearm, the impact ringing against something hard beneath her sleeve. She countered with a kick that Batgirl deflected.
May circled behind. Joltik readied another shock.
Viper saw it coming. She spun, pulling a small vial from her belt and cracking it on the ground. A barrier of thick, acrid smoke filled the corridor.
Batgirl's cowl switched to thermal. Viper was moving back, toward the corridor they'd come from. Away from the containment door.
"She's retreating," Batgirl said.
"Let her," Valeria said. She was at the door controls, bypass tool already attached. "We're not here for her."
The light turned green. The door opened. They slipped through.
Behind them, boots. Multiple sets. The guards from the upper level, responding to the checkpoint breach.
The door sealed shut. Locked from the outside.
Viper's voice came through the door, calm and smooth. "You just locked yourselves in a room with no other exit. Did you plan that, or are you improvising?"
Batgirl didn't answer. She was already turning.
The room was large. Industrial. Cables ran from the walls to a central apparatus. And through reinforced glass, barely visible through the haze of electrical discharge, was Zapdos.
The Legendary bird was enormous. Jagged yellow plumage, crackling with residual static. But it was wrong. Cables and conduits were attached to its body, siphoning energy. Its wings were pinned. Its eyes were half-closed. The air around it shimmered with contained power being forced into a shape it didn't want to hold.
May's breath caught. She stepped toward the glass.
Valeria was already scanning. Her gauntlet flickered, struggling with the interference, but data came through. The glass was reinforced polycarbonate, layered with an electromagnetic mesh. The cables fed into a central converter. The energy output readings were staggering.
Batgirl saw the setup and understood. Zola wasn't just containing Zapdos. He was draining it. Using the Legendary's power as a battery.
Her jaw tightened.
"Status," Batgirl said.
Valeria ran through her tools. What was left. What was depleted. "Window mechanism is complex. Electromagnetic locks, manual override on the far side. I can bypass it, but I need time."
"How much time?"
"Ten minutes. Maybe fifteen."
Batgirl looked at the door. The guards were on the other side. They'd be working on the lock already.
May hadn't moved from the glass. Joltik was on her shoulder, both of them staring at Zapdos.
"Can we get it out?" May asked.
Batgirl didn't answer. She was counting their options. The door. The glass. The cables. The time.
The number was getting smaller.
***
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Advance chapters in P@T0n Najicablitz.