LMB Base, Detention Block

0700 Hours, Cell Wing Alpha

Spike woke up from a light sleep to see Amherst nodding at him.

"It's time." He said. Spike nodded affirmatively. He, Amherst, and Midnight Squad had gone over their escape plan and hopeful extraction. Spike gave a nervous thumbs-up, and Amherst tapped three times on the loose brick. Virgo knocked twice, and then, Virgo spoke loud enough that the guards would hear.

"Break it up, you two!" Virgo cried. "Come on!"

"You stole it! I know it!" Leo mock-yelled at Aquarius. "Where'd you put it!?"

"I don't know!" Aquarius yelled back. Three seconds later, two LMB riflemen entered Virgo's cell. Not long after, there was a scuffle, a muffled gunshot, and Midnight Squad walked out of their cell and unlocked Spike and Amherst's.

"Stick with us, and stay low." Aquarius said, she and Virgo grabbing the LMB's two ACR rifles and loading them, while Scorpio and Leo took their sidearms.

"Let's go." Virgo said. They advanced down the hall, and upon disabling two LMB Grenadiers, stole the access card to the armory.

"Let's get our tech back." Virgo said.

"How do you know it's there?" Spike asked.

"Trust us." Virgo replied. "Move!"

After five more minutes of sneaking through the tunnels, they arrived at an expansive armory, containing several turrets, countless caches of guns, and on a table were Midnight Team's SHD Tech, loadout, Tags, and Body armor. Spike kept lookout while the four First Wave agents equipped themselves properly, and filled their bags full of medkits and grenades.

"Here, catch." Virgo said, tossing Spike a Walther P99.

"A gun?" Spike asked. "I don't…"

"Aim for the head and pull the trigger." Virgo replied. Spike gulped and nodded. Virgo nodded, and as the squad departed, Scorpio managed to grab several folders and a laptop. As they left, a green light near the door turned red and began to blink.

At the same time, Squad Sierra-Kilo and Twilight's skimmer was nearing a grove that was opposite the base. Anubis took out a pair of binoculars, and scanned the area.

"They're a lot more prepared than the UN." He noted. "Two lines of three turrets, multiple choke points...they're expecting an attack."

"Where's the Turret Controls?" Nick replied.

"On the North side, behind both Turret walls." Anubis replied. "I see Combat Engineers, a few Heavies, two Field Medics. Along with a few squads of Riflemen and a couple of Grenadiers."

"So what's the plan?" Twilight asked.

"The Turrets can't be disabled by EMP, they're designed to work against it." Nick said. "Plus, there's too many infantry there. We need a good distraction to take out the Turrets and get inside."

"What we need…" Logan said, but as he spoke, a loud alarm began to blare, and the LMB proceeded to run inside."

"No distraction needed now." Kestrel quipped.

"Let's check the comms." Twilight said, patching into the LMB comms.

"...the prisoners from Cell bay Alpha have escaped and armed themselves heavily. They're moving towards the main gate. All LMB squads, pursue and cut them off…" a voice spoke.

"Alright, now's our chance." Nick said. Logan, get to the Turret controls and see if you can flip them over to shoot at the LMB instead. Rest of you, follow me."

"Roger that." Logan said. As the squad advanced, Logan pushed a few buttons and hit a switch, before plugging ISAC into the system. Soon, the LMB logo on the Turret Display switched to an orange Phoenix. Logan nodded and rejoined the squad, and as the squad advanced, they found themselves in the Central Hub. The Second Wave Agents took cover, and then Twilight peeked over a crate. She sighed in relief and shock at the same time. Five humans, four of which were Midnight Squad, were pinned down on a balcony by LMB infantry. Twilight then saw Spike peek out from behind cover, only to be pulled back to safety.

"Focus, Agent!" Nick yelled, as he fired his CM901 at a Rifleman. "Move up! Harper, see if you can get those Agents on our comms!"

"Roger that!" Harper replied. "Midnight squad, do you copy?"

"Who the hell is this?" Scorpio replied.

"This is Harper Andrews, Second Wave, SHD." She replied. "We're down low and across from you. If you can make it to us, we can cover you to the exit."

"You had better be right!" Scorpio replied. "Midnight Squad, prepare to move!"

Harper ended the connection and blind-fired her Navy MP5N, while the other agents kept firing. Then, the five humans and Spike made a break for it. Four of them dive-rolled into cover, the final one slid. Spike leaped into Twilight's arms, and she shed a few tears.

"No time for a reunion, Agent!" Anubis said. "Stay sharp!"

"Roger that!" Twilight said. "Seeker out!"

"Stay to cover!" Virgo cried. "Suppressing fire!"

"Roger that!" Nick replied. "Make a break for it on my mark!"

"Right!" Scorpio replied. After a few minutes, Nick seized the moment.

"Now!" He cried. The agents bolted for the exit, and Spike held onto Twilight's back for dear life. As they reached the doors, the LMB pursuing them were immediately engaged by the Turrets. The agents boarded the Skimmer, and soon the compound was in the distance.

"That was close." Aquarius sighed. "Real close."

"Good thing we made it out." Scorpio said. "By the way, I stole some schematics from the armory. Wanna hear 'em?'

"Why not?" Nick said.

"We have...a Pulse that disables electronics with an EMP when manually disabled...a Sticky bomb with an Airburst proximity fuse...and mobile cover on tracks that advances with you. Neat." Scorpio said.

"We'll get them to our tech wing." Twilight said, looking at Spike. "And you, Mr. Amherst, are going straight to New York. Dr. Kandel's probably going to strangle or thank me."

"I don't doubt it." Amherst replied. "I do have a creator's insight to the Green Poison. But here...Keener made this strain personally."

"Figures." Nick said. "He looted your lab."

"After he knocked me out and stuffed me into a helicopter." Amherst replied. "Not fun."

"We'll see who's having fun when we get back to base." Twilight said. As they approached the gate, Twilight opened a portal for Amherst, and Riley agreed to escort him back. As the two of them vanished, Twilight set out for the Command Center.