Okay, so the mercs had a super. That was to be expected; it had been outlined in the mission briefing. Moreover, said super spoke English and had a custom-made outfit. However, as much as Natalie would've liked to ponder the implications of that, this didn't seem like an opportune moment to do so. Following Austin's lead, she bolted toward the nearest doorway, exiting the stairwell on the fourth level. With no plan or any means of navigating the unfamiliar corridors of the base, she hesitated, unsure of her next move. Taking a moment to cool her head, she remembered that the Iris on her suit was capable of generating holographic maps. Would that work in here? It didn't matter; it was her only chance of not getting hopelessly lost. Natalie began fumbling with the device, hoping it would serve her in her time of need. At least the prince was finally being quiet.

Laughter was Tailin’s response to many situations. It wasn’t always appropriate - she had gotten in trouble for it more than once - but it did help her clear her mind. In this case, the onset of giggles had come because the army general standing there yelling his lungs out reminded her of her favourite Tae Kwon Do instructor, Mister Suzuki. Mister Suzuki was a kind man in most circumstances, and had served as a father figure for Tailin following the death of her parents. He was a very disciplined instructor, however, and several of the young girl’s antics had elicited harsh reprimands in his native tongue. Apparently it was impossible for Mr. Suzuki to get angry enough in English.

These thoughts lasted but a moment, as Tailin noticed her ally ready his mirror and signal her with a nod. They had neglected to verbalize any sort of plan, but truth be told that was her preference in a situation that would require so much improvisation anyway. Besides, such a sign could mean only one thing: "You go in; I'll back you up." Tailin was all too happy to oblige.

As she sent a quick burst of energy through her legs, the daring martial artist shot towards the officer, fist tucked low and aimed squarely for his gut. She wasn't aiming to kill, of course, only to make a statement. Sending him flying down the hall would do the trick. After all, if she didn't keep her punching bags alive, the fun would be over much too quickly.

Mike nodded. "Right. As soon as I bust the door down you go on ahead. I'll stay behind to guard." He attempted to front kick the door down. Rushing at it shoulder first looked like it would hurt and not work as it was sealed shut and reinforced.

The general's face seemed to only grow darker as Tailin laughed at his commands. This was why he believed there should never be female mercenaries, so foolish and flighty the weaker sex was. He found it odd how the other mercenary accompanying her seemed to be carrying a large mirror of some sort, though it was not his main concern. He did note it though. However his current task would be to teach the insolent woman that he was in charge and that he would not be laughed at like some sort of fool. That is, until she moved faster than his eyes could follow.

He flew backwards down the hall, flying past other soldiers who were leaving their rooms, and crashed into the end of the hall. He was alive, but he was knocked out for the count as his head hit the back wall.

One of the mercenaries who had seen what had just transpired started yelling in Arabic and pointing in their direction. Troops began to pour out of the room with sub-machineguns and military rifles and charged towards Tailin. Though they were quickly warned by the same man that the girl was a super. Not taking any risks, they kept their distance and began to fire bullets in her direction.

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The door was heavily enforced, and while Mike's kick was quite strong, it only managed to dent the door. The feat in and of itself was quite incredible nevertheless. Seeing that he was not able to merely take out the door with one solid kick, he continued to kick and punch the door, gradually wearing it down. Seeing the various dents that he had made, he then decided to ram it with his shoulder and quite literally broke through the titanium plates that made up one of the doors.

Immediately, the brilliant heat and light of the desert flooded in the chamber and he was momentarily blinded by the bright sun. Though before either he or Ramon could do anything further, his heightened senses and quick reflexes alerted him and allowed him to dodge the barrage of bullets that were suddenly fired in his direction.

The mercenaries hadn't abandoned the entrance, rather they had been camping outside and waiting for the intruders to attempt their escape. As Ramon and Mike backed away from the entrance, the mercenaries outside sprayed the area with multiple rounds from their machineguns.

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The Saudi prince had been struck dumb by what he had just witnessed. Sure, he had seen videos of Pantheon on TV or in YouTube videos, but witnessing the powers in person was a completely different thing. He looked at the girl whom he had blindly followed, believing her to be with the CIA, but she too probably had some sort of ability as well. He wasn't sure whether to be afraid or relieved.

The Iris worked perfectly, flashing through a series of options until she found the option for the real-time map. Initially a holographic image of the entire base appeared, showing the current location of each Pantheon member; interestingly it revealed a floor beneath the fifth floor, but she did not have time to look into this any further. The holographic map quickly zoomed in on her current location revealing the layout of the fourth floor. It appeared to be the barracks level. On her left were two weapons caches, a kitchen, and a mess hall, while on her right was a maze of various rooms for sleeping. Contrary to what Mercury had stated, there were three stairwells on this level, the one that she had just exited, one at the far side of the fourth floor, and one in the kitchen.

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The mercenaries attempted to push against the barrier, but it would not budge. One even shot his rifle at it, only to have it ricochet and nearly kill one of his colleagues. After being reprimanded, they stopped as they heard a sound on the third floor. Since it was clear that they would not be able to break through the force field they left the stairwell to find out what had caused the commotion.

In that same moment, Abi's attention was drawn by the gunfire she could hear echoing down the stairwell from the third floor. She hoped that Tailin and Bertok were alright. This moment of distraction however was all that the young man needed and a sudden explosion blew the magnetized metal into pieces.

"Cool powers," he said nonchalantly as his eyes glowed malevolently, "My turn." His hands glowed bright red as he pitches what looked like a small red orb in her direction. Abi quickly ripped the metal panels off of the wall and raised them in front of herself just as the orb violently exploded. She reeled backwards as the force of the explosion hit her, nearly stumbling onto the ground.

Abi panicked. While she had been in simulated combat situations, they had never involved her facing another super. Unprepared for a full-scale battle, she quickly took flight and flew over the man onto the platform of the fourth floor where MB stood.

"We have to get out of here!"she exclaimed while pushing him into the hallway. Behind her she could hear the young man laughing, this was merely a game for him. His eyes glowing in the dimmed lights of the stairwell as he ran up the stairs. Raising her hands and focusing them on the stairs themselves, she exerted her magnetic forces onto the metal stairs ripping them from the platform and causing them to collapse onto the ground floor of the s****. She closed the door behind herself, not wanting to see what had happened to the man, though visibly shaken knowing that she could have killed someone.

Bertók clearly underestimated Tailin's strength as he watched her bash the man into the far wall. He made a mental note not to get on her bad side, seeing how she gleefully beat the general unconscious in one go. While he trusted her instinct, he began to regret trusting her while they were surrounded, as the soldier's began firing at them. He tried his best to protect his mirror and caught a group of soldiers in it, sending out an illusion to fire back.

"This isn't the way to make a good impression..." he muttered audibly, grabbing her arm immediately and pulling her to a safe location.

To Natalie's surprise, she actually managed to get the mapping function working properly. The brief glimpse of the bunker's interior revealed an area even deeper than the fifth floor. While that did pique her interest, she doubted the present situation would accommodate her curiosity. The map zoomed in on her location before she had a chance to examine it further anyway. As the layout of the fourth floor of the complex came into view, the girl couldn't help but give a slight smirk. Not twenty steps away from her current position was an ammunition depot, or as it was often colloquially referred to, the kitchen. It was as if some sort of higher power had looked down on her and said "Fine! Here's your damn salt, you whiny twit."

Without wasting another moment, Natalie rushed off in the direction of the kitchen, all but forgetting about her charge. Fortunately, and unsurprisingly, none of the mercenaries had decided that the cookery would be a good place to lie in wait for intruders. Using her powers to feel around, she quickly located all of the salt in the room and brought it to her. This netted her three and a half containers and a few shakers, which she used to refill her personal vial before hastily securing them to her suit. There would likely be more stored somewhere, but she didn't have time to conduct a more thorough search. Regardless, what she had found would be sufficient. Finally restocked and ready for combat, Natalie's outlook had improved significantly. Oblivious to the prince's reaction to what he had just witnessed, she beckoned him to follow her once again with a nonchalant wave of her hand before making her way to the nearby stairwell. No time to waste, she bolted up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

As soon as Mike busted down the door, relief flooded through him as he could now feel reassured their escape was covered. That was before all the bullets flew past him and they were pinned down. Well, we went from a bad situation to a worse situation. The only bright side was that there was some sand so it was possible he could do something but he'd have to do it pretty quick or he'd just be torn apart by bullets. "Hey Mike, do you think there's any way you could distract those guys so I could punch them in the face or spike them up with sand?"

Austin reached the top of the stairwell and looked behind him. Nobody seemed to be following him. "Wasn't there someone with me?" He said into the comm device. "I think I lost her... Should I be going down or up? Where the hell is the prince?" It wasn't like him to be so lost. He brought up the map and tried to locate the rest of the team. "At this rate I might start doing whatever I want."

Mike raised his eyebrows for a quick second and swore under his breath. Irritation and shock washed over him as he backed away from the entrance and leaned against the wall next to where the door used to be. "I can try." He said over the roar as the bullets were fired. Grabbing a door he kicked down earlier he attempted to hurl it at the mercenaries from the side as he remembered where they were earlier. He prayed to whatever force that was above this would work. There was nothing stopping them from coming inside.

“Hah!, did you see th-”

Tailin’s celebration of her knock-out performance was cut short as Bertok abruptly took hold of her and dove into a connecting hallway, narrowly dodging the flurry of lead aimed in their direction as a result of the young woman’s little stunt. After they had taken cover, her partner unwrapped* his mirror and pointed it in the soldiers’ direction. Tailin watched in awe as a troop of soldiers emerged from the mysterious glass and began a retaliation against their real-life counterparts.

“You can do that?!”, exclaimed the dumbstruck super, jaw on the floor. “That’s so coool!” Tailin had never seen such a unique power. She was quite pleased with her own abilities, of course; she wouldn’t trade them for the world. However, the girl couldn’t help but be curious. Thinking aloud, she proposed: “Hey... could you make one of me? I bet with two me’s we could run right through those guys!”

"If you want it, I can do it," Bertók replied, stress audible in his voice. He was mostly worried about how they would get out of there. If they were lucky enough, they might be able to take all the mercenaries out. They would just have to deal with things as they come if they had any desire to escape, but right now he wasn't sure how to deal with the obstacle before them.

"Hold still," he told Tailin as he turned the mirror to catch her reflection.

The glass soldiers walked out of the mirror silently, releasing a stream of bullets onto the mercenaries. Some of them howled in fright as the soulless mirror images fired upon them, turning in flight and running down the hall. The remaining others stood their ground, some screaming in pain as they were shot down, while those behind them took cover. Bertok's automatons slowly gained ground towards the group of mercenaries until a stray bullet caused one of them to shatter. Realizing that the constructs were not real people, the mercenaries were emboldened and charged them with brute force. They smashed them with the butts of their guns, rushing forwards to where Bertok and Tailin had taken up defence.

Fortunately, just as they were doing so, the mirror image of Tailin emerged from the glass. The mercenaries had not seen this themselves, and so assumed that it was the girl who had attacked their commander from before. They stopped, and trained all of their weapons on the automaton Tailin, the rest of the soldiers' images having been smashed.

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Mike tossed the door, the projectile violently propelled by his superhuman strength. He could hear the shooting from the machine guns cease as panicked cries in Arabic could be heard from where he and Ramon stood. The mercenaries ducked behind their makeshift barrier as it flew over their heads, but the gun on the turret was destroyed as the door ripped it from its position. Quickly, the mercenaries scrambled for their sub-machine guns in order to retaliate.

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Once again, the prince had been stunned into silence. He had not witnessed Natalie's abilities while he was in his cell, and thus, had not expected her to have any. He thought that she was merely some sort of government agent sent by his father. As a child, he had seen Pantheon on TV saving people and making the world a better place. If this girl was also with Pantheon, he knew he was able to trust her. He bolted up the stairs behind her as they made their way to the next floor.

As they arrived on the third floor, a small group of mercenaries ran towards her and the prince blindly. They seemed to be running from something, but one of them stopped the others as he pointed at the prince. Their captive was getting away!

They trained their guns on her and the prince.

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As Austin spoke into the communicator, Abi tapped him on his shoulder as he opened the holo-map. Once again it started zoomed out, blinking lights revealing where each team member was located. Natalie was now on the same floor as Bertok and Tailin, though at the other end of the floor.

"We need to hurry" she said calmly. A violent explosion from behind them however interrupted Abi before they could continue. Smoke filled the hall as it trailed out from the stairwell where Austin and Abi had been just moments before.

The young man from before walked out from the smoke towards them menacingly. He was bruised with cuts throughout his uniform, and yet he still had that odd sinister smile on his face. His fist glowed red, assuredly the source of another one of his explosive blasts. Abi couldn't help but shudder; how did he survive, let alone escape?

Abi ripped two panels from the walls of the base and sent them hurtling towards the super, but this time he was prepared. He deftly dodged the two metal slates and they slammed into the wall behind him with a thud. In return he lobbed not one, but two explosive orbs towards the siblings.

Natalie took the stairs in stride, exhaling heavily with each step. She checked her map again, noting that Bertók and Tailin were on this floor. If she could regroup with them, her chances would improve significantly. As the girl reached the top, she paused for a moment to regain her composure and assess the situation. The prince caught up with her shortly. After a few moments, Natalie exited the stairwell to see a group of guards running in her direction. Anticipating a hail of gunfire, she prepared to defend herself, but it seemed she had taken them by surprise. In a split-second, she made her decision. By the time the mercenaries began to raise their weapons, Natalie was already in motion. A tendril of salt rose from one of her containers and split into several streams, lancing toward the guards. Every shot found its mark, each traveling down the barrel of a gun and crystallizing inside its chamber. If any of the mercenaries attempted to shoot now, they would find their firearms inconveniently jammed.

"Stay back." Natalie commanded her escortee.

Despite having been disarmed, her opponents weren't defenseless and still posed a danger. To the prince, at least. The more clever guards quickly discarded their weapons while others fumbled with theirs. Some drew side-arms, but to say they were at a disadvantage would be generous. Natalie swiftly rendered them all unconscious. She doubted she would have trouble killing of it came to that, but she would still prefer to avoid it, and it was hardly necessary at this point. Still, it was best if the girl and her companion moved along before any of them woke up. Naturally, she recovered the salt she had used first, having no intention of running out again. After discarding the bullets that got dragged up with it, she returned the crystalline substance to its container.

"Okay, it's safe now." She said, letting the prince know the coast was clear. He had gotten pretty good at keeping up with her by now, so rather than wasting her breath bidding him to follow, she simply started towards her colleagues' location.

Austin's sister tapped him on the back, surprising him. "There you are! Make sure I know where you run off to next time, okay?" Just then, a man with a red glowing hand caught up to them and threw one of his orbs.

"Take a step back, Abi," Austin said as he created a barrier with the intention of protecting them from the explosives. The orbs bounced off the shield and detonated, leaving the two unharmed. He spoke into the communicator.

"If I time this just right, I can make those orbs blow up in his face. But I need you to distract him somehow so he doesn't realize I've created a barrier in front of him. Any ideas?"

As soon as Mike threw the door, Ramon dashed out and immediately placed his hands on the floor. Some of the mercenaries get their bearings together and aimed right in his direction. Ramon raised a wall of hard sand right in front of him to shield himself. He waited until the mercenary needed to reload before several spikes of sand made their way through the mercenaries' bodies. Ramon got up off the floor and walked over to the barrier to make sure nobody had survived.

"Pantheon, our exits clear for the most part. If you guys want to make a fast break for the exit that would be cool, otherwise we'll keep our eyes out in case anyone else would like to keep us here a bit longer." With that, he closed his IRIS and stood at the door of the compound.