The first phase, Chaos, was now complete.
For a moment there, it caught even Scarlet off guard. She flinched as total darkness swallowed her and everything around her. It was seconds before the red emergency light turned on and the alarm went off. Wait…what?! Alarm!!
"Allen, this wasn't part of the plan," she said weakly as her mind tried to cope with what was happening around her.
"I know! I know!" he exclaimed from the other side. "I'll shut it down now!"
But the 'now' wasn't accurate. Scarlet heard the ruckus that happened upstairs in the banquet. She figured most of the guards were going to be up there to calm down those guests, while the few left were going to try to handle the situation quietly and quickly.
And by that, she meant that they were going to be on top of her any second now!
"Damn it," she cursed under her breath. "Should I pull the USB out?" she questioned as her feet begged her to get a move on.
"No, you leave it there and tell everyone that we are hijacking their hotel!" Allen screamed from the other side.
Usually, she would have beaten the crap out of him for raising his voice, but now wasn't the best of times for her to act her usual self. Allen was stressed out; he was anxious—she knew that even after the alarm finally ceased.
She yanked the USB and dashed in the direction she came from. She heard the footsteps coming from the other way as she headed towards the stairs. She figured that she had West to thank for that. He was the one who chose this door to exit the basement.
"The guards are going to be mostly here," she heard him say a week ago. "So you are unlikely to meet one as you leave."
The flashbacks from the training kept replaying themselves behind her vision, as if her own body didn't trust that she was going to remember the next steps. She took the stairs two at a time till she finally found herself pulling the door handle to the banquet hall.
There she was met with almost total darkness. The only sign that indicated that there was someone else—several actually—were the desperate attempts from the guests to use their flashlights as a guide to their steps at least.
"I'm back in the hallway," Scarlet mumbled as she caught her breath. "Wait for my signal."
No one was yelling in fury about what was going on. If no one did, then Scarlet would take the lead. If a disaster didn't happen, you create it.
"What in the world is going on!" she yelled out in fake fury, making sure to stay out of sight. "Why is the power off! Even my phone is out of service!" she helped them notice.
Soon, she was joined by several other yells of protest demanding to understand what was going on.
"We need to take the guards' attention from what is actually happening and put it somewhere else," West said that night.
"How do you suppose we do that?" Julian puzzled.
West pointed at the banquet hall drawn on the plan. "We have a hall full of Nobles," said West. "You know how hard it is to deal with Nobles… especially if they have no idea what's happening. They are going to take the guards' full attention and make them hurry to get the mess cleaned. No one will question our presence there."
She snapped back to reality.
"Everything is under control!" one of the guards yelled out loud. "A simple power outage, and we are doing our best to get the power back on!"
"Why are our cell phones dead then!" someone in the crowd roared.
Scarlet didn't bother to hide the smirk on her face.
The guard was quiet for a second as he tried coming up with a lie. "T-the service here is bad to begin with," said the guard. "When the power went out, our signal support system lost power as well!"
The guard took the chance in the momentary silence and exited the banquet hall in a hurry. He passed right by Scarlet's shoulder.
"Get the fucking power back on!" she heard him yell to the other guards.
West's plan was a success.
"You got the signal," she mumbled under her breath. "They are looking for a solution."
"A solution is coming right up their way," West stated.
Scarlet could picture the smirk that must be plastered on his face by now. For a second there, she could breathe. Her part was over. She got them in… well, almost.
She spotted a glass of untouched champagne on one of the tables. She helped herself to it as she took a seat, enjoying the chaos in the dark.
"Who are you and what's your business here?"
A man with a hood over his head, while a mask covered his face, peeked out of the van's window.
"We are the electrical team," he said. "We were called because there was a problem with the power."
The guard took a step back as he eyed the van that had the company's logo stuck to its black metallic pass. Well, what they were saying was right—partially, though.
"Wait here," he said before turning around to pull out the walkie-talkie from his belt.
He was too far away from the others to hear what he was saying, but it wasn't long before they got the answer. The guard came back and gestured for them to go in.
"The basement is the first doorway after you enter the parking," said the guard. Another one came forward to check the van for anything… that shouldn't be there.
"Thank you, sir!" said the hooded man.
"I can't believe that we actually did that," said Zach, the one behind the wheel.
"Stay focused," West stated as he eyed the parking that they were sliding into. Once the sunlight ceased as they went in, he knew that the real thing had begun.
"Get ready," added West. "We meet with the others at the panel."