A couple of days passed.
Eventually, the doors opened, and the Technician walked into the locker room.
"I'm not going to open it," the Technician said with annoyance. "I'm just going to look at it. You can keep looking at me if you want."
Naturally, he was talking to the Champion.
The Technician approached the console and checked several settings.
"Settings are fine. Nothing has been tampered with," the Technician mumbled.
Next, he looked at the employee entrance.
"I'm not going to open it!" the Technician shouted in annoyance. "I'm just checking the employee entrance."
The Champion burst through the door and stopped in the locker room, glaring at the Technician.
"This is a test!" the Technician shouted, pointing at the light. "Did it open? No! I am testing its functionality!"
The Champion just kept glaring at the Technician.
"Do you really think I would throw my life away for some Specter?" the Technician asked. "I dedicated my life to Aegis. Humanity is my priority. I'm not going to throw that away just to free a Specter."
The Technician sighed. "Even if he was my friend."
The Champion remained silent for a while.
"Continue," he ordered.
The employee entrance beeped a couple of times, and it showed different lights.
"What are you doing?" the Champion asked.
"Do you want the detailed answer?" the Technician asked, fully expecting a no.
"Yes," the Champion answered.
"Sure," the Technician said with a shrug.
Then, he explained in detail what he was doing.
He was running multiple tests to see if the Containment Unit was compromised.
The Champion listened.
He knew that the Technician had been awfully close to Julian, and he really didn't trust him that much.
While he wanted the Technician to check if there was anything wrong with the Containment Unit,he also didn't fully trust him, which was why he wanted to have everything explained.
"Employee entrance is fine," the Technician said.
"Now, we are going to test the main door. It will be loud, and the warning will go off, but it's supposed to do that," the Technician said.
Then, the Technician ordered the main door to open.
Immediately, alarms went off, and the Champion narrowed his eyes.
"You see? Still closed," the Technician transmitted while the alarm was attacking his ears.
"You want to deactivate the sequence? Go ahead," the Technician said, stepping back from the console.
The Champion walked over and quickly ordered the Containment Unit to stay closed.
The alarms stopped, and the console returned to its normal state.
"See? Nothing to worry about," the Technician said.
"Now, we are going to look at the outside of the Containment Unit."
The two approached the back of the Containment Unit.
That was where Nick was.
The two rounded the corner and saw the cramped space behind the Containment Unit.
Nick was not there anymore.
"Now, we are going to place a resonance beacon," the Technician said, putting a small device at the back of the Containment Unit. "We will place one on every side of the Containment Unit. That helps us to look for any disturbances in the Prephyx."
The Champion and Technician walked around the Containment Unit, placing the beacons.
While they were doing that, Nick came out of the Containment Unit again.
Yes, there had only been a one-way hole leading outside, but during the last couple of hours, Nick had altered the hole a bit.
It had turned into a one-way hole leading inside.
And when he came out again, he altered it again.
As long as there was not a two-way hole, it would be difficult for the Champion to see that there was a hole.
Behind the Containment Unit, Nick rapidly grabbed the beacon and replaced it with an identical-looking device.
The beacon was not actually a beacon.
It was a Barrier that looked like a beacon.
And this Barrier had Nick's new credentials.
The Technician's Barrier activated, and the beacons gave certain readings.
When the Technician saw the readings, his brows furrowed.
"Something's not right," he said.
Then, he showed the readings to the Champion.
"There's something wrong at the back of the Containment Unit."
The two of them walked back and inspected it.
"There's a hole," the Champion said with narrowed eyes.
"What? Where?" the Technician asked.
A spot at the back of the Containment Unit shone, and the Technician looked over.
When he saw the hole, he took a deep breath.
"This is so small!" he shouted. "I would have needed the integration module to find that!"
"Did you place the hole there?" the Champion asked.
"What? No! How would I even do that without being noticed?!" the Technician asked.
"You were close with Julian Winter. Maybe you made the hole back then," the Champion said.
The Technician seemed insulted when he heard that accusation. "With all due respect, but how? I made this thing a century ago. Tens of Protectors used the Containment Unit during that time, and one of them was bound to notice something."
"Also, the hole would literally allow Prephyx to enter, and the Prephyx isolation wouldn't work as a result."
"This hole has to be new," the Technician said.
The Champion glared at the Technician.
However, he didn't sense any falsehood.
"So, what do you want to do now?" the Technician asked.
"It's your job to investigate the Containment Unit," the Champion said.
"But you don't trust me. So, you decide what I should do," the Technician answered.
The Champion remained silent for a while.
During that time, he contacted the Politician and asked him for advice.
"I will enter and bathe everything in light," the Champion said. "I want to make sure that there is nothing left."
The Technician stepped out of the way.
The Champion opened the employee entrance, and as soon as it opened, the Champion's light washed through the Containment Unit.
Any little bit of Zephyx that was left was turned into nothingness.
The Politician had said that Julian might have escaped the Containment Unit, but he couldn't have escaped the facility under the Champion's light.
So, there were two possibilities.
Either he was inside the Containment Unit, or he was around the Containment Unit.
The author's . If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.