RISING PHOENIX ACT SELECT

CHAPTER 18: NUCLEAR FISSION

“Ramone Alekhine T. Villanueva…” Marco muttered to himself on the jeep on the way home.
“...find Ramone Villanueva.”
“Nung sinasabi mo…” a commuter sitting nearby told him.
“Sorry…” Marco told them as he curled up slightly, vowing to stay silent for the rest of the trip. As he began to get close to home, he glanced at his watch - it read 1:37PM. He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his mom would return from her conference much later than that. After a few minutes, he got off the jeep and walked back home. He opened the door, went back to his room, and flopped onto his bed - leaving behind no evidence of his unauthorized departure.

At that point, all of his energy had been drained from commuting and fighting in the 4th Floor Audi. He laid down on his pillow and dozed off for a few hours. When he woke up, it was 6PM. He was briefly in that daze one gets after waking up from a good nap. Soon, Marco remembered that Glenn and Prairie still didn’t know about what happened.
“I can’t drag them into this too…” he thought to himself before quickly realizing that he still needed their help to break into the archive room.

He pulled out his laptop and started a call on their Dexterous Detectives group DM on Discord. He soon realized that Brianna was still in the DM and he was ringing her too. Disheartened, Marco clicked the button to stop ringing her and waited for the other two to show up.

After a short while, Prairie joined the call, excited for what Marco potentially accomplished.
“Marco! Anong nangyari? Nakuha mo ba yung drive?” she asked him.
“Uh…not exactly. Let’s just wait for Glenn,” Marco replied.
They waited there for a few minutes before Glenn finally joined the call.
“Hey, Glenn!” Marco told him.
“...what took you so long…?”
“Oh…I had to mentally prepare myself to join this call first,” Glenn explained, which slightly annoyed Marco.
“Ok…anyway, I went to their meeting today, and it...didn’t really go to plan.”

Marco proceeded to detail everything that happened that day, from him getting tricked into dealing with Obsidian, to the mention of the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. program, to the revelation of the Records Room, the chaotic fight with Voltage, Fahrenheit, and Celsius, and finally to Brianna suddenly barging in to help him. As he explained this, Prairie’s expression grew more and more shocked while Glenn simply leaned towards the camera more.
“Anyway, that was the gist of it…” Marco said at the end of it.
“The important thing is, I got a key and a location,” he explained as he held up the rusty key he got from Obsidian to the camera.
“Iyan yung susi...” Prairie muttered as she saw it for the first time.
“Alam mo ba kung ano ang binubuksan niyan?” she asked Marco.
“No…but from what it looks like, this is our way into the Records Room,” he replied as he continued to hold up the key.

“Totoo nga na merong Records Room...” Prairie muttered.
“What…?” Marco blurted out.
“Matagal ko nang alam yan. Kung alam mo ang hinahanap mo, mapapansin mong nababanggit siya sa ilang mga dokumento ng paaralan,” Prairie explained as she adjusted her glasses.
“At noong nakaraang taon, may nakita akong lumang floor plan na may sinamang silid na walang pangalan. Akala ko hindi lang nila natuloy gawin yung silid na iyon,” she explained further.

“Do you still have that floor plan?” Marco asked excitedly.
“Oo, na sa akin pa. Teka, hanapin ko sa kompyuter ko...”
After a couple minutes of waiting, Prairie found the picture and sent it to their Discord DM. As Marco examined the photo, he quickly noticed the ripped part of the paper on top. Looking closer, he noticed two letters right at the edge of the rip that could barely be made out - one that looked like either an R or a K at the start, and one that looked like an M at the end.
“Look at this…” Marco told Prairie as he pointed out the letters.
“Batay sa laki ng mga titik at sa pagitan nila sa isa't isa, bagay nga yung 'Records Room' na pangalan diyan,” Prairie concluded.
“Hindi ko napansin iyon, Marco. Salamat.”

“So this is under the Admin Building, right?” Marco asked, to which Prairie nodded.
“How deep down is it exactly…?” he continued.
“Hindi ko alam... pero batay sa floor plan na 'to, mukhang tumutugma yung pinto ng Records Room sa bagong elevator shaft na pinapatayo nila...” Prairie remarked as she pulled up the 1st Floor Admin Building floor plan.
Marco took a deep sigh, realizing what he was going to have to do.
“I’m gonna have to scale down there, aren’t I…”
“Oo, baka kailangan mong bumaba.”
Suddenly, Glenn piped in after staying silent for a while.
“Oh no. We are not doing this,” Glenn told the two of them.
“Huh? Bakit hindi?”
“So we’re going to break into this secret underground room that we don’t even know the looks of? Ang pangit ng planong 'to, hindi ako sasama diyan!”
All Marco could do was bury his face in his hands, as he could tell convincing Glenn would take a while. He simply didn’t have the energy or the mood to deal with him at that moment.
“If you want someone’s help, get Brianna. I’m staying out of this one!” Glenn said, which worsened Marco’s mood even more.
“GLENN, TUMAHIMIK KA NGA!” Prairie yelled out, which startled Marco.
“Ang PANGIT ng ugali mo! Ikaw naman, lagi kang nanloloob ng mga server, pero kapag kami ang gustong mang-hack, biglang kang may problema sa amin. Wala tayong ibang paraan upang matigil ang RISING PHOENIX! Kung ayaw mong mawala ang Pisay, TUTULUNGAN MO KAMI...!” she shouted at Glenn.
Marco and Glenn were both shocked. They’d never seen her flip off the handle like that before. Prairie stared angrily at the screen, panting, until Glenn finally spoke up.

“Sige nga, tutulong ako...” Glenn uttered in a huff, realizing that Prairie was right - much to the relief of Marco.
“Teka, nasaan nga pala si Brianna?” Prairie asked, which made Marco slightly more gloomy.
“She doesn’t really wanna get involved right now…let’s just leave it at that,” he replied dejectedly. Glenn and Prairie sensed that this was a private matter and quickly moved on from the topic.
“I’ve thought of some gadgets I could…’borrow’,” Glenn said in a concerning tone, “but I’m gonna have to take a look at them tomorrow night…my dad and I are going to shop for my prom outfit tomorrow morning.”
“Right…” Marco replied, “...I forgot prom’s next week already.”
“Pwede tayong sumalakay sa Miyerkules. Nasuspinde na ang mga klase, kani-kanina lang,” Prairie suggested.

“Saka, Marco, suriin natin yung floor plan ng Records Room...” she added further.
“...and I should tell you about the gadgets we’re gonna use,” Glenn continued.
“Alright,” Marco told them both.


“Tell me more.”