The Pride of the Free World

The chiefs each smiled at each other in pride while still shooting sneers at Lance and Entsy who was fervently searching through the files.

"What are you so proud about? We successfully infiltrated your high security vault and now hold you at gun point. Why do you look like you have achieved something?", asked Lance, as he couldn't resist the growing feeling of uneasiness in his gut.

One of the chiefs, a balding man with a slim figure and handlebar mustache, spitted at Lance's feet.

"You will never win, filthy outsider!", he shouted, wildly gesturing in the air.

Lance was at his wit's end. Outsiders? What the hell was going on here?

"Just answer the question or my colleague will shoot.", said Lance with a serious expression.

To his surprise, all of the chiefs burst out laughing at his statement.

"You are going to be dead soon anyway. What does it matter whether you shoot us or not?", answered one of the few female chiefs after the laughter subsided.

Lance was shocked awake. This was a trap!

As he looked around, he started to notice the small holes in the walls. This was literally the perfect cage of death. With only one way in and one way out, anyone who entered could be blown to bits.

"Don't bother trying to escape now. Any attempt to use your powers to escape will result in fire raining down on all of us. As proud servants of our nation and mother, we feel privileged to be the ones who will enable the deaths of an elite unit of outsiders.", said the chief, seeing his desperate looks around.

Lance sighed as he realized that there was really no way out. They had done their best. Their only salvation was to find the document, but there were rows and rows of files and the rest would only be a hindrance to Entsy.

He needed to delay the activation. Thus, he started talking.

"What makes you think we are outsiders? We are just people who are on a mission which would qualify us to protect the earth. This is all just a huge misunderstanding. You can call off the activation and we will all willingly surrender."

"Don't waste your breath. The minute the doors closed, a timer started at the end of which nothing will be left in this room. These 10 minutes are recorded as valuable data regarding the different powers that you outsiders have. We aren't even the real chiefs. The whole protocol was designed to bait in elite teams who were classified as having enough power to be omega level threats. The earthquake was enough reason to label you so. The lift actually stops midway at a secret location where we were swapped in. Now, the only thing left is to take us with you.", said the woman in a chilling voice. These were just regular soldiers who had willingly volunteered to take this duty.

Lance didn't understand this.

"Why? Why would you be willing to give up your lives? Or are they forcing you? How can you laugh and be proud even though you know you will be dead minutes later?"

Desperation started to creep into the whole team as looks of panic started appearing on each of their faces. In a few minutes, it could all be over.