Gonzalez sat in the corner of the chamber, making model structures in the sand.

"You know this is some high-quality sand," he said, shaping it into the form of a house.

"I can't tell," Titus said as he tried to clog up the holes pouring sand, to no avail.

"Anyone has ideas to get out of here?" Lina asked.

"I figured if anyone would have an idea, it would be you," Gonzalez responded. "Guess I shouldn't have expected better from a woman at the helm."

Lina gave Gonzalez a glare as Montag smashed his fist into the wall again. Montag began to rummage through his equipment, methodically unlatching one of the bags from the belt stretched across his chest. He opened the pouch to unveil a rough pinkish powder.

"The wall seems fairly unstable," Montag knocked on the wall. "This might be able to punch a hole," Montag said. He spread out the powder so everyone else could see.

"Seems easy enough," Gonzalez said, "just work your magic on this wall, and we'll be back in a flash powder."

"Wait, we should blow up the wall to the new hallway," Montag said.

"Why?" Gonzalez asked. "I'm as eager to catch that traitor as anyone. Fact is, we probably won't be able to catch here. I'm speaking from experience."

"No, I don't seek revenge," Montag said. "The mission comes first. We need to trust Iris and Derik can manage on their own and explore this section to increase our chances of finding the artifact."

"We have to go back for them. Leaving anyone behind is absolutely out of the question," Titus said.

"I'm merely making a point," Montag said, "I don't know if there will be enough powder to blow both sections of wall. It seemed to me that finding the artifact is our top priority."

Lina thought for a moment, then shook her head. "We are going back."

"Very well," Montag said.

He put the powder on the wall leading backward against it. The rest of the group stepped back and began piling the falling sand in between the explosives and them.

"Press your thumbs," Montag said. Attaching a wick and igniting a spark, Montag set off the powder. The sand launched outwards as the wall collapsed.

Montag wiped some sand from his face and rubbed his tongue.

"Let's go," he shouted.

The four of them rushed out of the breach and into the empty treasure room.

Sounds of conflict bounded from the cavernous depths of the room; they flooded out to find Iris fighting with a stone statue. She was being beaten back. A few stray metal chains lay on the ground from their fight. Montag lept forth from behind and chipped off a large portion of the creature's head, and Gonzalez scratched the outside of its leg. It turned about-face swiftly, though they were unsure if it was out of irritation or an actual feeling of being threatened.

Titus used its change of focus to come at it from the side. He grasped one of the snakes aiming to bite him, another one bite at his greaves. He charged in and jammed his sword straight through the chest of the figurine, coming out the other side. Titus lost his footing and fell to the ground. Fortunately, that damaged it much more substantially than the other attacks, evidenced by its collapse to the ground.

"That was quite an attack," Montag remarked, helping Titus up.

"Yes, I don't know what happened," Titus said. "I underestimated my power. Stupid mistake. I could have died." He hit his head.

Lina went over to Iris. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yes... I'm... fine..." she replied.

Lina looked at the blood trail on the ground and the blood that dripped from her helmet. Lina forcefully took off her helmet. Lina's mouth went agape. Lina's eye had a horizontal slash across it; the bloodshot eye contrasted with her blue iris.

She shielded her face, "I told you it's fine." she whispered.

Lina held her. "Does it not hurt?" she asked.

"It's fine. Whenever there is pain, you just have to remember the torch." She clutched her necklaces. "Just as Prometheus eternally endures painful poison for giving us light. I must endure this."

The other three came up from behind Lina. Montag ran up to bandage her eye, while Titus and Gonzalez stood back to watch.

"Iris is injured now," Gonzalez said. "See Montag, they couldn't be trusted on their own. Look what happens when we are gone for a matter of seconds."

Titus looked around, "Where is Derik?"

"I really don't know, really. He was fighting, then we were gone," Iris said.

Montag finishes bandaging her. "This is getting bad," he said, "but we must push on and complete our objective."

The team took a breather and went down the left path. Gonzalez scouted ahead to survey the halls, and the rest of the group followed behind. He found a few tripwires and false floors, but they made it to a door at the end of the area without incident. Gonzalez felt around the edges of the door, then tried the doorknob. It jiggled but didn't open. He went to work picking the lock mumbling. "Click... set... click—"

The door burst open to hit Gonzalez in the nose. He let a muffled grunt as Derik burst through. He stopped and looked at them.

"Hello there!" he said.

"Derik?" Titus asked. "Where were you?"

"I fell down a trapdoor. Seems pretty usual for this place," Derik said. "I have a feeling this place wasn't inspected by OSHA."

Gonzalez went to move past him.

"You shouldn't go down there. There is a very angry stone statue down there," Derik said. "We need to get out of here, there are other people diggin around down there."

"Did you get the artifact?" Lina asked.

"Yeh here. Donno what it's for." Derik handed over the miniature cage.

Derik looked over Gonzalez to see Iris.

He winced. "Oh my god. What happened?"

"I wonder," Iris replied.

Derik rubbed his neck. The group retraced their steps out of the vault. The rope leading above ground was still there.

"I guess Tessier didn't escape this way," Gonzalez said. "I wouldn't have left the rope."

They made their way out and back to the surface, shielding their eyes from the sun. Lina stopped them at the apex of the vault.

"I need you to take Iris back home. After that, you are all freed from service," Lina said.

"What?" Montag asked.