"I'll make it through," Juliette called back with a slight wince. It hurt, definitely, but she could keep going. It was clear that she needed to keep going if there was a time limit.

She held her arm carefully as she exited the room with the freshly armed seaman. At least he would probably be some help now, she figured. She walked straight forwards across the hall to the opposite door. It was locked, but the key in her hand fixed that nicely. It was nice to know that only some of the simulation was against her.

The room looked the same as the other one, only there were no men waiting with guns. That was a blessing without a doubt. At first glance, it looked as empty as the first two had been. However, when the sailor stepped in the room, there was an audible release of breath. Two other sailors stood up and joined the two of them by the door.

"We heard shooting and we weren't sure who was going to come in here," one of them sighed, visibly grateful to see his coworker.

"Who are you, exactly?" The second sailor, who was obviously a bit more skeptical, asked. 

"Someone who's here to help," Juliette answered the question in a rushed tone. "Come on, we need to get moving."

The sailor glanced at her two companions and nodded slightly, getting in line behind her. Juliette walked out of the room quickly, her sights set on the next row of rooms. 

Hmm. Cafas frowned. She let the civilian keep the firearm. he could see the logic behind it, having back up and all, but personally he wouldn't have trusted the guy with it. Not that they were worried about lethal force, obviously, they were leaving dudes knocked out in a sinking ship, but still. Plus there was no way to know if he was trained with it, or how he would behave with it. Still, it was a reasonable enough choice under the circumstances. Rather like the mutation, it was hardly crucial, just something noteworthy. Worth speaking to her about afterwards.

Gotta know the reasoning.

Again the early good decisions were coming to help her. Convincing the sailors she was there to help was much easier with someone there that they trusted. the X-man nodded as the hopeful addressed them. No hesitancy, seemed sure of herself. That was key. People often never thought to question instructions if they were given with enough confidence. Not without extra reason to, which they didn't have since their buddy was already there in tow.

The next two rooms would be empty. Now that she'd noted the sailors were hiding though, it would be interesting to see if Juliette took more care to search them. Not that there was anything to find, but it would eat into her time. Which would she value more, thoroughness or time? That was the real question with the empty rooms.

The water level steadily climbed, three quarters filling the lower deck. The ship was stating to level out, though it was still on a slight lean.

The first door gave no resistance when she turned the handle. She opened it quickly, feeling rather antsy about all the time she had wasted along the way. Juliette stepped inside and looked around, still favouring her one arm over the other. At first glance, it appeared empty again, but she knew from the last that it wasn't always the case.

"Check and see if there's anyone else in here," she told the seamen beside her. "I'm going to check the room across the hall."

She made her way back out of the room after another second to make sure that the sailors were actually doing what she asked. To her relief, they didn't seem to have any problem following instructions.

The room across the hall was locked again. The universal key that the sailor had given her was a godsend. She wa slowed down just a little due to being only able to use one arm, but it didn't affect her too much. It opened with a little click and revealed yet another empty sleeping area. 

The sailors quickly joined her again and got to work searching the room, not even needing her to ask. They were definitely her favourite part of the sim, as if that really mattered. 

The room diagonal from that one was, to her annoyance, locked as well. She forced herself to move more quickly with the key, knowing that she needed to do so. 

The sailor in that room was not hiding. Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her and his quickly approaching crew. He was lying on the bed with his left leg outstretched, a deep gash running down the side of it. It looked nasty even from across the room.

Juliette made her way over to him to get a closer look. She wished that she had thought to bring some kind of first aid kit, or even just a bandage or two, but she hadn't. That would be something to remember if she actually did get on the team. She glanced around the room to see what she had. There was a blanket nearby that she wasn't sure was actually clean, but it would have to do. She wrapped it tightly around his leg, all the way to the bottom of the gash. The sailor made of a noise of discomfort, but was otherwise silent. The blanket would stop the bleeding for the time being, and put a little bit of pressure on the wound. Far from prefect, but good enough as it was.

Two of the sailors helped their friend up and followed Juliette out of the room, the other still holding the gun. From what she could see, there were only two rooms to go.

Cafas considered the rising water, frowning. He knew the upper floors should take longer to clear, but it still felt like he'd been overly lenient with the flooding speed. Could he increase it on the fly? Would that adjust it a if the sim had started at that speed? That could be disastrous. What if he miscalculated the new speed? Or changed the wrong variable. Probably best to trust his initial assessment. If Juliette was beating the water comfortably, she was clearly doing well.

Her completion isn't even really the point.

Displaying rational thought and capable execution under pressure was far more important. Delegating searches to the sailors to keep the pace. Making bandages from sheets and binding wounds, that sort of thing. She was starting to seem rushed, however. Maybe the stress was starting to get to her. Hopefully it wouldn't affect her too much, she wasn't even onto the hardest deck.

At least her nursing skills do seem like they exist. Never know when someone's lying...

Not that bandaging was a highly specialised skill, she just did it with the same practised efficiency that Cafas delivered blows in a fight. Like she'd done it almost too often. Then again, wasn't every injury one too many? Nope, not the time to consider that sort of thing, he had to focus. Couldn't let something escape his notice that could get people killed on a mission.

Juliette unlocked the door across the hall and looked around. There didn't seem to be anything in it, but she knew that there might have been something she wasn't able to see. "Two of you stay here and see if there's anything in here," she pointed to two of the able-bodied sailors. If there had been anything dangerous in the room, then it likely would have made itself known when they had first gone in. That had been the case for everything else, so she didn't feel that bad about leaving it to the simulations to search the room.

The other two sailors, one of whom was being supported by the other, followed her across the hall. The door happened to be unlocked, but it seemed that there had been someone waiting on the other side. As soon as the door opened, there was the sound of shooting and a bullet flew through the open doorframe.

Juliette stuck her arm out and pushed the two sailors away from the door and moved behind it herself. Whomever was behind the door didn't seem to have very good aim, as they were able to dodge the shots. She switched forms and stepped back out, not having to worry about the bullets. She was able to walk forward through the oncoming shots and then approach the man who was shooting. She shot off a blast at him in return, able to breathe easier when he fell to the ground.

"You guys can come back in," she called to the sailors on the other side of the door, having switched back to her regular form. The two joined her after a moment, coming in slowly to accommodate the second's injury.

Since the man was out of the picture, Juliette was able to get a good look at the room. It was nearly identical to the one across from it, save for the door on the right wall. She walked over to it and inspected it. It seemed that it need some kind of card to open.

She turned to the sailors behind her, the two that had been across the hall having joined the fold. "Do any of you know how to open this?" She asked them, trying to keep her nerves at a minimum.

The third man, the one who's leg she had just bandaged, nodded quickly. He winced at his muscles seized when he dug around in his pocket for his key card. He found it as quickly as possible and then handed it to Juliette.

"Thank you," she nodded to him gratefully. There wasn't much she could do to ease his pain at the moment. The only thing that would help him was them getting out faster. 

She turned around back to the door and examined it. The only thing that she had to do was stick the card in the little slot. She did so and watched the red light turn to green. The door opened, revealing a way up to the top deck of the ship. 

All in all, Cafas was already impressed. Juliette was keeping her charges out of danger as best she could and making good use of them. He winced as a gunman's eyes rolled back into his head, taken solidly in the face by a light-blast Cafas was a little too intimate with. The way she'd casually strolled through gunfire would have worried most of the criminal elements they dealt with on the job, the blast might well have sapped the fight from any others in the room.

Doubly so if they couldn't even hit her with their fists.

Water began to spill onto the floor they were on, the ship listing worse. It was in all honestly harmless to her, but he wouldn't have liked to be in Juliette's position, even in a simulation. Not that it really would have been an issue for him, but the thought of being trapped in a small room with an ever dwindling air supply, with little hope of escape... It sent a shudder through his body.

Another key card was produced and Juliette was given access to the last fully indoor deck. It was the one Cafas expected her to waste the most time on. It was the deck the water level was meant to make the most pressing, though Juliette had a comfortable buffer. Up every staircase, two guards, many open doors, some with panicking civilians, it was easy to see how she might feel enough pressure to make hasty decisions and get people killed, or try to do things inefficiently and run herself out of time.

Come on Jules, you can do this...